Babe Lab Mascot -- pass 3

Third time's a charm.



Don't worry, I'm going to fix the arms/hands.
Wendy was kind enough to supply hers. And a bowl.


I'll probably do something to open her cleavage up, just 'cuz.

Babe Lab Mascot -- pass 2

Yes, this is working better, though I may mess with the angle on that cannister so that negative area next to the head isn't so uniform...



...liiike so.

Babe Lab Mascot -- pass 1

Working up an illo from a thumbnail scribbled in a restaurant waiting room last weekend. It's for Babe Lab -- part of a series, no doubt.



The legs and the cannister need work, but it's getting there. Phase two complete. The cannister in the thumbnail works better because it's streamlined and less like something you'd see at a bank teller's window. It needs to be more fun to look at while not stealing spotlight from its contents. I also sorta screwed myself by picking such a straight-on, 1-1 shot...gives the legs waaay more emphasis than they need, and draws attention to my anatomy fuckups.

If you can say it, you can correct it.

Saturday sketching

I decided to get outside my comfort zone (media wise) with some tech/brush pen action. Erasing just cuts into valuable drawing time anyway...



Upper left : Victoria's Secret catalog doodles (Wendy has it sent to the house, not me, honest!)

Lower left : bits from AM lifedrawing session (Crabby Pants Pastel went on and on about how well this particular model was able to hold the pose. Her drawing, not surprisingly, was no better for it.)

Rest : misc. coffeehouse people and PM lifedrawing session -- blades, fans and guns! My kind of model.

I loves me some Gil Elvgren.

To prove I'm not always a hater, here's a knob-slobbing writeup on the piece below. 'Drew some breakdowns for extra-extra credit!



Also, this.

I did some quickie Elvgren studies a while back, but I can already see the benefit of delving deeper. The man was/is a goldmine!

lifedrawing log - 03.20.10

Post update : I killed the comments on this thread, as one of the participants mentioned specific names and locations that are best left undisclosed. I do this not to backpeddle -- I stand by every statement I've made -- I just think it's important to keep their identities and whereabouts anonymous. The session I attend is moderated by a good man, with good skills and good intentions. Even though it attracts the kind of element I abhor, it's not my wish to tarnish the session itself.

Anyone who'd care to have a lively debate with me on the subject is welcome to contact me privately at djunderfoot (AT) gmail.com.

---

Crabby Pants Pastel : The pose changed.
Me : No it didn't. It's the same pose. The same basic pose.
Crabby Pants Pastel : Well if she moves, how am I supposed to draw her correctly?
Me : Your drawing is already so far from what she's actually doing that, unless you start over, you'll never be able to compensate. There's no point telling the model she's moved an inch when your drawing is off by a mile.
Crabby Pants Pastel : [quietly shits self]



The above dialog didn't really happen. Well, the first two lines did, but I stopped myself before giving ol' Crabby the thorough thrashing she deserves. A beautiful model held a pose for 3 hours, only to be transformed into yet another formless, pastel discharge. But of course, that's the model's fault. How can Crabby be expected to portray beauty under such conditions? The gall!

I struggled with today's pose. It was hard. It's my own fault for getting distracted by all the shit that goes on. I watch half the people file out after the first two hours. They come, sit blankfaced through the gestures, do one unsuccessful drawing, then dust their hands off and say, "That's that!"


The mockeries they make of these women -- they're so much worse than any slander I could possibly deliver in these posts. And it's always women. Young, gorgeous women. But do they err on the side of the un-horrific? No. When they aren't reducing them to 80s vector graphics, they're drooping their features so as to resemble Native American chiefs. They placate each other by saying meaningless things like "I love your colors." Not "I love how you handled the rouge on her cheek." or "You really nailed those cool shadows, and oooh, nice warm bounced light on the underplanes!" -- "I love your colors." Last week Oshkosh B'Gosh gave the model a literal toucan beak for a nose. Jurassic Park takes naps right in the middle of the poses. You only have to look at his work to tell he's completely numb to the experience.

I was once told, "Don't hate, congratulate!" I have a better version : "Don't hate, evaluate...then hate."

Babe Lab cntd.

Thanks for the outpour of support for Babe Lab! Gonna try to update it once or twice each week. Lots of ground to cover!



I've already had interest from peers to contribute (believe me, it's very much welcome), so hopefully it won't just be me running my mouth all the time!

New Blog : Babe Lab

This is something I've been meaning to start compiling, soooooo...I started!



Bab Lab will be a datapool for everything/anything I learn about drawing women, and will eventually feature the knowledge/talents of other artists.

My motivation is threefold.
1) Get better at pinups.
2) Analyze, meet and converse with artists I love.
3) Take periodic mental vacations from the world of game development.

Please check back for regular updates, as I suspect this is where I'll be posting most this year and for the foreseeable future, until I run out of interest (not likely). At the moment I'm just adding things as they occur. It's going to be a lot of work. Sexy, sexy work...

Thanks to my bro, Kurt, who hooked up the sweet logo.

lifedrawing log - 03.13.10

If I've been stingy with posts, it's only 'cuz I've got something new in the works. More updates on that later. For now, this...



Side note : Last night Wendy and I attended Massive Black's South By Southwest party, "Visions." It was like stepping into an alternate universe where concept art is a three ring circus of hedonism, complete with a ringmaster. "Step right up, step right up! See the exotic animals! Marvel at the attractive dancing girls!" To be fair, the event was totally free, and a welcome excuse to rub elbows with local industry folk.

Design Protocol

My dayjob's monopolized my brain lately, so I've been thinking a lot about what makes designs work, aesthetically and within the narrative of a game. There's no set sequence, of course, but I think it helps to work from the top of this list down rather than from the bottom of this list up. And it applies to just about anything you'd need to concept.

Some of this is nabbed from Paul Rivoche's excellent design tutorials in Draw! magazine (first given to me by an AD at Raven Software).

CONTEXT
Where does it fit in the narrative? [gameplay inclusive]

LOCATION
Where is it physically based?

FUNCTION
What purpose(s) does it serve? [gameplay inclusive]

SYMBOLS
What visual cues are essential for people to recognize that function?

MASSES
How much real estate does this occupy? What is its broad physical makeup?

HIERARCHY/FLOW
How are the masses grouped? Importance and spatial arrangement are tied to function. [gameplay inclusive]

MATERIALS
Details, Patterns, Textures

MOOD
Lighting, Atmosphere

---

Example : The iconic Mos Eisley Cantina from Star Wars Episode IV

CONTEXT
"Tatooine is Luke Skywalker's home planet, where our story begins. It's hot, hostile and generally depressing there. The Mos Eisley Cantina, no exception to the rule, is where Luke narrowly avoids a brawl and coordinates his escape from Tatooine with some pivotal characters."

LOCATION
"It's in the thick of Mos Eisley Space Port, a bustling urban hub of Tatooine."

FUNCTION
"It's a bar. Customers come in for food, drinks and entertainment."

SYMBOLS
"There's a physical bar, barstools, booths, a stage with a band and lots of strange aliens milling around with drinks."

MASSES
"It's got roughly the area of a '50s diner. One story with a low ceiling. Entrance. Main Floor. U-shaped bar. Stage inset into wall. Semicircular booths that seat two people with squat, cylindrical tables. A few small, boxy windows."

HIERARCHY/FLOW
"Entrance leads to main floor. Main floor leads to bar (key area of interest). Bar leads to stage. Booths around stage."

MATERIALS
"Chipped adobe walls and arches with corrosion near base. Smooth stone slab floor, scuffed with sandy footprints. Space age drink containers behind bar. Metal flue above bar."

MOOD
"Dusky, dank. Diffused up-light from bar and tables and directional light from small windows. In contrast to the oppressive atmosphere, we have some rather festive, improvisational space jazz ambience."

lifedrawing log - 03.01.10

More of this...