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        <h1><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><i><a href="../../index.html">loonygames</a><br>
          <font size="1">a <a href="http://www.bluesnews.com">blue's news</a> 
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<p>&nbsp;</p>Vol. 
                2, Issue 4<br>
                December 2, 1999<br>
                </b>
              <b> 
                </b>
              
                <b><i>Painting 

                  on Polygons:</i></b></p>
                <b><i> 
                  Conceptual Art<br>
                  Part 2</i></b></p>
                by 
                  Rick &quot;Flatness&quot; 
                  Grossenbacher</p>
              
              

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               <br><img src="../images/letters_new/f.jpg" width="20" height="38" align="left"><br>irst 
                off, I&#146;d like to thank those of you who sent in artwork and 
                questions for the new Critique and Q&amp;A section that I&#146;m 
                going to be starting in Painting On Polygons. And to everyone 
                else, keep sending in those questions!</p>
              </p>
              In part 
                1 of this article I showed a few examples of conceptual art and 
                explained the major uses of concept art in the design of a video 
                game. In this part of the article I&#146;d like to just into some 
                good basic rules and techniques to follow for drawing your pictures. 
                You may prefer a different style in your drawing, but the things 
                I&#146;m going to be explaining are useful to just about anyone 
                because they train your eye. I really wanted to show a concept 
                drawing from the absolute start to finish but because of time 
                restraints this time around, I&#146;m going to have to save that 
                for a future article.</p>
              </p>
              </p>
              Using 
                Line Quality</p>
              </p>
              For starters, 
                let&#146;s take a look at the dragon again that we saw in the 
                previous article.</p>
              <br><img src="../2.4/pop/images/concept01_sml.jpg" width="109" height="145" border="1"><br><br>
                </p>
              </p>
              Notice 
                the lines in the dragon that make up his basic shape. Art instructors 
                will often refer to this a &#147;line quality.&#148; It is basically 
                the variances in pressure that you put on the pencil as you draw 
                to make a line lighter or darker at appropriate parts of the drawing. 
                In the next picture I&#146;ve labeled some sections of the drawing 
                in red for you to take a look at to exemplify this further.</p>
              <br><img src="../2.4/pop/images/diagram01_sml.jpg" width="128" height="121" border="1"><br><br>
                </p>
              </p>
              Looking 
                clockwise around the picture, follow the numbers:</p>
              </p>
              1. Notice 
                how much the darkness/thickness of the line changes from one area 
                to the next.</p>
              2. Again, 
                see how the line is lighter at the beak and then darkens around 
                toward the top of the snout.</p>
              3. In 
                this area, the same type of rule applies but not just to the outside 
                line. Look at the scaly area on the surface of the dragon&#146;s 
                neck. The little specks inside are also lightened and darkened 
                to give a better sense of texture.</p><br>
              By using 
                big changes in lights to darks from pitch black to white, you 
                can really make the mood and feel of the drawing come out rather 
                than having the entire drawing stay within a certain set of gray 
                tones. To some of you this sort of thing may seem obvious, but 
                more often than not, beginning artists make the mistake not learning 
                it at all. Again, I need to stress that there are times when stylistically 
                your drawing doesn&#146;t use line quality, but a vast majority 
                of traditional sketching does.</p>
              </p>
              <br><img src="../2.4/pop/images/critique.gif" width="309" height="34"><br></p>
              </p>
              The purpose 
                of this section is for two reasons. First, artists can get exposure 
                of their work, and second they can get some non-bias feedback 
                from me. Today I&#146;m going to do a critique on some pieces 
                sent in by Gamaiel Zavala (ceriumz@hotmail.com).</p>
              </p>
              Gamaiel 
                sent in some very nice work. Keep in mind that Gamaiel has substantial 
                quality in his drawing and you don&#146;t need to have professional 
                quality artwork to submit to this column. This critique section 
                is designed for every one of all levels. </p>
              </p>
              The first 
                piece that we will take a look at is a portrait he did.</p>
              <br><img src="../2.4/pop/images/face_sml.jpg" width="94" height="176" border="1"><br><br>
                </p>
              </p>
              Notice 
                how nicely he used his lights and darks in the shading of this 
                drawing. This is a perfect example of using line quality successfully. 
                Much of the right side of the face is pure white which shows off 
                a nice use of realistic-looking lighting. This is a great example 
                of how every little bit of the face doesn&#146;t need to be colored 
                in to show texture. Some can be just white. Conversely, some can 
                be just black (if there are heavy shadows or darkness in the particular 
                picture you are working on).</p>
              </p>
              He has 
                nice proportions of the face set up. The eyes, nose, and mouth 
                look like they are just where they are suppose to be. The facial 
                expression is very natural looking (which can be very difficult 
                to pull off). Many times when drawing the human face, the expression 
                will look weird because the features aren&#146;t placed properly. 
                In Gamaiel&#146;s drawing here, he did it nicely.</p>
              </p>
              This is 
                just one of his drawings, and you can see more of Gamaiel&#146;s 
                work at: www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/way/8354/</p>
              </p>
              That wraps 
                up this addition of Painting On Polygons. Keep sending in your 
                questions and graphics for the Critique and Q&amp;A section, and 
                keep drawing too!</p>
              
              <i>- 
                Rick &quot;Flatness&quot; Grossenbacher works on Gameboy Color 
                games for Vicarious Visions. </i></p>
             <br><p>&nbsp;</p> 
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<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Print CGI is 
  &copy; 2000 <a href="http://www.square8.com">Square Eight</a>. Used with permission. 
  Article is &copy; 2000 its original author. All other content is &copy; 2000 
  loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. You got that??</font></i></p>
 