A Potato's Crap Dump

[UselessPotato]

So here is my sketchbook... There's few things I'd like to mention before anything else:

• I'll be posting mostly studies and things like that rather than finished pieces cause I mean there's no point for that.
  
• I'm looking for honest critiques. That is, if you have something to say (no matter how much you think it would hurt me) just SAY IT!. I'm here to get better so please don't hold yourselves back. I'm really interested to know what might look off or what can I improve, rather than just receive compliments. And I do appreciate the words of encouragement, don't get me wrong, but I much rather have a bluntly honest critique.
  
• I'll try to provide some information along with the pics so you can get an idea of what I working towards or what I'm trying to accomplish in this studies... so you can have a better idea of what I was going for (in case my crappy execution might look deceiving)
  
• Also if you have any suggestions or exercises that you think might be helpful please let me know!
  

So yeah... without further ado... Here's my firs pic


If any of you know about Istebrak... This is my last attempt at her "Form studies"... For those of you who might not be familiar... The background is supposed to be the lighting environment... So for this forms is really important to keep in mind the perspective lighting and the light source, meaning that this is not a complete dark environment... These are shapes like floating in space , surrounded by light...
My main issues here are basically the values... is there too much contrast... or too little? (keep in mind that I'm not going for full dark or full white, but sometimes when I do these type of exercises I feel like I mostly use mid tones and that there's no real contrast...)

[HIRVIOS]

I'm not fully familiar with the study that you're speaking of, so I might not be doing the exercise correctly, but this would be my approach (I didn't touch the cubes in the far background)

[UselessPotato]

I'm not fully familiar with the study that you're speaking of, so I might not be doing the exercise correctly, but this would be my approach (I didn't touch the cubes in the far background)

Hum... It's not bad actually... Adding more contrast definitely makes it look more interesting I think... But Idk it's like for me it's too much of a jump considering how light the surrounding environment is... Also I see you added kind of like a light fall off, like gradients showing the intensity and stuff... The purpose of the exercise is to keep the plans with a single value...


This is one of Istebrak's Form Studies... This is what I'm going for :Y (probably should have added this before. My bad ;n; ) Also thank you for the feedback!

[darktiste]

I knew i was not wrong i saw those study somewhere and now you comfirm it.Look great.I would say add more complexity to those flat side if you want to avoid the cartoon look but i don't think it was the point of the exercise also it good to remember that there also atmospheric light the more you go away from the viewer.Maybe next you could do same thing but instead focusing on form intersection mixed with value study and adding cast shadow.

[UselessPotato]

I knew i was not wrong i saw those study somewhere and now you comfirm it.Look great.I would say add more complexity to those flat side if you want to avoid the cartoon look but i don't think it was the point of the exercise also it good to remember that there also atmospheric light the more you go away from the viewer.Maybe next you could do same thing but instead focusing on form intersection mixed with value study and adding cast shadow.

I mean... Sure I could try that I guess... The whole purpose of the exercise is to focus on lighting and values rather than the subject that you're trying to do... So you I tend to avoid complicated shapes or ambitious form for the sake of just focusing on the purpose of the exercise... But I guess once I become familiar enough with this method I could try and spice things up with intersecting form and whatnot xD

[LK Crown]

Your studies look pretty good so far.
Sorry, that I dont have a useful tipp for now,
but I just wanted to tell you that I love your Avatar and Username. :D :)

[UselessPotato]

Your studies look pretty good so far.
Sorry, that I dont have a useful tipp for now,
but I just wanted to tell you that I love your Avatar and Username. :D :)

Yee... I'm mostly looking for critiques in this sketchbook... But thank you, you're so sweet xD

[xelfereht]

"I'll be posting mostly studies and things like that rather than finished pieces cause I mean there's no point for that."

I think there is allot to gain from trying to make finished pieces along side studies
Can show allot about where your'e at and where you may prefer to go
also really tests how solid your knowledge of individual fundamentals are when you have to combine them

Just thought id say cos its not uncommon for people to get stuck only doing studies endlessly
that said you do what you want to of course :)

[UselessPotato]

"I'll be posting mostly studies and things like that rather than finished pieces cause I mean there's no point for that."

I think there is allot to gain from trying to make finished pieces along side studies
Can show allot about where your'e at and where you may prefer to go
also really tests how solid your knowledge of individual fundamentals are when you have to combine them

Just thought id say cos its not uncommon for people to get stuck only doing studies endlessly
that said you do what you want to of course :)

Totally agree with you there... Master pieces are a good way to find out where you stand when it comes to art skills. And they are a good way to find out what you need to improve as well... I do my own fair share of master pieces like any other artist... But you see, the issue is that (At least for me) when I finish a master piece, I already know what's wrong with it (maybe not to the very last detail, but I have a general grasp of what seems off)... In the sense that, I don't need people to tell me what I already know. So I guess I wouldn't call them master pieces, cause they are just my failed attempts at making a master piece that are not completely finished, it's just that I'm kinda fed up of investing time and effort in it xD
But yee... I'm more concerned about studies, since that a good way to gain knowledge, and hence why it's important for me to find out if something is off with them... cause those flaws would them translate into my master pieces...

[darktiste]

A master study doesn't really have to be about combining all the fundamental into one.It can be about one fundamental in particular.It good that you can have a critical eye it mean you understand what fundamental you should work on next.I think master study are bit more relevant to someone who is doing illustration than let say someone who is doing animation it up to you to see if this is what you need to do to level up.

There many stage of study i would and it cycle back each time you want to the mastery to a next level

Step 1 observation/copying by taking note and understanding the subject by drawing it over and over again in different angle and lighting scenario to creating a higher chance to create a strong illusion of the subject existing in a 3d space .
Step 2 Doing master study to understand how pro have tackle the subject.
Step 3 creating fake project to create a reason to experiment new media/new style etc...

Sorry if this is almost the same thing being repeated over and over again it= just thought it would be interesting to create a sense of Progression and cycle.

[UselessPotato]

A master study doesn't really have to be about combining all the fundamental into one.It can be about one fundamental in particular.It good that you can have a critical eye it mean you understand what fundamental you should work on next.I think master study are bit more relevant to someone who is doing illustration than let say someone who is doing animation it up to you to see if this is what you need to do to level up.

There many stage of study i would and it cycle back each time you want to the mastery to a next level

Step 1 observation/copying by taking note and understanding the subject by drawing it over and over again in different angle and lighting scenario to creating a higher chance to create a strong illusion of the subject existing in a 3d space .
Step 2 Doing master study to understand how pro have tackle the subject.
Step 3 creating fake project to create a reason to experiment new media/new style etc...

Sorry if this is almost the same thing being repeated over and over again it= just thought it would be interesting to create a sense of Progression and cycle.

I think there's a bit of misunderstanding here... I talked about master piece, not master study. I agree that master studies are quite helpful... Studying how other ppl deal with a subject can teach you a lot of stuff... But I was talking about a master piece, that is (to me) a piece that I make for personal reason, not to study, not to practice... just for fun, to express myself or to put down an idea or an image that's stuck in my head and begs to see the light of day... But then again, that messes up with my expectations which are higher than my current level, so it ends up making me feel upset in the end. Also now that I think about it... a master study actually could technically deal with a lot of fundamentals at the same time... cause in the end you're trying to apply reverse engineering to a piece that other artist has created. Said piece most likely will deal with quite a few fundamentals... unless the piece you're doing a master study on is a study from other artist that specifically focuses on one fundamental... Hope that made sense .___.

[Adzerak]

Good discussion going on in here! Here's my two cents:
Since doing studies is a means to an end, in most cases, one should try to do a personal piece (doesn't have to be "finished") once in a while as a way of testing out if the study has improved your imaginative work. 

So if I, for example, have done a lot of proportion and gesture studies , I'd want to draw something from mind later to make sure that I've actually learnt something from doing those studies. It usually feels really rewarding too see the improvement directly, even if it's just a sketch or two. 
Sometimes we go into auto-pilot when we study and just end up copying the shapes without much thought. Like Xelfereht said, people can end up just doing studies endlessly and when they attempt a personal piece they've build up so much expectation, so this piece has to be perfect! Speaking from personal experience, I find this soul crushing, 

So hard to write about this without rambling on for ages, so I'll leave it as is for now. 

Good luck in your art endeavours! :)

[UselessPotato]

Good discussion going on in here! Here's my two cents:
Since doing studies is a means to an end, in most cases, one should try to do a personal piece (doesn't have to be "finished") once in a while as a way of testing out if the study has improved your imaginative work. 

So if I, for example, have done a lot of proportion and gesture studies , I'd want to draw something from mind later to make sure that I've actually learnt something from doing those studies. It usually feels really rewarding too see the improvement directly, even if it's just a sketch or two. 
Sometimes we go into auto-pilot when we study and just end up copying the shapes without much thought. Like Xelfereht said, people can end up just doing studies endlessly and when they attempt a personal piece they've build up so much expectation, so this piece has to be perfect! Speaking from personal experience, I find this soul crushing, 

So hard to write about this without rambling on for ages, so I'll leave it as is for now. 

Good luck in your art endeavours! :)

Omg sorry for taking ages to reply... I kind of agree... personal piece are a good way to test your skill... also an easy way to spot your weaknesses... Definitely a good way to know yourself xD

I'm also guilty of high expectation :Y