smrrfette's Odyssey

[Samszym]

YOU PASSED 9,000 AGES AGO
TO BE A SUPER SAIYAN YOU MUST GET PAST 1,000,000!
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Studies and sketches looking good. If you've got a mirror try drawing your face at different angles, it might help you understand the form of the eye area better. Those master copies do a good job of showing how the far corners of the eye turn back into the side plane, there's a lot of form there that people miss.
Doing a few skull studies might reveal some new things, my head drawings got better when I realized the outside eye socket has 2 parts. The lower part (zygomatic) juts up from the cheekbone and belongs to the side plane of the head. The higher part (frontal) juts forward at an angle and curves into the brow ridge. Understanding the eye socket better will help you put the eyes in the right place.

[Minksy]

You're most welcome smrfette! :o) Thanks a lot for the DA watch btw.
Haven't been on here for a few days, and your sketches are woaah, love them!
I'm sure all the thing you want to improve on will come really soon. Until then,
we'll just keep cheering for you! ;)

[smrr]

Minksy - Not a prob! You're a hard worker and I like dat <3 you're too kind! thank you! gotta keep trying to wreck these weaknesses hnnnggg

Samszym - HAHAHAHA HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! *begins loading spirit bomb that takes like 5 episodes* to 1,000,000 it is theeeeenn!
hell yes Sam! Thank you a hella lot for the advice-! I definitely want to improve on my heads so actual skull studies and self portraits it is! I wish I had a model skull... mmm I'm sure a 3d skull online will do. thanks again! keep tearing it up!!

Fedodika - hahaha oh you, ya big, cuddly koala cutey you <3 <3

thanks for popping by guys <3

here, watch me fail at studying faces!
hah, aka the slow road of improving my heads continuessssssssssss

loomis:






face studies:




sketches:





but seriously, this goes to show how rusty I am. Some of the faces I studied here look like the quality I was at in 2013. seriously scary stuff... I need to get better, not backtrack...

so anyway, that freaked me out a little and I may not have worked too smart (taking care of the rsi well enough) the past couple of days lol

here's to not doing that again!

sleep tight daggers o/

[Patrick Gaumond]

You might have it already but have you tried skull sketcher?

http://vimeo.com/105569616

It's a free 3d skull. Very light weight, easy to use and can switch between male and female, between line and model, play with lighting, rotate etc

[Ben Nissen]

what up, smrr! you got a good flow of studies throughout your SB!

I checked out some of the previous pages with all the other faces and studies, and you definitely have a good understanding of the proportions (coming from Loomis and Bridgman I'm guessing). It just seems as if on some portrait sketches, that you maybe focusing on the features more than the overall construction of the head shape. As well as the comparison of head width to the vertical length from brown to chin (Loomis: female head width is about equal to brow - chin). I know your planning out the construction of the head, but when you go to lay in the features it seems as though that may be where and when the focus shifts your attention and then results in slightly stretched out proportions. I had a similar issue when figuring out face construction/anatomy (not that I've got it all figured out by any means haha, got alot more to learn myself). What helped me correct some of these proportion issues as well as get more comfortable with features, was measuring photo refs of faces and actually seeing how the width of the head/skull compare to the brow to chin length, and the effects of appearance that the slight variations of lengths had. Also for female heads I took note of the brow width compared to brow to chin length. Once I had enough comparisons from the refs I started to see how to correct my face construction and get closer to more desirable results.

I know I was kinda rambling there haha but the reason for it is cause I've been focusing on these types of studies too, and I hope maybe some of this helps you the way it helped me. Anyways, keep up the good flow, can't wait to see more!

[ShinOkami]

^great tips there, keep working hard ! : )

[Jaik]

Man, I miss visiting here more often.
Always an arse kicking to get myself working.
Steph comments in your sketchbook? - Thats an arse kicking
Look at Stephs sketchbook? - Thats definitely an arse kicking.

You have been improving a lot. I wish I could give you some advice, but.. well you are much better than me at figurative stuff and I just know you have been going to dat life drawing yo.

Is that a page of naruto chars in your style? <3

Keep up the good work, cant wait to catch up again!

[Archreux]

Hey, smrr. It's been a while!

Great improvement lately! I've been a fan of your ever improving line work for a while now, and it's still showing some wonderful increments of progress.

Your painting is also looking better. The values, colors, and strokes are looking a lot cleaner.

I think Ben really gave you some solid advice on the head construction. Your line work is great, but there are still some proportional issues to be sorted out. You've got so many sketches. I'd really like to see a more character work. A lot of these sketches have interesting elements.

Really great stuff and improvement overall. I'm going to try and keep up to date on this progress. :]

[Kimonas]

Man you are doing some great faces recently - phenomenal improvement since the beginning of your sketch book. I think you might make some progress with your figures looking at Hamptons book and working through it. It helped me a lot. Your anatomy is looking good, but i think you need to work on your gestures. Try having a gesture in mind before putting it down. Its mega important to be able to put a gesture down which looks as if it has purpose, otherwise, if you are developing a figure - it can put hours of work to waste. Crazy how the first 30 seconds of an illustration can make a big difference?

Oh and - remember perspective when doing your gestures! think about it when practicing!

I dont want to detract though from all the hard work your doing - its just something i feel will make you stronger if you focus on it a bit more.

All the best!

[smrr]

Kimonas - Thank you Kimonas! I put your crits and feedback to use, it was much appreciated ^ ^

Archreux - Yeah I've gotta step up my character art game haha, thanks for popping by with them juicy critz and good vibes :D

Jaik - hahaha shiiiit! I wish! That character may or may not have turned into Shikamaru from Naruto just a bit... (what a drag... lolol)
MAN WE GOTTA CATCH UP AGAIN SOON! MR. FCKING AWSM @ LANDSCAPES

ShinOkami - will do Shin! Thank you :D!

Ben Nissen - Hey Ben! All I can say is thank you thank you thank you! Lovely crits and feedback makes me smaaahhhhl big time! I need to get studying again holy crap @_@

Patrick Gaumond - Pat! Thank you! Holy crap this is wonderful :D

_____________________________________________________________

Itttttttttttttttt's been a while, old friend. What can I say? The Odyssey is one tough trek...
And welp, it was never meant to be easy in the first place ~

Real talk: After Feb, I got distracted. I stooped back into my old ways -- wasted a lot of time. Repeated a savage cycle of hardly living. Didn't draw or paint. That's life though, ups and downs :D
I'm no superwoman.

I started picking myself back up in March by going to life drawing and studying (gotta get back into life drawing hnnng, what is time management!?) But then, something happened near the end of March - my best friend commissioned two illustrations from me and before you say "y'all should never take on commissions from a friend!" I took it for the challenge! I took it on like it were a real job, and I worked my arse off!

First (took 3 weeks on and off - I know, gotta get faster eugh)


Second (took a bit less than a week, better time wise imo)


Higher res' on dA I guess?

I don't think I ever understood what Dan and Dave meant by staying up and working because "you've gotta do it... you've gotta finish this on time... you've gotta turn down friends" , etc, etc until I did these commissions. I worked some late nights, turned down friends twice and got my arse kicked ever so hard.

Funny thing I realised: with these first illustration commissions completed, I now understand THE VALUE OF PERSONAL WORK LOL
GODDAMN. I JUST WANNA PAINT FOR ME NOW PLEASE.
However, my other friend has commissioned me for an illu for his fire service's 70th anniversary lmao
so I only really have a couple of days until it's onto the next one... hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng

Crits are more than welcome! I learned a helluva lot from your crits from the dragon rider chick illustration I did last september and I hope to learn more!
I know the colour temperatures are quite off in the first one -- working on that D:

Man I jabber a lot
eehhhh

o/

[Fedodika]

GADDAMMM SMRRRFEETEE HOOOOLY SHIEEETT HUUHUHUUHUHUH WOOOOOOOOOOOA!!! Man these don't even look like you did them... wooooh dang... I mean the realism on the faces and clothes are top notch bbygirl whoa... mlhhmhaalmhaaa damn, the realism on alot of the values are just kickin bby girl damn, you're smokin my ass with them edges too whoa... lolol, i know there are things i could crit but they're only minor and i know you'll see em in about a week or maybe even tomorrow hehe. I dunno girl, i'm kinda jealous... >.> whoa just imagine where you'll be in a year after doing this kinda stuff!!!

[meat]

Hell lot of improvements here Smrr! Blown away! Keep up the inspiring work!

[Jonesoda]

Great job steph!!! I can see you really pushed yourself on those and it paid off! love the rendering of snorlax :D I gotta get my booty in gear pushing myself and spending more time on stuff!

[nymph0]

holy fuuuuuuuuuuck...

[Jaik]

Nice work on those commissions Steph, they look killer. Good to see you are back up after a down.. it would be so good if life was just a steady up hill climb.. always hard but always getting better. BUT NO, gotta fall off that cliff sometime I guess.. (/waves from down in the ravine atm)

Also, we need to hang out, but I just got a puppy so I cant be too far from home for too long. We need to plan!

[smrr]

Jaik - Thanks Jake :D yeah you're spot on... just gotta keep pushing though, all the struggles makes art that much more gratifying over a course of time. Also, PUPPY!! ;DDDDDDD das coo', we will all hang in the future - and it will be glorious

nymph0 - made me lol, thanks nymph!

Jonesoda - thanks Jones <3! yeah really tried challenging myself, though now I really know what I've gotta work on lol. and YES, believe me when I say you will learn a TON of stuff from spending time finishing a piece!

meat - too kind meat, thank you kindly <3 <3

Fedodika - many fahking lolz Fedodika xD <3 thanks mr. K <3 but holy shiiiiiiiiiiet, the second I finished the two of them I noticed all the stuff that needs work lol
yeah I've gotta find the time to do more finished pieces (that aren't commissioned) because holy balls you learn a lot. there honestly isn't any time for fear getting in the way now, just gotta get the time and dig in O_O

__________________________________

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii don't even post here regularly anymoreeeeeee aaaaaaaaaaand it makes me abundantly(?) sad. #whatisenglishandhow2useitpls

Shit's tough now that I'm working casually and coming home to art. So many priorities. My face can't even.

Aaaaah, I need to stop complaining and just do the work but shiiiiet... work has been tiring the past week.

there are so many things wanting to keep me back; what if I get an injury again? what if I burn out? how do I balance studies and personal work without so much time? and blah blah blah - so many excuses.

So as of late I'm trying to get in the groove again. I won't let work make me feel tired and lazy when I get home. I need to get better, I need to use my time effectively.

today:

flat colour study (cause you know when you tablet driver needs to be updated and pen pressure doesn't work? yeah I cbf updating and restarting after my figure study so I went with it)



sketch that took a bit longer than expected. experimented.
inspired by an old game
disproportionate and junk - but I had to accept that and move on to other work
[attachment=68172]

I don't have the time to scan my sketchies ;_;
one day

take care daggers, o/

[Fedodika]

smerrrrfeeetetete!!!! my hart goes out to uuuuuu!!!!! OOOOHHH UUUUUUUUUUHHh <2 <3 <3

[wla91]

Such awesome works! Reaaally goood!

[Sir-lex]

hmm.. the arm (thats catching/throwing the ring) looks a bit confusing (atleast for me).
It looks like she has a broken arm :O

But overall, it looks awesome! Keep it up :)

[EduardoGaray]

Those pokemon commissions are crazy! seriously, wish i could give you any crit but i cant haha
I just love that snorlax.