Cuppa Joe's Sketchbook- Occasionally Updated...

**taxman** · May 16th, 2007, 02:33 PM

Wow, you're still the hardest workin' man on this site. You seem to get this Bridgeman stuff, which drives me insane every time I try. I think a little more contrast would push your drawings even further, that last still life's heading in the right direction. Keep going...

**DanielC** · May 16th, 2007, 02:58 PM

Hey cup !
The updates are looking good.
But be careful on the hatching direction though! The values are good, but don't stay with them only. Direction and value would make the shading much more believable.
Keep practicing !!

**Cup of Joe** · May 22nd, 2007, 11:00 PM

oooohhhh fuuuuccckkk.
way too much crap going on now to explain or keep up a regular schedule, so heres a dump. I'll be back with replies and such in maybe a few weeks?

Some studies, some doos, some copies, stuff for school, whatever is near me at this moment.

**Serpian** · May 29th, 2007, 02:22 PM

I like the 'lineage' one, somehow those clean, funky lines've got som serious 'tude! On your last post though, I have to remind you: PROPORTIONS.

**Cup of Joe** · June 6th, 2007, 12:30 PM

Serp- Thanks! It's one of the things I'm working on.

PHEW.
School is out and I'm back in town, so I'm gonna drop all the stuff I've been saving for the past month or so. I'll break this up into three posts so you can have some idea of what is what.

Post 1- Old Art class stuff- ~2months ago up to the present in rough chronological order. Some are mediocre camera picures, but meh.

**Cup of Joe** · June 6th, 2007, 12:47 PM

Post 2- Stuff from the trip- Mostly Museum of natural history and the beach.

**Cup of Joe** · June 6th, 2007, 12:56 PM

Post 3- This should be the end of it. Today and yesterday's stuff. Hogarth and an SP. I just got his books, and I think they'll help a lot, so I hope to draw though them at least a few times over the summer.

**Cup of Joe** · June 7th, 2007, 11:50 PM

Some figures and poses from imagination and more Hogarth. This also marks the end of big sketchbook No.5. And for some reason my scanner will not scan full page drawings (?) so the last one's a crappy photo.

**Cup of Joe** · June 8th, 2007, 10:16 PM

A couple crap SPs. ugghh, flat faces. Been feeling kind of lazy the past few days, hopefully I'll get over it soon.

**Cup of Joe** · June 9th, 2007, 10:11 PM

Moleskine sketches from life, mostly a friend.

**Cup of Joe** · June 10th, 2007, 11:51 PM

Hogarth, Bridgeman, and another crap SP.

**DanielC** · June 11th, 2007, 07:06 AM

Keep going !
Are some of the study from memory too ?
...

**Cup of Joe** · June 11th, 2007, 11:14 PM

DanC- Starting today they are! I've rethought my system a bit and I'm going to start putting more emphasis on muscle studies from imagination. I think you can see a difference even just from today (in my arms, at least).

Today- A Bridgeman study and the rest is from imagination.

**DanielC** · June 12th, 2007, 10:09 AM

Nice !
Don't let what you've learned disappear! Keep doing, even a little, every day to keep all this stuff fresh in your head.
Dont forget rythm in your lines too ! Some kindof local composition with the lines so that the whole body feels a bit more alive.
Keep drawing !

**Cup of Joe** · June 13th, 2007, 12:15 AM

DanC- Thanks! Will do, I'll try to look more into composition/design when I get the time.

Today- Same as yesterday- a few Bridgeman studies and the rest from imagination. I'm really starting to have fun with drawing again.

**Cup of Joe** · June 13th, 2007, 11:48 PM

No studies today, just imagination. More hogarth tomorrow, and I'm going to try to have more of my figures from imagination projected in space, intead of being parallel to the viewer.

**Cup of Joe** · June 19th, 2007, 02:12 AM

Took another break in updating while my sister visited. Also, it's my birthday! (technically yesterday) and I got "Alla Prima", some paints and a few brushes, so expect some paints in the future.

Past few days- Hogarth, figures from imagination, and my first few color oil painting attempts from life.

**DanielC** · June 19th, 2007, 02:39 AM

Happy Birthday !!!

The studies are good and the paintings interesting for a start.
What support did you use ?

**Serpian** · June 19th, 2007, 09:30 AM

Wow, you've got some really good stuff going on here! In post 797, I really like the pic from imagination where you've written 'learn to lower legs'. And now your starting to paint too.. I could find something to crit on, but, hell, why would I? Just keep posting like you always do, you crazy son-of-a!

**the_allejo05** · June 19th, 2007, 02:17 PM

excellent ,excellent progress..hmm your first attempts at painting are nice..really.. when doing your drawings where you use tone,..especially from life..try to use a midtoned paper...any color will do..a blue, gray,or green tone ground is my preference, then you can add white and black.. (be it black ink and white gouche, charcoal and white chalk (the ones for chalkboard, or you can use conte, pastel), or pencil and white pencil, whatever..so you can model a drawing nicely...nice drawings ..especially the studies from hogarth have good proportions, try to find an old engraving, or any master drawings, (i saw you drew a holbein

)they can teach you tones, strokes, handling of light and line, keep the ink work..it helps you more than a pencil.
you can use some bargue angles to check your points when drawing a siluotte.. check top ,bottom ,lef and right points for doing more accurate studies..for your selfportraits..are you using one light source??try to keep it that way..and make sure the room is dark...only let one light source in (either one window,or artificial light coming from above)..you will see form way better...go back to your geometric primitives and try to imagine those as you draw..even if we are not made out of those the feeling of structure and form are rooted on that..

**Cup of Joe** · June 22nd, 2007, 01:21 AM

DanC- Thanks man! I used this painting paper I forget the name of. It's basically textured non-absorbant paper. It's not fantastic, but it's cheap.

Serp- Thanks! Hey, if you've got a crit, let me hear it, I'm always open!

the_allejo05- Thanks a lot! I'll take that all into consideration, especially the ink. I really need to do more ink life drawings.

Been slacking on updating again. - Two paintings, one an SP with such a bad start I gave up, some hogarth, a pencil SP (with my first real attempt at hair), and the rest from imagination.

**Cup of Joe** · June 23rd, 2007, 01:30 AM

A few more pages from imagination, one of which I'm using for PS practice (pallete unconciously borrowed from Marko.) More hogarth tomorrow (probably.)

**Cup of Joe** · June 24th, 2007, 12:05 AM

Heh, remember what I said yesterday about Hogarth? Yeah... Hopefully some of that tomorrow, plus maybe a bit of posemaniacs.com(?) once I get it to work.

Today- A few crud pen drawings from life and a load of quickies from imagination in PS.

**Justin.** · June 24th, 2007, 01:09 PM

I wanna see more traditional painting!

**Cup of Joe** · June 25th, 2007, 12:15 AM

Justin- Aye aye!

Finally more hogarth. Also, some oils from life as per suggestion. The photos are a bit crappy, so I might scan and re-upload them once they dry.

**Christian223** · June 25th, 2007, 08:34 PM

Great, you have become really good, keep posting!, probably you need to do more from imagination?.

**bbassir** · June 25th, 2007, 08:43 PM

Dedication! I like to see it. Keep doing what you're doing, you've really come a long way since the first few pages! Nice paintings!

**Cup of Joe** · June 26th, 2007, 12:48 AM

Christian- Thanks! Yep, I'm trying to work more from imagination now that I realize it's importance.

bbassir- Thanks!

Some cruddy pen SPs, a pencil SP, life sketches (mostly pen) and a few pages from imagination.

**archipelago** · June 26th, 2007, 11:43 AM

woot! those ones from imagination in PS are great! a little bit flat though... Im trying to figure out what you could do to make them pop more... its probobly the edges not having enough value change. remember that a change in value = a change in form, so if you have the same value going across a curved form, its not going to appear curved, but flat.

Yeah I did a paintover, its really crappy sorry but I hope it helps!

Also. another thing you could do to reduce flatness, if you didnt already know, is that all shadows start soft and end sharp. so for example, on a round ball, the shadow is going to be soft around the ball, but the cast shadow is going to be sharp, this causes the illusion of 3D and is true to everything... noses, mouths, whatever!
errr, this was the best example I could find http://www.musadiq.com/images/Chiaruscuro.jpg

yeah, keep it up, cheers!

**silvestri99** · June 26th, 2007, 12:23 PM

Nice set of renders and life drawing. It looks your stuff just keeps getting better. And if i could suggest, try doing some life nude life drawing as well...and helps in understanding anatomy a lot. Keep it flowing!