Nic's sketchbook-NUDITY (and other naughty things)

[SMILEFACE]

im REALLY LIKE'N ALL THE LIFE STUDIES THE WINE BOTTLE RRRRRRRRROCCCKSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

[NicG]

Snootchy-I had to look at that bottle again and it was a bit distorted (not on purpose) but not quite as bad as the pic. I was a bit reckless with the camera.

Black Spot-Thanks. I'm looking forward to it.

Granny-Soooooo many studies but I'm trying to have fun again.


I'm trying to draw from life and not use photos at all but it makes it a little more difficult to find subjects without being too obvious... I finally found a local class for figure drawing once a month. They have one on Saturday and I'm feeling pretty intimidated. The girl I talked to on the phone said most of the people that show up work for a local gaming company and I feel like it will end up being a bunch of professionals and crappy me. Ugh. I think I just need to get over myself.


My friend from life. I didn't render it out any more because the lighting kinda sucked and she was moving around too much for me to feel confident doing any shading.


Practicing form Vilppu's "Figure Drawing Step By Step"


Trying to catch my coworker without getting too caught up with drawing the chair.


This one was just because it's fun to mess with the people you love. I'm kind of happy with this because even though I looked at some pics for reference on the face I didn't copy them. In fact, none of them were from this angle. I haven't been able to do that before so I'm relatively satisfied with the outcome.

[SMILEFACE]

hahaHAHA I LUV THE WHO'S THE BOSS AN FUN RRRRRRRRRROOOOCCCCCCCCKKKKKKSSSSSSSS AS DO YOU NicG

[raminafshari]

really funny ... BTW you have done good figure drawings , keep drawing

[snootchy]

hiya NicG think the portrait of ur friend is already a nice improvement and the life observations will definitely help u improve greatly, keep up the goodwork!

[liquidjack]

Isn't it funny trying to draw people without them noticing. I was just at a resort trying that....when I pulled out my sketch pad all eyes turned to me....so I quietly tucked my sketchpad back into my backpack
Fast studies try to keep away from any small detail until the end. I like the boss man you threw in...keep at it.

[NicG]

Granny-Thanks. It's worth the effort that goes into making improvements to be able to do something fun with it.

raminafshari-Thanks! Glad you stopped by.

Snootchy-It's harder to find things that are fun to draw without using pics but it's what I need to do to improve.

liquidjack-I don't yet have the confidence to sit in too public a place although when we round on the patients at work I can sometimes draw without getting noticed because everyone is taking notes. I am trying to just get the basic sketch down without detail partially because people are moving so fast but also it keeps me concentrating on capturing gesture.

OK. So the first two drawings I went over to darken my lines and retook the pics because you could barely see them but I ended up posting both because I lost some of the spontaneity of them. If anyone has any advice on taking a better pic with for the light pencil to show up I will do a better job next time.

This first one was one of my coworkers. She moved before I could get any further and I tried to see if I could fill it in from memory but I think all I really managed was to mess up my original structure.




My boss. He caught me drawing him and started hitting me on the arm...




More practice from Vilppu. Didn't quite nail this one. Especially the torso on the standing figure.


Doodles from tonight.


The start of a James Gurney master study from his Gurney Journey blog: http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/20...my-morton.html

Hopefully will be more to come on this.

[Black Spot]

Studies are really coming on well. I like the picture you did of your friend. Actually all your real life people are much better. Don't forget there's always yourself in that mirror waiting for you. Even if you take 10 (or in my case 20) years off etc, you can still learn the form.

[snootchy]

heya NicG, great to see you studying hard, keep working on them lines and proportions it's getting better! I think also some loose sketching of just doing some freely curvy lines and what not will help greatly to loosen up, took a class at GCA with Nick Orbach was a cast drawing class and i remember him mentioned to me not to get caught up getting the sketch right at first, just worked from loose to super tight. hope this helps

[NicG]

Black Spot-Thanks for the advice. I'll keep that in mind. I'm enjoying the life drawing but it's challenging to capture a moment when things keep changing. I'm learning a lot though.

Snootchy-Do you mean like doing excersizes to loosen up before drawing? I think I remember that from a class I took in college.

Haven't updated a lot but I'm still drawing...

My nephew. I wanted to capture a gesture but he was running around bouncing a ball and was waaaaaaaaaaay too fast for me. I didn't quite manage the portrait either.


More on the master study with more to come.


Some doodles.


From life. Had some trouble with the pose.




Also from life...


Got distracted by a dog and didn't finish the last drawing. He was moving pretty fast.


I'm not finishing anything these days but I really am learning from simplifying.

[MadisE]

Hey!

Thank You for making the first reply in my sketchbook!

I checked your book and I really liked the head studies/sketches few pages back. Many nice impressions and looks. A lot of your work also reminds my doodles

[snootchy]

heya NicG, glad to see you still working hard, as for not finishing things, i think that's not such a bad thing since this is sketchbook and not finished section it's good to see stuff unfinished.

the life drawing is looking good, the proportions look a lot better good job! One thing that might help a bit with the life drawing is to use a light line and use more gestural lines to grab the essence of that pose, this kind of goes with what i was mentioning about doing loose sketching in the beginning to loosen up the muscles in the arm. I'm not sure how u hold ur pencil but holding the pencil like the way a kid would hold a crayon with the point up will help greatly to get loose lines cuz it forces you to sketch with ur arm and not ur wrist

keep up the great studies!

[jigje]

Hey Nic, thanks for your support. I wish I could do more than just leave encouragment and smiley faces but I know that people who know what they're doing are leaving you good advice. Keep dancin' mate.

[Black Spot]

You caught that nude very well. More like that.

[Dreadful Look]

Can clearly see the improvement. Nice to see that you're applying what you've learned to the real life drawings.

[seagulls]

I really like how so much of your life is in here, With the drawings try to draw the lines lightly or erase them slowly if they must be thick.

[NicG]

Madise-Thanks! I love to doodle. Especially on the Dry erase at work. Someone keeps erasing it though...

Snootchy-Thanks for the great tips. I was really noticing how I held my pencil last night.

Jigje-It may be stupid but I'm just happy when someone is looking. Comment crits or just stopping in to say "hi"... it's all good.

Black Spot-Thanks for making me take a second look at the nude. I was a bit disappointed until you complimented it.

Dreadful Look-Thanks! Any improvement is thanks to the people who comment here.

Seagulls-Good tip. One I've gotten a few times now so I guess I should pay attention.

My drawing class started last night. It was 2 hours and consisted of a value study (which thanks to psage I knew how to do) and some drapery. I didn't finish but here's what I did:



A close up of the area I did finish:


Ok. I probably could've set that up on my own at home, but I maybe was a bit intimidated... Being in a class made me feel like I had no choice but to suck it up and draw. I haven't done a lot else in the past few weeks. I'm trying to get in shape for a half-marathon next spring (yes, I need that much time) so it's cutting into some time. I think this class looming also made me feel a bit more complacent. Hopefully, I'll get my butt in gear and draw again before next week's class.

[Oatestwder]

soem nice stuff here you've certainly got the motivation to go far!

[liquidjack]

Not bad....watch out for scribbling..not sure if the line work in some areas are scribbles but looks like it. Develop hatching for these areas. Also be careful leaving too much white...hard to tell if you were highlighting or the fabric is white. Not bad though....good luck with marathon training

[snootchy]

heya NicG so great to hear your in class! looking good so far for the initial sketch and glad to hear the pencil tip helped kind of shows in the loose lines!

I think in terms of laying down value don't be afraid to lay down some value but to hatch along the forms, it helps almost to think about it like a 3d program modeling program works with boolean curves/nurbs. keep at it your doing great!

[jigje]

So great y'all are going to classes NickyG, that's good news. Keep at it. Thanks for leaving rude messages in my book.

[Deodatus]

Doing good! Exercise, exercise. Make a lot of sketches and paintings from observation.
Good luck.

[seagulls]

I was thinking more of the line on the outside, when going lighter. I used to make the lines really heavy where I couldnt get the right curve or proportion.
Being in class totally helps with motivation.
Do more!

[NicG]

Oatestwder-Thanks!

liquidjack-Ok. Working on hatching. Thank you!

snootchy-Thanks for the advice, although I've never tried a 3D modeling program so I'm not sure what boolean curves/nurbs are...

Jigje-Since I didn't have anything productive or useful to say I figured sexual innuendo was the way to go

Deodatus-Thanks for commenting!

Seagulls-Thanks. Being in class does help.


So this week we had a still life of shapes and we were working on measuring which I have never tried but at least heard of (Thanks, Snootchy, I didn't feel so stupid). I had a really hard time with the J shape and ran out of time to finish the shading which is too bad because there were some interesting shadows.



A little work on the master study. I don't think it's quite turning out right.

[snootchy]

looking great NicG, i think that last portrait looks good, seems like you've started to loosen up a bit when you sketch and is looking much more expressive nice job!

have you tried using charcoal pencil? also how do u sharpen ur pencils, exacto/blade or pencil sharpener? cuz if u cut into the wood very gently about an inch or inch an half with a box cutter (or exacto) and get to the lead/charcoal and use a sandblock to sharpen it, u can lay down value a lot quicker and also ur pencil will stay sharper longer, that way you have much more time to model the values once it's laydown

keep at it ur doing great!!

[NicG]

Hi Snootchy! I recently switched back to my all-graphite pencils-that had nothing to do with your question I just really love them I use a pencil sharpener. I tried a knife (not exacto) and didn't do such a great job at it but maybe an exacto knife would work. It's like a razor right? I'll look it up. I tried charcoal a few years ago and did ok with the pencils (black only) but terrible with the sticks (again not sharpened so that probabaly didn't help). I did end up with a drawing that happened by accident and I loved it so much I did a few on purpose but there wasn't a lot of skill to it. I'll post it though just for fun.

This was the first and my favorite.


Here's the ones I did afterward:




Sorry those are pretty old and a bit of a deviation from where I'm at now but as much as they were accidental, I kinda like the effect of it.

This is from this weeks class. More measuring which is still a bit tough for me. I end up spending so much time mapping it out that I don't have time to finish the shading. The left side was rushed and it shows. Not the best pic. It was raining pretty hard when I left class and I folded the paper a bit.

[NicG]

A study I did on my own. It's crappy but I'm posting it anyway. I get bored and then I rush through it...

[snootchy]

heya nicG, woh 2 posts ur streaking keep it up!

vine charcoal the sticks are great, extremely versatile and u can lay a fine line or use it on it's side to lay flat values, also with vine charcoal u can wipe it off fairly easily

as for using the pencil sharpener, it seems like you want to fully render out sketches or partially and if that's the case it would take millions of hatching and blending to blend a pencil that's been sharpened with a sharpener to a fine point, especially if you're doing short poses or get bored of a sketch quickly it'll help to cut the pencil down until u have only the graphite exposed so u can lay down flat strokes like that of the vine charcoal. Currently I use staedtler's 2mm lead holder pencil, takes the hastle out of cutting the wood of the pencil. Plus you can get different pressed leads like a range from 4h to 6B.

Keep at it ur doing great!

[Black Spot]

Mega updates since I was last here. You'll get faster at measuring, but take your time for time - it's more important to get it right before starting the shading. Looks like you got a good class. Look forward to seeing some more improvement.

[NicG]

Hi Snootchy-Thanks for the advice! I'll look into the pencils!

Black Spot-It's getting easier already. Thanks!

This was my last night of class. I'm starting figure drawing next week though so I'm excited about that.

Tonight's assignment. I didn't quite fininsh the shading on and around the bowl and banana.


I had intended to spend today working on a self portrait but I had to go into work (it was supposed to be my day off). Anyway, I tried to do a quicky after class but I'm not putting it in the other thread. I screwed up and my eyes are crooked among other issues. I'm posting it here, though because I value your crits.


Thanks!