Novbert's Sketchbook or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love to Draw

[Peter Stapleton]

Hey Novbert, It's great to see a constant stream on sketches, I wish I saw as much in my sketchbook. You've improved a lot since your sketchbook started, good work. Some advice: You need to define your edges a bit more it think. Seeya round

[Brun]

hey there,
nice stuff in here
its great that u try to draw alot from ref, to learn the basics
try to paint less from foto's but more from real live, so that u really need to focus fast an only paint the essential

keep em coming

[Novbert]

daily sketch:

[Novbert]

some bammes studies for today:

[Novbert]

I just can't stop drawing these photoreffed ones - maybe a bad habit...
but I'm kinda satisfied with this one (okay, it still could be much better):



4 hours approximately
and here are the wip images:

[Novbert]

Experimenting with the famous blending abilities of Painter. (ref used - lips are off )
Wow, that stuff is smooth

[Novbert]

this is virtually my first attempt to draw a human figure totally without reference. It was really hard - and I'm not too satisfied with the result - but it reminds me how much I need to learn about the human anatomy.
Here is what I call final.



It's kinda messy, and the shading is also very basic, but I thought there was no point pushing it further.
And here are the WIP images:

[Novbert]

Daily spontaneous... something....

[Novbert]

some posemaniacs studies for today



and a shading study (no ref used)

[EKOes]

hey nice portraits from ref I see the improvement go! go!

[Novbert]

some wip thintgy here - pinup stuff
(forgive me the manga eyes - I just like them this way )
I'll send some updates soon

[Novbert]

update here:

[Novbert]

time to update:

[Novbert]

it is high time to post some new stuff.
here ya go (reffed thingies - one hour each):

[Novbert]

reffed stuff I've been workin' on for 3 days. Actually my first fully rendered colored drawing made entirely in painter - I had performance issues with PS - and Painter is somehow much cooler

Here's a step-by-step:



and here's the final(?) result

[Novbert]

another coloring exercise (WIP, ref used)

[kingkostas]

Wow really nice improvement .You wanna master portrait making ? You are very good and if you keep up this pace you will master this soon .
Keep up.(your last works are really interesting)

[Novbert]

kingkostas: thanx for the comment. Yes, portraits are my favourite subjects - I can only hope you're right about the mastering thing

here's another from last night. I successfully achieved the sharper look I wanted, but I couldn't finish the face - again (though I tried about dozen times). Jeez, I'm out of shape!
Anyway:

[kingkostas]

You know i really like the way you did it with this sharper look.I think i will also spent some time doing some experiments with just blocking pure hues to the right positions.It looks fantastic
Ok now finish it ;D
see ya

[Novbert]

kingkostas: I'm glad you like it, and I can only recommend this method. That blurry look of my previous drawing just made me crazy

Here is the result of today's work (photoreffed, PS&Painter):



I'm kinda happy with it. I'll post some colored stuff next time.

[thespianmonsalvo]

Wow - super nice stuff here. I really enjoyed the step-by-step animation that showed your progress. Beautiful portraits.

[snootchy]

woh, i think i'm luv with your paintings!!
that prank phone call to mc D's is priceless, ROFL!!

are u still using a mouse only to do ur digital paintings?

[Senira]

The image from #105 came out really well. Your phot ref stuff is definitely improving, but I'd suggest stepping back from it for a little while and trying to do some portraits and/or characters on your own. If you need inspiration, try looking at some old DSG or CHOW prompts. Studies are great, but doing your own thing in between them gives you a chance to see how much you've actually learned.

Keep it up!

[Novbert]

thespianmonsalvo: thanks, man
snootchy: I'm glad you love them. your second sentence doesn't make too much sense for me, but to answer your question: I drew all this stuff with my Wacom bamboo
Senira: Thanks for the kind words. I followed you advice and I drew a totally refless thing today.

So here you go the stomach-ache-worm (about 2 hours, photoshop, and no ref used)

[Senira]

Make sure to pay attention to silhouette when you design creatures, characters, props, etc. The pose on the worm is difficult to read because it's standing relatively straight, and there's no negative space to separate the crossed arm from the torso. By having the worm bend more at the waist, and by pulling the elbow out a bit more at the same time, the gesture will read better and create a stronger piece.

[Novbert]

Senira: thx for the advice.

Here's another creature:



And a reffed portrait

[Novbert]

some refless stuff today:

[L. Scott Knight]

You have an excelent ability to put life in the eyes of your subjects.

[Novbert]

L. Scott Knight: I'm glad to hear that, man. Thanks.

Here goes the daily dose: a pose, a portrait, and a ... random thingy
I'm still trying to push the refless thing.

[Grafguy]

nice stuff, the paintings from ref look amazingly good
i should give a comment but im to tired to do so
maybe next time