end of sketchbook, come see my new one under the username AlexC

**entdroid** · September 14th, 2006, 05:16 PM

The head study is very good.
Your anatomy is improving, but you still have some proportion issues. You have a tendency to do the legs a bit short.
The enviros have a nice sketchy feel, but their perspective is really weird, specially the one viewed from above, all those lines seem to be vanishing to different, random points.
Keep going!
Cheers,
entdroid

**blanquish** · September 15th, 2006, 03:59 AM

thanks for the replies
oldnoobie- cheers mate!
Entdroid- ah, always good crits from you. Yes, ive noticed that as well, short and sort of stubby. Im just trying to gathr ideas and composition on those enviros thumbs, but yeah, theyre crazy

ok, not officially todays update, just something i whipped up-will finish davids head+anatomy tonight!-
Some creature- give me teh crits, I need em!

**Lee W** · September 15th, 2006, 04:09 AM

nice sketch ... but it looks like its gonna tip over cuz his legs aren't in the right position for balance. Need more bulk in the rear IMO

**Zynic** · September 15th, 2006, 04:19 AM

Thanks for dropping by Blanquish

You've got some really neat stuff here!
You're very good at shading, especially in the portraits!
I'll have to work hard to get that job at MB before you. ;P

Keep it up mate!

Oh, and that last sketch looks cool, but the balance looks a bit off.

**TheGnoll** · September 15th, 2006, 04:06 PM

nice work with this new sketchbook.Nice to see you've slowed down with rendering, it looks much cleaner.About your characters, make sure you aways try different designs, ages, ethnies, and sex, change poses and everything you can, otherwise the designs will always look the same.Enviros are messy, but at least you're practicing.About the last creature, nice rendering.Did you check out Neville Page's dvd for this?
Anyway, creature design will NOT work, if the creature doesn not have a beliavable anatomy.This one hasn't.Studies real animals skeletons and muscles before going into creature design.But keep practicing.

**Andy P** · September 15th, 2006, 05:35 PM

New sketchbook is lookin good, man. This last creatue has a lot going for it, I like his back/backbone craziness, and it's rendered very well, but he feels like he's leaning forward too much. Also the foot the furthest to the right doesn't feel like it's on the same level as the others.
The drawing's definitely comin along, keep banging at it!

**tekdj** · September 15th, 2006, 07:05 PM

Love the SB blanquish, there is a lot of really cool work here. Keep it coming, the more you do the better you will get

**blanquish** · September 15th, 2006, 09:48 PM

holy schomo so many replies!
Old noobie- yeah your right, hopefully this one is better.
zynic- thanks mate- that job at mb is mine! well, probably not..
The gnoll- thanks for the reply mate. Right now im just trying to do as many characters as i can, and do the anatomy as filler to learn more poses and stuff.
The more I do, the larger my repetroire of poses/clothing will get.
Yeah, saw the N page vid, was awesome, gotta get more dvds!
Well, on the last one, i googled dog anatomy and used that, is it really that bad?
thanks for the comment, got me thinking.
ANDY- cheers mate, I feel a lot stronger with the rendering, thats for sure. Hope this one is an improvement.
Tekdj- thats the plan!
Ok, this was really just a doodle last night that i finished this morning.
Give me teh crits

**Lee W** · September 15th, 2006, 10:01 PM

hmmm you know .... using the anatomy of an orangutan might be better than that of a dog.

**Cup of Joe** · September 15th, 2006, 10:10 PM

1. Sorry for not dropping by for so long
2. Thanks for still coming to my SB regardless
3. Holyshitprogress!

Big steps man. Bigbig steps. Nice stuff going on with that brush pen. Enviros are nice, but a little busy. Check out HERE for some sweet enviro books (and various other awesomeness, particularly Bammes and Loomis). I found the 'Rule of threes' particularly helpful.

As for the creatures, number one thing to follow for believable creatures is function. Every muscle and bone in it's body should be there or at lst appear to be there for a reason. Check the COW winners archive for examples. Yours look nice, but probably 90% of the muscles seem to have no purpose.

Another general rule of thumb is that you should have everything blocked out before you start rendering. This doesn't mean you can't block is shadows, just don't fully render a nose when you have'nt even started the eyes.

Keep it up!

**entdroid** · September 15th, 2006, 10:55 PM

I like the last sketches, but the legs are not really working very well imo, they're too straight and stiff... I really like the textures you're getting with your pencil rendering though, really cool, keep it up, buddy!
Cheers,
entdroid

**blanquish** · September 17th, 2006, 07:22 AM

oldnoobie- again thanks for the reply! Googled it but couldnt get anything good unfortunately

cupof joe
1-np
2-the pleasure is all mine
3-cheers
thanks for the link, wont dl anything 'cos im near the limit of my broadband.
WHats the rule of threes?
Its a bad habit that i start to render some areas before i block it out, but i generally find that If I dont like the head(in creatures and in humans) then I wont continue. And, highly muscular creatures look cool, and i struggle to think of anything else..
Entdroid.
Well, i did some animal studies and looked at mammals legs to get a better understanding of how they stand, cheers mate.
Ok. just finished this dude, never thought I would.
A valuable exercise that i believe everyone should do at sometime.
I learnt so much on values and rendering, definately a good study, expect more.
#cant be stuffed scanning in other crap, possibly post it in next update#

oh, and lol http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/2740/davidlolfp2.jpg courtesy of a mate

**j a k e** · September 17th, 2006, 07:40 AM

Good progress mate, Keep doing what youre doing and life will be good.

**guitarjames** · September 17th, 2006, 03:14 PM

hey sorry for the late reply (been away).
well yove improved lots and lots and all is well
although when doing creatures and charachters try doing some more dynamic poses and less profiles .etc(cant really talk myself

)

last one's looking good only thing is the ear dose'nt line up with the bottom of the nose?

keep at it .james.

**sith** · September 18th, 2006, 04:56 PM

your hatching is getting really damn good man

**Lee W** · September 19th, 2006, 07:35 AM

the study of David's head came out really nice .. just wondering, how long it take you to finish it?

**blanquish** · September 19th, 2006, 08:52 AM

jake, cheers mate
guitarjames, ty

sith, itsa not exactly where i want it, but the issues relies in my lack of light knowledge, rather than the rendering.
Oldnoobie 'bout 3 hours plus, not exactly sure though.
did some observational anatomy studies of myself from mirror on my arm.
ignore the shite line quality, it was real quick mind you.(done in a smaller than A4 sb)
been doing a lot of really quick stuff from my bus stop-in the city with pens, VERY rough, just trying to get down building masses tather than details, and working loose, its pretty crap looking but its interesting to do, and it opens your eyes up at the amazing things you dont notice when you walk around. Thats the thing about being an artist, you have to be observant and suck it all up.
-kinda semi happy with the creature, you decide.

**Magic Man** · September 19th, 2006, 10:01 AM

Man! You have been working hard mate, glad you know how to run your hands more than you run your mouth

That tonal study of the statue looks fucking brilliant mate. 2 things to keep in mind, be more gently with the pencil, feather things in and work up the tone after the tonal patterns have been laid out, and don't be afraid to push those values.

Also, start to learn how to define as much as possible with value, trust me, it will take you to another league, use line as LITTLE as possible, this is what i did for a few months, learnt so much.

Darren

**entdroid** · September 19th, 2006, 04:34 PM

Cool studies, I'd like to see you get a more polished piece out of one of those little anatomy thumbnails though.
The creatures legs are weird, specially the front ones, animals usually don't bend their legs backwards thay way. I'll try to post some references later to illustrate my point.
Keep it up!
entdroid

**Dile_** · September 20th, 2006, 07:49 AM

Hey man, thanks for replying in my new book!

Im really loveing that David's head, great one! keep it up, You could still refine
more on your Pencil renderings, You hatching the same whatever its Water or if its a stone, you see what I mean ? Like hurricane told ME, Try to feel the surface! Keep it up man, you makeing a very nice progress already, great improvement!

~Your friend Dile

**blanquish** · September 21st, 2006, 08:53 AM

ok, thanks for the comments!
MM-thanks for the comment, Im really trying to master value on ref stuff, and im nearly there. I use a smudge stick to softer it up, so thats not an issue, and maybe i should just stick to 2b? Or use the 2b lighter. Anyway thanks, Im trying to get rid of line...
entdroid, cant wait for the photos! Thanks for the comment
Dile-
Thanks mate.

**archipelago** · September 22nd, 2006, 07:06 PM

nice

Keep in mind that less is usually more, dont go overboard on adding gadgets and details, in this one for example everything is way too cluttered with pointless buttons and markings, give your accessories some meaning, "why would my character have buttons here? would he need lots of bags to carry stuff or does he like to travel light?" etc... adding lots of techno gadgets everywhere dosnt nescecerally make it cool...

Anyway, keep up the hard work man

cheers!

**asoir** · September 22nd, 2006, 07:28 PM

Nice. I'm officially the laziest teen artist on the forum.
SHIT.

**blanquish** · September 23rd, 2006, 08:29 AM

archipelago- yeah, i know its bad of me- im gonna concentrate on line, and strong designs.
Thanks for reminding me mate!
Asoir, lol, what about wolfbane, hes pretty lazy lol.
heres todays crap-worked hard

**asoir** · September 23rd, 2006, 01:51 PM

Christ! That last one is fucking SUPERB. I'm actually going to study. Seriously.

**dannE-B** · September 26th, 2006, 08:13 AM

Ok i must say i am guilty of not visiting your sketchbook in a while, but wow man, you have improved a lot since i last checked out your stuff. I wish i was as good as you at your age...not only that i wish i was doing as MUCH as you are doing, if you keep studying like this you will soon be ahead of me, keep it up...really...keep Going.

**blanquish** · September 26th, 2006, 09:00 AM

Asoir- haha, To be honest, I dont like it, but thanks for the props anyway, and start the studying boy, get on with it!
prophet- thanks man,

I try and work hard
Eh, not been feeling too flash hot, just some observational gestures which i slowed down and shaded. At school, i do a lot of this sort of thing in class, eases the boredom.
Anyway, Im getting excited because Magic Man said that he may start a concept class. Nothing set in stone, but still, something to hopefully look forward to.
Today I kinda felt bad 'bout my drawings, just wasnt excited about it as I usually are. I guess Im just tired.
On a bright side, 1 more week of school then holidays
-dump from last couple of days..mostly observational.

- did some sp studies, but cant be stuffed scanning in-no more updates till the start of new month, my internet is friggin slow###NOTE- due to slow internets, i cannot upload all the pics-pnly 2, so its just a shameless bump really

##

**entdroid** · September 26th, 2006, 09:01 AM

I like the fish studies, though maybe they could use a wider value range.
The robots look really flat, keep working on those.
My fav is the SP, really nice.
And as I promised, here are some simple refs of animals (the first one has also cuteness purposes

). Pay special attention to the shape of the feet, and their direction in relation to the whole leg. The shapes, specially on the back legs, are much more rounded than the ones of your creatures. Maybe you should try, not only with animals, but also with mechanical stuff, to do some reffed studies and careful observations of the subjects before trying to invent your own.
Oh well, I wish I could explain it better... you don't happen to know spanish, do you?

Hope it was of some help anyway...
Keep it up, buddy!
Cheers,
entdroid
/edit: It seems we posted at the same time, so I didn't see that last update before. Great hand/arm studies, some look a bit rushed though.

**Listing** · September 29th, 2006, 12:44 AM

Some great improvement. Work on limiting your marks. Overworking is most visible in the Michelangelo bust.

**smuli** · September 30th, 2006, 05:11 AM

Values just keep improving as well as the figures. GREAT work with the arm studies especially.

Maybe it'd be time to start studying the underlying structure already? Understanding the pelvis bone and ribcage and its relation to upper arm bones could also help with the random breadth mistakes you seem to get occasionally.