Direct Painting Practice

This quick head study of some sort of alien creature was done primarily to practice a more direct painting method.  I usually begin my paintings and concepts by doing a detailed value under painting achieving a colored version by glazing color over the top using layers set to various blending modes. This image was a departure from that process starting with a loose sketch and working up values and colors simultaneously. When I'm practicing a new technique I try to do my best to focus only on the skill I'm trying to learn.  For that reason I choose subject matter that I'm very comfortable with like creatures because it requires much less brain power for me.  If I were trying to paint some crazy new design my attention would be divided between the design challenges presented by the image and the method I'm trying to master.  I have found that doing this, for me at least, really complicates things.  It compounds the problems essentially stacking them on top of each other which can result in a frustrating mess.  I of course would like the creature to look interesting but the design of it is not my primary concern.  Though a design may not be the most innovative thing you've ever done I think what is more important is that it provided an interesting enough subject to use while learning something new.   

2 hrs

Photoshop CS5, Intuos 5 Tablet

Character Portrait.

Just some painting practice.  Started in gray scale then used soft light and multiply layers to add color.  The majority of it was done with the round brush.  There are some touches of some kind of grunge brush in areas but I tried to keep it as minimal as possible. I always feel that photographic brush textures look funny next to hand painted ones.  Maybe I need to find a different way of integrating them.  Not too sure what this character is supposed to be, wasn't really trying to make it anything just practice like I said.

4-5 Hrs

Photoshop CS5 & Intuos 4 Wacom Tablet 

Icarosaurus Ortho

This is the orthographic reconstruction of Icarosaurus that I will be using as the basis for my sculpture.  It took a while to gather all of the references I needed, some of the details still don't feel quit right mostly the skin and scale patterns, but as far as starting my sculpture is concerned I think this will do.

Flying Lizard Research

So these are a collection of photo references for and upcoming challenge.  The basic goal is to pick a species of exotic lizard and model it as accurately as possible.  The species I settled upon is this Draco Lizard also known as a Flying Dragon.  The images I've collected depict multiple subspecies of Draco Lizards. I haven't figured out which species specifically I would like to sculpt.   The Draco Lizards are fairly small insectivores  measuring only about 8 inches in length.  The genus Draco is represented by 41 species and is found in forests ranging from India, Southern China, The Maylay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, The Philippines, Malukus and Timor.  The most unique characteristic of the Draco Lizard is without a doubt the their winglike membranes that flare out in bright colors and intricate patterns from their sides.  Though they are called Flying Dragons these lizards can't actually fly, rather they glide from tree to tree.  They can however, obtain some lift during their glides.  Distances of up to 60m have been recorded over which the animal looses only about 10m in height.  

This guy is Icarosaurus its an extinct genus of  Kuehneosaurid reptile from the Late Triassic.  It's closely related to lizards and tuataras.  It was a small animal only about four inches in length from the skull to the hips.  Much like the Draco Lizard it was able to glide using wings supported by highly elongated ribs covered in skin.  My plan is to use the information I gain from studying the living Draco Lizard to accurately reconstruct this lizard. 

Pandora Creature Posed