Dominicque's Sketchbook

[ohnooo]

Those studies somehow manage to look loose and effortless yet super polished at the same time

Also nice to see you having fun with characters and creating some scenes with a story

Good stuff, keep going :)

[Dominicque]

Nice updates, really impressive amount of studies and you're figure work is solid.  Keep it up!

Thanks for taking a look, CG!

Those studies somehow manage to look loose and effortless yet super polished at the same time

Also nice to see you having fun with characters and creating some scenes with a story

Good stuff, keep going :)

Haha, I wish it was as 'effortless' as it looks. I just rough out the general shapes and the 'carve' out the image, like a sculptor. I've spend so many years focusing on line over everything else, that's probably why. Right now, my 'goal', or should I mindset is to just focus on creating finished images, even if it makes time and many stages. Speaking of... here is an image I quickly created some years ago of a Japanese schoolgirl lying on her bed, with a sequential comic. But, the usually fears got to me, so I never finished it. Instead of carrying on with the image, I decided to redraw it again, this time in coloured pencil, considering I was feeling more confident with it. 
 





I feel I lost the softness of her expression, tho. I wanted her jaw to be tipped by slightly, looking up to her ceiling/daydreaming, but here she's looking more to the audience. Not finished, but again, stages. I used a shit ton of references, woo!  The anxiety is loosening. 



This has inspired me to do back and try and develop and complete older work. Horror concept. Lost the angle of the monster's face in the 'final' idea.




I recently discovered post packs and bought some that caught my eye on Cubebrush. I, at first tried to buy them of off Art Station, but my first name showed and not my pseudonym, so I tried to create an account the traditional way, but it wouldn't let me use that as the email was already in use. How frustrating. I downloaded the free ones by Rachel Bradley to test it out. I really wanted to buy it for the 'taking the hood off ref'


I then developed this as the basis for drawing my first OC I ever uploaded the nets, when I was 13. 'The Phantom Hoodie', I know not a very original name, but just throwing that out there. Her real name is Alexis, but that's a long, long story. I was super afraid of using references back then, so didn't didn't give myself the grace to develop her further. I guess that's shows how much I've come. 






I've spend so long 'umming' and 'ahhing' over seeing something and wanting to draw it, but here I said 'Fuck it!'. I took my time and really enjoyed rendering this. It's also gave me some idea of how to rendering floating hair. Added some fishes. I feel the right one is more integrated than the upper-left corner.

 

Loved the lighting from this pose pack. 




Though it would great to finally test out my toned tan paper! I bought the smallest size by accident, so never used it. Her bottom half is less rendered as the ref didn't include it, so I tried to ref based on my knowledge. 


Further iterations and using that for Wonder Woman.   Playing around and refining and defining shapes.

[Dominicque]

I went back to the 'floating girl' pic. I'm working between that and others, and wanted to post when I was completed or at least near that stage, but it's my sketchbook and I can do WHAT.I.WANT! I used references, again. Here I rendered out the dress and her feet, and changed the position and gesture of her hand. STAGES!



Note to self: Upload to imgur, hover over image, click the three dots, then 'Get Sharable Links'. Choose 'BB Code'.

[Dominicque]

I’ve had a busy few months since last posting with the usual emotional ups and downs. I was supposed to finish ages ago, but I didn’t have too much time because I was so worried about getting a grade 9 in Latin, therefore a lot my time was devoted to learning the curriculum and studying for the exams. Any less and my money would have been wasted. (Booking the exams was a pain and so much money. )  I saw an online course that wants to widen the gap between people learning classical based subjects and I wanted to challenge myself that I could ‘self-teach’ myself a GCSE. I lost interest, but then interest sparked up again when I wanted to create a fanart project of some of my favourite comic book characters as Cowboys. I started with some research on Pinterest and Google of looking at images of cowboys, this being good practice to draw hats and shirt folds. I’ve been practising that a lot lately and I’m finding it super enjoyable. After learning of the ‘5 basic folds’ from the Morpho books, it’s good to see them out in the wild and be able to spot them!

My neuroticism got to me again, with worrying about using references, or I am using references now, but for example finding ‘the perfect ref’, but then worrying of really just focusing on one reference to base an image on. Thus, I stopped. Then I came across the artist I’ve mentioned before that could have been if I continued and wasn’t so nervous to create as a teenager and got emotional. He’s so successful that I feel like I can’t avoid his art. After that settled, I felt weirdly motivated and got all eight sketches pumped out in only a couple of days. There are anatomy errors, like Apollo’s hands should probably be visual, but I just couldn’t get it right and used his hair bun and hat to cover it. Angie ‘Da Engineer’s’ Spica right hand was hard to read from the ref, so it’s not super completed, but hopefully you feel the vibe. The angle of Midnighter gun fingers should be sharper, ect. But, I am my own worst critic.

I figure it would be better to post the sketches here, before I colour and finalise the design. The plan was to render out with coloured pencils, but I’m not sure about digital colouring, because I still haven’t finished the other images I started. Haha.


Here's an update of the Japanese school girl. I still haven't figured out the right/best setting for a scanner, so an image isn't 'washed out'. I suppose it's possible to image edit in Clip.The bottom right seems rather perfunctory compared to the rest of the images and that's because I lost the refs I used to plan the image. However, at that point I just wanted to get it done.


My Authority, but Cowboys! project:








I’m super happy with Jenny Q’s picture. There’s so much personality! I based it on one pose and though ‘Fuck it!’ and just went for it.


The preliminary sketches are in another sketchbook along with some fold theory. :)

[Daft Sketch]

Hey Dominicque!

Looks good! Seems to me you have a really good artistic intuition. I really dig the Japanese school girl and the use of colored pencils there, I always liked that vibe. I also like the way you communicate a story with all her different belongings.

I think in general, if you want to get more into the realm of realism, I would advice you to focus for a while on perspective and lighting. Really understanding how form turns in 3D-space is crucial for picture making.
I read you rely heavily on reference a lot, and that's great, but knowing how to turn and shape the human body in 3D-space will ultimately free you from a lot of reference I think.

Anyway, my two cents. Keep going, great stuff! :)

[cgmythology]

Great updates as always, really impressed by the amount and variety of your studies. Your pencil work is solid, although I would maybe use a much darker pencil for your final lines, and maybe a tad more emphasis on line weight. Keep it up!

[Dominicque]

Hey Dominicque!

Looks good! Seems to me you have a really good artistic intuition. I really dig the Japanese school girl and the use of colored pencils there, I always liked that vibe. I also like the way you communicate a story with all her different belongings.

I think in general, if you want to get more into the realm of realism, I would advice you to focus for a while on perspective and lighting. Really understanding how form turns in 3D-space is crucial for picture making.
I read you rely heavily on reference a lot, and that's great, but knowing how to turn and shape the human body in 3D-space will ultimately free you from a lot of reference I think.

Anyway, my two cents. Keep going, great stuff! :)

Hey, Daft, thank you for the compliment. :) I'm currently just trying to create completed work, rather than just my usual sketches. Being stuck in the constant 'art student vibe' of 'only completing stuff when you feel you are good enough just isn't healthy nor conducive to actual improvement in the long run. I'm focusing on dry coloured media at the moment, but I do have plans on trying to tackle a wet medium, like gouache.  

My thing isn’t really being ‘reliant’ on references, it’s the fear of using references at all. I used to try to just draw from my head and rely on my nascent ‘visual library’. It gave me anxiety to use them, as I felt I would get dogpilled with ‘plagiarism’ accusations. However, after seeing professional artists all using references, it helped ease that fear. But, it’s still there. It’s only recently in my art journey that I have used references. But, yes, I also need to not go wholly the other way and feel that I can’t draw without references at all.

I do get frustrated, because I want to draw from imagination. I’m trying to try the images in my head, but it’s hard.
I've recently spent time practising with pose packs and using those as a basis for artworks. However, I am still searching out techniques to draw from memory to imagination. I'm just learning to be more chill when it comes to art-making.

Great updates as always, really impressed by the amount and variety of your studies.  Your pencil work is solid, although I would maybe use a much darker pencil for your final lines, and maybe a tad more emphasis on line weight.  Keep it up!

Thanks for stopping by CG! These aren't the studies themselves (they are in another sketchbook) these are part of a fanart project I'm working on [Insert property here], but as Cowboys! My goal right now is just to try and complete finished illustrations, no matter how long it takes. It's the only way I'm really gonna improve as studies can't be my sole output, especially if I'm not applying it to anything. 

I'm began to colour them with coloured pencils, just like the Japanese schoolgirl. I'm having a problem with the pencils looking too blown out, once scanned. I tried adjusting the levels on Clip, but I'm still not 100% satisfied. I'm not exactly sure what to do to make traditional media like coloured pencils look the best once scanned. Any tips appreciated.  I could try a digitally coloured/augmented one, but that would have to be later, as I have digital pieces I need to try and finish. If so I guess you could consider these W.I.Ps. 

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[cgmythology]

Love the poses and colors with your latest. Have you thought about applying color digitally or will these be strictly traditionally colored? Keep up the great work!

[Jephyr]

Hey — that cowboys project is looking good. Please keep sharing your work

[Dominicque]

Love the poses and colors with your latest.  Have you thought about applying color digitally or will these be strictly traditionally colored?  Keep up the great work!

Hi there, I originally was just going to complete them all in traditional, because that's where I'm more confidence and didn't want to spend a lot of time finishing them. I have since purchased the officially endorsed CSP digitally paint course just to gain more fluency with the program. Wow, I am learning a lot! I didn't know the difference between 'Vector' layers vs 'Raster', nor that there are tools that can only be used with 'Vector' layers. I also learnt how to set up 'Auto action'. I am now onto the 'Flatting' section. Thesslyn, the tutor recommended using vector layers for lineart. I've been using my scanned art as a basis to practice the lessons. It's definitely allows for a lot more accuracy as you can always go back in and readjust the lines, rather than redrawing a line over and over again. However, I will say my results so far seem a little 'soulless'. So, I'll need practice more and seek out more guidance. For the rest of the sketches I think I'll continue them all with traditional media, if not just for completion's sake. 

Hey — that cowboys project is looking good.  Please keep sharing your work

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement! I have more coming up and I also plan to do 'Heroes for Hire' versions.

[one_two]

You have some nice expressions in your drawings! Good job.