Count Blackula's Daily Sketch Challenge

[F-inked]

Wow, som ereally nice stuff! I love your use of color blocking, and these character illustrations are rad.

[Sonfan]

Hey, I found your youtube channel a month ago. Glad to see your apart of the site.

[CountBlackula]

Sonfan: Wow. I'm pleased to see that I'm getting around.

[anivy]

Hi! Love love love your sketchbook, sorry I don't really have any crits for you! Just keep doing what you're doing. I love your style and use of colour, post more!

[aks9]

hey!
wow i love your character work and your blocky sketchy style. lots of really refreshing experimentationing going on here. really lively stuff. and the guy flying through the air with guns is super awesome!
you mentioned in a post of wanting to fix your rough lines and edges. personally i think it looks great, but i understand you'd want to have control over it. still lifes will help, but must of all you'd change that by simply drawing slowly. really slowly and carefully. tension in your arm can be responsible for the sketchy "blasty" movements, so if you pay a lot of attention to relaxing your arm during each and every stroke you can gain more control.

for a while everyday before drawing i would get a blank sheet of paper and slowly fill the whole thing with straight lines all the way across, as slowly as i could. then on the other side i'd draw circles as perfectly as i could. its had but its good practice!

[James Thomas]

your painting skill seems to be better than your sketching ability. with sketching don t think about "sketchy" focus ur lines. in a single stroke, or more if necessarily. but do not think multiple messy lines add weight, unless u know what you are doing. try to practice drawing things in simpler, clearer lines.

[CountBlackula]

You guys- thanks so much for your comments!

Aks- I'll try your exercise and I'll post the results. A lot of people have been telling me that my sketch energy is all over the goddamn place, and I agree.

James Thomas- You're like the 5th person that's told me this, so it's about time I start listening. Less lines, more calculation. Thanks.

[CountBlackula]

This week's illustration of the week is to do a CD cover. I'm gonna do "Bloom" by Beach House. Listen to one of the tracks here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuvWc3ToDHg

Here's a sketch. The album is very ethereal and dreamy, so I'm trying to cook up some relevant imagery to go along with how I interpret their sound.

[Umbravita]

I really like that design, can't wait to see it finished.

[CountBlackula]

One of my illustrations was recently featured on eatsleepdraw!

[Kerro Perro]

Wow awesome stuff, love the characters and the library piece is truly awesome! If i really had to nitpick i'd say on some of the more casual drawing your poses look a little static - but your style rocks!!

[Ian Barker]

Hey you're off to a great start Try to keep the figures a bit more free-flowing/fluid, some daily gestures will help with that Keep experimenting with colors too, you're doing well Don't give up, keep posting!

[Jaik]

Great stuff, really coming along nicely. You are confident in your lines which are good. In the pictures I am thinking of it was probably the style you were going for but be careful not to outline everything in a thick, non-sensitive line. If you have to ouline at all try sensitive lines. Keep up the good work though

[Niam]

Hi!
awesome studies and environments!
I loved your entry for kraken attack! and your line work as well
(I've found another fan of Dave Mckean!! yay
keep up the good work!!

[wutangclam]

Hey man! you come from very humble roots! i can relate! i love your studies. how do you paint to make the colours and edges look so tight?! it's incredible. i too go to a fine art school and i pretty much share teh same opinion as yourself haha! did your art school cover digital painting at all? how long have you been doing art digitally?

[CountBlackula]

Illustration I did tonight instead of a study.

[kamikazel33t]

You've got nice studies here I would love to see some gestural drawing and form studies. Keep at it!

[Umbravita]

Congrats for the feature!

[CountBlackula]

Kamikaze- Coming up!

Umbravita- Thanks

Here's a illustration of Jiro Ono from Jiro Dreams of Sushi

[Jaik]

Interesting use of line in the last post, nice use of colour too, very harmonious. Just be sure to do your studies eventually xP its the best way to get better!

[CountBlackula]

Geez, you guys love your studies.

Here's one of Kristen Stewart, my favorite celebrity. I'd love some help on how to make these look more 3D. I feel like my paintings often fall flat.

[Abdulla_]

Really like the illustration of Jiro Ono; great style. Would love to see more!

[kamikazel33t]

Try to draw them structurally(with cubes, cylinders and spheres), that way you are focusing on the three dimensional for and giving more structure. when it comes to the painting part I suggest you practice with greyscale first but if I were to suggest directly to make the painting less flat it would be to really bring up the contrast and try to push the darker scales to be darker along with pushing the highlights.

[CountBlackula]

Western studies from last night, and a Ron Weasley.

[CountBlackula]

You asked for studies, I'll give you studies!!!

[kamikazel33t]

It's a big improvement from your last painting I can really feel the form of the figure and it is a lot less flat.

[CountBlackula]

kamikaze- Thanks, man. I'll post more soon.

Here's a Niko Bellic type. I'm noticing that my standing poses are very static. Need to do more life drawing. I also need to draw more than one person in a frame.

[liquidjack]

Great Clint Eastwood work. Are you going to continue to flesh it out...or its a done deal? Good stuff keep cranking out the art.

[CountBlackula]

Liquidjack, thanks a lot. I think I'm done with that one. I wanna move onto more studies and things from imagination. I spent all day doing that one.

[G@m]

Lovely clint study, those colors are quite nice. The niko bellic dude could use some work, especially the shoulder area, it looks like his left arm is attached on the middle of his chest, and i can't figure out where his hands are, pants or jacket? from the general direction of the arms i'd say pants at first, but then the material on the jacket would bunch up in a different manner, as it is it give the idea of either a huge strange belly or his hands are in the jacket. And with this i close, since writing this made me realize that i should study how cloth and such fold before going around and trying to crit someone elses folds °-°

Keep it up and update more often!