Behind the Scenes - Emma's Sketchbook!

[A-May]

Hi everyone and welcome to 'behind the scenes' my first sketchbook! It is named as such as I am currently training to become a film concept artist/set designer/story boarder. Anyway, I came across this website and I was really inspired by the dedication and skills I found, so I decided I would jump on the band wagon and join in the fun!

Drop me a comment and I promise I'll try to return the favour

[A-May]

EDIT: HERE IS DAY ONE:
For now my first post will have to be some anatomical studies I have completed using posemaniacs.com (which is incredible, if you haven't seen it yet.)



Below are 60 second sketches from posemaniacs:



Facial Anatomy and 90 second sketches:



Will update with more soon Any advice would be lovely!

-------------------------------------
DAY TWO:

Sketch I just did of a commissioned character Hopefully you should see the coloured version by the end of the day! He's meant to be holding a 3 barrelled gun.. but I haven't sorted a reference for that yet, so random cylinder it is!

(Pose reference credits to characterdesigns.com)

[shako]

just sending a word of encouragement your way! keep at it and I checked out pose maniacs...so awesome!

[A-May]

Hmm well I've working really hard on my school art coursework so I haven't had much time for my own drawing today. D:
I spent a lot of hours yesterday on a digital piece then my laptop blue screened and I lost the files.. gutted. I still have the sketch though, it is the last thing I posted here
Anyways for today I have a really quick sketchy sketch.. and I'm not promising a masterpiece!

[A-May]

Hey guys Sorry I haven't posted in so long, I've been really busy with exams.. ah dear. Anyways, here is today's helping!
Both were commissioned characters, anyone got any tips, etc?

[MasonJames]

Hey, I'm liking the gun on that piece, the details are pretty cool.

Your faces and arms are looking a little flat, maybe seeing in dimension would boost your work. Having said that your faces show potential and your have a good grasp on composition to handle the negative spaces in your drawings, especially in between the legs of the octopus girl. Rendering negative space has always been something I have neglected or not been brilliant at, so that's a skill in itself.

I'm having some problems with faces that I see on yours too, like the classic 'American Football eyes' though as I said to Little Maiden, just knowing a little bit about value and thinking like a sculptor can bring volume and depth to anything that's overly flat looking.

The blue of the eyes in the boy holding the gun for example look exactly the same colour, that wouldn't happen in life, because there would always be a light source coming from somewhere and the eyes would end up looking different. One would be darker than the other or have a little bit of another colour coming from somewhere else. One might even have a light spot of white that the other wouldn't have.

The nose is great though! and the lips are getting there. I want the lips to be a bit more 'touchable', lol, you know, protruding a bit more. The cheeks may be lacking some form, though I have trouble with that myself so maybe someone with more experience can help you on that front.

Perhaps the octopus girl could use a bit more human torso just before the octo-part creeps up, if you see what I mean, she seems a short looking octo girl, lol. Give her a chance, must be tough being an octo girl! Lol.

The touches on the octo-girl are cool, the seaweed, handbag and bracelet. These type of 'mini items' crop up lots in Western Art Greats, so having that design technique is really going to give your work an extra edge at a later stage, especially if you are doing that without thinking too hard about it. You can then leave viewers little 'clues' as it were to stories that you may have going in a piece, and if you read up symbols you might have say a skull in a piece to represent death or you could think about 'well this octo-girl has a hand bag, so does that mean she has been near landwellers? or did she steal it from a boat?' Loads of these kind of questions can bring viewers to your pieces if you choose to add this kind of depth to your work at some point.

Yeah, that's some comments that came to me on first glance. I hope these were encouraging words and look forward to seeing more!

[A-May]

Thanks for the feedback Mason! I'll definitely practice at those bits you picked up on, and do some studies etc!

I just finished my A2 art course here are another few things, this time from school/coursework

Feedback?






(first 3 images are on A2, the 4th on A3)

[MasonJames]

Wow, it's been a long time I looked at a beetle and that one is dandy! Is the front left leg a little out in the top right corner? I don't know beetle anatomy well enough. I love the shine on the shell.

Some really cool detail on the cricket, the face looks almost human; it reminds me of the Naked Lunch movie.

Good hatching and detail on the last one. There must be a knack to hatching because I haven't fully mastered that yet myself and so many people on here have incredible hatching skills. I love it.

[A-May]

Heya guys I've been terribly neglectful, and have once again not posted in a while ): So I'll post this commissioned illustration now and hopefully get back to post more soon.. at least I'll try P:




What do you think?

[A-May]

Okay, shocking as it is I am back with stuff to post for a second day running!
Today I have some posemaniac studies (90 secs) and a quick painted still life (observed from life hense the slip ups -sigh)







(: Comments appriciated

[A-May]

Heya, here's todays helpings Some anatomy studies from posemaniacs, an eye from a make up book, and some doodles of my own (using references)







As always comments welcomed and appreciated

[A-May]

I know it's been a while but I am back with a vengeance! I have no more school work! Yaaay! So in celebration here is a goblin in courtship of his lady friend haha!

[cloudcan]

Keep up the anatomy studies, I can see that you're improving a lot
I love your traditional works, but you have a tendency to go flat with digital. Make sure to make full use of color theory and lighting principles. Your latest teen challenge update is great on points of the character design and anatomy, but the background, aside from being quite flat and static, doesn't match the perspective of the character. But like I said character is looking good, can't wait to see it colored. Best of luck to you ^_^

[A-May]

Heya, In order to work on those flat tones Cloudcan mentioned I attempted a life study (from a photo) in photoshop. I've been using paint tool sai as my software for all the others and I decided it was time to revert back to good old ps I am aware that the anatomy is dodgy in places, however I did it as a speed paint (haha 3 1/2 hours?) which has loosened up my brush strokes and forced me to be less flat (I hope!) What do you think?

[A-May]

Hey I'm back I've got some sketches from a day out in London, a page of studies using an anatomy book and a page of hand studies from life (my other hand!) Enjoy, and as always comments are appreciated!

[A-May]

Oh yeah I just remembered.. here's a environment WIP floating around.. I've only detailed some of the main tree, but you get the idea I'll hopefully post a more updated version at some point!

[A-May]

Hey again this morning I've just done some anatomy sketches, and discovered that sketching in Photoshop is a lot harder than on paper :/ Still anyway, here you go, the first page is just 30 second doodles and the second page is 5 min ones.. not entirely happy with them but all is progress

[DomdeM]

Great study Em. Good tonal contrasts and great sense of depth.

[A-May]

I JUST HIT 1000 PAGE VIEWS! (It's a big deal for me )

Anyways

Jdem - Thanks Your sb looks good, you should update again though! I'll come and comment when you do!

And for second helpings today.. here is a brief sketch WIP of my next painting study

[jdem]

Here, Check these out

http://www.drawingbooks.org/index.html

Also perhaps with your digital figure studies - instead of using lots of little lines to make up the shapes (as you would with a pencil) maybe try using longer, smoother lines where you can - or using a different brush, there are much smoother and better PS brushes to sketch with out there! (Will send you links if I can find them again!)

[A-May]

Thanks Jess That's awesome!

I blocked in the basic colours of that figure. Clearly it needs A LOT of refinement but i'm fairly pleased with the basics.. I'm definitely getting quicker though

[A-May]

OKay I started refining the figure and lost patience with the stupid foot Anyway I put it off by drawing a portrait (with a reference) and turning it into a spring themed cat person-ish thing I'll probably turn it into a proper painting some time, when it's not 1 am haha!

[JohanneLight]

Great job on those painted studies esp. the invisible woman and the nude paintings. I'm looking forward to more updates from you.

[dandylion]

I gotta say your environment WIP looks pretty damn cool so far. I can tell it's going to be amazing when you finish it. Keep it up!

[A-May]

JohanneLight - Thanks so much That's really encouraging!

Dandylion - Thank you! I was sorta in process of giving up on it but I will be sure to continue if you think it has potential It's very kind of you to say so

Okaay, I decided to doodle without refs for a bit to see whether my studies were helping at all! haha. I'm quite pleased as there is a definite improvement, however as you can see I really need to return to the studies! I reeeally can't draw men!

[A-May]

Hey it's me again I really have been churning out tons over the last few days.. This is an exercise my sister came up with. The idea is to copy a figure from a ref. (I use pixelovely.com) and then to make a character out of it, therefore practicing anatomy and character design/imagination
Here's my first attempt.. it was fun, expect to see more of these!

EDIT: Oh dear.. I'm not very awake clearly.. the hands are back to front again -facepalm-

[A-May]

La de da.. here we go! Last post for now.. as I should really get out of bed at 2pm! Got to do what the art calls for! Just a very quick sketchy environment study, nothing swish or special!

[wiseachoo]

Nice sketchbook . How many hours did the invisible woman take?

[A-May]

Wiseachoo - Thanks I really don't know, perhaps 18-20ish? haha

[A-May]

Hey there Due to my revealing attempts at no refs earlier I have decided to finally get my act together and start some loomis studies taadaaa!