[black_fish]

Here are some concept drawings I've been working on just for the fun of it. I'm still struggling with some of the values but I'm pretty happy with a overall feel. I haven't done fantasy stuff in awhile so those guys were not easy to come to life
Tell me what you think.






------------------
http://www.jmringuet.com

[afex]

The last 3 fucken rock, that really really good shit the guy under the werewolf is my favorite, keep em comin man thats some sweet shit

[Vortx]

JM, these are awesome! I especially like the last 2. Man, very clean! I like the way you used the white...gave it a more comic feel. Excellent.....

Me go draw more now too.....

did you check out my crappy drawing? It lacks tons of detail compared to your's...i'm embarrassed now...=)

-feng

man, that third one is really cool. I love the huge leather gloves. You should go work for Blizzard or something =) I'll forward this to my friends there.....

[Chapel]

Fantabulous!! Really nice sketches. The second one reminds me of a Gnoll from EverQuest.

[funkylizard]

The werewolf rocks!!!! Not that the other ones are bad but I love that werewolf PLEASE, keep them coming!

Funkylizard

[Cos]

Blackfish these are really nice man Much detail, remind me of the Games Workshop style a lil.

------------------
-Cos Koniotis-

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

[black_fish]

Cos: there is indeed a Game Workshop influence in there. I wanted to do 'in your face' kind of fantasy characters, and GW is pretty good at that. Since Fantasy is not my strong point, I needed some inspiration, and I went crazy with the spikes all over the place
But I also used some historical references for the armors (medieval and roman), and the tattoos (native americans). I like to mix

BTW Cos I love the coloring job you did on your monsters. Great style! I want to try that type of coloring. I have a nice pencil drawing at home begging for it

------------------
http://www.jmringuet.com

[TheMilkMan]

Thats some damn fine work there son. Ok now time to post more for us as we can't get enough of good artwork...!!!

[Cos]

Blackfish : Cool, thought I saw an influence They did work out
really well. You've kinda inspired me to do some of these typa of
characters now.. Definetely post the new one you are going to do
too, I'd love to see it and thanks for the compliment!

------------------
-Cos Koniotis-

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

[gabereiser]

.............drool.................
can I say "GOOD GOD!" I thought the warewolf was going to eat me . This is how I want to draw someday. But until then, can anyone tell me if the Game Workshop has a web site or anything because I have just been inspired.

Kick Ass man, keep it up (not that it could go down).

[Sergenth]

Man, I really dig the 4th drawing. That beastman is in a Samurai pose! Reminds me of Chris Metzen's trolls and Orcs for Warcraft

Detail-o-riffic.

[black_fish]

Thanks guys!
I see that each prefer one of the character over the others... that's cool, that means they have 'broad appeal'

Vortx: I have more details on those desigs compare to yours just because I spent a long time (too much time) on them They look also definitely more comic style than concept style but I didn't have a chance to learn that in school I have to work faster now.

I think I'll be trying soon more modern stuff (which I prefer) on a different color of paper.

------------------
http://www.jmringuet.com

[kimzoll]

blackfish: great drawings! you got a very good sense for detail what tools did you use for the shading and highlights? is it on computer or in hand? if in hand what markers, pens, ect?
Kim

[This message has been edited by kimzoll (edited December 12, 2000).]

[Rhomb]

Good looking characters. I like the last one best, because of the dynamic pose and the nice feel of movement. Very nice and clean style.

-Ville

[black_fish]

Thanks guys!

Kim: I did everything by hand. Used normal felt tip pens for inking (2 different sizes), 2 markers with for shading (one middle grey, one dark grey) - I don't remember the brand but they are classic markers with a fine point (not the square one) - and white acrylic paint wit a brush for higlight. You should be able to buy that from any good art or craft shop.

[kardis]

awesome stuff man.. awesome.. i would ask to use one of 'em for my rpg char, cept i dont play an rpg ;D

heh anyway, have been enjoying your other work.. looking forward to seeing more. your style kicks.. nice detail.. droool.. makes me jealous..

-kardis

[BrunnenG]

I don't think I could say "oh wow" enough times. Those are better then probably 90% of the characters I see published in gaming materials (and I used to own a game store).

black_fish, with the markers you use, I don't see any of the edge lap that some markers leave. Is that a style/control issue or inherent in the markers themselves? I haven't done any coloring with the artists markers available today so I'm not familiar with the inks performance.

------------------
Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most

[kimzoll]

Blackfish; thanks for the tip I use the same methods myself, but I couldn�t figure your highlights out, Ill rush down to the artshop right away
Kim

[kig]

gabe: http://www.games-workshop.com/

[black_fish]

Thanks guys, I'm happy that you like them.

Kim: you can also use white goouache instead of acrylic. Any kind of thick waterbased paint can do the trick I guess.

BrunnenG: I don't have overlap for 2 reasons I guess. First I try to draw all the shaded areas in one motion rather than coming back on top of it several times. Second I have some overlap but you can't see them because of the paper. The confetti paper in 80g is very absorbent and abolutely perfect for ink. It just absorbs the ink and gives a smooth feel to it. I really like this paper When I'm working on traditionnal white paper (poor quality paper usually) I have a lot of overlaps.

Does anyone knows a link to some Games Workshop art instead of just photos of their models?

------------------
http://www.jmringuet.com

[Kjetil Nystuen]

Hello Blackfish, I think your work is very nice! I really like your texturing, and all those tiny little details seem to interact well with each other. I've seen many painings with lot's of beautiful details, but because they doesn't fit into the rest of the picture, the overall drawing comes out crap.

My critics to you are anatomical issues. You should focus more on the overall anatomy. Also the balance of the characters. The werewolf is not balanced right, it looks like he's going to fall backwards and to the right. The first guy is also a little out of balance to the right. The two lowest characters are my two favorites. I love the necklaces to the last guy. Impressive details White highlights are cool, but careful using them too much. Too much will eventually destroy the shapes rather than help them come more to life. Too much highlights also looks a little.... hmmmm... what do you say?.. bad taste. (Sorry about my bad english, I wish I had a better vocabulary.) I like Feng's higlights, he does it very good. Also, you should look at Doug Chiangs work. Don't get me wrong though, your work is very good, and I am really impressed with your skills and technique!

Good luck with your character design works!

-Kjetil

[Axl]

Cool concept work.
I like the elements you've used on the armour, I can see some gothic style and a little Japanese in there.
Like the last pic especially with the skulls on the knee guards and that huge mace he's wielding.

[FFNeX]

It has so much detail that I have been staring at it for a long time and I still find new stuff I missed the first time I saw them. It's freaking awesome, A+ on this one.

[black_fish]

Thanks to all of you guys, for being nice and also being honest

Kjetil: I agree on the 'balance' issues, I agree less on the anatomy. Those are cartoony/comicy characters: the anatomy is extremely exaggerated. But I think I have all the right muscles in the almost right places If not, tell me where. I'm not very good at anatomy anyway.
About the Highlights: I did a few pictures before with little higlights like Feng. But for me it lacked drama. I agree that sometimes too much highlights kill the volumes, and I don't think my drawings are very good in the volume and values department But at the same time I want to try a different approach and use the highlights almost like a 'color' in some cases rather than just a litttle reflection. Regarding Doug Chiang: I do NOT want to look at his stuff, and I certainly do NOT want to have a style close to him. Chiang is coming from Industrial Design, I'm coming from comics. This is totally different, and I want it to stay that way: I don't want to be one more Chiang's clones. I don't have the technical background for that anyway. He didn't imvent concept drawing, nor he invented colored paper with ink and highlights so I think there is a lot of room for people to experiment without trying to make it look like Doug Chiang's. I don't really want to make my drawings accurate or even 'usable' as concept, I want to make them 'in your face', flashy, attractive. Why? because I think I'm pretty bad at doing that, and I want to learn it. I LOVE the effectiveness of a Joe Madureira. I want to try to learn that. If I was designing for amovie I would not draw like that.
That was just to clarify my position on this I appreciate your post Kjetil. And hopefully I will look at my stuff in a different way.

------------------
http://www.jmringuet.com