03-17-2015, 07:43 AM
(03-16-2015, 10:00 PM)foxfire1345 Wrote: thanks for the enlightenment. for this one i did some loose sketches for compositions and for the pose. after that i took a nosedive , and took so much time in the linework stage, realizing that i have problems with drapery i tried doing studies so that took extra time as well. is it normal to be this slow? or should i just have a bettter workflow designed for beginners like me? what can you suggest in studying values?
thanks for these challenges its really taking me to the limit.
Don't worry about time man, I used to spend 20 hours on a single piece that today I could probably do in 2 or 3 now. Stop when you feel like you've solved a problem or fixed a mistake you've been making in the past. I wouldn't really recommend going much longer than 15 though, be reasonable but still take your time and resolve as much as you can. That's my advice, but mold it to your own preferences. I personally didn't feel like I learned much from trying to hit a certain time frame or number of studies per day/week. I wanted to achieve a certain look, and if it took a while then that was that. Definitely do some things that are timed, but don't do them for the sake of doing them; They have an objective which is to train speed and efficiency, but they are poor for learning accuracy and precision in fundamentals. Be goal oriented, not process/workflow oriented. That will invariably come over time, but if you shove aside the fundamentals you might be fast but fast at making nothing that anybody wants
Along with what nate said which was good advice, I also think you should take a note from craig mullins. That is, that in order to find the workflow that works best for you, or to discover new ways of working or to learn about how you can combine different procedures, you should try to experiment and fail a lot. If you always work in the exact same way, challenge yourself and do a few pieces using a completely different way of working. Try going in straight with colour, try working with silhouettes and selections, try working with line, try working with only value, try working ontop of photos and old paintings. Try everything, and establish a feedback loop where you're always discovering things and incorporating them into your workflow, rather than trying to find a perfect way to work. They're all valid, it's just about finding which ones and in what magnitude they are effective for you as an individual.