Focus to set the tone

Spent a little time this morning messing around with the face on the quick sketch I did the other day. I was listening to a tutorial on youtube about painting and the arist said that he likes to focus a bit on one area to set the tone. This helps establish where you want to go with the rest of the painting. This seemed contradictory to what I'd always heard which was move around, don't focus on one area. But it makes sense to me and I think I like it. Sure you need to work the entire image but at some point it's nice to establish your level of detail and lighting.

Harmony

You need to try this. It's so much fun. HARMONY

Quick Sargent Copy

I did this copy in 15 minutes. I think I was too loose and should have spent some more time setting it up. I'll probably try copying it again.

Concepts I did a few months ago...

Done with my Syd Mead Contest Entry

And it's done! This is why I like entering contests. You have a due date and that's when the image is done. I ended up adding more detail to the wind turbines and the guy in the foreground. I'm pretty happy with how it came out and I learned a lot going through the process. Here is a Link to the entry.

In the home stretch

I think I got the design of the ship down. I'm also feeling that the composition is locked in. Now I'm just detailing and trying to make it look as good as I can. I think it's starting to get that sci-fi feel.

Being less tentative

I was looking at the marine from yesterday and his head just wasn't fitting in. So I just painted over it. Why not? Today I was much less tentative in my strokes but more thoughtful. I also used a larger brush and I'm really liking how that feels. Plus I was looking at the ref face a lot. I was looking back at Nathan Fowkes' blog and trying to get more of what he says about value into my work. He is SO good with that and I'm such a noob. Well I feel like this was a step forward and a fun step at that.