Momu's Kitty Sketch Emporium

[Momucat]

Hello everybody!

I'm a previous art student that ran out of money while studying Illustration at Art Center College of Design... But I haven't given up! I'm practicing really hard on basic drawing ability to enhance my design work. Any feedback tutorials or critique is welcome. I'm currently focusing on drawing from life and doing master copies from Andrew Loomis. I'm not very familiar with rendering Though I do have paint studies I've done digitally as well. Thanks for browsing! The attached files are kinda out of order so my new updates will probably show more improvement. xP

[Momucat]

Here's some examples of my current painting ability. These were all done during the past year the most recent ones were done about a month and a half ago. I've decided that my paintings are being limited by drawiny ability and switched gears a bit. I really like the look of rendering paintings but haven't figured out how to accomplish them myself. Any reference would be appreciated.

[Yemi775]

You know your colors i see, great stuff keep up the good work.

[Momucat]

Haha. Thanks. Color is a crutch I've used in the past to hide lack of shape/form. Trying to crack that tendency! And thanks for being the first comment. I'll be updating pretty frequently no worries there. :3

[Momucat]

Been working on some Loomis studies and did this painting for fun today. Some logos for my new site design too

[Lectriece]

That latest render is looking pretty tight; how long are you spending on these paintings? I think sticking to grayscale for a while will be helpful for getting the hang of the painting quality you want. It may be helpful to see a painting progress overtime, next time you do a painting try to save out a few steps as you go. The kitty logo is cute, though I'm not a big fan of the points on the bottom of the mouth.

[Momucat]

Thatnks alot for the feedback. I actually spent waaaaay too long on that last greyscale painting. I was using paint tool sai and it takes me a long time to build up greys/blend (Probably cause I don't know how and am winging it). I spent like 6 hours overall straight with a break for dinner. I was thinking I should done some progress shots but I'll be sure to take some next time. I started out intending to do a a short painting and it evolved into possibly the tightest render I've ever done. o_o

Thanks for your feedback on the logos. I'll post my finished versions when I'm done. I'm also debating the points on the mouths... I don't know I like them and yet they also bother me for some reason... I guess I just don't want that cat to look generic so I thought the points might making it a little more dynamic. What do you think I should do different?

[ChisLu]

Your sketchbook is great ! For rendering in grayscale, I sometimes have a hard time with that, I find easier to study with few solids first to get a sense of light/darknes, then I move to a face or a larger study/personal piece. Also, totally diggin' your plants studies, simply beautiful.

[Lectriece]

Thatnks alot for the feedback. I actually spent waaaaay too long on that last greyscale painting. I was using paint tool sai and it takes me a long time to build up greys/blend (Probably cause I don't know how and am winging it). I spent like 6 hours overall straight with a break for dinner. I was thinking I should done some progress shots but I'll be sure to take some next time. I started out intending to do a a short painting and it evolved into possibly the tightest render I've ever done. o_o

Thanks for your feedback on the logos. I'll post my finished versions when I'm done. I'm also debating the points on the mouths... I don't know I like them and yet they also bother me for some reason... I guess I just don't want that cat to look generic so I thought the points might making it a little more dynamic. What do you think I should do different?

Big shapes to small shapes helps, you might try doing some simple lit sphere studies or apples to practice. I agree with ChisLu's suggestion.

I think if you like those fangs on the mouth try exaggerating them more, also do a version without and compare the 3. Try exaggerating curves in your lines too, it may help make the silhouette more pronounced.

[Momucat]

ChisLu: Thanks alot! I think that's an awesome suggestion. I think I'll start adding some still lifes and value studies to my studying. The plant studies are really fun to do and really good for studying shapes and stuff. I think they've helped me improve a lot recently.

Lectriece: Thanks a lot for the suggestions. I think apples are more accessible... Maybe lemons actually since I can yank a few for a neighbor (Shhh don't tell them lol.) I've been drawing from life a lot this weekend (I'll post the drawing in a bit. Too tired to scan atm.) and really think working with simple shapes more would help with breaking down things like trains and zoolife. Sometimes when drawing complicated stuff I don't spend enough time analyzing and end up missing half the information. In terms of the logos... I'm going to leave it as is and move to the main site layout and revisit the ideas. I don't think I can settle on a final till I see it in action. I'll share once I'm done.

If I am writing a little loopy it's cause I'm exhausted, haha. I'll update the thread with piles of new stuff tomorrow

[Momucat]

So I went to Travel town on Saturday to draw trains and the LA Zoo on Sunday to draw animals. Man what an exhausting and fun weekend. I'm not particularly happy with any of these sketches but it's all about the mileage and practice and today is a new day! I really want to start studying animal anatomy because certain animals (Like Eagles) have specific construction that makes them look different from other birds and trying to figure out what those things are from looking is pretty tough. Thus my eagles look like derpy seagulls. xP This week I'm going to start going to figure drawing twice a week to increase my drawing variety (and I want to get better). I loved drawing the animals it's refreshing to have a new angle everytime I look up.

More coming soon! I'll be drawing plants and doing studies from loomis as well as value today. I'll post when I'm done. :3