Improvement Sketchbook - Digital and Traditional

[Syle]

Lots of hard work going on in here. Keep it up!

[Caio Chagas]

Nouveau1618 - oh man, don't get me in a embarasing situation, lol...
Thanks dude, it is always awesome when someone gets inspired by your efforts and so.

About the science stuff... you know, there could be books to help you with that, but in my case,
i just kept in mind everything other artists say, like:

- 3D approach in drawing
- value change = form change
- warm lights = cooler shadows and vice versa
- nature is chaotic, but also controlled
- the last would be: Always try to understand logically the subject matter, be it a car, a human being, an object, etc.

Hardedge - Yeah, you got a good point there, i tend to run away from pure black and pure white, maybe
because many artists recommend that... so i kinda feel scared of trying it and get the wrong result, but
you never know until you try, i really should try it.

Kishire - Even though i have very few environments here, i really want to be better at it, maybe you'll
see more studies very soon.

Syle - Yeah dude, gotta practice a lot to be professional, and the community only gets me more excited, thanks for that.

Thank you all for the feedback.

Now i'll just post some old stuff in graphite and some new environment, all from imagination... yeah, i know i have to improve...

[Caio Chagas]

So, i did some speedpainting today, it has been a while since i tried it, so i kinda wanted to bring something quickly using some acquired knowledge, i find it very helpful, because you are forced to use everything you know almost at the same time, controlling everything that gets in your mind. In the end i spent a lot more time on it because i liked the result, so it kinda became a illustration after all...

If you guys are interested i can post the whole WIP.

[sony]

one thing i would recommend you is that you should work on improving the line quality and second thing is to give more attention to form and volume. search on these topics and keep em' coming............

[Caio Chagas]

So, this is probably the final for this picture, but i'm still not sure about the colors, feel free to comment or choose your favorite, it will help a lot.

V1



V2

[Caio Chagas]

Back to the basics, i'll probably finish "figure drawing for all it's worth" before doing anything else... Hope i'll be back to the challenges soon enough...

[Caio Chagas]

Yeah, definetely i'm not ready to color yet... gotta finish FDFAIW now...

[kevin_]

cool stuff, like the first knight study and this last painting with the wizard! keep positing!

[Jonesoda]

I definitely like version 2 of the wizard & environment painting. The blue looks really nice. Also I think your color studies actually look pretty good.

[Kaihartj]

Hey man the wizard one is fantastic! and post 37 is amazing aswell! Kepp it up man! they're looking amazing!

[Caio Chagas]

Thanks Guys! I really appreciate your comments.

So, i am not bevaving myself and can't get enough of speedpaint, even though i have to finish the book, i felt like posting this one.

- Done in 40 min

[Caio Chagas]

Here is the final.



Version 2 with a more detailed BG and some figures to scale.

[Jessibelle]

hey, this sketchbook is off to a great start... your digitals are looking great! I think that your pencils are your weak point at the moment... it could really help you to go back to that, focus on structure and anatomy for a while, it'll transfer over to better understanding in your digital paintings too. And don't forget to keep applying studies to your work from imagination! You got a lot of potential here, just keep pushing

[smael]

hiii, it is cool, keep it up,

[Caio Chagas]

So, keep doing studies of FDFAIW as well as some environments sketches... didn't like too much but it's here.

[Caio Chagas]

A quick sketch i did on an art studio led by André Persi, great artist from my city.



And keep doing FDFAIW studies, hope to get it right soon.

[Caio Chagas]

Back to Loomis studies. I think i'm kinda mixing his approach with my own way to solve problems, because of that, the result is not that great, gotta keep doing more and more.



Here are some really quick sketches from imagination i did just after doing some Loomis pages, just to see where i'm going with it.



And to finish this post, here is my first Still Life ever. I always do studies from photographs, now that i did it from life, i can really understand the difference.

[Caio Chagas]

Keep doing FDFAIW. Gotta finish this book before anything else. Also, some quick sketches i did for the current CHOW match, but i'm not planning to take part on this one because of the book. Hope to get it done right to start doing those challenges again, it is awesome.

[Caio Chagas]

So, i'm scaning more studies from Loomis, meanwhile here goes another character study, i'm really having a hard time adding color to a grayscale piece, but that is kinda the process i want to master, because doing direct on color is insane for me, at least for characters, i mean.

[Caio Chagas]

Ok, got a little problem with my scanner, so there are more studies to come, and probably some personal stuff.

[Januz]

Hey Caio, loved that last character. I think you could push the colors a bit more by painting details with a hard brush on a new layer above it (set to normal). This series could help you: http://ctrlpaint.myshopify.com/colle...scale-to-color

Nice work on those arms too, I find arms quite difficult to get right.

[Psychobuddy]

Hey man, nice work! For going to greyscale to colour what I've found is, adding the colour after the rendering is done really kinda screws you over, because you have no chane to paint over it and adjust the colour as you go. If you add the colour after you have some basic values mapped in, it should go a lot smoother as well as feeling a lot more natural. Good luck.

[Zombie_chinchilla]

Wow, you've got some great stuff! And after practicing for just a year, your progress is very impressive and inspiring. Keep it up, man.

[Caio Chagas]

Januz - Thanks for that man. I'll probably get this tutorial very soon. Always loved Ctrl+Paint, and have some more recommendations just help to keep the confidence.


Psychobuddy - Thanks man! I really have to practice using this approach, i've seen that before on the Daarken's tutorials, guess it i'll be the first thing to do after finishing the FDFAIW.


Zombie_chinchilla - Thank you dude! You have no idea how feedbacks like these as well as the criticism help me to practice and get on the road.


Thank you all for this, i'll keep doing my best.

[Caio Chagas]

Yeah, i really did the study on grayscale to color using the mentioned method, i probably went better than i expected, even though it's far from good. Anyways, promise i'll be back with FDFAIW.

Done in about 2 hours

[Caio Chagas]

Ok, another study using the same technique on the color, the result is (again) far from good but i'm getting used to it, much more confortable now... (Gotta post some Loomis', i'm getting late.)

[Caio Chagas]

Here are the studies i had promised, hope to finish this book, it is really good.



And here is a quick doodle showing the coloring process i had tried for the last pieces. I ended up liking this last character, maybe i can finish him some other time. I decided to put it into the same color scheme, in order to the comparision be more accurate. Also, it is based on the current CHOW match, maybe it will be my entry, if finished in time. Gotta go back to those challenges soon enough.

[JFierce]

My only suggestion for a painting exercise is to try limiting your values. Little opacity except maybe some slight blending between the values if necessary. Simplicity is it's own animal. Some times too many values scattered all over muddies everything up a bit.

But so far looks good. Can see improvement in just a page already.

[Raiderukkus]

WOOw! Very nice paintings, and cool atmospheric perspective, wish i can do such.

[Rotor]

Good stuff in here.
Environments; use BIG brushes at the first few stages to set up large masses and light, it's both easier to think that way and makes everything more solid from the start. as the great Max Ginsburg once said: "Big artists use big brushes."
Characters; What JFierce said, think in terms of fields of values or how light builds form, rather than small scribble that tends to turn into what people call 'muddy values' as the small strokes tend to break the consistency of what you are portraying.
I'd suggest doing some proper value studies from life or grayscale images to get the hang of it.
I hope this helps, keep it up!