finished contest image

This the final image in the CG talk digital art contest I entered a while back. It is due tomorrow, so even though I think it could still use a bit of work, I've got to leave it alone. I think the painting turned out well considering there was a tight deadline and I've got a lot characters and details in my scene. I might work on it a bit more to clean up the brush work and tweak the colours a bit. The space craft in the top corner also need a bit more work, as they where really rushed.

painting progress

Another update on my digital painting. There are still 14 days left in the contest so I think I'm in good shape to finish it.

cgtalk challenge composition

This image combines all the individual characters sketches. I'm still not sure about those two characters outside of the main group, I may lose them to keep the composition nice and simple. The space ships in the background are still fairly rough, and I may blur them out so it looks like they're going really fast.

more inked character drawings

Here are the final two characters and sketches for the camp fire. My idea for the contest (the theme of which is human-alien interaction), is to show many species gathering together, sharing what little food and drink they have to create a hobo feast. The pots over the fire will show the various foods thrown together to create some sort of stew.

inked drawings (CGtalk art contest)

I did a few more pencil and ink drawings of my alien characters. I refined the costume designs and changed the characters a bit, to make them more diverse and interesting. I've still got two to go before I can composite the whole group together and start painting.

colour sketch

This is a quick colour sketch for the CGtalk art contest. I havn't added the characters because I'm still working on thier design and posing. There will also be lots of space craft flying in the top left corner. I added a little bit of texture over the stone and wood areas, and took the star field from a photo as well.

CGtalk art contest (finished background)

This is a pencil and ink sketch that I will use for the background of my "uplift universe" CGtalk contest entry. I had to scan it in three parts because the drawing was about 8.5 x 11", so there may be some visible seams. Once I get more finalized designs for the characters I will composite them in and begin to paint. I may have to zoom in a bit because there is a lot of dead space in the composition, but I think the rocks and roots have an interestin pattern and I'll try to keep as much of them in the scene as possible.

CGtalk art contest designs

Some more images for the CGtalk "Uplift Universe" contest. I am trying to find more interesting designs for the alien characters, and make the human characters more animated. These are pen sketches with a bit of clean up in photoshop.

CGtalk challenge(part 2)

Here is a composite of all my separate character sketches for the CGtalk alien art contest. I think it looks good so far, but I still have to designs costumes for the characters, and maybe push the alien designs a bit. I'll have to work on the gestures a bit, so that the story (which I have not thought of yet) will be more clear. I will also add a second fire in the center of the group to act as the main light source.

CGtalk challenge(part 1)

These sketches are for the newest CGtalk challenge, dealing with human-alien relationships. I'm a big sci-fi fan but I havn't done much work dealing with non-human characters, so I thought this would be a fun project to start up. I've never done a fully finished digital painting, and having a deadline means I'll be more likely to finish the piece. My Idea for the contest is scene with "space hobos" camping around a fire. I thought this would be a good opportunity to show a diverse group with an interesting variety of clothing, gear and foods. I also think the campfire will be a great light source, and provide a centre of interest in the centre of the composition. In the background there will be a space-port with all types of flying ships so its clear that this is a futurist scene. I'm still planning out the poses and expressions on the characters, I'd like keep the scene interesting by telling little stories and insert a few jokes. Here are the first batch of drawings.

character design drawings

These are character designs I submitted for various projects. The first three pages are different versions of the same characters while the last is a collection of designs. These characters where for flash-animated projects, so they had to have a strong graphic look. I like to start with a few quick and simple lines that desfine the shape and outline of a head, before working out the details. Sometimes you hit upon a design that works, and instantly communicates the personality and attitude of the character.

pen drawings (a few more)

Some more pen and paper drawings, ranging from rough sketches to finished work. I usually start with a quick and loose drawing, that I clean up on a separate piece of paper. The fight scene is a composite of two separate drawings, the character in the foreground is in the early rough stage, while the character in the background (red sonja) is cleaned up and ready for colour.

ink drawings

This is a warcraft character I drew at work, starting with a rough sketch and then a more cleaned up version. I messed the face up a bit in the final version, and couldn't really correct it because it is a pen drawing. I think the trees turned out well, and I may try painting this up in photoshop. The other drawing is a simple character study for a cool surf'n guy. Alexi

some more colour pen sketches

A couple more quick colour sketches, these where done for msn icons.

pen sketches

Here are some fun new pen sketches I've been working on. I'm trying out a lot of different inking and shading styles. All these images where done without and pencil work, so there are a few mistakes in there, but I like the energy of pen-only drawings.