FOXHOUND sketchbook group

[EduardoGaray]

This is our sketchbook group main thread, post here our common sketches and anything related to the group.

Members

-Matt: Syle - Matt - Will try to post and critique at least every three days
-EduardoGaray - Eddy - Will try to post and critique every other day.
-Anthonycarey

[Syle]

Hey all, looking forward to working with you! Here's my first post. It's a values study based off a Sargent painting:

[EduardoGaray]

Started as a movie study, but turned into a sketch to experiment a few things.
One of my problems is the softness of my rendering so, this time i tried to render with hard brushes.


Syle: good one, but i think you could push the values more.

[Syle]

Nice Eddy, you paid good attention to keeping your foreground/focus elements in sharper focus than the things in the background. Are you going to work on this one any further? If so, how confident are you with fabric/folds? It might be great practice to push those shirts/fabrics a bit further.

Thanks for the advice on that portrait I did. I'll push the values a bit more in both directions. How does the anatomy look? Something about the lips doesn't look right...I'll post the Sargent original for something to compare to.

[EduardoGaray]

yeah do it, so we can compare. For the anatomy, without the original to compare i cant say much, but the eyes looks too separated.
For this sketch, i'm not going to work on it more, but you are right, the next will have a similar thematic and will be a good opportunity to practice frabrics and the like.

[Syle]

Just a small sketchbook update. Nothing special, just putting in some time. I don't own a scanner, so all pencil stuff is taken with a camera. Sorry that these are sideways, I just don't have the time to edit them in photoshop. They aren't anything special anyways; just some random sketching.

[Syle]

Eddy, here's the original Sargent painting. Ughh, mine is so far off...you're right, the eyes are messed up.

[Syle]

A value sketch from imagination.

[EduardoGaray]

Hey Matt, sorry not posting these days, pretty bad cold here.
I like your value studies, keep going man, i´m sure they will pay off.
For the sargent study, i think besides the eyes you did it pretty well, would like to see it retouched and finished, though.
And here is my sketch of today.
Basically nonsense.

[jharford]

Hey Eddy,

I really like this experiement, the blurring of the backgorund characters works really well.
I think the main thing that could improve it for me would be the edges of the front right characters. She blends into the same plane as the second character is on, becuase of the way you sharpened up and the areas there. Separating her would really add some depth

Started as a movie study, but turned into a sketch to experiment a few things.
One of my problems is the softness of my rendering so, this time i tried to render with hard brushes.


Syle: good one, but i think you could push the values more.

[jharford]

This is really neat Syle, another 5000 of these and you will be on a roll I think the spheres from all angles help immensely when setting up heads too. I've been doing similar things and will post tomorrow. Been at my parents for their birthday for the last 4 days and didn't have internet.

[jharford]

Syles copy : Something I love about the original is how well carved the nose bridge and inner eye socket feels, there is something so beautiful about how much 3d volume can be felt there just from a few values.
I think with studies like this and the copy you made it's more improtant to aquire the essense of the painting and the volume in 3d space, than it is to have a nicely rendered and precise study. Almost like the female heads that are in the conceptart store videos, it's about planes and carving the form out. ( those videos dont seem to be anywhere now, the store link is dead )

[EduardoGaray]

nice to see you here jharford! and thanks for the advice, this experiment and later paintings made me realize that i really need to do tons of studies again, because i feel stagnant.

[EduardoGaray]

honoring the groups name, here is a metal gear solid sketch

[EduardoGaray]

another one.

[Syle]

Looking good, Eddy. Even in the rough stage that these sketches are in, they have a good foundation to them; the characters are rooted really well through their feet. I took a class with James Kei a couple summers ago, and he mentioned quite quite a few times how important the feet were in character design; helps them look correctly balanced and confident.

You might want to check the proportion of the right hand of the character in that latest sketch. The hand looks a little small. That same arm may be a little bit short as well.

[Syle]

Here's another floating orbs value-imagination drawing.

[jharford]

Again that's really nice. I like how well the light reads in it especially. I think some of the orbs could be a bit more round, I believe you will achieve this more if you crosshatch along the forms of the objects when shading, as it's flattering it out a bit too much right now and loosing the depth in the picture. See the bottom right and inner left large orbs in particular.
Also, I think the middle white orb could be brigther, but that might just be the image. Do you think you will get a scanner at some point ? I have one sitting on my desk I never use, as I use my one built into the printer. If you were closer I'd give it you.

[mitn]

That looks like a fun exercise Syle. I agree with jharford, the shadowed side of the orbs arn't catching much reflective light in this one, thus looking a bit flat.

[EduardoGaray]

i agree with jhardford and mitn, also you could get a printer/scanner Syle.
That kind of printers are really cheap these days.

[Syle]

EduardoGaray: Yeah, looking into a scanner as we speak; this camera just doesn't cut it...
mitn: good advice. i'll be more mindful of bouncing some reflected light into those spheres next time. also, next time i do this exercise, i am going to set up a still life sphere/light and do it from reference.

Here are some figures/gestures that I have been working on in the early mornings with darkops. The first two pages are from ref, the ones after are imagination. When compared to the older stuff in my SB, I definitely see some improvement. Things (stances, feet, gestural motion) are still a bit stiff, but they seem to be loosening up and flowing a bit more naturally; proportions are looking a little better as well.

[mitn]

Nice work syle, great progress! I'm curious about the ref for the chubby angel wings character on the 2nd page haha..

[Syle]

mitn: thanks. It's from this link - http://artists.pixelovely.com/practi...igure-drawing/

Here's some more random figure/anatomy stuff.

[Syle]

We need some more posts in this thread!!! darkops, jharford and mitn!

[EduardoGaray]

Agree! i really wanted to post these days but i´m uber busy at the moment, no excuses! i will post tomorrow.

C'mon people!

[EduardoGaray]

as promised...

here is a panel test for the graphic novel project i´m currently working on.
This was a really interesting practice, because i had to apply a very specific ilumination and colors to a character with a face modeled after a real person.
And it was really fun, btw.

[jharford]

Wow , I love that panel, that's awesome. Great lighting and colour choices too. Really like that.

[mitn]

Looks great eduardo! very striking image, I think you nailed the intent.

Been busy, but i'll have some time to post over the thanksgiving holidays

[EduardoGaray]

thanks guys, i wanted to post something new, but i am feeling sick these days, hope i will get better tomorrow and post something.

i´m waiting to see from you guys!

[Syle]

SICK Eddy! Love it.