What the deuce?

[FinalKnight]

So my friend convinced me to start a sketchbook after I convinced him to start a sketchbook, yarr!

I have not had an art class since grade 10 so I would really appreciate any critique I receive. I started drawing seriously at the beginning of summer, but haven't been able to draw as much as I wanted to since school resumed.

Again, I appreciate critiques, don't hold back. This is the only opportunity I have to get feedback. I'm glad it comes from the great artists here on CA.

My good friend, Ace is the one who convinced me to start a sketchbook, and I know he would be just as grateful to receive critiques as I am. Check him out, he is a lot better than me!

Thanks for your time, and I hope I can learn a lot from this fine community. And maybe inspire some people with my crappy work!

My favourites: george&guo :: zhuzhu ::
Ace

Thumbnail~

[N1ck]

I really wonder why people dont write when they see great stuff (in my opinion). yes, i really like your stuff but please show more.

the first colored studies look good and some of the pencils look great.

for how long have you been drawing, i mean you probably have drawn a lot out of school when you last head art training in 10th grade (but i dont know how long 10th grade has passed for you).

keep it up, even when not many people are posting.

[FinalKnight]

Thanks for the reply N1ck, you've convinced me to update my SB. My scanner is slow and I've been busy so I haven't had time to update - but I have been drawing.

I started drawing seriously around May, 2007. As much as I can, sometimes drawing 7 hours a day.

Anyway, here are some pen drawings that I thought turned out well. A nude for the sake of nude, and some life drawings using my brush pen.





And, two more coloured pieces. First one was a speedy speedpaint in painter, only took me about an hour - which I am happy about, I usually draw slow - and the second one is a self-portrait that I am not happy about. That one took around 3 hours in openCanvas and I don't like the colours or the values.

[N1ck]

nice update, the pendrawings look interesting… maybe a bit too much lines which arent needed. on the pen figure sketches you did a good job describing the form/pose with little strokes.

The digitals look good, but you could definitely work on the skintones--> more studies from ref?

Ahh, and i forgot to say: update your sb more often and soon (about 2 weeks maybe) there will be a lot more people writing in it

[sloppybunny]

I want to give you some props on a great sketchbook. Yeah, I'm pretty useless with constructive comments. I do wanna see more

[FinalKnight]

Thanks for the support sloppybunny, you two have convinced and inspired me to draw quite a bit over the last two days.

The fruits of my labour:

First one, a soldier. Again this only took me about an hour in Painter, and I like the way it turned out.


This next one was done with a B&W reference so I had to make up the colours. I don't like it as much as the previous one. Again in painter and took about 3 hours. Tried to add detail and texture, but it didn't work out too well. I'd say one of my biggest weaknesses is detail, so I tried to work on that in this piece. The trench warfare of WW1, Canadian soldiers.


Thought I should also post some analog stuff. Continuing on this world war theme, an African and Russian soldier using Conte pastel pencils.


And some life drawings


Thanks, and I probably won't be updating for a while, lots of programming assignments and finals coming soon.

[N1ck]

very nice new updates. im interested in where you got your reference from. maybe you could post a link if its online, that would be great.

btw. im looking forward to new updates, your stuff is interesting

[FinalKnight]

Hey N1ck, I mostly get my references from Google.

The world war one picture is from http://www.worldwaronecolorphotos.com/ & a good resource is also: http://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/ww2incolor

My nude women mostly come from http://www.kindgirls.com/


Sorry for my late reply, I didn't feel justified in posting and bumping my sketchbook without having some drawings, which leads to...


Some pencil drawings. I am bad with all analog mediums. When I started drawing, I started digitally, and am much more comfortable with that. But, I have to practice sometime!




Also the required life drawing:



Two digital speedpaints. A little over an hour each. First one was in Painter using the Sargent paintbrush (first time I've used it, very weird, but nice):



And the second one, in OC:



I guess I should also start posting some stuff from my imagination. When I try to draw from my imagination using pencil it turns out like crap. When I draw digitally from my imagination the results are better crap (Yay for ctrl+z) in OC:

[ghoulio]

lovely loose work, wish I could do that haha, Nice moods with the digital but Those sketches from your first post are awesome too, not much to crit, so keep drawing I really dig this...

Good luck, see ya

[Newbs]

great start to your SB!!

I'd like to see you tighten up some of those paintings

the life sketches are great

post more!!

[FinalKnight]

Hey ghoulio and Newbs,

Both of your guys' work is amazing. I am always envious of those who can draw with emotion and style all from imagination.

Newbs, I wish I could tighten up my paintings too. I have never really drawn anything with detail, so I don't even know how to do it! Also, I don't have the time to dedicate to tinkering with details. The only thing I can manage is some speedpaints.

But, for my next drawing I'll try to spend some more time on it and add some detail and some more smoothness.

Meanwhile, some self-referenced-eyeballs, some life drawings, and some imagination stuff all on one page:

life:


And two more speedpaints without using ctrl+z - I use it too much - in Painter about 2 hours for the first one, 1.5 for the second one.
Both are from the same photoshoot over at kindgirls.com. This girl has amazing hair!



I know these aren't detailed. I drew them before reading Newbs comment, next post I'll have some detailed stuff (to the best of my ability)!

[The Simpsons Fan]

Cool looking art.

[joaKimArt]

Lovely paintings. The last update has nice speedpaints. I will take a look at that site. ^__^

Looking good mate. Keep on posting.

[FinalKnight]

joaKimArt, kindgirls.com is a great reference site, they usually don't airbrush (as far as I can tell) their models, and some of the pictures have good lighting with shadows. Unlike those perfectly smooth models you see in magazine ads.


Well, I hated my last self-portrait so much that I decided to do another one. I got a great critique from my friend that my drawing was too plasticy and saturated. I realized I've been making a fatal mistake in all of my drawings. I was incorporating the value of the highlight into the form, rather than adding it on-top as a detail!

This first drawing was oversaturated and plasticy like all of my drawings. I tried to fix it after the fact, but wasn't very successful. About 3.5 hours, Painter (tried to add detail).


So in this second one, with my newfound knowledge I tried to resolve the problem. About 1.5 hours in Painter.


And I also got my first moleskine! Now I can call myself a real (gullible) artist. 20 bucks, that's 1/2 a cent per square inch. I'm gonna squeeze every square inch out'ta it!

[MeTaL-Mike]

very nice sb. watch your proportions though. good stuff.

[gustavo desimone]

muy bueno tu color trabajado por planos

[Naastika]

Like the speedpaints...your 'halloween colors' girl is pretty awesome.

[Trashy]

Hey FinalKnight,

Just wanted to swing by and return the favor for the nice critique you gave me. I think you got a pretty solid start to your sketchbook. I especially like that last page of studies. I think you got a pretty good grasp on anatomy, itleast far better then me. If your looking for good refs though and different poses you might want to check this out- http://www.posemaniacs.com/blog/pose/

In terms of your digital paintings I think you can push you values alittle more. Try converting the refs you use into grayscale and work in grayscale more to get that down. Just do more studies like the first image you posted.

In anycase keep up the good work. This is a strong start!

[Ito Saith Webb]

I really like your figure work. The poses are interesting and your proportions look pretty dead on. I would like to see you put more detail in the eyes like adding pupils as having it as is makes it a bit alien at times.

[Retronym]

Love your face studies.

[darthneko]

I love the WWI pictures, and the newest face studies are great.

[FinalKnight]

Trashy: Thanks for the critique. I definitely need to work on my values. It's my next highest priority after I learn how to use this thing they call a pencil. The first image I posted was the piece I spent the most time on, about 4 hours, which is likely why it is the best looking.

Ito Saith Webb: Thanks for the comment on the eyes! The eyes are the most important part of the face, so I will spend more time rendering them out! As for the pupil-less eyes, I was kind of aiming for the alien look.

Thanks everyone else for the support.


Well I haven't updated in a while, but I've probably been drawing a lot more than any other time in my life (but still not enough!) I am also reading all of your comments, so thank you for that.

Time for a larger batch of pictures. I have realized I can't draw worth a damn, and I hope to remedy this by doing lots and lots of studies...

Which brings me to Burne Hogarth, starting to love his work, almost finished drawing every single line in his Dynamic Figure Drawing book:










Those were just a few of the drawings. Don't feel like scanning them all. I think I have one of the slowest scanners in the world.

Also been doing quite a bit of life drawing. My SkyTrain sketches and University sketches:



And something from my imagination:


Something I scribbled while waiting for all these things to scan!


And a digital self-portrait because I hate all the ones I've done so far, and this is no exception...


A portrait I did of my friend in class. It's come to the point where I don't listen in class anymore and spend most of my time drawing.


Next update I'll be finished this Hogarth book so I hope I can do some fully rendered drawings!

[resonanteye]

I really like the sheet of eyes. They're so hard to get right, it's good that just looking at that you can see how you progressed, even that quickly.

[FinalKnight]

Thanks for the comment resonanteye. Hopefully I can keep getting better at a fast pace, but it seems like my progression is slowing.


Only one comment for all that junk! I guess I know what the problem is. I need more hot chicks!

Sargent brush in Painter with android styling in the background - about 4 hours:

3.5 hr:


Trying a different style. Figures were drawn with only 1 line:


Trying to learn how to hatch/shade:


Trying to stick people into environments (which I am horrible at):



Was really foggy and I couldn't see this figures very well so I just did silhouettes:


Finally, went to my very first, second and third life drawing sessions, these are from the second and third:







(Sorry they are cut off, scanner isn't big enough)

[FinalKnight]

Very cool band I just found out about:
http://www.stage6.com/user/tedmelhui...i---Blue-Honey
Or youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT9GWLypu38





Pencil is from imagination:




OC imagination stuff:

[Blaise]

Very nice sketchbook. I really like the looseness of the color pieces. As you start adding detail, try not to lose the energy of the loose strokes. That Sargent brush is really working well for you.

[sloppybunny]

I really like where this sketchbook is going mate I like the looseness of the paintings too. those sketches of people there you do is really neat

[FinalKnight]

Work on those values, Mister!




Imagination.

[MeTaL-Mike]

man you stuff is really cool!! love the color paintings. how do you start them? can you do a quick demo?

[FinalKnight]

Heya MeTaL-Mike,

I am probably the last person who should be giving advice on colour (or value in general). I just recently delved into the world of colour and value. I almost exclusively work with line and rarely try my hand at full renderings including coloured or b&w ones.
However, I'll try to explain my process using some gif's.

1st one:

1. Always find a good reference picture. I usually go with something that catches my eye. If I can find a naturally lit picture with a strong light source and without any photochopping, I will use that. Although even better than reference, is from life if you can find something that interests you.

2. I start by filling my canvas with a 50-70% value.

3. After that I usually do the darkest darks, but I only make them around 90% to give me some wiggle room. These darks that I put in - as far as I can tell - are very saturated.

4. In this particular one there were not very many darks on the figure so I decided to do the lightest lights first... (but I didn't go anywhere near white)

5. Now is the complicated part. When I choose my initial colour - and I am always waaaaaaay off with this - I try to get the correct saturation, temperature and value for the dark and light side. As I said, I fail miserably at getting a close relationship, so I have a lot of tinkering to do.

6. After I get all my quick initial colours in, I focus in on a smaller scale. Try to look for areas that share a same general value and colour. For each of these smaller areas, I consciously think: "Is this the right value (no? Okay is it brighter or darker). Is this the right temperature (no? Okay is it redder, or yellower). Is this the right saturation (no? Okay is it more saturated, or less saturated)." It is VERY important to make sure you get the value right, temperature and saturation are secondary.

I have also found that unless your value is right, there will be no way you can get the right colour. If at any time you are struggling very hard and you just can't seem to nail the colour, then without a doubt your values are wrong.

7. I quit when I get frustrated which is probably why I have no finished stuff :].




Overview:
Start with a dark gray canvas.
Then the darkest darks :: very saturated (but don't make them black!)
Then block in some colours.
Then tinker and keep in mind value, saturation, value, temperature, and value. (Make sure you get that value right!)



If anyone has any critiques on my process I'd love to hear it.