bRØk3n_sPiRiT's sketchbook

[Qxzi]

Hey hey hey,

wowwow, all these studies, love them all like always

Firstly, your leg studies, look very solid and good. Theres also lots of them, which helps. All of your studies seem very clear which is great, keep them up.

The BIG ant(if its an ant) is a good painting overall. I only think that the right hand side of it lets it down. The sand and sea dont seem clear enough. You could also neaten that bush up a little.

Those loomis studies look great once again. It looks exactly the same as loomis, which is good. Your making good progress with them.

The figures and self portrait look good, i think the firgures legs are a little too long, or i might be wrong. Oh and please finsh that self portrait.

C.O.W #31 - Canyonmaker - good little creature. Not as good as your creature before though. This time its the back. Its way too 2D, you gotta make it clearer, and add gotta add light/shade to it. If you do this it will improve the picture 10x more. I hope i wasnt to mean or anything

Keep it up man! Still friends? ---->

[Farvus]

I love all those anatomy studies from loomis and photos. Hope to see more...

[Zebz]

Ah, the studies are really nice, bro. I hear you on the slacking thing. I spent my first week off from school mostly sleeping. lol Uh, terrible. I drew a lot the first couple days of the week but I'm slowin' down. I'd better get on it! You're stuff is looking really nice though. I'm still not a big fan of the creatures. They just seem too blurry to me. I see the imagination and technique behind them and I respect you for that. But I just don't by 'em! Maybe if they were sharper? I dunno. I'm tired and I'm just throwing out random critz. lol Not good. Keep watching the proportions on your fig studies. But you're really challenging yourself and I dig that. I need to do more stuff like that. But I'm a slacker. You know that. I'll even prove it when I update my SB again. Anyhow, keep fightin' the good fight. Take it easy, mate.

[Diego]

Hey martin, nice to see new stuff from you, really cool stuff. Really love your COW stuff and loomis'.
Some crits - I think the problem with your figure is that it looks like you use just circles and spheres to build the forms, i think you should try to add more complex structure in perspective, try to get the axis lines right in order to get the right movement and twisting of the body, maybe some straight lines will help, because I read your figures as multiple curves, no sense of structure, also it will help you with your shading.
Anyways, your progressing like mad, keep at it, draw everyday, and soon when i get my wacom we can do that OC thing.
Abrazos

[ATLAS2900]

Your Figure Studies are simply amazing. I Like how clean and detailed they are. Really great stuff

[timpaatkins]

WHoot! Good stuff man, Like the studies you got ther, reminds me that I have a few to do... Anyways one of my faves is the bearded forest dude, I love what you did to the S page, what is that like just water colors?

Anyways Its good stuff. what do you do btw?

Cheers Tim

[sve]

Hello, bRØk3n_sPiRiT! I read some of your thoughts in the lounge and was pleasantly surprised that I think the same about very many things. So great to find some other person coming to the same conclusions living such a different life. I read how one of the guys called for the harsher ways to give an opinion to anyone art, so I got very curious to see, how he is doing and taking this, if his word and a following action are both solid. So I went to his thread and ... of course it's just a bravado, he is so happy and draws more when he is hearing words of encouragement. And I thought about this again.

I don't know, I'm just not very fond of the method of crits away until no one standing. I believe after some primal stage of accumulating knowledge and skills, an artist has to have a huge freedom to express himself. I believe that a viewer has to be careful and look attentively at art and try to understand that it might be a conscious decision of the artist to depict the object or an idea the way he does. I really appreciate the variety and difference of ideas and visions from different artists and I somehow think that I need to be careful not to destroy this variety.
I went through you book several times, I like so much how carefully and methodically you approach your art. You are building your skills step by step and all steps are very informative and interesting to observe. I really like how seriously you take art. I feel like you have clear vision what you want to achieve and how. And it works. Your have beautiful clean lines, your anatomy studies are great, I love how your one line figures have a weight and volume and beautiful elegant outline without any additional, not needed noise. That shows me your knowledge and well built skills and serious, smart attitude. Pretty soon you will be drawing very carelessly, loosely and your drawings still will be looking rich and truthful and smooth and beautiful.

My favorites:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0/Archivo1.jpg
(I like this composition and colors and the pose, I would prefer a bit more contrast though)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ragon-twig.jpg
( I like this twisted pose and the whole execution, I think colors are nice too)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../scorpions.jpg (a very nice design)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/bk7600/d2.jpg
(this drawing is strange and has an emotion, I would love to see it in colors. It has "Danger" on it .)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v254/bk7600/cowv.jpg ( a very interesting stylization)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ow23values.jpg ( I like this snail, colored version looks kind of strange for me, because you use different media and they are not blending well, I think)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2..._wipvalues.jpg You know I just love the creation process, very, very interesting and exciting to observe , I really like your scientific approach to art.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...00/cow24f2.jpg
That's a beautiful image and coloring.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...600/cow25f.jpg ( very funny creature, probably can sit at both ends

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...b/chrsnlsk.jpg ( That's very beautiful sketch, very smooth, strange that it doesnt exist in nature, looks very believable)

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...chb/cow26f.jpg (great lighting, coloring and I still find your creatures humorous somehow, because they smile, maybe

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../lifecomp6.jpg (I love this drawing, it effects me every time I look at it. These descending steps carry the mood. For me it's a hopping and jumping down the stairs, skipping some of the steps. But a color could add or change alot, I wish you colored it, added some textures, I personally see it done with some dry medium, pastel or pencils. The same goes to sketch of the bed)

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...tchb/eow3f.jpg ( very beautiful, looks stylizied, and it has a wonderful mood, weird one)

All your hands, feet, figure studies are really great! I will watch them again and again.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...tchb/eow5f.jpg

http://usera.imagecave.com/bk7600/chow05f.jpg9 very good illustration and character is weird and wild

http://usera.imagecave.com/bk7600/cow31dwip.jpg ( I like this sketch more, coloring is a bit too saturated for my taste, looks heavy.)

So thank you very much, Merry Christmas to you and all the best.

Sveta

[masterpug]

Wow, this is a handy thread for us all with a list of links like that. I think your anatomy studies are great, a real sense of dimensionality to them. I think that some of the placement for your creatures suffers a bit because you didn't draw it out first. The backgrounds just look a bit empty and a tad forced. To make the critters look like they belong, I would use layer multiplication and merging to really give them the feel of being there. Excellent work, keep it up!

[Uziel]

Great CHOW's and COW's and also the anatomy work is great. Try to use also values in your human figure sketches it will help with your coloring too. I only see values in your drawings from the mind.

[brokk]

You guys are way to kind. Seriously

max, cook thanks

Odds, lol thanks mate, I don't think they are nailed very good, they have proportion problems. Need to do some more of them. Hehe, I love collars as well. I'll try to put into practice what you said about the head studies. Thank you tons for those good crits.

max, I see the neck and breasts problem now, I'll do some more of these and keep an eye for that.

styler, lol thanks

Qxzi, thank you, you are totally right, the legs are way too long. Gotta do more of these. You're also right on the crits on the cow. Color is still a major mind puzzle Need more excersizes on that. Thanks again for dropping by.

Farvus, thank you very much for the encouraging words.

ZebzFree, oh man, you hit the nail on the head again. Figure proportions are off and I need to do more of that stuff, but your comments on the cow are spot on. I really don't know how to fix that blurryness, heh. Its a struggle Maybe after I do more tone and color studying I'll start getting a better grip on these things... I hope.

Diego, very good crit. I hadn't thought about that. I'm going to try and do some excersized with what you are saying, lets see how they turn out. OCing would be awesome : )

ATLAS2900, haha you are too kind, I have a long way to go thank you very much for your encouragement.

timpaatkins, thank you, the S page... I don't remember which one is the S page, lol. If its the one with that texture, I just threw some random crap at it, ink, water, tempera, waited for it to dry, scanned it and played around with it in PS. In response to the other question, I'm a student.

That fat kid, thanks man. That creature was (is) such a struggle! I agree, it looks flat. I think its time to schedule painting studies. I had wanted to get to color after tone, but, maybe I can do them both paralely. Lets see what happens.

sve, thank you for taking the time for such a detailed reply. Truth be told, I did not quite understand the first paragraph : S
Hmm about crits... I don't know. I guess I can only speak for myself, and I like recieving crits even if they are harsh, because maybe I can learn something or see something I wasn't seeing. Thats not going to make me stop drawing, because its just what I like doing. Maybe I'll convince myself that I suck, hehe, but in that case I'll just keep drawing sucky things because I like drawing (and I'll try to improve).
Thank you for the very kind words. I've been thinking yesterday about all this, weather or not I'm going to be able to support myself with this. I don't mind working other jobs as long as I have some time to draw, study and paint. Its summer over here and I live near the beach. I love going to the beach, but that means a day without drawing/studying. The summer only lasts a few months, so, maybe its not so bad to take a break. But then again, its a bit worrying to neglect studies for me. I dont know, I'm doing half and half right now. A few days beach, a few days drawing (I try to draw on the more cloudy days).
Wow thank you for selecting the images you liked... some of those are so old! Its a little embarassing, heh : P Yes, some of the creatures sometimes smile, hehe. I dont know why I do that, I guess I think its fun, but I didn't think anyone would notice it
I'm going to try and do more studies from life with tones, and then color now.
Thank you very much for stopping by and for your kind repy, this message is really late but I hoped you had a great christmas and new years as well.

masterpug, oh, cool idea! I actually did make the background and then put in the creature for the artic carnivore one, its the only one I like the background/creature relation I'll keep your comments in mind, thank you.

Uziel, yeah you are totally right. Haven't seen you in the cow for some time, mate : P When are you gonna come back? I just want to do some more line studies for the figures and then its tones and then color. Thanks again!


Thanks again everyone, your insight and crits are really valuable, and thank you for your kind comments.


Ok here's some new stuff, I'll describe it a little more later.

cow


another cow


chow


some excersizes for the peer project






this was something new, trying to study rythm. I copied these from the Society of Figurative Arts website


And I tried to do my own versions without ref. The proportions look pretty off, but I kinda like the rythm (considering I make everything look pretty static, that is)


trying to put into practice another new thing, sillouhettes






and the small thumbnails. I like some more than others. Some are just horrible... ugh : S


starting to make studies with tones. Need to do lots of these


Ok thats it for now. Cheers everyone.

[Uziel]

Haven't seen you in the cow for some time, mate : P When are you gonna come back?

After my exams
3th february is my last and then i'll be wasted for some days and than i'll probably get back behind the drawing board for COW ChOW

Those human figure studies were pretty good man.

[Zebz]

I'm proud of you, mate! You're really kickin' some butt over break! Doing more work than I, that's for sure. Keep doing the life studies and really try to take some of the rendering practice you did on those spheres and apply it to the objects you're trying to render in real life. The siloz are really, really fun to look at too. It seems like a great way to get some ideas on the table. I feel my stuff comes out too stiff or just run of the mill these days. Nothing is very original. Your studies seem to give me some ideas on how I might go about changing that. Keep it up!! Lookin' for more! I'll try and get an update to ya'll soon.

[max1975]

The rhythm studies are cool, but remember to check the anatomy before you start with those darker lines. A good rhythm places things remarkably well, but not perfectly. When something looks wrong (like the abdomen on the figure on the right) refine the rhythm in that area until you get closer to the proper form.

Love the silhouettes and thumbnails. No, the thumbnails aren't perfect, but they don't have to be...after you get all those ideas out there you can pick the ones you like and set about crafting an image.

I should do some silhouettes and thumbnails. In my robot stuff, I've been getting too wrapped up in an individual idea and spending too much time working through it before realizing it wasn't the best idea...

Firework spewer is very cool, rendering is an improvement over your previous COWs, especially like the blue making the tail less distinct. The ChoW isn't doing it for me, though. The form is too cartoony for the rendering.

[timpaatkins]

I agree with Max, above here, about the thumbs and silhouettes.
GOod to see some shading practise with the pencil. Might I suggest that you use a soft 4 B lead to lay down the base dark areas with small CIRCULAR motions. That way you wont get that "striped" pattern that is almost inevitable with straight lines. Then when you have layed an even foundation, you can start with the linerendering, but lightly, and Ill promise those hard dark edges in the shadows will disappear. Takes a long time though...
Cheers Tim

[brokk]

Uziel, thanks : ) Have a beer for me after the test : P

Zebz, thanks! I'll try to keep things up. Cool, yeah I think making silouhettes is a good way to experiment with shapes and designs. I remember a crit by SirGreenSocks telling me to experiment with different body types, and a crit by you telling me to exaggerate some forms more. Better late than ever, heh. I think if you can make something work just in the silouhette alone, you can determine if its worth working further on it. You don't loose too much time struggling with the major shapes/design in the larger sketch this way, I think.

max, that is a very good crit about the rythms, refine them until they resemble the form... I had not thought about that. I was trying to get them down at once, so I hadn't really thought about that. I'll try it, thanks. Glad you liked the sillouhs/thumbns, I'm going to choose one of them and work it larger and see what happens. I can relate to what your are saying about spending too much time on an idea. Like I was saying to Zebz, I think you can economize a lot of time by breaking down the procedure into several steps, the first being making a sillhouette only. If things work in the sillhoute, you can them make a thumnail. That way you don't have to struggle with multiple stuff in the larger sketch. Yeah, I don't like the chow either. I tried making something kinda cartoony but its the way its painted that I don't like. The cow I'm still switching back and forth with making something pencil + photoshop or photoshop alone with tablet. The later gives the worst results, but I guess its necessary practice.

timpaatkins, awesome advice for shading, I'm gonna try that. Actually I've tried it a bit today, but I have a 6b instead of a 4. One of the things I've been thinking alot lately is how to economize the time it takes for me to add values to something in pencil. In photoshop you can do it fairly quickly, as you can change brush sizes and all that stuff. But in pencil its like you must make line after line, mark after mark, even if you place the pencil sideways. Building up the values takes some time... maybe I just need more practice at it, and more studying.

Got bored with this, so I left it unfinished


From ref. The rough sketch


Cleaning the sketch up a bit. I'm trying to make sketches like the ones I've seen by Douglas Flynt. Not that I'm gonna get any where near his level, but I'm trying to make things like I see him do, leaving a lot of white areas and marking where the cast shadows are going to be, or something like that.


Values. Hmm... I think it looks scribbly. And maybe needs more contrast. The black areas of her hair, I don't know if it looks like that because of my scanner, which I blame partially. The original doesn't look that much better actually. I tried timpa's advice on shading with circular motions. The stripped pattern didn't show, but it has a lot of white spots still. Should practice more.


Ok, thats all for now. For the next update I'll try to paint this. Thank you guys so much again! Cheers.

[max1975]

Really liking that profile, great job on the ear especially, but it's all working very well. Hair should be brighter in the highlights I think. It also had great contours in the middle stage but some of that was lost in the rendering. I think the circular motions are a good idea in general but not necessarily for hair, which should be on the streaky side.

[brokk]

max, I had forgotten to answer more on a previous post, collars are great. Maybe we have the same problem, heh. I agree with the crits on the figures and the canyonmaker cow. Fractal is the cutest SG girl, but other pictures I've seen of her I dont like as much as I like that one.
Now, on the newer post, the hair could have stronger highlights. About the contours of the middle stage... I sort of lost them half-deliberatly, I thought it would be better for trying to do something realistic... but maybe I could still keep them, in a subtle way. I'll have to experiment and see. Yeah I guess linear shading for hair could be more appropiate than circular, which is maybe for more flat or round surfaces.

And here's my painting attempt. Pleaseee crit the hell out of this if anyone feels like taking the time, it would be great. I painted on the value version before, one layer set to color, one layer set to normal, and some additional layers on normal for some minor stuff. I'm planning on doing studies without a previous sketch though. I'm not really pleased with it but then again I have to do tons of these.


Cheers

[max1975]

Mmm, collars.

Really like the painting. Still want brighter highlights on the hair, and if you could get rid of the lines around the lips and blend the colors there instead, that would be a big improvement. Still loving the ear, and the eye. Pic as a whole could use some more contrast I think, but that's subjective. There's some graininess, especially in the hair, that I've noticed in some of your other pics, and I have no idea what's causing it, but I find it kind of distracting.

[guggemmaneuver]

brok3n - wow!
no crits.... only praise: http://usera.imagecave.com/bk7600/legs07.jpg all of these volumetric anatomy studies are really, really nice. loving all yr cow's too! keep it up; i'll be back!
-joel

[Diego]

Very good studies martin, really like the girl head, but i think you should push more the values, more constrast will make the image reads better.
I like the thumbs you did, really cool. The only thing is that they all look really flat, stiff poses, i know they're thumbs. but you're generatin' an idea, so it should be clear..
Love the life studies as well, you're doing really good.
Cheers

[brokk]

max, thank you for the crits and feedback, I'll try to get back to that head and see if I can correct those things. Yeah I noticed that grainyness too... its probably the pencil from the sketch. I'll work on minimizing that.

guggenmaneuver, hehe, thanks. I'm sure if you wanted to crit you'd find plenty Thank you for the very kind words.

Diego, hey man! Cool, I'll try to work on both the things you and max are mentioning. I agree with the thumbs, I want to do more of those too, and take some and make larger images. Thanks for your feedback and kind words.

I posted this over at the finished section... I hope it was allright. I wanted to experiment with different materials and find a quick way to value. Not much design or narrative, just a cthulhu head. The sketch, I used pencils, markers, alcohol and a pen


And then I added some acrylics to the sketch on the same page, an A4 copy paper. Tried not to tear it when painting it : P


And then painted it a little more with photoshop and called it done. Crits, advice, tips are very welcome and would be really great.


Well till next update, going camping tomorrow and will be back in a few days.

Cheers.

[jtheanswer]

I like your painting man, the one of the girl. Maybe you should work a bit more the lights and shadows. Only a suggestion.

Asi se hace!

[Jokisalo]

Oooh magic man, so much hard work.
I've done those same heads of loomis on my earlier sketchbook
more please, and more often!

[max1975]

Nice job on Cthulhu. The middle stage is my favorite; I think the faded look of the distant eye on the final doesn't work so well this time.

[Zebz]

Whoa... I ain't dead. And it appears you ain't either! That portrait is really nice, man! I'd love to see you push your tones more and really render the crap outta that form tho! You know how I like to render the form. I'm a nut. It probably had something to do with the photo tho. But if you light someone's face and take a shot of it you'll see the core shadows and stuff much better. You'll begin to understand the form and how it looks like a sphere. Your drawing looks ubber nice tho. Lovely, bro. You've got some other studies goin' on that look nice too. Keep developing! The latest concept is a bit lacking and I think you could push him even further. More colors would be nice.

I'll get an update this weekend. School starting and this being my final semester I'm getting my work in. lol This has been a fast paced year thus far. I'm hoping to start taking my work into the professional realm soon so I need to kick it up about 500 notches! lol Hope you're doin' well. Take it easy.

[Qxzi]

Hey,

love the updates. Starting with post #162, lovin the digi sketchs. Do more. Also like the life drawing. Post #162, good! Great skin tone, maybe you could of added a few more dark areas, but dont worry, if its only a sketch. Post #173, i like the concept. But i totally agree with max, the faded bit ruins it a bit.

Well keep on posting and drawing dude!

Qxzi

[brokk]

jtheanswer, gracias, and you are right! I need to do more of these excersizes.

Jokisalo, hehe, those are some great books, huh?

max1975, yeah, I kinda like the acrylics stage better too... just playing around and trying to get the best of both worlds, traditional and digital. I have an update on this.

ZebzFree, you are totally right, gotta push those values, I'll be doing more of these studies and see if I can really nail down these forms... I remember the studies in your sketchbook about rendering the values on heads... I'll see if I can do it like I've seen you do, with the core shadow and tones. Here is the photo I used for ref, from female-anatomy-for-artist.com. I should have posted this before http://usera.imagecave.com/bk7600/girlref.jpg
The tones look a bit flat on the photo... but I can't really hide behind that, because the truth is I haven't really grasped the concept of the rendering of the different planes. Gotta practice and study a bit more for that, hopefully : P
On the last cthulhu concept, I have an update!
Hey, great to hear you're gonna start to take it to the pro realm, I really want to go in the same direction. I wont be able to go to the Montreal workshop, but I'll keep on werking. Would love to see the pictures though! Thanks for the comments and support.

Qxzi, you are right on the crits, I have a few updates, and I gotta do more of those paint studies. Cheers!



Here's an update on cthulhu, I got some really great feedback in the finally finished section. I kinda like the version before.... its more moody... but maybe its better to have more color/contrast.


Here's a cow sketch in pencils, alcohol, ink and markers... still messing around experimenting stuff.


Now adding acrilycs. Same as cthulhu, it was an A4 copy paper page. Really not the best paper for this, but if you're careful, it holds up pretty good.


and the final


Some life sketches. Gotta do more of these.


Some sort of charachter sketch I didn't finish (or come close to anything, really)


Just a really minor doodle... but I really like it for some reason : P


Some movement / rythm studies, dance poses. Ref used. Again, something I wanna study more.


Some thumbnail movement studies, they are a bit off I think. I used ref.


And, the last cow

Sentient Fungal Behemoth
Found mostly in uncharted or unexplored areas, these travelling fungi feed on large carcasses of animals. The are frequently found in dragon cementaries, where plenty of food is available. When moving, they emmit a bright light from their sensorial eye-like organ, illuminating a short distance. Since gargatuan mushrooms are not uncommon in the regions that the Sentient Fungal Behemoths can be found, they can stay very still and mimick these large mushrooms. They do this to escape potentially dangerous situacions, though their tentacles can be used as melee weapons if hidding fails.
The light emmiting organ, if cut out, can be sold for quite a high price. Its tough as amber but fairly easy to cut out. Even if removed from the body, the amber-like organ still shines with bright light if moved around. Scholars argue that this is due to a chemical reaction, but for some the light is actually magic.

The last cow I did entirely digital, I think I'm gaining a bit more confidence with digital, and starting to grasp a few notions (or at least I hope thats the case!)

Guys, thank you for your kind encouragement, its a real motivation boost for sure. Your insight is really appreciated : )

Till next update!
Cheers

[HEROIC]

Heyyaa, lonG time no see
Hows it goin with drawing, from ur stuff , i can tell its goin pretty good, those last finished stuff were sweet.
I saw some still life in ur stuff, like the plate and two breads, DO MORE OF THAT. do more STILL LIFE. when u do more still llife, u can get more stuff, more shapes in ur head, then u draw them, then u change them, then u can creat stuff u want. When u do more life drawing, u add more poses to ur library. more figures. it all helps u to get ur lines, shadings, imaginations stronger and stronger.
newayz, ur stuff are great.
Keep pluggin ^^

AMir
EDIT: THe last COW IS REALL COWY AND the desc u give everytime amaze me, kick ass
its been long u havent checked my sb

[max1975]

Like the contrast in the new Cthulhu, i think it's an improvement (though the acrylic stage is still my favorite).

Final COW is really nice, I especially like what you did with the eyeballs.

Dance poses are cool, and SO much fun to draw.

[Qxzi]

Hey,

Like the update. Good acrylic painting, good end product. I like the detail with
the eyes. The life studies and movement sketchs would really help you! Do
more! The COW is great. The light shining is a good effect.

Keep on drawing and posting dude!

Qxzi