One Nice Day

[Xeon_OND]

Yo, thanks for the comments folks! :-)

@ Poetry man: Yeah, I've tried working slower and it can help reduce un-necessary lines, though when drawing from imagination without reference, I tend to spam lines to help visualize the mental image. LOL

Good day!
Xeon

[stunadu666]

Really nice to see your step-by-step process, I'd love to see more of those.

The way you construct figures, They are very detailed. I think you should develop a faster way to construct/ layout your figures.

[FlameDragon]

Your gestures look so wonderful!

[Xeon_OND]

This SB will be updated on 24 Mar 2012 due to the need to rush out school work. I've always been spending all my time doing studies and neglected my final year project (aka drawing from imagination), so now I've to pay the price by doing them like crazy.

Good day!
Xeon

[Kamber Parrk]

Good Luck!

[blogmatix]

I always get a little envious when I visit your sketchbook: over the past few years, you have turned into quite the professional, whereas I seem to have actually gotten worse! But of course, you made hundreds of drawings. I simply do not have time; even my weekends seem to be hectic nowadays. But every time I see your work, it inspires me to try to MAKE more time for art. :-)

[Xeon_OND]

Ok, ok! I know I'm supposed to update this site today, and I really miss updating this site; it was always fun to upload the drawings every 3 weeks, but now, I'm up to my neck in school assignments and scanning and cropping takes too much time, BUT.....I promise to update this site on 21 Apr 2012. Also, this is the last hurdle in school: only about 7+ more weeks before leaving school. Busy as fuck!

I always get a little envious when I visit your sketchbook: over the past few years, you have turned into quite the professional, whereas I seem to have actually gotten worse! But of course, you made hundreds of drawings. I simply do not have time; even my weekends seem to be hectic nowadays. But every time I see your work, it inspires me to try to MAKE more time for art. :-)

I'm still 35+ light years away from being a pro. LOL I could see my figure drawing getting worse and worse everyday since I'm spending less time on figure studies now due to school work.

Anyway, if your schedules are hectic, maybe you should set mini goals and then accomplish them one by one. Like say, "learn to render plastic textures in pencil this week" etc. And before you know it, you'll have gotten good fast.
I remember you're in your forties, and a dozen more years, and you would have retired, and then you can draw 18 hours a day everyday, and by 65 years old, you would have improved by 20x.

Good day!
Xeon

[Xeon_OND]

Due to the need to rush all my school work during this period of time (another 4 weeks more to go), I've a lot less time for studies. I guess I probably can only spend 1 full day per week doing studies instead of the usual daily studies. In a way, that is actually a good thing!

Just as humans tend to get immuned to things that they do daily, I get immune to the mistakes I made during my daily studies. Doing studies only once per week allows me to look at my drawings with fresh eyes and a lot of mistakes become apparent.

One of these issues is line sensitivity, something which I'm currently thinking of ways to fix and improve; the other is a little bit too much over-construction when drawing from life.

Drawings from the past 6+ weeks, from oldest to newest:













Head is way off in above drawing, so I re-draw the thing again, which is below:





Head in right drawing below is too close to clavicle and too pudgy:







Below are a series of work I did for my final year project. Did mostly illustrations last semester so I thought I wanna balance things out with some character designs. These are done in cel-shading style, something I always wanted to try. Should have paid more attention to the line sensitivity instead of using all-consistent lines, but well....

The story is about a retired general who rides on dinosaurs around the cities and other places, using all kinds of weapons to bomb the buildings and loot the money. While he's at it, he faces similar rivals who also ride dinos, and also has to fend off the military who is sent in to stop him from carrying out his crimes. The dinosaurs are genetically modified dinos, and I deliberately stylize their proportions quite a bit. I tried to design the whole thing around a military theme and make the characters look goofy and wacky.

This is the main character, Nutcase (yes, that's his name). Has deformed lower body due to excessive alcohol drinking and his legs spread out at 45 degree angle from pelvis. His default weapon is throwing molotov cocktails.



The pink fireworks that's splurting out from the bottle is a "mechanized" version of the molotov cocktail. More powerful, of course. The words say "Violent Janet" (since some cocktail names are named after ladies, like Bloody Mary and Shady Lady etc).


The first dinosaur. Lots of changes were made before arriving at this shit. This is the Giraffatitan (not Brachiosaurus), the same species of dinosaur that is on display at the Humboldt Museum in Berlin (Museum für Naturkunde). Each dinosaur is designed and inspired based on military vehicles. In this case, this guy functions as a mobile missile launcher.

Originally, I wanted to do several more species of dinos, but there just wasn't enough time. However, I'll be working on those after graduation. In fact, Dromiceiomimus (military scout) and Spinosaurus (heavy artillery) are currently in the works.


Below is Madame X, the wife of the main character. Still thinking of how to fix the background:


And below is the modified jeep with tank treads that Madame X rides on during her robberies with Nutcase. Still need to work on this one a bit more and re-design the 4 panes at the back:


Another 4 more weeks to go, and I have one last final illustration ("The River to Paradise") to do before this chapter of my life closes. Will post that when school finishes, which is 16 May 2012, and hopefully, I can finish that shit!

And beyond that fateful day, I will be bravely going back to a 9-6 office job, staring at countless spreadsheets everyday, all day, but the spirit of art lives on!

Good day!
Xeon

[Alex Eh]

When your back working a day job please keep up with the art, I absolutely love your design sense. I want to see more!

[Diarum]

Is that the general's stomach or his bulge? O.o

[blogmatix]

You have made wonderful progress over the past year or two, especially in figure drawing. Me, I have temporarily given up on it; I simply do not have the time to make a proper job of it, so for the moment I stick to my beloved quirky still life arrangements. :-)

[Xeon_OND]

Is that the general's stomach or his bulge? O.o

It's his stomach! Badly deformed beyond cure. LOL

Me, I have temporarily given up on it; I simply do not have the time to make a proper job of it, so for the moment I stick to my beloved quirky still life arrangements. :-)

LOL, I guess it depends. Maybe one day, you should just force yourself to do figures. I hate it at first because it was so difficult and I was so lost (I don't even know where or how to put the first line down due to fear, I tell you), but it gets more enjoyable as you do it. I used to do nothing but still lifes but figure drawings are just so much more exciting.

When your back working a day job please keep up with the art, I absolutely love your design sense. I want to see more!

LOL, I hope so. God give me the energy!

[blogmatix]

LOL, I guess it depends. Maybe one day, you should just force yourself to do figures. I hate it at first because it was so difficult and I was so lost (I don't even know where or how to put the first line down due to fear, I tell you), but it gets more enjoyable as you do it. I used to do nothing but still lifes but figure drawings are just so much more exciting.

I suppose I will, sooner or later. In the meantime I have found a sort of compromise in somewhat cartoonish figures. Not exactly Bouguereau, but they are a lot of fun and do not take too much time. I think I do learn the one and other about proportion in the process too. Now I just need to learn to do them from imagination, which is another thing altogether... :-)

[Bowlin]

This is a really impressive sketchbook! Your really putting in the work.

[Zazerzs]

Awesome.

One suggestion. Next time you go to do a figure study from a photo try using a master drawing instead. Something from the old masters.

also check out this link' (removed Link)

doh looks like it went private'

[PaintMyBrain]

hey man thank u for the kind comment on my sb earlier today. I see u got alot of sweet stuff going on. I absolutely love the design of ur last characters. that rocket shooting mount of yours looks awesome! keep it going

[blogmatix]

Your figure drawing is getting ever more awesome. It is especially apparent when one looks at the first page or two of your sketchbook thread. But of course, you put in the work: 20 pages and counting! I wish I had the time, but alas, it looks like I'm going to get promoted at work, after which I'll have even less time, and the occasional still life will become a luxury. :-)

[Xeon_OND]

I survived. For now.

Yes, I've officially graduated from school 3 weeks ago. Fought the good fight, tried my best, gave my all and left the rest up to Fate.

By a stroke of pure luck, I managed to get a job at a start-up company that produces educational software for kids (those cute colorful 3D graphics kinda stuff, and my job scope is to do some textures, design props and other art stuff like interface design). 99% of it seems unrelated to what I learned in school.

Haven't been drawing a lot these couple months as I need to re-arrange my life after graduation, but I'm trying to get back into the usual habit again.

Below is the final piece of illustration for my school work. It's about a fisherman who journeys to Paradise to get a fruit in the magical garden to save his ailing wife, and along the corridor to paradise, he encounters 3 water elementals. I tried so hard to make this the perfect piece but in the end?

It ended up as disappointing crap (I admit it's partly also a rush job). Original resolution was about 7000 pixels across:



I'm back to working on my fundamentals again:













Note to self: Head too big.


















I realized that whenever I flip these head drawings in Photoshop, all the distortions suddenly become visible. Maybe I should be more careful during the construction and make sure everything aligns properly. I hate to use the mirror as it's too troublesome.





Another stupid distorted head.



Resolution for the next 3 weeks:
i) Participate in the weekly figure drawing session once it's available
ii) continue to construct feet based on photos in various angles
iii) continue to do head drawings

Next update: 29 July 2012

Good day!
Xeon

[p sage]

Congrats on finishing school, bud.

Keep working hard on those construction methods. Think about the symmetry of the individual small shapes that make up the big shapes.

In other words, the symmetry of the sphere used for the head; symmetry of a box used for a limb, etc. Pay attention to both the symmetry of those and how they relate to the rest of your figure/subject.

Once your eye sees that you'll make another sizeable leap, IMO.

Good work!

[Kamber Parrk]

Hey Xeon,

Congratulations on the job!

I've been busy with career development stuff lately, too-- but have been drawing daily. (My daily posted SB should become a real "daily" again as I start to make good on using it as a target for a daily watercolor 'skine).

Hopefully we can get the Tri. . . Pen. . . whatever "virate" back together in the coming months.

Bon Chance!

Kamber

[Xeon_OND]

In other words, the symmetry of the sphere used for the head; symmetry of a box used for a limb, etc. Pay attention to both the symmetry of those and how they relate to the rest of your figure/subject

That's the biggest issue for me now. Especially when I've to draw a figure from imagination and there isn't good reference involved, and I've to make up the figure mostly, and things start going wrong, like say, when the symmetry (and planes) of the feet don't match well with the rest of the body, and the whole shit comes out looking distorted.

I've been busy with career development stuff lately, too-- but have been drawing daily. (My daily posted SB should become a real "daily" again as I start to make good on using it as a target for a daily watercolor 'skine).

Hopefully we can get the Tri. . . Pen. . . whatever "virate" back together in the coming months.
Bon Chance!
Kamber

Hi Kamber! Haven't seen you updating much lately (if any). Are you getting promoted? I doubt Diarum is drawing any more, and so, probably it's just gonna be Duovirate for now. Any time you're ready, let me know.
I must say I'm impressed that we two actually lasted so long since the early days, which is 3+ years ago. LOL


*PS* : Diarum, if you're still alive, please wake up! LOL

[NeverGiu]

Hi Xeon_OND!
I see the prograss of you here, you can hold on drawing like this everyday, I think, this a good thing in your life!
Buy the way, I want ask you a question. Why can't I post a Thread in the Sketchbooks here(I'm a new guy here)

[Hayden Zammit]

Yo Xeon. Love all the last gesture drawings. I love that vilppu look you manage to achieve.

[Xeon_OND]

Hi Xeon_OND!Buy the way, I want ask you a question. Why can't I post a Thread in the Sketchbooks here(I'm a new guy here)

Go here: http://conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=41
Click the "New Thread" button.

Yo Xeon. Love all the last gesture drawings. I love that vilppu look you manage to achieve.

Well Hayden, I must say your rate of improvement is absolutely phenomenal, comparing your first few pages and now. I wish I'm you!


-----------------------UPDATE-----------------------
Nothing much to be said of this post, except that I'm gradually settling down into my new phase of life.
Trying to reach the next level proved to be hard, especially since I'm currently tackling feet drawing and trying to improve my head drawing skills, along with figure drawing and color theory etc.

One big challenge I encountered this time was the overwhelming fatigue and exhaustion everyday whenever I reach home after work. The tiredness left me with 0% energy to draw, and I desperately tried to find ways to counter that ("when you face a problem, you find a solution to fix it, not crumble").

Steroids, coffee, viagra, levitra, energy / testosterone-boosting supplements are some of the options, but I decided upon a much, much better way : Green Tea! Drinking 2 mugs (400 ml each) of concentrated green tea brewed with tea leaves (not those sachet bags) seems to fix the problem entirely. Now, every night, I can continue drawing like a real man again.

Many sites lists the benefits of green tea, and here's a good one: http://www.nutritionalsupplementshq....n-tea-benefits

I guessed since I'm about to hit 30 years old, it's about time to keep a close eye on my health and diet, so that I can continue doing art for a long, long time in the years to come.

No health = no art.
No health = no money.
No health = no happiness.
No art = no happiness.
No money = no happiness.

Below drawings for the past 3 weeks (click images to view slightly larger versions):

















Below speed paintings done during work. I didn't set a time limit on these, just did them whenever I'm free. My objectives for doing these are dual : 1) to improve my color and tone matching skills without using the eyedropper tool and 2) learn how to paint water.

Once the painting looks quite similar to the photo when it's zoomed out to thumbnail size, I stopped.
All paintings done with the default hard round brush with various brush settings.









Since I have a job now, I guess next week or so, I'll start my ImagineFX subscription. Cheers!

Next update: 19 August 2012

Resolution for the next 3 weeks:
i) Continue feet construction and aim to be more and more comfortable with it
ii) Continue head drawing and at least aim to make the head look right
iii) Get comfortable painting water and 1 other material (rubber)

Good day!
Xeon

[Xeon_OND]

IT has arrived. My latest toy beckons.

Three weeks ago, I ordered the Lamy Vista Demostrator Edition.
It's basically the same model as the Lamy Safari fountain pen mentioned in one of the older post some time ago, only that it's a whole lot sexier, since it has a transparent casing (hence the "Demonstrator" name) and you can see the innards and all, and secondly, the pen nib is silver instead of black, and the cap has some sort of silverish decoration inside it.

I'm lazy to take a photo of mine, so here's an off-the-net photo (the upper one is the Vista without the ink converter inside. With the ink converter included, it looks even better due to the red color of the thing):


Drawings for the past 3 weeks below. And yes, I've started to practice light and shadows on heads, and didn't know how distorted and off the features were until I flip the images in Photoshop. I think the fact that drawing these stuff with the paper flat on the table instead of angling the paper may be the main factor that contribute to the off-ness. Yes, these heads are painful to look at! You've been warned!



















I'm currently reading up on ancient Chinese myths and culture and the classics, so that I can build up enough of a library to draw out Chinese environments and characters and stories some day.

Resolution for the next 4 weeks:
i) Try to understand and figure out the shoulder-humerus-deltoid-furrow-area.
ii) Practice head drawing and understand the more advanced planes of the head.
iii) Practice feet construction.

Next Update: 23 Sep 2012

Good day!
Xeon

[Xeon_OND]

Life goes on. The company is great, and I've been there for 3 months now.
Also learned a lot about new cultures and practices, since the majority of the staff there are non-Singaporeans, which is not a bad thing, actually!

Passed my probation last week, but still, we can never rest on our laurels at all.
I remember someone used to say something like "When you get complacent, that's the beginning of the end".

Since the nature of my job is mostly graphic-design in nature, I've to strive to draw during after-work hours and weekends. Hopefully, when I get my paycheck next month, I'll be able to buy the HP Elitebook, which has about 32 GB RAM + 2 GB dedicated graphics card memory, and that should be powerful enough to support a 12000 pixel painting with 120+ layers. LOL

When the notebook arrives then, I'll start doing digital paintings again, this time of faces and environments.
Missed those.

Drawings for the past 4 weeks below. Been trying to make my head drawings look more structurally correct and also tried my best to fix the misalignment issue (since in traditional medium, you can't flip the image to check for inaccuracies, and I'm too lazy to use a mirror to check, but then again, the mirror isn't as accurate as the flipping in Photoshop, since you've to hold it stably and my hands keep moving).














Have also started to learn drapery in the Vilppu manner. The spiral, zig-zag and especially, the half-lock folds are the worst and most confusing of all. I guess if one can get comfortable with these 3 folds from hell, then one has already mastered drapery more or less.





Below are quick sketches, about 1.5 inch across.


Resolution for the next 3 weeks: I'm gonna concentrate mainly on drawing heads for now, especially, trying to draw good-looking female heads! That's my life-long goal; it's SO DIFFICULT!!!! Sometimes I think it requires inborn talent, but well......

I'll throw in some feet drawing and figure studies along the way. Haven't drawn from life for almost half a year. The only ones available are on the weekends, and I'm too lazy to go out just for 2 -3+ hours of figure drawing. Am waiting till the weekday sessions are on again:

The road ahead: Going to work as usual, though maybe during the later part of this year, around December, I'll probably start to seriously check out the options for being an art teacher for kids aged 4 - 9 years old. LOL

Next update: 21 Oct 2012

Good day!
Xeon

[0000]

oh man, youre so meticulous in your muscle studies, keep it up man youre rocking it.

[blogmatix]

Been a while since I have come to take a peek at your sketchbook. As always, it is truly an inspiration - I just looked through your first few pages, and it is quite amazing what progress you have made in a few years. Gives me the feeling I could make far more progress if I waste less time and draw more. :-)

[Taneli]

Wow, you've gotten a LOT better since the last time I looked at this thread. Keep at it!

[kevin_]

man is there a lot of work here! i see a lot of technical practices and thats good but dont forget to apply it either! cool sb!