Kat's sketchbook - And The Journey Continues

[Vyliss]

I've lurked here for long enough I think Even though I think my stuff sucks, I'll put up a part of my sketchbook in the hopes of getting some constructive criticism. I don't think I have gotten any helpful feedback on much of my work, so I really look forward to hearing something.

I know I have lots of improve on and am working at it everyday to better my skills. Hopefully if I'm not too embarrassed or lazy I'll update this post as often as I can.

[Vyliss]

more stuff

[Vyliss]

and some more stuff i'm too lazy to scan stuff in as you can see. My printer and scanner share one plug :/

[Vyliss]

colouring practice

[MyOrangeHat]

Nice perspective stuff in your first post. And I like the portrait in your last post. But her face seems to be kind of floating a bit. I think maybe it's that the rest of her especially her neck is so out of focus. Maybe a little more detail on the neck would fix it. Right now it's distracting from a really pretty piece.

Keep posting. I'll check back!

[Coinpurse]

keep up with the Life studies, hit 'em up hard and fast!
Some cool stuff in here, but no need to slow down

[Vyliss]

yay some replies! thanks guys

[Vyliss]

Here's a colour study I did a while ago. Haven't done anything in colour since as I'm just concentrating on line and tone atm.

I found with this one I still had to use Photoshop's auto contrast (or one of those auto settings) to really make the image pop so my colours are still too flat >< I have a hard time not been scared to use the right colours I think. Anyway that's why I'm working my way up to it now so it's one less thing to worry about.

[JSpayde]

Thanks for the advice Vyliss. The cylinders are starting to get old and I'm trying my best to add what anatomy I at least partially know.

Love your females mostly, and that knight with the sword (looks like colored pencil) is really nice

[Eon]

Very nice sketchbook so far! Your observation and perspective skills are strong. Your imaginary construction is good but can be awkward at times, especially in the head department. Definitely getting somewhere awesome in a little while.

Do I recognize some Dean Yeagle?

Cool artwork. Keep at it!

[Vyliss]

an update. Just some head and gesture studies. Was fun to do and it really helped making those 2nd lots of heads without reference.

[Vyliss]

an attempt at a line type drawing. Might colour it later when I get to that. No ref.

[Viking Raider]

I'm liking your SB so far! I especially like the portrait of the woman (elf?) with the white hair about halfway down. Your line drawings are looking better, especially the last one. My only crit is try to experiment with line thickness. When every line is the same thickness, it makes the image flat. Save the thicker lines for parts that are overlapping or in front of something (the folded forearm). Just my .02...not that I'm an expert or anything!

VR

[Vyliss]

Viking Raider: Yea the first thing I tried was varying line thicknesses. But I thought it just didn't look good, I'm just a newb at it probably.

[Vyliss]

I like this pic except for her left hand (right for us). I know it's short and I need to fix it, I just can't be bothered right now.

[Vyliss]

This is for a Uni assignment. I guess Dean Yeagle has had some influence on me hehe, but can't help it, these are fun to do.

[Crane]

hey, some sweet stuff kicking it around here, i see alot of improvement already, and you certainly seem to have a good handle on digital painting, so jealous! lol what program do you use?

keep up the good work

[Vyliss]

frogSweat : Thanks I use Photoshop, I think I'm more confortable sketching digitally than traditional just because I can erase an infinite amount of times and not ruin the paper, also the resizing tool is really helpful

Some new stuff, trying to get into tone now.

Trying to do 2 light sources, not sure if it fits the picture though.


My fire chick painstakingly redone in Illustrator and then painted. It needs to have only 3 colours but oh well it's ok I guess.

[Vyliss]

here's the painted version of my fire girl

[Jamesy]

I can definitely see an improvement just over the last few months. Your digitals are quite good too. I think it's weird that the digital sketching comes easier for you than regular pencil sketching. Do you have your pen sensitivity on (I probably have no clue what I'm talking about when it comes to digital)? It might be easier to practice with a pencil to improve the line quality of your pieces. Drawing from life also helps a lot in that department too.

Your characters are also looking more believable as well since the anatomy and the attention to how things are worn on the figure are getting better. Keep posting!

[Vyliss]

Jamesy: yea I always have it on both flow and opacity. I know I need to work on my line, it's kind of embarassing. Even when using pen/ink I'm still very sketchy with it, I don't know if that's normal. The main reason I've just been sketching digitally now is because it's so much quicker getting it on the computer and on the net. If I draw on paper usually I just won't be bothered scanning it in and such (also cos my scanner isn't compatible with vista now that I've upgraded so it makes it that much more annoying). I do try to life draw as much as I can and that helps with line and stuff, I really love the quick 2-5 min gestures more than anything else, it keeps things interesting and fun.

[Soja]

Hey Vyliss!!

Welcome to the SSG! So well that's my first post in ur sb! Well keep it short this time cause it's already pretty late. But well i have a quick look through!
But first thanks for the nice post in my sb!! Made my day!!
Man ur stuff is pretty good! Ur digital stuff is damn good! U setting the standards pretty high for our ssg =)!! That's excellent!
As Jamesy said u should do lot of life drawing. Try to do some gestures drawing everyday where ever u go. That will help u to get more confidence for ur lines.
Keep at it!! Good night

[Maledict]

Are you kidding my Vyliss? Your stuff is great, loads loads better than mine.

I especially love your female figures, their poses are quite dynamic and realistic. Very well done

[Vyliss]

something different than my usual stuff for this update. Some still life value studies.


Some illustrations I did for uni, I'm not greatest with environments but I tried and I learned a great deal about colour/value as well.

[daestwen]

Oooh, i like the heeled shoe a lot.

I'm kind of at school, so not a lot of time to comment/crit, I'll have more worthwhile things to say later. Just thought I'd come and drop by.

[katsgod]

Very cool work. I like your stuff alot.

[Soja]

Hey Kat!

Nice update!
I like the shoe! Value and the mood is good!!
Also the one with the tree has some nice colors. Dont know if u should take the bright lighted ground a bit back some how it's toooo white takes the attention from the tree. And is there something flying infront of the tree or does it belong to the tree!
The one with the budda is quite nice too! Maybe the skin color is a bit to reddish but may bur intention wasn to get a skin color? Well and the fett and hands look bit weird. The big toe looks bit flat on the top!
Hope i could help u a little!!
keep at it!!

[Vyliss]

Thanks Soja, yea I know the guy in the buddha pic is so crap, I did it really quick cos I just wanted to say it's finished lol
I had the hardest time with colour in the tree pic but that's why I did a bunch of environment colour studies after that.


I did these fast so they're not that great but the aim was to get the colours right. Man it's so hard not to use that eye dropper tool to cheat lol

And here are some more value studies of people from reference.

[Maledict]

I love the 1st, 3rd and 4th environments in the first picture, very crisp clear quality, as well as the 2nd picture of the girl (Is it one of the Olsen Twins perchance? If so, very good work on capturing the likeness of the subject, I still can't do that to save my life, with portraits.).

Always pleasant to see you sb Vyliss, but it needs more pencil portraits of women, which you're quite good at (I'm currently drawing portraits from www.femalefaces.com, and they look NOTHING like the originals oh well, more practice I guess, onward ho!).

And also, how do you get the attachments to show up in the main body of the post, rather than at the end?

[Soja]

Already told u on Msn that i really love the environment studies! Do more of them!
Really like the first one the mood and colors are great! and the Value studies are also great! keep it comin!!
Done any Character today??