Sijun Forums :: View topic

Jason Manley · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2000 7:05 pm

Finally...with a little help from our designer/web guru Josh Sawyer.

Jason

Baldur's Gate 2 Ad:

http://redqueendesign.com/manley/bg2ad.jpg

Female Elven Cleric (Icewind Dale):

http://redqueendesign.com/manley/ecf.jpg

coconutmonkey · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2000 7:22 pm

OK that first picture is just bad as shit that's all there is to it hehe...

Sedone · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2000 7:37 pm

Wow, those are gorgeous. Yet another talented artist on this board.

------------------
sedone's artfolio

Anthony · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2000 7:44 pm

Ah, I've been hoping you'd post the vampire pic. I like it best of all I've seen you do. Are you the main artist at Black Isle? It seems that most of the good art work done there is by you(the 2d stuff now).

------------------
-Anthony
Carpe Carpem

wakestarr · Guest Member #

damn!

thats just so great!

keep posting Jason!

my love f�r black isle suddenly grew even stronger

Chapel · member Member # Joined: 18 Mar 2000 Posts: 1930

I love the ad. It reminds me of vebjorn when I see it though. Very simular style.

aquamire · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2000 8:02 pm

crap. your the guy who did the icewind dale stuff? i remember going through that some months ago, and thinking, dear lord, please let me be able to do that some day. really bitchen stuff man.

------------------
/Aq
[email protected]

I'd put my wittiest remark here, but I'd scare you.

Rinaldo · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2000 8:31 pm

I've always wondered who did those cool pics.
Now I know

I really like your stuff, great to have you here.

Farwalker · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2000 8:34 pm

Yea, I really like the first one. I remember seeing it as a full page ad in PC Gamer.

Love the mood and colors in it.
I think you really captured something special.

Keep up the great work Jason.

------------------
Gamingvault.com

Liquid! · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2000 8:43 pm

Those are awesome! Nice to see another talented addition to this board...

Can't wait to see more stuff in the future!

-chris

::Dino:: · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2000 8:57 pm

Beautiful work

I absolutely love your use of colour! I'm speechless(sp?)

------------------
O..O

Jason Manley · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2000 10:10 pm

Thanks for the compliments. My use of color comes from what I learned by looking at painters from the 19th century as well as Rembrandt and the Baroque guys/ladies. In particular I look at Rembrandt(color brightness increased in focal areas as well as value contrast and edge contrast) and Jean Leon Gerome who does the same thing but with a full palette of color rather than the 4 or 5 colors Rembrandt uses. I try to use warms and cools to push and pull space and also push and pull space and form with the lighting.

Keep up the good work everyone. Look at the masters as much as you can and not just people who are doing stuff now....the best stuff was done a hundred years ago or more. I learned to paint from studying art theory and drawing from life in the same ways that the masters did...only they are much much better at it than I.

Jason

Jason Manley · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2000 10:15 pm

Fortunately I am not the main artist at Black Isle. There is another artist by the name of Justin Sweet who has been a mentor to me. He is faster than anyone I have ever personally met. It takes me two full days at least to make the portraits for Icewind and it would only take him 3 hours. He has been a really good inspiration for me. Keep an eye out for the new ad for The Heart of Winter which will be coming out soon....that is his painting....also some of the paintings for Invictus were done by him...keep in mind when you see those on the net that those are one day paintings.

Jason

quote:
Originally posted by Anthony:
Ah, I've been hoping you'd post the vampire pic. I like it best of all I've seen you do. Are you the main artist at Black Isle? It seems that most of the good art work done there is by you(the 2d stuff now).

Anthony · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2000 10:34 pm

I'll definately keep my eyes peeled(ouch) then - he and Fred here can have a race. :] Do you guys have seperate 2d and 3d artists there, or does one guy, say, design a section of a city and build it/texture it? I only ask because I'm thinking of giving up my freelancing lifestyle(as fun as it is, and lucrative), and out of the game places I'm looking at you guys are near the top, so I wanted to know what to throw on a reel. Anyhoo, welcome aboard-I'm sure you'll teach much to others, and learn much from the resident experts(being Spooged for the first time is always exciting. ;D).

------------------
-Anthony
Carpe Carpem

Guy · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2000 10:57 pm

wow i really love yoru art work. ever since i saw the demo of ice wind dale i wanted to see more. i really like the style and feel of it. what i especialy like is that no one person looks similar to the other. they all have there own characteristics. do you base your characters off real people? or at least parts of people, like taking the shape and size of one persons eyes, then say the lips of another? just curious

CapnPyro · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2000 12:31 am

Oh wow... excellent. I saw the first one about a week ago or so in an ad i think it was, i studied it for a while, great picture.

Did you also paint the ad of the girl crawling horizontally on a rope between two buildings, i think there was an ocean in the background. I can't remember where I saw it, im fairly sure it was an ad for BG 2 or Icewind.

Nice to have you aboard!

-Capn

------------------
http://home1.gte.net/capnpyro

YourMum · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2000 1:53 am

Wow, Jason! They are neat, absolutely neat. Hmm.. it's nice to see Bg stuff 'cause I'm hooked on it.

Once I spent over 26 hours in all playing Bg. I love that game. Ouch.. I really like colors on these pics you posted. I would have many things to say but I think I'm too lazy now.

Keep up neat work!

-Juha-

CapnPyro · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2000 1:58 am

ive been looking at the 2nd one, of the elven cleric alot. the colors in that are fantastic. its amazing how she just pops out of the page. the highlights on her armor almost look like glowing neon, in the dusk/dawn. whew, thats nice. i need whole lotttta practice

More! More!

-Capn

------------------
http://home1.gte.net/capnpyro

Joachim · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2000 6:15 am

Those are absolutely beautiful Jason. I've seen the elven girl thing before, but not that new one. Very nice colors and all. Also, after seeing all the great character you've made, it's also very nice to see one were the character is a bit more together with the background, or how I should say that...hope you understand what I mean

Btw, that art director you have, is that the guy who did that cover for the invictus game ? I think that was really good. Do you have something he has made too, or maybe invite him to the forum as well

------------------
Joachim's Place

Binke · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2000 6:47 am

I'm a big fan of your work Jason

really top notch stuff. Are you still using Painter5, or have you switched over to Painter6?

------------------
Art Dimensional

silber · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2000 9:39 am

the first one is awesome
love the sky/clouds in the bg
and especially her pose

would like to know if you plan your pictures
from the beginning to the end before drawing

or dou you have some ideas than you start to draw and make some changes while drawing
add something....etc. ?

------------------
-----silBer--
www.people.freenet.de/silberart

vebjorn · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2000 9:54 am

Cool that you have joined the herd;-) I really liked your Icewind dale artwork when I saw it, and want to see more;-)

-Veb
http://home.enitel.no/vebsart

Frost · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2000 10:17 am

Jason: Very nice stuff! You think you can repost those other ones from before as well? Thanks!

Jason Manley · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2000 2:15 pm

thanks. I moved on to painter 6. There are just too many new things that are better in the new package. I kept the brush file from painter 5 though.

I start all my stuff with value and color studies. I then paint on top of my color studies and begin to render. I make as many changes as I need within the time allotted for the piece in order to make it a success.

I use the same techniques as the old masters...glazes, scumbling, grasaille(sometimes), preliminary gesture drawings etc...

For a while when I started this kind of painting, I would use photos and photo reference as needed. I try to stay away from that now as it is just too obvious if your color and structure comes from a flat photo. Working from photos can not help me overcome my problems with drawing fundamentals...only more drawing from life can do that. I find photo color to be flat and often lifeless. I try to study the old masters to see how they use color and then apply those ideas and even the palette to my pieces. If I were to only copy the color and not try to understand how color actually works(color theory) then my pieces would reflect that and would posess less life than they do. I want more life to my paintings ....not less. The only way to do that is to study and paint from life as well as study the greatest artists of the past and present.

To work from life as much as you can is the best advice I have for all of you. I took many semesters of figure drawing and painting as well as still life and landscape so that I could memorize how light works and how anatomy fits together(and I still need to work on these things every day). This is the best way to improve your work.

Jason

quote:
Originally posted by silber:
the first one is awesome
love the sky/clouds in the bg
and especially her pose

would like to know if you plan your pictures
from the beginning to the end before drawing

or dou you have some ideas than you start to draw and make some changes while drawing
add something....etc. ?

Jorge · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2000 3:06 pm

quote:
Jason:
I start all my stuff with value and color studies. I then paint on top of my color studies and begin to render.

Now that you comment on that, could you please, pleasy, please waste some time for all the crappy wanabees like me in illustrating with examples (or even doing a tutorial, yeah!) how you do this? I asked some time ago how people worked with these "value" and "color" concepts, what do they (you) meant with them, but did not quite get an answer that cleared that out. Do not bother digging that thread up, it derived (because of myself, I know) into a technological subject that while curious was not very useful either.

I did not attend to dedicated art classes, BTW, so if you do, please explain this for dummies

------------------
Jorge

AprilYSH · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2000 4:54 pm

hey, excellent pics... i've seen those somewhere before. is this guy famous???

i'm in awe, i love this forum.

------------------
April http://april.cjb.net

yoshi · member Member # Joined: 29 Sep 2000 Posts: 122

your dwarf portrait is AWESOME.

Lonewalker · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2000 5:47 pm

Great stuff

Love the game and the art

------------------
Gamingvault.com

Cos · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2000 8:17 pm

wow, your work is amazing. I espescially like that first one you have posted.. where to see more??

Icannon · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2000 10:43 pm

those are really good, jason. i know you didnt ask for comments.. but the pictures seem to get unnecessarily dark in some areas and it seems to mess with the composition. like the bottom half of the elven cleric picture and the very right of the baldurs gate image. this is not really a critique, maybe it's just my monitor?