I was honored to be on the Pencil Kings pod cast and I talk about how I came out of creative depression.
http://www.pencilkings.com/dwayne-vance/
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This is the final image that was produced from my sketch in my sketchbook. The stuff I used to create this final digital image was Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop.
These sketches were done in my Strathmore toned grey sketch and drawn with a Rotring mechanical pencil and a Pentel Brush pen. Then I added the white highlights with a Uni Posca white pen.
This is the in between stage after I scanned in the sketch I liked and started to add in textures with Adobe Photoshop. Then went in to paint stuff in with Corel Painter. Obviously this was inspired by hot rods and they area huge inspiration in everything I draw. I love combining old world technology with modern and even sci fi tech to my designs.
I have also been pushing myself to implement characters into my vehicle design lately. My character work has never been strong but I am putting more emphasis on it lately. I feel the character adds story to the vehicle plus adds scale. In fact one of my goals this year is to get better at characters so I started a separate sketchbook to practice my character work. I still suck at them but getting better as I draw each one, lol. Anyways back to the image. This type of stuff is so fun to draw because it takes me away from my real world of production all the time. This stuff also plays a huge part in my creativity for production stuff. So if you have read this far please feel free to ask any questions and if you want to find me anywhere else on the web please look at the top right hand corner of my website and you can find all the icons of places I am at. So please like subscribe and friend me, take care.
Dwayne
So I posted the Thruster Cycle just recently and I felt good about it. After examining and looking at it I felt it needed a little more work. I got a little excited about what I was doing, but I did not stop to evaluate my layout. This post is how I went about self critiquing to make this a better piece. My point to this post is not only to push myself to improve, but to show others how to look at your own work and critique it yourself. It is very valuable to ask other people about your work, but you need to ask people that can give you good feedback. Don’t look for the friend or family member that is going to tell you it looks cool.
When I first approached the digital painting again I tried to treat it as if I had never seen it before. As if someone came to me and said “how would you improve this?” So I started checking my perspective and my background image. I put some notes on my original image so I can go back and take a look at each area of the image. To check my perspective I made my two vanishing points in Photoshop. Here are a couple images below showing how I corrected my perspective. Perspective is really a key element in making man made objects look solid and grounded. It can be tedious and boring but once you understand it, it will improve you work tremendously. It is a foundational skill that will make your work look more confident and grounded.
So to start I looked at my image and made a few quick notes. I was critical on the image and highlighted areas I felt were not working. Then asked myself why I felt they were not working. Took notes and started to address problems I could see. I went back to my original sketch and started to take care of the perspective issues. Some of the things could be left alone but I felt they weakened the design a bit. The main area I felt was weak was the back side of the engine as it drooped down in the back. Then the ground shadow under the bike was out of perspective. I did not use that final shadow in the final piece but it does set up my initial drawing and it was off.
This image below is how I set up my perspective grid to fix my original sketch. Yes I should have done this in the first place, haha but hey i got a little excited.
Here is the image after I corrected the perspective issues
Now you can see after I fixed a few issues with the initial sketch it makes a more solid design. For the next post I will try a different rendering method and share that in part 2. If you have anything to add or any questions fill free to ask in comments below. Or you can visit my facebook page and ask me questions there. So keep drawing and learning, and if you dug this short tutorial please share it with others out there. With respect Dwayne Vance
Well first of all welcome back to my blog if you haven’t been here in a while. Time to start posting stuff again. If it is your first time welcome and please browse around. I offer several free tutorial videos and prints, books and t-shirts in the store.
I was honored to get to teach at the Concept Design Academy in Pasadena recently for the vehicle design class taught by John Frye. I showed a few of my techniques in Photoshop, Painter and talked about working in the design industry. I do really enjoy teaching and I think I learn a lot myself when I do that. This concept is based on a series of flying motorcycles I had been drawing in my sketchbook. Then I used a robot to pilot the cycle because I have been doing an Instagram challenge another artist had set. His name is Dacosta Bayley and he is promoting his book called March of Robots on kickstarter. So I thought why not I love robots too, you can flip through my Instagram @dwaynevance account and see all the robots I have been drawing. So I thought I would share my new image and get my blog fired back up. Go through the gallery section of this post and you will see all my thumbnail sketches and several steps leading up to the final piece. Thanks for stopping by.
Masters of Chicken Scratch logo t-shirt Pre Order. This t-shirt is a Gildan 100% soft cotton shirt. They will be printed on Navy Heather and Military Green Heather color.
They will come in S to 3XL. just click on the link to pre order in the store
So I was truly honored to be asked by Jay Leno to be on his book club on his website. He had picked up my book at Auto Aero books in Glendale Ca and actually gave me a call. I was obviously very shocked at the fact he called me about my book and thought at first it was somebody playing a joke on me. Then in the message he mentioned that I needed to call his producer so then I knew it was probably legit. So I gave his producer a call and we set up a time to go in and do the interview. They invited me to Jay Leno’s garage and it was pretty amazing to say the least.
Planes of Fame
Went out to the Planes of Fame museum recently and took a few pics. They have all kinds of fighter planes from WWI era to Vietnam along with a few other things in the mix. Most of the planes at the museum are
Some of you might have noticed that I have not written or posted anything in a while. Well there is a reason for that, took me a little bit to figure things out. I thought I was just going through a creative slump and felt unmotivated to do anything. However it wasn’t your typical “I am not inspired” feeling. It was as if a switch was turned off on my emotions and I could not physically draw or be creative.I thought for a bit that I might be going through burnout, but it felt different. Since artists and designers are generally passionate people, we feed off of our emotions to be creative. It felt as if someone came in a shut the lights out and I was in the dark trying to find the light switch. I had lost all of my creative passion and energy to carry on. I had to dig deep to see what was wrong because I did not chose to feel this way. As a Christian I knew God did not want me to feel this way. Lots of negative thoughts were flowing through my mind and I felt defeated and had no hope. So I sought some wise council in friends and family to talk about what I was experiencing and finally came to the conclusion I was going through depression. I thought “how can I go through this”, I am a highly motivated person, I look to God as my inspiration and motivation, I am a positive person in general. But after talking to people and finding out more about depression my mind is tired and taking the path of least resistance. It is much easier to be negative and not do anything vs be positive and press forward So the first thing I started to do was be vocal about it. I let several of my friends and family know that I am going through this, yes I have depression, it sucks but I am going to fight through this. I went to the doctor and found out I had a vitamin D deficiency, not enough sunshine I guess. So I started taking vitamin D and that actually helped out quite a bit. Then found out that exercise is one of the best things you can do to combat depression, not easy to do when your mind doesn’t want to do anything. I have had to dig deep at times to get myself to walk around the block. Every time I do I have always felt better. I have also started taking a vitamin supplement called SAM-E and that has helped with my mood. So as I push through this road block I do look to God as my rock and it is truly through Him I find comfort and freedom from this whole thing. I am being transparent so I can, hopefully inspire or help out with some of you that are going through the same thing. I can’t thank all of you enough for the support on my web page and store. I will get better as time passes and I will keep pressing forward.
Sincerely
Dwayne Vance
So I recently had some stickers done up for Masters of Chicken Scratch. The stickers are 2 3/8″ wide by 3″ tall about the size of a business card to give some reference The stickers are made in the USA with 1.2 mil heavy duty vinyl with 1 mil waterproof UV laminate. You might ask, what does that mean? Well that means they are made of the best quality material and you can slap those puppies on your outdoor play equipment. They would look great on your sweet custom 70’s van ( I wished I had one) or your tricked out family ride. It shows you got some style and class. So you can order 1 sticker for $2 but that is not very much fun so I also offer a 4 pack of stickers for $5. Patches are also on there way and you will be in top notch fashion after you put one of those on your corduroy jacket. If get some stickers please take some pics and post them on my facebook page or here so I can see where they have been stuck, and keep it clean kids.
Recently I had a Lego fan by the name of Harald Christ recently ask me if he could use one of my ships as inspiration for a Lego model. I said of course and I was amazed at how fast he got it done. He captured the ship very well and I would love to see it in physical Lego’s. Harald used a Lego building Continue reading
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