ssandulak's sketch pad - diving into digital awesome (Update March 5th)

**ssandulak** · June 13th, 2010, 05:43 AM

Okay, starting up a sketch pad, tired of procrastinating so I'm going to be pumping out the studies and randomness. I'm looking for any crits on all my stuff. I have incredibly thick skin and I know I have a ton to learn so let me have it.

*edit* Changing the thumbnail on my sb

(would be cool if there was an option besides just uploading that image first)

**ssandulak** · June 13th, 2010, 11:47 PM

Another page of 60 sec gestures and a quick painting of a nectorine (color is something I'm really gonna have to work on). Maybe I should try working in grayscale and then laying down color...I dunno I'll try new stuff as I go.

**LAL** · June 14th, 2010, 12:04 AM

Good practices,keep it up!my friend.

**ssandulak** · June 14th, 2010, 10:35 PM

LAL - Ty good sir, I shall

A few hand studies. Also a paint of an mma fighter's torso. I had real trouble for a while on it and just started over. I think I was working too close when I was blocking in the light/dark. Should I be working in 32bit color? I mean I figure I should but I have to convert it to 16 for a jpeg. Also I'm finding it fairly difficult to get a steady line on my tablet. Not that it's skipping or anything, I just get these very sketchy lines. I take it that is more me not being used to the tablet than anything? Anyone think these images are too big? I'm halving them when I save them for here but it still seems a bit big to me. Who knows, back to photoshop. And as always I appreciate any crits/tips if you notice I'm doing something wrong.

*edit* Ah, my reference for the mma fighter. http://www.iska-europe.com/wp-conten...hel_Walker.jpg

**ssandulak** · June 20th, 2010, 05:12 AM

Couple days without an update, won't happen again

(technically I was still sketching, just don't have a scanner and could only find time at work). Just some basic proportion sketches to really grill it into my mind (From Andrew Loomis' Figure Drawing for all it's Worth). Moving on to the basic anatomy now.

**Sycra** · June 20th, 2010, 06:32 AM

Keep up the good work!

**ssandulak** · June 20th, 2010, 10:10 AM

Did a few thumbnails for the COW this week. I'm probably going to go with 2,3 or 5, with maybe the bench/bus stop sign from 6. It's some sort of wrinkly ant eater/bison thing with a monkey companion to point the way because it's practically blind. I like the idea of it hanging from its belly like in 2, if I don't choose that one I might incorporate that as well (and have him point the way). Not sure though as the silhouette might not work like that...

**ssandulak** · June 20th, 2010, 02:33 PM

More progress on COW 181...not sure I'm happy with the head placement of the main beasty. Might crane it so it's looking sideways like in thumbnail 3.

**ssandulak** · June 21st, 2010, 01:06 AM

Did some more roughing in. I'm liking the main creature more and I was thinking of having the companion pulling on the main creatures hair to kind of guide him. Now I'm thinking of having him pull his ear while screaming and pointing. I hope it reads like that anyways. Think I'm kind of going in too many directions with the main one as well. I'm probably going to take out the hair and see how it looks.

Gave him an almost alligator-like snout with feelers on each side. He can also light his tongue bulb to help show him which way to go (...into the light). Also I was inspired by this crazy old giant turtle who had these wrinkles under his neck which probably just looks like hair right now (though hopefully will stand out nicely when its rendered properly). Crits welcome of course.

**ssandulak** · June 23rd, 2010, 08:52 AM

Some more studies. This is really helping me get the major points of the male form down (I'll have to work on the female form some more also). Though I suppose that is the point

Gonna do some gestures then some random poses out of my head with the basic guidelines like in the 3rd figure.

**ssandulak** · June 25th, 2010, 05:54 AM

Another page of gestures (brownie points if you can guess the movie it's from) with me trying to use the Loomis mannequin to help with proportions. Starting on my CHOW 202 entry as well (I'll post that later, along with some COW 181 progress) even though it's a bit late in the week I'm hoping to get both of those done by their deadlines.

**ssandulak** · June 25th, 2010, 10:00 AM

Okay some thumbs for my CHOW 202 entry (man I don't have much time left! back to work!). Going for a modern japanese samurai/ninja type. Crits/comments welcome as always.

**Acronym** · June 25th, 2010, 11:10 AM

Think this is great

**ssandulak** · June 26th, 2010, 08:56 AM

More progress on the COW 181. Almost finished up the lines (got the hard part out of the way imo). Crits welcome as always.

**ssandulak** · June 26th, 2010, 05:45 PM

PHEW, my first weekly done and man was that FUN! I see lots of things I could fix but I learned a bunch so I'll just have to do better next time

Really wish the file size was a bit bigger, I had to make it surprisingly small but overall I'm pretty happy with it. Crits/comments of course welcome. Back to the drawing board.

**gordebak** · June 27th, 2010, 08:32 PM

Nice sketchbook.

I like the last one, but the bench seems a bit weird. I don't know why, but it doesn't fit in well. Maybe it's too geometrical between the other stuff. Don't know. Sorry. But I like it anyways.

**ssandulak** · June 29th, 2010, 04:53 PM

Working on my CHOW 203 entry. None of them are REALLY grabbing me but I'm fond of 4,5 and 9. I like the composition of 3 but it doesn't show enough of Rosie for it to be a viable option. Crits/comments welcome as always and thanks gordebak and Acronym.

**ssandulak** · June 29th, 2010, 11:54 PM

More progress on CHOW 203. Wonder if I should have a cloak. Trying to get a prestigious academy of necromancy feel to her uniform. They all carry sacrificial blades for use in the darker ceremonies. Everyone seems to be going with a more modern take, which is cool, just thought I'd swerve and go a little old school fantasy

Crits/comments welcome of course.

**ssandulak** · July 1st, 2010, 06:34 PM

Redesigned the uniform a bit. Trying to get more of an academy feel but don't want to go straight basic robe with cloak. Also a WIP (very early WIP) of the final piece pose/layout. Might move the table up a bit, though it seems appropriate height for the task. Also thinking of adding a ghoul or two looking on in the background, we'll see. Crits/comments welcome.

**ssandulak** · July 3rd, 2010, 02:44 AM

Another update, gonna be coloring tonight/all tomorrow to finish it off. Will add background during that. Also I'm not sure about the rune bandage on her left arm but we'll see. The table/tub thing he's on will be full of blood. They place the corpses on the table and when they're being reanimated the blood is forced back in. Crits/comments welcome of course.

**ssandulak** · July 3rd, 2010, 11:50 PM

Updated wip, not sure how I'm going to make the leap to color this time (testing a new workflow to see how I can work more efficiently...it's not working

). Crits/comments of course welcome.

**ssandulak** · July 4th, 2010, 07:25 PM

Ack, not even close to finished by the deadline. More lessons learned, sad that I couldn't finish it in time though. Crits/comments welcome as always (and any in particular on workflow would be a godsend). Thanks.

**Caio Monteiro** · July 4th, 2010, 08:35 PM

This is becoming great!
But I guess there is something wrong with the right arm...but I'm not quite sure...
keep posting man!

**ssandulak** · July 7th, 2010, 03:46 AM

Thanks Caio. Ya the right arm looked a bit wonky to me too, not sure how I'd go about fixing it though, took me quite a while just to get it to that point

Checked out your sketchbook too, very cool stuff indeed

Another page of gestures and some spiderman ones because he be awesome and I felt like mixing it up a little. I'll post my wip designs/pic for CHOW 204 soon along with some more anatomy stuff.

*edit* Okay seems the images aren't showing up, I'm thinking there might be an issue with ca.org tonight so I'll try attaching them again in the morning.

**ssandulak** · May 14th, 2011, 06:15 PM

So, been a long bloody time since I posted. Life kind of kicked my arse for a while. No excuse though, time to get back in the swing of things. Still working on my anatomy. Breaking it down to areas right now. Focus being the arm at this point. With some torso/neck thrown in as well.
A bunch of Bridgeman studies, with some more Loomis and I just picked up the Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist by Stephen Rogers Peck. The naming on the muscles still escapes me (for the most part) on the arms, but this is definitely helping me get the the forms down. Going through as many sources as I can to kind of cross reference and hopefully get more of an understanding on how these things work.
Bridgeman's stuff is very dynamic but he leaves out some views, muscle groups that I needed to look elsewhere to really grasp (thank you Loomis!).
Anyways...art explosion! (pencil stuff as I've been doing this at work and just scanned in a whole mess of stuff).
*shotgun blasts the pics at the wall and runs*

Also have some quick concepts for COW 212 and CHOW 244, faberge dragon and guardian of atlantis, respectively. Crits/comments welcome as always.

**ssandulak** · May 14th, 2011, 06:27 PM

Forgot to post the Loomis stuff, along with another set of arms done about half way through this arm bonanza to see my progress.

**octopus_interphone** · May 14th, 2011, 06:56 PM

A book I found useful as a supplement to Bridgman is 'Classic human anatomy' by Valerie L. Winslow, it shows the range of motion each muscle makes as well as the exact origin and insertion, etc etc. I found it helpful when you can't really figure out what exactly a certain lump is supposed to be.

Those egg dragons are looking good : )

**ssandulak** · May 16th, 2011, 01:08 AM

Octopus_interphone: Thanks, I'll look into that book for sure.

More doodles and studies for today, mostly focused on arms still, with some torso. Also did a quick 35 min self portrait before Game of Thrones (bless you HBO). Gonna try to do one of these a day along with some gestures, to get things flowing. They're nice warm ups.

*edit* I realize now that the right eye is slightly off, argh. Ah well, I'll get it next time

**ssandulak** · May 18th, 2011, 06:29 PM

Some more portraits, another self portrait (1 1/2 hr) and a quick bday sketch for a friend of mine (35 min). She turned 26 so a little nerd humor thrown in for good measure

Using a web cam for self portrait reference probably isn't the best idea but ah well

Crits/comments welcome of course *tips hat*

**ssandulak** · May 18th, 2011, 11:29 PM

Started a new piece and put an hour and a half or so into it, still blocking things in really. Sky pirate goodness, deciding on whether to have the black masses in the background being ships bursting through the clouds or the citadel they're about to raid

Never really painted clouds, so figured this would be a fun way to get some practice in

Also the girl is really only naked for proportion...probably, it's growing on me hehe.
The pose is hit or miss for me, not sure if I should have her more hanging than leaning as she is.
Crits/comments welcome as always. Insights and the meaning of life appreciated also, if it's not too much to ask *tips hat*