Lee Thomas' sketch book

[LT1085]

well i posted my stuff a few days ago and got some good feedback, so i decided to make it a sketchbook, and i will be updating it with new stuff as often as i can

[Dan1989]

Cool stuff. You have a lot of creativity One thing that would improve your drawings is more contrast. You see, right now they look very "grey", what type of pencils do you use? You might want to go to an art store and buy some dark pencils. I personally LOVE dark pencils and use the darkest kind they make. Other than that, the usual 'study from life more' applies here. Good luck and keep posting

[LT1085]

Thanks for the constructive criticism. for the pencils, i just use what ever is laying around, so they are usually just normal HB pencils. I start with a rough scribble or start with one certain point and work my way out, making it up as i go with the regular pencil. if i like the picture and think i can make it into something worth "finishing" (i use that term very loosely), then i will use the darker pencils, i have a 2B 4B and a 6B, which i've used on occasion. the reason that i dont use them very often is that i either dont like a part of a picture or i just get bored with it, so i stop and dont really get into it as much, which you can tell by a lot of my stuff. I am however trying to stay focused and motivated when i do my sketches now. I am not quite sure what you mean by study more from life though...i checked out your sketch book and saw that you mainly do just life and things in reality, so i can see why you might say that, but i clearly dont have the same style as you and am not trying to, so i was just wondering what exaclty you meant by that. I want to improve my art as much as i can, but i am just not sure how exactly that would help me with my own personal style.

[cburt]

hey, this is a good start you've got. i think what dan was trying to say is that by studying the figure from life and the skeletal/muscular anatomy, when you distort it to fit to your desired style, it will appear more convincing. some of the drawings seem to be kind of obsessive about texturing with folds and muscular structure, which is clearly a style choice, but right now its not convincing me personally. nice drawings though otherwise, your rendering is lookin pretty good but maybe a few more dark darks. have you thought about indications of backgrounds or environments at all for these?
keep it up
-cburt

[LT1085]

Here is a little piece of crap i put together at work the other day

[LT1085]

is this what you all meant about more contrast?

[LT1085]

here is the finished product of my last post, i just wish that the damn thing transfered bigger.

[LT1085]

i've tried adding more contrast and attention to the last two posts, working on anatomy but i'm still going to add my own touch of style to it...how am i doing so far?

[auden100]

alright. Nice start on your sketchthread. I'll put another vote in the draw from life box as well. Like everyone said you've got some cool ideas and some good technique developing. What anatomy and life studies do is (depending on how you study them) teach you how to take a 3d form and translate it into a 2d image. Its way more complicated than it sounds. What anatomy, in particular can do for you is show you how muscles interact with a body frame. It lets you study something that is very complicated in structure and that you view everyday of your life. You do have a cool style, and studying anatomy won't force you to lose it, but I think in order for your style to reach its maturity you have to be able to properly concieve of the forms that you're trying to create.

Those last two look pretty slick. Part Spawn, part Pitt. I digs. In these two, you're making better decisions about the contrast. Maybe you should work on picking a particular direction of lightsource and render with that in mind.

Looks good. Keep it up.

[LT1085]

thanks, i ws sure thats what was meant, but i'm pretty sure that its just a transfer thing, because they dont look so grey on paper or small/big for that matter. i'm not sure what i could do about that besides going at them with the levels in photo shop, but wouldnt that take away from the whole done by hand thing? since i'm not too comfortable with photoshop yet, i dont really know what i could do to them, without losing to much detail. i would like to eventually try some of them in colour, but since i have no idea how to do that stuff yet, i'll probably wait until i'm in college for that

[LT1085]

thats what i'm trying to tell myself now everytime i pick up a pencil, anatomy anatomy anatomy...so i try to find refeneces that would help me with that, such as muscle diagrams, and things like that, but they are all just so stiff and boring, i wish that there was a 3d model or somethign that i could use and manipulate to help with positions and things like that, i dont know if i am saying it properly to get my point across, but if anyone could point me towards something (a website maybe, i dont know) that might help me like this that would be great.

[LT1085]

i was showing someone my stuff on this site this weekend on their computer, and i guess that i have a dark monitor or something, but everything did look kind of grey, and not very good, but when i look at it on my computer it looks fine for some reason...and the actual sketches themselves dont look nearly as bad as they did on the screen, so that might be the reason that everybody is saying that my stuff is very grey, who knows though

[LT1085]

i'm trying out some life sketching, with a bit of my own tossed in for flavour, this isnt EXACTLY how i wanted it to turn out, but its pretty close i hope to what it should be. i kept the contrast in mind. let me know what you think...

[dedguy]

wait a second... i already read this thread... in the other forum.

[LT1085]

ya check it out i replied to you back there too

[auden100]

No, take my word for it. A lot of your stuff is gray. It's not just a screen thing. The spiderman pick is a good example. There are only a couple of values in that picture, and they're both right around a 50-60% gray. Once you scan a sketch into PS, go Image > Adjustments > Auto-Levels. It's quick, it's consistent, it's easy. Plus, it's pretty well assumed that you do this. We understand that pencil doesn't actually get black, but that boost in contrast just helps display the drawing more. If, after you do the auto-level, your toned drawing comes out looking too contrasted, then maybe you're not putting enough value differentiation in the piece. Otherwise your drawing will come out looking like a penciled lineart.

I don't know any 3d stuff that would help you. I do know that there are anatomy books out there that use photographs of people (usually dancers) in motion, or naturally relaxed positions. That might provide that more dynamic quality you are looking for. But I'd still recommend some time (however little) in a more straight forward anatomy book. Those muscle diagrams help get the layout and construction of the body in your head. Then, you can start seeing the other in-motion photographs as 3d objects in light and shadow, rather than just 2d patterns of black and white. Just my 2 cents.

The last pic turned out well. Still needs practice, but it's definitely the right idea. Keep it up.

[liam.c]

poser is a 3d program for artests for jsut waht your looking for . ive only played with it a few times seems like it might be a cool tool but it might also take you away from the thinking about waht your doing. its really helpfull when <imo> you have to really think it out photos might help too but might cause the same problum . if you take the photo route i suggest you have a look at gabos sketch book ... hes really on top of analizeing and method and consistancy . takeing that route it wont be long befor you can set up figures your self accuately and easy . the more you know about it the less you have to think about puting it all together and the more fluid the poses angles and all the rest .<metler has massive knoldge on figures .. and as a teacher maby hit sofa and check out his threads >
i think your doing verry well jsut keep going more you do it the more you know and the easer it gets so dont worrie too much about stiffness.

its sorta like leaning a language ... at first its a little chopy and might not all go toghter as a native speaker . then the rules become ingrained and arnt nessary to think about directly so you can then have fluid conversation .

looking good ! keep going !

[LT1085]

thanks a lot guys, i'm going to try and take that into consideration...but i havent done that auto contrast for any of my pictures, i guess i should though, they are all just straight from the scanner

[LT1085]

i went over my sketches and quickly did a auto-level on them, not sure if i like them like that or not, but you guys wanted them that way...and photobucket cut off my bandwidth for this month, so if you want to see what they would look like (the auto size kind of screws witht he images a bit) here it is http://spaces.msn.com/members/lt1085/ there are the originals, some digitally edited pics from before i got photoshop, and the auto level ones...very easy to find because the title says its for you guys please take a look, thanks.

[LT1085]

i've made that site with all of my work unrestricted now, so all of you can go see it, it is also unlimited bandwidth unlike photobucket, so you will actually be able to see the pictures

[LT1085]

finally got my bandwidth back, so now you can see my most recent posts

[LT1085]

here is a new wip, original and auto levelled

[CandyAnne]

I love your work, your ideas are interseting. This is the kind of stuff im into so ur art is one of my favs. I agree with the previous comment tho, the earlier pictures were a little bland, but its nice to see a little more contrast in these later drawings. Keep it up

[LT1085]

i'm stuck in a damn rut, i havent drawn anything in weeks...this sucks so bad, does anybody have any ideas on how i can get out of it? i cant force myself to draw, or else it comes out looking like shit and i scrap it...

[LT1085]

not quite done with this one yet, thinking of maybe putting some texture for the ground and having his mask all torn up in the rubble, any thoughts?

[PHATandy]

I think your going the rite way about your work, your line quality is good and so on and you seem to know basic muscle layouts but i think you need to work on your proportions and so on, because ive honestly never seen people with hands that big: BIG HANDS!! same applies for the small waists on so on.

Try looking at loomis and anatomy, books for proportions of the body parts and so on, it will give your characters a more realistic look. You may well be going for a certain 'style' but it will pay off if you can learn normally and realistically befor moving to stylizing anatomy and so on.

Hope all goes well . keep it up

[LT1085]

here is a new wip, not sure what to do with the lower half yet, maybe some haggard old jeans, and i'm trying to think of what to do with where the blood came from...hmmm ...

[LT1085]

just tossed this one out tonight, im really liking this one right now, probably cause i just finished it a few minutes before i posted it, i'll probably not like it anymore after my next one haha, happens everytime. i find that this one is a lot more convincing than my earlier shit...plus i've been in a creative mood lately and have put out a couple other sketches, and i can notice myself improving...i thnk for my next one i'm going to try something a bit more like my last one, where the muscles and stuff arent so bold, and all that, i'm probably going to put out something a little more *realistic*...no promises haha

[LT1085]

here is one that i did the other night for a friend of mine.

[darkchild]

Hey there, I like your sketches. You have some great rendering techniques. Great work. Hope you keep posting. Later