Monkey's Sketchbook - Nudity

**Bagg** · April 7th, 2009, 05:51 PM

hey man your work is truly amazing, you have shown huge progress really impressed.
I have to say your moleskin is looking good, got a great style with your linework

anyways keep drawing i'll be back soon.

**staticpen** · April 7th, 2009, 06:38 PM

Fun landscapes, man. Very clean contour work in some of them. Cheers.

**retardedmonkey** · April 8th, 2009, 01:40 AM

MattGamer - Thanks!

Eugie - Haha, thanks man. It was a really fun project...probably had as much fun planning it with my friends than actually drawing it :p

Bagg - I really appreciate the kind words, its nice to hear that I am infact improving. At times I worry I'm at a standstill, but hopefully this thread will continue to transform into something better.

Jason - Thanks man, the first few landscapes I was trying to do something that was pretty much a fail. They look much better once I stopped trying to shade them. Actually if they were rendered properly instead of so simply it might have worked...once again another perfect example of me rushing

Soo, I have some more landscape sketches from when I was driving, and a color study I just finished up. It is better, but still far from where I need to be. I the improvement I noticed was more in the technique and how I painted rather than the final thing, which is off. But it will all come in time, I have to keep reminding myself of that.

I honestly think the biggest struggle for me in art is defeating my own preconceptions. I think so many wierd things that just frustrate me while I do art, and they are mostly not true. Just stupid stuff like since I can't draw, paint, see value, color, etc. perfectly from the first time I pick up my pencil, or whatever, then I'm not good. I think once I can get around these mental blocks I'll free myself up to actually enjoy, even more, the process and the stage that I'm at right now. Then my rushing problemo will disapear!....hopefully

Hm....I talked to much nonsense, i'm gonna shutup and post art! Thanks again for stopping by my thread guys. Feel free to comment and crit away!

Oh about the color study, I think another major thing is the values of the colors themselves. Next study I'm going to focus on the colors as well as seeing the colors as values...

**retardedmonkey** · April 8th, 2009, 10:18 AM

Some more recent stuff from my sketchbook... I've been working on rendering more lately, I'll most likely be doing just that for a while because I really need practice with it.

**retardedmonkey** · April 8th, 2009, 01:47 PM

Did this instead of liberal arts! Woohoo!

I realized something very important. My values are horrible when I start using color, so I started to desaturate it to check it and I think it helped out alot. This one got rushed a bit because I have to go back to class, but the next one should be better....hopefully.

**retardedmonkey** · April 9th, 2009, 09:57 AM

Another color study, I'm pretty happy with this one. At first I was struggling but once I laid all the color and value in it started to click. Learning alot from these, and they're fairly quick to do which is nice. I love when you can learn alot from quick studies, makes me think I'm improving faster

I'm home for the weekend, so most likely I'll be painting on here alot more than normal...and not doing school work

Here's the color study, and some more stuff from the good ol' sketchbook! Please critique this color study, any help with these would be amazing

**retardedmonkey** · April 9th, 2009, 11:52 AM

Another quick attempt. This one had more temperature shifts than drastic value changes. Overall I'm not to happy with it...came out a bit dark and I don't think my temperature shifts are right. if anyone can help me out with crits on that, that would be great! I might head back into it soon to see if I can fix it up some.

**retardedmonkey** · April 9th, 2009, 12:07 PM

I think this is a bit better....didn't change all to much, just simplified areas like the forehead and cheeks some more.

Am I still getting to caught up with details/specific colors? Should I simplify even more so that I am using 3-4 colors instead of 6-7?

**retardedmonkey** · April 9th, 2009, 12:30 PM

Here's a few more things from my sketchbook. I was working on trying to make a priest character. I'm going to work some more on this once I get better at Photoshop and also when I have more time

The scans ruined these pictures...they're a bit washed out because of it. :/

**staticpen** · April 9th, 2009, 01:40 PM

Hahahaha. How does anyone have time to crit or comment on anything with all the work you post? Crazy work ethic, man.
Um, in short, I like the updates. Haha. The color study with the dude in the hat really shines in particular. The value of the underside of the hat seems too bright to me by first impressions, but I haven't seen the reference, so it's hard to say. You're definitely improving quite quickly, though. Now if only we could be on at the same times again, like a few weeks ago... we could blaze through some of these together. Do you have MSN up and running on your computer yet?
And those figure sketches. Are they from life? A lot of them look really structurally sound. One thing I would try on the twisting figure on the bottom left of the first page is adding a line on her waist, above the hip, to suggest the tilt (her front shoulder is lower than the background shoulder, which compresses the skin on her hip, you know?). I see the angle of the shadow shape, but shadow shapes aren't overlaps, and overlaps are what create depth. This is what I mean:

And on the page after that, the breasts on the central figure look like they're stuck on the front of her chest. In this pose, gravity typically pulls them down over the side of the rib cage like this:

Also, sweet work on the priest character. Great stuff coming in, dude. Cheers.

**retardedmonkey** · April 9th, 2009, 03:54 PM

Thanks Jason! Really good points you have there. Adding those lines made a huge difference when defining those fold points. All of those drawings were from a book, unfortunately they weren't from life

I'm trying to get msn to work on this computer at home, but it's working on my laptop so I'll get on once my brother gets off it

Maybe we could do a painting tonight?

On a side note...kind of random actually...I've been thinking alot about college and where I stand with it. I enjoy being around other artists, I know this for a fact that I'll learn alot, it is just a few things that make me question whether I should be there or not. First off is that while I enjoy Industrial Design, I'm not sure I'll be completely happy spending 3 more years and getting into plenty of debt learning something I may or may not enjoy at the end. If I was in the entertainment design program I think this whole thing would be different. But I've been considering lately ending this year and apply at some game design studios to pay off debt and just spend time preparing for Art Center. I would be able to dedicate my time to learning concept art based stuff, while I am making money. Instead of getting more in debt here at the school I'm at and not really learning what I would like to be learning. I understand I would be drawing and learning alot of ID stuff but it wouldn't really be stuff I could put in to get into Art Centers ED program. The thing is I'm young enough that I could go to school in a year or so and still be in good shape...it's just that taking the self taught route is a bit more riskier. I'm not afraid of not learning...just of not getting a job in 2D. But at the same time there are pros that never finished or went to school and their very very good. The biggest thing here is the amount of debt I'll be getting into. If I was in ED at Art Center I don't think it'd be a problem at all... I dunno its very confusing and the decision would have to be made soon...just wondering if you guys have any suggestions or experience with this decision. Hopefully how I explained it made some sense.

Hmm, sorry for the lenght of that up there ^^ Anyway, here's some more stuff from my sketchbook, I was trying to get a hold of rendering, which I don't do enough of. Some are more succesful than others but I've learned alot from them.

**staticpen** · April 9th, 2009, 10:23 PM

Nice renders! Definitely something I should be doing more of... Maybe I will because of you.

We're talking about the school stuff on MSN, so no need to go into that here...

**ChaoticKnight** · April 10th, 2009, 01:04 AM

Dude, things are looking pretty awesome in here since the last time I checked in. Keep going man, you're getting there for sure.

**a.paul** · April 10th, 2009, 01:35 AM

you definitely have perseverance, but you must find a ballance between time-rendering. you still have some things to learn and at this time it's best to do 2..3 drawings in the time of one, in the last drawings you lost the volumes because of that rendering, have trust that in time you will get better results doing so. i hope you don't mind for my critics.

**retardedmonkey** · April 10th, 2009, 08:30 AM

Jason, thanks! I need to do more of them too, they're alot harder than I thought, but they're actually really fun to do. And they're making me spend longer on each one, which is great.

Mike - Thanks dude, I really appreciate it. I hope to soon be able to do what you're doing over in your sketchbook! I actually just finished up a color study from one of your studies

Hopefully thats ok!

a.paul - You're totally right, I'm hoping that doing these quick color studies in photoshop will translate over to my rendering with pencil. I think a major thing I struggle with is value of the face. It either gets to dark or to flat, both in pencil and PS...so hopefully I can work on both and sort it out. And I don't mind your crit at all, I really appreciate it actually! Thanks dude!

And here is that little color study from Mike's page...the original is ten times better

**retardedmonkey** · April 10th, 2009, 10:47 AM

Haha that up there is one of those paintings you talked about before Jason. The kind you think looks ok, but then when you look at it after stepping away from it for a while....it looks like crap

Anyway here's another one, I'm pretty happy with this one, not great but not as horrendous as the previous one and the red face man

**retardedmonkey** · April 11th, 2009, 12:32 AM

Alrighty...todays work in PS! They're not looking all that much better but I'm getting the hang of PS a bit more than earlier which is exciting

Just quick studies trying to learn this whole color thing still.

**retardedmonkey** · April 11th, 2009, 12:46 AM

Ok so this is going to be somewhat embarrassing because of these first few drawings, but I want to post these up to see the progression. Oh yeah please remember that these are from back in February so don't judge me too much based on these few

The funniest thing is that they're supposed to be the same person *hangs head in shame*....The last one actually looks pretty close. I'm hoping to do some more once I get free time.

**retardedmonkey** · April 11th, 2009, 12:48 AM

almost all of them....

**retardedmonkey** · April 11th, 2009, 12:49 AM

I think the main reason for the last one being the best is it clicked that I should slow down....I rush to much

This is not the same person

**staticpen** · April 11th, 2009, 12:57 AM

I think they all relatively look like the same dude. Just through different kinds of windows, maybe. Heheh.

**retardedmonkey** · April 12th, 2009, 10:18 PM

Right so here is todays happy little guy...didn't get much time to paint. And now that I do have time I have to get things ready for school...grr never any time

Hopefully more to come this week though, I need to become more productive! Still trying to simplify...

**retardedmonkey** · April 12th, 2009, 10:24 PM

Aha and some renderings I forgot about

**luness** · April 13th, 2009, 01:08 AM

Your sketchbook makes me smile every time I check it. You're taking your studies seriously, learning new stuff, experimenting, and all that is great for your skills. You're doing great man, so keep it up!

Cheers!

**retardedmonkey** · April 14th, 2009, 11:31 AM

Thanks alot man, I really appreaciate your input and the kind words, it helps alot.

I think I'm going to start doing some more final projects, because I realized I'm scared of them. Even though I am not amazing at these studies, they're becoming my comfort zone, and I need to get out of there. So once I get more time, and a good idea I'm going to start a final piece.

I've also tried to paint last night...and as a friend put it, its photoshop in real life.

So I'm going to try and do a longer one without using only those silly peachy colors. I really liked doing this too, so hopefully I'll keep working on it

Lastly, have a couple of sketches from last night. I had more but I can't scan anything in and the pictures keep turning out bad so I'll post em up later!

Here they are!

Silhouettes...I'm going to design a character from them. I really enjoy working with silhouettes/forms instead of only lines...i've gotta do it more.

**retardedmonkey** · April 14th, 2009, 04:30 PM

Started another painting today....its still in progress of course. I'm failing at colors but learning something from it.

**staticpen** · April 14th, 2009, 04:34 PM

Yeah, that last study is a bit messy right now, but hey, it's oils. You can just paint over it. The pen sketches are looking swell, too, and the rendering of the dude in the bandanna is just peaches.

**retardedmonkey** · April 14th, 2009, 11:30 PM

Thanks Jason

That painting is really messy...I'm getting frustrated very quickly but I'll figure it out...I have to! It's actually acrylics, I feel like oils is to much of a hassle for the short amount of time I have. Although I've only done one oil painting so I don't know all to much. The plan is to use oils this summer...alot.

I think on the next one I am going to figure out an underlying color to paint the background. For example this painting would be the blue....and then paint over that. I think that might work out pretty good.

But yeah here are some sketches from yesterday.We went to the zoo for our next drawing assignment. We have to do a big render of an animal. I think I'm going to do these little Reed Titi things I saw. Not sure what medium I want to use though...I was thinking pencil and watercolor. So I'm gonna try and keep you guys updated on this project so I can have some input!

And now I'm going to go do some more sketches now! Crits and stuff would be awesome, especially on the paintings

**staticpen** · April 15th, 2009, 11:36 AM

Nice sketches! Those Titis are nuts, huh? Looking forward to that.
Um, the hand that you drew grasping a stick(?). Squeeze your hand into a fist. You see that little depression that occurs on your wrist? In your drawing you've actually got the hand overlapping the thumb, and if anything it should be the other way around, no? Because the fist is receding into the background. The thumb itself looks kind of long, but that's due in part to that fact that you've got it overlapping the wrist, which extends it another inch or so (in terms of if it was a real hand).
Anyways, the painting... What I've learned about that sort of reflected lighting you've got going on your last portrait is that it should be the opposite temperature of your main light source, otherwise it flattens the image. That doesn't apply precisely here, but both your light accents are the same color/temp, so while the cause is a little different, the effect it's having on your image is the same, you know what I mean?

I've gotta run. See you around!

**Toffeeliz** · April 15th, 2009, 12:20 PM

The oil painting has me excited

(is it oil? maybe not haha) Just be careful not to go too red. Mix cadmium yellow, cobalt blue for shadows, and cadmium red for young skin, alarzin crimson and yellow ochre for old skin. Thats what I reads in a painting book anyways

Keep posting and I'll commenting