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Hey this is my sketchbook. I will be posting here daily, unless something comes up. Basically I will catalogue my ongoing processes in my quest to become better and better.
Crits are welcome!
1 hr gesture class with partial analysis.
A study I did from National Geografic picture.
Studying Walter White (linework+bad coloring)
Avatar.
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Hi, Crackedbook! For your digital pictures, I recommend painting over the lines instead of under them. Also, for your gestures, try drawing larger, that may help a bit. Keep on drawing!
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(07-14-2013, 01:53 AM)Demon Lizardman Wrote: Hi, Crackedbook! For your digital pictures, I recommend painting over the lines instead of under them. Also, for your gestures, try drawing larger, that may help a bit. Keep on drawing!
Thanks for the feedback, will do.
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Character buildup sketch. If you see something wrong, please tell.
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Hi crackedskull. Your gesture drawings are very 'scratchy'. By that I mean you use lots of short sketchy lines instead of one sweeping one. Over time artists develop an economy of mark making, using a single line or brush stroke to maximum effect. It's something that comes with lots of practice and confidence but try thinking about each mark before you make it so every line serves a purpose within the image. Hope that's of some help.
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Ignatz, thanks for the tip. Its a bad habit of mine. Ill try the method of mark making in my next gesture study.
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1hr gestures nr 2.
I tried going with fewer lines, still not used to it, but it made my process faster and cleaner.
Speedpaint.
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Hello there ! :)
For the gestures I think you should learn proportions before trying to work with speed, go check Loomis book about figure drawing ("Figure Drawing for all it's worth"), it is full of exercises very useful for learning and understanding the human body, when you'll have the proportions in mind you'll make them faster ;)
Anyway keep working hard ! :D
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Izzual- Thanks I quess going over Loomis again wont hurt.
In general I'll go back to hitting the books again. When I got the tablet I neglected them, but funtimes over. (Not that studying from books isnt fun, but I prefer ref studies and such)
Since everything goes, worst or best ill go ahead and upload this load of crap! Everything is wrong about it and its the worst piece I've done in days. Yet another glaring reason to return to dem hot E-books.
Moving on to some studies.
First off this apple that took me 30 mi- I mean two and a half hours! From value study to simplifying from the original image (that had a really complex pattern) to coloring.
Frank Frazetta study. I gotta say studying a masters piece really opens up how great they are and makes you appreciate them that much more.
And to top it of Gestures 3
Thats about it for today.
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G'day daggers, I hope youve been up and working. I sure have.
Started with the Loomis studies today.
Then some gestures(photoshop was choppy/laggy so it was kinda frustrating and my performance suffered)
Luckily Ps didnt lag for these 3.
Speedpaint from imagination using colors from an image.
Animal skeletons quickstudy
And a bubble study :)
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Hey crackedskull, I wouldn't worry too much about color right now, mainly focus on your values for a bit. A lot of your stuff is looking really flat at the moment. Color's are great, but good values are more important. A great exercise for improving your values is to set up a still life on your desk, try and use one light source so there's a clear shadow and copy it as best you can in greyscale. Also squint a lot, squinting is a really good way to pinpoint values. keep working at it :)
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Jonesoda- Thanks, I'm doing some value studies, but I quess i should substitute more of them and less of colour studies.
Tried 3 blending techniques, settled for this one.
Loomis studies, with some doodles from imagination, tried to apply porportions to them aswell.
Sunset picture value study. At some point everything started to fit toghether :)
Messed around with colors aswell, but it didnt work out.
Started from a female portrait that I wanted to to a value study on
(with hard light) and eventually ended up with this...
Quick creature concept.
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Apple values man.
Coloring attempt
Gloomy waters. (fiddled around with this one quite a bit)
As for these next pictures, I thought Ps didnt save them, but it did. It just didnt record them in "recent stuff". After looking at the Ps saved files folder I found them. :)
Looomis 6: The return of the phantom menace.
Started with this owl from a ref.
I love painting this eagle down.
Column study wip. Gonna leave the rendering of this for later because frankly its quite hard.
Unfortunatly I have to go to a trip with my family so no more digital art for 19-22. Right after that I got to do my driving exam (The age where you can drive is 18 in Estonia) so gonna have a bit less free time.
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Hey, nice start dude. You're doing all the right things. Nice balance of imagination work and studies.
One crit might be to try using some simpler brushes, and focus on forms for a little while. Or even go a step further and focus on your line drawing exclusively for a week or so. That can help a ton :). But yeah, maybe try simpler brushes, and focus on changes in value and edges. Texture brushes are fun, and tbh you can focus on the same stuff either way, just with simpler brushes, it's one less thing to think about.
Keep it coming man :).
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JakeB- Thanks dude, good to know from someone else that im learning in a correct way. As for brushes, I should organize them, maybe make something called "simple brushes" where I store the simple ones.
Right now I just have a load of brushes and I go pretty much randomly, I have developed some more favorable ones though.
The hard part is actually organizing them because I always postphone such stuff. Even the fact that I made hotkeys to work faster is a miracle.
Might do a ton lines and 2D circles/cubes/etc. As for forms, havent got around that since I just got the tablet and its been quite fun and broad. When I get back from the trip I'll try to focus on those aswell, and custom forms. Got a simple guide right here :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgDNDOKnArk
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Hi crackedskull, thanks for the comment in my sb. Yours is coming along very nicely! The greyscale sunset picture especially, definitely do more of those. The gestures are getting more confident too, keep working on it.
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First of all: best sketchbook title of all time mwahah
Secondly, really great studies you're doing! And a hefty workload you're producing!
I would suggest that you try and capture the energy, fluidity and motion present in the human figure
Keep pushiiiiinnnggg iiiiit, cracked!
sketchbook | pg 52
"Not a single thing in this world isn't in the process of becoming something else."
I'll be back - it's an odyssey, after all
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Hey man!
You took the first step: started the studies. Don't give up now (:
As others said, line is very important, I see you improved it doing less strokes already.
Altrough seeing the amazing works that fills the internet and wanting to jump ahead to do finished illustrations, these first steps are the basis for everything you'll come up in a year or two. Actually, even the pros come back to this Loomis phase once in a while. So take your time with the studies, and even if they are kind of boring, they are the base of the pyramid for sucess (:
Keep'em coming!
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the biggest criticism i can give is to try to simplify your lines instead of going over them until you get them right. i dont know if you know what i mean by that but you can draw an entire side of a human with just one good stroke instead of a bunch. youre on the right track ! if you update daily like you said, you will only get better and better. keep at it and have fun !
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Angel_Intheuk- Thanks, will do.
smrrfette- Yeah I sometimes come up with silly stuff like that when im in a good mood. Thanks for backing me up.
mateusrocha- Appreciate the feedback and I will keep it up as best as I can.
BenFlores- Right on, I believe line confidence comes with practice.
Now for an update on my life and such. I enjoyed the trip I had, even though the weater got pretty bad sometimes. I managed to catch a fevour while coming back though so there is that.
Tomorrow's my driving exam (driving age is 18 here in Estonia). Gonna suck with the fevour, but Ill pull through.
As for art I did a few things today. Last hour or so I wasnt able to focus anymore, so I thought I'd take a 2 hour break, perhaps It will get better.
Finished that eagle. :)
Still life from a rock I found on the beach while I was on my trip.
Another still life, this time I got wild with what I added to it and deviated quite a bit.
Some other stuff.
Rembrandt value/composition quickie.
Some Loomis proportion sketches. Messed around with color and shadows on one. Did not have the focus to refine.
Thats it for now.
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