Help Me Get Better

[vatteh]

Latest piece I did for CharacterForge on CGHub - The Blue Wizards


Quick studies to prepare

[vatteh]

Recently I've been doing studies, then testing myself from memory to see how much I retained. I just did a study of one of my most favorite portraits on DA by crowgod. You can check it out here. Anyways heres the original.


And heres the first study. Now looking at it, I see I missed alot of edge work and colors in the face



And heres the first study form memory. Yeah realized how little I actually retained and paid attention in the study. Very disappointed, I wanted to redo this over and over again until I was satisfied.



The second from memory



The third from memory



The forth from memory. Trying to get that pale skin tone but made it too pink.



The fifth form memory



And the sixth from memory



I don't know whether it is a good idea to do studies from artists currently in the field and in the end I'm not satisfied with the final result, but I feel that I learned alot more doing this than what I usually would with a study.

[vatteh]

I decided to try this again with a photo instead I found on The Sartorialist.
Heres the original study


1'st try from memory


2'nd try I focused on the pose, eyes and skin tones


3'rd try was about the cool highlights and nose, which I messed up on


4'th try I focused on the nose, but forgot the cool highlights on the skin tones.


4'th try with corrections. added the cool highlights.

[vatteh]

another photo study in grayscale

original study


First try from memory. eyes too big and too much structure in nose




Second try from memory. Skin tones too dark and much contrast



Little corrections after second try. Just lighten skin tones and hair

[vatteh]

My most recent CHoW entry. I ran out of time and rushed this one, so I'm not too proud of it.


studies I did beforehand

[Tea of Doom]

Impressive volume of studies you have here. My suggestion would be to make some studies of the antomy of the head, It would fix a lot of the anatomical issues you are having when trying to draw those photos from memory, becasue as of right now, you have good color control, but the understanding of the structure underneath seems to be lacking.

Love that hermit piece, keep drawing.

[vatteh]

Tea of Doom - thanks for the tip. I might have to go back to Loomis studies.

Heres some quick hand studies. Pics to the right are done from memory afterwards. It looks like I didn't pay enough attention to the form of the knuckles. And on the second hand I painted the highlights too bright.

[FrogOnAZipline]

Wow a lot of improvement from your first posts. I really like the armor images and Golem is amazing. Keep up the good work

[vatteh]

FrogOnAZipline - thanks man.

latest CHOW entry

[mindwrack]

hey, nice designs and studies! i really like this exercise you're doing with the studies from memory and you're applying them well. i would say be cautious about over rendering/detailing the whole image, try to be reserved with where you detail and don't be afraid to use large brushes but otherwise great improvement, keep it up!

[vatteh]

Latest CHoW entry. I rushed this one so I'm probably gonna take more time to finish it, if I'm still motivated later.


Still life of my bust I did the day after

[vatteh]

I just finished this piece for the Crimson Daggers Bloodsport challenge. The point was to illustrate a time warrior from the past that is sent to the future with a sidekick from that this to help save the world. Basically my time warrior is a WW2 fighter pilot from the past and is accompanied by a robot co-pilot sidekick to help him learn and use the futuristic technology of the jet. I'm fairly pleased with it and I feel I learned a lot doing it.



comps


studies




and here are the other entries from the Crimson Daggers forms [link]. There was some good entries that were very motivating.

[Rhubix]

First of all, I have to applaud your patience with those portrait and master studies. I don't really have much constructive stuff to say -I just saw the blue wizard and thought of the game Gauntlet.
I don't know if that had anything to do with the exercise...
keep up all the hard work it's sure paying off.

[CharlesAndrewWilcher]

Some of your designs are really great, and I'm loving the improvement. Keep it up!

The from memory exercises are really interesting. I need to start doing studies.

[I STRaY I]

Hey Vatteh, really enjoyed your BS 13 entry. I really like the sidekick dude kind of out there cp3 style fixing the ship in the heat of the battle. Good job! Your working real hard on these characters which is very cool and inspirational as well!

[ANtY93]

Awesome way to do photo studies, you've improved a lot with each one of them, I long to see more of them

[vatteh]

Rhubix - Thanks dude. Hopefully the studies are starting to pay off.

CharlesAndrewWilcher - Yeah I really starting to enjoy this method of study.

I STRaY I - Thanks man. I really appreciate the support.

ANtY93 -Thanks man.

Another chow entry. I didn't finish this one, but I figured I would post it.


Study I did beforehand.

[vatteh]

Latest CHoW entry

[vatteh]

I tried another of these memory studies. This time with Bedouin girl by Luis Ricardo Falero.
Heres the piece.


And here's my first study


And my first try from memory. Pretty much a fail.


Here's the second, third, forth, fifth and sixth try






And here's the last try with quick corrections done and I left it at that.