Road to Somewhere: Jdem's sketchbook!

[jdem]

DSiwek: Thank you so much!

Here's a WIP of a piece I'm working on, I know her back leg is a little off (I think it is, anyway!) so will sort that in due course. Will also be adding in reflected light from the jellyfish.

[jdem]

It's finally done! Really happy with this piece (although I'm aware that it's not perfect!)

Taken about 7 hours or so.

[jdem]

Gouache, Watercolour and ink on A2 watercolour paper/board

[jdem]

Doodles referenced from a magazine & 60 sec. gestures

[jdem]

Today's doodles in the moleskine Happy Easter everyone!

[jondawo]

I think your finished piece came out really well based on your ability. My two cents would be to focus on values a little more so you can show depth correctly. The back leg is already a step in the right direction but the front arm wants to be a little more defined from the torso.
I really dig the watercolour. The way the hair gets darker and drips down is awesome.
I also like the confidence you display by drawing in pen, and your moleskine sketches are getting better. Keep at it

Also, thank you for the positive words on my sketchbook, they're very uplifting

[jdem]

Thanks for all the advice! I see what you mean with regards to depth - definitely something I need to take into account; I want to try play around with line weight to show depth too - all stuff to go on the list! Cheers, and anytime!

Playing around with dreaded perspective - I'll get the hang of it one day! Just a quick little speedpaint using a perspective grid - never really tried it before so don't be too harsh!

[jdem]

Watercolours, Ink and Gouache on large (about 11x11 in) wooden board

[jdem]

Another speedpaint, still playing with perspective - There's a LOT of room for improvement with regards to painting landscapes/backgrounds/generally everything, so just have to keep practising.

[jdem]

A few 2 min head studies from http://www.lovecastle.org/draw/

Nothing special, though has helped me realise what my biggest problem areas are, think it's time to go back to the Loomis books/spam studies again!

Also, couple of pages of MS doodles.

[jdem]

Feel like I need to stop just copying pictures, and actually study - put hard work into learning and understanding how things work and fit together, rather than just copying what I see!

Having said that, here's some more copied pictures;

Some (rather off) Loomis studies and a structure/landscape (I like clouds) speedpaint.

[jdem]

Speed(ish) paint from a photograph of Isabella Rossellini.

[jondawo]

Good job on the last photostudy and the watercolour (as always). Just work on those studies

I also came to realise that doing studies simply by copying the lines or tones doesn't help you learn. Indeed you must have an analytical way of studying in order to improve. Construct the face using linework in portrait studies, and set up the perspective in landscape studies. Also when doing anatomy studies, redo them again afterwards from memory. It's all been said before but sometimes you have to realise it by yourself in order for it to really take effect. Sorry, I probably sound very harsh, I'm just sharing the conclusions that I came to and am definately not trying to demoralize you.

[Nemome]

Yup,
last one looks good.
Your stuff gets better and better.
As a little critique on the last one:
Focus on edges.
You made everything look very sharp. In the reference are also some soft edges like the transition from the hair to the head itself.

I hope it helped
Sil

[TFsean]

Hai thar, nice studies Dont forget to look at the form/edges on that latest one. Textures are well done though

[jdem]

Jondawo: Thank you! You don't sound harsh at all - the advice is all very much appreciated!!
Silwynar: Thanks so much Yeah - it's something that I didn't notice until I uploaded the study! Definitely something I'll pay attention to in future studies!
TFsean: Thanks! Again - will definitely be paying more attention to edges in future pieces, it sounds terrible but it's not really something that ever actually occurred to me to look out for, so it's great that it's been brought to my attention


Just a couple of studies from the moleskine, been a little slack recently, being distracted by highly unproductive things (like trophies on the PS3)!

[jdem]

Art Nouveau style piece I've made today from scratch to accompany a short story written by my bf - first time I've tried anything like this style - so it's a learning experience if nothing else! Quite pleased with the general look of it I think, might delve more into the style

[bish0p2004]

I really like that Nouveau painting. Kudos for that.

Nice sketchbook overall. I see you're doing a lot of photo studies, which can be good, but I think it would help (and I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet) if you added life drawings and made them a big priority, with photographs only supplementing the studies.

Other than that, you're doing good. Keep it up!

[jdem]

bish0p: Thanks a lot! It's a style I plan on really exploring

Yeah, at the moment I only really have access to working with photo studies - in terms of drawing a life model as part of a life drawing class, (Although I do plan on looking into taking another life drawing course in the near(ish) future) - I should probably do more studies generally from life though - strangers in the coffee shop etc!

Thanks again for the comment!

-------------------

I've been away from home (and my computer) a few days and just been doodling in my moleskine, so just a couple of pages from that to upload -- nothing too exciting but bits and pieces that I feel I'm slowly improving on!

[jondawo]

Yesss, keep it up. Love the art nouveau piece. Really clean.

[jdem]

Thanks, Jondawo!

I have some more Moleskines and a watercolour piece too, but one of my parents has stolen my scanner temporarily, so they shall have to wait to be uploaded!

A couple of digital pieces from today; a piece inspired by the game 'Journey' (fairly speedy paint) and a piece from imagination (definitely not speedily painted ^_^; ) (with a reference used for the body/adapted slightly - I know her front arm is slightly too short!)

[jdem]

Moleskines & Watercolour doodle.

[Klaustrophil]

Good sketches - You`re also a posemaniac ;-)
Your WIP seems queite good. Do you usually use lineart or do you also paint without relying on lines but shapes or blocks? ...please excuse the bad english, teutonickrautenglish oO?
greetings
keep it up
klaus

[jdem]

Hi, Klaustrophil! and thank you!
I haven't used posemaniacs in ages, actually! I use sites like pixelovely, Artsy Poses and Drawing Script mostly! I tend to go with whatever feels right for the piece, usually it's lineart first but occasionally I just prefer to splodge colour down and go from there - I don't really have a set method - maybe that's where I'm going wrong! :p

Ok, few more pieces to add here, mostly just playing around with different things and an environment study.

[jdem]

Ok, it's been a while, so time for a big(ish) update!

Went to London Comic-con and came home with a bunch of awesome art prints, so inspired!

Moleskines, few random photoshop pieces, playing with copic markers etc

[jondawo]

Last piece looks promising, can't wait to see an update on it Seems some of us (ahem) took a bit of a break from our sketchbooks. Here's to picking them up again.

[jdem]

Hold on tight for a biiiiig update! I've been working a lot on t-shirt graphics/designs (mostly based on geeky/sci-fi/gaming references) as well, but they're not going in here, they're at my redbubble, here!

[jdem]

Tonal studies, a vaguely nouveau inspired HP fanart illustration and closer detail versions of a couple of the tonal studies (cause I'm proud of them)

[kikindaface]

hey dude, nice dedication ! i find that you are not using good references , ( or at least, copying them won't make you learn something, because the values of the photos aren't good, they're either over un under saturated, so try to find better photos with values actually describing the form ! keep up all your drawings !! cheers !

[jdem]

Thank you for the advice! I'll try do that!

Just some Buffy fan type art I've been working on. Photoshop & Paint Tool Sai