Some Sketches

[Aqui]

Quite like the new drawing For some reason, I find Mark IV helmets most acceptable for Librarians

Very novel idea for the Force weapon! One of those ideas that you rather wish you'd thought of yourself

I'm not sure how good you are with OSL, but I could imagine the arrow itself being very cool if painted that way

[Firepower]

For some reason, I find Mark IV helmets most acceptable for Librarians

I know right? It's weird but true.

I'm not sure how good you are with OSL, but I could imagine the arrow itself being very cool if painted that way

OSL is a totally new trick for me, so it could go very well or very bad. I'm betting on bad. But I won't have an arrow, just a glowy palm. This will be fiddly enough without a dainty little arrow.

Anyway, indecisive bugger that I am, I made a change to the bow when I went back to clean up all the errors my screen was hiding from me. I think I like it more this way...but I'm not sure. It does a better job at getting across that the bow is a manifestation of psychic power, not an actual solid weapon.

It's very hard to accept that a drawing is finished some times

Now I'm going to put down my stylus and back away slowly. Promise.

[Aqui]

I really do like the idea of a Force bow. Evokes an image similar to the Ranger from Dungeons and Dragons in that the arrow appears from nowhere (except that it's more like Psylocke's psychic knife and not actually "there" ) The glowy effects on the draw hand would be enough I think. The thing that sells the idea will be the positioning of the Marines arms and hands - get that right and you wouldn't have to do much else

I think the second sketch works better - the fire effects that form the bow are subtler, but has the right effect

I just wish I hadn't stopped drawing. I dare say that if I practised enough, I'd get back up to scratch, but I barely have enough time to paint let alone draw

[reckoning]

That librarian is awesome firepower. I really like the theme of this army, keep it up!

[Messor]

Fantastic, that would be an amazing conversion! Epic sketch, FP.

[death given form]

For a really awesome force-bow, check out this kit here for parts. Liking the Neanderthal aesthetics for the Arrows, really cool, and the stylized armor and big fists is pretty awesome as well, evokes some old GW artwork for me. 

[Firepower]

Gaaah! Why couldn't you have told me about those bows 2 days ago? I just placed a bits order

They certainly are sweet though...hm. But the damned shipping and handling from bits stores is nearly $7 standard.

Oh, and thanks for the compliments folks

[Greyall]

Me likey. Clearly creative wok, man.

[Firepower]

A bit rougher work than some of the others. It mostly started as a practice sketch for legs (I despise trying to make legs look natural). But I also decided to have some fun showing off the Arrows' "Tis only a flesh wound!" disposition while I was at it

[Greyall]

Great angle. See, this and others show you have a mind for this. All you need to do is burn the best part of your drawing hand's fingers until you get the technical parts right.

 

Should be a week or so =p

[Firepower]

Pfft. Like you know anything about drawing Greyall....well, maybe one or two things My technical skills are much better on a pencil and pad, but 1) I don't have a scanner and 2) the tablet has one huge advantage, easy and clean erasing

I managed to get those flaming bows for a (relative) steal in an ebay auction just now, so that's fun Before I saw those I was just going to go with a plain old Wood Elves bow. This will be so much better. Thanks for the heads up death given form.

[Firepower]

I've got a bit of a productive streak going here. Neat.

I felt like drawing something aside from power armor, and getting in a bit more perspective practice. And so, a very uninspired Solomon Kane styled Inquisitor, complete with funny hat and weird poofy clown collar thing. Enjoy

I hate feet. Even more than I hate legs.

[Son of Carnelian]

Well, just remember that no matter how much you hate feet, Rob Liefled hates them even more. These look great, by the way! The angles add a lot of dynamic flavor to each piece.

[Dosjetka]

You draw humans better than Space Marines, I think. Generally, I find that your Astartes are very short and rather large. It could just be the way you see like your Space Marines, and I would be completely OK with that, it's just that I much prefer the thinner and taller Astartes, like those drawn by Karl Kopinski.

Just my two kraks

EDIT: I shouldn't really be one to criticise though, because my drawing skills are, quite frankly, atrocious.

[Firepower]

Firstly, just because you can't draw it doesn't mean you won't have a good eye.  Greyall and many other artists, painters and drawers alike, can tell you just how thoroughly I can pick apart someone else's work, even if the caliber is way above mine ;)

 

I'm a big fan of Kopinski's works, too.  He kind of goes back and forth on bulk by some degree (look at his Crimson Fist), but his marines generally are the leaner sort.  

 

A few of my drawings here seem short because they are actually hunched.  The wounded marine and the sniping marine are both leaning towards the viewer, but some failings of mine in drawing perspective keep that from being 100% clear (hence why I keep trying to do it- practice practice practice!).  The Sniper in particular came off as just looking 'fat,' but some last minute outlined background helped a lot with the wounded marine I think.

 

The Templar and the Librarian on the other hand are good demonstrations of what my general scale looks like upright.  Sort of a 2:1 height:bulk ratio, give or take, with tiny heads to emphasize the size of armor itself.  As sleek and sexy as skinny Marines look, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense given the nature of Power Armor.  However, Power Armor has so many illogical failings that artists quite often have to cheat, particularly with things like the shoulders, so my issue with thickness really comes down to taste and style in the end.

 

Anyway, thanks for the note, and thanks for the compliments everyone :)

[Greyall]

Of course one has to cheat, the damned tank plating armour is almost impossible to pose dynamically if you use 'real' proportions. To this day - and I hope I'm not being unfair here - Paul Dainton and Kopinski are the only 'established' artists whose Marines do not suffer from clumsiness and almost always look sleek, but they too use thinner marines when they make their marines move. If you check my other drawings, mainly the Warcraft ones, you'll see they are much more fluid than my Marines, and I actually have a hard time doing dynamic poses.

 

Take Raymond Swanland, the newest 40K cover artist. The guy's an absolute blast and can pump out some of the sleekest characters I've seen, but even his rendition of a Space Marine for the Dark Angels codex has that tiiiiny bit of clunkiness - plus the leg positioning is a bit weird.

 

So, almost every artist has a super hard time drawing Marines. The armour doesn't fit too well, it's not designed for movement, you're basically drawing Suspension of Disbelief, which is easier said than done in a setting known for actually being 'down to earth' - or, actually, 'down to hell' - with over the top characters and feats, and whose fans (me included, of course) just go Karamazov when you cross the line to over-the-top silliness.

 

PS: There's another artist who draws some incredibly fluid Power-Armour, Mikhael Savier. Has to be seen to be believed, and I've learned a lot on how to perfect my Astartes proportions and armour with him, these last few months.

[Firepower]

Been a while since I dusted off the old drawing tablet. So, the recent events surrounding the Templars left me in something of a turbulent mood, to say the least. I've got a lot of problems with it, I've made my peace with some of it, and am still as lost and worried about the truth or untruth of rumors as most folks.

I decided to hone that state towards something a bit more productive than angry, scared, and depressed posts, and I came up with this. It's still very much a WIP, but I like how it is right now enough to share.

A wounded Sword Brother -that arm is missing below the elbow, and there's a lot of damage left to be added when the shapes are hammered out- in dignified repose, as should be expected of any Templar. Broken but unbowed, as it were.

I have a :cuss of a time drawing those collars. It's such an odd shape...

[Squeaky]

Cool like how he is casually missing an arm "tis but a flesh wound"... Cool work and like the DIY chapter I know understand why your marines have the twisted arrows on there armour :) 

[Firepower]

Been a loooong time since I added anythign to this thread...

Ta Da!!!

....or is it Tada? Whatever. DRAWING!

I drew this a long time back, after first coming up with the idea for Brahm, the Godhand

I never got around to completing it, and in all likelihood I never will. I basically got this far and said 'Meh.' Mostly because of how poorly the Crozius was going. Damned eagle heads...but yeah, once I lose interest in a piece, that's pretty much it. That last sketch, for example, hasn't been touched since I posted the rough outline.

Wish I had a scanner so I could give this doodle a proper viewing, but I had to settle for taking a picture.

Interesting fact: this guy's crown (and to a lesser extent his shoulder) was my original prototype for the design of Ludoldus' Crown of Crosses. I refined it, passed it off to our dearly adored Greyall, and he worked it into this masterpiece of Templar awesomenessocity : http://greyall.deviantart.com/art/Black-Templars-High-Marshall-Ludoldus-345248973

I tried to mimic the style of the great Mark Gibbons' original Black Templar concept art (Google it now!!!), which to this day are still my favorite illustrations of my beloved fanatical lunatics. God, if only the models mimicked such awesomeness. Grimaldus was the only model to really match the artwork dead on.

So as usual, pour on the C&C, if you all feel so inclined