sketchbook, live forever or die trying

[deadlyhamster]

the first knight is painted with aquarelle

[deadlyhamster]

here is the progress of the spartan:

[gust w.]

As everyone else said before me, keep practicing on proportions and anatomy. The rendering on that spartan is great, a lot of people tend to render very low-contrast, glad you don't!

[Marian Rowling]

Hey Deadlyhamster thanks for visiting my sketchbook. You look like you're off to a really good start and I can see improvement already. I especially like your spartan he looks very good.

[LtPlissken]

300 drawing rulez!
See you at the sketchgroup.

[deadlyhamster]

cpt.kuDa, Marian Rowling and LtPlissken thank you for commenting.
Its been a while I posted something but I got lots things do do for school, but here are some studies from posemaniac

[Naidy]

You've been making some great progress lately, mate. All I can say is just keep up the good work, seriously, you're doing great.

[deadlyhamster]

Thank you Naidy, I feel I'm improving but I have still a long road to go

[timdegro]

You're improving tons Hamster!
The rendering on the 300 guy is done very nicely!
Keep on doing what you're doing!

[deadlyhamster]

thanks timdegro, I'm waiting on your update on your sketchbook

some gesture studies:


btw: Its about a month ago I started this sketchbook and I want to thank you all for your comments and advices, I feel I'm improving so keep commenting because I have still a lot to learn.

[pilmon46]

Thanks for your encouragement and for passing on the loomis links! I love Alan Lee and John Howe too--it looks like you're well on your way to following in their footsteps. I can see the improvement in your proportions (especially of the head behind the face) since you started this sketchbook. It inspires me to keep working!

[HAJiME]

Beautiful shading.

You'd benefit by bringing your line/form up to the standard of your tonal work by doing studies where you don't fill them with tone. Just concentrate on getting the lines right. I see you've started by doing some posemaniacs sketches, but I think you need to tackle the same subject matter you're doing with your tonal studies in a quick get all the information down and then fix it way.

[Naidy]

Hey, the road to progress is a long one, but as long as you stay ontrack (and never, ever, get complacent) then you'll become something great, believe me.

Anyways, some nice gesture studies. Keep on doing them as often as possible and keep up the good work.

[deadlyhamster]

Pilmon: thanks, and I'm happy I am inspiring you
HAJiME: Thank you for the advice and compliment about the shading
Naidy: thank you to be a regular visitor in my sketchbook.

I didn't had the time to draw the past days because decided to go probably to a art school next year. I had this in my mind before I joined this site so I thought long about it but the last past days I searched for information for art schools in Belgium, I said it the first time to my parents and they knew I wasn't interested anymore in the studie I doing now so they were not suprised.
But now after a few days of searching for art schools in Belgium I see there are no good ones in here... We have several art schools but they all concentrate on abstract art and that is not what I want.
I am certain I will quit with psychology but don't know what school I will go to next year.
There is an information day wednesday in Sint lucas in ghent so I will go to there to gather some information.

[deadlyhamster]

[deadlyhamster]

[HAJiME]

Heya, thanks for visiting my sketchbook.

With regard to watercolour... I use it in a hap-hazard sort of way similar to how I draw. I'm quite confident with mixing colours, so I just mess about and see what works with lots of water. I became confident with colours by learning to mix everything I want with only CMY... and occasionally white, but rarely. You can get some stuff called maskign fluid, or like... liquid latex is the same thing, which blocks off areas of the painting you want to leave white, or want to paint specifically in later. Might be good for you.

You can however use it by working in a more patient layering way with less water, which may suite you better.

I'd really recommend getting a small pallet of the hard watercolours, not in tubes, because it's a lot easier to just get it out and play without the tediousness of squeezing out into a pallet and ew.

I think you should have a go with gouache, too. It's more opaque than watercolour and enables more patient layering that might suite you better.

I still think you'd benefit from loosening up a little when you draw instead of getting too bogged down. I don't know the science behind why, but it seems to enable capturing form much better. I'm too far the other way, and can't then neaten up my loose scribbles with tight and patient drawing.

It's funny that you want to quit psychology when I'm thinking I wish I'd taken it... lol! I have honestly found that art education was a waste of time, and working on it in your free time enables you to aim it exactly in the direction you wish. This site, in all honesty, seems better than any real-life lecturer I've had to deal with.

[MatthewHD]

The spartan you did was rendered very well, great job there. I can't render for peanuts. Do you have any tips or excerises you would recommend?

[timdegro]

Hey man, how did the information day @ sint lucas go?
That last one has awesome rendering again btw :o
Keep it up!

[deadlyhamster]

HAJiME: thank you for the answer I asked in your sketchbook, I will start with watercolour in a couple weeks I think because I first want to expand my skills in easier mediums.
MatthewHD: thank you for the compliment about my rendering. and to anwer on your question I think you just need to practise a lot with rendering. I use a eraser and 3 pencils (H2, HB and B2) because you have a larger range of values if you use them.
And to become a good rendered drawing you need to put time into it, because how more time you put in a drawing the better it get. I suggest you start with rendering basic forms like a sphere and so on. But if you use the search button in this forum you will find some good threads that explain it all.
timdegro: hey, thanks for compliment about the rendering.
And about sint lucas, well, I asked a lot of information such as what teaching method they use and such things. Eventually I came to the conlusion it is more a self study there because you don't get lessons about art technic, you only get assignments and do whatever you want with it, if you want to paint realistic you can, if you want paint abstract you can... so they only guide you in what you do and you need to gather the info about the technic you are using mostly by yourself. But I'm happy that you can choose what style you use and I don't mind that I need to do selfstudy because I can work on my own tempo then.
In may I will go to the information from KASK in ghent and then I will choose between Sint lucas and KASK. And besides that I will do evening classes in life drawing or go an atelier to study there too.
This week I had almost no time to draw because I'm bissy with school and looking for information for next year but I will draw in the weekend again so in a couple days I will post an update with drawings.

[Ramalooke]

Sparta! I suggest you do some serious hands study.

[LtPlissken]

Sorry to hear that you are leaving us for a while.
You did not even started and you area already leaving.
I do not know, but devastacio, decided to go the same
way as you do, so guess that you all have your reasons for
going a long walk. I wish you a many happy drawing hours
and a good luck with your further improvements.
We will be waiting you back in a study group also.
Take care.

[deadlyhamster]

Ramalooke: I need to study everything in general and that's the reason I quit with the study group so I have more time to study the important things. And handstudies is one of them.
LtPlissken: hey, I left the studygroup because I need to study more the basic things of anatomy. But I won't leave the forum so I will still tracking your sketchbook and the thread of the study group. But one day I will come back to the studygroup so hold a spot open for me

here is a study, I know that the bones are to thick and short so I will keep that in mind next time. But its deformed too because I took a bad photo or my comp resised it.

[warLoCk550]

I like the spartan.......... and i love the making off.........

[deadlyhamster]

thx warLoCk550

some gesture studies from posemaniac

[Shad-]

For those last posemaniacs I think you should take your time ! There are problems with volume and anatomy and stuff in those, but there weren't in last studies. Just go slowly and train to draw the exact thing you are seeing, not a rough shape of it or something. The more accurate your draw will be, the faster you'll improve. Or at least that's what I always heard !

Keep it up, spartan is GREAT !

[PanBo]

thank for the sb visit and the loomis books!
i would like to see how u tackle softer subjects i.e. fabric, fuzzy or wool would be good, female form(always good practice for anything, a curvy one would work well). good luck with your search

[deadlyhamster]

Shad-: hmm, I thought about what you said about slowing down but I prefer to work quick because I can see better where my mistake in the drawing is and on my next drawing I want do to it better. But in the next couple days I will do some studies and will put more time into it.
violetbeat: hey, np for the link. I will come to your sketchbook when you got some more new stuff. And I won't do texture studies yet because I first want to concentrate on anatomy so you gonna have to wait a bit .

Last few days I went true the pages from the sketchbooks of mindcandyman and algenpfleger. It was so inspiring andd they made me realise I need to work way more so I will try to draw each day a bit more and try to build up my time each day.

I still suck at anatomy but it is getting better I think

[Shad-]

nice simple and efficient shadows on the woman's body ^^
keep up working on anatomy and do a looot of studies, you're improving

[deadlyhamster]

thanks for the encouragement shad, and I'm planning to do way more studies but I'm thinking I will paint soon because I want to use an other medium.

Here are some more studies from today