bish0p2004's Sketchbook

[Black Spot]

I find putting the palette knife or a brush loaded with paint ant arm's length to check the colour against the object helps a lot. You should be able to see if it needs to be cooler, warmer, darker or lighter before putting brush to canvas. There's been an improvement from the first though.

[Umbravita]

I love your lines and shading. They're so neat and clean.

[bish0p2004]

cedule: Thanks again, man...even though I can't see it haha. The palette I'm using is not that limited, although I'm mainly trying to focus on just the primaries, with titanium white and burnt sienna. I did get a new book on alla prima painting, and while I like it, the majority of the authors work has a yellow tone to it which I don't like as much, but it's a start.

Baconstrap: Thanks! I wish I could see the improvement...although I did recently (this past weekend) compare my recent digital line work with my old and I can definitely feel the difference...like, I'm much more confident with my brush strokes. I can't tell you not to feel bad though as I do as well when I see people improving really fast.

Black Spot: That's actually a great idea and I hadn't thought about it. Thank you!

Umbravita: As always, thank you!

[bish0p2004]

Haven't felt like posting that much these past couple of days, as I really don't have much that I want to show besides some studies. Actually, I wasn't going to post anything at all until the end of this week, but I think my motivation started dropping a bit...so fuck it.

I mainly wanted to focus on black and white values and technique.

Here's some more work on an imagination figure a few pages back (pushed the value some more) and some studies (fruit still life are from life, the rest are from photos):

[WRappiii]

those studies are looking kick-ass, my friend.
the only possible critique I could give is that the far left highlight on the pear seems a little too strong and not as well blended as the others.
And a question: how did you get the subtle texture in the cast shadows in this one? I assume it was just a brush?

[LastGen]

Wow, you're really doing a great job spending as much time as possible into your passion. The grayscale studies are incredibly nice!

[Umbravita]

Great value studies. Post more soon. Hope your motivation picks up, art's such a drag when one doesn't feel up to it.

[bish0p2004]

WRappiii: Thanks for the crit! I definitely have to pay attention more to how strong the bounce light is on objects as it's the second time I've done that in a still life. Also, that's a texture/chalk-like brush that I downloaded with one of Daarken's tutorial videos...I think it was his figure video. I used that and then went through and erased parts of it.

LastGen: I'm trying to as I really wasn't drawing as much as I thought I was last year. Thanks for stopping by, man!

Umbravita: Haha, thanks man. My motivation tends to drop when I get discouraged looking back at my art and seeing how far I've got to go. It's a struggle with where I want to be, where I'm at currently, and where I feel I should be if only I had stayed with it consistently.

Anyways, enough with regret, here's some sketches, doodles, and studies...all fairly quick....some a little older than others, but I put a little work into them recently. I just wanted to play around with some brushes and the color modes for the first one.

I can see a lot of problems with the self portraits in pencil when I see the drawings straight up instead of laying flat on the table. My proportions are always off, especially on the 3/4 view. I need to start checking the initial sketches in the mirror before going further with them.

[bish0p2004]

Not much to show from the past two days, but the first sketch is something from Friday that I want to take further (probably change the throne to make it look thicker and couple of other things.

The other is a sketch from a last post that I've began working on in Photoshop. I like way the grittyness of the shading from the graphite is coming through the image. I may try to work like that on a few images in the future, although it might be overkill...I don't know.

[bish0p2004]

A little more work before bed

[Black Spot]

Glad the king's belly is hanging done in a strategic place. Cute creature.

I like the male torsos further up.

We all get blips when motivation is low, but keep at it and it'll pass.

[skMOP]

I think that some of the perspective is off on the last one eyed monster. It doesn't really look like he's standing on the ground plane, rather he's just kind of off balance. I wish I had PS on this computer to do a quick paintover! Hopefully you see kind of what I mean? Keep up all the work man!

[-D_art-]

nice studies, those greyscale studies are coming out nicely, keep drawing

[House Hatke]

Lovin' the one-eyed creature and the drapery studies.

[bish0p2004]

Black Spot: I will definitely keep at it...thanks for compliments as they are motivating!

skMOP: Thanks for the crits...I think it was the arm on the creature that is *supposed* to be going back...I've changed that, but I haven't worked on the drawing as much since.

-D Art-: Thanks for stopping by and I will keep drawing

House Hatke: Thanks, man!

Here are some drawings (the ones that are worth posting) from the past week or so.

1) An unfinished still life
2) A creature from imagination...I feel like I do better with my figures when I exaggerate them.
3) Random ball point pen life drawings
4) Random pencil drawings from life, photos, and imagination
5) Superman
6) Freddy Krueger

[Ricardo Robles]

very nice drawings man! I specially like the torso rendering Keep showing us more!

[bish0p2004]

Thanks, Ricardo and will do!

Calling this one done for now.

[vigostar]

Pretty good take on Kruger. My only crit wold be that I would imagine him being skinnier but, that could just be a stylistic choice. He looks a bit muscular/ stocky. Other then that good job...

[Rustveld]

Your characters have really improved since the last time I dropped by!
I do feel you can push the values some more, you seem to be avoiding black.
It would be nice to see more colored characters, like the gas-masked guy.
Keep it up!

[bish0p2004]

vigostar: Thanks for the feedback! While it was a design choice due to me liking the forearms so much and wanting to show his figure through the sweater, I got the same criticism from a non artist...so I'll probably stay closer to the source material next time.

Rustveld: Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the crits! I have always heard that black should be avoided by many artist and it's something that I've agreed with for the most part. Still, I will push the values even more in future drawings.

Here are some photo studies of women, a character concept that I posted before but deleted (gonna work on the new pose some more) and a self portrait from this morning.

[WRappiii]

More good stuff from you man. I really like the lighting on the nobleman!
As for a critique, it seems that the eyes on the self portrait are slightly larger than I would expect. And the middle of the upper lip looks a little dark. Beyond that it's awesome work!

[Ricardo Robles]

great work on the Kruger piece. maybe i´d push some darker tones here and there, but it´s very nice.

[Black Spot]

I like the still life - great observation. On the women's faces - I don't feel the structure of the face is there unlike your latest SP which is great.

[poetry man]

Overall, you've got some good and concise studies! I see your studying with an end goal in mind. They are driven by a desire for an end result and that is good! Keep it up man! I would just say If you're focusing on storytelling, then get a little more cinematic with it! angles, and tilts should do the trick for now, in terms of composition and framing. You know, more dynamicism on the part of the illustrator. "Captivate" your audience even with a rough sketch, but they'll say... "wow, such a great angle"-- and they'll stare at a rough image as if it was finished.

Or, you can totally scrap what I said, lol.

Peace!

[billakong]

Great sketchbook! Just noticed you live in Jacksonville, me too!

[bish0p2004]

WRappiii: Thanks for the crit, man. I've noticed that as well about the eyes. Will work on getting that right!

Ricardo: You're right, I definitely gotta push my values more. Thanks, man!

Black Spot: Thank you! As for the women's faces...I didn't focus much on values...just wanted to draw attractive women as all of my women from imagination have been looking ugly lately.

Poetry Man: Thanks. That's something I've been thinking about lately as well!

billakong: Hey, man that's awesome! I've been looking to meet up with artists from here. We should get together some time and get a sketch group going. I'll PM you. Later

Still drawing everyday...but not much to show. Some studies and a concept drawing.

[bish0p2004]

A somewhat quick photostudy:

[jdem]

Amazing work on the man's torso and the photo study - loving the depth of field!

[Topcross]

Amazing studies once again.

[Black Spot]

Much better. Evenness of features is what makes people attractive most of the time so having a lack of values doesn't make sense. You nailed it in that last one.