- The Slacker's Sketchbook -

[Trailblazer]

Wow Fennix I'm loving that red portrait, excellent work mate I'd love to see more. And your welcome us slackers have to stick together

[fenixx]

mariea : Thanks for the input I do try to push myself to work with a larger brush, but I seem to struggle a lot with it. Anyway, lets see how it goes !

smuli : Thanks man. Yea... need to work on this a lot more.

Trailblazer : I love that portrait too !!! We should start a Slackers United Group !!!

Nothing much this time as well.
Just a sculpt I did today in Zbrush. Why are faces so hard
I've just let go of this for now; going around in circles with this one.
Couldn't even sculpt the eyes because its TOUGH !! X(



Still too lazy to take the snaps of figure sketches. Maybe next time.


Alright... for the lack of any good updates, I shall post the cover page of a book I was working on few months back. Its abandoned as well. Oh well...

I'll post rest of the pages each with newer updates

[Baudolino]

Awesome updates, fenixx!!

[...] Any tips, suggestion ? [...]

What really helps me is going to life drawing class. Drawing from a living model feels totaly different than drawing from a photo... it probably would be a great chance for you since you obviously understand anatomy very well and could apply your knowledge in such a course.

Another very helpful discovery for me were the books of Vilppu and Michael Hampton. An also great resorce on gesture drawing is Jack Bosson's figure drawing video from gnomon. You can watch him over the shoulder while he establishes various gesture drawings. He also explaines the process very well.

Hope this helpes you a bit...

[fenixx]

Baudolino : Sadly, where I live...India.. its pretty hard to find a figure drawing course or studio. I've looked around for it, but in vain. I guess I'll have to make do with photographs for now. As for Hampton and Vilppu... those two are the only ones I study from really. I have learned a lot from Hampton's book and vilppu's videos. But I think I fail to grasp the essence. Maybe I should give Bosson's video as shot as well??
Also,I kinda feel there is some kind of confusion within my head related to style/approach. Sometimes I gravitate towards keeping the lines more linear as if it were meant more for character design. And there are times I feel like I should be drawing more loose, gestural ... and make finished figure drawings. Should I be doing both ? I don't know. I keep going back and forth. Anyway, thanks for taking the effort !

Here is a study from a reference image of a cast I found on the net.
Took me like 2 hours.... ended up spending a lot of time in trying to get some detailing done as well.
Planning to do more of these kind of studies to get a solid hang of lighting.



And here is another page from the crocodile book.

[Vritra]

Hey fenixx, good stuff, I really like the crocs in the last post, especially the Gharial (saw one in Sunderban, scary beast).

Your figure work is also looking solid, you're catching up fast. However, on the digital renderings, I feel you are concentrating on the details, and hence suffering from some proportion issues. This is rather evident in the Robert Downey Jr. image where the head is significantly smaller than the photograph.

I saw you wanted some advice on colours, so let me try to give out some basic rules as I know them. Firstly, when colouring digitally, it's a good practice to keep your brush as big and as opaque as possible in your first go of. This way, you have to actually select new hues and put them in, and get a lot of hues on the canvas. If you render early, you run the risk of making it look synthetic, since 'smudging' of colours in nature rarely ever involves just two colours (it's usually at least three). Also, in this way, you can focus on the bigger picture in the beginning and tell whether the artwork is working as a whole. Check this.

Also, I see your colouring is looking a little muddy in places. This is usually because you are messing up the temperature of the image. Look for the warm and cool areas in the reference. And remember, usually, warm light gives cool shadows and vice versa.

I hope my overly verbose post doesn't deter you from reading it, and more importantly, that you find something of use in it. Nothing would give me greater pleasure. Please keep updating, we need more artists like you in the country.

[fenixx]

Vritra : Hey man, thanks a lot for the comments. I don't know how scary the Gharials really are, but they seem like caricature of crocodiles themselves, a real life cartoon character Thank for the advice on the colors, I think I do need to try more opaque strokes. The big brush thing... I usually struggle with controlling my strokes, and end up going smaller. You are totally right about me going into detailing too soon. Btw, are you a friend of Pooja(Fiery Agni in DA), she had once shown me your work in DA. Great to find you in CA... we do need to find more Indian Concept Artist... and yea your work is brilliant !!

Finally, I kicked myself into snapping all the sketches I did.
You know, when you look at them after a while, they look so so so disappointing Anyway, I know its a long long long way to go.




And here is another page from the book.

[sin eater]

great figure sketches, love the line quality in all these. i think its time for you to do a full figure with personalities( face, fingers etc)
Btw some of the side profiles have something strange about there proportions. i think the back of there heads has a curve and the back side of the neck does not come straight down but has a curve there. And for the front faces, something about there eyes makes them all look similar. And the noses looks like somebody punched it hard.
Saying all taht , good to see you sketching a lot, i need to start myself. keep them coming

[fenixx]

@sin eater : Yea. Thanks for the inputs

Its been a while. Yep. Been learning new stuff.
Thanks to a friend, been getting more into modeling/sculpting assets for games.
Here is one output, original design by this guy : http://artbyvahl.com





Also tried to paint when I got the time :

[vanaga]

After so long time, I'm back here watching your drawings, and I'm amased how awesome they are. Dude! Look at your digital renders, they look like a photos! And the figures! Those many many anatomy studies definately have worked on your skills pld:
Keep on working, you do not have the right to be lazy!

[Eyecager]

Whoa your work has really tightened up in a great way since your first post, keep on kick with the improvement!

[fenixx]

@vanaga : Can't I be like.. a little lazy ? Heh. Anyway thanks. Good to see you back at work as well.

@Eyecager : Thanks man.

So I realized that I totally suck at working with colors. So need to study more specifically.


Here is the first portrait I tried to paint in color, which made me realize I need to practice more on this shit !
I did say that I will post sucky works as well.


I was so caught up in the color aspect, totally screwed up the proportions and form.



And here is an apple and an onion.

More as they come.

[fenixx]

Oh. And I would really appreciate it if I could get some critique on the color paintings. I've posted the GIF, so as to show my workflow as well.

[Baudolino]

Very nice studies! The colors and forms seem very natural.

[fenixx]

@ Baudolino : Thanks

Here is more :

[fenixx]

Happy Holidays Guys !!!

[Lyraina]

The onion is awesome The apple lacks some spots/freckles (?) from the reference though, which could of course just be called simplification. Colors are great!
Why don't you try and do some fruit/vegetable studies from life instead of photos?

[fenixx]

@ Lyraina : Thanks. Actually... thats a good idea... I should start doing some live studies.

During the holiday season, I was in a mood to experiment with some styles...
this is what turned up.



More coming right up.

[fenixx]

What better way to start the year than doing some Master Studies. John Singer Sargent is awesome !
I love how he shows so much form and character with such simple strokes and shapes.
I have learnt a lot from the studies



Proportions are off here and there.. I know. And I will work towards getting those fixed this year for sure.

[fenixx]

Back to paper and pencil.

[fenixx]

More studies !

[fenixx]

Environment Speedpaintings.






WIP

[vanaga]

Woot! So much studies! You are going strong.
As usually your studies from photos are very realistic.
And thanks for visiting my sb and giving great feedback

[fenixx]

@vanaga : Thank you

Studying some clothed figures.

[fenixx]

More. Sorry for the awful quality of the snaps. I have nothing but my crappy cam phone.


WIP. Trying to learn some quicker approach to making concept pieces instead of finished illustrations.

[sin eater]

Damn is all i can say at the moment , more please. I got the kick i needed XD

[Gthm/death]

Well all I can say is looking good, man, Looking good =]

[vanaga]

Slacker! Get back to studies!
He, he, just kidding duuude
Clothed figure studies is looking good (especially I like a guy with the tie). But overall the drapery studies seems to be stiff. Idk, maybe put some cloth on chair or table and try draw it from life, that should help. You should study from life as much as possible.
Also I cant express how thankful I am about your detailed feedback in my SB

[fenixx]

@ sin eater & Gthm/death : Thanks guys !

@ vanaga : Yea, I do realize the drapery studies are kinda stiff. I do need to do some still life studies. I usually have to rely on photographs And yea, you're welcome for the feedback, its the least I can do.

Some more studies. Quantity has come down a bit

[fenixx]

moar !

[Sharon J]

Wow.. Those photo studies are mindblowing! Especially the black and white image of the girl in today's post.. Oh the Daniel Craig study is awesome as well.. Any tips for us noobs? I still have trouble with the blending :/
Keep going with those photo and anatomy studies

That's it, you've inspired me to work on some too. I'm off for now..