UE Challenge '09

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

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

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

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

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

rainy days make me sleepy...

Mountains

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

Rapunzel

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?

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

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

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

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!