In want of something
A little update of some visuals whilst we prepare for the first guestbloggers and some other goodies.
Currently, the studio has quite a lot of work t do but if you’d be interested in hiring us for work, feel free to contact us, either through this blog or through our email: ”‘studio . colrouphobia @ gmail . com” (without the blank-spaces of course).
In the meanwhile, lets show some already completed private commissions:
Khullain of the Storm Wardens Space Marines
And Pax, a Black Shield Deathwatch Marine
(clicking on the images will open them in another window at a larger size).
Until next time!
To be Inspired and Driven
Hello there Studio Colrouphobia followers!
Today there aren’t going to be any pretty pictures in the blogpost, but I hope the text will bring something interesting to you anyway.
In an effort to give back (something I’m sure you have heard before from others) here at Studio Colrouphobia we looked at our past, present and future to see what has been important for us when it comes to art and working as artists.
Pretty fast I personally came to the conclusion that there are two things that have and continue to, play a major role for me when it comes to working with art.
Inspiration and Motivation.
When I was younger, I thrived on visuals. I was into movies, comics and games, just like most others. But what really got me into things, where the visual aspects.
When I imagined things, the more I could visualize things in my mind, the more vivid they would become and therefore they would inspire me to explore that imagination.
My first true introduction to Art, as means to work with, actually came from the Swedish version of D&D. The images and illustrations where probably not the best, but I remember the creatures they depicted very well (and they all look perfect in my head now!) and I also remember thinking:
“Wow, the guys doing this are my dad’s age. Nobody I know my dad’s age would do this unless they got paid for it. They get paid to draw!”
I had always drawn and sketched, just like most others, though I was hardly the one two scribble on walls and scream if no pen or paper was around. I just enjoyed sketching and put enough effort into it for people to notice.
At a certain age I just decided that this, doing Fantasy and Sci-fi art, for a living, was what I wanted to do.
From there on, things become a constant battle between being inspired and getting motivation, drive, to continue. Most people have a really hard time trying to become a freelancer at anything, regardless of what you do. The reasons are many- people not believing in you, lack of money to pursue that sort of career, lack of self-confidence and lack of believing in yourself (and no, those last two are not the same – one mean you do not believe you are good enough and the other that you do not believe you WILL be good enough).
So how do you solve this?
Well for one, you need to have support from your friends and family, something I know doesn’t always happend. I had luck enough to have my -then girlfriend, now- wife that has given me support throughout the past 10-12 years. That’s not always evident.
The other things you need are great sources of inspiration and causes for drive.
I had great sources for inspiration. Before the internet (yes, I’m old) there where things like “Heavy Metal“- with giants like Simon Bisley, Frank
Frazzetta and Jeffrey (Catherine) Jones. There where Roleplaying-games, with covers and interiors just giving my imagination so much to use- I was inspired by Brom, Paul Bonner, Paolo Parente and Wayne England. There where book-covers with fantastically painted images -people like Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell as
well as Luis Royo just made me feel extremely enthousiastic about improving and possibly one day be able to earn my living on art, if I could only get good enough.
Once on the Internet, I got so many more inspirators added to the list.
Traditional artists such as Donato Giancola, Dan Dos Santos and David Kassan blew me away from the moment I either discovered them or found out who those book covers where made by.
Digitalists like Andrew (Android) Jones – for his innovating techniques, Björn Hurri for his fantastic dedication and commitment, J.P. Targete for his traditionals-looking digitals, Melanie Delon for her fantastic characters, Noah Bradley for his fantastic environments, Brad Rigney for his general excellence and so many more…
They all inspired me and gave me a drive to continue, to try to become good enough to work as an llustrator for a living. I’m sure most of you have sources for inspiration and motivation. I would love to hear who they are, perhaps we share them, or I haven’t heard of them or seen their work. I am still looking for more inspirational and motivational artists to add to my list to keep me driven to learn and improve.
Well, back in the days, I had to really look for these sources of inspiration and talking here at the studio we agreed that we should try and give back some of that inspiration.
To do that, I have asked some of my art-heroes and sources for inspiration and drive to write one-time blogposts, right here on studiocolrouphobia.net.
A lot of them are busy with their work, but some have answered an will write to give you guys some inspiration. I do not know what they will write, as I didn’t want to restrict them, but the general theme for these will be ”To be inspired and driven”, and every blog-post made by a guest-blogger will be on the topic of Art.
We here at Studio Colrouphobia will post these as they come in. There is no a perfect schedule for when they will come in, but we will never post more then one a day, so if you have seen a guest-blogger post here, chanses are you wont see another update on that day.
We hope you will enjoy this little treat.
Did you know that you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook? Just click on the icons below to get to the right spot!
Until Next time!
Manic Mondays – WiPs
Here are some wip’s of some work that I can show at the moment.
Khullain, cropped WiP of a full figure illustration of a Storm Warden.
Cropped WiP of a full illustration, Lantern Marines Chaptermaster (Yes, he is supposed to have some features of Ozzy, there might even be glasses, hence the unfinnished eye-region).
CroppedWIP of a Black Shield Deathwatch Marine.
Until Next Time.
The Art of Freelancing – a review with ducks!
So I thought I’d take the time to do a little review of the Art of Freelancing by Noah Bradley.
Let me begin by giving some background on Noah Bradley, for the rare occasion that you wouldn’t know who he is.
Noah Bradley is an environment concept artist & illustrator. He’s young but has already worked for an international clientele and has been accepted into the industry’s most prestigious publications. Even if you haven’t heard of Noah, chances are you have seen work he has done for Wizards of the Coast, L5R or AEG.
I first heard of Noah as part of an event on Conceptart.org, where he was described with(paraphrased):
“This guy came last year to the illuxcon convention, his portfolio wasn’t really that focused but he took the criticism and came back the next year and blew us away with his updated portfolio!“
Since then I have seen him around (or rather his work and his activities) on the internet. He is part of Awesomehorse Studios which do a great job of paying it forward to anyone and everyone who want to improve their skills and careers when it comes to art.
You should really check his work out, and generally, I tend to listen to any advice he gives, because he is not that many years further into his career than me, but he has attained success faster. He also seem to be a generally nice guy, which is always a plus.
That was a bit of background on the creator of the Art of Freelancing video.
So for the review-
Specs
For $57 you get
- a 5 hour lecture on freelancing (.mp4 format in a .zip archive | 422MB).
- Access to an extensive (and constantly updated) list of freelancing resources.
- Subscription to an exclusive mailing list that feature FAQs and supplemental content.
Noah also gives a 100% Money-back-guarantee on this product, should we in any way be dissatisfied about the purchase.
The topics covered in the Art of Freelancing are:
- How do I break into the industry?
- How much should I charge?
- What should I put in my portfolio?
- Am I too old to start?
- How do I deal with bad clients?
- Do I need a contract?
- Should I work for free?
- How do I know if I’m ready?
- What if my client doesn’t pay?
- How do I start networking?
- Should I go to art school?
The bad
Let’s cut to the bad parts first. There aren’t that many, so let’s get them over with right away.
Video
This is a double-edged sword, really. Noah has made this into a video but beyond one or two websites popping up as text on the screen, as well as headlines in white on a black background, the entire video is void of visuals. On the one hand, this is good, I can work at the same time as listening to the video. On the other hand, it feels a little like overkill to have it formatted as a video when all I really need is in the form of audio. Space could have been saved (when downloading a video it just is a larger size then a pure audio) and the information provided in text could have been provided in an added text-file, or just plain on the resource-website. Granted, sometimes it is handy to have the info of a website pop up directly on screen, it really isn’t that much of a fuzz to go to the resource-website to find the same link there.
The resource-site
This is just a personal note, and probably has to do with that I bought the video quite late, but it doesn’t seem to have been updated at all since I got my copy and access.
Mailing-list
I haven’t gotten any mails from this, though given that this is exlusive content and being a freelance artist myself I know that can be long in between more exclusive material being there.
In short, the three “complaints” I have are really minor and don’t even cause me any trouble because the rest…
…The rest, my friends, is brilliant!
Now before anything else, let me say this: This video wont get you work!
You wont buy this video, watch/listen to it and magically get art directors calling you up with your dreamjobs.
Advice
What it will do, is it will give you clear and honest advice on the things to think about, do’s and don’t's, suggestions that can make or break your career. It is easy for me to look at the list of topics given and answer some of them with “Yes/No” or a one-line-answer, but what Noah does goes far beyond this. He gives us reasons behind why, offers concrete examples from his own experience and he covers it all!
Young and old, new and experienced
I believe this is aimed more at the beginning freelancer, but being in the middle-of-my-career I really feel almost every topic Noah bring up are valuable to me. Talking to some of the people who also bought the video, ranging from aspiring to freelance professionals the general feeling is one of being glad they put the money down for this and that it already paid off.
Is it for me? I’m a Conceptartist/Illustrator/Designer!
Yes, Noah takes up differences between various types of freelance artists. He even gives you a heads-up for when it is going to be directed specifically towards certain types of freelancing. I listened it all through, though. It was worth it.
Is it worth it?
YES!
You should buy it as soon as you can. If you do not have the $57 to use today, save up for them! If you live in Europe, think about the fact that the dollar currently is weak in comparison to the Euro = Double gain! (Value plus less costly currently)
Generally, when buying something from abroad, keep an eye on the exchange-market, you’d be surprised how many times you can make good deals just on account of a certain currency being low in comparison to your own, even during recession-times.
You will notice Noah mentioning some key-important things to put money on in the video, you need to save up for them also. Trust me on that, I have had the same experience as Noah with that.
All-in-all review:
Content
10/10
Format
7/10
Value
10/10
http://www.theartoffreelancing.com/ Go there, take a look at the 30 minute free part from the 5 hour video. It was all I needed to convince me.
And if that doesn’t make you want to save up for it, here is a review by Jon Schindehette, Art Director at Wizards of the Coast -
Macho, macho man – a little art-update
So before I start this blog with some more regular things, let me first congratulate George Takei on his 75th birthday.
Beyond being openly gay, one of the first asians I saw in any form of higher position on a tv-show and playing uber-cool Japanese business-owner in Heroes, Mr.Takei also has a wicked sense of humor that he shares with us through his Facebook page. Go give the man some love:
George Takei
So it’s been a while since there was an update from this blog.
You might wonder what’s been going on? The truth been told, I have been pretty busy.
A few things will be shown later in this entry, but first, something for all of you that are interested in illustration.
I saw this yesterday, and I found it brilliant.
For some of you, this might not be the most obvious, or even clear, thing, but trust me, once you start thinking in these terms, your illustrational work will be better of it.
ideation-video-from-sterling-hundley-faculty
Now I know some of you will look at this and go “huh?” but just look, listen and consider.
Text-> Simplify-> word association-> simple icons-> bridge-> drawings from bridges-> Box your composition-> Explain shape through value-> Define your execution.
I am working on a couple of things that still are a little hush-hush. One of the things I am doing is a test-run for something. These things happen sometimes in this business and can be tacked together with payment or without payment.
Something I wanted to touch base with with the people reading these, and who are interested in working as illustrators or designers, is how to take rejection or failure.
I am a sore looser.
No really,I am a terrible looser. I hate loosing, because I pride myself to not get into situations where I cannot win (famous exception being anything that has to do with my wife..just cannot beat the woman in anything!).
Now just because I am a sore looser doesn’t mean I have to take failure or rejection poorly.
Like said, I am doing a testrun. I am not going to tell you what it is for, but there is a chance that I might get told “Hey, you have a nice style, it’s just not the one that we’re looking for”.
That has happened to me just as to most people.
In essence, it means that either you wont get the gig because of style or because you have not achieved exactly the skill that they are looking for.
So what can we do about this?
Well first of all- realize that you can always improve your skill and your artistic ability.
Secondly- realize that some things you wont be able to do. Please note that I didn’t write “cannot ever do”, but rather “wont be able to do”. If you aim your skills at painting realistically, then stylized cartoony might not be what you excel in. Or Cubistic, or maybe you aim at a very saturated palette. Unless you focus your aim at all of hese things, chances are that you wont be able to keep the standard that some of the companies out there want to see.
What you need to do is to work, practice, challenge yourself and evolve in the direction you wish to see your art. If you do that, then eventually you will find that you have work cut out for you.
Now then, for what you have been waiting for.
The images.
Here is the cover for Skrapyard.
To find out more about this game, head over to Precinct Omega Publishing
I got contacted by a very nice guy over at Heresy Online with a question if I wanted to do a few commissions to bring a Space Marine Chapter alive.
Here are two images of the Lantern Marines:
Tactical Lantern Marine
Veteran Lantern Marine
Until next time.
These Days – Monday sketchpost
Hello there again,
Here are two images to let you look at something whilst I prepare for a larger-ish post later this week.
Wip for a personal illustration that is currently on hold.
a Study for something….completely different.
Anyway, it is pencil on paper. And it is not World of Warcraft.
Until next post!
David
Time, is on my side, yes it is! – NDA’s releasing etc.
Hello there trusty followers of the Studio Colrouphobia blog!
Its time again to show some things from our studio that has come out of Non Disclosure Agreement and is free to display at our website.
In my mailbox yesterday was a package from the kind souls at http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ , it was my contributors copy of the Hand of Corruption adventure (http://store.fantasyflightgames.com/productdetails.cfm?sku=BC03) that I worked on.
As we told you in theblogpost http://studiocolrouphobia.net/2011/10/15/how-ndas-work-and-an-example/, sometimes you work on things that take a long time before they are displayed publicly. The following illustrations are examples of a fairly common turnaround of NDA’s, about six months.
Hand of Corruption, page63 has this image by me on it.
The Brief called her “Norbik” hence the title.
Hand of Corruption, page101 has this image by me on it.
An Iron Warrior entering a Necron Complex.
Hand of Corruption, page128 has this image by me on it.
A b&w Arbitrator. I am very happy with how this one came out in print. The details really came out exceptionally good (I actually feared some of them would be lost)
Next post will see some other type of images in it. The cover illustration to http://www.precinctomega.co.uk/ ’s “Skrapyard” game is under wraps and I am doing some non-warhammer stuff at the moment that will see the dawn of light shortly.
Until next time!
David
Cucumber sandwiches – Completed artwork and wip
Hello again faithful watchers of this blogspot!
David here with some visuals for your viewing.
I’d like to start this weeks sketch-post with something for those who may watch this without understanding why there is so much focus on Warhammer and Warhammer 40.000 artwork in this blogspot.
The answer is simple really, most of the commissions done for private clients are set in these worlds. It is an interest for me personally, but ultimately it comes down to art done for clients and what we can show.
Other works remain to be shown but are still within the scopes of NDA’s or are not completed for full viewing just yet. As an example, not long ago we let you know of a cover for a game called Skrapyard. This is an illustration that has the benefit of being possible to show the moment it is done and approved byy client. You can expect to see that illustration within the two weeks as it comes in to completion and approval.
Now if you have absolutely no idea about the Warhammer games mentioned above a good place to start is by reading a little something about it.
I found out through writer Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s excellent blog (http://aarondembskibowden.wordpress.com/) that the BBC did an article on Warhammer 40k when they celebrated their 25th birthday. The gist of it all is that anyone who is older then a certain age and still playing is a geek (it has always been so) but it is done with a little more forgiveness this time. Above all the interview is very well done and give a better insight in how most of the older players feel about the hobby nowadays.
Article and interview can be found here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17344366 and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17274186 .
Aaron’s blogpost on the topic can be found here http://aarondembskibowden.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/40k-on-the-bbc/.
Now onto the artwork.
I was approached by a representative of http://www.feastofblades.com/ a couple of weeks ago and asked if I could do a commission for them. Naturally I took it on.
The final illustration (in colour) is found below. Also in the image are three close-ups of details you might want to see. Details are at 100% painting-size (click image to see full size).
Next up is something that deserve a little bit of explaining.
It’s a work in progress that I started a little while ago. The commissioner is my youngest son, whom is totally into Orks normally, but since we have the Lego video-games in house and they are played a lot (if you think it is childish, think again, the depth of the humour in the Lego-series is astounding and worthwhile, even if you don’t like Harry Potter or think theClone Wars “just isn’t the same as the original three movies” the games are well worth it).
So my son is playing, alternatively watching us adults playing the latest Lego Harry Potter game and then see me paint Space Marines and whatnot.
Suddenly he sais:
“Dad, can we buy the Lego Warhammer Game?”
So I reply:
“No, there is no Lego Warhammer game son.”
“Why not?”, he sais, “why don’t you tell ‘the guys’ they should make one, you can paint the Space Marines and show them it works”…
Now despite the fact that I do not know any of ‘the guys’ that my son refer to I took up on the painting part.
So below is a work in progress of a Lego Ultramarine.They’re in fascion, live with it.
I’m adding some extra spacing between the legs and torso, as well as putting an extra flat Lego-block under the feet, to give the Space Marine a little more height. The end result will make it look very much like a Lego-figurine, but about a head taller then the rest of them. The collar sticks to the backpack, and the shoulderpads are snap-ons to the arms (see, I had to think ‘engineerical’ for this because my son is constantly telling me what works to do with Lego and what doesn’t).
One of the reasons why I am also showing this now is to show that I am actually painting this, and not just building a lego-figure and taking a photo of it.
Who knows, perhaps this might give some ideas to ‘the guys’…
For anyone who is waiting for more of the quick-and-simple colour/light study style Space Marines, you should also check out my personal Deviantart account (http://1mpact.deviantart.com/), as there is a little info coming up in the journal there shortly.
As always, feel free to comment or critique. Let us know if there is anything you miss or just want to see on these pages. By all means, use the comments. We do not bit…often.
Until next time!
Unholy Alliances – Speedpaintings
Hello there.
I thought I’d give you something to rest your eyes on whilst we prepare for future posts.
I have been doing these very quick sketches lately, trying to get lighting right and not caring too much about proportions or accuracy as far as design goes.
I decided to take the three speeds I did last and put them together to a little triptych, though at first they did not really fit with each other.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Warhammer 40k universe, the first two from left are normally what’s called “Loyalists” or “the good guys”. The guy on the far right is most definitely one of “the bad guys”.
So I made the three of them lean more towards “bad” then “good”, removing insignia’s of the two first ones, adding more scratches and a hint of…. evil ominous-ness.
These types of speed-paints have proven to be extremely relaxing to me as they take no more then 2-3 hours and I just go with the flow whilst painting them. Very generous as far as breaks, things to paint on now and then between work.
Hope you like,
David
Carry on – Sketches will follow
Hello there,
Time for another update with images.
This time it is a little scarce because I am saving up two images for free tutorials. One of those will come within the week, the other will take a little longer.
In the meanwhile, here is a speedpaint/quick study for Imperial Fists armour in sunlight.
This was done as part of trying to figure out lighting of an Imperial Fist for a figure in a commission I am wrapping up. Never mind the faults in colouring the armour or faulty armourdesign as most of it was to get the yellows and blacks right light-wise and not for accuracy on Imperial Fists armour.
As soon as the client has said his and we see if there are any tweaks needed or not, I will post that one on here.
I like how the style is coming out, was painting this way more loose then most of my current stuff.
If enough people like it I will paint it completed so let me know what you think!
/David
