Fort's sketchbook

[Anton_Fort]

These two pieces I did to understand more about rendering organic stuff. Don't quite satisfied though.



And back to the portraits. Tried to draw faces with more gestural approach.


And quick study. I don't know why after saving colors a way more desaturated than it should be.



A little thought... This comes through my head from time to time. And this times bring me a hell of a headache because I started to think that a have no progress, that my works will always be on a low lvl no matter what I do and how much I draw. Sometimes I think "Let's draw some stuff!" with exciting inside me, but eventually I started to think that this is all crap and that's why I don't get a job. Don't get me wrong, I am really patient. But, as I said, this comes from time to time. If you have this problems too, then how you managed to get rid of them?

[Anton_Fort]

Still trying to understand organic shapes and gesture drawings of a portraits from imagination. The last two pieces for understanding local values and graphic read.

[Anton_Fort]

I started a new character. This time I wanted to draw some w40k stuff. And my choice stopped with Eldrad Ulthran of the Craftworld Ulthwe (I love eldars!). But I don't know if I could draw this character on a decent lvl (with my low lvl skills). So this is a silhouette searching.

[Artloader]

Great studying Anton :).

A little thought... This comes through my head from time to time. And this times bring me a hell of a headache because I started to think that a have no progress, that my works will always be on a low lvl no matter what I do and how much I draw. Sometimes I think "Let's draw some stuff!" with exciting inside me, but eventually I started to think that this is all crap and that's why I don't get a job. Don't get me wrong, I am really patient. But, as I said, this comes from time to time. If you have this problems too, then how you managed to get rid of them?

I get around this by doing at least a little bit of study every day (even just 10mins) and telling myself that IF I do it every day eventually it will add up to a lot of progress.  I also believe that if I apply thought to my studying even if it is just a few minutes - there is always progress - whether I feel it or not.  Hope that helps - even just a little bit :).

I like the way you are using silhouettes Anton - do you draw them straight out of your head or do you use figure construction first?

Keep it going - looking forward to more from you :).

[Anton_Fort]

Thanks for the feedback!
I try to study everyday too. This is the way we learn. But I think it's just a negative thoughts and there is no way to get rid of them. Just draw and draw and draw.

About the silhouettes it's interesting cuz at first i tried to use DAZ 3D for more interesting pose, but I found that this is not the way that works for me. And after I did that cyber girl I understood how to be more flexible with poses. So yeah, always from the head.
The best thing to do to understand how poses work is to do gesture drawings. I did a bunch of them and still do. Unfortunately, I'm doing that with pencils and sometimes charcoal and I cannot take a decent shot to upload here.

[Anton_Fort]

It's been some time. So back to business.  





The last piece is a total disaster. Too filthy colors. I tried to fix that but eventually failed too. But we learn from our failures.

[dodeqaa]

Hey man, 

Thanks for tips in Russian!

I noticed this in some of your sketches, and want to point it out. When marking down eyes and eyebrows for 3/4 or almost profile views, check that it is expressing the position and orientation of the volume, it can look much too like you're drawing from a more frontal angle. 




*EDIT*  updated the gif, I missed the forshortening on the nose and lips too on the right sketch :P
Keep improving!

[Anton_Fort]

Thanks! I actually don't have this problem usually cuz I never drew faces in a gestural way. Maybe that's why it comes up here.
Also np (about the tips!)

[Anton_Fort]

I did a bunch of studies today about silhouettes. The studies were focused on defining a better shapes and design language. So this is the tests. It's not much but it's the start.

[Anton_Fort]

This is really hard times for me to draw something cuz I have a lot of work to do and my back hurts like hell so sitting to me is kinda painful. But I managed to keep going, though I didn't do much. So here is some WIP's.

[Wolfyx93]

Hey Anton, Nice work man - looking good.

[neopatogen]

Sweet monsters Anton!
The human silouhettes also look promising. Hope to see some finished stuff here :)

[Anton_Fort]

[Artloader]

Great design work here Anton :) those creatures have some nice anatomy.

Your gestures look nice and smooth too - one quick tip JohnnyNovice passed onto me was to use a few wrapping lines here and there to help indicate 3D form. I do it all the time now because it really helps with foreshortening.

Keep it going mate!

[CHARLE PRSN]

Silhouette's are wicked. Also love your two still lives on the first page. More!

[Anton_Fort]

[Anton_Fort]

Gesture drawings, master study and some changes with my character.

[ManoelaCosta]

Hi Fort! Woa, you did get serious about human anatomy lately! Those drawing look great, very soft and natural. They look beautiful. How long are you diving yourself to each one of those? 
About the paintings of the female models, the structure looks great, as we can already see in the sketches. You already have a good knowledge of the structure. What I think it's getting in your way right now is the light itself, specially in two aspects: subsurface scattering and bounce light.
I'll try to explain why I think this and I hope it might help a little, since you're pursuing this goal right now.
About the subsurface scattering: human skin "glows" because of it. You must be familiar with this phenomena when it comes to a human ear against direct sunlight or something like this:

But the truth is, skin always have this effect because of the many layers we have and the blood vessels that irrigate our skin, specially in some specific areas such as cheeks, nose, ears (the "red band" of the face). That being said, it is very natural for skin to look more diffuse than other nearby textures and objects, since it has this effect that makes the edges look softer.

About the bounce light: ooh, boy, I do love some bounce light, but the thing is tricky. Try it yourself: stay close to a sunlight window in front of a mirror, grab a colorful towel or piece of paper or any surface and pose it at about 30 cm of your face. You will see that side of your face grab the colors of this nearby object beautifully! As in this last portrait of the woman (with light hair and wrapped in fabric) I think her skin and hair would grab many of those colors from the environment. That would help create a sense of depth and belonging, as she, as an organic object, would fit into that composition more easilly. Here you can see this happening a little bit:

I really hope this helps. About your character: WOW! Just wow, this rendering looks great! Your ability to render some of those materials is amazing, great job!

[Anton_Fort]

Damn, this was super helpful! Thanks a lot! I study anatomy about a 7-8 months for now, each of those little poses took from 3 to 5 min. For now I can understand structure of the body, but coloring for me is a struggle. But these tips and examples were just amazing. Thanks again!

[neopatogen]

"I don't know why after saving colors a way more desaturated than it should be." - Have you tried setting color working space to srgb iec 1966-2.1 ?
Awesome character, really!