jhowell's journey to success

[jhowell]

Digital portrait practice.

[jhowell]

Quick gesture studies and a self portrait sketch.

[jhowell]

Environment study and figure sketch (referenced from photograph.)

[jhowell]

More studies.

[Zephyrion]

Neat stuff! Keep up the good work. although I'd like to point out in post 33 the girl's arms are too small and short.

[Zephyrion]

Your gestures have really good structure! But they also are getting looser
digging the digital too! I kind of think you should finish it and make it a finished piece.
EDIT: Woah, something is going weird here...

[cl0aked]

Nice, man! Really digging those sketches and gestures! On the painting side, I'd suggest using a bigger brush to blend and pushing those values (:

Cya!

[Wingal]

Nice work on the gestures, keep it up. For the paintings i think they would benefit if you pushed some more of the highlights and the darkest darks! Good luck

[jhowell]

@cannibalcarnivale: Thanks for the tips! I just realized that all I ever do is just sketch, thanks for suggesting that I work on a full piece. I'm actually going to start this.
@cl0aked: Thanks for the tip!
@Wingal: I appreciate the advice!

Rough thumbnail that I was going to paint but I didn't like the composition.

[dierat]

I'm glad to see you're doing studies in so many different areas; that will really help you out in the long run. For your paintings, I think it would help you a lot to continue doing the still life studies and really focus on accuracy, in structure, value, and color. Really think about the way the light source is interacting with the object and how the color of that light affects the color of the object and it's surroundings. For objects that are symmetrical, try flipping the image occasionally to make sure it's not lop-sided or slanted. (This works for portraits as well.) Also consider whether the edges on the object should be sharp or soft when finished. Sharp edges suggest a corner or sharp edge on the object and soft edges suggest rounded forms that curve gently out of view.

[Zephyrion]

huh, thought I posted here already on this last one! I like the anatomy and shading, but you should differentiate between the figure and background some more

[jhowell]

@dierat: Thanks for the comment and the really sound advice! I agree that that I really need to work from life a lot more than I do. I will keep your comments in mind when I am working again. I appreciate the tips!
@cannibalcarnivale: Thanks for the advice!

More studies.

[jhowell]

I took some advice and worked some on a still life. Also, I have started working on a slower painting, trying to take my time to soak it every bit of it. So second one that you see is just a work in progress that I am going to continue to build up over the next few days. The image is based off of a stock photograph by deviantart user mjranum-stock.

I hope the colors are not over or under saturated, I'm working with two Dell monitors that both show differences and I have tried to calibrate them. Please tell me if you think the color is saturated weirdly or not. Thanks.

[jhowell]

Self portrait graphite practice.

[Zephyrion]

I like your lines, but when you draw faces, they seem to be a little "smushed".

[jhowell]

@cannibalcarnivale: Thanks for pointing that out! I will be sure to keep an eye on it. Thanks.

I'm working with a self portrait again, using charcoals on a larger sheet of paper. I was trying to focus on value, light, and form, and of course anatomy.

[Zephyrion]

Okay, big improvement on the smushage.
I like it!

[dierat]

Really like the bottle study. For your digital work, it might help if you started off with larger, more opaque paint when you're blocking things in and only get smaller and more transparent when necessary. Most of your paintings come off kind of vague and muddy due to your layered transparent brushwork.

For all of your work, make sure the proportions and structure are accurately laid out before you move into value and color. As I mentioned before, you can flip your digital work to help you see flaws in symmetry - in your traditional work you can try using a mirror or hold the paper up to the light with the drawing facing outward; the lines will show through the paper (if the paper is thin enough and the lines are dark enough) allowing you to view the image reversed. Also be sure to occasionally back up from your drawing and try to view it objectively from a distance and evaluate the accuracy of your shapes.

[Valyavande]

I was browsing through your sketchbook and dierat said everything what I wanted to add. Flipping pictures is really a powerful tool to see flaws. We need to get a fresh view on our stuff to recognize the mistakes.
I think it's good that you are working on paper and digital at the same time, but at the same problems. Both things have their advantages and I hope you manage it to combine them to get the best results.
So, go on with the studies. They are on the right way. Keep it up!

[Wingal]

*cough* draw *cough* ( i was going to say something about your port but i seems its already been addressed XD) Upload more

[jhowell]

cannibalcarnivale: Thanks!
dierat: I really appreciate all the advice! Thanks for pointing out the issues that I am making with proportions and structure. This has really helped me out and I will definitely be using it more in the future. Thanks again.
Valyavande: Thanks for looking and commenting!
Wingal: Thanks for the push and reminder!

---

I have been fairly busy lately (graduate school is starting for me) so I haven't been able to upload as much as I would like. I'm definitely going to be posting more work as school begins to start back. Below are some gesture drawings that I worked on this afternoon.

[akkibox]

Lots of stuff so far--I have a feeling you're going to progress really fast! Good to see that you're getting the basics down and working in grayscale. Keep up the good work.

[Zephyrion]

I'm liking what I'm seeing, but for your figures you need to find the right balance between being dynamic and structured.

[jhowell]

Hello CA, it's been a long time since I have posted anything here. In my last post from 2011, I mentioned that I was starting up graduate school and that I would be fairly busy. Well as it turns out that's exactly what I have spent my time doing and now I have about one semester left until I finish this program. In the time since I have been here I have focused on a lot of traditional oil painting and digital painting, both heavily influenced on portraiture and narrative subject matter. Below is two oil paintings and three digital paintings (based on photographic reference.) I feel good to be getting back into the swing of things around here and hopefully I will be back stronger than ever!











Thanks!

[jhowell]

Hello CA! I am in my last semester of this program and I am excited to be wrapping things up. It has been fairly challenging and really demands all most all of my free time but I think in the end it will be worth it. Below is a digital painting that I have been working on. As always, I appreciate any criticism or critiques!

[Tetsuo]

You have made good progress since your last 2011 post. A suggestion - detail is your demon! You focus a lot on detail and it slows down your flow. Ill give you an example - the above painting red hair has been fussed to death and feels somewhat flat. Try to treat the hair as you did the face, as a form that needs depth and flow. Also your nude figures (or semi-nude) that have tattoos on them...look at how the VERY detailed tattoo pops out of the painting and the rest of the figure takes a back seat. The rest of the figure seems "underpainted" in comparison. I would love to see you just rip into the figure and give a suggestion of a tattoo to give everything unity - including the focal points. I have this same problem in my stuff...so im constantly trying to get rid of that "detail" brain and go back to the "flow" brain.

-TeT-

[Tetsuo]

sorry forgot to include this...take a look at how Shawn Barber paints tattoos on figures/figure parts and gets them to flow sooo nicely.

http://www.sdbarber.com/