Sketchpad doodles...

Hope you're all having a good'ol weekend? If not, don't worry, here's a bunch of mostly disgruntled faces to cheer you up = )

-M-

Speed paint #10

Here's Tuesday's Sketch-ercise...

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-M-

Speed paint #9

Hi guys, here's Monday's sketch-ercise... Originally thought I was gonna end up with some sort of misty lake-type scene but then my hand did this... There's an awesome vid of American painter/ illustrator George Pratt where he explains, "if I just dive in & let the line- let the drawing tell me where it needs to go, I'm open to more happy accidents... trust your instincts"... I try to take this on board as much as I can these days... George is an amazing talent; he gives great advice & is also a real nice guy- check out some of his online video workshops if you get a chance [definitely worth it].

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-M-

'The Jewel & the Thief'

Okay, I finally finished off this piece from a few weeks back [here's the original post I made]... Having now properly attempted this process of working monochromatically [to begin with] for the first time, I have to say I really do appreciate the method; definitely does help with locking down tonal values early on, without having 'colour palette' decisions as added equations for your brain to calculate... just helps to break up the process. All in all, it's a great way of speeding up your workflow if you're on a tight deadline or just generally... Bellow is the finished piece & a slideshow of the key stages I went through to completion... I did want to place the images here, but because of how sporadic blogger always seems to place 'side by side' pics, I opted for slides. If you have any idea how to get around this, please... enlighten me ; )

'The Jewel & The Thief' ©Maxwell. A. Oginni 2011

My mood board.

-M-

Speed paint #8

Here's a study I managed to squeeze in over the weekend since I missed my session lastweek Thursday. Had no idea what I was hoping to end up with on this one, except the lighting I wanted & that it'd be based above cloud level. Started blocking out random shapes & somehow ended up with this monstrosity of an airship...

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Just for kicks [purely my own I'm sure], there's actually a little story in this; if you look real close you'll see what appears to be a group of dots huddled together on the far left side of the image... those are smaller ships... you'll also notice quite faintly, the lager ship has a front cannon deployed which is smoking... Just at the tip of the airship, notice something falling from the sky.......? No...? Aaahh f'geddit!  Have a great day folks ; )

-M-

Speed paint #7

Hi folks. Here's Wednesday's study... Hopefully make up for Thurs/ today over the weekend. Out celebrating a friends birthday this eve, then tomorrow having a long overdue outdoor photography session with a good pal; may share some pics on here next week [should be fun]. As always, wishing you good people a fun filled weekend too ; )

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-M-

Speed paint #6

This morning's speedpaint session. Spent a little more time on this one as I kept getting distracted... Note to self: "Don't ever again log into Skype whilst working!" [Thanks Bernie!] ; )

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-M-

Speed paint #5

Mornin' folks! Hope you all had a fun weekend & ready to start a fresh new week...? Good stuff! Here's this morning's warm-up study.

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Have a Blessed day!

-M-

Speed paint #4

Hey folks! Was out super early yesterday morning at the airport [sadly no not flying, escorting] so didn't have time to do my morning session. Made up for it this evening though, so feel I've now earned the right to retire for the day... A little about this quick study: Was doing some research on rainforests this week & found some great images. There's so much beauty & mystery in these places, from the vibrancy of colours, the misty canopies of those colossal trees & variety of wildlife [absolutely amazing]... I wanted to try & capture some of this in my morning study, so here it is. Would definitely love to develop more concepts like this in further detail, although the real dream would be to actually go there & do it in the flesh... On that note folks, I bid you a goodnight & pleasant dreams ; )

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-M-

Speed paint #3

Morning all! Here's this morning's sketch-xercise. Have a positive day ; )

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-M-

Speed paint #2

A little morning exercise... Morning!

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-M-

Speed paint #1

A little morning exercise... Morning!

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-M-