Jordan's Sketchbook - The Long, Cold Road

[Jordan_]

Hi folks,

I've been lurking for years now and it's about time I actually started posting. I've spent the last 3 years studying CG Arts and Animation and although I drew during my projects I really want to get a grip on my illustration and painting skills.

The CA.org community has always been amazing and I'm hoping to get plenty of feedback and advice from you guys along the journey. I'll be trying to post as much as possible. I think my biggest area of focus first will be trying to get to grips with the basics again. I think I know where my biggest weaknesses are, but in short, I just want to improve and paint / draw way more than I ever have done.

So, let's get this on the road. Here's some of my work from the last few years, all the feedback and crits you can give would mean the world as I post studies and sketches throughout the week

[Jordan_]

Edit: Work from previous post



Here's a couple of speed paints from the last couple of days. Between 45 mins and 1 hour 30. The likeness on them is a bit off but I'm starting to get a bit more confident putting down colour quickly and trying to work out forms. Both are film stills but I'll be moving on to anatomy and environment work soon.

Bronson



There Will Be Blood

[Jordan_]

Trying to paint every day so below is a quick study from life I did last night.



Another speed paint from a film still. This time from Martha Marcy May Marlene, but in the speed I lost the likeness and the forms of the face are a bit off.



Along with a few studies from photographic reference, the second is from Inglourious Basterds.

[Jordan_]

A few studies from today, a set of 3 environments and a quick life study. The environments are the aspect I want to improve most in the future, it's something I struggle with but already I'm starting to get more comfortable blocking out scenes quickly.

Environments



Life Study

[Jordan_]

Another quick study to post, this is again a film still but I'll be moving onto real stuff soon, I promise. Image is from The Master but again I'm messing up proportions and likeness.

[Jordan_]

This morning's quick study was from reference shown below. It took about an hour, I'm already starting to feel like I'm making some progress but I'm still struggling to make my work not feel so flat. I think it could be to do with my brushwork being so linear and 2d. Any crits would be awesome.

[jabbit]

I think the biggest problem you have in that lat post is the drawing, i would say that you should not worry too much about your brush strokes as that is fairly easy to learn and comes with practice. Your main areas of study should be drawing, values, edges and colour. But of course technical stuff like brush strokes is still good to learn about hahaha, keep it up!

[Uncle]

Hello Jordan! Good stuff in here, you are definitely improving. Subscribed, hope to see more work from you.

[Jordan_]

@ jabbit - Thanks man, I'll try my best. I think you are completely right, value and edge seem to be something I'm currently struggling with. Practicing everyday will hopefully yield some results.

@ Uncle - Cheers Kin, really glad to see you on here man. Hope all is well and keep up the awesome work, your SB is looking great already.

A few studies from today, trying to study anatomy and value over the next couple of weeks or so.

[FatMoStank]

Hi man, thanks for stopping by my sb , I see that you are quite new to cA website - welcome. I agree with jabbit said in his post.
If your using Photoshop

Try to use a big brush in the beginning and fill form, you can do it under a line drawing or sketch.
The fill can be quit loose /edgewise , so its bascially a plain object without details .
Now lock the opacity, its in the layer stack window. Try to go over the object with a big soft brush getting the major shadows down.

Ex the skulls left side would be pretty much a soft shadow with little detail. Now grab the lasso tool and grab a slightly darker value and fill in eyeholes and the mouth cavity.
Repeat - going from large shadowforms to smaller forms.
If you want to tighten up those edges just make and mask ( also in the layer stack ) select it and paint the mask around the skull - it'll keep your edges sharp and if you have to paint something close to the edge it wont go "loose"
again.

[Jordan_]

@ FatMoSkank - Thank you for the welcome and awesome feedback. I've been trying to put your advice into practice and although it currently takes me a lot longer to complete studies, the results so far seem to be moving in the right direction.

This study from today isn't perfect, but the definition is a lot clearer than previous pieces. Definitely will be moving forward with the approach outlined by FatMoSkank. I think spending some time improving my sketching skills and also rendering skills will help.

[FatMoStank]

wow that looks much better !

[Jordan_]

@FatMoStank - Thanks man, your advice is already helping me a ton.

New study from yesterday, from life reference. I would have loved to spend a lot longer really refining the paintings but I'd like to improve my broader skills before I go for long studies that achieve realistic definition. It did really highlight some areas that I will try and do mini studies on soon, for example, the cloth background is something I think needs some study.

[Jordan_]

Another quick study tonight which is trying to put new techniques into different scenarios. I don't know if I'll refine it fully but will definitely do more anatomy studies very soon.

[Jordan_]

I'll hopefully have more studies to post tonight, but in the mean time, here's some work I finished a few months ago. It was a test for a short animation which may or may not be made one day. More studies soon



Based on a letter written by Nixon's speech writer should the moon landings fail.

IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER:

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.
These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.
They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by the nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.

In ancient days, men looked at the stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.
Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.
Source - http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/11...-disaster.html

[Silverkeeper]

Love your studies dude!!! keep practicing, i really like your style

[Jordan_]

@SilverKeeper - Thanks for the kind comments man and thanks for visiting my SB. Already I'm painting more than before and this forum really keeps me motivated. I'll pop by your SB tomorrow morning and give some feedback if you'd like

Here's a study from tonight. Approx 2 hours, maybe a bit more, but painted from a film still (Another Year - Mike Leigh.) I've continued using the same process...line work -> block in -> refinement. It's working well but I think I need to spend more time on sketching. Looking back, the initial sketch for this was pretty out, which meant I had to spend a ton of time tweaking and moving parts. I think that means anatomy sketching is needed, so updates on that tomorrow if I get some time.

[Jordan_]

Another study from reference tonight, around 2 hours or so. Reference image of Gary Oldman used. Some simple experimentation with brush texture to quickly achieve pours on the face but again the initial line work wasn't as solid as it could be. Any advice on where the hell I begin with anatomy study would be most helpful, at the moment I'm getting lost in finding anatomy reference that will be useful.

[Jordan_]

I wanted to get more done this week but didn't quite find the time. I did manage to get a quick study completed tonight, this time from a film still of The Godfather Part 2 (best Godfather film) Any crits would be a great help, I'm already feeling more confident sketching and laying out colour. But ultimately I think continued practice and study will make everything easier.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to spend the day painting and sketching, I've been working on some anatomy studies in my sketchbook so I'll try and get those pics up soon.

[Jordan_]

I've spent the day reading some anatomy books and trying to get to grips with some basics, will definitely be doing plenty more of this. These sketches were largely studies from George Bridgeman's "Constructive Anatomy." An absolutely stunning book but also incredibly easy to understand. They are all blocky and sharp forms, trying to understand the basics at the mo.

[Jordan_]

A study from tonight, again from a film still, this time from "Monsters." I still have to use the colour picker to get a correct colour base down but hopefully that's not a big problem. I'll be back on anatomy tomorrow when I get the chance so more updates then.

[RyanRyan]

Looking good. I want to do a heap of Bridgeman soon.

[Jordan_]

@ RyanRyan - Thanks for the comments, can't recommend Bridgeman enough, such incredible sources of information.

Here's an update from the sketchbook after today, still exploring anatomy studies in the basic form but starting to study from photo references and life.

[Jordan_]

I thought I'd try something a bit different tonight, so instead of anatomy and studies from films I thought I'd try some animal life. Not a big change I know, but it's refreshing enough. This went better than expected to be honest, my initial sketch was better than usual so the basics worked themselves out. Again, this was from photo reference. Back to anatomy stuff tomorrow I think.

[Jordan_]

I didn't have a great deal of time today so I thought I'd quickly try out some landscape work. It really didn't go well. It all ended in a big mess of wrong tones and blurry strokes. I'm not sure where it went wrong really, but I need to address environments one day, they are one of my biggest weaknesses. I think I'll continue with anatomy study and try to refine my techniques before I go into any enviro details, but environmental thumbnails may be a good way to keep progress going. Any crits would be a great help as I'm a bit clueless.

[Jordan_]

Today I completed a study from reference, this time something a bit more familiar. A still from The Sopranos. I'll be continuing anatomy studies today and then later this week start to explore the basics of environmental design. That means time to crack out the perspective drawing books and get studying.

[Jordan_]

I've not had much time this week but I managed to get a study finished today from a still image. This time, Andrew Lincoln from Walking Dead. (If anyone hasn't seen it, check out Teachers, a great UK show from years back with Lincoln.) I need to move away from doing these type of studies. I've got some hand drawn sketchbook updates to post soon so when I get some pics that will be next. But also will be taking part in some community challenges soon.

[Jordan_]

In an attempt to get away from referenced studies etc I thought I'd try out a page full of thumbnails, environments and comp studies. This was all without reference and although some of it's a bit off, it was really good to quickly work on a number of different ideas all at once. It felt a lot more experimental and free to just lay whatever brushwork down and start to form marks out of the base. There isn't anything super original in these so far, but it feels like a brilliant way of loosening up and not worrying to much about a final outcome.

[Jordan_]

I decided to take one of my enviro thumbnails and take it forward into an individual study. Again, this was without reference. I'll be trying out more of these as I push forward with environmental work but even with some problems in these piece I'm building confidence as I try new things.

[Jordan_]

A quick environment concept from tonight which if I get time I will develop in the future. Either way it's good to be painting more and more. Would still like to pick up the pace though.