StardustLarva's Visual Explorations

[StardustLarva]

I really need to stay on track. I really am struggling to do that because I have all these things I want to paint, which makes all these fundamental exercises boring in comparison. Urgh.

Anyway, I've been working on and off with going over the exercises at DrawaBox again, so there's some samples of that here:

[Fedodika]

cool fox :)

[JyonnyNovice]

I think it's definitely helping doing those draw a box exercises, these sketches are feeling more solid. I know the feeling too of having a lot you want to do. For me I started setting certain days of the week for studying and other days for working towards finished stuff. Mon - Fri for me are pretty much study days and on weekends I do my projects. Maybe something like that could help you to feel like you are producing the stuff you want but also keeping up the fundamental study. The fundamental stuff is essentially stuff you want to keep up with for your whole life anyway, so finding a way to balance it with stuff that's more meaningful to you is really crucial I think ^^

[StardustLarva]

Fedodika-Thank you.

Jon-Thank you, I probably should follow some sort of time table for my studies and personal work, I suppose. 

A few more bits from the DrawaBox exercises, this time of vertebrates. I'm really trying to apply the techniques here to my personal work and other studies, as well as integrating some of the stuff I learnt from that figure drawing class I did. 

[StardustLarva]

More exercises. Probably not being thorough enough in places.

[StardustLarva]

Even more stuff from DrawaBox. Sorry that these probably aren't too interesting to look at. Any suggestions?

[StardustLarva]

A painting I just finished, I tried to apply the structural stuff I've learnt.

[JyonnyNovice]

Creepy stuff as usual XD Looks like those studies are paying off, the bugs head feels symmetrical with the eyes and the pincers and the bony / hard bits at the back of it's head and it's twisting body feels nice! the little overlap behind the human head makes it feel like it's curling around it nicely : ) great job ^^

Keep going with that drawabox stuff! Do the dexterity exercises (the lines, ghosting, ellipses, planes etc.) everyday - like 30 minutes a day and you will really feel the benefit after a few weeks. Try to loosen up and draw from the shoulder more. Getting those drawing skills super tight and well practised will make moving to painting soooo much easier and more rewarding!

[StardustLarva]

Jon-Thanks man, I will keep doing those exercises. 

I have been practicing the Draw a Box exercises more, which I think have helped a bit. Mainly the dexterity stuff Jon suggested, so I don't have much of interest to show.

I do however have this shell study I just did:


I need to update here more often, so I can get back into getting regular feedback. I feel I'm in a bit of a slump again, particularly about painting, as I really don't like how my paintings look. I have acquired a copy of James Gurney's Imaginative Realism book, so hopefully there will be information in it that will be useful for what I want to do.

[StardustLarva]

For today, here's some application of some of the stuff from the DrawaBox, focusing on fox anatomy. I'm planning to draw from life a lot more, as I haven't been doing it as much recently, so hopefully that will help with the rendering I'm going for in my paintings. 

[StardustLarva]

Another fox anatomy study. 

[JyonnyNovice]

The last anatomy study looks really pretty : ) the bony parts look good. The proportions feel a little off - feels too big to be a fox? I discovered from weasel studies recently that proportions are so super important for animals. Like the difference between something that looks like a weasel or dog is just a small lengthening of the muzzle (for example). Keep going! Great if you can draw from life regularly too : )

[StardustLarva]

Jon-Thank you. You might be right about the proportions, though I'm not entirely sure. Here's the original reference image I used, in case you were curious.

Another anatomical study from the Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists. This leg is actually of a dog and not a fox, but I figured it would be useful to study anyway. I'm working on understanding legs as I feel they are one of the (many) parts of canine anatomy that I'm not very good at.




A personal piece I did last night, attempting to apply some of the structural stuff from yesterday's fox skeleton study.



Lastly, a study directly from life, from my fox skull. 

[alexdanila]

Hehe, drawabox stuff. It's a huge grind but totally worth it.Keep up the good work! you'll soon level up!

[JyonnyNovice]

yea, sorry dude, it looks good compared to the reference - I guess it felt really big to me cause I couldn't get a handle on the scale and animal fur tricks the eyes about the real skeleton, keep going ^^

cool drawing too - nooses are so creepy <_> the jaw feels like it's opening in an unnatural way, like it's folding out of the skull and not attached, but the feel of the whole thing is pretty solid, and typically disturbing from you : )

[John]

Cool studies. Animal anatomy sure can be rough. I had daggers nudge me towards these artists who are great with drawing animals, you might even already know them. But just in case, I found Gottfried Bammes useful. And "The Art of Animal Drawing: Construction, Action Analysis, Caricature." Some of the pages are google-able.

[Fedodika]

hmm still a beedle i thinks...

[StardustLarva]

Alex-Aye, it's pretty great stuff. Thank you.

Jon-Thanks man. Yeah, I see what you mean about the mouth.

John-Ah yes, I actually have both of those books and have been working with them a bit.

Koala-Indeed, I am still a beetle! In the trees, buzzing around...

I've been knuckling down a bit more in my absence, so I feel I'm making very gradual progress.

Here's a painting I just finished. Thoughts?

[Fedodika]

what is it? like some squids and... some sort of bust underwater?

[StardustLarva]

Hey there Fedo. Yeah, it's supposed to be a nautilus and an ammonite, the latter with a human figure-like shell. Looking at this again I'm not sure if I like it that much, so feedback on how to improve it from anyone would be appreciated.