Chronicles of Jussi Tarvainen [Updated April 10th]

**Jussi Tarvainen** · April 21st, 2009, 01:45 PM

Suncut, it is a constant battle. Sometimes I do 12 hour days easy, sometimes it's a battle to get 6 done. Becoming disciplined takes time but with determination and some sacrifices a lot can be achieved. Surely you can do it

You are dead on about the cast being a bit too wide. It's a little heavier build in my version

ANyways a good lesson to learn in keeping more attention to the proportions. Of course I could've erased it when I noticed it but that would not have made sense really.
Next time I won make that mistake

Like the great Nicolaides said "one must make thousands of mistakes from which to learn from " or something like that. I have quite a bit of mistakes behind and I've learned a great deal from every of them

I did go to Ateneum in Helsinki every other thursday but the lighting is pretty bad and they only do short poses. And since I can do the same at home with my girlfriend I ditched out from that. I am looking for a place where it would be possible to draw long poses but it seems super hard to find any as i am new to the art scene and seems like the scene for classical realism isn't that big in Finland...
I think there is some life drawing somewhere in Espoo too and someone mentioned that was it SOK's S gallery has some as well. Super hard to find any information about those for some reason.

It wasn't really about it being boring to draw myself it was more of not having a workable technique and I was kinda all over the place at the time and I wasn't able to come back to the same exact position too well.
THat is a great tip! Seriously, thanks a lot! I'll definitely put that in use in the future. Also the reason for not doing self portraits is that I will rather use a real model to draw a portrait... which I haven't done in a while. Need to do one of those

Josef, yes Vilppu it is. You are absolutely right about that. I've actually been afraid of doing that because the results were so horrible but now what I've learned lately has made me realize the stuff I can do already and I'm not afraid of working on it and even it still looks bad I don't care anymore

THanks for the heads up, I need those

THanks for dropping by my sketchbook and giving tips, I really appreciate it!

**Suncut** · April 21st, 2009, 02:32 PM

Yeah, I'm betting it will be a constant battle for me too, I just hope the results don't suck!

I've been to kanneltalo some years ago, they used to do croquis every other time, and long poses every other. It's too far out of my way now however. I also heard some of my teachers go to the tm-gallery croquis nights, but the space is really small there I hear. I'd love to try some place that had 20-30 min poses, so there would be time to get into detail, but no time to get frustrated. All places seem to do either 2 hour poses or max 5 min poses tho. If you figure out a nice place to go to let me know! I'm hoping if I find a good place I could be excused from next years figure drawing at school, cause it's going to be a real pain in the ass trying to attend those.

**Jussi Tarvainen** · April 22nd, 2009, 09:21 AM

Suncut, you'll do great. Just start easy, don't punish yourself if you can't do long days at first and patient. It's like lifting weights. If you start with too heavy weights they'll be sure to crush you but if you start with smaller weights at first and build it slowly from there you'll get good results. Besides you're already doing school and that has been building it. Just think of having your teacher standing behind your back if nothing else doesn't work

Hey thanks for the tip Suncut, it has been really frustrating trying to find some life drawing even in Helsinki area and it seems the information only goes out by word of mouth. So I really appreciate the info.
Do you know any other place that did longer poses than just 15 minutes?

Yeah the ones in Ateneum are 5 to 15 minute ones. They have a good variety of fairly good models and there's fairly good amount of room if you go early but there's too much lighting coming from every direction which makes it impossible to get a realistic sense for light if you know what I mean.

I'll definitely keep you on the loop if I come up with anything else. I think I'm going to check out the Kanneltalo as it is close enough to bicycle to.

Cheers!

**Extollere** · April 23rd, 2009, 04:20 AM

Just returning the favor. The cast drawings are really nice. With the imaginative figures remember to imagine those gestures first, and always follow a simple flow or bend. The figure has a movement in which all the limbs want to support or succumb to, in motion it can often appear to be like an abstract organism - or like flowing pieces of cloth...for every pull, push...there is a predictable outcome that shows itself somewhere else... also remember the inactive and active sides. Where one side activates the other will be looser - when one bunches the other stretches. Try showcasing the perspective of the figure, and not just the foreshortening, like when drawn from the side there is a tilt , and vanishing points where shoulders, ribs, hips, knees ect will all align themselves. Also if you are studying Vilppu, starting a figure with the rubbery cubes (the ones that are attached?) is like the most useful thing ever for a quick and easy gesture, get that in there first, then find the supporting roles for the limbs.

Ok, sorry if that made zero sense, I'm working on my articulation skills a bit, need to find a better way to get my points across but I guess that's just a matter of writing more.

-cheers.

**bharat** · April 23rd, 2009, 04:29 AM

nice studdy work n sedual table......impressive.....keep walkingh.....dude....!

**Janos** · April 23rd, 2009, 05:39 AM

Great to see such dedication. I like the casts very much. Where do you get them from? Keep going and you'll get better in no time.

**ashess** · May 1st, 2009, 04:13 AM

hi there Yuza; almost a year into this and still going strong I see. that's amazing!
I'm a little jealous. wish I had thought so far ahead as to plan my own study when I was in artschool. instead of just enjoying the ride ^^.
ok, you seem to be working on a lot of different techniques and subjects. which is good, in this stage. something you might want to give a bit more attention is architectural masses and structure; study a bit of perspective.
the other thing I'd like to point out is that your goal of becomming an independant artist is still a little vague.
its a good general goal, maybe. but set yourself a realistic goal in within a timeframe. think of ways to get to it. when you've reached the goal refine it.
(for instance, I wanted to live off my art -preferably my animation art without having to leave amsterdam.
I started with teaching art. then I decided that wasnt good enough. so I got an animation education, taught animation for a year. I decided that wasn't enough of 'my art', so I started my own company and worked independantly for a year. then I decided that running your own company was a lot of hassle on the side I didnt want, so now I'm working for a little game studio, doing their animation and art.)
You're off to a terrific start, but working on your own, without having small-step goals which you can measure will make things very hard on you in the long run. also, making some cash off you art is very motivating.
think of ways to get into that. sell some old studies you're done with. (on the internet, to people, or even to companies you're connected with) offer to draw portraits or pets. try getting into storyboards or concept art. doesnt matter how. and right now, you don't have to worry about getting payed enough by the hour yet. -though you should keep that in the back of you brain..
I know what I'm asking here is particulary hard to do, not to mention scary. especially in these times. and you don't have to get up and do it tomorrow.
don't expect success on your first try, and dont be dissuaded by failure. I've had it heard that even professional artist have 7 out of 8 of their initiated projects bounce.
but set yourself a goal, and a date. it doesnt have to be this week, but within a year at least. then make it, and feel good about it!

**Jussi Tarvainen** · May 5th, 2009, 12:14 PM

Extollere, thank you for extremely constructive critique. That definitely hit home for me and made all the sense in the world. Aah the perspective. I didn't even thought of that. I've been drawing mainly from one photo reference source only where the eye level is at the shoulders and I think that same came into my drawings from imagination. Definitely need to learn that as well. And the things you said about pulling and pushing and active and inactive sides sounds good. Many things to remember when drawing but with practice one day these come form my backbone

THanks a lot Extollere!

Bharat, thanks.

Janos, thank you. I got them from a local cast maker here in Finland.

ashess, A year huh! I've learned so much. Maybe it's not that visible in these pages yet but I have learned so much. It is still hard to put and remember all the information I've learned into a drawing put it'll come slowly. I feel like I'm constantly progressing and have found the right things to study for the moment.
THanks for the heads up. Actually my main concerns right now is perspective, form and value and I'm putting all my time into those.
Aah, yes about the goals. See this is exactly why I love ca.org. Whenever I'm forgetting something or loosing grip at something, some nice person reminds me about it

THank you very much. I actually do have some more specific goals but I have totally forgotten to review my goals and make them more specific.
I was able to sell of my first cast study and hoping to sell the rest of them. THanks a lot for all this valuable information. It will definitely get me going on this end and make some more detailed plans and goals.
Off to do this stuff now

YAY

Okay then after really generous and constructive feedback it's time for some studies.

Like I said I've been trying to learn form and gesture by drawing from photo reference(Vilppu studies). Also here's some value studies with 2 H pencil, trying to simplify the values.

**Janos** · May 8th, 2009, 12:56 PM

Oh please add some contrast to your last update. I wanna see more of your nice pencils.

Please?

**Jussi Tarvainen** · May 8th, 2009, 01:31 PM

Janos you mean in future you want to see more contrast in my pencils or that you wish to see better quality images?

Here's a tip I learned from my teacher at ClassicalArtOnline.com. In my last update the last picture of the shag the values are off. When you draw paint outside have your canvas in shade. Because when you take it back inside the values look much darker than in the very bright light outside.

**ashess** · May 9th, 2009, 04:17 AM

wow, Yuza. congratz on the cast thing! yes I can see you're progressing nicely. the photo ref debth things are a great way of learning; if possible a life model is better ofc. and you might want to spend a little more time getting the mass planes exactly right. (wichis a lot easier in life models ofc; then you can walk around m and check.)

**~KJK~** · May 14th, 2009, 03:32 AM

Looking great

Maybe if you added a bit more contrast to your pencilwork, by digital means, since its quite hard to see whats going on in most of them. keep posting!

**thinairart** · May 22nd, 2009, 07:46 PM

Yuza, man you are the hardest working guy I know! I'm not sure how you cram all of that study into one day. I should probably read up on your "30 days" thread on CAO for some insight. Of course the first thing I thought when I looked at your schedule was... "when does he go to work?". I'm guessing the answer is your not working right now? Your making me very jealous!

PS - Can I join your Sketchbook support group? Us CAO'ers have to stick together!

**Jussi Tarvainen** · July 22nd, 2009, 08:38 AM

Ashess, thanks for the tips

NoodleDoodle: Need to keep that in mind and get better photos, cheers mate.

Reidaj: I have the luxury of putting all my time into this for some time after working hard for the past 10 years

Yes, of course and sorry for the late reply on this.

Oh here's the finished cast drawing:

**Jussi Tarvainen** · July 28th, 2009, 11:10 AM

Here's a few of the color charts I've done. Need to do 12 of these. I can't even imagine trying to paint before doing these. These are great for learning how to mix colors and which colors produce what kind of results. Great many things to learn from these. Read Richard Schmid's book Alla Prima if you are interested. These are oil paints and the charts are Cadmium Yellow, Viridian and Alizarin Crimson Permanent.

**Suncut** · August 4th, 2009, 02:00 PM

You moving to painting in oils soon then? Your charts are looking mighty tidy, all we did in school before jumping to oils was a color circle, and mine looked horrible

. Mixing sure was a pain at the start tho. I wish I could get my hands on that book, where did you order it and how much did it cost?

**kikindaface** · August 4th, 2009, 05:44 PM

Hey dude, the last cast drawing is impressive ! i guess you made it with charcoal ! it looks so realistic ! I wanna see more ! keep it up !

**Jussi Tarvainen** · September 7th, 2009, 06:26 AM

Suncut: No not yet. Still two still life's I think and a portrait and then hopefuly to paints

But I'm not in hurry... I am but I'm not because I enjoy these so much already.

Walid. Yes, charcoal, thank you very much. Slow, progress so the updates come quite unregularly...

Took me 6 full 8 hour days to make this self portrait. It wa s a lot of fun and relaxing compared to the casts. It was also the first thing I've done all on my own with no teachers help. This really was a break through for me and it made me realize I will be a professional artist one day no doubt about it.

It looks pretty damn good to the ones I made a year ago

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...44&postcount=2

**Jussi Tarvainen** · September 9th, 2009, 02:00 PM

Quick update on the portrait as I worked on it a bit more. I noticed that I screwed the width of the face and that cause a lot of problems. Also as Earendil noted the eyes are too wide. That is a problem I've had and it seems like I look too much into the eyes and they tend to grow. Need to watch out for that one.

**Ghostbrush** · September 9th, 2009, 02:06 PM

wow lovely work, so excited to see ur Atelier stuff

I cannot wait to start (3 weeks!)

I will most definitely be back in here sir!

All the best

Alex

**Juhani Jokinen** · September 10th, 2009, 03:39 AM

nice work on the portrait! You've been improving in heaps and pounds!

**Ian Miles** · September 23rd, 2009, 02:21 AM

Hey man.

I´m in similar possition like you... No work here (fortunately, there´s no jobs in my country at the moment, so I can put my full effort in art

. But, been pumping shit everyday, and, yes, I have improved, but your method sounds to me, much more structured and "profitable" in a long term.

So, with your permission, I think I´m going to borrow your schedule and ajust a little bit to archieve my goals.

Thx and Luck.

**GriNGo** · September 23rd, 2009, 03:06 PM

Hey man, kick ass work and progression! Keep it up.

**~KJK~** · October 17th, 2009, 05:27 PM

Hey jussi, badass looking portraits, and i just love the cast drawing! Keep it up mate!

**nafiseh** · November 22nd, 2009, 03:05 AM

Verrcy Nice Anatomy

**Earendil** · December 7th, 2009, 07:26 AM

>.>
<.<

Moar!

What's new dude?

**Sidharth Chaturvedi** · December 27th, 2009, 12:15 PM

Very nice work here man, that cast looks incredible. Keep it up.

**Jussi Tarvainen** · January 26th, 2010, 10:18 AM

Thanks everyone for you kind reply's. Not fancy spending too much time online as I feel I'm mostly wasting time instead of investing it into art. So I will be brief and on point.

Much learned. Still two charcoal drawings before advancing to painting. Excited for that. Been drawing a lot of anatomy and figure drawings lately from photo reference. Trying to understand form. Still not drawing enough form imagination. Need to do more.

Here's a bunch I've been up to lately.

**JS Neo** · January 26th, 2010, 07:07 PM

The still life drawing looks awesome !!! The second last drawing is also great but it will be better if the contrast can be brought to the same level as your charcoal drawing. A few daek accent really do wonders to a drawing !

**Juhani Jokinen** · January 29th, 2010, 03:34 AM

Those still-lifes are awesome! I admire your discipline. Your figures are improving as well. Can't wait to see what you are able to do in a few years. Keep pushing!

-Juhani