Proving Ground-NSFW NSF56K

Nam

Some stuff from the last few months. Mostly speed paints because I'm an impatient bastard. Trying to bust out of my rut.

Hellcat concept. I don't draw many women, trying to start doing more.

1 hr speedpaint. Rain of fire.

speed paint. Fatso.

shitty color choices on this guy getting blown away. Trying to get some action going.

30-40 min speedpaint.

1+ speedpaint. Egyptian themed monster.

45 min speedpaint.

3 hours.

'The mesher', the victim guy isn't fleshed out at all. A concept for a creature who saps strength.

Brolo

The way you're doing your speedpainting (especially for ones like this guy) makes it difficult to find a focal point for the viewer - the lack of contrast makes the brush strokes a little too distracting, and the entire thing comes off as a bit too busy. I find the most effective speedpainters tend to really focus on lighting and colour choices first so they nail the contrast elements, and once a good composition has been established they can be a lot looser with their brushwork and strokes.

I think a good starting point would be to flesh out your backgrounds some more. I know these are supposed to be character concepts, but even with a back drop that suggests some lighting and contrast elements you could probably add a lot to all of these paintings.

wakkawa

They are all pretty cool. I really like the first but, but the other ones seem to have a kind of smudgy look to them. Nice speedpaintings, just keep the brushstrokes more effecient.

:^:

Nam

Rolo: Thanks for the tips, all true too. I feel like there's so much more about 'design' that I have to learn, focal points and leading the eye and all that jazz. It's something that I only just recently became aware of too. If you guys have any tips, links or know a good book about design, I'm all ears. I'm also pretty horrid at BGs too, i've got to stop being afraid of em'. Gonna try to start working harder and setting up pictures better.

wakka: Its amazing to see artists who can make something look so effective with just a few strokes. I like your stuff btw, big fan.

vrempire

Hi Nam, I like the Egyptian themed monster. looks like an original idea. The last picture is also cool especially its head that saps energy.
Way to go dude

Mykonos

if you want an abstract background, something for like wallpaper or something, my advice is this:

create a seperate save file for your piece, and then just go nuts with it. I like to throw out layer efffects, filters, or random pieces in general and just play around with it till I find something that suits me. Hell I'll even change the entire color pallette if need be. You'll be suprised what you can come up with at times. generally speaking, Ive never had a single piece where the background i was satisfied with was intended.

But that's just my method

Nam

wtf? ~_~