asci's sketchbook [Daily updates]

[asci]

I'm a student currently on a gap year from university, and I've wanted to get into art for a long time, but I just can't find the motivation when everything I produce is so mediocre...so I decided to start this sketchbook to try to keep myself motivated. I'm going to post at least seven drawings per week, hopefully more.

I've been practicing solely in grayscale (pencil) since I started drawing for about a month ago, but I eventually want to venture into the world of digital painting. People use to say that you should have a solid foundation in traditional media before you start painting digitally, but it can't hurt if I start practicing digital painting right away, can it?

Here are some drawings from the past week:


Having a hard time using a full value scale (look at the helmet), and I think that's the main reason why the helmet looks flat. Need to work on that.

Lots of 20-30 min figure drawings (doing the draw 100 challenge):

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Any advice or criticism is most welcome!

[asci]

Drew a boot today. Had trouble getting the perspective right, and grew bored half way in and proceeded to ruin the drawing with some awful shading...not happy with the end result.

Figure drawings #9 and 10 (slightly NSFW?):

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Also made my first digital painting, it's a bell pepper! I think it lacks form, but overall I'm pretty happy with it.

[asci]

Painted an apple today. Like the bell pepper, I think the apple lacks form, but I think it's getting better. I have trouble blending different colours together; I just paint back and forth with the two different colours until the border is diffuse. Is there some better technique?

[asci]

Have been lazy today, but I did some sketching...


Some gesture drawings and doodles:

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[TNiznet]

Hey Asci, great start! I would say work with values if you are starting out digital painting, there will be a greater understanding if you nail your values down first, also look for asymmetrical relationship when you are doing your gestures, don't be afraid to use sweeping lines, s-curves, c-curves and be freeeeeeeeee =D, good luck mate.

[asci]

Yeah, it might be a good idea to start out in grayscale, but using colours was fun for a change! I see what you mean about the gestures. I just kinda drew them like I draw normal figures.

I will try to get some real work done tomorrow. Was too tired/lazy today. Not good. But at least I did a small value/arm study:

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[asci]

Today I drew a cat:


Still having the problem of working with too few values. I think it's an issue of me not using the darkest values that I can get with my pencils (I have an HB, a 2H and a 3B), and this greatly limits my value range, and all just turns to a dull grey mess.
I will try shading in the darkest values initially with my 3B (I barely use at all currently) and try to use a fuller value scale...

Also painted a digital still life:

Not very happy with it. Tablets and colours are hard to get used to!

[LeanneMGardner]

Hi Asci! You're off to a good start.

I think that creating value scales would be a great exercise for you as you move on to include a deeper range of tonality in your drawings:

It's important to be able to simplify tones in order to understand how they work together to create the illusion of form you're working to achieve. The scale will help you better judge and compare between the values you're observing.

Keep sketching!

[asci]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll do some value scales and see if it helps me!

Didn't have much time to draw today, but I did these quick value scales and a minor value study:

[asci]

Did two sketches today (can anyone see what picture inspired the topmost one?):


Also purchased a tutorial from ctrlpaint that I started working through. I'm about half way through it, and I've learned a ton about shadows (and how they help portray form) already! Hopefully it'll show up in my future drawings...
I'll upload the painting tomorrow once I'm done with the tutorial.

[asci]

Sketched a spaceship in the morning before I started with the tutorial again:


Here's the vase that I made with the tutorial:


The tutorial focused on shadows, reflected light, etc...stuff that I have heard before but never really grasped. The tutorial broke it all up into separate steps which made everything very comprehensible. It also helped that the line drawing was already included with the tutorial so that I could focus solely on value. Not that happy with the end product; I managed to botch a few things because I grew impatient, but it feels like I learned a lot!

[asci]

Was hungover today... Did a quick sketch of a hummingbird:

[asci]

Did a still life of a pinkish rock candle holder.
Quickly realised I was in over my head...portraying the detail of the rock turned out to be very hard...
Also did a small doodle...

[asci]

Sketched some cars after work today. Had some real issues with perspective (look at the bottom left car). Going to try to work on perspective a bit tomorrow. I need to do some real work soon. Been way to lazy the past couple of days. Does anyone have suggestions on how I should practice perspective? Read some guides on it, or perhaps just draw some architecture from reference photos to get a feel for it? The latter seems more productive to me.

[asci]

Didn't feel like practicing perspective, so I drew a black widow instead:

Pretty happy with the head and legs, less so with the body. I grew tired in the end and rushed it, and I didn't manage to capture the spherical shape properly.