Andrew Sonea -14/5/2013

[Andrew Sonea]

Aksel: Haha!

zach_07: Thanks for the link! I saved a ton of that guys stuff to my computer as soon as I saw it--it's really great. I should do some studies of him...

Trisquel: The assignments...well to be honest I don't find most of them particularly interesting or useful. Most of what I learn is either in class or with friends outside of class.

eekolite: Thanks!

Jordan: You better start a sketchbook man. Now that you bought the cintiq pen you have no excuse to not post digitals.

dlincoln83: Thank you!

Pixie_Trick: I've been super busy, hence the lack of updates...but I'm having a lot of fun.



Sorry everyone for the long absence. And sorry for such a small and shitty update. I have a TON that I won't be posting due to laziness--a huge stack of newsprint pads from life drawing, some crappy watercolours, a ton of sketchbook pages etc. But it is simply too much to photograph everything, resize, crop blah blah blah.

So instead of all the trad stuff I've been doing, here are a few crappy digi studies and speedpaintings I've done at school (outside of class).

1-3 = Craig Mullins studies
4 = Whit Brachna study
5 = Jeff Jones study
6 = Photo study
7-10 = Speed paintings from imagination

[Aksel Ludvigsen]

About time you schwagging moron.

Looking good.

I like turtles.

[Andrew Sonea]

Aksel: Haha!




Here's a little painting I worked on tonight while hanging out at school...kinda like it at the moment, so we'll see how I view it in the morning haha!

[Aksel Ludvigsen]

Dont stop.

[Andrew Sonea]

Aksel: Yeah I'll try to update when I can.



Just a little thingy I did. I had it more finished before but the file got corrupted and messed up...so I had to use an older save point and didn't feel like repainting it as much as I did the first time.

[Jamie Romoser]

Hey Andrew hope all is going well man.
I do enjoy the moods your giving off in your paintings
keep having fun exploring worlds
till next time
-Jamie

[Izene]

Truly amazing stuff

[erinluxembourg]

really digging the colors/perspective on that purple and yellow piece!

[Andrew Sonea]

Jamie: Thanks man! I hope you are having fun too!

Izene: Thanks!

erinluxembourg: Thank you!



Just dropping off a homework assignment that I just finished up. Really tried to push these as far as I could...I'm actually quite pleased with how they turned out (at least for now) which for me is rather unusual. I tried to basically render the snot out of them and get a nice level of finish which I usually don't get to.

The actual assignment was sorta different from what I did--I was supposed to illustrate a scene from The Fisherman and his Wife, but I ended up putting a bit of my own twist on the fairy tale. I think my teachers will be fine with it though.

Hope you guys like it!

EDIT: Sorry for the low quality images. For some reason the files were too big (even the jpegs) so I had to really lower the image quality to be able to upload them and then ended up saving them as gifs in the end. They looks a lot worse now...ah well.

[Aksel Ludvigsen]

You're one dirty hobo, you know that?

Also, I see the Rapoza vibes just shining from that painting. Looking good, honey.

[Dark_Eyes]

5 stars! Merry christmas! *****

[My57]

True story i saw you at sheridan! lul. It's Sam - I recognized you're mech sketch!

your last digital looks good :3

[Andrew Sonea]

Sorry for the lack of updates people. I haven't been bothering to photograph my traditional stuff, and have been not doing much digital.

Been feeling pretty shitty lately about my art...also been really unproductive. Sheridan's program so far has been very underwhelming and not living up to its reputation. I am 95% sure I won't be returning next year.

Here is a WIP that I will be scrapping--too many problems with it. I'm pretty sure I was farther on it but somehow lost a saved file. Ah well.

Also a couple head studies, first is a copy of RaileyH on the boards here, and the other two are from photos. They all look kinda lame, but I thought I'd post them because I changed my process on them and felt I actually learned a bit. Essentially I did a very construction-based line drawing underneath (using the Reilly head abstraction), then did a little lighting sphere WHICH I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. By taking those steps at the beginning you force yourself to think in three dimensions and understand how the form changes and how to show that change. The sphere especially made me consider every value and think of the planes--it reduced the amount of "monkey copying" of 2d shapes that I normally do. It also made me really analyze the direction of light.

Sorry for the giant image, but I don't feel like resizing stuff.

[Aksel Ludvigsen]

Oh wow man that is just crazy. Fuck you. Too good.

And good thing I´m not the only one disapointed in art school. What you doing next year? Trying another one or going solo?

[Andrew Sonea]

Aksel: Thanks man, glad you're impressed. As I said, been feeling pretty down about my stuff. To answer your question...well I don't know to be honest. I'd like to study on my own at home, but I can potentially see myself being lazy and unproductive. It would also mean I would have to break up with my girlfriend because she goes to school in Toronto. The other option is if I go to the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto, although I am a little hesitant because they teach sight-size and aren't willing to let me do comparative measurement instead.


Just dropping off a couple more portraits, this time showing the process I used on them. Skipped class today (Women's Writing) to do them woo! The basic process is Reilly head abstraction to construct a line drawing and understand forms (not that concerned with likeness, only structure), a lighting ball, initial block-in of values, then finishing it off (and fixing likeness more in this stage). The woman was really tricky since the lighting was so soft and diffuse, and all the value transitions were suuuper subtle. This is also posted at 100% zoom, so the tiny size certainly didn't help when it came to things like the eye.

[Aksel Ludvigsen]

Aah, you dickwad. Well, I guess the choice is easy then. You come over here and live with me and teach me. See? Easy!

And wtf, feeling down about your stuff? Don't flaunt your (huge) dick, man! That shit is crazy! The lion one is MTG quality you mother fucker.

[jedininjaman]

I'd like to see some more conscious attention to edges in the sketches.
Beautiful work though

[Andrew Sonea]

Aksel: MTG quality hahaha! I wish. Pose is all fucked up, composition is weird. I could probably render it out to a semi-pro level at this point, but what is rendering without a solid base?

jedininjaman: Thanks, edges are a bitch haha! In finished work I usually consider them, but when it comes to sketches it is so easy to forget! I'll have to make more of an effort.


So I was looking at Pkmike and was in awe of his work ethic and skills. Then I saw he's only a few months older than me D: I was particularly taken by his use of colour, so decided to do a couple studies to try and catch up.

First two are after Daniel Garber, an American Impressionist (only learned about American Impressionism recently, and have been blown away). Not sure how much I learned from them, but it reminded me of how much colour variation exists in a painting. Next is a study after Soufmeng...gonna do more studies of his work since his colours are super solid.

Last painting is me trying out the same process as the other portraits in the last post, but this one is done entirely from imagination. I tried to challenge myself with a tough angle and soft lighting. Also decided to make it look like a marble sculpture. I may noodle around with it more, there is a lot to fix.

Depending on how productive I am tonight I may do another update. I'm on a roll today! Haven't been this productive in months.

[Andrew Sonea]

Gah super inspired by Pkmike tonight! Gotta study harder!

So, first two are studies after Soufmeng, the third is a photo study. I'm realizing now how much I was monkeycopying before...just blindly copying the exact colours and shapes from photos. For the photo study here I tried to push the colours and values a fair bit. I think it's a better approach and I learned more about colour from it. I also tried using textured brushes to get a more interesting look like Whit Brachna or Jaime Jones get.

[Jansi]

Hi there!

The lion person in 524 is absolutely fantastic! It just needs to be straightened out a little, as otherwise it's skewed for seemingly no reason, and the stretched out arm needs to have more energy in it - that's the hand that will hit in a second! Basically, just some composition shuffles and you'll de on your way! No need to even put more rendering in!

Absolutely fab sketchbook, 5* to your collection!

Ana

[Andrew Sonea]

Jansi: Thanks for the stars and crit! I might go back and fix up the things you mentioned, but right now I need a break from that painting. I've been fiddling with it for a little while and just looking at it now gives me a headache!




So I worked a bit more on that imaginary marble portrait. Probably calling it done, but I may tweak it a bit more.

[Ludic]

Hey man, you've been improving a lot lately!

Really dig the latest piece with the lion, lookin' really bad ass!

[lancer_idenoure]

good to see stuff from you again man. and i know that bummed out art school feeling all too well. just gotta push through it....(and blow off the pointless classes! ) but really, just stay motivated and you'll do great; you seem pretty good at teaching yourself.
hoping to see you around more! (and reminding myself to post more often )
cheers bud

[Shadow Stalker]

Really nice sketchbook.

[Andrew Sonea]

Ludic: Thanks man!

lancer: Yeah, I'm counting on my ability to teach myself, we'll see how things go...

Shadow Stalker: Thanks!




Soooo....I really haven't been productive at all lately. Kinda going through a slump I guess. I've now decided to not return to Sheridan next year (which makes it hard to be motivated enough to go to class). The current plan is to basically work a ton and paint a ton. I'll be saving up over the summer and then moving down to Toronto and working and painting down there so I can still see my girlfriend. It's gonna be tough and is putting me under a fair bit of stress D:

In the meantime I thought I'd toss a little painting I'm working on for this week's Teen Challenge. The topic is Survival of the Fittest, and I decided to pay an homage to Charles R Knight:
http://www.charlesrknight.com/Galler.../FMNH/CK9T.jpe

I'm not done yet--still a lot of areas to fix up. I may try to push through and really finish this one if I can, but who knows. For those curious, I've been working on it so far at about the size I'm posting it (the file is bigger, I just am working zoomed out for now).

And maybe I'll get back to that lion piece soon. People keep telling me I should.

[hhqdnmfh5]

I like your last WIP - it shows promise and you should try to push it as far as you can. As to tools to use, I use Serif's PhotoPlusX2 which is pretty cheap as X4 is nearly ready to come out, and it's easy to use, but doesn't have all the bells and whistles of PhotoShop.

[ErikHolfelder]

:C G'luck man, slumps suck. I'd suggest using the daggers to help keep you motivated when you start all that work soon. Lots of livestreams, forums, challenges and stuff that are pretty helpful.

[Andrew Sonea]

hhqdnmfh5: Thanks! I'm happy with photoshop at the moment though.

eekolite: Been a while since I've seen you here! And I'm definitely planning on starting to take part in the daggers stuff




Here is the finished painting. Thought I'd also throw up a little acrylic caricature I did of myself for school.

[Jessibelle]

ahh that teen challenge looks killer love the atmospheric perspective on the back t-rex there, and the light. also the caricature made me laugh haha, pretty awesome.

[merl1n]

Very nice thread! I like the rough sketches the most.