Xmas sketching party

Back to sketching after a looong break, I felt very rusty...  But after a while I didn't mind the awfully loose and clumsy looking lines, the simple joy of seeing an idea happen into a sketch made me draw all night. It really is an inexhaustible energy well. Dudes, gals and mechas, focusing on a more cartoony style too, because at this point it allows me to disregard the flaws and move on to the next scribble easier

Sketches of the week #27

 

Sketches of the week #26

More basketball streetfighters, sketches and a bit on the coloring process with a Macross battroid (VF-0A) below. First step is the digital sketch, very loose actually, then some flat colors to define the silhouette and in the 3rd step I added the lines on top of it. I may seem weird to do it in this order (lines after the colors) but it was actually very intuitive to do it that way as it helped me refine the shapes more naturally than if I did it while inking, as I'm not focused on the linework itself and can instead have a macro look at the shapes. Finally I added the basic lighting and on top of it a soft light layer to add some environment lighting (redish).

Sketches of the Week #25

Sketches of the Week #24

Not much this week, mostly sketches done while relaxing a bit this weekend. I tried to stay focused on something here, obviously some Daredevil because that Netflix show was kind of cool and reminded me why I should read Frank Miller's run on the series again. Also I adjusted my inking tool in MS a bit to have some crunchier feel on the line (basically by turning anti aliasing to zero). I've also been working on some backgrounds when time allowed, but that still needs lots of work as the techniques I'm learning to use are totally new and feel awkward for me.

Sketches of the week #23

Some experiments from this week. The Cap went surprisingly quick and easy, at least compared to the usual ordeal I go through when I try to achieve a painterly look with no line. The third pic here made me realize how clueless I am when it comes to drawing trees or vegetation in general so that's going to be on the menu next week I guess. Environments too, but one thing at a time. 

A note of Value

I found this great piece of advice on how value works in drawings on Twitter (Thanks to the great comic artist Jesse Hamm). It's an excerpt from Harley Brown's book - "Eternal truths for every artist" which I found as clearly explained as it is enlightening :

Sketches of the week #22

I've been very sluggish this week, changing the process a bit too by doing a rough pencil sketch and inking on top of it instead of sketching directly with inks and correcting/cleaning as I'm used too.

The initial step of pencil sketching seems to open for more options before commiting to inks. Still working on it and also crafting some new drawing tools in Mangastudio 5.

Sketches of the week #21

Changing the process a tiny bit, I did some very loose sketches using a digital pencil-like brush and messed a bit with the inking brush setting in Mangastudio.

Sketches of the week #20

Sketches of the Week #19

Here's a few sketches from this week :

Sketches of the week #18

Working on some colors and volumes. Btw, that new Intuos 5 tablet I'm using now feels like drawing on sandpaper, it's litterally eating the Wacom artpen's nib in a few hours, whereas on my old Intuos 4 I've been drawing for months without seeing any sign of wear.

I'm also not sure I like the "natural" sensations that the Intuos 5's drawing surface is trying to emulate so I wouldn't recommend it, especially if you have the 4, that one is a keeper.

Sketches of the week #17

Some sketches whose purpose was only to allow me to drop some poorly chosen colors on them. The mangastudio brushes however are fantastic, the basic watercolor brushes, which I used here, are very fun and allow some nice mixing and smoothing directly when painting.

And a Daredevil sketch, actually a demonic alternate we could name DevilDare. Now that I think of it I should have gone with pointy ears too, oh well...

Sketches of the week #16

Sketches of the week #15

Have you heard of Wolfsmund? No? Well it's a shame because it's probably one of the best mangas published recently. I'd call it a medieval seinen but I might be wrong on this, however it's definitely a highly recommended, gripping read. That last sketch is a fanart of Hilde the ripper of Schwyz, from Ookami no kuchi Wolfsmund.

Evening sketchflow

Well it's been quite a long while since I picked up the stylus and tablet, so it all felt very rusty when I finally got back to sketching tonight. These are kind of fantasy themed due to my recent playing of Zelda Ocarina of time N64 game I guess. 

Sketches of the Week #14

I'm afraid there's some discutably nsfw piece of sketch here... but not really, right?

These following sketches might make little sense to you. I was trying to figure out what was going to happen next which is why the first couple sketches seem unrelated to the rest. It's an attempt at looking for ideas by exploring a scene with quick sketches. The rough "story" here is more like a mean to gain some momentum, build a broader feeling and basically make the process more fun for me.