JonHop's Sketchbook

[JonHop]

So, I've been taking a look at and commenting on people's great sketchbooks here, and needed to get around to creating mine to keep me motivated with my artistic studies to post in this one every day if not every other day :).

---

Daffodil Study.


Landscape Study.

[derlaine]

I like how loose the brush strokes are esp inthe flower study, I want to be more loose in my work too!

[Mooeloo]

I think you need to use more hard edges in your studies, especially for the rocks in that waterfall study. They look more pebble-like than rocky with all the soft edges. As colour studies, they look pretty decent to me. Keep up the hard work!

[JonHop]

I like how loose the brush strokes are esp inthe flower study, I want to be more loose in my work too!

Thank you, if you want lose brush work don't be too concerned about making the 'perfect' painting, just let yourself go a little ;), hope that helps you, try it in your next study.

---

I think you need to use more hard edges in your studies, especially for the rocks in that waterfall study. They look more pebble-like than rocky with all the soft edges. As colour studies, they look pretty decent to me. Keep up the hard work!

Thank you for the advice I appreciate it, I'll try it out in my coming studies :).

---

Yoda painting.

Since I hadn't ever really used the soft round for a paintingn (usually just use the hard round) I decided to do a whole painting using just the soft round brush in photoshop. I didn't realise the potential that was in this brush, and I learnt a lot using it.

[JonHop]

Still life, Cup study I did today.... Not so great but gotta keep going :).

[BenFlores]

edges! http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51913 hope this helps

[JonHop]

edges! http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51913 hope this helps

Thanks a lot! reading through it now.

[Tom]

Hello!
I agree that you should take a look on how you handle the edges of your paintings. It looks to me like you mostly use one soft brush? I might be wrong, but thats a sure way to get a picture thats too fuzzy if you know what i mean.
You should try using other brushes as well, like the hard round. Another trick for the contour edges are to use the lasso tool to really make some of them sharp.

Also, i don't know if this is the case, so disregard if it does not apply to you, but if your working fast, you should slow down and really take your time with a painting. It might be a good idea to start with a study where you don't have to guess as much as you have the thing in front of you.

I know i had this problem for the longest time, i rushed through things and i only started getting the results i wanted when i really took my time to render out personal pictures and studies.
Keep working hard!

[Skwall]

Hey Jon =) Keep on posting your work up!
Have you got some kind of study guide line for what you want to learn? any particular goals such as anatomy, environments, colour, perspective etc. I find if you set little challenges for yourself during the week and concentrate on say colour, then perspective, or anatomy, any order really but just having something in mind when your learning so you can reach a goal.

Some people do it weekly some change daily, it's up to you what's comfortable and works.

[JonHop]

Hello!
I agree that you should take a look on how you handle the edges of your paintings. It looks to me like you mostly use one soft brush? I might be wrong, but thats a sure way to get a picture thats too fuzzy if you know what i mean.
You should try using other brushes as well, like the hard round. Another trick for the contour edges are to use the lasso tool to really make some of them sharp.

Also, i don't know if this is the case, so disregard if it does not apply to you, but if your working fast, you should slow down and really take your time with a painting. It might be a good idea to start with a study where you don't have to guess as much as you have the thing in front of you.

I know i had this problem for the longest time, i rushed through things and i only started getting the results i wanted when i really took my time to render out personal pictures and studies.
Keep working hard!

I think you're right about taking a bit more time, I do tend to rush a bit. As for the soft round, I only really used it to paint with for the yoda pic, but that was because I wanted to use only that brush to get familiar with it. But I get what you're saying about the fuzzy nature of the painting using this brush.

Edges, yes I def need to work on them, which I will be trying to do from now on to improve my painting.

Thank you for the feedback and critique, it was very helpful and appreciated.

---

Hey Jon =) Keep on posting your work up!
Have you got some kind of study guide line for what you want to learn? any particular goals such as anatomy, environments, colour, perspective etc. I find if you set little challenges for yourself during the week and concentrate on say colour, then perspective, or anatomy, any order really but just having something in mind when your learning so you can reach a goal.

Some people do it weekly some change daily, it's up to you what's comfortable and works.

I don't really have any guide line a part from do a study every day if possible (and learning the human anatomy, which I have been slacking on lately). I think yours is a good Idea so I can keep focus, I will begin to implement it. Thanks Skwall!!

[JonHop]

2 Minute timer sketches from today.


Trying to get the form down and the correct proportions.

[Mooeloo]

Hey Jon, nice to see you're starting to focus your studies =]

While you're doing those figure studies, try to draw with longer, cleaner lines. You might have to increase the timer so that you don't feel too pressured to rush your drawing.

Also, if you're going to do more painting studies, maybe try painting in a solid silhouette with 100% opacity of what you're painting. This will help you to focus on positive and negative space as well. When you've got the silhouette, lock the transparency and start on the rendering. If you want to soften up the edges of whatever you're painting, you can do that at the end but try not to overdo it^^;

[JonHop]

Hey Jon, nice to see you're starting to focus your studies =]

While you're doing those figure studies, try to draw with longer, cleaner lines. You might have to increase the timer so that you don't feel too pressured to rush your drawing.

Also, if you're going to do more painting studies, maybe try painting in a solid silhouette with 100% opacity of what you're painting. This will help you to focus on positive and negative space as well. When you've got the silhouette, lock the transparency and start on the rendering. If you want to soften up the edges of whatever you're painting, you can do that at the end but try not to overdo it^^;

Thanks, yes next time I will try to better use longer cleaner lines also I will set the timer to a bit longer. That's a good idea to work with the negative and positive space, I'll do some sort of studying using that this coming week.

---

A sketch from early morning and an attempt at a self portrait from a photo, after I'd been studying the Loomis method for drawing heads.

[JonHop]

Sketch

[BlueStar]

Your body study's are pretty good already. I actually suck in those, so I feel your doing a great job.
Keep working at it, I will do the same!!

[JonHop]

Thanks bluestar, It's something which I really needed to do (I always put it off) as I have always preferred drawing animals but drawing the human figure is needed to be a concept artist. And I will keep working, you keep posting up your stuff to! :).

[Glasya]

your really skilled !
after i read your sketch book i started to study the anatomy

and i improved alot

thanks jon lol

[JonHop]

your really skilled !
after i read your sketch book i started to study the anatomy

and i improved alot

thanks jon lol

Thanks. And no problem? lol Glad you started studying it and improving, keep that up!

---

2 Traditional Art studies.



and some anatomy sketching from today with a 10 min maximum as the timer.

[JonHop]

Male torso study

[JonHop]

Character from game of thrones, Jon snow study, practicing faces whilst triying to also work on my use of edges.