Diedra's sketchbook Vol. 2 - update 4/26/13

[Elz]

The last painting you posted is really great. I love the skintones on the woman, and her hands. Cant wait to see it finished!

[dhilipsomesh]

good studies

[dierat]

PaintMyBrain - Awesome!

Mr.Pryminista - I know what you mean. I've been spending a lot of time working on my painting skills and my drawing ability hasn't improved as much. Also, my paintings focus on the areas that I'm just better at, like value and color, whereas my drawings highlight my weaknesses, being line and economy. Those anatomical studies are from Figure Drawing Design and Invention by Michael Hampton, but yes, his style and approach are very similar to Ron Lemen's. Thanks for the comment!

Creusa - Thanks!

miycko - Thanks for the detailed comment! I reworked the face a lot and darkened the shadows on the skin a lot, so hopefully that's better now. The glass so far has actually been very easy; I made a texture brush from a stock photo of frosted glass and added the texture to my window in couple of layers (some set to multiply, others to screen, some of dodge). I like how it looks atm but it's missing the glass look. For the cg challenge one, I made her scarf red just because the character she's based off had a red coat, but I'm scrapping that I think and going with a more traditional native american color scheme (beige and such). And I might add an accent of red on there to imply she's been hurt, but I'm not totally sure about that yet.

Suncut - Thanks!

Black Spot - I agree. I've been thinking a lot lately about whether I like the smooth polished look that I've been doing and that I should make a conscious choice to leave a more textured, painted style. But I'll probably do some master studies first to figure how to tackle that approach exactly, and then I could use that painting as a guinea pig since it's already moving in that direction.

hücumkedi - Thanks!

Silwynar - Thank you, I'll try not to!

Wr00m - Thanks dude! ^^

Naidy - Thanks!

Elz - I'm glad to hear that; those are my favorite parts too!

dhilipsomesh - Thanks!



Sorry about the hiatus folks; I've been dealing with some kind of personal issues lately and haven't been as productive art-wise. I'm almost done with that one stained glass image, so here's that one for now. I plan to work some more on the veil, the glass, the color (especially on the skin), and the upper hand.

[Ninjac]

Cool work dierat. Your rendering is solid. Keep up on the anatomy and construction studies. Those always go along way. I enjoy your subject matter too. Looking forward to seeing more!

[miycko]

happy new year D.
man that rendering is exquisite, her fingers & bust look especially nice and the texture work on the stained glass is great unfortunately i got no advice on how to make it look more like glass i know stained glass doesn't get too bright but looks a bit too dark along the bottom & to the right, maybe make it slightly brighter in some places and maybe some rough/low opacity patches of blues & reds might help. hope you get those issues sorted out soon. all the best

[Black Spot]

Maybe a few clouds behind the glass might help with the illusion, but it's looking great so far.

[JellevdVegt]

hey! nice sketchbook! what school do you attend?

[dierat]

Ninjac - Thank you!

miycko - Thanks! I'll try to work on some of the changes you suggested for the glass. I appreciate the support and advice!

Black Spot - I think you're on the right track there; the glass needs to appear to be showing us what's on the other side and where the light is coming from. Will do some tinkering and see what I can do, thank you!

JellevdVegt - Thank you! For your question, I'm not attending any school; I'm teaching mahself at the moment.



Empty sketchbook is a sad sketchbook. D: Gotta get back on the wagon peeps!

To start off with, here's a happy little pumpkin.

[dierat]

Update on this one. Think I might just call it finished now.. I still wish the background image looked more like glass, but I don't necessarily mind it the way it is now, and I'd really like the move on to something else. Hm.

[Black Spot]

Lovely work as ever - it has an unreal quality about it due to none of the glass colour falling on her, but it kind of works.

[dierat]

Black Spot - Ah, that's a good point, thank you for mentioning that. I did work some of the background color into the highlights in the foreground, but it's probably far too subtle to give the feeling that the background image is actually changing the color of the light. I was also thinking that maybe I could add some really subtle sunbeam action to make that more obvious as well. Hmm..


For a while now, I've been thinking a lot about texture and brushes and what I can do to add more texture to my images while also trying to make them looked a little more painted. For instance in the pumpkin study in post #38, I was using some drybrush texture brushes I made, and I also did this Robert Henri study to try out those brushes and help me figure out how to use them.




And this was a study I did from a photo to try out a digital watercolor style that I want to use for a specific project. (Here's the photo I was working from.)

[dierat]

Here's a beer bottle I've been working on. I'm pretty blah about the bottle itself right now, but I like how the textured wall behind it came out.

[Emil_]

That last still life is really nice, great mix of textures.

[Rotor]

Thanks for dropping by my SB to give good critique!
Can't give much else than a pat on the back, you're doing great here. Love the work you did for the bottle. I'm not sure about the form without ref but the lighting looks very convincing.
Keep it up.

[dierat]

Thanks guys!


I haven't been focusing much on anatomy lately (sadly), but I'll post what I have.

Here are some construction studies.





These are gestures from photos. I had a slideshow running on my computer that switched every minute or so.










And these are doodles from imagination.

[Naidy]

Hello again, some really instersting studies in those last few posts, reminds me I need to do more studies myself.

Anyways, keep up the good work mate.

[Lang Oulk]

Hey there, i really like those studies! keep it up!

[Black Spot]

The top of the bottle and its shadow is great. I think the label isn't quite right. Very nice studies.

[Elz]

The stained glass image is beautiful, I love the skin and the cloth.
The still life is great too, do more of those!
Keep it up, I know personal problems hinder us all once in a while. ^^

[dierat]

Naidy & Lang Oulk - Thanks guys!

Black Spot - Thanks! I agree that the label's a bit weird, but I'm not totally sure what's wrong with it. It looks to me like it's not quite following the shape of the bottle somehow, but I dunno if it's the shape or the value that needs fixed. Hm..

Elz - Thank you! I'll try to keep up the still life habit; they're so cool but I'm soo slow I should probably use the still lifes as a practice in speed actually.


Some more construction-y studies. Most of the proportions are weird and the gestures are wonky and I really need to do feet studies, but I think I'm making progress. Right now I'm mostly focusing on the relationship between the torso and pelvis and how to replicate the curvy, organic shape of the female torso.




This was a study I kinda started and then never got back to. This is the photo I was working from.


These are some wips from a painting I started a while back. It's about a faerie that's gotten trapped in a web on a window sill and can't find its way out. I keep choosing a pose and then deciding I don't like it and choosing a different one. Now that I'm looking at these after so long, I think I like the 2nd one best, so I might go back to that one instead of the 3rd one.

[Black Spot]

Nice. I look forward to seeing it progress.

[dierat]

Black Spot - Thanks!


I touched the beer bottle up a bit. The label's still weird; I think the perspective's off, but I'm calling it done seeing as it's just a study anyway.

[Black Spot]

Love the shadow on the wall with the reflected light.

[in2eternity]

I like a lot your works here, it's sad you don't post them more often! You have great sence of space

[Mr.Pryminista]

Big fan of post #39. How long did it take you do this? Looks like you devoted a lot of time, which is very good. Good art takes time.

Keep the anatomy studies coming. Watch for proportions (they are key!). Your proportions look pretty good but there are stuff thats off. Just keep practicing. Thinking and drawings in terms of shapes instead of the constructive approach will help A LOT with proportions. This is not to say that silhouette approach is better than constructive. Both are useful and should be integrated, but doing shape first, then constructive later, will help A LOT.

Anyways, keep rocking!

[tobbA]

Hey. Very nice SB and that last still life looks great. Could use some more detail on the label and stuff but I'm sure that's coming later

[dierat]

Black Spot - Thanks!

in2eternity - Thank you, and I wish I posted more often too! D:

Mr.Pryminista - Thanks man, that piece took a long time; not taking enough time is definitely not my problem, hehe. Yeah, I used to focus almost entirely on the contour and silhouette of the figure, and I'm finally breaking out of that and learning to see the figure in three-dimensional shapes. But in these drawings, I'm focusing so much on how these shapes fit together that I don't really pay attention to the overall proportions. So I guess I need to get better at planning and marking the length of the figure before moving into the construction, I think. Thanks for the crit! ^^

tobbA - Yeah, I always get bored and wuss out on details like labels and such D: I'll try to put more effort into those areas in the future, thanks!


Eh, haven't been drawing much lately but I'll post what I have.

This is the still life I'm working on at the moment.




Some deer from life.


Perspective doodling.





Moar constructiony stuff. Mostly focusing on the torso, hips, and back.

[The Whistler]

You do know I am so jealous of your extreme rendering possibilities, right? That beer bottle has so much win in it, I can't even begin to explain. I see you've been working on some studies too, something I should do to. I'd give you some crits, but you already seem to be doing what you're supposed to

Cheers!

[BludHund]

Love the construction work.

Try to keep your lines clean. One line = one thought.

Keep it up!

[Black Spot]

Nice constructions. I'm learning that type of thing as well.