ATTENTION CLASS: Please bring in all your work to class this sat(april 28). I would like to continue working with you all in developing your final portfolios. Also, don't forget to finish and bring in your essay. Please help spread the word to your fellow classmates.
-Nino

Nelly: Color Comps

Here are some comps. Trying to get a feel for the palette. Want it to be kinda eerie & alien. Using palettes from images of deserts at dusk, dawn etc. In my mind, it takes place at dusk. These are comps, so the palette will be "punched up." Trying to be careful with my color so it doesn't scream "eek."

ATTENTION CLASS: As a reminder, we will be meeting this upcoming tues night (May24th) at 7pm to go over your submissions for the BFA gallery. Please bring in ALL your work, finished or unfinished. Also, don't forget to work on your essay! It's still due this sat.

-Nino

1st Mood: Orig & reDrawn

This is the grey tonal value study that I've been working on for the cleaned up and updated drawing. Been having some issues with color, so wanted to work out the greys first to see how it reads. Still having trouble with the read of the hunter. Its unclear to me. Had a suggestion to vary the sizes/shapes of the spears because they are too regular. One thing I am happy about in terms of direction is the look of the house before the hunter.





I've returned to my first Mood Paint drawing I've developed it further. I mainly concentrated on the background to make it clearer and the terrain more to my liking. My desert reference books inpired the terrain which I really would like to exaggerate further, but right now its at this point as I see it.

The character and the carcass still aren't resolved yet, but at the very least I reworked them a little. I do intend to show that the carcass is being dragged like you mentioned Niño, but like I said I haven't fully resolved the beast. Plus, right now I don't think that my "hunter" is reading as well as I'd like. I'll keep plugging away, for Friday night's upload. Any comments appreciated.

-- Nelson

Lawrence, try to balance your compositing by cropping the frame to keep the viewer's eye to the areas you desire. Crop the top since you don't really need the
extra info, and on the right side to have the characters take up more of the space. Also, increase the overall contrast, and darken the background to avoid having our interesting traveling and staying back there. Your foreground needs work. It reads way too flat. Remember that the object's surface reacts to the light. The same goes for your character's form. I guessing that the focal point of the piece is the fire in the middle? Make it more appealing and clarify what exactly is in it. Also, get reference for your characters' anatomy! Have a friend pose for you and observe.

-Nino

Nelson: Where I'm At...

Hi guys,

This is where I'm at. As well as revising my previous weeks work, I have decided to revisit my "cliffside" marketplace. So I'm at the development stage still. I really want to create this environment so that I can use it in a mood painting. Again, I am posting ideations for the stalls and I'm happy with the direction that I'm going in. Ås far as the mood thumbs, again they are like last weeks as I am trying to figure out what kind of scene I want to create. I really want to work on the storytelling a lot more. Haven't quite figured it out or exactly what will be in the shop, but I am thinking that it is my warrior at a weapon's shop being offered some kind of special sword/mase by an old metalsmith possibly in the process of forging a weapon. Still planning on revisiting last weeks work, but wanted to make some headway on this. Any comments are appreciated.

-- Nelson

Lawrence: Mood Rough

Hey Nino,

here is my mood piece as it is for now. I haven't painted the foreground elements on the right yet so I just sillhouetted them in black as a place holder for right now. I'm having a little trouble with the background. Should it be darker? I feel like if I darken up the bg it really pushes the eye to the focal pt (the fire pit). Any suggestions would help greatly, or even suggestions that yell at you "fix me". I want to get this as far as I can by saturday. Thanks

Lawrence

ATTENTION CLASS: I would like everyone to post their final painting by FRIDAY night. I need to be able to work over it in class, in front of you. If you are running late, you can bring it in class they day of via USB or CD, or any other method of getting the file into my laptop.

Also, I need you guys to bring in copies of ALL your previous works (since the beginning of the semester). I will be meeting with each of you individually, and going over what you need to revise for the upcoming BFA gallery, and eventually your final portfolio.

Please help spread the word to your fellow classmates.

-Nino

Sin, your composition is better. You need to indicate texture and surface more, since this will be critical when you go to paint. What is that at the bottom of the picture. Is it wreckage or a fallen tree? Plus, indicate the plane’s condition further. It looks too clean and not enough damaged.
Also, what is your focal point??? Is it the plane or that neg. space in the center. The overall gesture of the ship, accompanied w/ the framing of the tree, and pointing of the tree bark at the bottom (if that’s what it is), points our eye to the neg. void in the middle. If that is not your intent, you need to move things around. If it is, you need to make sure that its intentional and that the surrounding elements complement it convincingly.
-Nino

Steve, your composition is stronger this time around. However, your forms still feel flat in certain areas. Be more careful, since this will greatly effect how you render them when you paint. If you have to, set up some simple objects around you to observe (example: a table in play for the rock cliff). Draw contour lines on the form if you have to.
Pay attention to perspective and form. Take a look at the star symbol on the warrior’s weapon. It should NOT be perfectly even and parallel to the camera like the way you’ve drawn it. Remember that it rest on a plain and has vanishing points.
Also clarify the things laying on the ground. Are they bodies? Plus your overall composition lacks any strong overlapping elements. This kills your illusion of depth. Try to find a way to remedy this. May the spider’s legs over lap more things?

-Nino

Lawrence, in regards to your perspective, you can move the central line of sight a bit more to the right so that the angles of the beams don’t mirror each other as much (see what I posted). Also, pose your characters in the foreground better. They need to read clearer. For example, take a look at the guy closest to the camera. Move his head out of his coat so that his profile reads better.
The ceiling feels flat because it needs texture. Add more info about the condition of the surface. Tell me more. Maybe there are things hanging from the seams.
The background area needs way more clarity. They’re way too ambiguous. Make sure the shapes read better.
In regards to your painting, be more careful with edges!!! Everything is too soft. Be more mindful of surface on the form and how it reacts to the light. For your color palette, stick with a complementary color scheme (for example, blues against orange.) This will add to he feeling of tension in the scene and reflect the mood.

-Nino

Lawrence: Mood Color Comps

Hey Nino,
here are my color comps.

Hi Nino, this is a follow-up of the crash scene for "Kins of Muroc". On the upper left are some ideations/ thumbnails of the scene. To the right is a rough line lay-in of the shot. Patina and storytelling details on the ship and enviroment will be considered, just a lay-in and follow-up of the piece for now. The foreground will be shaded in like the third thumbnail. Also in the shot, Petro Lash, the mage-like character, will be looking down and/or around in awe, he's the type that would say something like this:"...that was cool, lets do it again!", he will also be in amazment that they survived the crash and the beauty of the desert-like enviroment. In the future color-comp stage, I plan to experiment/ explore the different types of weather conditions and time-of-day. On the lower right of the page, That's a skecth of Katrina "the rogue/ theif", that's how she will end up like after the crash, she's annoyed by the crash and of how she landed. She's the one who was impatient with Petro's attempt with the inter-planetary space jump controls on the ship, so she kick the machine and cause the plane/ship to land where they are. Clock wise to the left is a line drawing of the ship minus the guns and options. Above it is the side silouhette drawing of the ship. Well I think that's it for now. I plan on posting the finished line drawing later today and if time permits, the value studies. Any comment and critiques would be great.
Thank you for your time,
Sin

sorry for the misspellings in my last post, and I am not sure why it changed spacing half way through my comments. fet=get, and shaoe=shapes. sorry about that, I'll make sure to spell check my posts in the future.

~Steven

Linework Redo

Hey Nino,

based on saturday's crit, I have changed my line drawing. To add more storytelling, I have strung up skeletons in a cave that the devil enters. There are also dead smaller spiders hacked in half, as well as battle scars to the larger spider. I also tried to indicate a struggle by showing drag marks in the dirt, like you suggested to Nelson and Sophorn. I build the large spider usi

ng the grid technique you showed me, and the convergence is exagerated to make the spider seem bigger. I watched Pirates 2 like you suggested, and I understand what you meant by the emotional content caused by the kracken swollowing jack at the end. The mouth of the kracken took up most of the frame, and all the teeth pointed to jack: you knew he was going to be swallowed. I tried to keep that feeling, along with Leos' suggestion to bring the mouth closer to the devil, while keeping the informative downshot I had in my first drawing. I make sure the audience knew that it was an arachnid, I included a living smaller spider on a skeleton on the right hand side, pointing to the devil as if helping the larger spider. My main concern now is to fet the devil into a more dynamic pose, and to make it stand on the same plane as the large spider. I find that I could not replicate the pose by taking pictures of myself, Ifyou want me to post those too let me know. I also tried using the Sheldon technique of building the devil with shaoes, but It still seems wonky. Anything you think I should due to get it ready for painting please let me know. Otherwise, I am going to start making color comps and post those by tuesday. Thanks Nino, and the rest of the class, you helped me out a bunch

~ Steven

Lawrence: Revised Mood

Hey Nino,

so here is my revised mood piece. I enlarged the characters in the front more like you suggested in class but i still kept the same angle because I still want the viewer to have the opportunity to look around the room at other story elements. They seem to dominate the picture more but I would like to know if you think it's better with them like this or the way it was before. I also moved the vanishing point to the right more so the picture wouldn't feel like everything is converging right smack in the center of the picture. I am still having a problem with the negative space on the cieling and what i am thinking about doing (right sketch) is use that idea you had about putting beams of light into the room from the cracks. I think putting those elements in would resolve that negative space issue, but I'm not quite sure how to tackle that and how it would look. If you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. I start some color comps and hopefully send them out by tomorrow if not tonight.

Hi Nino, here are some more ideations. a-d are flight shots, "b" is suppose to an upside-down shot. "f" is a view from the inside. I'm thinkin' about going with A-c here. a-b is around 15 minutes after the crash. They almost fall off the cliff. C is a shot from the inside. -sin

Nelly, also be careful about your composition divisions. Make sure they vary in size to avoid static and repeating composition mass. Look at the thumb I posted and notice how certain elements (trees) divide the picture in varying masses.

-Nino

Nelly, overall I like your direction and thought process. Your thumbs each have a good feel to them due to good value contrast and compositional choices. However, they can be pushed. Like all previous crits posted, be a little more clear with your shapes and definitions. Narrow down your story so that you can make more decisive choices. Ask yourself, what has he hunted? To whom or what is he returning to? How did he kill his prey? Etc. Be careful with your character silhouettes, and remember to push/ exaggerate size and shape. This will lead to interesting neg. and pos. shape interactions. I like your usage of the forest trunks to frame certain elements. However, try and vary the sizes to add to the sense of depth. Whenever you repeat similar shapes at various sizes throughout the composition, it adds depth.
Also, make sure your overall story composition reads quickly and easily from afar. Ask for someone’s opinion, and test it. Look at the thumb I posted. I showed it to a co-worker to test how it reads. I expect you to do the same.

-Nino

Nelson:Thumbs First Set

Hello Niño, everone,

Here is my first batch of preliminary thumbs for my mood piece. Its pretty simple as I wanted to evoke the world & lifestyle in some way of my character. This first set (since we are aiming for 2 mood pieces) is basically the hunter returning home from the hunt. I like the idea of the solitary hunter returning after a difficult hunt, exhausted but with a big prize. I wanted to depict the land too. I see it as a very rough, dry, rocky, crumbling world. The forests are made up of petrified trees and the beasts fight for survival. I was looking at the original Star Wars work of by Ralph McQuarrie for some "mood" inspiration. Right now I'm liking the first thumbs of the top two rows and the ones through the woods because they look kinda voyeuristic. Mainly thinking of composition.

Hope to have my "Marketplace" thumbnails up tomorrow. This is it for now. Any comments are highly appreciated.

--Nelson

Steve, just like Gary and Lawrence, you need to be more clear and specific. There is not enough info in these thumbs to really understand what’s going on. They should read from a far quickly. To test it out, ask someone around you what they see in your drawing without you telling them what it is, and see if their descriptions match your intent.

Narrow down your directions and take it from there. Choose 2 pieces and tie down the story and what you’re trying to say in the scene. Its good to think of the compositions as simple, broad shape like you’re already doing, but overall, you need to be more specific. When you block in a mass, think about how that shape effect the negative space around it. Think about shape size and how that adds to your story telling. Think about camera angles, eye level, etc. Again, refer to the 5 C’s if you have the time. Take a look at the thumb I posted for an example.

-Nino

Gary, I have a similar critique for you as Lawrence. Your thumbs are very unclear, and I'm not exactly sure what’s going on in each scene. I can sort of make out that the boy is leading the monster towards a particular direction like the city. Others look like they're taking a stroll in the park or gazing at the stars. You need to ask yourself more specific questions, which would lead to more specific answers, effecting your overall design. Why does the monster help the boy? How does he help him? Why does he help him? How old is the boy? What kind of town/city is the boy leading him to? Can you restage the scene so that it shows the monster going against his clan to help the boy? Remember that the more thinking and planning you do at this stage, the less you have to do in the finish (making it easier for you). It’s also a test of your story telling abilities.

-Nino

Lawrence, your compositions are a bit unclear. I'm guessing you're going for an overall feel to the scene, however your focal point is unclear in each of these. you can correct that with correct usage of lighting and the right element placements. I posted an example, which you don't have to follow. I know that these are just thumbs, but think about the overall character of the SCENE. If they're getting ready for war, I would expect a lot of busy activity, people running around, warriors sharpening weapons, a mess everywhere in preparation, etc. Ask yourself more specific questions about your piece. This would give you more directions for more decision making. What kind of war are these guys going to? For an invasion? For defense? How big is the room in relation to the charaters. Watch movies that have scenes where characters are in a room planning for a battle. Also, as a reminder, be more careful with positive and negative shapes! Also, explore camera angles and height for compositional possibilities. For example, if the map is your focal point and is laid out on the table, I would suggest a higher camera shot for easier view. Just a thought, you can change the shape of the general himself so he stands apart from the rest. Either by size or shape. With the lighting, think creatively. Think about the type of place they're in. If I remember correctly, the inn you designed was constructed using parts from the ship wreck. What if the light source spills into the scene through the cracks, where the seams of the wall pieces don't fit together perfectly? Choose 1-2 and concentrate on taking it to a finished line by sat. Thanks.

-Nino

Ideations for Kins of Muroc
-sin

A couple more ideas. ~ Steve

Hey Everyone. Here are my ideas with rough supporint sketches. My intent was to come up with as many story telling scenes as possible, and try to use the composition to support the idea. Any feedback would be great. Thanks! ~ Steven

Mood Piece Ideations-Gary G

Hey guys, Here are my Ideations for our mood piece assignment. The gist of the scene I decided to go with is a demon who goes against his peers to help a human boy. For some I tried to evoke an uneasy feeling like an action shot and for other a more somber mood for a sentimental moment between the boy and the demon. Any feed back would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
-Gary G

Lawrence: Mood Thumbs

Hey Nino,
here are my thumbs for one of my mood pieces. I wanted to tackle an interior mood piece. So the story idea I had was that the top floor of the inn could be used as the base for these demons. So I wanted the mood to feel a little like a war room feel. While doing these thumbs I was thinking this moment is at night and the light from the roof will be very subtle so it feels a little mystical. When I think of war room I think of tables with maps and it has the light on the table. So i wanted to go with a more fantasy feel to it so, I haven't decided whether I was going with the digital map that shines all in 3-D (from their spacecraft machinery), or if the mage creates an image out of thin air of the terrain of the area. How are my thumbs working? I know they're really rough right now, but I was thinking of how the shapes would create a mood and how the eye moves around the composition. Any comments would help
THANKS.

Randy's Character designs

Here are some character design Sketches for my version of Warcraft. All these demons will eventually have three levels of character designs. All these designs are a work in progress and more will be added to complete the set.

1st Level Warrior

This demon warrior is characterized by a dead soldier whose "wrath" takes on a physical form. At this first level, "wrath" takes on the form of a baby demon, escaping from the warriors mouth. It grabs a sword from the warriors belly as a weapon.

2nd Level Warrior

On the second level the demon is further developed, and bursts out from the soldiers head.

1st Level White Mage

The 1st Level Mage floats around with a sacrificial dagger, a small magic book, and a skull rosary. In order to cast a spell it must turn to the right page on the book, grab a victim with its rosary and sacrifices the victim with a dagger.

2nd Level White Mage

The book gets bigger and sits on his lap. The 2nd Level Black Mage takes its victim and sacrifices it on top of the book.

3rd Level White Mage

The 3rd Level Mage has a fork and a sacrificial knife and devours its victims to cast each spell. It has devoured so many souls that the mage becomes overweight.

1st Level Black Mage

The Black Mages power is through the word of mouth. It floats around in an iron cage constantly casting spells. Its words can be visually seen. In order to kill this character, its cage must be broken into.

2nd Level Black Mage

In the 2nd Level the cage is stronger iron maiden and it has barbed wires on the side as protection.

3rd Level Black Mage

In the Black Mages last stage, it becomes the resemblance of a Pope statue covered in golden jewelery. Although its beautiful in the outside, its words are even more vicious in appearance.

1st Level Rogue

This character is in total bondage. The Rogue is so strong its powers have to be restrained. When it attacks it bounces around as if it was in Cirque de Soleil.

2nd Level Rogue

The Rogue's restraints are released. Its fencing skills are uncanny and every time it attacks a fire trail occurs.

3rd Level Rogue

Anything goes with this character. It personally has an extra attacker (The King of Spades) and a shield (Queen of Spades). The Rogue itself pops out of a jack in a box which does a one hit kill.

1st Level Hunter

The hunter's favorite weapon is a chain whip which slowly morphs into a multi-eyed cobra. The hunter has an apple from The Tree of Life which he uses to control the cobra.

ATTENTION CLASS: I would like everyone to bring drawing materials to the next class session (april 7). We will do a quick perspective excercise in class to go along with your interior designs. Also, as a reminder to all, start posting your work more often, and I will check your progress and leave comments more frequently.
-Nino

This is to answer the question Nelson asked me in classs today. He asked how to divide a receding line properly into equal parts. Just for demo purposes, lets say we want to divide the vanishing line into 4 equal parts.
-Nino

Nelson:New House

Hi.

This is the new house I drew overnight. After talking with Niño, I realized that I really haven't been pushing myself or tying down my designs enough. He also pointed out that by not taking my work to a more finished stage, I am not discovering my full weaknesses. So, here is my new drawing, warts and all.

I realized that I really need to draw more and work in a smarter way. This drawing took longer than I thought it would and it was more difficult than it looks. I struggled with perspective for what seemed like forever, finally decided to forego the perspective (for now) and work it free hand.

I was going for an armored beast form to the house madeup of a rock mass. Since the race of creatures are more of an earthy "goat like" people, I wanted to tie in the rocky shapes and materials. Though the design isn't as extreme or pushed as I would like it to be, I am glad that Niño gave me this quick turnaround goal. Any comments are appreciated.

--Nelson

steven gravano: inn

steven gravano: house

Nelson: House Explorations

Hello! Here are some of my explorations of the direction that I'm going in for my house/home. In thinking of my home there were a number of considerations I had. First, I was thinking about my "race" what kind of people they are and what kind of materials they would use. I thought rocky hillside (since they are evolved hooved creatures). I would think that they would seek out environments close to what they are used too. I'm thinking the placement would be somewhere high on a hill. My race of people would use natural materials like mud, rocks, and fabrics even that they would fashion themselves. I'm also thinking that they could be a used to somewhat of an agrigultural people. I'm also thinking about what a home could represent. It could be a haven, a place that is warm & inviting. Or it could be a defensive sanctuary where it looks formidable, but inside it is a place to feel safe and recuperate. I like the idea of a contrast between outside & inside. The outside could look intimidating almost gruesome, but the inside could be warm and comforting. The home could also be totally futuristic and unusual. I like the idea of huge, exaggerated shapes jutting out to push the extreme nature of the project at hand. I haven't gotten there yet, so here's my start for the homes.

Nelson