Black Spot's Sketches

[Vritra]

Wow, your last few updates look fantastic. No crit from my end except probably that you should look into the knees in the last one. They are seldom a single, unified circular shape, if ever.

[Black Spot]

Well I'm back where I want to be; painting with oils.

My SP for International Self Portrait Day. I totally mucked it up after this and then after filling a gap in the roof with steel wool and expanding foam, I got some of the foam in my hair and had to wash that part out quick. I lead such an exciting life.

[Aaron_]

Very nice drawings and paintings here. The improvement is quite awesome from the first page. And wow, expanding foam in the hair! I thought having alizarin crimson on my nose is bad enough

[LordLouis]

wow I really like your self-portrait. I scares me, but I like it.
Also the charcoal that you have in progress here is soooo nice- her face!! It reminds me of Ron Lemen's charcoal work- elegant!

[ja1307]

Really like nice work on the latest female charcoal study its coming along great her face is a real stand out.

[Black Spot]

Update. The arms are looking a bit long, that's an easy fix.

[Valyavande]

That woman's face is so beautiful! Very well done and great expression, gets me right into the picture. Looking forward for more updates. And I think, hands and feet look quite big compared to the head

[Umbravita]

That lower foot of hers looks a bit odd -- very blocky, not fluid and natural enough. (Ignore me if you're aware of that, though.)

[JFierce]

The left sides arm is the one that appears the longest. I think the right sidesit's just slightly too long, or maybe the elbows out slightly too much bu it's not as apparent. I would watch how thick or thin the area of that arm is though since the arm usually thins out quite a bit towards the wrist and hand.

Still looks good though.

[JFierce]

double post

[Black Spot]

I'm actually going to wipe out the entire body & start again. There are too many mistakes proportion wise.

[sin eater]

The last portrait is absolutely gorgeous. The way you have painted the hair is awesome. Her eyes are really attractive. Self portrait is a bit dark due to the camera i guess? But it has a nice mood. And the colors are really nice.
The late study is coming along nicely. As you are gonna start with the body again nothing to say about it except that the face is really pretty.
Also you have a lot of patience.

[Black Spot]

Yep, redid the body, legs, arms, feet and hands. Still have to sort out the elbow on the right and finish off placing the flowers. The shading doesn't have to exact as that'll be done at the next stage.

[tobbA]

Looking nice. I'd just say be careful with those knees. Right now they look a bit too flat and triangle shaped. There are lots of funky muscles and bone protrusions going on with knees that are important to get right if you want it to look believable. Feet are looking good though.

[shiNIN]

I like her face a lot. The new, smaller, more graceful arms looks a lot better, the whole figure is much more lovely and feminine now. The foot should be more graceful and realistic too, maybe the ankle is a tad too thick? I think her left (our right) wrist should be a lil more tapered too and I agree with you, that elbow needs some more work. The knees are a bit odd too (I can't put my finger into it, knees are mysterious to me - and there's a lot of things I'm not sure about but I can't draw bodies).

[bbwolf]

I like watching your progress. I have to agree with shiNIN, her ancle and foot need work, to be thinned out and made more gracefull. Other than that its comming along real nice.

[Umbravita]

This version looks much better.

[Angel Intheuk]

Eh up BlackSpot!

Your update is looking lovely! The only thing that's bugging me is her body seems too thin, if you follow the line up from the outside of the thigh her waist goes in too much and her rib-cage looks just ever so slightly too small and not rounded off enough at the back. Also I think if you accentuate the folds and shadow under her breasts that would help make her look more like she's leaning forwards whereas atm she looks like she's trying to sit up straight which doesn't make sense. Everything else is coming along nicely

[ja1307]

Nice progress on the charcoal study. I do agree with Angel Intheuk her body seems a bit narrow compared to her limbs. Maybe try and suggest some of her muscle structure with the rendering to help give a bit more form. Limbs are looking a tad smooth and flat. Great to see the patience and perseverance your showing with this one. Cant wait to see her finished.

[Black Spot]

Okay so totally ruined the drawing, but it always was going to be destroyed. Painted over it with white and clear gesso - incredibly messy. That arm still isn't right and will be fixed at the next stage. Also all the flowers have changed - nicked the ones from the office and am using those instead as you can see below with my sort of mock up.

[ja1307]

Hey those flowers really change the feel of the whole piece are they real they look it? Think just her raised forearm needs to shrink a bit its a little bit to thick. Nice job on the fingers and the face is getting stronger every time. Thanks for the heads up about the class in Crystal Palace with the longer pose. I am actually in New Cross so Crystal Palace is fairly straightforward direct on the East London line. Do you know the name of the group. I will google search anyway. Keep up the good work on this piece.

[TASmith]

Don't make it too busy, we don't want her to get lost in all that. It looks great!

[iven]

I have to agree with shiNIN, her ancle and foot need work, to be thinned out and made more gracefull.

First of all good that you changed it and tried to fix it, but I am sure we will see some more nudies from you to critique.
But I see what you did to keep the picture in progress maybe I should go over some nudes from me too
Very inspiering, thanks !!

I wonder do you sketch in the subway, will check your pages now, maybe I can find some.

[Black Spot]

I don't have to get out sketching that much as a full time working mother. The head was too big, so I repainted it completely. Changed a few other things and still have a few more changes to come.

[JFierce]

Head looks like it fits better. I didn't notice it too much until it was mentioned.


Your in mid paint obviously. Seems like the upper body is more illuminated than the body from the waste down. If that's the case might be a thought to sort of add that shadowy cast on the surrounding flowers along with parts of the lower body the further you go. Dull the values (as shadows are often dull) and then use the light to draw the viewer inward.

Hard to find photos of what I mean.
But ya know illuminated area and a cool shadow cast around to emphasize the illuminated area composition wise.
Maybe even carve out some shapes hinting at a flower out of frame with the shadow though that might be a bit difficult. Just a thought though rather than a crit or anything.


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BmA4UNaT5I...hadow_8661.jpg


Pictures kind of the opposite of what I mean in that the focus was the shadow though

[Marc Anderson]

Awesome work, really like your coloured work

[Black Spot]

Didn't get to do that much today. I'm going to change her right hand as the fingers are wrong. Lengthened her foot, but it looks a bit hollow. This is just the preliminary underpainting, a lot of the tones will be ironed out on the next stage. I'm also posting a close up so you can see how rough my brush strokes are.

[kevin_]

very cool sb, really feels like there is a variety of work! keep it up!

[JuiceBoxCowboy]

Inspirational Black Spot! When I saw that you had looked at my profile a while ago I freaked out because I thought having been viewed by "Black Spot" was a bad thing and that I was being monitored for something I had done haha.

[lionheartGFX]

so much amazing work in here! i really like your palette its very atmospheric i want mooooore stuff! nice gestures too a lot of variety here i really like that! deffinetely will come back for more