New Portfolio Piece + Study
After applying for the open day at Grendel Games I thought I had time until Saturday to add things to my portfolio but it had to be sent in digitally by 20 April 12:00. I had always wanted to paint a robot. I can't draw robots well at all but I could try a round one inspired by a yellow boiled egg I was eating while travelling by train. Why a robot? Because Grendel Games has a game full of them and I wondered if it would fit nicely when going to Grendel.
~3/4h Speed painting. A speed painting is often made for quick ideas or to see what level you're currently at.
The 6 on the head was inspired by the red numbers that eggs have on them and for composition. The hook of the number 6 makes the viewer's eyes go towards the robot's eyes. At home I ate another egg, this one with a normal egg colour so the numbers were visible. I tried adding red numbers on the bottom part of the robot but the red just didn't suit it and made everything look crowded. The yellow lines and overlap help creating the illusion of depth and overall composition.
Steps of the process. I recently got a digital 3D program called Zbrush I have to figure out. I've made a 3D bust before and it was very easy because it felt as if I was using real clay! The problem is the buttons!! So many weird buttons I know nothing about. Just as in real life you sculpt, bake and glaze your clay. That's all I know about this program. I just use it to sculpt for fun and have no idea what button I'm pushing next...
For the robot I creating a clay ball, took a photo of that 3D ball and pasted that onto the robot in the left bottom corner to create clearer depth. From there I painted over it. Learned so much from this process!! The photo of the 3D ball was b&w and basically similar to a gradient overlay what I realised later. A gradient overlay is very simply put, a layer from black fading to white. If you have a round 3D one, it looks like a ball in greyscale, or an egg.
Jan van der Zee taught us about gradient layers in his lessons and I've watched Marc Brunet's lessons about it several times but couldn't get HOW to apply it to my drawings. Until now.
Another example: Draw a circle filled with yellow. Paste a photo of a b&w ball onto that and you get a yellow 3D looking ball. That's how gradient overlays can work. The other alternative is to just draw or paint a circle with realistic shadows. More work, but looks more natural. More fun.
The blue I got from Marc Brunet's old painting. No colour picker used. This painting hangs behind my computer screen so I know exactly what colours are used without having to check all the time. I didn't think most of the time and that's what made painting my robot feel so good and fun. I think speed paintings are a better way for me to come up with something decent than thinking about it all the time.
My robot is totally different and that's fine. Both our paintings are speed paintings and I'm content with how mine turned out. I wanted my robot to have a metal semi smooth texture which I couldn't get in time like the one in Marc's painting since the deadline for the portfolio submission was 2h away.
One of the techniques Marc uses I have used as well. He often throws in several weird complementing colours to make everything look more natural and closer to a traditional one.
Soon more...
