January 13, 2023 : Pretty Sketchy Stuff
Decluttering is a never ending process. Two months ago, I found a box of sketches I’ve done over the years. Many were over fifteen years old (?!). Some were specific to projects that actually came to fruition, while others were just random techniques and poses I was working on. I’m guessing these amounted to several thousand sheets of paper; and they ranged from awful to not quite as bad. That said, I went through them all and kept the ones I really liked. Being very discriminating, I ended up with 42… because Hitchhikers? Below is a compilation:
I had varying reason for choosing each one. Some reminded me of a project, and I liked how it captured the process. Others told a story (that may or may not have come to fruition). Others were kept out of pure nostalgia.
Either way, I am holding onto these and tossed (recycled) the rest. I haven’t drawn anything of significance lately, but it was cool to revisit all the old drawings I did over the years (good and bad); and maybe these saved ones will help provide some inspiration in the future.
posted by Pi Visuals at 12:03 am
Tags: DrawingComment
September 30, 2022 : Me and Me – Early Sketches Uncovered
Things have been really hectic lately. Between a couple side jobs and moving, I haven’t had time to do a whole lot (insert violin music here). During the clean up portion of the move, I came across this loose sketch from Me and Me’s Pre-Production:
I am always a fan of seeing how a project evolves over time. This was probably done two or three years ago (for future reference, I should date my sketches). At this point, the script was probably firmed up, and I already went through several drafts of initial sketches and needed to firm up some design details… which explains the notes.
I keep a folder for each project that houses all of these notes, drafts, and sketches. I’m not sure why this was by itself in a drawer, but it was cool to come across. Maybe when I put it in the folder where it belongs, I will peruse through some of the other items in there.
posted by Pi Visuals at 12:10 am
Tags: Drawing , MeAndMeComment
December 28, 2018 : Gaomon In Practice
Last month, after much procrastination, I decided to purchase a drawing tablet – the Gaomon PD1560. Even though I ordered it shortly after that decision, I didn’t get a chance to use it until a few weeks ago.
When I did finally crack it open, it took a little time to set up and figure out the settings; but for the last few weeks, it was heavily used for some storyboarding. Below is one of the boards:
Overall, I like it a lot. For starters, the tablet is very friendly with Photoshop, which is what I used for the Storyboards. Creating everything digitally from the get go also sped up my process considerably. In the past, if I needed a hand-drawn Board, I would have to draw them by hand, clean up the drawing, then scan it into my computer, and then clean it up digitally. Very tedious.
Being my first drawing tablet, I thought it would take a little time to get used to the sensitivity of digital drawing. However, that did not prove to be the case.
While I don’t have anything planned at the moment, I hope to use the Gaomon again soon. At the very least, I would like to do some recreational drawing on it. It is relaxing, plus it will help me better familiarize myself with Photoshop’s brush capabilities.
posted by Pi Visuals at 9:24 pm
Tags: Ad Wizards , Drawing , Drawing Tablet , PhotoshopComment
September 16, 2011 : Another Random Kick Shot
Had some more time to kill this week, so here’s another random sketch.
Not sure why I’m on such a ‘kicking’ kick with my recent sketches (no, I’m not proud of that). Anyway, I don’t have anything else worth mentioning at the moment.
posted by Pi Visuals at 8:32 pm
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September 4, 2011 : Kickin’ Back
These were originally two different sketches that I merged into a single drawing. If I spent more time on it, I would have put in a better background. Right now, it looks like a fight transpired in a guest bedroom.
posted by Pi Visuals at 12:20 pm
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August 26, 2011 : Ninjas On The Mind
I’ve been thinking about ninjas lately, at least more so then normal. With the eventual goal of creating a new ninja 3D model, some sketching has taken place to cultivate ideas.
I am going for a more cartoon-ish look for the character, but a lot of design questions remain. And we all know what that means… more ninja sketches.
posted by Pi Visuals at 10:52 am
Tags: Drawing , Ninjas2 Comments | Post a comment
August 21, 2011 : Sketching Interaction
I spent some time this week sketching an image with two characters interacting. I wanted to have each one convey a different emotion. It was far from perfect, but I liked how their body language expressed the status of their relationship. So I quickly traced a cleaned up version, scanned the image, and dropped in a generic background.
I did very little work after scanning the image. The scans were not digitally retraced – nor did I touch up either character; and while there are fifty things I would have fixed with the drawing, I do like how the image tells a story. Of course that story is left to the imagination: Who started the altercation? Were the roles reversed between the two characters earlier? How many fruit stands were destroyed up to this point?
I don’t plan on taking the image any further by redrawing or coloring it, but I might refer back to this image as inspiration for story ideas.
posted by Pi Visuals at 3:26 pm
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August 17, 2011 : When Technology Goes Bad
Technology is awesome – it makes life easier and more fun. Sadly, when it craps out, you realize how dependent you can be on it. This past week, I have had computer issues. So instead of being able to work on the computer, I have spent most of my time trying to fix these problems. Therefore, I have been incredibly unproductive.
The above sketch pretty well captures these frustrations. It also is the only thing I have been able to churn out because I’ve spent most of my time trying to resolve said issues… which I still don’t think I fully have.
posted by Pi Visuals at 10:51 am
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June 27, 2011 : Working In 2.5 Dimensions
One of the things I liked about the Back Alley drawing, is… well the Back Alley background. It was made in what I like to call 2.5-D. This means creating a pseudo 3-dimensional look without the 3D software. Specifically, I used After Effects to accomplish this. The first thing I did was create 2-D images for the walls and floor. This was done with in Photoshop.
The one above is the floor image. I wanted to make sure it didn’t look too uniform and give it a dirty feeling. The walls were done in a similar fashion. Below is an image of one of the walls (the right one).
I have never actually graffitied in real life; but if I were, I would make sure it said ‘Ninjas’. Anyway, I then took these images and put them into After Effects, and they were converted into 3D layers – this allowed me to rotate them to create the desired perspective look. After a few tweaks and a little color correction (darkening the alley and adding in a little dark blue), you have the image.
I have also spent some time sketching out a few ideas for another drawing. I haven’t decided on a new colored image to create, but I like these poses. Of course these were very quick sketches so they definitely need a lot of touch up work if I plan to move forward with them.
posted by Pi Visuals at 10:34 pm
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June 23, 2011 : Cel-Shading… Old School
So I was able to devote some time to complete a drawing I was working on last week. It’s been a while since I’ve gone past a rough sketch – including inking (digitally), coloring, and dropping in a background. I’m pretty happy with the end result:
The posing is simplistic – the drawing was conceived with the setting in mind (a dark alley). I intend future drawings to possess more action. While I like how everything turned out, much of the character’s detail goes unnoticed. This was required to get the right perspective and framing for the alley.
The size of the original drawing with just the character was actually very large (2500 x 3500 pixels). I ended up having to shrink it down to a tenth of the size. Here is a larger version of the character all shaded and everything – note that this is still less than half of the original drawing’s size.
posted by Pi Visuals at 7:50 pm
Tags: Drawing , Nephilim1 Comment | Post a comment