More Noir-ish portrait wips

Two more to go I think, and perhaps make a Step by step Gif or something. WIP! Listening to jazz and coming up with these guys and rendering them is the business XD. They remind me of a sorta Christina Aguilera, Natalie Portman mix (DROOL), and something like David Carradine :D

Crime City Portraits WIP...

Hello! Here are some portraits. I'm trying to go towards a more painterly approach, but still retain some controlled and nearly graphic shapes (No airbrush!1). I'm trying out a "halfway to black" system to choose my values, as outlined by Scott Robertson in his rendering matte surfaces DVD:s. Essentially it's about first picking the average value for the light of a material/color, and then going halfway to black to locate the average value of that shadow. So for example, if the light value of a material is 50% bright, the shadow would be 25% bright. In doing this I kinda create a value gamut, so that I can get some control. Previously I've just winged my values, going for what looked right. Ambient occlusion can create darker values too. Still WIP!

Colt Tombgrave WIP

Can't quit on this guy just yet, there's a story that needs to be told! :D

Edit: Did some tweaks, not enough to warrant a new post.

Stuff

In trying to become more controlled and aware of planes, I've made the mistake of making all edges hard. I do however intend to become more painterly, and leave the airbrush out as much as possible, cause I think the "3D" render is boring. I take more pleasure in viewing something by Zorn or Sargent, than I do Ingres or Beaugerau. I like Gregory Manchess's rendering technique. Every stroke is made with confidence and purpose! The pose of the knight is rubbish, and conveys nothing except the design. I always need to remind myself to put my characters in a story context. I also tend to flatten things out to the image plane, and not use the Z-axis.

Bunchafaces!

Bunch O dudes for a detectivestory!

TonedPaperSketch

So my friend Hedvig, whose company is as lovely as a Chet Baker song, told me to start posting again. Some characters for a story I've got in mind :)














I've just realized I should also draw in the shadowshapes in my sketches, and not leave them simply as lineart. This is immensely helpful for the renderingstage, as well as an excellent place to put in rythm-enforcing lines. This toned paper isn't responding as well to my pencil as the moleskine-paper though :/

Failing

Sorry for the long absence :(

I tried to render these guys, but I suck, and failed. I will practice and get better.










On another note, I've decided to resign from my current job, and I will go back home to Sweden for a while, and focus on studying art on my own. You should see the size of my amazon shoppingcart ;)