Joe's new sketchbook, getting serious!

**Joe824** · July 28th, 2010, 02:01 PM

****NEW STUFF IN POST 23!!

So my old sketchbook is here. It's been over a year, and in that sketchbook I noted that I wanted to apply to grad school. well, i did, and got into an MFA program at academy of art in san francisco. i opted for the online program, as i am a full-time graphic designer, so didn't have the time/resources to move out there (i live in ct). SO, i'm creating this new sketchbook to chronicle my progress. I started in fall 2009, but most of these (except 2) are from this summer's class (head drawing with william maughan). i'll try to post some of my older stuff later. anyway, i'd love to hear some comments, and try to build up some friends in the conceptart.org community, as i come here so often to view pants-shittingly awesome artwork.

enjoy, let me know what you think! (feel free to note my enormous issues with proportions)

from my chiaroscuro class in the fall:

this chunk from this summer. all pastel pencil on midtone paper (except the pastel painting on the bottom)

here's the charcoal under-drawing for the pastel below

my first ever pastel (first ever real color thing i've ever done also, eeek!)

aaand a fun little doggy i drew in painter 11 for my girlfriend's mom :-)

**Nina-the-Tiny** · July 28th, 2010, 02:07 PM

Lovely lovely lovely studies! Keep it up. I'd love to eventually see more than just portraits and hands as well - perhaps a full figure one day?

Definitely going to watch this SB.

**Joe824** · July 29th, 2010, 10:31 AM

nina- thanks! there will be plenty of full figures in the future, i have portrait painting this fall, so i definitely need to practice my figures for the spring when i'm sure i'll be taking some sort of figure drawing. i'll post some of my older stuff (plenty of figures there) when i get the chance.

here's a charcoal underdrawing that will be pastelified hopefully tonight, if i have time to finish it. otherwise you can see it by the end of the weekend.

**Katanasoul** · July 29th, 2010, 12:49 PM

Your portraits are so nice! I really like that you are so aware of all the details and especially the eyes.
I´d like to see more soon!

**Joe824** · August 2nd, 2010, 08:59 AM

here's the charcoal drawing pastelified. wasn't very adventerous with the color, and i don't like her forehead or neck, may have to rework that a bit. comments and criticism pleeeaaaase!

***ViRuS*** · August 2nd, 2010, 11:05 PM

you got some good work in here, looking forward to more. Keep it up =)

**ColorExcursion** · August 2nd, 2010, 11:42 PM

Really nice portraits man

These pastels, especially for them being your first colors, are wonderfully delicious

**LORD M** · August 2nd, 2010, 11:48 PM

Very beautiful! I love the faces and the pastel on midtone, they got such volume. I would be very intrested seeing some full-body ones.

**kevinwueste** · August 3rd, 2010, 01:04 AM

You're lucky to have Bill Maughan ! Funny thing ( ok funny-ish) - I started looking through these works w/o reading your intro and I started thinking: wait, this guy is in CT and he is drawing models I know in SF ( Otiano is the name of the model in your "first ever pastel" - nice work for a first time!).. I have drawn him many times as well as the bald man up near the top of your thread - a great model as well... As for critiques, mostly just keep drawing - a lot and then a lot more! The two things I am seeing in your work are perhaps a need to keep a focus on spacing and placing ( getting the proportions and perspective correctly placed) and perhaps a bit of over-blending to make your forms. You can get nice, soft transitions with very little actually finger-blending ( or none) but if you like it, use it sparingly and let the strokes melt/meld together more. If you look up raileyH in the fine arts section, some of her early work was done as an undergrad and MFA student at the academy ( I think Bill M was one of her teachers but don't quote me) and she really figures a lot out, subtly in her work. Keep an eye on the use of the white, restraint is your best friend as you are learning to see values.. things are closer together than they appear in value, trust me on this point!

I might also suggest you check out ccsears, aztecfireflower and emgist on CA - all have some very good things happening with there figures and heads ( and a focus on the Reilly Method). You might enjoy Henry Yan's figure drawing book if you don't have it, as well as Michael Hampton's Figure Drawing: Design and INvention" and Robert Barrett's LIfe Drawing book. Learning the Loomis Head ( all his books are download-able on the web) will help your construction as will studying Bridgman and Vanderpoel's work. I hope some of this is useful - keep up the good work!

**Joe824** · August 4th, 2010, 01:05 PM

virus: thanks! i'll keep it up, i have to!

ColorExcursion: thanks man, i'm terrified of colors, so i'm glad to see they look passable at least :-)

Lord M: i know! i've already heard a couple people wanting to see full figures. as soon as this summer semester is over (one week) i'll try to do some digital practice of the human figure.

kevinwueste: wow what a great chunk of advice. i know the rendering will come, but i really do need to focus on feature placement and proportion. i had read all that great advice you gave me, and was so appreciative of it. then i checked out your sketchbook and blog and my face turned red when i realized i had spent a couple hours (at least) just the other day scrolling through your extensive collection of work you posted. your skill level humbled the shit out of me. then i checked out raileyH's stuff and wanted to quit it was so good.

bill maughan is amazing, i've learned more from him in this one class than i have from my 4 previous classes combined (chiaroscuro was ok, drawing from imagination with stephen player was pretty excellent actually, i just wish i had put the energy and effort into that class that it/he deserved, clothed figure drawing seemed like a bit of a waste to me, not sure why)

thanks for the recommendations with the books, i only have a few at the moment, and love reading through new ones. keep in touch!

**Joe824** · August 9th, 2010, 02:27 PM

my first ever use of oils. though not exactly an oil painting. more of an oil sketch. it's called peinture à l’essence. basically you let some oil paint dry out on cardboard, then reconstitute with turpentine/turpenoid/mineral spirits. i struggled big time, it's supposed to look like pastel, but be more durable in storage. bueller? anyone? semester will be over this week. at that point i'll try to get some good digital studies in.

**Joe824** · August 10th, 2010, 12:26 PM

couple quick sketchies in painter. haven't picked up my tablet in a while, felt good.

no references, and as pathetic as they are, they are much, much better than anything i've done this quickly from my head. i guess the head drawing class did me some good. gonna try to work on the figure in between this summer session and the fall semester (whence i'll be taking a figure concepts class)

**Metal Fingers** · August 10th, 2010, 01:28 PM

Nice sketchbook you've got going on here, that piece you said was your first time with pastels is great! I just started using them and they are tricky as all hell. Keep it up, looking forward to some more updates.

**Joe824** · August 11th, 2010, 09:51 AM

metal fingers: thanks man, yeah the pastels are hellish to control. i've been using some really high quality half-sticks, really hard to be gentle with an inch long pastel. that's what she said?

self portrait in charcoal. will pastel over it tonight! check back for it tomorrow

**thinairart** · August 11th, 2010, 10:27 AM

Really like the portrait sketches! Solid handling of values. And the Bargue copies are nice as well.. I recognize the 'hand holding a whetstone' plate, spent some quality time with that on as well

**Joe824** · August 12th, 2010, 04:07 PM

thinairart: thanks! that means something coming from you, just looked at your stuff and am quite impressed.

well, the pastellifying was extremely disappointing, felt like it was a step backwards. anyway, here it is. be gentle! no, don't be gentle. i want to pick my spleen up off the floor after any critiques.

**Joe824** · August 13th, 2010, 11:49 PM

semester is finally over! so what do i do? keep drawin. here are some studies. gotta do more of these, need a TON more practice here, that much is evident. anybody have any line quality tips? mine sucks!

**NinoCencini** · August 14th, 2010, 12:44 AM

wow those portraits and hands done with pastel are great.. specially the hands.. really awesome.. keep it up dude!

**Dorkthrone** · August 14th, 2010, 01:27 AM

You seem to have a grasp on the concept of value.

**Joe824** · August 16th, 2010, 09:30 AM

ricpolisel: thanks! had a lot of fun with the hands.

ninjacat: wow ya think? i've definitely come a long way, i still struggle with value mightily, but not like i do with proportions...baby steps right?

here's another bridgman study. i need to do more, but i don't have time to draw for 6 hours a day. waaaaaah :-)

**CountBlackula** · August 16th, 2010, 09:39 AM

I'm digging all of your work. You have a lot of skill with rendering the human face.

**MyioDeSopsia** · August 26th, 2010, 01:28 AM

Wow, I really, really love this stuff. Your pastels are beautiful, accurate and painterly. I can't stop looking at the awesome stuff in your first post. Great colors in the pastellification. The pencil is not bad on its own either.
Nice imagination stuff too. It might be better to think of digital drawing in Painter more as painting with large strokes than pencil drawing with a small tool. Although, after seeing your digital stuff in the other sketchbook, I think you probably know how to handle digital pretty well.

This stuff inspires me to work neater, and to learn and understanding of values. I look forward to more.

**Joe824** · September 28th, 2010, 12:34 PM

it's been a month (or two!) and i have a couple new drawings from school. it's making me realize how weak my figure drawing is. these are each done in about 2-3 hours on toned paper with nupastels. comments please!!

**Joe824** · October 5th, 2010, 12:38 PM

another update, nupastels again. we're supposed to be using a limited palette, but i may start trying to upgrade my color selection. anyone have any tips for nupastels? hard to get good touch with such small tools....hehe

**QueenWorm** · October 5th, 2010, 01:15 PM

WOW!! Beautiful sketch book~ I love your fugure drawing. I just start my anatomy studies so sorry i can't give you any useful advice(still learning basic stuff),,, Thanks for visiting my sketch book.

**Joe824** · December 1st, 2010, 12:42 PM

thank you QueenWorm!

so it's been a while, brace yourselves, here is an chunk of figure drawings. still haven't really produced a complete drawing, proportion, values, etc.

let me know what ya think!