Sketchbook... Round 2! FIGHT!!

[triggerpigking]

Good update I like the mezmero piece and the dog sketch that dog is very creepy looking though (actually weirdly enough it looks alot like my freinds charcoal work he tends to draw everything creepy looking like that).
Well can't say anything else but keep up the good work!

[Damien Levs]

HEY!!!! My, you have been quite busy while I have been away. Totally dig your wips for ChoW 297!!! Some really confident lines in there. Keep plugging away dude!

[Mat Kaminski]

These are a few updates from my blog:


Just a few quick lunch doodles...

Hel-Looks Study

Title: Hel-Looks Study
Date: September 17, 2012
Medium: Photoshop

Notes: As always, I'm studying from Hel-Looks. I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I'm not doing this whole studying thing right. Maybe I need to consult with my teacher and see if he has any pointers. I wonder if maybe I'm just stuck in contour mode. I need to start gathering the forms faster and better and maybe that will help me a bunch.

Title: John Sketch
Date: September 17, 2012
Medium: Photoshop

Notes: A guy sat down next to me during lunch and I just went into it full-on paint style! Fun quick sketch.

==========

So, as always, my promises to update more often go unfulfilled, but here it is. I just keep trucking on.

School has been grinding my to the bone, so I decided that working was less important for the moment and that I should focus entirely on school. Oh it feels so nice to actually get a decent night's rest. So much homework, so little time.

I've been doing a little bit of searching lately for what really matters art-wise, and I think that it's really important to just do art all the time. There really isn't an easier way around it than that. Other than that, I've discovered these fancy little brush pens that help a ton with my mark making. I would recommend that everyone that struggles with stroke economy to pick up one of these. Of course I would stick with the solid black, but that's just me. Maybe you want to do all your drawings in a crazy purple or something...

Also, if you look on my links on the left, you'll notice that I've added two more. Two people that I go to school with who are pretty damn talented. I would suggest you check out Clare Caldwell and Mary Tuttle.

Anyway... here's the art:

Uncle LAN

Title: Uncle LAN
Date: September 11, 2012
Medium: Ink
Scale: Original is 11" x 17"

Notes: This is the first project related to my Idea, Process and Criticism class (IPC). It deals with my topic of technological addiction. I wanted to show this as a sort of introduction to my overall topic choice. I hope that it conveys it well. Oh, and it's made on Bristol board that was soaked for about four to six hours in coffee. I wanted the final piece to have this sort of vintage look to it.

Life Drawing I

Title: Life Drawing I
Date: Variable
Medium: Graphite
Scale: Each 'page' is 9" x 12"

Notes: Getting back into the swing of things with a ton of life drawing... this is just the graphite ones. I have a ton more in the pipe.

Life Drawing II

Title: Life Drawing II
Date: Variable
Medium: Ink
Scale: Each 'page' is 9" x 12"

Notes: Getting back into the swing of things with a ton of life drawing... this time in ink-o-vision. Just gotta keep on trucking... only a ton of hours to go before I reach the 10k hour mark.

Marko Studies

Title: Marko Studies
Date: September 13, 2012
Medium: Graphite
Scale: Original is 9" x 12"

Notes: Marko Djurdjevic you crafty devil. I'll get around to getting how you do your incredible stuff someday... But until then I'll just keep studying yours and drooling at your amazing skills.

Losing My Mind

Title: Losing My Mind
Date: September 11, 2012
Medium: Graphite
Scale: Original is 9" x 12"

Notes: I hope someone can find it...

=============

Hello Again
Alright, so, I've been away awhile. I decided to all but take the entirety of August off. Just relax and play a ton of video games and watch a ton movies. I sketched here and there in my sketchbook, and digitally, but for the most part, I just played a ton of video games. Sorry about that ... I should have probably updated a little bit here and there.

Well, school started up again and YAY my school isn't closed down and is still accredited. That's always good news. But the unfortunate side effect of being back in school is that now I'm completely bogged down with work. That's both a good and a bad thing. The productive side of me says, "Let's do this!" so that I can get better in every respect, the lazy side says, "Work?! UGH!!!" Luckily I have my teachers this semester here to kick me in the ass to get me jump started.

Speaking of teachers, I just wanted to throw a blurb to him, as his work is really impressive: John Lee

Anyway... more talking soon, for now, art:

ChoW 297 WIPs 2

Title: ChoW 297 WIPs 2
Date: August 2, 2012
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 2550px x 4000px

Notes: Just more sketches dealing with the Character of the Week Contest. Of course I didn't really get anything fully done on it, but it was still fun to just get things going with it.

Crash Study

Title: Crash Study
Date: August 4, 2012
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 2550px x 1072px

Notes: This movie is actually a really good movie. I especially love some of the long panned shots such as this one.

Edgar Sketch

Title: Edgar Sketch
Date: August 2, 2012
Medium: Photoshop

Notes: This one is just kind of silly... I was just noodling away with my tablet and thought, "Hmmm Poe would be really fun to draw in just black and white." So I went with it. Kinda stylized, but interesting.

Figure Sketches 1 - 3

Title: Figure Sketches 1 - 3
Date: August 1 - 31, 2012
Medium: Photoshop

Notes: Just a ton of sketches for studies. Need to do sooo many more of these...

Replies next time...

[Mat Kaminski]

We've been doing a ton of drawing and ink stuff that I will show later in my Illustration class.

John actually introduced me to a cool new illustrator, Charles Dana Gibson. I think that this is pretty much the epitome of what I want to do in terms of my ink works. And then learn to translate that into digital painting (perhaps over the line work?).

Anyway, just a one-hour study session. Trying to learn how to really pay attention to what I'm drawing. John, I'm just throwing it out there if you see this... you're blowing my mind teaching me these awesome techniques!

Studying Techniques

Title: Studying Techniques
Date: September 19, 2012
Medium: Photoshop

Notes: Each of these is using a different technique to get value. I'm trying to learn every way I can and see what really sticks for me. Honestly the Gibson method might be the most interesting, but how does that translate to painting? I mean I guess I could start to put washes on top of what I draw, but I feel like I need some color instead of just straight value. Maybe I could digital paint over these lines? I'm not sure yet really... will definitely need more experimentation and practice before this makes sense. Anyway, the second method is a bit closer to edge / planar analysis. It was meant to find the contours and big mass of color to just get all the things in the right place. And finally, the third one is a subtractive form of painting. I was just blocking in the black shapes and then coming back into it with the lighter tones until it started to get closer to what I was looking for. Hopefully all of these make sense, but regardless... I'll have more of them soon.

----RESPONSES----
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Damien Levs:

HEY!!!! My, you have been quite busy while I have been away. Totally dig your wips for ChoW 297!!! Some really confident lines in there. Keep plugging away dude!

Hey dooder! Thanks! As usual, it ended up being an unfinished piece, but eh, everything is a study, right?

triggerpigking:

Good update I like the mezmero piece and the dog sketch that dog is very creepy looking though (actually weirdly enough it looks alot like my freinds charcoal work he tends to draw everything creepy looking like that).
Well can't say anything else but keep up the good work!

Yeah, the dog problem stems for two things: A) Drawing from life. Dogs tend to be very fidgety, especially when you need them to be still, and B) Not taking the time to measure out 'visual cues' before really diving in there. It helps so much it's almost rediculous!

Rotor:

I have a couple of those laughing Buddha's aswell.
I think you've done significant progress from the last time I peeked in here.
Something to consider though. On the Charmander piece, I think you have gone into way too much detail way too early. Figuring out composition, perspective, general construction, main and subsidiary lightsources, fore- mid- and background etc. is of key importance.
Not only does it hinder you from seeing the piece as a whole, when you scrub too much detail into parts and later have to do major changes, your time has gone to waste. I think of drawing more as sculpting the figures and surroundings out of light, first with just building the shapes and forms and moving from there on.

I hope this helps, keep it up.

I love that little budda statue. He makes my day pretty much everytime I see him!

Sound advice for sure. I'm really trying to break myself out of these old, bad habits. Such as steering away from strict contour drawing and trying to get closer to drawing the 'space between objects' more. I think this will help a ton in the long run.

Riley Stark:

Nice updates!

Continue to think about the basic structure of things - your skulls/faces are looking a bit unsure of where things are supposed to go. (I'm noticing this consistently in where you're placing your mouths below their noses when you draw faces straight-on -- you're not putting them on the same curve of the face, but slightly off to one side or the other. To help you line it up, remember the philtrum extends down from the inner break in the nose, and that will always help you place your mouth below your nose. You seem to place the philtrum always just slightly to the side, but I think it might be because you're unsure where the base of the nose is connecting to the face to help you get the philtrum-guide down. Might be good to do some studies of noses from different angles to help you get a better feel of where it's supposed to go?)

Vine charcoal looks like it's a nice medium. Is it tinted that slightly brown/reddish color or is just the color those drawings are scanning in at? (I like the color - it looks kind of cool.)

I like the idea for the bard. (I LOVE the 80s. So many songs from that era on my 'guilty pleasure' playlist. XD) I be curious to see what you do with it. (I like the quick study for the boom box. That came out cool.) His head is slightly lopsided to our left at the moment - don't forget to flip the image to help you correct things like this. (Very helpful trick!)

Keep it up!

Hahaha, the 80s was the best era for sure.

Yeah, I agree completely with the nose structure. Honestly I should go a step further and actually do a musculature study of the facial muscles like one-hundred more times. You know... muscle memory and all that.

While I like the idea of the flip canvas trick, I don't see much use at this point in keeping it flipped. I think honestly it's best to flip it, stare, then flip it back. After all, if we're trying to get closer to real life, you can't just flip your 'canvas' in real life. I don't know, maybe I'm just getting too anal when it comes to that?

But anyway...

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Thanks everyone! Sorry about the lack of updates... but that's going to be fixed nao!

More soon!

[Mat Kaminski]

Charles "Derpy" Gibson

Title: Charles "Derpy" Gibson
Date: September 19, 2012
Medium: Ink
Scale: Each page is 9" x 12"

Notes: We've started to look into ink for my Illustration class, and like I said last post, we were introduced to Charles Dana Gibson. So here's my attempt (multiple times) to recreate the 'Gibson Girl'. This was almost laughable on my part... because I just kept going and going, trying to get the damn thing correct. Other than that, we were trying a multitude of mark making techniques. Trying to achieve 'visual grays' by using the ink in different ways.

Face Painting

Title: Face Painting
Date: September 20, 2012
Medium: Photoshop

Notes: I've REALLY begun to study when it comes to getting value in it's correct place. It's kind of silly how slowly the painting comes now, but how much better it looks in terms of accuracy. I'm just constantly measuring and checking, measuring and checking. It's an exhausting process, but the results are much more appealing for sure!

Clare, From Life

Title: Clare, From Life
Date: September 17 & 19, 2012
Medium: Ink
Scale: Each 'page' is 9" x 12"

Notes: We did a few life drawings that were timed. Each one was about twenty minutes. The focus was to really get in there with the ink and use measuring and mark making to it's maximum. The top right was to only use one value to really get the form out. This was extremely fun and I want to do many, many more of these.

[Mat Kaminski]

Sanity, Gone: Part I.0

Title: Sanity, Gone: Part I.0
Date: September 27, 2012
Medium: Ink, Vine Charcoal, White Chalk
Scale: Page was approximately 3' x 5' or so...

Notes: A fellow Illustrator (Robert Burns) and I, managed to just go completely crazy on a big-ass sheet of paper. After about every fifteen minutes we spun it around and worked on the opposite end. This is pretty much the result of like one-hour worth of insanity. We just had absolutely fun!

IPC Hand Practice

Title: IPC Hand Practice
Date: September 25, 2012
Medium: Foil

Notes: An practice attempt to make a tin-foil hand that would actually stand on it's own. Success!

Hands, meet Hands

Title: Hands, meet Hands
Date: September 26 & 27, 2012
Medium: Ink and White Chalk

Notes: The 'non-tan' paper was for part of a thirty minute draw straight through on just hands. Honestly with my interest in hands coupled with the fact that I just enjoy drawing them... time literally FLEW by. Still sooo many pages of hands left to go before I'm decent at them.

[Zeph]

'Allo. Subbed

[Black Spot]

Good to see tons of work since I was last here. Improvement all round.

[Riley Stark]

I really like the 'Clare From Life' studies. There's some nice stuff going on in those. (Almost a kind of effortlessness/looseness that I enjoy in the way Bridgman draws. I think your Gibson girl studies came out OK, but would have come out better if you had used a lighter touch like you did in the Clare studies -- the thinner pen work adds a more delicate feel, which the Gibson drawings always have to them, especially about their faces.)

Face painting - Stop with those blackish shadows. It just looks bad. If it's left over from sketching, then sketch in a toned color. (Like a dark brown or something so the base work at least blends, if you're not going to delete it once you've started painting. You're continually shooting yourself in the foot when you do this with your digital work.. That black is doing you no favors. Ever.)

The shared sketch you did with the other artist sounds like a fun idea! (I've never done anything like that, but I could definitely see it being enjoyable.)

Keep up on the hand studies. (Hands, hands.. Such a pain!) At least you're enjoying doing the studies, so that will help you get better with them. (I hate drawing them, so it's always a struggle when I do studies with them. Hate them. XD)

Anyway, keep it up!

[Mat Kaminski]

There is so much art that I have to go and photograph. I'd say approx. two sketchbooks at least to get onto here... not even counting the finals from actual projects. Either way... the time is now to start playing with the catch-up.

Hello again, Dear Ashley

Title: Hello again, Dear Ashley
Date: October 29, 2012
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 1100px x 1200px

Notes: This was mostly just a test to see how in-depth that technique that I've been studying can really go. As you can see, it REALLY helps with proportions and getting angles down. As always, I'm decently happy with this for now, let me come back and look at it in a few hours and I might have to go... "BLECHH!" But the subject matter keeps me wanting to paint (mah special lady friend).

Pose Studies (with Bonus Tutorial)

Title: Pose Studies (with Bonus Tutorial)
Date: October 29, 2012
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 2100px x 650px

Notes: These are just those studies that I am continuing. I wanted to show how they were put together, thus the tutorial. This is based upon a combination of Bargue drawing and Greecian analytically drawing. Hopefully the tutorial helps it make sense...

Title: Pose Studies (with Color)
Date: October 29, 2012
Medium: Photoshop

Notes: Trying to keep using that technique, only this time... throw some color into the mix. Obviously I need to learn how color interacts much more before I really continue pushing in that direction. Maybe this might be a good time to start using movie stills again!

Here's the tutorial on how I've been drawing lately for anyone that's interested... If you guys like it, I'll go more in depth and actually try and explain this stuff at detail.

Basically it's been a combination of Bargue drawing and how the Greeks draw. You are constantly searching for angle relationships.

I'll post some actual work soon, but I just wanted to toss this up really fast.

[Riley Stark]

Nice looking studies. Proportions are looking fairly good on the perspective studies, too.

If you continue with the Ashley piece, I'd add a quick multiply layer to darken things down some so you can get a bit more contrast going with the face, which will help forms read better. (It's all very bright right now and so the forms on the face are a bit mushy-seeming, but that could be because you're not necessarily finished.)

[Black Spot]

You might want to include looking at the negative spaces as well - the distance between the arms from the body are not the same.

[Mat Kaminski]

Let's let this blog get real weird for a moment...

Sooooo, oh man! This semester was INSANE! I literally didn't think it was going to ever end. But thank god I'm finally on break. Now it's time to get all that schooling that I've been in, let it float to the top, through the sifter and try and apply it all to the artses that I make on the side during break.

The next few days will just be a gathering of my sketchbooks, paintings, drawings, etc. and just pretty much playing catch-up. I have sooo much to upload, and then it'll be time to create even MOAR!

I guess I should get to it...

Let's start with Idea, Process, and Critique (IPC class):

Consumption Junction

Title: Consumption Junction
Date: October 18, 2012
Medium: Sculptural Form

Notes: My sole purpose of this piece is to show, in a very literal sense, that the energy drinks that people consume are speeding up the process in which we expire. Much like batteries, the human body can only withstand so much energy intake before it overloads. The same can be said about energy drink consumption. It tends to wear on the body rather quickly.

This piece was actually created using an energy drink and ibuprofen. We were required to make something using one repeated form (in my case the pill form) and make it mean something.

Addiction Transformation

Title: Addiction Transformation
Date: November - December 6, 2012
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original Scale Varies

Notes: I am exploring the thought that one can literally become addicted to anything. Is it possible? Can an addiction eventually become an obsession? In that same vein, can it even become a life-threatening compulsion? From my research it appears that anything can become addictive through sheer repetition.

The work presented here is my exploration into all these aspects at once. I initially started with a photograph, taken every twelve hours (one at 10:00AM, and then one at 10:00PM). This step was meticulous as it could impose upon anything that was being done at the time. After this simple data collection had ended, I gathered up all these images and began to paint them all, one-by-one. They started as small digital paintings (thus the first one being the smallest), and eventually became larger. This is to represent that an addiction always starts small, but develops into a full-blown, can’t live without, obsession.

Digital painting is another aspect that is prevalent throughout this piece. It is representing that ‘quick-fix’ that one can experience through some drugs. It literally has no dry time, and can be corrected extremely fast, so there is much less risk involved. Thus the person attempting this can get quick satisfaction from this type of media.

I am exploring the transformation both physically and psychologically that one experiences in the throes of addiction. Each image’s quality gets a bit more diminished with a crest at about image fifteen. The viewer is meant to see a visual connection between the image quality and the figure represented.

Through research, it shows that the minimum amount of days it takes to develop (and break) an addiction is actually only twenty-one (thirty for maximum impact). These two recurring numbers found their way into my piece. The number of paintings presented takes on this minimum, while the time spent on each painting takes on the latter number (thirty minutes each).

The doors over each piece are to represent the unknown when first beginning an addiction. They are each numbered to simply show the day that each painting was done. These are hung in a random fashion to show the mindset that one has when starting an addiction, meaning you never know where you’ll end up or even where you’re beginning when first undertaking an addiction (which initially one might not view as an addiction).

Title: Entwined Revelations
Date: November 26, 2012
Medium: Sculptural Form

Notes: With the apparent addiction to technology, is it more important to use our devices, or breathe air? With addictions such as nomophobia (the fear of being without a cell phone – which is said to result in heroin addiction like withdrawal) on the rise, the public seems to vote for the former. A majority of people wouldn’t consider a day without their myriad of devices, they would rather stop breathing.

Everyday, I go through seeing people ignore others, trapped entirely in their electronic devices. I understand that we live in an age of technology, but when did man get taken out of the equation. Technology has completely withdrawn humanity from nature. If you go to a park on any given Saturday, you don’t even see children out on the playgrounds anymore. I have gone entire weekends, walking through parks, and noticing the complete lack of children. When I was a child going to the park was the only thing that we ever wanted to do. We would play and interact from sun-up till sundown. It has become a very sickening problem that needs addressing. Humanity is so far out of touch with nature because of our complete obedience to our technological devices.
In my opinion the world has gone from a world of regular social interaction to a ‘screen’ society. We are lacking interaction in most forms, making way for the virtual world to overtake the physical. Humans rank as one of the most socially dependent creatures in the world, but it is amazing how a social need affects birds. They need this social interaction. The small subjects in the trees are going to be tiny tinfoil birds with televisions for faces. They are to expressly show the visual representation of what social interaction looks like. The wires themselves are to be a clue as to the way we interact with not only ourselves, but to nature itself. I plan on using small electronic devices on the end of each of the wires that will play a TV static sound. This is to show the distinct disconnect between man and nature.
The viewers themselves should be able to climb into the trees to view the subject matter up close. As well as pick up and inspect the birds themselves. The dangling ‘sound devices’ will be discarded electronic devices to show how fast we move in this purchase and throw away consumerist society.

I want to make sure to have a very disturbing contrast between the electronic man-made versus the natural element.

Technological Sea

Title: Technological Sea
Date: September 18, 2012
Medium: Sculptural Form

Notes: My intention of this piece is to open the eyes of people to show that they are literally drowning in a sea of technology.

I plan on using a piece of wood, affixing a sculptural form of a hand to it, then draping a multitude of wires over the hand one-by-one.

The hand is to look youthful and smooth, thus I want to use tape to bind the hand after it's been sculpted out of tinfoil. The point of this is to not only help the hand retain form, but to help it become more structurally sound for when I drape the wires over the piece.

I will affix the hand down with glue and more tape, all the while attempting to work as fast as possible.

I will then drape wires onto the piece one by one, affixing them down on the edges so that they can stay free on the inside of the piece. To make the piece interesting and convincing, it would be best to use wires that are differing colors and thickness.

The piece is to be represented with the wires being 'water' and the hand attempting to break out of it, but unfortunately getting sucked right back in.




I'll have to update more soon with my next class!

----RESPONSES----
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Black Spot

You might want to include looking at the negative spaces as well - the distance between the arms from the body are not the same.

I totally agree. There are some things that I needed to work out (I guess things that I hadn't considered). I have a bunch more exp since then, so hopefully things will start looking quite a bit better!

Riley Stark

Nice looking studies. Proportions are looking fairly good on the perspective studies, too.

If you continue with the Ashley piece, I'd add a quick multiply layer to darken things down some so you can get a bit more contrast going with the face, which will help forms read better. (It's all very bright right now and so the forms on the face are a bit mushy-seeming, but that could be because you're not necessarily finished.)

I think that the brightness is pretty much from the camera flash when I took the image. I need to learn to adjust my real-life filter so that I can make my image read better. But it was a fun exercise. I'm going to be going crazy in the next couple of weeks with more drawings / paintings! So hopefully things will get more shaken up in here soon!

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Thanks! More to come soon!!!

[Mat Kaminski]

Continuing on from the last post...

Drawing Composition Class!

Reduction from Reference

Title: Reduction from Reference
Date: September 10, 2012
Medium: Collage, Conte, Charcoal
Scale: 30" x 22"

Notes: I worked from a representation master and reduced the painting to no more than four values. The tried to really emphasize the composition through the design of the entire piece.

Reduction from Life

Title: Reduction from Life
Date: September 17, 2012
Medium: Collage, Conte, Charcoal, Ink Wash, Acrylic
Scale: 30" x 22"

Notes: Using the same techniques as before, I needed to work from observation using a complex subject. In this case a still life. I made sure to emphasize the overall design of the objects and the finished result.

Compositional "Architecture"

Title: Compositional "Architecture"
Date: September 24, 2012
Medium: Vine Charcoal, Chalk
Scale: 30" x 22"

Notes: While working from observation, I was to do a drawing using a single focal point. The point was to focus on one object and make the entire composition serve that single focal point.

"Building" Composition

Title: "Building" Composition
Date: October 1, 2012
Medium: Vine Charcoal, White Chalk, White Acrylic
Scale: 22" x 30"

Notes: This piece was entirely based on blocking in the composition using a push-and-pull method while working. I was to push the media around with the white and black meeting in the middle creating a huge variety of grays throughout the piece. This was also worked in from a still life during class.

Interior / Exterior Space

Title: Interior / Exterior Space
Date: October 8, 2012
Medium: Ink Wash, Conte, White Chalk, Charcoal
Scale: 30" x 22"

Notes: The point of this piece was to focus on an interior looking out into an exterior. You had to make sure that the entire composition was based solely around this fact. The piece was to be a push into the outside.

Expanding Picture Plane

Title: Expanding Picture Plane
Date: October 8, 2012
Medium: Charcoal
Scale: Each piece is 15" x 15"

Notes: While working from a still life I was supposed to try and create three different pieces that were each a composition of there own. The point was to make each one use the rule of thirds and create a good focal point in each piece. Then I was to join them together to create one solid composition.

Extreme Viewpoint

Title: Extreme Viewpoint
Date: October 15, 2012
Medium: Ink Wash, Conte, Charcoal
Scale: 30" x 22"

Notes: Working from observation I did a drawing which presented the subject from an extreme angle. In this case, that angle was a worm's eye view.

Grid and Rule of Thirds

Title: Grid and Rule of Thirds
Date: October 29, 2012
Medium: Ink Wash, Charcoal, White Acrylic, White Chalk
Scale: 30" x 22"

Notes: Working from observation, I used a landscape to make a grid-like armature that also implemented the rule of thirds.

Decorative Space

Title: Decorative Space
Date: November 5, 2012
Medium: Oil Pastel
Scale: 30" x 22"

Notes: Working from observation, I did a full color drawing that transformed the three-dimensional objects into flat surfaces. The point of this was to reference pop-art of the '60's to create a piece using those non-realistic and non-traditional color scheming.

Grid Reproduction

Title: Grid Reproduction
Date: November 12 - 19, 2012
Medium: Black Ink and Stick, White Acrylic
Scale: 22" x 30"

Notes: Firstly, we had to create one mark (in my case it was that cross pattern) and then lay in highlights and low-lights according that that single mark. Secondly, we had to use a master (in this case William Whitaker) and try to reproduce it according to a grid. It is extremely difficult at times to FORCE a piece to work on a grid, but this was my finished result.

Applied Cezanne Study

Title: Applied Cezanne Study
Date: December 3, 2012
Medium: Charcoal, Chalk, White Acrylic
Scale: 22" x 30"

Notes: Working from observation, I was to create a piece that emphasized the light and shadow according to how Cezanne would have. Very loose gestural line-marks, large strokes, and paying close attention to the structure were of the greatest import during this piece. I am glad that my subject was so willing to sit there during the creation of this (Thank you madam!!!).

Repetition / Movement

Title: Repetition / Movement
Date: December 10, 2012
Medium: White Chalk, White Acrylic, Vine Charcoal
Scale: 22" x 30"

Notes: Using referenece, we were to simulate a movement in space. The image was to make it look like a sort-of 'ghosted' image throughout. We were meant to attempt to show movement throughout the piece. I think I bit off a bit more than I could chew, but I sure tried! (Reference image from: http://tasastock.deviantart.com/ - Thanks!!)

[triggerpigking]

That repetition/movement piece is crazy awesome, im jealous of your charcoal skills.

thnks for posting that night of the vampire song btw really cool song.

[AeonPhoenix]

Keep it up dude. I have been seeing some serious improvement. Drop by my SB sometime or just leave me a message. It's been too long. And keep up the good work :3

[Mat Kaminski]

I still have to scan / photograph all my sketchbooks from the semester as well as my recent pencil drawings out of classes...

But here's just more of that super analytical drawing. Let me know whatcha think...

Masamune Shirow Inspired

Title: Masamune Shirow Inspired
Date: December 19, 2012
Medium: Photoshop

Notes: Continuing on with the planar analysis. This one is extremely contour heavy, but I think this is a good method to start using. It's basically like having a coloring book at this point because the shadows / highlights have literally shown themselves in their entirety. Thanks characterdesigns.com for the pose!

I've taken the weekend off... just maxxing and relaxing. Ahhh it was amazing!

I love just chillin' out and just drinking, watching movies, and all around having fun.

But, I must at least start to push into the working direction again.

Well, here's the first 'sketch' of the break so far...
Just trying to use what I learned from the semester and actually apply it to regular work.

Facial Plane Study

Title: Facial Plane Study
Date: December 17, 2012
Medium: Photoshop

Notes: This was an attempt to take things that I learned from this semester and start to apply it to all my outside work. I think this is turning out pretty well so far... I might keep going, I might start a new one. Who knows? Either way, I think this method works interestingly, plus I finally get to bring back my contour drawing. YAY!!

----RESPONSES----
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AeonPhoenix:

Keep it up dude. I have been seeing some serious improvement. Drop by my SB sometime or just leave me a message. It's been too long. And keep up the good work :3

Thanks so much AP! Been awhile... I've literally been drawing my hands off for quite awhile now, so it's good to see that you're still in the game too. You'll have to hit me up on messanger sometime. I'm on skype sometimes... or even aim or whatever.

triggerpigking:

That repetition/movement piece is crazy awesome, im jealous of your charcoal skills.

thnks for posting that night of the vampire song btw really cool song.

Oh, thanks bud! It's kind of funny... if you would've seen me working on that piece you would have laughed. Since it was vine charcoal I probably 'erase-smeared' the entire piece like ten times before I was somewhat satisfied... I think there is still a ton to do on it, but I called it done for the class.

I have so much more music to pass on to you guise in the coming weeks... get ready for it

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Thanks for the response! More very soon!

[Mat Kaminski]

Analytical Ashley Pose Study

Title: Analytical Ashley Pose Study
Date: December 21, 2012
Medium: Photoshop

Notes: Trying to push that analytical stuff further with a tad of tone thrown into the mix to help create more depth. I think this method is kind of funny because it's sort of like coloring books...

[AeonPhoenix]

That study came out great!

[Rotor]

Hi man, how you been? Long time since I saw your stuff.
This bit caught my eye: "I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I'm not doing this whole studying thing right."
I think for learning's sake, it would be good to pick a goal. Anything really, whether it's correct portrayal of form and mass, doing fabric and texture, lighting situation, as long as you give yourself some breathing room and try to focus on a single or a limited set of things to accomplish. I dunno but it's something I've started doing more and it eases up the burden a bit (because I'm a lazy ass and dumb to boot haha ).
Another thing, I think your linework looks is a bit rigid and could use loosening up. Lots and lots of gesture drawings from life helped me in that regard.

I see you're working hard though, keep it up man.

[Mat Kaminski]

Repo! The Genetic Opera - Shiloh

Title: Repo! The Genetic Opera - Shiloh
Date: January 1 - 2, 2013
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: 14" x 9.25"

Notes: I wanted to start out the New Year with something strong. So this is pretty much starting the culmination of everything I've been learning so far in school. I'd like to say the main thing that I learned is patience when it comes to art. This piece still has a boat-load of work left on it, but it's actually a really fun process, not to mention the good learning curve on this piece.
If you haven't seen the movie Repo! The Genetic Opera, I highly suggest a watch!

Repo! The Genetic Opera - Shiloh

Title: Repo! The Genetic Opera - Shiloh
Date: January 1 - 4, 2013
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: 14" x 9.25"

Notes: Continuing to plug away at this piece... so far about five-ish hours spent (I work in spurts).

Title: Repo! The Genetic Opera - Shiloh
Date: January 1 - 4 & 12 - 14, 2013
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: 14" x 9.25"

Notes: This is all the way up to the final. I hope it looks good! Let me know if you have any crits / comments!

And... Because I like making them... here's a gif of the whole thing!

I think every Wednesday during this semester, I'm going to try my best to do a morning speed-paint. Today's subject, which it should always be... was birds. Here's a golden eagle (I still need to get a ton better with my color picking).

Golden Eagle

Title: Golden Eagle
Date: January 23, 2013
Medium: Photoshop

Notes: Wednesday Speedpaint! I want to do one of these every Wednesday! Before I head into illustration it is a good idea to do a paint, since of course this is my painting illustration class.



Here's those pre-school images that I was talking about...

Skull and Clavicle

Title: Skull and Clavicle
Date: January 30, 2013
Medium: Photoshop

Notes: I was kind of going for that 'x-ray' look. I wanted to try using a bit of blue this time, and make it look more like a negative. Of course, this is just a quick study...

Hood

Title: Hood
Date: January 30, 2013
Medium: Photoshop

Notes: Take the name for what you will... It could mean something akin to 'hoodwinked' or perhaps it's all about the allure and mystery of just a hood? Who knows... but this one was a quick stab at trying cloth and the lower-side profile.

I don't have a ton of time at the moment, in a bit of a rush. But I didn't want to leave anyone hanging (if they were even watching in the first place).
Here's a series I've worked on this weekend... the homework, it's endless.

True Blood Portrait Series: Bill

Title: True Blood Portrait Series: Bill
Date: February 3, 2013
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 1500px x 1950px

Notes: The series of portraits did not start off with Bill, but he got lucky and placed in the front. Honestly, out of all the portraits, he seems to be the most anatomically correct. I hope that the slight contrast works well.

True Blood Portrait Series: Alcide

Title: True Blood Portrait Series: Alcide
Date: February 1, 2013
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 1500px x 1950px

Notes: Alcide I believe was the second of the portraits I did. I tried my best to make him as contrasty as possible, but I think the tones are still a little too subtle. He is up there with one of my favorite characters from the show though...

True Blood Portrait Series: Jessica

Title: True Blood Portrait Series: Jessica
Date: February 2, 2013
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 1500px x 1950px

Notes: She was a bit of a difficult character to render, because she is so pale there are only subtle variations in her skin tone.

True Blood Portrait Series: Jason

Title: True Blood Portrait Series: Jason
Date: February 2, 2013
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 1500px x 1950px

Notes: I think I went a bit overboard for Jason's hair, but he was actually pretty fun to paint. I think I could still go back in (as with all of them) and noodle for a bit to make the tones more smooth, but either way, it was exciting.

True Blood Portrait Series: Lafyette

Title: True Blood Portrait Series: Lafyette
Date: February 1, 2013
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 1500px x 1950px

Notes: I actually started with Lafyette. I made him look slightly younger than he actually is, but he was fun to do. I think I have a good time painting African Americans because they tend to have a nice middle to dark tone overall and it makes for an easier time to bring out the hard highlights.

True Blood Portrait Series: Sam

Title: True Blood Portrait Series: Sam
Date: February 4, 2013
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 1500px x 1950px

Notes: This was the last one of the bunch, so it kind of had a rushed feeling to it. I was just ready to be done at that point. I powered through the bunch and just kept on truckin'. I've been told this one has the most emotion in his face of the bunch...

True Blood Portrait Series: Sookie

Title: True Blood Portrait Series: Sookie
Date: February 4, 2013
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 1500px x 1950px

Notes: This (in my opinion) looks the least of the original people of the bunch. I couldn't quite figure it out while I was painting... Sookie has some difference in the anatomy or something... <shrug>

True Blood Portrait Series: Tara

Title: True Blood Portrait Series: Tara
Date: February 3, 2013
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 1500px x 1950px

Notes: She looks a bit younger than she actually is. But the exciting thing was, this was my first time ever doing braids, so the texture was completely different than normal hair.

True Blood Portrait Series: "Normals"

Title: True Blood Portrait Series: "Normals"
Date: February 1 - 4, 2013
Medium: Photoshop

True Blood Portrait Series: "Supes"

Title: True Blood Portrait Series: "Supes"
Date: February 1 - 4, 2013
Medium: Photoshop

Digital Face Studies

Title: Digital Face Studies
Date: January 31, 2013
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 3000px x 3000px

Notes: Doing these studies is actually what started the whole crazy mess above. I was just doing face studies la-de-da, when suddenly I was like... "FACE FEST 2013!" And off I went on a tangent...

[Mat Kaminski]

Nothing terribly interesting today... just some sketches for my upcoming project in Illustration II. We are supposed to paint (in gouache) an electronic device in a sort of advertisement-esque series of three paintings. I kind of went a bit further and turned them all into advertisements. I guess my inner graphic-designer is showing...

Electronic Device Sketches A

Title: Electronic Device Sketches A
Date: February 6, 2013
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 8.5" x 11"

Notes: The first electronic device that I thought about was my headphones... I really like this layout myself. I think I would rather go with this one over the latter, but I still think that they are both interesting in different ways.

Electronic Device Sketches B

Title: Electronic Device Sketches B
Date: February 6, 2013
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 8.5" x 11"

Notes: I then thought about my tablet... It would be good to do all those features in the subsequent ads. Ehh... either way, they are both fun.

I also had a third one, but couldn't get around to sketches of my camera. I think it would work just as well as the headphones in the end. I need to continue practicing in goauche, I've been trading in paintbrushes for my tablet the past couple of days...

Anyway... more soon!

Electronic Device Sketches C

Title: Electronic Device Sketches C
Date: February 6, 2013
Medium: Photoshop
Scale: Original is 8.5" x 11"

Notes: Here's that camera I was talking about. I think the overall layout of this one would be really cool! Maybe I'll have to do it anyway, even though I'm going with the headphones, to follow the whole wires motif that I'm doing this semester.

More to update with soon. I have a ton of sketchbook work and also a ton of finalized pieces. On a side note too, I've finally gotten over my fear of gouache paint!

[triggerpigking]

Yay! good to see you back man, like the bill portrait and the hood painting.