Jones Sketchbook

[pnate]

Love those atelier-style drawings you're doing on wood boards. Sweet sweet stuff. Good to see you working on the drawing abilities, I think Richard Schmid or someone legendary said that it's 80% of how to get better at painting (or something like that). It's just so damn hard :( Keep at it man!

[ramalooke]

Fuck. I missed like one post and your stuff already got so much better. Nice job. And keep doing what you're doing. It benefits you for sure ;D Oh and small tip. While doing a photo study. Don't skip parts. Paint a whole. I know that sometimes is good to do a focus study but sometimes it's better to study figure as a whole. You get better sens of proportions and shape relationships. Cheers ;)

[Adam Lina]

Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook. Your anatomy looks like its coming along well :D

[Jonesoda]

pnate - Thanks Pnate! Yeah man it is damned hard :( someday it'll get easier though.

ramalooke - thanks Rama! Definitely agree, I'll try taking the next ones I do to complete finishes.

Hypnagogic_Haze - No problem and thanks Man!


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a bit of a lame and ugly update, mostly warm up sketches and a figure study. I need to get more productive, so I wrote up a schedule tonight(used Dave's old schedule as a base), find I'm always the most productive with some structure.

Anyone have advice on the schedule? should I change anything, or be doing anything longer?

[Fedodika]

Some guys say to study before you create from your imagination; some say the opposite... I think either is fine, as long as you're getting in the hours and learning and retaining information!

[JonHop]

Hey dude, lots of great sketches and studies here keep up the figure studies and sketchbook stuff! I've noticed that in a lot of your work things tend to be drawn flat and lack a bit of volume and weight. I think that if you did some basic perspective studies (isra's classes should still be up for you to watch) it will really help you think in terms of 3D space and be able to set your characters and creatures in 3D space. Good idea with the schedule should help you keep pushing yourself, keep going man!

[Zipfelzeus]

This schecule reminds me of the one dave once put online. It's fine especially in the beginning. Just a note here. Since you are doing a different color study every day you can never really push on study to the finish, which is really important to learn for your personal work. So the only thing I would tell you is always vary a bit between long studies (6-10 hours) and short ones (1-3 hours)

That's all. Keep it on.

[ramalooke]

Heeey. Nice update ;) Good idea with the schedule. I remember I followed a similar routine and it was extremely beneficial. I improved so much during relatively short amount of time. I'd wish I could afford doing it again ;) Simply stick with it and be consistent. Good luck! =D

[Jaik]

Great work! Lots of studies and improvement everywhere.

A word on the schedule:
It looks really good and I can't see anything to alter. However, reflect on your progress and on your well being after about a month of following the schedule. I wish someone would have told me this when I tried the whole schedule thing. Let me explain why. What I mean by this, is that everyone is psychologically different from the next person. Some people need to do lists, and even within to do lists, there are hundreds of different ways to create them (I would know, I have spent hours and hours reading about efficiency online). Some people need schedules, some people need to improvise. The underlying example here is that everyone needs to find the way that works best for them.

When I did a schedule like this (I still have it lying under a pile of art books) I failed miserably and it really got me depressed. Because I thought I was failing, and that I didn't have the control it took to follow a schedule. This wasnt to say that I wasn't working hard, I can see that looking back now, but the regimented schedule really hindered my process. With a study, I would set aside 1, or 2 or however many hours in my schedule, and I would finish it early, or go over, and even though the study was a success, I was a failure because I didn't follow the schedule.

So long story short, I experimented more and more, and the way I am most effective, is to split the day in two, AM and PM (and even this line gets blurred) and work out the night before what studies I will do in the AM and what personal work I will do in the PM. This has been working for about a month, and I am still working just as hard and feel good about myself as well.

TL;DR : Basically, don't get down if you find the schedule doesn't work for you. You know that you are working hard, it means the system is wrong, not the person using it. Just test it out for a month, if it makes it worse, get rid of it. We can all see you work hard even with out a schedule :)

[Jonesoda]

Fedodika - Agreed! Thanks for the comment!

JonHop - Thanks a lot Jon, I added all the class videos to a playlist, gonna try and get to them soon. Was in Sula's stream the other night and saw someone recommend drawing boxes from life as well for learning perspective, gonna try that out too.

Zipfelzues - Yeah I used Dave's as a base for it, thanks for the advice. I'll definitely vary the time I spend on them, not gonna be strictif I feel I need to spend a few more hours on a study.

ramalooke - Thanks man! I'm hoping I get a lot more done, I'm already feeling more productive. Tryin' to get the most out of my time while I have a lot.

Jaik - hey thanks a lot for the advice on the schedule! I'm not gonna be overly strict with it, but rather use it as a base. Otherwise I know I'll get disappointed in myself if I were to set out to strictly follow the times and failed. I find I need some sort of loose scheduling to get more done though. No schedule leads to a lot of time wasted for me. I like the idea of splitting the day in to two, may eventually try that out. Thanks a lot for sharing your experience :)

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Stuff and things, bout to pass out sketches just pulling from shapes, etc.

Also Merry Christmas Daggers! Hope you all have a good one :)

[ramalooke]

You are getting stronger with every update ;). Those bridgman studies are great, remember to apply what you've learned into your imaginary stuff ;) Keep it up!

[smrr]

MAN!
Great job this year, the improvement is visible for sure!

My only suggestion is to keep up with the observation studies, like the wonderful still-life study above. They really do work wonders, especially when you take 5-10mins straight paying attention to your subject.

With anatomy studies, a good trick you could use in conjunction with studying Bridgman and Hampton, etc. is to look at the segment of the body that you wish to study, then shut the book, look at that part of the body in a mirror of which you're studying - and really take the time to observe it as much as you can before you draw the image from the book. That way, when you're going to apply the knowledge you gained from copying the drawing, it'll stick to you even more.
This is just one of the ways you can look at studying ~ always experiment, always step out of that circle you call a "comfort zone"!

Be scared, all the time :D

On the schedule - haha I wrote up a bloody block of text and then saw what Jaik wrote - which was almost the exact same thing (though he explained what I was trying to say more coherently and so...), I deleted it -_- nice one Jaik! xD

Anyways, wishing you a Happy New Year, all the best and looking forward to watching you grow even more in 2014! Thanks for e'erythang this year!

[Jonesoda]

bout to pass out so I'll respond to you guys next update :)

bunch of sketch stuff. Got to talk to one of my favorite artists Brent Hollowell on the google hangouts yesterday and today :D If it weren't for finding his art back when on DA I likely wouldn't be doing what I'm doing, and never have had the pleasure to be a part of this awesome community.

[LongJh]

Really nice progress here man, I really like those black and white sketches!

For scheduling - I'd have to agree a lot with what Jaik has already said, but I think you've got the right idea. So long you're not going to be like insanely strict with it and beat yourself down if you miss one of those self-made deadlines, haha.

Remember fundamentals doesn't always necessarily just mean anatomy and colours - there are other areas you can practice that will help boost your learning curve. Things like perspective, form, materials, lighting, etc. Sometimes jumping around may help you learn things in areas you may not expect. Keep it up, man

[ramalooke]

Again great update man ;) Keep rockin' I can see some sweet improvements here ;)

[Jonesoda]

Ramalooke x2 - Thanks for the comments Ramalooke! I've mostly been applying anatomy stuff within my sketchbook, gotta apply more to some paintings though.

Smrrf - Thank you! Those are some great suggestions I need to try out! I do find myself getting into study comfort zones often, hard to catch it sometimes. Happy new year to you too! I've really enjoyed seeing your (and everyones) progression this past year, cant wait for more :D

Longjh - Thanks for the comment! I'll definitely be jumping around, I've really gotta get to perspective and materials.

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My last update for this year - I'm really glad for all of you, Daggers. I wouldn't have improved to where I am without you. Seeing everyone progress over time is incredibly motivating. I'm excited to see our continued progression through 2014!

Edit - added a bout' to pass out sketches, g'night!

[Jonesoda]

2014 yo. Bridgman hands, hour long photo study of a bust and some sketches.

Edit - hangout sketch, and some more work on the one thing, applying some of what I learned from a paintover by Brent. going to try and push it further later.

[kidult]

Lots of hard work going down here, good stuffs. Try to focus a bit more on spending time on an image. A lot of your imaginative stuff looks good but almost unfinished, pushing yourself through that end bit when it get harder to know what to do next is key to leveling up. When I get to that stage, i'l often check out an artist i like and see what their image looks like. I then go back and try add more or spend more time on it. It's not always successful but the constant pushing can only raise your skills!

[Warre]

Big improvement since last time I had a look!

[Jaik]

Lots of hard work, love it.

Something I just noticed, is that a lot of your creatures look like they are the same material. And the closest thing I can think of is maybe carpet.. The creatures themselves are cool, but I think the materials are letting you down. So some studies of steaks, eggs (I havent had breakfast yet), glass, metal etc. Just go nuts and see what you can make the skin look like and all that stuff.

Keep up the good work though, and incredibly good looking sketchbook :)