Concept art is hard work!

Hello! I recently finished one of my first attempts at concept art. This task was given to us about a month ago. We were asked to produce a concept painting influenced by the world of 'The last of us'.

I started this project about ten times because I hated every single attempt. I have a great image in my head but I can't paint it. It is very frustrating.

In the end I decided to use a few pictures to have something in the background I could work with. I still found it difficult to make a scene but I was determined to keep going until I came out with something that was okay.

And here it is! I feel like it is not dramatic enough, maybe because of the lighting...
I do like the composition and making the buildings old and broken was a lot of fun.

I hope that if I keep making more of this I'll reach a point where it won't be much of a struggle to do it.
practise, practise, practise!


Carla.

Trying new brushes

Some time ago we went in a uni trip to the Guild Hall in Leiceser which is one of the oldest buildings in the city.

Our task was to sketch and then make a final colour piece. The media didn't matter.

I decided to do a digital painting since I need to get better at it. I also used a new brush I haven't used before, the chalk brush. While sketching I found it fun to use but when I had to go into detail it was a bit tricky.

And here's my final piece. I used the chalk brush all the way through only varying the opacity of it.

I am quite happy about this painting although I wish I could've done the floor better! It was a good practise though.
After I finished this piece I realised how much my digital painting have improved compared to a year ago. This took me eight hours to finish and a year ago it would take me the same amount of time to make a portrait!

I've got to keep practising and get much better.

Carla.

Stuck in details

This is part of a project that I was given about a month ago and that I just finished. The reason why it took  me so long to finish is because I got cought up in details and got bored of it quite easily.

I started by painting the rocks and I spend at least ten hours on them. That's a long time, and I still had to paint the rest of the picture. I felt like I was never going to end it and therefore I lost motivation and stoped working on it for a while.

I have learned a lot from this painting though. It is best to paint the overall idea first and then go into detail, becuase detail is easy to add but if I waste all my energy on it I won´t have any left for the rest of the painting.

Carla.

1920s chicago project

This time I approached the project in very different way. I usually start with a blank page of paper and start drawing from my mind straight away but for some reason this time I wanted to do something else.

I started by putting together a photo-bash. Most of the pictures were images of theatres therefore I already had my clour palette before even adding paint!

Next, I took a picture of myself posing and that would be the 'blueprints' of my figure.

Here's the result.

That was my starting point and I found amazing how much easier it is to start a painting with something on the background. It is easier to get my ideas across the page as I have some sort of composition.

I started by using the values within the pictures and do a quick paintover which I had to refine. I was surprised to find ut how quickly the process of making the painting was. Having a basic structure not only made my painting accurate but it gave it realism and mood.

And this is the final piece. I could've refined it a bit more but it is still a concept design, therefore, no need for details at this stage.

I left it fairly simple since my art skills are not that amazing to start adding backgrounds and details. I hope I can produce this type of work without the help of image references at some point but for now I am very happy with this piece.


Thank you for reading,


Carla :)

The roaring years!

Hello! This weeks project is about chicago in the 1920s and so far the best project we've had! It is a project where everyone in the year is involved and so far it is looking good.

At the start I wanted to do everything. I had ideas for environments, vehicles, characters...

In the end I decided to stick with characters because it is what I am best at at the moment and since it is an end of year project I wanted it to look good.

I wasn't sure whether to do a man or a woman. I thought I'd start with the woman and then do a man but do to time constraints it seems I'll just do the woman. I might do the man on my own time.

This were my first silhouettes for the ladies and the one I liked the best was the second one starting from the left. So I went and designed a few outfits and asked peoples opinion on them.

 In the end number 3 came out as the winner and I was quite happy as it was my favourie as well.

Therefore I focused on refining number 3 and make orthographic views of the character.

I did spend a goood amount of time producing this and that's not good! I need to get faster! But I do like the outcome and I can't wait to put my character into an environment. I am thinking a backstage scene, quite atmospheric.

I hope the image I have in my mind reaches the paper.

Also, the week ahead will be very busy with work. Nothing like that little bit of stress to keep me on my toes!

Carla.

Character texturing

Hello! This week project has been quite intense in the aspect that the time was limited and we were asked to texture and rig two characters.

One was a woman and the other a man. I easily came up with a concept design for the girl butt for the man..it took me a while. The meshes are low poly, therefore there wasn´t that much one could do. They are also quite cartoon-y, and I like realistic characters better but, work is work so I went and did it.

For the girl I decided to go with a casual yet sexy look. I liked the idea of the dress-jumper. I needed to add more details, therefore I thought that tights would be a good option. Boots and socks  compliment the dress and make the texture look harmonic.

I really like the woman. I could've add more detail but again, time was limited to 7 days and I had another project going on at the same time.

The man was hard to texture. I had trouble deciding which outfit I would paint. In the end I decided to go for a skater sort of look. But then I realised I don't know how to paint jean texture...With the help of references I managed to come pretty close to the actual look.

This project was a good practise and I am happy with my two characters.

This is a competition therefore pressure is on! I'd love to get some recognition for my textures but regardless I am happy because I learned from it and that's enough for me :)

Carla.