Kilillan's Sketchbook

[Kilillan]

A quick sketch of Dali during a work zoom meeting
Trying to simplify to 3-4 values

[Kilillan]

Here are some clothing studies, I was trying to simplify the clothing as much as possible


The next one is for school... I need to draw something related to sci-fi and art. I decided to draw a girl drawing in space, maybe it's a little on the nose?
I drew some thumbnails to try to get a good idea of the layout of the picture
Any suggestions?

[miimogenation]

Hello lovely..!! You have some really nice and interesting sketches here.. Keep it up!! - I'd love to return to you SB again and see some taken to the next level, perhaps even colour.. :) Xx

[one_two]

Love your linework! Well done.

[cgmythology]

Nice updates here, very solid line work as always!

[Kilillan]

Still working on the picture

I kinda finished a background. I am planning on drawing a girl doing graffiti on the glass, as seen in photo 2.
I want the reflection of the planet to curve more, but I can't quite get the right angle

I am open to any criticism or advice

[cgmythology]

Looking solid. I would exaggerate the gesture and general pose of the figure to make it even more dynamic, but I think that's a solid start!

[Kilillan]

cgmythology: Thanks.




This is still a WIP but I'm actually kind of happy with how it turned out. 
I definitely need more reflected blue light everywhere, I will try to go back and address that




Without the space filter

[Kilillan]

I tried drawing a room

This was actually much harder than I thought it would be... I really need to work on my 3d drawing skills

[prince0-100]

I tried drawing a room

This was actually much harder than I thought it would be... I really need to work on my 3d drawing skills

Nice environment man. Make sure to add imperfections to make it look real and someone actually lives there. You wanna be a concept artist? if you dont know yet, fzd on youtube is a good learning material.

[Kilillan]

Due to my work-load (and honestly, burn-out) I haven't drawn anything in over a month. I'm trying to get back into it. BTW, I failed the class where I turned in the above drawing of the room; apparently, I needed to color it. Aw well.


I wanted some advice though: My favorite artist from a long time ago is Android Jones (who was a celebrity on CA back in the day). I've always wanted to try drawing the surreal, psychedelic art he does, for example: https://androidjones.com/tag/dreamscapes/

I was wondering how would I even start drawing this stuff? Are there tutorials/methodology? Do I just try copying his style and figure it out myself?

[JosephCow]

Aw that sucks, you failed the whole class? lol

I have no idea how Android Jones works, but I would start just experimenting. I would probably draw different elements on separate layers and combine them with layer modes and erasing to fade them into one another.

[Jephyr]

Due to my work-load (and honestly, burn-out) I haven't drawn anything in over a month. I'm trying to get back into it. BTW, I failed the class where I turned in the above drawing of the room; apparently, I needed to color it. Aw well.


I wanted some advice though: My favorite artist from a long time ago is Android Jones (who was a celebrity on CA back in the day). I've always wanted to try drawing the surreal, psychedelic art he does, for example: https://androidjones.com/tag/dreamscapes/

I was wondering how would I even start drawing this stuff? Are there tutorials/methodology? Do I just try copying his style and figure it out myself?

That BLOWS about failing that class.  Dunno if this will apply to you — but I took college art courses over the years and found some instructors really enjoyed destroying students and crushing their artistic spirit. Unfortunately there are a lot of miserable people who call themselves teachers.

If so, just know you are in good company.  Most of the artists I know (myself included) have been through it and I've read many biographies about MASTER artists and ALL had someone trying to destroy them — Dali, Frazetta, Van Gogh, Michelangelo, etc. 

Anyway I could go on and on about it — but failing someone for not understanding an assignment seems extreme and for what it's worth I think your room pic is very good.

As for burnout — I think that is common to all as well.  When that hits me — I've learned to just listen to it — and take some time away from art (assuming you can).  Usually I find when I do pick up the stylus or pencil etc again — I feel rejuvenated.

As for Android:  There's a very good article about him here:

witness-this.com/art/android-jones

It's an interview with him and there are several time-lapse vimeo vids of his painting process (I put on 'em half speed to see better what he's doing — 'cause they really rocket by). 

He uses Painter, SketchUp, Photoshop and ZBrush — A HUGE amount of 3D models, tools and sculpts for his 2D stuff — and pattern brushes, layer modes, warp tools, filters, overlays, etc.  He sometimes teaches workshops and does tutorials so maybe you can find something like that.

So maybe this would get you started — and even so — he suggests in the article that people don't try to copy him and develop their own thang.

Sorry to have gone on a bit.  I'm really tired and perhaps a little too chatty. 

Anyway — wishing you the best

[Kilillan]

Josephcow: 
Thanks for the comment! 
Yeah I will try experimenting more. I've wanted to try mixing medias (sculpting in Z-brush then painting over). I basically want to be a bit more creative in my art, I basically feel at a point where art has become a choir... and that's not a good place to be for a hobby that will never be my career.

Jephyr:

Thanks for the advice about Android Jones.. I should've done a bit more research into his background before asking. But yeah I will look into more of his youtube videos/interviews about his process.

About failing the class, yeah I understand where you're coming from. I'm not too upset about it... the school provides a bachelors in illustration, but I never had an intention of actually finishing the degree. In order to get the degree I would need to take a bunch of non-art classes (such as European history, English (lol), Japanese history, etc), and I really don't want to spend my time studying these subjects while working a full time job. The annoying part is I need to retake this class and turn in a completely different assignment, or I won't be able to take the next illustration course. 

Also the entire school is pretty strict in very strange ways. For the character design course, they want all the students to draw in a very specific, anime style, with very specific anime proportions. They will mark students down if the characters are "too realistic" or "too unrealistic".

Here is an (unfinished) assignment for that class. I actually failed all of my courses this semester since I didn't turn in any homework. ugh.
BTW if you have any critiques on this I am all ears. I feel like the perspective is wrong.





edit: 
btw if you're curious about how they provide feedback, this is what they do:

[darktiste]

You will have to get realistic can't be a pro if you procrastinate i say that with all the respect i can give to someone who choose this path.You just can't be in love with what in your head (the idea of being an artist) you have to become the artist.So whatever is burning you down(the full time job will in school are you serious?) you need to cut whenever possible.Sadly those art school they are expensive and they still want to teach us alot of stuff we artist have no interest in that when we can get burn out.My advice is commitment and less hour working elsewhere it clearly isn't work for you right now.Don't think this art stuff is easy it time consuming and there people invested full time.If you don't meet the exeptation no matter how stupid they are to you that won't cut it i say it if no one want to say the silent part. There people who want to do the job and can adapt. Do you want to be the only one who doesn't adapt?If you say yes than maybe you should drop school and do your own project...but you will probably have trouble because you will have to learn to adapt no matter what so why not become flexble now.If what you want is to work at the big studio or just at a small studio you like then what do you think it say to someone who serious when you don't do the assignment?What does it say when your portfolio isn't adapted to the studio you apply for?Do you expect people just to find you fantastic and give you all the praise without delievering anything they asked for?

Are you hired because you can do the job or because your the only one who can do the job you have to decide what type of artist you want to be...

Hopefully you can shake this picture that come with experiencing failure i been there and if anything if you are serious this is where we separate fantasy from reality.

If you are dreaming of something atleast make it a reality.Don't sleep on your dream.

You don't have to like what is said but i hope if you read that back in the future you will be like i am glad someone had the ball to kick me in the butt.

To finish even if i kick your butt because you deserve to hear some uncomfortable truth to help you growth this does nothing for you because at the end of the day you have assigment and if you don't do them i am not there telling you what to do i am not the one grading you.So remember there little to no body who will hire you just because they like you base on personality.They want to see amazing art can you do that but not only that can you work with people because those people are going to give you assigment... and right now you aren't delievering what they would be paying you for.Don't be the guy with a good porfolio who get is foot in the door just to be kick out because he as no work ethic.

With all due respect -Darktiste

[Kilillan]

You will have to get realistic can't be a pro if you procrastinate i say that with all the respect i can give to someone who choose this path.You just can't be in love with what in your head (the idea of being an artist) you have to become the artist.So whatever is burning you down(the full time job will in school are you serious?) you need to cut whenever possible.Sadly those art school they are expensive and they still want to teach us alot of stuff we artist have no interest in that when we can get burn out.My advice is commitment and less hour working elsewhere it clearly isn't work for you right now.Don't think this art stuff is easy it time consuming and there people invested full time.If you don't meet the exeptation no matter how stupid they are to you that won't cut it i say it if no one want to say the silent part. There people who want to do the job and can adapt. Do you want to be the only one who doesn't adapt?If you say yes than maybe you should drop school and do your own project...but you will probably have trouble because you will have to learn to adapt no matter what so why not become flexble now.If what you want is to work at the big studio or just at a small studio you like then what do you think it say to someone who serious when you don't do the assignment?What does it say when your portfolio isn't adapted to the studio you apply for?Do you expect people just to find you fantastic and give you all the praise without delievering anything they asked for?

Are you hired because you can do the job or because your the only one who can do the job you have to decide what type of artist you want to be...

Hopefully you can shake this picture that come with experiencing failure i been there and if anything if you are serious this is where we separate fantasy from reality.

If you are dreaming of something atleast make it a reality.Don't sleep on your dream.

You don't have to like what is said but i hope if you read that back in the future you will be like i am glad someone had the ball to kick me in the butt.

To finish even if i kick your butt because you deserve to hear some uncomfortable truth to help you growth this does nothing for you because at the end of the day you have assigment and if you don't do them i am not there telling you what to do i am not the one grading you.So remember there little to no body who will hire you just because they like you base on personality.They want to see amazing art can you do that but not only that can you work with people because those people are going to give you assigment... and right now you aren't delievering what they would be paying you for.Don't be the guy with a good porfolio who get is foot in the door just to be kick out because he as no work ethic.

With all due respect -Darktiste

Thank you for the feedback.
There's a couple of things I need to clarify however.
I don't have, and never have, an intention of becoming a professional artist. Nor do I have any intention of prioritising my art above my career... I finished my MBA and got a new job about the time I started this sketchbook here. I like my new job. The pay is good, the work-life balance is good and the work is satisfying. 

About the school, as I mentioned in a post above, I never really had any intention of actually graduating. However, I think the program itself is amazing. All of the classes are done online and all of the assignments are personally checked/graded/painted over by very good artists. Also the school managed to get some of the best working professional illustrators in Japan to do the classes, which was my biggest draw to it. It's also surprisingly cheap. It's about 2500$ per year, and I am free to visit/use the Tokyo/Kyoto campus whenever I please. I'm pretty sure if this school offered this program in English at the same price-point, it would be crazy popular.

But having said that I hate giving up on anything, and I plan on finishing all of the art/illustration related courses at this school. I just need to kick my own ass for motivation

[Jephyr]

Jephyr:

Thanks for the advice about Android Jones.. I should've done a bit more research into his background before asking. But yeah I will look into more of his youtube videos/interviews about his process.

--------

BTW if you have any critiques on this I am all ears. I feel like the perspective is wrong.

edit: 
btw if you're curious about how they provide feedback, this is what they do:

You're welcome! 

Lydo's paint-over offers excellent advice that I planned to share with you.  Drawing through objects and figures is very helpful — and leaving some of those reference lines when you start adding hair etc.

You're instructor's suggestions seem a little superfluous (like a remote on the easy-chair and pillow & open book/magazine on the floor) — that seems like more of a taste issue to me.

Anyway — I really like the expressions you put into your portrait assignment. 

Keep posting!

[Kilillan]

I'm curious about why you want to get better at art? 

If you can be honest with yourself (and specific), that's your fastest route to improvement. What is it specifically you want to create? Wanting to get better as a goal won't be as effective as having a destination in mind to work towards. If you can point to something and say "I want to do that", it gives you a road map of sorts. The online school you're doing is good feedback for the projects they're assigning, but what about your own projects?

You like your non-art job and have no intention of becoming a professional artist. So, you're in a unique position to pursue the art you want to make without the pressure of conforming to industry needs or standards. Get better at what you want to do, and you'll improve quicker because you wont be swinging at any random art task that comes your way - you'll be swinging at the tasks that get you fired up to make art in the first place.

Hope that makes sense. I get sticking to that art program as a point of pride, but doing that along side a full time job doesn't leave much room for personal development. Tons of people go through years of art school and come out with mediocre portfolios because they just stuck out the program but didn't have any real invested interest in the work they were making in school.

Thank you for your thoughtful response.
I think the main issue for me is  lack of direction... I'm honestly not (or wasn't, my goal is getting clearer now) what I wanted to create. My art-dream would be to create a pixel point-and-click adventure type game. However, I didn't think I knew the basics of art enough to get good at pixel art, so I tried learning from the basics. 
But I think you're absolutely correct. I am burning out on doing art for a program which doesn't help my career, nor is it the kind of art I really want to make. I need to put more time/effort into where I am passionate.

Also thank you for the draw-over, it really makes it clear where the perspective was off.



Jephyr: Yeah, that particular critique was a bit disappointing. I went back and read the assignment instructions, and there was actually nothing saying I needed to color it... the guy that critiqued it thought it needed color so he failed me. Ah well.

[cicakkia]

Many already have given great advice. I think the most important that you need to have fun and enjoy what you love doing on your art studies. Don't force yourself doing something you don't like. That way you will get less burnout.

[Kilillan]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.
I've been getting motivation to draw recently. 
It's been 11 months since I started this sketchbook and I haven't improved as much as I had hoped. 
It's a bit depressing, but this is definitely on me for getting burned out and not focusing on drawing as much as I wanted to.

Anyway here are some very rough sketches. The line quality is terrible, but recently I've been experimenting with exaggerating the forms instead of drawing what I see