Sketch Things (October 21, 2012)

[ThomasM]

mmm a year off to draw! thats what I like to hear ! Hope you get to do that. Whenever you do get the chance to drop some art then please do, I'm looking forward to seeing the progress

[kingkostas]

i also would like to see some work from you mate !!!

[black-swan]

Hi, thank you for commenting on my sketchbook, I appreciate the encouragement and the advice.

I have been trying to measure with a knitting needle, in the way that you described, as well as using the needle to measure angles against verticals and horizontals and comparing the sizes of different units. I think the reason why things tend to turn out inaccurate is that I may tilt my head or tilt the stick towards the view and therefore do not have a consistent scale. It's something I need to keep practicing, really hammer down and be firmer with myself when I make mistakes.

As for Nicolaides, I can see your point. In the past I had gotten up to chapter 8 but my drawings hadn't improved all that much over that time. I can see the value of some exercises in making you look at objects and scenes with fresh eyes, but I do tend to learn more by other methods. I think part of my motivation of getting through the book was because I hate to give up on things and because the book gets you drawing. So, yeah, thanks for the advice.

I like your work, the life drawings are strong. You mentioned in one of your posts you'd like to do more graphic novel/ animation, did you in the end?

[p sage]

O__O

Ok... wow. The time has flown. A lot of work in the last year... too much (all non art related).

The next step in this here SB is to pick back up and take a long hard run at improvement again. Have been practicing again; been getting better. No life drawing for about a half a year.

I have been improving understanding of form/depth/perspective... kind of an innate perspective... more on that in a minute...

Samurai_Nik Do it. Take more classes and break out that charcoal!
b-dawg Thank you. How is your Deathline challenge coming? Yerkes–Dodson... hm... will have to look into that. Thank you for your insight about keeping healthy and having enough motivation. You're awesome.
Kungfoowiz Cool beans, man. Keep drawing, cat man... =^^=
Kerah Hey man... thanks for this... though the response is to an old post A live stream for me would be a foolish wish... a ghost town XD Maybe someday when the finger of the gods has given me the magic brush... or when I bust my ass and finally get respectable. Thank you Vlady
wasabi89, Wassim Thanks guys
Saarmander Very thoughtful. Hope you've gotten further down your path with art, too. Thanks.
KingElvis Yeah you know drawing fun things is why we're all here. Thanks
Danny_K
Chris Sanders Thank you!
Vritra No worries, dude. We all know we like to draw, and some of us are still finding out why. Thanks for the crit on the doodle. It's apt and you're right. The chunks are where it's at.
Just Call Me Bruce! Sweet! Can I call you Bruce, just to keep it clear? :p Thanks, and good luck to you too.
DStraX Glad to be of help. Thanks!
Pigeonkill Hey pidg, thanks. Yeah, the concept was to try and get contradictory expressions for all four characters; to get them to spout those silly internet words as if they could be spoken. LOL! HEHE! Gotta try harder to make things like that work. Thank you
miycko 'Sup, myck? Have you gotten out of Africa yet? Good to see you back.
andres333 Hi andres... yeah, I speak Spanish fluently... I lived in Guatemala for a good while. Soy puro Chapin... Chapin quiere decir Guatemalteco jeje. Gracias.
kimozabbi Dude, I will TOTALLY swing by your SB. In a few minutes! Sorry it's taken so long ={
Vertical Thank you dude. Some day we will both be awesome and sipping some Mai Tais on some beach and kids will be coming up to us asking for autographs LOL... yeah right... but it's nice to draw... er... dream
prsnsweeney Good point... after studying for a while you realize you'd rather do proper academic art instead of toons. I have thought about that, actually. But yeah... IMO you have to have something to say or what you're doing is just craft... you can make a nice pic, but if you don't have a purpose, a message, a driving feeling... it's just something you put up for sale. Anyway, you're right and it's a good point. Thank you.
Sebastian Gromann Haha! Well, he're that post is (quite late ;p) Thanks man.
Dark_Eyes Yes? Yes Colin? Are you still here? I do have stinky bombs... but they are old and buried XP
Alex Eh Hey, thank you for the thoughtful comment on playing the art game.
Dark_Eyes Oh yeah? 10 stars to you! Merry... uh... August! **********
teapo Good to see you here dude. Thank you. Loved your recent blog post. Thanks man.
Kerah Here 'tis, but it will be super underwhelming!
Marian Rowling Thanks Marian. Hope your holiday was Happy too.
Ricardo Robles Que tal Ricardo! Gracias por todo hombre.
Black Spot Thank you. The bust is collecting dust right now, but will be used soon enough ... probably once the house cools down and I can stand being in the un-air-conditioned studio. For now all work is done in the air-conditioned office digitally.
Jarrad Thanks!
towy Hey girl! Thank you.
Kerah (again Vlady)... thank you for visiting this dead book so many times
bish0p2004 That was a very thoughtful comment bishop. Thank you for the crit on the leg.
miycko Ok.
AckermannPhilip Hey man, I'm fine. How is your hand doing? I hope much better.
BludHund hah... yeah, you don't want this show :p... but thanks man
RATCUB Thank you.
Ian Barker Okay Liffey!
Kerah Breakfast cereals? :0
AustenFM What's up broinski? Thank ya for the visit.
Flaskpost I love you, internet argument. Hope you're doing well. Will look at more lobster people from you soon!
Marian Rowling Thank you Marian. Can't get away from drawing for too long... it's like not breathing.
Blueflies Awesome. Thank you!
poetry man Totally, man. Going to get into animation when I can slice off some time here. TVPaint animation seems like the way to go. Thank you for the other ideas. You're an idea machine!
Umbravita The hours have let up. Thank you.
Mitze, subvicto Thanks guys!
poetry man Awesome! Get up here with me
Kristoff
SMILEFACE You are such an awesome person. I think I would buy you about 10 beers, and we'd both laugh like idiots all night sometime. So would everyone. You're such a positive influence on everyone. I hope you get all of your drawing dreams, man. Kill it!
Mr.Pryminista Thanks buddy. Always enjoyed your drawings.
bish0p2004 Thank you for the return visits, man!
BlackDelphin Cristina, you inspire all that funny stuff Stick around and let's have some fun this year
miycko Well, 'here' as in on the board... maybe not... but right next to it on the Cintiq would be ok Thanks man.
Mike L Love your work. Thank you for the comment.
ThomasM The year off is still probably a year away.. unless it isn't... heh. But it will be no longer than a year from now. Big money means big prizes Thom I hope you kick serious ass like you're doing for a long, long time. Good luck with TAD!
kingkostasGood god I love you man You are so inspiring and a great artist already... you are so beloved I hope you get all of your dreams in art and life, Kostas. Thanks for everything.
black-swan The knitting needle is just an example of what you can use. There is a fairly simple measuring tut by Ron Lemen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx2zEaVh1Zg

That should help you out much more than I could. You should definitely keep your arm locked when measuring... fully extended... and keep your head at the same level and at relatively the same position.

Little known fact about Nicolaides is that he was a student of George Bridgman (yeah THAT Bridgman) at the Art Student's League of New York.

Personally I think Nicolaides was out to lunch, but there's probably some value in what he wrote. The sales of his book over the years proves that people really want to learn drawing... but I'm doubtful about his methods.

Thanks for the comments on my work.

It's not "the end" yet... guess that's the day I die... lol... but the animation thing is still in front of me.

An "old dude"... a certifiable Senior-Citizen and his wife just created an Oscar-nominated animated feature "My Dog Tulip" a couple years back... (you can Google it) ... think he was 74 when he started it. Not bad. So there's always time.

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OK EVERYONE ... >.>

This was mostly to get up to date with your kind comments over the past year or so when psage was MIA. I AM doing some work right now, but it's not postable here... hope to start doing some work to share soon.

However I'm excited about some new discoveries in teaching my mind about depth and volume. Most of it is the tumbling cubes kind of exercise, some of it is revisiting the "wedge" shapes of Bridgman in conjunction with the cubes... and some ellipse work.

The biggest discovery is the realization that an outline of a shape can convey volume... without line thickness, without shading, without color, without anything else but the actual shape. The shape will read and convey perspective if drawn correctly...

...and if all the other shapes in your composition relate to it ... and its perspective, the drawing will have depth, and have a chance to create the illusion of 3D--the thing I'm seeking after the most.

So... sorry about no really "cool" drawings this time... perhaps something new in a couple weeks (a painting or a drawing or a cartoon or something)... updates will be fewer... but hopefully the work will show improvement.

Thanks again to all... I will revisit all your books.

AAAAAnnnd.... apologies for the crap to come (just studies):

[Jarrad]

thanks for dropping by my sb! You are right about my measuring inaccuracies. I certainly don't do it like ron lemen in that video. perhaps I should. who knows what will happen in the following weeks! It is always nice to see someone tackling geometric shapes. Many of the ellipses' degrees are off (the "wideness" of it), especially on the cylinders that have a lot of convergence. On those ones especially, the ellipse that is on the far end of the cylinder should have a far greater degree than the one in the front. If you are serious about understanding forms in terms of lines, i suggest looking into scott robertson's dvd and practising the hell out of those concepts!

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/323/

good lucks and thanks again!

[Black Spot]

Excuses, excuses - put the bust next to your computer and paint the hell out of it.

[Mr.Pryminista]

Nice dude. Working on some fundamental stuff. Glad to hear about your breakthrough realization! This is good work! The masters practice the fundamentals daily.

Some crits: watch your line weights. A general rule is to do thicker lines on the outside, thinner ones on the inside. I forget this rule ALL THE TIME. It's still an unconscious error I make so when I notice others do it, I point it out.

The boxes look sharp but a few of them have wonky lines and edges that are too thick given the size of the box.

Overall, great stuff but watch those line weights. Look forward to seeing more!

[Mike L]

Your work ethic on all those studies is so impressive, it's hard to gear up to tackle the fundamentals sometimes
Good work!
thx for dropping by the SB too...
M

[DStraX]

Oh Man Look at you with those studies! way to kick Butt

[Just Call Me Bruce!]

Good to hear that you're feeling some progression!
Keep on pushing it and enjoy the struggle!

[bish0p2004]

Great studies, p sage. Very inspiring as I don't do enough of those myself.

Your lines are very clean on your forms. How often do you do studies like this?

[black-swan]

thanks for the link P-sage, I was holding the measuring needle the wrong way, so that was very helpful, thank you.

The latest studies look interesting, there is defiantly a sense of depth with them, looking forward to seeing more

[Umbravita]

Good to see you've been at it. 3D shapes are dull but necessary, aye? I need to get to it myself.

[Flaskpost]

fuck yeah cubes and cylinders!
soooo great to do. money in the bank, son!

[Kerah]

Hey Chad, it's really a pleasure to see your works again after such a long anticipation
Now - if you shade all these marvelous geometric shapes... you might just hit awesome.

p.s - I love the notes you make on the boxes.

[kingkostas]

Awesome you are back!!! Love this spirit, these researches are gonna be interesting!!! Keep up mate, you are becoming uniquer, you will make your formulas.
lets both keep up

[Eightball_]

destroy those studies man! good lookin cubes and viscom studies. that's the building blocks (no pun intended) that good draftsmanship is made of. keep kicking ass

[yogeshj25]

great dedication! i like the box studies u have been working on. very useful!

[Revidescent]

Man, I'm super impressed by the pages of cubes. Those sorts of studies are such a huge pain, and it looks like you did a really solid job. They all sit really nicely in space, and relate well to each other.

[Valyavande]

Wow, I think I was never so impressed by cubes and cylinders. That's really fundamental practicing. It's creeping me out because I know, I should do it in that way too. I have a lot of respect for your way of working.

[Ian Barker]

nice job on the studies, now post more!

[Care]

thanks for the comment, your life studies are good and ur studies make sense. keep it up maybe do more from imagination.

[Flashback]

Thanks for the videos, psage. Keep up the good work!

[erdbeerfeldheld]

That's some determination you have there O.o I don't think I could stand drawing so many cylinders/cubes. It looks like its really paying off though, the figures look very 3d. Hope we'll see some stuff from imagination from you soon =)

[Chris Sanders]

Nice to see a wealth in variety when it comes to the studies man. Keep up the good show.

[p sage]

Jarrad Cheers for the input!
Black Spot Sure thing. By Christmas there will be at least one drawing of it.
Mr.Pryminista There is a lot to remember, isn't there? Thank you for the critique.
Mike L, PMDStraX Thanks guys!
Just Call Me Bruce! I certainly will, thank you.
bish0p2004 The tumbling cubes I do before drawing anything, anymore. It's amazing how much I can lock-in a sense of perspective. Try it!
black-swan Thank you.
Umbravita I find it exciting/interesting to pull off the illusion of depth to such a degree that people can't believe it's not real Working with basic shapes can be interesting if you think of it that way.
Flaskpost hehe... thanks man.
Kerah Vlady! Hah... shading those monsters. I'm not as worried about dropping shadows on the boxes as I am about making sure the forms read... but certainly tone helps Thank you.
kingkostas Hehe definitely
Eightball_ bro, thanks.
yogeshj25 Thank you.
Revidescent Heh... silly, isn't it? People in all kinds of threads are drawing monsters and aliens and tons of cool shiny shit and here I am with the cubes Yeah... they help though, lol. Thanks.
Valyavande Thanks!
Ian Barker Doing that now, sir. Thank you.
Care Definitely working more on imagination stuff now. Thank you!
Flashback No worries, man. Thanks.
erdbeerfeldheld Thank you, strawberry woman!
Chris Sanders Thank you.

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20 attachments per post limit? Argh.

Mini Journal entry:

Okay. Gears have shifted from last year. Now, it's more 'from the mind'/conceptual/inner 3D sense practicing... haven't done the drawing from the model in a while... but I feel like there's a good bit of progress to make in this direction. The path to being an animator or cartoonist is different from that of a concept artist at a certain point, once you have the fundamentals down. The cube/3D depth stuff is giving me the results and confidence I need to move forward with imagination work.

Back to drawing every day. This batch has some stuff that's a few weeks old and some newer.

Getting a better handle/understanding of how to create storytelling poses and more or less create humans in good proportions/perspective from the mind.

A lot of the progress comes when you sit down and force yourself through the tough drawing problems... how to draw a man's wing tip shoe in perspective, for example. Or how to draw a particular pose, and make the emotions read.

Once you have enough tools to do these things (and the box-wedge is one tool), then the types of problems you can tackle are endless. I feel like I've got a handle on the basic tools of drawing now, and my progress is going to be based on how hard I work on drawing problems, and the type of drawing problems I want to tackle. I feel like I'm at an intermediate stage now.

But of course, always learning. And always hanging on to the basics.
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About this set:

Always wanted to design and draw my own Wacky Pack... Got one of those in this update. And a bunch of stuff from the mind. Only thing that was reffed was the logo for the candy bar.

All the figs/poses are from imagination. (except for one Loomis)

Sorry about the abundance of cubes, though... they're helping.

[Pigeonkill]

You draw boxes like a boss

Good depth and control.

[bish0p2004]

I agree with pigeonkill, those cubes are killer. I also like the forms on your figures. The back view of the figures bending over is tough to draw, but you got it, gesture and all.

[Umbravita]

Those boxes are amazing. And you're right, I can totally see the depth in them, too. Man, I should try that!

[kingkostas]

ok fuk you are starting your nitro boosting man!!! These are totally awesome , and i can sense the freedom you got, even the sexscene figure compo can speak that. I am looking forward, thats going great!!! Lets keep up mate