Scuse me while I kiss the sky!

[JyonnyNovice]

Love those simplified animals, especially the bunny and the squirrel, such a great little style! Do you simplify them like that yourself or are they from other people's drawings? Definitely onto something good there either way! Gestures are looking great too and so much detailed knowledge of the head, keep going ^^

[IrishWhiskey]

@tinDeer, Thanks haha! yeah I just got a copy of Loomis's book and plan on working my way through that pretty soon hopefully.

@Jyonny, no I did the animal gestures myself. I just use pixelovely's animal references and do two-minute studies. I'm glad you like them :3

I finished that portrait I started. so I'm going to call it #7/50 haha   LONG LONG WAY TO GO!

I really wanted to paint "Skellig Michael" recently so I did that, I am still a scrub at color so I kept getting stuck and had to color pick but i guess that gets better with time.
The skellig's is just outside my town and you guys might have seen it in the new star wars film. I really have to watch those movies and see what all the fuss is about. 

[Piotr Jasielski]

Nice SB, it's great to see you're focusing on fundamentals! Keep this up and good luck on your art journey :)

[IrishWhiskey]

@Piotr Jasielski, Yeah the fundamentals are all i can manage at the moment really   Thanks for the kinds words!!

105 two-minute heads. I'm going to read Loomis after these 

[IrishWhiskey]

I started reading andrew loomis head and hands so I don't have much today because i just want to read it cover to cover then go through the book again and do drawings from it. I don't know if that's a good idea but its too late now!  

Im going to start doing my portraits around an hour long and force myself to stop when my alarm goes off. (easier said than done) 
I want to get a good base in my paintings before i render because rendered poo is still poo at the end of the day 

I don't do under sketches, i just throw the paint on and pray to the mercy gods but i think maybe i should start sketching first...... I dunno..

#8 making Leyendecker turn in his grave

[tripna]

Hey man nice studies, your focus on figure and fundamentals are admirable. Keep at it and you'll surely see them gains :)

[IrishWhiskey]

@tripna, Thanks a lot   getting my figures like yours is the goal right now!

#9 Zorn study
I started with the hour but lost track of time on this, so I think maybe 2 hours? I'm not even sure haha so much fun 

[Triggerpigking]

Nice updates dude, new portrait is looking a bit derpy eyed but perhaps thats just the light and it being done in value other then colour xD.

[IrishWhiskey]

Cheers Triggs! 
I dunno if I made it derpy eyed or If the actual painting I did the study from was that way haha 
Here is it next to the original. I think my eyes are bigger tho. 




More blahh 

[Helianthe]

Haha, you actually made the guy LESS derpy :D
I like how there is structure in your work. It adds depth and it's super important especially when painting. Even if you didn't respect the proportions of the last study to the pixel, you can see the structure of the face and that's neat.
Have you tried to do some accuracy drawing? For example, the super heavy academic stuff like Bargues and such. Because I think that your drawings could really gain a lot of stability with more accurate proportions and while this stuff is super tedious, it really helps when doing study focusing on other things (like volume or structure).

[ZandraDragon]

you have improved a lot. I love seeing all the face studies. I would high suggest studying imagine fx anatomy book. I found it helpful to have the figure human broken down into simple shapes and then placing the forms over. It is basically like having a map. Loomis goes over it a little bit but not thoroughly as this book. I can send you some of the resources and the pdf of the book if you want.

I found seeing the gif of your painting process helpful to me. I struggle with digital painting I like how you block in the color and then blended it. Have you thought of adding white gel pen and marker to your toned sketches? It is my favorite medium to work in on toned paper.

[IrishWhiskey]

@Helianthe, Thanks   I'm trying my best to avoid Bargues haha but I know I really have to make an effort at that to improve so I might give it a go soon. I appreciate the advice!!

@ZandraDragon, Cheers!! I'm glad other people are seeing improvement because its hard for me to see any. 
I actually have that book because *Amit Dutta* was kind enough to send it out to me. I haven't really looked at figure anatomy in awhile because I'm getting a little obsessed with the head but I will tackle that beast soon haha
I'm glad that gif helped   
I got a white gel pen but I guess it's not very good because it won't go over pencil or pen, It just mixed with it and looks awful. I'm going to get a new one soon for sure. 

*Trying out watercolor (first time touching paint in so long   )
*started draw a box (hope i finish it)
*more 2 minute heads
*head doodles from imagination 
*form slash movie studies.
*gestures















Imagination




2 min heads

[JyonnyNovice]

lot of hardwork going on, the head is such a hard thing! great to practice with other mediums too! Do you do 5 min heads much? I think the improvement is much more noticeable to yourself if you up the time just a little - refining the shapes and adding simplified details in those extra couple of minutes can make the drawings really come to life and make you feel proud and happy : )

stick with this and you'll be a head master in no time (and I don't mean working in a school!).

[Leonard]

Peaky Blinders :D

[IrishWhiskey]

@Jyonny, Cheers!! what medium would you suggest? I'm so bad at deciding what to get haha
I tried some 5-minute heads and your right, I'm spotting my flaws a lot easier and think its helping me so much.
I want to be a school head master too haha 

@Leonard, I cant get enough of that show :) 

Did someone say I need more pictures of heads in my Sketchbook??     NO???  

Cough Cough Cough .............

#10 & #11/50 

[JyonnyNovice]

what medium would you suggest?

Personally, I do them in pencil, and usually after I did a page of 2 or 5 min heads, I go over them in ball point or ink or something, without a time limit. I find the inking part lets me see and correct even more mistakes - and I can really surprise myself over how they turn out. Of course it's great to do them in ball point like yours but I find that's more useful to 'test' my current level and practice visualising than it is to progress my level of understanding (just my opinion though). Also, you might want to do some more slower skull studies, the front of your heads and the faceplate and stuff look really solid but some of the backs and sides of the head feel squashed or stretched or just not enough mass / space to really fit the skull (this is just in your quick heads on some of the side and 3/4 views, the front views and paintings look sound). Keep going dude ^^

[IrishWhiskey]

@Jyonny, Thanks alot, I'll work on it! 

....

experimenting... 
















Testing out urban sketching .. I suck 



Every Guy has a Dora glass - this is a Fact! 

[Fedodika]

Hey bro, i know it ain't fun but keep grindin them fundametals, it'll do you more good than bad in the long run :). Also that zorn study up there ain't bad, same with your profile pic. One thing that helped me a lot was trying to draw a face from imagination every day, and try to make it i guess passable, but use values and lines in combination and check reference if you get stuck. Remember everytime you fix or move something to make it look more correct, you're acquiring new information ;)

[John]

Heya Irish! Long time no post!

I think the idea behind what you're doing with the head experiment is great. Plus, respect points because it's done traditionally. I really love your idea of treating the object like it's 3D, like rotating the subject around and discover hard-to-draw poses and angles.

If I may suggest, maybe it's a good idea to stick to just one subject to study from. Pick an object/person. Snap photos at different angles for reference! Or, scour the internet for good head references. Like this person: http://robynrose.deviantart.com/



I can't stress it enough that you have to shoot as close as possible to real life reference. I don't want to discount what Fed said, because working from imagination has merits. But working on imagination alone has a huge tendency for everyone to reinforce bad habits thinking it's right when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

On to the paint-over!

Original:


With edits:


I decided to keep the base of the neck true to what you drew, and change the surrounding head in relation to that. The skull shape needs to jut out a little more. Most of the facial features can't be seen at this angle (In this angle, the nose and the eye can't be seen). And the ear you drew looks more like a symbol for an ear than an ear in perspective.

You are having trouble whenever the face starts to turn? I say you have to work on how to draw the facial features (especially the eyes and nose) in perspective. You're probably golden when the subject is looking at the camera straight on, so maybe it's a good idea to give extra care to other angles!

Just one subject in different angles so you don't have to vary much in proportion! Looking forward to your next update!

[Jonesoda]

keep workin it man! glad to see such a variety of things you're studying :D