Sketchbook & Progess Log - The journey is the reward!

[Cyprinus]

@Lyraina Yeah, it kind of puts a lot of pressure on me, time-wise, as we mostly only do poses for max. 15min. It feels very short for me. I stopped doing sketches and now smash the watercolours directly on the paper, which safes time but still gives me trouble with proportions. I'm glad you like them so far though! After all, they help me see shapes somehow. Thanks also so much for your thoughts on the cover! I'm totally clueless about what to do with the spider. I actually wanted the "vignette" to look like the neckline of his clothing, and the spider is supposed to be crawling up from under it. Maybe it will help already if I paint the other legs and don't let it fade into the shadow that much. Anyways, I need to brush up my spider anatomy beforehand XD

So of course when I came back from the trip I got a little sick and all my careful laid out plans were for nothing. I went to lifedrawing but I think it really shows I wasn't feeling that well. Not much got done, but I feel better now and I think I can dare to think of a new plan for the week now.




The thing with the fineliner was a bad idea.



pixellovely has an expression tool now which I tried out here...it's fun for somebody like me who loves to draw faces



I want to take part in the new crimson arena so here are some skull studies I did



This is a typical digital picture story for me. So I drew something and kind of liked it: left version. When I came back to it, I thought the skin colours look greyish? I went to change the colours, this and that and now I don't like it anymore.

I need to stop painting so much faces but it's so much fun ):

[matkaminski]

Improvement from first post to now!
I'll keep on watching and critique as you post.

Just gotta give that quick push, keep em comin! :)

[Cyprinus]

@matkaminski:

Wah, thank you so much! I'm happy you see it this way, because I'm always very blind concerning my own stuff, but I guess that's more or less the same with every artist.

Well, only a little, quick update today. I was pretty busy with an event at the weekend and I didn't have much time left for studies, plus my eyes needed some rest from staring at the screen.

On the other hand, today I thought about my schedule again. Last time I rearranged everything I thought that I'd like to keep a bit more loose, but obviously this led to...well not my desired results. My first thought today was about priorities though and what I'd really like to get better at. In my first post I said "basically everything", and that's still true, but yeah, my main interest is and will always be the human figure, I think. So that's it for now, I place my priority on figure drawing and anatomy for a few weeks now. Before I had the feeling I studies a little here and there, a bit this and that and somehow everything felt all over the place. I will still dedicate time to the other fields, but hopefully setting a priority will help me get some clarity. In the end, I can still adjust my schedule in case I notice it doesn't work out, but I just want to try this for now.

So basically I want to deepen my knowledge about anatomy, proportion and get out of my comfort-zone with more dynamic poses, foreshortening, different body types...the list goes on. I will study a certain topic for at least a week (or better 5 days according to my schedule) in a row, but I guess even a little longer. Starting with 1. head/portrait, 2. torso/back 3. arms 4. legs. 5. hands&feet I will do anatomical studies of the bones and muscles, but also photo studies. I will do gestures everyday and also application of what I learned. Drawing full body figures every day as well. This will be the plan for the weekdays, I hope I can find a decent amount of time every week to study. For the weekends I want to focus on backgrounds fully one day, and the other day I keep as a "loose" day for other studies in different fields...well. I just want to get better with my anatomy and poses it just bothers me so much grmbl. Starting this with next week.

Anyway sorry for the long text wall I just want to use my sketchbook to keep track of studies and thoughts as well...and now I just dump my stuff and I'm off.







Oh, one question though: Where do you guys get your images for your studies and stuff? So far I've mostly used dA stock and morguefile...just curious if there's something else out there I'm missing? I'm very hesitant to just randomly use google image search.

I'm always open for advice on studying and schedules as well (:

[matkaminski]

I've found that as far as studies go it's kind of best to break it up from day-to-day.
If you don't you get a little burned out on one particular subject.
I would actually suggest looking at pnate's schedule and perhaps either modify it, or just flat out follow it.
I've been trying it out and it seems to keep the mind pretty fresh.
About the only thing that I like to add in is more color studies from either movie stills, life, or masters.
I can personally say that my color sucks all being told.
But anyway...
Here's other places that I find images for study:
http://hel-looks.com/
http://artists.pixelovely.com/
http://characterdesigns.com/
http://lookbook.nu/
I think you're on the right track and your watercolor studies are really beautiful!
You should check out Clo's artwork.
I think she does hers digitally now, but there are some older pieces that I have of her watercolor work that was a-friggin-mazing!
Anyway, I think you're making good progress!
Keep it up!

[Cyprinus]

@matkaminski

Hm, you really got me thinking about the schedule now. Maybe I rethink certain parts and add a bit more variety within a day. I think though that I want to try spending a large amount of time stretched over a few days on a particular subject. I feel this would help me solidify my knowledge in certain areas, maybe. I guess I'll just try how it works out, and make adjustments a long the way.

Colours are so difficult. I still want to achieve my realistic colours. Gotta do more studies as well...but first I want to be more satisfied with my anatomy in general. Thanks so much also for those links! The lookbook stuff is amazing. I was searching for the characterdesign page actually and was too stupid too find it again, now I'll make sure to bookmark it immediately.

Glad you like my watercolours! I'm actually aching to do a real watercolour painting again. Hopfefully I'll find the time somehow.


Now a little update! I think next life drawing sessions I'll probably make some pencil studies again as well, I'd like to see if something has changed. Also I told myself to make one painting/drawing with the left hand. Then have some digital studies, random Loomis heads (right two are from imagination) and some more from imagination.

[AngeliquevdMee]

Damn im so jealous of your figures and your sexy characters hahaha they look great! I wish i could draw like that 8D keep it up!!

[Samszym]

lines so clean they could poke yer eye out! Really nice studies and stuff, no major crits just keep plugging away and watch your skills skyrocket >:D

[KurtJeremy]

i have to agree with what people are talking about here .
clean drawings indeed. the figure drawing with watercolor are from life right? that is something i have never seen before ,can you share some of your process?
do you do light sketch first with the pencil and use watercolor ? how do you find the difficulties of using it ? one thing i really like to see more is imaginative drawings
awesome work again and ty for replying to my sketchbook!

[Lyraina]

That digital eye looks beautiful, so '3d'! Just the upper part of the eyelid might be a bit too dark, as there's probably no mascara... same with the digital portrait, using grey or black near the eye, other than mascara, can flatten a face really quickly.

Keep it up, Cyprinus :)

[Cyprinus]

Hehe, update!

@AngeliquevdMee: ahhh thanks! I think my figures still need so much improvement but I'll keep it up!

@sam: skyrocket, wohohooo this sounds too good, gotta work hard! Thank you! ~

@foxfire1345: Thank you! Yes, they are from life. I try to go to a life drawing session every week. At first I tried to do a pencil sketch and then colour it, but the poses are mostly very short, only about 12-15 minutes. And it's over so fast, so at some point I decided to start immediately with the watercolours. What I do is first I lay down the basic shapes with a rather light wash. Sometimes I leave out the highlights (actually I think it looks better and works better if I do this). While the colour is still wet I sometimes try to already apply some darker tint in shadow areas (also get some soft edges). Then I lay down shadow areas in about 2 additional layers I think. The most difficult thing is certainly the limited amount of time. The fact that I don't do a pencil sketch before also sometimes gives me trouble with proportions and everything. Sometimes it takes too long for the colours to dry...however, if you add some background colours you can still adjust and correct some shapes as well. I hope this was understandable XD I'll try to post more from imagination, if not my tumblr log is wayofbrush, there I dump most of my stuff from imagination. And you're welcome! :3

@Lyraina: Thank you so much! Also for pointing out the thing about the eyes! I'll definitely have to pay attention here next time, eyes always bother me when I paint them, especially digitally...could never tell why though.
_______________________________________________________

Now for the new stuff, two really quick colour studies (I discovered my love for the bristle brush) and one application and gesture drawings!

[Cyprinus]

Only a quick pencil update this time =/ Also had to change my plans because I'm spontaneously out of town meeting a dear friend whom I haven't seen for a over a year. It's a good excuse. ó__ò

Gestures and some skull construction studies








And some random stuff from imagination which piled up











I feel I didn't do much somehow...also I need to stop doodling randomly and continue on my comic...

[Cyprinus]

Hm, well. Do you know this quote: Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. Exactly. Tiny update is tiny. Didn't really paint anything in a while now, it feels. I bought a book about Egon Schiele and his portraits/self portraits and got a bit lost in lines. Also, I'm always in the mood to try out painting mech stuff these days, I guess it's because it often has a clarity I might be subconsiously longing for.

My little sketchbook I always take with me during train rides is almost full. I already got a new one, but I thought I could scan some of my favourite sketches from the last days.


Life drawing from this week. I'm back to lines for now.


Quick poses from photo, tag "waiting" and "station"


I'm always happy if there are people sleeping on the train.

I want to do more, can anyone extend my day a little bit?

[constructicon]

delicious linework cyprinus!

[Samszym]

Cool sketches cyp! Love the clean lines as always. Not much to say, keep posting XD

[Othrandir]

Wow! Loving your sketches from imagination and those watercolor life drawing studies! Keep it coming! Gotta study that anatomy!! haha :D

[Forrestimel]

Hey Cyprinus, thanks for commenting in my sketchbook and joining in on the last Crimson Arena challenge :)

Your stuff is looking really great and I'm liking the dedication you're putting in. I think what you should keep considering though while working is Sam's first post on the first page (I believe it was the first). The one where he talked about over exaggerating the gestures of the figures. Right now your figures seem too anatomical almost. Like you're breaking down the figure into limbs and not a gesture. Break down the arm into one line. It's really all that's necessary. Try to think more about the gesture and learn the points where "C" and "S" curves appear on the body and when. I think practicing that can really help your poses from imagination :)

[Jaik]

Man there sure is a lot of good stuff in here. Very clean lines.

My suggestion would be to throw in a couple of drapery studies when you get the chance. Some of your imaginative sketches that include clothing make the figure look really flat mostly because of the kind of lines you are using to describe the clothes.

Still amazing stuff though. Keep up the good work :D

[brianhermelijn]

Will keep an eye on this sketchbook, since you have a very clean style approach to your sketches. And i'm all in for clean stuffs. :D

[Nowio]

Damn are your lines amazing!!! Also love those train sketches :D

[Eve]

Thank you so much for visiting my sketchbook! Here I see you got nice art! I have to agree with the tip before: try to focus on the flow and dynamics, the position in a pose. How are the hips and shoulders tilted? the legs and arms, how are they curved and bent? Rather than anatomy, gestures are mainly there to capture dynamics in a pose.

There is also a little repeated error I notice in your art. A lot of the people you draw are all very short! This shows for the majority in your imaginative stuff. If you make the heads a bit smaller and maybe stylize the legs by making them a bit longer, that would make a huge difference.

Keep it up, being busy is a pain, I'd love to see more!