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

STYLE MIXING: MAREK OKON PROGRESS 15/03/2013

       The great thing about designing a Mafia-esque character is that the clothing isn't the focus, as their clothing is generally simple and stereotypical - I don't have to reinvent the wheel. The importance is in the face, so considering this will be the defining feature of all three styles, I decided to start with Marek Okon's ultra realistic style, as our tutor advices we simply use a close-up shot (shoulders and face) when adopting his style. 

     This allows me to do two things - one, get the hardest style out of the way whilst developing my Photoshop painting skills further, and two, it allows me to develop the character in the characters face, which just happens to be the most important and defining characteristic of this character design. It's the logical choice to start with Marek Okon's painting style - it suits my approach.

So I started adopting Marek's style today, and so far, it's turning out pretty well (directly below). This is not to say I didn't have my failed attempts along the way (bottom two images).

CHARACTER DESIGN - IN PROGRESS
by Christian Whelan

      Something that I should note is that I'll paint in the eyes, ears and hair last. By lighting and rendering the head first, I can get an idea of how to light the eyes (the hardest part of the face) realistically. At the moment, I'm really liking my progress, it's the best portrait I've done so far and I'm learning quiet a lot on how colours work with each other and how to choose a pallet and stick with it. No more white and blacks for me!

I thought it was turning out well, but there was something wrong with the face I couldn't initially put my finger on, I soon realised it was nose and the eyes. They made the character look inhuman. Looking at the .GIF below, you can see how I used the warp tool to save myself some time by repositioning the nose.

CHARACTER DESIGN - IN PROGRESS GIF
by Christian Whelan

      Again, the .GIF file is being temperamental (I really need to sort that out), but you get the idea. Anyhow, as I said, there were a couple of failed attempts that were still useful in letting me find my creative feet. 

CHARACTER ATTEMPT #1

CHARACTER ATTEMPT # 2

     Not much to say here really. The first attempt is terrible and reminiscent of the art I did at the beginning of the year and the second one was turning out okay I suppose, it let me understand the structure of the face a litter better, but again, it was just too childish.

So I got the latest attempt done in 45 minutes, and I am to carry on with it. I need to finish the lighting, the clothes, the lips, the eyes, the ears, the hair and the background. Once done, I think it'll look quiet nice.

NEXT POST: STYLE MIXING: MAREK OKON PROGRESS 21/03/2013

STYLE MIXING: THE BRIEF

         The latest task of the semester was set recently - to design a character and draw him / her three times, adopting three distinctly different art styles. The art styles off Sean Galloway, Ashley Wood and Marek Okon. An example of each of there work is below. They're pretty cool.

SEAN GALLOWAY - EXAMPLE WORK

    Sean Galloways work doesn't really appeal to me. Not that there's anything wrong with his style, but its too basic for my liking - very 50's comic like. However, it seems like a simple style to replicate (famous last words) - thin lines, basic lighting and exaggerated physical features and poses. It kind of remind me of Jet et Radio, Dragon ball Z or the Gorillas.

ASHLEY WOOD - EXAMPLE WORK

     There's something very Metal Gear about this artwork (one of my favourite games), and looking at other Ashley Wood pieces, I can imagine I'll enjoy mimicking her style. It's realistic yet conceptual - an aspect of her work I really like.

MAREK OKONS - EXAMPLE WORK

Marek Okons work is pretty intimidating - clearly the most challenging out of the three. Although I think his style is phenomenal (Mass Effect like... and that game is amazing!) it's going to push my talents to the limit! I think I'll attempt this one last...

        Clearly this task is going to force me out of my comfort zone, but considering I've already took that first step with my environment concept, I think I'm prepared  At the very least, it's going to develop my creative versatility when it comes to add. Thank god, because I was getting sick of using the same style over and over again. 

NEXT POST: STYLE MIXING - CHARACTER STYLE REFERENCES