The Pencil Test

Mila Film

2012-01-10T12:41:00.000-08:00

So here's a color key I did early last year for "Mila" the short film I'm Art Directing. There's a nice article on Mila and it's Creator/Director Cinzia Angelini over at Characters Engage.com. As you can see from the article we're still looking help. So if your interested you can contact Cinzia directly at Milafilm.com. Please help spread the word! Thanks

2012-01-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone. Here's a quick sketch to get the New Year started.

Spectrum 18

2011-12-03T15:53:00.000-08:00

So I just recieved my copy of Spectrum 18. Here's the pieces of mine that made it in. There's some really beautiful work by some great artists in this years edition and I'm proud to be a part of it.

2011-11-03T08:14:00.000-07:00

So little time to work on my own stuff lately. Anyhow here's a quickish sketch exploring some ideas. Couldn't figure out which version I preferred so figured I'd post all three, although I guess it does also show the progress of the piece.

2011-08-17T09:56:00.001-07:00

Painter

2011-07-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

Sketching in painter.

2011-06-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

New website.

2011-05-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

So the new site is up. Still have a few pieces to add and I'm sure I'll be tweaking a few things but at least it's up. www.richardsmitheman.com. Cheers.

Mila development art

2011-04-27T20:20:00.000-07:00

So here's a piece of development art I did recently for the Mila project. It's based on a real building in the town of Trento in Italy which is where the story of Mila takes place. I wanted to stay faithful to the original architecture while at the same time try and push the proportions and give it more of an animation type appeal. Lots more of these to do. I'm sure by the time I finish the last one I'll want to go back and redo this, but for now this is it.

On the Spectrum front, it looks like they are going to publish the two environments (below) I submitted. Really pleased they chose two pieces, I was not expecting that. Can't wait to see them published!

Spectrum 18!!!

2011-04-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

I'm in! I can't tell you how psyched I am to have made it. These are the five pieces I submitted. Not sure at this point which made it, I guess I'll find out in the next week or so.

And yeah I know, my posting of late has been pathetic! My job over the last few months consumed me in many ways. Finished up last Friday and between looking for a new gig I've been busy with art direction on a friends short. It's called Mila and it's the creation of the very talented Cinzia Angelini. You can find out more about the project here. It's a great project and I'm proud to be a part of it but as with everything in life something else has to give. In this case my own work. Anyhow I will, I promise be posting more here soon. I have lots of half finished pieces which hopefully I'm going to have time to finish over the next few weeks. Watch this space!

Work in Progress

2011-02-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

Well dear visitor I figured it was high time that I at least do something in the way of an appearence on my own blog. I have been so busy lately with work its given me little time to work on my own stuff. The small amount of free time I have had has been focused on doing color studies which are not really fit to post but more for my own edification. So here below is an oldie. This is a work in progress which after this point the image got turned upside down and became the piece that you'll find under the June 26th post. To be honest I think in hindsight I prefer this version, possibly being a case of simpler is better. Anyhow as you can see this version never got finished and will most likely not be. So here it is in all it's unfinished glory.

BTW, I'd be curious to know which version you prefer.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2010-12-04T08:22:00.000-08:00

I try to sketch as much as I can, whether it's in front of the tv or at my desk. I don't like sketchbooks, never have. I get far to precious with them, especially the more expensive types and find that I don't want to waste them on mindless doodles. But it's those doodles that tend to produce some of the more interesting ideas. So I use animation paper or even just cheap copy paper. The less attached I am while drawing the better things tend to turn out. Sooner or later most of these doodles, good or bad end up on "the board". This serves a couple of functions, it keeps certain ideas I have which may be worth pursuing front and center. I may not be able to get to them right away and this way I'm reminded of them more so than if they were just another file on the computer. It's also good to just stand back every now and then and see where I'm at. I love this old board and it's constantly evolving as old pieces get taken down and new ones go up. Here's what it looks like today. In a few weeks it will have morphed into something completely different. Maybe this is one of the few advantages of drawing traditionally than on the computer with a cintiq, other than the fact that personally I think nothing beats good old pencil and paper.
BTW, you can pick up these boards at just about any do-it-yourself center for about ten bucks.

Quick Sketch

2010-11-25T15:11:00.000-08:00

So I haven't posted as much as I would have liked recently. Among other things I've been busy working on a new website which will hopefully be up by the new year. This blog will remain, but my other sites will be consolidated into one, with what will hopefully end up being a better way to view things. It's a lot of work but should be pretty cool once it's done. I've also been working on a piece that I will hopefully be able to share soon. In the meantime here's a really quick little sketch from this morning.

Speed painting

2010-11-06T15:12:00.000-07:00

Quick sketch from this morning.

Background Test

2010-10-15T20:24:00.000-07:00

So here's a piece I did for a background test a little while back. It needed to be in a similar style to the Kung Fu Panda opening sequence. Wasn't really given any direction as far as the pallet goes and the rough was pretty vague so I figured I'd have some fun with it.

2010-09-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

2010-09-08T19:53:00.001-07:00

2010-08-25T21:08:00.001-07:00

2010-08-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

2010-08-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

Listening to A Perfect Circle's, Thirteenth Step. Brilliant album!

2010-06-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

2010-06-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

2010-06-09T20:29:00.001-07:00

2010-05-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

Playing around with some brushes.

2010-04-17T21:45:00.000-07:00

2010-04-11T11:31:00.001-07:00

2010-03-31T17:40:00.000-07:00

Been working on lots of stuff lately that I can't show. Finally found time to finish one of my own.

2010-02-06T20:09:00.001-08:00

2010-01-09T21:29:00.001-08:00

2009-12-29T12:52:00.001-08:00

2009-12-21T13:55:00.001-08:00

2009-12-13T02:01:00.000-08:00

2009-12-10T11:34:00.000-08:00

2009-12-02T21:52:00.000-08:00

2009-11-02T19:42:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a while but finally something new!

More Marker Sketches

2009-06-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it's a month since I last posted. Bad form! Have been busy for the last few weeks on a completely non drawing related project. I have at last had a chance to read some of Andrew Loomis's, Creative Illustration. What an amazing book, and what a great philosophy he had. In general I try not to spend to much time looking at other artists. Firstly, because I genuinely don't want to be too influenced by other people, and secondly because inevitably you end up coming across some incredible artist who's half your age, and frankly it can be depressing;). It's so easy to look at some great artist and want to draw or paint more like them in some way. I think we have to resist that temptation. I think Loomis said it best, and I quote, "There is no better way than the way you do it best, and that is bound to be your way, with your own taste and ability at work" Andrew Loomis.
Wise words to be sure. Anyhow, when I haven't been holding a shovel over the last month and my aching body has allowed I have tried to sit down and throw out a few doodles. Here's a few, and as I keep promising myself the next post will hopefully be something a little more finished!

More Randomness

2009-05-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a mixed bag, a speed paint and some marker work. I really have to focus on doing some more finished pieces.

The Keeper

2009-04-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

Another quick marker sketch.

The Witch

2009-04-11T10:44:00.001-07:00

Copic Markers

2009-04-05T09:51:00.000-07:00

So up until a couple of weeks ago I was using Prismacolor Markers. While I assumed they were the gold standard of marker I was getting really frustrated with how quickly they would run out, especially the lower percent ones. It was getting to a point that I would barely get more than a couple of evening uses out of them before they would start drying up. This was getting expensive and so I decided to finally do some research into possible alternatives.

And that's when we met, my new friend, the Copic Marker. I'm using the Copic Sketch, with a brush on one end and a medium broad nib on the other these markers are perfect for the kind of work I do.

I love these things, beautifully made, refillable, you can get replacement nibs and although they are initially more expensive, in the long run I'll be saving money.

I find cheap copy paper takes markers far better than premium quality animation paper. So far I am not very impressed with Copic's marker pad. It's expensive and apart from the fact it's bleed proof I see very little reason to spend that kind of money on it. I find cheap copy paper to be far better.

The image above is done with the Copic's Warm Grey, W2 and W4. The rest were done with Toner Grey which so far is my favorite. I'm finding I'm using T2, 3 and 4 the most, so far anyhow.
So while this may be old news to some of you, if your a marker junkie like me and you've never tried Copic's Markers then do yourself a favor and give them a try.

2009-03-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

Here's something I've been working on over the last week, done in Photoshop and Painter.

More Thumbnails

2009-03-15T09:25:00.000-07:00

So here's a few more for the lineup.

Quick sketch

2009-03-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

Been crazy busy at work so haven't been able to post as regularly as I would like. Hopefully things will return to normal soon.

Creature Thumbnails

2009-02-21T06:54:00.000-08:00

So here's a few more creature thumbnails done over the last week. These are fun to do, low commitment sitting on the couch. Throw in some copy paper, some markers and a cold one and you've all the makings of a good night!

The Butcher

2009-02-16T22:50:00.001-08:00

Soldier Design

2009-02-06T07:06:00.000-08:00

This piece and the three posts below were all part of the same test for a game company. I don't think I captured the style of the game but was fairly pleased with how it turned out. In truth I have never played the game or even heard of it before doing the test, (I'm not a gamer) and only had some of there promo work found in an image search to go by. Still it was a good exercise and designing this type of thing is interesting.

Click on image to enlarge.

Mac vs. PC!

2009-01-30T08:12:00.000-08:00

Up until this week I had never really worked on a PC before and was shocked at how dark everything on the blog looked compared to how it looks on the Mac. With this in mind I think I may need to repost some things so they look closer to what I had originally intended.

This is something I did a couple of weeks ago and I will be interested to see how it looks when I get to work and view it on the PC. In this day and age this type of thing should not be an issue. Anyhow for you PC users things will be getting a little brighter around here!

Creature Design

2009-01-23T12:05:00.000-08:00

So here's a piece I did during the week. Below are some of the thumbnails I did before tying this one down.

Thumbnails

2009-01-16T09:02:00.000-08:00

So here's some thumbnails done over the last couple of nights. Have started to develop one of the ideas and will post the finished piece in a few days.

2008-12-17T19:52:00.000-08:00

2008-12-14T15:39:00.000-08:00

2008-12-07T01:27:00.001-08:00

6"x 4.5"

2008-11-30T12:12:00.000-08:00

2008-11-26T10:17:00.001-08:00

2008-11-24T19:31:00.001-08:00

2008-11-19T07:47:00.001-08:00

2008-11-13T10:52:00.001-08:00

2008-11-12T09:01:00.000-08:00

2008-11-02T16:37:00.001-08:00

2008-10-31T07:06:00.000-07:00

2008-10-27T07:40:00.000-07:00

2008-10-26T08:32:00.001-07:00

2008-10-24T08:37:00.001-07:00

2008-10-22T09:52:00.001-07:00

2008-10-20T07:57:00.001-07:00

2008-10-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

2008-10-13T08:14:00.000-07:00

2008-10-12T08:12:00.000-07:00

2008-10-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

2008-10-09T07:20:00.000-07:00

2008-10-08T08:28:00.001-07:00

2008-10-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

2008-10-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

2008-10-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

2008-10-04T00:52:00.000-07:00

2008-08-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

2008-08-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

2008-07-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

2008-07-17T00:23:00.001-07:00

2008-07-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

2008-06-08T18:53:00.000-07:00

2008-05-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

2008-05-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

Pencil Test #1

2007-08-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

Here's some animation I did recently of a dog I designed. There are still some small tweaks needed but I have serious scene fatigue! So here it is, warts and all.

Figure drawing #1

2007-03-13T18:51:00.000-07:00