Black Spot's Sketches

[Black Spot]

Thanks dierat. I'm still learning how to manipulate the colour digitally - it doesn't work quite the same as traditional and I'm finding the difference frustrating. It's getting there, but that smooth blend on the edges is my big bug bear at the moment. I'll get it soon.

I'm putting the last pic on ice for a bit while I experiment a bit more and can get cleaner colours. I did some hair the other day that turned into chicken feathers - interesting discovery. Silky cloth is coming along, as is gold and marble - flesh is nearly there.

[seagulls]

The pencils and life drawings are pretty good, but I'm not sure what to suggest with the painting.I think It may help to look up a few digital painting videos on youtube to get an idea of the workflow that people use.

[zelda_geek]

The pencil drawing and the ballpont pen drawing are nice. Your digital work is not as good..but keep doing it and I think you'll figure it out.

ps. try to show the reflected light from the red fabric on her body. I think that could help...

[Black Spot]

The way I’m now working is adding an extra layer, slap on the colour, partially erase it and when happy merge. Then I can blend a bit. This is not the finished article, just a WIP. Reflected colour will come at the end because if I put it early the result will be mud. She still has chicken feathers for hair at the moment.

[Incinerated]

Dont be afraid to rough it up a little, that last one , could use alot of shading.
Your stuffs Is generally very bright, dont be afraid of the darker tones.
you show great promise, especially the environs are good .
About the break dance, I don't dance no more, I was just there to support my old crew, I can get video of it if you're really interested.
-Inc

[bharat]

hi...Black Spot, your Afford is cool, but concentret on praportion & anatomy first, do daily skatching.

[TASmith]

What brush did you use for her hair? I wouldn't use it anymore. Just use a straight flat round brush for everything, starting out. Master that one before you experment with others. Lower the opacity of your brushes to blend edges, and then go back and forth with them. I'll add a pic/demo that someone posted on my sketchbook. It's really helped me digitally.

[jatherip]

tasmith is right! hard round one is always a good thing!! try to bring out the volume of things (like the wrinkles on this cloth thing)!
btw thanks for checking by my sketchbook AGAIN !
keep goin

[Black Spot]

My monitor died this morning, so I had to get a new one and everything is so much bigger and brighter, which may explain a lot. Now that I can see what everyone else is, expect major changes.

TAS, I don't have any brushes other than one. This is PhotoPlus, not PhotoShop, although I can import some PhotoShop brushes, I don't want to yet - more buttons to press. The chicken feather hair was only because I was messing about as that's the way I learn.

jatherip, once you post in my SB, I'll keep coming back to you, expect I only go back four pages unless I'm bored.

bharat, I'm learning (or re-learning) on the wing, so to speak. I don't post every single scrap that I draw as that would be boring and possibly embarrassing. I sort of learn my way even if it's not the most efficient as that way it sinks in. I've tried to do it by the book but it passes over my head. Trust me, in year's time you'll see an improvement because I want to get better and will continue to work at where I'm weak. The first Battle of the Sexes and the Newborn contests made me tackle areas that are weak; while they are not perfect by any stretch on the imagination, they did push me.

[Black Spot]

Specific question. Is the forearm too long?

[seagulls]

Probably not the forearm, For me it looks like it could be right. But the wrist looks a little odd, like the knuckles are too far down.
I think it would be valuable to get some picture reference of people in similar position to help you see things as they are.
Do you get lots of time to work on it?

[dierat]

Seconding seagulls comment, the hand is too long on the upper half. It's possible that that's the problem you're seeing and that by shortening the hand but leaving the arm as it is you'll fix the problem you're seeing. And kudos on sticking to the one brush; too many people confuse themselves with texture too early thinking that that will somehow save them.

[Black Spot]

Time to play surgeon then. I'll move the hand up and turn it slightly - I couldn't do that a month ago.

seagulls, I work full time, have 3 kids and a husband. I work at my art when I can.

[Black Spot]

Double post.

[Irishdrunk]

Hey thanks for checking out my SB.

I admire your scibbly poses. I used to do that, but never did I make it look as clean as yours. Keep it up!

[Black Spot]

Don't know about them being clean. The ink blobs were rife today.
2 minutes, 5 minutes the rest 20.

It was quite lively thanks to a few animators. It's nice not having to take the entire session seriously.

[NicG]

Hi, Black Spot! I'm so dumb. I kept thinking you weren't updating because I didn't notice there was a new page. Duh! Anyway, glad to see I was wrong... I'm glad you're posting your digital WIPs. It's interesting to see your learning process. Sorry I can't offer any advice. The life drawings look good!

[Black Spot]

I keep forgeting to update my signature. Art is a bit slow at the moment as life does get in the way and I haven't made that much progress that anyone would notice.

[dierat]

I like c and d the best, and I like the cross-hatching bits. Keep up the good work!

[seagulls]

The life drawings are looking pretty good, you may not have noticed so I checked back a couple of pages and I can see some improvement in the spacing of the lines, composition, your using the page space better and the values show the form quite a bit better.
I also like how you notice the space around the person and theres a bit of an environment.

[Black Spot]

They are still too messy. I need to get back to brevity of line like I used to draw over 20 years ago - example below.

[Black Spot]

The Nibru thread in the Lounge is a lot of fun to watch at the moment. I'm not that fast or awesome enough to post there. I started this evening and hope to finish tomorrow. I might post in the lounge if it hasn't died by then and I think it is okay.

Baron Von Nibru has a cold.

[FraserMcT]

Hey again BlackSpot. Nice job on the face on the newest one, and also of the woman earlier.
I think your work would improve if you worked with a huge brush to start, then work down slowly. It makes it a lot easier to get the forms.
It is weird for a start, but your work will improve quickly.
If I was you, I would also stick to greyscale. I know that when I am painting there are too many things to think of and remember, but it may just be me....
I think you should concentrate on structure and form before moving on to that complicated thing that is colour. Right now a lot of your images look quite flat, and it would be easier to think in 3d if there was only grayscale.
I don't mean to offend you or your work or anything, just trying to help you improve.
Good luck, and keep it up!

[NicG]

Hey, Black Spot! I like the Nibru thread too but like you I don't feel like I could do anything fast enought to put it up there. It looks like it's got some momentum though. It could still be going a week from now. I think your Nibru's going to be really cool when you finish him!!

[dierat]

O no, where's his M? Yeah I keep thinking the height of the thread has passed and it's going to drop off now.. and then more people show up and post more Nibrus. It's funny how you usually don't get long threads like that on CA unless it's an argument about the definition of art or something.

Btw, you might want to rotate the Baron counter-clockwise a smidge; he has a bit of a balance problem atm. Maybe it's the cold making him dizzy.

[Black Spot]

Finished and posted. Not the best work in the world. Still lopsided, but he's weak from the cold and feeling a bit under the weather. You know this is the first totally imaginary figure I've done here - no refs.

[seagulls]

He looks pretty good for imaginary.
Ill give you a little tip for the lines from life drawing
You can build things with straight lines lightly then curve them. Dont be afraid to try different pressure .

[Black Spot]

What I have to do is look better first and draw in my mind before committing to paper.

Back to my WIP that I've neglected for a few days.

[Black Spot]

Did a load more this morning.

[TASmith]

Black Spot, I like all this new work! My favorite's the Nibru character. He's got such a comical pose and expression. I also like the recent nude studies - you're finally thinking about line direction. Now promise yourself you'll make every single line follow the form!

I like the recent figure painting and I have some advice. Before I give it, I just want to stress I'm not very good at all with figure painting, so this is from the pov of a friend who wants to help, not an expert. I think this one's got a lot of potential, but it's looking a bit flat now. Here's why I say that. First, there's not a strong, single light source. Second, monochrome colors flatten even the best rendering. You could take a Da Vinci sketch, his self portrait for example, draw it with different colored pens, make his hair one color, his skin another, and the background another, and voila! flat. When you use color, you have to remember there's a little bit of every color in everything. There's purple in the shadow of that green blanket she's resting on. There's a touch of green in the shadow on the wall. There's red in the shadow of the drapes to the left. Every color in nature is some mixture of brown. Put at least a touch of every primary color in each area.

Third, the figure herself - she's accurate, but there are a couple issues. First of all the line connecting her eyes isn't parallel to her nose and mouth. I'd lower her right eye a tad. Her back and arm meld together a bit formlessly - I can tell that you're going for a figure similar to say Derain or Ingres? I think, though, if you worked a bit more on how her shoulder/deltoid connects to her arm it'd give it just the umph it needs. Most importantly, though, her hair isn't nearly as shiny as real hair. Real hair has soooo much contrast. I mean areas that are practically white (color depending in part on the lighting).

I'm not sure if I like this darkening/dimming of the image - the background works more, but I hope you're going to bring back some highlights on the woman.

A final thought on the composition. It's pretty good, and I'm not a big expert at all on the subject. As a guy, I suppose, I'd probably find it more appealing if you moved the camera a bit to the left, showing more of the woman and less of the wall to her right.

I hope this helps!