Joseph's shiny new sketchbook

[JosephCow]

I did a sketch from life of my portrait. Thought it was time to update my look. And I came across this driftwood shanty someone made in my town and got inspired to paint this, going for really defined shapes and forms. Also using imagination to change the scene. I think it needs a lot more refining.

[Jeso]

that self portrait looks great!

[Peter]

Damn Joseph I'm really digging that self portrait, really nice brush strokes. Making me want to dive back into them actually.

[JosephCow]

Thanks a lot you guys. Sorry very late response. I moved. It was a lot. But I'm going to be back at it now!

[Pubic Enemy]

Welcome back. Brush strokes and edges look nice as always. It looks like an oil painting from afar.

[JosephCow]

Thanks! 

I decided to go back to a sketch i started a while back. Kind of a dumb picture in general, but was a good study of materials, and forms from imagination. Still not totally satisfactory, but I am getting somewhere I think.

[melolon]

Hey! This piece looks good. Its gone a lot farther than your studies in terms of rendering and design. The small dagger on the table seems to be the most rendered part of the image, so it is tending to be the focal point, close after the face if not competing with it! Though as your work on it, this could change greatly!

[Uiriamu]

Sweet things, love seeing the classical approach to things :D Do you study at an atelier? The sewn together guy is great and love the story that's being told. I think if his reflection is a big part of the narrative then I think you could push that area more. I understand that it's unfinished in that area but thought i'd say it anyway! Will you continue on it? :D

[JosephCow]

Sweet things, love seeing the classical approach to things :D Do you study at an atelier? The sewn together guy is great and love the story that's being told. I think if his reflection is a big part of the narrative then I think you could push that area more. I understand that it's unfinished in that area but thought i'd say it anyway! Will you continue on it? :D

Thanks! I did it that painting for an online contest which is over now, but I might go back to it at a later time. I'm due to start at an atelier in the US in the fall, but I've been trying to soak up as much knowledge as I can on my own until then.

[Uiriamu]

That sounds pretty hype! Which one if I may ask? In sweden there's two ateliers but I udnerstand there's a couple in the US right?

[JosephCow]

That sounds pretty hype! Which one if I may ask? In sweden there's two ateliers but I udnerstand there's a couple in the US right?

It's called Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art if you want to look it up. The US actually has over 40 I think, almost one for each state. But only a few schools that are well known.

[Uiriamu]

Looks pretty good! Haven't heard of it but from the gallery it looks really decent. 40!? That's many more than I thought, I only really ever hear about Florence Academy and also Grand Central from the US.

[JosephCow]

Looks pretty good! Haven't heard of it but from the gallery it looks really decent. 40!? That's many more than I thought, I only really ever hear about Florence Academy and also Grand Central from the US.

Yeah, exactly. It doesn't mean the rest of them are crap, most are just small. Though I think a fair few are probably mediocre. The Atelier Lack is actually our best known, as it was the first one and the line of teaching actually goes back as far as Delaroche, apparently. However, I don't particularly care for the aesthetic or it today.

But the US is a very big country, and painting is becoming more popular, so we kind of need one per state!

[JosephCow]

Something I've had in mind for a while. Work in progress of Sabriel, the heroine of the fantasy novel by the same title by Garth Nix. In that series she inherits her father's role of a state necromancer, who can go into Death, which is like a big river, and fend off the undead using enchanted bells.

[ognjiša]

Hey, I've got a little critique concerning the pose, mostly. I hope these drawings are good at explaining how i think you could improve it (even tho they're kinda crappy). I really suggest taking your own reference for the pose to really figure what you want and what can work. 
I also did a crappy paintover to add another source of light. I don't think you necessarily need the other light, but i think it would be nice if you found some way to add a red/orange accent color to contrast the green atmosphere (which i really like) and guide the eye towards the focal point (prolly the face and the bell, which is why you might want to get the bell a bit closer to the camera)


Hope i helped someway

[JosephCow]

Hey, I've got a little critique concerning the pose, mostly. I hope these drawings are good at explaining how i think you could improve it (even tho they're kinda crappy). I really suggest taking your own reference for the pose to really figure what you want and what can work. 
I also did a crappy paintover to add another source of light. I don't think you necessarily need the other light, but i think it would be nice if you found some way to add a red/orange accent color to contrast the green atmosphere (which i really like) and guide the eye towards the focal point (prolly the face and the bell, which is why you might want to get the bell a bit closer to the camera)


Hope i helped someway

Thanks! I actually did take some references for the pose. Maybe the idea of it was a little weak, or I could explore some of the examples in your sketches. The third one down actually seems a lot stronger to me. 

The warm light source in your painting looks really cool. It provides a contrast against the green that is sure to be appealing. I do have to say it wouldn't make that much sense, though, just because you wouldn't have a firey light source in a watery grave. It sort of makes me think "what could possibly be burning to the left?" But then again you probably wouldn't have the main light source I chose, either. So maybe my insistence on realism is kind of silly considering it's a fantasy. 

Thanks for the feedback, I think at the very least I'll incorporate some of the ideas from the paintover, if not the orange light. I feel that mine looks kind of colorless in comparison.

[JosephCow]

I polished it up a bit and didn't really change too much. I think I will go forward with a different project instead, I want to do something with a powerful pose and more chroma since my pieces lately haven't had much color really.

[xelfereht]

I polished it up a bit and didn't really change too much. I think I will go forward with a different project instead, I want to do something with a powerful pose and more chroma since my pieces lately haven't had much color really.

Hey Joseph
Nice work so far, particularly on the face
I think its a good piece with potential if you're willing to develop it a bit more It could be a great portfolio piece
f youre inclined towards fantasy game art and book cover type stuff.

My personal thoughts on it are that it needs a bit more thoughtful design in the shapes
theres not much variation in the graphic read of the shapes making it sort of worth a glance for the face but not much else. the gesture it self has gotten a bit stiff, i just moved a few things around with the warp transform and looked for where it felt more like she was trudging through water.
more emphasis on diagonals also brings in more of an action vibe than lots of verticals and horizontals
the left side background bit boring so just added more stuff at bit different scale for more depth
story wise she originally looks like shes ringing the bell for tea a bit rather than, cmon get me mafockers
the sword coming out of the scabbard looks very unnatural because of how its attached it might not want to slide out
and the way shes grabbed it doesnt look like shes pulled her arm back in any way
so one way round this is fk the scabbard, she ready!

with the posing stuff one way to aid yourself is act the movement out yourself even while youre in your chair even just lighty miming the movement you should feel whether an acton feels natural or not, then take note of where parts of your anatomy are and where the force is generating from

and lastly some more details would be nice, of varying levels. its just a bit boring once youve had a look at the face theres not much of a secondary interest..maybe the bell but you could play with some more areas of runes on her robe, more robey texturing, gauntlet detail, sword detail, a little more care for the hair, some more interesting water splashes or ripples. not enough to over take the focal in terms of contrast but something to be more tan a nice face on a few shapes of colour.

lastly lastly.. design it. shape the water as suits the piece, shape the background elements shape the hair shape the light shape the shadows, to serve the piece and push pull areas of interests into the balance you decide
and guide the viewers eye as you choose

very capable work, well done

[JosephCow]

quite a bit ago I actually finished this picture. I raised the arm and changed the flow of the robe, which took the advice into account in an admittedly tepid way. I didn't work on it for probably a month or more before looking back at it again and realizing that the critiques are mostly true about it. I think I'm going to work on more dynamic poses and angles as my next personal goal for illustration. It went over well with a group of people that liked the book, though, so there's that. 

I also started at a new art school for traditional art, and it's pretty exciting. I don't know if I am going to post much about it here. I do blog about it though if anyone is interested: https://jcowone.tumblr.com

[cgmythology]

I agree that the pose could be a bit more dynamic but it works overall quite well! You definitely nailed the lighting and especially color palette here, it's very impressive in that regard. Solid brushwork as well, keep it up!