Shadowing

First character I ever made in an RPG. Rock Star/Hero. Telepath/Telekinetic/Empath. One cool mofo.

10 minute negative space painting in PS7.

Cover final- PEA

***EDIT*** There were flaws in the color from resizing, I'm guessing. Here's the corrected.

There's a fellow named Pete Hernandez who's an amazing illustrator. He's been doing some artwork for the same RPG that I have and, in a nutshell, he's been blowing my work out of the water. This prompted me to elevate my game a bit and really push myself to learn Photoshop 7. He's still worlds better than me, I have no illusions about that, but I felt that I owed it to Will (the game creator) to give it everything since I had the cover. So here it is, the cover redone. I'm happy with it, considering where my skill level is and the short amount of time it took me to get here.

Thanks Will for the opportunity and thank you Pete for all the help you gave me with PS and silently pushing me.

Futuramicus

I was going for a retro look, but since I didn't reference anything, it doesn't quite look retro. I like it and will use it still. I need to learn more color theory...

Hollywood Vampire...

Without giving too much away, this pic is part of something larger so the gradient background is only for display by itself.

Incredible

Holy crap. This is kinda scary. I settle on the technique and everything from beginning to end seems so much easier now. This only took me 2 hours and 45 minutes to do.

All digital. Photoshop 7.

Evolution

WooHoo! I think I've finally gotten a handle on how I'm going to color, as illustrated above. It's a combination of a lot of different styles (as I'm sure a lot of indy artists are Dr. Frankensteins when it comes to this) and I think it best suits my style of line work. Hope you like =)

Finding my North

So, as I learn more about my trade and it's tools, I get anxious to test things out. So the stuff I've been putting up is mainly without too much thought behind the composition...

I had a lot of fun with this piece and, with the exception of the minor hi-lights at the very end, it all came out the way I thought it would. Very cool.

WageSlave

WageSlave concept for Priest's Epic Adventures. I've refined my line work and shadows a lot. Simplified the shadows while going deeper in the line work. I think that's working out well for me. I've started to try and learn effects and shapes now. Nothing fancy yet, but my grasp of photoshop is improving daily and I think I'll have some really good stuff soon.

Relief?

This one came out a lot better. Cell shading felt good but the hi-lights are still tough. Also, I focused a little more on the line work, something I've gotten away from since I got the tablet.

Love, Hate, Love...

I fucking hate this picture. I figured it would get better as I go but the further along I went, the worse it got. There are so many different shading techniques and I'm having a lot of difficulty figuring out which technique is best for which lighting. I probably should have gone with simple soft cell shading for this, but I thought I'd flex my muscles... muscles I don't have apparently.

Anyway, the fire technique is nice. Something I picked up in a tutorial. A little more practice and that will look sick.

More re-color

Again with the re-coloring... This one, I may like the original colors better than the new one... dunno though...

Freshen Up...

I've been studying a lot of video and reading some articles on coloring. Mostly good stuff, but a lot of these guys talk like you already know your way around photoshop... that parts a little annoying...

Anyway, I picked up some new techniques and wanted to give them a whirl. Re-did the colors for Victoria Scarlet. I've reposted the original along with the new version for comparison. I like the new one... I like the old one too though... a little help here... =)

Grrrrr....

Trying to employ some techniques that I've seen on YouTube... doesn't quite work the same. Gotta figure out the problem...

New Look...

Me like. You like?

fun fun fun

I'm getting comfortable with this digital thing, so I'm starting to add a little movement. This was fun!

See it through...

This pic did not feel like it was coming together at all. I'm trying to get into the habit of finishing everything, though. So I toughed it out and in all honesty, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Actually, I kinda like it. I've watched a WHOLE LOT of digital painting videos, taking small parts of many artist techniques to suit my personal style. I feel I'm making progress, but I'm still a ways off from having the really fine finish you see in so much digital work these days... 

... just gotta keep on, keepin' on...

Victoria Scarlet

RPG character of an old flame...

Intermission, Recap

No new art for this post, but hopefully something good later today.

I started this blog as a diary. A way to display my progress as an artist since I decided to pick it up after an absence of many years. It was painful getting started again, having an appreciation of art through a mature eye and understanding that I'd let myself fall off for so long that I was no longer relevant as an artist. I had vision, but no skill and as any artist can tell you, the longer away from the game you stay the worse your chops get. It's not just a lack of growth, it's the same as staying in shape as an athlete. 

I made the decision to get back into the game a couple years ago when my everyday life was coming apart. The whole time this was happening, I couldn't help but feel that I'd been missing something for the previous 9 or 10 years while I wasn't drawing. 

It started simple, drawing characters and the like from the old RPG's I used to run and play as a younger man. The problem was that I was falling back into the same bad old habits I had when I was said younger man. I quickly began to regret not staying in school for art. The following year, I made a great friend in Sam Liu, who is  a terribly talented artist and has been in commercial art business for many years now. I moved to LA from NY and began to learn storyboard art through him. Truth be told, it was a difficult process. I had the aforementioned bad habits and unfortunately, the economy just happened to be headed into recession which made the whole situation super stressful for me and probably gimped me up quite a bit. Sam was great through all of this. He taught me the importance of mastering the fundamentals before pushing the boundaries. He taught me the value of hard work as an artist. You see, for me, art had always been a thing I'd done when there was nothing else for me to do. It hadn't been serious for me since I was a teenager. Having the mentor in my life made all the difference and though I still have a long way to go, I see growth in my work in ways that I'm not sure I would have found without a little guidance.

I'm back in New York now. The economy took it's toll on my situation and quite honestly, I wasn't progressing fast enough to forecast when I'd be able to get into the industry. I came back to stabilize my life and it's turning out to be a great decision. I've picked up a pen tablet and my boundaries are really expanding as an artist. I'm painfully addicted to this thing. For anyone out there who frowns on these things because they think it gives just anyone the ability to make great pictures, I have some news for you. You still need talent. You still have to work. This thing makes it much easier, no doubt, but the tool doesn't make people artists. 

Anyway, I just wanted to sum up what this blog is about for those who weren't sure. If you look at everything I've done from the beginning, I hope you can see some progress from me. The goal is to post, good or bad, to take the mistakes and talk about them. It's as much a diary as it is a journal, so that I can go back, look and learn from my mistakes.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and view the blog. Any input from anyone is welcome. Though no one comments here, I still get phone calls or IM's from friends asking me about stuff I wrote here. Thanks again =)

Matt

EPIC Adventures Cover art

So here's the cover art for EPIC Adventures. This is 100% digital, as I've grown to love. However, after only a week of having a tablet and really using Photoshop, I made a whole crapload of mistakes while working on this. Nothing I couldn't get through, of course, but it made this take a hell of a lot longer than I anticipated. Anyways, hope you like.

The Corporate and The Sprawler

I was up late working on this one and I think it was worth it. I really like this one and I think I had a breakthrough with my process. Hope you all like it too =)

Progress

Photoshop is a beast to learn on your own. Thank God for friends who know the program. I think I'm getting better though =)

Angelica Update

My color selections are still weak... I'll get there. So, touching up images I did before I got the tablet is really hard. I did a lot of shading and detail with my pencils and that makes the process take a very long time. The first one I did, I simply sketched an outline, then did all the detail in photoshop with the tablet. That was actually much faster than this one, which required a whole lot of "tracing" and many many more layers it than a fresh image, it seems.

Lisa Nemeser

Turning the Page

Alright folks, big news for me. I've gotten myself a pen tablet for digital painting and all sorts of other neat art stuff. Above is the first complete image I've done. I know, it's really not that hot, but I'm learning here. Lots and lots to learn actually. Takes quite a bit of getting used to as well. The plus side is that I'll be able to produce faster, cleaner and complete color art works. I'll have this thing down in no time at all and that, my friends, has me excited!