Sketchblog!

Speed Paints continue!

2012-01-25T15:48:00.000-08:00

Great Armored Bird, Flightless.

Creature of the week challenge at CA.org

Doing the Gnomon Challenge...

2011-12-12T15:24:00.000-08:00

...and Thorin Oakenshield is the subject.

After some research I found that Thorin is bombastic, officious, very stubborn, and even a bit greedy. He is also, however, a powerful warrior who eventually overcomes his weaknesses to make the ultimate sacrifice for his kin and kind. Fun character to design too, as the Dwarves of Tolkien's lore are not well described. It gives a designer quite a bit of leeway.

Anyway, first pass here:

post number one...

2011-12-05T20:27:00.000-08:00

...of one hundred! - speed paints, that is. Forcing my hand back into painting. So. Here is a birdman thing? And another magic cloak guy.

something?

2011-10-18T18:28:00.000-07:00

Marvel-ous!

2011-07-12T20:26:00.000-07:00

some fun stuff from the SuperheroSquad MMO - these're trading cards for a tie-in game. Tackling some of the classic Marvel heroes was a challenge - and fun!

Sketchdump Tres!

2011-06-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

Sketchdump Deux!

2011-06-29T11:48:00.001-07:00

Sketchdump!

2011-06-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

inkNewt.

2011-06-02T11:54:00.003-07:00

Putting together some sketches and painting 'em up. This guy just wouldn't be contained, though...

Thoat update!

2011-05-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

New project - a realistic take on the Thoat, the goofy-cool mount for the four-armed green tribal warriors of Barsoom, naturally...

2011-05-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

...described (by John Carter) in the books as:

And his mount! How can earthly words describe it! It towered ten feet at the shoulder; had four legs on either side; a broad flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root, and which it held straight out behind while running; a gaping mouth which split its head from its snout to its long, massive neck. Like its master, it was entirely devoid of hair, but was of a dark slate color and exceeding smooth and glossy. Its belly was white, and its legs shaded from the slate of its shoulders and hips to a vivid yellow at the feet. The feet themselves were heavily padded and nailless, which fact had also contributed to the noiselessness of their approach, and, in common with a multiplicity of legs, is a characteristic feature of the fauna of Mars. The highest type of man and one other animal, the only mammal existing on Mars, alone have well-formed nails, and there are absolutely no hoofed animals in existence there.

...The first few stages are combined here, silhouettes, feedback from a buddy acting as art director, combination and refinement, and some detours to explore variations...I want to get the feel of the creature from the book, a wild, dangerous, barely-controlled mount ridden into battle by tribal warriors. The green Martians don't really tame the beasts so much as beat them into submission. I want them to feel like they're fast and powerful, but still as odd and alien as anything with 8 legs should.
There is an odd design challenge with these books (the John Carter of Mars series), in that the worlds they describe come from the golden age of science fiction, an era which required almost no adherence to scientific fact, and more of a shiny gloss over fantasy stories. This makes the stories fun, funny, and charming to read - but difficult to approach in a visual format - I mean, how do you draw a 15 foot tall, four armed green man with bug eyes and tusks, and not have him look as cartoony as he sounds? So - one can just run with it, and cartoon out, or try to play it straight. I love cartoony stuff, so, to make it a little harder on myself, I decided to play it straight with this guy. The next stage is to take this profile, make an orthographic turnaround, and then place it in an environment...

More monsters!

2011-05-24T12:55:00.001-07:00

....and a cow...

2011-05-19T03:02:00.000-07:00

Environment thumbs! Fun excercises in tone and composition - I liked the way they came out, so you get to see 'em...

2011-05-19T02:48:00.000-07:00

More stuff - This time for the new Superhero Squad Online MMO!

2011-05-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

This stuff was dead fun - I really relish the opportunity to get cartoony...

Lots more of this stuff at the portfolio site soon - plus some of the tie-in trading cards!

Whew - some stuff is finally out of NDA! Gonna dump some here for a bit, pending changes to my portfolio...

2011-05-17T14:10:00.001-07:00

First - a bit of CityVille stuff:

Y Mas Monstros:

2011-03-24T17:58:00.001-07:00

moar...

2011-03-24T16:16:00.001-07:00

Beasts on the menu!

2011-03-24T14:37:00.001-07:00

behold:

more colors....

2011-03-09T19:22:00.000-08:00

...behold:

Color combo One...

2011-03-09T12:36:00.000-08:00

....gonna try a few passes with different approaches, textures and palettes. Kinda likin' this one, though!

Okay! The space mechanic progresses...

2011-03-09T11:03:00.000-08:00

...now for color!

The idea for this guy came from some brainstorming sessions with a friend - we wanted to see a capable non-warrior in an SF environment. He's good at what he does, and his clothing and equipment reflects this. He wears a uniform, but wears it without military fastidiousness. He moves from pressured to non-pressured environments to perform his mechanics' duties, and is shown here wearing a base pressure suit, additional protective coveralls zipped to the waist; sleeves knotted.

I imagine the suits as a little stiff and confining, and Mr. Mechanic moves a bit less freely than he'd like. He tends to fall into a set posture based on the pressures of the pressure suit -

Harness, padding, insulation and joint armor - this guy is ready to fix some shit in some inhospitable places...

playing around...

2011-03-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

with some new brushes and palettes. Fun stuff!

I must have mech suits on the brain...

2011-03-03T12:15:00.000-08:00

...I have a weakness, yes.

quick sketch book mechy-creature thing...

2011-02-28T15:16:00.000-08:00

...sorry for the poor resolution; this was a quick iphone snap I took before this fella had an unfortunate encounter with some coffee....

Slightly different process...

2011-02-25T18:30:00.000-08:00

...this time with dudes:

I wanted to explore silhouettes defined by line, and a one-shade tone here; as opposed to the black n' gradient sils of the female warrior below. I think I like this style better - it suits a line junkie like me...

Next stage....

2011-02-25T18:15:00.000-08:00

picked a silhouette from the previous post; took it to the next level - next up, polish!

2011-02-01T17:42:00.001-08:00

Revamping ye olde fort polio! Working up a page of silhouettes, then selecting and refining, rinse, repeat. Here: the raw material!

Back Again!

2010-11-29T23:53:00.000-08:00

...and working on some new things! Been busy, I have, but I can't show any of that just yet.

Some stylized props.....

2010-07-16T19:48:00.001-07:00

...just 'cause

A fun thing that happened while I was supposed to be doing something else...

2010-07-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

quick npc/costume concepts...

2010-06-26T15:25:00.000-07:00

...I need to finish these guys off! Perhaps the public forum will shame me into it..

environment concepts....

2010-06-26T15:22:00.000-07:00

...for a game that didn't happen

Animation Concept -

2010-06-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

Emulating the specific style of a friend's animation work. Fun, but tough working with three flesh tones, and almost no lines to describe form. His shooter on the left, my demonic response on the right...

some figures...

2010-06-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

Another ipad project - almost done!

2010-06-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple of teasers...

quickie beast design exploration for a future ZBrush project

2010-06-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

Been busy! But back with the fruits!

2010-06-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

I've been building a prototype thing for the ipad - fun stuff! The art process was fun to figure out and implement. It had to be simple enough to whip out quickly, but still convey an eerie tone - without losing a stylized/comic-like sensibility. I think I did ok! Examples above! Link action here:
http://www.joshhendryx.com/slowinvasion/

An inking experiment

2010-05-01T17:08:00.001-07:00

Another random beastie

2010-04-29T15:32:00.000-07:00

This is...

2010-04-23T23:03:00.000-07:00

...where I'm going with Smaug. Emphasis on the face, fire, and action. Also no background, haha.

That reptilian hauteur

2010-04-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

He exemplifies the combination of menace, power, and poorly contained amusement re: your sorry ass... The perfect character to inspire my interpretation of Smaug - Mr. Robert Mitchum. Drawn from an amazing uncredited B&W portrait I found online. I wanted to internalize his features and proportions, his cheekbones, and especially that look. Yeah. He'll do.

Gnomon 3D Forum Challenge of the month: Smaug!

2010-04-23T00:47:00.000-07:00

I loves me a dragon! Sketches for my early concepts of the great dragon Smaug; the Big Bad from 'The Hobbit', for the three people left on Earth not exposed to Tolkien. Tough design challenge - that is, to make a dintinct character out of a legendary monster. To make a face that can eat ten ponies at a sitting, and still have the personality to banter with Bilbo. He needs to look ancient, avaricious, arrogant, and just plain vicious.
I also have a problem with the way wings are often depicted as being tacked on in many dragon designs, as well as being far to small to move a beast this size. Any wing that could realistically move this much mass would really dominate any design, though, so I see why folks do it. I have to install some deep chest musculature, to suggest a keeled sternum such as birds have. I have to at least have the beast feel like it could work...
I want to get the feel of 'the worm' in his design as well, emphasizing his corpulence, and a more reptilian long body and splayed hips. I imagine him uncomfortable moving on the ground for too long, like a crocodile -trying to lure prey close with his hypnotic eyes, then lunging to finish them.
Conversely, I see him in his element while aloft; gliding around and raining terror wherever he chooses, or on whatever all-wood town that happens to be near (What were they thinking? Silly Lakemen.)
I'm still working on facial details, but I like where this is going. If interested, please check out the progress to 3D on my sculptblog - see link to right!

A Merdude

2010-04-23T00:45:00.001-07:00

I like the pencil rendering in this one - I need to work on my scanning technique; I find it difficult to catch a lot of the nuances in the pencil sketch.

Just some anatomy warmups today

2010-04-21T23:58:00.001-07:00

I like the dancing girl

I like...

2010-04-19T23:47:00.000-07:00

...to sketch alien heads. Or maybe monster heads. That is all.

Proof

2010-04-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

I don't just draw monsters and aliens. I just draw aliens and monsters mostly.

Sometimes...

2010-04-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

The pencil hits the page, and you just don't know what's going to come out...

Sharkmouthed demon doggish thing.

2010-04-13T13:00:00.001-07:00

Yep. Not much more to say...

Another eyeless beastie

2010-04-12T14:40:00.000-07:00

Next up...

2010-04-12T14:26:00.001-07:00

...the beasts with no eyes.
Eyes give character, personality and warmth. With eyes, we can imagine how a creature sees, how it might see us, and allow us an 'in' to its motivations and immediate intentions (lunch?).
The lack of them, then, gives any creature design a bit of creepiness. It becomes more distant, alien and other. We can't create an internal map of its desires - we must be very alert. Can it smell us? Hear us? How can we tell if it knows we're there? Or if we are tasty? Eyes make a face. A face makes a character - a face without eyes is broken and monstrous; at least in our face-loving human-centric world, anyway.
Ok, beasts!

First!

2010-04-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

...armor on the brain! Trying to create techy, organic armor suits in an original way. Getting close?