Never-ending journey - Fundamentals ahead! (Update May 3nd)

[Nemome]

FightingSeraph Thanks! :)

Toffers Thanks. I agree in most of your points. The city, as also the character are looking great now! :) But the color sheme is not exactly what I wanted for this painting.
About more saturated colors, you're right.
I tried a few things out and changed some points you mentioned.
So thaaaaaaaanks a loooot for your overpaint and critique.

Alex Eh Thanks. Glad you like it! :)

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So, here's finally the update.
Sorry that you had to wait that long, but I really didn't get my ass up to update.
I hate this upload manager and during my last post I was also not thaaat active in art communitys.

Don't want to write a long text with all the stuff that happened, because I have a kinda heavy cold at the moment, so just a few things to mention:

- Some nice levelup's and insights with various things during january
- Digital Painting is slowly getting really enjoyable for me ^.^
- Even though I spend a lot of time on personal pieces and projects (just as the portofolio I created), it's now time to get back to more study's
---->>> Because I painted a lot of personal pieces, I found a lot of lacks, which I can only fix with fundamentals and studys! :)

That's it so far.
Enjoy!

I hope to make more regular updates again. Also because I need to PRACTICE more, instead of just painting. ;)

PS: Last photograph is my new Netbook - Wacom Tablet combination for on-the-go. Now I can finally paint in bed, at my friends atelier and all other places. :) Fits perfect on the keyboard without pressing any buttons.

[shiNIN]

The arm studies are nice, why not to use them on the poor girl in the last painting? Not like her arms are her only problem, she has tiny head, shapeless overlong torso and unrecognizable hands... Your studies show you can control your lines very well, it's just you don't have a clear enough idea how to draw a human. It's understandable, human anatomy is a very difficult thing to master and it's not your only concern... Grab some reference then, even when you are painting something.
All the other paintings looks much better, all the referenced oned and real life objects looks really good, I like the rich colors you used on the very colorful paintings (it's not some wise words of my inner critic, I just like them I can't criticize such things very well).

[Nemome]

shiNIN Yeah. Anatomy is hard and kicks my ass everyday again. I really need to start learning this stuff again. I personally don't like picking reference for a personal piece / sketch. I can use reference for for practice use only, no problem, but when it comes to use ref's in your own work. I kinda feel bad about it because I really want to be able to draw good stuff without ref someday.
Perhaps I just need to change my mind about that thing ;P
Thanks for stopping by shiNIN

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And again 2 days without really practicing....
Here in germany it's Carnival at the moment.
I personally don't like it, but I'm still spending time hanging out with my friends on different carnival events.

Anyways, a few things from my on the go netbook combination and the last one is a WIP I started this evening while talking to a friend.

Greetings!

PS: Forget about the second portrait. It's just messed up and looks like shit. I give the fault to the second use of A6 tablet, 3am o'clock and sitting in bed position

[shiNIN]

I personally don't like picking reference for a personal piece / sketch. I can use reference for for practice use only, no problem, but when it comes to use ref's in your own work. I kinda feel bad about it because I really want to be able to draw good stuff without ref someday.

I understand this very well, I'm the same. I don't say use a whole figure or something (though I don't see anything wrong with thinks like making a photo of someone or looking at yourself in the mirror), I would avoid that myself, I fall into copying mode too easily But you can look up muscles and body parts... I think it's good to see what you can do all by yourself from time to time but a serious long painting needs thinking and multiple refs, multiple sketches/thumbnails, whatnot. Not like I ever did all that but I should have I imagine if one puts much effort into some pieces, it quickens improvement.

The first portrait in the new bunch has too small face for the head.
The other one, the last pic is so much better IMO, I like that face, cool eyes - the mouth is extremely flat though. The lips are curved, they follow the curvature of teeth, the left and right half isn't the same when the face isn't viewed from the front. And my English is bad.

[Nemome]

shiNIN Thanks! You're right with reference. I just need to kill my bad habits. But for the painting I was working on (newest update in this post) I used at least some reference to fix her pose a little bit.
It helped I think, but I should have used some more reference for clothing etc.
Perhaps IF I am going to continue working on it, I will use some reference.
Your english is not as bad as you think by the way.
If your english is bad, then mine sucks also, hehe

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Quick update.
Today I started improving seriously again. Picked up some things to study and all that stuff but the day wasn't long enough to do all the stuff I wanted to do.
Even though my time management was horrible. ;P

First painting is the further version of the WIP posted above. Fixed some things, ... but there's still tons of work.
Perhaps I will continue on it, perhaps not. Let's see.
The other speed painting is a redo of an idea of a good friend.
He showed me the idea and I repainted and continued on it a very bit.
Done with my netbook.

Greetings,
Sil

[-Marin-]

Haha, that girl has eyebrows of doom Her pose looks better now but pay attention that you don't.. eehm.. overuse Loomis. Her face looks haggard because your shadows are too strong in the area of her cheek. The line between shadow and light is way too hard, if you know what I mean.
And take care that the circle you draw as a base for the head is really a circle and not an egg unless you want to exaggerate different features of a character.

Besides, don't worry using reference for your paintings. Artists did that hundreds of years ago, so why should it be considered wrong today? With practice and patience comes the ability to work completely from mind, that's what everyone of us wants to achieve.

Keep it up, you're doing good

[Nemome]

-Marin- Thanks for stopping by! They are eyebrows of an elf(in)! I just don't want to use that much reference because it's my dream to be able to do it without. But I know, even on the way to my goal references help, haha!

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Some more stuff from today!
Continued with my daily still lifes and then kept working on my head studies.
After studying these few skulls, they already helped me a lot to my Loomis studies.
Without doing them the bone structure chapter from Loomis would have been useless for me.
I will continue doing a few skulls each day.
Need to get their form more into my mind.

Greetings,
Sil

[Nemome]

I hate my body!
Getting from a cold to a flu.
This flu already lasts already over a week now.

Quick sketch of a character from an anime called "Fairy Tails". Awesome anime. *_*
Beside this really quick one I finally got myself to finish the girl piece.

Greetings,
Sil

[Nemome]

Anyway, decided to do a selfportrait before going to bed
Second self portrait of my life, so I am kinda happy about it.
Kind of sleepy now, so I leave it at this "rough" stage.

I try to do a second one tomorrow, also with a different technique.

Greetings,
Sil

[Charmer]

Shit. Dude. The last portrait is like 200% of what you did since some weeks ago. Keet it up! Head studies incoming I hope! Do moaaaar. Like I will. Haha. Good work buddy ;-)

[Nemome]

Charmer Thanks man! Still I am not feeling that I am coming forward that much. Especially I find it damn difficult to get proportions from photos.
From life I can do, sadly, a lot better.
Moooar training needed! ._.

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Some stuff from the last days.
A lot of school stuff to do, so I decided to stay one hour earlier up, do some art, then go to school.
So I stand up at like 6:00 am.
Feels good to have something done before you start your day.

Greetings,
Sil

[Alex Eh]

Hi Silwynar keep up the good work, the last self portrait looks great!

[shiNIN]

Your self portrait looks good! You suddenly drew much better than normally Very good job.
I like the skulls, just like the self portrait, they are unusually nice, really impressive.

Even if you want to draw Natsu realistically, he needs bigger head, you shrunk it too much. And I always imagine him being oh so epically dynamic, I would play with poses till find the right one. Not like the current one would be bad, it's just my opinion anyway.

The first thing I noticed in the last girl figure: a normal pelvis couldn't fit into that tiny place. The right (our right) side of the torso should be curvier I think, not just the ribcase turns away a lil bit but Latissimus Dorsi is there too. But the shoulder should be closer to the other parts of the body, that's sure. In short: use references to see what's wrong and do it again.

[matejkovacic]

Hey, Sil! Thank you for the visit
and thank you for the question!
About THIS picture:
Some of it I blended by Opacity
set to pressure and then I finished
some of the blends by Smudge
tool: Round soft brush, Scattering
(Scatter 122%, Both Axes), Count 3;
Transfer(Strength jitter - Pen pressure)

I hope that helps. If you don't know
what I wanted to say, let me know.
The whole image took quite some time,
but since it was last year, I don't really
remember. I am quite happy with the
finished look, too. It's what I wanted
to achieve.

Keep up the good work - studies of anatomy
and objects. And the last portrait really stands out!

[Nemome]

Alex Eh Thanks man!

shiNIN Thanks! It's good that there was some improvement. Otherwise I would get damn depressed. I am not that kind of person that is sooooooooooo patient
If am going to redo the Natsu piece on the week-end perhaps. Right now, as you said, the pose just doesn't fit and there are still some issues.
Let's see what I can do. ^.^

matejkovacic Hey! Thanks for replying that fast! I will give myself a render practice this afternoon too.

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GJAOWNSHOENAXOWNF!
I wasn't able to get my ass out of bed this morning.
So here are the updates I get to do yesterday.
Nothing new from this morning! ._.
One hour wasted! GRRROAAAR!

Anyway, I am not going to be down, I will keep trying to get up every day earlier.
I really don't want to move back into my comfort zone that fast.

Above are my daily skulls. The first one took way too long.
And then sketchbook stuff from school.


Greetings,
Sil

[Alex Eh]

Yeah making yourself get up earlier is so hard haha... Only thing I can suggest is to just jump out of bed immediately. Don't allow your mind to debate if you should go back to sleep or not!

[Nemome]

Alex Eh That's what I am trying to do everytime. But I still need to change my daily plan. 5 1/2 hrs. are not enough sleep for my body. Need to go to bed more early if I want to stay up early.

---------------------------------

Potrait study from the amazing photograph Iggyno.

Took me like 3 hrs. . In my opinion ways too long but I just need to do this more often, then it will get better.
I am also not thaat happy with the overall form.
Painting from life is a lot easier to get the right form.

Nothing for today because I need to learn for a test tomorrow (portrait study was from yesterday)! ._.
Will do more stuff on on friday to sunday again.

Wish me luck!
Sil

[Alex Eh]

Yeahhhh unless you have time to take like a 90 min nap at some point in the day 5 1/2 hours will not cut it for you haha.

Wish you luck with your test!

Something that came to mind, with the elf girl you drew I think she would look more feminine if you made the eye brows thinner. It's fine that they are long but girls tend to have thinner eyebrows naturally then guys.

[Creusa]

dats it

[shiNIN]

I have little patience myself so I can understand you Well I can be somewhat patient when I see my painting is progressing nicely
What's your problem with being slow? Things are slow when you aren't so very skilled. Maybe not for the next person but if you need to take your time, be it. You can't do much about it anyway except practice
Mmmm... Your last one has nice things but it's a bit strange. The hair is extremely stylized and doesn't seem to have some properly lit form. It looks some pasted on thing. Not the same realism and consistency level so it looks odd.
The mouth is a bit uncertain and it shouldn't be outlined.
You surely see the neck and the collarbone is very sketchy but I don't want to criticize it too much because I tend to do such things myself
The face and even the expression is different from the original but good resemblance really takes time. I can tear apart most faces below near pro level and sometimes I don't trim my criticism to the level of the creator (and often don't mention the good points), don't worry about it. I like the eyes

Good luck for your test ~

[Arti]

Hey Sil,
your last portait is really nice, especially the face. You've managed to capture her interesting facial expression

[Nemome]

Alex Eh Thank you. Because I need to redo my time management to get 7 hours sleep, I stopped getting up more early last week.
Now I have two days no school, so I am testing out what fits best.

Creusa You made my day. Thank you Creusa! ^.^

shiNIN Thank you very much shiNIN. Always happy about your critique.
When I am slow I just don't get as much done as I intended too, but I think I have to live with that. Better slowly and careful then massive stuff and nothing helped, hehe!
After I had the face, I stopped caring about the reference somehow. That's why the hair got stylized Next time I need to be more patient.

Arti Thanks Artiiiiii )

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Sup!
Passed 3 test over the last days, learned a lot over the whole weekend for a test today.
But now everything is done and I am free again.
Started kicking out some stuff this evening again and I hope to get out of the bed tomorrow morning to do some early anatomy.
Tuesday and wednesday is no school so I can draaaw!

Beside of that I have a small challange with a friend. Who get's more stuff produced over these 2 days?

Going to kick his ass...

Cheers!

Below:
- Sketchbook site with composition practice and thumbnails
- Misc simplyfied anatomy figures from imagination
- Apocalyptic speed painting from imagination #1
- Apocalyptic speed painting from imagination #2

[LtPlissken]

Hello there my friend. Very nice to see you back on track.
I have to say that your approach is getting more and more
professional and the improvements are surely visible. Your
values and understanding of light is much better than before,
and it's a real wise choice to work in greyscale. The time
and dedication put into drawing will pay you off, you will
see, and sooner or later you will be hammering out master
pieces. So I guess you really know what to do, what to
study next, and if you continue like this, you will surely
make a huge success. I will be following as always,
and you will feel my presence all day long.

[-Marin-]

Nice values on the last paintings You definitely improved there. I'm confused about the composition thingie. The little Kony drawings seem to be the very opposite of your study above. Everything is in the center of the image. I didn't do a lot about composition yet, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong

And now stop reading and go drawing! :<

[Nemome]

LtPlissken Awesome motivational comment boss! I am really glad that I am making progress, even if still slowly.
Thanks for stopping my ma friend!

-Marin- Nah, I didn't really want to use the principle of the golden ratio in these two thumbnails.
The wouldn't have fit into the kind of concept I wanted to show.
Kony needed to be central.
The golden ratio seems to be more for the compositing of different objects.
That's at least how I got it.
Thanks for stopping by Marin!

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Stuff from today.
My friend (who isn't on conceptart D did also a lot of stuff, especially traditionell paintings, so I don't really know who won today.
I am going to let him decide!

Stuff from today doesn't look as good as the other stuff I have done recently, but I think that's because I moved a little bit more out of my comfort zone.

And GOD DAMN IT for the self portrait.
Went out totally different then the one I did before.
A lot worse in my opinion.
Need to to more of them to fix this problem D:

Lets go!
Sil

1 - Sketchbook page, fineliner - 2 minutse
2 - landscape drawing from life, damn it was freaking cold and I forgot to take a bigger pencil with me, would have been easier
3 - Random scribble from imagination
4 - Simplified ribcage anatomy from Bammes
5 - Different faces from reference
6 - Failed selfportrait - Rendering sucks...

[Ramalooke]

Y U NO talk to me anymore? we use to be so close ;< nice progress btw ;] keep pushing.

[Charmer]

The Rendering only sucks because of the same reason my renderings suck - lack of knowledge and practice Anyway it's good that you do more stuff now, maybe we should both put some serious thoughts into a schedule.

[Arti]

hey,
love your landscapes, especially the ones you drew in grey are amazing.
Kony seems to have no arms but some logs of wood instead Where's the joint?

Your last portait studies are good as far as the propotions are concerned, but don't rush (who said that to me? hm? hm? ). The hair seems to be so...I don't know the right word...callous? lifeless? Okay, hair IS lifeless, but maybe it is more...flexible?

Well, just keep it up and draaaaaw \^_^/ there's definitely progress

[Alex Eh]

Like the self portraits dude! Keep up the nice work

[Nemome]

Ramalooke Haha! Dude, replied to your sketchbook. Thanks for stopping by.

Charmer Schedule, kschhhh! Already talked over skype

Arti In hurry! Thanks! GOnna reply later.

Alex Eh thanks man!

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In hurry.
Everything from sketchbook.
Last character sketch from imagination 1 hour.

Cheers!