And we keep spinning

[Stark]

Not to spam my own thread (texahol will complain) but thanks a ton guys. Hyver, Fafnir, DIMAGYAN, etc. I'm working on putting your advice to use before I update again. Hope things look good for you all

[Kvick]

Stark you should make some practice schedules or something, or a way to get yourself motivated. I still get the feeling from you, if you had the technical ability to make bitchin works you would.

[Juhani Jokinen]

I'd say that anatomy is something you should study harder, a few people made also good points about line economy and blocking the big shapes right before details. I'm 90% sure that you've taken a look at some of the Loomis books and if you haven't i strongly recommend you to do so. If it helps you can copy the drawings from them to help you learn the proportions of a human body.

Just my 0,02 euros.

-Juhani

[Stark]

Anthriel, your .02 euros adds up to .04 cents in the US...you are rich man! yeah, I was planning on dong some hardcore torso studies sometime soon...guess I have all the more reason to do it...

[Stark]

Meh, modest update. Really shitty tbh. I'll uh, figure something out sooner or later. In response to what everyone has said, thanks and I'll try to have something better to show next update. Lot of people complain when someone doesn't update in a while and then they complain when the update isn't as large or "as good" as they want. Well, that is the case with this update. It both sucks and is small, but I'll have something better once this COW thing is over. Yes, I am throwing my hat in, and yes, I have no previous digital work to show.

Prometheus|ANJ has helped me out in my mentor assignments (which I'll upload later) and in my digital painting. Thanks Arne!

[nickzorn]

Seems like you're making some progress...I would highly recommend picking up the entire Byrne Hogarth set, everything from anatomy to drapes & wrinkles, they have been an immense help to everyone I have ever seen use them.

Good luck and keep drawing!!

[scottmcd]

Those recent heads are looking good. Here's a link to a tutorial I found quite useful on drawing heads:

http://www.anticz.com/heads.htm

What I found is that if I was just doodling I'd often get pretty decent expressions, but the structure of the head would be off. If I followed the method in this tutorial I'd have better looking heads but more wooden expressions. After a while, though, I've started improving the expressions on the structured heads, so I'm pretty happy with the approach overall.

Also, if you want to do eye studies, take a look at this post: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...73#post1425673

Anatomy reference: http://www.anatomyatlases.org/atlaso...my/index.shtml

Composition: http://www.animationarchive.org/2006...mposition.html

(I'm still working through all of these myself.) Have fun, and as always keep drawing!

[Blue Severin]

Hey man, looks like you're still sketching a bit. I find that a good way to get more in is to go to a coffee shop or something, get a drink and just sit there and sketch people, even if it's just for half an hour, it get's me off my ass so to speak and drawing.

[Stark]

Thanks everyone. Modest update, just a preview of things I've been working on, including the COW 100. Probably won't finish it, so here are around 30 or so...

[Nateman742]

You don't seem to be using the things you learn when you do your studies. Your studies blow your sketches away through the whole sketchbook, and that's because you're not fully incorporating what you've learned. When you need to draw something, refer to your studies or a reference until you memorize the form. Every time you're not sure how to draw something, refer to your studies. When you're tired of drawing studies and just want to go crazy on a piece of paper, refer to your studies. Trust me.

I still see you using that symbolism to describe generic objects and parts of human anatomy. Draw what you see, not what you think you see. Break everything down into lines, and don't even think about the whole. Just think of relationships between the marks you make, i.e. what kind of line it should be, where it's going in your drawing, and how it pertains to the other lines you'll be drawing. Don't say to yourself, "Now I'm going to draw some lips," say, "Now these lines should go here," and think about where to draw those lines to make those lips appear on your page. It takes some getting used to, but if you practice enough, you'll do it automatically.

Keep at it, I see nice improvement so far.

[deadred]

You don't seem to be using the things you learn when you do your studies. Your studies blow your sketches away through the whole sketchbook, and that's because you're not fully incorporating what you've learned. When you need to draw something, refer to your studies or a reference until you memorize the form. Every time you're not sure how to draw something, refer to your studies. When you're tired of drawing studies and just want to go crazy on a piece of paper, refer to your studies. Trust me.

I still see you using that symbolism to describe generic objects and parts of human anatomy. Draw what you see, not what you think you see. Break everything down into lines, and don't even think about the whole. Just think of relationships between the marks you make, i.e. what kind of line it should be, where it's going in your drawing, and how it pertains to the other lines you'll be drawing. Don't say to yourself, "Now I'm going to draw some lips," say, "Now these lines should go here," and think about where to draw those lines to make those lips appear on your page. It takes some getting used to, but if you practice enough, you'll do it automatically.

Keep at it, I see nice improvement so far.

this guy has said everything i wanted to say, and he said it better than i could have, hehe

if you're sick of doing studies from photos (i get that sometimes), you could also do master-copies of work from your fav artists, like some Min stuff, for study purposes

[BohemianChaos]

those hand studies look promising. Keep using reference for your drawings!! Draw something enough and you'll eventually be able to wing it without any reference!

[Justin.]

They are right, your studies totally annihilate everything else. You are still basing your sketches way too much on preconceptions and not enough on what you are learning. Stark, seeing as how one of my mentors seems to have forgotten about his obligations, I'd like you to pick up in his place. PM me.

[dCepT]

Hey man... thanks for the comment! I agree with Justin... focus on using what you've learned in your studies... Think about the masses and how to define them... you seem to rely a lot on drawing outlines of characters. Try to think of ways to describe volume.. like "perspective" lines to show which forms are protruding and which are receding.

That being said, you are making progress This one looks like a step up in your imaginary stuff... you're starting to describe volume here a lot better!

d-C

[dCepT]

Hey man... thanks for the comment! I agree with Justin... focus on using what you've learned in your studies... Think about the masses and how to define them... you seem to rely a lot on drawing outlines of characters. Try to think of ways to describe volume.. like "perspective" lines to show which forms are protruding and which are receding.

That being said, you are making progress This one looks like a step up in your imaginary stuff... you're starting to describe volume here a lot better!

d-C

[Stark]

Thanks guys. Update coming later tonight! Will reply in depth when I update.

[S.C. Watson]

Stark, just scanned your sketchbook quickly. How much of your work is from reference?

Cheers,
~Oreg.

[Stark]

Nateman: Thanks for stopping by. I know what you mean and it frustrates me more than you know. Sometimes you just gotta go crazy on the paper to get the uncertainty out. I use references a lot actually. I do studies of people (mostly women). When I draw smaller, I lose the form and everything that I had been studying/learning. Maybe I'll start to draw bigger more often.
deadred: I agree. When I did the rendering for the COWs I studied Min's work quite vigourosly to see how he rendered, blended, defined form and everything. I just need to keep crackin at it and not put off drawing for days on end... I'll fix that.
Janae: Thanks for stopping by! Yeah, I do need to keep using reference to draw things more accurately, but it helps to do my own thing to keep the monotony of "copying" something all the time. Kinda puts a shot into the creative ego ya know?
Justin: Soon. I'll let you know where things stand in due time. Thanks for the kind words.
dCept: Thanks. I've been working on that actually. A lot of just crazy stuff starts with random lines and motions and then I go in and give them volume or define the form more. I'll try to draw something else to show what I've hopefully learned.
Oregano: I'd say roughly 40-50% of my work is reffed in some way or another. I might not use the whole figure for reference though...just an eye/mouth/nose or something. I've been working on it, trust.

I'll update tonight promise. Couldn't find my housemate's camera so I'll have to do it when I get back from work.

[JL.Alfaro]

Hey stark, I was about to say what everyone else just said...so I'll skip it..

Stick to your studies man, some of those studies are really good- compared to the other drawings you made... put that away, and keep studying bro.

[Stark]

Here's that update...

[worxe]

---

Since you wanted me to have another look in your sb, well.. I did, and this is all I have to say, because im becoming sick of trying to think and then type of something light hearted and motivating, and then clicking cancel with every thread that has someone elses work in it.

---

I remember when I was a kid playing with lego fervently, making all sorts of cool things to use to build even more stuff out of, like mecano, i also had alot of the micromachines and loved em, although i got frustrated with mecano because i kept losing all the screws and smaller bits, lego seemed easier to keep track of because of the brighter colors and at the time gave you more freedom for 'static' creations, as i got a little older of it though my attention shifted to movement, and action with those same lego pieces, but there was very limited room for doing anything big or life-like-but-nuts at the time, so i just kept making the usual army bases and fields and did the whole armymen battles thing with my other friends in pre/early primary school and still enjoyed it, everything back then was always great and interesting when you're a little kid for me, roof over your head and caring family, how awesome, because honestly speaking stark, rather than yet another stagnate 'ok this that and the other.. but good work!' rhetoricle response.. draw what you want to draw, what you feel you need to draw aswell, dont hold back and then draw pictures of chicks in panties with boots and giant guns just because prom might do it, or write half-assed little catch phrases exagerrating your mistakes because the guy/gal in the sb below/above you is doing it, or some other comparison, a comparison that makes you someone else that you're not.


be honest with yourself in the way you see things, including this reply, including with how you study, and when/if you study. I dont think you have to treat it strictly like a study, because the word study reminds me of fucking boring chores back in early highschool like copying notes off the board a couple years ago that i dont even remember the details to today, when you draw, draw how you feel and what you feel, your own personal ideas that you want on the page can be apart of the 'studies' instead of yet another realistic head/torso/leg/hand/feet/whathaveyou that you see atleast a hundred times in nearly every sb, perfection isnt attainable, but yourself is, so why be something that doesn't even exist and if it did, would just be the epitome of boredom.. but im getting beside the point now, not that i wont later.

talking about it like this isnt going to help either, probably confuse moreso if it hasn't already and/or terrify the shit out of me instead because chances are someones going to have a knee-jerk reaction and not read this and go off his/her head at me about it and pick my head until i give in for some reason or another, but i digress, if you are after a direction, i can only suggest it, in which case look for things that reeaally motivate you and get you reeaally inspired, doesn't matter how dark and dirty or bright and clean it is, I think alot of people on this site and beyond have their own little collection of feelings and ideas that they respond very strongly to and often hide it away because of some form of regret or fear, i know i do.

so, i dont know if you're the same, and i dont want to assume any more than i have now, but dont diguise yourself as something you're not just to be like the rest, and do what you feel you want and feel you need to do in art (using 'art' very broadly) to express yourself, and no this isnt talking in a conceptual art standpoint either because this will likely sound like some abstract hippy trash 'dont-want-to-hear-it' if you told it to joe bloggs concept-artist down the street who probably worked like a dog on technical studies all his life but is only shooting blanks in the real world, and holy shit does that prospect shake me every time I realise im letting a truckload of rules define what I do and not myself define what I do.


and now back to our completely 'irrelevant' derailment in the first paragraph about being a kid, you can 'easily' (dont that at face value) just compare yourself to other disadvantaged kids who probably are orphans, stuck in boarding, got the shit end of the stick basically, and how fucking fortunate i was, and moreso for other people that had the same chance, because you see, the moral of all of this split-info is the experiences in life that make you what you are now, and those experiences in life are what you can draw from, yet it just feels like nearly every time someone posts a reply its all covered up by stale or rhetoric shit, the 'ideal reply', as if though someone is going to hand you a golden card with a few directions in what to do for this alotted time to improve in this area thatll make you into someone even noticable, then again i think this is something we've heard before.





..so, like i said earlier, be honest with yourself, including with this reply, and do what you feel you want to do and what you need to do, art doesn't have to be the only way you do it either, because right now, to me, none of your work feels like theres anything about you, and doesn't make me want to come back and 'see that drawing again', i know i hardly know a thing about you, but the work thus far just doesn't seem like a person with a diverse range of morals, beliefs, inspirations, desires, confusions, dillemas, annoyances, disatisfactions.. and i really cant stress it enough about the honest thing because this is the bit where im terrified that i tell someone what i feel and they feel all shitty at the end of it.


and believe me its no good feeling shitty all the time, so dont, and keep enjoying life with art the best you can possibly fathome and don't hold back, because I now have to get up in an hour for work.


-edit- this was mean't to be before your last update, but regardless.

[schlichte]

one tip

draw through your figures there is much more on the inside, you can only explain so much to the viewer with outilnes

keep it upp

[FactorZero]

On thing that really stands out to me is that you skew a lot of your shapes. When you draw people a lot of the shapes in their heads and bodies seem to be stretched and at weird angles. Try to focus on nailing the angles and shapes before going in for the details. a simple drawing with a strong foundation will always look better than a weak one with lots of detail.

[Anurizm]

stark I see some improvement since you first started this sb. something else I see is the same problem I had and still kind of working through is your stuff looks flat. You gotta start thinking 3d, visualize a 3d form over your drawings. Do lots of life drawing, that's all i have been doing for months now. You are doing well, do some perspective studies, draw from life, and observe everything deeply. You will gain a lot from it, I have found it out and keep finding out new things everytime. so keep up the good work and draw as much as possible

[Stark]

An assignment that IdiotApathy gave me in IRC...It's numbered but small. IT starts from the middle then goes to the bottom left and rotates counter-clockwise...

[DanielC]

1-800-i-want-to-see-more

[Idiot Apathy]

It's a good start dude. Each of them seems off in a different way, but that's ok dude - you'll get the hang of it in no time. Meaning, do another sheet! You might try a few without permanent level and plumb lines - and you might try using a very faint line until you are positive of it's placement.

Let's see perfection this batch dude! Remember, it's not the time spent or the final product - it's about learning. Identify when, what and where you are learning and revel in it.

[Justin.]

one tip

draw through your figures there is much more on the inside, you can only explain so much to the viewer with outilnes

keep it upp

y esy esy esy esy,

yes,

make sure you are looking THROUGH to what is on the other side, it can not in any way over the internet describe the importance of form. If you are going to Seattle, I'd love to go over any sketchbooks you bring. (not that it's that super special, being myself)

Also, fill up your pages; Fredflickstone said this and IMHO, it should be a principle for everyone who calls themselves a visual artist. FILL UP YOUR PAGES! I don't care if it's abstract, or if it's writing, or if it's stick figures- art is so much about mileage, about how often your pencil has been touching the paper. Make sure you are drawing as constantly as possible- I know Jason said it, but I'm going to reiterate- Stark it's so important to just, not care about your sketchbooks, as long as your pencil is buried in them. if you are eating or waiting for anything, just run to your sketchbook and start a doodle. For too long have I moved on from an incomplete page.

As I'm almost sure you have, look at Daniel C and wes, and others who just CRAAAAAAAAAAM their pages full. Bragging about how many sketchbooks I go through was so stupid, I don't know why I ever did it. If every single one of your pages is filled up, no matter how good or bad any of it is, that counts for so much more than any amount of sketchbooks filled in the same amount of time. It teaches you so much, and helps so much, there is no reason not to do it (I do it too though, so yes I'm a hypocrite, but by saying it, I think it helps me change each time),

David levy and the other concept guys happened upon my post count the other day. During lunch when they are painting, if I try talking they won't let me.
"JUST PAINT. JUST PAINT."
"well it's
"JUST PAINT."

So stark

Just. do it.

[TheDirtSyndicate]

sweet man, i would give a critique, but others before me who are more eloquent have said it all. there are LOTS of good critiques here. more than i've seen in most sketchbooks actually. hha
anyway, keep at it bro, those last heads were great.

[Olof]

Hey there
Not sure about your photos/scans but you really need to start getting those shapes right. Your faces and heads are really skewed and you are having trouble with their form. It'll be better by time, no doubt, but I believe you can speed it up by doing more studies. Draw more from life and try to really understand the shapes.

Keep working there...

.hugs