| Agora Maledictum | Small update

[Maledict]

| Index Imago Prohibitorum |



Leaf I:
Birth

Leaf II:
Growth

Leaf III:
Enrichment

Leaf IV:
"Life... is strength.
That is not to be contested; it seems logical enough.
You live; you affect your world."

Leaf V:
"You are born of murder, the very essence of that which takes life.
You have power, if you wish it."

( ??? Leaf VI:
Uroborous ??? )

"Your actions affect so many others than yourself. You will come to realize what little choice you have. You will do what you must, become what you must, or others will pay for your cowardice. You WILL accept the gifts offered to you."

[Dman]

Hey Rabbi,
Good to see your sketchbook up over here! Continue with the good work in the Bottega, when you can start applying the lessons learned there into your character designs you will see a great improvement. I'm not great with advice, but I would say that maybe you should take a little more time with some of your work. Instead of finishing a character in 20 minutes, take that 20 minutes just working out the pose and volumes only, and then once you get that down, take your time and work out the rest of the details. Remember to draw with your head, not just your hand! Keep it up!

Peace!

[Maledict]

Hey Rabbi,
Good to see your sketchbook up over here! Continue with the good work in the Bottega, when you can start applying the lessons learned there into your character designs you will see a great improvement. I'm not great with advice, but I would say that maybe you should take a little more time with some of your work. Instead of finishing a character in 20 minutes, take that 20 minutes just working out the pose and volumes only, and then once you get that down, take your time and work out the rest of the details. Remember to draw with your head, not just your hand! Keep it up!

Peace!

Heya Dman! Good to see you on CA.org as well

About taking the time to finish a drawing, yeah, that's one of my HUGE problems when it comes to art. I rarely ever find the will to take more than 30 minutes to finish a drawing. I love doing quick drawings and starting off images and sketches, but not finishing them. It's absolutely wonderful for training to work fast, but even if you're the fastest worker in the world, you still won't get hired if you can't produce a solid, finished drawing.

Anyway, here is some more stuff. Some acrylics from my portfolio (Which still sucks) and some drawings, and a digital rendering of an apple for digital painting practice.

In other news, I injured my right toe yesterday night whilst on the way back from the art store in Hong Kong, in the underground train station. I tripped and stumbled on the escalator, and completely lacerate my right toe. I almost lost a chunk of flesh from it, and had to walk all the way home from the train station with blood filling up my right sandal. Luckily the Japanese restaurant close to where I live gave me some tissue and bandages, so I managed to patch myself up until I got to the hospital, where I received some local anesthetic (Which hurt like a fucking bitch, let me tell you......), and 6 stitches. Woo.
As they say, there's always an opportunity in disguise in every negative occurrence. And the opportunity here is that I get to do art more now! As I can't really walk away or anything. Or take a shower for that matter.

Enjoy

[Maledict]

Here's another batch of works. Some figure drawings, from imagination, and 1 from life. Includes a demo on how I draw figures from imagination.

There's an acrylic painting that I did today, somewhat pleased with the results, but I'm not good at painting details yet.

Speaking of details, I'm trying my best to learn how to paint details on apples, but am not doing so well. I'm looking for anyone to help critique my work if they're willing to spare the time. In that regard, can anyone give me any advice on how to approach texturing/detailing of an apple?

Anyway, I've tried to paint some portraits, but they're coming off very badly. I don't want to put up any of my bad work, as I feel that it is self defeating. Should I?

Thanks for your patronage.

[Maledict]

Here's another apple. I'm slowly getting better I posted this on the Something Awful.com forums in the Creative Convention section, I'm getting help from great guy there. I'm not sure of his CA.org username though.

[Nanosheep]

Awesome stuff Rabbi! You have got to teach me how to do that...

[Maledict]

Heya Dennis, nice to see that you've finally joined CA.org, stick around

Here's another quick apple I just did:

[Mosthorribleyet]

I've tried to paint some portraits, but they're coming off very badly. I don't want to put up any of my bad work, as I feel that it is self defeating. Should I?

How I see it is, even if it isn't that good looking, you still drew it. I post everything that I draw in my sketchbook because if they didn't see my not-so-good looking pieces, I wouldn't be able to improve. Just my opinion, though

Anyways, those apples are looking nice and I like the referenced model a lot. I like your figure drawing process, I'll have to try it Keep it up!

[Jamesy]

Those apples are looking good, Rabbi. I just started digital painting myself and mine aren't quite as good. If anything, I would say you could add darker areas in some places and you might want to try something other than a white background too. You probably already know of the digital painting thread in the ps section, but if you haven't been there already, you should definitely take a look.

I wish I could say more about the paintings, but you've probably noticed that I'm a complete novice at it. With the last painting, I noticed you were observing how the red of the apple reflected off the brownish surface and how the brownish surface reflected off the red apple. I think the brown on the apple(s) was too overstated as it seems to mute the color. But then again, I'm no painting masta and someone probably needs to back me up on that statement.

As for the studies, keep those up and strive to have the correct proportions each and every time you draw the figure. Anyway, good luck with your portfolio and your foot and keep posting!

[Xerotin]

Nice work you've got here Rabbi. Like your apples, as you know im not the one to give advices. All i can say is keep the good work up

[Soja]

Hey Rabbi Satan!!

Wassup dude! Well just look through ur sketchbook! I like ur paintings!!
Well what i would suggest to u for ur portfolio u might try to finish one paiting as good as u can. Do u know the book "Oil Painting Techniques and Materials" by Harold Speed? Well it's pretty cheap but really good written even if u use Acrylics.

I good practice to improve ur drawing skills is for example do a self portrait everyday or draw a hand everyday for a couple of months or even a year! Will help a lot to improve u observation. But keep doing those character from imagination they force u think creative! Dont loose that!! Keep at it looking forward to see more and good luck with ur portfolio

[Maridius]

Slow down! That's my only advice based on what you've said about how you don't like to spend more than a half hour or so on a drawing. One thing I'm learning is that I can't put new lessons in my brain for later use if I'm in a hurry. Next time you do the foreshortening work, take time to get the perspective exactly right even if it's frustrating. Then later, you'll be able to combine speed and skill for your future clients.

[Maledict]

Thanks for the replies everybody, will keep continuing on trying to improve

I took my time with my 2 latest proper figure drawings. I was inspired by "Gloomati"'s sketchbook, and took the poses from there. And then I tried my own style of rendering.

The other quick sketches were from Bridgman.

Then there's 1 more foreshortening exercise for the Bottega.

[Maledict]

Here's an apple with some brushes and texture that I got from the "Fine arts and Discovery" section, and some female studies. Unfortunately they're too masculine X_X.

Can anyone tell me how they find the poses of the 3 studies? Thanks

[Vyliss]

Rabbi Satan, I see you're trying hard with the studies Taking your time with the studies is important, probably have a think about what you're drawing and why it is the way it is. I know I rushed through my early stuff too but I think that was because I didn't know what to stop and look for. Educate yourself with anatomy books, Bridgman is good but don't just mindlessly copy it, study what the body is doing in his drawings and try to udnerstand how it moves, you also need to do a lot of life drawings.
Regarding your poses, there doesn't seem to be much rythm to them, it seems all kind of stiff and unnatural. The shading is also a bit rushed and makes everything look confusing.
I also would avoid putting in all the details of the macules especially on a female body, they are usually not so obvious as it would be on males.
Life drawing is important here if you want to learn about the body.

WIth your apples, I would not have a white background for them, it really flattens out the image, especially when there is a hard edge around the apple. Think of where the light is coming from from your reference image and paint in the cast shadows and possibly brighten up the areas of the surface the apple is sitting on where the light would hit it to make it not look so flat. Hope that helps

[Maledict]

Rabbi Satan, I see you're trying hard with the studies Taking your time with the studies is important, probably have a think about what you're drawing and why it is the way it is. I know I rushed through my early stuff too but I think that was because I didn't know what to stop and look for. Educate yourself with anatomy books, Bridgman is good but don't just mindlessly copy it, study what the body is doing in his drawings and try to udnerstand how it moves, you also need to do a lot of life drawings.

Thanks for replying and your advice Vyliss, appreciate it

As for Bridgman and the anatomy books, yeah, I'm doing just that - doesn't it show though? Hm, maybe I'm doing something wrong...

But I'll keep trying.

Regarding your poses, there doesn't seem to be much rythm to them, it seems all kind of stiff and unnatural.

Yeah, that's my biggest problem with it comes to drawing the figure - either from life, reference or imagination. Could you help me identify what I'm doing wrong?

The shading is also a bit rushed and makes everything look confusing.

That's another problem of mine - I was never ever really good at shading. I don't know how to shade. That method I'm using of shading via the contours is something I discovered today, so I'll need some practice.

I can't seem to go light enough. If I try, the pencil barely touches the paper, and doesn't get the effect that I want. And I can't seem to get the shade/hatchet lines to line up properly. Gah, what am I doing wrong? I guess the answer is to keep practicing at it.

I also would avoid putting in all the details of the macules especially on a female body, they are usually not so obvious as it would be on males.
Life drawing is important here if you want to learn about the body.

Do you mean muscles? Sure, ok, I'll do just that.

WIth your apples, I would not have a white background for them, it really flattens out the image, especially when there is a hard edge around the apple. Think of where the light is coming from from your reference image and paint in the cast shadows and possibly brighten up the areas of the surface the apple is sitting on where the light would hit it to make it not look so flat. Hope that helps

Hm, I thought I was doing this already? Oh well, back to the drawing board X_X.

Anyway, should I practice rendering on drawings of the figure that I do, or gradient balls just for the practice?

Thanks once again Vyliss

[daestwen]

I was just browsing through - don't have a lot of time to comment right now, I'll come back tonight and get some good crits in.

For now, though, keep up the studies. For me, i never used anatomy books (gasp and shock), i only did life drawing.

[Maridius]

The female studies strike me as very masculine, especially below the chest, and much more muscular than the upper body suggest they should be. Women usually don't show that much definition in their abs for example and I don't think I could ever get thighs that buff without a major hit of steroids. You and I also have the same problem with our pencils too--we forget to sharpen them and just go-go-go with the drawing until down to the wood.

[Call0ps]

i think quite a big part was mentioned, i just can tell you to when sketching just take your time, dont rush like "i need to finish this in 20 minutes"... rather slow and beautiful, than faster and scratchy... u can get faster with time and pratice keep it up man

[Soja]

Hey Rabbi Satan!
great update! i can see u've been busy! good thing!
but as everyone said u need to slow down. maybe it's better for u if u just focus on one part of the body. it's easier if u try to learn each part seperated.
So work through the body step by step makes it easier to keep it in mind.
Keep it up!!

[Jamesy]

Hey, Rabbi, it looks like you've already received a lot of good critiques with this last update, so I'll just say keep up the hard work! I know rendering can be pretty frustrating at some times, but struggling through it will only make you better (I guess that goes for anything, really). Well, keep up the studies and always try to improve upon each drawing you make!

[sfa]

Hi Rabbi,

Good start on your sketchbook. And nice work on them apples.

When figure drawing your intent should not be to copy the model but to analyze it. Visualize the model as a series of interlocking shapes (triangles, circles, squares, rectangles, ellipses, etc.) and forms (cones, cylinders, spheres, cubes, etc.). The experience gained from the perspective and foreshortening exercises you did above will help you with this, so keep doing those.

As an example, I've quickly redrawn your last figure drawing and in a separate doodle colored in the forms and gesture lines I typically think about and use while at life drawing workshops. Use whatever works for you.

Don't worry about shading or even detailing in musculature at the moment. Focus on nailing the gesture first, then try to achieve a sense of dimensionality without resorting to rendering, by using shapes, forms, and overlaps. Look at Kevin Chen's figure drawings for good examples on how to do this. Notice how by using a simple cylinder lightly drawn in he gives the impression of volume on the torso, legs, and arms. Aim for a similar kind of economy in your drawings.

Keep it simple in the beginning and resist the temptation to render. Try to imbue your figure drawings with life and personality even if they're no more than simple stick figures. Remember, if it looks good in the early stages, it will probably look good fully-rendered as well, but no amount of beautiful shading will save a drawing that has problems with the underlying gestures and shapes.

Draw from life as much as you can so you can build your visual library and loosen up your line work. Also, start learning anatomy, so you understand what it is you are seeing, and be sure to memorize proportions, so you can self-correct yourself. Study the body in sections (torso, arms, legs, etc.), so you don't get overwhelmed.

When you're not drawing from life, for studies do master copies with the aim to create a perfect carbon-copy. If this means you need hours to do just one, then so be it, but don't sweat it if it takes you that long. Your brain just needs time to adjust. The more you do, the faster you will get, but be sure to go slow and pump out a stellar product in the end. The reason for doing these is to develop both your hand-eye coordination and self-discipline, and in the process you will also learn how the experts solved similar drawing problems back in their day - tips which you can apply to your own work in the future.

Good luck.

[Maledict]

Thanks for taking the time to reply sfa

Thanks for your advice, but it only makes me more confused. I am already using basic shapes and forms for my figure drawings, so hearing you say that I'm not doing it only makes me wonder what I'm doing wrong, or not doing correctly to some extent. Yeah, my figures lack rythym (As Vyliss said), but I've got no idea how to correct them. I use gesture lines, as you suggested, and I use basic forms and shapes, as you suggested - but they still seem rigid and wooden (Your version of the figure I did did use basic forms and shapes)

But I will definitely forgo the shading and work on getting the pose of my figures to look more dynamic first, thanks for this piece of advice.

As for doing carbon copies of the masterworks, I don't know if I really can or not. I mean I'd love to try, but I'd probably get a lousy product in the end, even if I did spend 8 hours or more on it. *sigh*, but I'll try anyway.

Anyhow, I've done some more analogue drawings, mainly from Birdgman's Constructive Anatomy and Life Drawing book, so I'll post those in a few hours time, after I come back from my life drawing course.

Thanks again sfa

[Maledict]

Ok, here's the next batch of updates. I'm most pleased with my hand studies. I couldn't attend my figure drawing class tonight, or finish/start it rather, as when I got there I suffered from suffocation (Constant blocked nose) and a rather bad panic attack. The train ride home was quite bad Gah, I'm a bag of mental dis-orders. But hey, we all must persevere.

I'm slowly getting better at faces, and I'm taking what Call0ps said to me on MSN to heart - about the actual pencil to paper contact time as being important, not just "thinking" about it, which amounts to nothing, as it's mileage that counts.

With this update, I left out about 4 or 5 pages of studies that I weren't too happy with. Should I post them anyway?

Thanks once again for commenting and critiquing my crappy SB

[enrigo]

Hey Rabbi, good to see you start a sketchbook. Keep up with the work man.
If you are worry about the perfect carbon copy, why not start with doing a more refined copy of Bridgman. It's a good chance to practice line quality; try to follow the line that was used in the original instead of going scratchy with it.

[Maledict]

Hm, that sounds like an excellent idea enrigo, thanks for suggesting it I see that your Bridgman studies are absolutely beautiful as well - something to strive for now that I see someone else can do them.

Will post more tomorrow, it's 1:10am here in Hong Kong.

[sfa]

You're doing great. I'm just reminding you to keep it simple. Your figures will get better as you continue to draw. In fact, I already see improvement in this last batch. Those sets of hands are especially wonderful.

You're actually doing master copies now, by copying Bridgman, so you are capable of doing it. Tackle one when you feel you are ready, and don't worry if you can't get it exactly like the original - it's practically impossible to. The idea is to get relatively close, and by copying the lines and techniques of the masters your brain learns to problem solve like them.

Drawing can be very frustrating at times but try to enjoy the process of creation. Celebrate the little successes and be proud of your breakthroughs. Keep up the good work.

[Maridius]

Oh I love the expressiveness of your hands! Keep up the good work there! Your figure work is already seeing some improvement, though you seem to tighten up when you get to the female figures and faces. Maybe draw uglier girls for now (or just men, as I'm doing) and gradually beautify them as your skills develop? I've found heavier, masculine features way easier to draw than pretty ones since pretty faces have very strict bounds to qualify as attractive. It can be a major roadblock and right now you probably just want to focus on general proportions.

[Soja]

Hey Rabbi Satan!
Good man u work hard that's good!!
Well but i think u still need to take more time.
Maybe u should try to do some of ur study with a ball point pen
or brush that forces u to make clearer lines.
But keep up the good work!!!

[Maledict]

Here's another semi large update.

Thanks for the advice Soja, I'll try to switch to ball point to see if it'll force me to keep my lines clean.

Once again, my many thanks to everyone who commented, critiqued, and gave me advice I really appreciate it.

With these studies, I think my figures are the poorest, whilst my hands are surprisingly the strongest. I'm getting a whole lot better at hands. In anycase, instead of just copying the hands, I tried to deviate from Bridgman's drawings and draw the hands in a dis-similar pose from the original. To train myself, so to speak.

Hope you guys enjoy it