KingElvis' Sketchbook 2013

[p sage]

It does feel good doing studies, doesn't it? When you got everything working right... you definitely learn something.

Boy, I can see the sartorius (strap-like muscle) in that leftmost leg. Looking good.

[KingElvis]

p_sage: Thank you. I definitely have to draw more, its hard with a job/school on the side sometimes. But I think you know that, going thru smth like that to, eh?


Heres more stuff I did during the last days. I realized that I do have a feeling for basic anatomy and shapes etc but that feeling turn out to be WRONG many many times. So I tried to figure out what it was and I realized major flaws in basic structure of 3d forms and human proportions! So, thats what Ill be working on in the next weeks.

[KingElvis]

Sorry, but those were the pictures in my head. And an artist has to try and get those pictures out, doesnt he..I tried to draw from memory extensively and this is what came out. Nothing fancy really, but i think im improving.

If anyone has some more thoughts and tips on drawing from imagination/memory, feel free to drop a line or two here

cheers!

[KingElvis]

some with hogarth ref, some without:

[joeep]

Hi,
ok you do practice anatomy very much indeed Looks good! And a couple of animals - makes me want to draw animals too...
Thank you for your comment on my sketchbook a couple of weeks ago!

[Jabo]

Woah, beeindruckende Studien! Wann kommen die Anwendungen?

[KingElvis]

Jabo: Yer, well, Im working on it, and i know that theres my big problem..but thanks, youre right of course! Its just sometimes so hard to work and spend time on smth and then you see that it doesnt quite work out and thats the point where i mostly stop. And sketching just seems to be most fun part to me. Even tho, thats just a cop out, and I have to face that.

more stuff from mind. The reason I draw so many ugly ppl and fat guys sitting on chairs, over their desks is, well, cause Im in an office all day and those are the ppl i see!
welcome to my world.

[p sage]

Good update.

The one here in the lower right has good structure (outer structure)... but the face looks a little painted on. Try some ref studies of a skull sometime soon. They help.

[Farvus]

It looks from your sketchbook art that you're going a lot into animation although I might be wrong.

Its just sometimes so hard to work and spend time on smth and then you see that it doesnt quite work out and thats the point where i mostly stop.

Improvement doesn't really come right away after studies. I found that there's always slight delay. It's like all knowledge accumulates somewhere in the back of the head and then it needs time to sink there .

That might be not a very original advice but I would suggest more life drawing and more measuring. Once you'll get good proportion sense from that, you'll more accurately do anatomy studies.

Cheers.

[KingElvis]

s_sage: thanks mate. Im on it.

Farvus: Thanks for the advice. I know what you mean. I was just reading about that the other day that knowledge gets put into "order" during sleep. The last thing you do before sleep is usually having a greater impact, because things tend to overlay each other in the brains memory. interesting topic, that we can use for drawing and painting and all learning actually.
but waiting for me is hard nonetheless lol

working on tone. I squinted my eyes alot during some of these. It was really fun noticing slight differences in the image just by changing the value a bit. amazing!

[KingElvis]

Im learning to paint and how to use Photoshop at the same time. i know that doubles the difficulty but I think there are a lot more ppl on CA how did that, right.
So anyway, this is what I was doing over the last days, and I learn smth every day. Tell me what you think, ppl!


This is from ref. Some photo taken somewhere in Africa My first take on painting at all i think...Still struggling with PS tools and edges.

The last picture is from a photograph. Lights coming from the left. Sometimes Im a bit confused at shadows. I mean, when you take sandstone, or a desert scene at bright daylight, then the core shadows seem to be purple. Whys that so? Is it the blue mixing with the Orange/red tones?

[KingElvis]

messing around with anatomy lately. Gotta be a lot more comfortable around the basics.
And i really have the talent to mess up hands. Gotta spend some time on em later.

[KingElvis]

having fun with anatomy..
still having trouble with the construction..

[Mr.Alamo, C.]

Martin,altes haus,
wie läufts?einsatz am samstag gut überstanden?
war einiges los in berlin,soweit ich gesehen habe,freut mich von dir zu hören.
bi gerade mehr auf facebook,
übrigens,du bist echt fleissig bei anatomiestudien,weiter so
ich poste nächste woche großes update in meinem sb,darunter sachen,die nach dem seminar entstanden sind,schau nächste woche vorbei in meinem sb,
Lg Andreas

[KingElvis]

Hi guys,

after a few weeks of not so much drawing due to exams for my university Im finally back to drawing.
It feels so good to be able to draw again.
Plus, i feel Im learning more every day. So many new insights just during the last week, its insane.

Been trying to get my hands on costume and armor design for the first time ever. Its really fun and CA.org is a great help with all those inspiring artists and references
After failed attempts at whole suits i broke those studies down into parts, starting with the lower leg. Otherwise its too much information at once..

Been drawing some anatomy too. The Dave Finch Gnomon DVD is gold, seriously. It answered a lot of my questions regarding anatomy. Hope its not too obvious that Im just going the cheap route using what works for mr. finch. but we all have to start somewhere!

Mr.Alamo, C.: Thanks mate, hope to hear from you soon! Dont you try to run off from CA!


Okay, enough talk, heres the work:

[KingElvis]

Messing around with values lately.Pretty difficult stuff!^^

First ones from the movie 2012, which was quite cool I think
Second one is a value study of some painting I saw here on CA, dont know the artist.

[AubreyOwley]

Thanks for stopping by! [:
The leg and arm studies are really cool.
I dig the figure drawings the show the muscles.

[Falchion]

Goddamn that's some fine work!

[Rafal Dorsz]

Hey, man.

You seem to be doing great. You know what to study, and you're doing studies. That's good. I'd like to see you try some drawing from life. Over all a very nice improvement here, and all those studies will surely pay off. I agree with what Farvus said somwhere up on the page, that there's a delay between knowledge and skill.

Anyways, You asked about advice for someone who is starting up in painting. Well, aside from the obvious studies of the things you want to paint (like anatomy, perspective, architecture, etc) there comes color theory and light behaviour. You did, for example, wonder about the reason for the color of the shadows on a sunny day. Take a look at this Prom's art tutorial. This should answer many questions about colour and light you may have. Also, there are many other helpful tips there.

Good luck!

[alexson]

Really great studies, man. Your heads look real nice! Keep up the good work is all I can say!

[Samszym]

Thanks for the comment! Your anatomy studies and armor are looking great, keep it up!
This might not be the best advice, but I think after you do your book and imagination studies it would be a good idea to look at photos of real people or actual people and try to identify the muscles you've been studying. Try to make the photos look like Bridgeman drawings. This is actually pretty hard to do, a lot of muscles are hidden under skin and fat. Identifying them when they're not apparent and outlined will help you get more familiar with the muscles.
Try to do to life drawing instead of photos, seeing how the body and muscles move is way better than seeing a still shot.

[KingElvis]

AubreyOwley, Falchion: Thank you!

Rafal Dorsz: Thanks. Ill try and do more stuff from life. Gotta find a nude figure drawing course.

alexson: Thank you!

Vertical: Youre welcome! Thats is actually a very good excercise youre talking about. I will try it!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wow, this sketchbook has been dormant for far too long! Its embarrassing but oh well, Ill just get on with it
Ive had a long pause from drawing, but i never entirely stopped. Enough with the whining, on with the show! Just to get on track, heres what i did today: Posemaniacs and studies of female pelvisses plus a little focus on proportions. That kniofe was a photoshop excercise.

[p sage]

An impertinent question K.E.:

What are your goals for your art? Do you see a career you would like or will this be a hobby? Is it concept art, comics, animation, or something different?

I think this is important to decide, because otherwise studies like these just become random wastes of time. In other words, for example, if you're going to be doing animation and you concentrate on doing highly rendered pieces in color, studies like that will have limited impact.

Now it may be important to gain the observational skill for other reasons... but recently I've been thinking about another approach. Instead of thinking about 'study-first', maybe it should be 'what-I-want-to-draw--first', 'study-second'.

In other words, try doing a month of nothing but drawing the things you like.... and doing the type of work you want to do in your ultimate goal. It will be pretty easy to find your weaknesses right off the bat, right?

In that case, you now have a list of things to work on .... and the studies can serve those weaknesses. This, rather than just doing a random set of studies that may or may not improve your skills right of the bat.

I may be completely wrong, but I've been thinking about this for a while now and it seems like the only sensible way to continue (for me at least).

Good luck.

[KingElvis]

p sage:Hey sage, you know, this question was just the bit of advice that i needed i guess. I already saw your post about the reason behind studying which was a big eye-opener for me! I have to admit i havent made a commitment to where i want to go with my art and your post really got me thinking.
I just put the stylus to the wacom and let the creativity roll and i realized what i wanted to draw. I will give myself a little more time, as you suggested, to find out what my goal actually is. Right now, when i think about drawing characters for animation or videogames gives me the biggest surge of inspiration. I guess thats the direction i wanna pursue now.

So, according to my new insight (thanks sage!) i tried to do things differently:
1. Draw what id love to draw (just acting as if i could ;D)
2. Do studies that are geared towards improving that picture.

I think thats the natural to go anyway! I could just knock my head against the wall because i wasnt able to see this simple idea! lol ohman, some things just need time.
Anyway, Ill show you some studies that i did today. I got confused with all the values and the edges which seem sooo complicated at the moment!

The picture im working on will be shown soon (which will be a premiere in this here sketchbook!)
So stay tuned

[tomskie]

So i went looking for the guys in the studygroup and looked at their sketchbooks, good stuff man good anatomy and good studies and i need to learn to color that way too I need to do more but i am soo lazy you keep me going!

[KingElvis]

Tomskie: Yer, i subscribed to most of them actually We all feel lazy at times, thats okay, just dont lose sight of your goals and why you wanna achieve them! cheers

Along with some other head studies I been working on this one.
No time to work on other projects, but I feel tackling values and the painting process in general is a lot more rewarding now. Plus the anatomy studies are fun as well. Dont wanna post them here, because i made them for that Anatomy Study Group im happy to be part of!

[SkullClutter]

Hello! I've subscribed to everyone in the anatomy group's sketchbooks and this is the first time you've posted since then

I'm definitely liking those chest/ab studies two posts up.

The portrait is good too, the values are great. Her right eye (the one in shadow) looks a tad too far away from the centre of her face.

[KingElvis]

bitjockey: Hey there, Yes i did that too Thanks for that point, youre right. I knew smth was wrong with it but i couldnt really pinpoint it at the time. Ill definitely work on it! Merry christmas and a happy new year btw

So, here are two more. Just focusing on value. And man, did I spend hours on those. I dont kow how many, but many more than I spend on any other picture in here lol and it feels great!

Nice Holidays to everyone!

[KingElvis]

I tried smth with color too actually, but i failed horribly and Im afraid to post it lol
So, heres smth with values. i tried to work with a hard brush, co opacity at 100 and no sensitivity. I did that in order to force myself to really think about the values. I guess i shouldve seperated Light and dark more clearly to have a better effect. but well...
Oh, and thos spots down there are whats left of my palette

btw, my coffee turned cold. I hate it when that happens.

[tomskie]

O.o lol your studys in grayscale i need to practice from real life more XD

and i see too that you work like a maniac on anatomy just like me gj on those!

that girl in post 88 the last one looks aaaawesome already!
.

Maybe a tip i learned with copying hands from RL is block them in first like cubes you know then work it out further it worked for me. ( you can use it too on bodys ofcourse. This way you get a sense of how the body is in cubes etc!

Thanks for the long message lol thats alot of typing well alot... more then usual!