Website

I don't update this blog anymore. To see may latest work go to www.ryanvalle.com

WIP late post

I Don't know if anyone is still checking this blog, but this is my latest WIP. This piece is taking much longer than I expected, but it seems to be coming out alright. There's still a lot of work to do, especially on the stairs in the front. I think I'm going to add figures throughout the scene and some more details on the castle. The brushwork seems to be working pretty well now. The study of the mountain definitely helped a lot.

Final DA Portfolio

This is a screen shot of my DA portfolio. The system for making one works pretty well, and it looks a lot better than the regular DA profile page. You get a lot of options to work with when you make the portfolio, like background color, text color, serif or sans serif type, and some layout options, but it's still pretty limited compared to designing a webpage in something like Dreamweaver. The main benefit of using the feature is how fast and easy it is to make the portfolio and edit it later. Since the editing tools are all built into the website you can make changes from any computer with internet access. You also get your own domain name even with the free version. There are some benefits to upgrading to the premium version, like unlimited gallery space and no DeviantArt logos, but I think the free version works just fine. I'm still planning on making my own website with Dreamweaver so that I have complete control over everything, but this works really well as a temporary site until I have the good one finished.

The url is: http://ryanvalle.daportfolio.com/

Final

I won't be coming to class today because I'm moving out of my apartment this week. Hopefully I'll make it to a couple classes later in the week.

So for my final I want to propose building an online portfolio using DeviantArt's new portfolio feature. The new feature sounds pretty good. You get a custom domain name and no ads on your page anywhere. All the editing tools are on the website so you can easily change it from any computer with internet access.

This is the page where you can find out about it: http://news.deviantart.com/article/86515/

WIP project 4

This is what I have so far for my fourth project. I've been working mostly on creating depth with dark values in the foreground and lighter values toward the back. It's completely Photoshop at this point, but I'm switching over to Painter soon for the brushwork. I think it still needs darker values in the foreground and more contrast overall. I will add a lot of detail once I start working in Painter. I may add some figures along the wall/stairs and on the castle. I'm also thinking of going back to Photoshop again and overlaying some textures on the rock surfaces if the brushwork doesn't turn out to strong.

Master Study 4

This is my fourth master study. The original is by Mikko Eerola. I found it at DeviantArt. My next project is going to be an environment concept, and I wanted to get the hang of painterly brushwork. The image below is a speed painting I did earlier in the class where I was experimenting with painterly oil brushes. I think I've made a lot progress working in this technique. The master study is obviously a huge improvement over the earlier speed painting.

Project 3

I'm almost done with my third project. I finished painting the characters and decided on the original pencil lines over the blob brush lines. I improved the background some with more detailed clouds. I also tried making the characters in the back fade away into the smoke a little bit, but I'm not sure if it looks better this way or not.