.: Big American Party :.

[Beonarri]

Great studies there! Glad to see them!

I think the figure positionings are nice, most of them are anatomy book worthy. Also, the pear is nice, but I like the Pear a bit more. I think that the pear is a bit too spongy...maybe that's what it looked like, but I think the apple, because it's a bit smoother, is more successful. I also think the stumbling of the stem, it doesn't connect correctly to the pear, at least visually in the picture. But, I should move on and stop talking about the pear...I'm sounding like one of my friends that will grab on to one thing and critique it over and over and over again.

Anyways, lookin' good, but post more!

[armando]

Your doing good with the freehand straight lines, there not as bad as you may think they are. I don't know if the distortion on the 1-point perspective is totally intentional. Rectangles facing the picture plane always look like rectangles no matter how they turn. Another tip is to start drawing your lines from points on the box towards the vanishing points. Don't draw your lines going from the vp to points on the form, because there's more accuracy at the start of a line rather than the end.
Another tip I've got is for drawing eyes. Instead of making both lids symetrical, divide the eye in thirds then place the highest angle of the curve of the upper eye on the line dividing the third at the inner corner of the eye, then place the lowest angle of the lower lid at the dividing line of the outer third. I think that made sense, hope some of that was useful.

[max xiantu]

Howdy.
Excuse my absence, I got really busy for a moment with the holiday and a new music project. I had to use all my extra time drawing rather than fighting with my scanner
Thanks for coming around and leaving such great comments and crits. I'll be a little more regular now. Either that or I gotta go back to the prune juice.

OldNoobie :: Thanks. I actually got some watercolors for a gift which I'm about to dig into.

DannySketch :: Thanks brother. I hit you up with a PM. Check it ...

Ulver :: Thanks!

Bunny :: Thank you miss. I think that's the best way to heal that stem. Good advice.

Justin :: Thanks for coming by. I'm definitely working towards actually utilizing the perspective. Sooooooon.

Seer :: Thanks man. The perspective induced figures are arriving shortly. My word.

Fishspawn :: Thank you. On the apple I got a little crazy with the specularities. You are correct.

Beershite :: Thanks. I tried to utilize your advice with that pear.

Spats :: Thank you too. I'm glad I'm not all wonky

Term8or :: I took you up on your challenge. Take a look below...

LateNiteHype :: Thanks! I'm glad I could be of any help and I appreciate your support.

LiquidJack :: Thank you. The skeletons were done from Enter the Dragon. Yeah, I bit the Bruce Lee idea from you.

Bludhund :: Word. It's all practice baby Definitely make sure you come up to me at SF if I don't come up to you first.

Olle :: Thanks for stopping by twice! I appreciate it bigtime. And finally, a crit! Woot!

Beonarri :: That was one spongy pear though. No, but I see what you're saying about the smoothness. Good words. Danke.

Armando :: The distortion is one of the things I was referring to in my needing practice. Thanks for the tips. That's helpful. I appreciate it.


Well. Page 3. I had hoped I would be better by page 3 I guess we all hope that about our page threes ...
Anyways, minimal update. I've been doing alot of boring copy work from Loomis, Bridgman and Hogarth. But I'm sure you all have those books so I'll spare you the reproductions, although I'm throwing up a page from the loomis to lead you into the application
I put the Loomis figures to work with ref from a Parkour video. Man, I love parkour. Got some more freehand perspective suckiness and a page of sketchtastic basura.
Enjoy!

[Andy P]

Word man, these gestures look real nice, especially some of the Parkour dude. That's what I'm talkin bout, Willis!
Do more of that kinda stuff (and I imagine Parkour provides a lot of crazy reference to draw from)!
Word!

[entdroid]

Hey Max, thanks for stopping by my SB!
I was really impressed looking at yours, specially your anatomy has improved lots from page 1! I really like the last gestures and the parkour studies. I admire you for doing those perspective studies too, I always get bored to death doing that kinda stuff and drop it in most cases, I definitely don't have that kinda patience.
Keep up the hard work!

[Seer]

Man man man man!!! That parkour stuff is hot. Funny thing you should mention it as me and a mate's been talking a lot about it and how awesome of a concept it is (I don't have the kind of "springiness" you probably need for it though).

Hey, almost looked over those small silhouettes, got a bunch of pages of that stuff myself too. I've noticed I've been doing this thing the wrong way around, starting with anatomy and skipping motion and flow. You seem to be doing it the right way. I'm speaking of the comment about "crazy foreshortening". 'At least' you've got exciting motion!

[Lee W]

looking good waiting for those watercolors though

[liquidjack]

Your getting pretty damn good with the sequences. I don't see any difficulty with your poses and natomy on them.

[bunny]

Oh God parkour.
It's a freaking suicide sport.

Anyway.
I guess I haven't been paying TOO much attention lately - but this loomis book. thing. It sounds nice. HOw's it working for you/how much was it/ etc?

I'm compiling an xmas gift list for myself, you see....

[DannySketch]

*smiles* very nice mate, very nice indeed, keep working your ass off on this 'less interesting' stuff and i swear its gonna pay off big time.

loving the perspective studys yet again dude, they free hand again?one thing though, watch out about putting the 2 vanishing points close to each other it makes the object look warped, if one vanishing point is close to the picture plane, the other one should be very far away from it.

loving the loomis stuff, will update bridgeman soon and get back to you about how i am finding it

keep it up bro, if you do, its quite plain to see that your one of the ones whose gonna make it.

[MattGamer]

Aie, mate! Nice sb!! Really cooking, keep those studies up always. The only way for you to get worse is to stop doing what you've been doing!

I love the parkour stuff... just wish people would parkour with me here in town. Ha!
I always love Loomis studies as well. He's still one of my all time favorite artist, because he's taught me so much and he's DEAD (no offence to him)!

Cheers, mate, and keep it up!! You can always check out my sb if you have any spare time too... it's a load of crappiness, but i'm learning from my crap. ;]

[ArtZealot]

post more!
I saw your thread over at the workshop forum asking if you should go to the forum. These sketches are pretty good for a "beginner" but i wanna see more. keep postin.

[BludHund]

lol, parkour...I love that District 13 'movie'

as to San Fran, I was thinking about heading to the hostel when I arrive, just to try and meet peoples (I'm staying at the Ramada...it was a great price).

[Niels23]

Love you gestures, bro - loomis figures and reffed figures from video are looking really "alive". Nice lines in the free hand perspective piece and in the sketch page. Keep going!

[Beershite]

Cool gestures man! not much to crit now. More!

[tensai]

hey man, whats up? good to see you keep on posting, puting in the hours etc.
about the last post;
perspective looks difficult to comment on. guess its not really enough to show if its wonky or not.
figure thumbs looking real good- very dynamic... seems like a good thing to train.

alright man. keep it coming - and have a good new year..

[max xiantu]

Hey yall! Sorry for the no posts in a bit, but between Insomania and the Holiday season, it's been hectic. I finally got a new driver for my scanner and it works like charm so.... posts shall be more regular in the near future.

Andy P Thank homie. Yes, parkour is chock full of good action reference. This next batch I'll be posting is mostly breakdancing. Still big fun.

entdroid Thank you for the encouragement. I appreciate that kind of thing. And yes, the perspective studies can definitely become mind numbing if you let 'em.

Seer Word. I sure do hope I'm going in the right direction. Sometimes I'm not so sure. I'm looking into going to school on a fulltime type status, so I can be a little more sure. Thanks for the consistent support.

OldNoobie I think I might have some watercolors in the next post. I've been experimenting with them a bit, and I'm about to get into a stillLife.

liquidJack Thanks. More sequences to come.

Bunny Actually the Loomis book is out of print. But you can get it for free all over the interwebs in PDF format. Google that isht!

DannySketch Yes, do excuse my distortions. It was great being your roommate out in Cali. I'm very much excited about our future work together.

Mattgamer Thanks brother. Don't be so hard on yourself, your sketchbook ain't that crappy at all!

ArtZealot Thank you. I will post more. I've been getting more into Painter and my new scanner driver should expedite things and make my posts a bit more frequent.

Bludhund Really great to meet you at in Frisco. This new project of ours inspires the heck out of me.

Ulver Thanks for coming by again and again. It's definitely morale building.

Beershite Thanks man. Here's some more. And they'll be some fun stuff later in the week.

Tensai Thanks for taking alook at the SB. I'll have some perspective application in the next post or so, that you may check the level of wonk. Have yourself a good new year as well.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year, Happy Commerce Corporate Over Spending to All!

I went to Insomania and learned tons and met some really great people. I wrote a bit about my time in the Gratitude thread. Future posts should really capitalize on that. Guess we'll wait and see....

Some heads in space studies from Loomis, Hogarth and Bridgman ::
Attachment 67656

I've been making myself just draw alot, in order to rid myself of this darned perfectionism and just become comfortable with sucking. This was later reinforced by Dirty_C when he related his 3 Rules of Sketchbooks ::
Attachment 67658

And a dying highlighter and pen on a post-it ::
Attachment 67659

A small selection collaged of some sketchwork from Insomania ::
Attachment 67657

One thing that was really hammered into me from looking at the great sketchbooks at the workshop was working the page. I enjoyed the most, the books that had good composition throughout. I realized I needed to do that even when doing 20 second gestures out in public. So here's a bit of that from a bar on Tuesday night (after getting back from SF and sleeping for about 19 hours; you know I ain't gonna waste no time before getting back into the drink ) ::
Attachment 67660

My apologies for this excessively crappy post. I wanted to post all the rubbish before I started putting up work made from a new mindset. So, new post in the next few days showing some work that might actually be interesting to look at.

Thanks for stopping by :.

[Seer]

Insomania was so great it taught me a lot of stuff, and I wasn't even there.

I appreciate every chance I get to get to know about what other artists are thinking/doing (when it's something I can learn from) so my honest rating for the most recent post is above excessively crappy .

Thanks for linking to Dirty_C's post - this is the kind of thing I've been trying to work out in my head until recently.

Mmmph! (indescribable feeling of being stuffed with purpose, good attitude, inspiration and Christmas dinner)

[armando]

Hey an update. What's up with all you lazy bastards and no updates. Those heads in space looked way better in real life, go ahead and scan a little bigger and mess around with the values a little until it looks closer to life.

[Lee W]

I would comment but having a hard time getting those linked images to show and I refreshed about 5 times with no luck

[sweetoblivion314]

nice stuff man. i really like the sketches of the dude with the fans from the workshop. keep it up.

[Niels23]

Nice lines in the last update! Stylized drawings look really cool!

[bunny]

best/worst update ever?
it's good to experiment, let go every now andthen.

In-depth critique to come perhaps with your next few updates

I should have asked my rents to send me to Insomnia for Xmas... sigh.

[Lee W]

oooh, I can see the images now ... of course, I'm not logged in and I know if I do, the images will disappear again sooo typed this on notepad first

The floating head studies looking good and also the last image of gestures.

no sketch is ever perfect or correct in our own eyes, because we created it, we know where all the imperfections are even though it is practicably unnoticeable. Also, some sketches aren't meant to be perfect, they are only meant to create a record for later use, experimenting, trying a new technique, or most importantly, having fun.

[liquidjack]

I like the Loomis heads and would like to see them applied to some drawings. I agree with oldnoobie with the sketching bit....it was fun and you ventured out trying new stuff.

[Dosadi]

Since coming back form Insomania I have a "draw all the damn time" rule. Since starting that it takes me about an hour to get all the crappy doodles out before I can focus on doing something worthwhile. It's like the first 5 miles in a long bike ride. They suck and you're going slow but after those first 5 you feel like you could go for 50 more. That's been my sketchbook lately and I can see a bit of the same in yours. Keep it up, we learn a little bit form every drawing as long there is thought behind it.
Done any work on likenesses lately? It's damn good practice, although I prefer to steer clear of famous people. That way I work more on what I actually see rather than what I "think" I see.
Can't wait to see what the future holds in your sketchbook my man.

[BludHund]

Hey man. Way to take charge of things with our little group.

The life drawings are quite good...you should do many more. Public parks, public trans, bars, whatever, show us the goods!

[Justin.]

Keep it up man, that post-it-note afro looks great :3

[Matsign]

Hey max, I really like the abstract drawing with the faces in them. That looked like a freeing experiment. I'm looking forward to the next post. Good luck with your quest to dismantle your perfectionism in your work.

-Mat

[max xiantu]

Hey y'all. Been trying to post for a about 10 days, but I've been locked out from loggin in here til today for whatever reason. Here goes.

Seer :: I'm happy that my last post was helpful. It was helpful for me as well

Armando :: I will scan bigger. I will play with contrast. I will not be lazy.

SweetOblivion & Ulver :: Thanks for stopping by guys. As always, it's appreciated.

bunny :: You're going to have to elaborate on "best/worst update ever" - not sure I'm fully realizing your dichotomy.

OldNoobie :: Yes! Fun! That's it. Thanks for looking twice. Very good of you.

Liquidjack :: I think it would be difficult to not apply the head studies. Even if it's not so directly. I am definitely on the page where fun is the most important part of the action. Thanks brother :.

Dosadi :: Thanks man. I'm gonna give you a hollar later and answer those questions about NY. I like the "draw all the damn time rule". That's a good idea. Likenesses - I gotta do that more often. Although I find myself doing cartoons of friends all the time.

Bludhund :: what up Blud?! I should be doing those gestures all the time. You're right. Again.

Justin :: Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the post-it.

Matsign :: That was a freeing experiment. I've been doing tons of things like that, really focusing on loosening up and getting comfortable with line. Thanks for coming thru.

This will be another hodgepodge post. Which is okay by me. I feel like I'm beginning on the point in the journey where it becomes very personal. A bit of the feeling of capturing my own experience of the world is shining through in my experience of drawing and I'm really enjoying that. While it may go contrary to alot of folks on cA, I have no desire to use artistic ability to just 'get another job'. I've had plenty of them and I'm quite happy about the music thing I do now. But, art skill in order to express or communicate without necessarily a goal structure in mind is making the learning part far more enjoyable to me. As Gandhi said "The reward is in the process".

This post is all straight up ink. I'm actively staying away from pencils and erasers. I went to a life-drawing class a few weeks back and sat next to a retired gentleman. He said "Do whatever it is that scares the hell out of you. Do whatever it is you don't want to. If you don't want to use ink and draw fast - use ink and draw fast. " So, I'm using ink and drawing fast. I'm not skerred though 8)

I decided to take a stab at applying my perspective studies and get into environments. But where to start? I had no idea. I chose to do a bunch of thumbnail studies from 'Baraka' which is a beautiful unnarrated documentary. Put it on your Netflix. Here's a page of that stuff ::

Attachment 76910

Some breakdance sequence gestures. I limited myself to two minutes a piece on these, but by the end on the second page I was burnin them in just about a minute. I really went for simplicity as a goal and seeing the shapes, rhythm, flow and movement. You might be able to see the notes to myself. They ain't that great, but I learned a ton from doing these.

Attachment 76911
Attachment 76912

And here's a page from the sketchbook for those of you that enjoyed the experimentation from last post. I got a painting in the works in this kind of style (a bit more focused though) ::

Attachment 76913

Thanks for coming by and all the comments, crits and spit in my eye.
Remember, this is your year!
Peace homies .
max:.