Danny's First Sketchbook (Learning to draw)

[LtPlissken]

Big respect to the people who update on a regular basis, and
keep the work pace at high level, you are representing a huge
motivation, I admire.

#964-965 A certain dose of epicness can be found in
your owl studies and full paintings above, you have done the eyes
the best on them, but generally my favorite one is the Legend of the
Guardians one. Looking so proud and royal, he is totally ready to
take a bullet or an arrow to his shielded chest. Death of honor
and bravery will be his end. Maybe the black rims around his
beautiful yellow eyes are a bit too much, but other than that this is
a stellar piece.

#966 I can surely tell you that your face drawings are
improving and the collab with your 3 year old is a piece to be
framed, and a true proof that sinergy does exist.

#969 On to the female with the sword and owls on her head and shoulder;
I do like how you do armors and swords, I told you that before, but
the hot spot on this one is her breast armor, that thing makes
me excited, and makes me to imagine how her breasts act
behind the plate. Very good job, except the ground, which
looks a bit messy at this point.

#970 Portrait from imagination; when you do portraits,
I would suggest that you save the biggest contrast
and highlight for the eyes, they are the mirror of the soul, also try
to work on rendering hair. Doing greyscale studies are always a good
idea, you did a right step. Sorry to hear what happened to your eye, I also
hate injuries, but I am getting them almost weekly, and yes they can ruin
my evening, my week, my everything, and art automatically goes down
the drain. But I am glad that you are ok now.

#972 The doodle doodle beast is a promising concept,
if I could suggest anything here, is that for you to
train more dynamic poses, from references and from imagination both.
Let’s say 10 poses per day for two weeks would be totally enough to make
a huge difference in the final outcome.

#974 The portrait with a strangely positioned
head came out very good, plus the Rocket Explosion is very exciting, is
that you on the video?

#976 Judging from your next environment and droid
painting, I think that the biggest problem represented to you is putting
the right contrast on the right places. Definitely more black and white
paintings I would suggest, I think that will help you tremendously.
Doing environments can be fun, and I think that as I remember, you
have to have a foreground, middleground and background or something
like that, and as far the objects are away they have less and less contrast
and they fade away in opacity.

#978 Portrait LOTR the avengers, the first is pretty,
the weak point is the hair once again, plus watch for hard and soft edges.
The other three portraits below are done outstandingly and I think my favorite
is the female on the far right and the guy (Thor?) in the middle. These
moments are the best ones, when you realize that you have improved, almost
overnight, fascinating, I am very proud.

#979 The knight doodle looks pretty much
ok, vibrant colors, but I think that you got lost somewhere in the middle,
cause you were not sure how should the helmet actually look. I would
do graphite pencil helmet designs a few of them on resting days, If I would
go into armor design direction. Also some rim lights around the shoulders
and under the armpit would look great, would make the viewer to realize
some more details about this knight like creation.

#980 The next portrait without reference is heading in a better ways than before,
the hair is a bit better than you did them earlier. The mouths red and the
eyes green is a bit too saturated considering to the rest of the skin, just
a thought, maybe I am wrong. P.S. I saw that BludHund gave you
some good hair painting tips.

#983 Congrats on the part time job, will be fun for sure, plus the
extra income, yeeees. Indian girl is cool, black and white studies,
very good, and the contrast is much better. Eye positioning in
the eye sockets are a bit strange, but not a major issue. Oh,
and the hair is also looks much more convincing, great job.
The chow is good, I liked her with the big gun, there was
something magical, small girls with big guns. It’s just me.

#984 With these pencil faces and gestures you definitely stepped
up to another level, clear and sharp improvements. I would like
you to keep this pencil style, cause it looks very very good.
I see you struggled with the face on the digital painting, but
I guess it’s just tells you that rotated heads and heads in
perspective could challenge you and can mean that it’s a weaker
spot of yours. More practice and everything will be fine I suppose.

#985 CHOW time; now you see I like this version also, but
I was preferring the gun action. Her head and face angle,
somehow does not goes with this body, it’s like pasted on,
something is very strange, it’s almost like her head is
turned around toward the backside of her body. But
I totally like her curves and positive attitude.

#986 I like the consistence and the effort that you
implement in your studies, plus your workspace looks ace.

So that’s it, I tried to cover up my time that I was not
visiting your book, I hope this wall of text will help
you at least a bit. I was motivated to review your latest
improvements, was a pleasure and I enjoyed it.
I hope that you and your family are fine and that
you will improve even more. I wish you all the best
and good luck with the next chow. Till next time buddy...

[Chris Sanders]

Thanks again danny, I think its the second time you mentioned my lighting is sort of sinking in. P.S love that woman standing by the pillar rough.

[BlackDelphin]

Looks like someone's been making big progress since i've been here lastly.
Nice, really nice progress with the landscapes and the quick figures are an eye treat as well.
Good to see you progressing danny!

[Danny_K]

LtPlissken what an honor, you opened page 34 in my sketchbook with an epic reply, all I can say is WHOA! thanks buddy you made my day, truly.

"#974 The portrait with a strangely positioned
head came out very good, plus the Rocket Explosion is very exciting, is
that you on the video? "

Yes thats me LOL


I really thank yo for the honesty and the effort that you put in analyzing and pointing out problems and helping out, tons of thanks bro! RESPECT.

Chris Sanders Thanks man, hope you like the finished version.

BlackDelphin My goodness my eyes must be fooling me, Christina! where have you been?! so good to see you again, thanks for the warm feedback I need all the good words I can get because I feel like I am stuck in one spot and at times I get depressed from how hard it is to become better at art... sheesh if any one would tell me how much you need to learn and practice to become a professional I would just become a truck driver from the start. hope to see you updating too!

Obstfelder That was what I was thinking, every one always do the same thing, sexy elves with cleavages...

Icecold Thanks bud, always good to hear advice and a good word from you, update more yourself. and the book holder I ordered from amazon; http://www.amazon.com/Book-Stand-Boo...rds=book+stand
Its an excellent book stand I am very pleased with it.

finished the chow, colors got messed up so I left it in B&W... I need tons of color studies, gotta add it to the other million things I need to practice on...

[Danny_K]

client work and gesture thumbs to experiment and find the best looking pose for the character.

[Danny_K]

2 min gestures and a doodle turned into a rough painting, her pose and anatomy has problems and its all wonky.

[BludHund]

Hey man, good updates. Your faces are looking better and better.

These gesture studies are rockin'...got some really good stuff there. However I
would suggest, at least as an exercise to try, for such short poses concentrate
purely on the gesture. Don't let the contours and silhouette, distract from that.

Try to find the longest line you can trace through the figure, or try to break it
down into one or two shapes, using again as few lines as possible. See the various
flows through the figure and make a note of where they add together, or where
they change direction or fight against each other.



That underlying visual energy, as well as the basic body language (in more natural
poses) should really be what you get out of really short poses. The other advantage
of trying this practice is that it will help you to feel comfortable with drawing more
slowly. Make each and every line mean something.

On the Sci Fi pinup ChOW: maaan, I really liked your initial design better. The one
you went with isn't terrible, but IMO its not nearly as good as the first one.



Particularly I think the original pose had far more energy.

1. the overall shape (in blue) is much more direct and more dynamic

2. In the original design she is balanced on one foot and her gun...that uncertain
balance give sit more energy, plus you have the pressure of her weight concentrated
on one foot, giving a sense of tension, plus you have the gun repeating the top-to-
bottom diagonal reinforcing, creating rhythm.

2. The lifted right foot gives the image a playful body language and her gripping the
heel with her finger gives both another source of tension energy and also shows off
her sexy boots

Also the figure itself: In the final you added a tool pouch that obscures a great
contouring element that gives her butt and hip a great sense of form. Also her waist
became thicker and more visually mixed-up with her left arm.

The only thing I do like about the final version is the way the composition leads you
back to her face and her gaze. Overall the kind of sinuous composition in the final is
effective for composition, to tell a story, but it doesn't have the same aesthetic
energy of the original design.

On this last image: anatomically the only thing I notice is that her boobs are not
attached properly to her torso. Its like the old nose sliding off the face problem.

As to her pose, the problem is that she looks 'fly-swatted' her limbs are to balanced.
There's nothing that really leads the eye in one direction or another. By just moving
any one of her limbs into a different pose I think you can fix this.

You should check out Chris Hattala's video on posing. Its got some good stuff in it.

Keep it up man, you're getting better with every update. Relentless!

[BlackDelphin]

"got to add it to the million other things i have to study" well that sounds a bit depressing
on its own don't be! think of it as this. there is a very looooooong staircase, but you're
always taking one step at a time! so try to remember the fun Danny, don't overlook it!
Art must be a pleasure to do, not a chore, a list you have to tick something off it, finish a
peace to start a new one. I was there, it's not pretty. Progress comes harder then, than
it would in a normal way.

As for the last posts, look at your figures now! So much better. And you colours aren't
there yet, sure, but they will. My 2 cents after working with value to colour, it doesn't
work that simple. You have to paint on top as well, and you need the right colours to do
it. I found it in the end that it is much more pleasant and easy to start with colours from
the start. But if you choose to go this path and to explore it further, then good for you!
Just think positive! Your values are good, getting better and better, nice mood, and nice render.
It's not bad ass but heck! It's good. Just keep working on it.
Post #996 the second drawing is a good example of awesome values you're doing now.
It has potential. Keep going!

As for me, be sure i'm trying to update as much as i can, cheers

[Pete Hidalgo]

Well I originally liked the COW you did until BludHund pointed out the differences. And I must say that is a brilliant point. After looking at them I could tell my eye was favoring the one of her with a gun over the floating machine. Though I still like the second one I think you should totally do a character with the same energy as that first one.

[kikindaface]

hey dude, nice dedication ! keep working on your values. Well, not really the values, but more the mood/light stuff. you know how to render the forms of each body part, but now you have to think of the painting as a whole, try to define a better light source for your character designs, it seems that it's coming from everywhere at the same time. Also, the light situation is also here to help for the storytelling, even on a character design, nothing is puted on the canvas without some consciousness and purpose ! anyway, keep it up dude, you're on the right path !

[Danny_K]

BludHund Thanks for the detailed analyses, you pawn. I agree that the first sketch had more gesture and interest to it, I guess I just need to get better at recognizing whats good and sticking to it, I was just not sure about the hand touching the ankle thought it makes no sense.

BlackDelphin Thanks, I am drawing and painting as much as I can recently so hopefully cool stuff are on the way, it really surprises me to as little as you draw and paint and how good your sketches and color works look, maybe you should quit medicine and become an illustrator? just a suggestion

Pete Hidalgo yeah, my bad with the choice of gesture, better luck next time

kikindaface Thanks bro, persistence is key, practice practice practice thats the only way to mastery and some studies too



Been getting some freelance work lately so I barely have any time for any thing personal and I have tons of ideas and stuff I wanna do. I want to start doing some coolish environment stuff so hopefully I will start doing those in the next week or two. mean while here's some sketches and wolf studies I was doing for a fantasy comic book which is awesome and I can't wait to post it when it's done

Cheers!
-D

[BludHund]

Those wolf studies are beautiful...great lines and shapes, great sense of design and flow.

[Danny_K]

Thanks man, now that I draw animals I always remember what you told me about breaking the shapes down just as with humans, man, it helps so much so thanks a bunch for your help.

Client work, studies and sketches.

Cheers!

[Danny_K]

almost done with this one, having a blast with this project and learning a lot in the process.

[Danny_K]

wolf concept for the fantasy comic project

[Danny_K]

refless sketch

[p sage]

In the mood for a crit? The forehead is the same value at the top as it is near the top of the brow ridge. This means it's not rolling back in space. That would be fine if the shape of the hairline indicated the volume.

You may disagree, but I'm a firm believer in getting the volumes right before all else... thick/thin lines, values, etc... those are support elements IMO.

I came across a great exercise a few days ago where you draw the contours of a 3D box in space... no interior lines allowed, no alternating thickness... but the box still has to read as a volume. It's a great exercise.

The best things to show volume when I'm having trouble are the elemental building blocks of form: box, cone, sphere. And these shapes can be sliced up, fit into each other, etc, in many ways. As long as these shapes are symmetrical, it's easy to keep track of them. If you need a complex, assymetrical shape? Build it out of smaller symmetrical shapes, because you can control the lighting, volume, etc on all of those (once you've mastered them).

tbh I'm still building these visualization skills, too... but I'm making some good hay right now and thought you might benefit too.

Also: re this pic... visualize the nose as a pyramidal shape, almost like a gold brick shape. The underside of the nose should be a single down-plane... and you can build the wings of the nostrils off of that. The filtrim is a little off because of the underside of the nose.

Take care and keep working. You've already proven that you're moving in the right direction... and moving pretty quickly.

[Creusa]

Hey man, long time no see. I think you're goin too much into lines, try out to paint in volumes, pics like that usually have more depth and casual stokes. And dont be so accurate with detailing it seems like you're renderin things one by one, try to think of whole picture while painting. Try to let the elements interact with each other. Like the hair of the girl, u could let it describe her head shape better, add shoulders to put them on and not just let it down like that. The way u did is more like a graphic solution... anyway it was just an example, hope u got the idea XD

[Danny_K]

p sage I'm always up for critique, this is why I'm here for
I agree with you that face has many problems due to late night sketching and my thinking was close to 0. thanks for the comments.

Creusa Thanks


fantasy environment rough's I did these after watching Feng Zhu's episode #56 it inspired the heck out of me. no reference for any of these.

[Danny_K]

here we are with a new look for CA.org, still trying to get used to the cool gray from the warm cream color it used to be.

Well we are probably on the verge of war with Iran and maybe even WW3 and I hope people have been doing preparations in case they need to leave the house in a hurry, I know I am... heck you need to have an emergency kit in your car and house just in case any disaster hits such as hurricane or an earth quake. there's some really useful information put up by people on youtube on how to prepare for disasters and how to survive in emergency situations. don't be scared be prepared...

as far as art goes... here's some recent stuff.

[kojot]

I make really great progress since first page
Keep in mind to focus more on core and cast shadows to show more form in your paintings

[Icecold]

Ohh client work eh? great to see you've found a customer :]
I will say it again but looking at those wolf studies, it's just... soo good.

[p sage]

Nice pencils, Danny.

Oh, and this is always relevant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es0d7DhwIoo

[Charmer]

Hey Dude what's up? Last post in september, are you still alive and healthy?
Hope to see more stuff of you soon because everytime I come to one of our sketchbook threads the recent stuff has improved.

Your Linework got better! And your environments are good too, but I think you need to think more in a very basic form of composition (which I tried and figured out the last few weeks). Just single color foreground, background, midground and then only add important things. This way it works better for me (so it does not HAVE to fit for you but could help you probably too).
Anyway keep it up mate!

[Danny_K]

Thank you gor the kind words every one, I am well and alive and stepping up my game now so expect tons of updates. I lost my intuos 3 wacom pen!! what a bummer but I found a small wacom graphite tablet with a pen for 25$...! only in USA you can find such bargains, anyway it should do until I order I new intuos3 pen... $53 on Amazon! man I gotta stop losing stuff, lost my car and house keys few weeks ago too, thank goodness my wife has spares for all of them, I lost my bluetooth too, and my wrist watch and...lets see my head is still on my shoulders so I guess thats a good thing.

[kevin_]

excellent work! not done looking through your sb but its obvious you are putting in the work! keep it up!

[Danny_K]

Thanks Kevin




Movie still study



Trying to apply what I learned from the study kinda, mehhh



Movie studies from sketchbook




Still messing around with this painting, about time to finish it, critique and tips always welcome

[Danny_K]

sketches

[BlackDelphin]

So much construction, so many figures, landscapes and co since i've last been here!
Someone's improving in here, and i mean YOU

Medicine and art are my passion, and I'm mixing them to get the great results i'm getting

No crits this time, you're doing the right things, not all i want from you is MORE!
Good seeing you keep this sketchbook alive.

[Danny_K]

Thank you Chris! awesome to see you back once in awhile art forevaaaaa!

nice idea weak execution, thauht I'd upload it anyway, heck this is a sketchbook after all



Sketch turned a portrait, level up for me for sure



Movie study, spartacus blood and sand



silly practice from memory