More Mechs and Moleskines

**Big-Dave** · June 23rd, 2007, 01:27 PM

Thought I'd give another try at keeping a regular sketchbook thread, so here's a start to it. The two wips are a study of a pre-raphaelite portrait and a robot design I'm going to try and do a 3D model of once it's done.

**ped454** · June 24th, 2007, 09:48 AM

good start. with the values and the shading

**Big-Dave** · June 24th, 2007, 04:34 PM

ped454:Thanks

Another quick acrylic from today, this time of a rubix cube

**Big-Dave** · June 26th, 2007, 05:51 PM

Need to make up for the missed day, but didn't have time to do it tonight. I'll try and get that done tomorrow if I can

Anyway, just a quick painting of a usb-ps2 mouse adapter

**Big-Dave** · July 5th, 2007, 05:04 PM

Left this thread longer than I'd intended without posting, but I've at least been getting things done, so I've got a fair dump to make. On the two WIP images, both were lost recently when my hard disk crashed, so I don't know what'll be happening with them. I have started work on another portrait , but haven't gotten far with it yet. Also had a bit of a setback in that I've bought out the local art store's supply of small canvas boards and clay boards, so I'll need to stock up when I visit my parents this weekend. At present I'm running short 2 paintings, so I'll try and make that up over the weekend.

Anyway, onto the paintings. I've tried to keep them in the order that I did them in. Wasn't too happy with the car. It was supposed to be one of the characters from "Cars", done from a toy (The Doc). The reflections were a real pain to do, and I don't think I did as well as I could, but thought it would be best to post it anyway. The sponge was done twice because I didn't like how the first one came out, although I did like the solid colours in it. Still working on today's painting, and I don't think it'll be dry in time to scan before I leave, so I'll post it with the weekend's paintings when I get back.

**Big-Dave** · July 5th, 2007, 06:04 PM

Forgot how quick acrylics dry

**Big-Dave** · July 11th, 2007, 08:14 AM

Next batch of uploads. Still short one, but I'm hoping to make that up this week

**Big-Dave** · July 11th, 2007, 05:42 PM

Today's update. Trying to get back into the swing of updating on the day rather than letting things build up

**Blaz** · July 11th, 2007, 05:49 PM

Hi there!
Pretty nice random object studies.
I`m quite clueless about painting so Im afraid I cant offer you an advise or crit!
Keep it up!

-Blaz

**ACRO** · July 11th, 2007, 05:57 PM

cool man

funny cuz i was holding my memory stick

but now i wanna see cool stuff.. haha

**Big-Dave** · July 12th, 2007, 04:57 AM

Blaz:Thanks

Finding different objects to paint has probably been one of the harder parts of this actually, I keep having to rummage everywhere to find something suitable :p

ACRO: Nice to know you recognised what it was :p

Next one, a piece off a rubber clamp. Not too happy with the contrast in this one though, too much red in the background. Still, need to get to work now so no more time to work on it. Planning on getting another done tonight so that I've made up the missing one from before.

**Niels23** · July 12th, 2007, 05:45 AM

Nice paintings! It would be interesting to see some more detailed still lifes with flowers or something. Good job anyway, keep it up! =)

**Big-Dave** · July 12th, 2007, 06:16 AM

Ulver: Thanks. I was planning on sticking to simple and building it up slowly, but I guess it might be worth trying something a bit more complex now, maybe a tree or something.

Digital quickie done while waiting at work with my laptop

**Gilead** · July 12th, 2007, 02:55 PM

This is a great exercise. The acrylics have more character than the digitals. When doing red on red etc it helps to put just a little bit of the complimentary color into the cast shadow. A little green on a red table top, a little purple on a yellow surface etc. It will pop the object out from the background. This can be done with suble realism or exagerated for vivid effect like we do in commercial art.
Nice work, keep it going.

**Big-Dave** · July 12th, 2007, 05:37 PM

Thanks a lot for the tip Gilead. I really should have known that, but knowing the theory and putting it into practice are two different things. Guess I need more practice at the latter. Love the acrylics you've got in your blog btw, especially the one with the blue and white bowl.

Anyway, next one. Painting of a tree, as I promised. Sadly the view of the tree wasn't as good as I thought it was, so there was a building in front. Rather than leaving a blank rectangle I thought it would be best to paint it in. I'll probably do some more trees over the weekend. Not entirely happy with how the tree itself turned out, but abstractions like this are something I really need to work on, so it's good practice all the same

**Big-Dave** · July 13th, 2007, 04:24 PM

Next painting. Decided to redo the bottle lid, but take Gilead's advice on the colours, seems to have made a difference.

**ThabisoMhlaba** · July 13th, 2007, 10:40 PM

Welcome to the SSG BigDave.
That's some awesome acrylic work you have running there.
I'm not sure what size canvas you were using but I was thinking you could go into further detail by adding ripples on the bottle cap. If there are any.

**zeeble** · July 14th, 2007, 03:18 PM

hiya Dave!

Welcome welcome! Your acrylic studies are looking good, do you do underline drawing before you start painting? Or is it straight on painting. I really like the usb cord, but yeah little more detail like oki said would be nice. =) And watch your perspective on the less organic shaped paintings, such as the gum pack and Rubik cube. Keep up the good work! looking forward to more updates.

**Big-Dave** · July 14th, 2007, 04:58 PM

Oki: Thanks

It's pretty small, painted on a 7x5 canvas, so I can't really get into that much detail. I actually tried a drybrush effect before, but it didn't work out too well.

zeeble: Thanks, I'll keep an eye on the perspective more in future. No underpainting though, straight into blocking out and then colour. Actually, I might try doing a quick sketch next time, see how it turns out

Anyway, todays plan to paint plein air was kind of screwed over by it raining all day. Forecast is good for tomorrow though, so hopefully I can go out and do something then. Instead did a painting of my pocket sketchbook. Working on a slightly larger area (8"x8") since I ran out of the smaller canvas boards. Looking at it scanned, I need to work more on gradients in the colours as well as secondary light sources next time

**Big-Dave** · July 15th, 2007, 03:25 PM

Well, that didn't turn out so well. I had no idea how much the discomfort of having to hunch over a lap top eisel (well, desktop one) would distract me. As much as I don't really want to post them, I want to keep this thing regular, so here they are. To make up for the mediocre paintings I've added a page of anatomy studies from Bridgeman I did last night. I'm going to start that as a regular thing too now. I'll give the plein air painting another try once I get a proper eisel I can use

**Big-Dave** · July 16th, 2007, 04:59 PM

Next day in the daily paintings & anatomys, back to the basics.

**zeeble** · July 16th, 2007, 08:32 PM

Hiya Dave!

Incorporating some Anatomy studies into the mix eh? They're looking good! Keep it up. The landscape paintings need a little more definition IMO. It takes a while to identify or separate the objects from one another.

Maybe you should try painting your objects on a different color background? That way you can work in the shadows like you said earlier and with reflective light. Plus it'll make the object pop out more rather then blending into the background.

Keep it up man!

I need to post more. =(

**Big-Dave** · July 18th, 2007, 04:22 AM

Zeeble: I know, the landscapes suck pretty bad. I'm planning on going back there in a week or two when I manage to find myself an eisel I can use so that I can do the paintings without a constant back ache :p

Playing about with background colour and sketching things before hand. Sketching was useful, but I need to find a way to do it that doesn't keep showing even after you try to wash it off (I used a watercolour pencil)

Oh, and no anatomy sketches this time. I decided on catching up on the sleep I'd been missing last night instead of doing them. I'll do an extra page later in the week (probably the weekend) to make up for it.

**Big-Dave** · July 20th, 2007, 10:02 AM

Well, got myself an eisel now. New landscapes will need to wait till next weekend though, since I'm visiting a friend in Bristol for his birthday this one. This also means there won't be any paintings for the next couple of days. I'll try to catch up next week. Anatomy studies seem to have taken a back seat right now too, I'll try and start that up again when I get back.

Anyway, here's two from yesterday, one to make up for wednesday's missing one. I'm working on todays just now, but won't get it uploaded till I get back. I'm trying to make sure to spend the full hour on these now too, no more rush jobs (there's been a couple). Definatly happier with the result of that

**oomgawa** · July 20th, 2007, 04:20 PM

Love the apple core. I enjoy the red underpaintings,
as that is a classic way of starting. You might want to consider
glazing over the red in the background to allow little bits of
it to show through, but push it back more so that it doesn't
dominate the main object.

The thing I am most impressed with is the use of everyday
objects for reference! What?! no boobs or warrior women
wearing thongs into battle?! Obviously men are the inferior
warriors, as they require so much more armor.

**Big-Dave** · July 24th, 2007, 04:41 AM

That's a good point, I'll use that next time I do one with a primary background, thanks. And yeah, it's kind of hard finding stuff, but it really does help your artwork to practice the basics like this. If you like tihs stuff you should check out Seedling's thread

Here's the start of the catchup. Yesterday, Friday and Saturday's paintings, which consist of a semi-opaque bulb used for washing powder (that was fun

), a small tackle box and a very short pencil.

**zeeble** · July 24th, 2007, 07:36 PM

The structure of your objects are getting better! The perspective is less wonky. I'm not a painter, so i can't help you out on any techniques here. =/ But it's looking good and you're adding more details!

**Big-Dave** · July 29th, 2007, 11:15 AM

Zeeble: Thanks, I'm glad to hear that. Not so sure about adding more detail, if it's true then it's not intentional. Possibly I'm just noticing them more.

OK, after faltering a bit I've managed to get back into the swing of things. Going to post each day's batch of paintings seperatly so I can comment on them more easily.

To start with is a disposable razor. The angles on this thing were surprisingly hard to do

**Big-Dave** · July 29th, 2007, 11:18 AM

Next up is a torch and a tangerine (or clemantine, I can never tell the difference). Not happy with either of these to be honest. I was getting pretty frustrated with not being able to find things to paint and struggling to get motivated to do it. After these I decided I'd had enough of going without a fine round brush and went and got a replacement for the one that got ruined a while back. Oh, and with the tangerine I'd painted in a background colour, but when it dried it was far too dark to paint onto (it was darker than the shadows of the object) so I went over it in white to try and tone it down a bit. Results weren't all that great, especially since there was originally another painting on the canvas which distorted the brushstrokes

**Big-Dave** · July 29th, 2007, 11:23 AM

Next up is yesterday's paintings. Since I'd been getting frustrated, I decided to go back and try something a little simpler.

To start with was the box, which I was just trying to get warmed up with but ended up liking. On looking now I've noticed that the side of the box is a little crooked, which was probably what bothered me about it, but I'm happy enough.

Next was the re-paint of the dice. I decided I wasn't happy enough with the previous version, especially with how the sketch effected the final piece, so I re-did it using my new small round to sketch them in as cubes first. Much happier with this than the previous one, although there are some discrepancies still. I'll probably be painting these again though, since they make for an interesting study, so I'll improve on it more next time.