Arch's Book of Stuff

[smrr]

Hey there!
That first portrait of your OC dude made me smile in delight - you're improving so much it's crazy!
The studies you're doing are good, just make sure you're always applying what you've learned etc. etc. ^^

keep up the good work!

[Archreux]

Hey smrrfette! Thanks for the kind words, I really appreciate it. :D

Even though I can't really "feel" myself getting better I suppose there's improvement happening behind my back, haha. If there's anything I need to work on it's applying my stuff. I shy away from personal work after doing so many studies, I'm doing my best trying not to contract study sickness. I've been thinking about taking a small study break, maybe a week to do nothing but personal stuff to see if I've retained anything I'm learning.

Late night head study, color color color, I can work of features another day. Everyone has a sticking point and mine just happen to be faces. . .

I will be back with more interesting things, I promise! :'''D

[Archreux]

One more thing with a little extra flavor. I feel like I learned something, more with painting. I've been abusing pencils, time for more of those soon. Soon.

[alexson]

Hey man! Really great stuff here! About applying your studies etc. that you mentioned and "study sickness". I had that problem alot before, I studied all the time but never really applied it to anything and it really stunted my skill growth alot I think, what I did to cure myself of that sickness was to start doing alot of sketches from imagination and let them suck, forcing myself to finish them and doing stuff like that every single day, and also when I did studies I didn't just do random stuff. Like for example if I were painting a monster for a client I wouldn't study female faces on my study time.

What I'm trying to say is that it's vital to do studies that are directly linked to your original work. Because what you want at the end of the day is to make good original artwork that you can have in your portfolio etc. studies are just a way to practice your skill so you are able to do that.

Oh and good drawing skill is the foundation of which everything else rests on.

Sorry for this rant, ended up being way to long but I hope some of it made sense. You seem to be putting in alot of effort and it is already starting to show from page 1 so just keep working hard dude! <3

[Archreux]

Hey, thanks for the input on all that, haha. I sort of get lost in that gray area between studying and personal work, I'd have to agree with you when there comes a point where you've just got to get to your own stuff, even if it sucks, and do it. No ranting, really. I appreciate you sharing your experience with studying and how you overcame/dealt with it.

And yeah, lots of faces, they give me a hell of a lot of trouble, always have. Painting in general still feels quite unfamiliar in a way that is hard to explain, I've yet to find a direct process to work from and it makes things quite difficult, I suppose I'm just looking for an excuse to paint anything to get more comfortable, ha. :P

Just got done with my first week of getting back into school business, I've got some gestures from class I'm going to upload at some point. Anyways, here's some thing I did late last night. I actually learned A LOT, it was surprising to say the least.

I've got so much more on the way, I've started the summer pitch and many other things! Nothings stopping this party train! :DD

[Archreux]

Here's some stuff from my sketchbooks from a month or two ago, I really dislike scanning and fixing all of these, haha. Sorry for the crappy quality of my printer, it's not big enough so there's lots of shadows, blegh. It's been a'while, I'll limit the number of pages I decide to scan from now on. :PP

Again, sorry for the lack of quality in the scans. ; _ ;









Some gestures from my animation class and sketchbook scribbles.

[pnate]

Nice lines in that last post! Lookin forward to seeing your summer pitch

[Archreux]

Thanks, I try not to get too sloppy with gestures. Haha. I'll be sure to have some stuff posted soon, I'm still figuring a few things out.

I never really do Sci-fi stuff. I find a lot of it to be cool, I just have a much stronger love for fantasy so I just thought I'd give it a go. Got tired of it, but I did learn a few things, I think. :p

[Archreux]

Summer pitch studies, folds and coats. Concepts for characters on the way! :D

[Archreux]

Late night sketch again, I'll be finishing this up tomorrow. I figured I'll start posting some WIP's every now and again. Fights in circular rooms are a fetish of mine.

Tired, sounds weird. Enjoy.

[Archreux]

Face thing for an upcoming thing, too much stuff to think about and do. Where is my time chamber!

[devin]

I'm with you on that circular room thing, I'd love to see that finished up.

[Warburton]

The circular room piece looks promising, I look forward to seeing what you do with that. And that sci fi piece is pretty sweet too. It feels kinda eerie and creepy because of the simple block forms and colours with the mist in the background. Nicely done dude, it um coming!

[lungcell]

Your sketchbook is shaping up nicely and you can defo see hints of forms emerging in that last portrait. Just keep an eye on your proportions too. As you learn more you'll get little "click" moments as the right shapes/values/forms snap together :)

[Archreux]

It's been some time since my last posts, I've missed being able to post as frequently since school starting, and I'm quite surprised to see feedback. :'''D

Thanks devin and Warburton! I'm glad you guys like it, haha. I'll definitely have to find some time to give it that final push to completion.

lung, thank you. I'm still trying to understand light/form, I've been doing plenty of studies focusing around those things specifically and I'm starting to feel that sort of click you were mentioning, I just gotta do moar! :D

Schools gotten me pretty caught up with a huge team project, and animation classes. Luckily I've been able to take on a conceptual role in my groups project, so I get to paint. It's all based around an animation and character design. We're making a fake Neo-Fantasy card game.

Till next time! Thanks again for taking the time to take a look at my stuff and comment, it really means a lot. :]

[pnate]

Liking those silhouette designs man. Keep up the awesome amount of studies and sketches you've been puttin out!

[Archreux]

No sleep, sketch early into this morning. Might go and finish it. Yeah, I think I should, maybe. I will.

[Warburton]

uuuuuumm that last piece is sweeeet! I love how simple it is but direct and confident with the marks. Is this one from imagination? Because ive only just read from your earlier posts you were struggling with mind stuff.

On that subject, I know Alexson gave a good response but I figured i'd share my thoughts and experiences too for what their worth ;) When an artist first starts off on this journey, ive found it's beneficial for them to hammer the fundamentals and focus on study. Then after a few months of pure grinding to test themselves with mind stuff, then apply accordingly. Of course this varies from person to person but that what ive found. The ultimate thing to remember though is the end goal. What is it? What do you want out of this? Because every study you do should be in some way setting you up for getting closer to that goal, which is why it's so important to apply them. Plus pushing a imagination piece to finish opens you and your abilities up like a book and it becomes very easy to see where your weaknesses like. Then it just becomes a matter of addressing them ;)

Also on a different topic school related. I know how that feels, it's a pain in the ass having to study at school all day and then study when you get home when your tired. When I first started this that's exactly what I did but I worked fulltime too. I worked all day, then did evening classes and got home at about 10.30-11pm. Then I studied till about 1-2, rinse and repeat. It's not ideal, but I said to myself, 1 self portrait everyday, no matter what, without fail, and that forced my to do it, even if it came out like shit and I learnt nothing, it was still done before I went to bed lol.

So yeah, sorry for the lecture lol. Take whatever I say with a pinch of salt, in the end everybody has their own path to take so it's all relative. Cool seeing your updates man, oh and I like the first thumbnail, it has a lot more action and movement in it. :)

[Archreux]

Thanks man, I really appreciate your input, no lecture at all, and I couldn't agree more. Yes it is from imagination. Dragons and high fashion really gets me going for some reason. That early morning/ late night high is really something when you look out the window to hear birds and see sunlight; guess I should make time to paint, haha. Glad you like the thumbnail. I'll be having to do much more for that class so I'm pretty pleased.

If I study for something it's usually based on what I was taught here through the bloodsports, which has been helping me wonderfully. Having that clear idea of what to study, why, and knowing the direction you want to go is something I've always kinda lacked before I came on here. Man, if you can do all that and still sit yourself down and get some painting outta yourself then I can to, definitely! :D

[florentK]

great work , i love your bn W studies. your last dragon sketch is awesome ! nice