Journey of a thousand miles...

[GeistDel]

So... after months and months of lurking and admiring others work, I decided to create my own sketchbook. The purpose is two part. First I want to use it as a journal of sorts to document my progress over the coming months, and secondly to mine the valuable resource that is the CA community to help me improve my artwork. With that said let the showcase begin. Crits are more than welcome as well as random comments. I will try to be consistant with updates and new material as I find that I TOO enjoy regualarly udated sketchbooks the most, plus it will give me an excuse not to be lazy and draw instead perhaps playing video games or watching tv. Anyway her are my first entrys. The excitement is palpable...

[GeistDel]

The images above are some sketches that I am working on at the moment. I have been using Painter, which has some really incredible brushes, I mean they are really good, and this is the result. I actually have some more stuff but I think that these are my better ones. The poorly rendered floating head thingy was kind of a experiment to create a picture without using line art. I kind of like it. Sure it is amatuerishly rendered but I like the look of the face and it looks like I can turn it into a cool sandman creature guy. The other two are just concept sketchs of a character. The full body one I really like because as a sketch its pretty clean...most sketches of mine dont have that quality and are a bunch of scribbles, albiet excellently drawn scribbles . The portrait one I also like though the person kind of looks like Guy from Street Fighter Alpha oh well. Anyway expect more to come down the pipeline either later today or tommorrow. I may even have another poorly rendered piece, this time a...(insert dramatic pause) enviroment. Till then

[GeistDel]

So as promised I have another picture that I just started working on. This one is another one done in painter. I really like the brushes in painter, but I find it really difficult to get that fine control like I have in Photoshop, especially in terms of pressure sensitivity. Anyway this piece is another practice at rendering. Not bad if I say so my self. I really trying to get down that balance between strokes. Too much and the piece just looks patch workish, too little and you just get colored zone. Why is this so difficult . At any rate I plan to finish this over the weekend and perhaphs I can make it work. I will also post a enviroment that I started and have yet to finish. It was orignally supposed to be a kind of beach hut castle, but I totally missed the mark. I added some color to try to capture that beachy feel. Though I think it looks a little washed out. I'll work on that. I'll also add some odd WIPs that I did for some of the CHOWs (Try to guess which CHOWs)and the Art Crusades. This is sure to bring in the laughs, though I think the Watcher and Watchtower one are pretty cool. I think I might finish that one.

***note*** the top two are done in Painter the rest are done in Photoshop

[GeistDel]

Another update...Just a couple of sketches nothing big...yet. Anyway been drawing non stop lately, but nothing looking good to me. But I guess every artist goes through that. anyway the first pick is a random ninja I colored. I think it is alot better then the floating head above. Still trying to wrap my head around coloring and rendering. It is so hard, I dont know how the pros do it. I see someone like Dan Milligan and he makes it look easy, too easy, but its not, it's far from it. All it takes is one line to make order look like chaos. With my frustrations vented the other pic is of a wind mage, pencil sketch no colors. I am almost afraid to touch that one with any type of color at all, but I'll give it a try and post my results. Also tried working on the other pieces above, but I am not feeling them. Maybe one day....

[Dannelf]

Cool stuff! Like your style! Though anatomystudies of the face are necessary!
Keep it up dude! I'll be watching!

[ditchman]

some of the gestures and sketches are not bad, i think you need to read up a little more on colour theory, i find it so difficult personally.

[GeistDel]

Wow my first commenters. Finally my sketch book is complete!!!!!

Dannelf - Thanks for the encouraging words, it good to know someone kind digs what I am doing. And I hear ya about the anatomy studies for the face. I just started doing them again...but they are sooooo boring. But if I want to get better I got to take my medicine right?

ditchman - Thanks, and you are right I have to buckle down and get really serious about color theory. I browsed some tutorials about it but I think you are right I got really get on top of. Also I am glad I am not the only one who finds it difficult.

Anyway here is a random face I did from reference. Yes yes I know, it is rife with flaws but I thinks its a pretty good attempt. It was really eye opening and instructional and gave me a better understanding of the human face and how it interacts with light. So without further adieu...

P.S. I am going to post stuff from my mind like ninjas and knights and stuff tommorrow, so don't worry this wont completely be a thread about fundimentals.

[GeistDel]

Ok...as promised I got some more sketch straight from my mind...well...sort of. Ok I admit it, I didn't exactly come up with the concept for this character. I belive some company called Square or something thought him up but I drew him and that is all that matters. If you were to ask me why i am drawing him, I'd have to say I have no clue. Just popped into my head this morning. But regardless of the reason I did three quick sketches, each better then the last. I haven't decided which one I am going to mutilate with act of coloring but I know for sure that one of them will be chosen for that particular chopping block. Muwhahahaha. As always I will post the aftermath of that experiment here for you to judge...AND Critique...constructivly...I hope.


Editors note: I think that I am going to paint the 2nd one because its my favorite. And as the saying goes: You always hurt the ones you love.

[donalfall]

Gilgamesh, eh? The quick sketches are pretty nice, but I would paint the 3rd one - I think it shows the most potential. Given a bit of space around the figure to stick in an environment and he could show a real sense of movement.

Keep working through the fundamentals as well. That face needs a fair bit of improving on. But that's cool, you'll learn from the mistakes as well. Good sketches here!

[Dannelf]

Yeah, studies are boring indeed! haha! But try to do some anyways because it will really help you to develope!
Like the last ones! Would like to see them Cleaned up and coloured!
Keep going!

[ditchman]

I'll give another vote for the third one, seems to have more life.

[GeistDel]

Once again I return from the land of facial studies bearing gifts. Another practice session completed and satisfaction achieved. I think this portrait is alot better then the last one. As I said before this have been invaluable to me in understanding the human face and how light and shadow surround and encompass it. This particular picture took about and hour and a half, which is pretty good I think. As I go along in these studies I'll try to decrease the time little by little so that I build speed as well as accuracy. On another note, I see that everyone seems to enjoy the third Gilgamesh picture better...I'll admit it is a better picture compositionally and the most interesting. However before I paint it I'll post one more pose of Gilgamesh. If the consensus is still with the third then I shall take my burgeoning painting skills to task on the third picture. You can expect the final Gilgamesh pic probably later tonight or early tommorrow morining. Also I will throw in another in my continuing portrait studies...though maybe it my be a full human figure instead of a face...we shall see. Also in the comining days I'll try to add enviroments, maybe a series of speed paintings. Well thats all for now. Let me know what you guys think. Later

[Flaskpost]

i´d recommend some Bridgman books, and some Loomis books, and that you do some studies of planes and simple volumes especially!
just keep workin hard and you´ll be ass-kickin in no(maybe some) time! =)

[GeistDel]

Flaskpost - Thanks for the info, I think that I will see if I can find those books at the bookstore on my lunch break. I also agree on the planes and volumes...thats alot to take in

Here is another face sketch before I go to bed. I'll probably post a figure shot tommorrow.

[GeistDel]

Another in my real life series. I got to admit I am starting to really dig life drawing. You learn soooo much about everything. Anyway I did a...well, kind of "full body" piece. It took me about an hour and a half. But I am satisfied with it. Also in other breaking news...After reading the posts of donalfall, dannelf and ditchman (the three Ds, hehehe ) I decided to go and color the 3rd Gilgamesh pic. I am posting the rough color up of the Gilgamesh pic. very basic colors laid on the pic to kind of get a feel of the color scheme. I am also considering taking Donalfalls advice and opening it up. With the extra space I can define the character more plus I could make a kick ass backround or...I could even add his companion Enkidu. Crits and advice more than welcome. Also I think that my next post will be environments, I really need to work on those, plus it will be a good opportunity for me to practice painting without lineart. Also I will begin implementing color into my real life series. Just a little at a time though. And for all the imagination junkies, I will return to posting original works created, by me straight from the mysterious place that is my mind. Till next post. Later

[DreamstateIvory]

Hey geist! Some really nice drawings here, i like the style you have. My favorite is the girl with the necklace, that looks really good.

Show us moar!!

[GeistDel]

After and inpromptu hiatus, I'm back with an update. First off all the pieces that I was working on above, I left by the wayside. Got bored/fustrated and moved on. (We all do it. ) Instead of working on those pieces, I started really focusing on rendering, and I think I made some headway. First I found a method that I pretty comfortable with and I think that I have also started to finally grasp some of the basics. The demonlady WIP is I'm really proud of cause I think I did a fair decent job so far...Though I am going to need to work on the hair. Its not quite there yet. Hopefully you guys agree as well. Gone are the days of poorly rendered floating heads. Instead I have moved on mediocorly rendered floating heads. Also I have some sketches of some really barebone concepts that will be rendering and trying to finish. I think the demon lady will be first then the rest. Also I going to start adding some environments because I suck at them and I need the practice. Anyway here is the next in the line of half done pieces. I hope to have more rendering done on all of them tommorrow and if I am lucky I will post my progress on Monday. Also crits welcome.

[DaStreets]

Ur digital work looks very cool to me. I also like ur ideaz in ur sketchs, very sci fi ninja looking. I like the concept. Check out my sketchs too, thanks

[DaStreets]

Thanks for commenting my my page : )

[DeKal]

the six armed ninja sketches are dope man

[DigitallyDumbfounded]

Hey. Cool concepts. I think you could tighten your drawings a little and add more detail to the faces. While the loose style looks really dynamic it distracts from a few proportional issues hat would be easier to see if you worked them out.
Keeep it up!

[GeistDel]

I have been gone some months...bullshiting. But now I am back. I have a renewed commitment to improving. With that said. I am going to ask for everyone who cross this sketch book to crit on everything you see. The only way I can improve is by constantly questioning and revaluating my work. To that end I am going to try to update daily. Easy to say yes, but I am going to make a concerted effort. Here is a 30 min study. I was trying to get only the most relevent info from the picture on the canvas. Tell what I could work on. Thanks.

[GeistDel]

Here is another 30 min study I did this morning. It was a little easier to start I think, but I still get to focused on the one area. I need to work on rendering the entire thing. But that is what tommorrow is for. If anybody has any advice on what other things would make a good practice speak up. I am also working on another piece that I will post once I feel I am finished. As Always crits are welcome. Later

[GeistDel]

Another study. This time in color. I actually got more out of this one then the last one. Also instead of drawing the shape of the person, I instead slowly defined the shapes with color rather then with line. Strangely enough I really enjoyed doing that. It was easier for me to just focus on the painting with out worrying about possibly overstepping the lines I put in place to keep the shape. I allowed me more freedom... I have to keep this short cause I have to go to work As always crit hard crit often. Later. Oh and excuse the face, I was going to start on that part but ran out of time...yes I know it is too small for her body

[Fraz]

I think you need to work on heads and facial proportions. Right now a lot look a bit whack. Nice digi's though. Keep it up.

[GeistDel]

Fraz: Thanks for the tips. I totally agree with you. I have been working on that.

I have been away for awhile but I have been busy. I am going to post a two studies and that I have been working on. they are a combination of color and b&w value studies. Also when I get the chance I will upload some studies I did on My DS using the colors prgram. ( I highly recommend every artist get it.)As always crit away.