- The Slacker's Sketchbook -

[Gthm/death]

you have come a long way my friend..........=]

[sin eater]

the amount of stuff you have put up is great. you have improved your observational skills alot. . but make sure you always make note of what you are observing in your head. i mean i just used to copy the sketches from books ,to an extent without having any knowledge, i could copy but when it came to making it on my own,, i still was doing wrong because i only used my pre conceived idea about anatomy. (which was wrong btw )
i realised all this anatomy studies i did was for nothing cause i dint learn anything from them . then after i learned the flow of muscles i thought i learned it again but that was not even close . so now i am trying to make note of what i am drawing. and how the bends and flows are happening. i am not exactly memorising the pose but understanding it in a simpler form. i am bad at learning the names of muscles so i am actually memorizing their shape and numbering them and see where they are attached. so when they bend i can draw them at the right place. and certainly the outer shaper will come automatically.
ok enough rant. i dont know how much of it makes sense. it sounded understandable in my head.
i see a long gap in your post. start posting now!

[fenixx]

@ sin eater : Yea. It totally makes sense. I can relate that fact for the lack of much progress in figure drawing, even when I have been practicing for long time. I just settled in the new place, so will get in to the flow of drawing back soon. Thanks anyway

[Arepa]

hey man what a great improvement! your painting from post #91 its looking great hey by the way what ever happened to Figure Drawing : Design and Invention by Micheal Hampton, online? you got my waiting on my inbox LOL ( i just saw your answer on page 3 i didn't even remember lol)...

[fenixx]

Deleted.

Too many big images

Will fix later.

[fenixx]

Been a long time since I posted something. Been busy with work, and didn't get much time to sketch for myself. This problem I hope I fix
Also, Anatomy will always be this illusive topic that I can never get through at one go, so I back again practicing it from the start. Lets see how it goes.
And hopefully I continue posting more regularly now.

BTW, sorry for the stupid last post with all the enormous images. I am too lazy to edit it and re-upload the images

So here is an update on what I have been up to past few months.

Spontaneous sketches from imagination.



Value study in PS


Anatomy Studies.


More soon.

[fenixx]

Some portraits.




WIP painting in PS

[fenixx]

Some more anatomy.




An illustration I did a while back.

[fenixx]

Been working a little on ZBrush lately.

Lot of flaws... lot more to understand and fix

[vanaga]

Mmmm, fenixx! It's so cool to have you back.
Those portraits are amazing! First 2 seems to be out of proportion, but with each next one they are coming better and better
Ha, you also use ZBrush? Cool! You seem to be some levels over me, I must learn from you For how long you are Zbrushing already?

[fenixx]

@ Vanaga : Thank you I learnt Zbrush a year back, but haven't been able to get to sculpting properly till now. Hope to do more. And I recommend you give it a shot if you can... I realized it helps learning anatomy a whole lot more when combined with sketching. It gives a whole new perspective on it. And yea, we can learn a lot from each other, I really like how you get forms on your figure drawing.


Here is a painting I did over a friend's line art.



More as soon as I get to it

[vanaga]

I started sculpting only some days ago, and I love it. I totally agree that learning anatomy on Zbrush gives a huge help, I tried to sculpt an arm and it was easier than to just draw it
On this last portrait colors are beautiful, post more!

[CRYPT]

keep up the studies

[boj]

nice studies keep it up

[Brand2.0]

Wow! Great improvements so far! You've really come a long way already great job! I do have some advice from personal experience. It seems like in your portraits the eyes are always too large and i think it could be because you probably start with the eyes and build the face around them. I noticed in your earlier drawing all of your eyes were parallel with the page even if the head was turned. Try drawing the eyes in last, or leave just light circles if you have to and then adjust and fill in the eyes last. I think it will help.

I also noticed a common problem in rendering in Photoshop. It's most noticeable on page three the greyscale girl. Try to use the largest brush possible and try to follow contours of the face with longer strokes. It helps even everything out and defines the shapes a lot better.

I am by no means an expert but those were just some things I noticed and thought maybe my advice could help fix but then again like I said I'm no expert! Keep at it looking great so far! Great job!

[fenixx]

@ Boj & @ inspectorsokar : Thank you

@ Vanaga : Yay on sculpting !! I can see in your SB that you already have a good understanding of the arm anatomy.

@ Brand 2.0 : Yea. Eyes have always been a problem for me. And I have realized that I end up drawing them big, so been looking out for that. But what I can't seem to understand is how to really deal with the angles. Its something I screw up naturally, even when i take the effort. It happens with the angles of the jaw as well. I hope I fix that with more practice. And about rendering in PS... yea was trying to figure out a workflow. I am getting the hang of it I think.

Here is a portrait I just finished now. An artist I follow in Tumblr



Been busy with work, so havent been able to sketch much.

[fenixx]

Some updates on figure drawing sketches. Frankly very disappointed...



Was experimenting with some paint styles with portraits. (I know the eyes are too big, but I wasn't focusing on the drawing during that time. No excuse I admit.)



This is how it looks in the end. Ruined it

[Leonor]

The portraits on post 98 show a lot of improvement. I don't know about likeness, but I quite like this and this. Pay attention to the height of the skull, the heads of the first two girls are flattened. You seem ahead of me in figure so I have nothing to add there. Here's a video on line control that might help: link.

[mridulsen]

very cooool sketches .... specially I liked the experimental sketches ....

[andres333]

thanks for dropping by my sb..I believe some practice on the very basic forms (cubes, spheres, cylinders, cones) would be of lots of help to you, cheers!

[lohes]

Tons of studies! I actually learnt a thing or two from your anatomy studies xD
Keep going!

[fenixx]

Leonor : Thanks for the video link, I've seen it before though. Yea, I have yet to really nail those proportions and faces still. Will get there eventually I hope.

mridulsen : Thank you

andres333 : Andres !! Thanks for dropping by my sb again. And thanks for the tip as well.

lohes : Glad to know it. Thank you

Ended up seeing almost the whole of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World again. Awesome movie really. Ended up doing a 2 hour painting from a screengrab. Although I didnt get the likeness correct as compared to the screen... I am glad that I at least made it look like Michael Cera



Lots more to work and practice. Must get better and faster !!

[fenixx]

Some more anatomy sketches. Need to invest more time on these. But I am learning a lot through these isolated studies !!




Another PS painting from Scott Pilgrim, this time Kim Pine. Took around 3 hours or so. Will post a speedpainting video next post in a while, if anyone is interested....

[fenixx]

Here is the speedpainting video of the last painting. Reason I posted here is, for anyone to really see my process and let me know if I screwing up my approach anywhere.

[sin eater]

great stuff so far. and you call yourself lazy haha you are hardworking man. having said that, do a lot more than that .
those portraits from scott pilgrim are looking good. and the fail tag line cracked me up for some reason haha.
anyways i think the michael cera portrait... the left eyebrow is too light which almost makes it seem like he does not have eyebrow at that part. and also the you have made the shadows too soft which makes it appear a little artificial. i think you should put some hard shadow with darker tones.
the anatomy studies are looking good. no mistakes that you aint already aware of . good improvements there. though i would suggest more dynamic gestures with simpler forms may be.
ok keep them coming

[Leo_7]

hey cool sketchbook fenixx, your anatomy studies and portraits look great. Keep up the good work.

[lohes]

Anatomy studies lookin' good as usual ;D The speedpainting video was cool... critwise I think you painted her nose a bit longer than it actually is. Great work though, keep it up!

[fenixx]

@Sin_Eater : Spot on about the portrait flaws... will keep it in mind. Thanks
@ Leo_7 & Lohes : Thanks . Yes, the nose became too long and resulted in the face becoming long as well. Still have to work on getting the likeness right... will get there I hope

Some pencil sketches.

Been a while since I just drew for the sake of it. First 3 are from imagination, and you can see how I suck at drawing without reference



These are from reference

[Sharon J]

Hey fenixx, glad you put up the workflow for Kim Pine, I've got a lot to learn from that :/ And the truck load of anatomy studies.

And post # 107, I don't think you ruined the big eyed faces, they sorta remind me of Disney characters for some reason

You a batchmate of Gautham's? Anyways, nice to see more of us active around here, will visit again soon!

Edit: O hey! New update Didn't see that coming! Those anatomy studies are paying off, you're getting better at those portraits!

[sin eater]

hey nice portraits... those are looking really good. especially the guy with the glasses . the ones from imagination are looking good too.. there are few anatomical problems.. but i guess u know what they are. i guess the only way is more studies . haha keep them coming