Crimson Daggers — Art forum

Sula: Thank you! Yeah.. I normally start out on some low saturated colored backgorund..white really hurts my eyes. (like at that last Frazetta piece)

Zipfelzeus: Thank you! You're right, I guess it's time to start actually applying all that stuff now. And yes, male portraits are harder ... a matter of practice, I guess.

I just submitted my master thesis!!! :D Meaning, aside from some formalities, I'm FREE! I'll visit all of your sketchbooks soon, I promise, as soon as I had time to catch up on some sleep and recover from (minor) surgery I have tomorrow. Soooo tired and exhausted right now! x_x

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.....wow, you draw better than I do, and I actually went to an art school, AND you know pro biology! Respect, lady, respect. (<-- closet science fan who can't even divide diner bill right or remember any detail science).

Nice figure studies!

Congrats on your thesis Lyraina! Hope your surgery goes well. Those Frazetta studies are looking good!

Lyra, thanks for the sketchbook visit! I've just spent some time having a browse through yours and love your development through it! Your anatomy studies are coming along nicely, I enjoy how you are also seeing through the form to the other side, Keep it up the great work, Lyra!

congrats on your thesis!
and, those frazetta colour studies/analysis are really interesting to see. i haven't seen people do breakdowns like that before, but it seems really useful to do.
could you tell us a bit more about the shape/composition breakdown you did?

I'm so glad you are done with that thesis <3 The next couple of months will now see me struggling to keep up.

Your studies have really kicked it up a notch, just have to say. The application and master studies are sling shotting you miles ahead in terms of improvement. I also like that your notes help me too :P I can just read through your sketchbook and suck out knowledge, its great :D

Your sketchbook is great! Love seeing all these studies and progression, the anatomy stuff especially has come a long way, keep that up!

I read a bit of stuff on the previous page in regards to your struggles colour and skin tones. It get's raised a lot but one thing I noticed above all else is to focus more on the values than the skin tones. So long as their right the colours come second. Skin tones change with different cameras and lights anyways so it's pretty subjective what's 'right and wrong' with skin tones. This video pretty much sums it up lol


Anyways, keep the solid studies coming, your doing awesome so far and I look forward to seeing your progression :D

What Warburton said! Get the values right, the colors works after that.
That is why you have white people painted mostly of blue and purples and still reads like skin:
http://www.geekrest.com/wp-content/uploa..._earth.jpg
http://static3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20...adriel.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/0...34x474.jpg

I mean, look at that, it's literally BLUE people. Still, in context, it works.

Nice studies Lyraina! Especially those master studies, really nice stuff. Hope to see some more applications of that knowledge soon!

Heeeey. Glad you're a free person now =D This means more awesome updates like this I presume =D You're doing a lot of nice studies and cool sketches. Keep it up, can't wait to see more =D

meat: Thank you - I am sure you have lots of background knowledge from art school that I am missing though!
Sula: Thank you :) Still trying to master my pencils the way you do! Thanks for the blue people link examples :)
Hypnagogic_Haze: Thank you! Surgery went well :)
Nika: Thanks dear :)

aks9: Thank you :) Sorry for the very late answer! First, I wanted to do color AND composition studies in one go, but realized very quickly that I can't concentrate on both at the same time. So I did the colors first and then looked at the image and tried to break it down to very simple shapes, mostly through values. He seems to use triangles and diagonals a lot, making for very grounded yet dynamic compositions. A bit like some of the old masters (lots of bodies forming a triangle). He also likes to use circle shapes, often achieved through darker elements on the outer sides of the image. There is a book about this topic, explaining simple shapes and their effect on a composition, but I can't remember the title... I'll let you know if I remember again.

Jaik: I'm glad, too :> Glad you can get something out of my notes :D
Warburton: Thank you! I do try to keep values in mind, but I still feel like I manage to make everything look ugly in the end :/ Need more practice! Thank you for the video link, didn't know that one yet :) Really cool.
pnate: Thank you. Yes, applications are coming!
ramalooke: Thanks, and yes, I hope to do lots of updates from now on :D
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Happy New Year guys! I hope it will be a beautiful and fulfilling year for all of you.
That was a longer absence than I had planned, but now I am back and drawing and motivated and all :D
Jaik and I are doing the old Bloodsports challenges, starting with the first one - really trying to do it right, and not taking any shortcuts or excuses or comfort zone stuff.
Here is what I've got so far.
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Another attempt at painting a guy from mind.
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And relaxing with reference (from cloud atlas movie), trying to be a bit more messy.
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lots of work, awesome Lyraina, have a blast this 2014! success in your projects :)

oooo going back to the old bloodsports! That's a good idea, might try one of the older ones myself :) Can't wait to see the finished product Lyraina

I miss bloodsports days :( cool thumbs and nice studies I still have to see cloud atlas D:

mrjovi: Thank you very much :)
pnate: Thanks! Yeah you definitely should do so, it's fun :D
Blewzen: Me too, especially since I missed most of them at the time where they were running. :/ Cloud atlas is cool!

Just a quick anatomy/sketch update! Some 30 second gestures (I do those as my daily warmup), some medium poses (drawing freely, not constructing), and some longer ones. I am trying to follow the suggestion of doing more different body types. Has anyone some suggestions where I could get reference for different body types, races and weights, preferably non-pornographic? Typing the wrong key words into google in that regard is not too much fun :/
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And sme line practice and clothing/fold study from hel-looks.com and a few pages from mind.
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wow nice! Lots of good studys here. oh man... you make me feel bad :( I sould do more figure drawings xD

Keep it up!

Those figure studies are looking nice, really well thought out and measured! Great work :D
Your poses from imagination look flat in comparison, every feature and form seems about the same distance away from the viewer. try creating some more overlap and foreshortening in those! See what happens when you put the rib cage in front of the pelvis, or the pelvis in front of the rib cage! And try to draw the limbs in foreshortened views sometimes too, get some more depth!

Here's one neat reference I always go back to when I think about body diversity!
http://technicolortypecast.blogspot.com/...-body.html

EDIT found another cool resource! Unfortunately it only has women
http://www.mybodygallery.com/index.html#.Us4elrSFfq4

Thanks for the crit on my self portrait! Dont worry your weren't too harsh. I can take much harsher crits and not bat an eye :)

If you need reference of heavier body types theres this (mostly women for some reason) http://fatbodies.tumblr.com/archive
I typed in "fat naked guy" in google because Im a glutton for punishment. I would not advice it D:

nice studies. keep pushing!