Practice Like a Madman

[lionheartGFX]

those mirrored sp are really stunning you really captured the folds and forms in the lips i really like that, and that bird thingie i think its very well done too keep this up maan!

5 stars! cheers!

[SmallPoly]

Thanks LionHeartGFX. I liked how those came out as well. I really need to start doing some more finished & polished work.

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Some more inking practice:

[SmallPoly]

Seems I haven't been posting much lately. I've been distracted by some other projects and some social life stuff as well so most of my sketches lately have been little 500x250 doodles that aren't very interesting. I did a couple self-portraits this morning though.

[Flaskpost]

nice SP´s! very good practice!

[SmallPoly]

Thanks Flaskpost!

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Another self portrait this morning, and a couple paintings.

[SmallPoly]

A couple small paintings from tonight.

[SmallPoly]

Some color studies and landscapes from last night:

[SmallPoly]

A few sketches

[SmallPoly]

Still drawing as usual, but I've been bad about actually posting anything lately. Currently working on hair a bit.

[SmallPoly]

Some newer stuff. Creatures, landscapes, and a couple still lifes.

[nodeerskulls]

really like the textured feels of your scapes
although i do think you should work more on showing the forms of the landscape
atm they're a bit vague

[nodeerskulls]

really like the textured feels of your scapes
although i do think you should work more on showing the forms of the landscape
atm they're a bit vague

[SmallPoly]

Thanks. It's true, they are too vague. I really could use some practice adding more complexity to my environments.
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A still life and a creature sketch:

[SmallPoly]

More creature work. In general I'm trying to get things more polished.



Edit:
I'm trying out a method of doing environment studies where the first sketch is based off a photo, then the second is done from imagination containing similar elements and ideas to the first. I'm hoping that if I get more practice drawing detailed environments then immediately use what I study I'll have and easier time adding complexity to scenes without needing reference.

[Ian Barker]

I think you need to take your sketches further so you can get practice at latter stages
Also you should draw out guidelines for the facial structures and practices envisioning the complete form of your objects
Good work and keep it up, hope to see more

[SmallPoly]

That has been one of my problems, traditionally. Much of the previous work has been something along the lines of glorified doodles, without much process or iteration involved. That is something I'm looking to change. One of my other main problems has been trying to figure out how the heck to fill up an environment. I was working on some exercises related to that one tonight, plus a still life of a plaster cast and a character WIP.

Study + applied knowledge drills:


Economy of line/filling up scene drills:


Study of plaster cast:

[lionheartGFX]

i love seeing so much hard work, those landscapes are really getting better, if you havent do brush on jack hamm books on landscapes and seascapes, he covers it all really well and clears alot of usual questions im reading it right now and every page is gold!

i will forever and always wait for you to do comics or short stories i would love to see you had a go at those, anyways be well and work hard!

[SmallPoly]

Thanks Lion,

I keep meaning to do some kind of comic. It would surely be good practice for storytelling and environments. I'm not familiar with Jack Hamm, but I'll check him out. :-)

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Spent around 6ish hours tonight on a still life of a potato. It found it pretty challenging and wasn't really sure how to handle all the little bumps on the surface:

Progress animation:

[SmallPoly]

Messing around with a certain style of sketching:

[AdrienneRose]

I love your sketchbook so much. No critiques from here, sorry. But I really find it inspiring. I love your potato, and it's really great to see the progress animation!

Sorry for the groupie drool on your SB...

[SmallPoly]

Hi AdrienneRose, thanks for dropping by. I don't mind the drool - I'll go grab a paper towel.

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I did some more life drawing this morning at the farmer's market and last night for my drawing group and some as general practice.

[SmallPoly]

Some head doodles.

[Jordan_]

Hi SmallPoly,

What a great sketchbook, loving the life drawing studies with marker. Would love to see more of those. Also really great brushwork on that potato study, it's those small details that really bring a simple study to life. Do you use standard Photoshop brushes for that kind of detail or Photoshop mixer brushes instead? Definitely something I need to start exploring. Keep up the great work

[AdrienneRose]

I wish it were warmer here, I would totally go downtown to draw people, and sip on coffee. But alas, it's butt cold outside!

[SmallPoly]

Jordan: Thanks! I've been meaning to get back into doing them like last year. It's nice sitting out in the morning sketching people as they go by. As for Photoshop brushes, I make a lot of my own. Some are just to play around and see what results I can get and others are to solve a specific problem. They're mostly broken down into sketching, blocking, blending, stippling/texturing and effects. So far I don't care for Adobe's implementation of the mixer brushes, but that might change in later versions when they add more options.

AdrienneRose: It was pretty cold here recently (at least compared to the typical temperature) but thankfully back to normal now. Kind of tedious to draw in gloves. I do find coffee shops to be convenient places to sketch people - most people in line generally hold pretty still and switch between 1 or 2 different poses.

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One hour crumpled paper warm-up from this morning:

[SmallPoly]

Did a still life tonight of a modern cartridge razor and an old fashioned double-edge razor. I'm not as happy with this one - I kept screwing up the perspective and the handles on both came out pretty flat.

[a la bapsi]

admiring your discipline, keep it up!

[lionheartGFX]

holy crap your still lifes always live up to their name, i do agree that last one has some consistencies but still the quality is fairly up there, its just a matter of doing it every day, i would love more actual use of your skill to make something yours tho, just work on it yknow? you know its fun, forget about everything else do it for the FUN of it anyways keep it up!

[SmallPoly]

A la bapsi: Thanks! I'll try to keep it up.

LionheartGFX: I do have something in mind that I want to try, along the lines of a comic. I have some rough characters and plot ideas, but nothing I want to post yet. If I get further with the project I'll put some things here, though if it becomes a regular thing it'll probably go on an external comic hosting site.

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I was working on refraction in this morning's warm-up. This one is kind of a mess. I was dreading it before I started and it was fairly painful to do, so I guess I need to do more refraction studies until it stops being so intimidating. The colors on the glass move with just the slightest shift of the head, and the way the cast shadow combines with the caustics was giving me a lot of trouble as well.

[SmallPoly]

A couple studies of blocks. I really want to get some cubes before long.