What ImSkeptical learnt this week (Sketchbook)

[ImSkeptical]

Feels like i didn't do that much this week, but then I realized it's probably because i spent so much time figuring out 3d programs. In the end, it feels like i could do more with z-brush, but I still can't figure out how to quickly create shapes or scale and move things in the direction i want, so sketchup is probably better for now. Both is probably the answer. I don't feel like its a waste of time because it seems a pretty logical process if you can build a design quickly, because it allows for easier experimentation with stuff like modules and scale of parts, especially if you already build a personal library of shapes. At least in my mind, maybe i am just wasting time :(. I mostly just want to be this guy http://karanak.deviantart.com/. Anyway i also learned from this guy if people want to follow me into this challenging realm.
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread....her/page49

Still working on the eroche, my camera's out of batteries, so hopefully i finish and show you guys next week? If you can guess the ref of my rotate the gesture study at the top you get 10 points xD.







Also was convinced by a Greg Manchess article to give tracing a try, and it does seem like it is a better way to study certain things. You do run the risk of turning you brain off though, i don't think its wise to listen to an audiobook while doing it.




Read some notes by Craig Mullins
http://theillustratorsnotebook.com/wp-co...inting.pdf
Made me try alter my approach to painting. Before I had this love hate relationship with painterly/chalk brushes, because edge control is entirely dependent on you pressing hard to get hard edges. I loved the painterly look and the textures you could get, but I like pressing as lightly as possible, a habit from starcraft and streetfighter, so you can see on the first page of my sketchbook there is no nice sharp edges, everything is too soft. For the past month, i discovered just using my sketch brush, which had no flow control on it, i could get those edges, and thus became aware of the problem, and also how to fix it. Furthermore from the workshop i learn't from keikai how to love the smudge brush to easily lose and gain those edges. However, after reading Craig's notes, and some articles by Manchess, I'm trying a new approach of reintroducing those brushes and just learning to press down hard to get those strokes. This is to also to follow their philosophy of directly picking the correct values and colors as opposed to blending to them, to get the painterly look that i want. Wish me luck in this new method!



Out of my studies, i think I learned a lot from this detail master study of Bierstadt ( http://www.googleartproject.com/collecti...dt/544137/ ) as I think i finally got my head around leaves. The answer was not expecting a brush to do all the work for me, and just spending more time than i thought it would. For some reason i thought a brush with the right shape and scatter, and picking the right values would magically give me leaves in 2 strokes. The answer is no.




I need to do more sketches for personal work and more drawing next week? Hopefully i didn't miss the revise timing on learning birds and cats.