Help me find my post-grad equilibrium

**bagshotrow** · November 27th, 2009, 11:15 PM

Alright, it's time to finally start one of these things.

I am graduating from University of Nevada, Las Vegas in December with my B.A. in Fine Arts (concentration on Printmaking.) I haven't been placed in an art-related field of work yet, and I don't feel I am quite ready for grad school--I rushed into UNLV without a clear idea of what I needed to learn, and I came out with skills I'm not entirely confident in. If I'm gonna go to grad school, I want to research it thoroughly and go with a very clear direction in mind.

So the next year of my life will be dedicated to solving these problems--either I will find work, or I will prepare myself to get the most out of grad school. And both of these goals will be accomplished by wicked mad practice and self-analysis.

I was pretty much trained in studio art, but I would like to do some kind of production art, whether it's graphic design, drafting, concept art or illustration. All of that means getting better, faster, and more consistent.

I have a DAportfolio set up: http://patrick-halm.daportfolio.com

I'm gonna photograph my actual sketchbook, but for now, I'll post this digital painting I did in september. It was mainly a figure study and painting practice. (I think I used posemaniacs for composing the figure.)

**bagshotrow** · November 28th, 2009, 05:07 PM

Last month study of Luca Della Robbia's Madonna of the Apple. I don't normally touch watercolor. I am interested in understanding some things about reflected color, and I'm trying to learn what the crtical elements of the face are--for instance, in caricature, you obviously eliminate a lot of detail, but which details do you have to keep in order to preserve the likeness and the expression?

Luca's Madonnas always have this smooth, washed out appearance, almost like a line drawing.

By the way, if I've already uploaded an attachment in one thread, is it necessary to upload again just to post it in another thread? I don't wanna waste yalls bandwidth

**Kamber Parrk** · December 2nd, 2009, 11:42 PM

Hey bagshotrow,

Thanks for the drop by!

That Watercolor has a nice solid look to it.

**bagshotrow** · December 6th, 2009, 05:21 AM

Hello again~

1. Loose doodle before bed, from imagination. This is how I start paintings nowadays. I'm gonna pick this back up, hopefully after I get some crit on it?
2. animu painting from September where I tried my best to deal with figure from imagination and reflective color. I'm not sure how well I dealt with all that red light bouncing around.

lol pls hlep

**Lapada** · December 6th, 2009, 09:10 AM

good start so far :o

**ALEXANDRE da Vinci** · December 6th, 2009, 09:20 PM

Hello artist friend!

congratulations on the drawings, put more work, do not stop!

**bagshotrow** · December 8th, 2009, 03:18 AM

Today: Some more imagination sketches, so I can determine where my problem areas are and figure out what to study. Also an observational sketch just to get one up here.

1. a goil face doodle from imagination.
2. refining the figure above, also from imagination.
3. a guy sitting at starbucks, from observation (10 minute sketch--kinda slow, I know.)

all in paint tool SAI.

**crossmirage** · December 9th, 2009, 06:14 AM

Oh hai :3

I think you're doing pretty well color-wise. Reflected light on that Swingline-tan painting is a bit on the oversaturated side though, especially on the paper - IMO it should be noticeable, but not so much that it shows up as a red streak. Toning those down a bit should work.

I believe most of the problems in your drawings stem from little mistakes here and there, such as the overly thin neck on the goilface and the odd depression in the eye area of the naked woman figure. The guy's feet in the first picture is also strangely squarish. Memorizing some simple drawing formulas (eg. sides of neck should roughly align to center of both eyes) will help remedy this.

Do post more.

**bagshotrow** · December 11th, 2009, 09:48 PM

quickie drifloon. just trying to handle a very simple light and color exercise. ...i feel like I forgot everything I know about art while I was drawing this. This shouldn't be so hard. What am I doing wrong?

**bagshotrow** · December 23rd, 2009, 11:47 PM

Some graphic design work for a signage portfolio. Gonna refine it quite a bit. It will have clearer construction details, and I am not happy with the cracks in the volcano. Advice?

For those of you who haven't been to Vegas, this is one of those gaudy lit signs you see on top of a row of slot machines. The lava drips are actually posts which disappear between the rows of machines (another detail I will add for scale)

**bagshotrow** · January 8th, 2010, 10:59 PM

Cutesy fallout 3 fan art piece. About an hour in; gonna finish the underpainting in green tones and then glaze in color on top. What do your paintings look like at this stage? Advice?