Yemi's sketchbook...

[Yemi775]

I've just realized how important drawing is these past few weeks. i've realized that when you have a good and solid drawing the painting part should be easy. so i started doing a lot of pencil drawing, but i can post because i don't have a scanner or a camera to take pictures with.

Also i noticed in photoshop that when i flip my images (paintings or drawings) horizontally they look super terrible and slanted so i took the time to ask for help and a lot of folks told me proportion is wrong and all that. it's helping my drawings now because i can see what i'm doing wrong. Thanks for being helpful everybody


Here's what i've been up to y'all, feel free to crit my personal pieces i can really use help.



Self-portrait.



Personal Pieces
got help from Saint Chase the Artist .

[Forrest_I]

Hey man, so you wanted a critique so here ya go

So the very first thing that came to mind when I saw your design is that right now it is very simple. There's not a lot of unique qualities to this character that would make him stand out. I pulled up reference of a few different "pirates." They look stupid, but they get my point across is that each of them look different and unique and yet all look very pirate-ish. I suggest looking at a few references, making a new layer, and messing around with some cool ideas for the design. In the paintover I did below I just threw together what I mean about exploring ideas, it looks shitty but it was meant to just be simple



Another thing I noticed is you seem to have a problem that a lot of beginning artists have where you think you know how to draw something because it seems so simple and yet, it's a lot more complex then you might think. Your character is based on an octopus and is a solid sickly green throughout his body, but if you look at actual real life octopus you'll see how rigid and texturized their bodies are and how many different subtle hints of color there is in their skin. You'll also notice how their tentacles are really not all that simple. They have many varying sizes of suctions and a strange looking stretchy slimy-looking texture underneath. Look at octopus' when you draw this character, it will be good for inspiration and design. Better yet, do a couple studies.



I wrote a few other notes down on general color and light of your character to try and make it pop out more. When your character has a background like yours you can really make it pop out of the image by throwing in some small flourishes of background colors into your character. It really helps the viewer grasp it as a 3-dimensional figure and it doesn't seem so flat. But anyway, that's all I'm gonna say, you're improving dude, just remember do studies that matter to what you're doing. I see you did a study of a nude girl above, that's great and all, but you haven't applied what you've learned from it at all. If you draw a nude girl from a study then draw one from imagination right afterwards and don't be afraid to take some notes if you learn a thing or two from it. Good luck man

[Yemi775]

some head studies




stilllife
[

studies





gestures



doodles


finished with this.

[Lakai]

Hi, thx for posting in my sb.
Your studies are very smooth, try to work more on the edges try hard edged brushes or the marqueetool.

[Somelar]

jump few pictures up and look at the black/white gesture digital sketches. and now look the last pic that you post. learn from your lessons.
Keep it up!

[Capt Surge]

Hey man, good to see some updates, proportions are tricky but it will pay off when you've mastered them. ^_^

[ecki]

Nice sketchbook!

I love your faces! They are unbiased by popular media (comic, anime, manga).

Would be nice to see some more anatomy studies (bones, muscles), check out some anatomy books.
Keep on doing those still life drawings from life, this is awesome for learning form and texture!

[Yemi775]

Forrest_I : Thanks for stopping by man i'll take your advice hope that's not stealing. i need to get better at designing

Lakai : Thanks, i don't get what you mean by "try to work more on the edges try hard edged brushes or the marqueetool." can you explain or better?

Somelar : haha that's actually old, but they definitely helped with that pencil sketch above her

Capt Surge : right Capt Surge, her proportion is off, i need to plan my works out before painting them. They always end up un-proportional when i don't plan them.

ecki : Thanks man i have anatomy studies for you haha, more to come.


I've been a little depressed and sad about my works lately. i don't know if its a phase or what, but i'm trying to be positive. i want to be able to do more conceptual works but i suck at anatomy. how can i apply studies and what are the right ways to study? all impute are welcome, gracias.







some boxes studies suggested by a friend






Doodle

[smael]

hi dude, thanks for your council, http://daarken.com/ , look this artist, you learn so much with him

[IsaacEs]

awesome pencils! i can see the definite improvement in the last batch specially

[ecki]

Yeah! Anatomy studies! Give me more of them, you could also do some classes over at Pixelovely! It really helps to loosen up.

Don't be depressed about your work, you're doing great! Just keep on practicing!
You've just got to be patient and keep at it, a great artist cannot be cast, he has to be ground!

If you need some motivation, you can also checkout this thread.

After all, the human body is the most difficult thing to understand.
Just tackle anatomy hard. Get some good anatomy books and kill it man!

[Yemi775]

Smael : No problem and I know about Daarken, that man has skills.

IsaacEs : Thanks man, very much appreciated

ecki : Wow thanks man, means so much. I will definitely do that class and no more depression, i'll work my way out. Thanks for recommending that motivational thread. Trust me anatomy is going to get its ass kick, very soon...*fingers crossed*




Stuff from Yesterday Anatomy, perspective and Master study, there will be more coming, brace yourselves cause they might be shitty :/

[ill_Buny]

I like your traditional drawings, especially portraits. Unfortunately I can't give you any advise on painting, I have to say you paint like crazy, I think reading about great old masters and studying them is very good idea. All I can say is about drawing from imagination: draw a lot from life and try draw same things from imagination, correct from life and draw again, and draw something really inspiring, this all I can say - draw a lot of inspiring things. And good start just don't be lazy, man.

[Liberty]

I understand the frustration, but patience...

[lionheartGFX]

hey man i uderstand that phase you are going through and i think we all go through that hahaha specially the ones that dont have a teacher, i recommend you to do aLOT of gestures, you know as you warm up, quick studies of the curves in the body then you work on building that shapes be as messy as you want and also do alot of referenced stuff from the masters in time the knowledge sinks in keep going!

[Yemi775]

ill_Buny: you are absolutely right, i will try doing a lot of imaginary drawing thanks for stopping by. Your works are beautiful.

Liberty : Thanks liberty i'll work of patience haha.

lionheartGFX : right gestures! i'll do some and apply what i've learned from anatomy. sweet, feeling excited about this already.



I'l be working on perspective and gesture drawings so feel free to suggest sources and videos thank you.

Here is what i have to present ladies and gentle men from yesterday. Enjoy


Here is my moleskine and a still life with guache. i fear to draw in it at imes... :/



Anatomy


Anatomy from memory and application




Gangstar with a Gat....i watched "the other guys" and the word "gats" as been making me laugh. here is the quote "gator needs his gat you punk ass bitch "

applying what i learned




grey scale landscape (my first so pardon the sloppiness.)

[lionheartGFX]

that its exactly what i mean, hampton diagrams are the BEST way to pump your figure knowledge the man just has a talent to explaining that stuff through pictures, his anatomy studies are off the hook too

[Yemi775]

that its exactly what i mean, hampton diagrams are the BEST way to pump your figure knowledge the man just has a talent to explaining that stuff through pictures, his anatomy studies are off the hook too

@lionheartGFX : actually reading the books helps you learn more, i'm so glad i started reading. i should tacle Villpu (another great teacher) too.

[Zauselbart]

hi Yemi775

great studies - keep up the good work and you gonna be awesome
your selfportrait is great - i would love to see more stuff from live - its a good practice!
i like the landscape and the little woman - try to use the full spectrum of black and white

[Kadin.T.Goldberg]

Damn man, really awesome progress. Go back and look at your first page compared to your last! Really cool! I don't really have much critique... just keep drawing!!

[eclip-se]

Same boat? nice progress, keep it up man!

[ecki]

Your proportions are very nice! Try to make your lines less "scribbly" and go for more lineweight. You could also try to get a higher value range into your painting (Check out some B/W photos as ref).
Keep up the hard work, you'll be awesome!

[ConnyNordlund]

Good studies, keep pushing and applying them.
There's a clear improvement from the first page. I want to see more stuff! Post post post

[Yemi775]

Zauselbart Thanks man i'll do that, black and white or grey scale stuff are new for me give me i'll get it though

Kadin.T.Goldberg Thanks very much appreciated

eclip-se Thanks Man!

ecki Thanks man and what do you mean by higher value rang? please explain.

ConnyNordlund Thanks man i really appreciate it


Feel free to make suggestions!!!


Perspective study which was ass kicking if you have any resources on perspective please feel free to share i need help haha. and sorry i didn't post on thursday and friday, i was sick and recovering as of now and my medications have been putting me to sleep.




doodle from last night i'm falling in love with grey scale paintings, seriously.

[Capt Surge]

Nice studies, for your grayscale paintings try to seperate objects and textures into seperate values. Contrast is your friend when trying to create forms correctly. In your latest grayscale figure the shorts arn't dark or light enough so it blends in with the skin. Though the opposite is true for the skin against the background. You wanna seperate the entire thing in about 4 simple values, and then break those down even further. Sorry if this is long, again great start.

[Zauselbart]

Hi Yemi775

yeah the greyscale is really nice - the background is too dark - you can use pure black but then you must use darker tones on the zombie.
or thinking on light - why is the background dark and the zombie not? that thing destroy your illusion! always try thinking what the light doing.
but man i really like the zombie - good job. the studies are also good - keep pushing.

i could not resist to do a overpainting - maybe its a help

[Saran09]

I can see you putting a lot of effort, one thing i notice is you doing a lot of studies where your exploring forms of the figure and such but when you come to do you own figures that knowledge doesn't seem to transfer in to your personal work, yet! be self critical and just keep at it man! best of luck

[Liberty]

what is perspective? haha. as suggestion after you study figures from books, try to draw from photos having in mind
what youve learned about the anatomy, and always try sketching after every study.

thats that, keep the good work, and dont forget to have fun drawing.

[kevin_]

good work you have in here, your improvement is starting to show! just dont let down on the practice!

[ecki]

Hey, great update man!

With "higher value range" I mean all the little brightness values between "almost pure black" and "almost pure white". If you take a look at a photograph that is B/W, you'll see what I mean. There is a lot of subtle value change going on. Also check out how Light works. (Bounce light, direct light, diffuse (soft) light). All those phenomenons can be observed in nature and photographs, this will help you greatly in showing form and getting realism.

For learning perspective I would recommend David Chelsea's "Perspective for Comic Book Artists" and Scott Robertson's first DVD (Basics Drawing). I'm also still looking around for good resources. Another recommendation that I've got, but I didn't look for it yet is: Carl Dobsky has 2 nice videos and Whit Brackna's environment speed painting tutorials as well as James Gurney's stuff (Digital painting techniques). Thanks go out to Mr. "Tea of Doom" for those suggestions! Maybe he's reading this