Ted Beargeon's Workflow.

Recently I left some comments on his artwork for a Deathwatch Scout early sketch. In the comment I asked him if he wouldn't mind describing his workflow. He said that he starts out in Photoshop with loose sketches of thumbnails. Then he draws out the stick figure, moves onto blocking in the form, and builds on top of that (armor etc.) While he is sketching in Photoshop, he is always checking his proportions. 

   One really helpful tip that he mentioned is that he keeps his flip horizontal set to a key-short so he can easily flip it back and forth. I have started to use the horizontal flip to observe any flaws that I may have with my drawings!

Thanks for your comments Ted! 

Cameron Davis & Character Design

I watched a DVD this weekend called Character Design for Games and Animation Vol1: Creating an Iconic Character with Cameron Davis. In this DVD he went over design theory of characters explaining what triggers certain emotional feelings. He also talked about using reference from nature, and how you should always have reference handy when creating your concepts.
  One main element that Cameron was pushing across was to not let your artistic ego get a hold of you. You should be creating concepts that progress the story of your character, not what looks cool. This has inspired me to think thoroughly while drawing to create flowing back stories for my characters/creatures. If I find myself saying that looks cool, I stop myself and ask if it progresses the story and does it make sense? I also took the information about sketching loosely at first, and getting all of the random and bad ideas out there. This is an essential part to the process of creating an iconic character. You want something that is going to be very interesting, you do not want to use your first sketches as your final thought. I will surely use the techniques and ideas that Cameron Davis talked about in this DVD. I will even implement it into the next project in my advance drawing class!

Cameron Davis (Check out his work, he has some really awesome work!!!)

Floris Didden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWYzTZ6Z9xA&list=FLJr3MiqCFBKOWW3XMYXRE4g&index=41

I found this video with Floris Didden, and he describes some of his work flow. Detailing that he always starts with his line work in Photoshop. Then he uses layers to add colors to his line work in Photoshop. Painting with large strokes and giving his creatures value and depth. He brings out the form of his creature with value, after first establishing his line work and overall composition. Floris also uses an Intuos 4 to change settings for his brushes in Photoshop to increase his production time. I will definitely be looking into upgrading my tablet, and will look into an Intuos 4. Also I will start creating my own personal brush library, to begin using when sketching and creating in Photoshop.

http://florisdidden.com/ (His website, currently being reworked!) Some awesome stuff!

Bob Rissetto

I decided to try out a caricature using my girlfriend as the model. It is much harder than it seems, and I will surely  take the time to complete more caricatures of her. I tried to bump out her features, as Bob Rissetto did in his Anchorman caricatures.

Creature Box

I was observing some of the more recent posting on Creaturebox, and I noticed that they pick some really random themes to use for their beasts. The most current included Drapery & Ugly Man Toes! I thought that this was pretty intriguing, so I might just have to include some crazy themes in my creations. They also use a loose drawing technique before inking their drawings. I have yet to use the inking process, but I have constantly been using a loose drawing technique.

Much better results than when I used to draw really strict & tight.

Ted Beargeon

I have recently talked to the awesome artist Ted Beargeon on CGHUB, and he responded to my posts fairly quick. I asked him if he had any tips to give me for drawing very realistic human faces. His answer was to look at a ton of reference images of people. Not just ordinary people, celebrities and famous people. This seems to run true across everyone that I have talked to that both Life Drawing & Reference are key to improving your techniques as an artist!!!!!

Thanks for the responses Ted!
Ted Beargeon (Check his work out!!!)