Toffers's Sketchbook - I still suck

[Toffers]

Hello there, I'm 19 years old and I'm trying to become a decent artist.
For now I'm not exactly "top shelf", but I'm trying to get there.

This project is a somewhat personal thing; I really do want to become a
professional artist, and It's what I want the most here in life.

I hope you'll take part in this wonderful journey, preferably with joy (no homo).
Thanks for checking this out already, though what the hell are you doing here
on the first page of my sketchbook? Move on backwards to my more recent
stuff!

[Toffers]

Thought I might as well just upload the whole image that I had in my original post. I also have some other recent studies here, the first interior painting I've ever done, as well as a newer painting.

[zerdron]

I love them brush strokes!

[Toffers]

Zerdron: Thanks, man. I'm usually most ashamed of my brushstrokes when it comes to this, nice to hear I'm not rubbish : )

Made another one, trying to mimic the previous painting, but getting it better rendered. Hard as shit.

[Toffers]

I didn't get to do so much for this update, but considering I was busy most of the day I'd say that it went ok.
I know the second one is very weak, but ehh, it's a quick 5 minute sketch. Deal with it : )

[Toffers]

I had a really bad day with these. I don't even know why they went so wrong, more so than they really ever do for me. I guess I'll do these again at some point. Maybe I was just too sleepy. I don't know.

[pimpwacker]

I dunno, those last two look fairly good to me...

[Toffers]

pimpwacker : Well, thanks. Always nice to hear that people like my work. Maybe I should be a little more positive in the future? : )


Well, I did some quick stuffs tonight. Nothing fancy, just a couple of lighting/color studies? Ligthing/color keys? Is that what you call them? Whatever. Took about 5-10 min each. Inspired by Marcu Bucci. :

[Toffers]

Haven't had the opportunity to paint for a while now. Feel guilty... Weird that.
Anyways; I did some still life attempts at some cheaply made helmet I had lying around my room. Set up a place near my computer to paint it and so on. However it was very hard, as the spot I was sitting in interfered somehow with how my observation went. I need to fix that. To get some critique on these would be nice. Don't know exactly what I'm doing wrong here.
Without further ado, here they are:

This is my first attempt. I went straight to color, which was a major mistake.



Corrected my previous mistake and went grayscale. Turned out ok I think.

[dandylion]

You have a lot of great works here, and your portraits and figures look good. You seem to like somber and darker color schemes – nothing wrong with that! – but I'd love to see something that uses brighter or more cheerful colors. ;D

[JesseM]

You've got some nice work here! I love your use of texture.

[Toffers]

Edit:
Dandylion : Thanks a lot! Uhm, I'll try to do something cheerful : ) something High-key or something. could be fun!

JesseM : Thanks to you too : ) I don't really notice that I use texture, but I guess it's true. I have some sort of brush that does that stuff. I like it a lot, hence the texture all over the place : P

Got to some painting these past two days. Not much, a couple hours. But I did something, and I think it turned out well. I didn't have the time to finish the still life, but the photography turned out well...just...don't look at the hands : )

[Toffers]

School caught up, life sucks. Blah blah whatever.
I got shit done, and the weird part is that I see some improvement. I think. The self portrait didn't quite turn out as it should, though the study went rather well, except for the hair.
The other ones were quite quick, not much to talk about.
I'm enjoying painting more and more by the day, that feels good : )











Something I thought about after watching Noah Bradley's paintover stream was that I might want to do some of the same stuff. To critique some work if someone really wants me to, I can't really get my head around to search through the entire forums for someone in need of this, so it's better if they ask here, I would guess. Some insight is often invaluable.
So, if you want to, just ask me if I can critique your work, maybe help with something else if you want, just ask. I'll be happy to help : )

No one's going to reply anyways, so what do I lose.

[JackAnimated]

Really good stuff here. Your understanding of shapes and light is very accomplished, as is your rendering. You seem unsure of hands and feet shapes. Some studies of these may be beneficial to you.

[DARKTHUR]

inspiring studies! Specially those photopaintings! It seems you've got a very good ability getting color right, as well as volume there.

[Henrique Ventura]

Wow, nice digitals paintings here, you're very talented! If you feel inspired to do so, please, criticise my work! I see you want to help, and for me this could be very usefull...

[dolmen]

I really like your style. I like the lady in a red cloak most I'd say.

your colors are amazingly rich. looking forward to seeing more

[Toffers]

JackAnimated: Thanks for the kind words, man. You are way, wayyy too right about just that. Came to the same conclusion myself a couple weeks ago...Glad someone gives me a shove.

DARKTHUR: Well thank you, kind sir. Thou art a gentleman and a scholar.
I'm getting more used to it by now, the studies. A year ago I frowned at the notion of trying shit like this. Buuut, well, I tried it, and fell in love : )

Henrique Ventura : Thanks a lot, bro. I'll get on it whenever I have time. Tomorrow, I think. (school is taking up a lot more time than it should).

dolmen : Ooh, that old one. Hard to do. Thank you though, for the ever so nice compliments : )
I'll get right on making more.

And now for something completely different:

This is going to be a semi-big update, since I've done a couple small things here and there. I went on a trip to bergen for the weekend, and I've also been busy with school, so I haven't had the time to update here.

1-2 hrs

30 min each, or something like that.

This was balls hard. Fuck you Caesar. Sometimes I hate you so much, simply because you're hard to paint in that single screenshot. Great movie though...


And now! For the piece de resistance! Something from imagination. Maaan has it been a while since I've done anything significant that way. I've been way too souped up in mah studies to do stuff like this. I've missed it a lot.
School sucks away the creativity in me, but I managed to persist, and create this. Mostly as a way to discover a working.....workflow to apply to imaginary stuff. Without further ado, here it is:



Also, something I found funny. This is a comparison with my first ever study. It was about a year ago or something, and you can clearly see the difference:


That's it. I'm off for the night. Cheerio.

[Toffers]

Right, I'm back again. Got some stuff done, though nothing major. I'm getting to some really satisfying results, considering how much time I spend on them. Next to nothing compared to what I used to spend on the simplest illustrations...

Anyways, I made some color keys. these were fun to do, and you can see the improvement in my workflow from each attempt... I actually spent just about 15 min on each, so yeah. 'T was cool.



next up: an evironment speedy I did in half an hour or so. I suck at this shit, snow that is, but it's very satisfying to get these results out of so little actual time spent painting. Feels powerful in a way.



and just some random dwarf. trying to do something slightly different from the last dude i drew. Doing some oriental...ish armor on him. Fun.



And that's it for now. Next time I'll probably dig up a camera to give you some photos of my irl sketchbook : )

Next challenge: feet...

[Vumi]

It's frickin' awesome mate! Great start with these! Go for it and produce more!

[JackAnimated]

Really great update Toffers, I love those little environment sketches. Now lets see those hands and feet

[Toffers]

Jackanimated: Well thanks. Got a couple more of those now. And I've gotten on to hands and feet. have about 40 feet drawn now in my moleskine thingie. I'll take a couple pics and upload them in a minute.
Vumi: Thanks, brah. I'll get right on it when I have the time.

Righty o'. I have some paintings, each at different stages and so on. Fun to do, trying to get them exhibitioned at some gallery thingie later this week or something. could be cool.

This is one of them. kind of happy, though I have this bad habit of overworking the colors WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too fucking much. Bad habit. Gotta work on that.

Here's the first draft. It's kinda strange, just a sketch in the beginning, but I got hooked on it and couldn't stop painting. Those damn mountains,man.

Fuckin' hands, man. how do they work? Going to hit up bridgman in the near future to solve the obvious problem. I have no painterly spatial sense whatsoever...fuck.

This just..didn't go anywhere. I mean it was the first one that I tried, but I gave up, then went back to it again after the previous I posted. Fun though, most of the time.


and..uhh, yeah. I love this picture so much, so I had to paint it. Don't blame me.

[MeZergy]

You really capture the weight of forms in your portraits and figure paintings. Keep up the good work! Your landscapes are also very vibrant especially that last one with the snow.

[Toffers]

MeZergy: Thanks, mate. Always appreciated : ) I like doing those enviros, and I find it funny that the one that I put the least amount of work into, and cared the least about fares better with you. Heheh, I need to be more accustomed to catering to other people's needs with my paintings.

Anyways, I'm not sure if I can post again within such a small timeframe, but I'm up on the top of the first page anyways, so It's easier this way.
The sketchbook promised, with feet:

[Toffers]

Gaaah, I hate it when no one comments in between updates. Makes me feel awkward and filthy somehow....anyways I'll start this updtate with a bang!
Did this half from reference, half not. Was cool to do, so I did so.


Couple quick speedpaintings. I recorded the second one I think, maybe I'll upload it if anyone deems it interesting. The first one went relatively well, and it had the workflow I really want in painting.The second one...was a problem. I constantly struggle with where to start, and where to go to, so I need to fix that eventually.



A few composition sketches, I'll upload the rest when I'm ...well, done with 'em.

This..was weird. took like 6 hours. Not on this single painting, but I painted several paintings, then painted over them, and teste various brushes I got from the imaginefx cd. Immensely helpful some of them, others not so much. probably spent hours just..testing things. Fun, very much so.

quick 30 minute sketch or whatever. I suck at guns though, need to work on that.

and this...well, let this be a testament to why you should always, ALWAYS use thumbnail sketches to work out the composition before you do something planned like this. It's kind of "artsy", but I liked the idea. Never went too far with it.

[JackAnimated]

Wow Toffers, you have been very busy I see. I have some catching up to do

I really enjoy looking at your paintings, so many colours used. As for hands, I am no expert, but to visualise them as 3d objects, it can help to break them down in your head, or on the page as cylinders, for the fingers anyway. Then draw bands around them, following the shape. Does that make sense.

Look at Bridgeman for hands, but also Burne Hogarth - he breaks things down into beautiful masses of flesh.

Looking forward to seeing more.

[CarmenJudy]

You make beautiful use of color in your landscapes.

[Toffers]

CarmenJudy: Thanks a lot! I actually try to tone back on the color, since everything looks so saturated. Though I hope I don't lose the "crazy" color I have now : )
Thanks again : P

JackAnimated: I'll probably comment in your sketchbook right after this...
anyways, thanks, man : )
What you say makes total sense, I try that regularly when doing this. Only problem being that I have an awful spatial awareness. I suck at this sort of 3d to paper transition, though I'm practicing to get that workin'. As for burne hogarth, I'm actually getting a book to look at at some point. Bridgman has become my bible now regarding hands >_>
But thanks again : )

I'm back again, after some painful personal stuff. I've got some shit done for now, and in the middle I ended up thinking " you know what I don't have enough of ? STUDIES!" then just going on to do two portrait studies. I need to do more people, since that's what I love the most to paint...
Noticed that I've gotten too caught up in environments lately, but the studies I've done can't hurt. Probably going to get lost in it again at some point : )
Anyways, here are the two portrait studies I did:




Some of my sketches. 10 thumbnail-ish value...thingies, and some other crud that I thought was funny.




Some quick environments in the same series as the last one I did. I recorded both of them, but only uploaded one to youtube.




Just some random 2 min sketches from the Daily show. Idk, I didn't have much to do at the time, while watching this one interview.




Here's the speedpaints, you gotta love the music : )

[JackAnimated]

Great update. Loads of paintings and colours

Really great thumbnails and environment speedpaints. Gonna watch your videos to see how you did them, then do some of my own.

Thanks.

[Nihil_]

Great style, man — keep it up! =)

Try to capture a single idea, then sit down and brainstorm the picture composition and its contents as fast as you can, without taking breaks. When you'll be not sure whether you can achieve better detail, just keep on thinking what do you have to do in order to express your idea better. This should help.