Portraits and Concepts!

**Rist** · July 22nd, 2008, 07:37 AM

I will try to update this thread daily. I may skip a day if what I am creating is in Oil paint.

Please check out the latest posts for the most improved work.

Most of the latest is Acrylic and Oil, but I will try and do digital soon too!

**Mon Chat** · July 22nd, 2008, 07:38 AM

molskines are awesome AWWWEESOME! *shakes fist*

**AsaB** · July 22nd, 2008, 07:45 AM

Ooh, Moleskines are the prettiest things! Just got one myself recently, it made me all happy.

Good luck with your new sketchbook, keep it busy!

**Rist** · July 22nd, 2008, 07:46 AM

Here is my first batch. Some are doodles, others are studies.

I sort of understand anatomy, but I do struggle with it in a 3D space and I think its down to me not doing life drawing. Believe me I have tried to find a place to life draw but there are none where I live. Instead I sit out and draw from life. Of course this way I can only achieve fast sketches, but I think it is making me faster at drawing overall.

Any advice for anatomy would be greatly appreciated.

My dream is to get good enough to join the concept art industry. Dreams can sometimes come true for some, who knows...

**Rist** · July 22nd, 2008, 07:49 AM

J.Boswell: I love them. Dunno why but the paper is perfect for drawing on the go. No grain means accurate linwork, cream means you aren't blinded by the sun, and the thickness means you can be a little rough with it. Great stuff.

AsaB: Thanks! Will do!

I hope you two come back again! I will need to keep things interesting...

Here are the others.

**Rist** · July 22nd, 2008, 06:07 PM

I just did this one now. Took me about 3 hours for both drawings and rendering. I was debating whether to go for a clean finish, but thought that seen as this was to concentrate on the overall value scheme I did not bother.

The creatures themselves were randomly made from imagination and are meant to survive within the imagination rather than from reality. So because of that they do not have to follow rational laws of physics. Think of them as surreal characters.

**Nam** · July 23rd, 2008, 12:30 AM

What's up Rist, new sketchbook eh? Alright I'll put my two cents in. I think you should take your time first and foremost (omitting the 3 hour render of course), most of these look rushed and like you're too preoccupied with value or something else. I think you're focused too much on the technical aspect of art, it's best to forget what you think you know and let the ink flow where it will.

Anyways, I suggest you work on your contours and on mass. You may or may not have checked em out by now but some of the loomis books have some interesting stuff on playing with shapes. Try building a head or something with shapes using light lines first and then hone in on the forms.

**Rist** · July 23rd, 2008, 06:01 PM

Thanks Nam. What do you mean by being too technical? It's probably obvious, but could you explain a little more?

First is a study of bark. The second is a random drawing and a page of cafe sketches.

**a la bapsi** · July 23rd, 2008, 09:02 PM

yay a moleskine sketchbook!
I wish for the best. :]
Achieve your dream!

**SEVANS** · July 23rd, 2008, 10:30 PM

Some decent work in there, but quite a few of your portraits seem to skew to one side. Laying down a basic underlying structure and guidelines will probably help your work alot.

**Rist** · July 24th, 2008, 06:40 PM

a la bapsi: Thanks man! One can only try!

SEVANS: Last year I would have no confidence in going out in public and staring at people to draw them. I am still in the process of sorting out how to achieve the best observational sketch under the roughest conditions (ie. people coming and going, people asking to see what i am doing, people moving about while you try to draw them). I will try and pin down the 'frame' next time I go out to sketch.

Thanks!

These are todays sketches.

±1: Indian inks thumbnails of warriors.

±2: Composition of a lighthouse scene. The piece is called 'Guardian of the Lighthouse'.

±3: Crappy warrior drawing. Head piece my own design, spear is a samurai design, the shield is my design.

±4: Random sketching. Playing with geometric values.

±5 and 6: Plane thumbnails.

**KingCobra00** · July 24th, 2008, 06:59 PM

Very interesting aircraft designs there! I'd love to see more.

**Rist** · July 25th, 2008, 07:58 AM

KingCobra00: Thanks! First aircrafts I have ever drawn. I might come back to this topic as it is very interesting to design.

---

Here is a small update. Updating now rather than later because this is for COW and I thought I would post it here too.

±1: Thumbnails of possibly Unicorn killers. I looked at various types from avian to mammal. Inked with a rotary pen.

±2: A design constructed thanks to the little thumbnails. I used a similar style to Markos where I draw from the outside inwards. This was VERY beneficial as in the past I would get bogged down quickly (look at the proportion issues with that warrior design above) and make sketch breaking problems. I have also coloured it a little to give myself place-holders in case I colour this in photoshop.

Thanks!

**iheartmyself** · July 25th, 2008, 08:17 AM

This cracked me up ^ haha, its so creepy
as for your studies. id recommend to keep the moleskine for life studies and drawing people on the bus/train/masturbating on a park bench and keep it simple
moleskines are meant for pocket use, use it to jot down people, i wouldnt worry too much about these memory sketches as you can do them at home in a proper sketchbook

but yeah keep on trucking, most of your book is of people doing everyday stuff from life anyway so carry on with that
looking good!

**Rist** · July 27th, 2008, 02:40 PM

iheartmyself: Thanks! I believe the small moleskines should be used for any idea you have, any doodles, any obs, in fact anything that is not a finished piece. Some of my best ideas come when I am on a bus and where do I put it if I only use my moleskine for people studies? I know where you are coming from, but I guess its different for each person.

Plus sketching while chilling in a small book is much more convenient than the big ones. And also the bigger the drawing, the more lines and lead you need.

Here is an update.

1± Thumbnail silhouette of a piece I am working on. A doodle inspired by the new Batman film.

2± Second thumbnail for my piece; this one had a better vibe so i detailed it a little. And then there is a Macadillo, a monkey and a Armadillo, combined!

3± A doodle thing; what would it look like to turn your stomach into a face?!

4± Male silhouettes of different types, types are named.

5± Batman inspired piece.

I will probably post some final images in this thread, but not the WIPs (WIPS are ugly fugly!).

**iheartmyself** · July 27th, 2008, 04:07 PM

Originally Posted by Rist

iheartmyself: Thanks! I believe the small moleskines should be used for any idea you have, any doodles, any obs, in fact anything that is not a finished piece. Some of my best ideas come when I am on a bus and where do I put it if I only use my moleskine for people studies? I know where you are coming from, but I guess its different for each person.
.

of course, i just find it easier and more appropriate to sketch life drawing for people in them, far less obvious than grabbing an a4 book out of your bag
with moleskines, it looks like your jotting notes

i just think its nicer to "create" in bigger books i.e. A4,
and to be honest now, i couldnt sit down and draw in an A6 book, but when im in a street or car etc, i can

as you said, everybody's different

**Matsign** · July 28th, 2008, 04:27 AM

All I can say is, a sketch journal is the best thing that ever happened to me.

Not seeing much to crit. I know what you've done previously and a lot of this stuff is stretching creativity beyond your literacy (from what I understand) with the tools of art.

If you are seeing results and getting what you what out of it, what else is there. The book itself may eventually be called a work of art, but the pages are just layers of paint mate.

**Rist** · July 28th, 2008, 06:48 AM

iheartmyself: We must work from different scales. I 'used' to draw in large books quite exclusively, but since working in these smaller ones I have found I no longer worry about excess space on the page or trying to fill it. I hate wasting paper. Drawing small allows two thing; get ideas down quickly, easier to do observational studies. The bigger you go the less mobile you are. That is all I think on book size and such.

Matsign: I found since working small I have had more time to sketch. Its good this because when I used to work big I would go long periods without doing art.

Thanks for visiting.

-----

1± I thought I would introduce some environment studies. I know I mentioned it would be moleskine exclusive, but I think a break from that sometimes will be a good thing. Mainly this was to wake up my brain for the day ahead, but it developed and the result is quite alien. There were no before planning, just a thumbnail.

**malpanka** · July 28th, 2008, 07:24 AM

oooh where did you find such moleskine?

**meduza** · August 9th, 2008, 09:56 AM

cool moleskin drawings...I thought you are gonna be venturing into 3d?
I think you should spare your whites as highlights and let the color of the paper as the midground. It'll look better. It kinda looks milky at some point. Why don't you continue your studies you did with Bobby Chui with these excercises? I love what you did in those.

**Verehin** · August 9th, 2008, 11:28 AM

good...keep it up

**Matsign** · August 9th, 2008, 02:04 PM

Hey I really like the planes and values on that blue rock formation, nice subtle changes.

**Rist** · August 10th, 2008, 05:55 AM

malpanka: Erm, in the ground. Moles all over the place!

meduza: I was going to, but found 2D studies are taking up most of my time; I might still do it because its there if I have the time. I agree with the white, I was just placing them anywhere for some reason. Now that you mention it I might do some exercises from that period. I have done some o those greyscale muscle guy exercises to a point. The only issue with those are that they were video based streaming from the internet and I do not have that source any more so if I was to do them it would be from memory.

Thanks

Verehin: Thanks! I have commented in your sketchbook too!

Matsign: Thanks Mat. It was a spontaneous painting I did when I first woke up; I must have been still dreaming.

---

HERE BE AN UPDATE, ARR ARR!

±1 Female and male proportions study from Bridgeman

±2 Study, doodle, and a crappy horse sketch

±3 Riddler sketch using Ricky Gravais as a model. Loomies composition notes.

±4 Taking more composition notes from Loomies and sketching something within the spaces.

±5 Sketches of people in the Leeds Royal Armoury Museum. Some notes from the same place.

±6 WIP from an EOW activity

±7 Gorilla study with ref

±8 This is something I did awhile back and never finished

**Rist** · August 10th, 2008, 06:08 AM

I feel the moleskine is not enough. I think to show you my development I need to show you most things I am doing, and the moleskine is but a small part.

±1 Dragon top view silhouettes. Done a few weeks ago for an activity

±2 Profile silhouettes

±3 Profile Sketches

±4 Profile Colour

±5 Profile Sketches, this was done for a COW

±6 Line drawing, helped by those prior sketches

±7 Value rendering, See I still do Chiu's techniques

±8 Here is the final. Not my best work, but it will do.

±9 Here is the Unicorn Hunter. This was the first sketch (You will see the thumbnails above in the moleskine)

±10 A cleaner sketch

±11 Here is the final. This image was tough and got me down a little so I finished it before you could called it finished.

P · August 10th, 2008, 09:40 AM

I enjoy those latest creatures. Do more stuff like that.

**meduza** · August 11th, 2008, 04:55 AM

NIIIICE! Now, that's the Rist I've come to love!
Great creatures, man! love the thumbs and the rest afterwards. Not so much with the last, though. Could use some polishing with the anatomy.

**Rist** · August 13th, 2008, 01:48 PM

There will not be any updates for 2 to 3 weeks as I am going away. Once I get back I should have some work to upload!

pijus: Hi! That's what I enjoy doing the most. I have been pushing others areas to keep versatile. I want to get as good as to draw anything and everything with a degree of quality. So pushing other areas will keep my subject fresh.

meduza: Aye, what you were seeing before was a 'sketchbook' full of doodles and studies. I will post my renders and activity stuff, just for you!

The last one was a big disappointment! The creature design was pretty interesting because of the originality, but the output for the final piece was just not on track. I really need to become less complacent. I was never going to show it but I guess showing my weaknesses aswell as my strengths shows a true sketchbook.

Well see you in 2/3 weeks!

**Nam** · August 14th, 2008, 07:16 PM

Coolness.

and see you in a few weeks then.

**Matsign** · August 15th, 2008, 10:57 PM

See ya soon! I echo meduza in saying excellent work and presentation!

"You're doing it!'

As they say.

**Rist** · August 16th, 2008, 02:04 AM

One last post before I go (about 20 minutes until departure!)! I would love to say 'one last update', but this week has been so dry on the creative side its not been funny.

Nam: Thanks!

Matsign: Thanks, everyone needs this kind of encouragement sometimes! Jut seeing the amount of work you do pushes me into gear! Get those updates in for when I get back!