Argle-Bargle Nom Nom Chomp

[a la bapsi]

you're making some nice progress mate
the most recent one, while scribbly and all, shows just how much you understand about the planes of the face and lighting them--not too shabby.
keep em coming, you're doing well.

[cdejong]

Don't stop now dude, updates updates updates!

[badass]

thanks for the support a la bapsi and cdejong! you guys are awesome.

i have been really busy over the past couple weeks but here are some sketches from my sketchbook. ill be updating regularly again now

[badass]

here is the rest. ill update again soon

[tobbA]

Looking good. The women in pic 2 and 4 in the latest post both have some issues. The first ones waist is way too thin, and check the back on the other one. I don't think it's supposed to be that stiff.

[cdejong]

Nice man, good amount of work. Digging the hand studies. There's something about your line quality that's bugging me a little, how are you drawing lines? It seems like you might be connecting straight lines together... is that how you do it? Otherwise, tobbA is right, watch your proportions and how the pelvis and rib cage connect, you're making it too thin... it's better to be subtle about it and find the nuances in the figure that will make her beautiful, rather than push it far, because it starts to look like a caricature or cartoon. You're doing well though, you've already improved a good amount, like I said the hand studies are nice.

[ashess]

snowlion. I love that 2nd hand in post #93. it is powerfull and sure and drawn without a shadow of a doubt. you take your work farther down that lane and awesomeness is yours!

[badass]

thanks for the crit Tobba.

thanks cdejong. as far as the lines, i dont understand what you mean by connecting straight lines. i try to rough out the proportions with an H pencil then go over that with an HB.

thanks ashess. i really cant wait for the awesomeness.

heres a drapery study, the beginnings of a dinopainting, and some character stuff for this ninja/mongol girl i tried painting recently and failed at. so this time im starting over redesigning her and going to work on compositions/epic scene ness next.

[badass]

SO. i have been doing lots of life drawing in the past couple weeks, here is the best stuff ive done. all poses were between 5 and 20 minutes. there is also a master study of joseph shepard and some portrait studies of john singer sergeant. any crits or advice on what to be working on would be greatly appreciated and help me achieve awesomeness sooner. thanks

[badass]

im uploading these at school at the computers are crapping out when i upload too many pics at once. sorry for separating all these. regardless they are in order of when i did them

[badass]

i just realized i might be posting my images too large. do these seem too big?

[badass]

here is my attempt (start) at a master study of a sergant painting, here is the original

[tobbA]

Good stuff. Like the hatching style in pic 3

[ashess]

that model drawing;s gonna pay off in spades. you might want to spend some time comparing your piece to the original afterwards (take a phonepic if its life drawing) chech where you've gone off. some proportions are off sometimes, like too big feet. or the direction doesnt quite add up. looking back at a later date will make it easier to notice these things

[Vatsel]

Hey man watch those lines and make sure you've planned each line! going for a "sketchy" look is only good after you get that line control down.

Figures look good, make sure you dont neglect color

[Peetaer]

Wow dude... loads of improvement I see here as I browse through your SB. Congratulations! It is precisely this momentum that you want to maintain. It takes about a year to develop and solidify a habit. It's more about sticking to your habits and not being too concerned about whether you are disciplined enough or not. The latter just creates unnecessary anxiety. So yeah, just keep up the good habits.

Okay, now for critical feedback. You really want to pay attention to your line work. You have too many hard lines. Try to strike a balance between soft and hard lines; moderating between the two plays a big role in giving a picture a greater sense of depth. Watch those outlines as well. They're often too thick which gives your piece a real graphic quality. If you are going for realism you really want to avoid that as much as possible. On the other hand, if you're going for a graphic style then so be it. Your more graphic works (the ones you did with a marker) look great. You're carving a nice style for yourself.

Also, proportions! You've got to work harder on your proportions since getting those right at a very early stage is crucial. It can make or break a piece. A great example of what you're doing wrong in this department would be the woman you drew in post 94. Her proportions are just way off. That waist is way too narrow and her shoulders are both too wide and manly looking. Maybe she was a bit manly, I dunno, but from what I can tell it seems to be more of a perception of proportions problem than the model being too manly.

Also, try using the chalk (for your lights/highlights) a bit more conservatively. Using it less will actually help pop the figure more and give it more of a 3D feel. Another thing I noticed too was that you seem to be drawing "2D" (I hope that makes sense) and not "3D". What I mean by that is, try and look at your figure more carefully; take a good look at the whole figure and then try to break him/her down into simple 3D forms, i.e. boxes, spheres, cylinders, etc... and then take it from there. Doing that will greatly help you to render your forms and enhance the sense of 3D depth. Placing lights and darks becomes WAY easier too.

Hope this helps! Just...keep...going!

[badass]

tobbA: thanks! sometimes my drawings end up pretty cool. but i actually wasn't satisfied with that one.

ashess: your definitely right. i need to slap myself in the face before every drawing and get the proportions down before i do anything. but where i do the lifedrawings they dont want any cameras/phones/photos so i cant save the pose for comparison. but that would be useful. thanks for the crit though i will definitley pay more attention to this


Vatsel: thanks for the crit! great point. im working on pushing the drawings away from the sketchyness... im just addicted.

Peetaer: whoa! i wish there was more than a "thanks" option on this forum. I need an UBER THANKS or BEAR HUG option for this one. yet again you have given me some awesome feedback and crits. thank you my friend

i feel bad posting without an update so ill just throw in something random ive been working on. trying to learn how to paint with photos (one of my photoshop teachers supplied the photos and jsut told me to paint something... this is what i can up with. im going to work on it some more.. but ultimately im not a fan of using photos in my paintings so far. i love the feel of the paintings that are close to the technique of traditional media (usually painted on a single layer without using many of the photoshop tricks). i suppose its good to know the program inside and out though, in case you ever decide to utilize the options it offers.

im working on a new master study (color this time) right now so if i can make some progress that is worthy of posting ill share that in a bit. thanks again for those comments guys!

[badass]

ugh... so heres my second attempt at a masterstudy. john singer shepard. i tried to start in color this time and now am doubting my ability to see the color in things... i used the color picker twice (for the brown/background base color and her lips). then i tried to eyeball the whole thing for the rest of the colors. Should i continue to avoid the color picker?

[lennon]

The improvement on the figure is very good and this attempt at the masterstudy show that you're amazingly talented. Perhaps the matte painting could show more the reflexion of the two mountains in the water and not just the shadow (I'm not saying that that's the way in wich it should go according to physics, I actually don't know, just thought that when I saw it). Cheers!

[Qikalain]

oh man i dont know what you were talking about in my sketchbook, i love your stuff. awesome concepts and free poses. you maybe have some little problems here and there but your paintings all look so dynamic, loose and has a awesome flow. your poses and figures just look like you know what you did and not at all constructed (they act like real humans.. or robots)

keep on the good work. what i can tell is that you should work on how you show materials. there is alot of stuff where everything looks like its made from the same material. do some studies *thumbs up*

dig your stuff

[Turbosnail]

Nice SB man!! You've made really good progress since page 1. Keep pushing yourself my friend!!

[Zazerzs]

good stuff going on in here. Nice work

[badass]

thanks for the motivation lennon! and thanks for the crit.

Qikalain: thanks. and your right... i need to work on textures and materials.

Turbosnail:thanks man!

Zazerzs: thanks!

heres my first attempt at a portrait in color (starting in color that is. i used aquick sketch for the proportions but no value until i got into the color) it ended up okay... mostly just fun and good practice.

i also threw in the finished version of that photo-painting and some random creature sketch i did as a warm up.

Does anyone have any advice on improving my skills with color? As in, what should i be practicing? (painting from life, master studies, photo refs?)

[latigid]

Hey there i really enjoyed looking through your SB the improvement from the 1st page is very tangible and your life drawings i think are superb. Someone mentioned before you have got some great energy in your style i think maybe if you slow down a little and really study what you are looking at it will help you in the long run, then when you get to that magical point we are looking for "seeing" like an artist you can whack that energy back in a more controlled way. Okay hope this makes sense coz i dont really know what i am on about anyways man keep posting ill be back for sure
p.s how do i claim my ravioli??

[tobbA]

Nice update. I think you need to work on your values more with that portrait tho. The face looks a bit flat.

I think the best way to learn about color is painting from life. Really try to see what colors are there and perhaps even exaggerate a bit to really figure them out... Also read up on color theory and stuff.

[badass]

latigid: thanks! and about the ravioli haha... i didnt think anyone was going to notice that... let me know if your in seattle. ill make you some.

tobba: thanks for the crit and suggestion! (did some color studies from life today)

these were all done, like the portrait, with a quick sketch and then going straight into color. no value pre-color. they turned out alright, though i just left them super messy and didnt render them since this was primarily a color exercise.

[Jamesy]

Those potatoes look pretty sweet and that avocado looks deellicccious. MMMmmmm.....about getting better at colors, we should do some master studies. After doing those for awhile in combination with painting from life, you'll pick up an eye for colors.

[smashpansy]

The master study is coming along well! I want to see more life studies, those are looking great!

[MT206]

Hey there. Thx for checkin out the sketchbook. I am really liking the photo painting and I think your self portraits have really improved since the beginning of your sketchbook.

As far as improving your color skills, I have heard that it is beneficial to go to a museum and look at paintings. I know that if you look at the skin of people in oil paintings you will find a ton of different variation and color that you don't notice by just glancing at it or looking at a photo of a painting on the internet.

[ashess]

avocado, love the fruit& veggies! very good colour studies I think. I'd recommend trying other media to colour a bit. I like water colour, but acrylic and oil is great too. you can get a cheap water colour at most markets or at some Chinese shops. Oil costs but it's a great thing to experience. I also think chalk or acrylic sticks would fit your style.