Lil Girl

Drew this little girl I saw today from memory.

Trees - coniferous

I've been making a lot of trees for my game and trying to have a lot of variety. Here are the different types of coniferous trees, I tried to make them different shapes and sizes to really make the environment feel natural. I made a bunch of deciduous trees too, I will post them soon.

Annoying Squirrel

I think this squirrel thought he could scare away the dogs if he made enough noises at them.

A Party for Unusual Mammals Poster

I'm going to be showing my art at this thing!

I made this poster.

Tea Party

I made this Illustration for a poster for a show I'm in.

Water Mill and Brent NPC

mill from Andrea Gerstmann on Vimeo.

I've made a bunch of animated environment elements for Patrick the game. Since they are only decorative they really need to be efficient so they don't bog down the game. This water mill is only 6 frames,there are only 2 wave animations in the water, but I made different parts of the animation interchangeable so they can be randomized. I also threw in an NPC of Brent, he is going to have to duck if he want to go into that house.

More Patrick stuff here: http://agartblog.blogspot.ca/search/label/Patrick

Jeff

Jeff wanted to be a NPC too. Here you go Jeff. I'll finish it later.

Andrea NPC

I'm making all the non playable characters in my game caricatures of real people. This one is me!

Sky Seahorse

17.5" x 12.5"

Acrylic on Canvas

Traditional Painting Step by Step - Chickadee part 2

Here is Part 2, if you havn't seen Part 1 its here: http://agartblog.blogspot.ca/2012/07/traditional-painting-step-by-step.html

Step 5: Detail.

Detail is really only a bunch of tiney lines and dots. You can spend a long time rendering details or you can just do the important ones, that's up to you. I usually only do details in simply blacks or whites. this way they are crisp and you dont need to keep mixing them

Step 6: Washes.

Often Details make things appear too harsh so its good to put a wash of a colour over details to soften and bring back colours you want. Washes can also create depth and atmosphere, you can push things away from the forground with a wash. 

Step7 Final highlights

Just put a few final dots of light to make shiney stuff look shiney, and it's all done!

I hope you enjoyed.

Traditional Painting Step by Step - Chickadee part 1

People these days do a lot of digital painting. I have a soft spot for traditional media. This is in acrylics, I work mostly in acrylic these days. Every medium works a little differently so if you want to try this method use acrylic paint. Also, these are not rules, more simply how I did this specific painting. The only real rules are the physical limitations of the media, and you can't break those unless you are a wizard.

Step 1: Background. 

I threw down a background colour. This is mostly paynes grey and white. I let it dry and put another layer of the background down. Acrylic isn't completely opaque so it takes a few layers before the white stops showing through the paint. I like making a faux vignettes so I did that here. I used a big brush to keep it loose looking. I always mix my colours and use primarily dull colours. Get a lot of browns and greys and always mix a touch of the colour you'd like it to be into it, this way you wont hurt peoples eyes with your colour choices. if you mix a tone at once you can make it look very flat, but here i only mixed a bit at a time and that makes the colour look varied.

Step 2: Sketch.

I always do the sketch after I put the background colour on. This way I don't need to fuss about covering it. Your background has to be completely dry though or else it doesn't work very well. I learned from trial and error that pencil, pen, charcoal and anything that is black are not good for making your drawing. Ideally you want to use something that if it blends with the paint you wont care. I use a light brown pencil crayon or a peach colour stick. 

Step 3: Colour Blocking

As I said before acrylic isn't completely opaque, so first you just need to get the first layer down. I put general colours in general areas. no fussing about details, its going to look a bit shitty anyway cause the background shows through. Its good to put down the colour that is behind the detail, the detail often changes the colour drastically, if theres a bunch of white lines or hairs, the area might look white, but if you look between the lines theres offwhite or taupe, so block in that colour, not white.Its easy to go a bit darker and a bit lighter from a middle ground, so when in doubt throw down the middle colour. 

I only used 5 tubes of pait for this painting: paynes grey, naples yellow,  white, raw umber and red. The more tubes of paint you use the more likely that you will make bad colour choices. If you mix colours from a few tubes all your colours will go together, you will find new ways to make the colours you want and you will become a better artist.

Step 4: Redefining Shape.
before you fuss about detail you should fuss about shape. think about lights and darks, shadows and higlights. When blocking in colour you might have lost some lines from your sketch  that define certain shapes save them, before you forget where they were.  Use thin coats  to make variety in the same colour rather then blocking in new colours. Paint in the direction that you will put the details, that way you don't have as many details to make.

Stay Tuned for Part 2

I'm better at doodling then writing things

I decided that I want to put together a kickstarter for my game Patrick. I wrote some questions to answer about the game but this just resulted in unproductive doodles rather then actual answers.

Game Art

I put this collection of game art together for my portfolio, thought id share.

Cat Larva

Cats have a larva state before they become kittens. They just squirm around and eat stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=2_ioFb63b6w

Patrick Bag Flop

Finished the animation for my game! This is how Patrick checks his inventory, it also doubles as a ground pound.  This was a lot of fun to make, I wanted to make something more complicated and fun then I had previously attempted. His floppy legs and the way the sword bounces make me giggle.  Below are some of the frames I hope you enjoy.

Cool Old Lady

Some old ladys are cooler then you.

Patrick looking in his bag

I'm almost done this animation I'm really excited about how it looks so far.

Lady sitting in a chair

Judgmental Cat

the Hulk is green and has big hands

Another Hulk fan art painting for work.

Turkey-Duck!

At this pond sort of near where I work they have turkey-ducks. They look like diseased hobo ducks and I've never seen them anywhere else.

Hulk

I made hulk fan art for a client.

I don't know if its really a superpower to be so muscly you cant put your arms down.

Guy on a Buffalo

 I decided to make Guy on a Buffalo fan art because this youtube video is really funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ4T9CQA0UM

Beaver!

I saw a wild beaver today! watched it swim across the pond and  it hung around where I was standing to eat so I managed to get a good sketch of it.

Zucchini Plant

Zucchini plants have cool leaves. Don't plant one if you aren't home to pick zucchinis every day, they go from perfect to huge overnight.

Funny Mug Shot Sketch

Convicts are hilarious, so I drew a caricature of one. 

Here's the photo I looked at http://i.imgur.com/YjEqz.jpg 

House Flies

These flies were really fun to draw. They like to move around so I would just watch them for a while then draw a view I liked. When you observe for a while then draw from memory you force yourself to simplify in order remember more, you also think more about relationships and patterns rather then thinking of each aspect separately.

Goose doodles!

I went to my friend's farm this weekend and drew some geese.

This one is playing run away from Andrea.

The baby geese were having a party.

 geese are fun.