ASSIGNMENT 2: 10 PIECE PORTFOLIO

              Now I've finally handed in the last creative thinking task of the year, it's time to collect all of my best work and present a 10 piece portfolio that demonstrates by talents - it is this, and only this that I will be marked on. Considering many of the tasks required two pieces of work, I decided to scrap some of my earlier work in favor for the new. I've progressed a lot in the last year so by doing this, I demonstrate by current ability more effectively whilst also avoiding unnecessary re-work that at this point in time, could cause more stress than it's worth.

All 10 pieces are below.

PIECE ONE - COLOUR AND LIGHTING
by Christian Whelan

PIECE TWO - IANTHE CHARACTER DESIGN
by Christian Whelan

PIECE THREE - ARMOUR DESIGN
by Christian Whelan

PIECE FOUR - WEAPON DESIGNS
by Christian Whelan

PIECE FIVE - DRIVER DESIGN
by Christian Whelan

PIECE SIX - VEHICLE DEISNG
by Christian Whelan

PIECE SEVEN - ENVIROMENT CONCEPT
by Christian Whelan

PIECE EIGHT - SEAN GALLOWAY MIMIC
by Christian Whelan

PIECE NINE - ASHLEY WOOD MIMIC
by Christian Whelan

PIECE ONE - MAREK OKON MIMIC
by Christian Whelan

      I really started to progress in my work by the environment concept. From that point on, I really tried to push myself when it came to rendering my art, and I think there'a been an incredible payoff. This is not to say my work cannot be improved however. The Ianthe, Armour, Sean Galloway and Marek Okon pieces are good, but not brilliant - each of them are a few stages off being at the level they 'could' be. Unfortunately, I do not have the time in this academic year to make such improvements.

     However, in all, I'm incredibly happy with my portfolio. Considering the standard of my work at the beginning of the year when compared to now, I can truly say I've progressed a long way, and that digital art is a new hobby of mine, where as at one point, it was a huge challenge.

NEXT POST: YEAR CONCLUSION

STYLE MIXING: THE THREE STYLES

     Finally, after 7 hours of work, I finished all three style mimicry pieces for Sean Galloway, Ashley Wood and Marek Okon. My intention was to design an anti-hero mafia character. In that sense, I succeeded, and I absolutely love this character - I actually feel like it's a 'character'. Whether or not I succeed in replicating the three styles is yet to be determined. What I can say though, is that I tried my best, even if there are some flaws. Have a look at all three below!

STYLE MIXING: SEAN GALLOWAY
by Christian Whelan

STYLE MIXING: ASHLEY WOOD
by Christian Whelan

STYLE MIXING: MAREK OKON
by Christian Whelan

       In all, this assignment actually surprised me in how much it actually developed my skills, pushed my ability further and expanded my artistic horizons. I feel that here, I've developed my three most consistent pieces that exhibit the majority of my capabilities. Maybe if I'd had more time, I would of developed a backdrop for the Ashley Wood piece to demonstrate my understanding of perspective and the use of multiple complex lighting sources, but I understand this is just a study to do exactly what it did do - push me out of my comfort zone and in turn, develop my ability when using Photoshop. I thoroughly enjoyed this assignment.

NEXT POST: 10 PIECE PORTFOLIO

STYLE MIXING: MAREK OKON (COMPLETE)

      I've finally finished the Marek Okon piece, but when I say finished, I mean finished to the best of my ability within the time I have. I am so far, extremely proud of this, but I want it to finish 'realistic'. So, even though I'm happy with the overall result, I will 'definitely' work on this until I'm satisfied. The final Marek Okon mimicry piece is below.

STYLE MIXING: MAREK OKON
by Christian WHelan

     Like I said, it needs improving. The next step to take is to rid the piece of the clear contrasts in the shading - it still looks too choppy. Then from that point, remove all the random blotches of dark shading that make his face look dirty and the entire piece look cheap. Then once all that is done, I can take the entire piece further by refining the skin and facial details, bringing the entire piece up a level. A level I wished I could of took it to in the first place.

Regardless of these clear improvements I can make, this is still the best face I've painted as of yet. Here's for next year!

NEXT POST: STYLE MIXING: THE THREE STYLES

STYLE MIXING: SEAN GALLOWAY (COMPLETE)

      Refining the lines of this piece turned out to be a harder challenge than the other two pieces put together. The thing is, when you have an image of a million parts, the quality of them parts can differ, but with a piece of few parts like Sean Galloway's work, the individual aspects have to be top quality. So when drawing the lines, everything had to run smoothly and connect precisely, otherwise it just turns out looking like a mess.

The most challenging part for me however, was restraining from putting in more detail. Already, there may be a little too much detail, but I think I kept it at a sensible level. Now, it's finished and the final result and development GIF are below.

STYLE MIXING: SEAN GALLOWAY
by Christian Whelan

STYLE MIXING: SEAN GALLOWAY DEVELOPMENT
by Christian Whelan

      A couple of things really could do with some improving now I look at it. Firstly, the weapon is absolutely terrible, I'd get rid of it but time isn't on my side. And secondly, there's something wrong with the face... I can't put my finger on it yet.

    The challenging parts aide, I really enjoyed this piece. It's quite liberating being allowed to exaggerated proportion. It's not a style I'd try everyday, but it's interesting to see how a mature and realistic character can become something really fun - being able to represent character in different ways really interests me.

NEXT POST: STYLE MIXING: MAREK OKON (COMPLETE)

STYLE MIXING: SEAN GALLOWAY PROGRESS 24/03/13

        Now that the Ashley Wood piece is done and the Marek Okon is yet to be completed, I thought I'd attempt Sean Galloway's work to give me a breather from ultra realistic attempts. The trick with this work is nailing the exaggerated proportions to create a really stylized piece. It all sounds simple when you're drawing Spider Man or some goofy skateboarder, but with a character like mine that is meant to be serious and mature, it is and was a challenge. Either way, my progress on this piece is below.

STYLE MIXING: SEAN GALLOWAY (IN PROGRESS)
by Christian Whelan

       So far, I've only put in the line art, which, for a Sean Galloway piece, is incredibly important. If I nail this, I've nailed the entire piece. In my personally opinion, I've think I've done a good job. The character looks a little younger than the other two style variations, and the gun and feet could be a little better, but once polished up, it should be fine. I could then put in the colors, the shadows and then I'm done.

NEXT POST: STYLE MIXING: SEAN GALLOWAY (COMPLETE)

STYLE MIXING: ASHLEY WOOD (COMPLETE)

     Figuring out how to use the brushes without damaging the work was a challenge, but I managed it to some extent. I'm not entirely happy with the outcome, I think there's a lot of room for improvement, but considering the time and environment I currently have, I think it turned out great. Not only that, but I like the character itself.

STYLE MIXING: ASHLEY WOOD MIMIC
by Christian Whelan

STYLE MIXING: ASHLEY WOOD DEVELOPMENT
by Christian Whelan

    Personally, I think this is my best full body art so far, when you consider what my work was like at the beginning of this year, I personally think I've come a long way in almost every sense. As a final note, I only realized after I had finished the piece, that I forgot the finish the feet, hence the terrible stumps. I've saved multiple copies at various stages of it's development  so it's something I can work on at a later stage. For now, I'm happy to say I've finished it. Next is the Sean Galloway piece, before finally, finishing the Marek Okon work (which is daunting).

NEXT POST: STYLE MIXING: SEAN GALLOWAY PROGRESS 24/03/13

STYLE MIXING: ASHLEY WOOD PROGRESS 23/03/2013 (UPDATE 2)

     I finally started added the brush strokes in. Browsing the internet, I found two brush sets that I liked (the ones that are free...) and with them, I started to slowly build it some brush strokes and added in a background and a floor to add some much needed depth to the picture - plus, it just looks cool.

STYLE MIXING: ASHLEY WOOD (IN PROGRESS)
by Christian WHelan

      It's not done yet. Ashley Wood's work is very impressionistic, so to achieve that style, I need to add in some bolder, sporadic brushes into the actual character himself. At the moment, too much of the previous version is showing through. Hopefully, within the next half an hour, I should have this piece done, polished and presented. I'm chuffed with it so far.

NEXT POST: STYLE MIXING: ASHLEY WOOD (COMPLETE)

STYLE MIXING: ASHLEY WOOD PROGRESS 23/03/2013 (UPDATE)

      Another hour and I've pretty much got the character down. It's been easier than I expected to be honest, I'm just kind of going with the flow. Now, I know I said I wasn't putting much detail in, but I lost track of my goals and time and ended up doing anyway. I may have screwed myself over here but I'm yet to find how it looks when I add on the brush strokes.

I'm such an idiot!

STYLE MIXING: ASHLEY WOOD (IN PROGRESS)
by Christian Whelan

STYLE MIXING: ASHLEY WOOD DEVELOPMENT
by Christian Whelan

      I think now is a good time to start adding the brush strokes and a basic (and I mean basic!) backdrop. With that, I may put a top hat on the floor to develop the perspective and make the pose more interesting.

NEXT POST: ASHLEY WOOD: PROGRESS 23/03/2013 (UPDATE 2)

STYLE MIXING: ASHLEY WOOD PROGRESS 23/03/2013

      30 minutes later, and I've got a very basic model down for the Ashley Woods piece. Obviously there's a lot more work to be done, but from this foundation I can begin to refine the details, add in detailed highlights and mess with the contrast to match the head. Once I've got that down (Note: I'm not going to go mental on the detail) I can start adding the Ashley Wood flavor into it. Hopefully I'll have this done within the next couple of hours

STYLE MIXING: ASHLEY WOOD (IN PROGRESS)
by Christian Whelan

     There's something not quiet right with this though. I think it's the head, but that can be edited later. Right now, I'm worried about getting the important information down so that when I add the brush strokes in, they come through.

STYLE MIXING: ASHLEY WOOD (SKELETON)
by Christian Whelan

I've seriously smashed this out of nowhere. I'm not being anal about everything, in fact, I don't even think I'm thinking... 

Deadlines....

NEXT POST: STYLE MIXING: ASHLEY WOOD PROGRESS 23/03/2013 (UPDATE)

STYLE MIXING: MAREK OKON PROGRESS 22/03/2013

       I made some more progress on the Marek Okon work, but I'm hitting a roadblock - do I carry on or leave it as it is and present it? To me, it looks more like an Ashley Wood piece (besides any clear paint brush strokes) than a Marek Okon piece. It's just way too 'choppy' at the moment.... I don't know. Other work commitments are kind of forcing my hands with this at the moment. 

STYLE MIXING: MAREK OKON ATTEMPT
by Christian Whelan

    Don't get me wrong, I'm really liking it, it's my best face work so far. I tried blurring the clear color differences together, but it ended up looking... well... blurry. I'm thinking of maybe starting the Ashley Wood work now and coming back to this when I have a clear head - maybe I've been looking at it too much. One thing that is certain though, is that I need to work on this clothing a bit more, it's need's more detail to bring the entire piece together.

Oh, and the eyes need to be a tiny bit lighter - he looks high.

I suppose it's a lot better when you look at my first attempt. God it's awful!

FIRST MAREK OKON ATTEMPT
by Christian Whelan (Unfortunately)

We'll see how it goes.

NEXT POST: STYLE MIXING: ASHLEY WOOD PROGRESS 23/03/2013

STYLE MIXING: MAREK OKON PROGRESS 21/03/2013

         Unfortunately, other course commitments have pushed back further development of my Marek Okan work. It seems like forever since I last held a digital pen and it was showing through initially. Not only that, but the drivers for my Wacom tablet are having a fit, so the pressure sensitive features and calibration are off. I've tried downloading the recent driver(s) but it just isn't having it: maybe it's the tablet itself. I hope not.

   Anyhow, today I started the daunting task of adding in the eyes, ears and hair. The eyes are complete (aside from some more refining), the hair is slowly coming along and the ears are being stubborn, and now I don't have a Marek Okon tutorial at hand, it's proving quiet a challenge getting this done.

MAREK OKON STYLE - PROGRESS GIF
by Christian Whelan

MAREK OKON STYLE - IN PROGRESS
by Christian Whelan

     At first, I started by adding in the basic lighting for where the eyes would sit, then I added in the highlights to get the shape of the eyes and flesh around them (over a basic eye colors). From this point, I could refine the eye, adding in the color and shine until eventually, adding in the darker shadows so they didn't seem to 'flat'.

     The ear however, is much, much, much harder - harder than I expected actually. The shape of an ear is incredibly complex, especially when you consider the lighting and lighting source(s). It's an absolute nightmare and clearly still in progress - it's extremely rough at the moment.

The hair is turning out a lot better than I expected. I've never really tried hair because of it's specific complexity and awkward co-operation with the light. The hard part now, is refraining from making it too complex and adding in the highlights without them becoming foreign to the whole piece.
    When I had the tutorial, my initial progress took me half an hour, this however, has taken me 2 hours. It's not easy trying to paint a realistic portrait of a human using only your imagination. The only thing guiding me in this work now is family feedback and trial and error, I guess that the beauty of digital painting.

NEXT POST: STYLE MIXING: MAREK OKON PROGRESS 22/03/2013