Futile Efforts - Lotta's Sinister Sketchbook

[Lotta]

First I'd like to say that I am a violin player, not a concept artist.
But I like concept art and digital painting. So if you want to help me get better with my art I am most grateful. That's why I'm here

I am Lotta Ahlbeck, I live in Finland and I am a 18-year-old high school student. I've drawn since I was a kid, but most of my time has gone to practising the violin, not to drawing. I draw a lot in school though, especially during the lessons, which would oftern would bore me to pieces if I wouldn't. So for me drawing is a refuge and an "escape route". And it's fun, too.

My Classy Tools: A nice laptop which shows my colours in its own unique way
A wacom graphire4 A6 (atleast it has pressure sensivity
The Gimp yay everybody hates it here, but it works and it's legal

For a start I post a pic of a sort of war goddess (yay textured brushes)
and a series of self portrait studies drawn in poor lightning, with a very small mirror and an a6 sketch book.

I used a pic of russian pole vaultress Yelena Isimbajeva as anatomical reference for the war girl (atleast I tried)(and I copied her pose ). I chose her for her spectacular body shape and fiery look. The pic took several days to complete (I didn't count hours) and it still could use some refining... maybe some day . I'm a painstakingly slow painter, but I keep getting faster all the time (i hope). I wonder if desaturating the formerly red flag was such a good idea. Overall I like the girl to get the attention, and I didn't want her to look too communistic

The self portraits started as a try to do the android thing, but I ended up with only 6 portraits. I drew an additional one when I was pasting together the pics and adding unneccessary captions... Mainly I drew them because I need to train drawing from life, and I'm the cheapest human model around my house.

Well, enjoy my futile efforts. Cheers // Lotta

[Lotta]

phew, I'm lazy but I've atleast been drawing This is a speedpaint of Hekat the Knife Dancer from the book "Empress" by Karen Miller. Painter, about half an hour.
Hekat, Precious and Beautiful

[oomgawa]

Welcome! Will you also teach us to play the violin? Using reference for the warrior goddess was a great idea, and is never considered cheating! I would suggest that you desaturate the background texture, so that the figure will pop forward more.

[Lotta]

Here´s an update.
I always get inspired by the most dreadful books. Here are two more pics of Hekat the knife dancer (one coloured and one sketch which I may yet colour (or paint on) on the computer)
I tried to ink Hekat with an actual inkpen, which I dipped into actual indian ink. I am in dire need of practise in that. Coloured with inexpensive watercolours.
I also think the sketch looks better, probably due to my horrible inking.haaeelp

Glaedr and Oromis (Charachters (c) by christopher paolini) was just a watercolour doodle. On the wrong paper. It went all bubbly :'( but it was great fun to do. I would have liked to blend the sky more, but the paper didn't let me.

Blamin' the tools again futile futile futile...
you guys are great //Lotta

[Lotta]

Hi again! This is the lazy person, who has been on a christmas holiday (=way too much spare time ) I've started re-exploring the various benefits of actual, living, messy, undo-less watercolours I've always liked them, but I've spent more time scratching away at my wacom lately.

I made a couple of sketches of Little Red Riding Hood, because I've always liked to draw her. Unfortunately I made the real image before the sketches (wrong way...), but I have always had difficulties portraying LRRH's face, so I decided to explore it anyway (the left one is not good, but I think her face is okay on the right one, although she is a bit disproportionate). I also have a piece of the face of Daenerys Targaryen on the sketch (she didn't fit properly on my sketchbook page :'( ), and a watercolour tryout (which I was lazy enough not to crop off)

I have made some pics of LRRH before, but she has always had her back to her audience, as in the final pic. I got John Howe's "Fantasy Art Workshop" for christmas, and that has been a huge source of watercolour tips and general inspiration. I even masked LRRH with tape while painting the background! never done that before. I'm quite happy about how it turned out.

Then I made a dragon. No comment I was just fascinated by just how intense "bleu intense" really is

The doodle below the dragon was another watercolour tryout. I have yet to decide upon his/her gender. Maybe he's an adolescent male obsessed with his medieval hair-straightener

I watched a documentary about barbarians made by ex-python Terry Jones today, and the dacian helmet is a result of that. I should really take the time to explore dacian and other "barbarian" designs (celtic, gothic, german...), but the helmet was all I found on the net when I googled on "dacian art". Books, anyone? :'( I hate it when forgotten civilisations are forgotten.
(I added the hanging thingies and the spikes to the helmet, just to annoy you. the rest is totally ripped off.) The image is made with the gimp. I apologize for the level of messiness, but it was a real quick one.

Have a good day and try to put up with my relentless rambling //Lotta

[Bill]

WC is a very difficult media to use, and figure is a very difficult subject to draw, especially without reference. You got some good things to happen in spots. Maybe you could show us something more basic for us to see where your fundamentals are, perhaps a drawing of a stilllife that you've put time into. It's doing that kind of stuff that helps build the skills.

[Lotta]

I've heard someone mention that drawing is good if you wanna learn how to draw. well, I drew some.
mostly quick sketches, these people are all too fast to be drawn intricately...
I went to a folk music festival and enjoyed weird music while drawing those poor musicians. totally defenseless they were (played some myself there, but I was the only one stalking people with my sketch book there, so I think I didn't get drawn ^__^)

I have also frequented cafés and burger restaurants with my friends, as well as drawn some kitchen paraphernalia (including a random sewing machine). I spent more time on the inanimate objects because they don't move and my friends tend to discuss a lot of stuff in cafés, so I had plenty of time.

I also included two illustrations, that I made because I would like to work for some local newspaper as an illustrator this summer, and I'm building a portfolio. The one with the cucumber is a political cartoon about an EU directive that prevents nationality from being used in the marketing of vegetables. Cucumbers and EU are kind of an inside joke in Finland because EU has also made a directive about the crookedness of cucumbers: they should be straight :-D
the other one is a teenage metalist listening to aggressive music.

I'd especially be grateful for some feedback on those two.

ooh, this is a kinda largeish update.
Thank you for excisting //Lotta

PS) sorry for the ugly black blotches. I hate copying and pasting images... no energy left to correct them ._.'

[Mr. Smile]

Hey, pretty neat stuff you have here! I especially love the musician studies and the dragon of course.
For that flaggirl... I definitely thing desaturating the flag was a good idea =). But I would also suggest to saturate the girl. Throw in a few reds here and there. And some blues in the darkest shadow. Also I would do at least small shadow where feet connect to the "ground". Its a trick to suggest there is at least something to stand on.

Otherwise great studies here. I would suggest to do some www.posemaniacs.com gestures. Challenge yourself.... and smile.

[Wolfentir]

Keep it up! You seem to be doing everything right, drawing from imagination as well as a ton of observational stuff. Just draw all the time. If only I could practice what i preach :/

[Gorgoleon]

Hey thanks for visitin my sb! I, like your stuff here so far- especially red riding hood! Keep bringing your sketchpad with you! Oh and i think you should post your dsg here in the sb too! Keep it up !

haha and i like the possesed violinist image in your profile

[Trefle]

Hi there! Finally, some other people with no major in concept art! *runs*

You have a nice gallery overall, I especially like your watercolour work, it's soft yet detailed. And the rest of the studies are great too.

And for the last two pictures, for the teenage metal pic I can only say that it's lacking a certain something I can't explain clearly....the feeling, perhaps?...of course, it's caricature-ish rather than cool, metal-themed pic, so it's somewhat understandable.

The cucumber and tomato pic is funny I think it's great so far, maybe add some background ?
Anyway, good luck!

[Thorneye]

Dude, about dacian art, it is not forgotten, it is just not known about in foreign countrys. The dacians are actualy the Romanian people today. Transilvania is the ancient land of Arcadia where the Dacians come from.

If you wanna find out more i'll let you onto it. Here's a link with more dacian art:

http://www.gk.ro/sarmizegetusa/armat...armamentul.htm
http://www.gk.ro/sarmizegetusa/armat...amentul_01.htm
http://enciclopedia-dacica.ro/armata_daca/falx.htm

Sory about the links btw, their all in romanian ...

[Lotta]

Mr. Smile: Thank you so very much for that link. I have a feeling posemaniacs will revolutionize me drawings.
Gorgoleon: Thanks just to make you happy I will dump all my old dsgs here today ^___^
Trefle: hehe violinist here as always.thanks for the crits, greatly appreciate it.
Thorneye: thanks for the links! so happy google translate is there for me

Well this is kind of a sketchdump of old DSGs I have made to learn wacoming (although there is som watercolor and pencil stuff too). I don't even remember the topics anymore, and I'm not sure if I wanna. Most of these pics just suck, so I didn't bother to upload them onto the ca.org server. The pics are in chronological order.(oldest first).


cheers //Lotta

[Gorgoleon]

Haha depressed robot and alien elephant are priceless! Good decision to post them! Cheereo

[~KJK~]

Hei kiitos! Nice start for a sketchbook youve got here, most of these works are quite familiar! The last one is really creepy in a good way that is. Im already familiar with posemaniacs, and ive even used it a bit, but havent got the time to spend enough on the website! For you id recommend to paint more B/W works to work on your values, its really handy i tell you

[Trefle]

Hmm, idea-wise.....well, they're certainly interesting, to say the least.

But I think some of them were done pretty well. The shark/mermaid/fishy in the water and the....well, abominations from the computer are great, IMO. I like their colors and their effects, and in the computer one, the detail's good.

You've so much idea and has interesting ways to show it, never give up! Good luck xD

[Lotta]

Somebody suggested I tried posemaniacs.org and it helped instantly! thank you. I've been doing 20 30sec poses every evening for 4 nights in a row, and I can feel how it helps.

I also stumbled upon a book on old swimming suits. Those are truly fascinating. And my friend Wea has a cuute bunny named Nöpö, which means "cutie" or something like that. The sad thng is that they named the bunny before they found out he was male ^__^

I also made a living version of a computer mouse ("Ole ystäväni" means "be my friend....?). and some more crappy anatomy.

And the infamous Audrey Hepburn who looks like Minnie Driver.

I'll split this post in two after all. it's gonna be huge. This is a literal dump. I will never post my posemaniacs anymore ._.
cheers. //Lotta

[Lotta]

I have a nice 24-piece box of water-soluble derwent pencils, and I figured I gotta learn how to use them.

A dino toy which i drew in the sunlight coming onto my kitchen table from a strange angle, the sun is so low here in the winter. Dry watercolour pencil on gray cardboard.

The infamous washing up-liquid which is called Fairy in Finland, but apparently has another name elsewhere. Fairy is usually green, but we had this orange-scented stuff at home. I think that yellow is disgusting.

My violin. I liked drawing it. My violin is kinda old, and I love the shape.

Another DSG.

Some violinist sketches (with short legs) and a frameless chow for the self-as-supervillain thingy. Maybe I'll participate... I don't have as big boobs as the final pic, but watercolours don't have undo :'( maybe i'll photoshop eet later. The character's name is The Devil's Trill and she is posessed by the devil, and her music kills anyone who hears it. lol

And a constipated prince drawn with dying felt-tip pens. Really manky stuff.

Cheers //Lotta

[Helioth]

Hey, nice quantity of sketches in your book,

maybe think about trying some work with perspective and clearly defined dimensions? I think you'll have an easier time with lighting etc if you try to keep things logical and clear.
Also give yourself more time on 1 picture, reaaaally get down to business with what you're studying, and then do another long one... Sometimes we don't give ourselves a chance to get started working and learning, try to pace (patience is genius) yourself.
Knowing when something is "finished" is always hard, but for now, maybe finish WAY after you think it's "actually" finished and sometimes maybe before.

Best of luck!

[EdenGotterrCyan]

Nice Sketches

[Lotta]

I remembered an old chow where you were supposed to draw a male pinup vampire. I've been studying Loomis for anatomy, and wanted to try it out. I'll maybe even finish this picture. Suggestions for improvement, anyone? (I use mainly painter)

Two Dsg:s, don't remember the topics.

And then there's a "marsh hopper" made with poster paints on coloured paper. I love poster paints, they're inexpensive, and they behave like water-soluble acrylics: you can use them like watercolour, but they still cover a bit.

love //Lotta

[~KJK~]

Last ones looks good! a wonderful and wild imagination you have post more!

cheers!

[Lotta]

dumping a bit again.
I've done my first two chows now, the green fairy got to poll DDDD and I'm keeping me thumbs up 4 the outlaw too

[Suncut]

Good going with the studies. When using a digital painting program watch out for mixing black for shadows and white for highlights. Shadow side of things should be tinted closer to the surroundings and highlight side to the color of light, which is basically never straight white. Points of higher saturation appear where things reflect back to itself, for example the yellow scarf of your bandit would throw a dim yellowish light to his lower yaw. Getting the graduation color between the light and shadow correct is a really important step for believable color. It's never just a mix between the shadow and the highlight tone. Best way to get a feel for the graduations is to study from life.

Setting up simple still lifes next to your computer is a easy way to see and study these things in action. Taking a colorful object and placing it on different clothes for example can let you see how the color of the shadow areas on the object change. and if you have lightsources of different colors you can also observe how the whole scene including the shadow changes color with the change of light color.

Wow, writing this took a while, I hope it's useful, or at least legible.

[a la bapsi]

yaaaay
keep em coming, you're doing well

[Lotta]

zOmg! /me is uppdating!!
did some experiments using just a hard round brush set to size pressure sensivity trying not to fiddle with the flow. The blue thingy is a river monster and has the shield of arms of my home town Turku. The shield of arms is obviously not mine, but I included it because I took some elements from it for the design. The river monster is a part of a real paid job! but he's supposed to be done in watercolours for the job, just practising my digitals on him this time.
it's a WIP anyway.
cheers ^^ //Lotta

[~KJK~]

hei lotta, well done with your recent updates improvement is evident! What your paintings seem to lack, is consistency! Using more bigger sized brushes along with the smaller, thin ones would make the whole painting look better as a whole!

[anjyil]

Your working is starting to really come along nicely. You can see marked improvements in the anatomy as far as the proprotion of the arms versus the torso. Your dragons are awesome, too!

I, too, am working towards improvement. I am finding that an actual structured class-like setting is really the best way to go, rather than sample bits and pieces as I go. If you are serious about moving up, I would recommend locating someone who is willing to tutor you, or take a night art class, or at least find a really good and well-structured book (Loomis is really good, I have heard). You really are on the right track and I look forward to seeing you progress

[Lotta]

started out as an exploration of value and form and ended up as a kinda over the top glow experiment.

[Rotor]

Nice experiment there.
I think the snakey thing and a few other of your piece's lack general consistency, I would suggest laying down very basic, solid forms first (using those hard brushes), the details are always secondary. This way you will get a better sense of mass and form.
I think you should also POST MORE! You are doing great, keep it up.