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Jonathan Gonzlez brotherostavia.deviantart.com/

Heaven Will heavenwill.deviantart.com/

Plamen Petroff plamen5rov.deviantart.com/

Vlad Gheneli vladgheneli.deviantart.com/

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Ivan real-sonkes.deviantart.com/

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Josh Corpuz http://joshcorpuz85.deviantart.com/

Jonathan Gonzlez brotherostavia.deviantart.com/

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Zhrayde zhrayde.deviantart.com/

Vasyl Hryvnak alphabethater.deviantart.com/

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Anthony Scroggins shimmering-sword.deviantart.com/

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MIDDAY MASSACRE
Arseniy Korablev arsdraw.deviantart.com/ INTRODUCTION When we asked Arseniy to share this impressive 3D work with our audience his response was that the finish image itself wont be enough without the accompanying work in progress images. These images show you how Arseniy comes up with his ideas and the progression from there onwards.

ARTIST DESCRIPTION Dry, barren land, from year to year leave hungry family of a poor farmer, forced him to look for new and new ideas. And he finds - derivation of the formula perfect fertilizer. But how perfect? The result will exceed expectations..

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Josh http://joshcorpuz85.deviantart.com/ artofjoshcorpuz.daportfolio.com

Josh from Philippines shared with us how he takes a concept from a ver y ear ly rough stage, all the way to a refined concept.

Sketch - Before I start things off, I usually do sketches for characters/creatures in either photoshop or on my sketchbook. In this case, Photoshop. The assignment was to design a creature based on a word that was given to us, and the word that I got was 'Golem' ( Originally was 'Limbless', swapped it out though ). Thinking of a new way to spice up the idea, I came up with these 3 thumbnails.

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Pencils - Once my lecturer has picked which one I should go for, I bring back the idea to a penciled line-art (only when I'm doing character/creature design, composition, I usually go with photoshop all the way.). The reason why I bring it back to traditional is that I could draw more accurate in traditional than I could ever could in digital.

Base Colors - Once the final line-art has been approved, I proceed on bringing it to Photoshop to fix the errors I made in the line-art and start blocking the color and lighting in. Though I tr y to put more emphasis on the lighting and tr y to establish a focal point and at the same tr y to make it look 'dramatic'. I usually spend quite a fair bit of time into this since it's the foundation of my paintings.

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Rendering - The most tedious part begins as I tr y to zoom in quite c lose to the painting and just detailing the painting while keeping in mind the lighting and how it would react on the details I added in.

F inal - Once I reach the final stages of the painting, I started to add a bunch on filters to help push the focal point and depth of field of the painting.

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The image above shows the finished concept. W ith tight details and skillful rendering it is no surprise that Josh gets the attention he deser ves. Here are some more images from his galler y. Feel free to visit his DA profile to see more of his work. http://joshcorpuz85.deviantart.com/

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Anthony Scroggins shimmering-sword.deviantart.com/

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Sketchathon by Odette (RogueXunited) So I was asked, earlier this week, to write an article about the Sunday Sketchathon, and I was very happy to comply. In broad strokes the Sketchathon began as an event for artist that wanted to challenge their skills and share their art with others. I remember that the first Sketchathons took place in the awkward chat rooms of Deviant Art. A bunch of strangers were summoned to paint; inhibitions were forgotten and ideas began to flow. Little did we know that from that gathering a community would emerge. A couple of months later the Sketchathon keeps going on, and is stronger than ever. Followers keep joining our community every week. To maintain the idea that this event is just a mere challenge of artistic skills would sell it short. The Sketchathon has evolved into something that refuses to become static. I must admit that for a few months I neglected joining the event, mostly for lack of information, but mainly because I am a very shy person. Sharing and hearing live comments on my artwork was an idea that used to terrify me. Now I understand that this is a safe environment where beginner and pro artists can share their knowledge, experiences and insecurities. We are not here to crush the spirit of anyone that musters the courage to participate in the challenges; we are here to improve our skills. So by now you must realize that I enjoy spending my Sunday glued to a computer, painting all sorts of challenging ideas and talking to people that live in at least four different time zones, maybe more. If you have made this assumption, congratulations! You are correct. All I can do is speak of this experience from my point of view. So maybe, if you are a sketchathon devotee you might agree or disagree with me, and if you are new to the community this might encourage you to join us one of these days.

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I enjoy spending my Sunday glued to a computer, painting all sorts of challenging ideas and talking to people that live in at least four different time zones
Connection with Sketchathon Now I am going to take this next few line to give you some insight into my perspective. I consider myself a nonprofessional professional. How does this work? Well, I went to the university and graduated as a Graphic Designer. Throughout my university years my favorite classes were those related to illustration, so therefore I decided to become an illustrator. I sold a couple of pieces here and there, but in school I was never taught about what happened in the real world. It was not until, after a year and a half absence from the Sunday event when I re-stumbled upon the Sketchathon that my view of the freelance and artistic world was enlightened. The first and most important thing that I will highlight about this community is the following: You are not alone! Out there, many miles away from your home there are others that, like yourself, have decided that, against all odds or advice, they want to be concept artists. Here is where the bonding began. The challenges I was facing and the problems I was encountering were not exclusive to me. Someone had gone or was going through the same thing, or better yet, those who have left the dark woods share their success and advice with the rest of us that are still seeking a path. I must admit that everyone gains something different from this event. In my case it is camaraderie and a chance to work on my painting skills, still I have heard that others come here to relax and spend some time in the company of fellow artists. Either way we are all gaining something. So, back to what you guys really want to hear: the challenges. It is quite simple. We choose a theme (environments, weapons, characters, creatures, etc), we try to be diverse and push ourselves as much as possible, keep in mind that this is the perfect place to mess up. After the theme is assigned we are given a specific time to develop that idea and bring it to life, usually it lasts between 30 minutes to an hour, but I do recall a particular challenge that went on for the magnificent amount of two quickly spent minutes. Once the alarm sounds, we upload our art to whatever medium is in fashion; in the old days we use to upload onto our DA galleries, now in more modern times we use Google Drive. Once we have shared our work, we proceed to do different things; it all depends on the mood of the group. Maybe one day someone will ask for a critique and 15 different pairs of eyes will scrutinize one little artwork and afterwards we will share some constructive criticism and advice. Other days we might just enjoy a slideshow and comment upon those things that catch our eye. More than once I have seen this ritual develop into a short teaching session, which in my book is always good. I can honestly say that my work and my approach to art have improved since I joined the Sketchathon. Not because this is a magical answer to all you artistic related problems, but because every week I become inspired by the artists that virtually surround me. When you see others grow, you want to grow with them and when you see the work that a professional achieves in that small period of time you became motivated to reach that same level. I guess that what I am trying to say is, you get so much more from the experience than just improving your art skills. You gain companions and friends throughout the event, people that you can consult in case of guidance in the art community. But what is different from other art gatherings is the desire of the people involved to improve and challenge one another in a stress-free environment. Dont get me wrong, many of us arrive stressed to the event, but eventually that all goes away and art will begin to flow instead. So next Sunday when you are thinking about procrastinating form your work or homework, think of us! We can all procrastinate together, and better yet you can have fun and improve your skills, your knowledge and meet some cool people in the process. The first and most important thing that I will highlight about this community is the following: You are not alone! Out Odette- http://roguexunited.deviantart.com/

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TORCH RELA Y

Vlad Gheneli vladgheneli.deviantart.com/

The contest that keeps you on your toes

The toughest, the longest, the hardest of all contest it here. Are you ready for it? So its time to start a new adventure, this time as a group. Gone are the lazy days when you could just whip something up in couple of hours and call it an entry for a round. CW Torch Relay is here to change all that. This task is designed to keep only the best on top of the podium and shake off the weak. Build your foundations, work hard and leave no room for errors in order to stay on top. Artist on the podium becomes the artist of the week. Artist to knock them off becomes the lead and enjoys the top spot on our facebook page. The game runs till the end of this year. Win most rounds and youll be crowned artist of the year. Were tightening up the rules so there will be more checkpoints to concur before your work is selected.

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Scorpion451 http://scorpion451.deviantart.com/

Filip Dudek http://5ofnovember.deviantart.com/

Soon after starting the very first round, weve seen the number of entries grow exponentially. With newcomers delievering a strong blow and knocking out the previous contendors. Competing against other artist helps us to push ourselves and deliver beyond what we are currently capable of doing. Weve witnessed some great entries and a glimpse of what is yet to unfold infront of our eyes.

Are you ready for the next round?

Scorpion451 http://scorpion451.deviantart.com/

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Israel A. Carrion http://isra-ac.deviantart.com/

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