FraserMcT - 12th December - Follow me through this crazy journey

[HighRisk]

I absolutely can not believe how much you have improved in the last year and a half. You've been doing an AMAZING job and I can definitely see your style starting to come through in your latest works. How often do you draw and for how long?

I'm so freaking impressed with your artistic progression. Looking back at the first page and seeing your newer works, I'd think there were at least 4 or 5 years in between. Simply amazing.

[FraserMcT]

Frost-Vixen - Thanks!! I'm not sure what they're called either. Skeletal overlays? Sounds good to me, hahaha

Andres333 - Hey. Thanks for stopping by. I can't remember. But try http://www.pbase.com/ for study refs.

Omerta - Cheers bro! And of course.

Marian Rowling - Thanks Marian! I'm not sure what I'll do next, so it will be a surprise for both of us.

Qlotzan - Thanks a lot. Cheers!

HighRisk - Probably the comment that had me smiling the hardest. I don't draw and paint enough! Thats for sure. I think about it for most of my waking day though. Read and think.


Here's the oil painting I was talking about. I can't get a good photo of the finished thing to save my life... GLARE. The photo has especially ruined the bottle. I'll try again when it has cured a bit.
Next oil painting will be on a SMOOTH surface. I like the rough canvas for quick paintings or studies, but damn if I'm doing that again hahaha.

[andres333]

hey thanks for the link
really nice painting btw

[FraserMcT]

Thanks man!
Felt like a failure today. I didn't like anything I did. Learn from mistakes!

First is a self portrait. No likeness.
Oil Sketch
Better photo of the still life. Colour is better on previous photo.

[Marian Rowling]

Hey Fraser sorry to hear you had a bad day, as you say it is all about learning and part of that is making mistakes. I hope it might make you feel better to know I also really like the oil painting of the wine bottle and grapes. I really like the composition and lighting.

[qlotzan]

nice oil painting study

keep it up mate

Qlotzan

[FraserMcT]

Thanks to both of you, Marian and qlotzan.
Marian - Yes, mistakes can often be a good thing. I am trying to get out of the habit of just getting annoyed instead of learning from them! Thanks
Qlotzan - Cheers. Will do!

Sketchbook pages, and a photoshop still life. WIP.

[FraserMcT]

For some reason the still life didn't work. Try again.

[FraserMcT]

Oil painting from life of my mate. No likeness, and the eyes were giving me trouble in the end. I am please with how most of it turned out, especially the mouth.
White, Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue. I touched yellow ochre for a little bit.
A bit over an hour.

[Nettle_Mountain]

hi there, i really love those still life's, maybe some life drawing also and longer digital picture at some point...

[surus]

I like your moleskine pages! Keep on posting this kind of sketches, please. (maybe in higher resolution?)

[ThomasM]

I like your pencils and the paintings are really coming along - you have improved a huge amount so you must be proud of that. More moleskine pages please (i'm a sucker for pencil)!

Looking forward to more

[Black Spot]

While the composition on the second still life is not as good as the earlier one, the renting of the objects is very good; the bottle and scissors especially.

[umbinc]

Great studies)

[FraserMcT]

Replies later! Thanks everyone.
Trying some unusual lighting. It is still a bit dark though.

[FraserMcT]

umbinc- Thanks
Black Spot - Thanks. Yeah, it was more of a colour and value exercise than picture making. I should have paid more attention though. Thanks for the comment.

ThomasM - Thanks a lot Thomas. More pencils are coming. Unfortunately, my flatmate has taken my sdcard reader, and I don't want to go rummaging for it, so that will have to wait till he returns.

surus - Thanks. Will do more, and will post them bigger. Closeups of some I like maybe

Nettle_Mountain - I'm about to start some life drawing classes, so I'm gonna be posting them. Cheers for the comment.


I have done some oilpainting and some sketchbook pages, but can't get photos of them. Read above for details.

A colour study from a photo

[knut-]

Great amount of studies. I like the lighting on the still life . Some of them are a bit blurry but you are so close. Keep up man and take care.

[scottrik03]

wow I love the one with the dark face. very strange .almost like an opstical illusion. very nice

[FraserMcT]

Thanks you two.
Knut - I'll watch out for that. Thanks!
Scottrik03 - Thanks. I don't think many people liked that one, but it was my first try at a self portrait from a mirror in ages.

Flatmate came back. Pencils and Oils (WIP). This was day 1. Gonna take this one as far as I can, hopefully.

[Fallenangel]

Great face studies, gotta do some more of those my self.
Keep up the great work!

Alex.

[Metal Fingers]

Very nice studies in here man! The still life's are especially nice, the liquid within the bottle looks great. on the photography side, are you placing lights to either side of the canvas? One to the left, one to the right? It can help reduce glare by a lot and cuts most of the shadows out of the photo as well. Keep it up man! Watch the eyeballs on your faces though, some get a bit wonky when compared to the other eyeball such as the big face in the first picture (our right) in post 289.

[Black Spot]

"Renting"? I meant rendering - one of these days I'll actually read what I post before posting.

Nice sketches. Time to work on a big picture with all your skills. Think awesome.

[FraserMcT]

Fallenangel - Thanks. Will do!
Metal Fingers - Thanks for the crit. I need to be more aware of little errors like these. I think I need to use a mirror for trad pieces, because my brain is dumb. I only have one light haha, but I try to wait for daylight, but with work it isn't possible all of the time. Thanks!
Black Spot - Thanks Black Spot. I really need to do some finished stuff. I've started doing some thumbs for some finished illustrations (photoshop, or oils? Not sure yet)

Here is some charcoal drawings (photos, very quick, warming up), a pencil drawing (from life 1 hour), and a little sketch.
Started a life drawing class. Was really fun getting back into it. Refreshing to get a male model, the sharper shapes were fun. I'm gonna do some oil painting from life soon. Excited! Doing a 3hour session tomorrow morning, so I should be able to post them at night.
Rambling over.

[Marian Rowling]

Hey Fraser I really like the updates. These life drawings have some very nice expressive marks and feel to them. I also loved your self portrait for self portrait day. I kinda read it as a bit of fun, you painting the emerging artist within!

[LastGen]

Oh wow, your last sketchbook entries with the face studies and body drawings are great! I´m also suprised about the amazing colors of your still life with the wine and grapes. Very nice, I´ll look through this when I have more time =)

[wasabi89]

I've been seeing your thread and i need to say that you are such a talent. great to see your progress man. Keep it up this really nice job !

Cheers

[redrobot]

oh man..waiting to see what will on page 100 at this amazing pace u are improving !

[cgaddict]

Nice updates, your shading is improving from what I can see. Really digging those charcoal drawings as well. Keep it up!

[FraserMcT]

cgaddict - Thanks a lot. I am getting more comfortable with shading. Been doing a lot of experimenting recently. I enjoy charcoal, but I wish my hand didn't smudge is so much. I lose all of my marks!

redrobot - I can't wait either! Haha. Thanks for stopping by.

wasabi89 - Thanks! Wouldn't say talent yet. Hopefully in a couple of years though

LastGen - Thanks. I think I'm ruuuubbbbiiiissshhhh with colours, so that is very humbling. Please do!

Marian Rowling - I never thought of it that way. I like it! I might redo the same idea in oil paints. I feel like it would be able to portray the image I have in my head better. Thanks for the nice words, and for stopping by!


Life drawings. The fully rendered ones are about an hour and a half each. A long time for such little work. But I enjoyed every second. I have learned loads about spacial perception and picture making from these. And from subtle tones and restraint.
The crappier ones are 5 mins each. I need to get more flow in these. I prefer charcoal for short drawings. I will switch next time!
I have an oil painting from today to show, but will wait for daylight tomorrow to get a decent pic.
Thanks!

[FraserMcT]

Very quick. 30 minutes tops.