navate's CGPortoflio Gallery

Aihn

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:24:54 +0000

Aihn, leader of the Kabulkai (which is a cult, by the way). He is a complicated character, as dogmatic and ruthless as he is selfless and compassionate.

This was kind of a shotgun painting done for an ImagineFX Reader Q and A -- a question about androgyny. He'll be appearing in issue 51 without the warpaint, like this:

Thanks for looking

Baalhu

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:33:38 +0000

She is Baalhu, one of the Ancients. Legends say she dwells in the mountains, waiting for the brave and desperate to seek her out. She richly rewards those who find her, granting them anything they desire� and taking their souls as payment. Before they die, those mortals are forced to return to her. She places their souls into the bodies of bluebirds, cuts out the heart - - staining their chests red - - and sets them free into the world to be her eyes and ears.

Never tell a secret when there are bluebirds nearby. She might hear you.
_

The sketch for this painting has been lying on my hard-drive for years. I�ve been meaning to finish it for ages, and a few weeks ago a burst of inspiration hit. It still ended up being a struggle to finish. August was a turbulent month. Still, here it is.

Painted in Photoshop CS4 (yay!) and Corel Painter 8 with a Wacom Intuos4 (double yay!).

And you can see the sketch from 2007 here, hahah: http://www.navate.com/images/wip/oldbaalhu.jpg

Thanks for looking

Mhiet'e

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:16:47 +0000

Mhiet�e of the Dhuriiehm.

I painted her before, several years ago. Felt it was time to do an updated portrait. This was quite a long haul to get finished. I was working on it in the spring, but I had to set it aside because of my thesis. Was finally able to pick it up again last week when I returned from my holiday. On the plus side, I feel this is the best portrait I�ve done. I�m learning so much these days, with each new image. Everything is coming together in my head. It�s very rewarding.

Her tattoos were a nightmare. The script is an alphabet of my own invention, and spells out a poem in the accompanying language. So it�s not just random symbols; it�s legible.

Painter + Photoshop. Feedback welcomed. Thanks for looking.

The Bloody

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:57:09 +0000

Mi�hetra of the Dhuriiehm.

For clarity�s sake: he�s not a vampire, he�s not dead, and he hasn�t been beaten up. Some of the Dhuriiehm are rotting from the inside out, their bodies unable to sustain themselves. Mi�hetra is the most grotesque case. His skin splits and cracks.

He�s not a particularly nice person, but he�s not a villain either.

The textures on the skin are all hand-painted.

Blood-free version here: http://navate.com/images/thebloody-b.jpg

Painter and Photoshop.

Ihkahrii'ehl

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:13:46 +0000

"I wish for nothing
But a purer sky"

Ihkahrii�ehl of the Dhuriiehm.

One of my oldest and most precious characters, one I have tried to paint over and over. Finally, after a rather drastic overhaul in appearance (he was more or less an albino in all my past depictions) I think I found him for good.

The incident with his arm was his own fault.

Painter and PS, per usual. Crits appreciated. Thanks for looking.

Evening Mood

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:18:47 +0000

Mastercopy of Bouguereau�s �Evening Mood��with a twist.

95% of this was done over the summer for one of Pixelbrush�s little events. Then school happened, and I�ve been so bogged down with work I was unable to go back and put the final touches on it until now.

The idea was to choose a classic work and recreate it with some kind of twist that gave it a new interpretation. See the original here if you're not familiar with it.

PS7.0 and Painter 8, Crits welcome. Thanks for looking!

The Hunt

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:56:49 +0000

Hesobahn of the Dhuriiehm. The sister of Ii'saijha.

Done for a workshop in issue 33 of ImagineFX magazine.

Had a lot of little breakthroughs while painting this...actually, most of my recent work has been full of little breakthroughs. It's a good feeling, even though it reminds me how stupid I still am.

Photoshop & Painter. Thanks for looking .

Nhaiuusah

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:15:57 +0000

Normally I find my direction for an image very early on, so that I can tuck away the WIP for months and not lose the feel for it. But this, I couldn�t figure out what I wanted from it. I repainted everything over and over. Usually, I end up scrapping paintings that give me so much trouble because if I ever do finish them, they end up terrible. In this case though�I�m glad I didn�t scrap it because it ended up teaching me a lot of new things.

Anyway, Nhaiuusah is something of a nature spirit. No one is quite sure what he is or where he came from, though many suspect him to be a child of the Saedhj.

The anatomy was hell to get right; I�ve never compiled so many different sources for one pose before. D:

Photoshop 7 and Painter 8. Crits are appreciated; thanks for looking.

Closeup:

Carnivorous Heron

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 04:42:35 +0000

Tastes like fairy!

Been in such a do-nothing mood lately. I�m trying to get my groove back. So here�s something quick and different. Hopefully I�ll be back up to par soon and finish a good chunk of my WIP folder before the summer�s out.

Painter 8, Photoshop 7.0. References of a few different herons used. Thanks for looking.

Omhi

Wed, 21 May 2008 09:03:25 +0000

Omhi of the Dhuriiehm.

Sorry it�s another portrait. I�m trying to knock out a bunch of WIPs I�ve had lying around for ages. Used Painter a lot more than I have been for this one, too. I�m getting more comfortable with achieving details and such in the program. (Of course, I spent hours painting the chains and they're barely visible at this resolution... bugger.)

Painter and Photoshop. Crits welcome. Thanks for looking.

Her Wound

Sat, 03 May 2008 19:51:25 +0000

Hi everyone.

This started as a speedpaint, but I decided to finish it because I sketch these types of designs a lot and have never brought them into my digital work before.

Done in Photoshop 7. and Painter 8. Crits welcome. Thanks for looking.

Original speedpaint can be seen here: http://www.navate.com/images/speed/masked.jpg

Khuiia

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 03:26:32 +0000

The devil.

I painted this character last year and hated how it turned out. So I redesigned him, and I'm much much much more satisfied with the result this time around.

Painter 8 and PS 7.0. I went crazy with the details with this one... I tried to create a realistic amount of depth and texture, but offset it with a few things that give the image a subtle horror undertone.

A closer look at his eye, perhaps?

Thanks for looking. And as always, crits are welcomed.

Isskataa

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:50:18 +0000

One of the nae�shaar�.an ancient and powerful race that dwells under the waters. It is she who gives dreams to men.

With every new image I get more comfortable using Painter� before I was having a lot of trouble blending and detailing in the program, but something�s clicked. This was done using a combination of Painter and Photoshop, but I think I used Painter a tiny bit more than PS. I�m simply addicted to those artist oils.

All textures are done by hand. I made an effort to make the scales look a part of her skin, not flat or pasted on like I see in so many mermaid images (though, she isn�t a mermaid�she�s more reptilian than fish.) And speaking of fish, they were nearly the death of me. I lost count because I moved them around so much, but I think there are over 50.

Critique welcomed. Thanks for looking!

The Painted Man

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 10:41:47 +0000

A commission done for Peter V. Brett. (petervbrett.com) This is the main character in his fantasy trilogy that will be published by Del Rey. The first book will be out later in the year.

Painted in Photoshop 7 and Painter 8.

Iiahto

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:31:57 +0000

No beauty in her face
No kindness in her eyes
_

Iiahto of the Kabulkai� a rather despicable character: cowardly, weak, and wrathful; ugly inside and out.

Done in Photoshop 7.0, and Painter 8. Crits welcomed. Thanks for looking.

The Wild

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 18:59:39 +0000

I started this back in the summer as a �learning experience� piece for Painter�then I overloaded myself with so much work that I had no time to sit down and finish it until now. It was designed to be more expressive so I could explore the different brush options that Painter has and learn how to mix those tools with Photoshop to my advantage. I wish I�d done this sooner; I adore how the two programs complement each other and my process has been sped up considerably.

The colors are a bit bolder than I normally go for. Trying to expand my horizons and all that. I had a blast with those skintones. :]

Crits are welcome and as always, thank you for looking.

Heaven Slain

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 02:05:49 +0000

If the clouds are your embrace, then I shall fall into your arms
and rip your heart from the sky
.

.
Ihkhoshjaa of the Khua'thr, who aimed to dethrone the gods.
.
.
Well, this took me entirely too long to finish. First all sorts of nonsense kept popping up, and then my hard drive imploded. I saved everything I really needed to save and finally had an excuse to get a better machine, but still. What a headache.
.
Photoshop 7.0�and a slight touch of Painter in the sky, but I painted over most of it back in Photoshop, so I'm not sure it counts� the program is still too foreign to me. I can�t handle anything polished in it yet.
.
The palette is one I have never attempted before, and her skin was particularly challenging. It is remarkable how much more complex dark skin is to paint than light skin. The treatment of highlights and shadows is completely different.
.
Early sketch stages of this image are featured in this month�s IFX cover article, �100 New Ways to Paint�, which I helped co-author.
.
Critiques are welcomed. Thanks for looking!

A fairy

Tue, 22 May 2007 22:31:19 +0000

I <3 disgruntled toads.

The initial sketch was another color experiment, using bolder colors in general and deep blues to shade with as I would if I were using acrylics, where I mix pthalo blue with burnt umber to make black. I was curious how the style would work digitally. Then halfway through, I decided that I would tinker with it a bit in Painter. I've had Painter 8 for a long time but I'venever used it much because I hate the interface. But I'm interested in ways to add more painterly textures to my work, so I decided to play around and see what happened. I still hate the interface�I could never imagine sketching in that program, or detailing for that matter�but I think I'm going to experiment with it a bit for that middle stage. I'm not sure how well it will work with more polished/involved pieces� but I feel bored/limited with my style right now, so I'm going to muck around and see what comes of it.

Ref used for the anatomy, since I am not well-versed in amphibians: http://www.navate.com/images/photos/fairy_ref.jpg

Photoshop 7.0 and a touch of Painter 8. Crits welcome. Thanks for looking.

Bloodstone

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 20:53:04 +0000

The prophet Ilijaa

This was a very spontaneous idea I decided to run with. It ended up taking far too long to finish, though�one distraction after another pulled me away. I also nearly killed myself taking the reference photos. :P Hopefully she looks balanced. I sure wasn't.

I sketch those giant skull helmets constantly. This summer I plan to build a real one.

PS 7.0. Crits welcome, as always. :] Thanks for looking!

The Gate of Slaughter

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 00:02:07 +0000

.
This is the path to Eden
This is the heaven's stair
Beyond the fleeting veil of glory:
This is the gate of slaughter
_
.
She is Ahsdri'ehl, ruler of the Ahn; a mythological figurehead of greed and corruption. It is told that she stands on a ruined staircase beyond the wastelands, enticing men to cross into the storm beyond. She promises wealth, power, glory�but all who follow her find nothing but their own doom.
.
I did this concept last year with acrylics, but it looked more like a Snow White takeoff and was really static and boring. So I gave it another try. I�m much, much happier with this version. It was such a challenge to paint�I wanted everything to look very chaotic without being senseless, and the figure was to be still, like the eye of a storm� it took a lot of thought to work it. The sky is the most complicated sky I�ve ever painted, and it took me ages to figure out how to get the water to look right.
Critiques are welcome!
.
Photoshop 7.0. Thanks for looking. :]
(And here's the first version, if you want a good laugh: http://navate.com/images/ahsdriehl_old.jpg )

Summon Infinity

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 12:06:12 +0000

This was inspired by and partially referenced (just the head) from a photoshoot of the vocalist of Rentrer en Soi, one of my favorite bands, found in a fashion magazine. I've had the photo on my desktop for ages, and I kept thinking how I wanted to transform the character in the photo into my own image. Did a lot of experimentation with color, light, and depth with this one.

Photoshop 7.0. Critiques appreciated. Thanks for looking!

Head reference

Aa'gho

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 11:42:41 +0000

Hi everyone.

I've been trying to reach a higher level of detail in my paintings. I spent a very long time texturing the rock and working on the braiding detail on her outfit. I wanted to have this done several days ago, but a very bad headache got in the way. It was a pain to finish since I was interrupted so close to the end, but here it is.

Photoshop 7.0. Crits appreciated. :] Thanks for looking!

Mhoiishi

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 00:34:24 +0000

I burned out for a few months, so I painted this to get my inspiration back. It's not really a "serious" painting�more of an experiment. I always get stuck on my faces, so doing a character portrait where the face was hidden made me really pay attention to the rest of the canvas, how all the other elements interacted. The painting didn�t take a terribly long time, but I learned a lot.

Photoshop 7.0

Some close-ups:

Thanks for looking! <3 Criticism is always welcome. :]