Zenobia's Sketchbook (Update! 03/03/11)

[Zenobia]

** New stuff always at the end of the thread! **

Heyas.

The name is Zenobia (aka, Annalee). I found out about this site almost a year, and have been looking around ever since. This place is a great source of inspiration!

I used to be an art student (2 years community school art classes; 1 year university art classes), until some financial problems hit and I wasn't able to pay for school any longer.
I currently live near Ft. Campbell, KY with my (now deployed) husband, and am just trying to do some art here and there when I have the time.
I would love to go back to art school when I get the money and time.
I was majoring in Illustration. I have a love for animals, all things fantasy and the human form.

I would like to improve on animal anatomy, perspective, hands and feet, color theory and landscapes, as I think those are some of my major weaknesses. Also on digital painting, especially, since Im still somewhat new to that (bought a tablet about a year ago).

Hints, tips, tricks, critiques, suggestions and comments are greatly welcomed, of course!

[lexxx]

ha i was watching some lost tonight. you captured those characters in a really unique way. your characters seem really strong and i really like those mirrored figures.

the last winged demon seems a little weaker, though, especially compared to the procession of the crawling creatures that are in profile. keep note of line quality and don't get chicken scratchy. good start!

[Zenobia]

Thank you lexxx for the advice n' such! I really appreciate that. I think line quality has always been a weakness of mine, I even remember a few of my teachers telling me the exact same thing.

Sorry about the huge size of the images, Im still getting used to posting things in forums. I'll try to fix them at some point.

[Zenobia]

I think I need to work on hands a bit, so you'll see some sketches of that in here. Im also trying to improve on drawing animals.
Alright, here are some more sketches from the past year or so:



















I'll post more later on today.

[Zenobia]

Some stuff from today.

[Platonist]

I love the Dragon! I like the rest of the SB too but the Dragon kinda leapt out at me.

Only one crit: the muzzle on your horse portrait looks a bit too small.

[Zenobia]

Thank you Platonist. The dragon sketch was so very random. Done while at a somewhat boring party at a friends house.
Yeah, now that you've mentioned it, I do notice the horse muzzle being a bit small, I'll keep that in mind when I draw more horse heads.

Here are some digital sketches ... I'm still not very used to my tablet, so sketching/inking/coloring/painting via the computer is still a little weird for me.














I don't know if I'll get any sketches in over the weekend, but I'll try. If not, expect some stuff on Monday

[Zenobia]

So, no time to upload things on Monday, but here are some things from over the weekend:

[Zenobia]

And some more ...

[Zenobia]

[Zenobia]

Not finished yet, but here it is so far:

[Zenobia]

I love mythological creatures!

[Zenobia]

Trying to work more on landscapes ...

[JennyDavis]

good work! your drawings show a real sense of humor. i especially love the three creature designs from your first post and the female figure from feb. 23. i see a lot of improvement just from what you've posted already.
your digital paintings of the teacup and the figures show a really good understanding of reflective light. just one tip: since shadows are never just gradients of a single color in real life, the digital paintings would look fuller and more solid if shaded by layering tones of different colors, like purple, blue and green. the teacup, for example, would be more lifelike if there other colors in the shadows besides red (maybe some purple and some brown/gold reflected from the saucer?). overall, really good work! keep it up.

[Zenobia]

Thank you for the response JennyDavis!
And thank you for the tip on shading with color. I will definitely try and put that to use.

[Zenobia]

I apologize for not posting in a while. I've been working non-stop for the past 8 days (and counting ...) at my retail job. One of our co-workers decided to quit on us, so I've taken up the slack a bit.

I've been able to get some quick doodles and sketches in here and there when I've had the time, but not nearly as many as I'd like.

So here we go ...

[Newman101]

You have alot going for you so far, Zenobia. I really enjoy your pen work, you have some very nice pieces with that. Youve got alot of potential, I think, just keep working, and practicing and doing lots of studies .

One thing Im noticing is that your environments are alot more dynamic than most other things. Alot of your people/characters seem to be facing directly toward, or they are seen in a completly profile view. Try doing a more 3/4ths view to keep things from flattening out and gain a better understanding of the proportions of what you are drawing.

[Zenobia]

Newman101 - Thank you very much! Pen has always been my favorite medium to use.
Yes, proportions and perspective are definitely something I need to work on. I will try out the 3/4ths view with some of my facial and head studies.
Thanks for the input!

[Zenobia]

I had two days off of work, so I had some time to get a few things in.

[Zenobia]

So, I've been working on this thing for forever. She's turning out ok, but not great. Figured I'd post it here as well, considering it's not finished yet.



Everything has been done in Photoshop CS2 ... I thought I'd try out a completely inked and colored piece in Photoshop, as I've never done it before. It's definitely a new and good experience.

I have a thread going on for this piece as well over in the "Studies and Works In Progress" section: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=150273

[Zenobia]

So ... I think I haven't really been motivated to do much in the way of drawing or anything lately. Every time I feel like doing something, I just kinda feel like, "Eh ..."

I Tried doing a few digital pieces though, just to see how they'd turn out. And I don't think I did too bad ... I definitely need way more practice, but it's not such a bad start.

[Aaron Death]

Nice progress. Perhaps you can check out color theory or do some photo studies to know more about color though. The painting of the mermaid doesn't look very right, color wise.

[Zenobia]

Nice progress. Perhaps you can check out color theory or do some photo studies to know more about color though. The painting of the mermaid doesn't look very right, color wise.

Yeah, I never took a Color Theory class in the years that I was going to art school. That is one of my major weaknesses. I will definitely check out some color theory tutorials or something online though. And I will definitely keep practicing!

[Zenobia]

My updates seem to be fewer and fewer as the weeks go on. I think I kinda lost my motivation a bit.
I bought a little watercolor set, though, so that should help ... maybe.

[Zenobia]

And here's my entry for the 'Undead Farm Animal' daily sketch post:

[Zenobia]

So I tried my hand at yet another DSG entry, but I don't think I'll have enough time to finish it, and the poor creature didn't really come out as 'dead' or a corpse.
The topic for this one was, "HELICOPTERS CIRCLE GARGANTUAN ALIEN CORPSE IN MIDDLE OF CITY".
I had a great time on the perspective though. Something that I definitely need more practice with.
Im also finding that the DSG is a great source of inspiration, I love at the topic ideas that they post, it makes my mind race with ideas!

[Zenobia]

I forgot how much I hate doing self portraits ...

[Shamen]

Greetings
In my opinion the potential in the schedule, in this party I also developed.

[Zenobia]

Greetings
In my opinion the potential in the schedule, in this party I also developed.

Shamen: I don't exactly understand what you're trying to say ... Please explain yourself a little better.

[Zenobia]

I've been trying out my colored pencils lately .. I keep forgetting how much fun they are to use.
Im also really please with the dragon sketches, especially since I couldn't get the bodies right for a really long time.