Contact Me At: michaelnolan1983@gmail.com







Wednesday 29 February 2012

Practice

I was travelling a lot for the last week or so, plenty of sketching done whilst I was at it, but not as much as I'd like
I watched the movie the Troll hunter, and I was sketching as I did and having my pocket watercolour set with me I did this whilst I watched
I'm not sure if the troll in the tree's is noticable, but I like it over all, its only about half an A4 size.
I also sketched from a bunch of reference pics I have on my comp, not sure of the original owners or anything, but as its only for practice I cant imagine anyone would cause a fuss




I'v always loved the shape of american army boots... no idea why

Saturday 18 February 2012

Mayan alien... thingy

This idea popped into my head the other day hailing from parts unknown
After Beena found it disturbing I knew I was on the right path and so I started painting it up a la photoshop and my ol friend brown
But then two things happened in quick succession
Number the first: I remembered an article I read the other day in Imagine FX about the golden ratio rule thing and thought, what the hell, I can do that
And lets not forget two: I realised it was getting to the point where I would need details and that requires reference, well Im lazy so screw it, they're aliens now
Two moons is the universal symbol for aliens in case you were wondering.
I think the building on the mountain on the right is a bit distracting so it will probably be off soon. I may also line up the moons with the point of the pyramid in the background, to make it seem as though a ritual is taking place because of a celestial... thing.
Should anyone spot anything obvious that I tend not to see, feel free to point it out, Ill just be over here making tea.

Practice

Filled with the sudden urge to paint a ladybird (or ladybug if you're an American) I painted it in photoshop, then thought screw it, TO ARTRAGE

Photoshop
Artrage

More Artrage

Friday 17 February 2012

Practice

Decided today I cant draw animals well enough, so I was sketching away all day. Heres the most of them squished together

Thursday 16 February 2012

Practice

Used a pic I came across online (cant remember where) for reference to sketch away and used a drop shadow on the inking layer in photoshop. I like the effect it makes. 

Saturday 11 February 2012

Shiori and Gnaf

The underpainting for a piece I'm doing for Beena. Her characters Shiori the mage and Gnaf the wolf, asleep in the woods.

Friday 10 February 2012

Cranky

Hello all,
"Why has it stopped?"
The line popped into my head from somewhere, and then the image went with it.
So, I sketched it out, and being way too lazy to get the scanner out, I just used my webcam.
Then I had to crop that out and sketch over it in photoshop
 
Then I blocked in the lights and darks and worked it up from there

 I liked the look of the circuits over his head and shoulder, but I thought they were too distracting so I removed them from the final image, but I left the ones on his fingers to indicate he might be scanning the guy or something like that.

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Animation test

Something I did really quickly in flash today as a test for a short Im working on with the Grizzly Beans

Whiskers




Good oul whiskers.
Made up Celt painted for the epic moustache and judging by that hair... because he's worth it

Painted over the course of a day in photoshop cs5 with a wacom

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Sketches

Working up some ideas today inbetween applying for freelance work all over the internet.
I like the idea of this one, just because its two big warrior men messing in a field of new snow

I call him whiskers.

Saturday 4 February 2012

Journal recovered

While I had the oils out and once I was finished the pretend portrait in practice of doing a proper one I decided to use what was left on the palette to paint over the writing on the cover of a new journal/sketchbook thing I got with a voucher I was given for my birthday. Its a lovely book, all bendy and lovely quality paper, it just had the manufacturers title emblazoned on the front, which I hate.
Foolishly I didnt even think about what I was going to paint, but I think it turned out ok
I think I was channeling Bob Ross on those branches

Thursday 2 February 2012

Portrait in oil

I started my first ever oil painting this afternoon. Want to do good portraits so I started out with a picture of my Da in his navy days which recently came to a close. Here he is on guard of honour duty for president Robinson sometime in the 90's (It was shortly after he got back from his tour in Lebanon is all I can remember)
So I started off sketching onto the canvas paper... stuff. It was a pain, mainly due to me not being happy with it no matter what I did, but the material finish of the paper is hard to draw on, all you can really do is mark and smudge

I started off with a brown wash thing going on
My main problem was that I had no idea how to mix a medium with the oils to get desired effects, so I stuck with the white spirits for a while and then randomly switched to a bottle of liquin I bought for just such an emergency

And thats just about where I left it I think, I did do a little more, but nothing of note, I think I played with the tones and planes of the face more and added some colour to the cap brim. All in all a hell of a fun day, im high as hell from the white spirits, gonna have to get some odourless stuff for sure.