Improvement happening... gradually.

[Nelka]

Hello internet! Welcome to my sketchbook. Not much to say here except I really need to start a good fire under my bottom and get into gear with my art stuff.

I'm a design student by day (and night, and pre-deadline morning hours), and I really have some serious problems with my illustration direction. Here's some of my stuff done this year. Some were for uni projects so they're kinda lame. The linearts are for practice with a cartoony style, but I generally don't like to use it so much. I'm planning on making a painting out of the last uploaded image, so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks and enjoy.

[Nelka]

Some anatomy studies and characterisation exercises from observation and imagination. The observation ones were fun to do, basically just spent five minutes on each trying to capture the essence of people in my class. Some came out rather successfully imo.

[Falchion]

Wow, nice lines! Keep it up!

[Icedearth15876]

Very good stuff so far, your anatomy is good but needs practice (all of us need it no worries there)... Drawing the human figure looks like it comes naturally to you in my opinion as well as you have drawn it in some of your pictures. Keep up the good work i look forward to seeing more.

[InFlame]

hey Nelka,

welcome to CA.org!

great start of a sketchbook, nice style. I like those straight and clear lines like in post #1.

keep posting, I'm looking forward for more!

cheers,
Rebecca

[Nelka]

Thank you for the feedback! I'm currently trying to learn how to paint, and actually finish something properly.
I don't want to spam two of the same drawings on different threads, so if anyone runs across this please gimmie some harsh crits on this thread:

WIP Thread

[Star Eater]

Wow, nice clean line work! Impressive.

Heh, do you smoke Luckies?

[Nelka]

Hey, been a while since my last update. I got an internship job for the rest of the holidays, and funny enough now that I have less time - I end up making more work! Hurray for productivity.
So here's some stuff I've been starting on. The first is a concept sketch for a potential painting I want to do, preferably in a raw and rough style. Second is what started as a sketch of a sniper lady, but I got so into the anatomical detail that I haven't taken it that far yet. The reference used for it was from various anatomy sources, so I'd like to hear some feedback on it and see if it's getting anywhere, I am having particular problems with adding the rifle to it (50cal Barret).
I thought I'd give vector illustration a go for the third one, so I'll still be working on that for a while (plus adding backgrounds.)
And the final one is a sketch based over a paintover for a friend, who has now allowed me to go crazy with the lineart so he can colour it.

Any feedback and advice, as always, will be greatly appreciated.

[kiwigarbage]

Hi there, a design student eh? Post up some of your design stuff too, everything is valuable in the learning process. And it will be helpful for us to see what your repertoire is.

As you'll hear and hear again, work on anatomy from life drawing, study from other artists.

And let yourself be creative with your characters! Pretend that you have to design a composition by the way that their pose interacts with the picture plane.

Let your design background be your strength.

Carry on!

[Nelka]

Thanks Kiwi, I will post some design stuff in the design section maybe. I generally keep that stuff on devart.

Update - the beginning base sketch for the collab project I'm doing with Scott Harris (Crit Here), and my first attempt at using Painter, which turns out is a veeeery nifty program indeed, but still so confusing. The hand was done from life, so I figure it makes better exercise than doing something from a photo.

C&C welcome, I really need a direction to go into.

[kiwigarbage]

That's great that you're drawing from life! Drawing from photos will teach you to draw things flat and skewed

A few things are happening with your girl: Not enough hip space, if you follow the outer line of her left leg, it disappears in a weird spot where her body would not be, judging by her torso line. Her left hand is at a pretty impossible angle (try to do that with your hand @-@) Her neck and head are out of place, they don't follow the spine. So her neck would almost be coming out of her right shoulder! There are several issues with her face...

If you have time, I would suggest a redraw with a reference But it's an interesting sketch nonetheless!

Keep on keepin on

[ScottHarris]

I really like the hand done in painter. As for our character, perhaps we should try and approach that piece with less of a sketch and more of a silhouette to refine the overall composition and positioning of her body parts? What do you think?

[Nelka]

Thank you Kiwi, I agree that reworking from some reference might suit it better. I have pics Scott took of trying to get the pose, so i'll have a look at that again.

And yes Scott, I'll get on that, unless you want to do it.

To update, I have started a design thread on here as well, as suggested by Kiwi, which can be found here.
More sketches coming soon.

[Nelka]

I discovered posemaniacs today! Can't believe it took me this long. So here are some crappy gestural sketches I did at work on the 60second setting for.. maybe an hour? I dunno.
I must say it's changed how I look at poses and figures completely, really a very nifty exercise that I plan on doing daily (if not twice daily) until sometime next week just to get myself more familiar with gesture.
Check it out, even in the hour alone there is improvement from the top left side of the first one to the second one.

[Ultarant]

Nice line art! Your current work with painting in shades is looking good too.

I recommend painting some still life or figures with a very clearly defined and stark light source. That has helped me learn a lot about how to shade and define form effectively.

I look forward to seeing more.

[kiwigarbage]

Hey there! Posemaniacs is great isn't it?

I recommend trying to say more with less -try not to "scratch" the line, rather, feel it out gently

Keep goin!

[Brendan N]

Tuks?

Nice stuff - too rarely see design students delve into the more classic visual arts. Many things within illustration on which designers could pick up. Had a peek at your design thread too - I'll see if I can get round to a decent crit sometime - but whilst the work is well executed, it does not quite have that punch on which good design typically relies. Maybe I'm just a little jaded and snobbish.

kiwi makes a good comment about your line work: don't rush it, keep a good pace. Don't become good at drawing fast, become fast at good drawing.

Quite like what I presume to be the self portrait of the lady with the wacom in front of her pc in your first post. Don't quite like the very straight lines on the keyboard, monitor and lucky strikes; Colours are looking good - be bolder though. Really punch those reds and the blue glow of the screen.

nice stuff; keep it up>

[K-Os]

sad expressions. sad expressions everywhere.

learn how to smile, otherwise, nice stuff.

[AeonPhoenix]

One of my friends has told me that he usually takes 10 or 15 minutes to draw some quick gestures before beginning his work, and he finds that it loosens his hand up quite a bit. Just saying. Some fine stuff here. Try to do your best to draw from life, if you have a moment in the day where you can do a quick sketch of a person or an object do it. It'll help increase your speed. Also don't rush as people have said. Everyone starts out slow in the beginning, but you have to discipline yourself to draw with control. The rest will come with practice.

You're off to a good start, though. Don't get discouraged, and have fun. :3 I look forward to seeing what else you can draw. Drop by my SB sometime as well. Crit me like CRAZY

[Nelka]

Whew, after a 2-week personal hiatus, im back!

Ultarant: Thank you! What I'm doing with these gestural things is getting a grip on some line. The shading and such I will follow through with in charcoal maybe, as a future exercise.
Kiwigarbage: Great to have you checking in! I'm terrible with the scratchyness with traditional stuff, got this thing with shakey hands. You should have seen how much worse it used to look before, but I'll get there!
Brendan: I used to take forever on stuff, then throw it away or delete it from frustration. What I'm doing with this rushing thing is trying to teach myself to loosen up a little - it's not really something im gonna pursue through all my work..
PS: Like I mentioned, needed a fresh start, but seen you on here before - glad to see you're still posting ^_^
K-OS: Yeah you're right, never really thought about that. I'll try do something more lighthearted
AeonPhoenix: Thanks for checking it out, I'll definitely be stopping by your book! I usually love doing life drawing, but I don't leave the house much when I'm on holiday. You'll definitely see more of that after next week when class is back

Anyway, here's more gestural stuff to get me into it again (Also a sketch of my foot I did on impulse). I know it's repetitive sorry.

[Nelka]

These are slightly longer poses (maybe 5-10 minutes), plus an "illustration" of sorts I did using the random pose generator. Thought I'd share with you guys that I do occasionally try do a bit more than quick studies

[Samszym]

Nice work! the posemaniacs gestures are really nice. You might want to try out this instead of posemaniacs, it uses real people. I like your lines, but I feel like those are way too clean for gestures. Not that gestures need to look a particular way, but the point of them is to capture the energy and essence of the pose, not describe the outline. You might want to try seeing the forms of the body as basic 3D shapes instead of lines, rib cage is like an egg, legs are cylinders and all that. Keep it up!

[Nelka]

Thanks Vertical, thats an extremely nifty link, I'll definitely be using that a lot! O_O
I get what you mean by the basic 3D shapes, I actually use them very lightly sometimes, other times I just draw curves. But I'll try some faster pose shuffles and get some of those down too.

Anyway, here's a crappy attempt at a self portrait sketch using a mirror way too small for the job hence completely horrible on the proportions (can only see one half of my face at a time). Also I left it incomplete, was getting too hung up on stuff, and now I'm just plain sick of it.
Slight resemblance though, improvement on previous ones. I'm gonna make another one.
Oh, also, I caught my sketchbook on the most awesome view count! Screenshot for great justice!!!

[Brendan N]

Brendan: I used to take forever on stuff, then throw it away or delete it from frustration. What I'm doing with this rushing thing is trying to teach myself to loosen up a little - it's not really something im gonna pursue through all my work..
PS: Like I mentioned, needed a fresh start, but seen you on here before - glad to see you're still posting ^_^

I always do the following when trying to loosen up without the aid of whiskey: keep your wrist off the page as much as possible; use a ballpoint pen - it'll make you forget about an eraser all together and it usually moves nicely across the page; once you put the pen down, you don't lift it until the drawing is done. You'll get a lot of funky 1 line drawings but it's a great exercise for both loosening up and forcing yourself to take your time all at once. Becuase you're not allowed to lift the pen, you'll find yourself considering your next step much more. It'll also get rid of all the scratchiness and improve general quality. Try it!

Yeah I've been around here for a few years and for some reason I haven't been banned yet. Odd, considering my average lounge post. Drop by my sketchbook when you have a chance>

cheers

[AeonPhoenix]

I have to agree with Vertical. Posemaniacs is good for quick gestures, but if you want to get better at anatomy that generator Vertical linked is pretty sweet.

[kiwigarbage]

Hi Nelka!

Stuff is looking good

It's easy to make weird colors in digital work...Maybe it would be best to do some color studies before trying to go into a portrait. And when you're doing a face, proportion and placement is everything. We focus on faces exclusively when talking, so everyone can spot something out of place. Take your time to map everything out correctly before committing to the piece!

[Nelka]

Attempt number 2. A bit of an improvement I think, a bit more resemblance, but I'm still terrible at this. Mirror reference, again. I think im gonna do some colour studies, like kiwi said.
Edit: I know you're not supposed to have dark rings around the iris, but mine are pretty prominent. Think it's probably my one defining feature

[AeonPhoenix]

Your second attempt is much better. Keep it up !

[Nelka]

Hello CA! My uploads have been very sporadic since uni started up again, but here is a quick update. The first two uploads are quick sketches I did for fun, and the other two were for a project. The idea was to illustrate two songs by a band, so I chose Russian Circles and did their songs "Campaign" and "Xavii". Good music.

The first song to me made me think of sleepless nights, so I tried to show the idea of insomnia through mild hallucination and weird colours. The second links in with that, and follows on the idea of waking from a dream, and being in that semi-concious state where reality isn't quite actualized yet. I was on a very tight deadline though, and unfortunately couldn't fix the composition and other mistakes in time. =(

These uploads are somewhat different from what I usually do - I've been trying to experiment. Now that I have the stylized and graphical kind of drawing out of my system I'm gonna try get some more painting done. Hopefully university won't bog me down and my next upload doesn't take this long.

[spiralpen]

your style really is amazing in this last one :o