[25th Jan] gredgie explains it all

[gredgie]

Right, I'm on a roll, a good roll.
Over the last few days I've drawn six pictures, yet in each one I have seemingly improved and I'm such a perfectionist I can only bare to show you the best of the best... which is the last one.

Fear not though, I shall fill this sketchbook as much as I can, I'm thoroughly enjoying learning this B+W style.

Portrait
So yeah, to practice faces and such, I'm basically drawing pictures of my friends they've put up on Facebook.

I'm pleased with it as it's the closest I've got to a really nice, sketched black and white look in any study so far.

The lips are probably my greatest adoration in the picture as they look like lips... and not a duck bill.

That said they are probably just a tiny bit too big, but instead of ninja-editing them with Transform, I left them in there, as we can't be afraid of our mistakes!

More to come soon.

[gredgie]

Lady GaGa

The image was pretty easy to visualise in B+W, but no matter what I did I couldn't really get passed being 80% happy with it.

You can tell it's her, and probably attain the gist of the image, it just could have been executed a little better.

Twas quite speedily done too but that might be due to the relative simplicity of the picture.

A challenge I might re-attempt somewhen!

[matty_mcmullen]

good start man. ill have some crits when i see more. looking forward to it

[gredgie]

Rawr! Whilst not a full-body... this is the first... "most of a body" drawing i've done with the new black and white style.

In my reference picture she's smiling, but I'm sure I can get some sympathy due to the tilt of her head :>.

I liked how her out-stretched pose defined the three block sections of the torso (as in, top bit with the collar-bone and breasts, middle bit containing ribs, lower bit containing stomach and such).

I might have to delve into greyscales soon, I've been seeing some awesome work with tones around CA.org and I concur it's time to spread my wings some more.

Though I will no doubt attempt a nice load of anatomy studies in B+W first.

[angelo cordon]

Hey man -

Definitely start working with gray tones. Keep pushing your comfort zones! Her proportions are a little off, I think her neck and torso might be a little too long.

check out www.characterdesigns.com and check out their photosets for models. Great reference pictures to draw from and learn some anatomy and form. Keep it up!

[angelo cordon]

more updates!

[gredgie]

I'm currently working on a TOP SECRET thing for the missus' birthday tomorrow! In which I'm experimenting with more... "cartoony" styles?

Either way, I was hoping to get a few more studies done, but I shall put up this one I did.

I'm quite happy with it, since it was both a test to experiment blocking in anatomy as opposed to doing lines.

I ponder blocking in using a few other tones so I don't just have a big black block. The grey was an experiment to indicate lesser-shadows. It was tricky making her look toned instead of anorexic.

Anatomy-wise, what's been done looks okay to me, in the picture her hip was slightly raised more giving a greater arc to her posture.

It was basically a big "You should deffinately do more naked people studies" sign.

Anyway, ENOUGH BABBLING!

[Jesus Food]

below her breasts i think things look a little too big, both long and wide, it gives her kind of a pear shape

[Sweron]

Lady Gaga is the best you've posted so far, I'm new here, plz see some of my work I've posted in sketchbook.

[matty_mcmullen]

hey man! hows everything going?
i can't wait to see what you do for you missus'. i was just going to suggest something that might be fun for you to try seeing as your into a very ink like style. have you heard of alchemy? its an amazing program to force loss of control in your strokes i really like to play with it. The reason why im suggesting it is cause i know you want to have fun doing what your doing and for me it's the funnest. nothing better then rolling out these crazy images. also maybe try painting with a big flat brush with pen pressure on and flow lower this way your not hatching away at an image your focusing on getting the whole silhouette and form in quickly i find this pretty exciting cause there are so many happy accidents happening. anyway hope your doing well.

[angelo cordon]

I agree with Matty. I think it will be great fun for you to lose control of your strokes. Be more expressive and less stiff about trying to painfully make everything look right.

Another thing that you should try: instead of painting straight black, paint with a mid tone. Paint with gray. then you can go darker towards black towards for shadows and lighter for highlights.

keep up the good work man!