Eckis sketchbook - please rip me asunder

[ecki]

Hey hey hey, what's going on?

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@wutangclam: Thanks a lot! I'm happy that the video was helpful That wrist did really cause some trouble, because of the weird perspective. I think I should revisit the drawing, after some more hand-anatomy studies.

@Xcarbon: Thanks for the nice words man! I'm just trying to work as much as I can Time to kick of the 4th page! Sometimes, you just gotta do what you gotta do. Keep on saving and pull it through! I'll start in April with my full-time studies, then this thread will explode! Hopefully, everything will work out for you as well!

@Oushua-J: Thanks a ton for the nice words! "Not too experienced"? Are you kidding? You're kicking my ass dude! Let's rock together – shall we?

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Today, I focused on faces and noses. I think that I'm slowly leaving that manga-ish style behind. Not quite yet, but I'm getting closer to were I want to be:


And a color practice. I should do more of those, skintones are still taking way too much time for me :/ (2-3 hours on this one)


Everything from today is without ref.

[ecki]

Hey there, I've spent the last weekend with my girlfriend, so no update for the last days

But today, I got right back into it.

The digital page and the left page of the first sketchbook scan is from imagination. The rest is from the "Drawing Script":

[eclip-se]

The nun looks great & i really like your figures, they will evolve soon keep it up, keep it up.

[Yemi775]

dude wow, your lines are getting better! i love the update.

[tsabu]

I really like values in your swamp, ghost girl painting She also have nicely placed pelvis. It looks better than in your sketches i think (because it can be simplified into cube in the perspective! )

Well done with your portraits! You managed to catch "these something" on them. Well done, well done!

Keep working like these, and you will be like Dürer in no time

[lionheartGFX]

i like those 2 min figures! you could emphasize the overlapps in the body more but hell its 2 minutes! also its always good to come back to those quick figures or gestures or whatever you want to call it and put some shadow information into them, its ok if its just a suggestion, but you need to start thinking of value, cant wait to see more ecki! also i want to see more original stuff you got some skill now play around with it! its not going to be perfect but that is not the main goal here, the main goal is to get your creative mind to open and to start working That muscle, keep it up!

[ecki]

Thanks for the support guys, I've been quite busy over the last days, but I'm already struggling to make the time I need for drawing, so I'll soon be back in full swing Sorry for my lame updates so far.

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@eclip-se: Hey buddy! Thanks! How is it going? I really miss you here

@Yemi775: Thanks man! I'm not seeing the improvement in line quality myself yet, but maybe soon

@tsabu: Thanks, I should really finish that swamp-girl picture. Maybe I find some time tomorrow. (This cube-thing will haunt me forever, will it? ). I'm far from Dürer yet Theres so much more to learn!

@lionheartGFX: Hey, thanks man! You're right – overlapping of form is something that I should really get more comfortable with. Especially if there is something like a torsion, I'm starting to get confused.

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At the moment I'm working on understanding faces and thinking in form/shadow. Also, I'm trying to add clothes and designs to my sketches (Drapery will bite me in the ass once again – I should really do some of those studies somewhen next ).
My update for today is VERY LAME! Because I was helping a friend of mine with editing a video in Blender (which was – astonishingly – kinda easy Maybe because I've already made some 3D models with it some time ago).

This page took about 1 hour, because I tried to really think stuff through – Maybe I've learned a little somehow

[Papu]

It's kinda inspiring to see someone work this hard I mean you've already improved a lot, and I can't wait to see how good you'l be a year from now. Keep rocking!!

[GrayPersona]

hey eckie wotking on understanding and structure is the way to go,I see a definite improvement in your last sketch.

[vices]

you have nice lines and tones

[ecki]

@Papu: Thanks, I will keep working – I'm inspiring? I actually feel like a slacker because I'm working not nearly as much as I would like

@GrayPersona: Thanks man rendering form is something that I really need to do more, as well as getting better proportions, way to go

@vices: Thanks

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Today, I've spent time on rendering stuff from imagination and developing some design ideas. I focused mostly on imagining the form and putting stuff into perspective (which still blows ).
I think I should make my original design more crazy. I should also STUDY SOME DRAPERY! Damn – I HAVE TO! I need more time for this shit – Can't wait till April!

[lionheartGFX]

yes i too believe you should study the anatomy of drapery and the pinches and folds, its all very important to make your designs look believeable, also i think your features are getting too standard mix it up and try doing some ethnicity studies, asian, european, american, african, mexican, really everything you can to understand all of this better, and its good to think more and more before you make your mark, that mark can mean so many things so the more you think it through the more meaning it has, anyways keep it up!

[MrFrenik]

Looking good, man. Remember to not neglect the perspective studies, as this will inform you on how to accurately place your lighting and shadows on your forms. When you're rendering, always keep the planes of the forms in mind and wrap your hatching/forms lines in the direction of those planes. Doing this reinforces the form and believability of what you're drawing. Not doing this, well, doesn't. Keep it up!

[evoart]

nice stuff. I would love to see more anatomy sketches

[ecki]

@lionheartGFX: Yeah, I'm about to get into some deeper drapery studies. I'll also try to do some pencil renderings of drapery. I actually don't care about my features that much at that point. I'm just trying to get some different faces (proportionswise) and focus more on getting the proportions right. I'm still struggling with bodies in perspective and proportion issues. So I'll be fixing this first. I don't quite get what you mean by "think more before you make your mark" – do you mean marks for my underdrawing e. g. position of the elbow, etc.?

@MrFrenik: Thanks! I think one of my main problems is, that I often don't think in form when drawing poses / faces. It takes the right mindset and I'm not always having it. So I'm just trying to practice thinking in perspective and putting my poses and portraits in perspective as much as I can. At the moment, I'm not using cross hatching that much, I'm trying to get some smooth gradients for the skin, so that I can place core shadows and bounce light more easily. I think this helps me more for digital painting. But maybe I could do some hatching just for a little study / practice?

@evoart: Do you mean, like – muscle and bone studies from books? I feel quite comfortable with that stuff at the moment, so I'm trying to focus more on proportions and getting some fluid lines but I'll surely have to revisit anatomy at some point However, I could use some more skull studies!

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Today, I spent my time on drapery, sadly, I had only 1 hour to draw because I had other stuff that needed my attention:

From ref, 10 minutes each:

[Revidescent]

Hey man, thanks a ton for all the comments over on my SB, you've got some good things going here. Hella ambitious goals, but you're certainly putting in the hours. I hear you on the anime/manga thing, I started trying to get anime out of my style something like 10 years ago, and there's still hints of it sometimes, I think. It's not always a bad thing, though, any style is a sum of influences. =)

A couple of crits - your heads are really nice in places, I love the way you draw eyes and lips. The overall cranium shape is a bit off though - your heads are a bit too rounded, and especially lose the sense of a front and side plane. Maybe stop thinking of them as eggs for a while (at least that's the sense I'm getting) and start thinking of them as boxes; this explains it pretty well, and I'm also pretty sure there are some Loomis pages talking about perspective that cover similar ground. Also, the profile view from post 97 is off. In full profile, the head fits nicely into a square, with the ear sitting in the back half and starting roughly at the halfway point. The head in profile is wider than you'd think.

The illo you were working on on the previous page - dunno if you're calling it done or not, but some crits all the same. =) The #1 thing I'll say is get some reference, and shoot your own if possible. If you don't have a friend who can pose, using yourself and a camera with a timer is still better than nothing. No reason to let things like gender or body type stand in the way; I'm a tiny girl who's used photos of myself as ref for orcs and things. It may not be ideal, but it still gets you some major things like weight distribution, roughly what planes light will hit, some sense of perspective/foreshortening, an idea of whether you can realistically hold the pose, and of course ref for irritating bits like hands. The biggest weakness in the piece is the foreward arm, but as well as some issues with anatomy/perspective, it mostly just doesn't feel like natural gesture. Try it yourself - with the head tilted back like that, and the other arm at the angle it's at, the pose is just about technically possible but honestly kind of uncomfortable. The curve of her spine is also a little overexaggerated, I think.

The other thing I'll say about it is that I'm curious what planning went into the composition. Did you start with thumbnails? Your values are pretty good, but the overall composition feels like a bit of an afterthought; the background doesn't really move your eye around the image. It's a good idea to do some rough comps for anything you're planning on spending more than an hour or two on, to build from a strong foundation. I don't want to get into specific composition tips because frankly I kind of suck at it myself, fight it every step of the way, but it's a good thing to remember for next time. Get a sense of the image as a whole before getting down to details. And if you are doing thumbnails, post 'em! =D Composition is a super key part of illustration.



Seriously, though, keep it up. You've made legit progress in just the last month and a half, so it'll be really exciting to see what you can do when you start working on this stuff full time.

[LastGen]

Yay, you're finally doing some drapery!

Give yourself more time to do these, though, I understand you were out of time yesterday. I like these 10-15 minutes excercises, but they often restrict you in terms of really understanding how stuff works beyond what you see with your eye.

[vatteh]

Great work here man. But I noticed there are some perspective issues on some of your faces. For example, on this one the girl on top, you shouldn't be able to see the far eye on the left as it would be completely hidden by the bridge of the nose. And for this one, theres too much distance between the eyes and the nose. At this angle they should be much closer. In some cases the brow would completely cover the eyes. Practicing Loomis's head and hands book is a great place to start to learn how to construct the head from memory. Good luck on your journey.

[ecki]

Man, maybe I should really go for some Loomis. I'm always shying away from his books because his female figures always wear heals – even when naked ! wtf?
Also, I think that his women always look like extraterrestrials, with there extra broad shoulders and extra strange hips – most likely that's just me.

But I should really give his approaches another try – especially heads Maybe this will make me suck less

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@Revidescent: WOW, you've really honored me by giving me such a nice critique This pretty much sums up all my problems! I'm not trying to eliminate the anime-style completely. I'm aiming for something kinda like Janaschi. It's really hard for me to remember the shape of the head – I think I should study some more skulls. I think the small angle changes in the cranium are key to making the head believable, but those are very hard to pick up everytime. This box-shape of the head is something that I was trying to address today. I think that I'm now kinda able to see where my heads are lacking and am able to do better It will take some 10000 drawings more, though

The girl in the swamp/water isn't quite done yet. I don't like the arm that is coming forward. Yeah, I think I really should take some ref-photos for the pose, this would help me a ton. I think that I will take an appropriate photo tomorrow and try to fix the pose and gesture. I should really take my time to prepare when starting bigger illustrations – you're right. I really have a thing for uncomfortable and stiff poses. I should really go with photos until I'm able to imagine that kinda stuff.

There went no thought whatsoever into the composition. It started as a little sketch and progressed into getting colored. Then I decided that I'm putting some more work into it by adding a background and a little story. However, I really SHOULD do some planned paintings, with some kind of story to start with. I'm checking my values quite often, I think that I'm better with values than I am with color I just have to restrain myself to some topic and put out some composition/value thumbnails and tighter concepts. I think this will be an awesome practice.

It's really hard to find time when working a 42 hour workweek, but I'm trying to use as much time as I can find for drawing – I'm actually shying back from cooking meals that take longer than 20 minutes Mostly I eat salads and sometimes some noodles with tomato sauce or rice – haha. I'm so looking forward to April, this will be just BOSS! Thanks again for your amazingly helpful comment – I you

@LastGen: Yeah, drapery is more awesome than I thought Today, I took an hour for just one study and also tried to understand the outlines of drapery for pencil sketches. I think that this can be as important as getting the rendering correct.

@vatteh: Thanks dude! Yeah, my faces are like a big ass train-wreck it's going on and on I think that I should do some more skulls from several angles and perspectives. I think if I have a valid model of the skull in my memory, I can draw heads as well. But you've convinced me, I will consult Loomis and check out what he's got to say

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Ok ok guys, you've talked me into it – I WILL give Mr. Loomis another shot! But first, let me show you what I did today:

Some drapery studies, for the painting, I gave myself 1 hour:


And now some quick sketches (mostly from life) – today was a concert at the place where I usually meet with my friends, I just drew some people there, haha
I was also trying to wrap my head around the box-shape of the head. I think that this helped me a lot. Even though, the proportions are still kinda wacky sometimes:

[lionheartGFX]

really sweet drapery studies, it seems the knowledge is starting to sink in, and the life sketches are awesome too! dont mind proportions so badly now, you must firs capture gesture! well atleast i believe that you must first learn to capture the energy in a sketch and then worry of proportions (of course in time proportions will be a given, because you'll draw so much yo will eventually begin to "feel" proportions) so dont worry sometimes and do a buuunch of quick gestures and dont worry about measurements worry of energy and readability, make the pose look dynamic and balanced and try to capture movement, afterwars you can go back to measuring and all of that as i see it if you juggle too many things at a time you will learn more slowly, but i dont know really we all learn in different ways so in the end all i can tell you its work hard, have fun and always try different things!

[Kvetch]

Hey, you're making great progress already. One thing that stands out to me is that while you are doing a really nice job of drawing features, your heads are vaguely constructed, leading to misplaced features and heads that look a bit wonky in perspective. In your last batch you are tending to flatten out the face into a plane, if you just run your hands over your face you'll immediately get an idea for how much curvature and variation there is.
Some construction methods simplify the head to a cylinder, with a notch cut out for the eye sockets, and an intersecting sphere for the orb of the mouth (check out Kevin Chen's anatomy demos, they're on this site somewhere).

I think ultimately you need to be able to think of the head as any number of different primitives, intersecting shapes or construction methods (Loomis, Reilly, box, etc), the cylinder is a good one to add to your arsenal though.

Hope this is useful

[GrayPersona]

i like the drapery and ink sketches eckie there are glimpses of what should be a good study in them. a tip when drawing the head in a box is to try to keep aware and estimate the length of the side compared to the front -some of you heads are to long in relation with their width
,also some of your heads are misplaced incorrectly on the neck-a useful exercize is just to draw a cut out at the bottom sphere(skull) and try to place it on the cylinder(the neck).
anyway thats my crit,you seem to be progressing so keep doing what you are doing.

[prakashkc]

I have looked through your thread and I must say I find your determination very inspiring! Great studies! Thanks for making me feel like I should practice harder!

[CrashPoint]

Wow your really putting in the work despite all your work! Your making me feel lazy (which is good). I'm digging the fold studies. Keep plowing away and you'll be kicking ass in no time!

[Yemi775]

Dude great updates, i think i need to be more like you and try new things!

[ecki]

Hey hey, so much nice people here in my thread
You're awesome!

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@lionheartGFX: Thanks man! I even got some more drapery studies today – you're right with the energy of gestures. But I think that this mainly counts for quick gestures and quick poses. If I'm working longer (5+ min) on a drawing, I should try to get the proportions correctly. I think it's all just a matter of doing tons of studies and drawing. I think it will resolve eventually if I just keep working

@Kvetch: Thanks man! I've already checked out several different drawing books for understanding the construction of the head. I think what I really need is to study some skulls and draw a ton of heads. No abstraction of the head can ever help me to get the final shapes right. I think that I just have to level this up by grinding hard But yeah, trying a couple of construction methods definitely helps to deepen my understanding. I'll just keep on drawing heads until I got it

@GrayPersona: Hey hey. I've got so much to learn yet when it comes to proportions and anatomy. I found that the neck is a very versatile thing, it can take some really strange curves and angles – I think it's best to just judge roughly if the placement of the head would be somewhat possible. But still, you're right, some of my necks/heads are really strange. But then again, my anatomy needs some more work in general, so I'll just keep on drawing and hopefully this will resolve But I think it would be a nice Idea to study some more skulls. Maybe I'll buy the model of a skull someday

@prakashkc: Thanks! But no way – I'm a slacker... I should draw like 10x as much I spent way too much time on the Internet – haha

@CrashPoint: Thanks a ton! Gotta work more more more I gotta get really good 'n' stuff!

@Yemi775: Actually, I'm not trying to try new things – I'm always trying to draw the same thing. I'm just that horrible that it looks different all the time

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Yesterday, I didn't find the time to scan and upload my stuff, but I'll just combine it with todays update:

First off, some long drapery studies:


And some random studies of people wearing clothes:

[eclip-se]

That drapery looks awsome! funny, that i never tried that thing have to change that.. keep it up, you'r doing great!

[GrayPersona]

really nice studies eckie,I really like the top left one-this week i am supposed to have a still life drawing lesson,maybe I will do one of these cloth studies!

[ecki]

@eclip-se: Thanks! I was just lacking with my clothes and folds and stuff, so I decided that some drapery would maybe cut it. Go for some, they are awesome

@GrayPersona: Thanks The top left one was a real pain in the ass. I find it way more exhausting to concentrate on a pencil drawing than drawing digitally – I don't know why? Maybe I learned something, haha. Do them, they are fun!

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Today, I focused on faces. I need to do 10000+ more of them

[Yemi775]

Progress is all i see man, good job! how do you do it so your sketchbook load to the recent update?