[Vortx]

These are part of a project i'm doing on the side (to keep myself drawing...since i'm doing a lot of 3d-ish work lately). I'll be painting these up in photoshop soon. They are a little tight....but i'm trying out a style. I'm still struggling w/ my figure drawing skillz....but hopefully i'll get to take some classes soon at associates.
All of these are drawn on 11x14. I still need to go into photoshop and fix some bad perspective lines(especially elipses..aahh).
Anyways, here ya go.....
Time....i need more time!!!!







-feng

[Jenn]

Nice Can't wait to see the colored versions

[Anthony]

Definately tight. I don't really see the point of the last girl's armor, unless she's a prostitute or something. I like the second two best, even though the left hand guy's bicep is the smallest I've ever seen. Good job with the rendering in general, but I definately think you could benefit tremendously from some live figure drawing. Nice!

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-Anthony
Carpe Carpem

[Rinaldo]

Wow pretty cool,both the designs and the drawing. as you say there are some elips problems etc.
I really dig your stuff. Very slick
I'd love to have a go at colouring something like this. I just haven't got the time to draw my own line art at the moment.
My time is being eaten away at an alarming rate too these days. but not by anything as interesting as 3D

Like I said...top stuff.

[Fred Flick Stone]

Nice stuff Feng. These things are really slick. There is some anatomical tangencies, but all in all, clean and mean...Ever want to do comics in your life? Seems like it was a big influence for you, but I like the direction your taking it in.

Keep em comin...

[WacoMonkey]

Cool designs, Feng! Not much to comment on, I like your anatomical stylization. One comment on the weaponry in the top picture - even in pure profile everything should have perspective. Try to draw some depth into the guns, or even angle them a little so it isn't pure side-view. Putting something in pure elevation in an illo tends to flatten and weaken the image.

Also, with the clusters of cylindrical stuff on the back, try having forground ones show a little more face, background ones a little less even though they are close to gether(i.e. slightly wider ellipse as they get closer.) It will add more depth to the image.

Keep up the cool stuff!

P.S. I like the way you're leaving the back leg as just an outline. I have a bad habit of detailing out too much!

[This message has been edited by WacoMonkey (edited July 31, 2000).]

[Lukias]

Its seems odd how your anatomy can be off yet your extemely acurate and precise at everything else. Once you've mastered figure proportions i'll like you even less.

curious...do you freehand all mechanics, you circles especially I like. You good, me resent.

[Cos]

wow these are fkkin cool feng! The machinery and armour are amazing. There are a few bits o dodgy anatomy, but I suppose I can let u off I hope to become even remotely close to being this good one day! Ok enuff butt kissing heh.

I wonder, have these been touched up digitally yet or just as u drew them?



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-Cos Koniotis-

http://www.3dpalette.org/coskoniotis

[Vortx]

Yup yup, i definitely need more figure drawing lessons....but i'm learning. I didn't take enough figure classes at AC (only 3). It's not required for an ID major. But now it's hurting me...ahhh...the pain. I'll get my ass in gear tho.....

Fred: Funny how you mention comics. I actually didn't like comics in the begining. My influces came from the ID masters: Syd Mead, Joe Johnston, Ralph McQuarrie, J. Berkey, Doug Chieng, etc. They focus far more on design, perspective, and form than character development. This is still the style i prefer to draw in (marker/pen).

Recently we hired an artist who is totally into comics, espeically European ones. He brought in tons of comics, and that really opened my eyes. So right now i'm just trying out some "cleanly" inked drawings. One problem tho, i don't enjoy working w/ pencils. So i just block in the drawing w/ a #0 marker, and hit it straight w/ ink....freehanded....so every line, every mistake shows up. In a quick concept sketch, it's easy to fix these problems. But in a tight sketch such as these, it gets me in trouble. :P Hopefully i can correct some of these in photoshop. Anyways, it's fun to do these, but i still like looser stuff better.

WacoMonkey: Yeah, i realize those little details when i'm inking. I get lazy sometimes...hehe. I'm trying to improve w/ every drawing. I still have so much more to learn...you guys keep me going tho =) I shall include all your tips in my next drawing...promise!

Cos: These are raw scanned images. I'll be touching these up soon....

Okie, back to work. Thanx for the comments.

-feng

ps. wacomonkey, post your stuff up man. That portfolio was awesome!! (hopefully i'm not confusing you.....you're the art director at presto right?)

[psi burn]

i love the clean look to these, and the strong anime/japanese-art influences there. the robot is awesome looking too.

[Frost]

Looks pretty damn nice Vortx! =)

Of the things I have seen though, some have a balance problem (machine gun girl for example) and that metal halo-helmet on Ms.Nipples is off axis with the head, not sure if that was intentional, but she might develop a neck problem from wearing it too long!

Seriously though, very nice style, sort of reminds me of my older drawing style, although you draw stuff that is 1000 times better than I was doing. =)

Excellent work!
cheers

[This message has been edited by Frost (edited July 31, 2000).]

[Fred Flick Stone]

You looking at Frezzato, Juan Gimenez, and Aspiri? Those guys rule, especially Juan Gimenez. Talk about a tech designer that can also story tell. He is a big, big influence in my work currently. I hope I just dont get too caught up in his approach. But these guys I hope your looking at, Loose but tight at the same time, I think you would really appreciate it...

[Vortx]

Oh i love Frezzato, Juan Gimenez, and Aspiri....among others. Frezzato being my favorite. And i was just reading an Aspiri comic last night...hehe. Yup, these guys have the best of both worlds. ID + illustration style. That's the style i'm working towards as well. I just need to push myself harder.....

For those who don't know these artists, their work appear most in heavy metal magazines. =)

-feng

[WacoMonkey]

No you're not confused, that's me! Thanks for the compliment, Feng. Yeah, I need to post more stuff. I just haven't had time to get a website up!! Plus I've been trying to spend more of my free time drawing again 'cause Ron and Francis are tired of hearing me bitch about not getting to draw anymore & losing all my skills! Those guys are getting so good (and so prolific) I'm getting embarrassed to call myself creative director. I'll get something together soon, I promise!

[Fred Flick Stone]

Feng-did you go to the con? Moreso, did you pick up Frezzato's fourth book of the Maser series? They published it in pencil format only. It is a great inspirational book to hold on to...If you don't have it now, got to get it. AN ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE...

[black_fish]

U suck Vortx, as usual!

[Vortx]

And black fish would be that new artist we hired.....=P
post some of your stuff up man....i know you've gotz some personal work. Are you done w/ that Kenji rendering yet?

-feng

ps. your web link don't work....

[Francis]

I dig these quite a bit. The inking is beautiful. I need to see more soon.

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Francis Tsai
TeamGT Studios

[ozenzo]

Looks fantastic!!
Man... how do you get the inking so smooth looking? Mine always ends up looking scratchy, jagged mess.

Very nice stuff!!

[AliasMoze]

I really like your inking, Vortx. Very clean.

[Gonad]

damn those are awesome.

i can never HOPE to be that good.

the only thing i can see...the chick has some really small nipples.

other than that...

i BOW to you.

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PS: You rock my world.

[Christer]

Vortx-

Those are very good! I love the style, have you ever looked at any work of Travis Charest btw? He has been working on a few Wilcats/Xmen comics for Image, and has some art featured in the most recent "Spectrum" book. Well worth checking out. His style is pretty similar to yours, especially all the strange equipment and the guns. I met Travis briefly at last years San Diego Comic-con and saw some of his original artwork, really vibrant colors and tons of cool little details like in your drawings.

I also see a bit of Geoff Darrow in there (done work for Frank Miller's Hard Boiled book, and some concept stuff for the Matrix I think), he always puts huuge amounts of small cool details in his art. The gun-arm robot with all those details, is very reminiscent of his stuff.

As far as your figure drawing skills are concerned, you have a keen sense for dynamic and interesting poses, and I think if you worked a little more on your anatomy your stuff could turn out even better. Anatomy is a tricky thing to get right, and needs to be worked on continuously to keep from forgetting how it works. Stylized anatomy can work fine as long as the artist knows the fundamentals of "real" anatomy. Just look at Bisley for example, he warps the anatomy in his art like crazy, yet it still looks "right" in a way. Most of the time at least

I stuggle to achieve the effect of stylised, but correct anatomy every day myself.. So I try to study real anatomy as much as possible.

Just picked up "Bridgman's complete guide to drawing from life", it's one of the best anatomy books you can get your hands on, in my mind.

Keep it up, your stuff looks great, and I can't wait to see more of your work.


-Christer

[Darkmoon]

Oh my... oh my oh my oh my

AHHH i love these! the neat little details! everything... omg! i want figures or statures of these guys! they are so cool!

cant wait to see the colours!

-Lisa

[Joachim]

These are some lovely sketches Vortx. Hehe, You've heard that from many by now, but I guess a person can never get enough praise
You have a great way of detailing and doing nice technical design.

Just a stupid comment. I see you do every character with no details on the inner leg. Which is cool. But, characters like that robot with the gatlinggun for an arm stands almost righ in front of you, so it kinds of get the feeling that you are not finished detailing it yet.
never mind that question

Keep on posting those nice drawings !

------------------
Joachim
web:
http://home.online.no/~j-barrum/

[micke]

Very good! Love those hi-tech details and
the way they are rendered are beatuiful.
I like the Robot the most.I just got one question. How rough are you doing these before inking? Is there any chance of seeing a rough version of these?It would be very interresting.Someone earlier mentioned Geoff Darrew and i thought the same thing.
Very refreshing to se your work again.
-micke

[Superbug]

those pictures are nice, though i think the faes on those guys are goofy. That robat though is sweet, reminds me of metal gear solid for some reason. Plus that chick has reeeeeeelly errect nipples.

damn

[immi]

Damn cool. The robot one especially. Maybe put some more detail in the head? the rest of the body is quite detailed and leaves the head looking kind of bland. blah, what do i know.? these kick ass

[Vortx]

Wow, thank you all for the compliments.

I've gotten a few emails regarding how these drawings were created. I'll try to post an example thing after my lunch break today. Basically, it's very similar to comics. But instead of using a pencil to do the underlines, i use a #0 marker. I have more control w/ marker than pencil, it also gives me more confidence (since you can't erase marker..hehe). The marker lines pretty much disappear after you scan the image. These drawings took about 2-3 hours each. 30min-1 hour marker sketching. 1-2 hours inking.
Well, i'll post some thumbnails and roughs after my break...talk to you guys soon....

-feng

[Vortx]

Here are two thumbnails for the above drawings. They are very small on paper, around 3-4 inches tall. I fill pages and pages full of these little drawings. I'll scan in the ones i like and blow them up. Then i'll just redraw it on bigger paper w/ marker (pretty rough, almost like the thumbnail...just bigger). I add the details and stuff while inking. The pen i use is very fine (.3). When the entire image is inked, i go in w/ a .7 and add-in line-weights. Anyways, just e-mail me if want more info....gotta get back to work now....



this is a very comic book-ish style...and i usually like to work a lot looser. But it's good practice i guess...

-feng

[This message has been edited by Vortx (edited August 01, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Vortx (edited August 01, 2000).]

[burn0ut]

all of these are real nice.
it amazes me how presice you are with markers and pens, thats skills

goodjob.