Working towards consistency

[Navaali]

Welcome to my sketchbook.
My general goal is to develop skills to be a manga artist. I am not a beginner (I did art school and I've been drawing over 10 years, but not everyday).

Techniques I am familiar with:
- Painting / cellshading with photoshop

Techniques I want to work on at the moment:
- Inking with pen and ink
- Watercolor illustrations

Drawing: I want to focus on structure and be more rigorous. I want to have more intention while drawing, especially with linework.

I'll be posting exercices and updates on the path I take, and update this post every few months to reflect the evolution of my goals.
I'm open to criticism.

[Navaali]

I made a big investment buying a lot of new watercolor pigment a while ago but couldn't even find time to try it.

- it's the first time I use tube pigment instead of little box ones

- I had seven colors previously and I now have 20

So last week I finally put the colors into empty boxes and after waiting for it to dry, I did a color chart combining every possible two colors.




It's the preparation steps towards painting but it still is progress.

When putting the watercolor into the boxes, I had to level it with a pencil, so I did a small and random illustration in order to not lose the color. It was a good opportunity to try out those new colors, which I used pure. I used every new color here so it's very saturated and quite unharmonious compared to what I'd normally do!




As expected I'm having a hard time to scan or take a picture of watercolor. I notice the face/eyes look assymetrical despite being upfront.









And here are the two books I want to work with:




Next week I'm going to get back to actual drawing and sketching.

[darktiste]

Bonjour

[Jephyr]

Hi and welcome! It's good to see you working with a traditional medium.

Keep posting!

[Tribulator]

For inking with pen and ink, maybe try practicing different line weights and strokes to see how they affect your drawings.

[Navaali]

@Darktiste Thank you for the link!

@Jephyr Hi there! Thank you! Yeah, it feels really good for me to go back to traditional media! While using softwares, I have a lot of bad habits and it’s harder to keep focused and determine the steps to follow to finish my art. I just enjoy drawing and painting on paper and seeing a concrete object taking shape and not something on a screen. And it’s easier to correct my flaws with gesture and apprehension of space on paper. It’s just a weird canvas to work on when you can zoom and dezoom, because it’s less constrictive, I feel like it gives you less the feeling of a finished limited space. 

@Tribulator Noted. I’ll try to do some exercice with this later on. Thank you.

So far I have a productive and very nice week regarding art, thanks to the holidays and the help of my friends who are taking care of me. 

     I was able to witness some shibari practitioners, so I started my sketchbook and took this opportunity to do life drawing. The poses are really short and the models move unexpectedly, so it was really fast sketchs. Very interesting, I wish I could attend life drawing sessions. 

No nudity but I put a spoiler for shibari, if this is against the rules let me know and I’ll suppress the pictures.

Spoiler

     As I want to improve the structure of my drawings, I came back to the lesson 1 of Drawabox. As I said elsewhere, I have never finished this first lesson although I did it several time in the past - I usually get stuck around the rotated box exercice. A few month ago, I realized I hadn’t grasped the theory part of the ellipse lesson. I am familiar with the practical exercices but I don’t understand how the ellipse move in space depending on the viewpoint. So I rewatched/took notes on the lesson, paying attention to the minor axis and the normal vector. I was also interested in the fact that ellipses get thinner both when they slide away from the viewpoint, and when they rotate relatively to that same viewpoint.

This I find really difficult to grasp for my brain (I don’t have good visual imagination). Because I’ve practiced object drawing in art school, I had learn how to draw ellipses and had to construct objects in 3D. We did a lot of observational drawing and later had illustration exercices where you must recreate the same objects, which means you must understand their structure. But honestly it was a long time ago, and I was not super good with it to begin with. 

Now, I am aware that I can’t mentally picture simpler things. I struggled with understanding for example how an object can rotate around 3 axis, even while manipulating the object. So today I tried to get a better understanding of space and 3D playing with this. 

     Finally, an event that was amazing and very motivating. Yesterday, I got the opportunity to meet with a BD author. He is someone great, who knew the big names of French and Belgium comics, and saw the evolution of the field since all those years. Truly a storyteller, with the aura and looks of a sorcerer. 

Encountering artists like him means a lot. A single meeting like this can inspire me more than schools and social media or internet threads. We need masters and elders and the feeling to join with a legacy…

Anyway, apart from those personal feelings, I showed him the very few pages of comics I did since last year when I tried to seriously get back into it. And he encouraged me to continue those projects and submit them to get an editor to see if they could be published. He truly seemed seduced by some sensitivity in my work. 

I don’t feel ready and know my work is so flawed, but I know I put my heart in it, so it’s really my own. I couldn’t, for years and years, do this and try to tell a story of my choice using the medium of comics. 

So when I show my work to an editor, it might not work out, but I at least want to get there. And then, I will refine it, look for other opportunities, or propose other projects.  

[Navaali]

Since I’m in holidays I’ve been able do draw everyday or so. I rewatched and read the first lesson of Drawabox little by little. I tried at the same time to draw stuff so that the concepts would make sense to me. 
- ellipses minor axis and normal vector
- understanding the 3 dimensions by rotating an object
- ellipses oriented in the 3 different dimensions in space
- composed object with ellipses in 2 different directions
- coloring the set of edges of a box so I get them
- what we consider depth or height or length here is not relative to the position of the object but to our POV relative to this object (so if I watch a building from above it’s own height is considered depth)
- vanishing points on the horizon for sets of edges parallel to the ground
- foreshortening




I’m pretty happy with this studying because I was actively learning and also got a trace I can go back to for review.







I’m working for my comic as well doing some research… I have to draw a tank T-T

[one_two]

Great start man. Looking forward to be seeing more from you!

[darktiste]

Was just passing by and i had a suggestion if you want it a French youtuber artist that offer free content aswell as paid content.

https://www.youtube.com/@ArtisteAutodidacte

It always nice to have people help us in were mother tongue.

Aller a la prochaine.

[Lillen]

Watercolor really is such a big investment. I am just getting into watercolors too. Oooh did you get a Sennelier set? I hear their paints are so nice. I hope you like it.

[Navaali]

Thanks one_two!

Darktiste, I looked at the channel you recommend and his course seems extremely complete! I agree with his approach, and it's rare to see observation drawing put at the start. But I don't have the time to start everything over. I'll keep an eye on it. Merci ;)

Lillen, I was offered a Windsor and newton six color travel set and trained one year with that. I bought an empty Sennelier box recently and completed it with a lot of new colors, recommended in the book I use as reference...
I bought from several labels because none had all of the colors I needed. Mostly Windsor and Sennelier though.
It was a huge expense... But reasonably it's possible to buy one color a month and complete your set little by little, given than the six colors I had at the beginning were enough to do interesting work...
I tried buying it in tube as well, a watercolor teacher told me one tube can last many years contrary to other types of paint that are consumed more quickly.
I haven't been able to use it much yet ugh...
I'll try to make it worth it!

------------

1. Drawabox.
I'm at the second perspective exercice. You have to draw by hand and by guessing the one point perspective of your boxes, then check it using red. You "ghost" the lines to try to put the points at the right place but that's not enough to get it well.
This exercice feels like hell. I remembered finding it hard and understanding new things in my first run (2016...) but it's really tough. I have two pen grips, my original one and one I tried to develop to draw better. I went back to the first here because it's stiffer but more confident... And because since then they published a video discouraging to change your grip. 
I have done all the markmaking exercices and I redo them a little as warm ups, but I am not mastering them at all. It's actually my first and main weakness. My lines are usually messy, I have a bad habit of redoing them twice or three time for no reason, and I used to draw first, at random, and think and correct later. So slowing down and deciding before is an habit I absolutely need to develop.
Couple that with imprecision... My wrist and hand hurt and the lines still suck lol. And I just did one of the three today.

I like drawabox because I got that shock of "you're doing it all wrong!" and "this is what's been blocking me all those years" coupled with "they explain the basis that everyone else but me seemed to get right away".
Eye and hand coordination - sense of detail - good grasp on space... etc.
You can put yourself down all the time and still be surprised when you realize your level is below what you thought...
But I'm not super negative about this, I've known for years and it's good to have a huge margin for progress.
The problem is that it's so abstract and I don't want to fall into the habit of "I'm like a beginner so I'll wait until I'm good to do my projects". Then train slowly and never get there. I need to create right away, and also train myself to become better. But creation is more important because you also get better while creating...
I'm worried about using training as a way to procrastinate. And overall about my lack of time to achieve what I want to do.




Here is the first of what I hope to become a series of studies from masters of manga/comics...
I just finished it by adding the text, but I had started it in June.
It's from the manga Barbara by Moto Hagio.


Original :


My goal was to learn how to use inking pens: I used a "maru" one there, a short stiff pen that allows for very small detail, often associated with shoujo manga. I had 3 incidents where a drop of ink ruined the face of a character... T_T
While drawing it I realized how lively and expressive the posing of the characters are. Lot of strengh, weight and dynamic lines. The style is a bit retro so you can feel the Tezuka behind. Also she draws curly hair which you rarely see in manga I feel.
I did not have the original when I inked the last page from my sketch so it's less in her style.
I'm pretty happy for a first study but I also feel it's already too old and I haven't drawn enough of my own on the side to apply what I'm learning.

[darktiste]

I don't think it necessary to add the hatching on the box i know you work in ink but i think you should use a marker for the value just for saving time and working on what important in the exercise. Which is achieving a understanding of perspective. Value can always be delayed what matter the most is the quality of the vertical and horizontal and the vanishing line going to the vanishing point atleast in the 1 and 2 point perspective.

Also one thing i recommend for the 1 point and 2 point exercise is to get an angle checker and at the end to measure if you have 90 degre angle. You don't need one you can always finish the drawing and come back with a fresh eye and check and mark where you had some problem.It important to be aware of ''sloppyness'' otherwise you can't use what been done so far on the page as guide for the rest of the drawing as you can't erase mistake. So it very important to make sure that the first few line you put down are as perfect as you can if you are to use them for visual comparison against one an other. Since it ink the line might get worst and worst if you compare the vertical or horizontal against one and other so the trick to check for vertical and horizontal is to check the edge of the page you draw own since the length of the page will give you your horizontal guide and the height of the page will give you a vertical guide that you can always rely on more accurately but they are often further so not always the best line to compare against. It also a good idea to take the side of the page that as the best correspondence with the quality of the line you are achieving let say for example you want to do a vertical in the top left of the page you would use the left height of the page as the vertical guide. One trick you can do to have a guide at the middle is what called dividing a rectangle you basically make diagonal that start from the corner of the page that reach the opposite corner of the page then you do that until you have two set of diagonal one from the left and one from the right. Where the two diagonal meet you get the center of page. You can then use a ruler to divide the page into equal length and you get a vertical guide and a horizontal guide that run through the middle of the page that create new set of guide to compare. It a trick similar to how to find the middle point of a side of an object in perspective but in the case here it a visual guide for angle. Why i suggest you use guide first is because you need to be aware of how the degree of a line if you want to do the most basic 3d form which is arguably the box. The guide remind you and humble you.



The first exercise as more confident line but might be the result of using a ruler will the other look more free handed and should be what we strive for as artist even if it not necessary i think it helpful to have free hand horizontal and vertical line master because it mean we understand how to imagine to imaginary point and draw from one to an other with a small error margin.This help fast sketching and it avoid the stiffness of the ruler which is generally artificially looking.

For the manga i think you can push the expressiveness of the pose as i find that some of to be more vertical than they should be.

Not sure if you need to spend time learning calligraphy as you can pretty easly do webcomic but it a nice skill to have if you want to develop your own ''police of letter''

I added the picture of the technique to create the middle guide and i also gave you a few exercise example that should be pretty self explanatory but if you want any detail on what the goal in those i can always elaborate if you ask.

I will also probably remove the guide example to help keep your sketchbook a bit more short to the point and not take to much space.

[Navaali]

Thank you Darktist for your feedback and suggestions, it’s all really relevant.
I have noticed the same thing as you with how stiff my copy of Hagio is: a tendency to put faces and bodies back to the vertical when they are slanted.
Calligraphy could certainly benefit me. Maybe I can afford an initiation sometime this year.

The first drawabox exercice is indeed done with a ruler. It’s meant to get used to vanishing points and perspective. The second one is really tricky because every point of the boxes must be done by hand. And I’m already, as you’ve noticed, making a lot of mistakes while trying to draw a simple rectangle…
I’m not allowed to use the tool you mention while drawing, but I will now correct those lines as well afterwards in red to force my brain to put more attention to it. And I’ll cheat a little, checking the angle before I make any line, so that I get some remanent picture of a straight line…
Maybe this will help!

[one_two]

Thank you Darktist for your feedback and suggestions, it’s all really relevant.
I have noticed the same thing as you with how stiff my copy of Hagio is: a tendency to put faces and bodies back to the vertical when they are slanted.
Calligraphy could certainly benefit me. Maybe I can afford an initiation sometime this year.

The first drawabox exercice is indeed done with a ruler. It’s meant to get used to vanishing points and perspective. The second one is really tricky because every point of the boxes must be done by hand. And I’m already, as you’ve noticed, making a lot of mistakes while trying to draw a simple rectangle…
I’m not allowed to use the tool you mention while drawing, but I will now correct those lines as well afterwards in red to force my brain to put more attention to it. And I’ll cheat a little, checking the angle before I make any line, so that I get some remanent picture of a straight line…
Maybe this will help!

Calligraphy iis a super exercise when it comes to hand motor control but why would you need an initiation for it? What is there to be initiated? You just take the pencil in you hand and try to write without any tension in your hands. It should be a pleasent process - physically. There shouldn't be any discomfort or pain in the fingers.
I was always amazed by artists saying they are cheating when they're actually creating a support for themselves. Drawing from life is not easy. And doing so from imagination is a very hard task. Don't be so hard on youself, man.
It's just drawing.

[darktiste]

You can always check at the side of the page if your not allow guideline that not the same as actually putting a physical marker on the page. Also you can always use the horizon line as the sole guideline on the page since it often require to be drawn remember that it a horizontal line so really you already have a perfect line already on the page when you think about it. All you need now is to make your best effort so that the first line is a vertical as possible and then you can refer back to that line afterward obviously you want to compare that line against the nearest side of the page as i suggested. Also since you use a frame building each of the scene you use a ruler so check to make the frame perfect with a angle checker. All of those thing are permitted it called visually comparing and that not cheating.

The trick when you are doing those box exercise in the set rule is to draw box that start near the edge of the frame this way have a easier time creating and comparing later on because you already started adding vertical and horizontal that are visually near each other which make it easier to compare.By working from the edge toward the center you create cube that you can then compare against.

What i was suggesting in the previous message was outside the rule set by the exercise as correction tool as well as a few trick to start a scene when you work on large canva because the frame is often outside of your field of view so setting a center line and vertical line is helpful obviously you could also step away from the drawing from time to time but anyways that more a trick use in painting i would say.