Rainwater's Sketchbook

[Rainwater]

Hello everyone.

My introduction:
http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-8...#pid120711

Time to post a sketchbook entry :)
Some of my recent studies:

I try to update as often as I can. But sometimes it might take weeks to post new stuff.
My study-plan is all over the place - means, I do everything at once and I have an attention span of a squirrel, lol. It's just boring to draw hands and nothing but hands for over a month. I'm also chaotic personality-wise, so my working style fits me, I guess?
Anyway, on with the journey :)

[Gliger]

Cool stuff, and welcome to the forum :)

[Rainwater]

Cool stuff, and welcome to the forum :)

Thank you!

A value study. The last picture is the photo.

[Artloader]

Lovely studies Rainwater, I especially like your brushwork - do you us the smudge tool much?

Keep going :)

[Rainwater]

Lovely studies Rainwater, I especially like your brushwork - do you us the smudge tool much?

Keep going :)

Thanks :)
I use modified mixer brush tools and the pattern stamp instead of the smudge tool. I want to reach that painterly look like the Impressionists and the old masters.

Also, I still suck at drawing hands:

[Rainwater]

I started to work on a study from the reference Friedrich von Amerling - Lost in Dreams.

The light of the face seems still off to me. Maybe the light-dark transition is too sharp?

[Rainwater]

Quick photo study.

[Artloader]

Hey Rainwater, nice going on the Von Amerling study, from what I can see your values and colours are pretty good. I think you are right about the transitions - especially at the bridge of the nose - it's too sharp. One other thing is the values on (her) right-side could be pushed a bit darker. Also the shape (her) left side of her face needs to be a bit wider.

Hope that helps, keep going!

[Rainwater]

Hey Rainwater, nice going on the Von Amerling study, from what I can see your values and colours are pretty good.  I think you are right about the transitions - especially at the bridge of the nose - it's too sharp.  One other thing is the values on (her) right-side could be pushed a bit darker.  Also the shape (her) left side of her face needs to be a bit wider.

Hope that helps, keep going!

Thank you for the advice - I'll try this out :)

[Rainwater]

Ooof, Photobucket sucks. I need to use another image hoster.

[Rainwater]

[Shinkasuru]

Some nice studies you have here, Rainwater. I like your Friedrich von Amerling study. Very well done. It could just be that my eye is not as sharp as yours, but I don't really see an issue with the transition of light to dark. I wasn't familiar with this painting, so I googled it and compared it to yours. There are minor differences I noticed, like the original seemed to have more saturated reds on the face. Overall I felt the face had more warmth to it than what you captured, but it's' really subtle. Overall, It think this is a very successful study and I'm quite impressed with your skills.

I also like your figure, skull, and hand studies. I'm back to doing skulls, too. I have to do some hand studies. I always avoid it because I have a hard time with hands, but I know I practice it will get easier to draw.

[Rainwater]

Some nice studies you have here, Rainwater. I like your Friedrich von Amerling study. Very well done. It could just be that my eye is not as sharp as yours, but I don't really see an issue with the transition of light to dark. I wasn't familiar with this painting, so I googled it and compared it to yours. There are minor differences I noticed, like the original seemed to have more saturated reds on the face. Overall I felt the face had more warmth to it than what you captured, but it's' really subtle. Overall, It think this is a very successful study and I'm quite impressed with your skills.

I also like your figure, skull, and hand studies. I'm back to doing skulls, too. I have to do some hand studies. I always avoid it because I have a hard time with hands, but I know I practice it will get easier to draw.

Thank you, Shinkasuru :) I struggle with lighting, especially when I paint from imagination. It's easier to just look at other artists' work and paint a study. I think I studied the wrong way (aka mindless painting) - instead of actually learning how light works, I just improved my brushwork overtime, lol.

After a long hiatus, because my life sucks, I'm returning with tons of new studies and stuff. I also finished the Amerling study:

[Rainwater]

Also, here some more studies:

[Rainwater]

Here's the problem I've been talking about. There is something off with the whole lighting. I think my values are too weak and muddy. What do you think?

[chubby_cat]

Hi Rainwater. Really digging your drawings. In terms of your latest rendered piece, I agree that a lot of the issues lie within the values. Convert to greyscale and zoom out... you'll see the only thing that it readable is the sun (?) and dragons form. Nearly everything in the midground is too similar in value. You also have a massively intense light source, but it's not interacting with anything in the environment.

This is just a personal style critique, but it feels like the sky and bottom half of the imagine is dominated by the generic soft round/airbrush tool. Imo it contributes to making things look muddy. Smoke/mist can be quite soft, but it also has different layers of opaqueness.

Anyway, hope that was helpful! :)

[Rainwater]

Hi Rainwater. Really digging your drawings. In terms of your latest rendered piece, I agree that a lot of the issues lie within the values. Convert to greyscale and zoom out... you'll see the only thing that it readable is the sun (?) and dragons form. Nearly everything in the midground is too similar in value. You also have a massively intense light source, but it's not interacting with anything in the environment.

This is just a personal style critique, but it feels like the sky and bottom half of the imagine is dominated by the generic soft round/airbrush tool. Imo it contributes to making things look muddy. Smoke/mist can be quite soft, but it also has different layers of opaqueness.

Anyway, hope that was helpful! :)

Hey chubby_cat. Thanks for the help :) 
Yeah, I thought so. The values are badly designed. The yellow ball of light is supposed to be the sun, lol. I wanted to make a shrouded red sky (influenced by old Don Bluth movies). But it's not quite there - I don't know, I'll try to change the values first and then I'll see where I go from there.

[Rainwater]

[Rainwater]

Studies, studies and more studies...

[Rainwater]

Too much crap going on in my life right now, so I stopped posting new art for a while. 
But I still try my best to draw something.