this and that

bird · **Posted:** Sat Feb 05, 2011 10:42 pm

I want absolutely everything =( you're incredible

good lord Mara <3

Mara · **Posted:** Mon Feb 07, 2011 7:00 am

thanks dani! you're too kind

I let myself have some time off portfolio work last night, so I mucked about with fun sketches and pulled a few fantasy style drawings out of my ass. I do this on a regular basis, but I'm usually too embarrassed to post them. These came out alright though.

joejoejoejoe · **Joined:** Fri Jan 09, 2009 3:08 pm **Posts:** 338

wow i really like these... i am jealous of the creativity you get to have ! ive been doing too much stale 3d

Mara · **Posted:** Tue Feb 08, 2011 7:19 am

yeaaaah ... that's why I quit my 3d program after the first term ... :D
I think the creative possibilities of 3d are still very much unexplored though, so get to it!

I finished up the shirt design finally! (text: it's the inside that counts)

And here's a cut-and-paste thingamajig, channelling iconic painting.

steinlo · **Posted:** Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:06 pm

your variety in works is amazing, even though the most classy one, the little girl in the dress is my favorite so far.

Mara · **Posted:** Sun Feb 13, 2011 1:18 pm

ah well I try to mix it up, no good getting stuck only doing one thing, at least not this early on.
eh ... you mean the sketch on pg1? I liked that sketch aswell, bit disappointed with the finish though, but oh well - can't win em all! thanks!

here's some random sketches, jumped on the DB bandwagon from the Feb-threads!

Igo · **Posted:** Sun Feb 13, 2011 8:14 pm

Man this daily-draw Feb has totally made me miss out on the public forums, wish you were par-taking in that challenge, fun party going on over there.

But man, that design on Feb 4th is fucking awesome. And your figurative work has REALLY stepped up some MAra, seriously. Just seems a bit more confident and refined without losing the style/jag you bring to it. Great stuff!

Mara · **Posted:** Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:09 am

Yeah I know, I get sidetracked by the feb-forum aswell, you guys are doing great over there! didn't think I'd have time for the challenge, but judging by how much I'm updating here I might aswell have joined. <__< oh wells, next february!

it has? I can't tell, but if my figures have improved then I can only attribute it to these forums because I haven't done a single study since october last year. but I've been stealing from whatever visual impressions I can get ... :coolbf:

blaha blaha sketches, I can't get enough of drawing cheekbones!

hippie chick

and digital fail but fun

this is what I've been up to lately ... building miniature models of stuff and taking pictures, illustrating a short text I wrote about the Big Bang. the only thing I didn't create myself is the earth globe, that's a ready-made.
that mushroom cloud is a tampon and some cotton.

I'm pretty unconfident about my layout here, I'll probably try some variations ...

Iruka · **Posted:** Mon Feb 14, 2011 2:09 pm

Wow, you pencils are really lovely! You get alot of detail out of very simplistic line, very cool!

I thought your models were little paintings, they are interesting. I wish the lighter ones were on a darker background, I think it would bring out the colors better. Maybe you could add some pin-prick stars to the earth scene so it will stand out, and drop the rest of it to black? I also wish the text had more of a balance between the top and bottom (I cant read it, so I don't know how you could pair it down or anything.)

Mara · **Posted:** Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:05 am

thank you, iruka!

yes you are so right, I wanted a black background originally but couldn't work it out with the earth panel 'cause I really liked it all black ... just a case of killing your darlings though, this works so much better!
decided to put all the text together, the purpose of having it like that was that some parts of the text go with some images, but really, it's a pretty linear text so I don't think the reader needs the extra guidance and this looks way less cluttered and confusing.

thanks for the advice, really needed some fresh eyes on this!

I'll probably end up using a variant of these two, haven't decided 100% on types just yet!

bonus: coloured the guy up

Iruka · **Posted:** Tue Feb 15, 2011 6:50 pm

I really like the second one, with the yellow text. The paragraph being a little smaller and the Simplicity of the yellow font is more elegant, And I think it fits the subject better. My only last thing would be to make the stars around the earth maybe less blurry and smaller.

Mara · **Posted:** Fri Feb 18, 2011 6:41 am

thanks, yeah, the second one is better, I have to admit, even though I feel a little cheap using the helvetica font ... oh well, it's a good-looking font, what're ya gonna do.

really? I liked the blurriness, think it adds a surreal atmosphere. I'll try your suggestion out though, see if I re-evaluate.

sketchblarghs

and another concept for the ABC-book ... if it even qualifies as a "concept", think I'm gonna rethink this idea.

Mara · **Posted:** Mon Feb 28, 2011 5:31 am

woah ... hit a bit of artblock, been battling that for like a week.
finally broke free with a bit of weirdness ...

this was for a poster contest for a folk music festival, with potential of winning tickets ... most likely not going to win that as I didn't really follow their instructions too closely, but I did it more for the sake of having a poster in my portfolio, plus something NOT depicting human beings.

Ken · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:42 pm

Quote:

This. Definite favourite on this page. I just love her expression. Especially coupled with your style.

Mara · **Posted:** Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:06 am

thanks ken! glad you liked it!
I've been sticking to graphite lately, well almost anyway.
I've been drawing a bunch, only thing keeping me from updating is lameness. so here's some stuff, maybe more to come later ...

Iruka · **Posted:** Thu Mar 24, 2011 5:00 pm

I really adore the pixelated ones, they have a lot of character. I like that last one too, even your simplistic bodies have a naturalistic character to them.

Igo · **Posted:** Thu Mar 24, 2011 8:15 pm

MAra, Im not sure what more feedback I can provide you. You keep trucking away and experimenting, I guess Id love to see you just keep experimenting. Maybe branch out and do some more cliche commercial bullshit, like an X-Men dream-team team-up cover or something. What would you do if Marvel approached you to redesign the costumes? If DC wanted your take on Batmans Rogues Gallery? I loved seeing your unique take on the Marvel-Tron contest, Id love to see you step back into that corner from time to time and apply your technique and execution to some of that more mainstream BS.

And Im with Ken, that new piece of the girl huddled up is effing great. Id love to see you expand on the idea and make a poster out of it.

Mara · **Posted:** Sat Mar 26, 2011 3:09 pm

Iruka, thanks! I did those pixel ones in p-chat, and I was gonna do one a day, but then i realised I don't even turn on my computer daily ... so ... yeah. :oopsbf:

Igo, I love how you're trying to sell me the idea of "more cliche commercial bullshit", haha! But yeaaah, can't say I haven't toyed with that thought occasionally. Maybe it'd be fun! I'm quite unfamiliar with the DC/Marvel world though, never really spiked my interest - although I kinda like the Batman universe. But I suppose I've had some other guilty pleasures in the commercial realms ... I used to do a shit-ton of fanart actually, but I just kinda stopped once I found my own universe of characters so to speak. Perhaps it's time to dive into it again with some fresh perspective.

thank you! I don't think I'll go any further with that particular drawing, but, ah, there'll be plenty more naked huddling girls I'm sure. they keep appearing ... involuntarily.

just gonna post up a series of illustrations for that ABC-book I kept going on about before - switched themes one last time and had it be about body parts - introducing one body part per letter. just wanted to work in a relaxed attitude towards the body, and being naked. not sure that the theme is obvious without the text to go with it, but anyway.

and the cover:

Mara · **Posted:** Sun Apr 03, 2011 1:18 pm

my head is spinning with image ideas, but
in the meantime

have some batman
(gawd I'm impressionable)

and a gurrrl

and a self portrait(?)

that's all I guess, something greater later ~~

D_Murdoch · **Joined:** Mon Oct 11, 2004 12:57 pm **Posts:** 1059

Enjoyable all the way through. Love the Batman redesign, the larger one. He totally needs a small mustache, or cigarette. Those models you did, that and your characters, you should cut them out and incorporate them in the backgrounds. Full-on diorama kind of stuff. Would really be cool. You could do a whole story book like that...........hmmmm..... YES!

Mara · **Posted:** Thu Apr 07, 2011 6:33 am

Haha dang you're right, a lil mustache would throw him over the edge into Magnum P.I.-land, which could be really awesome. And all REAL detectives smoke, we all know that ... I need to throw him around some more. Just got into reading some Batman albums so I'm in the mood anyways ...

dude! that's a swell idea, I love dioramas, I love building stuff, I love cut-outs - that sounds perfect. I'm already thinking of materials to use ...

I bought the first marker of my life, shade: Buttercup.
I'm gonna get some more, felt pens are nice and all but this is something else!

Monk · **Posted:** Thu Apr 07, 2011 8:54 pm

This thread is so great to look at.
I'd love to see you take those painted heads a couple steps further and maybe do a full illustration like that, or as a mix. Since you love to experiment. Which is absolutely awesome and I can only echo what everyone else surely already said.

That piece with all the blue primates in a tree is totally awesome.

Mara · **Posted:** Sun Apr 10, 2011 1:44 pm

gosh! thanks, monk!
you guys will inflate my head with all this positive reinforcement ... speaking of which, I recently got some super-positive reinforcement elsewhere - I was accepted at Arts University College of Bournemouth, and University of Brighton! Brighton being one of my top choices, I'm really stoked about that ... but I'm still waiting to hear back from a couple of other schools.

you mean those digitally painted girl heads? yeaaah digital painting, I still can't handle anything outside of doing heads, I just can't sketch compositions or even full body shots on the screen, dunno why that is, I just can't do it! I keep trying and failing ... but next time I fail at it, I'll show it here so you guys can rip it apart, that'd be sweet.

last night I drew a comic of sorts ... it's really just a sketch, a doodle with words. but still. it's a start ...

and ... something ...

Gunstar · **Posted:** Sun Apr 10, 2011 6:45 pm

Amazing, Mara! Love the self portrait and the girl face above that.

Monk · **Posted:** Tue Apr 12, 2011 10:28 am

What if you sketch the compositions by traditional means and just color them with that painted style, painting over the line art?

Mara · **Posted:** Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:06 am

eyy thanks Gunstar!

Monk: Yeah, I have tried that. I just find that it makes me a bit stiff, always feels like I'm colouring something in rather than painting it. But maybe that's just a practice thing, after all my creative output probably goes something like 90% drawing and 10% painting of some form. I would want to paint more though ... which I keep saying and not doing!

here's an example of a drawing I painted over digitally:

the weather was nice this weekend so I drew a boat outside:

and uhm, yeah:

Ken · **Posted:** Fri Apr 22, 2011 11:49 pm

Congrats on Brighton!

I like the comic. Awesome stuff as usual.
Painting is completely foreign to me so no advice, just a bit of cheering from the grandstand :)

Mara · **Posted:** Mon May 02, 2011 7:28 am

thanks Ken! I went to London during the past week to go to an interview there and I also went down to Brighton to have a look and it seems AWESOME so I chose that over the other schools I got a place at. So I'll be changing countries in about five months and I'm shitting myself ... but it'll be great, probably.

on the London interview they wanted me to bring a sketchbook, so I looked through the recent ones and was like "shit, there's only nudity in here!". so I drew clothes on top of like half the figures in it, and then set about filling the end pages with something more sensible, very last minute ... so here are a few of those drawings:

and some doodle painting, still with terrible greyish photo quality unfortunately ...

Mara · **Posted:** Sun May 08, 2011 4:42 pm

I decided to just do something on a grander scale with digital painting, to force myself to get a bit more serious about it. there's a pencil sketch underneath that I've coloured in and then started to paint over - I don't want to render all of it finely, the leaves and stuff can still be rough. but yea ... it's not done, so critiques are very welcome as I'm likely to work on it for several more days.

I'm not sure about the hues in the foliage, they seem a little dry; but at the same time I kind of like it and I don't want to turn all the shadows purple just because it's fantasy. .__. hmmm ...

Mara · **Posted:** Sat May 14, 2011 6:34 am

so I'm keeping at it with the digital endeavours. it's going ok I guess but it really doesn't get my juices flowing.
it's just ... really uninteresting-looking. ugh ... maybe I'll do some traditional painting and compare to see where I'm going wrong here. advice is appreciated.

oh and a harry potter piece I've worked on for a while. pencils and markers! I submitted it to the gallery nucleus HP blog: http://www.gallerynucleus.com/blog/harrypotter
Hope it gets in!

Joybox · **Posted:** Wed May 18, 2011 9:38 am

Heya mara, this thread is so inspiring everytime I check it out. Your characters and concepts couple so well. and the style your exploring is appealling and distinct.

You mentioned that you feel like your digital stuff feels a bit dry. Have you played around with using textures and texture brushes in PS? I think your work would really mesh well with some nice water colour textures and stuff. I was reading Sam Bosma's blog the other day and he (she?) has some really great stuff talking about the process of adding texture to his paintings in photoshop. Sorry I dont have time to dig through it, but check it out if you get a chance- http://sambosma.blogspot.com/

Faz · **Posted:** Wed May 18, 2011 2:12 pm

yikes i miss this thread. instead of painting over your lines, which are really descriptive and show lots of volume, which i feel you lose when you paint over them, why don't you try coloring the lineart, and then painting under it? this last piece is my new desktop wallpaper, so fun!

Timo · **Posted:** Wed May 18, 2011 2:53 pm

I agree with Faz, don't lose those lines, their what make your stuff as good as it is. I adore your sketches, but your more finished stuff is hit and miss, you seem to be losing some of that intensity your un-finished stuff has. Lord do I love your sketches though.

Mara · **Posted:** Thu May 19, 2011 6:26 am

Joybox, thanks! damn I didn't know about this guy, he's awesome! I dug through the blog and found a bunch of great tips on digital colouring. thank you!
and yeah Faz and Timo I agree with you both, drawing is my strength and painting my weakness - which is why I wanted to better myself and focus only on painting for a bit. I will definitely try painting under my lines though, it would most likely suit me a lot better!
and Timo hehe yeah you're right it's a bit hit and miss for me too, I haven't really worked out "The" way of doing it yet. I'm still very much developing my process, trying to come up with techniques that'll help me keep the schwung from the sketches. It's a challenge though.

ngh, some sketches.

dylanglynn · **Posted:** Thu May 19, 2011 11:16 am

wow love your work, great blend of loose and tight, design and technique, graphic shapes and realistic anatomy n stuff.

Igo · **Posted:** Wed May 25, 2011 9:01 pm

Fuck MAra those two takes on the second piece and the nude female in the third piece on the May 14th pose are fucking insane. I wouldve loved to see you take those a bit further. If you can find a way to enjoy it more and bring more texture to your work Im fucking stoked to see what you're capable of. Seriously, that stuff just shows what true potential you have for taking stuff further from a commercial stand-point. That female portrait on the first page in the 3rd piece in the new dump is awesome too. I mean, Ive been a fan of your work regardless, but I love seeing you flex a bit more and translate your style into a more rendered 3d look.

Id kill to see you do some more figurative studies. Not 100% photorealistic, but pushing yourself even more, bring more of your crazy design aesthetic to it, just go fucking crazy with some more 2D contrasting design elements to help it pop, I dunno, shit, just keep making awesome shit.

Also, more hand studies, looks like you keep cheeping out on them a bit and hiding them.

Awesome stuff Mara, keep at it.

this and that

Who is online