Paint The Game

[Frindis]

@Johnway Well, I liked it Win or not, at least you are contributing with something cool!

 

[Johnway]

@Frindis Thanks for the feedback! I guess its all goo practice as for once i had a focussed goal and i took a methodical/professional approach to drawing. In fact on the first few days it was reference gathering and me typing single sentences on a notepad for ideas and as a to do list. Thumbnails, practice images for expressions ideas etc.

The biggest problem was probably the lackluster execution and being an art compo, the professionals will run rampant and crush the amateur/hobby artist (i could be wrong though).

Still, glad to get it out of my system. If i had didn't submit anything i suspect it would have gnawed in the back of my mind until the 10th and probably feel depressed if i discovered i could come up with something compelling. Now i'm just depressed trying to learn some MS server skills in preparation for the office closure that's going to happen....

 

[Frindis]

@Johnway I hope you are right too. Most likely, they see through the fancy ones and go look for the one with more meaning and depth. This actually reminds me of how VaatiVidya organizes his art contests. He is very clear about differencing something that just looks incredibly good and something that looks good but has a soul *cough* Dark Souls.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baiVamSrGu8

 

[Johnway]

Whats that? the topic that has been idle for nearly a year is getting nerco'd? Thats right, because i've done some artwork thats actually game related. This time its Path of Exile's art compo! (again!) This is my entry of Cassia:

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

@Johnway I'm not into PoE but that's incredible! 10/10

 

[Johnway]

@Johnway I'm not into PoE but that's incredible! 10/10

Hey thanks man appreciate the compliments! Truth be told 2 weeks ago when i first started i was on the verge of throwing it out the (proverbial) window. Had to take a step back and do something else. I was distracted with work related stuff and was becoming restless with the sudden cold turkey without my daily dose of games. With the path of exile entry locked in, i can go back to my original picture. I'll show it all once its done. Not entirely videogame related but sod it, just pretend its some RPG character.

 

[Frindis]

Beautiful! @Johnway I always get happy when I hear the singing from Cassia

 

[Johnway]

Ok its been a while but i haven't been idle. I've made some more game related art!

before i start an apology i said that i would upload the picture i was working on prior to the stainglass window. The reason i went for stainglass window was because i was working on another painting and it was eating through my time. Not game related, so i didn't submit. I said i would and here it is:




Now to the topic at hand. The new artwork. On the next post....

 

[Johnway]

I was itching to do some more render practice and didn't have plans to make it game related but decided to go for it in the end. This time it was chivalry 2. before i show the final picture here was the original mock ups:


mason image


Agatha alternate image


both didn't feel right. Too dark and not really interesting. So i had to accept the fact that i had to manually handcraft the background. I'm not particularly good at them and i had hoped it would tell a story, but i had to give up on that. So after a lot of work its sort of done. i could spend hours noodling for details but i need to wrap this one up.

So heres the final pic!

 

[Zloth]

It's got a depth of field shader going! How'd you get a shader to run in a paintbrush??

 

[Frindis]

A tip my hat to your skill!

 

[Johnway]

It's got a depth of field shader going! How'd you get a shader to run in a paintbrush??

I wish i could say it was a secret technique and brushes, but yeah one of the advantages of digital painting is i can use technology to do the heavy lifting. In this case its multiple blue layers and guassian blur. Oh and i have the power to undo any mistakes or changes...

A tip my hat to your skill!

Much appreciated! when it comes to this stuff i don't really walk in with any preconceived ideas or plans. So no thumbnails no quick sketches. Which is bad news as i can't determine anything from poses, lighting, colour schemes or even the main story behind the picture. I wing it.

Much of the time its a lot of mental gymnastics trying to make things work. Its exhausting and sometimes downright painful. Poor draftsmanship means more work, Sometimes i keep toying with ideas and i become indecisive or i waste hours on a lost lead. Case in point this was the alternate pose:

 

[Johnway]

ok thought i might upload my WIP for the Chivalry 2 artwork. its far from finished but most of the details are there. unfortunately the face being he most important is also one of the most neglected part. Unfortunately its slowly becoming another one of those up hill struggles that i might have to accept i'm not going to win.



the face changes. I might try a few more heads and stuff before i stick to one:




ok as a bonus, not gaming related but something i did as some sketch exchange. What was supposed to be a throwaway art piece for practice turned into a month journey and work. someone did some frankenweenie sketch exchange and i decided to take a stab at it. i had been practicing perspective so i thought to give it a go for practice. How i managed to get to this stage i have no idea. i did save most of the steps for this one.

 

[Zed Clampet]

From the weekly thread:

oh alright i'll upload a few pics in the usual topic to sate the demand.

ok thought i might upload my WIP for the Chivalry 2 artwork.

Fantastic! You might be just a tad better than me. If someone here owed me money, I'd ask their opinion on that.

I can only paint bald heads. That's it. No people with hair. No environments. Just bald heads. AND, I get the colors directly off of the digital picture I'm looking off of, which may be cheating. I'm not sure of the art rules.

If I don't have a picture to look off of, I can't even paint bald people.

I would post a picture but they are just random heads I've found on Bing image search and have nothing to do with gaming.

 

[Johnway]

I can only paint bald heads. That's it. No people with hair. No environments. Just bald heads. AND, I get the colors directly off of the digital picture I'm looking off of, which may be cheating. I'm not sure of the art rules.

In the grand scheme of things? as long as its not plagiarism you can use whatever strategy works. As the old saying goes: a bad artist copies. A good artist steals.

Some speed painters take a photo and use that as a basis for their drawing. as it captures the mood, colours etc. in some cases its the only realistic choice when time is short. See the link below for an example:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2eTgIaWVRA


Theres plenty of tuts on how to draw the head andrew loomis one for example is pretty simple. i don't quite have the skill for lineart; i need the mess of scribbles and i need the underlaying structure etc. How some artists just draw a face infuriates me sometimes, probably because they practice like hell going to drawing classes and i do it for a hobby etc.

Must admit i do draw bald heads when i practice as well, but its mostly a cookie cutter process although theres no shame using references (in fact its encouraged). Sometimes i just copy other artists for practice to see if i can harness their powers or learn a thing or 2. When it comes to art i like to learn not just the how, but the why part.

 

[Zed Clampet]

In the grand scheme of things? as long as its not plagiarism you can use whatever strategy works. As the old saying goes: a bad artist copies. A good artist steals.

Some speed painters take a photo and use that as a basis for their drawing. as it captures the mood, colours etc. in some cases its the only realistic choice when time is short. See the link below for an example:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2eTgIaWVRA


Theres plenty of tuts on how to draw the head andrew loomis one for example is pretty simple. i don't quite have the skill for lineart; i need the mess of scribbles and i need the underlaying structure etc. How some artists just draw a face infuriates me sometimes, probably because they practice like hell going to drawing classes and i do it for a hobby etc.

Must admit i do draw bald heads when i practice as well, but its mostly a cookie cutter process although theres no shame using references (in fact its encouraged). Sometimes i just copy other artists for practice to see if i can harness their powers or learn a thing or 2. When it comes to art i like to learn not just the how, but the why part.

Thanks. Loved the video, too. Even at high speed, I saw a couple of things I could do differently.

 

[Johnway]

Well... nearly 3 months the picture is done. i think the current feeling is relief and disappointment tbh. The last few months working on it have been pretty painful and probably the longest i've spent on a picture and the results doesn't reflect the time and effort that went into it.

if i had to redo the image again i probably would have changed the game plan from the start. Mainly sod line art, define the light sources from the start and just get stuck in getting everything done in color. Oh and some proper research and idea as to what i was suppose to be doing. Amazingly the background took the least amount of work to sort out. It took me a weekend to cook up and i spent this week making final touches.

but its done now. I need a break and get back to my IT studies (need to study for AWS exam...) and practice art fundamentals and test some speed painting techniques among 100s of other things.

 

[SWard]

incredible!

 

[Johnway]

Ok back again with another art piece. Rather then doing one person, i decided to do a group of them and explore doing an epic piece. Surprisingly this one didn't take me that long all things considered. But then, i learnt from my mistakes, gathering relevant pictures, getting the background in place etc. I was able to complete it over a couple of weekends and days off and some of that time i was just doing minimal work.

All said and done, being the first of its kind there are mistakes that i will need to address in future pieces. Think of this as more of a exploratory/learning piece as i knew i was going to make mistakes and encounter pitfalls when creating something like this over a period of time.




Oh and as an added benefit i was able to create a gif using bloggif of the entire thing. Enjoy!

 

[Brian Boru]

That's great work! Love the stages pic

 

[Zloth]

That archer guy that got turned into a banner? His agent is on the phone and wants to have an unpleasant chat with you.

Really good work! 😍

 

[Johnway]

That's great work! Love the stages pic

Thanks! that bloggif thing is helpful. I usually make images of all art and always wanted to find a way to show them all without making 10+ posts long and been looking for something to make it interactive.

heres another one:

That archer guy that got turned into a banner? His agent is on the phone and wants to have an unpleasant chat with you.

Really good work! 😍

Thanks!

yeah i had to scrap the archer in the end it was causing tangents with the foreground elements and the few things i tried to correct/push the figure back sadly did not work. Plus the pose left gaps that i wasn't too happy about. Too big that i had to paint behind him. Too small to get any detail at all.

 

[ipman]

@Johnway Impressed by the quality and detail of your art work. I felt inspired to try using Paint again last night.

But can you upload a picture on here from your PC? If YES how?

I've been using some gaming sounds as part of sound art project, but would like to get into creating more digital images as well.

 

[Brian Boru]

But can you upload a picture on here from your PC? If YES how?

You can indeed, it's what we do in the Beautiful Game Appreciation thread.

Most of us use Imgur.com to upload the image, and then post a link here. You can get a special URL for forums in Imgur's hamburger menu on each pic.

 

[ipman]

Thanks, I did try Imgur but even with all my PC defences off, it said not available in my area(or wouldn't send code), bizarre! Trying imageshack for now.

This is my first real attempt at using Paint(also got Krita for when I get better). This thread is a good inspiration for trying to produce digital art. Will be looking for some tips on software and techniques from you artists.

It's fanboy art; Sabine from Watchdogs Legion with her distinctive anti facial recognition makeup(WD's has a habit of killing off it's most interesting protagonists).