Msafs' sketchbook

[msafs]

A new page has turned, so I'll post something nice. I haven't used a tortillion in a while... they were starting to seem like a crutch, at least for the longer drawings.

[msafs]

I was trying the Vilppu method of drawing with spheres, but I got to the part about cubes and realized that I can't draw them at all. I'm still having a bit of trouble accepting that these are pairs of the same object, but after drawing/staring at another hundred or so I'm sure it will start to make more sense.
Also, the taller ones seem really wrong. Are they outside of the FOV?
Learnt from Seedling's lovely thread on perspective

[msafs]

I think I'm getting sick... nauseous all day and my heart is beating weirdly. I'm going to try to post something once a day, mostly old stuff for now. Here are some doodles. I was playing Castle Crashers during the time of the second two...

[Arteast]

wow man you are incredible! your line quality is great and your insane at rendering idk if im inspired or put down ahaha Keep at it man!

[msafs]

Thanks, Arteast! The amazing stuff I see on the forums gives me the same conflicting feelings.

Here are some life sketches from around the university. I think the partially sketched guy in the second one got up after he noticed I was drawing him, but he ended up as an armchair to make use of the page...

There are life drawing sessions at the local art gallery here on Thursday evenings, but I have two classes during that time, so these and mirror drawings will have to do for the semester.

[msafs]

Here are some more doodles. I'll start shading some of them after more perspective and lighting and fold studies and such, which will hopefully improve the immensely troublesome arm-snapped-straight-off-the-shoulder problem. It seems like everyone born from my brain cavity reaches into some sort of tool shed before they exit. Except for tentacle hands man...

Also, my heart is still beating strangely every now and then, perhaps from sleep deprivation. It feels like a frog about to hop out of my rib cage. If it does, I personally hope my hands will remain untentacled.

[msafs]

Here are some life drawings from the mirror and direct observation. The multi-armsied figure had ridiculously short proportions, so I included a PS-modified version.

[msafs]

Some TF2 doodles... no ref used, so the faces are pretty off. Also, I was reminded of why shading things doesn't work on this cheaper-than-printer-paper tree carcass book. I like the poses, compared to most of the other ones, although Scout's arm is doing the same thing as shovel woman's from two posts ago.
Rambling about university:

( Click to show/hide )

Also, I have to write an honors InfoTech thesis. I kind of wish that I could make some sort of big art portfolio like the art majors, especially since I can draw and paint digitally better than a number of them, but I'll probably settle for something on the periphery of whatever research people in the IT department are doing. There was an IT major who managed to get honors in art by creating a Flash game, so maybe there's a slim chance that I could do something creative. Another IT major made a webcomic and wrote a thesis trying to justify its format, but it was written in a very heavy-handed, annoying way, and half of the citations were from Wikipedia, other wikis and tvTropes. The comic itself was pretty
I don't want people to Google my name and find some sort of long, mediocre paper or even worse, a disappointing project.

[msafs]

I can't find artsy people here. My university is rumored to have over 800 clubs, yet no art club. Also, I realized about two years in that the InfoTech major is basically a watered down version of Computer Science. So you can't find anyone who likes programming or making games, either. Makes one want to run off into the forest and never be heard from again. The first two are some insomnia doodles, and the third is the appropriated Art School Owl (India ink + construction paper). But I'm taking my first college art class this year – painting. I'll post something from it in a bit.

[msafs]

Some drawings from the mirror... I need to do more of the quick fold ones and then stop drawing all of my doodle characters in the same outfits.

[msafs]

There is only one colorful thing on this page (not including the perspective shadows drawn with blue Roseart markers that smell like feet.)
Besides the circles on top of the cap, which I now notice are a bit lumpy, I think that the freehand perspective turned out quite well. There's a solid manilla envelope behind the Listerine, but I didn't want to use up all of my goldenrod colored pencils filling it in.

[msafs]

Hand studies from life...

[msafs]

I drew some applied freehand perspective studies. The book was slightly off from the real thing, but it still looks plausible. The rectangles on the pencil cases were supposed to be squares. Oops. I used some artistic license in leaving white space on "Big Red" to conserve my new Pitt pen.

[msafs]

Tortillions are still fun for shading quick sketches. And for a certain style of finished drawing. So tired.
Still part of the six month queue...

[msafs]

I used to avoid drawing things with straight lines, but no more! There are some definite weak spots, but I'm still glad I didn't use a ruler. A black fine-liner was used for the edges directly around the visible parts of the windows, and the rest was done with brush pens. Unfortunately, the top of the window ended up off of the page.
Tips for inking freehand lines:
1) Breathe only between strokes
2) Never stop moving your hand
3) If you feel like you are going to pass out or start hyperventilating, cap the marker and lie down on the floor. Nothing says like having to spend $4 to replace a dried up art marker.

[msafs]

I think this is the latest thing I've drawn digitally. My RAM usually gets filled pretty quickly, and the computer starts swapping with the hard drive, which doesn't have much space left, resulting in an unsettling amount of lag in PS and Painter.
The dress ended up a bit shorter than the one in the photo, but it was a useful study in colors and I am happy with how it turned out. It's a decent step up from the last fold study that I did in Photoshop (see Post #50), so I kind of doubted that it wasn't the PS gremlins, but I had process shots...
Also I left the rest of the gangsta chains off for reasons.
Reference from the MOMA

[msafs]

Here is my favorite of my small arm studies. The brighter light in pretty much all of the mirror studies comes from a window and the opposing light is from a Martha Stewart lamp held together by hockey tape.
It provides better illumination than the lamp from post #49, if you are ever in the market for cheap fifteen year old lamps.

[msafs]

If I were any older, I'm sure I'd be having a heart attack any moment now. Here is a sketch from November. I need to do more of these when I get rid of this feeling of perpetual tiredness. I like how the shading came out. After a smattering of terrible mirror studies, my quick cloth shading finally got smoother.
Also, I hate short socks.

[katsgod]

Very nice work. Great shading.

[msafs]

Thanks, katsgod!

This has been another scintillating episode of Things That Aren't Heads on Things Without Heads.

[msafs]

I haven't posted anything in a while... I've been really tired, although I have been drawing. And painting a lot, even though I'm pretty far behind in the class, since I just take longer to paint stuff, I suppose.
This is old, but I don't think I ever posted it.

Source: Ada Agustinyiak

[msafs]

O most majestic of the household flora...
If you love someone, give them an onion as a sign of your undying commitment... this particular one sat on my floor for about four months. Flowers will wilt, but onions sprout new life! Either that or they turn into a giant mold bomb when left under your dresser, and then explode at the slightest touch.
Anyway, I think that this is my favorite colored pencil drawing so far. The little tuft at the top took quite a while and was generally no fun to draw.
5:03 hr from life

[Zombatt]

The colors of the onion are great, but I feel as though its lacking a source of light, like your arm studies before. It's lit, but the direction is uncertain - a shadow would help, and one side being a bit darker than the other, with subdued highlights would help. As it is currently, it looks like its strongly lit from all directions, which may be what you were going for. All that aside its a pretty nice study though. Keep it up!