Incessant Doodlings Of A Wandering Mind

[Ignominious]

Welcome one and all. This is my skethcbook. I'm sixteen (now, 2008), so there's still sooo much i need to learn! Please, when you crit, whatever you do, DON'T HOLD BACK! I'll appreciate your honesty very much! I'll tyr my best to post at least once a week

So here are a few of my pictures, some old ones.

One more thing, How do i make my pictures smaller!

[Moai]

**First to comment**
I was just randomly looking through the sketchbook section when I saw this. I'm glad to see that you started one of these threads. Have fun learning!

[Seedling]

Very nice anatomy! Are you a Wayne Barlowe fan?

Come join us in Concept Art 101! There's a link in my sig. . .

[Ignominious]

Moai-Hey man! Very glad to see you here, hope that you'll be a regular member here

Seedling-Thanks. To tell you the truth, i found out about Wayne Barlowe only about 2 weeks ago when i read someone's post about him, but he was an instant fav. Terryl Whitlatch and James Gurney are actually the artist that i'm most obsessed about and most influenced by.

[Ignominious]

Here are some more pics. My logic is that the more pics i have, the more stuff people will have to crit. The first sketch is the first finished pic that i've done of the backside view of a basc. They're hooved-biped with small forearms. The head's kinda screwy, but the body was my main focus. I spent a lot of time on it, but it still doesn't seem right. The second is an animal study. I always fill my pages with notes about the animals behavior and lifestyle.

[Moai]

Hey, Ignomious! I'm attaching a small file to help with my critique. I hope you don't mind.
The first thing that I noticed about your basc is that it is tipping dangerously to the left. It feels very off balance. Reversing the head, like I did in my edit, helps achieve more of a sense of balance. A general rule of thumb is that, to appear balanced, an entity's head must be vertically aligned with its center of gravity, if the entity is symmetrical and viewed from the front or the back. A commonly used example is the guy standing with his weight on both legs and with his weight put onto one leg. With his weight equally distributed on both legs, a vertical line going down from his head would go directly halfway between his feet. With his weight shifted more to one foot, the vertical line down from his head would pass closer to the foot with most weight on it. Hope that makes sense.
Remember to constantly sharpen your pencils, or to go over to mechanical pencils. Your lines tend to be kind of soft and fuzzy. Also strive for smoother, more continuous lines, rather shorter, choppier lines.
The basc's ears and hints of musculature on its neck are very nice. I also like that you think about the creature's biology and make notes.
See ya next update! I think I'll add a link to your sketchbook in my signature.

[Frank Wade]

Moai covered most of the critiques I noticed, but I just wanted to add that a good range of values is an important thing to establish, I think that would really help your sketches feel more fleshed out.

Interesting concepts, I like the amount of thought you put into your creatures, keep it up man!

[Ignominious]

FrankWade-Welcome to my sketchbook, you're crit was absolutly right, i really need to work on values

Moai-Thank you so much for your crit. You also are right on. I was trying to make the basc look like it had seen some type of predator and was pulling away from it while beginning to turn away from it, but your rendition looks much more normal.

[Ignominious]

I'm gonna be gone during almost all of the summer. I doubt that i'll be posting at all. Every now and then i might have a chance to log on and check replies. But probably no pics until late august or september. Try not to miss me too much! I will be back!

[Moai]

Noooooo! Don't gooooooooooooooooo..........!!!!!!
You better be leaving for a darn important reason, that's all I'm sayin.
Have fun.

[Ignominious]

HEY!! i'm finally back with a new scanner. my last one's been really screwy. So here's a few things i did over the summer. i'll put in more later. but for now...

-a juevenile version of a basc (bipedal horse-ish animal)
-a random creature
-my first shot at combinding prismacolor and pen
-a project i had to do for school
-random alien and animals
-another project i did for school, anyone read Les Miserables??
-heads from a Norman Rockwell book
-bear
-not a sketch from life...beginning to work on anatomy
-mother basc and baby (same animal as the first pic)
-a rhino-ish doodle i did on notebook paper
-a stylized self portriat. this was really fun to do (i wasn't really naked)
-walrus-catlike animal

as always, crit are greatly appreciated.

[Ignominious]

Hallelujah! I’m back. Here are some things I finished recently (still a little big, i'll work on shrinking them next time)

[Ignominious]

posting comments is allowed

[sweet_sorrow]

I'm liking your work, and those creature concepts. Can't wait to see more!

I like the ink stuff too.

[Ignominious]

more updates...


sweet sorrow-thank you so much, i'm glad you like it

btw...i've fallen in love with smooth bristol paper and pencil

-some masthead designs for my school newspaper
-a wayne barlowe-ish animal,VERY fun to draw
-some old ink drawings
-old tractor drawing
-more pics
-animal i drew a long time ago
-i've been experimenting with colored pencils for my drawing class
-some creature sketches....the scanner screwed this one up

more later....

[Ignominious]

here are some more posts....the paper is all white, but i have to alter the contrast and brgihtness so that the pencils lines will show up

-an old picture, but pretty accurate depiction of the "ideal" basc, my most favorite animal that've made, i know an animal couldn't balance like that, but the picture was drawn just to sho what it looks like
-some sketches of animals from a book i have
-pics of my dog-bella
-a wip animal for an art project. we have to illustrate a poem from Shel Silverstein's Don't Bump the Glump....every poem is about a different animal, i'll try to get some drafts soon

-btw, does anyone know how to make watercolors un-water soluble? if there a kind of fixative you could spray on it or something? sometimes i try to go back and paint another layer onto something, and the extra water ruins the layers underneath---any tips???

[RandAlThor]

Nice sketches so far. Good to see you studying animal anatomy, your biped creatures immediately made me think of Kangaroo... Anyhoo's keep up the good work dude. :-)

[Ignominious]

randalthor-thanks man! yeah, i get that a lot with the basc, i'm trying to make it look less like a kangaroo. the inspiration for it came when i was drawing an elk and i accidently made the front legs WAAY too short.


sorry i haven't uploaded in so long. i haven't been drawing as much i should. so here are some pics.

-some animal parts from a book. i'm really trying to pay attention to detail.
-some more pics of the basc, i'm trying to break into new poses to help my understand it's form better
-a new species, not particularly original in the design but it was fun drawing it. this is what the notes around it say: adult male hyils in a trot: hyils are very efficient workers, once a farmer can train them not to eat crops, they can seek out and destroy populations of destructive burrowing creatures. in the summer their falls out and grows back when it gets cold. when agitated hair doesn't just stand on it's end, it sticks out in every directions, giving the hyils a strange porcupine-like appearance. omnivorous, eats burrowing insects, along with roots of plants. gives live birth to about five pups in a litter, mature after 4 months-a face i did with a mirror, not me, but i used myself as the model. i was trying to get realistic lighting. i'm also really trying to push the contrast in my pics, it's a problem i've noticed
-a sleeping basc with some lighting thumbnails.
-a sketch of a mother basc and her foal. this is what i wrote: basc foal, a few days old; first weks the foal undergoes rigorous size and muscle growth, preparing it for the world-the last two pics are rocks, just more experimenting w/ lighting

i'll try to update more regularly...

[saminfused]

Hey Man, I'm loving the creature designs. Rushing too much too read other comments just btw. Buutttt. But from what I can tell. Try to spend a whole day just drawing from life, then you know.. try it again. No making stuff up. Then go back to your creative ideas. See how it helped.

Draw from life, draw from life, draw from life (repeat x100). Watch the hatching, try harder to go along the contours of the image that you're rendering, and for now try to stick with single directional hatching, move onto crosshatch once your lines are a bit more confident and everything's looking delicious-er. Right now they're looking rather flat. Increase your contrast, less gray. Darks = Darker, lights = Lighter. Or more apparent. Or something. Just do light studies is what I'm trying to get at.

But to end this critique, keep up the good work man, it's all looking damn good. I really liked the coloured scenes. Improving with every post.

[Ignominious]

saminfused-dude, thanks so much.! and welcome to my sketchbook, i hope you'll be a memeber here. i took your advice and started drawing from life, and from books

here's my latest, the scanner can't completly pick up the light line that i draw

-a wildlife book, and elephant, and robin, and a chinchilla
-sketches of my rabbit, and my dog

ithink i'll move only invertebrates and new creatrues like them---i haven't done much of that. i'll try to get more in, maybe not as soon as this one was, but soon...

[Hogarth]

Those self portraits (?) remind me of my younger brother in an eerie sort of way. :0

You have some nice wildlife study going on here and I like how you meld the information into your own creatures. The picture of the children and the picnic basket is cute.

I'll try and drop by some criticism when I have a bit more energy.

[Ignominious]

Hogarth-thanks man!

Alright, so this is a creature that i made up a few days ago, and i made up all the info in a matter of minutes, but it took me a ton of time to write it all down. Now looking at it, it looks more like a squid than i had wanted (i didn't want it to look like one at all)...but, c'est la vie.

(A) LEVR (Brochorius totalius)
Levrs are a large bastketball sized creature that lives in the shallow waters of oceans and seas on the planet Nagaria. They were largely overlooked despite their numbers, due to their seemingly boring form and lifestyles. However, reknowned naturalist, Jon T. Rockell, was the first to research and shed light on this amazing creature. He spent much time in diving suits observing them. External sense organs, and multi-functioning mouths were just the beginning of the bizzare parts of the animal.
(A1)The levr's hide often varies in hue, but it is usually a bright color. This display serves to warn predators of the poisons that lie within the skin, created a type of lichen that the levr eats (the only type). However, the levr meat is not poisonous to humans. it fact, we find it quite delicious. this point, combined with clothing trends, released a frenzy of levr gathering and killing and almost drove the creature to extinction. Luckily, the C-POB (Commitee for the Preservation Of Biodiversity) was organized and intervened with the hunting, saving this animal
(A2) The levr has no ears or eyes of mouth on its head. The various tentacles are all external sensory organs. The tentacles funciton is apparant by its particular shape, form, and texture. Certain tentacles perform certain functions. Cruel research done at the Institute of Marine Biological Research, reveal much about these appendages. All the tentacles of a certain type were aputated on differnet experiments. Some of the levr were unable to find food, and others were not able to detect the presence of other things in the water. It was concluded (it's now been verified) that their are two main types of tentacles. Some of them detect changes in water pressure and help the levr be aware of its surroundings, and the other type "smells" the water and helps it get to the lichen.
(A3) the levr locates a specific type of lichen type of lichen with its keen "smell". the lever sludges on top of the lichen and the holes on the sides of its body begin to excrete a digestive enzyme that makes the lichen jelly-like. Then those same holes begin to suck in the jellied lichen and provice the levr with all of its nouishment.

(B) This diagram show the propulsion organ for the levr. Levrs do not drink water because they absorb it all through their skin.They can, however suck it in and force it back out. The inside of the water-cavity is lined with an elastic, but strong muscle. When agitated (B1), the levr will suck in water and inflate itself. Then it will foce the water back out using the muscle and shot itself in the opposite direction (B2) This move is only used when trying to evade an obvious predator. They usually slump along the ocean floor like a slug. they have a very high reproduction rate, which is good because they are so easy to catch.

[Ignominious]

i know i haven't given anytime for anyone to respond, but i just finished this pic and i didn't want to procrastinate putting it on here.

it's a (attempted) self-portrait. i worked on it last night and this morning, i think it's as finished as it's going to get. i'm trying to work with value but i couldn't seem to smooth out the left side of the face. the nose worked out really well, but i wish the eyes and the lips had worked better. i also got lazy with the hair again and i decided to just skip it. i know, i know, incredibly hypocritical especially with that quote in my signature...but....oh well.

[Ignominious]

alright, here are those invertabrates that i was promising.
the scanner cut off the top of the scorpian....

i'm going through this big animal book that i'm copying from ("referencing"), so i'll try to get more stuff soon.
i did some more creature concepts, but they were all such messy thumbnails that no one would be able to tell what they were.

[Moai]

AAAARRRGGGGHHH!!!!
Why am I making a pirate noise? Because this is, like, the fifth time that I've tried to make this comment in your sketchbook. Every other time, I've either had to suddenly leave to go do something, or my internet froze, or I accidentally clicked a link and lost the multi-paragraph response that I'd typed up. Garrrr!
Anyway, before I start critiquing you, I have to say that you've made fantastic improvement. Your pencil technique is much better now that when you started this sketchbook, and your range of study has increased admirably. Good job!
Now, some crits.
OOOPS: Once again, it seems that I have to go now, and the critique will again have to wait. I'll save this post as a placeholder, though.

[Ignominious]

YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Why i am screaming for joy? BECAUSE MOAI HAS RETURNED!! haha, yes!
it's so great so see you back on this moai. i hope you'll have time to crit soon


anyways, so here are a few things i've doing.
i'm feeling really guilty because i really haven't been drawing as much as i should be, but here they are...

-a quick study of my dog, bella
-a doodle in which a crab-man is pleading for Chopin's Waltz Op.64 No.1, which i am too, but i can't find it anywhere
-a pen picture of some trees at the cemetary behind my high school.
-some more doodles
-even more doodles
-a stylized self-portrait with a background inspired by Of Montreal's album "Hissing Fauna, are you the destroyer?"
-a little dude falling down a tunnel

[Moai]

Okay, now I'm back. Sheesh! Sorry again that this took so long, dude.
Anyway, some crits and comments:
It's great to see that you're drawing from life as much as you are. Your observational drawings are by far your strongest, I think. Those drawings of your dog are especially fantastic. Just keep observing life, and soon you'll be able to draw these things from memory, without having to look. That'll add a lot to your drawings from imagination, which don't seem as confident as your drawings from observation.
Another critique is that you need to work on your shading technique. Much of your shadows are the same value as your lines; an example of this can be seen on the beetle on the right side of the image in post 25. This can make your shaded areas seem kinda messy and undefined. Darken your linework around the shaded areas to make sure your lines remain clear. When you get more skilled at depicting form with value, you can let your linework get lost in the shading, because you will be skilled enough for the form and details to remain clear.
To continue on with using value to describe form, it seems like you could use some instruction on the basics of depicting light and shadow. A common exercise used to teach this is the sphere exercise. I did a quick version of it in photoshop here to show you. You can see that there are two basic parts of the sphere, the lit side and the shadowed side. Pay particular attention to the shadow side. See how the part closer to the lit side is darker, while the part closer to the edges of the sphere is lighter? The part towards the edges is lighter because light from the surface on which the sphere is sitting is bouncing back onto the sphere. The darkest part (called the shadow core), is located between the side of the sphere that is being lit by the primary light source and the side of the sphere that it getting reflected light from its surroundings. I'd noticed that many of your shaded areas are flat, with just one value, rather than having shadow cores and reflected lights. Get some eggs or some of those foam spheres they sell at art stores and do some value studies of those to see these principles in action. Then move on to things like cubes and cones and do some value studies of those. Robert Beverly Hale, one of the great art teachers of the 20th century, said that knowing how light acts on these basic forms is the most valuable knowledge and artist can have.



More information on this stuff can be found here: http://www.huevaluechroma.com/021.php
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76955
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

In addition, you'll probably want to get some books on human anatomy, so your figures will be more believable. Again, your work from observation (your self portraits) is good, but your figures from imagination are fairly weak. Buying a book such as Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life will help you learn the basic forms of the human body and enable you to draw them from your imagination with more authority. It's no substitute for drawing from life, though, so take some figure drawing courses when you can (I don't know if you're old enough). Also, Andrew Loomis has a few downloadable PDFs of his figure drawing books on the internets, if you want to search them up. Those are also good.

So yeah, I hope that was a good critique, and not unclear or redundant. I'm kinda sick right now, and not feeling very eloquent, so I hope I did okay.
Rock on, buddy.

[Draniel]

your creature designs are very interesting, I got inspired

[Ignominious]

moai!!-dude, thanks so much, i'll definitly start trying to shade better and do life observations more
oh, i don't think i'll be able to do any nude figure drawing classes for awhile. i'm only fifteen, and my parents are super conservative--they think it's "innappropriate"

draniel-thank you, i'm flatered especially after looking at the state of your amazing sketchbook!

[schlichte]

cool stuff dood keep it up, wish i started at fifteen
its nice you are sticking to traditional media
check out some of terryl whitlatch's work, i think you will enjoy
she did alot of the creatures for star wars