Melo's Sketchbook!

[melolon]

New to Daggers! Study and create art 24/7, but never engage in feedback. Trying to fix that. 

For the moment, trying to work out some studies while I work through personal projects and competition pieces (active on the BST discord!) In the past I have done a lot (stagnated...) anatomy and portraiture, so I'm working to branch more into painting from life (never done...) and some landscapes. Still a student by all means, so I'm hoping to branch out. Today, its brekky in guache   


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[Artloader]

Welcome to Crimson Daggers man :).

It's cool that you paint in gouache :).

Looking forward to more from you.

[melolon]

Stuff from the past week or so! Got some goals set but I feel discombobulated the past week. Working it out as I work on art! Also attended my first live figure session, may post those too! Although, not much to show since I was focusing on line for the most part :) 

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[melolon]

Welcome to Crimson Daggers man :).

It's cool that you paint in gouache :).

Looking forward to more from you.

Hey! Thanks :))))))) glad to be here

[melolon]

Yahoo! I promised not to be that typa forumite who posts and then is never to be seen again... since Feb picked up some local figure drawing sessions, on top of a major project I managed to finish and prep for a gallery.... gallery closed... rip. Here's some stuff!

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Here's a piece finished up for Edin's BST challenge. Learned quite a bit about the cap of my skills ....


So... picking up some studies! Values and rendering at work here. Trying to push my comfort zone with hard eyed observation.

[Danny]

You're rushing into complicated stuff too soon. Go watch the videos here - https://www.ctrlpaint.com/library about brush control and drawing and practice them. If you overwhelm yourself with difficult stuff before you can even render a simple object well, you'll end up losing a lot more time overall than if you were to spend a couple of months practicing the basics.

[melolon]

Hey Danny! Thanks for the crit, honestly the best advice I've gotten in a fair while. I'll definitely be checking out ctrl-paint soon.

With that said, embarrassed to be bringing about a piece-piece I'm working on again. Taking it much slower than the BST, working through each aspect as I can, I want it to look cool!





Been creating with anxiety on my haunches, however. Expression seems redundant when worldly pressures compress those in a box, into even smaller boxes. Doubt is great, but I (we) can't stop painting!

[Pubic Enemy]

That's a very complex picture you're working on. I won't even blame you if you give up on it!

Cool composition with those giant heads, though. Going slow definitely helps.

It looks like you mostly use other paintings instead of life or photos as reference; is that a personal preference? It's not wrong to do so; you just have to be aware of the risk of making something too derivative by using other artist's stylistic shortcuts for things like foliage and water.

[melolon]

Hi! Everything I've done the past couple months is right here. Yeah. I haven't had a dry spell like this since August. Its odd and belittling.
Above! On the 'Fishing' piece, what I've got showing is a mood board! I have layers with ref for each 'part' of the work hidden in there. Been using a 3d model and some photos, hoping to go out to my local swamp for plein air studies before I get old lol.

[Pubic Enemy]

Can't avoid dry spells completely. I hope you get your mojo back. That Frazetta study turned out real nice.

Regarding the fishing piece: I see. Regardless, I sorta disagree with what I wrote in my previous post already. Doing some cribbing from other artists' techniques is almost unavoidable up until you become a master yourself, LOL. Good luck with the piece and getting those plein airs done!

[Zorrentos]

Dry spells happens to most of us I would say. I like the studies you just posted. I suggest you try to set up a goal that you can reach. Maybe one sketch per day and one study per day to get back into the grove? Dont forget to take plenty of notes as well to absorb the knowledge!

Looking forward to see where you take this thread! Keep posting :)

[melolon]

Can't avoid dry spells completely. I hope you get your mojo back. That Frazetta study turned out real nice.

Regarding the fishing piece: I see. Regardless, I sorta disagree with what I wrote in my previous post already. Doing some cribbing from other artists' techniques is almost unavoidable up until you become a master yourself, LOL. Good luck with the piece and getting those plein airs done!

 Thank you so much! Cribbing done right is an education in of itself lol.

[melolon]

Dry spells happens to most of us I would say. I like the studies you just posted. I suggest you try to set up a goal that you can reach. Maybe one sketch per day and one study per day to get back into the grove? Dont forget to take plenty of notes as well to absorb the knowledge!

Looking forward to see where you take this thread! Keep posting :)

Howdy! This is a good reccomendation. So far, I've been trying to work studies/ do tutorials in Ctrl+Paint at least the first hour after getting up! A couple years back I did Noah Bradley's 21 day study/habit building challenge, and the grind-out-an-hour-before-breakfast did me really well then. So far, its working out! 

With all the books I'm trying to read on top of these,,,,,, really wishing for a time chamber LOL

[melolon]

Heya! Dropping some simple studies, loose sketches, and the final sketch process for a piece I'm working on! I apologize if the images are supppper big, figuring out the formatting on here!

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I'm noticing in my daily studies where I struggle. So far, I've been choosing these based on studying color and learning to work large to small in terms of shape. What's lacking is tending to be ability to apply detail and brush control. In the second set of studies, I'm trying to go beyond slapping colors down and think on how to layer in detail and texture in a short amount of time. 

Next two images are just fun stuffs! Thinking on what caused me to burn out, a lot of negative association with thinking I need to create something dramatic and I worried ALOT on what skills I am missing. When I'm stressing to much I work on these little guys, and it helps me cool down!

Last is my favorite thing I'm working on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This study is going on a 10x30 canvas I'm making, stretching, and sizing on my own! Its a commission for a teacher of mine. I'll be doing some design studies and planning digitally, and when its all done I'm going to attempt a grid transfer using relative measurement to actual.

[Pubic Enemy]

Thank you so much! Cribbing done right is an education in of itself lol.

That's the truth.

I was flabbergasted to scroll through those academic-looking studies and then get a screen-full of Black Mage, LOL. The drawing has a nice energy to it.

The last image looks very cool. I like the water bird. It sounds like it'll be a real undertaking, so I wish you patience and good luck, haha.

[melolon]

Public Enemy: Thanks so much!! I'm excited about the process of these works and sketches!

Got some design thumbs that I'm thinking over

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Since this work is on the abstract side (going for something Klimt/Mucha esque) I'm having trouble deciding how much detail to include in the bg, which will mostly be trees and leaves, within the same tonal range to keep the visual business low at first glace. Having BIG issues figuring out what the water will be doing...

I really like the 3rd from left to right, where some Celtic design elements frame the scene, and have overgrowth around them at the same time. 

Will probably sit on this for a day or two so I can come back to it fresh. Let me know what you think of these!

[Pubic Enemy]

The Celtic one is cool. My personal feeling is that the character becomes too distracting when it has a dark hair color, so my eyes end up flicking between him/her and the bird, but there's nothing wrong with having multiple focal points.

[Uiriamu]

Third from the left is also my favorite for sure, really like what's happening in the background. The planned but chaotic elements are really working but there's something about the shapes in the water to the left that's not working as well. Overall in the background, the abstract shapes switches direction very abruptly when it reaches the edges of the halos for example and I love that. The water shapes though feel like they're a little scared of touching the boat and the edge of the canvas. I know it's supposed to be a different element and has to look and feel different from the background, but I would still try to incorporate some of that "planned chaos" which is so effective in the background. I hope it makes sense hehe, it's looking awesome and it does have that Klimt'y vibe to it! Can't wait to see where you take it :D

[melolon]

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Hey Daggers! I finished this piece in September, it was difficult for me to enjoy the end product, despite the efforts and joy of making the piece! I think after a couple months, I can say I'm proud to have finished it! It taught me a lot, and I'm excited to pass it on!

I've been working on Schmid color squares in oils for the past month or so, When I get a chance to take pictures of them, I'll throw them up! Super satisfying to work on ,') 

Here below is the fishing piece I've got unfinished, I'm struggling a bit with the elements being cohesive, its separated by layers enough to where I can dismantle and re-make parts of it!