Algenpfleger learns to draw (He really does!) December 2012, what is this?

[Hive_minD]

Really enjoy your stuff!
I will have to enter here again with some critique....
Really like the eye studies. Could you perhaps post me the ref links?

Chris

[algenpfleger]

*faints*
So many replies ohmygodohmygod!


Clochette, thanks Err, about drawing speed, I think Bobby Chiu said it's the ability to put down much information with few strokes. Something I definitely need to improve D:

r-idz, thanks! Aaaayyye I love freckles. I think I overdo it sometimes

Reject-D, haha, cheers man Yeah, I'll keep an eye on you.

Frozenbears, drop that joke already xDD Thanks man. About the motivation. Hey. it's no secret. I just listened to Bobby Chiu's podcast... and it totally hit me. Makes me believe in myself and work so hard. And once you see it pays off, you work even harder. Check it out people, it's pure love what this man gives the world. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJowNFmuul8

Nettle_Mountain, thanks mate! Yeah, I wanna get really good. Like, really, really good. Means I have to practice a lot

AsaB, hey thank you What, inspiration folder, me? You must be kidding. Thank you. This means so much to me.
Umm, Brushes. Well I don't have Photoshop, don't really have the money, don't have Painter either for the same reason, so what I use is SAI, a japanese tool which is still in development. Actually, I don't feel I'll ever want something else. SAI is so awesome, even though it's still in alpha stadium. It's just beautiful, the brushes are so smooth, it's easy to use and to customize and... well I love it. I think you can get an english translation of the trial version here: Link
And I once did a tutorial on how to use the program: Tutorial
Thanks again

Hive_minD, thanks man! Don't really have ref links I'm afraid, I just browse the internet, like flickr, deviantart, there's tons of bodyparts there. Gotta be grateful to the emo kids with their myspace pics I guess


So today! I did a few more of the aforementioned studies.









And some Bridgman.



Then, digital doodling. Wanted to try out new things today with skintones. So here's one where I wanted to have my mids more low key like Marta Dahlig says, but I failed and it's oversaturated and weird.


Next one... here I tried some "ugly" colors, you see my palette in the corner there. Linda bergkvist seems to be working with such colors, but I can't seem to figure it out yet. Damn, I wanna learn how to paint skin like her.


And a little junk.

[Peter Berkovski]

great portraits as always my friend,you amaze me every day dude,so much work and you didn't make any break.Hard and good work you doing right now - Regards.and you braing going to be for stealing very soon
Cheers mate!

[sketcheth]

I like how you include simple things like freckles in your paintings of women, they really give them a bit more originality and realism. You paint some extremely expressive eyes, I love the studies.

You can completely disregard this, but it may be healthy to try to expand your area of focus from what you do so well, like lips and eyes, and work on other aspects of your portraits, refining them and strengthening your skills there. No matter what you do, your work so far is pretty stellar.

[Flaskpost]

WHOA! You´ve gotten better over night! Tell me the secret! The small studies of mouths, eyes and so on are beautiful! Great brush economy. Every stroke seem to be in the right place!
Lookin great, dude!

[GiantRibot]

eyes and lips.

so awesome i broke my jealousy bone.

the yellow woman is a bit odd, though. seems as though she's emitting light instead of reflecting it.

i would try a multiply layer(in photoshop) to see how the shadows work best before painting it for real(in not photoshop).

[AsaB]

Beautiful update! Your lip studies are wonderful and juicy, I see such improvements. I agree with Flaskpost, what is your secret? (I think I know it though, sleep-deprivation and practice, yes? ) But joking aside, this is amazing.

Ah, you don't use Photoshop? Sorry, shouldn't jump to conclusions like that! But alright, thanks for the info and tutorial, I'll check it out

[Peter Berkovski]

we want more,we want more,we want more,sorry for this spam buddy but we want more you have really amazing skills in OC, I should to try it out.
cu around my friend!

[algenpfleger]

Yay!

atlantik, thanks man! But leave me my brain just a little longer, the more will you benefit from stealing it later And what's with that double post man, I'm trying to concentrate here xD

sketcheth, thank you, and wow, everyone seems to love the freckles, now I feel bad as i don't have any today.
And hey, your critique is highly appreciated, and actually you are right. the thing is, what I'm focusing on right now is skintones, so I guess my stuff's a little boring right now. I shall do more figure studies to spice it up a little, you're totally right.

Flaskpost, wow, have I? Thanks! No secret, just practice and Bobby's podcast.
About the brushstrokes, umm, I don't think my strokes are economic, but I try to make them follow the form so maybe that creates a little effect... well maybe not

GiantRibot, oh I'm sorry! I had my jealousy bone removed a while ago so I can enjoy art without hurting all the time Thanks for the nice words man.
And yeah that yellow girl looks kinda ... not so well. Um, my software does have layers, but I rarely use em, cause if I don't like something I can always paint over it again, feels more natural to me.

AsaB, thanks my dear And you're dead on with the secret. I even overslept today because I was up so long yesterday D: And yeah, Photoshop is way too expensive for me, and apart from that, why should I use photo editing software for painting? Just because veryone else does it?

atlantik again, thanks, alright, alright, here's your update



Today's stuff is ugly! I was sick, had headache, overslept, and on top of that I tried new things with color schemes! But please bear with me, I think I'm about to figure out how to get skintones working the way I want em to.




Some Bridgman.


And some quick and dirty studies. I fell in love with the first photo, I believe it was the first time I saw a photo with good colors. So I kinda went and studied them, but my study looks not like the real one

[AsaB]

Hey, you've got a point about PS, it's sometimes a bit odd that program directed at photo editing is used much more as a painting tool. That's why I've often thought of giving Painter (and now Sai!) a better look, the entire program is with painting in mind (Oh, and I can't quite say that I paid for Photoshop...)

Your last update is gorgeous. My favourite is the upside-down one with the good colours. Your sense of colour is, btw, getting better with each update! I envy your dedication, but I guess there's not much else to do but kick my butt and practice

Ooh, one more question, if I may? Do you have any tutorials or links to digi painting, something that was maybe useful for you when first starting out? I've got so little experience in it (I'm more of a pencil fan), so it can be very frustrating

[Peter Berkovski]

you are the man,man no seriously you are a machine for digital studies buddy,I'm feeling so lazy right now.I do like to see some old people studies from you, this gona be very very interesting.

[mentler]

Making Serious
Progress Here

The Correct
Spelling Of Creativity Is

PRODUCTIVITY

Up You Go To The Front Roll

[algenpfleger]

AsaB, haha yeah, and what's more, all the functions you use for painting are found in other programs as well.
And thank you Posted a bunch of tutorial links in your sketchbook thread... guess I'll post em in here as well:
Linda Bergkvist's tutorials | ImagineFX workshops | Itchstudios | CGtalk thread with lotsa stuff
Those all helped me a lot.

atlantik, thanks man! Old people, huh? Did one today, maybe more coming up.

mentler, you have no idea how much this means to me. Your nice words really got me up on my feet again when I was about to lose faith in myself. Thank you so much. And I agree about the productivity, I will try to work even harder.


So, today. Some photo studies! Always fun.




Also, Bridgman.


Then refless digis... again trying to find new ways...



And this felt like a breakthrough. Made me really happy.

[Saskia]

Sehr schöne Arbeiten Ich bin gespannt in welche Richtung du dich entwickeln wirst, auf jeden Fall merkt man deinen Bildern die Leidenschaft an, mit der du dich so kreativ betätigst.

[Clochette]

I'm really really impressed by your massive production! How many colored sketches you make in one single day? Are you a machine or something? You never sleep or what?
Seriously, regarding your work, quantity rhymes with quality, so I'm pretty jealous! I feel like a turtle, and you are a speedy jack-rabbit! Anyway, it's not a contest, but your ability to produce more and more is awesome, and have a great consequence : you are improving your art every day!
Just a little crit for the next to last portrait : I think it will be more efficient if you work on some strong edges, for the face strong lines like forehead, arch of the eyebrows, jaws or chin, what are really hard curves of the face. She's a woman, I know, not a GI joe, but it seems a little bit too limp. Maybe some stronger contrast on those transition zones between two different surfaces (neck to jaw for example, or forehead to eye cavity) would make it much better? On her nose it's pretty well rendered, but less on other parts of her face.
The last one is in a very good direction!
Keep it up! And I'm waiting for you for that jam!

[kidult]

Great studies as always! Keep it up

[Flaskpost]

Whoa man, you´re improving fast! I love your digi-portraits.
The last one has really beautiful skintones!

[AsaB]

You're like an art machine, you produce more stuff in a day than I do in a month!

But joking aside, your latest update is fantastic. I love the b/w figure drawing, lovely values. And your skintones just keep getting better. Oh, and the old man portrait is so great! Love the expression

[UnSharpened]

Sweet colour stuff.
#152 is my favorite in recent post here, though the latest one is awesome as well. I think that's because of the problem whick Clochette has pointed out. So just an additional aspect I would like to mention is the second light source. Though it depends on personal decision, naturally light doesn't come in only one direction. By indicating the reflection of second light in dark side, the edge will come out by itself. Hope this will be helpful.

[algenpfleger]

Saskia, wow danke! dein Zeug ist wahnsinnig toll, ich fühl mich grad wirklich geehrt

Clochette, thanks Ah, not much. I just upload everything, and I put a lot of text in between to make it seem more :'D
Thank you so much for the sweet words, and for the critique. You are totally right about the facial features. I just begin to notice that I need to work on that part much harder. I wanna paint beautiful stuff after all!
And yeah we toally need to get down to that session. By the way, what will you play, or will you sing?

kidult, thanks man, I will!

Flaskpost, wow good to hear! thank you!

AsaB, no actually it took me twelve years to do all this stuff and now I'm posting it in just a few days to make it seem like i was devoted :'D Just kidding, thanks a bunch!

UnSharpened, thanks dude! And you're right about the critique... arggh I need to work harder. Can't even show my face anymore after todays update D:


Because today sucked. I felt really crappy and was helping out my dad like the whole day, which resulted in me getting nothing done at all, except some Vanderpoel studies.


And a few photo studies.





I hope tomorrow will be better though

[Clochette]

Hey, it seems that you've already understood that edge stuff!
You killing me! Keep working!
And for that jam session, I'll sing you some oldies, and you drums? Just need a bassist!

[Frozenbears]

Holy wow! i really like the last one of your photostudies!

[enrigo]

Insane progress dude, I love those portrait paintings especially the latest one.

[Fishspawn]

Man, you're pumping out a lot of work. These studies are getting a lot better! Keep it up.

[Peter Berkovski]

amazing progress man you gone transfer into pro after few months or quickly,keep rockin my friend
cu!

[Maidith]

Is it just me, or does this sketchbook contain much more stuff than the one at pixelbrush?
anyways... excellent studies

[Liam Harvey]

these are beautiful dude, the extreme close ups of the eyes and things are my favourite, they look real but the less focused areas applied with larger "strokes" help in providing focus points to the sharper more detailed areas. the effect is really powerful and down right cool i think.

[~Faust~]

Wow, you are a machine! You will rule us all soon.

[XSsithi]

It is really fun watching your sketchbook I gotta say. It is almost a for sure thing that every day you come back to look at it there will be new stuff. I really like how you are laying down the colors for skin tones and the background contrast. Have you done any painting of hands or feet? there are a lot of skin tone changes on them and it might help your eye for color if you have to deal with some different planes and highlights/shadows.

[AsaB]

Very nice photo studies, man, very inspiring and well done Those clouds are fun, the lighting in the first one looks great. Your eye studies are a beauty! Keep it up