Crackbook

[crackedskull]

Day 14
4h done

1h quickstudy


Master study focusing on colors.


other stuff

[Kaffer]

About your anatomy study: Try to focus on overall proportions instead of local ones, you'll be needing to paint people in clothing a lot more. Being clear about the details is one thing, but its only good if the big picture is even more clear :)

[Eraiasu]

Hi Crackedskull! I just want to say that the ammount of work you do is awesome! There is just one thing that stands out about your stuff to me, that it lacks structure.

Say in the last couple of studies when you paint. You put the color down with lots of texture. The problem is that it tends to get really muddy and unfocused. If you take some time to see what directions the planes of what ever you are painting/drawing are going, then try to define these planes.

For example: Paint with the direction of the plane with your strokes. Be it paint or hactching with pencil. I painted over one of your last studies, but it applys to everything.
And dont be afraid to spend some time on a study. Quality is more important than drawing fast, just to get lots of stuff out ;)




I would suggest that you take some time and draw some 3d objects frome life. Say some simple objects. A box, or a roll of toilet paper and try to simplify the shapes and their directions(without texture), then move on to more complex shapes etc..

If you get your structure in place, you could put down as much texture as you want and it will still read. So maybe tone down on the textures a bit for a while? :)

I hope some of this helps! Anyways keep up with the awesome workload! Looking forward to see what you come up with :)

[crackedskull]

Day 15
4h done

Thanks Kaffer, will practice harder. I often get bogged down, and there go the proportions. Also I hate measuring proportions and try to eyeball it. One other problem is that when I do the initial quicksketch I dont see the problems in proportions.

Thanks a bunch Eraiasu. I tend to know the directional stroke thing, but I often get too lazy to go over my work with it. My main problem is that I do things too fast, rarely do I focus on 1 piece over a long timeperiod, but when I do I get stuff like my Bruce lee study.(page 7)
So yeah, a lot of hasty crap in my SB, but thanks. This will steer me in the right direction when working. One thing that kind of forces me to define form with directional strokes is pen sketching, cant half ass it there :)

Today was pretty tiring, did this horserider fella and got pretty frustrated with constant failing. Needless to say I was quite impatient today and didnt get any quality stuff. I had a similar issue in summer, I think its a side effect of an heavy work-load. You just get tired out.
Next time this happens Ill try to force myself to continue working, even If I fuck up at the start.



Analysing the picture, first I traced it then tried to make basic forms.

[Eraiasu]

Good stuff man! I really know where you are coming from with wanting to get it right, and in the first 5 minutes! :P I have had to work A LOT on my patience, when it comes to drawing/painting.

Just never give up, never surrender! And when ever it starts feeling like crap, you are usually on the edge of the good stuff! ;D

By the way, there is a good place for the fast studies. Just dont confuse fast with drawing a stroke as fast as possible. More like stroke accuracy. Insted of drawing 15 lines, just draw one or two (something like that).

Just keep drawing! Now I have to shut up and do the same :D

[crackedskull]

day 16
4h

Thanks again Eriasu, you gave me inspiration to push out quality work.

So today, I made a revelation. There is no real point in hasty doodles for me. Its quality first, quantity 2nd! Now im going to start pushing out more quality pieces.
As for today it wasnt as stressful as yesterday. I set out to do solid work and kept my pace steady.
Usually I feel tired after school'n'work, but not today.
Just like with running a marathon, go at a steady pace.

Wip, feeling good about this, the hardest parts were erasing what I had done and re-do it, but with discipline its no problem.
Linework took a good 2-3h now on to rendering and blocking it in.

[BaZoOkaPoOka]

Woo! Keep it up dude. You are such an inspiration. I think you are doing extremely well even being hasty at times, your courage to just jump in and experiment has taught you so much.
Sometimes you gotta just jump in and fail so you can learn how important the fundamentals really are and that will encourage you to do your best on all the boring stuff! I think you are doing all the right things.

Yesterday, I did my first 10 hours of art, aha. It's awesome being able to see improvement much quicker. I'm going to do that every day.

Ahh I love seeing your work. It just makes me think there's no way I'm doing less than 10 hours a day now, aha.

[MrFrenik]

You're doing the right thing by slowing down and constructing your figures/objects in a scene to understand the forms before you paint them like you did with the horserider. Keep that up, man!

[crackedskull]

day 16
4h

Thanks Kat, it has, but its time to catch up on the long stuff. Agree on the fact that failing will make you try harder :)

Appreciate it Freinik.

Rendering! Will get it finished tomorrow.

[BaZoOkaPoOka]

Ahh I love seeing your work. It's just so fun to see you improve so fast. I think this painting is coming out real nice. You will be such an incredible artist in the future if you keep this up. I'm going to work just as hard as you too.

[crackedskull]

Day 18
9h done

Thanks again Kath. Gonna be a hard journey, but my mind is set.

Finished the pirate


Horserider study.


Thumbnails

[BaZoOkaPoOka]

*jaw drop* Damn dude. Keep it up! I love the pieces you spent so much time on. Everything you are doing is extremely good for someone so new

[Ignatz]

Keep it up crackedskull. This last horserider study is great; your brushwork is so much more confident than your earlier pieces. Good progress.

[JakeB]

Boom, looking great man. One thing, try and keep an eye on the value range of you materials. The lightest lights, and the darkest darks, the closer to perfect you get that, the more distinct each material will look. Other than that, you're crushing it, inspiring work rate dude, keep it coming :)

[crackedskull]

Day 19
0h done
Day 20
7h done

Thanks, Ignatz and Kat.

Thanks for the tip Jake, ive begun to notice this myself is some places.

Shipstudy


Trying out a new way of working on concepts


Failed character concept.

[BaZoOkaPoOka]

The ship one looks awesome. Also you have good imagination ! That is something I have a lot to work on

[Amit Dutta]

Hey man, just had a ramble through your sb. I really admire your dedication and drive. I'd like to mention a couple of things I realised from 6 months ago, when I was pulling 30 hour weeks on top of full time work, for months and counting hours. The fact is that it's damaging to get focused on the number of hours even as a motivation tool. It becomes the focus and driver and you push yourself during times when it would be better to take a break and live life for a while. So i stopped counting hours and started having fun and I immediately leveled up. Lol.
You have been doing a lot of hasty work that isn't of the most value. Having said that, you've already started to realise this and are slowing down, and it immediately shows! That last pirate is leaps and bounds ahead of the other stuff. Where it does pay to do study is right before you need it. So for example you have some issues with drapery on the pirate, if you did a couple of short studies on blousey type shirts before you attacked it, it would be that much better. Doing focused study is really good because it immediately makes what you're working on better.
And don't forget the fundamentals. Do the perspective stuff, do the rendering of simple forms, do the line exercises as others have suggested because these things most efficiently get you to understand them. Not just 'know' about them, but really to be able to apply them to your work.
Ok lecture over. Great stuff man. Work hard, but don't forget to work smart!

[crackedskull]

Day 21
4h done

Thanks for the support Kat.

Thanks for the lecture dude. I have felt what it is to work, on a "dry mind" when you are not enjoying any of it and just try and get the hours done. I was experiencing this really bad in summer, when I did 8-10h daily. Im hoping to shape up when summer comes again.
I treat it as a marathon, dont go of sprinting, keep your pace steady. Also I try not to leave half assed works. Other than that I tried do render basic forms and some more advanced ones. I get what you mean by "knowing" and actual understanding. Havent done any short specific studies, but will give it a try.
As for counting hours, I'll keep doing it for motivation and to dedicate me to the goal, I did stop one time in the summer and just did art when I felt like it, but I ended up wasting too much time on video games or movies etc, rather that learning and doing productive work. The important thing is to know how much you can take, and push yourself, but not too much.

I think the most wasteful thing I am doing is not going on with the sketches Ive done, I do the quicksketch and then just leave it there, when I could be continuing it next day and so on until its finished.

There are also some days I feel apathetic towards my goal. I wont get shit done on those days.
Anyway this carefree attitude leaves me in complete lack of productivity and at the end of the day I feel bad.

Finally took the advice and started with the basic shapes, got my ass kicked, but did make me realize that its more than just "main lightsource, reflected light, core shadow etc.


More advanced study


Anatomy study


Character sketch, early wip.


Tried to apply the new way of working to a study. I can see qlimpses of its potential, but still lack the skills to bring it back to reality and make a vibrant image. As of now its still a wip.




I think the most wasteful thing I am doing is not going on with the sketches Ive done, I do the quicksketch and then just leave it there, when I could be continuing it next day and so on until its finished.

[BaZoOkaPoOka]

Keep it up, Crack !
In one of Feng's video No Undo, he says it's better to do one painting a day and make it the best you can instead of 5 in a day because you will learn from the pain of having put in all those hours and have messed it up.

But patience really is one of the hardest things to learn. I wasted the first 4 months being impatient, I only really started learning when I got started painting because that requires so much patience to just observe carefully. I've had those times when I slacked off many times too. Your mind is everything so keep it healthy, get good exercise, and eat right everyday. stay optimistic! You are doing 10x better than I was after 3 months. and keep your objective simple so it doesnt sound terrifying, and instead will sound fun :)

[Amit Dutta]

Yeah I think it's a big old balancing act, between fundamental study and imagination, quick expressive paints and long behemoth paints. between fun and not so fun. Definitely take something to as much as you can "finish" every once in a while as a benchmark for your skills. These pieces are where you start to see the level ups. Keep it up!