Hayden's Sketchbook. (Newbie to 2D art)

[Hayden Zammit]

ArtemisDragon - Thanks for the comment, and the tips on figure drawing. It made sense. I really extra when it comes to figures that are standing relatively straight up.I find it hard to find any lines of movement to follow.

[kevin_]

great studies and practices, keep pushing them out and posting!

[Hayden Zammit]

kevin_ - Thanks, and will do.

Update of stuff over the last few days.

[Hayden Zammit]

So far, apart from 3D, drawing gestures with markers has got to be the most enjoyable art thing I've tried. These are all 30 seconds or something, from that quickposes site. It keeps track of how many you do, and lets you know when you've done 15 hours worth, so I'm making it part of my daily routine.

[Hayden Zammit]

One more for today. It's from Serenity. Gonna watch some UFC and see if I can find any cool gestures to draw while I'm at it.

[Hayden Zammit]

Movie still speed painting from today. Trying to focus on value and threw in some color at the end. It's supposed to be Joker from the Dark Knight.

[Hayden Zammit]

Gesture challenge thing for this morning. I don't really know if they're any good or whether they are a good way to practice gesture drawing, but I'm having fun doing them.

Gonna do them every morning before heading off to my crappy day job.

[Hayden Zammit]

After-work gesture practice--all sitting poses. Also a sketch I was working on of some female warrior.

[Hayden_Zammit]

Gestures before work.

[Pedro Ferreira]

improving a lot! for me,what helped me get better at rendering was doing studies with different lighting/ambiance.
also try to get your brush flow between 30/40.I find it more practical.

[Xeon_OND]

I love the marker-style gestures! More of those!

[Hayden_Zammit]

pgf95 - Thanks for the tip. I plan to start really getting into lighting studies soon and setting up some still lifes.

XEON - Yeah, I'm going to make them part of my routine. I really enjoy doing them.

[Hayden_Zammit]

Head construction drawings from the last few days. Still suck at them, but I think I improved a little bit towards the end.

[Hayden_Zammit]

Gestures and sketches and studies. Trying to learn how to do more dynamic poses.

[Hayden_Zammit]

Used some charcoal at life drawing for the first time. I'd tried that compressed charcoal before and hated how it felt and how it couldn't be erased well. It sucked, but the normal charcoal is way nicer to draw with. Going to start using it all the time from now on.

[AbsorbenGhost]

man these are epic ,loving the line work.

[Hayden_Zammit]

Some drawing practice from today. first side head is from imagination and I used a second for the reference. I need to draw from ref more.

And another screen grab study.

[Hayden_Zammit]

some sketches from the last day or so.

[Hayden_Zammit]

A study from tonight. It's supposed to be Ryan Gosling, from the movie Drive among others. Took about 1.5 hours. Couldn't really nail a likeness.

Comparing this to all of my earlier efforts has me thinking that I'm slowly getting better though.

I thought if I wanted to get good at 2D then I'd have to focus solely on it for a while, to make up for all the years that I never drew or painted or whatever.

To this end, I've neglected my writing somewhat, and my 3D almost completely. I can't decide if I miss 3D though, and that kinda unsettles me. I'm going to go and model something new or finish off an old 3D project soon to see if I still love it--and can actually still do it.

Don't know why I'm ranting here, but oh well.

Get to do some more on my Jon Snow oil painting tomorrow as well.

[Hayden_Zammit]

Practicing more portrait painting from reference, this time one of actress Zhang Ziyi. I tried to draw her once, when I first started to draw not long ago and it was a total disaster. This one at least has a bit of her likeness, so I'm motivated to do more of these.It took me ages tho. Close to 3 hours or something.

[Hayden_Zammit]

My second go at life drawing with charcoal. Liking it more than pencils. Also some more progress on my Jon Snow painting. Not good progress though. I think it's gotten worse.

[Hayden_Zammit]

update

[Hayden_Zammit]

Supposed to be Jesse Pinkman, a character in the show Breaking Bad.

[aks9]

nice work on the gestures

a tip for the other figures,
slow down when rendering the shadows on your figures. theyre quite messy and seem a little frustrated, if you take a breather and block in the shadows and shade them in simply and neatly, itll help you understand the form better and you might enjoy it more too

[aks9]

nice work on the gestures

a tip for the other figures,
slow down when rendering the shadows on your figures. theyre quite messy and seem a little frustrated, if you take a breather and block in the shadows and shade them in simply and neatly, itll help you understand the form better and you might enjoy it more too

[Hayden_Zammit]

aks9 - Thanks for the tips. I'll slow down when rendering. I can't deny that it does frustrate me and that I do try to rush things. Thanks.

Anyway here's a quick sketch from last night. Didn't come out all that good.

[Hayden_Zammit]

Bought a charcoal set for life drawing today. Had a quick go before bed, while sitting on my bed. Bed has charcoal all over it now.

Just realizing now the nose is way too small.

[Psychobuddy]

Hey dude, good work so far. Keep doing those studies, they're really helping. In you're digital studies, try to introduce some more hard edges, it'll really help to introduce a sense of form.

[Kvetch]

Hi mate, I really like all these gesture studies. The markers are great.

If you haven't already, you might want to start using the gesture studies as an opportunity to practice using other artists abstractions. I wish I'd started doing that sooner... eg. do a study from an old master sketch, just investigating how that particular artist simplified a particular body part, then use that simplification in your next set of gestures. After that, it'll always be in your mental library ready to use when you need to get a particular shape down quickly.

[Hayden_Zammit]

Psychobuddy - Thanks pal. I'll try to work on the edges.

Kvetch - Thanks for the tips. I think I get what you mean. I'll give it a go.