Kjesta's Excellent Art & Animation Adventures

[Kjesta]

Righty-o, here we go.

I’m German, 17 years old, 18 in two weeks, and I’ve been drawing since about five years - sadly, the first three years only really crappy manga stuff, so I haven’t learnt very much in that time. (I still love reading manga occasionally, but just focusing on drawing that way hasn’t taught me all the good stuff.)

I’ve spent ten months as an exchange student in Australia (July 08 - May 09) and really did a lot of art there - I did nude life-drawing every week, some still-life and so on. I was also very impressed by my arts class which really pushed the students, I’m only used to that ridiculous kind of thing we call arts class here at my school. That time really opened my eyes and got me into “real art”.

I’m back home since two months... and all the zap seems to just have gone. I draw little and if so, hardly from life, having angry and teary fits for being not good enough, blahblahblah, the whole lot. So, time to get cracking instead of whining. Maybe some crit will do me good and provide a bit of a kick in the bum when I’m getting lazy again.

The drawings here are still from my life-drawing sessions, but I’ll get some recent stuff up soon. I don’t have a working scanner, sadly, but for now this’ll have to do. Nothing special 'bout the drawings, the last one is a close-up. All are A3 originally.

My current point of frustration: faces. Gah. They just give me a headache. I'd give a finger to be able to do a decent portrait of Rupert Grint, but I reckon I'll just have to stick with it. *sits down to draw some more*

*looks at post* And sorry for the ramble. Ahem.

edit: Oh, I might have mentioned: my ultimate dream job would be 2D animator, as in, the good old Disney stuff, but most things with art are fine with me. I'm not sure yet what I might end up doing, so I just try to become as versatile as possible so I can do all kinds of things.

[Kjesta]

So, some more stuff, more recent this time.

First one is another life-drawing from Australia. Nuff said.
Second one is the corner of our senior years common room. Spares can be so productive
Third one is a female clown that I've been toying around with for a while. Her outfit is mostly set by now, only thing that changes every time I draw her is the hat.
Fourth one... uh... my pathetic attempt at some Ron Weasley fanart. I just played around with sepia ink and brushes. It was fun, even if it's not a masterpiece.
Fifth one was last night. I'm not completely happy with the bottom part, but I like the handle.

I started a sketch of an armchair in our living-room but it's not finished yet. (Someone had to come and occupy it all evening, of course! *grrr*) I'll post it when it's done. I'm happy that I'm finally getting back into it, considering I've done zip for so long, I think the bell is okay.

[ceriously]

Hey. I really like the life drawing, especially the one in the last post. The shading seems a bit uncertain though.The Weasley looks a little that way, too, in terms of line but it would be cool to see more inks in the future as (I think) they're a sure way to gain more confidence. Maybe you could do some quick gestures from life, or check out posemaniacs.com if you don't wanna have your sketchbook around all the time. Even if you're not in a life drawing class anymore, you can still do self-portraits and sketches of family members, friends, pets, the view out the window. Good luck.

[Kjesta]

Thank you I'll focus on doing my shading and lines more boldly, you're right, that's a weakness with me. And I'll definitely do more ink stuff, it's a messy business, but I find it frees up somehow. I'm too scared of making mistakes, so I'll try inking more to get rid of that.

I'll also get myself a bigger mirror and start doing self-portraits. I'm so scared of faces... But I'll have to start somewhere! So I'd better start right now.

[Kjesta]

Okay, new stuff! I was very busy with a holiday job last week and didn't get around to drawing much, but here's some odds and ends, in the order I did them. All of them with photo reference except the first one.

1. Unfinished, a little still life I set up on my desk. I worked on it for about three or four hours so far and I might still get around to finishing it. Pretty happy with the bow, I have to say. But the upper one of the cups is off. I redid it several times, but I found it hard to get the shape of the opening right.

2. Um... a cougar? Saw a pretty picture and just had to start drawing cougars.

3. Cougar face. Actually quite happy with this one, except for the face being a bit long.

4. More cougars!

5. Last one, I promise. I don't like the shading, I really have to work on my shading.

6. I really loved this face in one picture, but I kind of failed copying it... Le Sigh.

7. Pregnant woman, and a bit of sketching for the next one.

8. After "Nu à la fenêtre" by Pascal Roux, who does awesome nude (and other) photography. I like the folds in the fabric, but I'm not perfectly happy with the face. No shading, I know I know... *mumble*

I got a bit frustrated drawing the cougars because I can't do fur. Trying to shade fur is really hard for me - I try to make little strokes for the hairs and more strokes where the shadows are, but ends up looking just like, well, strokes, instead of looking hairy. It's probably just a practice thing, still annoys me abit.

[Jesus Food]

nice SB so far kjesta u have very nice lines. i would say, just keep doing what ur doing!

[Kjesta]

Jesus Food, thank you! I'm trying to get away from having sooo many sketchy lines everywhere, and Mr Kneadable Eraser is my partner in crime

So, some more stuff. Haven't been very productive lately, but I did manage to get a little done today.

First is the first thing I drew on my 18th birthday, yesterday. Oh dear... First thing in my new year, and it's a carrot! How embarrassing. Also, some mediocre manga/comic type thing. Can't do chibis... (and don't want to.) I can't do proper manga, and I think it's still noticable that I'm a huge Alessandro Barbucci fan and copied him a lot a few years back.

Otherwise, half a skull (figured I'd work more on faces and start with the bones) done in ink and brush (with a pencil sketch beforehand), and some quick copies of torsos, both them and the skull are from "Anatomie für Künstler", German version of a book by David K. Rubins. And a little sketch of the still-life that's STILL set up on my desk. One day I'll finish that pencil drawing. One day the stars will go out. Wonder what's gonna happen first.

[darkchild]

Welcome to CA! You have some great line work for your studies. I love your anatomy studies great tones and strokes. I don't really have any hardcore crits for you yet but I'm definitely going to check back here when you post more!

Take care.

[Kjesta]

Thank you I'm trying to copy out of my Rubins anatomy book an hour a day to up my understanding of the human body.

My camera's not cooperating currently, but maybe I can put up something new tonight. (German time )

[Kjesta]

Camera in working order again, so here's what I've been doing.

I'm really getting into ink and brush. I'm proud of myself for doing the studies without a beforehand pencil sketch now, instead from scratch in ink and brush. It really loosens me up and I'm not afraid of making mistakes.

4 - Er... Bit frustrated here because I haven't drawn from my imagination for ages.
5 - I've got an Asian Ball-Jointed Doll, Henrietta, and she's supposed to be a steampunk-ish inventor. The figure is a concept for her.
6 - Some chick (she doesn't wear much because I was lacking ideas for clothes, cough) and Fräulein Tick-Tack/Miss Tick-Tock.
7 - Muscles, partly copied upside down to trick my brain a bit, then tried to copy the right way out of my head. Worked... kindof.
8 - Rejoice! More arms!
9 - I've got a new character concept and this is her... Doesn't look enough like my idea. Without reference, and I screwed the shading up big time because I didn't think about it... So she has verrry weird shading. Something's wrong with her pelvis too.
10 - In-between step of another picture with her.
11 - So... Again, no reference or preliminary sketch. Can't remember when I last did something with a background... Not a very dynamic pose and the background sucks, but I still kind of like it. The lighting is all wrong too.

I know there's so much wrong in the last one (and the others ) but I'm glad at the moment to be finding back to my creativity. For a while I was having a serious block for anything that wasn't copying. Blergh.

I'm happy with my new character and have a best friend/girlfriend for her to. Watch out for motorscooters coming up! And I should really sit down and do more faces, it's not enough to whine about them. I've got a sign at my desk now saying "Shut up & DRAW". Works so far

(I know, I type way to much... Shut up and draw, I should stick with it...)

[Kjesta]

New stuff! First is my chick on a motor scooter (and did I mention it sucks?), second Kate Miller-Heidke in ink, third an older version of the portrait which I did in Australia and the fourth the result of a pretty sleepless night in front of the computer.

I've never thought much about motor scooters before, but they're pretty stylish and Kate Miller-Heidke's song "Motorscooter" is awesome, so there's going to be more I guess.

[walnut]

If you're stuck on that motorcycle piece you should get some reference. Real easy to find, i just checked The girls' arms on the pic are a little long too. That comment aside, i like your stuff/ the inked arms are very nice. Keep on posting!

[Kjesta]

Thanks I would have gotten reference, it was just in the middle of the night and I don't have my own computer, so yeah... Lame excuse, I know. I'll redo the picture some time with proper reference for the anatomy and the scooter

[Kjesta]

Didn't do anything yesterday because life got in the way, but I managed a good two hours today, so that's good. I've found a way of using Posemaniacs that works really well for me: first I do several 60 second drawings (I'm still going to adjust it down to 30) and then go over my pose log and draw the pose in a more accurate way on top of the first one.

The weird dress thing in black ink isn't finished yet - I picked an ad by one of my favourite Japanese brands, Baby the stars shine bright, which has a high contrast, and try to draw it concentrating on the shapes.

I also worked out one of the poses so I've got a chick with weird clothes now (love those bloomers!) and wanted to do something skintight and cool - what's skintight and cool? A plugsuit! So I had a look at the ones the girls in Neon Genesis Evangelion wear and did something like that. (Though the chick clearly isn't 14, as Eva pilot usually are... Never mind.) I also like the pose of the girl on the same sheet, I did it out of my head entirely.

[Ian Barker]

Looks like you're on the right track. Are you studying any Loomis/Brideman/Vilppu, etc. at all?

[dierat]

Great studies, keep it up!

[Kjesta]

Thank you both

Liffey, I'm studying David K. Rubins and Gottfried Bammes (he's one of those masters of anatomy here in Germany ) at the moment. In Australia I borrowed some Bridgman from the library and it was fantastic, but I haven't been able yet to get hold of his stuff here in Germany. I still want to, though.

[Kjesta]

For a change, I'm starting working on perspective - I've always neglected that. Drawing those chequered bits in the last image was fun

I've also found out that meditative music gets me drawing more focused than what I usually listen to. Hmmm...

[Kjesta]

Not very productive today... I need to get working on colour. Of all the things I can't do properly, that's my worst.

Also, first self-portrait. I don't have a mirror, so I used my window when it's dark outside with only a small light source inside. Kinda works... Doesn't look too much like me yet.

Did I mention I seriously need to get myself a scanner that actually WORKS?

[Kjesta]

Rrrright, it's been a while. I was in the zoo for a day with my family and sketched a lot. I've also been to a lolita fashion convention, which was awesome, so I'm going to do some cutesy stuff in the near future, I reckon. We'll see.

The animal sketches are all verrry rough, more like gestures, but I'm proud for having managed to get a bit of a likeness with some. And I love rhinos! Oh, and I have the habit of always turning my sketchbook around while drawing, so most of the time half my drawings are upside down or something... Haha.

More coming up in the next post.

[Kjesta]

More...

[Irishdrunk]

Hey superb SB.

Great studies, especially the animals. Can't wait to see these figures applied to something. ^^

[Kjesta]

Hey thanks! I haven't thought very much about how to apply them yet, but I've got a bit of an idea now for that one antilope creature. (I never checked what it's called... Have to google a bit.) Big weakness of mine: never really doing anything finished. Let's remedy that!

[CotyPolk]

Love your sketches.

They actually helped me, the female ones. Had trouble drawing women then I looked at how you do it and got better.

Thanks. :]

[Kjesta]

Wow, thank you! That has to be among the nicest things anyone has ever said about my drawings.

Are you going to have a sketchbook yourself? I'd love to look at your stuff

[dierat]

Hey there, nice updates! I like the start to your selfportrait, but I think you got into the value a bit early. I think you could have worked about the line drawing a bit better, and remember that it's easier to fix a line drawing than to fix a value drawing. (Always back away from the drawing occasionally to see if you need to fix anything.) Also on your still life value studies, some of your elipses seem a bit off, so I think it would be helpful to continue with working with bottles and such occasionally as well. Keep up the good work!

[Kjesta]

Hey, thanks a lot! I'll take your advise to heart I need a mirror so I can really do self-portraits, my window isn't optimal... (Doesn't excuse my mistakes of course ) Ellipses are hard! I can't really figure out how to do them correctly in perspective from a still-life, it's okay from scratch because it's easier with squares and stuff. Oh well, practice makes perfect!

So, updates. First one is still my sketching for the thing I posted before, trying to work out the clothes - they're actual clothes, or at least inspired. Otherwise faces, my humble try for DSG 1499 (Alien love at first sight) and a sketch of our veranda. Got some more stuff done today, but taking the photos and stuff is a pain, so I'll put it up tomorrow.

[Kjesta]

So, yeah... Small update. I finally found that Hogarth book on portraits again and am currently working from it a bit. That head's down there four times because I copy it, do it from my imagination, do it from I imagination a day later, copy it correctly again and have a look at the mistakes I made. I guess I won't be posting this process every single time as it must be boring for you guys.

Anyhoo, that little comic thingy might get a two-page colour comic, just a little something without a plot to look pretty and pastelly, and to get me back into colour. (The bath tub stuff belongs to it too.) I'm trying colour again a bit, but my camera's not being very nice about it. (Not that there's anything interesting to see there anyway )

[Kjesta]

I did some sketches of my darling rabbit Sally today. She looks like one massive ball of fluff. *hugs*

Did a bit of other stuff too, but that's coming another time.

[Irishdrunk]

Awww, cute bunnies.

Some critique in your 2nd to last post. The chin in your heads seem off center. I don't know if its because its not lined up correctly, or just because its not developed. But I would add some lips, or a chin curve to remedy that.

But keep it up! You should seriously draw a zoo with all those animal sketches