Umbravita's Little Thread of Progress

[Umbravita]

So er I said "from imagination" HAHAWHOOPS.

Still life WIP. I blame my teacher, who's made me fall in love with what I used to think was the dullest subject that ever graced art. I just find colour and tone so fascinating. I'll finish it later. One hour, so far.

The purple thing is one of those things that hangs off a doorhandle, the silver thing is a timer and the yellow thing is a... thing. It's a stuffed... thing... my brother has, with a big smiley face on it, and when you press it, it cackles. I love the little fucker, because whenever I see it I can't help but smile.

[p sage]

Not much to say about wips.

One thing to say though is that your value relationships are pretty static. The yellow figure and whitish figure have about the same value. If you squint, they seem to meld together.

Color theory is difficult to come by, but I believe it isn't as hard as learning depth sense (perspective). Once you have that, you have almost all drawing/painting problems licked. Then the big slice that is left is color theory. Light/shadow and edge control are relatively easy in comparison.

[Umbravita]

Yeah, I need to sit down and actually finish something. I attack something for a few hours then just... lose interest. The only time I feel motivated is when I'm at my weekly class.

But that's a discipline problem, not an excuse. The only solution is butt in chair.

Thank you, p sage.

---

Something from class. I'm honestly surprised by how (relatively) well this turned out. The pear was a nightmare, but the lemon came out surprisingly well and everyone liked the orange for some reason, ha. From the other side of the room, the lemon seemed to pop out. Looks better in person, naturally.

Still, lots of room for improvement.

Done with acrylics.

ETA: And look, proof I'm working on something! I'll finish it tomorrow but I'm going to head to bed now.

[Umbravita]

Finished Mordin.

Uh. Well. I know that objectively I have a lot of room for improvement, but HOLY JUMP IN ABILITY, BATMAN.

Just watch, my next ten million paintings are going to suck to make up for it.

[Black Spot]

That's what drawing from life does to you, well any kind of drawing. The more you do, the better you'll get. Your class sounds like it's working for you. Also sleeping too much is as bad as not getting enough; it just makes you feel more tired.

[Umbravita]

Black Spot -- I've been making myself stay awake all day and it seems to be doing the trick. Still off colour from time to time but mostly better, I think.

---

Still life from class. Had a bad day. Having lots of bad days, in all senses of the phrase, but meh, I'll bounce back.

[Aaron_]

Very nice digital paintings.

The watercolors are coming along. Just gotta do more you know. Sometimes, you can add a few ink lines or even pencil lines in the paintings. It tends to give them a touch more solidity. But yeah, just experiment and see how you like it best.

[anivy]

Hey thanks for stopping by my sb! You have a really good sketchbook here, you've been practicing a lot and it really shows - there's a lot of progress from the beginning pages. I think just keep doing the studies, from photos or real life, and keep posting!

[AriyaLothiriell]

Thanks for stopping by at my sketchbook!

You also have a great line of studies here. I like them all but I think you could use more dark shadows to get better values. Try it!

[Valyavande]

Looooooooong time no see Umbravita! How are you doing? Seems like I missed a lot around here!
Makes me happy to read that you became fascinated in colour and tone. That's the best thing that can happen, even if it still is difficult. But there's so much stuff to explore, we should keep our minds and eyes open! =) Good to see too, that you don't forget about your own stuff. Fun is an important part too. But studies are just the best thing to learn. It's cool that you do your still lives in water colour and digital paint!

[Umbravita]

Aaron_: Thank you! Yeah, I've been playing around with adding some 8B lines to some of my paintings, sometimes.

anivy: Wow, thank you!

AriyaLothiriell: Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

Valyavande: Oh hey, it has been a while! Thanks. I just find it interesting to see things like colour reflection, how dark tone can go, etc.

---

These are just doodles. Some blind contours (hahaha), and some other doodles. I drew them upside down, had the references upside down too, but put them here right-side-up. Trying to get myself to truly look at the reference rather than rely on what I think I know.


Anyway, feeling unmotivated as shit, have done so for weeks, and I'm so damn tired of it. I pretty much had to make myself do these. I feel depressed, and from the moment I pick up a pencil or pen or do anything, it feels like I'm being screamed at to stop, stop, stop, it never lets up, I can't just enjoy it, I just want to curl up and pretend nothing exists.

Yeah, that sounds angsty. I'm hoping making myself work on something will kick it, but it's hit or miss. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it just makes me hate everything. Sometimes I just don't want to get out of bed.

Gotta love depression.

[p sage]

RE: Depression with art...

Check this guys vids

http://www.youtube.com/user/moatddtu...&view=0&page=1

Go back to the first several vids and watch them in sequence. Very educational, and a different approach.

I think with more understanding you will gain your passion back, and that voice that's yelling "stop" will start saying "keep going!"

[CountBlackula]

I like your work. And I'm very sorry to hear about your depression. Sometimes we can't do this alone. Have you talked to your doctor about this?

[Black Spot]

Sorry, I didn't realise it was depression, that's the pits. You need to get the meds sorted out. At least you managed to do some work.

[kamikazel33t]

Hey thanks a lot for looking and dropping a comment on my sketchbook. I just wanted to say that I've gone down that road before and that drawing actually saved me, For the whole time I practically ignored reality, I just brought up my sketchpad and just started drawing anything there were no means to an end for what I draw, I was just letting everything come out, no rules nothing.

If you are feeling depression, stress and anxiety when you are drawing and nothing comes out right, I should say you should not worry we all go through "The Valley of The Suck". I was actually really lucky to come across this video while it was directed to sculptors it really inspired me to keep on drawing.

[Eikoae]

Hi! I wanted to pop in and check out your sketchbook. I think that you're doing REALLY great. I'm seeing a lot of movement and expression in your beginning posts, and I like that you're pushing towards learning anatomy. I do agree with some other people that trying to learn anatomy while you're still trying to push through structure and proportion can be very frustrating. I know the feeling, though. I'm often wanting to draw a perfectly sculpted figure because I come up with these ideas in my head that I want to automatically translate to paper. However, if you put too much focus on everything (i.e. Okay, i need to get the proportions right, and then I want to get in a good expression, and then some corded muscles.. OH! and what's the action going to be... and what will be they be wearing... etc, etc) you can start to see how it puts WAY too much pressure on you and your brain might want to shut down because it's overwhelmed. I think it's really good to focus on smaller things and work your way up. With this, the fundamentals are the best because you can build anything you want off them. Do gestures, lots and lots and lots of them because it trains your eye to see the entire figure and relative proportions. Then if you draw one you really like, take it and enlarge it as a new drawing to try and figure out how the form will lay on top of it. Then, eventually add anatomy to define the form. Just take it one step at a time! I have to go back and do this, too, so let's help each other out, ok? Don't give up!! Everyone goes through this stage, and if you keep at it, you'll get through it I promise.

[Heyriel]

Great stuff all 'round! I really like the colors in your traditional pieces and the upside-down drawing is a really good idea -as for the depression thingy; Maybe it'd be best to just focus on something else for a while? Sometimes pushing yourself into something only makes it worse ;/

[wolfnooM]

Hi there, I saw your work, defenithly shows improvment, one thing that help me a lot is try to see what I´m drawing in 3D, and then I try to draw as if I´m sculping, and I think drawing from life is great be cause is more easy to sense the objects in 3D, these are just Ideas, keep it up.

[Umbravita]

Oh man. Thanks for all the encouraging comments and support. It really helped cheer me up.

p sage: Thanks for the vids, I've watched a few of them already.

CountBlackula: It's actually pretty mild, considering. Usually when my depressive episodes hit they're... really, really nasty. I have meds and usually I only need to take half the dose, but I've upped it to the full dose for a bit.

Black Spot: I have my meds. Usually they're enough that I'm not only not depressed, but actually quite cheerful until something sets me off, but even then it usually only lasts a few hours, not a few weeks. :/ I'm glad I have them though. Thanks.

kamikazel33t: That's a great video, it really cheered me up when I watched it last night. Thank you.

Eikoae: Hey, thanks for all that advice. I've been avoiding the structure/volume grind because I find it dull, but that's just procrastination, and I need to do it.

Heyriel: Yeah, I know the feeling. Mine can be hit or miss -- sometimes pushing myself does get myself out of it, sometimes it just makes it figuratively park its arse down and glare at me until I just let it do whatever it wants.

Noomwolf: Thanks! Getting a sense for the 3D form really does help make things come out better, otherwise features tend to float around. It's something I need to practice more.

---

No class today. Usually I go to bed at midnight and get up at 6.30AM, but last night sleep did not come. At all. I didn't go to bed until 7AM, at which point I slept for four hours. I... hope my sleep's not going batshit again. We'll see.

A couple of value studies, 20 min speedpaints. Not happy with either of them, Mulder's features are floating around a bit and Scully looks just plain miserable instead of thoughtful, buuuut that's what more practice is for.

[kamikazel33t]

I like that you are doing greyscale studies, I am not to familiar with painting so I am wondering if you are doing under drawings for the painting because what I can suggest is that you can apply the head construction method you have been studying before and that way the facial features won't float around too much . For Sculley not giving the right expression, you have to really look at it. Every crease and fold in the expression counts, from what I can see the creases formed at the corner of the lips to the corner of the nose have not been emphasized perhaps that could possible be why it is not giving the correct expression? Anyway glad to see you are drawing keep doing more, as always, the more you put in the more you get so take enjoyment in what you do! You don't have to be tense about not getting there when you look at your drawings, you are always progressing forward and you should take enjoyment in your journey to progress as art is just a journey of improvement since you are always learning.

[anivy]

ooh, bw studies excellent! these are supposed to really help to teach us to show depth in our images. I really really ought to do these too. Yours are looking really good, they are very atmospheric. Don't worry too much about getting the expressions down perfect, just keep doing them loose and you will get better and better at it.

Hope you're feeling better btw!

[Black Spot]

I recognised Mulder straight off, not too sure about Scully; her face is a bit squashed together. Put those practise shapes into the faces.

[kevin_]

think there is really some progress happening in this sb, your studies are looking good! keep it up!

[Umbravita]

Kamikazel33t: *Facepalm* Construction! D'oh! People keep telling me to remember my bloody construction, but I never do. D: Thanks!

Anivy: Thanks! And yes, it's really helping me to get some black and white studies down.

Black Spot: Willdo!

kevin_: Thank you!

---

Depression's still acting up (IDK why, it's November, usually spring makes it better) but I got butt in chair and did some gestures. Sometimes, the hardest part is just starting. Once I started it wasn't so bad.

Did a few box people too.

No class again today. Didn't sleep last night so I didn't go in.

[Umbravita]

Skyrim sketches. The ever-so-friendly Irileth (aww, I love her anyway) and Haven, my Dragonborn/Champion/Nerevarine.

[Umbravita]

Decided to play with one of them in photoshop. Would love crit on it; kind of afraid to fuck it up.

WIP. Will finish later.

[Umbravita]

30 sec gestures.

[kamikazel33t]

Comparing your gestures to the previous ones I'd say your poses now feel a lot more fluid than before, good job! Still keep working at those gestures though! For the painting I say to up the contrast and brighten the highlights on the forehead and cheekbones. I am not sure about her expression though and whether she is showing displeasure or whether it is a neutral expression if it were to express displeasure the skin around the lips need to deform to and so there needs to be sags of skin under the corners of her lips. If would would like the hair on the painting to look a tad bit more realistic I suggest going over it with a layer of highlights and almost make it so that instead of the highlights being in chunks make it into chunks of lines following the hair flow to suggest hair strands a bit more.

[Umbravita]

Thanks Kami.

Been slacking again. Some gestures from earlier this week.

[Umbravita]

From class today. There were lots of shenanigans that meant we didn't get much time for drawing.

At the beach. Bunch of kids playing in the water. Or mucking about in the sand. One of the gestures was when one of the kids had buried a hole so deep all you could really see was his butt and the back of his head.

Got some practice at holding an image in my head because everyone moved so damn quickly.