Spaggen's beginning of a long journey

[Spaggen]

Hello everyone!
I've been lurking around on this fantastic site for quite some time now so I think it's time for me to start my own sketchbook.

My name is Patrick and I'm 20 years old. I'm an art student here in Sweden (second week). I've always dreamed of becoming a concept artist and still do, so I'm really gonna take this serious from now on and work really hard. You can expect daily updates (I hope ).


DAY 1 - 31/08-09 (Villpu's Drawing Manual, Bridgman's Constructive Anatomy and some other studies)











My first digital pieces:

30min



This one is based on one of SamsonsReaper's works (I hope it's okey to post this, if not I'll remove it immediately of course). 40-50min



Please slaughter me with crits, give me compliments or tips or whatever you believe will help me continue to advance.

[Spaggen]

DAY 2 - 1/9-09

Some more 30 sec figures:


And a mutant sketch. I know the proportions are way off, but it was just a quick one for fun. Probably gonna add some watercolor if I find the time to redo the proportions.



Thanks all for the inspiration today, I love this site!

[RBeek]

you seem to have a keen eye for detail ;D thats great!

Those 30 sec figures are really cool aswell :o
And help you to understand movement, if you do 60sec ones try to put in a bit more construction ( ribcage & pelvis ) that would give you some basic sence of constructing and that way you learn 2 things at the same time weee!

Keep it up man

[dCepT]

Good studies! You're doing Bridgman as well as posemaniacs, yeah? Good combo

rogerb has a point.. there is something to be said for getting the whole figure in when doing those quick studies

In your digital work; try to use some almost uncomfortably large brushes to block stuff in.. Tends to get a little scribbly if you use small brushes and sorta hatch everything.. I'm battling to get a better grasp on how to describe planes without putting in too many small brushstrokes myself.. hehe..

Keep it up!! Post some school work when you get around to it too!

dC

[Spaggen]

Thanks alot for your comments, you make me happy. I almost feel like a child on Christmas, "my first comments on conceptart wohoo" haha.

rogerb - Thank you for your tips and compliments. I'll definitely try some 60 sec ones tonight.

dCepT - Thanks man. Yes I'm doing Bridgman, Vilppu and posemaniacs. I think all of them make studying really fun. I will not do any digitals for a while now but when I do I promise to use larger brushes hehe. Oh almost forgot, yes I'll post some school work in the future.

Update later tonight. Cya!

[tdHendrix]

I like your digital paintings. I think the one with the eye is awesome. The crushed can is cool as well. Keep it up!!!

[Spaggen]

tdHendrix - Thanks man. Really appreciate it.


DAY 3 - 2/9-09

No fancy stuff, just Bridgman studies, and some 60 sec figures as promised.








Good night everyone!

[James Wolf]

nice start so far! keep it up

[ashamolly]

Great stuff! How long have you been drawing for?

I have a few suggestions (I'm new to giving advice, so bear with me =P):

1.) A rule of thumb for painting is to work big to small- block in big portions (main shadows, background, hair as a whole, etc) first, then get finer and finer with the details. It's VERY tempting to start out with all the fine details first, but it leaves room for a lot of hard-to-fix errors.

2.) Draw from life constantly to keep your sense of visual reality calibrated.

3.) Draw simple cartoon characters like Looney Tunes or Pokemon, especially when you're first starting out. It may sound backwards and weird, but the simple construction and definite lines helps to train your eyes to symmetry and accuracy, trains your hands for sketching, and forces you into definite linework. Try drawing these for a week, then have a life-drawing session and see how much it improves!

Besides all this, the two most important attributes any artist needs is motivation and a will to learn, and you've got these down perfect. Keep up the good work =)

[ashamolly]

Great stuff! How long have you been drawing for?

I have a few suggestions (I'm new to giving advice, so bear with me =P):

1.) A rule of thumb for painting is to work big to small- block in big portions (main shadows, background, hair as a whole, etc) first, then get finer and finer with the details. It's VERY tempting to start out with all the fine details first, but it leaves room for a lot of hard-to-fix errors.

2.) Draw from life constantly to keep your sense of visual reality calibrated.

3.) Draw simple cartoon characters like Looney Tunes or Pokemon, especially when you're first starting out. It may sound backwards and weird, but the simple construction and definite lines helps to train your eyes to symmetry and accuracy, trains your hands for sketching, and forces you into definite linework. Try drawing these for a week, then have a life-drawing session and see how much it improves!

Besides all this, the two most important attributes any artist needs is motivation and a will to learn, and you've got these down perfect. Keep up the good work =)

[ashamolly]

Sorry 'bout that, computer's acting up =/

[Spaggen]

James Wolf - Thanks man. I will!

ashamolly - Thank you very much for the compliment and the tips. I've been drawing as long as I can remember. But I started for real when I created this sketchbook four days ago, haha.

I will update when the problem is solved (later tonight or tomorrow).

EDIT: Am I the only one who have problems with the connection to this site today? And I can't see any pictures. :/

[dCepT]

I had the same problem with the pictures not showing up... happens every now and then.. probably some site maintenance goin' on in the wings.. hehe

Good updates! Keep doing Bridgman and bring the stuff you learn about the major masses into your 60sec sketches When you've done enough of those 60sec suckas you develop a routine and can use the spare time to get in more masses and such

gogogo!!

dC

[Spaggen]

I had the same problem with the pictures not showing up... happens every now and then.. probably some site maintenance goin' on in the wings.. hehe

Good updates! Keep doing Bridgman and bring the stuff you learn about the major masses into your 60sec sketches When you've done enough of those 60sec suckas you develop a routine and can use the spare time to get in more masses and such

gogogo!!

dC

Ah okey I see. Great it's okey now.

Thanks! I'll try that next time I'm doing figures. But I'am having a hard time with Bridgman, the hand part. I think the explanation is pretty hard to understand actually. :/

Update later tonight.

[Spaggen]

DAY 4 & 5

Hand studies from Bridgman.


And an old piece (pencil and watercolor). Wow, the structure of the skull and face and the light are totally wrong, haha, but well, better than nothing I guess.



Good night!

[Darkside]

man you have some talent showcasing here hehe. actually, I like your last (older) piece a LOT

[Spaggen]

Darkside - Thanks man for the compliment!

DAY 6 - 5/9-09

Head studies from Hogarth and some 90 sec figures.






Good night everyone!

[Minnhagen]

Nice studies! And for a first attempt at digital painting, that looks good

[Spaggen]

Nice studies! And for a first attempt at digital painting, that looks good

Thank you Mats. Wow, your first post was to me, I feel honored! Haha. Do you've a sketchbook here with another account or something? If not, make one! Would be really nice to see sketches and unfinished pieces from you.


Update later today/tonight!

[Spaggen]

Much reading, less drawing. Some muscle studies.

DAY 7 - 6/9-09





Good night everyone!

[DefiledVisions]

Hey man, thought I'd drop by now that I have the time to do so Looking good here, you're definitely on the right way - bridgman is the way to go. Love his stuff. Posemaniacs is also ver helpful, if you do a page of poses every day you'll start noticing difference within a week.
Keep it up!

[Spaggen]

Hey man, thought I'd drop by now that I have the time to do so Looking good here, you're definitely on the right way - bridgman is the way to go. Love his stuff. Posemaniacs is also ver helpful, if you do a page of poses every day you'll start noticing difference within a week.
Keep it up!

Thank you for taking time. Yea, Bridgman (I thought his name was Bridgeman untill now haha) is really good but I think it's hard to understand sometimes, but if I read the parts over and over again it becomes clear.

Update later today/tonight!

[Konstruktion]

Just keep doing it and you'll be fine! As I've said before, Hogarth is superb. I love his stuff, some more or less hate it though.. I suggest mixing different anatomy books, I usually have 3-5 different ones on my drawing table at once, to see different teachers different takes on different things..

[Spaggen]

Konstruktion - Thanks man! I think Hogarth's books seems great. Yes you've right about mixing different anatomy books, I'm using Hogarth, Bridgman and a little Vilppu at the moment, works really well.

DAY 8 - 7/9-09

Just hand studies from Bridgman and some 90 sec figures from Posemaniacs (the guy in the middle top is so wrong haha). I think I'll do some imaginational stuff tomorrow (and studies of course ).





Good night!

[Spaggen]

Damn, not much drawing today. It'll be more tomorrow, I promise!

DAY 9 - 8/9-09

Hand studies from Bridgman and some doodle crap.

[llex_paul]

brigdman is great, but try bammes! you have to get closer to the reality, and bammes is one that can help you a lot!

[Spaggen]

brigdman is great, but try bammes! you have to get closer to the reality, and bammes is one that can help you a lot!

Thanks. I've the animal anatomy book from Bammes and it's great, but I'll definitely try to get the human anatomy book too.

[Spaggen]

DAY 10 - 9/9-09

Some bigger and less "sketchy" 60 sec figures and doodle.








Sorry for the bad quality, the scanner is acting pretty weird today.

Good night everyone!

[DefiledVisions]

Hey man, nice bunch of updates. I have a tip for you that helped me alot when doing anatomy studies.

When studying one part of the body, which you're doing here - for example the hands - it's easy to just get into the mode of observation without taking in the knowledge. What I mean by that is that you simply just look at the picture and copy it. By doing so you will learn, but you can learn a lot faster if you challenge yourself.
Our brain is extremely powerful, but it is also very lazy. You need to make it work.. spank or it'll grow dull.
What I want you to do is to draw 1 page of hands from the bridgman book, when ready, observe what you have done. Set a few minutes aside and just observe.. look at your own hand, compare to the studies. Feel the knuckles, the bones, the tendrils.. visualize, and when ready take a new sheet of paper.
Now I want you to draw hands entirely from memory just by recalling what you observed. This way you spank your brains ass and actually make it work some.. not only will your observation skill improve, but your memory will too.

Also get some softer pencils, b4 and b6, gives a much wider range of values to work with keep it up

[Spaggen]

Hey man, nice bunch of updates. I have a tip for you that helped me alot when doing anatomy studies.

When studying one part of the body, which you're doing here - for example the hands - it's easy to just get into the mode of observation without taking in the knowledge. What I mean by that is that you simply just look at the picture and copy it. By doing so you will learn, but you can learn a lot faster if you challenge yourself.
Our brain is extremely powerful, but it is also very lazy. You need to make it work.. spank or it'll grow dull.
What I want you to do is to draw 1 page of hands from the bridgman book, when ready, observe what you have done. Set a few minutes aside and just observe.. look at your own hand, compare to the studies. Feel the knuckles, the bones, the tendrils.. visualize, and when ready take a new sheet of paper.
Now I want you to draw hands entirely from memory just by recalling what you observed. This way you spank your brains ass and actually make it work some.. not only will your observation skill improve, but your memory will too.

Also get some softer pencils, b4 and b6, gives a much wider range of values to work with keep it up

Wow, thank you very much for your great tip mate! You've so right man. When I'm studying it feels like I just copy the images and move on. I've been thinking about observing all my studies earlier, but never took the time to do it. But I'll definitely do it. You can expect lots of hands later tonight!

This is why I just love conceptart. Thanks a lot!