The Velvet Revolvers

[Bookend]

My colour study-ish today.

Uggh, I am really depressed.  I need to get happy again.

[Vicianus]

Hi Velvet Revolvers!
Don't mind me - I'm hopping in.
I'm Vicianus - My real name is really boring (Stephany Green) so please call me Vici. c:

I just finished two years of Art School at LCAD, but dropped out at the end of last spring because the curriculum is not what I wanted. I'm kind of a silly person and throughout my whole life I've never taken school very seriously (especially because I could do extremely well in my classes without giving full effort) so paired with issues in the actual curriculum along with the idea that I can probably push harder studying on my own, already swimming under massive amounts of debt, I decided I wanted to slum it and work really hard for the remaining two years on my own and end up at a tastier skill level than the same kids who will be in what would have been my graduating class.

In terms of what I want to do... I'm really attracted to the visual development field. Trying variations on an idea to find its perfect visual equivalent, creating designs for a cohesive world. *O* In an absolutely IDEAL world, I would eventually want to be working on animation with a team of like-minded individuals. Really, though, I just want to make stuff and draw well. It would be really cool if someone paid me to draw.

I think that good art stems from clarity. From simply having a clear composition in value breakup, to clear form rendering so the viewer easily understands what he is looking at, to clarity of material in rendering and color, etc. Great art transcends this, and uses clarity to express a unique idea.

I looooove 80s animation like Akira and the works of Ralph Bakshi. My favorite artists are Norman Rockwell, James Jean, Tatsuyuki Tanaka, and Kim Jung Gi. There's content-specific stuff that I like in these artist's work; I'm also hugely inspired by Loomis, Gil Elvgren, Milt Kahl, Steve Huston, The Russian Academy, and Howard Pyle.

I have a huge boner for good art, I seriously live for it. UoU So I want to make a bunch of it myself.

That's about it for now -- I'll come back and post some studies and crits soon!

[Jeso]

My colour study-ish today.

Uggh, I am really depressed.  I need to get happy again.

Hey Book! Thats a nice study ! I specially love that hand with the red glow in it. The back of the girl should be a little cooler in color though but, all in all, great work. You should apply it to something soon so you remember ! Do a speed painting with those colors or something.

I've found that when you are kind of a loner guy like I am, the best ways to deal with depression is meditation and exercise. Any of those will fix your mental state in a heart beat!

[Jeso]

Hi Velvet Revolvers!
Don't mind me - I'm hopping in.
I'm Vicianus - My real name is really boring (Stephany Green) so please call me Vici. c:

I just finished two years of Art School at LCAD, but dropped out at the end of last spring because the curriculum is not what I wanted. I'm kind of a silly person and throughout my whole life I've never taken school very seriously (especially because I could do extremely well in my classes without giving full effort) so paired with issues in the actual curriculum along with the idea that I can probably push harder studying on my own, already swimming under massive amounts of debt, I decided I wanted to slum it and work really hard for the remaining two years on my own and end up at a tastier skill level than the same kids who will be in what would have been my graduating class.

In terms of what I want to do... I'm really attracted to the visual development field. Trying variations on an idea to find its perfect visual equivalent, creating designs for a cohesive world. *O* In an absolutely IDEAL world, I would eventually want to be working on animation with a team of like-minded individuals. Really, though, I just want to make stuff and draw well. It would be really cool if someone paid me to draw.

I think that good art stems from clarity. From simply having a clear composition in value breakup, to clear form rendering so the viewer easily understands what he is looking at, to clarity of material in rendering and color, etc. Great art transcends this, and uses clarity to express a unique idea.

I looooove 80s animation like Akira and the works of Ralph Bakshi. My favorite artists are Norman Rockwell, James Jean, Tatsuyuki Tanaka, and Kim Jung Gi. There's content-specific stuff that I like in these artist's work; I'm also hugely inspired by Loomis, Gil Elvgren, Milt Kahl, Steve Huston, The Russian Academy, and Howard Pyle.

I have a huge boner for good art, I seriously live for it. UoU So I want to make a bunch of it myself.

That's about it for now -- I'll come back and post some studies and crits soon!

Hey Vici ! Welcome to the Revolvers, that was a cool story, I love akira, Rockwell, Kim, and Howard Pyle as well!
I took a look around your sketchbook, and its really dope! You have very good grasp of fundamentals I think. I love your anime'ish gray scale sketches. Hope to see more from you in this group!

[Bookend]

My colour study-ish today.

Uggh, I am really depressed.  I need to get happy again.

Hey Book! Thats a nice study ! I specially love that hand with the red glow in it. The back of the girl should be a little cooler in color though but, all in all, great work. You should apply it to something soon so you remember ! Do a speed painting with those colors or something.

I've found that when you are kind of a loner guy like I am, the best ways to deal with depression is meditation and exercise. Any of those will fix your mental state in a heart beat!

Thanks, I agree.  I didn't push the study too much, because I didn't want it to consume my time with it, just to get a general idea of how it was built up, the composition, and the values--  I'm excited to use what I've learned.


Annnnd here's another study..  Going to apply these to Rusalka.

[Jeso]

Good work Book, Cant wait to see what you apply it on eventually!

Here is my WIP on the Knight portrait dude. Shout out to Book for helping me out during my stream! :D

[Vicianus]

Hey Vici ! Welcome to the Revolvers, that was a cool story, I love akira, Rockwell, Kim, and Howard Pyle as well!
I took a look around your sketchbook, and its really dope! You have very good grasp of fundamentals I think. I love your anime'ish gray scale sketches. Hope to see more from you in this group!

Thank you so much, Jeso! ;v; I definitely want to pop around as much as possible.

Hey Book! :O I think this study is really nice. The colors have a great mood, and I love the attention to rythm in the patterning of the trees. You paintings tend to get a little muddy in terms of texture, though - I think it would be beneficial for you to also explore different ways of making a stroke to separate items with a different texture since you're already good at blocking in areas of shape and color. If you add a definition of hardness and/or roughness to these simple studies, it will really make them pop and bring a new level to your work.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Aaand I'm here with some anatomy junk!

Here's a Dean Cornwell study (charcoal):

Original

12 constructed dudes from photo:


12 constructed chicks from photo:


My ability to draw men needs some serious work =v=;;; Even though I know anatomy decently, I totally break it while trying to draw them. LMAO Hit me with them crits, Velvets! :'D

[Amit Dutta]

Hey, Jeso nice group you've started. A good initiative. I hope you are coming out of your hiatus well!
I won't be contributing to the group, but I might pop some brief crit in now and then.
@Book: for your comps, try using only black and white and using silhouettes instead of line. It will help you judge the actual composition better.
@Vici, All your figures' feet seem to be consistently too large for their proportions. Might want to check that in the next round.
Carry on everybody!

[Jeso]

Haha Revolvers, this is Amit, probably the most bad ass mofo to roam the crimson daggers forum these days! lol Welcome Amit! Your critiques will be much appreciated!

Vici, I was gonna say the same thing Amit did, them feet need special attention. To address that maybe do some figure studies, but only draw the lower halves of the bodies, then right after do some full figures, always keeping the feet size at mind, instead of going in auto pilot. See if that works out!

Ah I almost forgot, the Cornwell study I really like it from the waist up. But from the whole lower half, feels a bit too chunky, compared to the original. Also in the original look at the flow of the legs and kind of 'S' shape they make really subtly.

So yea, maybe in future studies, focus on the lower halves of figures!

Good work Vici.

[Olooriel]

@Vicianus
Agreed about the lower half of the Cornwell study, I get the impression that you shortened the legs to fit them onto your page... if you run out of space, it's probably better to get the proportions correct, even if that means leaving out the feet.

Also, here's my studies for today. I know that the proportions are off. And of course, now that I wanted to leave the boxes alone, what came up in my figure drawing course? Figures in perspective. Even more boxes that I had to eyeball the perspective of, because I'm drawing these in my sketchbook, so the vanishing points are obviously way off the page...

[Jeso]

Hey folks. A study I did of an armor. And another WIP.

[Bookend]

Hey Amit-- What do you mean by silhouettes instead of line? Wouldn't they be silhouettes if I'm using black and white anyway? Just curious as to what you mean so that I can improve and go in the right direction. I appreciate the help! Really excited for your mentorship program soon!!

And Jeso-- I will try bringing in more textured brushes and/or harder lines. We'll see if that helps!

[Olooriel]

@Bookend
A silhouette is a solid shape of a single colour. You've probably seen it used a lot in the early stages of a character and vehicle design:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736...ebfa46.jpg

I'm pretty sure what Amit meant is, don't draw your characters in there as little stick figures, think of them in flat shapes of a single colour, like in these examples, most of them don't have any line at all, and you don't need it to recognize what they are:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H215MMhQQrg/Uj...thumbs.jpg

[Bookend]

Olooriel: Yeah, I understand what a silhouette is, but he was saying to use silhouette instead of line. That's what I didn't understand.

If I'm blocking in black and white forms anyway (as he suggested), I figure that the black will already be in silhouette. So, I'm just confused as to whether I'm supposed to be more specific than line.

To use thicker forms instead of line to show silhouettes in my value/composition studies, or if I'm just supposed to use black and white, and whether saying I should use silhouettes was just emphasizing that I should use black and white.

I love the examples though, they really help me in thinking of the way I should be composing my studies. Thanks a lot!

[Olooriel]

I'm... not sure what you're asking, so I'll just shut up and hope that Amit does understand and can explain what he meant ;)

[Bookend]

Olooriel: Meh, I think I'm just over-complicating it. But, thanks again for your examples, I think they'll really help my compositions.

[Amit Dutta]

Book: Yep, what Olooriel said. :) It's easier to see how elements relate to the entire comp when you can view them as flat masses. So I would suggest you block in the entire form, not just outlines.
You can do it with linework of course, but I feel you aren't able to truly judge the comp without seeing the value masses as they will be.
In terms of thumbnail tips, be very wary of bisecting your canvas equally, that tends to create very static compositions. Think overall about your lights and your darks. You can actually boil down much of the strength of any composition to the basic two value arrangement of lights and darks.

[Jeso]

Thanks Amit! great advice.  

Olooriel, Drawing boxes and trying to do them in perspective on the same composition as the one you have your figures will help a TON in the future, a lot of people including me, forget about perspective when drawing figures, and at the end of a piece that can make or break the image. So keep drawing away! them boxes. Ah! SO, if you really,  REALLY, want to be exact with the vanishing points, you can tape a couple printer sheets to the sides of the page where you are drawing to give you more space to place vanishing points. That's what they had us do in perspective class in college.

[Jeso]

                                                                    ~Announcement!~                                                                    

I'm planning a study event for the next 2 weeks. Focusing on figures, we will study as many figures as we can for the 1 week period. Make a shit load of gestures, head studies, anatomy studies, skin renderings. That's gonna be week 1, then week 2 is gonna be application week. Make ONE finished piece, of your choosing, featuring a figure or figures.
Genre is up to you, just make one bad ass piece that you could put in a portfolio or a really detailed figurative piece like those classical paintings.

-Week ONE starts Monday Sep 14-

(Try to study as a side HW, all the elements you gonna be needing for your final piece. For example, if you plan to paint a gunslinger for week 2, make studies of guns, and the clothing those dudes usually wear.)

[Bookend]

Book: Yep, what Olooriel said. :) It's easier to see how elements relate to the entire comp when you can view them as flat masses. So I would suggest you block in the entire form, not just outlines.
You can do it with linework of course, but I feel you aren't able to truly judge the comp without seeing the value masses as they will be.
In terms of thumbnail tips, be very wary of bisecting your canvas equally, that tends to create very static compositions. Think overall about your lights and your darks. You can actually boil down much of the strength of any composition to the basic two value arrangement of lights and darks.

All right, thanks for clarifying.  I understand now what you mean. I'll go in and try this 'blocking method' with future studies and see where I end up.

Thanks for your thoughts about thumbnails.  Also very helpful.