Dando's sketchbook

[Captain Dando]

Hi folks. I finished my painting over the weekend. here is the finished result.



I'm looking forward to starting another, whatever it might be.

[Captain Dando]

Hi guys, I managed a bit of time today during lunch to draw this skeleton on a dune.

[Captain Dando]

Hello good art soldiers of CA. here is my drawing for today.

I decided to draw a few pictures of people in the process of walking. I want to work on my animation and one thing I definitely want to improve on is proportions.
I used to study as a mechanical draftsman years ago before I went into advertising and they had us draw pretty much continuously every day, which improved my art without me even knowing.
with that foundation course finished, they made us work on computers using a mouse, which ruined it for me. I'd like to draw that long in one day again though. at least this weekend I have 6 hours to myself in the studio.

[ja1307]

Good work mr showing that consistency does pay off you really are improving. Great that you working in oils to you have a very good eye for colour demonstrated by your flesh tones in this recent portrait. The portrait has turned out well i must say, how long have you been painting in oils? just starting myself. I guess one thing to keep in mind which i am sure you'll naturally develop over time is that at the mo the painting is looking a bit flat in areas espc on her hand and arm. You have done a good job on her face suggesting different planes, guess more of that was needed to distinguish between the back on her hand and palm. Also the angle of her right shoulder looks a bit high and flat no trapezius muscle or collar bone, and a few more casts shadows from the hair onto her face would have helped give more depth.

But its looking pretty solid so far and your clearly doing alot of good work so keep it up and keep positing i want to see more.

[Captain Dando]

Thanks for the c&c ja1307, I agree about the shoulder, I wanted to make it a bit larger but it turned out to be a mistake. I've been working in oils since about the middle of this year I think, I previously used acrylic and I'm enjoying it much more. Thanks for your advice

[nouge]

Half a year of steady work in here, very inspiring! Your traditional stuff is very strong, especially the oils. In your digital, you tend to make too bold outlines, not making definite choices of where to put the edges. I think you could benefit from paying attention to that, and working towards crisper edges. (Hope you don't mind me saying this, you're far above my level.) Out of your digitals, I like the mountain in #36 the best. You seem to have carried over some of the mindset from your oils, and it works very well, good sense of depth, especially towards the bottom of the painting.

I wanna see your progress, so I'm subscribing! You deserve more regular pats on the back for all this work. Keep it up!

[Kriss_Kringle]

Hey,cap'n!I love the girl's face you painted but the hair not so much.There's something off about it,it doesn't seem to have a natural flow,making it feel like she's got a wig,you know what I mean?
I don't know if there's anything you can do about it,except adding some more highlights on the hair but maybe I'm mistaking and that's the way it should look.
I've noticed that you don't get many comments on your sketchbook,like myself and I think it's because we don't post so much as others.Try to put more stuff in your sketchbook and draw more if you have the time,of course.Cheers!

[Captain Dando]

Thanks nouge, I agree that my digital work is pretty messy, I think I've learnt on it, and I aim to improve on it. I have a bad habit of starting my digital paintings by frantically creating forms and rushing into it. I haven't really explored other brushes either, and I don't outline my sketches after I begin them. Thanks for your input.

[Captain Dando]

Hey Kriss, I agree about the hair, I spent a lot more time on the face than the hair, though it was a bit messy to begin with. Though I've tried to update this sketchbook as often as possible I do admit that I've fallen short of my goal of a sketch every day . nonetheless, every bit of critique helps me get closer to my goal. thanks for your input

[Captain Dando]

More sketchy goodness. I'm taking feng zhu's advice to draw as many things as possible

[Captain Dando]

It was fun drawing yesterday's raven, I decided to draw another today.

[chevy28360]

Liking your sketches mate. The crosshatching is excellent, especially in the last couple pieces. I always wanted to master that, but could never break the habit of doing gradual shades with pencil pressure. Keep it up!

[Captain Dando]

Thanks chevy, I wouldn't worry too much about your crosshatching if it works for you, in the end I guess drawing styles are born with what you are most comfortable with, but for what it's worth, it's difficult to shake habits, that much is certain

[Captain Dando]

Hi everyone, I started a new painting this weekend. It's pretty big so it's going to keep me occupied for a while

[Captain Dando]

Here is my sketch for the day

[Captain Dando]

Hi everyone, today I drew this old man

[Captain Dando]

[Captain Dando]

Hi everyone, today I decided to set myself a few goals.

The way I'm used to drawing is by doing what I feel is comfortable. Obviously that won't do, if I'm to draw as a profession. On symptom of this is that I'm used to drawing only a few things, the ones that I'm comfortable with. even worse than that though, is that those things I do draw I have a very ritualized process for drawing. for example, I'll usually draw faces from one angle, using the same techniques, which really inhibits my ability to draw them at another. Feng zhu says that you should draw each new object as if it is a 3d object, and so I'm aiming to draw my images with that idea in mind - understanding an object and remembering it's properties instead of just printing what I see from any given angle. to that end I want to treat art as a kind of math as well as .. an art.

The first thing I want to do is start drawing objects by first breaking them down into solid shapes, though I'm worried this will make my art look cartoony, which is definitely what I don't want. Thanks to anyone who's read this far
Today, I drew a head from different angles. tomorrow I'll probably do the same.

[Kriss_Kringle]

The ravens are awesome!

[Captain Dando]

Thanks kriss

[Captain Dando]

Haha wow, ok, so using the proportions I made yesterday I drew a face, but it was way off. It produced the monstrosity you see below


I had another look at my proportions. The one on the left is the correct one, according to example proportion drawings. the one on the left is the face from my turnaround. the one in the center is the one from yesterday, which produces the herculean alien face. more sketches to come. I think I'm going to try and break down the torso next.

[Captain Dando]

More portraits. this time I'm trying to draw a completed face from different angles. It didn't turn out the way I expected but I learnt something

[Captain Dando]

Today I moved onto some other parts of the body for a bit. I've ordered Constructive anatomy by George Bridgman, which is an excellent guide to not only understanding human anatomy, but how to use that knowledge to construct the human form. he goes into incredible depth on how to break the form down into logical, usable shapes. As a bonus, he taught Norman Rockwell, one of my favourite artists. while I wait for my book to be delivered I have been reading from the link I posted above. I've always been told that the torso was made up of two parts, but I never really got it right until I read his passage on it.

On a side note, I've found that working while listening to ambient sounds works even better than music for getting you into the zone, but maybe that's just me. Give it a try and tell me what you think.

Here are my drawings for today. George's section in hands is especially good, give it a try.

[atom246]

Hi there captain liking the sketches with your last painting i think the trouble with the hair is the it looks like one solid mass i know cause i kept making the same mistake but its still a brillant painting and keep up the good work i will be waiting for your posts.

[Captain Dando]

Hi guys, Here is the progress on the painting I started last week



At this point I'm really just filling in the basic colours, but I added some finer detail to the waterfall, though I'm still going to add much more.
Over the course of this year I feel like I have become much more patient when working, and this picture is a monument to that. I want to give it a lot of time and let it come ou the way I intend.

During office hours I practiced drawing noses. I'm stuck into a pattern with drawing noses, which has led to me only being able to draw them from the front and the side. Just like the other stuff, I want to
understand it as an object and I hope to improve that way.

[Captain Dando]

More sketches today. not the best, but I'm here to learn

[Captain Dando]

Today, I worked on my eyes.

[Captain Dando]

Hi folks, here is what I did today.



I've been watching a series called paranoia agent I used to watch a long time ago, but never finished. if you get the chance, you should watch it too, it's pretty good.

[Captain Dando]

I've decided to do the majority of my sketch work during the evenings rather than my lunch. 1 hour is not enough time to do something meaningful. I'll instead use that time to read and study something else.

Here is a drawing I did tonight. I often have trouble getting that angle right, though I'm happy that this composition came out better than the usuals.

[Captain Dando]

Good evening everyone for whom it is an evening.

Here are my contributions for the evening.