I have been meaning to take Gimp 2.10 out for a spin for a while now and finally got around to it by doing a few rabbit sketches.
Continue reading “Getting The Smudge Tool Working In Gimp 2.10”
Getting The Smudge Tool Working In Gimp 2.10
Submission to CHOW Down #1: Princess Tronica Vin
I’m taking part in another challenge on the Crimson Daggers Art Forum called CHOW Down (CHOW stands for Character Of The Week).
I managed to get it finished just before Christmas as I will be out of action busy eating and being merry over the next few days!
“On the broken world of Dustryon, Princess Tronica Vin is heir to the throne of Vangaia and is a technological genius but she is easily bored. To get her kicks she takes to the streets of her crime ridden kingdom and indulges in a bit of vigilantism. Armed with a chainsword of her own design she has taken down some heavy duty baddies already. What will she do next?”
Here are some work in progress shots:
Process For Painting The Human Figure 3
I’m still messing about with my figure painting process.
This time I tried combining the gesture and silhouette steps. I think that worked well.
Step 3 was a bit of a dog’s dinner this time though. I tried adding in the darkest darks at this point but perhaps what I should have done is gone for adding big shadow shapes at this point. The darkest darks could then have been added within the boundaries of the big shadows.
Process For Painting The Human Figure 2
After some tips on silhouettes from a friend on Crimson Daggers, I’m trying to include silhouettes in my workflow for painting the human figure.
My current process is this:
1. Gesture.
2. Silhouette with 100% opacity brush.
3. Shadow shapes with 100% opacity bursh.
4. Full light shapes with 100% opacity brush.
5. Blending with pressure opacity brush (added some highlights and reflected light here for fun).
Project JKF-1: A Candle-Lit Shack
Here’s another study for my project with my friend and published author John Fulton winner of the Great War Dundee Children’s Book prize.
The inside of a candle lit shack.
For this I really tried to focus on the process of working from big shapes to small.
Project JKF-1: Dog Painting Study
Another study for my project with my author friend John Fulton.
For me studies like this are useful because you notice little things that can make all the difference – like the subtle tone variation in the white fur, the white hairs on the eye brows etc.
Project JKF-1: Kettle Studies
The more I learn about, art the more I see the importance of using reference images and doing studies of them.
For my first illustration in Project JKF-1, I need to paint a kettle so here are a few studies.
I also took the opportunity to develop my painting process a bit further by using a hard brush to achieve a more painterly style.
Process For Painting The Human Figure
I’ve been refining my process for painting a human figure.
Here’s what I’ve got so far:
- Skeleton
- Muscles
- Values
Écorché Painting Of The Back Muscles
So I’ve been getting back to anatomy study with this écorché painting of the back muscles.
Écorché paintings are where you try to paint the arrangement of the muscles beneath the skin.
They’re a bit painstaking as you have to research each muscle as you paint them (unless you already know them inside out – which I don’t).
Submission To Crimson Crucible 6: Spiderborn And Ravenred
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been burning the midnight oil working on a submission to an art challenge called The Crimson Crucible.
Specifically, Crimson Crucible 6: Halloween Companions.
The brief was basically to design two Halloween themed companions, one had to be humanoid and the other, non-humanoid.
I used my comic project and picked out a couple of the supporting characters to flesh out in this challenge.
Spiderborn is one of the Acolytes Of Mymosule and Ravenred is his flying steed, a giant raven. I gave Spiderborn a mutant spider arm :).
I did not expect to win and indeed I came nowhere close but it was a very useful experience:
- I had to do studies on subjects that I would not have otherwise studied.
- It highlighted some gaps in my skills – namely I’m no good at environments. Although to be fair I had to rush the environment to meet the deadline.
- I began studying environments and found a great free online course which I will dip in and out of over the next year or so.
- I had a go at using a tilted horizon line and really liked the result.
But most of all, it was great fun :).