The Art of Brock Nicklas

Demon

2011-05-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I'll call this a final but when I get back to this piece at a later date (after the rest of the arm is done) I would like to do some more shading in the horns and and I have to blend in the background into the next phase on the shoulder...Love how this turned out for my 23rd tattoo...Can't wait to get going on the rest of the project, Shoulder to wrist! This piece was nice because its on the shoulder blade.. Really digging the shading and look forward to getting into portraits, something I want to dive into when I'm ready....Cheers

Demonic ride

2011-03-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

Arghh....Even though I have some very minor detailing to do in this piece, I wanted to publish it anyways...Going to fine tune the Demon on the quad a bit (can't really make out his tail or outer arm etc)...along with bringing out the tires some more with a bit of dark grey....There is also going to be some greenish mist going on in the graveyard..To much time in this one, but you got to break a few eggs to make an omelet...Lesson?: Relying to much on photoshop, which this piece was entirely done in...I should have drawn the whole piece on paper then added all the colour with the computer. I think it would have made the tattoo more reconizable from a distance maybe..All in all, it's turning out pretty cool....

Carnation sensation

2011-03-23T14:03:00.000-07:00

A Carnation I'm currently working on...Along with the larkspur, I'm not supposed to make it traditionally tattooish or ultra realistic...somewhere in between, something edgy....Sooo, viola!....Blue with some yellow highlights to follow......Took this pic right after the tattoo so there is some shine in there from the Vaseline..Two more flowers to go...then I tie it all in with a background yet to be designed.....B

The Demon: Part 2

2011-03-12T09:17:00.000-08:00

The demon: A tattoo I've been working on. It's slowly getting there....Another sitting and it should be complete...Not bad considering this is around my 20th tattoo...some of the shading is working well especially around the mouth area, others, the horns, forehead, need some more work...This whole tattoo was done with shades of grey out of the bottle..but now that I'm getting better at the shading I've been using the black dipping in water technique with better results....Can't wait to work on this on again until it's finished........

Larkspur

2011-03-09T21:56:00.000-08:00

My first real attempt at major colour....A Larkspur for my wife!.....That's love, letting your other experiment on you! haha....turned out pretty decent...she didn't want it looking tattooish or too realistic???....Mission accomplished? Thanks, babe....

Susannah

2010-10-31T00:34:00.000-07:00

Another playtime in Photoshop....Can't wait to tattoo this piece on someone...It took about 20 minutes to get to this stage and I think I will work on it some more, maybe some colour and just to clean it up a bit.....I like her......Cheers.

The Thinker

2010-10-31T00:29:00.000-07:00

A life drawing concentrating on dark shadows as you can tell with the light source.....

The Kitchen

2010-10-31T00:26:00.000-07:00

This was an assignment concentrating on line work, without a ruler.......This is a drawing of my kitchen, and I think it took a good couple of hours....Again, pencil on paper....

Self portrait

2010-10-31T00:22:00.000-07:00

Self portrait.....It was an assignment from school, after completing 'Drawing on the right side of the brain'. I wish I could find the first drawing I did of myself before doing all the assignments from the book, but it was no comparision..Darks and lights, that's the key....Darks and lights.....

Clowny

2010-10-31T00:12:00.000-07:00

Playing around again in Photoshop....The clown is always the life of the party, right? Couple of hours doodle'n with the wacom....

Old timers

2010-10-31T00:01:00.000-07:00

Found these two at a campsite and had a sit down for a couple of hours.....Wonder what it would have been like in their time, and what they saw, maybe they still whisper to each other when no one's around......pencil on paper. Cheers.

Baby girl

2010-10-30T23:46:00.000-07:00

My baby girl......Pencil on paper......

Demon and smoke

2010-10-30T23:38:00.000-07:00

A piece I am currently working on as a tattoo (which is about half done). I designed this piece meshing different images found on the net in Photoshop. I finished it by digitally painting some of the aspects found on this demon and the smoky wisps around it....I will post the final tattoo soon......

Babo

2010-10-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

A side profile of the boy,..This was, I believe, one of the first pieces I did where the eraser really brought out the depth of the pencil work....

Demon

2010-10-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

An unfinished piece I'm currently working on using strictly Black and Grey....I may add colour.....Who knows where art leads to?...Again done in Photoshop.....

The Hulk

2010-10-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

A painting I did strictly in Photoshop from start to finish with no pencil at all....All done with my crappy little 4x6 Wacom tablet....No referance either, that is the main reason why I added this pic...There is alot of things wrong with this piece but this was really early in the discovery process of painting with digital paint....."Hulk SMASH!"

School desk

2010-10-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

A piece done out of the pages of 'Drawing on the right side of the brain'. If your an artist and having picked up this book yet, do yourself a favour and do so....you won't regret it....Anywho, the goal was to draw shapes, not to look at the desk as a whole but just the shapes and how they went together to form the desk. Just draw all of the little shapes you see and put them all together like a jigsazz puzzle and viola! A desk.......Cheers.

Charcoalface

2010-10-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

The assignment: Draw your model's face in 5-10 mins using charcoal....This was a life drawing I pulled out of the files from long ago.....Don't know why I like this drawing so much, maybe because of it's harsh lines and the use of black....Rough, and it works...

Phoenix

2010-10-10T21:34:00.000-07:00

I really need a better camera.......Nice shadow over the tattoo. Anyways, I quite enjoyed doing this one....The client had the best skin so far and took the ink without a hitch....Went really well. Not my design, we pulled it off the net. This was tattoo #20. Looking back at my first tattoo, the skull, I think I have come leaps and bounds in the world of tattooing and I have just scratched the surface. Kind of funny coming from a 'scratcher'....As one is called who works out of the home....Really stoked on the shading on this one........Tried adding some highlights but after a few hours my client just couldn't take it. I don't know if I can call this one finished or not.......Cheers.

Demon

2010-10-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

Another tattoo that is half finished...Just the black.....This is one piece that the shading will be instrumental in bringing this demon alive! Another design I did on the computer.....Kind of excited to finish this one off. This tat is on the shoulder blade and is the start of sleeve.........

Angel

2010-10-10T20:57:00.000-07:00

Here is a piece that is half done....All black right now. No shading......There is still hours of detail to done in this one...I drew this freehand and Viola! There we have it. Wish I had a bit more time to draw it a bit better. The angels hands kind of bug me, but the shading should fix that up just fine......

Got er done!

2010-10-10T20:53:00.000-07:00

A memorial piece for a client......Some nice shade work. Designed this piece on the computer. Had some issues with the solid greys in the flag but all in all, pretty solid.....It was later after watching some tutorials I found out I was doing the solid greys with the same voltage as my blacks.....Kinda a no-no......Lesson learned. I'm just glad the piece turned out the way it did.....Another fine lesson to live by. Get it done! Life is too short!......

L.L.L.

2010-10-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

A simple yet beautiful piece done in my studio......What I like about this one the most is how the design fits perfectly with the subjects anatomy. the lines flowing around the ankle, down the foot, and up the shin bone...It just works! Words to live by too......

Rise

2010-10-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

A tattoo that highlights some straight lines as well as some lettering, both are extremely difficult to pull off in tattooing. To the trained eye, there is definately some room for improvement, but all told, I'm extremely proud of this one....

Eagle

2010-10-10T16:24:00.000-07:00

Tattoo # 10.....This the tattoo that I realized that this is what I was meant to do....Loved how this one turned out and I was really lost in the process of doing this piece....Realism is something I have always been fairly good at...doing it on the skin is a different matter entirely.........

Koi fish

2010-10-10T16:21:00.000-07:00

Tattoo # 7 I believe....My first attempt at the Koi fish.....starting to get a little better at the shading......The person I did this one was of Phillipino desent and his skin really took the ink well....I thought it was going to be a long tattoo but it only took a couple of hours......

Bastone

2010-10-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a tattoo # 5....It's a bastone from an Italian deck of cards. I really liked how the line work ended up on this one....

Skull

2010-10-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

This is my very first tattoo....Simple skull, hardly any shading...I had to compose myself when I first brought the needle to the skin because I was shaking so badly.....now I don't even think about it.....

DVD cover

2008-06-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

Here is the 2nd draft to my cover. Almost complete.

DVD cover

2008-06-02T16:44:00.001-07:00

Here is a rough draft at my DVD cover. Still missing some elements. B

Plantphibians and a Chick with a gun

2008-06-02T11:18:00.000-07:00

Well, here are my final two pieces for school. Now I get to concentrate on making a demo reel. The Plant like painting I wanted to go for something completely different and give it an real alien type feeling. Are those things amphibian? Can they move? Something I wanted to leave to the imagination. As for the chick with the gun. I went back to my comic book style of drawing a did her completely out of my imagination. Basically, I did not use any reference except for the gun. I will post my demo reel soon. Cheers. B

Say hello to my little friend

2008-05-29T10:05:00.000-07:00

O.K. This, I think, will be my last piece for school. I wanted to do a piece that showcased my ability to draw without reference. The girl is entirely freehand, with only the gun as the one thing in this drawing that I referenced. The pencilling took about 6 hours to complete. I can't stress enough how much life drawing has advanced me as an artist. This drawing definately has a very comic book like feel to it. The final artwork will be done within the week. Cheers. B

Waterpede

2008-05-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

Here is the final version of the waterpede. I think this one has to be my favorite so far. Everything worked out fairly well. I really wanted to capture the feeling that, the giant leviatian has just come up from the deep to circle the craft, and is getting ready to strike. I really like the depth of this piece, something that can be very tricky to accomplish. B

Waterpede

2008-05-20T14:02:00.001-07:00

My newest piece, and one I hope to be done soon. I wanted to post this in it's initial stages. I will have a underwater craft added to the piece as the 'waterpede' moves in for the kill. I will post the final piece very soon. Cheers. B

Military Sweep

2008-05-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

Here is my latest, I wanted the focus to be on the Military guy wading through the water, and on further observation, one can see trouble creeping up behind him in the water. Cheers. B

Final Feeding

2008-05-07T11:49:00.000-07:00

Here is the final piece of my latest concept. I spent probably up to 20 hours start to finish on this piece, probably more. It should have taken maybe 15 hours, but I hope to get faster as I learn Photoshop. Cheers. B

The Feeding

2008-05-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a new piece I am currently working on at school. I have posted 4 stages for allow you to see my work process and how I go about completing a piece of digital art. Now, it was my intention to shock. If your thinking its disgusting, then I've done my job. I was going for a creature, maybe some sort of post war mutant, that was just feeding on some poor sap and he has been surprised and shot up to see was has shocked him. As he comes up the jugular has been released and the blood has been freed to flow. Also, as he comes up he maybe squeezes his victim crushing his neck , making him convulse, his hands letting go and contorted.

I started the process with a penciled piece. The penciling took roughly 6 hours start to finish. I then scanned the image into photoshop where I start the process of coloring it. I can't stress enough how crappy my scanner is and how I wish for a superior one. The final penciled piece has to be seen live to be appreciated. Alot of pencil detail was lost during the scanning process. Sigh!. At this point the piece is about three quarters done. I still have to work on the creatures shorts, eyes and add some more effects. I will post the final piece when it is complete. Sweet dreams! B

THE THING

2008-04-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

Well, here is the final piece for the work in progress known as the Thing. I have had major trouble trying to upload pics from my home PC and hope to have the issue addressed sometime in the near future. Hope you like it. B

2008-04-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

Here is matte piece I had to do for class. It has 3d elements (the trees) done in XSI and photoshop elements as well. I had the family go out into the backyard and pose for me. I then created the matte painting in photoshop. The mist and sparkles and other slight tweaks were all painted in. I had to upload the original into xsi to get the perspective right for when I modelled the trees. Nothing to difficult, just wanted to post my first and only matte painting to date. B

2008-04-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

Here is another digital painting done in Photoshop of my daughter. I took her school photo and placed it into photoshop and lighty traced over the image with a pencil brush to get proper porportions. I then ( with the help of dual screens, yeah!) had her photo right beside me for reference. I also had the original on my desk. This piece took around 8-10 hours to complete, most of that time doing the hair. Again, although I was quite happy with the final result, I think the realism takes away from the painting. If in the future I was to do another portrait, I would try and make it more messy with clear cut brush strokes to make the final piece look more like a painting. I may go back to this piece and try to do that. Ya gotta get experimenting! Cheers. B

Wasp

2008-04-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

The very first assignment I did in Photoshop. We took a very lightly sketched illustration from our instructor, and then proceeded to colour it in Photoshop. I didn't even know how to cut and paste back then. It still is one of my favorite pieces I did. I wish I could remember what kind of brush I used. I really like the type of stroke that is in this piece.

BellPainting

2008-04-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

This was the very first assignment in our digital painting class around a year ago. We basically had to take a photograph and then paint it in Photoshop. Viola!

Girl on Stool

2008-04-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

Here is another life drawing that was a 30 min pose. I spent most of the time concentrating on the face and then in Photoshop I shaded the rest of her body and added some colour. I found the original a better piece and I will post that for comparison. I think this piece needs some work. Her face, while I like the realism, looks a bit 'dirty' and the background appears too blurred.

Jesus Christ Pose

2008-04-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a life drawing I did in school. This was a 30 min pose. I then took the drawing into Photoshop and through experimentation, I ended up with this piece. The shading is much darker and I added some white highlights to give him much more depth.

Octothingy

2008-04-10T09:48:00.001-07:00

Here's a piece I did about a year ago during one of my digital art classes, Again I draw the piece out on paper, scan it into the computer and colour it using Photoshop. This piece took around 16-18 hours from start to finish.

Current work in progress

2008-04-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a digital piece I am currently working on for my portfolio. In the future I hope to post the progress of my future works from start to finish. I started this piece as a thumbnail image, ( I create many to choose from) I then started pencilling the thing on a piece of animation paper. I completely shaded the piece with pencil and then scanned it into the computer and proceeded to colour it in Photoshop. Currently it is about half way complete. I still need to add a background and finish colouring the strongman from the Fantastic Four. I will post the finished piece when it is completed. B.

Arrival

2008-04-10T09:09:00.000-07:00

Well, today marks the first day of my new blog site, I don't know too much about blogging but I hope to post as much as I can in the near future for critique as I wrap up almost 2 years of schoolling at the Centre for Arts and Technology in Kelowna, B.C. Please feel free to write anything you wish and I will try to respond as quickly as I can. Thanks. B