Trailbazer's sketchbook

[Trailblazer]

Well hey there after lurking here for months and admiring all your work and dedication, I thought it was time to start my own sketchbook.

[Sebastian Wagner]

this is the early beginning, and you know that. Now get every piece of motivation you can and draw tons, tons, toooooooooooons!

[Trailblazer]

Thanks Noro I get the feeling I'll have no excuse for lack of motivtion here, so tons tons tons more stuff is on the way

[Traveler]

Let's blaze some trails! Where are those sketches?

[Trailblazer]

I'll be posting some in a few Traveler, had some problems with the scanner, and thanks for visiting my sketchbook.

[Trailblazer]

Ok so here is a little of the old and a little of the new, I got bored yesterday so i used some ref pics as a warm up and a bit of a study. Yeah I know its not as good as real life but it's the closest I could get yesterday.

The torso's are the stuff I did yesterday, I'm working on my lines, so no more 'messy' stuff. All the rest is from a few years ago (2006-07) to show where i was then.

The teddy and the boy, I drew from life. The woman in charcoal (who is supposed to be kristin bell) was for my art class, the teacher made us trace a picture (cheat) so we could concentrate on just practicing with charcoal.

Sorry about the quality of the torso's *sigh* evil scanner had to darken in photoshop, which means..drawing a little darker in future.

Comments & Criticism is welcomed, help me improve

[Basham]

Keep doing studies from life and photographs, especially life! It's the best way to learn. And don't get obsessed with improvement, like I did, just have fun. As long as it's not an abomination unto god and man and you tried your best, it's great.

[Traveler]

That's more like it. The first one of your last post is looking pretty good. Study, practice, post, repeat = recipe for success.

Keep 'em coming.

[Trailblazer]

Basham Hey thanks for stopping by and for the advice I'll keep it in mind.

Traveler Study, practice, post, repeat *burns into mind* thanks for taking the time to stop by again.

Should be more art up by the end of today or tomorrow. It's a nice day so I'm taking my sketchbook and heading down to the river see what catches my eye.

[Trailblazer]

Well I haven't posted anything on here for a while, but I got a wacom tablet last week and decided to start over on here. So here are my first two still life's. A banana and a hole puncher, I like the shape of the banana but im not as happy with the hole puncher looks a little off to me. Don't be shy let me know what you think

[AChipps]

I can't tell with the hole puncher without seeing it. Mine is longer for notebooks. Anyway, it is good to draw blurring to get a vague idea, and after you start to see more details even just a little you can add them in. I draw in Photoshop like that, and when I am done I crop. I see you might have started out with a sketch. Pencils and digital can be very different. With pencils you draw the edge and kind of map out things so you can draw them in. With digital you fill in the area you might need to draw on with a base color, and start drawing in details, so the difference is like a reverse of the other.
Pencils can take longer, because of the coverage size, but digital can be quicker for the same reason. Lines are not easy to do in digital as they are pencil, so you can learn to do without them or find other ways to make them. Like holding down the shift key to go from point A to point B or use the marquee tools and use stroke. Or just use the pen tool. There are many ways, but it is not as simple as drawing them free hand unless what you use has a better grid for drawing. Lines might look jagged because the computer can't be sure exactly every point you cross as you move. So if your art don't need accurate lines, there is no reason to use them.

[Trailblazer]

Hey thanks for stoping by, and your right I did start with the outline. Next time ill start with a base colour like you say and build it up from there.

[The Sceptical Saint]

The banana, and the hole punch are coming along good, now get at them with a harder-edged brush. Soft-edges/airbush is good for laying down base colours, or backgrounds (They'll look blurrier, and with the foreground more detailed and done with a harder brush you'll get some depth into it).

As for digital linework, just work bigger than the finished size (2x should be enough that the shakieness gets hidden).

[Trailblazer]

Hi thanks for the tips, I'll work on them some more in a bit and repost them see if i can get them a bit more solid looking. Now yesterday I downloaded Pose Master and had a go at some 90 second figures/gesture drawing. First time I've really gone for it so here's the first lot. I'm pleased with how it turned out, feels like I'm getting used to the wacom rather nicely.

[Trailblazer]

So here are some more 90 second poses I've done, I should have started doing them along time ago they're a great help.

@ The Sceptical Saint - I'm not sure I did quite what you said but I went over the edges of the hole puncher with a harder brush.

and last is a piece I just started working on, Im happy with how shes looking so far but think the arms and shoulders are a little off a little low...and to manly maybe, I'm likeing her backside tho

[Trailblazer]

Been having some computer problems so no updates for the last few days but I'll try to get something new up later

[Trailblazer]

So I got my laptop working fine again and heres a small update, some shorter 60 second pose master to warm up and then onto my own brain/character storming, trying to rough out my own poses and ideas from my head. I'll post some more of them tomorrow.

[Trailblazer]

Been a few days since an update so heres some studies I did today, all from ref. Im happy with the arms and ears but dont like those clumsy hands on the woman, I'll finish those two of tomorrow...need..sleep.

[Trailblazer]

Hey so just a few more women studies from ref I used two women from character designs and two from Marcus Ranum mjranum stock on deviant art.
I like the first woman on the top but am not as happy with the other three.

[Naidy]

Oh I love it when a new sketchbook comes together

Brilliant studies, I think you're getting very good at people.
So Keep up the good work!

[Trailblazer]

Hey thanks for stopping by yeah I feel like I'm making some progress but not enough so back to the drawing board

[Trailblazer]

Ok so a few more studies from ref, I used pics of UFC fighters for these. I spent a little longer on these ones, tried my hand at rendering with the wacom for the first time and I'm pretty happy with my first effort. Lots of room for improvement tho, think I'll try a bit of texture next time. Feel free to let me know what you think.

[Nickodemus]

I think your figures and poses are starting to look really nice and gestural. Keep it up.

I would encourage you to experiment with a variety of different edge treatments in your paintings. Right now, they all look a little soft.

Excited to see where you go. Cheers.

[Trailblazer]

Hey thanks for the crit, I've been trying to get my art looking a bit more 'alive' and less static, I think warming up with some 60-30 second posemasters helps. Yeah it does all look a bit soft, I'll work more on using variety in my edges.

[BluezAce]

Nice SB, Trailblazer! I really like how you draw an object, very painter-approach. Love the hole puncher, but I think the first one is better. Without the black lines clearly defined, we have to use our imagination when we see the first hole puncher drawing. Much more appealing to my mind I think hehehe

Btw, doesn't the second UFC fighter's skin look "plastic"...

[Trailblazer]

Hey thanks for stopping by. Yeah I like the first hole puncher more to, and your right about his skin, he's actually the first UFC fighter I painted, practice is needed if any one has any tips on painting skin it would be much appreciated.

[Trailblazer]

Heres an update for today, just some studies from Bridgmans Constructive Anatomy and a still life lemon. Let me know what you think, criticism is appreciated.

[dierat]

Hello there! Nice studies so far; I'm happy to see you're studying from life! I think that's a great way to learn digital painting and improve your understanding of value and light at the same time.

I see you've gotten a few comments like this already, but I'm going to go ahead and restate this suggestion: step back from the soft-edged brush for a while. The softer brushes have their uses, but they're best reserved for blending or adding soft shadow variation on top of your image. Also, try using a wider range of value.

Your anatomy studies are looking great so far. I would suggest that you try working from memory alongside your studies directly from the book. After you do a few studies and you think you've got the material down, put the book away and try doing it from your head. That will give you a good idea about what elements you need to study further. Continue to rotate between drawing from the book and from memory until you recall the anatomy in question without the book at ease.

Keep up the good work!

[Trailblazer]

Hi thanks for the crits. Yeah a few people have mentioned that my work is a bit soft looking, i'll try another still life with a harder brush today. studies from memory and studies from reference I'll make sure to do that

[Falling Up]

Some of your pencil work is really good, and it is good you are keeping up the anatomy studies. I also like your digital stuff, although I do agree that it feels somewhat too soft and the edges really need to be defined from the background. Lighting would probably help here.

Anyway, good stuff and can't wait to see more!