Jh's Sketchbook! Study. Practice! APPLY!

[LongJh]

Hypnagogic_Haze - Thanks man. And no problem! Do your best!

Ahhh really didn't study much recently. Working on other stuff now and it's really taking over my time (and my mind!) Slow and steady!

Just some drawings from life. I really wanted to improve my drawing and rendering ability with a pencil, plus, also a good way to study form and lighting.

[Jaik]

Nice studies, I hate those manikin things.. Mine never does what I want it to.. Good work though, keep it up. Seems like it is really helping you with form. Be sure to keep making notes liek you are, it stops your brain from going on auto pilot.

[MrFrenik]

the studies look good, man, keep it up

[Lyraina]

'Other stuff' taking up too much time is something I can relate to. But as you said, slow and steady stil will get you somewhere eventually. Just try to do at least a few studies now and then, as repeated practice is key.

The 'too phallic' plant made me laugh! ;)

Time for an update, Jh!

[LongJh]

Jaik - Ahaha, yeah! I bought that mannequin years ago with the idea that it can help me with figure drawing. So far it's just been sitting on my desk collecting dust - I'll get more use out of it soon!

MrFrenik - Thanks man, I'll do my best!

Lyraina Other stuff! It's always the other stuff! Haha yeah, but mostly it's due to my drawing arm getting sore. I'm actually trying to "force" myself to take an extended break, but whenever I'm not drawing I just feel... uncomfortable? It's weird.

ANYWAY! Long time no updaaaaaaaate!

Kind of took a break from doing studies, mainly because my drawing arm's been pretty bad lately, and I wanted to take it easy for awhile. But here's what I've been working on for the past month or so! It's a little portfolio project of mine. Trying to focus more on concept art.

Oh, oh! And I also updated my blog! Check it out! > www.longjh.blogspot.com - (That URL used to be my portfolio site, but I changed that too, mainly to make it easier for Google to find it.)

Big image dump ahoy!





















That's it! Not... quite at the level I want to achieve yet, still hoping to get better fundamentally, as well as design-wise. But I think it's pretty accurate to where I'm at skill-wise right now. Still got looong road ahead of me though.

Thanks for looking guys, have a great New Years!

[ramalooke]

Love this last post. Tons of awesome designs that I love ;) Hope to see more stuff soon ;)

[LongJh]

ramalooke - Hey hey, thanks a lot man! Your works are sweeeeet

Update!

Here's something I've been working on. Ran into like 10000 problems painting this - definitely something out of my comfort zone, heads are still a nightmare for me. But it was fun! Gonna call this one done.



Some sketchbook sillies.











And portrait studies! Second ones are actually done from life at a portrait session I attended. Was definitely fun drawing some real people for a change, you know, instead of from a computer screen.

[Lyraina]

Sorry to hear about your arm! Taking a break really is the best in that case! I hope it is better by now.

Those dustlands concepts are really cool... especially those ruins in the desert, and the Luna concepts. Lovely :)

Nice head studies, it's always good to leave comfort zones.

[LongJh]

Lyraina - Haha, thank you. Still abit sore-ish but it's getting better! (I hope)

More stuff!

A quick little spaceship.



And two environments to test out some natural and smudge brushes in Photoshop





WIP!



Aaand a sketchbook page.

[Lyraina]

Ooh, that WIP looks promising :)
Your digitals could profit from some more focus on edges - while a loose/quick style is perfectly fine, I think if you were to select one or two areas, where you introduce some harder edges, and/or more detail (or an illusion of detail), it could look a lot more polished (even if it really isn't) and interesting. Just an idea :)

[LongJh]

Lyraina- Cool, thanks! I've been trying to work on my edges more lately. But I always get impatient and end up being scribbly instead, haha. I'll definitely be working on that!

Been awhile since the last update (again). Just gonna post up some older stuff I got lying around.

Completed this back in early February.



Back to the fundamentals again. Studying how ellipses work in perspective and trying to practice how to draw them freehand. I've got stacks of scrap paper filled with random circles and lines I have to get rid of now. Found some neat tutorials online that teaches ellipse drawing - just search "anatomy of ellipse" in Google. The first couple of links should be it.





More portraits from life. Still really clumsy in drawing. It never seems to get easier.



Aaaand more silly, messy sketchies

[KurtJeremy]

you sir. are a hardworking man!
such persistence certainly eludes a fine man that is i.

but srsly ! where do you get your motivation to work like this!
if you dont know i was stalking the heck out of your blog

[LongJh]

Mariyan-Hristov - Thanks! Haha, yeah, with the internet and all there's like so many free resources available, I mean youtube itself has like a TON of drawing and painting tutorial, the hardest part is commiting yourself to learning a topic thoroughly without getting distracted. And YES, cast shadows! Definitely need to work on that, especially in my sketches (might explain why they look so flat all the time)

foxfire1345 - Haha wow, thanks man! I procrastinate a lot too lol. But I do enjoy drawing - it's almost something like an urge to me at this point. Just think about all the awesome stuff you could be creating right now at this moment!

Update!

My entry for DeviantArt's Lightning Returns contest done back in late February! . I started off with a pencil sketch and then used some photo textures to get the base detail for those cables and mechanical bits.

Looking back at it now, I probably would have tried to make better design and compositional decisions overall. Like I feel a lot of the details got lost when you looked at the character as a whole. Also, I might have made the suit a little to tight in the abdominal area. Will have to try harder next time!



Close up!



More freehand ID sketching practice. Still sticking to the basics: simple cubic forms, simple rounds and section drawing. I know it's really silly to post these up and sorry for the bad quality (too lazy to scan everything!) but I wanted keep an archive of my practice works in this sketchbook to sort of track my progress and remind myself not to get lazy.









Going to keep practicing drawing planar forms until I can get it right consistently. I always seem to confuse myself and mess up halfway, especially on more complex shapes.

And lastly more messy sketches. Trying to come up with interesting shapes and designs through really loose scribbling (not exactly very successful, though). Will have to try to incorporate more form rendering, cast shadows and expressive linework. Design-wise I think my proportions need a ton more work as well. (You can see my scribbly Lightning sketch at the last page)

[Adam Lina]

Nice prospective drawing. Do you have Robertson's book How to Draw?

[Archreux]

Wow, solid, solid work here. Such fine level ups happening it's crazy.

I'm really digging a lot of those character concepts you've got going on as well.

I don't think there's really anything I have to say in terms of an area for improvement, you seem to be hitting it pretty hard on all fronts, haha. Great stuff! :]

[LongJh]

Hypnagogic_Haze - Thanks! No I don't unfortunately, but I do have his perspective tutorials - definitely worth it! I am considering getting his How to Draw book as well though.

Archreux - Haha, thank you! I really appreciate it - every time I draw I always feel like I'm taking one step forward and two steps back. (like when I draw something and I feel like I improved in one aspect but failed in like six others)

That's why - more practicing!

More ID sketching practice, followed by perspective and section drawing studies after Scott Robertson. Slowly trying to internalize as much of the information and technique as possible through repetition.

Key points I want to focus on: line accuracy, line quality, tangency issues and proportion (creating pleasing 3D forms). Hoping that I can use what I'm practicing as a way to design more specific things in the future.











And a couple of sketchbook pages. Really loose and scribbly - mostly just messing around and trying to come up with interesting designs as opposed to focusing on cleanliness (or that could be just another excuse for laziness).

Every time I sketch I'm constantly struggling with my visual library and usually end up scribbling random stuff as an attempt to come up with something interesting. I should probably start thinking of ways to improve my visual library

Also, it's time to get a new sketchbook!

[Lyraina]

Don't be sorry to show your ellipse sketches etc - I find this kind of stuff interesting as well. And makes me less sulky if I am doing mine when I know that I'm not alone :p

Also, nothing wrong with scribbling to find designs - happy little accidents are the best :) As for improving the visual library - why not start with a general design direction, or 'feeling' you want to develop your character towards, sketch some ideas and then look up/research related topics as soon as you feel like you reached your limits? I find that works better than just randomly looking up stuff, because it sticks better when applied.

Keep it up :)

[LongJh]

Lyraina - Ahaha, yeah! I always found it a nice motivation when I see other artists do this kinda dry stuff as well. It really does take a ton of repetition for something like this to sink in (at least for me). Thanks for dropping by - you're awesome!

Update! A bunch of drawings ahoy!

More freehand ID sketching practice. Finally made it through Scott Robertson's perspective form drawing tutorial without giving up halfway (usually out of boredom and frustration). Lots of repetition and trial and error but I'm finally getting the hang of how to construct forms accurately. Of course, my draftsmanship could still use a lot of improvement - but that's what practice is for!







Also practicing planar forms - or more specifically, faceted and bending planar forms. Turned out to be much tougher than I expected - I kept confusing myself and made tons of mistakes before I finally understood how to construct the forms accurately and efficiently. One helpful trick is to first find the correct "points in space" and then connecting the points with linework after.

[Lyraina]

Man, you really tackled those perspective form building exercises a lot better than I did. Looking great :)

[LongJh]

Lyraina - Thank you! (the secret is a shameful pile of failed drawings I didn't post)

Hi guys. Gonna rant a little, hope it's alright.

I'm sure everyone knows about CGhub shutting down by now - it really came as a huge shock for me. It was where I started my first sketchbook and study regime 2 years ago and also where I got my first freelance job (from the jobs section) so yeah, it was really a big deal to me.

Also I would like to say you guys all have awesome sketchbooks here, especially those who updates and post consistently (or even daily!) - huge respect for you guys. I always wanted to drop by everyone's sketchbooks and leave a comment, crit, and advice or two, but since busting my shoulder a few months ago, using the computer and keyboard has been extremely uncomfortable for me, plus the fact that it usually takes me a good 15-20mins to write a decent reply, I've always given into laziness and just ended up posting my stuff and running away. But I hope you guys know that I'm often browsing through the works and getting motivated constantly by everyone. So yeah, thanks haha.

OKAY ENOUGH TALK - PICS!

Form study of a wireless house phone in 3/4 front and back view. I'll be attempting to turn this form study into something cooler - like a spaceship!



Airplane study to understand the major parts of a plane. Surprisingly fun, will try and do more of these types of studies



Spaceships sketches building upon the form study in the first image. When starting these sketches I struggled on how to design interesting looking spaceships, it wasn't until I did the above study of airplane parts that I started to become a little more comfortable. However it was still a challenge to come up with interesting forms and shapes. I definitely screwed up a number of times and had to restart from scratch as I was using a ballpoint pen to draw. As usual need to be more conscious of my linework as well.







Studies after Doug Chiang from his book - Mechanika. (That's right, from now on I'll be shamelessly studying from artists I admire and images I like with no regard for the morals of mankind) Great book with lots of amazing designs with step-by-step instructions. Not exactly very beginner friendly though, as a lot of the techniques inside require some experience in perspective and careful draftsmanship using markers and pens (which I so sorely lack).

What I'm trying to do here is to study along with the tutorials in the book as closely as I can, and then trying to redesign something similar from imagination. The idea is to improve my draftsmanship (so far not so good, keep losing patience) and also to study his design/form language and see how I can incorporate it into my own works.

Study



Redesign



Study



Redesign