Character sketching

Gonna do some character sketches today. Some fantasy themed warrior types, maybe some Sci-Fi ones too. Not sure what the focus is, but first I gotta do some research. Time to bust out my art books and look at artwork of such characters by other artists.

Mobile Mechanized Artillery Unit

Created on November 2011 for the Gnomon Workshop forum art challenge of that month. I used quite a lot of references for the machine and soldiers. This was a lot of fun.

National Geographic Animals

Thanks to my bud Naj Osmani for recommending the obvious. I can't believe I never thought about it!

National Geographic has a website of animal photographs. Looks like I just found a great source for reference. I'm going to have to download them, just in case something happens and the pictures get removed from the site for some reason.

Exo

A redesign of an older piece I created for the Exo project. Here I made a lot of changes to the armor and weapons. Kept some of the overall style intact. Added a background and color. This scene is meant to communicate a desert deployment.The background was a photo I got from google images then painted over. In the original photo the ground had snow and there were cars, so it's heavily modified at this point. Hope you guys enjoy!

Jes Armor Concepts

Created in July 2011. My first Sci Fi armour/mecha designs since I worked on the Exo game project at the Art Insitute of Las Vegas last year. The name Jes comes from the model on the Imagine FX DVD photo I used as a reference. These concepts could fit into the Exo universe, but as of now they're just random concepts inspired by recent artwork I've been drooling over. Thanks to all the Mecha artists out there.

The Art Order

Reading ImagineFX issue 076; the "Rising Stars" issue. There's a great article called Work your magic. It's about career tips for artists. This article has introduced me to John Shinderhette, senior art director for Wizards of the Coast; a company I wish to work for. I may not be ready for such an opportunity yet, but it gives me incentive to continue practicing. Jon says that he finds most of his artists through his website art challenges. That's a reassuring thought, considering I've been participating in ImagineFX, The Gnomon Workshop, and CGHub challenges. I'm adding The Art Order, Jon's site, to the list of challenges I will make sure to participate in. Until I land the "dream gig" I need to continue to participate and make sure my art is seen by as many eyes as possible.

Now, off to do some anatomy studies. I tasked myself with expanding the environmental art for the unannaounced project with Evil Tree Studios. Things are moving at a very slow pace with the company and I need to prioritize my time with a focus on strengthening my weak points; seeing as how I don't design much environmental art, I decided that's the area I will focus on this week.