Jones's Sketchbook

[Jonesoda]

Hello, I'm Russell, and I'm 18 years old. I've been here quite a few times checking out others art, this forum has many aspiring artists and I enjoy looking through every ones work and improvement. I decided It'd be a good place to possibly get helpfull points and tips for my own improvement.

Back in April I decided I wanted to work harder and improve on my art, so I started up with studies. I've been working on improving, and painting nearly every day. (Wacom tablet) Here's some of my work from the past few weeks not including studies, I'll update it whenever I have new stuff to post. Pill bottle one is still life, rest are imagination in that collage thing.

The devil baby is the most recent, the background/environment was one of my first's with a character, It doesnt really look like it blends in well. Pointers and the likes are more then welcome.

(btw anyone know why my thumbnail is all pixelated in the thread list?)

[catukas]

Oh, so adorable little devil.

[Jiri92]

Hey man, when did you start drawing?

[RV-]

Welcome dude ! wainting to see more of your work!

[Jonesoda]

@catukas - haha thanks

@Jiri92 - I can't remember, although growing up I was never magnificent or anything (only 18 now though). I really only started improving back around April, that was when I started digitally painting as well.

@RV- -Thank's, more will come most definitely. I'm already really liking this community.

I showed some of this stuff in the collage but I'd like to give a closer view, I've also added a pre sketch that I later painted, and some quick studies for light going through fog. Edit - I decided to add the other pictures from the first post, so I can change my thread picture if I ever need to.

[Jonesoda]

one or two hours, just trying new things out. Unfortunately my image size was a bit small to start with, I forgot to change it, its still 300dpi though. I've been wanting to keep my art bigger so I can get it printed out, even if it's not that great yet, It'll be cool to have physical copies to look back on, and show friends etc.


Update - refined and revised

[Jonesoda]

Mostly gestures and random stuff lately, also a face study was a lot loser then my previous face studies which were stuck in the mid tones (I don't think I uploaded them here). really want to get anatomy down, and get onto some portraits.

Comments, Tips, Critiques, anything you have to say is welcome.

[Jonesoda]

here's an update, spent the past two days painting my buddy from a picture of him, it's for his Mixtape he's been working on. We've kept each other motivated on our hobbies. a little drained now, not sure what I want to work on next.

Unfortunately the colored image has some edge issues, is there any better way to smooth those out without using the eraser the whole way? still need's some work, as well as a better background, I'm thinking some sort of buildings.

Any tips, comments, and help you can provide is very welcome.

[Abee]

Hey! Thanks for stopping by!

You should post more more more, bad/good doesn't matter, it will help other artist to notice tendencies and thus making it easier to critique

One thing I notice is messy lines, as in many small brush-strokes to describe one big form. Use bigger brushes and erase what you don't need instead of using smaller brushes!

Keep your pecker up!
Arvid

[Jonesoda]

@Abee - Thank you very much for commenting, I will definitely post more things good or bad, I've never post things I'm not satisfied with. thanks I'll try using a bigger brush for bigger areas, I've only been using round brush, Want to try a rectangle/squarish brush though.

Softened the face study just messing around trying to learn, some sketches, Knight was from today spent like 10 minutes, don't really care for it. Also my final portrait of my buddy Tommy, for his mixtape.

Really want to improve my speed, and ability to get foundations down. as well as learn how to do portraits of fantasy type characters with armor and stuff in them. Always enjoy looking at fantasy game art characters and stuff.

[zephyri]

Hey! Just wanted to say thanks for stopping by my sketchbook, thought it'd be easier for me to come here and answer your question about brushes. For the image I think you were referring to, I was using one of the natural mark brushes that you can find if you subscribe to Chris Oatley's website - he'll email you a link to brush sets once you've subscribed, but he also sends a tonne of useful info on making good images and has a bunch of tutorial videos on his site too, definitely worth checking out!

Far as your work goes, would love to see more gestures and studies for anatomy - you are on the right track with the ones you've done so far. I also found it really helpful to do longer studies of things like the skull and various muscle groups (mostly cause the longer I spend on something the more it sinks into the brain ) You might also find converting your last image to a greyscale version and compare it to the original reference, to compare how light and dark the two get - the face on it feels lacking in contrast. Could use some more shadows around areas like the eyes, nostrils and corners of the mouth and lips.

But keep at it!

[Jonesoda]

@zephyri - Thank you for the comment! I downloaded his brush sets, found a simple round brush in it while trying them out, I realised something...Sketching is so much nicer for me without having opacity jitter set to pen pressure, Busted out two sketches and had a lot of fun doing them.

I love concept art for dark fantasy characters in games, and that's actually what I kind of have wanted to do for a very long time, so my first try at a sketchy one is here. Some very inspiring concept art I love is for the game Dark souls. I Would like to make some like that someday.

Also baby face was just random haha. Might work on these again tomorrow. Really happy I found a good brush to sketch with, Opacity jitter sketches always got super messy.

(lines are a bit squiggly, did that on purpose, kinda like sketching like that, gives it a rougher look)

[Jonesoda]

Every Day I don't do much or any art, It bugs me quite a bit. Haven't done considerably too much the last two days. But here's a bit of a lame update anyway.

Some gestures, built up on those previous characters a bit. Also some traditional sketches.
The second one is loosely based on myself, but super muscular lol. Did one for my brother as well just for fun.

Definitely got to learn to paint armor, and rough types of metal. As well as anatomy, gotta continue on that more so. Basically need to improve in every way.
It can be a bit hard pin pointing what exactly to work on first when you have so many things you need to improve.

[Samurai_Nik]

Thnx for posting Russell in my sketchbook. As for help many people will say the brush doesn't matter its how you paint that's important. And how you paint is all about what you want to do with your work. But that's just my opinion.

[Jonesoda]

@Samurai_Nik - Yeah a brush wont really help overall painting, although they can help give different sort of looks and textures. I've basically only used round brush, Been wanting to try some others out.

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Decided today I had to put some good time into studying. Woke up earlier then usual, Started with the screen cap. It was really hard, I haven't really done full scenes. my study of it looks pretty bad.

Then I went and did those arm's, second one though I was sort of getting back into things, Haven't done much drawing/painting the last few days.
Some gestures there to.

I'm gonna take a bit of a break. Only break I've taken today was for dinner. I'm having trouble decided what to study, simply because there's so much. Thing's like anatomy are always useful to study. I'll figure it out though. :

[kevin_]

nice start man! keep up with the studies and keep posting!

[Jonesoda]

@Kevin_ - Thank you for checking my stuff out.

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Well, Today felt like a real good day. I'll be working more after I'm finished dinner but I doubt I'll post again tonight.

The muscular baby faced dude, a little messed up of a concept lol. But anyway, I've been working on painting muscles, and trying to make them look semi realistic. Not size of course but the look and texture. Not done yet though

Second alien type guy I liked so I tried pushing it. I'm not very experienced in rendering past a certain point, So I really tried to think what I could do to push it. Paid more attention to values especially. I'm not sure how I did, But I aimed for sort of a child's movie character, you know like Disney and Pixar animated movies and all that.

[Jonesoda]

Here's today's work. Finished Baby face, and did a photo study aiming on lighting of the body and just trying to get the human body melted into my mind.

Done with past sketches so I'll be bringing brand new things to the table.

[tsabu]

Hey mate.Thanks for stopping in my sb

Looks good here i like especially your buddy portrait, but also the first post with these surreal persons looks interesting.

I would agree with zephyri Longer studies could help you improve nicely. In my opinion its a bit like with muscle training. Very important part of it is when you are already tired - but still pushing!

Also "Every Day I don't do much or any art, It bugs me quite a bit."
Personally i think i am the most lazy person on these planet
But i will tell you, we all need to work everyday if we want to achieve something. Sadly there's just no other way...

[Veshkau]

Nice improvements, keep it up. Would recommend simplifying things though, like longer lines and focusing your values into light and shadow blocks. Hope that helps!

[Jonesoda]

@Tsabu - Thank you for your comment, I'll definitely start spending more time on studies, trying to nail the aspects I'm studying. your explanation comparing it to muscle training makes a lot of sense.

@Veshkau - My lines are a big problem, I don't keep lines in my final stuff usually, But I've been told quite a few times now that my lines aren't nice and fluid like they should be, more like a bunch of small ones connected. Something I'm trying to work on. - And lighting and shadow blocks hey, I haven't thought about trying that, Sound's like it could be quite usefull.

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Smallll update art today unfortunately . I spent the day changing my room up to better suit my needs. Searching for a corner table/desk. My table would be fine, but I need to use my tv as a second monitor because my laptop screen is too small for reference images and painting.

Planning on doing some life nature studies from my window view as well with this new set up. Got some sketches done tonight, and added values to the one. I like it, well the idea of what it can become (the eyes are meant to be like that to, planning on making them grotesque and bulging/puffy). Hope I can make it a nice finished painting.

ALSO I've gotten several Andrew Loomis books that where recommended I read and do. Figure drawing for all its worth, drawing heads and hands, and fun with pencils. I want to improve, and I'm so thankful for kind people in these communities sharing there knowledge and helping one another.

ah anyway ha, sorry for all the text, not really worth the amount of art I did today but hey.

[Caio Chagas]

Hey man! It's great that your are willing to be better, the books you have on your list are really awesome. another one i would suggest is "Successful Drawing" by Andrew Loomis also. I would recommend "Fun with a Pencil" to be your first, but it is really up to you, just do the studies, pay attention in some notes like that about lines, etc. And you will improve.

Keep it up!

[Jonesoda]

@Caio_Chagas - Thank you for the comment, I may have to check that one out as well. I love drawing/painting but I really want to improve, my biggest set back has been my schedule. But I've been working on it.

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Pretty decent day. started with examples from Andrew Loomis figure drawing (read up to the first examples last night) after I did some ultra quick sketches, just to try and get the studies to stick and see if I understood the body a bit better. Also trying to work on my lines, gotta get more confident strokes.

Took a break and ate some cake lol, was my younger brother Isaac's 16th birthday today.

Then I started a drawing on my livestream (first time on livestream). Spent about an hour and 40 minutes. still gotta work on it. But I'm pretty tired early tonight. Either gotta define the face better, or leave the lines.

Update - heres a video of the drawing/painting http://youtu.be/0Duy5zSk_Rg still a lot of work on it though, wanna make it nice.

[Jonesoda]

Today's work, Eye brow studies then worked on the portrait. I was gonna take the rest of the day off, But I decided to push myself. Tried a mech for the first time, and had a lot of fun doing it. I've always mainly just drawn portraits and I guess I was getting bored of that.

[Jonesoda]

Not a very good day, got up late and didn't get anything new done. Still working but I've lost steam today. was pumped yesterday though ;(

anyway... some sketches I did before bed, and updated mech today.

Just not feeling it today though. Might switch over to my sketchbook and just draw in there instead.

[Jonesoda]

Another update on the mech - still a few little things I could do to improve it. but It's basically done I guess.

Update - up'd the contrast, Think I'll call it done now.

[Jonesoda]

Studies from figure drawing, trying to work on my strokes, getting a little better, but I go over my previous one several times trying to get it all right. Then a drawing from memory I'm gonna work on later.
kind of messed up my schedule, I got to get a healthier system going. I'll still be working on art daily.

Also want to to get more pages of that figure drawing book done a day, not so much though that it wont stick.

[Jonesoda]

I got to get on a schedule, studies for this amount of time, personal for this amount etc. Need to set some time aside for doing other things as well.

Anyway, some sketches, my male form seems to be getting better. also a messy screenshot study. Screenshot study was the first time I've blocked in to start off, I usually do a sketch. Could have worked on it a lot more, but felt I had already spent too much.
Also eventually want to learn how to start off like a lot of others I see, just with values and some sketch lines, they sorta just develop what they see in it. But I think mostly experienced do that.

I have a lot of idea's and interests I want to draw/paint, but the only thing stopping me is I don't have the knowledge of how to draw/paint a lot of these things. Gotta get going on more specific studies like armor, been wanting to do some knight fantasy type stuff.

[Psychobuddy]

0Hey man, nice start. You're doing all the right things, just keep doing them. I saw you were talking about a certain workflow in the last post, my advice as far as that goes, is if a certain way of doing things interests you try it, and practice it, until you know it, or till you get bored ha...but yeah what I'm sayig is you never know till you try.

[Jonesoda]

@Psychobuddy - Thank you for the comment, It's good to hear I'm doing the right things, Have always been unsure if I a was or not haha. Also thank you for your insight on work flow, I think I will try that way I was talking about sometime soon.

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Put in some armor studies, 40 minutes each, went ok. After tried a knight sketch, but quickly realised I don't really understand how armor works. Gotta get onto drawing pieces of armor, studying how corners are. how pieces connect etc.

Also some mech sketches from tonight. not sure which I'll go with. Still have a lot of technical things I have to learn, but I'm trying to develop idea's and put them down. I watched a crimson daggers interview with Bjorn Hurri and found it pretty interesting