Slavic Hut - video courses

Some time ago I decided to focus on making video classes. I’ve been asked for that quite a few times, but it required resources and time, so the courses have been postponed constantly. Until now! The course about designing fantasy architecture was prepared (with loooong breaks) for about a year. For some strange reason, the hardest part appeared to be self-presentation…

Anyway, now it’s finished, so if you would like to get to know the rules of designing imagined buildings for a need of games or books, or if you just would like to take a look at the whole mass of hand-drawn more or less fantasy details and listen about medieval buildings you can visit my Skillshare page (link to my profile). 

In this course, besides plenty of many details, I presented also a few “case studies” which are detailed illustrations based on the knowledge handed in the course. I explained there WHY these illustrations look the way they look and here I’ll explain HOW they were drawn step by step.

1.      A small and super fast concept sketch with side notes. What a potential, Ladies and Gentleman! Nah, the aesthetic aspect is not the strongest point here. What does matter is capturing the right composition and it’s much easier on a small piece of paper and without worrying about drawing fine, straight lines.

2.      The first line was the horizon line. Then I marked the basic parts of the composition. The corner of the hut is placed in the 1/3 of the width of the frame. The boat and the roof lines are pointing to the main tree.

3.      Adding more structure: reed, a fence, some strange skulls, a large stone with magic symbols (also placed in 1/3 of the width of the frame). The “Thundermark” on the stone is a symbol of Perun – the God of warriors and lighting (in other words a Slavic version of Nordic Thor).

4.      After clarifying the most important elements in the previous step, I feel confident enough to draw with ink. I traced here the pencil sketch with a little more awareness of materials(note that wooden beams and the forked pole are more organic than geometric now).

5.      Textures and shadows - part I. In my humble opinion, the XIXth century craftsmen were absolute masters in capturing textures and material structures, so after short googling, I got some inspiration.

6.      Textures and shadows - part II. It took me ages… or at least a few hours.

And then I colored it with watercolors! If you are curious about how it proceeded and eventually the illustration turned out, just click below 😊

In the next post, I’ll present another “case study” from my course – a medieval town square.

STEAMPUNK TOWN SQUARE

It’s been a loooong time since I’ve shared with you a “full size” watercolor drawing. 

Working on commercial illustrations, solving matters related to moving abroad and preparing online classes in designing fantasy architecture took all my time.

But now I’ve got a good reason for coming back to the blog! And the reason is a drawing commissioned as… (I bet you’ll never guess):

…a Birthday gift :) 

Actually, after completing a sketch, I decided to paint the cake on a separate piece of paper.

I was a little bit afraid, that I would need to make some editions in this part (and I needed indeed!). In such a case I would only need to change the cake without destroying the whole intricate work. That’s why the original looks in this way:

Yes, the base of the cake changed into a fountain. It suits a town square pretty well, isn’t it? 

Far Eastern Style

“Why is it that when one man builds a wall, the next man immediately needs to know what's on the other side?” 

George R. R. Martin "A Game of Thrones"

 

This time, for a change, my blog post will be concise <<Hurray!>>.

Once more I had an opportunity to try my hand in designing architecture... fantasy architecture of course. I made concept sketches for an upcoming video game Tenesha Must Die (sounds nice, isn't it?).

My job was to design various types of buildings in the Far Eastern style with a dash of hi-tech and fantasy.

Below you can see some sketches of these buildings. The task was actually a little bit more complex than just that. It contained cross sections, floor plans, interior fittings, various construction and decorative details.

Blacksmith's house:

Fort:

Inn/Bar:

+ a lumberjack's house and some ordinary houses. In short, lots of fun for several winter weeks:

Steampunk Landscape

"How long do you suppose, sir, that an hour is to a man who is choking for want of air?” 

"Little Dorrit", Charles Dickens 

Finally I had an opportunity to make a personal drawing! What a feeling of freedom :) A wonderful concept sketch along with precisely developed technical detail - it would be a perfect beginning of a new illustration... if it was that way. Whereas the very first visualization of my idea looks the way it looks. I can only hope that from now on it'll be only better (as it rather can't be worse). 

Wreszcie miałam możliwość zrobienia własnego rysunku! Cóż za uczucie swobody :) Wspaniały szkic koncepcyjny oraz niezwykle precyzyjnie opracowany detal techniczny - to byłby doskonały początek nowej ilustracji... gdyby taki właśnie był. Tymczasem pierwsza wizualizacja idei wygląda tak, jak wygląda. Pozostaje mieć nadzieję, ze od tego momentu będzie już tylko lepiej (gorzej raczej być nie może).

That's something more specific. A delicate pen drawing over an earlier pencil sketch.

To już coś bardziej konkretnego. Delikatny rysunek cienkopisem na wcześniejszym szkicu ołówkiem.

Now it's time for details and matherials, which means further work with a waterproof pen.

Pora na detale i materiały, czyli dalsza praca wodoodpornym cienkopisem.

Short, though a very helpful stage. Masking fluid preserves from dipping the house and the tree while painting the sky and the lake.

Krótki, choć wiele ułatwiający etap - płyn maskujący zapobiegający zalaniu domku i drzewa podczas malowania nieba i jeziora.

Colors were placed with a broad brush on a wet paper sheet. Watercolor itself was also significantly diluted to enable smooth distribution without streaks (text almost like from a commercial :D ). Clouds are the result of pressing a tissue to the wet paper and absorbing some paint.

Kolory zostały nałożone  za pomocą szerokiego pędzla na mokrą kartkę. Sama akwarela też została bardzo rozwodniona, aby umożliwić płynne rozprowadzanie bez smug (tekst prawie jak z reklamy :D ). Chmury są efektem delikatnego przykładania chusteczki do mokrej kartki i wchłaniania przez nią części farby.

Now it's a high time to make a break and do something useful. In the meantime the painting should dry up. The next step is precise painting with a thin (or thin, very thin and ultra thin) brush. The idea was to make a illustration which would be multicolor though not colorful. That explains using dull brown, red, blue and green. Because of lack of a clear vision of the tree and the goblin sitting under it, I decided to left this issue for a little bit later.

Teraz należy zrobić sobie dłuższą przerwę, żeby zrobić coś pożytecznego i przy okazji dać kartce wyschnąć. Następnym krokiem jest malowanie cienkim (ew. cienkim, bardzo cienkim i ultra cienkim) pędzlem. Założeniem było zrobienie ilustracji wielobarwnej, choć niekoniecznie "kolorowej". Stąd zastosowanie przytłumionych brązów, czerwieni, zieleni i błękitu. Z powodu braku jasnej wizji odnośnie drzewa i siedzącego pod nim goblina, pozostawiłam to zagadnienie na nieco później.

A little bit later...

Colors of the house and the rock were warmed and contrasts were harmonized. Then I took care of the goblin.

Nieco później...

Trochę ociepliłam kolorystykę i ujednoliciłam kontrasty domku na skale (ze skałą włącznie). Później zajęłam się goblinem.

The original work has dimensions 30"x22", which definitely favors drawing lots of details. Below some of them:

Oryginał ma wymiary 70x54 cm, co zdecydowanie sprzyja dużemu nasyceniu detali. Kilka z nich: