Trails of Crumpled Paper and Chewed-up Pencil Stubs~

[Beeston]

HAI o/

I need to spend more time in other people's sketchbooks

Damn I need to catch up :/ Lots of awesome work.

[invinciblewombat]

life drawings and studies are looking great, a huge amount of them too, keep at it

[Jessibelle]

huge thanks for the comments, i'll reply back to them on the next post.

so, my computers bust. again.

I'm currently in the town library, using a computer running a crappy old version of IE that won't work on half the websites i need (including my email inbox.) my boyfriend is working on fixing the computer, but tbh i think my poor old Fossil is just giving out the death rattle - it's breaking more and more often lately. even if he does fix it, there's a large chance i'ma have to have my hard drive wiped and lose all my files.

that said, it looks like i'm not going to be around here much. i actually have loads of stuff to scan (funny how my computer goes when i finally have tons of free time), so i'm using this as an opportunity to focus on my traditional painting/drawing skills and do tons of life drawing.
if i'm honest, the thing that's crippling me most is being unable to get references for personal work - or studies, either - without coming out to the library, which charges 10p for a black and white copy, doesn't do colour and doesnt have a slot for the sd card from my digital camera.
But meh, obstacles... i'll overcome. i'll cope. (:

so, TL;DR - with a bit of luck i might be back uploading on here soon... if not, see you in a few months when i can scrape enough money together for a new computer. and sorry for the image-free post.

be back asap - keep killing it! ;D

[Jessibelle]

@Smuli: yeah, the kids painting took aages x) speed's not a strong point... and neithers applying studies, that's something i always skimp on :/ thanks for the heads up, i'll try and keep that in mind

@beeston: thankyou! haha, me too - i'm far too selfish, i dont post in other peoples sb enough. x) i need to do something about that...

@invinciblewombat: thankyou

so, computers fixed again not sure how long for though... i really need a new one, i think my old fossil's worn out tbh, she's been reliable for years now... but she's lovely and functional for the moment

btw, this post is huge. sorry about that (trust me, it was a bitch to scan and edit... the reason why this wasnt uploaded last week). not uploaded in a while, so things kinda... built up.

Sketchbook pages...












and a finished piece - this is the first time i've actually thought properly about different coloured light sources giving different shadow tones, and colour temperature and all that. i think it really helped, looking forward to building more on that :B lots and lots wrong with it, but it's a start.


been trying to learn acrylics while i havent had photoshop... been failing, but i think im beginning to grasp it... only just begininning. enviro from photoref, rest from life.




pencil craps, face and expression studies:



daily anatomy studies... i will understand legs, damnit!!
some are also from imaginefx's anatomy special, which i totally recommend, even though it's thin (obvs, it's a magazine, not a book) it's packed full of useful and easily-understood stuff. (:

[viki oh]

JESSIBELLEEEE
GURL, you've been kicking your ass, that is an amazing amount of drawing/studies there XD Your going to be an anatomy master if you keep that amount of anatomy studying up XD!!! I like them :> Apply what your learning to memory exercises and see how much you retain. Also, nice to see you work with acrylic, the penguins are my favorite, I feel like you really captured the form of the blue one. You already have a good understanding of values, paint really big and mix a lot of paint. At art supply stores, look out for materson's sta-wet paint palate, it will keep your paints wet so you can mix large amounts and go ape shit 8D I can also recommend some good books for painting as I need to get some myself >:00!! KEEP PAINTING BORING STILL LIVES. I WISH WE COULD PAINT TOGETHER >:0!!!!

[Jessibelle]

viki oh: haha, thank you for that comment!! x) yeahh, a major block i have with painting is that i'm too conservative and worried about wasting paint, so i think painting big is a great idea - plus it sounds fun thanks for the recommendations too, i'm always open to book suggestions - although, penniless atm x) i've been wanting to buy James Gurneys painting books for a while now... :/

some stuff from the past few days, along with one or two things i forgot to post last time.

quick doodle/practice - got part one of whit brancha's environments download last night, and although i havent watched it yet, i wanted to play with his brushes used ref, but loosely - changed the composition and tried to emulate the colours/shapes.


still lives - acrylic and digital



anatomy - the ones in just red with no pencil lines are quick memory ones




sketchbook pages

[Jessibelle]

just dropping these quickly, since i need to go to work like, now, but i wont get another chance to upload probably till tuesday - busy weekend.

anatomy, unfinished acrylic (all of these are unfinished, since i do them before work), sketchbook page (the last one of my a5 one - onto a big a4 one i got for valentines day! :L) and some work on the latest teen challenge.

[Satu]

Great updates and awesome anatomy studies! Keep them coming!

[Jessibelle]

@satupeikko: thank you!

sorry ive been absent, and that ive so little to post for it - college is finished for everyone in england now, and i seem to be spending a lot of time catching up with friends and with my boyfriend - not time i'm regretting, but i really need to learn to knuckle down and not waste what little free time i have by getting distracted. and on top of that, lots of overtime at work...

so, updates are still going to be a little slow for at least the next week, possibly a few.. im'a try to counter that though. for now, have some anatomy, a crappy unfinished photostudy, and my current progress on the teen challenge piece.

[smuli]

Crazy load of new studies! And they look great too, anatomy ones look so solid and I really like the glasses and the acrylic sketches!

[Jessibelle]

@smuli: thankyou!

life's more or less back to normal now, should mean more consistent updates.

finished teen challenge, learnt tons on this i think, not that happy with it visually though


screenie


anatomy - moved onto hands now, trying Matt Kohr's suggestion of drawing 100 of whatever your weakness is.



the first page in a beautiful a4 bound sketchbook i got for valentines too big to scan though - the whole thing will have to be photos.


and a crappy fan-art doodle i did today to unwind and do art just for the sake of it today. really dont like her face

[Jessibelle]

here's an oil painting i've been working on for the past few weeks; when i (eventually!) get it done, it'll be the first full-colour oil painting i've done. ton of mistakes already, but at least i know the one after this will be better because of them

crappy photo, i'm sorry. also, really seem to be kicking out all these underwater pics atm, huh? x) need to kick that habit soon...

studies, more hands - anatomy/ref/imagination, and it's very obvious which is which...




some studies from life - i was told to do tons of drawing from life for my art course in september, but i've really not done that much, so for the whole of august i'm attempting a drawing from life every day... this week i'm focusing on dry media (pencil, pen, charcoal), next week colour dry media (colour pencils, pastels, oil pastels), week three, ink and watercolour, week four acrylic and oil. lets see how it goes
some pencil still lives, and charcoal drawings of the mother and a sp

[OakLeaf]

Awesome sketchbook! I love the painting!

[Jessibelle]

@Bunrt-ice thankyouu

tiredd... i seem to have lost momentum lately so lazy... it seems im either too busy or too distracted lately. gotta kick that in the fork, and soon!

a digi-doodle i spent most of today on... his legs are waaaay too long. wanted to experiment with colour, and illustrate the feeling of cuddling up to someone warm when you're freezing...


sketchbook


daily life studies - pen, pencil +charcoal






hands...hogarth, photoref and imagination

[Jessibelle]

been a bit out of it this week.. :/ discovered my motivation is very tied into my mental state, and if there's something playing on my mind, even if i try and pretend there isn't it shows in my art.
starting to feel like kicking my own ass again though now! i think i'ma take it easy for the rest of the week, not force myself to art but draw when i want, do studies if i really feel like it... it's pretty busy anyways, so i wouldnt get much done as it is. then next week starting monday i can jump right back into it - especially since i have a week off work and the boyfriend is away for the whole week, so i can see myself having a lot of free time xD

a crappy screencap i cropped cause i couldn't bring myself to finish; values are alll messed up, and its rather off proportions-wise since i didnt draw it out first. still, i used defiled_vision's idea of actually analysing a study, making notes as you do it and i feel it helped oh-so-much, i learnt so much about colour relativity like all the shades in this are just different shades of blue, even the parts that look warmer and even flesh coloured are just less saturated blues in reality.


some hand studies - ref, hogarth, imagination



crappy sb page of vent art, with a dragon.

[Kerah]

You have sheer iron like dedication to improvement, I've enjoyed flipping through your first pages just to get the idea of how much you've gone through.
I've subscribed for the sheer pleasure of basking in your light, we'll see you in the future!
Cheers and Macaroni !

[Jessibelle]

@Kerah: i wouldn't say iron-like... i wish, but this past week is proof otherwise x) but, thankyou very much!

so, kinda fell off the wagon this last week - whole bunch of reasons, not gonna get into. but i will say, since i started taking my art seriously, i've always unconsciously viewed taking a break from it as sort of a weakness - a sign i wasn't dedicated enough to make it. this week, however, the state of mind i was constantly in, i decided i had no choice, and that from wednesday for the rest of the week, i'd take it easy - sure, make art if i felt like it, but just relax and not constantly be either forcing myself to study or be feeling guilty for not studying.

i discovered my motivation came back in waves. i found that i still noticed the way shadows fell, or light hit an object, or how good a movies concepts and lighting was - regardless of the fact i wasn't trying to stay focused on art. i found that i still ended up drawing and painting - not as much at first, but as my enjoyment came back, more- and that i was also learning tons just doing little sketches from imagination. and before the days i'd alotted myself were up, i was itching to get started again.

so yeah, with any luck, im back. B) made a few changes to the way i work too, ill go into those on another post, already rambled enough.
on with the art!

greyscale screencap, since after watching just part 1 of brad rigneys download which i got in the sale, i realised how much i needed to work on my values. daaaymn that guy can paint.

i also did a quick doodle afterwards to apply what id learnt, but it was ohsocrappy. felt like i learnt a ton though - made notes as i did it again, analysing it, its mindblowing how much that helps you realise and retain the knowledge.

more hands - hogarth, ref, imagination



the sketch of a piece ive had all thumbnailed out and ready to do for ages now - finally getting started.

[Jessibelle]

so, tomorrow's results day at college.. :/ then afterwards i'm going to an all-night party - but with any luck, i can get enough sleep/come home early enough friday to get quite a bit of painting time in before the boyfriend comes home saturday night/sunday morning. this week off work has been busier than expected x)

damn... need to get back to regular studies.

work so far on this weeks teen challenge - first time doing an environment that isnt a study turns out they're pretty darn fun...



colour thumbs - going with the bottom right, i think


and the daily hands study

[Jessibelle]

finished teen challenge - not too happy, i think i fucked it up when i started to put in the little details cause they just didn't integrate at all, i really need to figure out where i'm going wrong there


study from life


more handssss





should be uploading some wips/sketchbook pages soon.

[Jessibelle]

okay, looks like another hiatus... computer is well and truly FUBAR'd. :/
R.I.P, fossil...

incredibly motivated despite this, really enjoying diving into traditional media... getting more done without the internet as a distraction too. just wish i hadn't lost all my files... especially my music/podcasts. i've had to nab the radio from downstairs so i dont paint in silence. i was getting a pretty nice reference library up too...

ahh well, que sera and all that
see you when i can (eventually) afford a replacement... keep arting!

[SamC]

Pencils are so awesome find a way to post! Interested to see how things are going

[Chris Sanders]

Hey jessi - i notice youve been hammering the Anatomy, and i do mean hammering it lol. Its looking so much more natural aswell than the last time i stopped by. i see a couple of different refference books aswell. i have done a couple of studies from that ImagineFX book aswell - your stuffs looking a lot smoother though . keep on rockin.

[Jessibelle]

@samC: damn, thankyou! means alot from you, man and believe me, i'm trying.

@dog-faced: yeah, i was - anatomy's hard xD it's gonna take a helluva lot more hammering before i even start to feel comfortable with it. thanks

so, thought id post to prove i wasn't dead, just extended absence is becoming very extended.

i'm well on the way to getting a new machine, only just over £100 to go before i can afford it.
but, atm i'm finding it hard to find any time to do personal art or studies, between college, college work, work at my job, and trying desperately to squeeze in time with the boyfriend (and often, sadly, failing. :/)
to give some idea, i spend 18 hours a week at college. they also say that i should spend the exact same amount of hours at home working on college work just to keep up (and they're not wrong. falling behind is scarily easy).
they also say that we shouldn't work more than 10 hours at any part time job outside of college... last week alone, i worked 32.
but i'm taking any hours i can in order to pay for the new computer. any spare hours i have between work, college and the boy is spent scrabbling to catch up with my college course.

despite meeting some pretty awesome people on this course, i cant wait to finish college next summer and get back to studying and arting and actually learning.

but until then, im afraid things are going to stay awfully quiet on here.

[Jessibelle]

finally got my laptop t'is a beaut. i'm so busy at the moment im finding it hard to find time to art outside of crappy college work at all, never mind upload it to CA, so updates are gonna be sporadic at best until i'm finished with college. (187 days and counting! i'm not desperate to leave at all... -.-)

some sketchbook pages from the last few months, some from life, some not









sorry for the crappy camera quality.

i've been trying to manage my time to fit some studies in, and lately ive been able to get half an hour in the morning, most days. here are the finished ones so far:



also, while i was gone, i turned 18 and got my first tattoo! lookee there! x)


see you guys soon, hopefully. 187 days!

[SamC]

The lines on the life drawings (I think) of the dude lying down are awesome, more like that

[Jessibelle]

okay, due to some personal crap, ive managed to get a bit of routine going where i can get about 1-2 hours on my own art, on some days. gonna start uploading regular here again, aiming for a weekly schedule, probably sundays. missed this place. :')

stuff from this year more or less:

shoes i just finished painting:


finished digi paint


two screencaps for colour/lighting study, one digi and the other acrylic (crappy scan, sorry.) digital took under an hour, acrylic took much longer (and looks worse!)



hope everyone had a good festive season!!

[Jessibelle]

nothing all that interesting this week.

an oil painting s/p for class; very crappy phone photo, sorry.


some gun studies for the next piece; first is reffed, second is doodles done from imagination (at work, hence the letter head.)



and some sketchbook pages. apologies for the lack of quality control in my sketchbook - i basically just use it as a place to unwind and draw whatever without caring, play around with ideas and media, and doodle.






tired and turps-y.

[Jessibelle]

this weeks offering...

some sketchbooking, pretty tattoo-related since im going for an apprenticeship that's just opened up nearby. awesome opportunity, really nice studio, i had my tattoo done there wish me luck!





wip sketch for the next piece - gonna attack this baby with acrylics soon!


aaand the obligatory school work. more oils, the bottom one is unfinished. this is the furthest ive pushed oils (never done realistic skin tones before) so it's really motivating that i can see an obvious improvement just between the first and the last. im fast falling in love with oil paint.

[Izene]

Awesome stuff
Lovely composition :3

For the last post, I think the eye socket of the skill is a bit too small Perhaps go google for some Skulls for reference next time
Good luck!

[Jessibelle]

@Izene: thank you! yeah, i confess to being a bit lazy on references with those, haha. a habit i really need to kick.

So, missed the last two sundays... :/ laptop got a virus and i lost all my programs/music/pictures... straight-up everything. there were other reasons, but hey, no more excuses! computers fixed, once again... gonna soldier on!

some college work... first is pen, rest is oils, with some collaging of different stuff. not happy with most of it, just glad im starting to get a handle on oil paint (i love it!!)




some (pretty shitty) sketchbook pages. sorry for the phone-camera quality. only one i like is the tentacle one in pen, gonna take that into ps and paint it up i think.





i have more stuff lying around but it'll take me too long to upload, im already too tired and i want some arting time before bed so, till next sunday!