Mudpuppy's Sketchbook

[Mudpuppy]

I should really stop writing things on the internet at 2am.
This won't be daily anymore because it's a pain to upload every little sketch I might do so I'll only post the semi-worthwhile things :/

[Jaik]

welcome to CA.org! Nice start to your sketchbook
Ill give you the advice all new artists need, is to get in to some books and learn anatomy, everyone needs anatomy, even the people who know anatomy can not have too much anatomy, you can download Andrew Loomis' books from places on the internet, he is always a good place to start, "Successful drawing" will give you a good grounding in most major areas.

Other than that just keep drawing and keep updating! looking forward to seeing more. And always remember, drawing is fun, if/when it becomes stressful take a step back and remember why it is you draw.

[Mudpuppy]

Sooo....long time no see, sketchbook :/ I've completely neglected you.

-A quick digital still life of a little bull toy I have

[Mudpuppy]

Some gestures

[Mudpuppy]

-Spoon gestures
-Drawing some big spoons
-Still trying to figure out digital painting :/ So far I only went over the skin four times.

[Evxyza92]

I like the spoons, very interesting thing to study in my opinion. Although I do understand the layering of the spoons, the shading needs to be toned back. I feel that if you were to shade more lightly in certain areas and darker in some you might achieve your desired effect. Keep this up, and post some more stuff soon.

[Mudpuppy]

@Evxzya: Thanks, I think I see what you mean. Like the lines overlap but the actual spoons don't have any depth...I'll make sure to watch out for that next time Thanks for the advice about the values too, it helps a lot. Spoon gestures are from ctrl+paint and I just did a study off that.

-sketch for a second attempt at previous painting
-some of the rectangle practice things from ctrl+paint

[Mudpuppy]

Some contours and sketches I've been doing. I'm in one of those "my art is so horrible and I'm never going to be good enough" ruts, so I'm just trying to draw through it.

[Mudpuppy]

-negative space drawings
-fail attempt at digital painting
-thumbnails for the teen challenge

Edit: Fffuuuccckk I forgot the dog's ear and nose...and I didn't "save as" when I made it a JPEG.

[villainbynecessity]

I saw your stuff from the Teen Challenge; this is my first Teen Challenge, too! I love the way you use colors, and how you can... actually do digital art... //sob

Um, I think you could definitely study some more anatomy. I'm working my way through the Loomis books (downloaded illegally before I knew they were available to buy), and I would recommend anyone to go through them.

[Mudpuppy]

@villainbynecessity
Thanks, it's a huge pain to get used to tablets D: Loomis! I'm going to read him once I finish D'Amelio's perspective book. I'm so terrified of anatomy, I need to just jump in and draw the damn stuff.

-Crosshatching practice (btw, I'm following ctrl+paint's unplugged series)
-Another WIP of moon city

[Mudpuppy]

Yay I can get on here again without getting virus warnings/failed pages

Some of the stuff I've been doing:
-2 30 minute pixelovely classes
-best of my recent sketches

[Mudpuppy]

A still life of a stapler and hole puncher, but I cut the puncher out because I rushed it and it's awful.

[Mudpuppy]

Didn't do any studies today, got some break up blues, so I just drew some silly/easy stuff. I'm still happy with them though, it's much easier to stylize after studying for a while.

[Mudpuppy]

Overcoming my fear od drawing men one epically bearded psychologist at a time...

ALSO got a Loomis book, so I'll be starting on that tomorrow.

[Mudpuppy]

Loomis! And some more old dead white men

[Undeadartist]

Hey great start in here! You can see some improvement over these few! Keep pushing value if your going to draw something from life draw it as you see it and put as much into it as you can. Something I heard from an artist once was everything you draw put 100% into it (not saying that you dont ) but dont forget those anatomy great stuff for doing the loomis!

[Mudpuppy]

Undeadartist: Thanks I agree, though I do tend to slack a bit...working on that.
Spent an hour on pixelovely, tried to focus more on value.

[FightingSeraph]

I think you did a good job on that last drawing, and just keep going.

[Mudpuppy]

Thanks, FightingSeraph. I spot a fellow Louisianian

I sat a desk for two hours and this is all I have to show for it today. I feel proud, between writing school notes, drawing, and playing the fuck outta some Mass Effect, I'm getting my first hand pains c:

[Mudpuppy]

-60 second gesture warm ups
-Loomis female proportions (kinda lost patience with the last one...)
-Asian...huntress...thing...not sure. It looks godawful, but at least it's improvement.

[Mudpuppy]

I started on a painting today, but I can't upload anything. I use my mom's work laptop and she's taking it for a while so I can only use my phone for the Internet right now. But I'll post everything once I can

[Mudpuppy]

Yay computer. The painting I've been working on for the last couple of days. I want to be fairly comfortable with acrylics before going on to digital painting. Hopefully it will make the transition easier and then I'll appreciate digital ease ahaha.

[luthertaylor]

try this approach to drawing. yo don't have to follow it super tight, probably just take a certain process from it that captures your eye.
http://drawpaintsculpt.com/the-basics/figure-drawing/

keep it up

[Mudpuppy]

Thanks, luthertaylor, I'll try that method tomorrow

Just quick brain dump doodles from today. I also sketched dresses/funny hats while watching Downtown Abbey but I forgot to take pictures...And I haven't forgotten about Loomis. I'm trying to figure out the perspective stuff at the beginning and I'll probably end up skipping to the mannequins and eventually going back.

[Beartankmaster]

Nice rendering on the stapler, I like the beaky-goggled-thingy and the pixelovely poses as well .

I don't know if you were going for realism on that Indian-looking dude looking up at the sky but a good thing to keep in mind is that the eyes don't sit right up next to the nose in profile view. They're receded into the skull due to it's concave structure at the eye sockets. I see this pop up a lot in your faces. The cheekbones are also a bit too forward.

I'm not sure if you did this or not but a common practice that can sometimes lead to people running into errors is to plan out the layout of a face after adding in hair or without first laying out an underlying structure. A drawing can look out of proportion or misshapen as a result. Even if you're going for like an ethnic face or someone with atypical facial structure you've got a better chance of achieving this by laying down a standard and then distorting it as you see fit than just going in blind.

Using a bisecting midline(that goes down the center of the figure vertically) can help a lot with those proportional studies by the way. I think the male figure is 2 and 1/2 heads wide in Loomis' version, I may be wrong though; it's in the book. The space between the nipples is 1 head as well as the space between the knees and the sole of the feet. If you give yourself an easy measurement for the head(like an inch or something) you can have an easier time trying to set up a proportion study. I'd give it another shot. It's really not all that bad .

I saw you give one of my buddies a piece of advice saying that he should throw in some personal work in addition to his studies. I'd give you the opposite advice you seem like you're heavily into your personal work but you haven't really cracked down on yourself yet in terms of the boring stuff. Keep your head up though just keep in mind that the only person who can make you an artist is yourself. And, as Jason Manley said a friend once told him, the only thing between you and the paper is air.

[Mudpuppy]

Dichotomy: I do use under drawings, but I'm still working on using facial proportions correctly. I'll do more in depth studies more often, especially on weekends Thanks for the Loomis tips.

What I've done the past two days since I forgot to upload yesterday. Gestures, Loomis mannequins, a simplified version of what luthertaylor showed me to try it, and some other stuff. I also have eye and hand studies in my class sketchbook but I haven't brought it home yet. I'm going to manage my time better so I can get more drawing in.

[eroquii]

I like that you do imaginative pieces as well as studies. Seems like you know having fun is just as important as studying. Just don't be afraid to push the limits of your creativity and tackle your fears. Judging from post #14, you have some pretty cute ideas! Can't wait to see what style emerges from you in the future once you have a more solid understanding. Keep pushing!

[Mudpuppy]

@eroquii Thanks I burn out so quickly if I don't do anything personal. Ahaha I guess about time to try some more hands...

The only shameful scribbles I have for today :/ I'm trying to make drawing everyday a habit. I have stuff from my class sketchbook that I'll bring home if it's not raining.

[Philosiflo]

keep em comin. hard work will pay off