IMBass's Sketchbook

[IMBass]

After about a year hiatus due to a incompatible scanner I am back with a Wacom Bamboo (soon to be Intuos) and back drawing. I still do my traditional studies because I'm better at it but all of my postings will be digital until I get a camera or preferably a new scanner.

Here are a few of my sketches and some completed works (as complete as they got) I have done.



Critique/advise away. Thanks in advance. I love this community.

-Josh

[Beelow]

Just keep drawing. Do it from life from ref and from the dome. Have fun doing it as well. I will keep an eye out for your thread. Just keep posting. Don't let no one posting discourage you. It takes time to get noticed here in the conceptart and welcome. Enjoy the many inspirations and critiques you get from here. Art school heh who needs art school (pun intended).XD Again welcome.

[IMBass]

Beelow: Thanks. I've already gained so much just from browsing here. Now it's time to get involved.

Here are some studies from today. I bought 2 books; Anatomy Drawing School and Human Anatomy For Artists, both by Andras Szunyoghy and Gyorgy Feher. I did a few studies out of one of them today. Looking at the self portrait you would be hard pressed to believe I also did the Mako shark. It is almost embarrassing. Any critiques/advice, etc. would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

[Eponine]

Heyes! Nice work.. I love the tattoo design You've done there.. really cool! The shark is awsome too.. is that digitally or traditional?

[IMBass]

Eponine: Thanks. That tattoo design is, for better or worse, permanently on my arm now. The mako shark was done traditionally on paper with pencil. I spent probably about 5-6 hours on it. It's my pinnacle piece as far as realism. I've yet to get to the digital world, still perfecting my traditional chops.

[IMBass]

Finally. These are a few studies I did last night. From my anatomy drawing books, magazines, and photos of myself.

The first are some eyes I did from different references.

Second are some noses I did from reference as well.

Third is a better self portrait. From a picture of myself. The last portrait I did was from a mirror. This one is way better but still not what you would call an accurate recreation of myself.

Man....I really need to draw more. A lot more. I have too many hobbies.

Thanks.

[IMBass]

I'm starting to wonder if anyone is actually paying attention to my little thread here. Oh well, I feel obligated to continue drawing and posting and that's what is important.

Here is a few more studies I've done.

Any suggestions/advice/critiques are certainly welcome. Thanks.

[IMBass]

One more for the books. A drawing of a woman out of my anatomy drawing book. The face is without reference. The rest is from the drawing within the book. Thanks for looking.

[IMBass]

Quick addition. Part one of a two piece project I did in my 2D design class.

Done with pen. Black paper. Tracing paper.

Yes. I was/am a Mudvayne fan.

[IMBass]

Part two of my 2D design project. Old.

[IMBass]

This is another study I did from my anatomy drawing book. Reference of course. I'm not confident enough yet to throw one from my imagination. I'll give it a shot soon.

[Miles_]

One thing I've noticed in your self portrait, is a lot of the features, especially the eyes, are just drawn as what you think an eye looks like, not what your eye actually looks like. When you draw from life you have to be looking at the shape of your features exactly. Don't change anything and it will look correct. Its sort of hard to explain but I hope you gt what I mean. Thanks for the post in my book. Getting more replies just happens the more you draw. You'll get noticed eventually. Keep it up.

[IMBass]

Thanks for the advice. I know what you mean. It's part habit. I used to draw imaginative stuff when I was younger and just drew things how I thought they should look. I've since started studying my anatomy. The two books I bought are massive. I also just generally have trouble with self portraits. I've never been able to do a good one. Mostly because I don't take my time and actually look.

I'll have a few more studies up tonight when I get out of work. Thanks.

[IMBass]

Here are a few studies I did last night. Trying to see if Im grasping what I'm practicing. The first two are without reference.

The last is an outline sketch of a little gargoyle statue I have. I was really tired and kind of ran through it. How fitting, a gargoyle sketch...on Halloween...weird.

[IMBass]

Quick sketch dump before I hit the bed. Got a long day of work ahead of me tomorrow.

Here's hoping I'll get some advice. I'm sure there is something that I can improve that isn't obvious to me. Someone tear these apart and tell me what to work on. Thanks.

[HunterKiller_]

Hey dude. Thanks for droppin' in my SB.

You've already made a good start by studying the human form, keep doing this.
The shark study is very good, I think you should do more similar stuff, and put the same time into your anatomy studies.

There's already a wealth of information here on CA.
I have a few main pointers to offer you.
1. Draw as much as possible. Make time for it, there is no magic, consistent practice is the only sure way to success.

2. I think there's one exercise in particular that will be of help to you, and that is blind contour drawing. Drawing a subject from life without looking at the page. Follow along the contours of the subject with your eyes and try to match it with your pencil.
This exercise is solid good for learning really to draw 'what you see' and break the habit of drawing what you think you see.

3. Focus on one time at a time. Art is a long journey, and you will only achieve competency if you take it one step at a time.
Set goals for yourself, make clear plans about what you're going to focus on one at a time. Right now, I think the biggest factor for you is to break the habit of drawing what you think you see as oppose to what's really there.

Do the blind contour exercise consistently. The results won't be pretty, but they aren't suppose to be, they're just what they are - exercises.
Measure when drawing, carefully compare what you have on the page with the subject, measure with your pencil, measure the angles and lengths, and correct any mistakes you see.

Keep it up.

[Guilemo]

Thats some pretty useful information, HuntedKiller!

Anyhow, IMBASS. Keep doing these studies. They'll help you tremendously in the future, when it comes to creature design and so forth. I'd say I see some improvements in the drawings already!

Also, try to get more control over the shading. You just have to practice a lot to get the shading right and develop you own technique.

I dont really know what more to say. Whatever you do, keep drawing!

Best
Henning

[IMBass]

HunterKiller: Thanks a lot for the feedback. I'll do some blind contour drawings. I know, I need to put more time in my drawings because the mako is something I'm incredibly proud of and that took hours. It's hard to make time to draw for that long but I must.

Guilemo:I can shade fairly well I think. The mako is a good example. I've been really trying to work on my hatching/cross-hatching which I'm terrible at. Thanks for the advice.

[IMBass]

It's been a while since I've posted in here. I have many other things I enjoy doing and can't neglect them. I'm back, with a finished piece. It's a direct copy of a picture of lilies I did for a lady. My scanner refuses to work with my computer since I upgraded the OS. Not sure why. I took a picture with a camera instead. I spent probably 6-8 hours on it sporadically. It's done with pencil and made apparent to me the obvious limitations of using graphite. You can't get a true black. I made due and tried to adjust the values accordingly. Let me know what you think.

Oh, and I'll get some more sketching done and hopefully my scanner will work at some point. Thanks.

-IMBass

[raspa]

Nice lilies~
I think pen and ink may be fun to practice during your anatomical studies- See how what you see translates into line thickness, shapes of shadow, etc.
Don't forget everything that can happen within your contour lines too- studying yourself under bolder light and shadow may help you see more form.
Thanks for seeing my sketchbook. :3

[Anthis]

Hey IMBass!

Hah! Thats indeed the book you mentioned in my sb. Good stuff
About that; accurate studies. Also judging from the shark and especially those lilies your rendering and drawing from ref is pretty good.

I've always had a weakness for those kind of black/white things with text and pictures; great stuff.

You're working on anatomy, especially from imagination. Some of the previous ppl have already pointed out some good stuff on that.
I'd only add that to it that I'm seeing quite some contour drawings. Perhaps you should focus on the shapes and structures on the inside, which will reflect in what you see on the outside. Many anatomy books (like Bridgman) cover this topic. They build up a human body from basic shapes which you can easily remember. I think that would be a great help.

Keep sketching! Hoping to see more from you later.

[IMBass]

It has been almost a year since I have posted in my sketchbook. I upgraded to Leopard and it killed my scanner. HP's solution was instead of fixing the problem to suggest I buy one of their other printers. I neglected. I got discouraged and started slacking in my drawing. I recently got back into it and was given a Wacom Bamboo Fun as a gift from a friend. Best gift ever!

I'm getting used to it still. It came with Photoshop Elements 6 and Painter Essentials 4. I decided to throw up something I just did in Photoshop to kind of get a feel for it. Any tips for Photoshop or Painter? I absorb like a sponge. Any tips for how to do what I did better?

By the way, don't expect much....it's a lame pink ball.

[IMBass]

I've been practicing line control in Photoshop. All of my work from here on out will be digital until I can afford a new scanner (Non-Hewlett-Packard, of course). Simple cube I did to try to get lines fairly straight.

If anybody has any tips or links for Photoshop please fill me in. I have Photoshop Elements 6 and Painter Essentials 4.

[IMBass]

I've decided to start with basics before jumping into the more complex. I have been taught a lot of things in my art classes but I don't believe I really understood how to employ them or when to employ them. So, I'm starting from the beginning but moving past stuff I'm certain I have down.

I'm dabbling in Seedling's Perspective 101 and Form's Environmentoring threads for the time being. I'll be posting the occasional piece from there in my sketchbook. I'm still learning and adapting to digital. Bare with me and any advice or encouragement is appreciated. Thanks.

[IMBass]

More 3 Point Perspective. Not sure if the very bottom one is drawn correctly. I think so. :/

[xobgob]

Very nice work thanks for stopping by at my SB your work is nice the lilies rock wanna see more more more...

[IMBass]

Simple polygons in 1, 2 and 3 point perspective.

[*ViRuS*]

nice start man. perspective is very important =)
you can get to a black with graphite:
start with soft graphite, like a 8b or so, and go ontop of that with harder graphite like 4b and so on. go up the scale into the h's, which should grind the softer graphite into the paper and give darker lines. depending on the paper your using, don't be afraid to use water to help graphite stain the paper, and go back on top of it. layers and layers and layers. if the graphite is sliding on you, spray it with fixitive, and go at it some more.

charcoal is the quick way though =)

[IMBass]

*ViRuS*: Thanks a lot man. That was a very helpful post. If you have any advice on digital fill me in.

[*ViRuS*]

the same rules apply to digital art. it's just a different medium with different techniques. it all starts with drawing though. if you can't draw, nothing will ever be as good as it could be. (which is why i'm drawing my ass off trying to learn )