Chronicles of Jussi Tarvainen [Updated April 10th]

[AsaB]

Hey, good for you and congrats on going to the online atelier!

I'm sure you'll improve heaps there. I myself wouldn't mind if you'd update this thread with your work from there, even if it's only 'boring perspective stuff'. Everything you learn is a part of the jigsaw and I'm interested in seeing evey part from everyone. You're not just updating this SB for us, you know

But alright, despite this all, I just wanted to tell you that your Loomis studies have been incredibly impressive. All the best of luck!

[Jussi Tarvainen]

Hey AsaB,

That's true. I'll get some updates over the weekend. I think I'll keep the picture count minimal but I'll try to cover it with text of what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.

Thanks a lot for the feedback

[remmy]

I am creating a new thread for the Online atelier studies but perspective stuff will be too boring for you guys to look at and I can use the time to draw more.

So this thread will be revived again after I get back to anatomy etc.

Nooo! Dude keep everything here it will be heaps better that way. I personally would love to see your Atelier work together with your off studies and brain doodles. Please keep posting on this thread it would be better that way.

[Jussi Tarvainen]

For audience request I agree that it's a good idea to keep all the studies here so it'll be more fun to view my journey years later

I've been doing these perspective studies of these objects which you'll find below. Fun stuff. The book I'm doing the studies by is called "Creative Perspective for artists and illustrators" by Ernest Watson, highly recommend! At least 50 drawings from different angles per object and for the harder ones I do more.

Time to move on soon.

My first Bargue is ready and I'll post it shortly.

[Kurjuus]

hey buddy, your lines are top notch there in that latest update! I was just about to complain with the opthers that you wouldn't update anymore
the only thing that those studies are lacking is correct shading (like on the round objects the halftone transition is missing) but then again it doesn't matter right now AS LONG AS you really understand waht you're drawing! Keep on rockin it!

[AsaB]

I'm glad you decided against neglecting the SB! As you said yourself, it'll be more fun to reminisce later on with all the goodies packed in one place

These are some solid studies you've got going on, reminds me to do some myself! Understanding simplified geometry is vital (again, I'm putting this on my list) so I'm sure you'll benefit greatly from getting a good base and understanding in this area.

I hope you'll keep updating this baby regularly! All the best

[Jussi Tarvainen]

Kurjuus, thanks mate. I'm trying to keep in mind to use less fussy lines and try to make single line instead of 10. Yeah not there with shading yet. I don't really even know that much what I'm doing with shading yet. Just throwing in lines where I see shades to give it a bit more realistic look. But then again like you said I'm far from shading yet and just learning how to see the lines and proportions.

AsaB: Definitely, so important to have the basics down because if you don't it'll come haunt at you at some point

[Jussi Tarvainen]

Okie dokie so here's my first Bargue master copy. Took me about a week and I learn SOOOO much from it. Now it's time for the second Bargue master copy

[remmy]

That's a very nice foot you there, but really its amazing, a week on a foot, you are very patient. I don't don't have any patience, great geometrical studies as well, nice solid stuff happening sir keep at.

[Jussi Tarvainen]

Hey Remmy, thanks a bunch. Hard work pays off. Patience is a virtue, right. Well it's not like daisies to me either but I'm getting better at benig more patient. The thing with patience is that when you loose it and decide to do something else that's when you were close to make a breakthrough and learn something new. So every time I become frustrated I just think that if I draw this out I will learn something new and it seems like I pretty much do every single time!

[AmontilladoAg]

Looks like you're goin' great guns! Keep it up!

[Cup_of_Tea?]

Hey YuZa, I need to take a leaf out of your book and get back to the basic anatomy stuff.
One comment, something that annoys me about your portraits, is that you draw an outline around the lips. Unless you are wearing horrible 1990's lip-liner, you should try to avoid this. Draw the face using shadow and light to make the form - more like your avatar.

[Jussi Tarvainen]

AmontilladoAG: Thanks mate!

Cup_of_Tea?: I'm glad you found this useful!

Hah haa, I hear ya! Never even thought that. I'm too used to draw a line to make things more clear for me but it's definitely time to step out from that. Really, thanks a lot for the advice!

[Jussi Tarvainen]

I haven't been updating much lately here. I've been working on my second bargue at Classical Art Online with Jonathan Hardesty and it's going super well. I've learned so much and it is exactly what I need.

On the side I'm learning perspective and been drawing a bunch of cubes, sphere's, triangle's etc. Boring at times but also learning a ton!

I just finished my second bargue and I thought I'd share it with you guys.

Hope all is doing great on their artistic journeys. If you need help with self discipline, productivity, motivation etc. check out www.stevepavlina.com

[remmy]

ahhh it looks so good but i can't see it properly pls PLEASE!!! get a scanner
keep up your learnings, hope your having fun

[Jussi Tarvainen]

Thanks Remmy. I know! I actually do have a scanner but because this is on A3 size paper I can't fit it into the scanner and the lighting in my apartment is the worst. At some point I need to put time and take good photos of these.

[Kurjuus]

hey yuza, great bargue drawings there. I, for one would be really annoyed to correct a single line more than once

Which is missing there though to make it a really perfect copy is the right amount of contrast I think. I guess you're using the same hard pencil for the whole drawing? You should think about switching to softer pencils (5-9B) for the final rendering to get a better feeling for values.

Oh yeah, and where's an update?

[Jussi Tarvainen]

Hey Kurjuus, thanks mate!

That's exactly what I thought of Bargue before I started the online school. The whole deal is about teaching your eye to see lines in certain angle, learn to see relationships, proportions, negative spaces etc. You learn immense amounts during this progress even if your Bargue was half way done and you have to start it all over the time doesn't go in vain because you can learn so much more.

The reason why this Bargue doesn't look as "dark" as the original one is because the purpose isn't try to make it look as dark. The purpose is to learn to see the value relationships and to work with the limits of the medium. It is impossible to copy the EXACT colors from the nature the way your eye sees them so that's why value relationships are so important to understand. So the darkest dark and lightest light in the actual bargue needs to be translated into the copy the way that the relationships of the values stays the same, if you know what I mean. The goals isn't trying to make it as dark as the actual Bargue because it's impossible for the reasons stated above but to learn the value relationships. This goes to color as well but I assume it's a bit different.

Uum update eh... will take some time. I've only been working on Bargue and reading about perspective. Soon will be time to take my nose off the books and dig into the different exercises

[NFECT]

I'm really jealous of how smooth your shading looks!
The only critique I can offer though is to practice all the time with real-life references and try some point perspective work.
<Note: I'm a nubcake.>

[paperX]

wow man really frikin sweet Bargue drawings! I remember doing a cast study last year that took me 2 weeks, really learnt alot from the experience, patience really reap rewards haha

not much to say as you seem to be damn well structured and know what your doing, all the best and I look forward to future updates

[Jussi Tarvainen]

NFECT:
Thanks for the props. A lot of time and frustration went into that but it pays of with how much I learned doing that.
I'm already ahead of you I've learning perspective on the side and doing real life reference studies of different objects and starting to do building studies too soon. Very important as you already know.

paperX:
Thanks a lot, very much appreciated. Agreed for sure. I'm finishing up my third Bargue and then off to drawing casts. Very exited!!!

Cheers mate. Updates are little scarce at the moment but I'll get some new stuff up in the next few weeks.

By the way I strongly encourage anyone who hasn't intensively studied perspective yet to really take a head lock of perspective because it will help you with everything you do and help you become better artist and you will be able to develop your style way further. I'd recommend to buy www.draw123.com perspective dvd set, get Joseph D'amelio's perspective drawing handbook and Ernest Watson's Creative Perspective for illustrators and artists book. Watch the dvd's and use D'amelio's book at the same time and then hen you are done read through the Watson book. After you've done all the exercises and really worked hard I believe you will have a very good understanding of perspective.

[Jussi Tarvainen]

Long time no update here. Rest assured I haven't given up or anything. Been working on my third bargue which is coming quite slowly but I'm learning a ton more. On friday I did a 3 hour portrait drawing by using the techniques and things I've learned from Bargue drawing. Learned so much during this and many things started to make more sense. I went drawing perspective outside yesterday. I'll go at it again soon and post some results. But for now it's just the portrait.

[Kurjuus]

Wah, those bargue drawings surely improved your cell shading! That portrait is lookin pretty good (apart from the low contrast which I would usually bitcfh about now )

[Jussi Tarvainen]

Thanks Kurjuus. The idea on this assignment is to work inside the pencil range and work with value relationships. I'm using HB so it's pretty light. The lighting was setup pretty harsh so it would be easier to recognize shadows.

Need to do this more and speed up my process a bit.

[Earendil]

Yuza, you're making great progress. Love the bargue drawings, although the values don't seem to be as dark as the original. Push those darks! How is the online atelier?

Also, I just wanted to put Loomis' "Successful Drawing" into your bookbag. I'm doing Betty Edwards too, but Loomis reallllly breaks down perspective, and combined with Dobsky's video download, I'm really starting to understand the technical side of things. I'll definitely check out those books you mentioned!

[Jussi Tarvainen]

Earendil, thanks for the props.
The reason why the values aren't the same as in the original is because basically you can't reproduce the values that human eye sees in real life. The values of pencil are lighter than charcoal, charcoal is lighter than oil and oil has the biggest and darkest value range but even that isn't exactly the same as your eye sees in real life. So we are working on the relationships of the values. So you establish your values and then you balance them through the whole bargue. So the darkest dark can be lighter than the original one but then the shadows and lighter areas must be in relation to that. Does that make sense? I'm not so good at explaining it. So yeah I could probably get it as dark with the pencil but that's not the point but the point is to learn the value relationships. And this is also training when I start drawing the statues from real life with charcoal.

Online Atelier is so great MindCandyMan is an awesome teacher and really smart. I have learned a great deal there.

Hey thanks for the info, I'll check those out! I have the Loomis books and they're awesome. I'm still waiting to get into them big time though because first I want to study this book and video course on perspective and will study the Loomis part of perspective as well. After I'm done with those then I'll tackle with the rest of the Loomis and human anatomy since learning perspective will make more sense on form and volume it'll be easier to understand and progress faster.

[remmy]

Great portrait attempt. Due to the fact that its in light pencil its kinda hard to see all the details, but I can make out most of it. Looking really good, if you get a chance you should try doing some ink or charcoal, much more depth and expression because you'll be able to work in more contrast. Keep studying and drawing.

[Jussi Tarvainen]

Remmy, cheers mate. Yeah and because it's took big to fit in the scanner I had to take a photo which takes it down even more. The reason why it's done with pencil is because I've been studying at an online atelier since July with pencil and been learning the medium among other things. I've experienced with a bunch of other mediums as well and next I get to start drawing with charcoal and learn that medium so you'll seee some other mediums here too later on.

Thanks again for the feedback Remmy!

[remmy]

ahh working on just the pencil. I see, well I can't wait for some more diversity

[Jussi Tarvainen]

Long time no update...
Here's the three Bargue copies I did at Classicalartonline.com third one being the last. Now I'm moving onto casts! Whippee!