Improvement Sketchbook - Digital and Traditional

[Caio Chagas]

So, i've been exploring the site for a few days. As many others here, i want to bring the work to a professional level, and nothing better than a sketchbook to help one's improvement. I'm not sure if i will keep posting studies here, because there are many other threads to help in specific issues, but i will try to make it simple and get right to the point, which is artwork.

As i am a student with no more than 1 year of drawing, i will focus on line work and value studies, and eventually, get to the colored and final pieces.

Hope you guys give some feedback and criticism (hardcore criticism). I will constantly update this thread to keep practicing.

And nice to meet you.

[Caio Chagas]

[Caio Chagas]

[Caio Chagas]

Note:

Traditional work - 4B pencil, A4 sheets

Digital work - Wacom bamboo Small, PSCS5

[MonoOrder]

Hey man, thanks for commenting on my sketchbook.

Seeing your current level of work after only 1 year of drawing is pretty inspirational and makes me want to keep working on my own drawings. How many hours/day did you average in that first year?

[telohs]

Hello! Nice to meet you too and welcome to CA! (seeing you're relatively new here )

You're rendering skills are really awesome, I especially like the first knight painting. Although I feel there are some fundamentals lacking, you might want to read up on some figure drawing lessons. I encourage you to check out Villpu, he teaches some really good principals on figure drawing.

[Caio Chagas]

- PerfectGet -

Thank you, it is awesome to see someone being inspired by my efforts, hope we can improve even more. And about hours/day, i probably did 7~8 h per week, because i spent more time researching about the science behind drawing and paint. i had to make sure to know what i needed to optimize my practice routine, even though i had little time to practice.

- telohs -

Thank you for the feedback, but i hate to say that the best work you see here is not from imagination, i combined it with observation... I still have some trouble to believe that doing this will make me better... bu anyway, i already checked some vilppu stuff, it is really great. I will try to do some more studies to master those approaches in "retangular forms" and "spherical forms" for the figure.

So, i just forgot to post the line work i did for the base of the knight. And some more studies.

[Caio Chagas]

Here some Loomis Studies i did back in december... when i was trying to find the tablet configuration that would suit my approach in drawing.

[Caio Chagas]

[Caio Chagas]

[Caio Chagas]

Here some animal studies with a more sketchy look.

[Kaihartj]

Hey man! Awesome! you're already really good just for a year of drawing! very nice! Good anatomy, both at body level and face! I also love the lastest animal study ! keep it up!

[Caio Chagas]

Thank you Kaihartj, it is really good to practice with animals because they have many diferent textures and structures to render, and also, i feel that they are one of my weaknesses, so... gotta do a lot of it. Here goes another one.

[Januz]

Only 1 year drawing? wow, nice!
Like the bear study, it has a great personality. You have a solid anatomy, although some of the torsos look a little weird around the waist.
Keep it coming!

[Caio Chagas]

So, a few days without posting anything... my brownser was detecting virus on CA.org so i had to change it. And ok, here goes one colored study, but it is not the kind of approach that i want to master, as this one was made direct on color.

But anyway, i tried to make a presentation as well, to train composition, etc.
I will go back to the black and white studies, not ready for this kind of things yet...

[Caio Chagas]

Ok, i just did some expressions studies, though the first one is more finished and a little better, i kinda like most the second, it was done in 6 times less time and was way more fun to do (trying to run away from those over rendered pieces). I think i will go back to linework with some values, try some environments...

[JeanFumero]

Guess you mean one year studying fine arts or something, not drawing...anyway, congratulations.

Your finished art looks just very good, the drawings on the other hand lack some emphasis on the shapes and the movement, hard to explain...just the curves and the structures lack "strength", but dude...for one year, is perfect.

[Caio Chagas]

Yeah, i also find it hard to tell what exactly i'm doing wrong, guess it is just a matter of more practice...

[Caio Chagas]

Form Extraction for IDW#208. Final Presentation is up on the "Finals" Thread.

[SandyMan]

Hey man! the studies are good but id reccomend a couple of things.

1: Pay closer attention to proportion/point to point, as the head looks a little too big on most studies, even if by a small bit.

2: Try using a broad range of values when shading. A lot of your pencil shading has only about 3 values with small, inconsequential tones in between. Dont be afraid to make something dark, and leave white only and ONLY for the brightest highlights. The wider the range of tones you use, the more 3-dimensional your work will look. And lastly:

3. Keep the line fluid! Dont stutter or make little scratches to achieve a clean line. Gain comfort in doing broad lines that are made by articulating your arm with your back instead of doing everything with your wrist. aways draw from your back and flick your wrist for the smaller, tighter lines.

Hope this helps!

[Caio Chagas]

Thanks for the reply Sandyman. About doing more fluid lines, it is still a problem to me to do that for creatures and more organic things, i find it way easier with environments, which is a subject with a lack of posts, lol. Although about the values, i think it's best for me to keep things simple for understanding, like in the animals studies, i will keep that in mind for more finished looking sketches, thanks.

[lianya]

Wow! You've got some nice stuff in here! I don't think I can come up with anything that hasn't already been said yet but i just have to say that I love the rendering on that armor piece. Keep up the good work!

[Caio Chagas]

So, i'm trying some COW, it is really fun and i recommend to everybody to take part on those activities... here are some studies i did for the current match, even though i'm being screwed by the high level artists there, anyway, really fun challenge and a feel i'm learning a lot.






And here some enviro studies i was owing... I feel i'm way better with lines for this kind of thing, work only with values to sketch kinda confuses me...

[Passhunate]

Everything is looking pretty good. Just keep it up. And I love your COW sketch it looks really good. You seem to be more focus on animal anatomy than human anatomy. Try some anatomy studies from loomis and bridgman.

[Obstfelder]

Hi, Caio!

Thanks for the comments!

I really liked your latest COW piece! Even if we were kind of overshadowed by the professionals, I think we both managed a decent first showing.

Your other pieces are also nice. Like other people have said here, you could perhaps benefit from loosening up your lines a bit. Maybe join the spartan camp gestural drawing to get into the swing of things?

I hope to see more!

[Caio Chagas]

So, i probably won't have the time to post on the EOW on time. Maybe because i'm sick of trying and achieve nothing... i will share the studies i've been doing to that challenge and my latest COW piece.

And Obsfelder, thanks for the suggestion man, once i get the time i will work hard on the gestures, but first, i have to obliterate my environment weakness...

[Caio Chagas]

Some quick sketches, trying to stay on focus...

[Nouveau1618]

I'm quite envious of you work. You must tell us about your optimized methods of practice and which books to read about the science of drawing. I am really amazed by the referenced work. For only one year of study this kicks butt!

help a fellow artist out

thanks for sharing your work with us.

[Hardedge]

I think you've got a good handle on your techniques, I'd like to see a larger range of values in your drawings. For example, Front Line Assault Beast looks great, but the majority of values is hitting the mid tone range, making it look flat and hard to distinguish the subject from the back/foreground.

Great stuff though, I like your expression studies Keep it up, I'd love to see more!

[Kishire]

Love to see where you go with these environments, they're looking pretty good so far!