andrew ken ~ slow hand

[kasblue]

haha... the portrait is very interesting. the animation in the eyes is really cool. what software?

[HunterKiller_]

Excellent work on the chess set.

I think your main downfall right now is that you're dealing purely with contours, lines and details, a.k.a 'sight drawing'.
You would benefit greatly from a analytical approach, or 'constructive drawing'. That is to think about the 3 dimensional form of the subject, not only drawing what you can see but what you cannot see.
Breaking things down into their basic geometries and treating them as form that have volume and not flat surfaces.

[aks9]

kasblue thanks kasblue, with Adobe Flash

HunterKiller_ thanks for the helpful comment. that is true. i was actually thinking about that when drawing the last pencil monster. but i do need to do proper studies and practice of that. thanks for the heads up.


so today i had to give my head a rest from all the technical observation stuff.

anyone heard of ArtBomb? it's a super fun painting app for ipod/phone/etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYmG_XouSQU

It's really simple and good for experimentation. People who like Alchemy might like Artbomb. You only have 2 colours, and you can't choose them, they are random. Whenever you hit the "randomise colours" button, it changes the colours on screen, so you can see whatever you've drawn in lots of different ways. No undo buttons, and 4 square brush sizes. There are also horizontal and vertical mirror modes, and you can use both at the same time.



It's called Artbomb because you can "explode" a picture by clicking on the Bomb icon, which randomises the colours, and splices up your picture with different computer calculations, and sometimes mixes it with previous drawings you've done. It's lots of fun once you get into it, especially if you like to "draw from chaos" and find shapes and hidden drawings.

So I did a bunch of these today, and then worked a little on some of them in photoshop

these are all pictures i drew and blew up and worked on trying to get a picture out of them. i made them all in order, exploding them after saving them and continuing it



worked on some in photoshop. 2 colours is so relaxing to work with. and i left lots of the chaos bits untouched to keep the chaos feeling




and went for a self in same style (no artbomb, used a mirror)

[aks9]

self portrait from mirror in darkened room. i kept horizontal flipping and the eyes just look wonky and broken to me, not sure yet how to fix it. more experience needed.


and i finallly finished this! wooworaora raiurari iar

approx ~ 23 hours




some stuff still not perfect, but at this point spending more hours getting the tiny details right won't enable me to learn more from this study so im stopping here..

[Fuggedaboudit]

Props to that last nude! VERY GOOD! love it!

[wutangclam]

WOW amazing work with your digital paintings! how did you improve so much!@?

[aks9]

Fuggedaboudit thanks !!
wutangclam thank you, well, it took a lot of thinking about "what is it that i need to do to improve". and having a strong intention to improve, and following through it every day. ive put aside lots of activities that i would do in my free time to focus on drawing instead. drawing slowly and patiently and thinking a lot about why things look the way they do has helped me alot




yesterday's selfportrait. doesn't look like me yet but im at least starting to see some unity in the facial features and value areas

[kasblue]

i think the portrait is a really good progress. the proportions are really good. although i dont have this quality in my drawings as well, but i'v seen masters and they dont draw alot of lines. like degas... yep degas is an excellent example. maybe you'd like to practice that too. keep it up!

[aks9]

kasblue thanks kasblue. aye, i do a lot of searching with the lines, a lot of editing. people keep bringing up the line issue so ill keep that in mind

was poorly today, but managed to finish this one off. first try at colour portrait. sketch was done yesterday

[SophieW]

That last nude you posted is gorgeous! There’s been a great deal of progress since the first page. I’d also like to thank you for that post you did on your painting process, it was really helpful.

[eclip-se]

The painting is stunning, im in love with the result, dope! the climex is coming.

[aks9]

SophieW thank you SophieW, I'm glad to hear that it was helpful to you
eclip-se cheers


ive been ill, and busy, but im trying to keep things moving. if i miss a day or two of drawing i start to feel really ratty

[eclip-se]

O maaaaaaan, beautiful hands!

[aks9]

eclip-se thanks mate

working on a composition that should train lots of different drawing elements for me. the two figures are from the Starcraft franchise, so I can focus more on the drawing skills for this piece, which is the main thing i want to focus on right now, and not spend too much energy in creating an original character design.

i used a few different references for the marine armour to make it accurate; the pose and angle has been reconstructed on the page into something new. this is a challenge and an area i need to work on a lot. any critiques on the perspective of the suit and getting the shapes/proportions right will be much appreciated. i am going for accuracy, though this is still the first stage of sketch.

for the monster, i was a little more liberal with the design, though i still want it to function in terms of proportions and perspective

thanks for any feedback!

[razen_sketch]

your life drawings and studies are inspiring as well as your skill with colors
and the self portrait is really something else, awesome stuff

[aks9]

razen_sketch thanks for the encouragement buddy!


been busy with life and work and haven't drawn that much lately, but i worked more on the hydralisk-marine comp

[aks9]

sketch

[aks9]

i dont really do much imagination sketching or painting in photoshop, i am starting to feel more free and capable with the tools now though

[aks9]

slow days

[iven]

Hi buddy thanks for your private tutoring over skype. As I am watching your Marine I really
like your line the way it flows, and I love the sketchy things you just do with no figures
on it, you have a unique line which keeps me watching your SB.

Watching your Marine I think first of all what is that thing above, I can see a dragon like head.
but anything else doesn't really tell me if there are legs or spikes or what not. Did you do the
SILOUETE test with the picture. It's still kinda rough, so I think you'll post another piece.

About composition, who is stronger in this situation, both of them are in the middle, kinda boring.
My teacher Vince from the portfolioworkshop in Toronto tought me always how important it is to
develope the composition first before cleaning up stuff.

Be hones you just had that picture in you mind and doodelt away at night time EH *LOL* and
didn't think about composition in the first place did you ?!?!

[lionheartGFX]

crazy freaking progress here! my ass feels sore just from leeking at the sheer ammount of stuff you ave done, the structure its getting there, i believe you are at a point where you recognizes the big masses within the figure but some of those overlaps slip your eye, really just keep doing what you are already doing but also keep pushing into learning more and more and doing stuff always in a slightly different way until you find the way that works for you, in terms of observational i cant tell you anything your three times better than me, your stills are just AWESOME and it seems you have alot of patience and care with your art, its a very, veeery good start sir ill keep an eye out for you! keep working hard!

[aks9]

iven thanks! the composition at the moment is a kind of inverted triangle... i actually DID do a lot of experimenting. I horizontally flipped the position of the Hydralisk as well as his posture a few times, and struggled a great deal with the position of his body. and it started out as a thumbnail which i liked the comp of, but its slightly different here in PS. but its definitely true that i didn't set up a strong comp before working out some of the definition in the forms, and now i am hesitatnt to change it too much. hehe. but as a matter of fact it didn't come out of a doodle. im not sure if thats good or bad? HAH.

lionheartGFX thanks for the kind comments.. yeah, i am shitty at figures and have been focusing more on other things recently. ill give them the attention they need in spring, right now i have other things i want to finish up



so here is a Work in Progress, basically it needs more rendering and balancing stuff out, its the first imagination-digital work ive done and i enjoyed it a ton, but i really could do with some crits, thanks guys

[aks9]

music-sketch

[aks9]

working on the design

[aks9]

trying to figure out a comp to get this darn marine comp to work. im struggling with it being too contrasty, or too flat.





work hard you can do it!

[briggsy@ashtons]

Hi Andrew,

Just taking a look after leaving an answer to your question about Photoshop on the Art Discussion thread. Really interesting work here!

[aks9]

briggsy@ashtons thanks a lot, I left you a reply in the thread! my email-notification doesn't seem to be working, thanks for posting here else I wouldn't have known you had replied otherwise.





been busy, not many updates.

improved the hydra comp, lowered the contrast. still not sure about it though.


which is better, left or right?








worked more on this. first i improved values...







then did some rendering and refining the design, but im not sure its an improvement
orb is temporary placeholder

[Hyunjae]

killer job on the nude study!!

[aks9]

back to painting this evening
still life on desk WIP

[lionheartGFX]

sweet still life, i liked that space sea digital piece you did some days ago, i like that it tells a story and it has atmosphere, but it lacks depth and it can be confusing at first because of that, but it was a difficult subject and you had a clear vision and went for it wich i think is very very good cant really give you an opinion on the marine just yet you did a fine job on the points of interest id love to see where you take it