Crimson Daggers — Art forum

Mannyhaaaaatz!

Dude, thanks for everything this year, you've pushed me like crazy - you don't even know. Keep pushing man, you've been improving rapidly these past few months especially! So keep it up, no matter what!

DANGER SQUAD will go H.A.M in 2014. Looking forward to it :D just like I'm looking forward to your work new yeaaar. Have a Happy New Year and all the best! Keep being awesomeee! :D

SMRRRFETTEEE!

Likewise! I've always held your sketches to a high regard, ever since I joined the daggers! Your work ethic and potential as an artist was one of the many factors behind my drive and my will to grow and improve!

I'm sorry I replied so late; I hope you enjoyed your holidays! You worked your butt off this year and you sure as hell deserve some time to re-calibrate haha! I am excited for what challenges await us, the DANGER SQUAD!



That year...dear god; THAT YEAR MAAAAN. I don't even know what to say about all of the things that I learned, experienced, thought, sacrificed, did and didn't do. Instead of recalling all of those beautiful and not so beautiful memories, I am going to take a moment of silence for last year...............................................................................................................................and start plotting for this year. Start planning for 2014.

It seems like my first year of seriously, like, REALLYYYY seriously pursuing art was more of a tutorial; feeling out my strong points and acknowledging my weaknesses, learning and understanding the fundamentals, learning about the industry as a whole, and realizing WHAT IT TAKES TO SURVIVE IN THIS JUNGLE. I learned the basics of painting digitally, I obtained my first paying commission and I learned a bit of the business and marketing aspect of the freelance model too.
I received just an appetizer, a TASTE of what this life entails. It was all just prep for the real thing: now that I have experienced a little piece of everything, along with the bountiful amounts of resources at my disposal, I have no excuse.


That brings me to the declaration of my next objective: becoming a self sustaining freelance artist. Last year, I prematurely pronounced that as my goal, hence the name of this sketchbook: Pro-Jekt 179. During my first year in this game, I wanted to be fulltime 6 months into 2013 (June). Obviously that hasn't happened haha, I was very ignorant then...and I still am now. BUT, I will learn from that experience; I am going to form an action plan that clearly details each step that must be made to reach my goal. Each action that must be executed...to reach my goal. Before I was blindly hacking and slashing at my goal. Yes, I have gotten closer, but most of the mindless power moves detoured me, burnt me out, and left me dizzy and even more confused than before. I am going to be more precise and eloquent in my goal for this year.

-END GAME/GOAL: TO BE A SELF SUSTAINING, FULLTIME, FREELANCE ARTIST.
What does one need to be a SELF SUSTAINING FREELANCE ARTIST...

-STEP: ...GET HIGH PAYING COMMISSIONS/COMPANY WORK
How does one get HIGH PAYING JOBS...

-STEP: ...CREATE VERY VERY VERRRRYYY GOOD WORK/KNOW PEOPLE AND HAVE A HISTORY WORKING WITH CLIENTS
How do I produce 1. high quality artwork, 2. build connections within the industry and 3. establish a good client/artist work history...

-STEP: ...1. CAPITALIZE ON YOUR STRENGTHS, EXPLOIT YOUR WEAKNESSES, AND STUDY YOUR FUNDAMENTALS (namely: rendering, composition, design, anatomy) 2. UPDATE CONSISTENTLY ON ALL OF THE FORUMS AND REACH OUT AND SHARE YOUR ART WITH OTHER CREATIVE AND GOAL ORIENTED PEOPLE, 3. IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH A GOOD CLIENT/ARTIST WORK HISTORY, YOU NEED TO HAVE A HISTORY OF WORKING WITH CLIENTS; OBTAIN CLIENT WORK
1. How do I capitalize on my strengths, exploit my weaknesses and study composition, rendering, design, anatomy? 2. How do I update consistently on the forums and share my art with creative and goal oriented people? 3. How do I get a working history with clients.

-STEP: 1. STEM INSPIRATION FROM THINGS YOU LIKE AND ENJOY AND IMBED THAT INTO YOUR STRONGEST FUNDAMENTAL SKILL, LOOK AT THE THINGS YOU SUCK AT THEN WORK UP THE COURAGE TO STRENGTHEN THOSE AREAS, RENDERING: DO MATERIAL STUDIES AND APPLY THOSE STUDIES, COMPOSITION: RESEARCH AND STUDY HOW OTHER ARTISTS COMPOSE THEIR IMAGES THEN APPLY WHAT YOU LEARN AND EXPERIMENT WITH VARIOUS METHODS; BE CREATIVE, DESIGN: RESEARCH A SPECIFIC THEME, ERA OF DRESS, ARTICLE OF CLOTHING, AND/OR PATTERN AND STUDY IT THEN APPLY IT TO SKETCHES, ANATOMY: STUDY ANATOMY BOOKS AND APPLY THE STUDY. 2 KEEP A SKETCHBOOK ON THE POPULAR FORUMS AND DEVIANT ART AND UPDATE IT WITH YOUR ART AND BE ACTIVE IN DISCUSSIONS, CHALLENGES, AND COMPETITIONS BE SURE TO COMMENT IN OTHER SKETCHBOOKS AND/OR GIVE CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK. CONTACT FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES ON FACEBOOK THAT OR STRIVING TOWARDS THEIR GOALS AND SHARE YOUR ART WITH THEM AND ENGAGE WITH GROUPS AND SUBJECTS THAT YOU ARE INTERESTED IN. 3. OBTAIN CLIENT WORK
1. How do I schedule these studies? 2. How do I strengthen my weak area? 3. What are my strengths? 4. How often should I update and engage with the community on these forums and competitions? 5. How do I get client work?

-STEP: 1. EVERYDAY, DO SOME DESIGN SKETCHES FOR 30-60MINS, STUDY ANATOMY FOR 1HR, DO A MATERIAL/PORTRAIT STUDY 1HR, AND DO SOME COMP SKETCHES FOR 30-60MINS. 2. DEVOTE TWO DAYS OUT OF THE WEEK TO STUDY PROBLEM AREAS. 3. ANATOMY IS MY STRENGTH 4. UPDATE AND ENGAGE WITH THE COMMUNITY EVERYDAY ON THE FORUMS. DO COMPETITIONS AND CHALLENGES AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH 5. TO OBTAIN CLIENT WORK, HAVE PIECES OF ART THAT ARE OF HIGH QUALITY OR CREATE A PORTFOLIO THAT CATERS TO A SPECIFIC COMPANY.
1. Where can I receive the references and material to study? 2. What are my problem areas? 3. How do I produce high quality pieces of art? 4. How would I know what type of style and standard a company holds?

-STEP: 1. YOU CAN GET REFERENCES AND MATERIAL TO STUDY FROM GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH, PDFS, YOUTUBE TUTORIALS, AND OBJECTS/MODELS FROM LIFE. 2. ENVIRONMENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS ARE YOUR PROBLEM AREAS. 3 YOU CAN PRODUCE HIGH QUALITY PIECES OF ART BY APPLYING ALL OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUNDAMENTALS COUPLED WITH YOUR IDEAS INTO ONE IMAGE. 4. YOU CAN VIEW A COMPANY'S STYLE AND STANDARD BY LOOKING AT THEIR WORST ARTISTS' WORK FOR THE COMPANY.
1. How often should I create full-fledged portfolio pieces? 2. How do I find the company's worst artists' work?

-STEP: 1. YOU SHOULD CREATE A FULL FLEDGED PORTFOLIO PIECE AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH. 2. YOU CAN FIND A COMPANY'S ARTISTS' WORK BY GOOGLING SOMETHING LIKE "COMPANY" ARTWORK AND THEN, LOOK FOR THE ONE THAT HAS THE LOWEST QUALITY FUNDAMENTALLY AND IN "COOLNESS"
1. How do I practice creating more "complete" pieces?

-STEP: 1. PRACTICE CREATING PIECES THAT ARE CLOSER TO FINISH BY WORKING ON SOMETHING BEFORE BED EVERYNIGHT!! DON'T WORRY ABOUT FINISHING IT; YOU CAN ALWAYS COMEBACK TO IT LATER. GET THE BASIC IDEAS AND COMPOSITION DOWN.















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A post wouldn't be complete without some art; The last of my art from 2013:

So far so good...in terms of focus and staying on task. However, the studies suck and it isn't much to show, even though I've been working for roughly 7-10 hours. Really? The fuck man...

I need a scanner; phone sucks too. Just a suck-filled day.

Another finished piece! I'm feeling good about my progress...I hope I hit my goal at this rate. This image took 2 days, about 10-14 hours. This is my first painting with a background of some sort D:

Study, study, study, apply, apply, apply, repeat, repeat, repeat!

Hey thanks for stopping by my SB! It awesome seeing how much you've improved in a year. Love the design on the blue guy. Keep honing those fundamentals!

Hey man, very nice progress on the anatomy! You've progressed a lot and it's really cool to see it. I can't really fill up on the comments and tips that have been given already. All I can say is: keep it up!

@hypnagogic_Haze: no problem man and thanks for acknowledging my growth! It's crazy that's it's only been a year since I started taking this seriously because it feels like it has been forever. Yup, will do!

@JhonnyVDB: Thanks man! Hogarth makes it fun to study; his figures are shmexy. Gotta keep on goinnn'

Thumbnails, comps, and studzz

Wow, lots of progress on the light and shadow work for those last anatomy studies.

Really like the little figure sketches--different characters, but all looking from the same universe.

For the thumbnails, the figure in #2 is intriguing, although a different cave shape might complement it better. Maybe something less symmetrical in overall shape? Thumb 3 is cool. I like the action of the guy in thumb 4--those angles could maybe even be pushed more. The background in #4 feels a bit serene. But overall I like them!

Keep up the great work!

oh man. your sketchpad is an inspiration! I need to study as hard as you do! Keep up the good work! :D

@Tygerson- thank you so much! Yeah, I am loving me some hogarth, however, each of those studies take FORRRRREVERRRR...): You made some very good points on the thumbnails; I'm just glad they are somewhat readable!!

@Heliux- damn man, thanks so much! I always feel as if I could be studying harder and smarter though...keep studying man! Once you build some momentum, everything becomes a bit easier to manage (:

Hogarth studies, a head from ref then recreated from memory, and a very bland sketchy sketch. Oh, and some gestures; trying to practice foreshortening.

Photo study of Zac Efron; didn't have enough time to finish ittttt because it's late. However, I learned enough for it not to be a waste of tiiiime. Faces are full of colors man. Normally, my portrait studies are of bald men because it's easier to block in the silhouette with one color haahaha lazinesssssss... so, with this one I spent a lot of time on the line work.

I made his damn head too fat...it's so hard trying to get the layout perfectly.

Tomorrow is back to anatomy and desiiiiiign.

I love the work you did around the eyes with this last portrait :) I also think you focused quite well on skintone color, all the natural variations can be super tricky :)

Good work so far! Keep going! I guess the speed esp with the anatomy studies comes with mileage. I heard jim lee talk about practicing some pose over and over again, until he could convincingly draw it.

@Marla- thank you! In one of my pieces, I made the face look very much like a rubber mask, so I'm trying my hardest to observe how REAL faces work haha

@MW-Art- yeah, I'm starting to realize that; today's anatomy study took 3+ hours but the fact that all of the poses so far have been the same really pounds the concept in my head! Next time, I might try to produce a body from my mind based off of what I have been learning so far.

studiessss and a crap sketch of a man in dumb suit

I like the male portraits, they're very convincingly masculine. in the last one, the guy in the suit has his eyes a bit too far apart. Also, I notice that when you go from ref to no ref you tend to alter proportions a bit, into what is more like default proportions.. I think that's fine, but if you wanna keep training your memory, make a note of which proportions are non-standard in your ref, like that guy's strong jawline, and relatively large chin... :)

@Marla-thank you marla! Yeah, I noticed when I was drawing...but for some frighteningly odd reason, I was drawing as if I was using pen, even though I was using pencil! I guess it's because I made up in my mind that whatever I did to the face was finalized and could never be changed...just scared of erasing hard lines, making a mess of my sketchbook, starting over...blasdfjp I'm weird. Yeah, I'm learning to REAAALLLY try to produce studies from memory; progress is slow for now ): Making notes is probably something I need to do in the future.

Whelp, here's today's work... I plan on making this a finished image, so, I'm spending gross amounts of time on the linework, making sure things are accurate. going back to studies tomorrow!

Nice work on the Efron portrait. You captured his expression well in the shapes of the eyes and creases of the skin. His nose looks good, too.

@tygerson- thanks dude! I'm going to try and apply these portrait studies for now on; I want to cement tht knowledge into my braaains.

SOME THUMBS FO' MAH DANGUH SQUAD PIECE.(starring smrrfette and M.Calza)Which one do you guys think is the strongest or the coolest composition? I think there is a real obvious one, which is a shame, because I spent a lot of time thinking on all 12 hahahaha.

No idea which is 'the obvious one' to be honest. I like the most 5 and 10, they both have some really epic vibe.

try loosen up your figures by avoiding sharp angles and instead using rhythmic lines. hogarth has a theory called the line of beauty, and basically he says this serpentine line shows movement and liveliness as if the line has spring and is ready to move while the straight lines actually show death or an inanimate object. good luck!