exploring the world of.. everything! [update: 27 XI 2009]

[maeshanne]

nice sketchbook, you keep improving

[Dawood Marion]

I have viewed your thread - first page up to this one - You have progressed over time. I think at this point you are getting a better understanding of values (light and shadows). My advice would be for you to start working more on your line work. Your portraits are great - you seem to have a sketchy hesitant out line to them. Do more Contour drawings and Blind Contour drawings - these exercises will help you let go of the want to make everything look perfect or near so.
If you learn to trust yourself more (trust your lines and done re-draw over them) you will have more fun drawing and cut down on the time it takes to draw a particular subject. I am not saying you should draw fast or aim for such.
Contour Drawing: Draw a subject using one line - don't lift your pencil or "PEN" until the drawing is done.

Blind Contour: The same process as above except you cover your hands and the image so that you can't see what you are drawing.

These are not easy things to do - in fact they are rather frustrating to most... but I promise you that if you do them more and more your line work will begin to meet all of the value/tonal progress you have been making.
Develop the habit of not redrawing over any of your outlines. Draw a line and what ever mistakes you make - live with them and continue to finish your drawing. This will be really frustrating for your first 50 - 70 times doing it, then you will start to put out line that you are more happy with. Eventually you will begin draw subjects with one line and that line will be pleasing to you and when you add in the mass/value/volume to the drawing it will freak you out how much you will be please with a larger ratio of your sketches. Drawing with become a serious addition at that point. You will want to draw everything and that fact that you will not have time will get under your skin.
I have notice that most students work on light and shadow for long periods and neglect asthetic line quality (line weight, rhythms and so on). If a drawing has awesome mass (shadows,volume,lighting - what ever you call it) and the lines that contain the drawing are sketchy, unsure and or overworked - the drawing never reaches it's potential.

Try drawing in pen for a while (perhaps 4-5 months)- black and white (no color). Stay away from the computer for a while (same period 4-5 months).

My mentor told me when I first met him that my drawings were horrible and that I should leave the computer alone for 1 year. This was at the time when I first signed up to take classes at School of Visual Effects in Hollywood and I had the concept art Fever. All I wanted to do is be like all of the hotshot concept artists - draw and paint in photoshop and painter.
I had no problem with his opinion on my drawings - it was the suggested year away from the computer that got me... but still I did it. 1 hard ass year of nothing but traditional work. My year just ended March 09.
To put it short - I took all of his advice and it worked.

Hear are some artist to research:

Ralph Steadman
Gerald Scarfe
Kent Williams
Ashley Wood
aubrey beardsley
Egon Scheile
Picasso
John Mahoney
http://johnmahoney.blogspot.com/
http://mahoneyconceptartist.blogspot.com/

Also Check out:
http://www.thedrawingclub.com/blog/

Feel free to contact me with any questions.
By the way - Good Work!!

[Monika Gruszka]

Dawood Marion - thank you very much for your help!
maeshanne - thank you!


charcoal portrait (50x70 cm) and acrylic crappy painting (also 50x70)

[Monika Gruszka]

this is wip of my entry for this week chow. it will be my city - Warsaw.

[Monika Gruszka]

oekaki

[matejkovacic]

Nice portrait. Much better values and skin colors are also great! Maybe mouth and eye placement would need some adjustment.
If you are not shure about the position and shape, compare every detail to details in surrounding (is the middle of mouth
in the middle of nose, is the left eye in the same level as the right, is the size of the eye correct compared to mouth ...)
Also the wip Warsaw is looking great - is there a finished version?
Keep up improving

[Monika Gruszka]

Matej - thanks! i dont know if i will finish Warsaw... Now i'm really freaking out because on the 1st july i will finally know results of my exams (Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw). I'm thinking only about it Sorry for my crappy english, i hope you can understand me

small progress with my oekeki portrait

[Monika Gruszka]

something i have done tonight.

[Monika Gruszka]

finished drawing

[Monika Gruszka]

[Enydimon]

Nice to see something from you.

I'm diggin' the current WIP.

[Monika Gruszka]

brand new fresh speedpaint, i'm trying to learn something about colours. About 2 hours:

[Monika Gruszka]

i haven't been posting here many stuff, but dont worry, i'm still drawing I have classes 3 times/week and it is helping me a lot so here is a piece i've done about a month ago, 50x70, pencil

sorry for my english, if you see a terrible mistake, correct me, please

[Monika Gruszka]

update on my last wip

edit: and new speed paint, about 2-3 hours

[Enydimon]

Your english seems fine, but I'll be sure to correct on any major mistakes.

Your current WIP is looking a lot better now. The other side of her face(her left eye, our right hand side) looks kind of weird. I'm not sure if that's just me or if it's a mistake or not. Something about the geometry of the face looks like it's a bit off. Might actually be the nose and the mouth that are at a weird angle.

The colours are looking good though!

[Marcelloo]

Hey Monika,

thank you for stoping by my SB.

I saw your sketches and you made some great improvements. Keep it up!

Good luck with your exam. I hope, you will pass it.

[Monika Gruszka]

Enydimon - thank you, yeah i see that her face is weird, i will try to fix it

Marcelloo - my exam was looong time ago, in july, and unfortunately i didn't pass this time. But it was a great experience and chance to see how does that kind of exam looks like. I hope in 2010 i'll finally pass

Not much for today (or rather for tonight), I think her face looks slightly better...

i must get some sleep, tomorrow i have classes and i'll be painting with acrylics... its a tough thing.

[Monika Gruszka]

Today for the first time i really enjoyed painting in acrylics. i've managed to calm down and focus when I was painting. It worked and i'm quite happy but still I have some problems with mixing (i'm not sure if it is the right word) colours, its soooo much easier (and cleaner! ) in Photoshop

Unfortunately i forgot to make a photo of that painting... stupid me But i have been drawing today too. It is a 2 hour portrait from life, 50x70cm, pencil. Its not bad, but i think something is missing...

[Monika Gruszka]

yay, i finished it! It's just a plain portrait, but i'm hapy

[Φ]

haha, "just a plain portrait" !its great, really! portraits are really tricky and you handle them well. youve improved a lot.
I dont know if you already do it but quick sketches every day help to get your mind thinking about proportions and form. and you dont have to show them to anyone, thats the great part

keep painting!

[Monika Gruszka]

Thanks Phil yeah, i'm trying to make some everyday sketches, mostly in the traditional way - pencil I'm not showing them here, it would be too much embarassing

i'm that kind of person who likes to see immediately great results, so i'm struggling with myself all the time wiht that horrible quick sketches But patience and focus is the key to success, right?

today one piece that i'm qoute happy with! I'm trying to focus on the whole scene in the picture, the mood and lightening. I have found many, many stock photos as a references and I tried to think about what i want to achieve before actually start painting. so far i'm happy i hope it looks fine.

[arestocrat]

sweet stuff. Really like how you handle faces and colors.
And your pencils look good too, not much to critique here!
Only critique would be: I want more updates!

[Kristo Novo]

hi monika,

thx for voting my chow entry :-)
nice sketchbook. your skill in shading/painting is still nice.
and keep those loose anatomy studies going.

[Monika Gruszka]

thanks guys!
Kristo Novo - your chow entry is superb, i love the colours and the overall mood of that piece

arestocrat, thanks mate! now i'm a little bit frustrated with my recent pencil work, it is sooo messy and..eh, enough complaining again - thanks for your kind words!

Today was the day of acrylic painting. i'm quite happy with the result, but i have only crappy photo (cellphone) so it looks terrible! and in reality colours are really nice... and i like the drapery. tomorrow i hope i'll finish it.

i'm giving you my (crappy) pencils from my traditional sketchbook. mostly no ref, just playing with walues and learning some anatomy. There are some sketches for this week chow too (i loooove steampunk!)

sorry for the bad quality, its all i have right now

[Monika Gruszka]

today a portrait i did yesterday (pencil, 50x70, 2 hours) and wip for the chow

[Elophant]

Love your portraits . awsome work !

[Enydimon]

This CHOW entry is looking awesome. I'm loving that face.

Keep up the anatomy and value studies !

[Monika Gruszka]

thanks guys!

little update on chow. I wanted her to look more 'relaxed' so i changed the pose.

[Monika Gruszka]

a bunch of yesterday pencil sketches. I must say i really see a little progress! Its such a nice feeling when you see you are getting better and better! Some of the sketches are from ref (great site with beautiful anf really useful nudes: link) and some are from life. You may also reconize i returned to Loomis

I'm still thinking about that chow... and so far it looks crappy because the character is like ctrl+v to the background:/ but as soon as i figure out what to do with the pose i'll try to work that out.

[Monika Gruszka]

chow update