AfricanVoodoo's Sketchbook

[AfricanVoodoo]

I can relate with the frustration and consciously telling yourself not to compare to others. It's a really shitty thing along with doubting if you're passionate about what you're doing. Never really got over that demotivation factor, but the way I approach it is to stop giving a fuck and just suffer for the sake of improving. Part of the doubt comes from not being confident enough to draw what I want, but how much time do I waste being unproductive each day? Gotta kick myself in the ass and wake up from bed when its time to wake up, even if the bed is the god damn comfiest thing and I don't want to leave it.

That said I'd recommend you to do some more studies based on improving form. Line quality may be a bonus you pick up as you start to think about lighting (heavier strokes on the darker side(s)), and you can always work on line quality later in isolation. Line weight's like the icing on a cake.

"Stop giving a fuck and just suffer for the sake of improving" Can I post this on a wall? No lie I need this in my life.

And form studies? *finger guns* Gotcha! (I mean... form studies are almost essential to all artists but it seems like my forms are lacking so it's time to do some.)

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I found a new artist to admire!

(Art): Sketches in my BRAND NEW ULTRA SHINY sketchbook. Not a good start honestly.




Francisco Herrera!

He has this Disney-inspired comic book feel where all of his characters are so expressive and gestural! Even when the characters are standing still they still have a noticeable gesture line. It is so inspiring to see some flow and expression on his busts. I'm literally going to explode, this man is so good.

I was studying and copying his sketches to see if I like way of drawing faces. I don't exactly like his DBZ-style of combining his eyes with their eyebrows when their eyebrows furrows. But the sketch of Megamind(?) in the middle where he looks guilty is the style I like. The eyes are their own being without the eyebrows and it appeals to me. 

It's not that obvious when the character is facing towards the camera, but in 3/4 and side views their jaws shoot forward, which creates a slight concave gesture line in the face.

This man's style is so... free and loose.




(Art): Ha! I did try to copy the dude from his sketches. Oh my lord, I love that dudes expression he looks so interested.

I should mention to you guys that I do not want to copy or steal aspects of this man's style. Even though some will say that copying can improve your art... I've had issues with people pretending some aspects of me are not there just to make themselves feel better, so FUCK trying to copy someone. I'm my own person bro.

[AfricanVoodoo]

Yo!



School isn't killing me yet so I'm still here but ugghhh... more time to sleep, no time to draw.

(Art): Old study of me trying to put the spin of a scapula in perspective since it does change shape when you turn the scapula. Ugh... it is... really complicated. I don't even NEED to know this but I do want to get in the habit of looking at things in space and it was surely a workout.



(Art): Inspired by Hozure on this website, I decided to do some torso studies by photos off of Croquis(?) Cafe photo achieves. I should put more boxes for the pelvis (boxes can't hurt ya.)



How... should I go about form studies? I should go and watch Istebrak on Youtube for some ideas because I swear she has a hard-on for form studies so it's logical to look up to her for answers right?

(Art): I did more sketches then I tried to do some female figures from my imagination. Eeehhhhhhhh, don't like the right one but I still gotta keep on fighting on!

[AfricanVoodoo]

Yo yo yo! I am back! 



"It is time to be a professional!" I kept telling myself this today. 

Childish? Yes. Inspiring to me? Yes. It's the only way I can boost myself up and do great things with my art without looking like some sort of hobbyist work... is it bad that your work looks like a hobbyist does it?

(Art): The first page of my torso studies from yesterday. Yuck...

 

Do you guys know those odd Fire Emblem ROM racks people do for the Game Boy? There are some hackers who are actually that passionate about their game and characters. There was one hack called "Fire Emblem: Bloodlines" starring Bram, a blunt yet understanding mercenary and his dog, Dewey. 

... If I can get the chance, I want to make a portfolio of all of my character work and show it to the creator and see if I can at least design the characters for him. I still do not have confidence in myself to just get work like that, but pessimism will never get me anywhere in life. So, I need to suck it up and find some courage.

(Art): Useless sketching. Still trying to find gesture, expression, and liberty in my busts. Still can't find it...

[AfricanVoodoo]

Yo yo yo!



...I did form studies...

(Art): I think I did? Putting boxes and cylinders are so fun actually (probs because I didn't use a perspective grid for the boxes). These were leg studies, I put more of an emphasis on the shapes that make up a leg though.

 

I should be doing those Draw A Box curriculum on creating clean lines and forms. I used to do that over the summer but FUHC dat while on your bed. It's torture.

 (Art): Extremely messy cylinders and ellipses. I should make a brush with no pen pressure so I can make proper cylinders.



I'm still uncomfortable drawing cubes to define a form on the human body so I always fall back on cylinders... It is time to draw boxes like crazy (once again, the Draw A Box website)

(Art): I should of made the lower leg bone a rectangular prism now that I think about it. It makes sense for it to be that way since it is a hard form while the muscles are softer. It's a shape language kind of thing.

[AfricanVoodoo]

Yo yo yo!

I tried digital painting for the first time! (...on Photoshop)

It was fun but I need to start doing actual forms like the sphere and cube from reference. I want to do basic forms and some more fun stuff until I eventually go into anatomy and portraits.

(Art): Me trying to figure out how this "dee-gee-tal painting" thing works. I can tell the values and my ability to make a 3D head on a 2D plane are extremely poor, but that is what practice and Crimson Daggers are for yes?

All I know is that it is way easier to paint on Photoshop than Fire Alpaca.

Brb. Gonna do more forms since I do want to be more productive!

[Raphael_Nadeau]

Hey man good start with digital painting, when you will want to start painting portraits and anatomy, keep it simple with simple geometry. you can for example study the asaro head with the simplify planes. Keep it up !

[alexdanila]

You should definitely do forms, but don't do it on your own, get a mentor or something. I recently started schoolism courses with only 15 dolars a month. you should try the digital painting course and the one with fundamentals of lighting by Sam Nielson. I bet you will learn a lot. https://www.schoolism.com/school.php?id=3

[AfricanVoodoo]

Thank you two for the recommendations! 

Raph: I will SURELY do the head studies, it will be way easier to do on digital  than on traditional since I can check my work.

Alex: Thank you for introducing me to Schoolism! There are a bunch of classes that I am interested in already! Sadly, I gotta wait until I get a decent job until I am ready to commit to 15 a month like that. (Also, 1000 for personal crits and training? Damn...)

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Welp, school finally caught up with me again. SOOO much projects and homework cascading out of nowhere and it is annoying!

(Art): Like I said, I wanted to do some basic forms so I got some basic bitch photo reference and started painting... 

 I like the studies actually (surprisingly). The problem was that I did not even utilize the photo reference that much which is NOT what you are suppose to do yet I do it every single time... Next time, I am going to try my best to look at my reference frequently. 

I also like the planar way of handing the cone, it helps with me doing rounder forms. Working in sections then combining those sections together to make a smooth transition is how I make my round forms.

[AfricanVoodoo]

Yo yo yo!






I got overwhelmed at school already! It is our second week back at that shit and I'm already getting stressed. What was funny was that while I was cluttered in all this schoolwork, I actually wanted to hop on my computer and do some painting! I never had that thought in a long time actually...

(Art): Another cylinder and MY FIRST ANATOMY STUDY IN VALUE!!!!!(single tear rolls down my face)  to improve my blending and painting skills as a whole. 

Most of the values on the arm study are wrong (the bottom of the chest is too light, I defined the bicep too heavily on the right side, getting hard edges are a bitch), but I can feel my observation skills improving doing this one study though. But for the LOVE of me, I COULD NOT get the shape of the chest right I was suffering immensely about that! Pumped up chests like that are so hard to find the perfect shapes for...

Then there's the anatomy portion. On the reference, I noticed a cylindrical form on the forearm (it's light yet noticeable) and I really want to know what that is. Which means I will be seeing this reference photo again soon (more on that later)

I think it is pretty fun to try to get a smooth surface without a blender or the smudge tool. I do not feel comfortable with ultra smooth surfaces on my art, even on studies such as these. Therefore, I'll keep the obvious brushstrokes and splatter brush (I was experimenting with brushes as you can see. The background and the splatter are from Ahmed Aldoori from Youtube.)



(Art): Some sketch I did after the cylinder exercise for a little break before I started the arm study.

A Senior messenger for the King of Hell himself. Back when he was a hot flash to the ladies, he thought it would be beneficial to do some wheelies on his moped to impress his crush, but all that accomplished was him falling into an endless abyss where he died due to screaming a lot. Now he is eternally serving his beloved king. 10 more excellent deliveries across Inferno and he might receive his very own wings!

So tomorrow, 
(1) I will do an anatomy and form study on the forearm
(2) See what the fuck that dude's chest shape is about
(3) Take written notes on light and shadows
(4) More basic form renders and Photoshop exploration
(5) Rare fanart??

[AfricanVoodoo]

Good morning!


     


(Art): Five figure studies. The photos are from Croquis Cafe. 

I was watching Glenn Vilppu videos and my goodness it is hard to adapt to his style of figure drawing. 

He first does abstract lines to show rhythm from the top of the body to the bottom, then he shows us the round forms of the ribcage and pelvis while drawing contour lines, then he goes over the overlapping forms, then boxes to add stability, and he finally adds stretch and squash like an animator would do. This is stuff I have done before but it is so hard to put into execution. But it is so fun trying to figure out how to get it to work! 

I had his method in the back of my head but I feel like I was just doing my own thing here... I was focusing a lot more on the contour and negative space of the figure. Which does not exactly help me understand the form of the figure.

Anyways, this dude is my all time favorite model because of his voluminous stomach and forms. 

In some of the figures, I made him too thin which is the drawback of drawing thin and muscular people everyday. I have to remember to push the figure outward to make him appear bigger. 

The man on the second image is not twisting, yet my figure is. The butt on the ref is facing 3/4, while mine is facing toward the camera forcing the figure to do a twist.
                                                                                                                                                                                      
On the third image, sketching out the round forms of the ribcage and pelvis would of made the figure feel more compact and stable.

[AfricanVoodoo]

Yo yo yo!




Even though I did not have a very cheery week, I can at least depend on the weekend to recollect some thoughts on my future and school and art and being successful and having money and bitches...

(Art): While I was doing that bullshit, I tried to do some doodling to take a break from all the value studies and realism. (It gets boring rendering...)

 I wanted to draw Mario and Luigi if it was in my own style of drawing. I was a little more serious with the Luigi page since I wanted to see if the brush I was using was A-Okay with me. I love the brush but the amount of clean-up you have to do afterwards is going to kill me! Which means I have to improve my linework even more! (Reminds me of those brush pens... ugh)

.... That reminds me, I should do a post on the effects of fanart on another post...



(Art): Some mercenary lizard dagger-holding person thingy. I dunno, I randomly wanted to do this out of no where and I REALLY enjoy where this is going. I hope I won't drop this anytime soon. If you guys have ANY critiques at all, I NEED THEM! Roast me!

Anyways, I'll lower the opacity on the skull and then draw on top of it again to give it some of my own flare because it looks too... real for me(?) I just want that sketchy and exaggerated feeling to it like the bird skull on his shoulder. I might change it to a more Neanderthal looking skull with very pronounced eyebrow ridges. (shrugs)



(Art): Like I promised last post two posts ago oopsie, I did a quick little anatomy study of the forearm. The glowing part of the forearm was pretty much the biggest forearm muscle and the only one that pops out without flexing. I also learned where most of the shapes and overlaps displayed in most comics come from. Like when we see the front of the arms right under the bicep, artists tend to draw a sharp curve from the right side (our right)  to indicate the big forearm muscle.

I also found out the shape of the dude's chest... looks like a tilted rectangle I suppose...? It was just too hard to paint I guess.



(Art): Fuck it... this was in my Imugr since The Great Depression just take it.

[AfricanVoodoo]

Yo.


I need to go right now because I need to start applying for my ACT's and I need to begin to think about portfolio development. It sucks...

(Art): More figure drawings of the fat dude, I'm getting the hang of figure drawing while using the Vippu method. I just need to think about proportions more. (Also, my action lines were wrong on some of those. That was weird...)

[AfricanVoodoo]

 Fanart 


I am pretty certain that every single artist in the world are aware of this, but fanart (and arguably, political cartoons) are the best ways to get publicity and recognition on social media sites and the art world in general. You are pretty much putting your own take on an existing favorite and posting it to the world, and it makes people happy I suppose.

As an upcoming character designer, I like to... design characters. I do not feel comfortable trying to draw other people's characters like Marvel and DC artists get to do. It is just in my nature to draw my own characters with his/her own shapes and attitudes. It's that sense of wanting to tell so many stories but you are too lazy to write so you express that story within your art.

 I am not saying that I cannot do that for existing characters as well. For example, I recently put a Luigi character and a sketch of Mario on this website. And they BARELY look anything like their regular designs from Nintendo, but that is because I wanted to put my own shapes and expressions on them to make them unique from their original design. Once again, I want to tell a story. And I will achieve that, even with someone else's character.But as long as someone can recognize that this character is (insert character), then the people will recognize and appreciate the art. 

It is just sad that fanart is the most effective way to get noticed though. I tried not to think industrially when it comes to my art, but if I want to start getting into the industry (or if I want to stop feeling like a hobbyist), I need to start thinking industrially!! In other words, I am going on a giant exodus...

...The exodus of fanart! (...and sticker, sketchbook and art print making)

Anyways, expect some more art tomorrow since I do not have anything to do but draw! I might post some warm-up figure drawings of the fat dude again before I start on my next character design.

[AfricanVoodoo]

Yo yo yo!




(Art): I did a little figure and anatomy study on one figure. For people who are wondering why I keep referencing this fat dude, it is only because I need to know what fat does when it is affected by gravity. I think I said this before, but I drew lean/muscular people for a LONG time. It is time to expand my horizons and draw some fat people. What I learned doing this was:
 - The pelvis region is pretty much a box and it noticeable when our legs raise.
 - Fat does not drag downwards dramatically when the figure stands up
 - The abs are still affecting the surface even with all that fat
 - I still have no observational skills when it comes to figures.



(Art): Some more figures but I focused on the gesture of the person. (Sigh)... this is going to take some time to get better at huh? I did a lot of experimenting during this. I tried to figure out what to do with the gesture of the legs while the figure is standing up. It is challenging to see what kinds of lines look good/ correct when doing those kinds of poses. In all of these poses (except the pose from the extreme left, third pose from the top to bottom where he is holding out his arm), I did not make rhythmic lines so the figures look more stiff... If I am going to be a character designer, I have to get this rhythmic lines thing down.



(Art): I did one more figure study, this time I tried to show the anatomy through the figure. It was pretty fucking hard but you know... practice! It did get me thinking about anatomy in perspective, which is a huge weak point for me! 

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(Art): I actually tried to do a legit head study and it was SO annoying. I've been looking at other techniques on how to approach this, and most have zoomed out to get the values down, then they zoom in slowly while painting and defining the values. God, this is actually very infuriating. Doing simple forms are okay, but this is something else...

(The next day after typing this): I was watching Sinix's old streams where he was painting one of his Patreon's head on stream with Sycra and he brung up something that got me thinking. Sinix said that the reason he cannot do referenced studies is because he gets into the small details way too early, which is the problem that I am having with this shit. I am overanalyzing this shit out of this thing, I need to calm down and try to have fun with the thing. If I do this again, I just need to find the major planes of the face, zoom in, work in the smaller planes within the big planes, zoom in, work smaller, and etc. 

I also want to stop trying to get this  smooth surface since it is distracting me, and my overall goal with these are to find the right values of each plane of the head, not to make something smooth.

[AfricanVoodoo]

Yo!



I'm starting my journey on fanart! And the whole recognition thing is actually working...

 I got five new followers on Instagram... (sheds single tear)

(Art): It's Opal from Steven Universe. I could not get the front hair down. Drawing cartoons semi-realistically is the hardest things to do for me, which might be the reason why I just deflected fanart for such a long time. But I am not going to give up on this piece, I KNOW I can finish it. I might just try some simple hairstyle on the front or something I dunno. I also have the sneaking suspicion that her legs look off but (shrugs).



(Art): I wanted to draw my (possibly) third favorite Mario character, Wario! I tried to do that thing concept artists do when they want to look for certain shapes and designs and shit. What I learned doing this is that this is literally unnecessary if this is for myself, and it is worthless to do this if you already have a good idea of what he/she is going to look like so... but it is good practice though! I just have a hard time doing multiple concept sketches of the same character...



(Art): I ended up choosing the most bottom left face. I wanted to make his face more square and slightly less fatter than Mario's since he is (slightly) more active than Mario in my version. Since he finally made it big as an entrepreneur, successfully defeating Mario in their little rivalry, he has more time to himself than when he was a plumber himself. Which means he will be lifting weights and showering himself with coins every single day until he dies (oh, and making fun of Mario for still being a "dirty bitch" (whatever definition of "bitch" you prefer will apply perfectly)).

Oh god... I'm actually thinking about making a comic about this...

 Now all I have to do is find the right design for him and then color him!

Sorry for no actual studies at the moment. I promise, I will do some studies soon!

[AfricanVoodoo]

Yo yo yo!



(Art): I tried to work with colors and rendering at the same time. I like the organic feel of the colors I have chosen though.

I was also (kinda) obsessed with this musical called "Heathers" and it is soooooooo goooooooooood. Listen to the soundtrack please! Like I honestly cannot believe how good the musical and its songs are. So on the right, I drew some dude that looks like he would be in the late 80's. Also some leg. That reminds me that I need to start doing lower leg studies. I've been avoiding them.



I am thinking about making stickers... hmm. Is it hard?

(Art): Some dude. This was the beginning of some inking renaissance that I am currently in. I am not even sure what happened, but I just wanted to try out a new way of shading inspired by some dude on Instagram. I might try to color it to see if I could do a traditional -> digital artwork. If I could pull that off... that'll be pretty sweet.



(Art): Umm... things. I remember watching the author of "Force" (that figure drawing book) on Youtube and he gave some very nice tips on putting energy into your drawings.

[Fedodika]

It's like everything relates to its most basic components. A leg is going to be drawn based on how well you can draw C curves, show that forms are round, and how well you can draw cylinders. If you can't draw a nice mannequin with no anatomy, just boxes showing where each major mass would be, the anatomy on it is going to be irrelevant, and just noise. 

I remember people have told me this exact stuff over and over again through the years, and it finally makes sense. Someone's inability to draw a leg isn't because they can't draw a "leg" but because they can't draw the cylinders and the form showing C curves and straight lines that make those cylinders. 

Literally everything that exists can be made into primitive shapes, and the better you are at showing how those primitive shapes exist in 3d space with confident lines and perspective immediately makes you better at drawing literally anything. 

The only thing left to learn would be the visual language of say horses or legs or anything, which is anatomy. And that stuff is amazingly easy when you can simplify anything.

[AfricanVoodoo]

Fedo: Heh... funny how simple shit can make drawings look better yet it's so difficult.






(Art): A set of anatomy studies of the lower leg that I wanted to do. What I learned? The front of the leg has little muscles that actually affect the surface unless they are in action. And even in action, it creates slight elevations I suppose. The main muscle that pops is the diagonal one reaching for the big toe.

 The party comes from the back of the lower leg, which holds the calves, which mostly affects the front view of the leg as well. I should just study the back and side of the lower leg from now on... 

oh, and asymmetry is very important in anatomy.







I was watching Proko's  video on cartooning the human body for caricatures, and the main thing I took from his process was...

(Art): To not give a hoot about anatomy at the beginning! If I was going to create a character, I should get the right shape, posture, and energy at the start, and then use that as a template for the anatomy and the proportions so the figure won't feel stiff. For Wario, I wanted him to have a big upper body with either normal legs or stubby legs. I did some concepts until I felt happy with a shape and pose that I liked.

I am still trying to create concepts while keeping the main idea. How do professionals do this?



(Art): Then I tried to make some notes and adjustments to the original sketch. I actually like this process, it makes things way more easier to do than making the anatomy explain the gesture and shape. It is quite the opposite happening here.

I REALLY need to start doing boxes and thinking about perspective. Maybe when summer is rolling around, I should start on drawing cubes and cylinders again.

[AfricanVoodoo]

(Art):I tried to do a traditional -> digital art. 

Ehhhhhh, it's whatever. I could do better now that I think about... I actually needed to redraw some of the lineart because when I try to color, it leaves noticeable grays and blacks being left behind.

[AfricanVoodoo]

Yo yo yo!



Ooo boy depression is back! And its ready to kick my ass! And it sorta did...

(Art): An apple apparently... I dunno, I just wanted to paint an apple. 
  I actually did this because I do not paint a lot of stuff. I remembered that I downloaded these brushes from Ahmed Modri and I just used those to make this apple. You can see the brush's texture and semi-painterly strokes in the background that I created. I feel like I am STILL too afraid of going too dark or light with the values. I dunno why its so scary but it is and I need to break out of that fear. Ehh... whatever, this was for fun.



(Art): WIP Lineart of a character my friend is putting in his book. Well, I found out how to make my brushes not look so... muddy (I just had to turn on the Texture box on the brush customization menu). But I honestly do not know how to go about my style of doing lineart. I dunno if I should go simple lines, do a comic book style (which is what I was trying to do, I not digging it honestly...), etc. I'm not sure. I want to check out how other people do lineart and try it out. (I think I only like hatching lines with no deep shadows or blacks, I'll try that...)

I should do more line arty stuff and explore because SHIT I do not like what I am doing right now. I need to start exploring more before doing shit like this...

EDIT: Maybe am not adding enough details in the design itself. Ugh... I'm losing my mind over this.