Flame's Montage to Draw Better

[Flame_Unquenchable]

Edit: If you don't want to wade through the horrible, just click the last page.

I guess I should probably give a little intro to start things off. I'm currently a Draftsman but I've always loved to draw, and have spent most of my life doing just that, not particularly well but with enthusiasm at least.

I'm in the process of trying to pen a fantasy epic, and I've found that many things in life inspire me to write, one of them happens to be art. Concept Art, Illustrations, Photography, etc. etc. I would like to put many of the scenes, characters, creatures, and more down on paper not only in literary format, but also in a visual way so that people can see the ideas come to life, or at least see where my passion lies.

All that to say, I want to get better, I'm trying to draw every day. I've never lurked here, and as some in the weekly contest areas know, I probably tried to swim before I was ready, but I'm not one to let the massive talent on this site deter me, each artist here is an inspiration and has something to offer that I can learn from.

Anyway enough with the words and on with the pictures. Here are some pose sketches, a couple of studies, and other stuff that I've done in photoshop, and pencil, which are my media of choice these days.

Crits on my work are most welcome, I'm here to learn, study and get better so I completely appreciate feedback.


Wanted to change my thumbnail pic so I removed all of the images added to this post.

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Some figure drawings, and a couple of drawings from references. The portrait is still in progress.

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Some stuff from the COW different rounds. I don't really know how to make .gifs that cycle or I'd try to cut down on some of the room taken up with pics.

[Jephyr X]

Hi and congrats on taking the plunge with yer new sb! Keep 'em coming!

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A few more before I head to bed and then on the road for 4 days, will post more on Monday.

@Jefyr - Gonna post'em up as often as I get'em cranked out, thanks for the welcome!

[TheKuu]

I like Mr. Hoppy and the grasshopper medic. Perhaps pushing the contrast between the shadows and highlights before you throw down color might help. Like the man hunched over looks good. Keep it up ;]

Edit: Your last post looks good, me and my slow commenting haha

[Rob Powell]

Hi Flame decided to stop by...I can see a lot of poses drawn, and a lot of them are looking quite stiff, try to practise doing some quick gestures, the basic idea is to capture the basic shape of your subject in a short time with quick, confident lines, it helps with the flow of your poses and makes them look a little more fluid. Try it out, find some refernces and sketch out some gestures, try 2 minutes, 1 minute, 30 second, and 10 second gestures. The less time you have to draw the gestures the messier they get so don't think your doing anything wrong if they don't look to pretty, it's all about building confidence and capturing what you see in front of you. Look for the line of gravity in your subject then build around that.
Good luck with your art mate, be sure to keep pushing!

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Got back from out of town, so I'm going to get back to the drawing. Posting up a couple of big cat studies I did today and yesterday in my free time. Trying to get some ideas about movement, anatomy, etc.


TheKuu - Thanks for stopping by! I think you're right, a lot of my greyscales seem to come out very close together, so I'll work on making things a bit more defined.

Rob Powell - Hey man, thanks for dropping in! Yah, all of those came from Posemaniacs. I have been trying to do the 60sec, or 45sec pose exercises to try and block out the poses quicker and with larger shapes. I'm going to keep working on it. I'll make more of an effort to find the line of gravity.

Thanks for the crits.

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EOW-166 Wip - The Treehouse

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More ideas for the Treehouse in progress.



A wall in France, done from reference.



Previous EOW and CHOW final entries.

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Some progress on the EOW this week. Still needs a lot of work, I think I need to trim some size off of the distant suspension cables, and soften up some of the linework back there on the next pass.

[artchina]

outstanding!

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Artchina - Thanks a lot for the kind words.

"Lunchtime" sketch of a different perspective on the Treehouse. Wanted it to be a bit more Japanese style. Need to work the middle Treehouse, but I'm contemplating taking it out. The original idea was for it to be the main building, like a city hall type structure.

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Some smuggler ships, homage to Star Wars style asymmetry, and a cleaned up image of a past COW creature, and a rocket doodle.

[etui]

Interesting variety you've got here! Your first figure drawing in the second post is very effective because there's a nice contrast in values. Try pushing that in your other pictures such as the cougar and you'll be well on your way.

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Etui - Thanks for stopping by! I will try hitting the contrast harder for sure.

Guard idea, trying to lay down some value before bed...pose seems stiff, kind of off balance too...

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Isometric smuggler ship, 1st iso done in photoshop. Plus some random older stuff.

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1st ship design using Feng Zhu's tutorial on silhouette method, and a few new techniques I learned.

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IDW this week, Merconne (port city still in progress) random enviro practice, COW ideas, and futuristic soldier (1hr).

[rem92]

nice workman, there is a little bit of everything in here, work more in your backgrounds, n try to blend the colors better in your characters

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Rem92- Thanks for stopping by, backgrounds and color blending are a problem area for me for sure, I'll have to buckle down and do more studies and more still life, which can help that. I appreciate the comments.

[General F.]

Nice start. Is there a reason for the gridpaper?
Because i strongly suggest working on blank paper in order to get a better feel for volume and shapes. Other than this, just keep at it and things will come together more and more.

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Nice start. Is there a reason for the gridpaper?
Because i strongly suggest working on blank paper in order to get a better feel for volume and shapes. Other than this, just keep at it and things will come together more and more.

General - Heh, the drawings done on grid paper were because they were the only thing I had on hand at the time, I work professionally in the Engineering business, so if I did sketches at lunch or right after work, then I'd do them on the grid paper I had on hand. I have stacks of grid paper, but I need to get another blank sketchbook to use for pencil drawings, should probably take it to the office for those lunchtime sketches.

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Some gestures, creature of the week final and new wips, random, eow wip earth dragon hatchery...wips wips wips...

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Trying to work on Enviros, COW and Warrior Alice.

[Vulgar`]

Alice is looking cool, what she needs is a weapon made out of purple cat fur

I like her leg armor and skirt, maybe the chest area needs a little work. A bulky chest plate maybe? "Warrior Alice" is a great idea for a CHOW..

Keep it up Flame.

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Vulgar - Thanks for the encouragement Vulgar! Those guys in the EOW this week are kicking ass. Yah, I have never read Alice in Wonderland, only seen the cartoon and that's been forever ago, I was trying to think of all the things in that movie that were stylized so that I could give her something unique. I was playing with the Mad Hatter's hat, a Pocket Watch Flail, some Playing Card Suite themed weapons, there's just too much stuff to think about.

Anyway, I took a break from trying to create original stuff to going back to the basics and doing some blocking on the old standby for artists. The glorious apple.

Thanks to DeathNoteGuineaPig for the picture reference.

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Apple blending and coloring...still needs work but it's coming along, having issues with the dark spot and the bounce light on the bottom front portion.

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Cow Progress for this weeks challenge, and an abstract.

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Color Pass, probably won't get finished since I'm leaving town tomorrow but at least I made some progress.