drawing a line someplace

Forest Ruins

2012-01-16T08:56:00.000-08:00

Something I did a while back, thought I would show my steps in Gif format this time.

Evolution of the cute

2011-08-21T09:35:00.000-07:00

Still working in Illustrator, I made this cute bastard. As you can see I started off sticking fairly close to a real warthog which just made my initial concept alien and creepy. After some iterations I abandoned accuracy for cuteness. Picking an animal that's not traditionally cute, though they do have a lot of charm and character, was a a fun challenge. I learned more from doing a warthog than I would have had I chosen a puppy or a kitten.

Roman boy

2011-08-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

Illustrator works great for creating crisp cartoon style concepts. I did this Roman soldier boy a while back and when I revisited the concept, I thought it made for great practice in Illustrator. It's been a long while since I used Illustrator but I was surprised I still remembered all the keyboard shortcuts, I guess some things just stay with you.

Schrodinger

2011-07-21T15:32:00.000-07:00

Old art test I did, I was asked to choose a physicist to do a turn around of. I avoided the most famous choices of Einstein and Newton and looked for a lesser known physicist. I considered Richard Feynman, Marie Curie, Niels Bohr and after some research I found myself drawn to Erwin Schrodinger. His glasses, hair, angular bone structure and propensity to always wear bow ties seemed to lend itself well for a cartoonish art style.

Icons

2011-06-08T12:41:00.000-07:00

Late night thumbs

2011-05-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

Come at me, bro

2011-04-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

Did this last night before bed, once I did the silhouette of the man I knew just what to title this post.

Bamboo Hut

2011-04-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a good easter weekend! Mine was quiet and productive! I chose this sketch from the many thumbnails I have in my sketchbook and took it to completion. As always these images give you a good idea of my process. I rarely jump into a painting without doing value roughs, otherwise I feel like I didn't properly explore what the painting has the potential to be.

Missing the rain

2011-03-23T17:23:00.000-07:00

Been too long since my last post but at least this I have some what of an excuse. I've landed a job and moved to Texas. So the past couple of months have been very busy. Though recently I have been coming home and working on personal work which I will post later. This piece was inspired by my new favorite drink, Woodchuck Cider. Also, I really love rainy weather and dark clouds and since it's nice and sunny here, I guess I was just drawn to the image I based this painting off of. I'll be doing more of these, they're great quick practice.

Structure silhouettes

2010-11-10T18:39:00.000-08:00

These are some structure silhouettes. I use the vague term "structure" because I'm doing a painting that has a large structure in the background and I'm not really focusing on exactly what it is, but rather how it looks. It could be a gateway, an ancient ruin, an alien ship, obelisk. I had some basic design shapes that I wanted to play with, specifically a fin shape, so I thought I'd do a bunch of these and get them out of my system as well as explore some other shapes. I really enjoy doing silhouettes when I'm trying to narrow down shapes and designs that I like. When I do line drawings I tend to get caught up with the functionality of aspects of the design. Doing these lets me focus more on the overall feel and shape of the object rather than the specifics. I'll be sure to post the finished environment with one of these "structures" in it.

Using Painter...

2010-10-10T21:53:00.000-07:00

It's been ages since I used Painter so when I wanted to do a quick study of a landscape I thought it was a good time to use it. Then I remembered why I didn't like using Painter. Although Painter is an excellent for getting a real life medium look, you can't fully utilize it unless you have the Intuos Art pen. The Art pen, which is different from the "Classic" pen, can register rotation. So the brush can rotate to the direction of your pen strokes. This is also a draw back in Photoshop but atleast in PS I can manually rotate the brush angle in brush controls. This does slow my process down, but I have that option which is better than nothing.

Desert village

2010-10-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

Took one of my simple environment thumbnails and developed it into a full scene. The original thumbnail lacked story telling elements that I think are vital to an environment concept, so when I started developing the environment I had to work that stuff in. I'll have to be sure to work that stuff in right away next time.

Thumbnails

2010-08-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

Some recent environment thumbnails.

Shield

2010-03-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

I'm continuing making props and this is the latest one. I also relaunched my website, I think its a big improvement from my old design. More to come soon!

Barrels of fun

2010-02-03T09:55:00.000-08:00

I'm continuing with the 3d and I'm still working with simple shapes. Though I am getting more and more confident in 3ds Max, I plan on doing simple props until I get the process down cold (unwrapping UVs can be tricky). I've learned a lot from watching tutorials but knowing 3d artists has been the greatest asset. Whenever I have a question they're always there with an answer and advice. I really can't stress enough how valuable their help has been, so I give many thanks to you guys! (you know who you are ;P) Anyway, 'till next time!

Finished Sword

2010-01-28T01:44:00.000-08:00

I dabbled in 3d a while back but then got distracted with some 2d work. This time around I'm taking it nice and slow and focusing on completing my projects, so naturally I am starting with something small. I'm working in 3ds Max which is a surprisingly straight forward and easy to take in once you learn the terminology. I'm not thrilled with how this turned out, but I am very satisfied with how much I learned just from making something as simple and basic as a sword. More to come!

2010-01-06T10:17:00.000-08:00

UE Challenge '09

2009-10-14T18:19:00.000-07:00

I have been away for some time doing some freelance work and I also visited family in Florida twice since my last post. Anyway, I decided to enter the Unearthly Challenge and these are the roughs for my three entrees. I had to make a team logo, even though I'm the only one in my team. I'll be posting my my work in progress in the days to come. Go team Echo!!

3DS Max

2009-06-26T09:27:00.000-07:00

I decided to take a short break from doing 2D work so I can pick up some 3D skills. Luckily I know a few 3D artists so picking up 3DS Max has been easier than I expected. I'm at the point where I can easily block out shapes or an environment layout to use for a paint-over. I chose to make a Supermarine Spitfire MK. IX, blocking it out and getting the shape done hasn't been difficult, but I'm sure things will change once I start addressing the details. I also started an ammo box, which should be a quicker project than the plane. Anyway, I'll be sure to post them up once they're done. 'till next time folks!

Knight portrait

2009-06-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

While the job hunt continues, I've been keeping busy with some personal projects. I decided to do something a little more traditional this time. I have some great photo reference of some knights so I thought it was about time I put them to good use. As usual I've included the steps of my work process.

On another note, Nihilistic/Konami's "Zombie Apocalypse" was recently announced. I'm very proud to say that this is the first official title that I've worked on. I had a great time working on the game and learned a tremendous amount. The game looks great and I cant wait to play it.

Movie poster

2009-05-10T10:19:00.000-07:00

I've been away for a while but it's for good reason! I recently did this movie poster illustration for an indie film a friend just completed making. He wrote, produced and directed the film! So when he asked me to do an illustration for his movie, I was very excited and honored. Luckily I was working with someone who knew exactly what he wanted, which made my job much easier. We're both very pleased with the final poster and after seeing so many stills from the film shoot, I can't wait for the films viewing!

On another note, I recently took down my other blog which was serving as my portfolio. But now ahedkhatib.com is up! So be sure to drop by and have a look around! :D

a'pair'a'paintin's

2009-04-20T21:50:00.000-07:00

Did these two paintings a while back. My focus in doing them was to get atmosphere and a rough layout down as quickly as I can. I think they're pretty successful! Anyway, till next time folks :)

rainy day

2009-02-06T17:04:00.000-08:00

rainy days make me sleepy...

Mountains

2009-01-17T19:44:00.000-08:00

I did this while practicing how to use Coral Painter and went back in Photoshop to do some touch ups.

Rapunzel

2009-01-14T01:25:00.000-08:00

I wanted to do something romantic, so I turned to fairy tales. Rapunzel seemed like a good tale to illustrate because no movie studios have yet to make a big budget animated movie about it (though in doing reference research I discovered that Disney has a Rapunzel movie in the works). I referenced artists like Thomas Cole and Thomas Doughty which really helped me direct the mood and color palette. I used both Painter and Photoshop do to this.

You choo-choo-choose me?

2008-08-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

I finished this painting recently and I'm happy with how it turned out. Doing a character concept isn't quite the undertaking that an environment concept is, you just have so much more real estate to fill! As with all things, the more you do it the easier it gets, and hopefully faster too ;)

These are the steps I took to get to my final piece. This isn't a tutorial or anything, I just happened to save a few Jpegs along my way to completion and I thought they showed nice levels of progression. It's interesting to see what shapes were there from the very start.

Sketchbook Scans

2008-08-20T00:06:00.000-07:00

It's been some time since I last posted anything. These are Some sketch I did over the summer. I started using watercolor but I still can't control it very well, need more practice. Going out to train your eye to break things down into simple shapes is a great exercise.

New Concepts/Blog

2008-04-15T14:35:00.001-07:00

Hey Folks, just finished a few things and thought it was time for a post. I was busy doing a painting for my brother this past month. But I forgot to take some pictures of it before mailing it off to him, so as soon as he sends me some pictures of it I'll be sure to post it. In the mean time, these are a couple of new concepts, I realized that I don't draw women as much as I should so I thought a female concept was in order. I was inspired by some photos taken from a costume carnival, I really liked the look of one of the models so I knew I had to do something based on the pictures I had of her. The second is a not too distant future soldier, he's an old concept of mine that I thought I should update and fix what I didn't like about him.

Now on to the new blog!! Well, it's not really a blog as much a portfolio. I originally planned to use this blog as my portfolio but I realized that anyone who wants to hire me doesn't want to scroll through paragraphs of type to look for my work, so I made a clean and simple portfolio. Be sure to check it out here and let me know what ya think!

Close, but no dice

2008-03-18T21:50:00.000-07:00

This past week I was asked to do a test for a game developer I applied to. I was given a rough description of what they wanted to see and two days to do it. It's been a while since I had a short dead line so I couldn't take much time to explore a lot of concepts. After some brainstorming I got to work, I had to remind myself to keep things simple so I can match the developers art style. I think the traveling merchant is the best example of that style. Unfortunately, they decided to pass on me, none the less I think these turned out well under circumstances and I'm glad to share'em. Enjoy!

My WonderCon experience

2008-02-25T05:55:00.001-08:00

I can’t sleep so here I am to share my WonderCon experience. I mainly went because my roommate works for a game developer which means him and a guest can get in for free. After attending GDC the previous couple of days, I wasn’t looking forward to being in yet another large crowd. After getting our passes we made our way down to the main hall and set about exploring. We walked around for a while, taking in the sights and such. I couldn’t really enjoy anything for very long because it was just so damn crowded that you just couldn’t stand still long enough to appreciate anything. There was a point when we passed an artist table that had the books of Joe Weatherly, this perked my interest because I had recently done a horse turn around and his book was my main source of reference. The book was five bucks cheaper than it’s normally priced, but money is tight these days so I moved on while still considering weather I should buy it or not. After about another hour of just browsing the convention, I decided to go back and buy the book after all. So when I came back to the table, there was a 30 something gentleman sitting behind the desk that wasn’t there the first time I had passed (there was some girl manning the table earlier). I said I’d like to get the book and when I did the man asked me if I’d like it autographed. That’s when it dawned on me that the man before me was in fact Joe Weatherly himself! I was just at a loss for words, first because for some reason I had imagined him to be some old fart and secondly because his book was such a great source of reference and was filled with knowledge. I had analyzed his drawings for weeks and studied his method of drawing animals. I regained my composure and spouted something that probably went like this, “dur…um, yes please, autograph…” As he signed it I let him know how helpful his book is. He reassured me by saying that drawing horses is hard and that he’s glad his book helped me out. After shaking his hand I walked away, my mind was still racing and I was legitimately star struck. I mean in the same day I had seen Lou Ferrigno, Peter Mayhew (the guy who played Chewbacca) and comedian Brian Posehn (all of which I am a fan of) and I wasn’t phased! So all ‘n all my WonderCon experience was brief but awesome. Here is a scan of the page he autographed and if anyone out there is into drawing animals, this book is a must.

Big Update!

2008-02-22T21:58:00.000-08:00

It’s been over five months since I have updated, but I’m making up for it now. I’ve been hard at work interning at a local game developer and have learned so much in such a short time. I recently ended my internship so I can focus on my portfolio, especially before GDC came around. I still think my portfolio wasn’t showing all I can do, but none the less I was getting great feed back. GDC was very exciting; I met a lot of art directors and received priceless advice on my portfolio. It was great to see so many other concept artists, it really lights a fire under ones ass when you see the talent you’re competing with. Anyway, the work below is a mix of characters, props and environments. I’ve nothing else to do but focus on my work so updates should be more frequent. Enjoy! :D

A not so quick...quickie

2007-10-11T17:34:00.000-07:00

Yet another race from the Warhammer universe, this Dark Eldar gave me some trouble. Unlike the other races I had trouble finding good reference for Dark Eldar, so he ended up taking me much longer to finish than I expected. I tried to stay true to the feel of the race by making sure almost every part of him came to a sharp point...

Some more Quickies!!

2007-10-03T03:38:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple more Warhammer inspired pieces. I tried to make these quick studies but the first one ended up taking around 40 minutes. The second took two hours, which is a lot longer than I wanted to spend on these but I couldn't stop until I felt the piece was...well, complete. I'll likely do a few more of these while I still have the Warhammer bug....till next time folks! :D

Quickies!!

2007-09-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

A couple of quick studies inspired by WarHammer...

Acrylic owns Oil

2007-08-08T16:51:00.000-07:00

I was moving some paintings around today, when I came across these two. I figured it would be a good time to scan and post them up. These paintings are by far my favorite pieces I've done in acrylic. I never thought I'd be able to paint anything until I tried acrylic. Compared to oil, acrylic was just so damn liberating. Oil forces you to plan things out and for me it leaves little room for spontaneity, all of which is due to its long drying time. But with acrylic it dries so fast that even if you put down a color or brush stroke that you don't like, a few minutes later you can just paint right over it. I don't worry about screwing up when painting with acrylic. I try to paint digitally the same way I paint with acrylic but I still know I paint differently with each. I suppose it’s because with real paint you're slowed down and forced to think more about each brush stroke. Anyway, I just got a new sketch book today so be sure to check back soon for new sketches.

back alley paintin'

2007-08-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

This is a painting I've been working on the last couple of days. I haven't painted an environment in a while and when I saw a picture in National Geographic, I thought it would make for a nice painting. I wanted to finish this painting in one sitting but after a while I needed to get away from it. But taking a brake from it and getting feed back was really helpful. Also threw in the quick roughs, each took a couple of minutes. I'm pretty happy with the end result and I know there is room for improvement but I'd rather move on to another piece.

I'll be sure to post something soon again, some more sketch book stuff most likely.

Project Octopus hits YouTube

2007-07-18T02:14:00.001-07:00

One of the guys I worked with on Project Octopus posted a trailer of it on YouTube. Here is a little background on Project Octopus for those who don't know. The project spanned four semesters at the Academy of Art University and it set out to create a Half-Life 2 mod. It was an Adventure/Horror themed FPS inspired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. Recently, the project received a "Best Game" award at the Epidemic Film Festival. (You can read all about it here)

As proud as I am to have been a part of such a great and valuable experience, I do have a problem with the trailer. Now assuming this is the trailer that was submitted to the film festival, whom ever made the trailer forgot at least one person. No, that person isn't me, I was credited for the concept art work I did. But I did spot the textures I made which I didn't get credited (which is fine since I want to be known for my concept work rather than my textures). Anyway my good friend Bret Motyl, who was a texture artist on the project and did excellent work, received no credit what so ever. Not getting any credit for something you worked hard on is just not right, but all of us who know Bret know he deserves every bit of credit for his contributions to the project.

Here are a couple of the environment paintings I did for Project Octopus that never made the trailer...

My first post! (bout time)

2007-07-16T18:14:00.000-07:00

Well here it is, my very first post. I made this blog at least a month ago...don't ask me why its taking me this long to actually post something. This is something out of my sketch book. I really love strong silhouettes, which is why I really like this drawing. I'll be sure to post something regularly. till next time folks!