Ruud Havenith

American Wildlife

2011-07-17T12:37:00.000-07:00

This is an assembling of American animals I've seen during my holiday trip through the Rocky Mountains and the surrounding areas.
We've been to various national parks where animals still roam around minding their own business. It's amazing to see so many animals up close unaffected by human presence. But never forget, they're still wild animals.
A hiker realized that too late when he was mauled to death by a grizzly. The same day we were hiking in bear country as well. Luckily we didn't encounter a mother bear and cubs.
We did see a few black bears. One of which was blonde, the first time I saw him I thought it was a grizzly but apparently they range from black to blonde.
Several species of deer; mule-deer, whitetail, moose and the impressive elk.
Herds of bison with calfs, the strange pronghorn and the white coated mountain goat. We've seen lots of birds. Like raven, heron, osprey, the classic turkey and the mighty bald eagle.
It's been a fantastic trip and I'd like to go back one day and experience the beauty of the wild west again.

Turtle painting

2011-06-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

I dusted off my acrylics set and started to paint my pet turtle I've had since childhood. Unfortunately he died a year ago so I wanted to immortalize him on canvas.

Portrait

2011-04-11T12:30:00.001-07:00

I tried to capture the different colors I observed. Pink, purple, orange, yellow, it's all there.

Winter feline

2011-01-18T13:48:00.000-08:00

Since it's still winter here's a magnificent creature that's used to harsh winter conditions: the snowleopard.

Merry ChristMiss

2010-12-21T13:18:00.000-08:00

(Vrolijk KerstMiss in dutch)

The ChristMiss wishes you all a merry christmas and a happy new year.

ChristMiss:
"My wish is world peace. I want the whole world in pieces!
"Oops, I mean, just one piece ofcourse. Peace, world at peace..."

Sketchy sketchies

2010-11-15T13:56:00.000-08:00

Some studies inbetween.
I found my marker set again. It's always challenging to put these permanent markers on virgin white paper. No Ctrl-Z'ing in real life unfortunately ;)

As for the hands. It's one of the hardest parts of human anatomy to master. So it's always good to study them once in a while.

Urban survival

2010-10-03T13:02:00.000-07:00

I started to paint a random model from a magazine to practice.
When I was halfway from finishing it I wasn't satisfied with it. It was just what it was in the magazine; a random model with nothing special about her.
Her expression was so vacant and bland. So I gave her a more determined look and placed her in a survival situation.
Geared with a crossbow for silence killing, a magnum for self protection and a aiding canine. Similair to the movie "I am Legend" where one is trying to survive in a modern wasteland, but then with a woman ;)

Autumn is around the corner

2010-09-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

The yellows and browns of autumn leaves catch the sunrays to light up the dark leaf littered beech forest.
Meanwhile a wild boar mother is guiding her naive piglets in search of food to store up some fat for the unforgivable winter.

Eagle

2010-09-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything.
So here's something new. The colors of this eagle are based on a photograph.
I want to study the actual thing before I'm making up my own color scheme.
I found that if I start from scratch with a colored painting the colors tend to look unnatural and dull.
I guess I'm a little too impatient to study more slowly.
So from now on I will study reality first and learn from that.
Eventually, if I feel confident enough, I can make my own colorscheme based on the things I've learned.
Because everything you make will stay in your mind somehow and will help you in future endeavours.
One step at a time ...

Please, don't be mad

2010-05-16T04:24:00.001-07:00

I struggled a lot with this one. The poses of the birds was no problem, I had them settled quite soon, but the background was another challenge. I just didn't know what to do with the enviroment. Of course everthing that you do should support or enhance the story. So I ended up with a more swampy grim enviroment to convey the feeling the little heron has regarding the large heron.
The little heron feels uncomfortable and tries to make up with the large heron for something he did wrong; he is offering a puny trophee to his superior. The large heron doesn't like it at all. You wonder what his next move will be. Sure it won't be warm hearted. That's what makes this scene interesting, you become curious about the affairs of their relationship, just like you would with real people interacting. The interaction in a specific scene can tell a lot about characters and their inner struggles, thus engaging you in the story.

The real thing

2010-05-03T12:32:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I was in the natural history museum of Vienna.
When I walk in a museum like that my imagination goes wild. I imagine every animal living their own little life in a fascinating world.
When I was walking in the prehistoric section I stumbled upon the actual skull of the Dunkleosteus I've been painting.
I had to look in it's mouth and imagine how many unfortunate animals had this frightning view before being devoured.

Primeval killerfish

2010-04-20T01:23:00.001-07:00

At work (zylomgamestudio) I have a little scale model of a Dunkleosteus.
A Dunkleo-whatus? Yes, a Dunkleosteus, it's a prehistoric killer fish that roamed the seas some 400 million years ago.
This massive 10 meter long armoured fish probably had the most powerfull jaws in animal history; four times greater than a T-rex's bite.
But enough of the facts and figures.
The little scale model has been sitting on my computer for some time, and it inspired me to make a painting out of it.

Continuing my Master Assignment at ZylomGameStudio, my goal is to create a clearly readable and colorful picture.
I made this a bright sunny day. The warm light is hitting the animals from the left, while the shadow catches the blue light of the sky, and the bounce light from the ocean.
The shape of the animals are clearly readable.
I added more contrast at the head of the fish, that's where the focus should be.
To attract even more attention the saturation is higher and more detail is added in the head area.

One minor issue. At first I had a scientifically correct amphibian to be the prey.(this animal did live in the same era as the fish).
But the amphibian didn't fit the composition. It looked like it was dropped from somewhere high and the fish was about to catch it.
However the flying pterasaur (which didn't exist at the time) does make more sense in the composition because it is surprised by the killer fish and about to be crushed.

Magic is believing...

2010-04-08T02:55:00.000-07:00

Before going to bed Jill hears stories about witches and wizards told by her mother.

She loves the stories so much that she actually believes magic is real.

Bold as she is, she takes a broom and climbs the roof to fly into the world.

Together with my graphical colleagues at Zylom Game Studio we are trying to improve our drawing/painting skills through a monthly excersize.

We call this the MASTER ASSIGNMENT.

step 1: write a story (in this case the story above)

step 2: every aspect of the drawing has to support your story

This is the first output of my efforts.

I realized that the use of color and hue/saturation should be something improve upon.

So the next weeks I will focussing on the use of color and hue/saturuation.

Make sure to check in once in a while to view the process.