Master 25 Days: 7 times down 8 times up.

**Master 25 Days** · January 12th, 2006, 02:41 AM

Thought I'd start my sketchbook thread. I've been lurking around CA for awhile (even with an account!), and have been meaning to take my studying more seriously.

Here's a couple i did recently.

the one above took 30 min. i think I was working too fast and didn't get the structures down. I had alot of trouble figuring out how to render his shirt since he wears the shoulder armor UNDERneath and there are bumps that stretches out his shirt.

some of these are more finished pieces than sketches since they take me around 1-2 maybe 3 hours to do. Is that ok to post them here or should I only post quick works?

**Magic Man** · January 12th, 2006, 03:03 AM

Welcome to CA - I'd recommend staying away from any form of fan art, start with anatomy, start understanding the human structure, this will keep you busy for a few solid months if you're serious about improving.

m

**Uziel** · January 12th, 2006, 03:11 AM

Strong entrance. I agree with staying away from the fan art. It will stimulate your creativity too.

**Master 25 Days** · January 13th, 2006, 04:01 AM

good advice guys. I've been meaning to do that. I studied anatomy on an off for a bit awhile back and didn't have the drive to keep it up, hopefully this time it will be different.

I shot these with my camera since its too late to fire up my old scanner (it makes alot of noises). Some of these I try to make guidelines for, but the parts don't quite line up. Would it be awful to modify the human anatomy jussttt a bit to make it fit with the guidelines?

**Master 25 Days** · January 16th, 2006, 03:45 AM

**OBX** · January 18th, 2006, 12:04 AM

hey, nice stuff, looks like u have good control, those skulls studies are tight. So are those paints they look pretty good. Keep working and post more. i have no real crits till i see more.

**Erilaz** · January 18th, 2006, 12:13 AM

Very clean skulls. Love it. Great motion in the streetfighter stuff as well.

**Flynn** · January 18th, 2006, 12:55 PM

Absolutely loving your monochrome studies, aint too settled on the coloured versions they seem to lack the depth of the greys.

And as obx said them skulls be tight

**-ThePenciler-** · January 18th, 2006, 02:42 PM

I love seeing people study anatomy! So important. Never stop practicing. Good work on the skull study Master! I noticed something small that may help. In the large skull (second up from bottom) the maxilla bone and mandible are protruding a llittle too far foreward in comparison to the nasal cavity and zygomatic bone, resulting in a more ape like skull. Look at your first downward facing skulls in comparison. See how everything below the zygomatic is farther back?
Keep practicing! I'll see if i can't do some quick skull drawings and get them posted. God knows i could use the practice!

**Kresh** · January 19th, 2006, 04:21 PM

nice stuff, i like your streetfighter sketches. Skull studies look pretty solid. Lets see some more.

**Master 25 Days** · January 20th, 2006, 03:06 AM

small update.

thx for catching that for me, Penciler.

**OBX** · January 20th, 2006, 09:41 PM

heh, u gave penciler that crit about having an more angular and dynamic orbital arch, but u forgot to do that on ur study aswell. but i dont know wat u used for ref, so mabey ur drawing is accurate. either way i thought i would make that aware. But ur using wrap around lines, it give ur recent studies a nice likeness. Also slow down the hatchlines, do them slower and try and put them close together. And experiment with them, they can make or break a drawing, i mean, u can have the tightest line work, but if u just wip on the hatchlines it will make the line go to shit. I feel like they are colliding a bit. owell keep up the great studies and stay positive. have fun. lets see more!

**Master 25 Days** · January 21st, 2006, 04:36 AM

OBX which drawing are you referring to? Most of these are done with ref from Peck's anatomy book. Good point about the hatching. Control isn't my strong point so when I do them fast they get kinda crazy. I'll try to slow em down.

**Kresh** · January 21st, 2006, 05:15 AM

i should really be doing more bone and muscle studies as well. I've never done it before hehe. I should just buy a new book and fill it with bones. I like the quality of the lines, not scribbly like me.

**OBX** · January 21st, 2006, 12:12 PM

meh it doesnt matter, i dont know wat i was talking about anymore.

but the hatching... yeah just slow down a bit, and wen u do it think about the surface ur hatching, and which way its facing, and which way ur are looking at it (from below, from above) then use the hatchlines to reinforce that. sometimes i get overwhelmed with all the stuff u have to keep in mind while drawing something, but i find that after time they become sub-concious and u dont really have to think about it anymore. but there are still things that i have to think about, and hard, while drawing too.

keep it up, post more!

**-ThePenciler-** · January 21st, 2006, 07:13 PM

You aren't kidding OBX! Sometimes when i draw i'm almost overwhelmed with the formulas and rules racing through my head. As you said tho, my best drawings seem to come when i'm not really thinking anymore. The odd thing is i never know when that is going to happen. Sometimes it does and other times i'm thinking really hard. Some days r better than others i guess.

**OBX** · January 23rd, 2006, 12:25 AM

yeah, i dont usually do this, but a good thing to do b4 doing a drawing is to do some sloppy, messy, loose warmup drawings. Its like ur getting the bad drawings out of u. usually u warm up with the permanant medium like a sharpie or nexus or sumthing, and just go, expriment dont give a shit, but draw things that are related to wat u have in mind. gradually increase the size of the drawings, and wen uve done mabey 4-5 really quick mabey 5 min drawings each sit down and do the one u have in ur head. the point of warming up is to get it done quickly to build ur confidence and to do them b4 u loose the idea u have in ur head. And if u new, dont worry about all the rules, really just focus and experiment with a few that u may be studying and working on at the moment. others that pop up out of instinct are bonus. over time u shouldnt have to think to hard about the "rules" or "theories". Art is like a mental muscle that with time and practice gets big and strong. and im going to insert this happy face just becoz it makes me smile

pld: .

**Master 25 Days** · January 23rd, 2006, 02:25 AM

Good post OBX, thats pretty much how I feel. When I do figures from my head, I do rough sketches to understand the pose before I go into the final drawing.

Sorry for the lack of update, I was out all day saturday and manage to get a piece done today.

with darker values for the shadows

**-ThePenciler-** · January 23rd, 2006, 06:55 AM

Nice value work!
What kind of paper is that?

**Flynn** · January 25th, 2006, 12:50 AM

Real nice Master good stuff

my only niggle is his left shoulder, that big shadow that connects above the bicep (cant remmber name sorry

)makes quite a presence on my mebe tone it down a bit

Lovion the rest of it though

**Master 25 Days** · January 25th, 2006, 08:32 PM

I'll update later with some bones. here's a pic of R.Mika from street fighter alpha 3.

Penciler: Just regular printing paper

**OBX** · January 25th, 2006, 10:03 PM

nice.

**Master 25 Days** · January 28th, 2006, 04:00 AM

Been kinda lazy lately because of Chinese New Year, but here's a quick painter piece I managed to do. Kinda locked myself into details a bit at the end which ruin the simplicity of it. I had to go back with a large brush a few times.

**OBX** · January 28th, 2006, 03:54 PM

how did u get that texture? ur using ps right? looks great. id give the background a color rather that something so dark, might make it look a lil more intersting. possibly a cool-colored gradient will make the warm tones on the portrait pop.

**Flynn** · January 28th, 2006, 04:40 PM

Good stuff master, id also like to know how the texture comes about?,
An dont worry about being lazy, i think im taking that title this past few eeks ><

**Master 25 Days** · January 28th, 2006, 05:11 PM

thx guys. I actually did that in painter so the texture is in the brush itself. I intened to use a cool dark color for the bg to make the figure stand out more but more color would work better like you said, OBX.

**Zhengpeng** · January 29th, 2006, 10:53 AM

Very nice stuff master. Just a short hello for now, next time I'll try to give accurate critiques. Just one advice: try experimenting with custom brushes, and learn how to use them well. The repeating patherns of some brushes make things boring.

**Master 25 Days** · January 29th, 2006, 03:43 PM

Thx for posting Zheng. I'll try to vary the brushes in the future. I just don't see it as that important for sketching since I just want to get the image across. What kind of brush would you suggest?

here are some scapulas and a school girl. On the girl, her right brow looks off and I think the value on the hair on the right could be lighter.

**OBX** · January 29th, 2006, 05:19 PM

noice. Id say to soften the edge where her chin turns a bit, the darkness that is sits against makes it very sharp and un-femenine. mabey not, but just soften it up so it doesnt pop so much. as i said; looking good.

**Zhengpeng** · January 30th, 2006, 06:50 AM

I think that the red cape on the blue background should have some blueish reflection. That way it will blend better with the background.
(edit: sorry, was looking at the wrong picture)

The girl on this last picture. I don't like how the hair look as if it is pasted onto the skull.

About the brushes, a round brush that consists of 10-15 black dots can be very usefull in many ways. And when you use texture brushes, change the angle every now and then.