City scene WIP

Hey guys just started a matte painting scene. Just a quick update.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from the Winter Nuclear Wonderland!

Portrait Speed Paint 1 Hour

Did a one hour speed paint of a family having tea. That kid in the back is kinda scary haha.

Liberiko Soldier Sketches

Some ideas I've been throwing around for Liberiko soldier designs. Since the Liberiko faction started in Eastern Europe, I used a lot of Ukrainian Rebel references mixed with Mad Max, and Fall Out raiders. I try to create that post apocalyptic feel without making it too campy as seen in some raider designs from Fall Out with the pipe and cage armor.

Lunch time speed paint

Hello everyone,

Today I decided to take my lunch time to do an architecture speed paint. I spent about 30 minutes getting colors down and an additional 10 minutes to tidy things up. Still a lot to do, but at least I got the basic lighting down.

Lunch speed paint

Hello all,

Just posting another speed paint. Took my lunch break to paint something quick. Gave myself about 30 minutes to establish the colors. If I have time to go back, I'd darken the shadows in the rock a bit more. I think having the trees in the background less defined helps push the composition. This would by my choice because objects in photographs tend to be quite detailed. 

Hunting With Dad Sketch

Hey everyone, just did a quick black and white painting using just one photo texture for the background.. Basically a son and his father bond over big game hunting in an overgrown forest. Selfie time!

Saturday Speed Paint

Hello all,

To continue my speed paint exercises, I did another speed paint based on riots, and other apocalyptic related scenes. This time around, I chose a daylight scene with some high contrast shadows. The image I found has some interesting staging because of all the depth created by the layers of human figure in the scene. Unfortunately, I went over my 45min mark by about 10 minutes, but there you go.

Speed Paint Friday

Hello all,

Just completed another speed paint, around 45 minutes. Since Fall Out 4 is coming out, I decided to look for images that reflect that theme. I searched for pictures of rioters with epic fire in the background. Lately, I've been painting a lot of people with gas mask with some form of direct lighting in the background. Today instead of just painting environments, I decided to challenge myself with a scene that has multiple human figures. One thing I noticed is that the area outside of the fire has a cool color scheme. It's really neat being able to see the dramatic temperature change as opposed to the subtle change in a diffused daylight scene. I did not have time to add in all the grunge and debris in the dirt so I used some texture brushes to give it some teeth. Still can use a lot of work, I think I got caught up with the buildings in the background in the beginning. I realized that by pushing them back with more shadows I can avoid adding too much detail and be able to focus on the human figures. I painted the whole thing zoomed out to make sure I have at least the lighting established. The shields were very fun to paint because of the refraction and reflections from the fire back lighting. At the end of the session, I added in a lit cigarette for fun, maybe he created that fire back there :D

Liberiko Banner

Created a banner for the Liberiko Facebook page. To learn more about the game click here.

Sea Collage

A panorama scene I did a while ago as a photomontage.

Reaver Default Character Concept Turnaround Sketch

Did some turn-around sketches for a 3D character model for the Reaver faction of Liberiko. They have a very triangular, insectoid silhouette. There will be soft blue colored glow coming from underneath segments of the armor. I really like the shoulder because of the chevron pattern which represent abstracted insect exoskeletal structures.

Some late night sketching

Doing some quick sketches at night. Practicing some riot gear for a project I have been working on.

Liberiko Opposing Page Art WIP

So after the last piece I did with the Reaver soldier looking at a swathe of destruction, today I post up a Liberiko soldier in repose. I think that hole at the very bottom of his gas mask allows him to smoke his cigarette. Hahaha maybe that defeats the purpose?

Sci fi soldier progress

Hi all, just posting some progress for a WIP.

Sci fi soldier paintings

Just some stuff I have been fiddling around with on the side for fun. Trying to work on composition and colors. I used a combination of black and white techniques, and then switched to direct color applications.

Some more Sci Fi Goodness

I was asked to make a background image for transitions in a game. I might have soldiers or a mech emerge from the smoke.

A scene from a personal project I am working on. I still need to finish the aerial perspective layers for the monolith in the background.

Just a first impression sketch. Spent maybe 20 minutes to get the composition I wanted. I had to do a series of thumbnail sketches. 

Hunter girl speed sketch

Hi Everyone, just did some quick sketch since I couldn't sleep. So I as you all know, I have been doing mostly realistic painting pieces lately. I decided to go with something using the anime, manga style which I have not done in a while. The character I came up with today looks kind of like a hunter from an RPG game with Asuka's hair XD. I will be adding more details such as vines and tree like ornamentation to her armor and hair pieces. Anyway, I'll spend a couple hours each day for a couple days and refine this piece.

Enjoy!

Here are some progress sketch so you can see how I went from line art to a painted image.

Speed Paint Portraiture

Hi everyone, I've got another speed paint to show here.

Been quite busy lately so I've been doing even faster speed paints. I did this one last night, just forgot to upload it. Instead of the usual environment or prop painting, I decided to take up anatomy and portraiture painting. As usual I take classical master works and try to deconstruct their pieces using the digital painting medium.

The reference I found is by John Singer Sargent, I really like his quick gestural brush strokes. It's really hard to keep your strokes minimal and still convey so much information. This time around I tried to keep within the same feel by using the more responsive brushes in photoshop that is intended to have that "brushy" feel instead of the usual default brushes I use for other speed paint exercises.

I think I still need to get a hang of the brushy feel, maybe I should attempt that in Paint Sai, but other than that I think I got the colors and anatomy close to the reference, with a little distortion here and there. The light yellow purple at the bottom left corner was a bit hard to mix, it is just very subtle and inputing a different value into the RGB channel, however slightly can make the resulting color seem off.

One thing I might do in future speed paints is include a post-apocalyptic feel with the subject matter. The cloth wrappings around the man's head would be a neat feature for keeping debris and otherwise unsafe particulate in the environment from landing on skin.

Heroes of the Storm: Nova vs Diablo

Hi guys,

So last time I submitted my Abathur vs Tyreal piece ahead of time and had another 9 days to do some work. Unfortunately I lost about 1 week of time because I volunteered at the CMON Expo. So I spent about 2-3 hours a day for the remaining days to finish this piece. Instead of doing a large environment pieces, I decided to crop in for a character based painting. Diablo is really fun to do with all the textures and fire effects on his body. Nova was a bit of a challenge because of the foreshortening for her body. Also trying to come up with a cloaking effect for her body took some time. I ended up playing around with some layer effects to simulate the warping light displays and caustics.

During the sketch phase, I wasn't too fond of the fact that Nova's gun runs into Diablo. If I gave them more room, the composition might look better. That said, I am liking the lighting so far.

I moved the two characters apart so they have more breathing room. I also gave Nova her signature sniper rifle. I spend a lot of time refining details on Diablo. I tried some layer effects to make Nova look transparent and shimmery. It was a lot of fun painting all the details without having to rely on phototextures like my other projects. Definitely took a longer time, but I am glad that I still have the ability to paint details without using photos as a crutch. 

Logo Designs: Overgrown

The game project I have been working on needs a new logo so I was asked to design one. The idea is to have a clean modern looking font with grunge, similar to last of us, but with hard cornered edges. I plan to use foliage texture on top for the overgrown motif.

Heroes of the Storm Contest Submission: Tyreal vs Abathur

Hi Everyone, so the past week I have been working on this piece for Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm art contest. I chose a battle scene between Tyreal and Abathur. If I have time I'll do a second piece.

Automatic Crossbow Concept

Made some automatic crossbows based on Dwemer designs and the Van Helsing crossbow. One of the 3D modellers from the Beyond Skyrim community made different variations based on my concept.

Beyond Skyrim Sword Concepts

Some old stuff I did for the Beyond Skyrim Mod with the Dark Creations group.

Zombicide Custom Characters

So I've been playing Zombicide season 1 for a while now and I'm really liking the game. As a result, I've decided to take characters from other games I play such as the Dark Age Miniature game and create zombicide character dashboards. Here is one of them: The Honor Guard from the Kukulkani, nicknamed the Mayan Death God.

KALI MAAAAAAA!!!!!!

I also created a weapon card taken from the Meso-American native arsenal, the Macuahuitl. It is a nasty weapon made from a wooden paddle studded with shards of obsidian on each edge. It has been said that this weapon could be used to sever a horse's head. Dang.

Dessert Painting 3

Hello everyone, spent another 30-40 minutes doing a speed paint. Let them eat cake!

I had a lot of fun working on the swirls. The depth of field is really fun to paint, mostly large swaths of colors. The fork was quite interesting, even in the depth of field you can still see bits of colors from other objects reflecting on its metallic surface. Because of time restraint, I did not attempt to paint every hole inside the cake.

Food Speed Paint- Sushi

So I may have deviated away from pastries tonight, but still food related. Sushi!!!

I would say that painting rice is a tedious thing to do, I had to leave that for last. It helps because the pieces are close to the foreground so they would be something I add in after applying the base colors. Some of the rice I would paint from a darker brown color and add more white and yellow. Be aware that the colors from adjacent objects would affect the color of rice in the area. This is the case near tuna and avocado. 

The depth of field from the photograph was interesting to work with. To tackle that, it was all the soft brush. So I would start with the background sushi then paint my way to the sushi closest to us. The entire scene is painted on one layer.

Dessert Painting 2

Hey everyone, decided to do some late night painting of some sweets since I cannot have any before bed. So today I present to you caramel dipping sauce with some apple pie fries. Exercise took about 45 minutes, took another 15 minutes to clean up so 1 hour all around. The textures on the fries were really fun to do. Instead of drawing each bump, I found a texture setting for my chalk brush that allowed me to create a large swathe of smaller bumps without having to stipple. Most of my stippling are in the highlight areas with an off white.

So I recorded the whole session with CamStudio which I edit after another speed paint tutorial I have been working on for the last couple weeks. For those of you who don't remember the painting I'll post up a screenshot of the video compilation in progress. Enjoy!

Screen Capture of a render of the speed paint video. 

Dessert Painting 1

Hello all, I hope you all have a sweet tooth today. So I've decided to start on a speed painting series based on pastries and desserts. So today I have a pretzel with caramel and chocolate dripping on top of a chocolate cupcake. Enjoy!

Mutant Sketches 3

Not sure how I feel about the beatnik mutant, but the harpy one is kinda neat.

Mutant sketches 2

Part 2. Tried playing around with creature genetic fusions. Perhaps one of the scientists tried to splice humans with turtles?

Mutant sketches part 1

Just some stuff I have been messing around with. Definitely had some last of use influence.

I've tried to mess around with different kinds of mutations beyond fungal. I tried mineral mutations, such as the guy on the very right. He is a caver variant, the rock like exterior is created by calcifying water drops from the cave ceiling. Over time his movements become stiffer as he becomes a stalagmite formation.

Black Light Concept Final

Refined the piece. I think from start to finish the piece took 5 hours, refining included. Not completely happy with the water, but I'll just have to practice painting water in future speed paint exercises. People on the Dark Creations forum seemed pleased with the way the painting turned out :D

Black Light concept WIP

Over all a bit grey, I'll play around with the curve tool to fix the contrast a bit. I added in some of the tooth like features found in caldera surrounding the city. I really like how they curve inward like fingers clasping and not letting go. VVardenfell is interesting to paint as well, such as all the haziness in the atmosphere and the glowing lava. Well, more to come!

Beyond Skyrim: Morrowind Blacklight concept

Some quick thumbnail drawings for the Black light City for the Beyond Skyrim mod.

Shanty Town update 1

An environment piece set in a wasteland town. Two statues overlook the town. So far I have the lighting where I want it. I just need to refine the trees a bit, and flesh out the soldier more. Not too happy about the column on the right, I might make it more intricate, add in some carvings into the post to make it more interesting. Add some oil lamps hanging from the ceiling, some ropes and free floating wires. More to come!

Mist Stalker WIP 3

Hi everyone, so did a lot more to the last scene.

So I cleaned up the soldier a bit, centered that hoodie. Added a multiply layer so that he is darker and stands out from the hazy background. Painted a TON over the photo plates for the forest. Added in a propane tank covered with overgrowth. Refined some of the textures ontop of the cabin in the center.

For the top center, I removed the radar base entirely and was wracking my brains for something to place there. I decided to add in an overpass that has broken off. I think I might add some cities in the distance with ruined skyskrapers. That might complete the theme of this piece- reclamation of nature. More to come!

Mist Stalker WIP 2

So part 2 of the Mist Stalker Scene. I tried to extend the BG a bit more, added photo plate background which I will be painting over. I pulled some colors from the background to make that radar base in the top right corner. The purpose of the scene is to show man made objects being reclaimed by nature, so that base doesn't fit the context. I will need to think of something else to add.

Mist Walker WIP

So a WIP for a forest scene I have been working on. Right now I think the photo plates are too detailed compared to the other BG elements and the soldier in the center has a hoodie that's angled too far right, kind of bothers me. 

Map Design

started working on a map for a FPS game.