NEW ink, pencil, watercolor experiments - always ladies

[snubbed]

I've been very inspired by some of the work I've seen in here. Very inspired. The vision and technical skill some of you exhibit is awesome.

While I'm nowhere near that level, I want to start working towards it. Maybe you guys will help me? I love critical feedback. Well thought out advice is incredibly valuable, so please, if you have anything, let me know, okay?

That said, here are some rough sketches I've done. I'm TERRIBLE at doing finished pieces. Never a clear enough vision of what I want the piece to look like.

[snubbed]

dog eaten sketchbook. stupid dog.

[snubbed]

More sketches.

[kadious]

All your sketches have great shadow placement. I love the fact that you can see everything that way blocked out. Great use of geo.

[Pascallo]

Hey there, thanks for checking my book!
Good to see your doing anatomy stuff, that and the figures looking pretty good! Keep it rollin!

[snubbed]

Kadious - thanks for the comment! The shape of shadows is something I've always loved when other artists do it. It doesn't look real, but it helps define form I think. Now I just need to learn what the actual forms are that the shadows should define. Thus the studies.

Pascalo - No prob on checking your book! Thanks for the feedback! I will keep it rollin' I think....hopefully.

Here are a couple more Bridgman studies of feet mixed with quick sketches. Nothing too remarkable, but what the heck...

[snubbed]

more pencils

[Reika]

Salutations! Thank you for stopping by my sketchbook and leaving such a heart warming comment I am jealous of how you use/create shadows! Tell me your secret

[The Legendary Left]

Thanks for stopping by the sketchbook and critiquing my art.... I do a lot of anatomy studies i just haven't posted them yet, but i will soon.... And thanks for the advice... As far as your SB everything is looking pretty good I really like your shading techniques... Keep posting, as will i.

[Sarvan]

Awesome shading, inspires me to make my own shading that way. I love your model too - organic yet metallic.

[monsi]

really liking what i see here! I like the quality of your marks.

Really, you're doing all the right things what with your mix of studies and sketches from your head.

keep it up

[snubbed]

Hey! People actually look at this stuff! Thanks guys!

Reika - no problem. Every day while I'm at work it really helps to take a break and check out all of the amazing stuff going on in these forums. Art from all over the world that people will show for free!! It's awesome!

Legendary Left - Thanks for coming by the book! It means a lot to me to get feedback from so many different people. Everyone has a cool perspective to hear.

Sarvan - thanks for the feedback on the shading. Do you think it's too much when the shading looks like that? I'm always wondering...if that's how I draw a fleshy woman like her, then what will a metallic or stone woman look like? In fact, I'm attaching a pic of a woman made from stone and she looks like my flesh model. lol

Nethus - I'm glad I'm doing something right! hehe. Thanks for taking the time to crit my book. Especially from someone who's been around on the forums for a while like you have.

Okay, here are two more. One is a digital painting I've recently done. I'm trying to find a way to use my pencil lines and still color them. I really like how penciled pieces look, but want them to have a more "finished" feeling. I don't know if I saved the pencils enough in this piece. It's one of a series of small illustrations I'm printing and framing in my house. Each features a virtue I admire and want to practice daily.

The other is an illustration of an enviro. I've never EVER drawn environments before. Don't think I did it very well here, but had to try.

[Grief]

shaping up as a really strong sketchbook right off the bat.

excellent use of pencil. keep feeding this thread new work.

[G@m]

thanks for checking my sb,
the last enviro is nice and i like the way you do shading but there is something that bother me, probably the statue in the center she has one arm longer than the other or i'm wrong?

[Ignominious]

nice stuff here! wow, post #1 took my breath away. you've got really nice pencil technique!

[snubbed]

Thanks guys!

Grief - thanks for the feedback. Any crits or thoughts?

Gama - Thanks for the critique!!! You are dead on, the arm is longer than the other and I never noticed it! Thank you. It's this kind of feedback that I really appreciate!

Ignominious - Thanks!

Here are a few more sketches. The two women ones are from reference. I used a site called "Body in Mind" to find them. The line work on the woman at profile really gives her a harsh looking face, but in a way I'm okay with that. These are just 15 minute sketches each. (hard to do longer ones for some reason)

The face is just from my mind and started with the person's left eye (viewer's right). From there I just kept drawing out from the eye. Kind of an ugly, androgynous face.

Finally, the "painting" is a piece I did for an illustrated novel I'm writing. I wanted to flow the text into it so you guys could crit on that as well, but it was taking too long and I'm just not happy with the painting. I'm having such a HARD TIME with using a Wacom. Does anyone use that new small Cintiq for their primary tablet? How do you like it? Is it worth a grand?

Please crit anything you see. I need to GROW.

[smid]

Hey snubbed, you have a really nice and interesting pencil technique it's just perfect for some comics making, although the flesh looks a bit too solid sometimes, but it is not like that everywhere. For example in your first post the the short haired man has a softer feel about him compared to your other works. I think that the larger dark areas make him look that way. Once more nice style man. Oh I almost forgot! I really liked the text about the flexible people.

[snubbed]

Thanks Smid! I want to try and freshen up the way I render shadows.

[Exquisite Beast]

I like your ability to contrast your figures. Perhaps blending the shadows would work better in making the form look less geometric (in the sense of every surface being plain to see).

[theelusiveyoda]

awesome pencil work snubbed have you tried smudging the pencil work with your finger to get more of a texture to faces and skin i find it quite helpful when im doing life drawing

[SugaCrcl]

the second picture on post 12 looks awesome. Are you going to paint it? He reminds of the story of Atlas in mythology.

[Nettle_Mountain]

About cintiq, im using it since i didn't learn to really use wacom intuos (call me lazy). The problem with right now on cintiq is color, the blue colour stays too bland compared when i put a picture back to my tusty CRT monitor, it's bluer and different shade.

It might be a software problem, im looking into it thought. As a drawing table, it is almost, really close to almost a paper. Could recommend it as drawing apparatus.

[snubbed]

Thanks Nettle! Yeah, I definitely need a Cintiq. Thanks for the info! Now to find a way to save up a grand for the bottom of the line model...Anyone need some crack? (just kidding - no seriously)

Yoda - I've tried the smudging with mixed results. When I'm using pastels and charcoals, then obviously I love it, but I have this weird phobia/aversion issue with rubbing my fingers over textured surfaces - lol. It creeps me out.

SugaCrcl - I might paint it. But first I'm going to do what Jens suggested and do a values study from ref.

Jens - great suggestion. I'll do that today and post something! Thanks for taking the time to comment!

Beast - you're not the first person to suggest that to me, too. Maybe I should start paying attention to softening up my geometric shadows. Thanks for the crit!!

Here are two pieces done from ref (victorias secret I think). Just quick pencils while I remind myself that digital painting isn't the end of the world.

[Trashy]

Hey there snubbed,

thanks for coming by my sb. You got a real neat way of approaching your drawings. I think already somebody mentioned it has a almost geometric look to it. Anyway, there are drawings where this style works brilliantly. I absolutely love how you handled this portrait- http://www.conceptart.org/forums/att...1&d=1201744611

There are other cases where they are almost too solid which I know somebody else already mentioned. Jens, pretty much nailed it on the head when it comes to values in your digital work. Tackle those in greyscale first and do some studies from life.

Hope that helps. you got some really cool work here already. Looking forward to seeing more.

[l0stinth0ughts]

GREAT USE OF PENCIL! you could start working on shading if you wanted to. the nudity ones really got me i dont know why oh back to the critique, i would like to see some color into some of those pencil drawings. some of the drawings have the same line width all around, your letting gravity take over the line work. try using different hardness of pencils, having seen you use pencils quite well. Hope this helps

[snubbed]

Trashy - thanks for commenting! I'm finding the value studies are hard to find the patience for. I keep going right at the details or adding a little hint of color too early. I'll have to keep at it.

thoughts - your crit is dead on. I do let my line weight be determined by the width of the pencil lead I'm using (I use almost exclusively drafting mechanical pencils), but I've been finding other stuff, too.

Here is a painted drawing in Photoshop. I really really like Corel Painter for the way the paints mix, but I can't find a way to get my pencils to still be "relevant" in the end piece with Corel. I'm technically deficient with it. I use Photoshop a lot for work but have only recently started using the brushes in there. This piece turned out okay, I think. Mixing a lot of photo montage with my drawing and colored painting.

Any suggestions or thoughts on this?

[l0stinth0ughts]

hmm... i would say add some red to it, just because it looks like it needs red lols. its good though i like it.

[snubbed]

hehe, yeah, it actually kind of does need red a little bit. lol. Thanks for the comment lost.

Here's the second in that "virtues" project I'm working on. (Flexibility being the first one in an earlier post).

[K-bot]

Thanks for dropping by my sketchbook and leaving some great comments!

Your figures are looking awesome! Some of your pencil studies are amazing, and inspire me to draw more. You still need to work on heads, especially painting them (Don't we all!) I STRONGLY recommend trying this, it made huge improvement for me:

What you do is every day you set aside some time, whatever works for you so that you actually do it, and paint a head. I mix it up, sometimes I'll copy a photo and sometime I use a shaving mirror and paint me. I am gonna try to get some people to sit for me soon too. I usually only spend about an hour, and the point isn't to make a pretty picture (yet) it's just to study and improve!

Keep it up!

[snubbed]

This is the third in the virtues series I'm working on right now. Love to hear thoughts and suggestions on how to bring it out and make it even better (if you even think it's good at all, which is suspect).

BUHLERKS - You are exactly right on heads. If anything, they are very generic looking. Setting aside time to draw every day is the medicine. Am I strong enough to take it?...