Wolf's Sketches

[Wolkenfels]

I thought it would be nice to have sketchbook too - here it is.

some studies:



Hair is really hard for me - so i do studies whenever possible


Some simple gestures i was doing with Bahkana


My concepts for Bloodsport 9:

I wanted to do the Tallahassy James stuff.
So i was immediately thinking of a man reading something in a book while behind him a mummy arm comes out of a sarkophag.


But then i thought about the composition - the first one does not connect both figures and also is not suitable for a bookcover. I also thought about putting James into a Steampunk outfit. I can think of several parts I am not convinced off, but i also want to be a bit realistic about the picture and don't took too much stuff on my plate i cannot eat.


Then i looked through the web for useful stuff to study.
the steampunk guy is a friend of mine who was so nice to let me use his portraits.
After starting on that deathmask of tut anch amun i was immediately convinced not to do a golden mask. It is just too hard for me to do.

[lake]

Something that's helped me with hair in the past:

Instead of thinking of hair as individual strands, try to consider it as though it were a bunch of flat ribbons. The reflectivity is very similar to ribbons, and it'll help you think about the form and the way that the hair lays on the head. Indeed, many hair stylists and barbers are taught to layer hair in this way as well. Also, trying to consider individual strands is an easy way to get too detailed much too quickly, and to overestimate the range of your values.

[Piotr Jasielski]

I really like the first image. Keep it up!

[Wolkenfels]

Something that's helped me with hair in the past:

Instead of thinking of hair as individual strands, try to consider it as though it were a bunch of flat ribbons. The reflectivity is very similar to ribbons, and it'll help you think about the form and the way that the hair lays on the head. Indeed, many hair stylists and barbers are taught to layer hair in this way as well. Also, trying to consider individual strands is an easy way to get too detailed much too quickly, and to overestimate the range of your values.

Thank you! There is also a great article of James Gurney about this. http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.de/2008/04...ecret.html Now i only have to transfer the knowledge into doing. ;)

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I really like the first image. Keep it up!

It is only a study - but thank you - i try to keep better and one day in the future will do a picture like that on my own.

[Wolkenfels]

next concept.
I am not too unhappy with this. I already know I will move the sarkophag to the right side so that there is more gap between the adventurer and the sarkophag.
The arm of the mummy will most likely going down and not up.

[Wolkenfels]

Painted the whole day saturday and the result was a piece of shit.
If it I would have been on paper i would have burned it. Lousy stuff any 12 year old could do better.
I was totally convinced that I should stop painting at all.
Today is a bit brighter. But i need some kind of guideline. I did too much studies the last half year and that gives you a wrong feeling of confidence. It is not enough to be a half decent copy machine if you want to do some original stuff from inside your mind.
I definitely have to do more stuff from memory.
Not sure how i go from here but i think i will try to always accompany my studies to at least the same study from memory. And maybe i should go and work more on studies like they are thought in the Hoghart, Loomis books than taking any photo i like and copying it.

I will not continue on my bloodsport 9 stuff. The feel to waste hours on something that will look like crap is too strong. I work fulltime and have family the most of hours i can paint regulary is about 2 hours a day and i wont waste those time on something i am not convinced of.

sorry for the long rant.

if someone has a good hint for a study plan i am all for it.

[IONIC]

hey man, can definitely identify with your frustration. I just joined the site and i was enjoying going through your posts. I am by no means an expert, so take anything i say with a grain of salt lol.

I did like where you were going with your bloodsport stuff. I'd suggest doing some studies on arms in various positions. The arms you have in your wip are pretty flat, and the mummy arm is a pretty large part of the overall narration and is going to have a lot of emphasis. Maybe have it coming towards the man reading, about to touch his shoulder.

but yeah, best of luck with your drawing. reading this gave me some ideas on how to approach doing my studies and i appreciate that lol. have a good one

[Wolkenfels]

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live model painting during awesome horses stream.

[Ursula Dorada]

Nice studies man :)
I don't know if you are still focusing on hair, but here is what I know: you may want to avoid using small brushes until the very end of the process, and when youre going to use it, do it very carefully. Do not over do it. I know artists like Serge Birault can pull it quite easily, but it's hard to keep it natural using small brushes.
So use bigger ones, slightly soft edges, do big strands of hair. When the volume is set, pick a very small brush (smaller than what you have been using) and do only a couple of lose hair near highlights to add a bit detail :) Do not worry making the edges of the hair extra crispy - more often than not it helps having soft edges for hair.

Hope that helps.

And I really like that first image! :D I will be watching.

[Wolkenfels]

Thanks Sula!
Really appreciate the hints. I will try it when i make the next hair study and yes i still work on hair. At the moment i make portraits most and hair is so important for that and i am still not happy with my results. (better than 6 weeks ago but still not happy). :)

[isra-ac]

Good work Wolk. Just a little tip on the painting with the asian girl and the ghost, in the background you can see through the door, some values in the trees are too dark, if you use less contrast there and lighter colors you will have more sense of depth :)

And another one, the girl and the entrance are in a tangent, careful with that!

[Wolkenfels]

Thanks for the hints Isra - much appreciated!!

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here is my lastest one - a master study of a Courbet painting.

[Wolkenfels]

my newest "Dragon Hunter".

Critiques appreciated!
(ref from KxHara.deviantart.com)

[Wolkenfels]

Gestures

and hair again - ignore the faces please - i do it too ;)


Hair becomes less the hateful burden... so i think the studies - even if still lot of room for improvement left - are giving me some confidence...

[Wolkenfels]

How can simple head sketches be that hard?

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I like gestures as warm up...

[Wolkenfels]

Gestures again..

[Wolkenfels]

well - i have a lazy day - but at least i got some gestures and an idea for the actual bloodsport challenge - but i am not sure if i go for it. i just needed the pun "ZomBeer" out of my head.

[Wolkenfels]

i can't draw for sh***...

Initially i wanted to make a study of this skull - at the end i was happy i got the outlines and for the last i even had to use 3 helplines to make it halfway bearable...
well... have to train more. :-(

[Wolkenfels]

another skull study - after the bad day before i had to proof to myself that i can do it...

[ryan]

another skull study - after the bad day before i had to proof to myself that i can do it...

love the skull wolken, the bounced light on the inside really helps bring out the surface detail :)