Dragons' Feast (Digital Painting)

My friend had this idea for a painting where he and another friend were dragons and they were, I guess, leering over another friend (not a dragon). It's so long ago, I can't recall the exact pitch. Needless to say, it was some pretty high concept stuff. 

It's actually embarrassing how long this took me to get done. I think this was something that started around the beginning of 2015. Somewhere along the way, my friend wanted to also include an additional person. Naturally, I chose to draw the additional character riding one of the dragons. 

It was a totally bonkers thing that I started and stopped and started over the course of six years. At the start of this year I decided to bite the bullet and just get it done and in February I completed "Dragons' Feast". 

On reflection, I probably bit off more than I could chew. It was mentally and creatively exhausting in some aspects of the process. I will say though, I'm glad I stuck with it and completed it. It's good to develop and maintain the habit of following through with whatever you set out to do, otherwise you end up with a whole lot of unfinished projects that never see the light of day.

Anyhow, this is definitely one of the more bizarre things I've painted in recent memory.

Below is of course the final image, plus a black and white version (pre-colour and finishing details), and some of the key layouts that I developed when planning it out.

Dragons' Feast

Black & White (values only version)

Layouts:

Layout #1

Layout #2

Layout #3

Layout #4 (chosen layout)

Girl 2018 (Digital Painting)

Towards the end of 2018 I drew yet another girl. This time I kept the reference which was a photo taken by Tatiana Kurnosova and can be viewed here. I also recorded another time-lapse of my process. Looking back on it, there's a lot wrong with it, especially with the eyes, and quite frankly I don't know what's going on with the mouth. I should have re-posed it and spent more time refining the proportions. Another thing I know I struggle with (and it shows in this one) is painting the background. I either don't have a clear picture as to what I want to do with it, or just want to get it over and done with and so I rush it. Something I will try and improve on.

There's definitely a lot you can learn from viewing process videos of your own work to see areas of improvement perhaps more noticeably than when you analyse the end result. Just a thought.

Girl 2018

Time-lapse video.

Lady 2018 (Digital Painting)

It's been awhile since I posted anything here. Although over the last few years I haven't been doing much of anything visually creative until more recently, I figured I'd post some of the stuff I've done since 2016.

It appears I didn't really do anything in 2017, and it wasn't until 2018 when I drew/painted the below picture based on a reference photo I found online (unfortunately I don't think I kept the photo, so not sure who the photographer was). I did however record a time-lapse of the process of creating the picture.

That's all I got for this.

Lady (2018)

 

1 Minute time-lapse.

Look Ahead (Digital Painting)

A little something I did back in November to try out a new set of brushes in Photoshop.

Look Ahead

She Waits (Digital Painting)

This particular painting was created back in March, but I've only bothered getting around to uploading it now. Based on the reference photo here.

She Waits

She Waits (Black & White)

Initial Sketch.

Speed Painting #09 - Old Man

A speed painting based on reference here. Fast and loose.

Old Man

Old Man (Black & White)

Initial Sketch.

Can't Help Smiling (Digital Painting)

I haven't been drawing much at all over the last few months, so I've started getting back into it lately. Based on the following reference material here. Wanted to do something cheerful with vibrant colour.

Can't Help Smiling

Early stage of the process.