♣♣sketchbook of Dirgeance♣♣

[Dirgeance]

Check the latest posts please :].

[Dirgeance]

And some paintings from imagination too.

[Dirgeance]

Prepare for some study dumpage.

For the past 3 months I've been doing studies from life. Obviously I struggle with realism, aaannnd just about everything else -_-;;

I try to sketch people on my one hour commute to and from school-- but I think I'm going to try doing some more photo-based studies.

But to be honest...I'm kind of lost regarding what to focus on to see improvement in my work-- because for someone who's going to be 21 in a few days, I definitely don't draw as well as I should.

Mr.Jack, BlueFley, Janaschi; these people were basically professional at 21.

I on the other hand...am no where NEAR it. I could really use some guidance guys-- I'll do whatever it takes to see steady, impressive improvement.

[Dirgeance]

And a few more.

[Egg0]

Nice starting man! I like your sketch dumps, you're really creative on your stuff, and that's nice, keep doing it !

[Dirgeance]

Why thank you good sir! I'll continue to study as well as sketch my own personal visualizations .

[Dirgeance]

So I was painting last night for a few hours, but then my tablet starts doing the "I'm only gonna draw straight and diagonal lines" thing that I don't really know how to fix; hence I was forced to stop before this was finished .

Does anyone know how to rectify the tablet situation? I'm using a Wacom Graphire 4 & I've got it updated w/ the latest drivers.

[Dirgeance]

An incomplete comic exercise I did today, as well as a 5-6 hour character illustration.

Errors abound, but That's why more studies are coming soon.

Particularly those of the female persuasion :3.

[Dirgeance]

Been doing some studies over the past few days-- mostly just my usual lifedrawing agenda (aka on the bus to school & back) I need to break off that tangent and do some more focused studies.

I did manage to get some painting time in though.

[Dirgeance]

UPDATEZ.

I'm having trouble with so much haha.

Mostly painting in general...Rendering various materials and making them look convincing, when to use harsh transitions vs smoother ones...that kinda stuff.

I've been drawing a lot of chicks from photos, but I'm not sure it's helping too much. I've also been reading Loomis's book "Successful Drawing."

Either way I'd really appreciate some critique & guidance. If not it's cool though, I'm sure I'll figure things out on my own eventually.

[Dirgeance]

Just a few more things I did yesterday.

[KT]

I don't know if I can be of much help in general since I'm kind of a beginner in painting but harold speed has a great book on the subject of painting: Oil painting techniques and materials. It might help even though it's about oil there's lot's of general painting help in there so I'd check it out. Loomis' Successful drawing is mostly a perspective book so it would be good to go through it seeing as you don't have a lot of environment stuff going on. I also think it would be a good idea for you to study anatomy more thoroughly. If theres a skeleton in the area you should go and draw it, make lot's of studies, but don't stop doing your imagination stuff, I did for a while and realized it was important to do both observation and imagination drawing. Anyway, take this with a grain of salt as I'm pretty much a beginner and sorry for the long post.

[Dirgeance]

KT: Thanks for the review man, I was caught in a rut of only doing things from my head and it stifled my progress HARD. Being a beginner doesn't make your advice any less valid, I'll check out your sketchbook soon! [:



I've been reading through these forums for the past few days, namely Mr.Delicious's Sketchbook and Algenpfleger's as well.

Needless to say I've come to the realization that I've just been spinning my wheels for ages . Man, I feel like the biggest imbecile on the planet. If I had been doing more studies and drawing more I'd be SO much better than I am now. For 21 years of age I'm nowhere near where I want to be, and all the time I've wasted doodling mostly from imagination...Feels like I've been simultaneously stabbed in my drawing hand and the heart .

Well, now that I've had my moment, it's time to do some MAJOR due diligence. I've got a fire in my soul that can't be extinguished , and I'm going to use it to ignite my skills . Watch me improve, whoop my ass with constructive feedback, because I'm done wasting time. I'm gonna put my nose to the grindstone so hard that by the time I'm done there's not gonna be any nose left.

And to put my money where my mouth is I rented a massive anatomy book from my library. much like Algen started over by swearing off digital mediums until he improved his fundamentals...I'm going to be doing the same. No more PSCS5 until January 1st.


here's some studies thus far, these were done over the past two days.

Also, got some bammes I'm going to study tonight, hopefully I'll be able to scan and upload those too.

[Dirgeance]

And now some bammes stuffz! Maybe one or two more studies tonight, after that my body will go into sleep mode of it's own volition. As much as I'd like to neglect the lame generals I've gotta attend tomorrow, some crucial stuff is due.

[Dirgeance]

Okay, I'm officially out of drawing juice. It's tantamount to shooting blanks right now... I have to go to bed and recharge.

still, feels good to be productive w/ the studies :]. REALLY need to do more female faces though. It could just be because I'm exhausted, but a lot of 'em suckkkk.

More tomorrow! I'm gonna warm up w/ pose maniacs and then do some more musculature and bones...I'm gonna focus on the male and female torsos I think...we'll so [:

[fishysmell]

Hello Dirgeance,

Those studies are looking sweet. You seem to make your torsos a tad short. When the arms are rested on the sides (shoulders not slouching), the hands are at the pubic region level. The proportions of the other limbs are looking good.

[Jarrad]

The amount of imagination stuff in here is pleasing to me! I got a good chuckle from the Pokemon drawing! I think it is really good that you are doing as much imagination stuff as you are. It seems like a lot of people avoid it!

[Dirgeance]

Jarrad: Ha, funny you should say that, because after I posted that last image I got really upset with my current technical abilities, and decided I should switch to a study-heavy regimen. I figure there's too much I'm missing in my work that can only be learned by studying life and photos. My visual library is lacking.

I'll still be pushing out stuff from imagination though, especially to apply what I'm studying.

1 hr still life and 4-5 hour photo study.

[Dirgeance]

1.5 hr photo study and a 1.5 hr speedpaint.

Classes started back up again today, so I won't have a lot of time for studies or personal stuff due to my work load :<

I'll probably just shirk as much homework as I can in order to advance though! gotta level up! POWER LEVEL!adfsajlfsf

I think I'm going to study the techniques of other artists and landscapes over the next few days...

[FireSong]

I really dig your stuff.

[Dirgeance]

Firesong: Thank you kindly.

Here''s recent stuff! Some studies and stuffs from my imagination land.

[Dirgeance]

Whaaa? it's been like 3 months already!?

I need to update more frequently :|

Either way I've got about a year left until I graduate, and I sneak in as much painting time as possible despite my animation-oriented degree.

Things are really picking up on the collegiate front, so I don't have much time for studies if I want to do well on my animation projects, but I'll be utilizing my free time to cranking some out.

Here's some things I've been able to whip up in my mini-hiatus from CA! hopefully I'll get a couple hours to myself by this weekend for some master studies and still-lifes.















***STUDIES***

[Dirgeance]

Various sketches, studies, imagination-stuff, etc...

Critique highly encouraged! I know I have a lot of weak spots, but let me know what I can study that will take my abilities to the next level! I'm thinking of going through loomis's head and hands book, as well as doing some anatomy studies from various internet sources...oh, and continuing to do master studies.

[Dirgeance]

Droppin' By with some studies and such.

3-week-break coming up! gonna keep hitting enviros, focus hard on lighting and form too. I'm having trouble finding freelance, which means I have to double my efforts...assuming my hand allows me.

Critique encouraged. Thanks!

[Januz]

Hey, nice stuff Dirgeance. Only crit would be to work more on edge control in your paintings (paint more hard egdes).

[Dirgeance]

Thanks for the Crit, Januz! I'll watch my edges more closely from here on out.

Anyway just a couple of things I've been working on.

Robot-man has a poo-poo pose. It was meant to be a speed paint so I didn't think it out ahead of time..won't make the same mistake again, hopefully.

morning photo study warm up, and two WIPs-- One illustration and on sci-fi character concept page; critiques most definitely welcome.

Also got some traditional studies from yesterday I'll scan and post later as I flesh out the WIPs.

I'm on break from college for the next 3 WEEKS. A plethora of studies and personal pieces applying them are going to emblazon this sketchbook in that time!

[Dirgeance]

Update on the Whip-Wip-a-Wip...trying to flesh out the story s'more and just keep pushing materials and general elements.
Also, here's the sketches I promised. I do more pages than this in regards to studies, but some are too lackluster to bother scanning. I added some quick values to my favorite imagination sketch. Two Sargent studies and and ENrang (he has a cghub) study for architecture.

Looking at these, I think I'll push my values, and do some more gestural and anatomical work. also, more creatures.
Gotta go run errands and apply for part-time jobs (not getting enough freelance work to sustain myself financially yet :c)

See you guys next time I've got an update. Thanks for viewing/critiquing.

[MishaArt]

You've got a very good pencils in here, especially those with hands and head studies - good stuff

[Dirgeance]

MishaArt: Cheers, I appreciate it. I'll try to crank out some more pencil studies.

Here I've got the only two things worth showing this weekend0-- a still life I did on my friends laptop in about 3 hrs and a Zorn study. The A.Z. study taught me quite a bit about color, edges, and lighting, but looks pretty terrible and not all that close to the original. He's on a level I simply can't achieve with where my abilities currently sit.

Gonna hop back to some value/edge studies and hopefully do some creatures soon, really been itching to conceptualize some. Oh! some gestures on the way too.

[Dirgeance]

Not much to say about this update. I'm having a hard time not beating myself up mentally over my abilities though, haha. I've been feeling lackluster in terms of where I'm at with illustration and concept art, but I don't quite know how to fix it. It's like half art-block, half "you're 22. why can't you get any freelance or studio work?" feels. I'm leaps ahead of where I was a year ago, but (as much as I hate to set limits) I feel like I won't be able to get any respectable illustration or conceptual art jobs until I'm around 23-24...regardless of how much I work.

All venting aside, I promise the next update will be better.