Nigelpik's sketchbook

[darktiste]

Not bad definitevely i think you can advance to combining shape and maybe mirror shape.One exercise i recommend is carve a form into an other one For example you take a cube that turn into polygone.If you can do this you understand how to use symmetry and how to check angle in perspective but for that you might need the book i recommended.

[nigelpik]

Darktiste, thanks for the tip. Right now I can't get the book, but it's definitely on my list. I'm hoping to get it till the end of the year, but we'll see how it goes.

For now, I have like 10 pages left in a sketchbook I used for drawabox studies, so I'm trying to fill them with actual sketches. These were done without any sort of construction, which I usually don't do, so that was fairly hard and scary. 

On the first one, I started drawing the men in the middle from his arm, and thus he ended up being a total failure. On the second one I tried to rectify it by starting with a silhouette. It turned out better, but he still looks funny. The last one, I got the number of spider legs on the logo wrong again. Those pesky spider legs. There is just too much of them. I really need to pay more attention when I'm drawing.

Draw smarter, not harder!

[darktiste]

Well if you want a tips to save cash don't buy sketchbook to draw line and cercle inside.Buy a pack of printing paper.It might seem expensive when you buy it but it much cheaper than buying sketchbook in the long term.Use the sketchbook as a kind more precious but not super precious journal.

[nigelpik]

For sure, darktiste, nowadays I'm mostly using printing paper when I draw non-digitaly. This was just an old sketchbook that I piked up for like 2 bucks (more like a clear notebook, paper quality is really not that good), and decided to use this for drawabox challenges just to keep things organized. But then, when it has only 10 or so pages left, why not finish the whole thing.

I didn't have much time today, so all I managed to do is just some more random drawings. Tomorrow will probably be the same, but after that I pledge to finally start on those chests.

[nigelpik]

Had a crazy busy past week at work finishing up some projects, couldn't find time to draw anything substantial. However, I'm planning to get back on track this week, particularly with drawabox lessons.

Here's a quick pencil sketch I did today just for fun and to warm up before tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'm finally planning to tackle the 100 chest challenge.

[nigelpik]

Finally started the drawabox 100 chests challenge today. Rules of the challenge are to draw 25 chest-like shapes (basically, cylinders on top of the box), 25 open chests, and top it off with 50 detailed chests that have textures and ornaments on them. There are no restrictions on tools that you can use.

I choose to do the challenge in digital, since my ultimate goal is to be able to draw digitally. However, I decided to simulate felt pen drawing as much as possible. I did all chests free hand without ever using eraser or undo function. This resulted in extremely messy construction work and horrible lines. Thus I decided to make construction lines lighter and go over the chests again, to make the thing easier to look at and digests.

Here's the result. I did 20 chests, and I plan to do 20 everyday from no on, so the whole challenge should take 5 days total.



Drawing straight lines and ellipses on a tablet ended up being extremely hard, and it's very frustrating when the line just doesn't come out right. I don't have a cintiq, just good old intuos, so there is definitely a period of getting used to drawing on it. I'm way better at it than when I first brought it, but definitely not nearly at the level of confidence I have with the paper. However, I do plan to grind this stuff until I improve.

[nigelpik]

Second day of 100 chests challenge. I think accuracy of my lines have improved already a little. I also has managed to finish 20 chests quicker than yesterday. Tomorrow finally going to have some fun drawing textured and decorated chests.

[nigelpik]

Took longer than expected, but I have finally finished another 20 chests. I have actually finished constructing all 100 chests, but the lasts 40 still wait for their textures to get added, which I will try to do in the next couple of days.

I'm posting two versions of these chests, one with faint construction lines and the other without them at all. I think that textured chests don't really benefit from construction lines, so I will probably be posting the last 40 chests without them. Also, as with chests above, I did these ones without ever undoing or erasing. I think my lines have improved quite a bit, although there are definitely still miles to go.

Today's set of chests with construction lines. They are messy as always.



Same set of chests without construction lines. The last two chests are supposed to be made from stone.

[darktiste]

I think you could try to improve those stone chest and actually look at image to reproduce a rocky texture.

[nigelpik]

For sure, darktiste, I have used reference for all drawings above, as is recommended by the drawabox website. However, they ended up looking too cartoony. I think the problem is that the amount and level of detail is too low, and also I was kinda rushing them and didn't took my time to properly study and capture the texture.

I decided that the better approach going forward would be to take my time and focus on each individual chest and make them look good, rather than knocking out a bunch in a single day. Thus, from this point on I will aim to finish 2 to 4 chests in a day, so it will take me several weeks to wrap up the challenge. Of course, I will be doing some sketches and drawings on the side, so two chests a day would not be the only thing I draw. I may or may not post them.

So, here are today's two chests, no undos and no erasing, as always:



And here are the reference I used:






I tried to redo my stone chest and than make a metallic one.

Main thing that I noted while doing the stone chest is that I should be using straight rather than wiggly lines. Unevenness of the surface should be indicated via line weight. I also didn't have direction of the light planned from the beginning, so it's all over the place. Newbie mistake. I may redo this chest later once again in order to fix it.

Next I tried the iron chest. I messed up the pattern at the front, before I understood how you're supposed to draw it. Overall, I think the first attempt ended up being a failure. I'm still not quite sure how you can show matte surfaces like in this reference with a simple drawing. Even if I redid it now, I wouldn't know how to improve it apart from not messing up the pattern. I guess, that's the main thing.

And, that's it for today. I will try to do more and post them tomorrow. Chests are not fun, by the way, but I'm definitely learning a lot.

[darktiste]

There alway a complexity in texture that is facinating.For what i understand it the suggestion of texture that is important rather than exactly replicating the texture.