Painting the DragonForce cover with Andrew Jones

[NSCGalaxy]

Ohhhhh...its a robot girl... I thought it was a motorcycle, my bad.

[dragonheart6crush]

favorite album cover ever

[MrChromio]

What was the software You used Sir?For This Work...

[LazorSlayer]

@MrChromio Paint...

[MrChromio]

@LazorSlayer

Ok

[guitarplayer9090]

computer crashes :D

[BBPunkLP]

The 3 losers who didnt like this are just fucking jealous

[Kiewicz92]

Epic

[davycrocketful]

amazing artwork...love it..

[Malik82691]

Her eyes kinda scare me, lol

[dr4g0n121]

If I was a heterosexual robot, I would buy this album without even listening to the music first.

[AccessSmitty]

I think that when people first saw this album cover, less than three years ago, we were all like "....what the fuck?" or "oh jesus this album is gunna suck". But the album ended up being there best seller and the favourite of many fans. I think as the sounds age on the album the image will become more iconic. Like wine being aged haha. I love Ultra Beatdown btw, sick album

[maw88ify]

He is a cut and paste artist it is basically a scrapbooker artist in 3D... it's craft not fine art...

The truth is its easier to do this than to draw by hand... The sad part is that I know artist that art better then him including myself, but we are all poor artist...

[DjDedan]

@maw88ify i have to disagree, jones is actually an excellent draftsman as well, if you do a quick google on massive black, the studio he co-founded you may just see for yourself - those guys are no joke... morale of the story, don't hate.

[maw88ify]

@DjDedan He made be a good draftsman , but what he is known for, and what he has made most of his money from is cut and paste scrap booking style art no different " dada art " like the art of Hannah Höch that was a cut and paste artist, but he is doing the same thing , but on a computer ...

[DjDedan]

@maw88ify once again i have to disagree, i knew of massive black way before i've even seen any of andrew jones abstract art... they actually worked on some models for a project i was working on... i may come off like some type of AJ fan but i just don't like seeing people's names getting run through the mud for no reason. From what i can tell this is just one facet of this artist, please do some research (try wiki) before stating opinions like fact. Its really easy with the net!

[maw88ify]

@DjDedan Once again it doesn't matter if he is good at doing some real art, but what he is making money on is just a new twist on " dada art "... Jackson Pollock was a good artist as well , but he made his money by dripping paint on a canvas... He made millions of dollars by being a sale out ...

[DjDedan]

@maw88ify - what is "real art" anyway, and are you even qualified to define it? is anyone? or can everyone define it in their own way??? anyway how do you know where jone's gets his money from anyway? can you site some sources??? otherwise put IMHO at the end of you statements because you are stating your opinions like facts...

[maw88ify]

@DjDedan Well a real artist is some one like "Salvador Dali" now that was a real artist... or even "H.R.Giger" that happened to be friends with "Salvador Dali" ... Andrew Jones art work a spin off of the two artist style ... but the big difference is "Salvador Dali" and "H.R.Giger" painted their complex art by hand ...

[senhorlampada]

@maw88ify Oh... sorry... Didn't notice Andrew painted with HIS NOSE... :D

Dude... all this traditional vs. digital talk is all crap. A good artist is the one that goes beyond the medium and the tools :)

[Shikibam]

@maw88ify If what he does is so easy what don't you do it yourself and stop being poor then, eh? Smartass.

[maw88ify]

@Shikibam I'm M. Allen West the Artist of FlashCadabra(dot)com ... Trust me I could easily do what he does... But if I did people would just say I was coping his works, and the goal of artist is to try be original ...

[maw88ify]

@Shikibam You must have missed the train video set that came out called "DVD training 5: Chaos & Evolutions " that show just how easy it is to create random art with computer, and it's way easier than drawing free hand... It was put out by Blender

[chromo48]

@maw88ify I'd say it's more of a hybrid than simply cut and paste. And I've seen Andrew Jones' work over the years, he has no trouble simply taking paint to canvas and coming up with something amazing and technically sound. He gets paid to do this stuff because he's good at it and his style is distinct. And I checked out your website, I wouldn't be so quick to call yourself a better artist (not that your work is shit). You just sound bitter.

[maw88ify]

@chromo48 Yes I was bitter when I wrote this because I have worked hard all my life as an artist . I'm working at a trucking company as a semi mechanic .

I have won tons of art award for my free hand Pen and ink, but computers have made it way to easy for people to create art. If you have seen my website than you must have seen the book called "Photoshop Top Secret The unofficial book." it shows how simple it is to create digital art.

[chromo48]

@maw88ify I agree with you that it's very easy for just about any idiot with a computer to just start whipping out digital art. This same thing applies to music, photography, and probably a few other things. However, a computer is not going to make you good at any of it. And generally, those doing the hiring can spot the difference between a hack with a copy of photoshop and a seasoned artist. Also, some guys are just great at self promotion. I understand your frustration though.

[LordMagtheridon]

@maw88ify It might be a little easier but a person without a proper education in art wont become an artist just because he has a photoshop. It takes the same amount of knowledge and strength to draw a digital painting as it is with oil painting.

[maw88ify]

@LordMagtheridon Well I would have to disagree with that .

All you need is to pick up a few training video like "Photoshop Top Secret" , " learn lynda ", "Chaos & Evolutions Open Movie Workshop" "blendercookie" "Digital-Tutors" , and cartoonsmart .

It only take a about 720 hours of training that is only about 3 months if you really push yourself.

[LordMagtheridon]

@maw88ify then perhaps you don' t haven enough of a critics eye to tell the difference between artists and a diletantist. All the videos can teach you are the basics, maybe some anatomy and perspective and probably mostly just "effects" but skill doesn't make a person an artist. There is lot more to an artist then mere skill and shinny effects and to tell the truth people not educated in art never have really seen the difference between art and amateurism. So nothing has really changed/

[maw88ify]

@LordMagtheridon I can tell what a true artists is . Some one like " HR Giger " for example is a true artists he can do way better work than Andrew Jones, and HR Giger does all his work free hand NO computers.

Salvador Dalí , and M.C. Escher were true artists.

[LordMagtheridon]

@maw88ify your still mixing such things as artists and tools they use. Yes those artist never had to use computers and etc. And Dali is one of my favorit painters, but tools are just tools. I'm not saying A. Jones is a great artists, I'm just saying that he is one, the same as others, and the only difference between him and others is the way how he uses hes tools and instruments for creating art. Digital art is in the world because it offers you to create art in a form that other tools don't.

[LordMagtheridon]

@maw88ify Sad but true: artists need to make money too, thus "work"thus meet deadlines. So these tools really do help artists to work faster and easier and help to earn money. Only few of many can afford to create art just for themselves and not care about the problems of every-day man.

[maw88ify]

@Blundergus You clearly have no idea who I am ... I'm M. Allen West the artist of FlashCadabra, and I have already put together a book call "Photoshop Top Secret The unofficial book." that you download off my site that shows example of how easy computer art is... Plus you can Google some video's called Chaos & Evolutions .

[maw88ify]

@Blundergus No chromo48 told me my art is quite good is that your other youtube account ? ZBrush , and MudBox are both easy to use... I have copy of 3DS Max , Maya 3D , MudBox, and ZBrush . However I'd rather use Mudbox , and 3DS Max .

[maw88ify]

@Blundergus I tried doing the same working in clay and it takes way longer. To add texture / bump mapping to a 3D object takes WAY less time than working something in real clay , texturing, painting and all the drying time . My problem is not all digital artist, but mostly just Andrew Jones, because I think he acts like a tool . He milks the story of his brain problem he had as a kid yet I have a way more of a tragic life story yet I don't milk it like he does

[maw88ify]

@Blundergus And there have been traditional artist that spend year on one painting . My argument is NOT about ALL digital art my argument is mostly only about Andrew Jones being a collage artist ...

[MrCesarthegreat]

thats ugly yo

[stoob1969]

it is truly a terrible cover completely not depicting the actual album. Looks childish and locked in the 80´s.

Sorry for upsetting people.

[gamesandstuff100]

if itz a vid for dragonforce then why dont u use one of their songs

[stratohammering]

i dont like this cover

[stoob1969]

@stratohammering it sucks

[rjjoiner]

Right... I'd be the Shit if I could do half that.... damn!

[annahel890]

uau....

[Hisako]

android jones' stuff always blows my mind away

[xMango1992x]

wow this is sooo cool :)

just if you didn't know Andrew Jones and massive black; vadim the keybourd player has tweeted about this giving the link :D

well done its amazing

[chevyracer4]

Thumbs up if Vadim Pruzhanov sent you here

[666ShadowDragon]

this is awesome :D

[innerabove]

You know he works for Massive Black because he wears fingerless gloves.

[ronnysoeberg]

@innerabove a lot of digital artists use fingerless gloves. Especially those working on a Cintiq, it gets kinda hot, and your palms start sticking to the surface when drawing, and that just plain sucks. Check out smudgeguard. They're gloves specifically made for that purpose. You can make your own out of anything though. Gloves or and old sock or whatever :)

[MsAshley215]

i think this is AWSOME Andrews awsome .....ive never tried to drawl on the computer is it much different honestly? this looks pretty cool i might need to switch ;) what program is this he is using? is this corel X?

[SegamenXp]

nice picture for Dragonforce (yeah I like Dragonforce)

BTW, I heard massive black from Imagine FX issue 50, looks like a nice website though

[Rohkus]

Siick dub sounds in the background!

[simonced]

Damn, I didn't know that it was MassiveBlack who did the cover art for Dragonfroce.

Both simply RULEZ!

[boogiekook]

massive black is a collection of artists. andrew jones made the cover.

[Hickoryurmom]

u mean u made the cover for "studio force"

[SegamenXp]

Finally I know what is that Ultra Beatdown cover... I seriously dunno what's with the cover when I first seen it >_>

Pretty cool BTW

[Izomeraser]

AweSome !!

shapesifting !

[3iHard]

Andrew , absolutely fun and creative piece.

[Malik82691]

AWESOME!

[Mindehouse]

woha D:

[Frenchchikn]

What program is he using for the 3D part? Is it the 3D part of Photoshop?

[CeloxCruor]

Its Zbrush

[ToQuestionJesus]

It is a program called Zbrush.

[ThermalSausage]

ZBrush is a 3D modeling program and is listed in the description. I imagine that is what he used.

[V10H4Z4RD]

this is beautiful

[faaip0de0oaid]

fucking AWESOMEEE!!!!!

[SupaPoopaScoopa]

This is bad ass.. he's really improved this style alot from the boss monster which I thought was a bit rubbish for him.

[dermonkey]

totally agreeed!

[Vlad3456]

Can someone pls tell me about the music in the background ??....

[McKack]

3:31

[lewisu2088]

Awesome workflow and technique! :D awesome work

[aaitvaras]

Great brushes.

[united1500]

Digital Paintting is brillant but there is something about pencil drawings that can never be beatten!!

[brandylacroix]

very nice , its really great how you do it. much love b

[eelsevilla]

awesomeeee

[dizzycritic]

really cool

[Lyod03]

WOW !!!!

[trollfar404]

I like Andrew "android" jones work. I just want to know what tools he using.. exampel for when he brainstorming through the hair style... what tools/brush are he using, he makes random shapes. That shapes are awesome.

can some1 tell me??

[ammon4photoshop]

he said he uses ZBRUSH (=one of the best digital character modelling and texturing tool) ...and he also uses Painter in his works

and I think he also uses Illustrator and Photoshop and some tools like 3D's Max,......

[gamersgene]

Z brush and painter x

[Balloonbot]

Random is the right word. It's really difficult to explain, probably even for him, how he does it. With practise you just know. Dunno if you're an artist or not, but if you are, just keep going and everutally it'll become clear. All i can tell you is he uses Painter, PS and Zbrush- with custom brushes.

[M00nlord]

one word: Intuition, he said so himself.

[chunkyostrich]

I do believe he is the best artist out there....he just gets it.

[headlessadi]

Mr Android Jones Sir, you are a god of colors and patterns and....what the heck...evrything!!.....And a bomb of inspiration too!!

[tonydraws]

i came so hard

[mattGamer]

lovin the dubstep score. ;]

goo Andrew Jones, you're on fire!

[tsugumi]

Wow, good-looking and skilled... <33

[Metahar1]

I want your gloves!

[mark0w]

hes impossibly good

hmm, didnt expect him to use z brush.

[bangurdead102]

hes showing you that he uses a variety of tools, there is nothing hes shown here that someone couldn't do, hes using many different effects, the result may look uniqe but anyone with similar tools could make a similar image, once they have an understanding of the programs, hes not some mystical gooroo, hes just got a good head on his shoulders when it comes with mixing these tools together

[SupaPoopaScoopa]

Any decent artist know that the tools do not make the artist.

[clave4e]

@SupaPoopaScoopa I don't necessarily believe that. I know some really talented guys who do animation for tv advertisements and their work is amazing. But if you take away after effects and some of the other computer programs they're lost. They can't draw, or paint or do anything classically. That doesn't mean they aren't good artists, it just means that they are dependent on the tools they have in order to be creative.

That being said I love DF and this guys work. Also, Zbrush rocks.

[LazorSlayer]

Sam Totman and Herman li were in Demoniac band long time ago, now I know why there is woman paint in Ultra Beatdown album...

[Opiatist]

I would sooo love for him to collaborate with Trent Reznor on a project one day

[stuckinaboxhere]

He's a god...no other way he could be so good...

[BlazeEviL]

hes a proffesional making a living out of it its normal, thats why they pay him for and they dont pay enaywhone that can open photoshop with a double click!!

[jmm1233]

whoa , that would take me months not nine hours

[ricefarmer]

i dont understand andrew jones stuff.. way too messy and random.. the machinery doesnt seem to even work right

[IISKETCHII]

I agree on some level, but you can't deny that he has a very unique style that allows him to pull off such sharp and graphically oriented shapes in a way that works for him

[AeolusMN]

He is a 2D artist, not a machine engineer, there is no need to make it practical or functional. The indications of machinery is enough to make a compelling sci-fi image.

If it where to be used in something like a simulation the process of making such an image would be totally different.

Art doesn't need to have functionality.