x - updated 15 Dec

[ilmenhin]

Please feel free to critique on any piece or point out what I need to work more on. At this point I feel my biggest flaw is lower body as well as colouring settings other than in daylight (i.e. I need to work on colouring pictures that are set at/under dusk/night/dim lighting).

I mostly draw out of my head. And fanart.

[ilmenhin]

SEP 22:

Here are some selected pieces of stuff I've done in this recent week:

The very first image is of Ilmenhin- some name I came up with during the LotR movie phase which then became this white-haired red-eyed girl- a mascot on my deviantart page.



The second image is actually something I just did about 2 hours ago, while glossing through the poses at Pose Maniacs (awesome site! found it on a thread here on CA! ta~)



Third image was done without reference.



Fourth was done with reference.



The next 2 are concept sketches for characters my friends and I came up with.





And the last is a fanart I completed about half hour ago; trying my hand at speedpainting- had to keep remembering that time is important and not to worry too much about details.



That's it for now! And of course, accepting criticisms and encouragement! I'll find my weaknesses faster to tackle. Thanks for looking!

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SEP 29:
I've just attended a lifedrawing session here in Sydney at the Arthouse Hotel (there's lifedrawing here every Monday, from 6pm-8.30pm, but closed on public holidays).

The first four pictures are of sketches done in ink, and the poses start at 1 minute, to 5 minutes holding time. The third picture is of the same pose- I've attempted thrice on it.









The next couple are from 5 to 10 minutes. Partway through I switched to a mechanical pencil.







And the second last image isn't part of the lifedrawing, but a 1 hour speedpaint I've attempted a few days ago of SGA fanart. Just didn't feel it was worth posting on its own. ^^;



And the last is a quick Photoshop cging practice- without reference.

[ilmenhin]

Work in progress.

This was what it looked like about 2 weeks ago, and I've been revising since.



This is what it looks like now- of course, still revising it.



I'm also working on another project, but there's really not much to show of it yet- i.e. even the drafting piece looks like crass. ^^;

[SymbioticFusion]

Like your sketches, keep then coming.
Think you need some perspective in that chainsaw.

[adammelo]

Lol, the zombie project made me laugh, it reminds me of shawn of the dead, keep it up!

[ilmenhin]

SymbioticFusion, thanks for the kind words- and I am not sure how to work the perspective for the chainsaw- it is proving to be rather difficult for me.

adammelo, I have been waiting to see if anyone could think of that movie! XD It's a mash up between 2 of my favourite comedy-horror movies and yes, one of them is Shaun of the Dead. ^^

Here's a 30 minute enviromental painting done in Photoshop. No direct reference used and I am kicking myself for that. My internet is capped to 60kbps and in addition to trying to patch WoW for Brewfest, I decided it is too difficult to look for nice references online. I did use one of the lake/mountain photos I took at Voss, Norway to study how stuff reflects in a clear lake.

[amuupon]

great work so far - loving your paintings. keep it up, looking forward to see more (:

[ilmenhin]

Was working on a commission- got a little frustrated so I vented by doing... speedpaints. Eh. That makes it... 3 work in progress pieces at the moment- will share when they look more... presentable.

ANYWAY. Here is the speedpaint-doodle.

[miycko]

im not sure why you felt intimidated to post cuz your art's really good i like your anime style it's very cool though it seems to filter through into your studies, try to watch out for

oh & if you wanna update the thumb for your page youj just edit your first post, delete the current thumb & post a new one hope thats helpful

[ilmenhin]

miycko, you're too kind! .__________.; If you've seen the stuff I've ever put up before here you wouldn't have said that. If you could point out particularly which study has strong anime/manga-influence in, that would help me- because I can't spot it myself. Thanks! (By the way, I think I've seen your SB around before but I'll comment when I get to work in 10 hours. My home internet speed is throttled to a measly 60kbps transfer rate.)

I've been intimidated because I don't know anyone here and I felt I needed to work on my flaws a little more before I dared even open my own SB thread. My next step is to open a thread in the Critique Center but all in due time...

That said, I'm happy to make friends with anyone here if anyone's reading this. XD I make a point to visit as many SBs as I can and comment as well.

[Jabo]

Hey, great start! Your ladies are great, sure comes from you hailing from the land of Anime, but you gotta watch out for the guys, as they look feminine in the typical Anime-way. Keep the outer lines of the eyes clear to avoid the eyeliner-look, and make their face contours squarish, not round. The cheeks especially are too round for a male look. Male noses are also more prominent in the face and are typically larger.

Still admiring the ladies tho, wish I could paint them

[miycko]

hey there about the anime influence, it's mainly the first two pages of studies you posted for SEP 29 ( the 1 to 5 mins) & the second image of the 5 - 10 mins. i like that fanart/speedpainting you did, 1 hour isn't bad, i'm also starting to get into speedpainting. Too bad i'm feelin kinda lazy ATM

[ilmenhin]

Jabo- you're right. I'll keep working on making my men more manly. XD Go paint some ladies. We all know practice makes perfect.

miycko- thanks! I can see it now. ^^ Well, maybe you're just on a break- no point doing something you don't feel like at the moment. I think the best stuff are usually done on the spur of the moment.

Today was a tv day for me, so all I have are eye studies. I like the bottom two eyes because they're the last ones I drew and I think I got better by then.



I hope to be able to draw more on paper tomorrow- I will be at MOAB (mother of all battles) taking photos for the miniature painting competition and helping a friend sell books.

[miycko]

nicely done on those eyes, differen't types conveying different emotions something i find hard to do

[ilmenhin]

Latest images first. Nothing impressive. Impressive in my definition would be... a fully coloured backdrop.

Commission work for a friend


Character of a friend for upcoming comic- Katastrophe is related to the Maehem images from before (the girl with the bloody hand/weapon). ^^



Tried doing some 3point perspective out of my imagination. Might tackle real photos sometime soon, instead of working from my head.


Trying to pin down a simple style for Maehem since she's something I might have to draw about 3 times a week.


Current status of the Zombepicpocalypse- need to mark where the light sources are and work on that. I've upped the levels on this piece to pick out small details- I will tone it back down later. The original doesn't look that dark on my computer. I've corrected Ash's head, as well as his chainsaw since but I think I still need to work the chainsaw blade.


Decided to start correcting my pencil sketch for the 2009 SMASH! (Sydney Manga and Anime SHow) Travelling Artbook. The book was sold for $450AUD at the convention, and proceeds went to charity! I may or may not continuing depending on the other 2 work in progress images I have (1 of which is the Zombie pic).


And a random silhouette study:

[Chas]

Some good stuff so far. Watch your proportions though, particularly heads - you tend to go a little large with them. Also, I know it's not your style, but I still think you could benefit from Loomis's Drawing the Head and Hands - structure is important regardless of style. Keep up with the life drawing.

[miycko]

cool updates it's nice seeing some perspective studies, something i need to do as well. i like tose characters for Katastrophe, nice work on them

[ilmenhin]

Kind of an art dump of stuff I've been doing/working on the past week.

Will start with these random heads I did after reading some Loomis (thanks Chas). I know it's not evident that I'd even read that because I had the guides erased. I need to work more on upward facing heads- the third face on the second row looks rather flat. x_x


The walking girl was an idea I had as I was walking up a street and it was terribly gusty and cold for the start of summer here in Sydney. Eh. Didn't feel like cropping the girl, so I started doing a walking/leg study of sorts. The running legs in the middle is an unintentional optical illusion.


Expression chart for my original character. Manga/anime styled.


I did this on Tegaki E, which is sort of like a limited oekaki board thing. Was a little bored and wasn't home. No references.


Traceover.


Ink and copics.


Art of a friend's character, Liberty, who is in the same realm as Mayhem and Catastrophe.


Current side-wip project. Painterly and coloured Mayhem. I've learnt a lot while doing this-not going for absolute realism but have referenced a lot of photos to get the shadows and highlights right. It's meant to be a doodly paint but I got carried away.

[miycko]

i like the walking girl, the shadows are well done though it could do with a bit more dark values nice work on the heads, also planing on doing some Loomis sometime & Your WIP is coming along well, the lower part of her nose looks a little odd to me, maybe you could make the shadow underneath a bit darker so it looks a little more three dimentional

[thegrayslayer]

Some of these are really nice. I think the quick life studies in particular - some good linework. Look forward to progress posts.

~ Slayer

[gnilrE]

heya, droppping by your sketchbook, you are very good AND progressing, which is like... the two best things

[ilmenhin]

In chronological order...

Polished this up and finalised (used a photoshop brush for the background, from an imaginefx magazine):



When I'm bored, I don't plan out what I want to draw. It starts with "today, I'll draw a girl", and it just pans out on its own. While this is great in terms of going with the flow, it's just... not good enough. My friends dub this one "clingwrap girl".



Attended another lifedrawing session, first piece of sketches done in pencils, second piece of sketches done in ink. They're not small- I've just fitted as many as I could into each digital canvas.





First posting of this done here in the WIP/Crit forums. I'm really happy with how this turned out after all the crits on it. I've also learnt a couple of things I could use the next time I do a concept piece. This is another example of my art going with the flow. Done in Opencanvas (like most of my other art).





And here's art done on my ball-jointed doll, Nimue. Except I've packed her up (moving house soon) and am drawing her from memory.

[miycko]

sweet updates good studies & i really like the samurai dude you did in open canvas

[AmbientChroma]

Keep going man, study study study and update daily

[jatherip]

i love that shaun of the dead piece any updates on that one? id love to see a finished illustration

[LMK]

you got some nice sketches here, seems like you are more into characters than environments? I'm the opposite I like the head emotion study is nice. keep it up man

[towy]

that good start keep it up !

[ilmenhin]

Hey guys, I haven't stopped drawing in this one month's absence. I just didn't feel adequate posting here until I have had something substantial but it didn't happen anyway! I've moved recently as well and got really busy, as well as falling sick (and still kind of sick now). I've acquired moleskine sketchbooks and have been drawing on them on the way to work (20 minute train rides) but am still too afraid to draw people because they'd notice me drawing them. x_x

jatherip - thank you; the shaun of the dead piece is on a backburner for now. ^^

LMK - I'd love to do more enviroments! I keep making up characters as I draw but all discarded after being drawn once.

towy- thank you.

I've not been too serious in drawing, so here are all my sketchies:

This is one of my original characters, Julien:
(in opencanvas)


And another:
(opencanvas)


Some moleskine scans of random sketches done on trains.



And one more of Julien, but not done on a train (wip):

[miycko]

very cool character's i like th first girl, i think her lower half's a little small though, btw you typed her name is as Julien

[TheHut]

Cool. Opencanvas seems to be a better friend of yours than he is to me. These last couple of posts have so much improvement in them, they seem like a different artist. Same style but the proportions are sooo much more realistic, which tends to be a difficult thing in Anime. Great stuff.