Crooked towers

Been a while since posting...anyhow here is a quick one. Pencil sketch scanned and colored in Painter and Photoshop. I am still tweaking it.

My new online portfolio is up!

Sorry for the long absence, but I had been pretty busy with work. However, I now have some off time. I am pleased to announce that my new site is up:

http://www.tirgari.com

I will be adding new stuff to it soon, but it is a start. So here are samplings of my various work. Some you may have seen in my blog. As you can see, I tend to move around themes and styles.

Anyhow, do feel free to leave feedback.

Thanks
Arash

Environment WIP

Some more experimentation with scanned marker sketches: just piling, extracting and transforming shapes for interesting compositions. Details and further lighting passes will be added on this piece.

Forest Wraith

Marker wonderings

Sitting in the local coffee joint, I cracked open a pad of vellum and my Copic markers and just started cranking out quick sketches: just abstractions. You can almost make out hints of strange buildings and landscapes. I scanned these sketches into Photoshop and started playing around with them and combining them in various ways untill I started comming up with some interesting compositions.

There are three original sheets of marker sketches, and one work in progress experimention and exploration from the scanned sketches. Sometimes when just doing quick sketches without much thought frees up possibilities. This methode of sketching may become a regular practice as it seems to lead to interesting beginnings for more elaborate pieces.

Updates

I have had some free time over the past week or so to finally update my official website. The site is going through a make-over of sorts with new design and artwork. I am keeping it simple and to the point and yet aesthetically pleasant. You may see a few artworks posted on this blog on my site as a part of my gallery. The site will be an ongoing project, but with a help of a good friend of mine I hope to complete the update soon and will post a link to it here.

Untill then, here is a piece among many going up on the site. Feel free to leave feedback and comments as they are always welcomed.

Nomad

I come in peace

Taking a walk...

Various experimental comps

Here are a few experimental color compositions. I added a few 3D elements here and there, subtly. Most are streams of conscience designs with no particular meaning...

Banished

It has been a while since posting, but I am trying to find time to do more drawings and paintings. I hope to be posting more often. In either case, here is a color sketch I have been working on...a work in progress. Maybe it will be a full blown oil painting at some point, but for now it is a digital sketch.

The piece started as just a compositional exercise with multiple figures, but it took a life of its own. Three wondering demon figures (maybe lost or banished) treading the charred landscape. You can tell which one is making an attempt at leadership!

Oddball Denizens

Here are a few strange denizens. Pencil sketches scanned and colored in Painter. You have your alien gunner and some sort of arborial ninja. Depending on the piece, I like using bold colors. I figured these drawings required more emotive color combinations to convey action.

Quick marker thumbs

Here are some marker thumbnail sketches I did while trying out my new Copic markers. I like using the wide ones to block values and then hit the details with the darker grays. Values are built from light to dark, then punched up with black. Finally, white gouache is used for highlights. The only problem with the Copics is that they go through ink pretty quickly.

Evil-Doers

Some sketches of various nefarious characters. I was thinking war, espionage and spies. You got your mad scientists, thugs, master minds, etc. The best way, for me, to come up with various caricatures is to sketch out the basic shapes of the head in terms of simple geometry: ovals, triangles, etc. Once the overall flow of the head shape is determined, I sort of "hang" the features on top of the basic shapes-- from general to specific. The entire time I try to push the features and shapes around as if playing with a lump of clay, and that's where the exaggeration is applied. The temptation is to always go back for endless noodling. Not always a good idea since the drawing could loose its spotaneity.

Soon I will be posting some works in steps from a rough concept to a final piece, a work-flow of sorts.

Mobile Computing

His brain a bit fried as he stairs at the flickering monitors...

Pulp Noir!

I am a big fan of the pulp arts and the film noir. The pulp arts have so much life and dynamic elements with their colors and composition, while the noir can always be appreciated for its dramatic lighting. Here is a piece I did while combining the pulp art and the noir.

Couple of early character designs...

It has been a busy work schedule, and I didn't get a chance to crank out new drawings over the weekend. So here are a couple of character studies from before. Hopefully, I could squeeze in the time to do some sketching this week.

After a long day's work...

Nothing beats jamming with a trusty air guitar.

A few from the Archives

Didn't get much of a chance to doodle today, but I managed to dig up a few from the archives. The ink piece is a portrait of Beethoven, a favorite composer of mine.

Breaktime stuff!

Here are a couple of pieces I did during breaks and between renders at work. The figure is done in graphite, no refs. The other piece is combo of graphite, charcoal later scanned and enhanced with Painter.

Trees of Palos Verdes

Here is a recent oil painting I did from the trees on top of the hills of Palos Verdes.

The Maiden Post...

Here are a few pics I did a while back. These were scanned sketches which were then painted digitally using Painter.