Just another sketch blog

Finger painting

2011-10-12T23:13:00.001+01:00

I've just downloaded Sketchbook mobile for my phone and have spent the last few minutes attempting to draw something by poking the phone with my finger. I then fiddled with the image using the pixolator app...

Alien Vs. Predator III DLC

2011-05-26T21:32:00.004+01:00

So I've done a bit more digging and unearthed a load of screenshots from the DLC I worked on for AVP3. The first map never got around to being released unfortunately. I did the geometry and mapping from scratch, but all of the textures where nicked from various single player environments. Something that tends to happen a lot as it saves on time. :)

The other three maps where worked on with a number of different artists and where kit bashed together out of various bits and pieces we had laying about.

Alien Vs. Predator III

2011-05-24T20:48:00.003+01:00

I was poking around my laptop and noticed a load of AVP3 screenshots that I hadn't gotten around to posting. I'm only a little late, it's not like the game was released over a year ago now. Has it really been so long... Anyway I created the sewer and club areas of the colony level, eventually taking over control of the entire level towards the end of development.

Creature sketch

2010-10-04T17:44:00.001+01:00

Quick sketch of some sort of sentient alien creature.

Kel'Vir Ruins - Starcraft 2 custom map

2010-10-03T22:18:00.003+01:00

I don't normally play RTS games, in fact Starcraft 2 is probably the first I've played. At least I can't remember having played any before, as they normally bore me. Despite that I've really enjoyed Starcraft 2 and decided to poke around the map editor a little.

To that end I've worked up a 12 player (6v6) multiplayer map which supports Melee & Co-op VS AI game modes. I've not added anything new, everything in the screenshots are stock assets. I'll make another map, but it will definitely be smaller than this one. At maximum size the whole environment tends to become a little repetitive.

I'd also like to have a go at setting up a custom campaign map, though that gets a little more technical and I need a bit more spare time for that.

Edit: If you play Starcraft 2, you can find the map by searching for either "Kel'Vir Ruins" or "Psychobadger" after you've clicked create game in the multiplayer mode.

On a side note, the image uploader is crawling at the moment. Shouldn't take 20mins to upload four jpegs. ;p

A few recent sketches

2010-09-26T19:33:00.001+01:00

I've been rather slow at posting stuff over the past month, so here are a few recent sketches of rather variable quality.

Blue Monster

2010-08-17T23:21:00.001+01:00

Here we go with the latest offering. It started as a quick sketch and I worked it up to a complete'ish state.

Armour sketch

2010-08-12T19:22:00.002+01:00

Quick sketch of an amoured soldier, that took about 50 minutes to complete. It's a bit generic, but I'm quite happy with this one. Could probably use a few more details though.

Cowabunga

2010-07-29T21:04:00.000+01:00

Raphael is the subject for today. The image started out a bit bigger than shown here, but it worked better when cropped a little. I'm quite pleased with how the shading on the right side of the bandana turned out, though that was more by luck than anything.

Hellboy

2010-07-28T21:20:00.002+01:00

Here we go with another painting and a quick sketch. I'm making a concerted effort to paint at least one image each day. Hopefully i'll get a bit better, but that's clearly going to take a while. After all i've still got seventeen blank pages in my sketchbook to fill. ;p

Caverns

2010-07-27T23:25:00.000+01:00

I'm quite happy with this. I've tried not to get too bogged down with detail and instead focus on the larger brush strokes. It's not the best thing ever, but considering the last lot I posted it's at the very least an improvement of sorts.

Colour?

2010-07-22T22:23:00.000+01:00

I got myself a HP Touchsmart TM2 a few days ago. It's a nice little laptop that converts into a tablet and just happens to have a wacom digitiser built in. It's great for sketching, but it takes a little getting used to. So here's the first few crappy attempts at using it.

More sketches

2010-07-04T19:12:00.000+01:00

Latest batch of sketches, some good, some bad. I was trying to shade the rocks a little differently in the later images, which seems to create a nice look. For anyone keeping count, I'm on sketch 33 with another 17 to go.

Jungle sketches

2010-06-22T21:28:00.001+01:00

I've had a little break from these for the past week, but before that I did these four and forgot to post them. The first one's ok, but the last one's crap. The other two seem to lack a focal point and it's not clear what you're seeing. Oh well, time to sketch some more. :)

A few jungle sketches more

2010-06-11T20:23:00.001+01:00

I thought i'd try something a little different with these sketches and use a bit more white space. I think a couple of them work quite well (the first and last), the others not so much.

I need to try and speed these sketches up. As time has gone on i've noticed i'm spending more and more time on each image, which wasn't really on the idea. Despite that i've got twenty-four in the bag so far and i'll be over the half-way point shortly. :)

A fistful of jungle sketches

2010-06-06T17:15:00.000+01:00

So here we are with the latest batch of sketches. I'm currently approaching the halfway point, twenty sketches down and another thirty to go. Thankfully I can see an improvement with every couple of sketches, which is helping to keep me focused on filling the entire sketchbook.

More sketches

2010-06-02T22:09:00.000+01:00

Here we go with two more sketches. I'm probably least happy with the second one. It's got a few nice shapes, but it didn't quite end up as intended.

Lots more jungle sketches

2010-06-01T20:40:00.001+01:00

I'm going to run out of titles for these posts soon. Anyway, here are the latest sketches from the last few days. If you open the image links in a new tab, or save the link you'll see a much larger image. :)

Latest jungle sketches

2010-05-27T21:32:00.000+01:00

Here are a few more environment sketches, done over the last couple of days. I'm determined to fill the sketchbook if it kills me, only another forty-one sketches to go. :)

Even more jungle sketches

2010-05-19T20:14:00.000+01:00

Time for a couple more sketches. I think they're improving a little, though i'm not so happy with the second one. It seems to be lacking something.

More jungle sketches

2010-05-12T22:27:00.001+01:00

A couple more sketches, I need to find a better way of representing tree foliage.

Jungle environment sketches

2010-05-11T21:55:00.001+01:00

I picked up a new sketchbook the other day and have decided to fill it with environment sketches. So here's my first attempt at a couple of jungle focused sketches done in pen. I chose pen, as it forces me to live with and work around any mistakes I make.

Music moron

2010-05-06T19:31:00.000+01:00

I can tell you this took about 10 minutes, I can't tell you what exactly he's supposed to be. Kinda reminds me of Patrick from Spongebob though...

All done

2010-04-29T20:06:00.001+01:00

I've transferred most of the posts from the previous couple of months, the galleries are in place and ojko.com is redirecting here. Now to get on with some art...

Tweaking

2010-04-22T20:27:00.004+01:00

I've been tweaking the template to make it look more like my current blog. I'm about 80% done, but I suspect the page navigation element (directly above us) is going to cause me a headache. Not too bad for a couple of hours work. ;)

Edit: I'm pretty much done with the template and general behind the scenes stuff. Just need to move a few older posts and images over and I'm done.

Demons

2010-04-12T19:05:00.018+01:00

I'm going to be focusing on sketching demonic critters for the next few days. Focusing on "one thing" worked out quite well for the Fishy Monsters, so it's worth another go.

Edit: Added two more sketches.

Quick Sketch

2010-04-11T19:18:00.004+01:00

Here's a quick sketch of a gorilla in a flying cap. It took about 15-20 minutes to do and is quite rough. Interestingly this was not what I was aiming for. I'd sat down with the intention of sketching a few robots...

Fishy Monster Heads

2010-04-07T20:13:00.046+01:00

In an effort to be a little more focused in my sketching, I've decided produce a series of fish/human'ish head concepts. I'm quite happy with the way they've turned out so far. The angler fish style sketch is my current favourite and a couple aren't as fishy as I'd like.

I kinda feel like I need a logo or something to slap on these.

Really old horse concepts

2010-03-20T19:44:00.017Z

Ah, the horses. They worked out best of all. I’m particularly fond of the bronco and bone armour.

Really old castle guard concepts

2010-03-19T18:41:00.003Z

Time for a few more concepts. This time it’s castle guards. Next it’ll be horses…

Really old peasant concepts

2010-03-18T19:15:00.010Z

The sporadic deluge (is that possible?) continues as I continue to sort out “really old stuff,” that I should have posted a while ago. Today it’s concept art for the inhabitants of our fictional realm. Hidden in there somewhere, are Bill Bailey and Wolverine look-a-likes…

Really old weapon concepts

2010-03-14T19:36:00.012Z

I was having a sort through all the artwork on my computer and I stumbled across a few weapon designs. I meant to post them ages ago (make that nearly 2 years ago), but forgot about them. I really enjoyed producing these so I figured I’d share.

I also found a few concepts for what can best be described as a “tits & ass racing game.” Probably best if I leave that one buried. Did give me a good laugh though. :p