Author Archive for Stan Prokopenko
Tips for Pet Portraits with Aaron Blaise
Aaron Blaise sits down to judge artwork submitted for the January #prokochallenge! The task was to produce a pet portrait or portraits using any medium at your disposal. The submissions would be assessed on accurate anatomy, creativity, draftsmanship, and emotional impact. Now you’ll get to hear Aaron’s feedback, find out who the winners are and view a bunch of the contest entries!
Level Up Your Character Design with Knight Zhang
Knight Zhang presents an introduction to character costume design. In this lesson you’ll learn what your character’s clothing conveys about their backstory, how different design elements contribute to your character’s overall design and personality, and the steps Knight goes through when designing a character from scratch with tips on how you can apply her process to your work!
50 Creature Designs That Will Melt Your Heart (Literally)
Bobby Chiu judges the art for November’s #prokochallenge! The prompt was to design a character based on “Cute but deadly”. Any medium, traditional and digital, 2D and 3D were allowed. Now you’ll get to see some of the work that was submitted and hear Bobby’s critiques!
Painting Skin Tones and How Light Affects Color – Marco Bucci
Marco Bucci follows up his digital painting demo by painting the planes of his head with color. You’ll learn about fleshtone values, how light and shadow can affect color, and how to apply this to your portrait painting.
Fix Your Shading Mistakes – Egg Challenge Critiques
Dorian Iten is back to review all the egg drawings artists submitted for his shading challenge. After reviewing the eggs Dorian noticed that many of the artists were making a few common shading mistakes. In this critique, you’ll get to hear his feedback on those drawings, get clarification on some of the lesson content he provided in his previous video, get multiple demonstrations on how he would fix some of these common shading mistakes, and provide you with additional resources on how to continue to learn shading.
A Few of Our Favorite Books – Draftsmen S2E35
It’s the last episode of the season! Before Stan and Marshall go on break they share with you some of their favorite books that they recommend reading. Some of them are art related, business, marketing, fiction, and self help books. If you’re interested in picking up any of these check out the full list of […]
Drawing and Shading Complex Forms from Imagination – Steven Zapata
Illustrator and concept designer Steven Zapata gives a demonstration on how he draws in graphite from imagination! Using a harpy from “Dante’s Inferno” as his subject, he’ll walk you through his process from the materials he uses to adding intricate and detailed textures. Throughout the demo you’ll also get to see how he establishes the initial gesture and transitions from sketching to rendering to creating unique forms.
The Reference Sandwich – A Better Way to Use Reference Photos
Learn how to get the most from your references with the help of pro artist Christian Bull. He shows you a new way of thinking that strikes a balance between working from observation and working from memory that will improve your art. You’ll start by taking a reference, throwing it out, then creating from your imagination, and then bringing the reference back. This ‘reference sandwich’ method can be a powerful tool for improving your creativity. See how it’s applied and learn more about it in this creature design demo.
Photoshop Painting Tips for Digital Artists – Esben Rasmussen
This is the 2nd part of Esben’s Leyendecker tutorial. In part 1 you got to see him sketch out the concept of the character in Leyendecker’s style. In this lesson he takes Jett and refines the sketch further before completing the piece by painting it. As you watch you’ll get insights into Esben’s thought process on painting along with style tips and photoshop tricks that artists can use to replicate a more traditional look.
Analyzing and Copying an Art Style with Esben Rasmussen
Learn one method for how to analyze and apply another artist’s style to your own work. Esben Rasmussen teaches you the thought process of how he samples the style of JC Leyendecker and then shows you how to redraw a video game character in that style. This is a 2 part series with part 1 focusing on quick sketching a pose and in part 2 he’ll show you how to finish the piece by painting in that style.
