CecelyV's Sketchbook (Updated 6/16/10)

[CecelyV]

Hello to All,

I'm starting this sketchbook thread as a way to continue my art studies and record my growth as an artist.

My goal is to become an awesome concept artist, and I'm beginning by focusing on the human figure.

Any and all constructive critiques and advise are welcome and appreciated!

[darkface]

Hey man, these are nice studies. Make sure you do proportion studies along with these anatomy studies. I'd also recommend drawing from life as much as possible.

When drawing a figure, dont focus too much on each individual muscle in there. Instead try to draw the figure using abstractions that you can easily remember and turn around. Having a good understanding of anatomy does help indeed.

So keep this up and you'll reach your goal!

[hedwordup]

im also trying my hand at anatomy at the moment, you should try and get into a life drawing class as its nice to be with people trying to achieve the same goal

[CecelyV]

im also trying my hand at anatomy at the moment, you should try and get into a life drawing class as its nice to be with people trying to achieve the same goal

hedwordup,

Thanks. I actually took many, many hours worth of life drawing classes back when I was in college. I majored in painting, so I've done about two years' worth of life drawing. Problem is, even though you get a good grasp of the figure with a model, it doesn't help much with drawing the figure from your imagination.
I do want to take another life drawing class so I can have access to models, though.

Darkface,

Thanks for the advise. I want to draw from life, but I'm not sure how to accomplish that. I mean, my husband can't stand to sit still long enough to pose for me, and I don't know enough people in my area to ask to pose.

Plus, I have a day job so through week I can only devote about three hours a night to my work. When I tried drawing people in public places, they'd get all weird and turn around or move so I couldn't draw them...<sigh>

What do you think?

[ped454]

you know i found that it is very hard to draw accurately without a model in front of you.....i actually set a plan in motion to not work for a summer and just take 7 life drawing classes a week in order to just......instill it into my being so to speak (lucky i have this luxury)

personally i think you're off to a great start. some places i found great for drawing are @ bus/subway stops. just sit @ a bench in a corner somewhere with shades on and do it there if oyu can...it really depends on how fast you can draw. sleeping people are good as well but lately i've been finding myself just taking a hell of a lot of photo refrences...the thing with this is that it also kind of affects your style in drawing.

but yeah sorry i can't be much of a help. nice studies

[darkface]

Well if you absolutely cant draw from life, you should use reference as much as possible. A couple of books that might help you draw the figure, easily, from imagination are; Vilppu's Drawing Manual.....and.....Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life.

Both of these artists are masters as far as anatomy goes, and both use abstractions to draw different muscles from any angle.

Good Luck!

[CecelyV]

Okay, it took me a while to find time to scan some of my new stuff...started a new day job
Anyway,
Crits much appreciated! Thanks everyone

[Seedling]

Hey CecelyV, how’s the new job going? If you have as much as three hours a day after work to devote to learning this stuff, that’s terrific. The most important thing is to make sure you use that time. Get yourself into a sustainable, daily habit of drawing, and keep doing it even on days when you don’t feel like drawing.

Drawing people from life will help you to draw better figures from imagination. Would it be possible to talk a friend or coworker to do short, clothed poses for you for an hour sometime, or sit for a portrait while they read a book? Bribe them with dinner, perhaps?

(On my list-of-things-to-do, when the weather turns cold again I plan to bring my paints in to work and do hour-long portraits of my coworkers. I’ll start asking around beforehand to stir up some interest, and I may bribe them by offering them the paintings.)

Another thing to try: if you still have those figure drawings you did in college, dig them out. Pick one figure, and redraw it in some sort of costume.

And if you have a camera, you can supplement this stuff with photographs. Got a friend that you could talk into goofing off in front of the camera?

And when none of the above is available, do self-portraits, keep doing the anatomy studies, and draw still-lifes. If you use your time to do even just one still-life a day, your drawing abilities will skyrocket.

Good luck.


Oh, by the way, there is also a Ladies’ Forum here at CA. If you haven’t been spotted yet, then go put a post here: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=98595

[CecelyV]

Okay, not too much for today. I've been exhausted & sore, so I haven't done as much during my studio sessions. I'm all better now, so things will pick up.

Here is very first sketch ever using Painter X and my new wacom + stylus. I'm new to Painter and my wacom, so much of what I post from now on will be done in Painter--Gotta Practice!!!

[CecelyV]

Been very busy with the day job and learning about Painter X--the exercises I'm doing to learn it aren't exactly sketchbook posting material, but I've got a couple of things I want to add here today.

[CecelyV]

Rose still life I did as part of my studies in Painter X.

[DragonSnail]

Good work - only thing I'm missing is quantity atm! You need to post more - as it is now, I have a hard time getting a feel for your style and to give feedback. I believe you are currently too much focused on lineart and would advice you to try more with shading to get the general shape of the subject. Try not to see only the outline of your subject, but the form it makes up of shadows and highlights, if you get what I mean? Maybe a good practise for you would be to try black and whites for a bit, dividing your subject into dark and light areas without making any outline at all but concentrating on the 3D shape. I could probably use the same practise myself, come to think of it...

Looking forward to some updates when I visit next!

The DragonSnail

[CecelyV]

Hi DragonSnail!

How are you?

Yes, I know I need to post more--things have been hectic. I have my all girl TD piece to post, but I couldn't post it until the TD voting results were in. I'm working on a Minotaur concept now, too. I'll be posting more after Thanksgiving.

Thanks for the crit, I appreciate it. I'm struggling most with the whole teaching myself thing. I probably already mentioned that I'm trained in the fine arts via state art department training. So, where I'm hitting the biggest snag is figuring out how to concept characters--where to start, how to continue once I get started...that kind of thing. But, I feel like it's going pretty well. If it feels right, I keep going...because not doing anything at all feels horrible.

Anyway, I'll try to see if I can post before the holiday, so I don't forget.

Thanks!

[CecelyV]

Not that I think anyone actually looks here, but I've been crazy busy with the holidays and my day job. Just when I didn't need it to, the stupid day job got very demanding and annoying. It seems to be tapering off now, so I have a chance to post the bit I've been able to do. These are all still in the beginning stages, except for my TD entry--which was my first "painting" effort in Painter X. I'm pretty happy with it considering I'm a newbie and I had to crop like mad to meet the deadline. Anyway, here's what I've been upto DragonSnail, you're right about my focusing too much on line art. I've just been squeezing in whatever I can after I get home from work, which is usually a quick sketch for my current minotaur project--and I've been working late. But, I've a nice bit of vacation on the horizon so I'll be able to relax and be more productive where it really matters.

[FourTonMantis]

Cool stuff. Keep working.

[CecelyV]

Okay, I've had a nice, loooong vacation and I'm feeling much refreshed. I got back to my sketchbook last night, and my New Year's resolution, which I don't usually bother with, is to draw and/or paint every single day and to post here at least once each week.

Good Luck to everyone on your resolutions if you've made any.

Happy drawing/painting

[CecelyV]

Oy! I keep forgetting to post my stuff here. I've been sticking to my new year's resolution pretty well. I've only missed a couple of days so far this year: one because of a suprise visit from my lil brother, and one cuz I caught a cold. Other than that I'm doing pretty well...except for the part where I always forget to post my work...sorry.

I'll add another resolution to do better at that...or did I already do that...everything is stillf fuzzy from this cold, so I'm not sure...anyway, I'll post my minotaur stuff this week.

[BeautyGirl1510]

I really like what I've seen so far, but I would love to see more! Your linework is very nice. As DragonSnail said, try not to focus on the outline all of the time. Take an object and try and define it through shading only, no lines. (Actually, I think that pretty much what DragonSnail said... oops) Again, nice stuff! Keep posting!

[CecelyV]

Okay,

I've finally found time (and remembered) to post my work here. It takes some getting used to...I'm still learning to work digitally, and my comfort zone is still with my physical sketchbook, so I often forget to post my work here. I'm workin' on that...but Thank you so much for all the encouragement to those of you who've posted here. I'm still not out of my line work yet--I only have about an hour or so to work when I come home after the day job, so I'm working my way up from rough line sketches to value. Next project I think I'll work from values first and take some of the suggestions that have been posted here.

I've been working on my Minotaur. I'm having major issues with the head...turns out even drawing a bull's head isn't easy...go figure...Anyway, here's what I've been upto. I'll post him on the critique center when I've got him more complete--which won't be for a while, as I'd like to clothe him and do something about texture, a weapon, etc, etc...

Please comment, I'm always looking to improve! Oh, and please bear with me through my droughts in posting, I work A LOT for my stupid day job but this is my true passion so I'll never stop working at it

He's supposed to be putting his foot on top of something...possibly a crushed skull or a carcass...or a rock...not sure yet. I want to stick with this pose, and I'm working on getting a fierce expression on his face. I'm still not totally happy with the gesture of the pose--doesn't look fluid or dynamic enough. I'm finding that difficult to accomplish without a model/ref in that pose. I'll try to draw a bit more loosely, see if that helps...

[king_scribbles]

Someone who seems to like horns as much as me! Good, studies keep it up and do more studies from life and reference to show off. I like the softness in the rose you did show more subtle transitions in your gradiations. Definately do more, as many as possible. Mix gestures with your studies. Keep posting!

[CecelyV]

Here are some studies I've done to get settled on my minotaur's head/horns. I used a ref to get the general shape of a bull's head, then I went from my head to see what would fit the pose I've chosen. I think the dark blue one works best, so I'll probably keep that one and move on to fur/body hair and getting his "look" down.
Oh, and I am taking everyone's suggestions about working more with shapes and value...I just haven't started yet--but I haven't forgotten, promise!
I'll be starting that soon--I just like to get the contours/lines/shapes of things down first, it's a habit. When I start my fur/body hair studies I'll focus on value more than lines.

[CecelyV]

Some fur/body hair studies for my minotaur. I can't say I'm happy with them, but I have an idea of where I want to go and where I don't with the body hair/fur now. I didn't work on the value for the face/head because I wanted to focus on the rest of the body to get a feel for the body hair, but I'll be working on the value there in a bit. His foot is propped up, too, because I plan to have him stepping on something...a rock, a crushed skull...something...but I don't want to get involved in the background yet. These are a bit dark because I was trying out everyone's suggestions about working from value--not my best value work, but I don't have any experience with this much fur/body hair, so I didn't know what I was doing...but I knew I was doing it, and that's what's most important. I will be doing some studies from refs (these are from my head) to get better aquainted with fur/hair on bulls/cows.
Crits welcome and appreciated, as always

[CecelyV]

A bull's hide study I did to get a better feel for things.

[CecelyV]

Study of longer, shaggy, course-haired Highland bull.

[CecelyV]

Thumbnail studies of a long haired brown highland bull. I think I'm just about ready to decide on the hair for my minotaur. I'm gonna work on that and the horns this weekend. Does anyone have any tips on drawing hair and fur? I know it's mostly value work, but I was wondering if anyone has a lot of experience with it and could share a bit of knowledge. Crits and conversation always welcome ^_^

[king_scribbles]

Looking good, nice value studies on the fur. Don't be afraid to get dark with the darks, if you feel that you get too dark in an area then you can pull the mids and highlights out of that spot with a gum eraser. I think that the bottom two are your strongest, on the top one the highlights look burned in (I did the same thing on my fuzzy legged demon in my sketchbook.) Keep it up.

[CecelyV]

Thanks King scribbles ^_^
You're right about the values in my last post. Before this I'd never had any experience with drawing fur or horns seriously, so this is turning into an awesome learning experience.
Here's my latest study, and my best so far. I'm getting the hang of fur and beginning to feel more comfortable with it as a texture. Crits always welcome and appreciated! Thanks to all who look in and comment, I appreciate your help!
I'll look in on you sketchbook King Scribbles, I want to see more of your work. and Thank You for looking in on mine!

[CecelyV]

I decided to switch gears in my quest to create characters. I need to get more comfortable with anatomy, so I'm focusing more on anatomy while getting out sketchies of my character ideas.

I'm starting with the spine/pelvis/torso area.

[CecelyV]

I don't think I've ever enjoyed drawing bones quite so much--the spine is AWESOME! So complex ^_^
So, it's nearly time for me to move on in my anatomy study rotation--next is the ribcage, since I'm still in the bones stage of my studies...it's all about foundations and building blocks ^_^

Here's what I've been working on lately. Tomorrow is my spinal studies inspired digital painting session--wish me luck ^_^

[CecelyV]

WIP in Painter of character inspired by my studies of the spinal column. I'm very raw with Painter, so I'm not really sure what I'm doing--but I'm doing it anyway ^_^