Peter's Sketchbook
Stuff from yesterday, did some more construction studies off Brian's instagram account and did abit of work on my core shadows in prep for this weeks h/w aswell as some eye studies.

For the h/w I tried slowing down and spent the first 2 hours working on my basic construction and mapping but struggled with the simplification of the knee/elbow joints which I've asked Jeff to address.

Wasn't able to finish it but I believe it is much better than all of my previous drawings so I'll try not to rush in the future and take my time concentrating and just work on building up my speed.






Week 6



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Keep it up Peter, you're killing it!
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(06-04-2018, 09:00 PM)Matthew M Wrote: Keep it up Peter, you're killing it!

Hey Matthew thanks man! :)

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Had a really packed week unexpectedly and had no time to post.

Been putting together a new pc for myself the last few days so I've been trying to get that up and running which thankfully it is now, just got a few things to sort out.

I've taken photos of some of my work over the past week but don't have time to edit them tonight but will do this week, hopefully Tuesday.

For now here is my h/w for this weeks live streaming class which is now quick sketch. I've watched the crit for last week and will post the trace over this week.




Btw I was able to get in touch with Jeff and get my question answered. Just wanted some help with my practice schedule and if I should be concerning myself with fully finished illustrations. His answer was basically to focus on my fundamentals, get good at drawing portraits, figures, anatomy etc and get good at painting before I start attempting finished illustrations from scratch. So for the forseeable future I will do just that.

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sounds like a great plan Peter, i had reccomended that to a few people; I just dont see the point in trying to create a whole illustration with full figures, if i cant even draw one correctly with reference!

70+Page Koala Sketchbook: http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-3465.html SB

Paintover thread, submit for crits! http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-7879.html
[color=rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.882)]e owl sat on an oak. The more he saw, the less he spoke.[/color]
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(06-11-2018, 08:26 AM)Fedodika Wrote: sounds like a great plan Peter, i had reccomended that to a few people; I just dont see the point in trying to create a whole illustration with full figures, if i cant even draw one correctly with reference!

Your totally right Fedodika I just wasn't sure if finished pieces should be apart of my practice scheduele or not, seeing all these people online posting a finished illustration each week got me abit paranoid that I should be doing the same but I guess everyone learns differently.

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Some stuff from last week and tihs week (so far). I've still been going to mt life drawing and portrait classes but I'm considering not attendding my usual classes for the time being while I look for somewhere else. Been getting abit sick and tired recently of the bad lighting and unusual pose times, feel like I can't put into practice what I'm learning.

Spent the majority of last week working on my head lay-ins using a 3d model to help with foreshortening, had a really bad time at last weeks portrait class and struggled with the basic lay-in so I went home and started practicing them but as you can see I'm still strugling with extreme angles.

Lastly some figure lay-ins from photo refernece and some skulls from imagination. (sorry aobut image quality, been using my camera's flash as my usual light source isn't working atm)




























Been feeling abit burnt out recently so I thought for the rest of this week and next week (have less time next week due to having to work more hours) I'd do some plein air painting in the garden as I sketch easel is complete. Thought it would be good to mix it up abit and do something fun and focus on painting which I haven't done in awhile.

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the skulls are getting better peter, try to loosen up when you draw those faces, but i get that its hard to lay that stuff in. may do you some good to try some more expressive gesture drawing and let your hand fly like matthew matessi does. it'll help you feel the essense of the pose and be more accurate in your line placement. A lot of the problems i see is just stiffness and having a bit to do expressive gestures could really help you, hence why jeff does those quick 1-5 minute drawings

70+Page Koala Sketchbook: http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-3465.html SB

Paintover thread, submit for crits! http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-7879.html
[color=rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.882)]e owl sat on an oak. The more he saw, the less he spoke.[/color]
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hey Peter, are you doing Watts online, or Proko online, or have done both? Sorry if that's blatantly obvious. I was thinking about trying Watts online, and it looks like your drawing skill has gotten really strong from whatever you're doing.

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(06-13-2018, 08:10 AM)Fedodika Wrote: the skulls are getting better peter, try to loosen up when you draw those faces, but i get that its hard to lay that stuff in. may do you some good to try some more expressive gesture drawing and let your hand fly like matthew matessi does. it'll help you feel the essense of the pose and be more accurate in your line placement. A lot of the problems i see is just stiffness and having a bit to do expressive gestures could really help you, hence why jeff does those quick 1-5 minute drawings

Loosness has always been something that I struggle with, as you said practicing some expressive gestures should help alot. Every time I study gesture I always do it for a few weeks and then forget to go back to it. Gonna try a new practice scheduele at the start of July and my plan was to spend the first 30 mins of a day practicing gesture drawing, that way I won't forget it!

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(06-13-2018, 01:21 PM)JosephCow Wrote: hey Peter, are you doing Watts online, or Proko online, or have done both? Sorry if that's blatantly obvious. I was thinking about trying Watts online, and it looks like your drawing skill has gotten really strong from whatever you're doing.

Hey Joseph how are you? Haha no worries and thanks btw :)  Yh I've been working from both of them, although it's been awhile since I've studied from Proko's courses. I've also been taking one of the live streaming classes at Watts Online aswell for the past 2 months.

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Weather has been terrible the past week (figures it would be when I decide to do some painting). Been trying to paint outside but can only manage to get some paint down before the weather takes a turn for the worst so unforunately I don't really have anything to show for it.

Apart from that I've been catching up on some reading from the books Jeff reccommends aswell as doing the live streaming h/w and critiques.

Week 6 critique




He spent majority of the time replying to my question so not as many notes, he also did some crazy shading on the left arm which I haven't been able to capture so will prob re watch it a few times.

Week 7 critique




Week 8





Next week I'm working more hours so won't have too much time when I get home, weather is meant to be nice so gonna try some plein air painting again, if the weather is rubbish will prob do some more reading and re watching the Watts Online videos since it's been awhile.

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the anatomy intensives with Erik are very tedious but extremely helpful, but jeff's notes are greats and just more and more mielage will pay off in seeing those little things. Keep goin Peter, you're on the right track ;)

70+Page Koala Sketchbook: http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-3465.html SB

Paintover thread, submit for crits! http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-7879.html
[color=rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.882)]e owl sat on an oak. The more he saw, the less he spoke.[/color]
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(06-18-2018, 10:44 AM)Fedodika Wrote: the anatomy intensives with Erik are very tedious but extremely helpful, but jeff's notes are greats and just more and more mielage will pay off in seeing those little things. Keep goin Peter, you're on the right track ;)

I read the handouts for Erik's anatomy videos awhile back and it looked really good, just never got round to watching it haha. It is on my to do lst starting next week. It's been great doing the live streaming videos and getting all the feedback off Jeff, feell ike I've learnt alot from it, just waiting for them to announce the classes for next term!

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Been a hectic week working the extra hours and I was busy all weekend, haven't had a chance to catch my breath! Managed to get some painting in last week after work which I'll upload tomorrow as I need to reinstall my drivers for my scanner. Apart from that I've mainly been watching some Watts videos and reading some art books like Hogarth etc.

Until then here's my h/w for the live streaming class, only 1 more to go :(



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those lookin better peter, likin the energy :)

70+Page Koala Sketchbook: http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-3465.html SB

Paintover thread, submit for crits! http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-7879.html
[color=rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.882)]e owl sat on an oak. The more he saw, the less he spoke.[/color]
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(06-26-2018, 11:24 AM)Fedodika Wrote: those lookin better peter, likin the energy :)

Thanks man, did these at like 12.30 am so maybe the tiredness helped me loosen up haha.

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Plein air paintings from last week and one from tonight. Spent 1.5 hours on the first three and 2 hours on the last one. Suffice to say my plein air paintings skillls are quite lacking. My plan this week was to paint as next week will be July and I was going to start my new practice shedule then.

Gonna re read James Gurney's Colour book and watch some of the painting videos from Watts. Not sure if i'm jumping ahead painting outside in full colour since the Watts videos focus on painting in monochrome at first and slowly building your way to colour.

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Plein air paintings from last week and one from tonight. Spent 1.5 hours on the first three and 2 hours on the last one. Suffice to say my plein air paintings skillls are quite lacking. My plan this week was to paint as next week will be July and I was going to start my new practice shedule then.

Gonna re read James Gurney's Colour book and watch some of the painting videos from Watts. Not sure if i'm jumping ahead painting outside in full colour since the Watts videos focus on painting in monochrome at first and slowly building your way to colour.

I have a book which has coloured cubes you can print off to help you practice how colours change in light and shade, been thinking about printing them out and painting them since my values/colour are all over the place.

Don't have ref for the first 2 paintings as the weather changed drastically and had to stop painting earlier than I wanted.






Ref

 


Ref



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Hey Peter. Glad to see you're giving gouache another shot. Colour can be pretty intimidating, especially if you're new to it or haven't touched it in a while. Don't be too afraid of just jumping in. You'll learn an awful lot about colour mixing just by doing it, and over time it will become a bit more intuitive. I think I've written a bunch of random things here before, but at the risk of repeating myself, here are a few things that may help.

To make things read, you need to get your values and their relationships right.
Gouache dries lighter than when wet, and you can only get so dark. (I've actually put black back on my pallet because I can't get as dark as I need otherwise)
Your eyes will lie to you. If you're having difficulty with a colour, try isolate it. I look through my fingers, but you may like a paper cut out or just to squint.
If you thin your gouache down with lots of water, it will dry even lighter.
You'll have difficulty getting very saturated very high value colours. Aim for the right value rather than saturation.
You can go over dry paint repeatedly. Just remember to touch it once, otherwise the paint beneath will reactivate and become muddy.
You can prime your paper with gesso to increase the drying time. Your paper will buckle less as well.
Try masking your edges with low tack painters tape. It adds a lovely finish.
If the light moves too much, come back anther day, or take a photo and some notes.
Take all of the above with several grains of salt.
Really glad to see you're putting in so much time. Good luck and enjoy yourself.
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