sketchbook a'la jc

[MisterJC]

some more studies



and some life drawings of my mom sleeping... not so good if i say so myself. too many fidgetty lines. =T

[PeggyChung]

Hey MisterJC, i must repay you critques for you helping me out in my sketchbook Id say slow down the shading and get it to be steady and smooth and try drawing your lines without retracing them,err thats it keep up them drawin-thingers

[MisterJC]

ladylioness: thanks for the comment. i took that under advisement with this last piece. what wonders patience does right?

ok. this is a little wip. so far... about an hour, maybe less. worked from a photo.

started out with an outline using h pencil... darkened it a bit in ps so the lines could be seen.



now, time for some rendering, used h, hb, and 2b. i already see that i'm gonna need to go darker with the hair. and work on the neck... i'm not really going for a smooth look. trying to learn open hatching and such. because you guys make it look so damn cool.



any comments, crits, and tips much apreciated.

[MisterJC]

alright... i guess i'm finished with this lady. actual size of the head is about 4x3.5 inches... not so big i guess.



comments and crits and all that good stuff. common people. lay it on me thick.

[Marie]

Great sketchbook, I notice that your lines seem to be more confident with the pen than pencil. I don't know what it is about that, you'd think it would be different but it seems to be more the case that when you are using something you can't erase with... your lines grow confidence. The lockbox and grill I really like.

The last drawing of the girl, was coming along great with the line the drawing. I feel that when you rendered it out it lost something. Perhaps less coverage with the graphite leaving more of the paper showing would be something to try.

Keep up the good work and effort

[dashi]

i think you did a real nice job
i agree wih Marie...the lines were great but the rendering kind of weakened it
do you have something you blend with? i think that will really help get rid of the scratchy lines. and you can use an eraser to put in high lights

dig the book keep it up

[MisterJC]

marie: yea, i guess that when i use pen, i'm a little more carefull... and to think, i started using pen to be more careful with my pencil... looks like i've gotta work on that transition a little more.

Dashi: thanks. yea, i see what both of you are saying about the rendering.

ok, so i smoothed stuff out and took your comments to use and hopefully, this is a little better.



edit: hot damn... i see a problem already that damn eyebrow ridge. ok. i fixed the brow. much better...

[Teigrob]

You are doing really well with hands! Good for you in practicing those - hands are hard! Those renderings are looking better too. Keep it up!

[Medium Pace]

Wow. The jump in quality between the 2nd to last picture, and the retouched version is amazing. The nose came out great, and the highlight along her cheek bone looks good. What meathod did you use to smooth out everything? That nose really shocks me. It was looking real wonky in the 1st 3 pics, then suddenly it looks almost photo realistic in the 4th. Good job.

[ArlandoBattle]

All your work is pretty decent. my critiques are: Dont be afraid to get darker tones, contrast. This is what really gonna make your drawings POP. Pretty much it. everything else I like. Planning on going into color anytime soon i cant wait.

[MisterJC]

Teigrob: thanks a buch. =D

medium pace: thanks, what i did was to use a tourtillion very lightly after laying down the pencil lines very close together. and with that nose, i looked at it in a mirror and saw what was wrong.

ArlandoBattle: thanks, yea, i've been working on putting down some darker renderings. and color? i'm thinking about it. but i like the pencil, what can i say?


here's a pretty crappy update. it was mostly trying to limit myself on the lines. i just got carried away with that one hand because it was making me angry.

[Dan1989]

Hey you have some nice studying here. I can tell you are trying to draw what you see, and that's a very good thing to aspire to. Just keep practing, try to compare shapes to each other as a way of seeing if they are accurate. You will get better. Good luck.

[MisterJC]

dan1989: thanks for the encouragement.

ok, so here's an arm study. it's all i could do... damn, i hate tv. but i love it at the same time.

i already did these studies, but i didn't do them side by side, and now that i did, i'm thinking its a good thing.

[MisterJC]

nothing big today, or even decent sized....

just went back and filled in a page. some of it is pen, mostly pencil.

[NightVision]

nice progress ! Your faces are getting a lot better, as does your shading ! I also like your tree sketches a lot, they are very loose & expressive !

A lot of your drawings are in the same shade of grey, wich makes them less interesting to look at, some of the last have more contrast, but you should push it way more ! Use your eraser ! You can go really dark, then pick out the light spots with your eraser (and build up and erase until you're satisfied). Of course your paper takes a beating like this, but it's at least interesting as an experiment, and will give you a taste how far (FAR !) you can stretch your lights & darks and how much more interesting your image becomes.

Smudging isn't always needed, I like how you built up the tone on the forehead of the female portrait (august 3rd) before you smudged it (although I like how you modeled the cheek & nose on the smudged one). Building tone just takes a lot of patience & time (and I'm sure guilty of not taking that time myself).

Keep pushing it, you're well on your way !!

[MisterJC]

NightVision: thanks for your tips, i'm trying to get a good value range and rendering tecnique, i'll be working more on that.


now, for more boring stuff... i've got to try and use what i'm learning before i forget it.

[MisterJC]

smore hands. most from life.

[arkain]

nice thread going on , keep those studies they will pay off
the thing about bridgman is that he try to show people how things work with shapes and lines , use those imaginary lines has a helper for your drawing from life like: oh yeah the hand has a natural curve in his palm , this part is beefy this one is bony etc.
same thing with the face , by learning the skeletal structure you can define and draw the face even more naturaly without any model you only need to break the planes of the skulls to give them differente character and such. most people in real life dont ahve the same formula but most of them follow the basic rules eye shapes , dental arch , the bone of the nose giving the plane break in most people etc.

your drawings are gaining more and more life , your hands are going in a nice way. keep going , it might be harsh but it will pay off big time later

[armando]

You've made good progress, especially with that chronicled portrait. Really the only way to draw what you see is to go very slow, you have to get everything exact if you want control, speed comes later. If you move through the subject too fast all you'll be teaching yourself is sloppiness. Another thing is construction type drawing with geometric shapes won't teach you this accuracy, because your looking at something, then translating it, then trying to turn it back into what you see. Hatching and pen and ink are advanced techniques, but I'm not saying you shouldn't try. Check these guys out for examples: Franklin Booth, James Montgomery Flagg, Rockwell Kent. You can find various books on pen techniques at the library, I looked through a few a while ago but realized there were other things I needed to study first.

[MisterJC]

arkain: thanks for your crits and tips. i'll try to remember. and don't worry about being harsh i need that stuff.

armando: thanks for your tips, but the way i see it, construction is an aid in seeing, but not the solution in and of itself. if i don't realize this goes there and fits like that, then i can't place it correctly on paper. construction just helps with that. and so does going slow. different strokes for different folks. and those guys you mentioned are crazy.. just crazy

ok. did some more anatomy studies, used the red pen because i was getting a little confused with the flexors so i used it to better outline where they go.



and i took this lineart from someone... i forgot who.... =T this is a wip right now, working on it here and there for a couple days.

[MisterJC]

ok, a few super ugly life sketches... people just don't stay still.



some more life drawings... i really should measure more when i draw.

[MisterJC]

some arms and faces.

[Pesmerga]

Cool hands. Keep doing those studies and you'll improve in no time. I like that girl portrait you posted earlier.

[MisterJC]

havent been around in a while... college is an adventure indeed.

good thing my college has a drawing course... considering its pretty much engineering only. =T

oh well, heres some stuff for class, drawing using proportions and line weight/quality to get the "essence"



practice drawings in class



the homework project of my dorm room door.

this stuff is on 18x24 so digi pics are the only way. =(

[MisterJC]

sorry for the craptastic scan. =T