Stroudle's Sketchbook ♥

[Stroudle]

Hello all! I've been lurking here for a while, but I've recently decided I'm not improving as much as I'd like and would really appreciate getting critique.

I've seen so many people learn so much and I know that if I put in that work, I can do it too.

I'm mostly interested in digital illustration, but I would really like to refine my style and bring in an element of realism that I think it's lacking. I also want to get into painting. I've done a couple traditional paintings and found I really enjoy acrylic, so hopefully I'll put some of those up as well.

Okay so I guess here's some of my recent sketches.

[Stroudle]

And here are what I feel are my best digital illustrations.

[jorvaa]

I love your red pen lines! My only suggestion (since I'm still a student) is to study underlying structure, pay attention to planes, and take time to study good composition. Most of all, never let your studies keep you from playing around and drawing for fun!

[Stroudle]

I love your red pen lines! My only suggestion (since I'm still a student) is to study underlying structure, pay attention to planes, and take time to study good composition. Most of all, never let your studies keep you from playing around and drawing for fun!

I do need to get into the habit of drawing more of the stuff underneath instead of just jumping right in. I think it's a patience thing. Thanks for the critique!

[jorvaa]

My pleasure! I can't wait to see what you post next!

[Stroudle]

Today is a really off day. I'm not very happy with these but I promised myself I would update this as frequently as possible so that's what I'm doing. Any tips for pushing through a wonky day? Or is it really just a matter of pushing through?

[jorvaa]

I love the action on the figure on the bottom page, top left. Also, the light bulb is wonderful. I love how you make form so clear with line.

Ugh. I know those days so well. The one suggestion I have is to loosen up before you draw. Draw peanut-shapes with continuous line. Drawing with continuous line takes away the "chicken-scratch" line that we usually end up making when we aren't warmed up, and it also gives a more life-like quality to drawings. Continuous line does not mean that the line cannot vary in strength, but rather that you vary the strength without lifting your pencil from the paper.

Also, be more conscious of NOT outlining an object, and noticing where the line turns in, or thins, or gets stronger. I think you may have more success in this with pencil, rather than pen, since pen is difficult to draw lightly with without making a mess.

Once again, enjoy the act of drawing. Make messes, and don't get too hung up on the mistakes you make. You learn ONLY through those messes.

[Stroudle]

Today is a better day I'm trying to update as frequently as possible

[jorvaa]

Good studies!!
Suggestion for perspective exercises:
this and this.

[Damien Levs]

Nice start here...don't worry about off days. We all get them...we just have to push through them. Nice studies. Like your snowboarder : ) one of my favourite 'stay fit' hobbies...keep going and don't forget some still life. All the best.

[Stroudle]

It's been a while. Here are some sketches I did. My friends Colleen and Liam, and then a self portrait. All done in Paint Tool Sai

[Stroudle]

It's been a long time since I've been here! Really looking to get back in the groove of things. Here's some stuff I've done in the mean time:
Some figure sketches at different times.










Painting Apple Study


First go at a speedpaint

[Stroudle]

Speedpaint for the DSG today.
"DSG 1653: Sci-Fi • EXPLORERS APPROACH LARGE ALIEN BUILDING SURROUNDED BY DEAD FOREST"

Did greyscale and then added color. Some trees were unaffected, I should make a dark gray but stay away from pure black in the future if I do it this way.

[Stroudle]

I have pencil stuff to upload as well but my scanner isn't working. Here's a speedpaint.

[Stroudle]

Some figure studies from yesterday. I apologize for the (lack of) quality of the picture. My scanner is currently broken.

[LordLouis]

I was drawn to your sb by your very nice avatar!
Looks like you know what you are doing, and where you want to go. I can't really offer any help because I am not any good; but I think you should work with the pencil wherever you can, especially for the gestures and short sketches. It helped me a lot with line confidence and so on. I am very much looking forward to your acrylics

[jorvaa]

Of course I remember you! Your coloring and figures are getting so good! Thanks for the advice, as well. I'm dying for critique, always.

[Jessibelle]

There's definite improvement here, and it's only the first page... Keeping an eye on this one Keep pushing through hun, you're getting somewhere!

[krysjez]

I quite like the dead alien forest building thing.

[Xcarbon]

i like your style.....keep practicing

also i like the apple study on post 12
keep up the good work

[Naidy]

A good start, mate! I'm liking your paintings. Your figure studies are going well too, mind you, pay extra attention to the hip and shoulder areas though. I see a few mistakes here and there around those areas. Anatomy studies will probably help in that aspect. Keep up the good work!

[Nickodemus]

Good start. You need to keep pushing the fundamentals of art. You can't learn them all in one day, but I've found that if you hone in on individual things you want to improve on (anatomy, composition, color theory, form) you can track your progress much more effectively, rather than jumping around all the time. You have all the right potential.

[Stroudle]

Thank you Naidy and Nickodemus for the critiques! I did some figure drawing over the past school semester (art isn't my major, but I sneak classes into my schedule when I can) Today's a nice day, so hopefully I'll have photos taken of those.

Here are some things I've done recently:






I definitely see what you're saying, Naidy, in these sketches. The proportions are also off because it had really been awhile since I tried doing figure studies digitally and I had to keep resizing my drawing/canvas. I draw on A4 size canvases, but I usually zoom out to sketch. I think that's my problem. I have to remind myself that I can always crop if I end up only using a small portion of my space.

[sageguy]

I dig! I agree, I like the apple study a lot.
In this last one: I really like the textures you used for the mountains....a lot. You should keep that theme going through the whole painting. I would also force more perspective into the sled tracks, too. Right now it's a fairly even width decay.

FUN STUFF! Can't wait to see more!

[Stroudle]

Quick painting of Helena Bonham Carter.

[Stroudle]

We had a drawing marathon last night at my school. Here's some stuff from it.


Yesterday's DSG

Also, nothing else is uploading correctly so I'm posting imgur links. Sorry.

[Stroudle]

Finally done with my semester so I'm looking to be super active this summer in my drawing. Let's go!! Here's an environment study.


This is a painting I'm working on but I really need critiques. Please tear this apart.

[malacandrax]

Hello there! Great sketchbook so far .
Concerning the last picture, I think the major issue is the atmosphere, in the foreground it seems like daytime because of the bright greens, but in the background the dark sillhouettes of the trees and the blue glow suggest night, which makes it a bit odd. I did a quick (and quite bad) paintover to illustrate some points , I went with the nightime-theme, so I brought the turquouise colour into the grass, and added more red-brown and blue and less yellow to the tree in the foreground. I also darkened the whole tree, because if the blue light is the main light source, barely any of the tree would be lit. The other major thing I changed was the tone.
As it is, if you turn it greyscale, the background is a very similar tone to the foreground, where in reality things further away are paler and less saturated (see this-http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6TMwlZ8YUSc/T_syoKrqY7I/AAAAAAAAFMI/v6bl3AvCcTs/s1600/Twilight+Forest+Wallpapers+1.jpg)
The figures would be less distinct too unfortunately, being so far away, which takes the focus away from them a little, if you had the time (or could be bothered XD) it might be good to do some alternative composition sketches in greyscale, and see if you can find some other ways to show the same thing. I think compositionally, its problematic that there is no real middle ground, or nothing significant in it, so I tried to bring some of the trees forward to blend the foreground and background, but it still seems a little empty .
But dont get down about it after me being so harsh ! I'm sure you can still make this a great piece, the tone is the main thing to be aware of, if you turn things greyscale, and you can tell whats what easily, and theres a good range from black to white, that should fix most things up fine!
Good luck! I'm sorry if I was too harsh >_<
(thankyou for commenting on my sb )
Also, im sorry the pictures so big, it wont let me upload a small one -_-

[Stroudle]

Thank you so much for the crits, Malacandrax! You weren't too harsh at all. I really was stuck and I wanted to hear absolutely everything I could do to fix it. I think I'll do another some more thumbs of the same theme to make it better compositionally because that's an area I really struggle with. Thanks for taking the time to do that paint over! It really helps a lot.