Zombie's Book of Sketches

[Tristan Berndt]

Looks good, man!

On the subject of drawing heads and faces I'd like to make a bit of a radical and blasphemous suggestion. I'm seeing that you're using the Loomis method to construct your head studies and I am going to try and persuade you to stop.

Now I'm going to suggest something weird and this is something I've learned from a bunch of life drawing. Construct backwards. That sounds weird but hear me out.

When you draw from life, the first things you want to do is to get an accurate block out of the subject. You disregard anatomy, form, value and all that and you look at what you're drawing/painting as a flat 2D surface. You use straight lines and draw the contours of the subject, trying to be as accurate as possible. You use negative shape, relative angles, plum lines and whatever you need to get this part right. Then you move on to finding the important landmarks. When drawing the face, this is often the ears, the jaw, a line through the bridge of the nose to the centre of the lip, bottom of the nose, the brow line and the line defining the side plane of the face.

From that point you can start to construct your drawing based on the subject. You have to let your subject dictate the method and drawing rather than the method dictating the drawing. This is why I find the Loomis method so detrimental to drawing from life. Starting with a ball is too vague and you don't define anything valuable by starting this way. Bridgman's block is a lot more appropriate however it's more a way of thinking rather than actually drawing. Draw what you see and then construct after the initial contour drawing is finished.

If you can find some of Bridgman's life drawings of heads, they aren't constructed from a block, rather he uses the block as a metaphor to explain the concept of head planes. He uses the method I describe however it isn't conveyed very well in his books. I think he assumed that artists would have learned to draw from life first so he could just focus on abstracting the head.

For me, this method helped me a lot when it came time to drawing from imagination. It let me learn to think of the head and face in a more versatile way.

Anyway, disregard this if it doesn't make sense. I'd suggest you try it but in the end you should do what works for you!

[ZombieChinchilla]

Hey, thanks so much for the comment, Tristan! Interesting comment, but I gotta say that I kinda disagree, at least on what works best for me. I get what you mean how using the Loomis method for drawing head from life doesn't work too well, but I was drawing those fifty heads to further understand the structure underneath so that when I was to draw them from imagination later, I would be able to do it in a convincing way. I learned how to draw from life by the way you describe way back, and I think I actually have a pretty good handle of it. But when it comes to drawing from imagination, I've found that while looking at a head and drawing I focused more of copying it rather than studying it, so it doesn't transfer over. After years of being able to draw what I see fairly well but not what's in my head, me doing construction drawings is something that's really working. I've tried many methods for heads, too, and Loom's method, as explained by Proko, has probably clicked the best for me. If you look back on page 2 on here, you'll see a bunch of black and white drawings I did for class, all by using the method you explained. I even have a few cast drawings, and I think I can do them at a fairly well level of skill. But like I said, I can't do them from imagination, so that's why I'm doing this method.

Thank you for the comment, though, and if doing that works for you then go for it! But construction is what works for me, so I'm gonna do that. ;)

--

Okay, I have some more stuff to post! Sorry for disappearing for a few days there, after I finished my painting on Wednesday, I didn't draw anything else, and then I took the day of on Thursday and Friday. Despite it being such a nice day out (sun! warmth! no rain!!), I took some time to draw. :)


My potions piece is finished!! 1/3 done. I posted this in the critique section, and would love some feedback.


One problem I always have is balancing studies with finished pieces and with fun doodles. So I took some time to draw some Steven Universe characters.




Watched Proko's mannequin video and decided to give it a shot. Both from reference.

[Jaktraytr]

YES YES YESSSS! Keep it up! A very well rounded upload, beating your craft in ALL SORTS of zany positions: you got yourself some finished work primed for critcrit, you got some doodles for funsies, you got your studies... Ahhhhhhh mmmm As long as you're consistent, momma Jak doesn't have to threaten a zombie's life.

[Eristhe]

Heyy, good to see you doing more construction stuff! Something that I think would really help your most recent piece is to look up or photograph some reference. For example, at the moment the /idea/ of the pose of the hands is there but it looks undefined - if you look up some reference and do some supporting studies, you should be able to tackle the piece and improve it! By deconstructing/analysing your reference materials you'll gain a greater understanding that you can apply to your own pieces. As for your painting/lighting, really try to deconstruct where your light is coming from. For example, you have what seems to be a strong glow/light source coming from the vial in his hands which should be illuminating the top of his sleeve, however you've painted a strong shadow there. The same with your drop shadow of the arm - with the light source where it is, the shadow on the wall should be on the other side of the arm. Studying lighting and form principles will help with this! Try painting still lifes of basic block objects. Keep up the good work!

[pnate]

Hey Chinchilla!  Sweet updates :)  A couple of crits on that potions piece.  The first of which is that the perspective of the table doesn't match the objects that are on it.  I did a quick little drawover to show what I mean.  Something that would help with that is to set up a perspective grid on another layer and turn it on/off as you put in the objects so you can check it as you go along.  Another thing I noticed is that the value range of the light hitting his face is the same value range as the light hitting his sweater. So something that is helpful when you are implying materials with your painting is that different materials will have a different range of value and react differently to light.  So for instance, a sweater is made of cloth, which isn't a very reflective material.  It also appears that it's actual local color is relatively dark compared to his face, so it would probably wouldn't hit as bright of a value as his skin does in comparison.  I did a quick value adjustment to show what I mean but you could probably go even a bit darker; I think it helps to separate his face from what he's wearing by doing it this way.  Hope that helps!

[ZombieChinchilla]

Hey, guys! Thanks so much for responding.

Jak- Ahhahaha thaaanks I am glad I have pleased you, Momma. <3
Eristhe- Ah geez I'll admit I'm a little embarrassed I made such a dumb mistake, I'd like to revisit that painting and made a few adjustments, and changing the drop shadow is definitely one of them. ;A;
Nate- Hmm, changing the values of the face vs the clothes isn't something I considered, but that makes a lot of sense! I'll play around with the values a little bit. Thanks!

Okay, sorry for dropping off of CD for a week there. I'll admit I was doing more fun works rather than studies. OTL




Self portrait


Opal from SU


Sardonyx




Leg studies


A short speedpaint I'm not crazy about.

[Adam Lina]

Great stuff. I see you improving over all. One thing that helps in memorizing anatomy is to take down notes about each muscle. Take note of the origin and insertion point, its function and what its shape reminds you of. Like the trapezius looks like a dagger. Micheal Hampton's book Figure Drawing: Design and Invention describes each major muscle in that way. Its a nice beginner to intermediate guide for anatomy.

[ZombieChinchilla]

Thanks for the comment, Adam! I'll be sure to do more muscle studies in the future. Labeling and learning the names of the muscles and stuff is something I totally understand why I should do, but I struggle with it so much. ;A;

Okay, I've got more.



From ref:




Imagination:


And a sketch of Winry from FMA, for fun:

[Vornag]

While this is personal preference, I'd suggest you try focusing more on the energy of your pose in regards to figures. I find that the more energetic a pose, the better a figure reads. Try doing your constructions with as few lines as you can, preferably with one, quick line. It'll make your works look a lot more confident.

Keep it up

[ZombieChinchilla]

Thanks for the reply, Vornag! I agree that my figures need more life (ha), I've been focusing on anatomy and proportions that I've forgotten about movement. Thanks for the tips!


So the past week was pretty crazy for me. My sister, brother-in-law, and their three kids came and was visiting for the week, and man I had absolutely no time to do any drawing. It was fine, though, I loved spending the time with them. They left last Thursday, and I spent the weekend recovering from chasing them around all week, and now that it's back to normal I'm still struggling to get back to my routine. On Monday I was completely out of energy and didn't draw anything. I did a few short poses yesterday, and then today I just worked on a copic commission for a friend. Hopefully I'll do more stuff in the next few weeks. Next Thursday is my last week of work, then I have a whole week to spend all day home before I go off to Scotland on the 5th! I've gotten a few emails about what I'll do for orientation and stuff and it's starting to feel so real, holy crap. ;A;

Anyway, I have some figures, and I touched up the old potion painting. Perspective still baffles and confuses me.


From ref, trying to push the poses some


From imagination



Does anyone have any perspective books/resources to recommend? It honestly confuses the heck out me once you get past the "1 point perspective cubes floating in space" stage. I have Perspective! For Comic Book Artists by David Chelsea on my Amazon wishlist and might get it, unless anyone has any other recs.

[Bookend]

Great improvements over the last couple of years. Keep up the great work!

[ZombieChinchilla]

Thank you, Bookend!!

I have some poses and concepts for the week's CHoW.

[VoodooMama]

hééé Chinchilla! Lots of hard work in here! Keep pushing!
For your characters you could work a bit more on proportions of the torso, some of your figures seem a bit short on that area. For perspective book, I remember Loomis books have very nice perspective description on how to place characters and backgrounds in correct perspective. I can't remember which of his books though, I think it was Successful Illustration...

Keep up the good work! Looking forward to the CHOW illust :)

[ZombieChinchilla]

Thanks, V Mama! I'll have to check out how I draw torsos/the rib cage a little more. And I've skimmed through Successful Illustration but not too much. I'll check it out, thanks!

Some more color thumbs for the CHoW challenge, and a WIP.

[ZombieChinchilla]

Werk werk werk

[Bookend]

Zombiieee! Great coloured pieces-- Remember to use references if you get stuck, fit it all together, make it work-- Study, apply, GO FOR THE SKYYYYYYYeeeeeeeeEeee..

[PurpleScissors]

Keep up the good work Zombie! It is obvious that you are getting better and better in your figure drawings. About your WIP maybe her arms could be wider (or more muscular maybe) if you want them to look more in harmony with her body.

[Broadway]

Gestures are looking good, and great progress on the character! Don't forget to give her face & mask a shadow side on the left to match the lighting setup of the rest of the body.

Also, damn, your progress since the beginning of this sketchbook is LEGIT. New gestures vs. the early ones you have on p1 = DOMINATION

[ZombieChinchilla]

@Bookend- Thank so much, duuuude!
@PurpleScissors- Thanks! I did indeed change the shape of her arms slightly in the final image, thanks for the tip!
@Broadway- Cool, cool, thanks for the advice! And I'm glad to hear I've improved, that's what I'm aiming for!

So I have one more final image of my color wight. Imskeptical gave me a crit that the shapes are too simple so I took a few minutes and made them more complex.



And I did a small study on a piece from one of my favorite illustrators, Kai Carpenter:


http://kaicarpenter.deviantart.com/

[ZombieChinchilla]

Oh nooo, it's been almost a month since I've last posted! Forgive me daggers, for I have slacked. ;A;

But I do have a hopefully valid excuse? I'm been getting settled in Scotland for the last three weeks! I flew into Edinburgh on the 6th, where I stayed for a few days doing tourist things. Then I spent a few days in Stirling, finally going to Glasgow where I will be living until mid-December. Classes started this Monday so before then I was doing some traveling, shopping, and seeing some sights. The country is really beautiful and I love it so far! I'm currently here to study at the Glasgow School of Art in the Painting and Printmaking program. It's pretty cool so far, I get my own studio and I have a lot of freedom to basically work on whatever I want. So I'll be posting a lot of progress for it here.

I don't have much yet, though, I'm still trying to figure out what to draw, haha. But I do have some stuff from Amit environment class! I think I have about 50ish Notans, plus two two-value master studies.