The Crystal Peaks (edited). Snowy mountain environment. Inspired by another song I wrote by the same name. Seems like I keep jumping back and forth between the music and art thing. But, it's always fun when one inspires the other. Anyway, I'm trying my best to avoid photo textures now unless I absolutely have to use them. They work okay on creatures and such, but for landscapes, I want to get more practice at actually painting the forms. In any case, the song can be heard at the same place where the Imp Rex song is (check below for the link - if you care to. :P).
Another creature concept. No one knows for sure how these giant stone piles began walking. The only clue to their origin is the primitive markings left on their torsos - perhaps remnants of an ancient incantation rite. The only way to fell this giant is to destroy the skystone in the center of its body.
6 comments:
freakin awesome tunes! that would be perfect for a game or movie... im thinking more for games! sounds much like the FF 12 soundtrack! (love it)
as always, great environment! they are definitely stronger than your creatures.
the crystal peaks piece is great but im wondering if there should be a shadow across that snow covered slope to the left. My eye keeps going there when i feel it should be focused on the figure. its a nit-pick but you should always be thinking about your light source. think about how you might pop out that focal point. (saturated color, value contrast, etc...)
Also DO NOT BE AFRAID OF USING PHOTOS! most environment artists especially matte painters use photo montage to make the image more believable- it looks great when its done right. at the very least use them for reference! Embrace the RANDOM inspired my reality!
the field golem image is nice but i would do some research on different types of rocks and textures and yes use some photos! drawing is nice and i like how the paper texture still breathes from behind. now the crystal type things in the abdomen are very interesting, however, i dont think it is integrated well with the rest of the form. the shapes and colors are soo isolated and poorly connected to the rock forms, which makes it seem a bit ambiguous as what it really is. Grab some reference and see how crystals really connect to rock forms and don't just force it.
the imp rex image is nice i think you pretty much nailed the drawing. But do some more research on anatomy; anatomy is key for big muscly characters. but great design there, this would be a good image to really flesh out! :)
ok now the generic hero... its nice but i think you really need to take a second look at the anatomy and the pose. a couple places look stiff, the arms and the neck. im not going to go into detail but i will suggest that you look at yourself in the mirror for reference. the pose needs to be more relaxed.
GREAT STUFF HERE DUDE!!!! please post more and think about more reference and research because that is what is going to make you sick out as a concept designer!!!
Hey thanks a lot, Jair. Glad you liked the music, too. It's something I've pretty much kept to myself until now (but it's always sort of been a dream of mine to get in to a gaming studio doing art and then slip some music in - who knows!) Anyway, your crits: concerning photos, I'm definitely getting more in the habit of getting reference photos and such and I'm actually using a couple for the mountain piece. It's just sort of my fear that by using photos too much for texturing and painting purposes, the personal style gets a bit lost - the piece might start looking like every other environment concept on conceptart.org :P. Not that I have an extreme sense of personal style yet, but I'm working on it in any case. However, if you could give any pointers about how to incorporate photos into a piece more effectively, I'd definitely appreciate it.
I see what you're saying about that white chunk in the middle. Adding a shadow there now.
Definitely going to be doing more research from now on. Like I said before, I've been working a bit more towards a personal style, though I don't plan on getting anywhere as stylized as say Tyler, Den, and Don. I've found that when it comes to doing character or creature designs, I definitely enjoy drawing with an actual pencil on actual paper and then scanning it in to work on it. But I'm still working on how to effectively incorporate the pencil line drawing into the image. I've been inspired a lot by the guy who did the concept art for Final Fantasy XII. Anyway, I know all of that has very little to do with what you're talking about :P but I will definitely be doing more research and using more reference - especially in the initial drawing stages.
Thanks a lot, Jair! I really appreciate the critiques and encouragement! And I'll be writing more songs over the summer, too, so I'm sure I'll be mentioning them here or posting more work that correlates to them.
What do you use to make your music? I'm currently repping the Fruity Loops. People seem to like Reason more...
You use an actual piano keyboard? They say using your computer keyboard is like painting with a mouse in Photoshop!
The golem is creative. I dig the facepaint. You should make it more vibrant and have some drips. That'll be some badass-ness. To me, I feel golems should be bigger and heftier. And his left arm joint is a bit too weak looking
The Imp is pretty sick. I dig the helmet. And them chains must've taken a while. Try and add the white fur elsewhere on his body. Like some around the feet or hands or head for consistency
I feel the generic hero is a bit tooo generic..haha. He needs a little spicing. Maybe extra poofy pants or a crazy big bag with shit sticking out
In closing: I like your new haircut. :D
Yeah your haircut makes me want to roll around in neon paint.
Anyway I've made my opinions clear to you already in person but I'll let everyone else know what i think. I'm sure jair has a completely harsh but just critique,but its too long for me to read and agree with. So the environment is hot in the distance with the atmosphere,but the closer everything gets the....clunkier it gets. maybe more textures from photos.Its like why resident evil looked so good for its time they blurred the shit out of so u couldn't see the sharp edges of the polygons.
and the golem reminds me totally of house of the dead. before every boss battle it shows u the weak spot to shoot for, like the crystals in the middle of his body. and as far as artistic remarks i agree with den. their both really cool pieces.
there you go i critiqued ur work by referencing zombie based video games lol.
Yo! These look great man. On the golem, I think you should pop the rock texture a bit more, make it look grittier, and I agree about defining the crystals a bit more. Last but not least, the finger connections to the hands seem a bit unresolved. Right now they dont look like they could move.
I think the snowy evironment looks awesome, but, agreeing with Tyler here, I think it looks like you spent a lot more time on the background than the foreground. The foreground needs some more detail.
And you are a modern Beethoven for video-games.
to me.... i am feeling like the middle mountain should be droped back a little little more back, so that the forground pops a little more.
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