Finished Vibhishana

vibhishana_painting_web, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

My final for the Ramayana project... finished painting feat. our story's antihero, Vibhishana. Very pleased with how this came out!

Thesis: Architecture

Thesis: Architecture, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

The last of the three landscape paintings. Not quite as strong as the other two, IMO, but I still like it... and it still marks an improvement I think :)

Onward with finals!!

Finished Landscapes... finally!

The architectural one is still on the way, but for now these two are fini. Took long enough! :)

Vibhishana Movement Study

Movement study, some cyborg-zombie heads for underneath the headwrap, and because I was curious I animated the movement study very quickly in Photoshop... and thought it looked kind of cool, so posted it. I think it also better illustrates exactly what the movement is -- even if it's not very useful beyond that!

Finished? And More WIP Landscapes

These two are more progress on the landscapes -- the second of which I haven't posted yet, just some ideas for the architecture and look of the Glass Coffin city, though we don't see it much.





And then this painting might be just about done. Finally!

Thesis Landscapes

Finals are in full swing, and I was never satisfied with these paintings (last published here), so I'm glad to have the opportunity to revisit them. They're still not quite finished, and I have a third on the way which I'll be posting up soon, but I'm much happier with them as they are.

Glass Coffin

Some portraits of the Architect (hero). More to come.

Vibhishana Sketches

Lots more Vibhishana sketches... some potential silhouettes, some movement studies, and a bunch of variants on the sword/hand.

Thesis Characters

More tightened sketches, revisiting the Architect; some thumbnails for the Naturalist. Actual thesis work!

Vibhishana

Took three of the thumbnails that were the best from the last post, and sketch-elaborated on some of them. Also an excuse to draw headwraps - who needs faces? The bottom figure is an idea for Vibhishana "unfurling" so to speak, for fighting. As well as looking at scary life-support systems, I was trying to research character profiles that I found particularly disturbing. Cthulu was the most prominent inspiration, haha.

New Character Design for Ramayana

Character: Vibhishana. Renegade Demon/Foil

This character serves as a foil to Rama, a demon that is more human than most, to be relatable to the player. Vibhishana is skeptical of Rama's ability. Vibhishana also represents what Rama could achieve if he underwent the augmentations of the demons he fights; but he is twisted, not seeking to help out of protecting humans but because he does not like Ravana. Motives likely more complicated like in any good RPG.

~~
These were the silhouettes for class; they picked #3, #5, #18, #30 to experiment with. More to come!

Rama Environment - ReRevisit

In Illusionism, we're working on rendering monumentality, or in other words how to scale objects. I asked if I could just keep working with my Rama environment, so I'm applying critique that I received Thursday to it as well. Not sure how I feel about it at this point, but I learned a lot doing it, which means it was a success regardless!

It'd be excellent if I could revisit my thesis backgrounds for the illusionism finals.

Speaking of thesis. Hey, remember that? Don't worry, there will be an update soon.

Rama Environment

whoooosh

Updates Updates

It's been a long time since I updated, and I'm sorry about that. I do have a few things at least. First, work for my thesis:



These sketches are for the Old Man and the Naturalist/Antagonist. I'm not too happy with either of these sets, though I do think I will steal one of the Antagonist thumbs (#2) and use it instead for my Protagonist. Some of the critique I got on the old Architect/Protagonist was that it was too busy, and I have to agree. I was not too happy with him anyway. But I like this guy, though I need to figure out a way to make him visually interesting since he's very recognizable with Western trends.

With both sets overall though, it's helpful because I am at least getting somewhere. I'm also trying a new way of thumbnailing where I focus more on interior detail than outside silhouette, while starting with the blue pencil (removed in Photoshop) to figure out basic shapes.

And for the other project, a repaint of Rama -- critique that I received was that he'd lost some of the energy in the drawing, and gotten too muddy.


And and -- the assignment that was due this week. An environment 50%/ish done!


Whew!

Rama Painted

He will have none of it.

Thesis: Character Studies

Color studies for the Queen and the Architect. I was supposed to have the Brother done, too, but that was a bit of a stretch. I'll make up the lost ground this coming week.

I have a tendency to noodle paintings a little too much, so rather than go for an overly-rendered-finished look -- which isn't the sort of thing you'd see much of on a concepting desk anyway -- I used no opacity control and instead went for bolder opaque strokes. Rama will likely be getting a similar treatment, I want it to stay fresh.

Rama Drawing and Colors

In class we decided on Rama design #29 with #28's bow. So here we go -- a tight drawing and also a color study. The painted version will be due next week.

Rama is supposed to be holding an arrow, but as it's a super-duper 'energy arrow' it's not drawn in. I didn't forget it!

So Many Ramas

Thumbnail designs for Rama of a video game rendition of The Ramayana. I love silhouettes, so much fun and loose. These are each probably four inches tall. I use a black Copic marker for these -- I'm not usually much of a marker person, but for quick shapes like this the brush tip is fantastic.

The Glass Coffin - Synopsis

For those of you following my thesis, I am designing environments and characters and props -- essentially creating a concept art portfolio -- based on my take of a Brothers' Grimm story, The Glass Coffin. Here is a very quick summary of my version of the story, enough that you can see the characters and environments it centers around.




Once upon a time, an ARCHITECT who was fascinated with ancient ruins traveled to a distant world in search of a beautiful city that he had read stories of. Upon arrival, he found nothing but a huge wasteland, and in the distance what looked to be a solitary palace above a vast lake. In the wasteland he encountered an OLD MAN fighting for his life against two massive beasts, and rushed to his aid. Once the beasts had been slain, the architect began to ask the old man about the city. The old man brought the architect to a cliff overlooking the lake and palace, where the architect saw for the first time the reflection of a beautiful city that only existed in its mirror in the lake.

The old man told the architect of a QUEEN who had ruled the city, bound to it by an amulet, with the help of her BROTHER as an advisor. A NATURALIST traveled to them one day, and befriended both queen and brother, but then he slipped into the queen' bedchamber one night, and attempted to steal the amulet from her neck, hoping to take the city for himself. No sooner had he lifted it did the earth quake, for the amulet could not be removed from the queen without destroying the city. Alarmed, the queen woke, and her brother suspecting the worse stormed her quarters. But she feared the naturalist would try to kidnap him, being the one way to control her, and so she commanded her brother to flee. He did, and the naturalist sealed the queen in a glass coffin under a deep sleep while he tried to find a way to take the amulet, hiding her by burying the coffin within the castle. The city vanished into the ground and had not been seen ever since. The old man told he architect of this story, and asked for his help, the architect being much younger in years. The good hearted architect agreed.

Both men snuck into the palace, and tricked the naturalist into revealing where the queen was. To create a diversion, she put the amulet on the old man's neck, and he reverted to his youthful age, revealed as her brother. The three fled to the city, shaking at its foundation, while the naturalist pursued. The architect then took the amulet and placed it upon the naturalist's neck. The city was falling apart, and as it crumbled into rocks, it destroyed the naturalist along with it.

The queen and brother were saved, but the city was destroyed. The architect promises that he will help rebuild. The ending is hopeful and the story ends with a summon being sent for the villagers who had fled many years ago to return.

Character Ortho and More

Sorry I missed yesterday for posting. Here's a few images to make up for it, both for the Cyberama project. The first is a quick ortho/turnaround for the minor character I designed, as well as an update version. Sean Murray did paintover crits with suggestions and comments, where we were then to bring them back with such changes incorporated (or with a very good reason to omit them). The ortho reflects the new design along with a few smaller details I encountered while Googling, such as more details on the turban.


The next image is an in-class project where we took one of our team members' thumbnail designs and brought it to a more completed state. This design is for a demon boss, created by Amanda Christensen. It was pretty fun to take someone else's rough concept and focus on the technicalities! Some of which mine are a bit questionable -- does she need to be THAT long? -- but eh, you know.

Landscape - Progress

I meant to upload something I did for Advanced Character Design, but got held up, so here is the progress on my two landscapes. The reflected city is more of a color shift than actual painting. Hoping to have these finished by the end of this week.

Landscape Thumbnails

My two color and composition starts for the landscapes for thesis. I'm hoping to condense my story into about two paragraphs, at which I'll post it up here on the blog. In the meantime, enjoy these and hopefully they'll both be finished Thursday.

Minor Character Design

A human villager for the sci-fi Ramayana. I wanted to do an ortho or even just paint out that big staff, but I got a little pressed for time as tomorrow's going to be hectic! I thought the staff might be able to be thrust into manufactured wells - basically holes in the ground with which water can be retracted. The staff also filters the water before it would run out the spout. Once finished, the spout can be pivoted back into the staff. Water might be scarce - especially clean water - and they would have these manufactured wells to make water more of a communal thing, which pressures people to consume it with care and not take half hour showers. Having people like this little dude who are the ones who can withdraw the water is extra pressure to be considerate about consumption.

ETA:
Redid the face and colors.

More Character Silhouettes

It's been way too long since I last posted. Classes are really kicking off and I've been working on thesis. On the interim I've been working at a bookstore and cafe. It's been pretty alright.

I'm starting to collect work to put up for this semester, but I'll start with something for Advanced Character Development, which I am taking with Sean Murray, lead concept artist at Big Huge Games in Timonium. We essentially have a semester-long project to focus on in a small group. I'm already enjoying the creative dynamic we share - I think the right enthusiasm in a team can be very productive.

We are currently designing minor characters for a hypothetical video game inspired from the Hindu epic The Ramayana. Of the nigh-30 silhouettes I drew, these five were my favorites.



A few monkey villagers, a few human villagers. That short little guy with the huge staff-thing was the group favorite and so you'll be seeing him return as I develop his design further.

Bioshock (linework)

Ariel Bioshock, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

I've got nothing to put up yet -- still working on getting my final work all together for the Game Art class. So in the meantime, here's the linework I did for the character painting a few weeks ago.

I was really pleased with these lines -- but it was also the first time I ever liked the colored, painted version as much as the linework. It was a good exercise nonetheless.

Also, in the painted version, his shoes don't look quite as ridiculous considering Bioshock takes place in the 1960s. Whoops, my bad.

In other news, I SUPER need to spruce up this blog.

Thumbnail Practice

Took one of my thumbdudes (#52 on the first page) and painted into him with grays to play around with interior shapes. Next time, I should pick one that is a little more humanoid! But it's still good practice.

Bioshockin' Weekend

Ariel Bioshock, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

I always liked how Ian Jackson manages to post things every MWF without fail, quite admirable really. It gets a little complicated from my summer dwelling since I have no internet, but I will do the best I can to stick to some kind of schedule until I have proper and consistent access.

In the meantime, my summer class is almost over. I will post up some images of the texture process, but until that's done, here's personal work. I just beat Bioshock (very behind the times, I know) and loved it, especially the subtle design for Jack, who you play as, despite it being FPS. While I know this isn't Jack's true design, this was how I imagined him -- though I forgot his wrist tattoos. I always did like them too, damnit. Oh well!

Quick Character Silhouettes

So one of my projects this summer while getting ready for thesis is to build up the concept portfolio. I spent a little while churning out a bunch of tiny dudes, and I'm going to take a handful of these and take them the next step of character design.

Regardless, I thought it might be cool to post these up - and see if anyone has any preference firsthand, hahaha. I already have some ideas for which silhouettes I'll take, but I always like to get outside input.

None of these took longer than a few seconds, and were all done with a black Copic marker. I really like the Copic for its nib and brush tip -- the thin tip on the Prisma marker I always found useless.

Zbrush

Been learning ZBrush and 3DS Max. They're very different and both quite fun...

Summer into full swing!

Hey guys!

So I don't have internet at my home residence, but I'll try to keep up with updates.

I'm taking a Game Art class at MICA. It's super rad! Here's a concept sketch for the Bogeyman that we were to finish up and paint. He grabs children with that handwhip and flings them back into his cauldron. :D

skulldude, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Advanced Photoshop final

Advanced Photoshop final, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

So, this was originally supposed to be a diptych, and eventually it still will be -- Gackt as Genji with Gaga beside him being the other poster, so they would be a set. But I couldn't get that one painted in time, so this one remains for my final.

Lady Gaga as Eve/Lilith/Serpent, Gackt as Adam, the story of Genesis. Promo material for a fake concert featuring the two. Also a pin-up. Experimented with linework+painting and Mucha style.

It was fun. I'm sleepy though. This WILL be revisited, I want to add text and of course the other piece, but for now I'm happy with it.

And now for something completely different.

Hand Mirror, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

Not much to say about it.

Leaving Home

Leaving Home, originally uploaded by Ntkufreak.

So I'm pretty sure I'm going to go back to this and PAINT it, but I had a lot of fun with the drawing. I decided to slightly cartoon a boy. Then I put him on a boat. Then I gave him a dragon companion.

...Shrug!

I think it turned out pretty cute though. I ALWAYS heavily thumbnail and plan things out for formal projects, so it was nice to let a project just literally develop on its own, without any forethought.

And I had fun with colors and textures, but I'm still probably going to paint it. Would still love your input.