Mpdpsy's Sketchbook

[Luckers]

Whoa... This sketchbook kicks me right up on my feet, just what I needed!
It's very inspirational seeing your progress, hard work and dedication in this sketchbook!
You're really good with pencils I have to say
Maybe you would like to try working with Photoshop or Painter, though?
I don't know what you're intrested in learning most.
But it's Something I sure would like to see from you

Keep up the great work!

[mpdpsy]

Luckers : Thanks man!, yeah I'm very interested in trying out both Photoshop and Painter, but I can't afford the Wacom right now , I'll be practicing with oil instead.

I did some exercises with drawing the combination of the sphere and cube from imagination that Vilppu recommends, and some 3 min. gestures, also I finished 3 more of the color charts:

[mpdpsy]

The first 3 are 3 min. gestures from last time, next 4 are 15 min. figure sketches, some Vilppu exercises, then many more 3 min. gestures, and I finished all the color charts..they're not perfect, but nonetheless I learned a lot about what colors my palette is capable of producing, ..now on to actually practicing painting..:

[mpdpsy]

More 3 min. gestures, and a teapot still life sketch. I also worked on 2 Bargue plates, they're really good exercise I gotta say in becoming patient, and ultra sensitive to your medium, so I used graphite for the foot, and oil for the arm. I think one of big big problems I have with oil is simply getting used to handling it, so this was good practice I think, I'll probably go back to them each day as I seem to find something wrong on places I didn't see before:

[mpdpsy]

10, 3 min gestures as usual, and a couple 15-20 min. figure sketches. I worked a bit further on the Bargue arm painting study, and also on a teapot still life. Also I started a portrait study of a pin up painting done by Gil Elvgren:

[mpdpsy]

10 3 min. gestures, a Bammes figure shading study. Worked further on the portrait study of the pinup..lol it looks so off, I think I'll scrape it and start over tomorrow.., also started another Bargue copy, the drawing is off in many places, but I think I'm getting more adept at using oil bit by bit, just gotta keep at it:

[mpdpsy]

I did a pitiful amount the past few days :/ , but here's a mix of 3 min. gestures, neck, figure, and portrait studies:

[mpdpsy]

some more studies:

[mpdpsy]

I did a bunch of figure studies, these are from Human Figure in Motion by Muybridge, it was helpful in observing how humans move/natural poses, instead of the "posed" look I've been drawing w/ gestures.

After I draw them from observation, I then draw them from memory/imagination to see how much I remember, this is the tough part, but it's been so helpful in actually understanding and retaining what I studied...I didn't do this in the past thinking the information will retain itself...it doesn't ugh I feel so dumb, it felt like all the studies I did the past several months just dissipated and I'm starting from scratch...but I just gotta trudge on! I'm working on a still life painting now for a change of pace.

[mpdpsy]

Did a few figure studies, and also did the still life painting, oil painting is hard, I suck, I gotta practice a lot more...:

[mpdpsy]

Figure studies, the first 10 are studies of Vilppu's and the last 10 are from imagination, and also another oil still life:

[CUKIERass]

Whoow! your amount of dedication and work makes me fell ashamed! Got to study hard myself. Really inspirational - Thnx and show us some more!!

[Kabu]

nice drawings
good improvement since your first post in the sb
are you still interested in forming a sketchgroup?
i am doing anatomy too
and now im going to post my studies regulary

[Kabu]

I've never been in one, too yeah i think thats it.
lets say we post our drawings every day, is that ok for you?

a suggestion for the anatomy:
i think it is better if you learn one part of the body at a time and if you can draw it without ref you go on to the next one (thats what i am trying at the moment). drawing the whole body is good for getting a feeling for the proportions. i did that for a while, too i think later if you can draw all parts of the body without ref then you can start drawing the whole body in motion

i hope you understand what i mean let me know what you think

[mpdpsy]

CUKIERass: Thanks man!

Kabu: hey thanks for the suggestion! and I agree, that's a great idea, breaking it into small chunks and memorizing each part. I think though it's still beneficial to practice drawing the whole figure in motion at the same time, for the sake of getting the feel of the proportions and rhythm as a second nature as well.

I gotta learn to focus better, but here's some figure studies,one from Vilppu, w/ Henry Yan's I wanted to study his line qualities, also the structure of the shoulder area w/ Bammes, then an overview of the major muscles with the study from Strength Training book:

[Imaginary]

Jebus! So many studies, definite improvement just on this page alone. =D

I find myself giving this advice often and really not following it myself but do more from head, applying what you learn is very important, makes your visual library grow. Keep up the leveling!

[p sage]

Jebus, indeed. Jebus and boobies, too.

Nice shoulder girdle study. Is that from Bammes? Looks solid.

Seems like you're doing the right things; you're right about capturing the whole before working on segments. My instructor's drilling that into my head. LOL.

[mpdpsy]

Imaginary: you're totally right, I haven't done nearly enough stuff from my head, just studies these past months, I gotta start doing something just for fun.

p sage: Yep, it's from Bammes lots of useful diagrams in that one. Capturing the whole..haha reminds me of my painting teacher back at the community college, he would grill into us to work "big to small" always, and it's good advice

some figures with and w/o reference, and an oil still life, I need to level up my eyes, I observe and observe but I still can't quite capture the right values or colors, -sigh- just gotta practice more I guess:

[Kabu]

i always try to compare the values to pure black and pure white... that helped me getting better values
and practicing helps of course

[mpdpsy]

Did further studies on torso area, some figures, and a couple oil still lifes, I gotta do a lot more studies on values w/ still lifes:

[mpdpsy]

Took a break from anatomy studies focusing more on a couple of oil still lifes, plus a couple of Gibson girls studies:

[Twan]

Awesome study man. Where do you find your anatomies refs?
however I see no stuff from imagination, do it, it's the most important
cheer up!

[lhazar]

Man, after doing a quick review of your whole sketchbook, just a word comes to mind: DEDICATION.

I tip my hat in earnest at your effort.

If anything, try posting some of your "carefree" or "out-of-classic-art-education" sketches sometime

[Armonah]

This is really, very impressive. The progress and the hard work you've made in the last... less than 2 years are astounding, and the quality of your paintings and sketches is top notch.
Though I agree with Twan and Ihazar that it's pretty much all practise, and I'm really curious to see what you could create if you would apply all that skill and knowledge to a concept, if you know what I mean

[mpdpsy]

Twan: thanks man, I find my anatomy refs from photos I find online mostly, and also have this book called Human Figure in Motion, it's great for observing how people move. You're right I need to start doing imaginative stuff.

lhazar: thank you, I feel like I'm not as dedicated as I should be, there are some people here who has an insane amount of output each day, really puts me to shame, yeah I agree as well I need some more carefree sketches, maybe I should put aside a day to just do that.

Armonah: thank you, I've improved, but I feel like I'm not improving fast enough I know I still have a looooong way to go, can be discouraging sometimes, and yeah I agree that I need to start applying all this studies to do something creative.

hmm...I see a pattern here hehehe, yeah you guys are absolutely right, I question myself a lot of times, it's like I do these rigid studies, and I gotta loosen up and just draw shit like when I was a kid, I think I keep putting it off, even though people have been telling me to do it because of insecurity pure and simple, everytime I wanna do something just for fun and it doesn't turn out the way I want it to I get discouraged and go back to my studies. I gotta change my approach to this....

but in the meantime here are more studies, focusing on faces, trying to memorize the planes of the head, the armored dude with the gun I drew when listening to the Chillstream (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/patrickmcwh) , we had to draw something related to Metroid...wasn't really familiar with it, only that it has an armored character in it, mine's lame but it's a start lol, exercising my imagination for once. Also some Sargent studies and some oil still lifes:

[QueenWorm]

Great progress!!! I love the anatomy studies practice!! It's great that you recorded every stage of the improvement!!
What books or reference you took to learn anatomy? I should spend more time on anatomy too after seeing your progress~

[Twan]

all these heads look really good ! the structure too
I think you should try different tools to draw, try charcoal maybe
cheer up!

[Armonah]

It's pretty much a curse of this profession that things will never truly turn out the way you want them to, and that at some point you have to bring yourself to stop working on a piece, or hand in an "unfinished" piece when reaching a deadline. But that doesn't mean it's bad though
Of course you study to get better, but isn't it ironic in a way that you also study because you're afraid to move outside of that comfort zone? I think you'd do great if you (for instance) joined a contest or challenge, not only because it'd also improve your artistic skills, but it also gives you a way to measure your skills with that of other artists, and maybe a self-esteem boost. (And you might win something!)

Of course if you want to study you should just keep doing that, 'cause that helps you improve your skills as well, in the way you want to. I also hope this comment wasn't uncalled for :>

Take care.

[mpdpsy]

ah so sorry fellow SSGs, I totally fail at updates huh, I haven't been slacking though, some recent studies and did a Bargue copy, this thing kicked my butt, after working on it a few hours everyday the past couple of months, it's still not perfect...but I learned a lot anyways I think:

[mpdpsy]

a couple of practice w/ portraits from photos: