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SKetchbook pages

Hi there!

Just a quick update on some sketchbook pages.

Horace

Here is another play with the marvellous Kyle T Webster brushes.

Hellboy

Here is a lighting study that slowly turned into Hellboy. I have been meaning to have a good play with the amazing Kyle T Webster brushes and this is the result!

The Young Cleric

This was done for a character design challenge on the concept art forums. The brief was for a young boy who has strange birthmarks and has a mysterious power. I wanted to portray a melancholic boy who sees his power and sudden cleric promotion as another step from normality that he longs for.

 And here is the process

colouring a spud

with the Noctureshire population growing, I'm still curious too see if there is a way to colour them that doesn't detract from the line work.

Here is a latest attempt on Spud.

The original

I tried going for a sepia look with a subtle paper texture

And then a watercolour effect

Colour experiment

Whilst I'm populating the monochromatic world of Nocturneshire, I have always been tinkering ways to possibly add colour to them.

For the old characters, I did colour them: examples here here and here. I always felt that the colouring detracted from the work rather than add to it.

A glutton for punishment, I have tried a different approach to colouring but still the same problem I think. I thought I would share anyway.

Here is The Rambling Man, posted today:

And here is the coloured version of him. The problem of the colour making it busy remain, but was an interesting experiment.


Here is the process behind it.

A trio of animals

Here are some animals for my daughter's nursery to fit in with the jungle theme.

Here are the finished canvases I had printed in the nursery, they turned out really nice.

Here are the process gifs for them.

Here they are in the nursery

Jazz 625

Here is my contribution to the Jazz and Draw project. I was contacted to add some Jazz themed work shortly after catching Jazz 625 on BBC Four late one night. The two clicked at the right time to make the illustration.

I chose the Bill Evans Trio as my subject, not an easy task to single out one act from the show.

Here is a snazzy gif showing the process behind it.

Nocturneshire progress

Just a quick post to display some of the rogues, weirdos and oddities that are populating Nocturneshire at the moment.

Ugla

Here is a character design I made at the Conceptart forum for 'Boris the Lovable bodyguard'. I don't think he looks like a Boris, so I named him Ugla. I know, a strange name. It is from the origin of the word owl, which Ugla loves so much.

Taken from dictionary.com

before 900; Middle English oule, Old English ūle;  cognate with Low German ūle, Dutch uil;  akin to GermanEule, Old Norse ugla

I put a background in to show a quiet moment this hulking warrior with his private love, his pet owls.

I did the piece mostly in rough chalk brushes, I really liked the looseness.

The tattoos are always fun to do, the break in the tattoo where there are scars was tricky to get right.

Some close ups

Here is the process 

for Ugla

and the background 

For the wall and foliage I went to Matlock Bath and took some photos for reference. They are in my flickr album full resolution for you to use as you see fit.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/steventopley/sets/72157645506430875/

Keeper of Lost Things

Here is a keeper of lost things. I made it for a character design challenge at the conceptart forum. I wanted to do something besides a miniature person (like The Borrowers) and have some rat like creature with superb taste in facial hair.

I have added a background in to finish it off, I had no idea bricks would be so tricky to paint! I do like woodlice(in their own ugly way), so I had to put a little feller in there.

And here is the process behind the character. I dropped the ball on taking steps on the background, sorry.

Nocturneshire

This has been in the works for a while. I have been chipping away at a sketchbook of characters, exclusively in black and white.

The book pages are 13cm square, the (now tatty) sketchbook has been carried around with me for quite some time, slowly being populated. It's been fun and challenging keeping to a set style for a long period, but that was a large reason for doing it.

I won't post each one to this blog, as it would swamp it. They have their own home in Nocturneshire after all!

Here is a small selection of what's on there so far...

Space Pirate Riff

Here is the last of the series of Space Pirates, Riff.

I coloured this one a little different to experiment with the chipped paint effect on the robot slave. 

Here is the original pirate sketch, I just didn't like him!

Here is a detail of Riff, in all his chubby Cthulhu-esque glory.

And here is the process 

Space Pirate Serg

Here is Space Pirate Serg, the only outlaw with enough fashion panache to match up a poncho with a beret.

Here is the process, although I lost a lot of the WIP shots for this one.

Space Pirate Royos

Here is Royos, a Space Pirate with a unique view on fashion. He stands by his decision to wear a leopard print sash!

Here is the process

Space Pirate Bucky

Meet Bucky, the new addition to the Space Pirate crew.

I enjoyed making the t shirt design, although it's pretty lost in the full illustration. It reads: 

"New Califonia Beach twice the sun twice the fun!" 

I should have really saved the design before committing it to the t shirt really. 

Here is the process for Bucky

Space Pirate Sid

Here is the resident mechanic Sid, responsible for keeping the galactic galleon afloat. 

I had some fun creating his tattoos, and his rather fetching shorts.

Here is the process