Art Journey~ My Time in the Arts Institute at Bournemouth~

**luxun** · August 6th, 2006, 09:53 PM

you are sporting some cool stuff here, i like your traditional outdoor paintings, i think some of them could benefit from the use of a ruler or something on some surfaces, i think its cool to have some lines and angles that are a little wonky since it ca have its charm but in this for example

the building on the right takes away from the quality of the piece a bit.

pencils are good to but can of course use work in areas

**Lohan** · August 6th, 2006, 10:24 PM

smells like hard work.

i think your pencils could use a softer touch, especially in rendering. try to go from a heavy line to an extremely delicate line in the same stroke to create dynamics in a figure or any line drawing. try just observing a line and executing it in one stroke, rather than trying to get it right more than once. you are not guilty of this very much but sometimes you will repeat a line.

good to see lots o work.

**Bendragon** · August 10th, 2006, 01:33 PM

Luxun - I see what you mean. Ach I hate that piece u used for an example though

. Cheers for the crit.

Lohan - Cheers, Ive been told a few times to stop stroking my lines again and again. I'll try get use to it.

Anyhow udate time:

Couldnt resist rendering again

Life drawings:

**isair** · August 15th, 2006, 04:04 AM

Hey Bendragon,
Great book here. I believe your sense of form is great but you just need to be more confident with it and put more confident on the lines and shading. I know some figures are quickies, they still need more tention as well as looseness. Contrast and variation is always sweet to the eyes.

Man your color studies are awesome. Love the scene at the beginning of the thread and the chair most. And the mushroom man is of very interesting ideas.
Keep up with it.

**Seedling** · August 19th, 2006, 08:57 PM

Good work with those life drawings. Keep it up!

Locked in a room for a summer and forced to make art? Sweet deal! ;-)

I know the photograph copying is fun, but it isn’t a very good use of your time. Much better is to practice looking at 3D forms and turning them into 2D forms. That way you will gain a much better understanding of what you are doing and why. The more you focus on that, the sooner you will be able to draw whatever you want without being constrained by what others have captured on film.

**Bendragon** · August 21st, 2006, 01:14 PM

Thanks guys. Good pointer there Seedling. I'll get more life referances done for ya!

**isair** · August 21st, 2006, 01:21 PM

dude, seriously, one pencil is absolutely not enough if you keep drawing like this much. LOL. great updates. love the last mech guy.

**Bendragon** · August 26th, 2006, 06:47 PM

Teen Challenge: Robot King

**blanquish** · August 27th, 2006, 08:47 AM

man, some fantastic improvement in the last one, especially in the rendering.
Your pencil stuff is coming along, but i suggest slowing it down a little, and concentrating on getting some contrast. I wanna see white, and black!
I must say, that robot is fantastic, but the arms arent at the same rendering level as the rest of it.
More studies, more ref stuff and more rendering practice.
Its shaping up nicely, believe me!

**Meatsworthy** · August 27th, 2006, 03:02 PM

Hi there Bendragon, thanks for visiting my sketchbook.

Looks like you're progressing really well, you have a good idea what you need to work on. Good sense of color and form (especially on the robot king), the traditional stuff is great. Keep up the good work!

**Fishspawn** · August 27th, 2006, 10:55 PM

Yo, long time no see. I looove everything in post 28

It's good to see you figure drawing and i really like the robot and armor in the last 2 posts. Keep doing studies like you are, they are paying off. I'd reccomend some head structure/proportion studies. Keep sketching!

**remedial** · August 28th, 2006, 01:15 AM

you have some awesome stuff going on here! I like the variety and quantity of your sketchbook pages- I also like that you're drawing works by the masters- especially sculptural pieces like donatello's david and the pieta. I'll have to try that- seems like it would make for a good substitute figure drawing practice.

Also, your Robot King post shows alot of progression- very nicely done!

**bhanu** · August 28th, 2006, 04:02 AM

Hey Benddragon,
YOur sketchbook is on the right path.GOod misture of fun ans serious stuff.I like it a lot.Your scenic paintings look strong , and the digis show promise too.So all I can say is keep on playing.
Bye and take care.

**dannE-B** · August 30th, 2006, 05:26 PM

Cool entry for your robot king piece. Your work is coming along nicely, the only thing i can suggest is trying to find a little more Form in your characters, they can sometimes be a little hard to read. Keep it up.

**Bendragon** · August 31st, 2006, 07:40 PM

Thanks everyone for the kind words, I'll do my best not to disappoint u all.

blanquish - Well spotted about the arms, I lost a bit of interest at the time, stupid really :p. Thanks for the confidence.
Meatsworthy - I'd like to think Im on the right track but then I'd have to forget that again

fishspawn - Head studies? U got it.
remedial - Cheers, lots of people seem to be learning from cast studies (I'd like to do a life one one day) and they are great fun too!
bhanu - Thanks man. I think keeping a well balanced diet of drawings is key. I'll certainly try keep the balance level! Take care!
Prophet - Thanks for the crits, they are good stuff. I'll remind myself of the readability (?) for future works. I agree with u on the form too.

Heres a piece up for some crits. The hair still needs work on. Used referance.

**dannE-B** · September 1st, 2006, 01:57 PM

Thats a good study, your best colour job thus far, do a couple more of them, i really think it will help you with your understanding of colour.

**E.view** · September 1st, 2006, 02:41 PM

Cool stuff really love your quick sketches

**Bendragon** · September 1st, 2006, 03:43 PM

Prophet - Cheers, Im making humans my priority for digital stuff. I think they'll make up a big part of my future work so Im gonna try get them ready

.
E.view - Thanks man.

OK heres the finished version of the previous. (is the background crud?)

**Lohan** · September 2nd, 2006, 01:48 PM

eye looks really good on that last one, as well as the bright red on her lower lip.
i'd say it might use some deep shadows to pull out contrast, such as under her jaw on the neck- a dark, bluer skin tone.
also, maybe its just me but i like a few, very acurate tones as opposed to this where there are a ton of different tones but they might not all be necessary to depict what you're going after.

**Idiot Apathy** · September 3rd, 2006, 03:46 AM

Hmm hmm, nice stuff! Good sketches.

Looking at these, I think perhaps what you may be lacking is a process. A way of doing things in a logical order, and perhaps the "vocabulary" for self-analysis. I know you are in the UK but you should still be able to find this book: Alla Prima by Richard Schimd. Been really enjoying this book and has got to be the best damn painting book ever, heard it called the painters bible even. Best 60 bucks I've ever spent. BUY IT! It has what you neeeed!

**luxun** · September 11th, 2006, 08:01 PM

That latest on is pretty cool, something about the proportions are bugging me though, i think it may be either the mouth being to little or the mouth and nose being to low on the face.

**Lohan** · September 21st, 2006, 11:23 PM

UPDATE!!! or your cut from the squad!!

JK. but seriously update i know youve been drawing. stop holding out on us!!

**Bendragon** · September 22nd, 2006, 08:45 AM

Erk, sorry for the lack of updates, Ive just moved to university and I havent had internet for two weeks, but thats all sorted now. Now I can start making up for the lack of update.
Lohan - Cheers, I can always count on u guys to give me a big slap in the face

Idiot Apathy - Wow! Thanks for directing me to that book, it sounds great. I have found it on the internet but it costs a heck of a lot here. I may have to sacrifice food and save up!
luxun - I think I see what you mean. Thanks for the pointer!

WIP:

**Lohan** · September 22nd, 2006, 12:19 PM

cool man. don't forget sketchbook pages are also a time to work on your composition. you can make a page look drastically better and improve your eye at the same time by just arranging your studies thoughtfully on a page instead of just placing them randomly (esp. the page with the ipod).

**Bendragon** · September 29th, 2006, 02:14 PM

Heres a WIP of what Im currently up to:

Drawings out door:

These two were done outside in the middle of the night. My friends thought it would be fun to do and they were right!

**Bendragon** · October 7th, 2006, 04:29 PM

Still working on this landscape, but my interest has shifted to another piece:

This is another digipaint Ive been working on:

Experimenting more with different mediums (dip pens) and drawing from life:

Some brush pen work here and a few mech pencils.:

More brush pens and some watercolours on location:

**Blue** · October 7th, 2006, 04:34 PM

Looking good here. I can see progress happening digitally, thats a great sign. Presently, i personally like your traditional stuff more, but i think that is just due to the fact you're still learning digital. Keep 'um coming!

**Fishspawn** · October 8th, 2006, 05:08 PM

Hey bendragon. Your heads have improved a lot, i can see you've been working hard. You need to update more often! Keep it up.

**Bendragon** · October 13th, 2006, 05:32 PM

Blue - Cheers, I'll try get my digital up to scratch for ya.
Fishspawn - Ive been slacking some what recently. But Im sensing the tides shifting

Anyhow:
Not much progresion on this one.

Drawing from life and in canteens.

Studies from Durer (class work).

Upside-down study of a Picasso contour drawing (class work).

And one life drawing piece.

**Onir** · October 13th, 2006, 06:04 PM

heey I' had to do a contour drawing of that same picasso piece! lol, hey man great sketchbook you've got here. I gotta say your pen work is amazing! seriously, the quick sketches you've done show great confidence and form and your renderings are amazing (not just with ink either), especially those hand's from Durer! I also really like the simplistic ink drawings on this one http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a98...t/DSCN4490.jpg.

only crit I can really see to offer is to watch the proportions on some of your figures (I know it can be hard to do, especially if you're going quickly). keep at it man, you're making some great progress.