Sketchbook 25. 03. 2013

[MJ Mungus]

Hello there. I haven't really drawn (or painted) much until very recently and I figured I'll post a sketchbook as a means of motivating myself not to stop. All crits and comments are welcome. I really don't know what more I can write, so without further ado, some of my images:



The composition with him in the corner of the image like that is kinda wonky, but it started as a casual doodle and I wanted to see what it would do to the composition (It didn't do what I expected).



Here's something older, but I still kinda like it - I always want to paint fairly loose but fail most of the time.





These are hmm... something. Let's call them digital sketches. I'm not sure if people get them - that's why I'm posting them in my first post. Tell me if you'd like to see any more of them or are they just splotches of black and white.





And two fairly lame photo studies. One is folds, the other an mma dude. I definitely need to do more studies, but I'm not quite sure of what subject. Folds were cool, and I can definitely use some more of that but I'm not very fond of the guy.

[MJ Mungus]

Ooops, why did it post every image twice? I probably messed up something with attachments manager, but don't know what. I'd appreciate it if anyone told me how to fix it (and how not to mess up in the future).

[MJ Mungus]

Ok, my second post, this time I only added the attachments. Let's see if it works. The first two are 2 of my older doodles, and the small figures are something I used to do as warm ups - theres over 1000 of them and they're not really big or accurate enough to be called pose studies. Whenever I was too tired to think or didn't know what to draw I drew these and it really helped me get more disciplined with my drawing. I'd really appreciate if someone told me if it displays right - or any post at all actually.

[Ells]

Great work! Your black/white paintings are cool! I love especially the last one with the figure. You can definitely do more of these! I also like your warm up figure doodles, you got me inspired to do the same!

[MJ Mungus]

Thanks for your comment Ells, I really appreciate it. I've looked through your sketchbook and I'm impressed by how controlled and subtle the values in your pieces are. I'd love to hear some crits or advice from you if you ever drop by my sketchbook again.

And now my stuff for today. 2 environments things - one of them with nothing in it, the other with wonky perspective - any crits and tips are welcome.

2 Characters, the second one is kinda old but I still like it.

A drapery study and my take on drawing an item of clothing from imagination (It's ment to be something like a tunic).

[MJ Mungus]

1 Character, 3 rather failed environs (the last one is rather old though) and some colour thumbnails. Crits and comments are most welcome.

[MJ Mungus]

Uh-huh... It's me again. Writing this feels kinda awkward - like talking to an invisible friend, but it's ok I guess.
Anyway, when I started this sketchbook I had this plan. I knew what I was going to post for the next 20 days but after just a few updates I felt that my art was inadequate and quit (posting not drawing, luckily).
Do you know those intrepid guys who keep up with their art, and update regularly and get very good, very fast? I'm not one of those. I quit sometimes, but I know I'm going to be back. I suppose that's what my take on persistence looks like.
So why am I posting again? Unfortunately it's not because I feel better about my art. It's because everything seems to go wrong for me lately (don't want to get into details) and I thought doing something constructive, like restarting a sketchbook, will help me pick myself up.

The headshot is a photo study - I did it as an exercise in painting something long, after 2 hours and 14 minutes I gave up. The smoke djinn-like creature is something that evolved out of abstract shapes I've been playing with. Rest is just some unfinished doodles - seems like all I can draw nowadays.

[Andrew Sonea]

Really great stuff here! I am a little disturbed by the lack of comments you are getting. I gave you five stars for your work

Your stuff is quite strong and has a good sense of mood along with good drawing skills, values and colour. I'd love to see a fully finished illustration from you! I also think you can work on your design skills a bit as right now some of the character's designs and armours are a little basic and, for lack of a better word, boring.

Just keep updating here and I'm sure people will start noticing you very soon!

[ANtY93]

Haha, thank you, man. I just enlarged my INSPIRATION folder by some great pieces. Also saved your pose studies, should be useful when I'll be looking for an idea for a pose

Great sketchbook, definitely digging these dark medieval characters!

[WRappiii]

Bookmarked! You've got some amazing work here my friend!
I love your style, it's so painterly. Just really pleasant to look at.
About the "digital sketches", post em if you've got em. Theyre cool too.
Keep posting, your art is inspiring!

[MJ Mungus]

Andrew Sonea – You are absolutely right about the less-than-imaginative design. I shy away from painting anything that could trip me up – which is basically anything – and I end up with faceless dudes wearing potato sacks. But I’m trying to overcome that.
ANtY93 – Dzięki za dobre słowo .
WRappiii – Thanks for the kind words. I really have a soft spot for painterly art, but I keep second guessing myself, and sometimes thinking I’m turning ‘painterly’ into an excuse for sloppy. I’m glad you like it.
For today’s post I have three unimaginative paintings of dudes just standing there. But hey, they have all limbs and faces so it’s an improvement.
I had this feeling that ‘a dude just standing there’ can easily become the predominant motif in my art unless I do something about it, so I forced myself to paint something different. It’s the last one and meant to be a hydra. Notice how superbly I ruined the composition by placing the horizon line right through the middle of the canvas and the hydra right in the centre of the painting. Now I have a feeling that lame composition is going to be the predominant motif in my art.
I’m sorry for all the whining, but what’s the point of painting if you can’t even whine about being bad at it amirite?

[SmileWithStyle]

I love those last characters, they kinda remind me of the character art in Icewind Dale.

[ANtY93]

O, a to ci niespodzianka

Świetne detale na pancerzu, no i bardzo malowniczy styl ogólnie, kip yt ap

[MJ Mungus]

SmileWithStyle - I've played through Iwd over a dozen times. I suppose it influenced my 'artistic sensitivity'. Needless to say I take that as a comliment and I wish I deserved it. Oh well maybe one day.

ANtY93 - aj szal traj

Unfortunately I haven't had any major breaktroughs with my art. I still can't force myself to paint something difficult - like faces or hands. For today's post I have a rather empty landscape, 2 experiments with technique (faceless dudes) and an orc I made for an ArtOrder challenge (didn't bother to submit though, in case you wonder why it's not in the listings on there).

Also, I can't believe I used the term 'artistic sensitivity'. It sounds so posh it makes me feel sick of myself.

[MJ Mungus]

Bump. Crits and comments welcome. Or trolling. Or spam.

[kidult]

nice colours keep up the hard work

[Djoze]

Nice stuff you have here

I like the B&W ones, they have this energy to them, quite fun to watch.

The coloured stuff is also quite good, again, very nice atmosphere and I love your landscapes (something I'm rather bad at XD ). Also cool approach to not drawing faces, to blur them out like that

[Mihail]

Your stuff is kinda cool. I like the mood, the broken colors. How do you do it? The colors I mean, not the mood.

[MJ Mungus]

It’s a big question. I obsess about colour.

The most important thing is to have a working model of colour relativity in your head – when you get there you can look at any image and start seeing what colours are really there. Then you start building your own theories about what colour to put next to what to get the feeling you want. I’m a bit of a geek – the kind that needs a spreadsheet to play a video game – so I ended up with this crazy elaborate colour theory of my own. There isn’t one secret to colour. Make up theories and test them. Keep what you like, discard what you don’t.

I’d love to make a big tutorial about colour but I’m not a very well-rounded painter yet. I need more mileage.

If you’d like a good and short tut about colour, imho the best thing you can find on the internet are tutorials by Vance Kovacs and Jason Manley (the one from 2002). At least as far as we’re talking about free stuff, I don’t know about books or DVDs.

[MJ Mungus]

Bump.

Thanks for all the positive comments and stars. Much appreciated. I'm sorry for being lazy with posting (or drawing, actually).

The sketches are an exercise - basically I'm trying to memorize some fantasy costume by repetition. I'm not sure if did me any good tbh.
The Bougereau study looks nothing like the original - my bad, but still I think I learned something from it. 2 fantasy/medieval portraits, one of them rather bad. Or both, not sure the second one I like.

[Psychobuddy]

Wow your colours are amazing, such an intense sense of mood and emotion. I can't wait to see more.

[MJ Mungus]

Thanks Psychobuddy, I'm glad you like it, and that you took the time to comment - half the time I'm not really sure if anyone looks at the more obscure sketchbooks, my own included.

The update is 2 master copies that don't resemble originals much and a dragon. I can't tell if it's good or horrible because I've been looking at it too long, so crits and comments all the more welcome

[MJ Mungus]

Bump.

[MJ Mungus]

Just some poorly planned doodles. If anyone sees this and feels an urge to post, go ahead. Crits comments and advice much appreciated.

[Likes2doodle]

Brilliant stuff, the pose on 'needsmoargreen10.jpg'() is my favourite

[JonHop]

Hey man, nice sketchbook, I like your creatures a lot. I also like the sense of mood you portray in your work, but you tend to keep the same type of mood for most of your work. Try switching it up and creating a more happy or joyful mood in some pieces with your colours etc, also you dont seem to take your pieces to a finish? I'd definitely like to see one you pushed all the way as far as you could. I hope this was in some way helpful to you, keep up the good work!

[MJ Mungus]

Likes2doodle - I'm glad you like it. I'll have to rethink my naming convention I suppose

JonHop - Now that you said it, I couldn't agree more about the moods, seems like I'm bad at bright colours I'll try to force myself into it until I get better. As for the finish, I'd like my pictures to look loose and painterly - like something from Vance Kovacs or Justin Sweet, I'm just not good enough (yet?).

So, to get rid of my somber mood bias I did a few colour thumbs of cheerful, sunlit meadows. I kind-of hate them for looking so cartoony but hopefully with practice I can do better next time. Rest of the post is more of the same thing, only I'm now trying to force myself int brighter colours. Lsat one is a failed study (Failed because I was aiming for good likeness and it's not there).

Crits and comments much appreciated.

[MJ Mungus]

Whoa, I got 11 more views since my last post . Apparently I'm doing it wrong. Maybe if I updated more, or could actually paint/draw?
Anyways, here's the usual. Something loose, a doodle I lost interest in after solving the color, a failed face and something different I did as a test illustration.

As always if anyone's reading it I appreciate crits and comments.

[MJ Mungus]

Long time no post. This time: doodles, colour thumbs, generic stuff, pink lightning on a sunny day and my first tries at zBrush.
Crits and comments are welcome.

[Deceptive]

Damn, so much nice work in this one!
Like mentioned before, this sketchbook should be overwelmed with comments!
It's a little bit sad why there aren't so many followers.
Anyways, I like all of the work and the quality of it!

Keep it up!