Xylene Fumes - updated - 04.25

[liquidjack]

For the most part I like this crusader guy. Mean looking SOB. Really good to see the process work. That sword wielding right hand though is weird to me. I am not sure if you are showing his hand is bony and the skeleton is pushing up on the skin or maybe he is really squeezing the sword, but the rest of his pose is not dynamic so I doubt that. Those lines are probably better off removed.

keep it up

[Icecold]

Craaaazy progress Blud, i only wish there were any life drawing classes in my town, You are nailing the anatomy.

Best wishes.

[LordVenom]

Really cool progress you made throughout your sketchbook.

Those drapery studies from your previous page really made me wanna do some drapery studies as well

[BludHund]

liquidjack -

Correct, the right hand is all wrong. Actually those lines are where I placed the fingers, initially, then I saw how messed up it was. I'll wipe that out in the final pass (which may need to be done in PS).

Icecold -

Thanks. No criticisms? Advice? Stock picks?

LordVenom -

Hello LordVenom.

Thank you.

Yes drapery is an essential tool to have...not only for realism but to enhance the gestural energy or theme of the pose. One problem I've found is a lack of concise educational material on the subject. By far the best I've found is "Drawing Drapery From Head to Toe" by Cliff Young. It covers both the most common scenarios as well as examples and (structural) analysis of common 20th-century items of clothing.

---

Man I meant to post this update last night but my connection was being super-crappy...or at any rate the CA site was very unresponsive.

As you can see I did nothing but friggin' heads last week...even passed up life drawing (partly because I was 'too busy'). A lot of this is just trying to refine my proportional model / mannekin. Going forward two major goals are to apply better 'process' practices to head construction (hopefully less geometric) and to stop doing crappy symbolic features...gotta really improve my placement and the sense of the features as 3D forms in their own right.

In the mean time though, I'm focused on improving the consistency (or at any rate intentionality) of my proportions.







Thanks to everybody for looking...more crits! Beat my ass!

[BlackDelphin]

Wow! You are everywhere i go!!
I see you doing a steady long-comment job all over the place!

About criticism...i personally think these heads could have better proportions. I have seen a few of these in original, so i know they look like that from the start..
I personally think you should work more from real life, self portraits, or from figure references to really get it! (so do i actually xD)

But in any case, update more!!!
I'll be certainly come n visit, so don't you neglect this place! I won't let you!!

Have a swell day n have fun drawing!

[BludHund]

BlackDelphin -

I could say the same thing to you...

Hmm...it'd be great personal favor if you could mention some specific points where my proportions are incorrect...at least if there are any proportional mistakes I'm making repeatedly.

I try to unify abstract canonical guidelines with real-life measurements. The thing about portraits or life drawing...well...'real people' are so widely varying and ideosyncratic (as opposed to 'ideal people' who are still different, but less so? ).

Right now I'm not as concerned with 'correct' proportions in the strictest sense as I am with getting consistent control of proportions...things still seem hit or miss. I figure that if I can be consistent and deliberate, I should be able to then capture and faithfully represent real life much better...I hope so any way.

Hmm...some of it has to be chalked up to a lack of concentration and the brain interfering too much with the eyes. I still cannot believe how wildly inaccurate and dishonest my perceptions are at the early stages of a portrait...it makes me so mad.

Heh...thanks for stopping me from having back-to-back updates, I'd feel rather sad if no-one came between my posts.

---

Last week was pretty lame. I was pretty stressed out, I guess, anyhow, I mostly worked some more on proportions...not very successfully, at that. Did a lot of practice with line control, circles, cubes. Won't bother y'all with that.



from life, 2-minute and 5-minute gestures



from life, ten minutes



from life, twenty minutes



This week I promise I'm not being so lame...actually working on drapery, for realz.

I do feel like I'm falling into a comfort zone here a bit...which is bad. But...it makes sense to me to work on the things I am working on. I know I need to be covering more ground, pushing the boundaries more.

Any thoughts? Am I making consistent good progress, or just taking it way too slow?

[Krato]

neat stuff try to be more loose in your studies, focusing so heavily on lines and regions can be bad

[Zazerzs]

Thank you for the crits in my SB! Although I don't have the time right now to return the favor how about a bump

Great stuff going on in here, subscribed and will be checking back.

[BludHund]

Krato -

Welcome! Yes I do tend to focus too much on lines, especially a vice at the gesture stage, I think. Not sure what you mean by 'regions' like, a particular part of the body?

Zazerzs -

Hey, thanks for stopping by. LOL. Your bump tastes like ashes in my mouth, next to a sweet sweet crit, but thanks.

Hmmm...well, a two week interval seems to make more sense right now, at least as far as focusing on a given subject. Not so much for scanning and updating...gotta keep up with you guys.

Anyways, mostly drapery this week...next to weeks will be all about hands...with a little heads and drapery thrown in. Need to get back on the project bandwagon real soon, of course. Might have to work on rendering a bit before then.

These are all copies from Cliff Young's 'Drawing Drapery from Head to Toe', definitely the best resource on the subject I've found so far. He covers both theory and examples, including different types of clothing, and analysis of photographs. Good stuff.

Now I just have to learn how to apply it.











of course life drawing, I'm two week s behind on scanning this stuff, now. Blah. I'd really appreciate and advice or criticism on my life drawing. I really feel like I'm not doing as well with this as I good. I realize that I probably just need to concentrate more on my figure-drawing process.



Okay...back to business

Oh yeah...I tried photographing this time instead of scanning. Clearly I need some better lighting...let me know if its too obnoxious right now.

[Peetaer]

No crits man. It's just good to see how busy you have been. Excellent work on those fabrics, something I still haven't gotten to.

Ok, I guess I have one crit: I think you focus too much on getting the "best" human skull. It's too mathy, like you're figuring out an equation or something. I'd suggest you just do the skull free hand and do a shit load of them. That's what works for me so it might not work for you.

keep them coming man

[kingkostas]

i really dont know what to crit.I like your studies very much.Even the lol ears and such simply give more character and personality to the sketch
Maybe there will be flaws in the digital, so far i like these very very much!!!
keep up the great work

[Jason Scanlon]

Nice!

[liquidjack]

Good updates....very mechanical in nature. The "draping" of clothes study is GREAT stuff.

I agree with others that you may be getting to technical-perfecto with the studies. I think it is good to build up this much structure but just let loose from time to time and draw. The figures look good. You may want to back away from building the perfect structure again and just draw. BUT like I said they look fine to me.

[LordVenom]

Yay more drapery and anatomy! Good progress mate.

[BludHund]

Peetaer - Thanks. Yeah...its not exactly so much trying to get the 'best' or 'ideal' skull as it is trying to achieve consistency / intentionality in head/face construction. One problem I'm aware of is that tiny errors in the construction approach I'm using translate into major distortions in the delicate proportions of the face. Anyway, its a subject I'll need to return to soon.

kingkostas - Thanks.

Jason Scanlon - Thanks. Whatcha up to, man?

liquidjack - Yeah, point taken. I guess what I really need is some projects to work on...or I suppose I could allow myself a 'daily doodle' . I usually end up hating myself whenever I 'let loose and just draw', but that's not necessarily an excuse for not doing it...

LordVenom - Hehe...boring I know. Thanks.

---

Man...really dragged out the interval on this update.

Been trying to work on the hand these past weeks...really frustrated at the lack of progress. To much studying and not enough drawing. I think what I'll do is assign like one 2-hour period per week to work on hands...





Working on hands lead me to bone up on one of the most complex anatomical forms: the forearm. Which became studying the whole arm. Which became looking at the details of the shoulder girdle....

...hmm was I getting off track? Well I feel that I accomplished a lot more progress on the arm than on the hand, at any rate.









Still doing the life drawing thing. Really not giving it the attention it deserves, though. Keep repeating the same bad habits, too: proportional errors, especially form widths. Also keep over-emphasizing the neck.

I see also that my values suck hardcore...another subject to attack in the near future.









Well...thanks to everybody for stopping by, keep coming back for more.

[liquidjack]

Awesome human gesture work. I particularly like the flexion of the bicep gestures in pronated (palms face down) and supinated (palms face up). Good stuff.....keep em' coming

[t.n.t]

your head construction method at post #274 is very technical and accurate. It appears to be the ball and plane method but the 3d cubes indicate otherwise. Could you be so kind as to tell me where i can find a text (preferrably a book) which explains this cube-like (sort of like Bridgman's) technique?

Criticisms - Your very good, BUT... you ought to know hogarths proportions (this is a noobie thing to say but still: the nose in post #274 reminds me of hogarth, is this intentional or...?) aren't based on models or references so they may appear imperfect or "off" when used, especially when combined with other methods. Judging by your outstanding skecthes, i'd say you know this already.

Great work, you have surpassed some great artists i have seen!

[Bartovan]

Hi Bludhind, great sketchbook! I like the studies you are doing. Very interesting to see how you construct the figures and the heads. Great linework too.

[HunterKiller_]

Good improvements, broski!

Arms studies are nice, drapery/clothe studies are killer! The last piece of figure drawings with the thumbnails are ace, got some good line work and shapes goin on there.

Moar updates!

Peace

[Benjie]

REALLY solid studies dude, the arms look real sweet! lots of improvment in this sb, keep at it man ill be watching.

[knut-]

Great studies. I love hands and i love your hand studies. Also, the baseball (?) player very solid. Keep it up.

[BludHund]

Oh my gawd...can't hold up this update any longer.

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liquidjack - Thanks man. Digital camera + mirror = study material for teh win!

t.n.t - Afraid not..its not from a book, its just something I thought of one day and experimented with for a couple of days. Yeah I really don't trust any of the 'carved in stone' proportional guides...I'm constantly refining the proportions I use based on observation from 'real' people. The bottom line is not what is ideal or correct but what works.

Blush blush, you're inflating my ego.

Bartovan - Thank you. No suggestions/crits?

HunterKiller - Oh, look who's come a-calling Hehe. Thanks man. What you up to these days? Send me a PM or something.

Benjie - Yeah...they're getting better, thanks. Bring a crit next time or you owe me a beer

knut - Hands, blah...yeah, I need to do like a million more. At least 2 hours a week, I'm thinking, or maybe like 30 minutes a day or something...

---

Well things have been hectic so this is pretty pitiful. Got lots more figure drawings I'll post them up later

In the mean time:

Spent a couple of days on heads...



...only had one that I really liked completely



Tried a different medium, having FORGOTTON TO BRING drawing materials to life drawing last week...sheesh. Luckily there's a good art supply shop across the street, LOL.



Hmmm....got some other stuff worth sharing, but I've gotta sort through it a bit...yeah I know LAAAZY. Well I guess this'll be a two-parter

Stay tuned folks...more tediousness is on the way...eventyally....
hehe, seriously, thanks for all the encouragement, I'll drop by yer SBs shortly.

[HunterKiller_]

Thanks for the encouragement man, I appreciate it a lot.

I would say forgetting your drawing gear was beneficial hehe. That drawing turn out nice.
It's good to experiment with mediums!

[Nianto]

i would really give you some critiques, but in you rlive drawings,.. hm, i can't see wrong things/lines or whatever - they look good - but the ones with the baseballbat looks amazing, are they from reference?? - looks really good

have you some recommendations for learning anatomy etc the right way? books or something?

keep it up duuude!

[liquidjack]

Wouldn't say lazy at all. You seem to draw your pencils down to a nub every week. Keep'em coming

[BludHund]

HunterKiller_ - Dude, your mopey "Oh woe is me I'm lost at sea" post put a huge smile on my face that day. I can hear the same shit in my own head every day sometimes. You gotta put it behind you, be relentless. Whatever you do, don't get comfortable. ...and BTW it wasn't encouragement, it was THREAT I can always fly back to NZ and kick your ass if you don't keep up with your responsibilities...

Nianto - hmmm...why does everyone assume baseball? Is it becaus I'm a Damned Yankee? Those were all drawn from tennis players...see if you can guess which ones.... Tennis is great because of the action poses and the facial expressions...very warrior-like, I guess.

liquidjack - not lazy to draw, lazy to crop, scan, crop, contrast-adjust, sort, and post images. Case in point see this update: totally unsorted, only about half of the stuff I've worked on, no commentary...and a week behind...LOL.

---

and so he drew asses for two weeks, and then went insane





LOL...I guess I'm just not 100% sure what I'm doing at the moment...well I know what I'm doing, but I'll not try to explain until I'm sure if I'm on the right track. Trying to close some gaps in my figure-construction technique, slowly but surely.

No life-drawing images again this week because, as I explained earlier I'm LAZY plus I still feel like I'm just falling all over myself every week, no process of confidence, so yeah, its embarrassing and so far I'm not getting many crits on previous weeks. Let me rephrase that: I believe my life-drawings of the figure an not representative of my current level of ability in drawing the figure generally...I need to bring the two together, before it would be relevant to post more. I do feel like, in my life-drawing sessions, I'm concentrating too much on lines, particularly outlines, and not enough on form and gesture...blahhh.

Also trying to squeeze some creative doodles in somewhere...gotta make room for that. Design/invention 'muscles' need to be exercised as well as analytical ones.

Anyway, moving forward, moving forward.

[BlackDelphin]

Hello BludHund, sorry i haven't visited in a while, but i'm here now!

I see you've bin busy with your anatomy as usual, but i still see those proportion issues.
And in general, i would say it's head-body relation and lower leg proportion. I may be wrong, but i get a strange feeling when i look at them, like it would need exactly one foot extra length of flesh..

Cheers

[Vritra]

Hey, great sketchbook. Really liking those studies, especially this one.

Came here to save the kitty.

[HunterKiller_]

My suffering makes you happy huh? Didn't know you were a sadist.
I totally understand what you mean by life drawing not matching general drawing ability. It feels very 'hit or miss'.

I think it's got a lot to do with being in the right frame of mind, being warmed up helps. I often go through the entire session flailing about and just start to get 'in the zone' when the session finishes.

The other half has to do with combining observation and technique. A lot of us draw differently when drawing from life and drawing from pictures, and different yet again when drawing from the dome.
I think the trick is to harmonize them, developing thought processes and techniques that are consistent throughout.
This is what I think anyway, lol. *sprinkle salt*

[kingkostas]

You are consistent and great in your studies.I find them all well done, solid and with a lot of understanding.The flaws will be visible on some illustration piece or another work.In this stage you are definitely great.I love the simplifying you did in some of them!!!
maybe check yourself with some non study piece(i cant believe i am saying this )