Artloader - Sketchbook

[Artloader]

Cool guys, really appreciate the feedback.

@Fedodika: Heheh you are so right about that soldier's neck, it kinda looks ridiculous!  I shall have to be more careful in future.  The woman is supposed to be a little on the larger side but from what you've written I sense that what I've done is make it look like I've tried to depict a slim woman but failed.  I think to make it more obvious, I should've made the rest of her a bit chunkier as well.  Maybe a slight double chin or something.  Not sure what I could've done about the horse though as my page format is predetermined - maybe I could've zoomed out a bit and fitted the whole horse in?
Also I am glad that I attempted something that has shown up my weaknesses and I am again grateful to you for your honest feedback - thanks my friend.

@Xelfereht:  Man that looks like such a good exercise to do!  One of the issues I've had in the past is finding a reference that fits what I need in almost every way except for the lighting.  This feels like such a useful skill to develop, thanks for the vid and the tip.  Also, good call about how static the piece feels, it is supposed to be dynamic but doesn't feel like it, good spot dude.  That soldier is in a bit of an awkward pose, I used reference, but didn't think about whether it would fit in with the action of this piece, again, good spot.  By the way I don't take this stuff personally so you don't have to worry about hurting my feeling, I just appreciate you taking the time to give honest feedback - thanks to you to my friend.

OK so you guys have made me think about how to improve my process and I'm just going to stream my thoughts onto the page:

• My mistakes with anatomy and construction were partly because I wanted to get down to the painting too quickly.  Like I see some oil painters just make a few marks to get the positioning right and then they dive in with blocking in shapes.
  
• When working from imagination I feel that I have to major on construction and get a good line drawing in before going in with painting.  If I try to paint too early, my focus shifts away from structure and onto values and colour.  This means that it is easy to mess up the structure (anatomy, perspective etc ...) because I have stopped paying attention to it.
  
• Focussing on construction should also boost my invention skills and move me away from slavishly copying reference images.  My goal is for my work to be 80% imagination and 20% reference whereas at the minute it is more 80% reference and 20% imagination.  I want my work to be informed by reference not enslaved by it.
  

Anyway onwards and upwards, I've got 6 more of these pieces to do *whip-crack-myself-on-the-back*!