Character history edit

In response to the feedback I got for my character history I decided to edit it a little.

So the history remains the same till flight school when Steve taught her the mechanics of being a mechanic and after that mostly the same as well however during flight school Jen went tinkering with Steve's own fighter. Due to a fault in the engine system, which Jennifer never touched, the fighter crashed into the near by lake and Steve was killed. The details of the crash were never released so while it wasn't Jennifer's fault she always believed it was. After a few months mourning she slowly tip toed her way back into tinkering and learning more about being a mechanic however she only ever worked on her own fighter and even if people asked her to fix their own she would refuse stating that the reason she worked on only her fighter was that if something went wrong only she would be hurt and only her would be to blame. She eventually got her confidence back fully but still refused to work on other peoples fighters, even her best friend Aden's. Just in case.

Facial expressions

I would have added the original facial expression sheet but again it uploaded upside down so the finished one will have to do. The top two images are the face and shoulders from the beauty shot with changed mouths and eyebrows (on the right image at least.) The bottom two are composites of 2 faces of Ada Wong, whom I found to have one facial expression of smug. The mouths on the top two faces were also Ada's that I warped slightly to make them fit on the face. I'm most pleased with the bottom right image as it looks largely how I imagined it would and I think brings out Jen's more feminine side, cutely brushing her hair behind her ear. In the original Ada image she wasn't smiling so I drew the corner of her mouth slightly upwards to give that cute half smile kind of look. I'm slightly disappointed about the sad look in the bottom left, again this was Ada's face with Jen's hair edited on top. To be honest I didn't really like the look, I don't really like the way her lips look, they just seem too big and obviously don't fit with the original face, because it is two different models as Pose Maniacs don't include facial expressions. I think this is definitely a weak point of mine however with practice I think I could improve, I mean I've already come a long way in 12 weeks (if I do say so myself) so I think I could definitely get much better. Facial expressions are just another thing to add to an ever growing list of stuff I need to practice and improve.

Environment and props

The environment went off largely without a hitch. I basically blocked in the colour from my scanned in drawing and touched it up a bit in case you didn't guess. It's not as good as my character which is a shame as I thought I was starting to get kinda good at this. The one thing I did add was the energy shield which I quite pleased with. It didn't turn out quite like how I imagined it would but it is close enough I think. Aside from that I think the environment looks ok, not great but not bad either. The props were interesting as I had no reference for their angle so had to guess draw it. The scanner worked quite well however the wrench didn't. I think what I needed to have changed was the angle so it was more perpendicular with the scanner and given it a much bigger shadow, also they don't look particularly metallic which is a shame as I think they look good over all. I do agree however there needs to be more in the hangar bay. I tried to show off all the bay but didn't take into account how high it would end up being or how little was actually in there. I would have loved to have done the hangar like the ones from my mood board but alas I'm not that good although considering what I've actually gotten done in the last 12 weeks it now seems that I might get as good as I want to be....at some point. The lighting also needs work too and I definitely need practice at that as well as making the materials look like what they are, the environment looks quite flat currently but with time I think I should be able to improve on this. I hope :S

The hangar bay Jennifer spends most of her time in

and two of the tool's she uses

Character image: Jennifer Grey (updated)

Well it took a while but I eventually got it done, I think at least. So the first picture is my first hand drawn image which was apparently completely out of proportion. Apparently. Personally the only thing I noticed was her way to small hand. So after going on Pose Maniacs, finding a pose reasonably close to what I wanted and tracing around it, then finding a head and tracing around that (the original poses head was too pixelated  to use) I had a perfectly proportioned person. Then came colouring, fortunately I got my graphics tablet in time so I was a happy bunny and considering I have hardly used one and never done digital art I think my shadowing and highlights of the jumpsuit, wrench, skin and boot turned out very well and I'm actually quite please with the result. Shocking I know, me, pleased with something I did. In fact the highlights and shadow were complete guess work, I had 2 reference images which I only partially used and the rest was simple guess work, I think it works though so what the hay but I have to say the Round Blunt Medium Stiff brush gives a really nice effect to the shadow and highlights. I tend to not use custom brushes I usually adapt my style to the tools instead of the tools to my style, I'm the same with games to and I just tend to put up with the defaults. The background was too boring so I decided to add a tool chest which is common sense really as she is a mechanic and I put her in the hangar bay as seeing as though that's where she works. In short I really am quite pleased with the result and it has really really come along way from the original drawing. Which is a very good thing indeed. On the whole I'm really, really pleased at how far I've come in such a short space of time. I honestly thought I wouldn't get anywhere but in truth I have and I'm pretty damn pleased too. I would have liked to have done better skin effects and shadowing but I think thats just something that will come with time and experience. For a first year drawing with no photoshop experience, I think its pretty bloody good.

So this is the failed first attempt

and this is the second not so failed attempt

The eighth day of life drawing

I actually got something done this time so I was pretty pleased. Lots of long poses so I actually got something done that I was reasonably happy with. Four poses before break then Gordon went back to two of them after break so even if I didn't finish the poses I could still go back to them after break and finish off with plenty of time to add more detail so I was a pretty happy bunny. Which is odd for me. I will admit when I started off with a skeleton and added the body around it it was mildly easier however I still managed to mess the proportions up a little so it's not full proof, although I guess it does rely on the fact the artist knows what they are doing and, you know, can draw. The shading went ok too seeing as though I'm constantly told to add colour to a picture that isn't even close to being finished. Yes I will add colour once I have drawn a body to add colour to, and I stay true to my word as in both long long poses I managed to finish the drawing and add a little bit of shading to it as well. I did buy shading pencils to learn how to use them after all and I think I am. Although I'm not really one to judge.

I give up with this rotation issue

Instead of using skeletons I thought I would use circles to map out body parts which is why Gordon's head looks a little odd, that and the fact I couldn't see half of it behind his shoulders.

So this was supposed to be the first sitting pose but Gordon wasn't comfortable so he changed it to this one. See I do listen, I put the skeleton in and I will admit it was mildly useful.

The seventh day of life drawing

OK so I'm not sure how many times I've said before but for reference (in case I haven't said) I'm not a fast drawer. I understand the concept and the reasoning behind it. Loosen you up, focus on the joints and the proportions, look at the way the body parts twist or how they are positioned it has been told to me hundreds of times and yes I do know and I do listen. The main problem is that I can't work like that. I can't quickly draw outlines or quick stick man skeletons for reference I just can't because it's not how I draw. I do know that I need to demonstrate it honestly I do but I can't do it in 5 and 10 minute increments I just can't....so that's why it looks like I haven't done much drawing. Basically. And also why I don't really have much to say other than complaints, oh drawing donkey's aren't as bad as you would think although the backache might take some getting used to.

Now this was interesting was picture. Top down view of 2 fighters and was quite complex to draw. Although it didn't help when Ben showed myself and Matt what he had drawn and we broke down a little, as did Ben. It was quite funny what he had accidentally drawn.

Bubbleman. There are some creepy ass body builders out there I'll say that much. Just keep drawing ovals to make the shape of a person and this picture would be complete

Ah if only I had the time, this Xenomorph would have been pretty cool to draw fully although I think I made a good start

Little Miss Iron Man, just because I didn't have a red and I was told to add colour

I'm sure there's some kind of political joke around here somewhere. This went ok actually I'm not too displeased with it other than the lack of time

Some kind of house elf, I try not to like Harry Potter too much, I would have gotten further with this but I had to re draw the left arm and his clothing gave me problems, it was just weird and hard to draw and it annoyed me >:(

Ah yea this was some weird ass Photoshopping but oddly enough the best picture I drew that day.
If I could have spent more time on it I think it could have looked quite good, you know for a lady with a dog jaw.

I'm Batman. Honest it is

The concept artists

Oh by the way, had a change of name. Just so you know....OK

First up is Richard Dumont and Eric Gagnon who are responsible for the 'Lions share' of the art for Deus Ex Human Revolution. I bought the collectors edition not really knowing what it was about short of a friend telling me it's the type of game I would love for game play, music and visual style. Flicking through the art book and maybe messing about with the action figure included in the edition I found that this is bang on the type of art I love. It's sci-fi no doubt about it but its...real. The image I found is concept of Megan Reed's office. There's holographic screens, new and interesting machines but it's also crammed with books, an old leather recliner and paper strewn all over the place. It still has connections to contemporary offices and it shows that even in a future where newspapers are now in the form of tablets books and paper still have a place. It's more believable as an environment. The art style is something I adore too. When I say I want to draw this is the type of drawing I dream of being able to accomplish. Long way off huh. It almost looks like a photo but you can subtly tell its been done digitally, explaining art isn't a strong point of mine. I really love the colour scheme of..well, everything in the game really. It's all blacks, oranges greys and browns but somehow I find it makes it more real. Far from the clean white and silver edges of most sci-fi games. Deus Ex just feels, real, and I think that's why I love it. I really want to play it now :(

I believe the phrase they used in the art book to describe the style of Deus Ex was Cyber Renaissance
which is why most of the clothes look like a modern take on 16th century clothing. Or whenever the renaissance actually happened. The building's also have slight influences of renaissance architecture

Matt Rhodes is the next artist least of all because he is the lead concept artist at Bioware and thus responsible for the concept art behind Mass Effect. Which is the best game in history no questions asked. I'm not biased at all. While Deus Ex has a more realistic feel to it because it is only the near future, say maybe 40 years (although I think the game is set closer to 70+ years into the future) Mass Effect is well into the future, some 170 years. So while Deus Ex still has some contemporary elements Mass Effect has lost most of them opting for the more typical neon lights and silver metal surfaces to some areas like the Citadel or Ilium but still keeps a grimy, run down slum looking areas such as Omega. Despite the sleek metal corridors of the Citadel it still feels lived in. The Presidium is where all the fancy people live. It's very sci-fi with white walls and a mix of edges and very smooth metal surfaces, ponds and fancy parks but the Wards where average people live is very different. On the face of it the Wards still have the edges and very smooth surfaces but they feel so much more alive and you can see that in the concepts. There are people bustling about with bright neon adverts above their heads and cars whizzing about above it just feels so much more alive and you can feel that in the art. Again the art style itself is something I love too, that digital picture type art that looks almost real. I find that I'm attracted to sci-fi concept art that looks like that, hence Mass Effect and Deus Ex.
I understand I haven't really explained why I like the art very well. It is hard to explain why I love it I just sort of, do. But I hope the pictures help give a better idea of at least the type of concept art I like.

These are some of the ideas for Jack. A badass biker chick/ psychopathic killer
with way to much biotic power and eagerness for killing.

Citadel Wards

I'm pretty sure this is concept art for Shepard's apartment in the Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC. Which actually looks completely different in-game. 

Thom Tenery was one of the many concept artists behind the 2013 film Oblivion. I guess by now you're seeing a trend with my concept artists. Unlike Mass Effect and Deus Ex Oblivion is very spartan. It's all very clean, white and a mix of angular and smooth with no real stand out features, oh apart from god damn perspex pool that looks down onto a 2 mile drop or some ridiculous height. That would scare the crap out of me, in fact living there would scare the crap out of me. It's not until later in the film do we see Jack's little cabin in the woods he has been building for what I can assume is years. The concept art for this is wildly different from the one seen in the film as it is more of a house, less of a tent. Still it is very beautiful picture in itself, the way it blends into the grass and the trees behind it and how Jack has scavenged various bits for it both functional and cosmetic adds more personal touches, like he lives there instead of just stays there like he does in Tower 49 which it is a very far cry from. I also like how in other pieces of his art he has merged nature with buildings like nature is reclaiming the world. It's much the same as Jack's cabin however he has blended it into nature rather than nature taking it back. If that makes sense. I think it looks nicer blended instead of reclaimed. Back to nature reclaiming the world it's a nice change to see striking images of skyscrapers popping out of the ground or battleships in the middle of what is now desert plains. The world is a very flat, empty place with lots of massive open spaces, its a nice change to see iconic buildings as well as general ones poking out of the sand to provide a little break in the scenery. Plus I find that sort of hauntingly pretty. There was one scene in the film and I'm quite annoyed I couldn't find a concept art picture of it  but its 2 rows of apartment buildings creating an artificial canyon  with waterfalls running down in front of them, that I thought was very pretty.

The tower the two characters live in is striking in its own sense

Oh this is the massive drop you see through the bottom of the pool.
Terrifying 

The living area of Tower 49

The world being reclaimed and almost remade by the nuclear blasts, earthquakes and tsunamis 

Jack's cabin in the woods

OK I think this is a still from the movie but I'm not sure, anyway this is what I was talking about with the whole artificial canyon thing.

And now for something completely different. Ray Lederer who worked on environment, prop, characters and key action scenes for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim does some amazing fantasy work. These pieces are more obviously artwork and are a little more stylised than the previous selections however I like these because they look more like painting than pictures. I just realised that my choice in concept artist's somewhat contradict each other, I like 'picture perfect' and paintings. Although that being said the sci-fi ones do tend to look better as 'pictures' while more fantasy images such as Skyrim or Oblivion (the game this time) tend to lend themselves more to painting style. Either way I like both. I think my two favourite pieces are the Wisp mother and the troll fight. The troll fight has a clear epicness about it, the Dragonborn fighting a clearly much larger and deadly creature than himself . The expression on the trolls face is awesome too and frankly makes the whole fight much more epic than they actually are in game. I can't quite pin-point what I like about the Wisp mother picture I just sort of do. The way brush strokes and colour have managed to make her look very ethereal is very impressive, I also quite like the little stream just in front of her just because of all the little bits of detail that have gone into it like the reeds and small rocks, it just looks pretty and adds a little more to the picture. Now if I'm honest I'm not a real fan of the Solitude concept. Having played the game I just don't think of this picture as Solitude. It just looks too medieval if that makes sense. However that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the art, and I do. The sky is incredibly pretty and could have only been made better with the addition of the aurora borealis you see so often in game. The little bay as well is really cute and I like the little lighthouse you can see through it as well as the way the light gently bathes it, it's a bit of a shame Ray decided to keep the sun behind the city, personally I think the city would have looked prettier as well as more welcoming if the light shone from behind the little character in the foreground. But that's just me.

I believe this is early concept art for Solitude 

This is concept for a Wisp Mother

This is a pretty epic looking fight with a frost troll

Paul Chadeisson is the concept artist behind the game Remember Me, which ironically everyone forgot about. While everyone was complaining about how bad it was (which it kinda was) I was busy unlocking the concept art, just because I liked it. So first up is the top image, this is about half way through the game. The rain looks really good and really adds to the depressing atmosphere as well as the drenched Nillin who looks either in sneaking mode or a bit tired. The blues and very little else adds to the depressive atmosphere making the picture look pretty cold, although it is raining and rain tends to be cold. I like the lens flare from the drone as well, don't know why I just think its a little something extra to the picture and looks pretty cool. Another thing about the picture is the blend of old and new. Deus Ex did it but it was more renaissance and future, this is more contemporary and future. The game is set in Paris, just so you know but I think it's quite tasteful the way they have blended the modern with the Victorian style glass roofing and shops. You can't quite see them in this picture but trust me they're there. I also like the massive difference between rich and poor. The slums are comprised of either home made shelters or corrugated iron houses much like Rio De Janeiro while only a few miles away the rich live in their.....I've no idea what you call the style but it's the bottom picture. It's so vastly different that it's like another world, which in a way it is. You can also tell its a much nicer place simply because it's sunny, in fact I don't think you ever visit the slums on a sunny day and it's mostly the same with the concept art. The slums are dank, dull and wet to help with the oppressive atmosphere but the upper class areas are bright, airy and use lots of light colours to create a light atmosphere, to lift troubles away as it were.
I have no idea what I'm talking about.

While not quite the slums this is a more average person area.

The slums surrounding the San Michele dam

The more fancy areas of Paris, where peasants aren't allowed to go

Stephan Martiniere was responsible for the concept art behind the 2012 remake of Total Recall. Which few people liked because it didn't have the classic Arnie quotes, or his various noises. So while people were hating on the film I was watching it thinking ' Man I would love the concept art book for this' and added it to my list of concept art books to get. To be honest I'm struggling to find new ways to say the same thing about the artwork, it's fairly obvious by now the type I like and I hope I managed to get across why I like them. Although one thing I did like was the cars and the magnetic highway that ran above the old roads, which are still used. I do quite like the cars though as they are very sleek and actually don't look too bad, at least compared to the little bubble car in the bottom left of the top image.
So yea not really sure what else I can say about it that hasn't already been said :/

I think this is concept art for London but I'm not completely sure

OK this one is definitely London, its one of the magnetic highways that run above normal roads

I'm sure there are many other artists out there I would love but these are a few I've come across so far. I hope I can actually remember their names for references as they are pretty cool.

The sixth day of life drawing

This time its textures. Which was all different levels of fun. So I think Gordon was sat in the middle of room on a leather beanbag with a vase of dried flowers next to him. I however couldn't see as half the people were standing up in an effort to possibly improve drawing skill, I'm not convinced personally. Instead of drawing Gordon I drew the back of Callum which wasn't to bad and the closest I've gotten to actually finishing a picture in life drawing. I kept being told to add texture to it until I realised that this meant shading of creases in the fabric of his clothes. While I would have gotten round to it I would have liked to at least finished the picture before adding more complex shading, its just how I work.  I like to make sure I can actually draw whatever it is I'm drawing before I add any more advanced and yes I consider shading advanced. On the plus side Will gave me a 'Seal' of approval which I thought was pretty funny. Second up was Gordon in a Gandalf looking robe with a staff, pretty cool to be fair. So I tried my hand at this one and hoped for a better result, and got one oddly enough. While I didn't actually get far in the picture (didn't get lower than the shoulders) I did do the best face I've ever drawn and was incredibly pleased with it which I know is a surprise, I'm not happy with anything I do. The "texturing" however looked weird. I was told it was perfect but really it just looked like flat pattern on a flat cloth rather than folds in the fabric so I was confused when I got told I was doing good, so while I never finished the picture it was actually my best one to date.....cause.....logic, that's why. I found I do quite like shading pencils. I bought a tin of B to 6B pencils and found they're not to bad so I think that will be my tool of choice, chalk and charcoal are just to messy, imprecise and I don't like their look. Also I would have put up my picture of Callum but the pencil lines were too light for my camera to pick up and its too big to scan but I did manage to get a nice(ish) picture of the Gandalf pose.

Join the dark side Luke.....

Facial expressions

Don't laugh I found I'm not that good at them

So the one big problem I had was bloody teeth. I ended up doing quite tame expressions. Slight smiles but not much variation simply because her teeth looked weird. I got one expression with teeth that looks not to bad which is the shocked one in the top left but the other one I attempted which was supposed to be almost a 'You're as good as dead' face made her look like some kind of hillbilly, just because of the teeth. One tiny thing letting it down. I think it might be because my drawings are too small, that would make a lot of sense  and I think next time I'll do them bigger, also teeth are just too damn hard anyway so I think toothy facial expressions might help. Bigger drawings with more toothy expressions, scowls, fear, very happy those kinds of things. I think I'm getting somewhere with skin tone though. I started following the tutorial which I printed off and got to the 3rd stage which is adding a dark pink which is used for shaded spots. I started off round the hair but then experimented with lightly shading under the lips, above the eyes and around the nose and I think it came out quite well although I doubt you could see it in the picture. One expression I really really wanted to do was a slight side shot of Jen, shyly looking down moving a bit of her hair behind her ear with a cute smile. I thought that would look really nice but after the messing about I did with  these expressions and the trouble I had with head side shots I decided no....just not even going to attempt it. Would have loved too but no, maybe some other time but definitely not soon. Unless a miracle happens which it might because you just never know.

Ok this rotation issue is getting stupid now >:(

Front back and side shots of Jen and props

Ok so don't laugh.
Yes I'm going to make that a thing now. Front shots of Jen fine. Back shots not so much but side shots. Never again. The one damned annoying thing was the face, it's so bloody flat it looks awful and I've no idea how to correct it without making it worse. I tried looking at pictures on the interwebs but no, not a single bit of help. Although that being said they did help a little with the side shot of the hair. The mannequin helped with the side shot too  all be it not much. and the rest was done by eye and guess work. The skin tone I think has improved, only very slightly though. I downloaded a tutorial for using the skin tone pencils I bought and I think that will be quite useful in the long run and it seems quite comprehensible, well easy enough for me to follow at least. The props were quite simple and didn't take too long at all, which probably shows :/. Also my colouring is getting worse. Not sure if its my techniques, my crayons or both but I think general tutorials might be needed here.

Just to clarify the wrench at the bottom is telescopic, this is it's shortened form.

Proof I'm not bad at drawing

Ok so this is just proof that I'm not a completely crap drawer I'm just crap at drawing the things I've been set, such as characters, environments and props. Just saying.

Ada Wong (Resident Evil 6)

Mass Effect picture called The Lonely Duet 

This is supposed to be rotated anti clockwise 90 degrees

The fifth day of life drawing

My true love gave to me...
Oh come on you must have seen that coming.

So this time we were doing facial expressions, which is something I do struggle with a reasonable amount however it seems there are a lot of camera shy people in our group bar a couple and I found that the pictures of various facial expressions were not all that useful. The notes I took down might help me at some point however if I can hardly draw a face full stop, then expressions are a little out of my league......for now. The poses that we were also told to photograph might help a little bit as I recently bought one of those poseable wooden doll things, which I can't actually pose so its quite useless. I also had a quick look at posemaniacs and that looks quite promising, I think I will make more use of that if I can. Although I don't think I have a problem with poses as they are, more the detail. Hands on hips and breasts, like the one thing I can't actually draw despite drawing anime, well a little bit anyway, still that's one thing I really do struggle with. Along with noses, lips, hands, feet, eyes and well....everything. :S

Oh and we didn't do any drawing.......so no pictures......sorry.  

The fourth day of life drawing

This lesson we were told to bring colours, only half of us didn't as we didn't know we needed to bring colours so we had to use coloured chalk instead, yay(!)
Although really this lesson was a bit of a joke, I mean come on it was halloween and Gordon put on Steph's horse mask. If thats not a not lesson then I don't really know what is and I've had my fair share of not serious lessons. Anyway here are the drawings and yes, I did spend a lot of time on the horse mask. Because its funny to see a naked guy coming at you with an Assassins Creed hidden blade drawn and wearing a horse mask, thats why.

Oh yea me Callum and Steph had a bit of a chalk fight....it was a long lesson