Jaik's Sketches & Thoughts

[Jaik]

MrFrenik: Yeah value studies are definitely on the cards now, still lifes help a lot I have found so I will be doing more of them.

Thanks LongJh! :)

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Hey Guys,

Been a while, spending two weeks in Bali, there was no real chance for me to draw or update there. I really don't understand how people work in such high humidity, although I started getting used to it by the end of the trip.

The workshop was amazing. There is no other words for it. Best week I have had all year. So surreal, so informational, definitely will go back again next year if I have the chance. Which hopefully it will run next year, so I can recommend it to anyone reading this. Definitely try and go to any local workshops you have the chance to go to.

I'm trying to think of stuff to write about it, but I cant really come up with anything. I know I learnt a lot though, but it's more stuff to apply to my own work.

Got heaps of motivation to start working harder again.

But alas, got a cold on the way back so its struggle city at the moment.

I wanted to create a baseline, so before I started studying again I did some figure studies and that jazz so that I can compare as I go whether I am moving forward or just wanking in the dark.

Just a line based portrait study


Figure painting


Poses from imagination ( I really suck at this one)


Going to start doing more still lifes since seeing Alex Negrea do his.


Bougearurueuuauur Mater study WIP


Proportion skecthes from memory (black) and corrected with reference (red)


Neck studies based on the muscles from the mandible to the hyphoid bone.



Skulls

I do 60 seconds gestures to warm up every morning which I cant be bother uploading, maybe I will someday and some traditional stuff that needs to be scanned that I don't have the energy for anymore (damn cold)

[rioriorio]

hey jake, nice update, you really do it like alex lecture in workshop, nicee..., keep it up jake

[nibelwolf]

cool studies jaik!! keep it up!

[smrr]

Great to hear Bali's been going swell! Sucks about the cold though :/

I'm absolutely loving your lines in those studies, Jaik and I can't wait for that Bourgeauruaruweuause study to be completed!

Keep it up! :D

[ramalooke]

Heey, awesome stuff ;) Glad you had wonderfull time at Bali's. To bad I couldn't afford it this year. Hope to see you posting and growing even faster since now. I really look forward to it ;) Cheers!

[Lyraina]

Welcome back, Jaik!

Lovely figure painting. Proportions look good (her crotch area is a bit too far up, making her stomach too short, but that's a very minor issue) and I like the clean rendering and edges. Is this careful edge painting or using selections? The skin tones are decent, and you did a good job using the reference. But (you knew there would be a "but" eventually :P) I think you reached a point here where the photographic reference can't help you any further. This means you have to add more than the photo can give you - referencing from life, your knowledge of colors found in skin, and maybe paintings from old masters or even modern master painters. I'd love to see you experiment a bit with this!
Nice Bouguer... study. That's exactly what I mean with playing with skin tones. Keep it up! :)

The cup is crazy awesome. Like I could take it just form my screen! Next time, fill it with tea or hot chocolate or whatever your favourite drink is and you have a nice reward for when you're done :D (Did you construct or eyeball this? I hate painting still lifes with symmetrical forms like cups..)

Nice anatomy, especially the skulls. 'Draw from mind and then correct with ref' is a good way to go...

Glad to have you back, get well soon <3

[Bjulvar]

Sounds like you had an awesome time in Bali, glad to hear that! Really something to look forward to if it'll be arranged next year too :D
That cup you studied came out sickly! The porcelain is so tasty with all the highlights. Is this the object you're planning on speedpainting every day? Or did you really mean a spoon! I'm totally gonna find the same thing so that we can have an object-connection!

I think Lyraina brings up some really good points. Not sure if you apply lots of stuff and don't show it. But I would recommend doing something with the new knowledge that you've aquired directly after it's been studied. Gets your brain going!
I used to do that a lot with my animal studies awhile back, making something humanoid out of them. It was really fun!

Feels like Bougearurueuuauur's original has more warmer colors! Great job anyway, will be awesome to see it finished :D

I found a jazzy bassline for you like you wanted. (so sorry)

[Prabu]

I feel like having some tea after seeing that red cup. :)
Very clean studies Jaik.

[MrFrenik]

Following what Lyraina was saying on the photographs, I think attempting to replicate the photos exactly is hurting you a bit in your renderings. Simplifying your value structures for your compositions, separating your light and dark patterns into blocked shapes and sculpting your forms into simple planes will help you to push your art away from the digital lifelessness that plagues a lot of artists. I still suggest doing those simple value studies, focusing on the major issues with painting - simple values, construction and edges.

[Tygerson]

Bouguereau study coming along really well. You captured the essence of the model--it's just plugging through the rest from there.

I also like the neck studies. With so much emphasis on the head, it's easy to fudge the neck, but it really deserves it's own study.

[Jaik]

riroriorio & Nibelwolf: Thanks :D

Smrrfette: I think the studies done, not sure if I can learn anything more. There's some changes I want to make, but its probably more beneficial to just do another one lol.

Rama: Should definitely try and make it next year! Would be awesome to meet you :) And yes, I hope I will improve faster now too :D

Lyra: Life is something I really want to start doing more of. I went to life drawing once last week, then they told me it was closed till feb -______- but I'll get into it more then, see if I can work out some way to do digital work while I am there, on my ipad, or take a laptop or something.. I may have once had it filled with coffee then absent mindedly took a sip and ruined the whole thing -___- Combination of eyeball and construction, getting the ellipses correct was a pain lol.

Bjulvar: Haha I may have kind of totally meant a spoon.. The cup is a pain in the ass because of getting the right degrees in the ellipse. I have got a still life set up that I am studying now which is taking ages, but after that (probably next week) we should totally both do some sort of eating utensil every day. Friendly competition is always a good motivator. Oh and it took me ages to work out that jazz bassline, then i got it and laffed :P

Thanks Prabu :D

Frenik: Those studies should be coming this week! Hopefully.. it's really something I have to work on and I keep putting it off lol. Thanks for the advice.

Thanks Tygerson! :)

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Ok this week I got better on Monday, had 2 days of good health then got another flu -__- feel better today though.. so maybe this week I can concentrate a bit better.

I started a still life of the Bali mask I got overseas.. Totally regret it, its so detailed and difficult.. looks kind of cool but its taking three times as much as I thought it would. Hopefully I will upload that next week, but I didn't want to upload it for the same reason I don't like telling people goals or uploading WIPs often, because you get that nice feeling of 'yeah, people like it, thats cool' then you loose motivation to finish it because its the same feeling you get when you upload the finished piece xP

Skull study form last week that I couldnt be bothered scanning.


Finished the study, theres some anatomy errors, and some edges are a little offf, but i was concentrating more on value and skin tones, mind you, the background is a little too dark too. which could have put off the rest.


Monkey study, for an illustration I want to do, which is also the purpose of the bali mask life study.


Memory revision


Neck Anatomy notes


Neck anatomy study from ref


Neck study from memory


The torso (imaged referenced from Art Fundamentals by 3D total, such an amazing book)


Pectoralis major study and bewbs, cant forget the bewbs.

Sorry for the terrible hand writing.. makes the notes impossible to read lol.

[Mr. Toodles]

Quiet an extensive range of studies jaik, I like how you decided to break anatomy down, how long did those take you

[Tygerson]

Great anatomy studies! I love how you study as many aspects of each muscle set as possible. The male/female differences, origins and insertions, different angles and motions, etc. That will really make it all stick!

[rioriorio]

great anatomy study jake, i think bridgman book have a clearer information about origins and insertions of the muscles, i haven't see art fundamentals from 3d total though so i'm not too sure.

[razvanb08]

Nice job with the hard work in here. If I had to crit something I think the placement of the face features , maybe some portraits with just linework will help with that.
Good luck and keep it up!

[ramalooke]

I'll definetly try to get there next year. Would be awesome ;). And I must say I', really impressed with your recent updates. Really solid work. The only thing I can say is to remind you about imaginary work to check on your progress and show your weak points. Keep at it!

[Heliux]

Nice studies! ^I need to do that more as well ramalooke. Keep up the hard work! :] Your progress is definitely evident!

[BrotherOstavia]

Yeah Jake keep the good stuff coming!

[grohn]

Wow, really nice and diverse studies! I can definitely see improvement from page 1, but I think you could be improving even faster if you started applying your studies more. At least that has been helpful to me. Even trying to replicate your studies from memory will force you to learn that stuff.

[Jaik]

Thanks everyone. I'll reply to stuff in your own sketchbook, saves me double typing here :D

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15th of December

MY GLOBE DIED D: The still life that I spent the last two weeks working on... the globe died, so now I have to find the globe, replace the old one from a really awkward position, and hope its the right temperature .... Hating life, so I decided I'll put the still life up. I think its about halfway, still need to do another pass over the mask and all of the background.

It's almost the end of the year D: Don't know whether or not I have improved as much as I wanted to or not.. theres still time!

Here the still life.. siiiiiiiiggghhh. You can see a direct application of this in my personal work though which is why I did it. Applying studies and all that jazz :P


Muscles:
(I tried to put these in the order I did them, in the revision pages I have gotten move confident building figures from my imagination as the week goes on.. I think....)













And I'm done with the front of the torso :D
I added the back side of the torso to this piece






And the personal piece I have spent the week working on, Crypt Cat. Was a thing we started at the Bali workshop, kind of like a mini-bloodpsorts. I didn't have any other ideas to work on so I just went with this.
At this stage I am really looking for feedback on my values, I hope you can tell where and what everything is. I am going to alter the monkeys face value wise as something is off on it but I am not sure what. I also pushed my knowledge of composition to the limit. Any feedback would be appreciated.