Sasha's Learning Sketchbook

[Narrenzauber]

Your digital works are your first coloured works, which can be seen. I am pretty curious about your usage of colour. Until now you were just playing around with your new tablet and ist okay. How long did you need to be able to draw like that? I know when I started with a tablet I had a lot of problems and it took me ages to get something on the digital paper, what could be recognized as that what it is.

In general you have clean lines in your studies as far as I see that and you aren't scared of shading. As far as I see this you are pretty hard working on your skill. So keep it on. I guess you will become better in no time.

[SashaDevi]

IntoTheVoid, thank you for the link! I'll check it out.

Narrenzauber, hey, thank you for kind words . "How long did you need to be able to draw like that?" I'm not sure what you mean by that? I don't draw very good yet. I'm still learning. But I guess what helped me is trying to draw in paintttool SAI rather than in PS, it's much easier and less overwhelming.
You get less options in SAI, and it's beginner friendly. So I just went along and drew something intuitively on one layer. If you want, give it a try, too. )

I'm still strugglind with PS, though I know you can achieve the same (and better) results in it, but PS is just too difficult.

Anyhow, here's what I did last night in SAI
a geeky girl (aka a failed sp, so I just went along with what it was turning into)

[Narrenzauber]

Sorry, I should have said it more clear. <.< I meant the usage of the graphic tablet. How long did you need to get along with it? As I said before, I need ages, but maybe PS was at fault here, too.

I really like her eyes and her hairstyle. And I have a questions: Why did you add the highlights in the eyes, but forgot everywhere else? The glasses for example haven't any highlights, nor shading. Even if they are black, there are parts, which actually are black or nearly black and others that seem to be grey and for the highlights light grey till nearly white or white. It depends on the material the glasses are made of.

Uh and the more I look at her hair, the more I like it. ._. I really like how you did it in that simple way. One can recognize it easily as hair. And you also did a great job with her eyebrows.

[IntoTheVoid]

I agree with Narrenzauber. The structure for her face is good, but the forms are a little flat. Putting stronger highlights and shadows should help a lot. It also seems like her eyes are looking in different directions. It's a very nice expression though.

Photoshop really isn't as scary as it looks.
There's a lot of different options and tricks to play around with, but at the core of it all you need is to just take a brush and draw, same as anything else. You can pick two or three brushes you're comfortable using and go for it. I promise Photoshop won't get mad if you don't use any filters or adjustment layers

[SashaDevi]

Narrenzauber, hey, yeah I know, I didn't have a reference so I din't place the highlights. I should stick to drawing from pictures for now.

As to how long it took to feel comfortable - not very long, as soon as I found a program I liked.


IntoTheVoid lol, yeah) now I see the lazy eye, too. Thanks for encouraging words. I'll be learning PS from the link you shared. Hopefully, I'll have enough time.

Here's what I did today:

an attempt at Audrey Hepburn portrait. I gave her a bit of extra weight. And if you flip it the proportions look wonky. But I had fun =)

[IntoTheVoid]

Great work on the hair and eyes! Particularly the left eye (our right) has some wonderful detail in it.
I can see some of the wonkyness, but overall this is a much stronger piece. One thing I've noticed though is the jawline looks like it extends too far over her neck. Hope that helps.

[SashaDevi]

IntoTheVoid , thank you! yes, the shadow must've been too strong.

And here's a new Shirley Manson portrait:

[triggerpigking]

Love the Audrey portrait as intothevoid said the eyes and hair are great.
I think the arms look wierd on the newest portrait though they should be a lot longer, as for the face its pretty good maybe a bit bright I do really like the way youve done the lips though.

[SashaDevi]

triggerpigking, no, no, no the hands do look like that in the reference picture http://i2.listal.com/image/344179/60...ley-manson.jpg, I simply didn't convey it well.

[jablar]

quite good portraits...
I like the way you draw a hair...

[SashaDevi]

jablar, ty

here are some pencil drawings I did lately.

Turns out I have very little idea how to shade faces with pencil. Any good tutorials on it? Or it just comes with time?

[jablar]

here are some tuts, maybe it helps...
e.g. http://youtu.be/5zcMA9Ams18
and the whole book http://www.scribd.com/doc/10338/Andr...essful-Drawing
http://what-i-do-is-secret.deviantar...lanes-70223871

[tueko]

Wow, very inspiring progress. It looks like you got confident with that tablet fast O.o

Are you still using SAI?
Thinking about trying it out myself, PS does seem a bit overwhelming tbh.

[triggerpigking]

triggerpigking, no, no, no the hands do look like that in the reference picture http://i2.listal.com/image/344179/60...ley-manson.jpg, I simply didn't convey it well.

Ah yeah I can see it now its just the way youve angled it that makes it look weird.

[IntoTheVoid]

You could try blurring the arms like in your reference to get across the extreme foreshortening. The face is very nicely constructed - you're really starting to get the hang of portraits.
Try pushing the contrast more (a lot more). I know in this case the reference has no contrast, but in general contrast helps flesh out the forms a great deal.

[Step]

Narrenzauber, hey, yeah I know, I didn't have a reference so I din't place the highlights. I should stick to drawing from pictures for now.

As to how long it took to feel comfortable - not very long, as soon as I found a program I liked.


IntoTheVoid lol, yeah) now I see the lazy eye, too. Thanks for encouraging words. I'll be learning PS from the link you shared. Hopefully, I'll have enough time.

Here's what I did today:

an attempt at Audrey Hepburn portrait. I gave her a bit of extra weight. And if you flip it the proportions look wonky. But I had fun =)

Привет! Решил наведаться и к тебе. Очень понравился портрет, отлично вышли волосы! Побольше рисуй, буду следить за обновлениями.

Good luck!

[SashaDevi]

jablar, oh, thank you for the links, very helpful. I knew about some of the books, but didn't know about the basic one by Loomis, which I should've started with. Good to have it now. Wish I had more time to read it .


tueko Hi, yeah, I'm using SAI. I guess painter would do the trick, too. I tried PS the other day but figured out it lags a bit on my lap top, as in, when you use a smudge tool, it jerks and lags, and you need to wait to see the effect. SAI weights less and doesn't lag, also when you paint in SAI it has more painty(?) effect, if you know what I mean, as opposed to digital look PS gives.


IntoTheVoid , yeah, good points. I'm too lazy to fix the old pic, though, but I tried to implement your advice here (blurred the background and tried to make it more contrast-y. But I think I could've done more contrast, probably.) :



Also, I tried to draw some portraits:

Found a reference for those in some old magazine. Tried to improve my shading, still clumsy with it.

The next one is an elf-bro. No reference. I planned to draw a girl-elf, but, Loomis face construction made the sketch look really masculine, so, I went along with it:


And, finally, I started my first environment, for now in grey scale ;.; it's so hard. I'm stuck here, not sure where to go next. It doesn't look convincing to me. Any advice?


Step Cпасибо Будешь помогать с ландшафтами, для меня это самое сложное.

[liquorbleu]

Environments are so rough to start! But the secret is you just gotta do them!

Take pictures from life that interest you and do little 15 minute landscape paintings - take the one you like best and try to continue it.

Use a big brush! Get the big shapes, don't be afraid to use hard strokes.

Your portrait likeness is coming along, it just comes with doing hundreds of them! Try drawing skulls too, from all different angles - it kinda gives you an idea of how you should draw the head.

[Step]

Отличные портреты! Неплохой ландшафт, хорошее начало Но реф выбран не удачно, не очень какие-то горы на этом фото Советую искать фотографии и рисовать ландшафты в широкоэкранным соотношении и лучше использовать текстурные жесткие кисти для большей реалистичности. Как то так, будут вопросы, задавай, хотя мне самому еще учиться и учиться

[IntoTheVoid]

This is pretty impressive actually
The contrast and the depth work well. Those eyebrows are great!
The eyes are a bit confusing - I'm not sure what's happening with them.
Good to see you branching out more.
I can't help much with landscapes myself, but whenever you're not sure what to do, you can always refine the outer edges.

[JulieSS]

Wow the last portraits you did with pencil are looking so much better than the first ones! Great improvement
I don't think the landscape looks bad. At first glance I think the big shadow that goes across the middle kinda at the back of the picture needs to be a bit darker.
The digital portrait looks very good too, did you pick the colors yourself or did you use the drop tool for it? Anyways very good!

[jablar]

hey, the enviro is quite good, you just have to zoom in and start with details...refine edges, etc...

[SashaDevi]

Hmm haven't posted in a while >.<

Sorries. I need to get back to it.

So, here's a picture of me as a man! I thought it'd be curious to speculate what I'd look like.



I used my grandfather's old picture and my own face as references.

[SashaDevi]

And a proper sp, finally got around to finish it:


Step, да я уже и сама поняла что ландшафт не очень, не хочется его заканчивать. Что то другое потом выберу скорее всего.

IntoTheVoid thanks!
They eyes were meant to be half-closed, can't find the reference now, though.

JulieSS
Thanks! I try not to use the eye dropper on the reference, but sometimes when I blur/mix shades on the painting itself, I'll pick colours from there.

jablar ty!

[SashaDevi]

a friend's portrait:

[jablar]

hey, so cool portraits... the eyes are most visible thing in the picture, maybe try to add more shadows to get more contrast,

[SashaDevi]

another one

[Steeliebob]

Your paintings are pretty damn nice Sasha! Just keep on exploring!

[Neyut]

you are making good progress, just dont forget to use everything you know, in your last peace the collar bones are missing ^^ (just do it like in the peace before)

[FalconessN]

Love your paintings!