Candragonart's Sketchbook

[Candra H]

Yesterday was a slow day so I've added it in with today's stuff.

Lots of Bridgman studies (I recognise that I'm probably hiding in the comfort of those because I cant face the embarrassment of my feeble attempts to build my own figures from imagination, ech) and other bits and bobs.

Thinking of using the Challenger in an illustration, if I can just get my confidence back for finishing things.

And a couple of scribbles inspired by the weekly challenges. Not going to submit them because I wont finish them in time, just liked the ideas.

















Working on some digital speed paints but I'm taking way longer on them than I should so they wont appear for a while.

Next job. Get started on heads. And gesture poses. Lots of those.

[Candra H]

This is my second ever digital speed painting (though I took about an hour on it so not really) from a photo found on the internet. Hoping to do a lot more of these - they're great practice without the pressure.

[FROZ3N]

Hi C! nice enviro.....soothing. I hate doing enviros. But i guess I must try some. I like your figure and hand studies as well, but I am really diggin the snake.
nice work. nice chainsaw.
keep posting!

[Deceptive]

Thanks for visiting my Sketchbook ;D

Yours is nice! Mostly them anatomy study's and u can really see how much u changed in your Sketchbook, Characters and dragon are really looking neat, Keep it up!

[JakehC]

Great work dude! it's good to see you doing the Bridgman studies, they are so helpful.

[Januz]

Hey man, nice progress. Like your anatomy studies, keep the hard work there!

I also loved your oil paintings. You can see the traditional foundation in your digital work. Try using a soft round brush with opacity set to pressure to get some quick soft gradations in your speeds.

[Candra H]

Thanks guys!

Frozen, heh, you noticed that huh? Thanks! And thanks re the environment. One day I hope to be good enough to do the scenery round me justice. One day. And definitely give them a go yourself. It's a lot easier than it looks if you start with photo refs.

Deceptive, thanks! Feels like slow going on the anatomy (mostly because I cant get access to life studies or real people) but yeah, I'm starting to get somewhere with them. Just got to keep working at it.

Jake, you're so right about Bridgman. I feel like when I opened his book, something just clicked and my studies came easier and faster.

Januz, thanks! Though, what you said about soft brushes is going over my head. I'm a total noob to digital so I'm just using the basic acrylic bristle brush in Painter and trying to blend the colours and brushstrokes together best I can. I think my tablet might also be too basic for a pressure setting but I don't really know about that either. Using a Wacom Bamboo something or other, and when I try to change the pressure/brush tracking settings, nothing happens.

If you happen back here and have any tips/suggestions re all that, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks again!



More Bridgman stuff and some quick Pixelovely poses from today.

[Candra H]

Various stuff today. Finally finished next digital painting but took way longer on it than I should - about an hour and a half. Oops. I'm supposed to be getting faster at these, not slower.

Some Bridgman heads and my latest attempts at building humans from imagination. They're embarassingly bad but I'm posting them anyway as a milestone because they're the best I've managed so far.

A sketch for a zine cover for some friends and finally, a doodle I did while sitting up late watching Aliens. I tried to develop it further but I'll need refs for the snake and the figure if I want to take it to finished.

[fxEVo]

Good studies here, also I think you have a bit of stiff hand, most of your figure is lacking of dynamic curvature, some can be really nice since that make the figure look solid, but most of time it kills off the movement of figure.

[Candra H]

That's a good observation, fxEVo, thanks. The stiffness is something that's been bugging me for a while. I do okay when I'm not thinking too hard but as soon as I put pressure on myself to get something right, I stiffen up and it shows in my drawings.

[Candra H]

Various scribbles and a couple of quick oil studies from the last couple of days. Areas I struggled with on those and need to work on - accurate colour mixing, water, foregrounds.

Edit; realised the oil paintings were a bit washed out compared to the originals so I upped the saturation levels. But now I'm stuck with the old ones still attached and I don't know how to get rid of them. Damn new attachment manager...

[Candra H]

Don't mess with the eggs, fuckers!



Just a bit of fun, inspired by Izy's Alien Nursery duel thread. Not planning on entering it because it's not my fight or my own creation, but I love all that Alien/s shit so yeah... couldnt resist it.

Also inspired by this guy - http://fxevo.blogspot.co.uk/. I love what he does with pen and looking at his stuff reminded me how much I love working with it myself. Big thank you to him for that.

[Colour Coded]

Nice bridgeman studies candra. I like how you kind of put your own flare on the linework in the studies. Great environment drawing too. I love that car drawing also. I hate drawing cars ever since i was a little kid. I haven't drawn a car in so long! Haha

[Candra H]

Thanks Colour Coded. Glad you like my car drawing. I was a bit of a girl racer in my stupid youth so I love cool looking vehicles, but never got round to learning how to draw them easily so that one took an age and I really struggled with it.

[Candra H]

More scribbles. Some from refs, some from imagination/memory.

[Candra H]

And yet more scribbles. I really need to get some detailed work in here. It's all scruffy sketches at the moment.

Anyway, been trying to loosen up so did some quick poses using compressed charcoal. Not sure if it had any positive effect but I guess time and lots more of them will tell. And some Bridgman and imaginary poses to finish.

[twelvex]

nice figures - and i also like your painted stuff a lot !

[Candra H]

Thanks Twelvex.

Trying to get some less scruffy stuff in here to balance things out. Studies and a couple of self portraits.

[M.Calza]

Your figures are nice, don't stop!

[Amos38]

Great work and nice studies! As for going digital, it can be a bit of a learning curve. Some general basic tips that have helped me: 1. Get a big digital pad if you don't have one (so much better than the small one I originally bought). 2. Most of the time I set my file resolution to 300dpi. Makes life great for printing. 3. Watch a few videos on YouTube. I use Painter 12 and have found several helpful videos. 4. Drawing on a pad drove me nuts for a while, but over time it has become second nature. I still pull out the paper and pencil, but digital is fine now too; just takes some time.

[Candra H]

Thanks guys!

M.Calza, no worries. I'm not stopping with my figures, just needed a break from it for a bit because I keep getting frustrated with my lack of progress. I know it's mostly because I cant get access to life drawing classes but the knowing doesn't make the frustration go away, lol. Got more to post once I scan them.

Amos, thats great advice re digital, thanks. I'm using a Bamboo A5 at the moment. I looked at Intuos pads for a while but I think I should probably get better at using the one I've got. Those big ones are expensive and I don't want to fall into the trap of blaming my tools for my own lack of skill, you know? Good tip also re watching videos for Painter12. I'll get on that right away because I need all the help with that I can get.

[sony]

Your colored studies are awesome, for other studies I think you draw from your memory even when you are using reference, would suggest you to look more closely
Keep Em coming

[Candra H]

Ooh, cool observation, Sony. Thanks! You've given me something to think about because yeah, I probably do shirk from really looking at things when I'm drawing them. Maybe something to do with trying to get the essence down fast but forgetting to pay real attention. I'll keep that in mind and work on it for sure.

Bit of a dump today, oops. I let things build up.

[Candra H]

The last few days have been pretty shit drawing wise so I'm only posting the least bad stuff. Started working on heads using Loomis' book but it's frustrating the hell out of me. I cant work with the guy at all. Though, granted that's probably my own negativity getting in the way, so I'll give it a few more goes before I try a different method. Not posting any of that stuff today though.

Mainly feet and quick poses, along with some sketches done outside on the only nice day we've had all week.

Was also looking around for a Land Rover to draw and came across this. The wheels and faces are shit, and the military guys will probably laugh at my feeble effort but fuck it. If I don't keep pushing myself to try new things, I wont improve.

[Amos38]

Horses, cows and jeeps! Nice to see those thrown into the mix too

[Candra H]

Haha. Thanks man. Got to keep myself on my toes and all that.

And now for something really bad. Been trying to get a handle on Loomis head construction but just cant work with it. Not the way he teaches it anyway. Every time I revert back to using a skull as a base - which is flattened on the base - things work better. So yeah...

Lesson learned. I'm posting these anyway as a record of my latest disaster.

[Candra H]

Phew, nice to be able to log in again.

Some more bits and pieces from the last few days. And I think I've finally gotten over the head construction thing. It's like everything else I'm learning - got to graft through the bad stuff to get better.

[FROZ3N]

You have such a way with animals when you draw them like that with pencil? or wacom? either way/peaceful looking.
Also the last female forms you drew are really cool.
GIFSoup

[Candra H]

Thanks Mr Black!

Really pleased you like my animals and girls, and yeah, everything that doesn't look like a bad digital painting is done traditionally in pencil or ballpoint pen. Sometimes charcoal or fineliner pen if I'm feeling adventurous, lol.

I'm nowhere near comfortable enough with a wacom yet to draw with it.

[Candra H]

I don't normally work this late (4am here) but I got stuck awake after a bad dream so I thought I'd make myself useful until I can get back to sleep safely, lol.

Been playing around with trucks and Mad Maxified one. Think I like where it's going so I might clean it up and take it further.