KingElvis' Sketchbook 2013

[KingElvis]

Hey guys,

I been checking conceptart for over a year now and got my constant share of inspiration from so many great artists in here. I decided to get off my lazy ass and start showing my stuff to other people so that I can learn more by other peoples critique.
Ill post as often as I can

okay, this is a first bunch o stuff from the last days. There was a lot that wasnt worth showing anywhere, believe me. My actual goal or route that Im aiming for is drawing from my imagination mostly and i figured that in order to achieve that i have to copy things as well as draw em from memory or imagination. And i have to work on my discipline to really finish sketches to "drawings". This has been a real problem for me over the last year- all crappy sketches, no drawings...
anyway, these are done from paintings and books i like and from imagination. tell me what ya think, and, talk to you guys later!
~martin

[KingElvis]

smth i posted in the pose and gesture thread as well. even tho im not quite satisfied with em. but that drives me to try and draw some more of those...

[KingElvis]

[KingElvis]

so, this is todays outcome. im drawing after the schedule described in the Kimon NiKolaides book. Im not going to post teh contour drawings, because theyre all about the practise and the things you learn while drawing and dont look like anything anyway^^
thise stuff here is done with the help of my little wooden stickfigure. I try to push the pose here and there so, when i try to draw the gesture its kindof a mixture of the Walt Stanchfield and Kimon Nicolaides approach.
See ya later!

[Mumph]

Great start, I especially like your animal sketches. Nice work on the poses. Maybe it could help if you try doing a curve that defines the overall pose, first, and then build on that, because I think that some of them are a bit unbalanced.

Also, I don´t think you should put down lines that don´t really add anything, it makes some of them look messy.

Keep it up!

[KingElvis]

Mumph: Thanks alot. about those messy lines: yeah, i know. im working on tat. but the thing is that those lines are my way to feel what im drawing and to..like trial and error, trying various lines until i see the "right" line...
but I read about that the other day, that this is actually smth that should be done in my head, not on the paper and that other artists use ink markers and such in order to avoid those scribbly lines. Ill do that as well, so thanks for your post

here are a few more that i did yesterday. tried smth else with gestures here...




and this is todays stuff. tried to use less lines here.

[KingElvis]

Woo, the guy whos trying to get this sack off the ground was ..intense. this was the most fun cause most of what i drew flew around in my head and i tried to capture that...I will try and come up with of that.

[KingElvis]

more...

[KingElvis]

[Volchiha]

That is a lot of gesture drawing! Lots of poses!
I especially like how you do the portraits and animal stuff aswell.

ps: cool, there are "spar"s in germany too =)

[Mumph]

Man, that´s a lot of gesture studies don´t forget to practise everything else. I think you are doing a nice job.

Yeah I totally get that it´s your way of drawing and I don´t see anything wrong with doing it like that but sometimes the lines still feels like they are just there for the "style". Hope you get what i´m saying.
Yeah you could try doing gestures with as few lines as well but don´t abandon they way you are doing them right now, I don´t think there is any "right way", just the way that works for you and helps you learn and communicate what you are drawing.

I think it´s good to try drawing in differant ways and try differant things so that you don´t get locked in just one way of doing things, I guess everything has it advantages and disadvantages. I think you are progressing, you have a nice feel for it.

Those hand studies are nice but as you do with the poses, also build up the hands using construction lines, will help a lot and make you draw more confident lines.

Keep it up man!

[KingElvis]

Volchiha: thanks. What, there are SPARs in south africa?! lol do you know what "spar" means anyway? the german word?

Mumph: Thanks man. Yeah, theres gonna be other stuff as well in the future

this is todays chunk o stuff




and yes, the yellow stains is coffee ^^

[silverrspells]

I find your gesture studies amazing and very expressive; I know this comment isn't very helpful, but I couldn't stop to notice that

[KingElvis]

silverrspells: thanks. Well, I actually like hearing about other peoples opinions about the stuff I produce...this keeps the own views in check i think

heres todays outcome. nothing fancy for today, the animal stuff was just for relaxation and it really was fun. Gesture work is sometimes exhausting. And i like variety even tho i havent shown much of that lately



cheers!

[KingElvis]

on with the show
the first one was done inspired by the "concept art 101" thread which i think is just great!
Been toying around with some digital painting lately- well, i wouldnt call it painting yet- and i will definitely get smth done in ps too so, be prepared

see ya!
btw, sorry for those biguns- been using this upload manager thingy for the first time and..yea,..never mind.

[KingElvis]

so, this is me, going digital using photoshop. My very first steps, so be kind

Im kinda stumped at how to actually proceed without ruining the pic even more...:/ any suggestions or critique is, as alwas, very welcome.

[localfatheaded]

for your painting inphotoshop, I would suggest, trying to clean up the background first its definitely easier to paint if you have clean lines to start, also the painting is all mid range, the next step would be to figure out your darks and then add some highlights, your drawings are looking really good, and i suggest if you do more painting to do some reference paintings. keep it up, I hope to see more.

[KingElvis]

localfatheaded: Thanks mate. Yeah, Ill definitely do more paintings. Ive successfully neglected any painting over the years :/ and damn, it shows! I got this book on digital painting coming and Ive read some tutorials on CA, so, Ill post my next steps at painting later this week.

heres some pencil work I did at work today. Got some time to hang around and even tho i didnt have any ref material at hand I really wanted to try some guys with clothes and things attached to the clothes and stuff. Never really focused on that before and I tried to come up with some things ive seen here and there.

[KingElvis]

Well, here we go with the newest outcome. Started some modelling exercises these days. So, this is actually not about light and shade but about from: what is near should be drawn withoput pressure, the stuff thats farther away should be darker. Its about getting a feeling for the form while drawing. I dont know if it shows, but it feels great. Ive been following the schedule of this Nikolaides book and its a whole lotta fun and smth changes inside of me... well, we'll see

catch ya later!

[Animation Idiot]

The thing I love the most in your thread are your in-sequence motion-studies. How are you doing those, may I ask? out of your head? with video or real life reference? from photos?

I'm curious because I'd love to do some of that for practice on my own.

Also you have a lot of nice studies in this thread. Your animal drawing is looking like you're really starting to 'get' it. On that note I need more animal drawing myself.

My only point of criticism is that you're WAY TOO CONSERVATIVE. Though I should note that you have a loose gestural feel I love to your motion studies and various other things - to clarify I mean that I would like to see you do THOSE studies AND mix it up with you taking risks and going nuts with pulling and twisting and exaggerating poses, as well as faces. Check out Mike Matessi's two "Force" books to learn some more about that. Also you might want to buy Walter Stanchfield's books when they come out pretty soon.

PS - If you're in southern california I'd love to draw with ya sometime.

[KingElvis]

animationidiot: thanks for the nice words. I tried to get some more expression into my drawings but its harder than it looks, i can tell you that. I think this is the next step i was talking about in your SB. Expression. exaggeration. which makes for style, even tho i dont wanna think about style too much. Im in ca next year, ill let ya know

[Mumph]

Still working hard on the gestures
The proportions are a bit off in the portrait in post #12, the eye line should be roughly in the middle of the head. The eyes also looks a bit tiny.
Very dynamic poses. As i´ve said before I really like the animal studies, I should do these myself. I agree with localfatheaded on the digital piece and don´t be afraid to exagurate and experiment, put in some really dark and light values.

The military man is great, nice work on the clothes although his right arm seems to be a bit too long and his legs also seem to be of different lenghts, that may be due to the foreshortening.
I like the modeling exercises, very loose.
I think those first two poses in post #21 are excellent.
Your lines seems to become more confident, great progress!

[KingElvis]

done during school. yes im still alive. even tho i think it hurts my brain that the sun hasnt schown up for some days. I really need to see the blue sky from time to time to survive...:/
later!

[KingElvis]

Thanks. that was what i felt when i was drawing it. feels good to read that its showing here and there.

wasnt too productive the last weeks. I HATE to say it but i fell victim to believing that computer games were necessary. Well, i played, i felt good, i anjoyed the holidays and Im happy that drawing crept back into my consciousness (what a diffifult word! lol) without any need of force. Thats the good news.
okay, on with the show:


hmm theres really smth wrong with most of the walks i draw. and theyre soo difficult! every time i start one its like a million possibilities and pictures popping into my head and its hard to decide which to use....

[KingElvis]

The first comic style lions and the deer is from "the art of lion king". one of the best disney art books i have. The animal art in there is amazing. And so are the storyboards by people like thom enriquez and others. Really great book.
Most of the figure gestures are drawings done with only one look at the model. I then try to feel the pose. Some times after i finished it i looked at the model again and decided to immediately draw it again trying to insert smth that i failed at the first time. Like the twist of the torso, the way the shoulders fall etc.
The model is actually just a little wooden puppet. The guy with the weird arm is inspired by a drawing of tarzan that I saw on the web.

[KingElvis]

and another one. work keeps me busy but Im having fun doing my little studies in the evening

[Asatira]

You've got a lot of gestures with a lot of flow to them. Very animated, which is good because I love animation. I also enjoy the animals, which have a lot of detail. The only thing I'm disappointed with is the lack of more detailed human studies, but I see you're starting to work on that. Keep it up, have clear goals, and I think you'll do well.

[KingElvis]

Asatira: Thanks. Okay, Ill try



More recent stuff.

[Jamie Romoser]

Awsome start for your sketchbook.
your sketches remind me of frazettas sketches.
keep it up learned alot looking through your gestures.

[Mumph]

Great charachters and progress! I like how you capture their expression. Keep up the anatomy studies because proportion are off in some of the poses.