pugsloth's sketchbook

[pugsloth]

Finished the portrait of my flat mate today, tried to do it from life but with her not staying still and me moving also it was a lost cause so I recovered it using a photo, I need to start doing some still life's on my companion.

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[Nexuun]

Nice work with your observational drawings, and nice job on the subtlety in the last one. For your anatomy studies I think you need to be doing a bit more stuff from imagination in order to really grasp that stuff. I know somebody said this before but I think this is something important to do.

[pugsloth]

Nice work with your observational drawings, and nice job on the subtlety in the last one. For your anatomy studies I think you need to be doing a bit more stuff from imagination in order to really grasp that stuff. I know somebody said this before but I think this is something important to do.

Thanks for the feedback, just what I needed to hear! I feel a bit daft, I thought I was missing something by just drawing from a book, well I know what I'm doing today, I'll try and draw a few figures with the correct anatomy on them, I was going to approach an exercise like Suzanne Helmigh and Feng Zhu do for their anatomy studies by trying to draw the skeleton/muscles on top of a photo of someone, seems like a good challenge!

[pugsloth]

Right, so here's a sketch I just did whilst watching Dave's stream where he mentions what I think you were talking about, studying something and then applying it straight away, where as I've been studying but not testing myself to see what I learnt from the study, so I'm leaving this as a sketch and going to do some studies and then try and redraw the studies from memory.

gesture:

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refining anatomy:

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further refinement:

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and further:

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then applying a cloak and plotting light sources:

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[pugsloth]

Only did this today, watched Jeffrey Watt's 'Drawing from the Model' which was very informative, going to draw a few skulls every day until I can draw a decent one from memory, then I can move onto my Asaro Head that I've had for a while and learn the anatomy of the head properly.

Really weird using charcoal after a long long time, hard to get used to drawing with the pencil held in a different way (Proko/Watt recommends), ordered the wrong pencil too so it was very grainy and scratching the newsprint a lot.

Anyone who can afford the DVD should really get it if you're into portraits (as you should be), he has a very specific way of teaching but it works really well, tempted to enroll in the online classes.

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For anyone who wants to know the materials he uses/recommends highly they are:

Primo Charcoal B Pencil

Conte 1710B

Wolff’s Carbon Pencil 4B/6B (depending on how heavy handed you are.)

Sanding Pad

He also has a specific way of sharpening a pencil that Proko (studied under Watt) teaches here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_W9sZ8S7RM

[pugsloth]

Haven't drawn much the past few days, been busy reading:

The Artist's Complete Guide to Drawing the Head

Drawing Lesson's from the Great Masters

Picture This: How Pictures Work

and started reading:

Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life

Really great books, I recommend them to anyone, anywho, here are a few sketchbook pages I've done between reading, loving the red biro.

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Got the right conte pencil delivered so going to do some charcoal studies tomorrow, it's so smooth on the newsprint, it's a dream, and barely smudges!

[pugsloth]

Done these so far today, the Contè 1710B is a great pencil, as well is the Wolff's Carbon 4B, so smooth on the newsprint!

Not too happy with the companion so I'm sending it back, whatever I painted on it looked great on the tablet but washed out on my computer, plus the glare and plastic nibs were off putting.

40 minute charcoal portrait:

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2 hours still life:

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[Adam Lina]

Those are some nice looking charcoals. I've heard that about the companion, that the colors look bad and cant really be calibrated. Which is retarded on Wacoms part since theyre ignoring the concerns of the only people who would want to spend that much money on their products. Have you looked into a Surface Pro 2?

[pugsloth]

Thanks Haze! Yeah I'm glad they have a 40 day guarantee, gotta pay for shipping though I think, but it is kind of stupid especially for that price, the Surface Pro 2 is just too small for me, gonna stick to sketchbooks when I'm on the go, it was kind of heavy as well, I'm buying a disarticulated skeleton soon for studies so gotta save some money :)

[pugsloth]

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Did this today along with some head studies from Loomis' on how the head pivots on the neck, not worth uploading, went to London yesterday and drew a painting and bust, not too good though, need to start drawing from life more, going to resume life drawing with the money I get from my cintiq return.

[pugsloth]

Some studies I've done today, trying to get a bigger range of facial features seen as I keep drawing the same thing from imagination, happy with these, can see definite improvement :)

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[pugsloth]

Been at university today, decided to drop out after this year to pursue the dream, keep drawing characters in my sketchbook but this is what I'm most proud of today, sketch from imagination, going to develop this into a full piece, still need to flesh it all out :)

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[pugsloth]

Progress update for the witch, started painting today, really hard working out the colours of the skin, trying to keep my values good but it's far from perfect, going to leave it an hour and come back to it, any suggestions are more than welcome :)

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[Archreux]

Hey, there's been some definite improvement from the first page, it really looks like you're starting to figure things out with your figures! The studies I'm seeing on this page are solid as well, nice clean lines.

I think I'll have to agree with Nex when it comes to doing some more figures from memory after studying a few of 'em. From my personal experience with doing so I can attest to the fact it's been helpful, and if you haven't heard of Michael Hampton I suggest you check out his figure drawing book, it's been amazingly helpful for me as well.

Also, congrats on committing to the dream, man. I hope all goes well for you, and be sure to let us all know how it's going. :]

[pugsloth]

Hey, there's been some definite improvement from the first page, it really looks like you're starting to figure things out with your figures! The studies I'm seeing on this page are solid as well, nice clean lines.

I think I'll have to agree with Nex when it comes to doing some more figures from memory after studying a few of 'em. From my personal experience with doing so I can attest to the fact it's been helpful, and if you haven't heard of Michael Hampton I suggest you check out his figure drawing book, it's been amazingly helpful for me as well.

Also, congrats on committing to the dream, man. I hope all goes well for you, and be sure to let us all know how it's going. :]

Thanks a lot Arch! Constantly trying to raise my standard of drawing.

But yes more drawings from memory are definitely in order, the witch is all from imagination so I'm trying to force myself to think of anatomical landmarks and how muscles work in that position (even striking the pose myself), trying to benchmark myself, but that book looks great, I had a look at his course on CGMA also, but I'm going to save up to study at an atelier of some sort in a year or so, I will do this.

Added the book to my wishlist on Amazon, so when I get the money back from my companion being returned I will be purchasing it :)

[pugsloth]

Update on the Witch piece, redid the face (more feminine and in proportion), started rendering the arm/hand, used a reference but hands are hard, plan for tomorrow is to sketch my hand as many times as possible whilst at University, anyways enhanced the lighting from the sand, way happier with it today, slowly but surely, never finished a piece like this before!

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[pugsloth]

Called quits on the witch picture, felt like I was kicking a dead horse and not learning, did some life drawing today (going to start going every Sunday) and some hand studies I've done, need to put way more hours in, can't wait to leave University.

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[pugsloth]

A quick colour portrait I did today, need to man up and get some fucking milage, will be posting a lot more from now.

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reference: http://www.portrait-photos.org/_photo/5323456.jpg

[Fincks]

The problem in your witch piece imo, is that the character and the background are not connected.
The background is blurred and she is flying in the air so she has no contact with the ground, which increases that feeling.

If you put the character without the background, I would find it okay. (the wand is not rendered, she has no volume)

But otherwise, great improvement in your studies !

[Einver]

Your studies are looking really nice. Mileage will serve to only enhance your growing abilities.

I'd say if you're focusing on figures than volume studies with small annotations are your best friends-- followed swiftly by a similar study from memory to help you cement the mass of learning that just occurred.

Over all, good stuff! Keep pushing! don't wait for natural contractions! :D :D