The capricious sketch-book of Taven (constructive criticism welcomed)

[drobyazko]

hey, thanks for stopping by and commenting on my sketchbook. ^^ btw, page 3 is up.
i'll pitch in some advice that i can. You're backgrounds are great, i especially like the palm trees/beach and the buildings in post #26 i belive. I also like how the saltworms designs are coming, very creative.
I'm sure someone already said this but the best ways to get better at drawing anything would by using referense and practicing a lot. That's all thr advise i can give.
Great job! Keep it up!

[Taven]

Drobyazko-- Thanks! The one with the buildings is actually much older, I've been AWOL with my sketchbook for sometime. I'm trying to get more sketches up, and some of the things in the "inbetween" time as well. I'll try to pop by and look at page 3.

Here's some sketches from the last week or two, I'm trying to use the attachment manager again, instead of the links, and get back into the proper habits. The copyright fill-out addition is new to me, so I'm still getting back into the swing of things.

[Taven]

So, you may have noticed that I don't tend to do a whole lot of digital art. The reason is, I don't have a tablet, and my programs (or at least understanding of them?) is limited. I have Photobie (when it works), Brush (my favorite overall, even if it is limited), Inkscape (I can't figure out how to use it), Art Rage (good, but limited)... I also downloaded Gimp, but I haven't gotten a chance to try it out yet.

Anyways, today I decided to try my hand at some digital coloring. Here's an idea of what my process is like. Okay, go look at the image below. See the line work, for the dragon on the armor, and then the face? To get that I have to go to the orignal uncolored picture, in Paint, and use the select tool to draw those lines. Then I have to go back to Brush and mess with it until (there is no button for this, I wish there was) I get it into just black and white. Then I have to save that picture, go back into paint, and color the important parts red with the background white. I open my latest coloring, and then paste the line work ontop of it. The reason it has to be perfect with the only black/white eariler is that because if there's any other colors, instead of disappearing to let the coloring show through, they'll be there as pixel blobs.

Digital coloring is very tedious for me, and not particularily relaxing as art usually is. I did figure out a way to make this cool compilation of my work, though. I put all my images as layers in Photobie (which freezes alot and confuses me, but I managed this) and then saved it as a GIF. (You'll see two because of the size of the GIF file, or something. I had to split it.)

[Taven]

Well, just a quick update. It's been a busy week, and so I don't have much new stuff for you-- Mostly just going to be posting some things of me playing around with an image editor, and exparamenting with effects. There's one sketch, but for the image editing, you can see that it was all with the same basic image, the one I've been working on, to compare effects.

[Taven]

Okay, so, lots of new stuff. Not all particularily impressive stuff, but oh well. First up are some notes from Reverie in Dallas, TX on the Thunderdome topic that was there. I haven't finished inking and adding pictures to my notes of Lorne Lanning's keynote adress, but that should be coming soon.

Also tossed in are some clothes sketches. The first one, Meleth, goes along with the same world that I did Sulifius (see the first page of this thread somewhere) and Serilla. I may or may not do a portrait of her. The armor is just me playing around with all the different "wear locations" in the correlating game, and what that would look like.

As you can see with the next ones, that have the red hair, I'm doing another version of a previous character (also seen on the first page.) In the other drawing, I used inks to make her braids stand out properly, and in this picture I was exparamenting with other ways. On the left, what I did was overlayed a piece of paper on the drawing, and drew (pressing hard) the lines for the braids. That impresses it on the actual drawing, which is why it stays white if you sketch over it. Sadly, if you press harder (as with a burnishing technique which I typically use) those lines don't stay. The lines in the hair on the right were scraped out using a paper clip... I wasn't really happy with either of the results, but did continue to mess around with technique one on another peice.

I'm getting tired of typing. Last but not least is my progress coloring the four-winged guy. The picture is a little blurry, but in truth I don't like how unsharp the original image is either, though I really think the effect I achieved on the background is nice. I may end up making the background a different color, too, so the various blacks don't blend together so much, keeping the lines crisper.

[Ravenseye]

I like Zombie Shadows. It really reminds me of the music The Mars Volta ... more or less from album amputecture. Your also geting better at sketching. I read once that after 2 years of sketching one has the ability to draw anything they desire. Sadly i only got to about year 1 lol ... still sketch but not like i used to day after day. I say that to push you to continue sketching. I like how some of the characters are looking. There outfits are really cool. One test i did for geting more variation and such in for constumes when i sketched was just to throw down for 15 mins speed no detail just mainly shapes to create tons of little beads and feathery looks ... maybe little hooks down the brim of hood. Maybe you could use that to your advantage. As for your digital work think of shape and lighting. Most of your shapes are flat. It takes a while to start geting shape but basicly look at how light hits a shape ... for example eyes sit back in the head so lighting hits strong on the forehead above the eyes and strong on the cheeks (assuming the lights from above) well i hope any of that helped. Lataaa.

[kingkostas]

Hello Taven.
You are in the beginning of your long adventure.I am happy that you seem to be a mature person and taking things seriously.This will get you on the other levels fast if you keep up.

About the H.O.P.E. thing you just discovered some personal part of me(check under my username) Thats one of the most durable motivations because it makes you an artist with a goal and no useless things.

Now you need work with your anatomy.What you may have to do is to leave the digital for some time and get down to memorizing anatomy and understanding how our body works.Well myself i am preparing a small tutorial forum where i will put anatomy tutorials to help people get some more experience(at least as much as i can offer for now).Its not ready yet but i am gathering material to have a nice amount ready)

Its no need to make illustration like studies.Keep it simple.
Say today i will study front views(maybe) or just torso or just hands.But not only muscular and not only by copying.You have to make the "shaping up".For example when you see what importan muscles construct the arm make some sketches of simple shapes that will look like the certain muscles(indicating each of them)and research their position.I mean you will have to understand that brachialis is "in the middle of" bicep and tricep.
Thats just to starting making a scheduled training.
I think that with your attitude you will keep progressing.
Keep up and thnx for stopping by my sketchbook (i appreaciate it)

[Taven]

Hey guys, thanks for the comments and feedback.

Ravenseye - Thanks! It took me forever to color, I used the same sized pen for the whole thing. Silly me. I've never heard of The Mars Volta, but some people say that it reminds them of certain cultures and how they do their art. Beats me. It came about because I wanted something to draw. One person said a cat, one a zombie, and one a muffin. The muffin kind of turned into a fireball, and I'm told it looks more like a lizard or reptile with a tail. Whatever, I liked how it turned out.

Thanks for the encouragement to continue sketching, I'll try to keep it up. What I really need to do is sketch more using references, and not always do everything from imagination. You can see I'm spending the time to sketch things out concept-wise a bit more, which is a step in the right direction.

As to the coloring digitally, I think I have alot to learn. Most of the tools and how to properly use them still confound me. I'm trying a trial of Corel Painter X for thirty days, so I'm hoping in that time I can learn something.

Kingkostas - You're right, my anatomy needs work. I reallyneed to buckle down and do it, instead of keep putting anatomical studies off. I'd love to see your tutorial forum when it's up, please...

I'd reply more, but I'm tired. Will post sketches, etc, later.

[Taven]

I'm not sure these are in the right order. A number of the anatomy sketches I cringe at, because I think that they're incrediblr innacuerate. Some are half-way decent. I'm also not sure if I managed to get the attachments in the exact order things were actually sketched in. Some of the sketches are from photo reference, and others are quick sketches of the dymanic positions used in various other's work. A few are all from my head, too, though I think which those are is fairly obvious, as they need lots of work. Actually, to put some of this stuff up makes me grimace, but I'm doing it anyways. That way both I and my commentors will be able to see progress... I know alot of them are off and odd looking. Here they are the same.

[kingkostas]

Nice notes mate.Dont worry you will progress as soon as you keep studying.
There is no need to focus on dynamic figures now.First of all understand the basics.Actually i think i wanna recommend you to read some Loomis.
Here a nice link with the books online(if you dont want to download)

http://fineart.sk/index.php?cat=1

and check figure drawing for all its worth, and drawing the heads and hands.
Remember not only to copy but understanding.

Hope this helps

[Ashrumm]

I could not agree more with Kingkostas, try getting you hands on a good anatomy book and doing some studies will carry you far and will only get you more comfortable with the human form. Also start downloading reference from the web this will only help you improve!

Keep it up!! you definitely should no be discouraged at all you are way too young to worry and get intimidated. But with that said keep up the good work!!

[Taven]

Kingkostas - Thanks, I've looked at Loomis some, but it's been awhile. I think the trick for me is doing anatomy and keeping at it, but also seperating the study chunks by working on other things. Too much anatomy, I go crazy, too much working on other things, and I never get better at the anatomy.

Ashrumm - You're never too young or too old to get intimdated, but point taken. Thanks for the encouragement. Periodicly, I've usually gone through a "working on anatomy" phase, but I've never pushed it far enough to the point where I'd like it to be. Usually my drive, in terms of anatomy, peters out after awhile and while I usually end off better then I was before, it's still not usually where I'd like it to be.


Here's a quick update, I'm trying to color one of my sketches of a person getting eaten by worms. It has a loooong way to go still, but I really like how one section of the tongue turned out. If I could only get the rest to look like that!

[kingkostas]

Its very rought now.I think you liked the tongue cause you did a better rendering there.Its not flat.
Anyway keep up studying, i wanna see you going up!!!!

[Taven]

I'll get some non-digital stuff up for you guys when my Camera is handy.

Meantime, the Worm continues. Two pictures, one a playing around with a "cross-breed" of styles, just to see what it looks like.

[kingkostas]

The classic exploration of filters ?
Ok keep working hard , more in the paper, doing figures reading and training.
I really wanna see you on the next level.
Rendering with color is something that requires huge understanding.
If you dont want paper work then what to do?
Ok make a simple cube in photoshop(or whatever you use) and make several shading trainings. Or maybe a sphere.Try learning from the simple and then apply the knowledge to your next projects
See ya mate

[Taven]

kingkostas - Well, digitally, I pretty much have no clue what I'm doing. I have a trial version of Corel Painter X (which works for 30 days, now about 22 or so) and I can't make heads or tails out of it. Lately, I've been stumped on how to turn off the dang pattern and turn the brush back to color. Blue roses all over everything is not very helpful. Mostly what I've been using for the man is Brush Strokes 2.0 (a free program) with some of Microsoft Word's image editing (yeah, I have a PC...) and occasionally Photobie (also a free imaging program). Mostly, Layers confound me, and I have to say, I'm fairly close to the equivlent of illerate for digital art. Sad, isn't it?


So, today we have a variety of sketches. Most are from other people's art, "other people" being mostly really old historical art. A bunch of it is just quick sketches, but a few have more facial or body details. I like getting ideas from that sort of thing, you can see that for one sketch I gave it a human body with full detail, although the arm looks a bit funky. As usual, a billion flaws with my quick sketches, but I hope I'm getting a tiny bit better.

I haven't printed off any Loomis pages to lug around with me, with any luck I'll be doing some of that tomorrow.

[kingkostas]

Nice nice, keep working from these references.If you manage to achieve more clean and accurate copies then you will step to the next level.
Keep them up , work hard!!!!

[benu]

Thanks for visiting my sketchbook again!
It's good that you started with the anatomy studys and work from references. Focus on the proportions for now. Keep it up, you'll soon see improvements with your sketches from imagination too. Another thing I find helpful is to get a little sketchbook, carry it around everywhere and sketch whatever you see, your hands, people on the train whenever you have a few minutes.
What I like best so far is the more stylized work like "zombie shadows"- the critter reminds me of some mesoamerican death god- and the line hawk. The colored drawings often appear flat, because there isn't much shading. I suggest you practice this in greyscales, because color makes shading much more difficult. This is a really good tutorial about rendering stuff: http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

[Taven]

Thanks for the advice and support, both of you.

I'll be adding more updates later, things besides art have been demanding my time lately. Lots of school projects and the like, to wrap things up for this year.

I'll try to have lots of stuff, some of it interesting ;P the next time I post an update.

[The Pariano]

You've definitely been producing enough :]
In your drawings, always strive to have economy with your lines. One confident stroke holds more information than many sketchy ones. Try to exploit the pressure you use, varying line widths from whispery light and thin to dark and strong.
With your digital coloring, you have a lot of unnecessary strokes- when representing things in color, you want to paint the shapes of light that are created on the form, not the form itself.
Keep it up :]

[Taven]

No update yet, still busy with school, but a quick comment to say thanks for the comments.

I've managed to do some art, but taking the time to photograph it and stick it up right now would be a little too much. I have noticed that one thing I'd really like to try and work on is the clarity of lines in my colored pencil work; they seem to be blending together lately, making the picture more "blurred," and less of an enjoyable piece.

It shouldn't be too much longer before there are more updates, and I start visiting my usual sketchbooks for comments to you guys.

[kingkostas]

I will wait for your update .
Thnx for the critiques you offer.
Keep building your lines , and yes economy and confidence on lines and such.

[Taven]

It's been far too long. I guess things can really get away from you. So, this is "older" stuff in that it's from about when I took a break from posting, and not recent enough I really feel I've worked on it, well, recently.

As you'll notice, the first few are more cartoonie, then I get back into some anatomy studies.

[Taven]

Other Sketchbooks You Should See

I have a number of sketchbooks that I've book marked, and try to keep followed up on. Since everyone likes visitors, comments and critique, I decided that a little promotional blurb for some of the artists I've been following and commenting on wouldn't be out of place. Excuse me if I get any of the gender pronouns wrong, it's not intentional.



Kingkostas' Sketchbook - This guy does an amazing amount of updates. Focusing on digital media, he's been doing many anatomy studies, and getting more into color with his art. With currently some 21 pages in his sketchbook, it's maybe best to browse a few pages towards the end and then make your comments. It's worth the trip, and the progress across the pages is enjoyable and amazing to watch.

Mokinzi's Sketchbook - It's amazing that she's only fifteen, with the level of stuff she's doing. She's exploring a ton of different styles, and in my opinion, has some amazing eyes on her characters. I've actually been meaning to stop by her sketchbook more often, and you guys should take a look.

AsaB - She's one of the first sketchbooks I commented on, after making mine. The one regret is that she doesn't update as much as I'd like, but I think we're all guilty of that at times. As to her art, it's really got the proportions and anatomy down, as well as her own style. One sad side effect of that is that I tend to drop by less, as I have few helpful criticisms to offer, but her sketchbook is very enjoyable, and you should stop by.

Drobyazko's Sketchbook - Another younger and progressing artist, she is trying to move into making comic panels. From acryllics to watercolor to digital media, her art has a wide variety. It's worth a trip, and she's really progressing across the pages. I highly recommend dropping in, giving some advice, and following her journey.

Writerof's Sketchbook - An artist who enjoying drawing fantasy races, creatures and beasties. Lately he's been updating less, which is a shame, but he's one of the sketchbooks I've kept with and enjoy commenting on. As I keep saying about everyone, worth a look.

Dissociation's Sketchbook - A newer addition to my list for sketchbooks I'm commenting on, and his first sketchbook after being a lurker for two years. He's more horror-oriented then many of the other artists I visit, which is refreshing and nice to see. He does fantasy as well, and is studying to improve his art. It's not a long sketchbook yet, but the art makes me hope it will be growing, and dropping a comment is worth your while.



Those are the most recently updated sketchbooks that I've been watching to comment on. I'm running out of oomph to write up the rest of the list, so that will be continued at a later time. Please let me know if you like seeing the beginning of this list, and drop me a comment if you end up commenting on any of these artist's sketchbooks, please.

[kingkostas]

Thank you very much for the promotion Taven.I am glad you find my sketchbook interesting

Here a quick paintover to indicate some things that may make you understand some things better.
Still need some time to finish exams and go to my hometown and start the site with the tutorials

Have to go...

[Taven]

Wow, I'm amazed you went through all that effort. Actually, he is supposed to have woman breasts... It's a long story. Basicly, my friends and I were playing around, playing "D&D" (it was actually nothing like D&D, but amusing in an insane way). Somehow a friend of mine had their character forcibly assigned the name Mo. I said that I'd take it, but that it was short for Mosendarious. Somehow he also became a trasvestite (sp?) who has both woman parts underneath, and a beard.

There is no logic to it.

Your arms and feet in your quick sketch over of it are much closer to anatomicly correct, although I think the arms could be a bit thicker. I know, I know, I need to do more anatomy practice.

I'll get to it, really I will.

[kingkostas]

I am glad you play D&D, i used to be a player and DM.Its a very good training in every aspect of imagination
Well things like bigger arms its up to you and the character.Learn the basics and then you can do them in all different ways and widths and etc.
See ya

[danlambert]

Wow, thats a whole lot of drawings! Everything seems to be really coming along, they will come along faster if you do more of those anatomy studies, and probably even faster if you work more from life (I didn't have time to read everything so if they are from life then ignore me!).
Also try to think about convex (and the opposite of that line, I completely forgot the name!) lines when you draw, this will help define the form a bit more of the object your drawing.
I also noticed that on a lot of your faces you seem to place the eyes (and as a result; the rest of the features) too high up on the face. Perhaps take some time to study portrait cannon. Just knowing the basics will improve your faces a whole lot!

Again, some great stuff going on,
Peace!

[Lyno]

Hey Taven, it is great to see you're working so hard. That's always a pleasure. I suggest you add some perspective studies to it, it will help you a great deal.
When drawing figures, try to draw trough. Draw a circle(s) for the hips,arms,... but by drawing the lines you normally don't see lightly, you will gain a more 3d/mass feeling.

Have fun .

[Taven]

Hey guys! I'm alive, actually. I haven't been drawing much lately, oddly. I also have been having computer trouble... Yeah. Why is it I'm better at updates during the school year? Never to fear, summer is almost over, and I'm sure that once school starts I'll get back to a more regular post level.

Kingkostas - I do play D&D, although far, far more rarely then I'd like. I don't know if I'll mess around with Moesendarious, but your suggestions are good ones.

Danlambert - Ha, you should see Kingkostas' sketchbook, he is a rabid machine when it comes to pumping stuff out. I would like to do more from life, but most of my things are either from imagination, or picture reference. There's hope for not this semester, but second semester, for life drawing, since I'll finally be taking a drawing class. It's going to be art history for this semester.

Lyno - Thanks for the advice, I'll see what I can do on that. I hope I get back to working hard, I've been something of a slacker lately...