Kristina is now a FULLTIME freelance illustrator! - updated April 3rd

[Maidith]

If you are interested in what we do at Akademie Leonardo in Hamburg, Germany, here is a selection of exercises.
These are great exercises - anatomy, figure drawing, perspective... all that in both freehand and constructive drawing.

Unfortunately the other half of exercises we do at this school is pretty much a waste of time now. Making value scales and medium-specific (egg tempera and watercolor) is great for the first semester but now I'm in the second semester and we still don't do any painting exercises that teach us about form, light and color.
Instead, what we do is: we get a (crappy) photograph/snapshot and are asked to interpret it with egg tempera or watercolor in a sort of mosaic-like assortment of shapes with an "artistic" twist. But we do not learn about how to convey 3D shapes, or arrange color palettes, etc.
In later semesters we'll also be learning techniques such as "stippling". It's all very "creative" and fun but not part of the basics, the fundamentals that take so long to master.

What we should be doing instead: Painting simple objects such as an apple, mug, plate or shoe in front of our eyes, directly from nature - very simple still lives, with egg tempera or watercolor; using flat, simple shapes to define light and shadow areas in the most precise, accurate way possible and simplified at the same time.

THAT would teach us some basics. (And yes, I've told the teachers that)

But right now I don't really have a choice but to stay at this school. Surely I could attend TAD or similar online classes but I would become crazy if I stayed home all day for studying - I simply don't want to give up seeing the people in my semester. It's such a lovely group and I actually like my teachers, too.
Quite a dilemma, yes, I know. I will stick through this, and practice the important stuff all by myself. I can even do that at school - there's plenty of time, because some exercises are not very demanding at all (and that's an understatement)

[Chips]

I'm blown away by the consistency and accuracy of your forms! Great work.

[ArghosRo]

I was looking at your stuff yesterday and now theres more, thats awesome.
I read here that your going to college, whats your major?





_________________
My SB!!!

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...=191864&page=6

[Maidith]

Chips, thank you

ArghosRo, thanks! It's not really "college" I'm attending, but a small private academy. The course is called Illustration. (there is no "major" or "minor" here)

Anyway, I have made up my mind. I'm dropping out of art school. Yay! The Akademie Leonardo doesn't teach me as much art fundamentals as I had hoped, only about 30% of all exercises make sense to me (the ones with anatomy and perspective posted previously)

I have found a studio space here in Hamburg which I'm sharing with 2-3 other creative freelancers, it's awesome and really affordable. Yesterday I signed the rent contract and got the keys, then I'll move my computer 'n stuff into there. I'm paying for it with the savings that were originally intended for tuition. It's actually cheaper than tuition so it's perfect.

I will occupy my first real workplace/studio place on July 1st, and work full-time as a freelance illustrator. Yay!

Anyway, here is a new painting:
Tintin visiting the grave of his "father" Georges Remi a.k.a. Hergé.

References: My own
Medium: Wacom tablet and Photoshop
Time taken: Somewhere between 20 and 30 hours, spread over 2 weeks

[sony]

loved your illustrations so rich in textures and detail, one just merge into them

[Amarok]

Your digital paintings are so amazing!! I love all of the texture and detail. And it's good to see all of your studies and hard work along the way. You've made huuuuuge improvements since the first pages! I hope I can make this kind of progress with a few years of hard work, too.

[KrayTSAO]

I really like the traditional feel in your work. The flesh tones in your figure work is really fantastic!

[Maidith]

sony, Amarok and KrayTSAO, thank you

Here's two commissioned illustrations I recently finished. Backgrounds for a short animated movie. Actually there's more of them but these are the ones I consider the most presentable.

I'm so glad I practiced constructing perspective recently! (Will do more, of course)

[razz]

Hey, how are you doing these days? ;]

Your Tintin illustrations are amazing! Great to see you working hard and producing amazing results.

[frankfrank]

Really like your sketchbook and thanks for having visited mine. The only critique I really have is that Tintin looks very feminine. I can't place why though. Or maybe it's just me teehee

[Maidith]

razz, thank you I'm doing fine, and currently really excited about quitting art school and starting as a fulltime freelancer. I'm talking more about it in my previous posts.

Frank, thank you! =) Tintin is a cute one, I'm sure it's canon, haha Anyway, I'm done with the fanart for now, got other things to obsess about.

Some recent exercises, copying from Bammes.

[knut-]

Great studies man, keep sketching having shapes in mind, it helps a lot to realize the basic forms and lighting.
Keep up!

[Maidith]

knut, thank you

Self portrait painted from the mirror. Photoshop, about 3 hours. I need to paint more people and objects directly from life observation.

[DennisH-Art]

Love your work! The Tintin piece is really top notch! Keep it up!

[Xelar]

Lange nicht gesehen ;D

Your colors have gotten a lot better and those studies are top notch!
There's something weird about the perspectives you use in your paintings.
In the second interior you swap perspectives from left to right.
The tintin piece looks great but it could be greatly improved by distinguishing foreground and background more cleary without making it look like Tim is sitting in front of a photo wallpaper, which is kind of the vibe I'm getting right now^^

Mal sehen, was du so demnächst machst

[kayness]

beautiful! and congratulations on graduating and being a fulltime freelancer!

[Eric-Anthony]

nice sb. i like all the studies and i see a big improvement in the last few pages.

[Maidith]

Dennis, thank you

Xelar, thanks! Long time no see, indeed. You've made some great progress! Are you attending art school already, or planning to?
I can't see the swapped perspective you mentioned, would you do a redline? Will be greatly appreciated

Kay, thank you! Big internet hug I didn't really graduate, hehe (only from Angel Academy one year ago), but simply quit. Dropped out. And it'll be worth it, I'm sure. I'll start at my new workplace next Monday.

Eric, thank you!


I'm making studies. Here's a fruit still life with an apricot and smooth-skinned peach, painted from life. Photoshop and graphics tablet, about 3 hours.

[Obstfelder]

Some great work here!

The materials in the last study all seem very matted with no highlights. That's expected from those fruit, but the plate would have some more reflected light I would think. Maybe you could pick a mix of glossy and matted objects for your next study?

Keep up the good work!

[Maidith]

Obstfelder, thank you (your username is so appropiate here, haha! XD)
You are right, and I found the image looks better after simply increasing bright- and sharpness. Here you can see it.

Meanwhile I've painted another one. Eggplant and tomato (duh) on fish-shaped, time-worn wooden board.

[SteffenBrand]

Nice study! I really like the material rendering very much.
Maybe I'm wrong, but isn't the eggplant-shadow a little bit small on the right side when you compare it with the tomato?
Just wondering, but I could be wrong...

[cgaddict]

Wow, you've come quite a long way since I last checked out this thread. Very inspiring work. You improved in quite a number of areas, anatomy, perspective, line quality, etc. Keep it up!

[Xelar]

I still have another year of normal school before I can go to University.

Perspective is a bit hard to convey via red-line so I went full out instead.
It was mostly the windows and bench that looked really off.
Also did a little bit of lighting fixes here and there

[GweNdZ]

you know what inspires me? Looking at your first page and then immediately the last page. THAT inspires me! Keep up the amazing work!

[Maidith]

Steffen, thank you I suppose you're right - when I painted the cloth I had already removed the eggplant.

George, thank you!

Xelar, thanks; this looks great, excellent improvement!

GweNdZ, thank you

This new digital painting here is a commissioned book cover. Had to leave space at the top for the author's name and/or book title.

[p sage]

Nice work on this latest one, and excellent Bammes copies

[cgaddict]

Very clean render with your new one, loving the use of lighting as well. Nicely done!

[Maidith]

Thank you, p_sage and George

A recent illustration. Those three guys have become known as the best preserved ice mummies of the 19th century. Petty Officer John Torrington, Private William Braine and Able Seaman John Hartnell were the first casualties of the doomed Franklin Expedition. They all died in a rather short time span of pneumonia, tuberculosis and lead poisoning and were buried next to each other on Beechey Island in the Canadian Arctic. Their gravestones are still there today.

But they did not become famous until they were exhumed by Professor Owen Beattie and his team in 1984.
I've read the account in Beattie's book "Frozen in time" and just had to paint them. How could they have looked when they were alive? All I have as a guide are photographs of the preserved bodies, and until someone exhumes them again there will be only that very limited number of old photos.

So you can't really call my work an "archeological reconstruction", but merely an "artistic interpretation".

Want see their mummies? Warning! They're possibly not worksafe: http://i46.tinypic.com/2gugqag.jpg

[Murderotic]

Wow Maidith! Your sketchbook is wicked, I love it.
Some of your older works look very renaissancy, the "religious looking poses", i sooo love it!
Truly inspiring! Also I like what you did with the mummy-guys.
You woke them to life, once again.
The man who's holding the glowing vial-things is flawless!
Your sketchbook is, indeed, bookmarked in my web-browser!
Keep it up!

[Maidith]

Murderotic, thank you

I'm working on my portfolio and want to include some new character concepts because I'm absolutely not satisfied with the old ones (that I posted here 1-2 years ago) anymore.


This is Lemminkäinen, the (anti)-hero from the Finnish national epos Kalevala.
Somehow it's more fun to make interpretations of specific personalities instead of just drawing the same old generic fantasy character.

Even though some of the Kalevala characters would seem very cliché nowadays. The sorcerer Väinamöinen, for example, inspired Tolkien to invent Gandalf in "Lord of the Rings".

But perhaps I'm going to draw Väinamöinen anyway, too. Or Louhi, the old sorceress from the North; or Tuoni, the lord of the underworld. The book is quite interesting.

Ladies and gents, I present you Lemminkäinen, the reckless douchebag who's way too lucky for his own good, whose hobby is getting people pregnant, starting fights, and attending parties he's not invited to. He's a very entertaining character.

Time: 1 workday
Reference: http://mjranum-stock.deviantart.com/