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Suira: Thanks for that tip on rhythm and gesture. It's easily forgotten when I get trapped into rendering and then all my figures come out stiff like stickers. I do traditional because I learned it first for a long time before picking up digital.
Froz3n: Hey, thanks bud! Keep up the work over there too!
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A corner of the wip c.chow.2... am I ashamed? You bank on it.
... and then some doodles while at religion camp with no internet for a couple days. I left out the religious one so just this:
I sat at a public seating and sketched the city sky after yet another job interview botched by nervous cat got my tongue, and brain freeze. Me doth thinketh my only chance is to go bug city park rangers at their office for work or volunteer.
Lastly, this is what I've been up to last week before the camp. A simple study of sss in the translucent tomatoes and fogged glass jar. Surprisingly the side-way mug gave me the most trouble as it refuse to look right. I spent a whole night and some more on it, then had to move on. The translucent feeling isn't quite coming through the tomatoes either. Looked up some simple layering in oil painting, and seems like I need more experience as well as planning of the layers. That is, if I wish to try out the layering look instead of going alla prima with mental color picker.
Also, surprisingly, Cerulean really is a cold blue that's quite unique. Perhaps if I found the Phthalo blue and tested it, the result would be similar, but so far cerulean has its own mixes, and I have a fat coupon from Blick Arts...
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Long live the tomato king!
The citrus tree dragon is cool. Are you going to do that inktober thing? If so, I'm looking forward to what you'll be coming up with!
Lovely oils as always. If something is giving you trouble in particular, do you look up similar subjects in old master paintings? Especially with still lifes there should be plenty to be found, I would think. When being stuck with something seeing how others went about it can give me some new ideas how to solve a problem, be that simplifying something, or a way to paint some material or light situation etc. Or at least give you a hint what to try out.
Thanks for showing your steps again, love seeing the progress <3
PS. CChow reminder *nudge*
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Lyraina: I am doing the Inktober event, since it seems like a good morning warm up or late night unwind exercise.
I *should* study someone, Old Master and such, when I beached, but I often don't... out of sheer laziness. And stubborn pride that "I should be able to do this without help", which isn't helpful. I did take out Scott Robertson's How to Draw and did some ellipse practice though.
Yikes, c.chow. Reminder received!
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A few more inktober drawings, followed by the tiniest oil painting I've done. Not that it was any faster. 1 day and 2 nights.
Anything can be criticized, but in the end, I'm the only one accountable for my life. Life is never inertia, and decision is either made by or for me. So take up the pen, sign the bills, and stiffen that backbone and walk forever forward. So be I the freak, so be I the lone wolf, at least the brands are my choice, and implies liberty that to some are denied. Life is right there between the decision and the consequences, so it must have pain from the tearing. Be glad for the signs of living, and grateful for those of liberty. March with a firm chin, straight sight, and fearless steps.
The fruit
looks good
keep going!!!
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Wooo awesome job on that still life meat! A small crit for next time, the composition of the elements doesn't really feel dynamic to me, it feels a little squarish with each thing in the foreground having a corresponding pair in the background. Maybe playing up the uneven size differences or arranging them in like an S type pattern would be cool to see. nitpick, nitpick, nitpick <3
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Well, the laziness excuse should already R.I.P. by now I hope, but regarding the pride - definitely not helpful. If it helps, change your mindset - don't go 'looking for help', but just be curious about how others before you went about it. Look at different sources, and just see it as filling your visual library (always a good thing!). You can still do your own thing in your own paintings then!
Nice inkings, especially the guy - his stare is piercing me!
Amazed as always by your oils. Since you want crits - maybe you could push the light situation a bit more to create more atmosphere or interest? Thinking mostly of color temperature here - making the sun a bit warmer, thus also pushing the greens hit by light a bit more towards yellow, contrary in the shadows. Depends, of course, if you want to paint it realistically, or push reality a bit. More a general thing however - something to experiment with maybe. If used correctly, color and light can be a great tool to push an image from good to great, I think. I very much like the dappled light you painted btw! Using light and shadow is another thing that can greatly enhance a painting, but I see you're already using that :)
Very wise words there at the end.
*cracks ChoW reminder whip*
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Lovely job on the ink stuff, Meat!
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hey meat,
nice oilpaintings, especially the one with the red tree and the asian-roofed-building.
As for the inks I wouldn't cut off all of the dude's arm and then just show the sword. To me it kinda seems like you avoid drawing anatomy and therefore hide it.
Other than that, what pnate said about the stilllife, the comp could be more interesting. And maybe it would be an idea to paint only one thing but to get it really right, before tackling more objects at the same time, getting them 70% where you want them to be.
Keep it up! :)
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Froz3n: Thanks! I won’t be doing more fruit in the near future, however. There’s just an endless supply of fruits and vegetables and I’ll never get to the other stuff I want to paint.
Nate & Flo: Thanks for the crit! Yeah spot on with that size difference observation… I was partially deluding myself from the truth I refused to see. Thanks for calling me out! And Flo, I’ll definite think about that composition in next ink drawing. His arm got cut off ‘cos that was where the page ended. Composition is something I really want to study more.
Stardust: Thanks mate!
Lyra: After re-examining the car painting when it’s dry and in actual sun light during day time (instead of a lamp in basement at 11pm), I thought I’d leave further yellow out of the lights in this one, but I get your point, and even read about being conscious and judging of {Naples} yellow amount in outdoor light. This is a conscious decision, not laziness, mind you!
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Apparently I have trouble getting artistically productive after a day or even half a day of job application. At best I spent the rest of the day scratching away at the same sheep drawing, at worse I go play pc games.
Also realized there’s never-ending source of interesting-looking fruits and vegetables for still life painting, and if I don’t stop myself, I’ll never get to the other stuff I want to paint. So this measly fruit still life is the last I’ll do for the near future. That water lily is the sorrowfully little result of a day of plein air gone to the winds. I always said I'd come back out to paint more, but, alone, I never trek that distance with all those art supplies... .
After dealing with random pressure sensitivity for so long, I finally realized I had to uncheck Use Windows Ink in the Mapping tab of Grip Pen in Photoshop. Then save and backup that whole damn preference setting.
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Is there any possibility to turn your schedule around and start the day with art, and do the job application later? Might help you with getting started in the morning with more motivation, plus a sense of urgency 'cause you know your art time is limited. Not that this is good for patience with doing studies, but it might help you block out other temptations and focus on art. And your brain is still fresher than after a day of paperwork. Just an idea...
The persimon (khaki?) are pretty. Wish I had one now, or better a pile of them! And as for there being lots of interesting fruit - fully agree. So very tempting to just paint them all with all of their lovely colors and shapes! But I'm curious to see all the other things you will be doing instead :)
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It’s a wonder how simply flipping the tasks around helps. Sure it was hard to stop before I felt like I made decent progress in a drawing, but at least it wasn’t a total loss anymore. Thanks Lyra!
I was supposed to be doing some bugs in oil, but it didn’t happen… yet.
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Not a whole lot of art this week. I'll start working at a packaging assembly line this Thursday. Now that I have an external structure (sort of) imposed, it should be easier to build study structures outside of that. Morning pre-work anatomy study, lunch doodle, and evening has potentially up to 4 hours of full art time. *Keeps hoping anyway*
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Oh man, I'm digging that last piece, Meat. It has quite an eastern look about it. What media did you use for it?
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(10-22-2014, 02:11 AM)StardustLarva Wrote: Oh man, I'm digging that last piece, Meat. It has quite an eastern look about it. What media did you use for it?
Thanks mate! It's watercolor - Prussian Blue - on paper. It is meant to imitate those Chinese porcelain with azure glaze on them. I was uncertain of the effects because I'm unfamiliar with watercolor, so it was a very slow, deliberate process of layering paint over and over. And that was with line art on tracing paper atop a light box already so I can paint new ones with same line art if screwed up!
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... and that's all there'll be 'till next year, some sketches like this. Have some temp retail job over the holidays.
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Already said it, will say it again: Love the blue sheep painting <3
A crit for the oil painting above: It is a solid and nice painting, but lacks a bit of punch, I think. Compositionally it feels fine, maybe a bit empty on the lower left. Some more foreground element maybe? I'm not really sure where you want me (as the viewer) to look though. The house stands out of course, because it's red and detailed and contrasts with the vegetation - but then my eye keeps flicking around the image, not sure where to look closer. So maybe choose one area (or two) and push contrast a bit more, i.e. lighten some areas, or make it a bit more detailed, or whatever else you can think of to draw attention :) Even if it really looks like this - unless you want to create a strictly realistic image, there's nothing wrong with using your artistic licence to push things a bit.
Do you also do some anatomy sketches from memory after studying your animals? I find that quite helpful to better remember things. Ohmu like face, lol :D
Make sure to keep up the drawing on the side of your job. Slow and steady wins the race. You can do this!
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Thanks for the crit!!! Yeah it's a pretty weak image as it is. I added the red house as a desperate measure before going home... I'll think of where to add detail and push contrast.
I actually do animal doodles from the head a lot more often than anything else, so that's less of a concern for me than the worry of getting into a habit of drawing the wrong anatomy because I didn't study it. I'll try to maintain either morning or evening anatomy study (+lunch doodle) depending on shift schedule. Danke! And you too! (and I say this to one of you who studies the most...irony)
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Retail huh? I'm a team leader in retail... it sucks... lol But gotta pay the bills etc
Really nice inks, I especially like the monkey archer. Also that latest prussian blue image looks fantastic. With your oil paintings I think some (not so much the house and car as they are man made forms but more the organic ones) more soft and lost edges would really give your organic forms more life to them and a more realistic look and feel.
Animal studies in your sketchbook looking good to, keep up the hard work!
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JonHop : I ended up in cafe. Lots of practice on face-to-face interaction and trying to sell stuff while making said stuff at the same time, lol!
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Some animal studies.
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[edit 11/21] [rant] [negative tone]
...
[edit] [note to self]
"W.H.A.S. CHALLENGE for December! - Winter Hibernation Art Study !
Fill 2 full sketchbooks with studies!
One sketchbook on Fundamentals, Anatomy, Light and Form, Values, ETC
The other sketchbook on Design, Lines, Shapes, Composition, ETC
The reward, YOU BECOME A BETTER ARTIST!
Remember even if you only do half of this challenge that's still one full sketchbook. Challenge end date is January 1, 2015. Starting date... NOW
See you guys on the other side. And don't worry there will be other challenges.
-AJ"
Here's my excuse to not challenge myself to learn digital art and just do traditional for a month.
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When something that's obviously temporary doesn't feel temporary, and when you're unable to fight that off, you're in big trouble.
I'm losing the fight and giving in to the pressure to look like I'm doing something "right" with my life (having regularly-paying day jobs), to guilt, to fatigue, to a lot of things adding together. I see this downward spiral that leads to absolutely no gain that I'm travelling on, and have traveled twice before. The fact that I'm here again makes me want to just kill myself.
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