Fedodika the Koala

[AngeliquevdMee]

nice studies fedodika, you are doing great so far. Keep on learning and you will improve tons :)

[DK]

Still got a few things to iron out here and there on some of your studies, but you're comin along nicely.

I'd say your biggest weakness at the moment are heads/faces, but that's probably because they stand out the most. Would be a good idea to get in some skull studies and overlay some muscles onto them, and then do a few studies with with just planes. Make sure to compare real life faces to the anatomy versions and see how it all fits in with the skin covering the muscles, and don't forget to get all the names of the muscles down for easier access in the future. Maybe a page a day when you wake up to help get you there, until you get a good solid handle on them.

Some of these experimental pieces are lookin pretty cool, like the giant grabbin the guy. Would definitely like to see some of these developed a bit further.

[Vicianus]

Hey~
Really cool monsters. Your work is becoming much more solid as you're practicing draftsmanship.

[Fedodika]

Vic: thx hehehe <3

Dennis: Thanks for the tip bro, i've actually been doing what you reccomend and boy it's challenging! I can't tell you how much transforming and erasing it takes to get a head to where i like it so, it must be helping :)

Also that piece is a study i did of a chinese artist named Fenghua Zhong. Amit linked it to me on FB as a reference to influence my piece with the skull white hair thing

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/e0L6G

Angel: <3 thx

So i've been looking at Mike Azevedo's work a lot, it's really interesting how he simplifies planes so much that, well it's making my style take on a whole new perspective. It's like i only see in blocks of space now, it's weird... hmm, It's gonna be interesting trying to balance that with texturing things, but i guess that's all part of it!

[DK]

Hey fedo, great to see you tryin it out! I would recommend doing just lines for now and ditching the values until you got the process down well. 

I did a quick example drawing here. My drawing itself needs a bit of work, but I think it gets the point across. Get some perspective grids up if you needem, helps a lot. Once you got the skull down, just lower the opacity on it and draw the muscles on top. Don't worry about values at all for now.

[neopatogen]

Lots of work here Koala! Are the first two creature heads from imagination? The third one seems to be just a begemoth :)
I applied Dennis' suggestion and am currently practicing skulls in perspective! Haven't learned the muscles yet :) Hope you will benefit from his advice, too!

[Fedodika]

Dennis: thx bro, i'm still workin on this cruupydupp <3

Neoprettygal: Thx haha, that is actually me trying to draw a hippo from memory, i drew a couple of em from refs cuz they have interesting head structures :). Everything in that post was 100% from imagination except the girl looking out the window

Some dragon heads and some cruddy experiments; gonna try to do a character sketch tom

[Nick Waldinger]

There's some really cool stuff in this sketchbook, I like it man. It's cool to see some of your work having a lot of texture while others being very smooth and refined. Like others have already told you, just keep working those faces/heads and keep grinding.

Good work!

[Fedodika]

Nick:thanksbrowehavethesamefirstname:)

Lolmyspacebuttondoesn'tworkforsomereasonlolanywaysIcopiedatonofAsaroheadstodayanditreallyhelped.ifyouarestrugglingwithheadsyoushouldgiveitashot!

:)

[Fedodika]

sumcrazyheadsandhalfhourmikeazevedostudieslolspacestilldoesn'twork

[Fedodika]

Well, got a cool idea for a folio piece (not a girl)... in other news, good bad and ugly, well, good god this ugly shit means i need to study bad!

[Fedodika]

Alright, so i had worked out a cool comp (way cooler than this looks) of a dude getting touched by the reaper and going nuts in an unholy frenzy. So i tried to draw his head and just got really dissatisfied with how kinda plain it looks... Hmm, i want my sketches to look more engaging, more girthy haha it's hard to explain. I still like the comp tho... and here's some drunken scribbles, even when I'm hammered, i can't stop drawing lol. Oh and boobs

Tomorrow gonna draw lots of old ugly people and caveman skulls!

[Fedodika]

Alrighty, here's some more stuff gonna draw some FATTIES tomorrow haha <3 gotta study design more like costumes and stuff

[Kimonas]

Hey dude! Your head studies are really coming along recently, particularly you are getting a better handle on the three quarter view.

Keep focusing on the DRAWING the head. If you get good at drawing, your painting will automatically get better. Its also vice versa, practice painting and your drawing will get better because you are more aware of form. But first, get gud at drawing.

I would study Loomis drawing the head if you haven't already. There are few who would disagree that its the best constructional head manual out there. Read it, and study each page carefully. I drew each page out 2-3 times until i got the message. It might be more or less for you.

An exercise you could try is to draw all the features alone from different angles. This really helped me. (This i think is also recommended in loomis, but the references arent many, so i just practiced from photos)

I also think you should slow down a bit when drawing in general. Really think about your line placement. Should this line be an S curve or a C curve? What are the underlying structures i'm portraying with it? Also a lot of your lines are too curved - eg the profile of the cheek bone - its a common mistake, but it applies to all the lines you see observationally.

Finally do line photostudies - then cover them up and replicate 3-4 times. This is a great way to learn, but only when you are already good at constructing the head.

Good luck and keep plowing away!

[Fedodika]

Kimonas; Hey bro i really appreciate the crit... It all is kinda boiling down to this for me right now: I've copied the living crap out of Hampton, Hogarthe, Bridgeman, and Loomis, and it's just time for me to apply all that stuff now and really pull out that knowledge. i feel like things are coming together quickly, and i need to just enjoy that instead of being anxious.  

But yea, had a lot of facepalm OMG moments today, and peeking at loomis was definitely helpful for those breakthroughs :)

Now the first three are from this morning and it was a real struggle making them, just hours of refining that one head and it still looks not great; But man i love the energy of everything after that, the lines were just flying and shapes popping out, it was very fun!

[Hobitt]

Ive been observing your SB for a little while.
Ill be very honest, here is my crit.

First of i think you are not putting effort into these drawings they all looked very very rushed and sloppy , spend more time on these until they look correct quality not quantity. The ones i outlined almost looked like they were warped or something,i suspect you listen to music when painting and drawing, i would suggest don't do that or find music that does not distract you,this is coming from personal experience i tend to get distracted when i have music on, so stop and concentrate.Also you don't correct your mistakes you keep reinforcing the same bad habits over and over.Slow down and concentrate.




Second i think you sometimes don't draw what you see and draw symbols of things if you have trouble with copying accurately, get the book keys to drawing by Bert Dodson  and spend a good month or two (or even more if you need to) doing everything that books tells you until you get it.




lips dont follow the form




Third proportions i think you construct every figure using a formula, but you didin't memorize the formula, i would say don't rely on measurements study proportions until you will drill them into your head and then use it to double check when drawing it should free you up. Another thing on proportions check out Gottfried Bammes he has a book called complete drawing from life the chapter on proportion is pure gold, he uses the 8 head canon but he refers to it in a more mathematical way so dividing into halfs and thirds etc. he has other books in german can be useful, if you can't get them here are a few pages out of them, memorize them and then use this kind of system or any other (loomis or any other that has a consistent proportion system)  as a double check.



 Overall bad proportions and rushed construction


Bammes pages

Spoiler

red lines ussually represent halfway points black lines usually represent thirds, if unsure just measure by hand he is fairly consistent.He ussualy divides everything in halfs thrids then fourths.

Four Values i think you don't have any solid principle for values, basically different value different plane, also this is a fairly complete guide to lighting
http://www.fundamentalsofpainting.com/li...g-problem/
Also abandon color for now only drawing and maybe values thats all.

There is no system in this the forms does not follow the light source




Five Master studies and studies in general ive seen you post a lot of studies from other artists ( which i also studied recently) and again the problem from the first point shows up you rush everything, and also what exactly is the point of these studies what are you studying from this?









Not that im a great artist or anything, but i rather show example of what  i did since i can explain my thought process.

Here is a study of an artist i did the goal was 1 learn how atmospheric perspective works 2 how to detail and get interesting surface variation, and if you notice i removed color and i detailed out only 2 areas the front of the head and the figure in the back everything else was not the point of this study so i kept it very basic(you can make everything finished if you want thats not a  bad thing, but then it takes up a lot of time potentially weeks), always set goals when doing studies.





Also maybe try to draw something else than figures, sometimes when you move on to other subjects you may learn new things.

So yeah i think that is all i got, you are free do ignore this these are my personal observations, work on these simple ideas and really try to figure them out, dont just do them and then say "alright im done!" this is not high school you are doing this for yourself so take time to really really figure this stuff out until YOU understand it. And don't rush everything.And another point try to limit the amount of art instruction pick 3 artists or books and study only from them for a while. Too many cooks in the kitchen is a thing and it can confuse you. Art is not only mileage, but also thinking and questioning.

[Fedodika]

Hobbit: WOW man i really appreciate this assblasting! And not only that, but it's not the usual flaccid, Hey man study Loomis comment. It's like... you see right through me man, and that's good. I have like a lot of built up knowledge, that is just kinda hiding; all those long days of scribbling on paper doing tens of thousands of gestures and copies of all the anatomy books. It's all in there you know, I just gotta pull it out, in a smart way i suppose. 

I have 2 crates that weigh about 150 pounds each of paper that has been drawn on, doing studies of anatomy, and all that stuff... But man, it just doesn't click until you have like a formula that is just really burnt into your mind. God it would have taken me years to realize the keystone thing i learned from Hampton today. That method he made for head proportions is foolproof i tell ya!

But yea, long day man, I really take these crits and assblastings to heart because I'm tired of no one digging my stuff. I wanna get better and I  am really starting to crave good crits because they don't upset like they use to, it's almost a freeing sensation. I want to change, and just hurry and get this shit over with and start my career (that would explain why everything looks so rushed. Art is a reflection of the self after all.) 

So, here's the fruits of today. A good solid, like no doubt about it 9 hrs today. The ones from reference actually gave me more trouble than the imaginative ones.

[Hobitt]

You are constructing in a very formulaic way, like i sed  before copy the proportion charts until you can repeat them from your head without thinking again and again, and then don't measure midpoints etc when drawing the head just draw a head any way you want and then CHECK the proportions, try to be more instinctive about it. Also perhaps you have some knowledge built up, but you have tons of bad habits built up and you always have to correct them and catch yourself, for me for the longest time it was drawing the lower legs too long or too short so i would catch myself, but only after i drew them already only then i would measure, and then be aware of it and not repeat it if i can. Have the beginners  mindset think you know NOTHING, im also in a position where i want a career out of this, but you must not lose your head and rush and not think slow and steady wins this race.

So spent time only copying the proportion charts as accurately as you can until you can repeat it without thinking.

EDIT: Another point this is not a MMO it doesen't matter how much youve spent time/drawn if you have a truckload of paper you drawn on if they are drawings without constant feedback on your previous results and failures you will learn nothing, you cant just grind this stuff you also need to think about it and compare your previous efforts and compare to correct examples of masters or just competent artists.

[Fedodika]

Habbit: Thanks for being real with me man; But look, the stuff that's in those crates was not done in vein. There's a strange grasp and feel to form and 3d space (as well as gesture) i have engrained in my head now, a wild sense of lines, and visual library. It's more about honing that in to something tangible, like a wild energy; gotta put some nuts and bolts in it haha.

It's really weird how my art journey is almost perfectly parallel to my music journey (Aside from the fact I haven't dropped it and pursued something else.) With music i just kinda fumbled around very enthusiastically for a few years before i even started to care about the theory behind it. But i learned a lot of techniques, most of them very advanced, but they weren't really 100% presentable (Maybe only 60% presentable.) Kind of the jack of all trades syndrome, oh learn this, oh well i kinda got it down, learn that, oh i kinda got it, learn that. You know...

It was the first day i had to play guitar to a click track; everything just was put into perspective and it was like, Okay you have to get this right now. I rejected it for a long ass time thinking i would be the exception who didn't need a click track, (And some people dont) but eventually i gave in and really became best friends with it. Play the man's game. Sometimes i play without a click though, just to be naughty. That and I hate the mans game. But those things that were 60% presentable quickly got up to the 95% range because i had a whole new way of thinking about rhythm. But I'm grateful i fucked around that long because i needed the energy expended, and the excitement. 

Gettin yer hands dirty.

It's now funny whenever i hear my buddies talking about recording and complaining about how hard it is to work with a  click... Been there right? Wanna art job? play the man's game; That's fine, i can handle that, but one day I'm gonna turn around and make the man cry because I'm the coolest guy ever.

Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook whoever you are.

Look if i could have it my way I'd just scream and flail about energetically, because that's what i love to do. But the next best thing to that is a creative field cuz, well... I don't know any fields you could do that in. 

So I'm moving on to figures for a bit; more boring ass fundamental stuff. I saw a comment by Kimonas i really liked, he said. "I think the people who have the most patience for the boring stuff end up being the best." Or something like that.

[Fedodika]

alrighty, I think I'm gonna do some studies each day, then do a little character sketch from my head, and notice the things i ain't getting right. #playindamansgame