Ravenok's Sketchbook - Critiques please! (nudity)

[Ravenok]

Hey everyone! Hopefully my nick will update soon.

I've been mostly ghosting these forums for the last 4-5 years, and even before that as an unregistered user.
I'm a 3D artist at a local gaming company, aspiring to grow and become a strong concept artist, hopefully bringing to life some of my ideas that I've been carrying with me for years.

I've been sculpting and drawing my entire life, but sculpture, and 3D in general, always came easier so that's where I naturally went.
Lately I've been really feeling how my weaker 2D skills are really weighing down my progression as an artist, and I decided to focus on it more from here on.

I want to get to a point where I can visualize my ideas and be satisfied with what I'm getting. I'm not there right now, and I'm not 100% sure what I have to do to get there.
Hopefully I will figure all of that out here, among other places

So I hope you enjoy my work and progression... and I can't wait to learn from everyone here!

[Ravenok]

To keep things "clean" I will not post here anything I posted anywhere else before.
These are 2 drapery studies I did today, and will probably do some more later. I'm also adding an unfinished drawing I did a while ago, trying to figure out what's pretty in Kristin Kreuk's face. Wasn't sure what I got from it though. =\

[Ravenok]

Tried to practice building form, understanding lighting and a little rendering...
I'm not always sure my studies are very effective.

[Ravenok]

Here are some pages from my sketchbook. Some older than others.
Also an example of an attempt at designing a character that belongs to a race of creatures I designed in writing. This one probably shows what usually happens, where I'd start something, get disappointed with the result quite early, and throw it away. I saved this one instead of deleting, to be able to show it here.

[grandpriy]

hi, solid anatomy sketches.. its great that you are already a 3D Artist and aspiring to go into design! I've been doing the same and found I had to go back a learn to draw straight lines freehand for perspective and form sketching. Check out Scott Robertson's DVD by Gnomon Workshop, great and inexpensive (relatively) way to start if you're not in school. Excellent foundation knowledge in these DVDs!

[Ravenok]

Hey, thanks for the reply!
I've had many recommendations to Scott Robertson's DVDs over the years, but I've always had more interest in organic so I've been putting it off all the time.
I will probably check it out along the way, it definitely has some important skills to develop.

[Ravenok]

Today I spent hours painting. Probably over 10.
Some of it went on these 2 sketches, both of things I usually don't do, environment stuff...
Will post some more stuff from my sketchbook when I get to photographing it (hopefully in a quality less shameful than my previous post )

Anyway, very unhappy with what's going on in these. Especially the wood studies, which are far, far from where I thought I was...

[Ravenok]

I love Laurel Austin's work, and have always wanted to capture some of her work's style and implement it into my own developing style.

Today I studied this drawing of hers, trying to analyse the tonal work and brush work... I feel like I learned a lot from the tonal study, but as far as brush work, I'm miles behind in both my dexterity and my understanding in how to build a brush to get a wanted result...



The original is the latest post on her blog:
http://ldaustinart.blogspot.co.il/

Again I realize I have to work harder on my ability to render form and not just mindlessly copy the values I see and try to match the shapes.
The problem is that when I try to render a form from my mind, I end up making it extremely simple and boring, probably because I'm not trained enough in rendering complex forms.
Are there any specific things I can do to improve that ability?

[Ravenok]

[removed the duplication of the above post... ]

So on this post will only be a study on a lizard eye I did:

[ThomasM]

"I want to get to a point where I can visualize my ideas and be satisfied with what I'm getting. I'm not there right now, and I'm not 100% sure what I have to do to get there."

In response to that, I would advise, very very strongly, that you take time out from digital for a while and focus almost entirely on traditional media. Break it down into subjects and get yourself totally focused on those. or example, if you want to learn about perspective then get your hands on a book or two and sit down for an hour and say "right, now I study this". Don't listen to any music, or have the computer on or anything else to distract you. If you spend your free time doing things in sections of about an hour's pure study like this you will make incredible progress. I have only recently identified how important this is, and I think its important to share that with others.

Here are some topics I would suggest as things to break down that mountain of art into:
1/Anatomy (Get hold of the ImagineFX editions by Ron Lemen and Marshall Vandruff, as well as the bridgman books freely downloaded online)
2/Perspective. This can be learnt almost anywhere, but I think the Vilppu drawing manual is a great place to start in terms of getting enough repetition and keeping it simple).
3/Light and Form - almost any book will do, but if you have the money then buy at least the first of Scott Robertson's gnomon dvds on Rendering Matte Form. They will revolutionise the way you think about values.

I hope that helps, good luck!

[Ravenok]

Thanks man, I appreciate the comment.

I've always been learning very differently, taking on a subject and studying it heavily for very long periods of time, losing sleep, repeating, reading, thinking, etc...
I've never intentionally did a study the way you describe it. I'll do that more now. Thanks

As far as traditional mediums go, do you think sticking with pen/pencil and sketchbook is good enough, or should I go for oils and others as well? I might have some trouble doing oil paintings, mainly because of the time it requires and the commitment (gotta find room and get back to the painting over a few days, etc) - I'll probably go through the effort from time to time anyway, but making it a routine won't be easy, so that's why I do digital work, it's allowing me to work with color more frequently (though I didn't post this stuff here yet).

Oh, and another thing, I asked about this in your thread - did you take any classes, or do you study only on your own?

[Ravenok]

Here are 2 life drawings I did today (1 hour total for both).



I drew a lot this week, some on my sketchbook and some not yet finished. I will post it all when it's photographed/done.

I was having a hard time getting to drawing things from my imagination, and a lot of it results from me having very little confidence in my skills.
I decided that whenever I'm feeling like I can't draw what I want to draw, I will draw what "tradition" says you should draw to get good - still life, figure drawing, drapery, landscapes, etc...

[Erikly]

From the few things I'm seeing from you, I like it. I think that your rendering is pretty good! Post 3 and that apple is looking real nice. I feel you could push your contrast a little bit more with your values. I guess I would like you to loosen up a little bit from now and then with gesture drawings!

[Ravenok]

Thanks Erik

I did quite a bit of gesture drawing in school, and I always thought I wasn't good enough yet to do the quick ones. It feels like they do more harm than they benefit me. I was planning on doing some slower figure drawings to start building a stronger base, it might be what I'll do these coming days

[AeonPhoenix]

Good stuff. I like your studies. I need to push myself to do more of those. No critiques here, just keep it up. Drop by my SB sometime. \m/