Doodling General discussion, lol

[crashlegacy14]

gradual steps are almost always easier. the web has a host of tutorials for pretty much everything you could ever need help on and a thousand things you didn't ever want to know how to do. and while you might not find "How to make giant robots in sketch up" tutorials on other things in the program can be referenced and process used to your need.

I say 'almost' because it's been my tactic to jump into something way over my head and just bludgeon until I get something I like. Wow, when I actually say it like that I sound like a Neanderthal.

oh and illsteir that thing is sexy.

[tehprognoob]

*just got back from the 7 circle of hell*

Here's the WIP BTW:
Wheee!

"sigh" the love of boxy robots has pervaded and totally corrupted the world of mecha fanart. Bygone art thy days of sleek, graceful metal monstrosities.


but nice lol

[Heretic]

Here’s a quick look at a work in progress of my own. White Fang. A semi post apocalyptic mecha. (I say semi post apocalyptic because really, if any people survive whatever cataclysm, then it clearly couldn’t have been all that bad.) I’m kind of going for a cross between Zoids, Metal Gear, Battletech and a dash of the old school cartoon Exo-Squad.

One thing I do that-- if anyone else does it, they haven’t mentioned-- is to make sub-assemblies. Crafting and refining more detailed peaces aside from the main body of what I’m working on then moving them all into place to make something very detailed.

[crashlegacy14]

Here’s a quick look at a work in progress of my own. White Fang. A semi post apocalyptic mecha. (I say semi post apocalyptic because really, if any people survive whatever cataclysm, then it clearly couldn’t have been all that bad.) I’m kind of going for a cross between Zoids, Metal Gear, Battletech and a dash of the old school cartoon Exo-Squad.

One thing I do that-- if anyone else does it, they haven’t mentioned-- is to make sub-assemblies. Crafting and refining more detailed peaces aside from the main body of what I’m working on then moving them all into place to make something very detailed.

VR and I do this on paper when working out designs. but that's not you where referring our 3D artists.

[Heretic]

I am really liking how White Fang is coming along. Head Side view The Grill The neck joints

You are right Crash, I should have been more specific. I break things up into smaller parts when making them in 3D. For my 2D sketches I work on the image more or less as a whole. Starting with the rough form then refining it until I like it.

[illsteir]

"sigh" the love of boxy robots has pervaded and totally corrupted the world of mecha fanart. Bygone art thy days of sleek, graceful metal monstrosities.


but nice lol

b...b...b...but Boxy can be sexy too! (see Genesic GaoGaiGar)

[Turinu]

Here's some sleek to push aside the boxy. I'd say this 3D Justine Knightmare Frame is around 35% complete, maybe? Just started the arms, after having given up on finishing the head for now. >_>

[crashlegacy14]

<3 polish.

[Turinu]

My next franken project, now that the Constantine Mk. III is done...


Is an arm!

EDIT:

Completed left arm!

[tehprognoob]

yo shori, just wandering if the "master" of Sketchup (that means you lol) would pass on a few tricks.
How do you make a surface on a curve? I have a flat surface with a mesh made with curves on it. what do I do if I want to cover the curved mesh with a surface?
thanks in advance

[Turinu]

Honestly I have no clue what you're talking about, >_>. I pretty much taught myself through trial and error. I never managed to pick up on the terms for all the things I do. If you show me a picture of what you're trying to do I might be able to help out though.

[tehprognoob]

this picture.. I wanna cover the highlighted lines with a smooth, curved surface. How?

[Turinu]

So that's kind of like making a face plate, in which case I suggest following a design tutorial written up by Illsteir, here:

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/ ... revstart=0

I'm afraid to say I'm not very good at the way you do it; I usually just take a flat surface and rotate it 6-7 times to get the general shape and scale down where necessary to line parts up and use the line tool to connect the edges to make faces, like this:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e237/ ... jbvgfb.png

The back part that connects to the center came out a bit iffy, but I was rushing it and forgot to create the center part to match up with the back bottom part. :<

[Outlaw]

Whoa, looks like I'm fashionably late as usual.

So, I was wondering if any other sketchers out there know where I can find some good freebie pointers/tutorials. I had intended to take a course at the local Community College but I couldn't scrounge up the $100 needed in time (being unemployed sucks). Now my time sketching is spent being productive half the time and the other half getting frustrated; you know that special kind of angry where you don't know if your going to tear the paper apart, or cry into it like a handkerchief.

I like the WIP idea. I'd post some myself, I just don't feel like dragging out my old dinosaur of a scanner.
I also like the idea of collaborating, as I've had a project for some time that I was hoping to bring to the community for just that reason.

PS: I like illsteir's combiner. Long live the boxy.

[crashlegacy14]

Whoa, looks like I'm fashionably late as usual.

So, I was wondering if any other sketchers out there know where I can find some good freebie pointers/tutorials. I had intended to take a course at the local Community College but I couldn't scrounge up the $100 needed in time (being unemployed sucks). Now my time sketching is spent being productive half the time and the other half getting frustrated; you know that special kind of angry where you don't know if your going to tear the paper apart, or cry into it like a handkerchief.

I like the WIP idea. I'd post some myself, I just don't feel like dragging out my old dinosaur of a scanner.
I also like the idea of collaborating, as I've had a project for some time that I was hoping to bring to the community for just that reason.

PS: I like illsteir's combiner. Long live the boxy.

something I learned rather quickly is if the sketch is frustrating you, especially early on stop and start a new. try things like making crazy demands of yourself for example limit the amount of time you'll take to laying down a sketch or how much you'll let yourself erase. for more spefic advice though you'll have to give us some examples of your art.

oh...word of the day: "Sniffle Shuffle"

[Seraphic]

raw scan
Symmetry is the enemy! Jesus freaking Christ. After this, I am never looking at another symmetrical thing again...unless they are boobs.....

you know you could have just drawn one entire side cloned it over in photoshop. sure it's kinda awkward drawing only one half of an image and you have to make sure to give youself overlap so there won't be gaps when you flip it later but it would probably have saved you a good deal of work.

Yeah, probably, but that would almost literally be half-assing it. Besides, I might complain, but the challenge of it generally benefited me in the end, I think. Not a lot of people have the gall to free-hand such a complex symmetrical piece, so that must be a good thing. And what am I supposed to tell people who look at the actual pencil drawing if there were only half of it?

And I forgot to do WIP for this one, lol: raw scan

I think I might add something to this... like Yoshimoto fighting it XD.

Oh yeah?! Well fucking bring it! I hope Yoshi's good with a sword. >=o

I've been away a little too long to comment everything, but I'm liking everything that has shown up here. Glad we finally have some space for that.

***

Asides from running out of space like an idiot and a sense of fashion that died in the 1990s, are there any general complaints before I color this?

And this is a really old one with some fixes. Is it passable now? Still looks rough to me. =/

[Heretic]

Seraphic

For the first one, I would say that her wrists look a little too fat. I’m not sure what your intent is but it looks like her wrists are the same width as her hands, it might be a perspective thing but I think you should make them thinner. That’s just my take on it though.

The second one looks nice, can’t think of anything that looks specifically wrong with it.

[crashlegacy14]

I second Heretic on those comments.

the foreshortening in the first piece is some what wonky (scientific term) but to be honest I'm not sure how I'd do it any differently well beyond bringing the elbows further from the body to give you more "room" to make a believable fore shortening. hell since this is going to get colored you might be able to just ignore the comments about this one provided your coloring job sells the foreshortening. ..hum that sounds a lot more confusing then I meant it to be.

the second one, which i remember how it looked back then, is a lot better now. besides the lines not being as smooth as your more recent work I don't really see anything that should change before you throw color on it. well may skim a little off of the neck length, I'm pretty sure you already did, but it could possibly use a tad more. but yeah you're pretty much ready to throw some color on it.

[Ryujin]

I have to agree, she appears to have oversized forearms in the first picture. Other than re-drawing them or creative use of color & shadow, I think that this can also be rectified by turning them into big, bulky welding gloves or gloves with large cuffs instead, by adding a couple of lines here & there.

With regards to shared worlds & collaborations, perhaps this calls for a poll, initially to find out what type or style of mecha a.) the artist prefers and b.) the audience prefers.

[Seraphic]

Alright already! D:

Perspective on arms is always kicking me in the balls. =(

With regards to shared worlds & collaborations, perhaps this calls for a poll, initially to find out what type or style of mecha a.) the artist prefers and b.) the audience prefers.

I guess this is more towards Outlaw's proposal, right? Knowing the general preference of the mechatalk artists is easy enough, but who is the audience exactly? MechaTalk, too? I don't know about you guys, but I generally just draw for myself, if that's not too weird.