S. Viktor's art gym

[veek91]

Hey there Everyone!

I'm Viktor from Hungary. I'll start this artblog real quick in hopes of being motivated by it to do my studies more regularly. My goal for autumn was to do nothing but studies everyday aside from writing my thesis in biology. However, once I get my degree in biology in january, I probably won't be able to do anything with it, and honestly, don't even want to really, because as it turns out, that's not the field that I can imagine myself in, but rather in game development (who doesn't, right?) as I have forever.
That being said, character art is what I want to improve on - as opposed to environment concept art. I really wish I could paint environment, but for me, that's almost like starting from zero, because all I've been doin in my life is drawing people. Mostly faces and muscles. So I want to arrive at a level of "employability" (is that even a word?)as soon as possible in that field.

My plan for improving: focus on whatever I'm the worst at.
What I intend to study in order of importance: color and light > value > clothing > gesture > anatomy > foreshortening.
My biggest weakness is color and light, so that's what I need to focus on. Unfortunately, that's the topic I have the least idea of how to approach. Hopefully it will turn out somehow. Until then, here's what I started working on the other day. Obviously, this is the kind of stuff I shouldn't do, because it's in my comfort zone. But I guess I'll have to at least polish it up so I can call it finished. This is entirely from imagination (without any reference)
see ya later!

https://www.facebook.com/viktor.szabo.1428

[lozzzliss]

Nice to meet you! Let's see if we can help you stay motivated for your studies haha
I am impressed with the fact that you draw faces (and the values) so well from imagination! I see I have lots to learn myself.
May I ask, as a person who loves working with color, what is the biggest threshold/obstacle for you when it comes to color?

[malcom]

Hey man this is a great start and I look forward to seeing your growth over time. The face you have looking good so far. Loving how you did the rim the most. Keep up the awesome work.

[oshred]

Hi Viktor! Best of luck on your art journey, sounds pretty tough where you're at right now. O:

I think this piece you've shown is pretty great though--first thing that caught my eye is the nose, it really pops out of the face! It looks very impressive especially if you did this all without reference! I think my favorite part is the lighting on the edge of the face. :] I'd probably check the mirror/some photos though because the mouth (although it's fantastically rendered imo) doesn't seem to be aligned with the center of the face. :] It's a really minor thing but maybe you can look out for this in your future portraits if you agree?

But I'm excited to see what other pieces you'll be uploading soon!

[veek91]

Well the thing about color is that there are so many factors to consider. Not when you just paint a character on white canvas, but especially when you try to place that character in an environment. First, that environment needs to have an interesting color setting, which is most apparent when looking at a thumbnail. Daarken's pictures comes to mind. Then, that character has to blend with the surroundings, like it actually belongs in that enviroment and doesnt awkwardly pop out.
The first apparent question to answer before painting in color is: Do I start from greyscale? Or do I go straight into color? See, when start in greyscale, I have a hard time coloring it with color layers. Colors just lie there like ugly blobs so obviously made with a soft round brush. (I'm talking Photoshop) Then, if I go straight with color, I just don't know how to handle them, how not to use too saturated colors, how to color shadows in a way that actually makes sense in that particular environment so everything has the correct hue, saturation and brigtness. I suppose greyscale is the way to go, that way the brigthness is already established. I just don't understand yet, how to color a greyscale image so that it doesn't mess up the values that were already established. Another knowledge I have yet to acquire is how to tweak the colors with adjustment layers to make an interesting color setting.

[veek91]

Thanks! Now that you mention it, his mouth really seems a bit odd, like the entire mouth area looks a bit like its pushed behind his nose. I'll fix that.

[veek91]

Thanks! I was suprised too, how well the rimlight turned out.

[lozzzliss]

Colors just lie there like ugly blobs so obviously made with a soft round brush. (I'm talking Photoshop)

Can you post a picture of this? (Before I start a whole post with things you can try)

[Tutuja]

Hi there!
Its good to see another Hungarian around here. Just out of curiosity: Where do you study?
To add to the colour obstacle: I do straight colour, and grayscale and colour too sometimes, when the illustration is too overwhelming. But mostly the way I do it is I start out with colour, then create a new layer over everything, fill it with black, then set it to colour or saturation. This way if I turn the layer on, I can see the grayscale, and if I turn it of, I can see it in colour. This makes checking my values a lot easier.
Also if i start with grayscale, I use the colour, hard light, and overlay settings mostly, with some colour dodge and soft light here and there.
I'm no expert, but I hope it helped

[veek91]

Well I didnt have a picture like that so I tried to add some colors to this. first a flat skin color on an overlay layer, then tint the shadow areas a bit more red with a color layer on top (using overlay for this messes up the values as I noticed). So this is a very early stage of coloring and I could make it nicer if I spent more time on it, but the problem is, I don't know If I could ever bring it to a point where it doesn't look like it was colored with color layers. The process feels so unnatural to me. I just lack the proficency. On the other hand, I know the skin is the hardest thing to paint so I guess the key is to practice and accept that it can't be rushed.

[veek91]

Hello! Nice to meet you. I didn't expect to meet another hungarian here. I study at the University of Pécs. That saturation layer is a cool trick! Thanks for the tip

[lozzzliss]

Looks like a good start to me, it just needs more and different hues now to tone out the grey. I really think you could do it aslong as you keep building up the colors.

You can always start painting on top with a layer on normal settings after you put down the base colors. Maybe that way it will feel better? I think for you, it's a case of exploring what way of coloring suits you best.

[veek91]

soo...I haven't been here for a while. Partially because I was lazy, I must admit that. I didn't draw a lot, however I managed to learn some technical stuff in photoshop. I also participated in a fan art contest for Path of Exile. It was a huge letdown. Not because I didn't win. There were 19 people who were rewarded. One of them was a guy who missed the deadline by 10 hours! I was really pissed off , because there were so many great submissions that should've gotten a prize instead of his. This is a really unfair situation.

[veek91]

I might as well show you my entry for the fan art contest. Here

[veek91]

been foolin around my comfort zone. I seriously need to stop drawing muscles. Anyway, this is like an extra colorful jumping ninja thingy

[veek91]

Hello everyone! I'm back!
I have finally graduated from Biology in february and now have a job in an office. I've been working there for 5 months now. It's an okay place, but I realized that I'm wasting my time there as I still want to work in game development and do art. And I feel that way now more than ever. There's just no other area where I can and want to improve as a person- where I have a future. Work is an integral part of adult life, and therefore it should be a part of self-development throughout life. Too many people work just to make a living, without doing anything to improve. But not all people have a strong enough interest which they can pursue and make a living off of. We, artist in soul, are lucky to have that (-:
That being said, here's some of my work I did while I was absent. Critiques are welcome!

[malcom]

Firstly I agree with you on the career side of things.
I have a quick questions though, do you have a studio or an idea of studios you would like to work at?
Knowing this will make pushing forward a lot easier.
I wish you the best of luck on your endeavors.

Now as far as the art goes, it's good. Really love your rendering here. Anatomy for the guy in the suit looks great. Not sure what references you were using but I believe the creases around the elbow would be closer together to indicate the bending of the arm. That's my only critique for that one. Other than that, Solid work.

Keep up the good work man.

[veek91]

Thank you very much! The suit of the guy was basically just a copy for study purpose, but his head is from imagination, as well as the other 2 piece.
There are about 3 companies in my country (Hungary) that I am aware of, where I would be very happy to work.
The biggest one is an animation studio, Digic Pictures, where they made award winning trailers and cinematics for games such as Assassin's Creed, League of Legends and Witcher! I was amazed when I came to know this.
The other one is a game studio, Neocore games. Their ARPG game, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing achieved worldwide success, and now they are developing Warhammer 40K Inquisitor Martyr.
Then there's Primal Game Studio, where they make a sci-fi MOBA game

[malcom]

Nice. Hopefully you can get in one of those 3. Best of luck bro.

[veek91]

Thank you!