Kode's Sketchbook

[nouge]

Great sketchbook! You've improved so much.

[black-swan]

you're doing so well, great improvement from start to finish- the life drawings are especially good as are the landscapes. I'm glad you've kept drawing the cubes too.

One thing I would say is to focus on your strokes a bit more when trying to render shadows, try to make smoother transitions from dark to light. Also, try reading up on anatomy to enhance your understanding and hopefully push your life drawings further, a good book is J.H Vanderpoel's 'The Human Figure', get the 1922 edition for the best illustrations.

I think you're doing so well, The spartan was a good change of pace for you too, keep up the good work

[Kode]

@black-swan Thank you for the crit! The value control is something I really need to work on, more so with the charcoal I'd say personally (Tried in this weeks class). As for the anatomy, I honestly thought that was my strongest area, but after you pointed it out and then I bombed in the life drawing class it really shows how little I know. More studies and thanks again!

Some more general studies plus my life drawing picture which imo is such as step back. I tried to control my values better but completely lost most of the structure, especially in the arm. The proportions are also off and so is the anatomny. Might jump up to A2 size to make using charcoal easier, keep the A3 size for pencil work. Bring on next week, I must do better!

[xNatje]

Don't be afraid to use darker pencils and making more contrast.
I really like what you do in your charcoal drawings.

[Kode]

@xNatje Thank you for the advice, I've started to use the darkest pencil I have available, hopefully there will be some improvement. If it's still too light I'll have to buy a charcoal pencil or something.

Gone back to basics a bit for now. Jumped back into the Bridgman and focused on the structure mainly during life drawing. This weeks self portrait I also felt was off somewhere along the right side, like the cheek or mouth areas wasnt drawn correctly, I'd say the eyes are an improvement though.

[Kode]

More of the usual studies! Happy with some how some things turned out, like the cubes and hand sketches. Not happy with others, like the portrait (Same problems damn it!) and the life drawing.

[Kode]

Life drawing this week threw me an unexpected opportunity. The model was finding the pose difficult so he switched his position which gave me the opportunity to try life drawing at a quicker speed than I was use to as we only had 40 minutes left. Didn't get to finish the other image to the level I wanted to but oh well!

[nouge]

Your pencils drawings are sharper than ever! Real good lines and shading.

[Kode]

@nouge Thank you! I have noticed an improvement too but I still have a way to go before I'm satisfied with the quality. One step at a time!

More general studies.
Once again after life drawing I looked at my picture in a mirror and noticed her arm looked like some stick-thin fake arm. Ignorance is bliss and I can see why but i guess it's much better that I see my mistakes.
Plenty of drawings from the train station too as the trains don't seem to be working...

[Kode]

Crashed and burned in life drawing. Completely ruined the lower half in pretty much every imaginable, to the point I'm almost embarrassed to show it! Someone at the class said I was probably standing too close, which would explain the difficulty I had with the lower half, and with feet in general on standing models. Someone else pointed out the problems with the lower half, but I couldnt really notice them until I got home. Is it okay to take a small mirror with me? I'd spot the mistakes within seconds if I could do that.

Ditched doing full portraits for a while too, I'll be sticking with smaller, quicker sketches while I get to grips with the entire form the face, instead of just the same few poses.

C&C also welcome!

[nouge]

Bring a mirror if you want, as "there are no rules, only tools"! With your portraits, keep an eye on the nose length and the mouth width. Nose should be shorter in some cases, and mouth wider.

[Kode]

@nouge The noses and mouths! I went back and had a look at my previous faces and the majority of them suffer from either a long nose or small mouth, or both! Definitely opened my eyes, thank you!

Started a couple of things this week that I couldn't quite finish due to work. Also took a mirror with me to my drawing class, no nasty surprises this time, i managed to correct most of the mistakes I could see. The same model did a similar pose a few months back, giving me slight deja vu. Hopefully improvements can be seen between the two.

[Kode]

Finished off the digital still-life I started last week, plus more of the usual studies.
I'm also really pleased with my image from life-drawing, I can spot a few things i'd like to change/work on but overall I am happy with it.

[chevy28360]

Great studies. Your line work is progressing really well. Getting good in pencil is a great way to get a handle on value's and form. You are definitely on the right track! Keep it up!

[tylerfontes]

just started a new sketchbook forum today. input is most greatly apreciated
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...tes-Sketchbook

[Kode]

@chevy28360 Thanks for the compliments, I really appreciate it!

Gone back to Loomis for help with head construction, hopefully some of it will carry over to my self-portraits!

[Kode]

Had a bit of free time over the Christmas holiday so I had a go at some sculpting. I wanted to create a small, simple head for something to study and draw, and hopefully use as reference if it was good enough. Never really done anything like this before so they're are some improvements to be made, like the symmetry isn't perfect on the ears. My next attempt should be better quality with more details.

Not had a chance yet to draw it.

[Kode]

This week a friend asked me to do a small illustration for him. I took this as an opportunity to try out everything I've learned!
I started out with small thumbs, very quick and rough to figure out the pose I wanted (did these during work ) and when I got home i worked a few of them up into a more tighter drawing, I searched out some reference and other things to help. Up until this point I was very happy with it.
When it came to finishing off the drawing I lost some of the character of the original sketch. Fudging the colour also didn't help in the final either. Adding an helmet also caused some massive problems, I could not get it to look right.

[Kode]

Havnt been to life drawing for over a month (due to Christmas & work) but this weeks piece i think is decent, clearly all the studies I've been doing have stuck around somewhere in my head!

*Crappy scanning *

[nouge]

You've got a knack for breaking shapes down into planes. Very nice, it'll make painting a breeze!

[Kode]

@nouge Cheers! Almost got everything needed to try oil painting soon, hopefully it wont be as hard as I imagine.

Life drawing this week felt like an epic battle between me and a leviathan. The guys legs and feet being the leviathan. I made them too long, odd shapes, then the problem of being potentially too close to the model popped up. Luckily I had a mirror at hand so I could see all these mistakes and i think i've managed to do a decent picture, even if the legs look unfinished compared to the upper half.

Must study some legs me thinks!

[black-swan]

Hey man, looks like you're doing well. Good job with the vanderpoel studies, I'm glad you got the book.

With some of your still lives the reflected light is too high in value, all the tones on the dark side of the figure/ object, including the reflected lights, should be darker than anything on the light side. Watch your edges, on your figures in life drawing your tend to outline your figures with a dark, hard edge. Edges tend to vary from hard to soft, sometimes lost to the background, experiment with different edges. Maybe even try a quick blind contour drawing before you begin, just 5 minutes or so (look at the model, fix your eye on a point, put pencil to paper imagining the pencil is touching that point and then follow the contour- without looking at the paper) it might improve your line sensitivity.

Also, have a think about giving acrylics a try. It's good to practice with different mediums, and experiment to find out what works for you.

You're doing really well, I hope you keep going to life drawing and keep doing self portraits too. Keep up the good work

[Kode]

@black-swan Hey Black, I appreciate the C&C. Your comments about the reflected light and edges are 100% true, now that your words are sitting in the back of my head I can keep an eye on them and hopefully improve. As for painting I'm going to be trying some oil painting soon. Cheers!

More head studies etc. I honestly don't think Loomis' technique is working for me... it just isn't clicking.

[iven]

If you ever get bored of life drawing, pOp in my sketchbook.
I see what I should do when I skip through here,......

[Kode]

Head sculpture, cubes and some Vanderpoel.

[Kode]

Attempted my first oil painting last weekend. At first I was just going to throw some paint onto the canvas but I eventually decide to try painting one of my cubes, also kept to using 2 paints for simplicity and I am glad I did because there is SO MUCH to learn!

[Kode]

Still drawing! Work is making it hard to go life drawing though...

More drawings from the Vanderpoel book.

[black-swan]

Some nice vanderpoel studies, strong shapes. Keep drawing from life as much as possible and keep experimenting in oils, it's worth it to keep going, it won't take long to get a handle on the medium

[Kode]

@black-swan Cheers for posting! I've been trying to update the thread for a while but I've been having trouble posting. My second attempt at oils was much better, knew what i was getting into this time around, quite happy with the final despite some obvious drawing flaws (like the shadow perspective!)

And more of the usual Vanderpoel.

[Kode]

My rubber is MIA at the moment so I've been spending a bit more time with photoshop.