Learning to draw

[lemming-clone-]

Great progression! Definitely keep it up and best of luck with applying! Your work shows a lot of potential and will definitely be killer as long as you keep up with it.

[Black Spot]

I also prefer your traditional work. The better concentration comes from there not being an easy undo. Even if you don't use it, that it is there is always in the back of your mind.

Good luck with all your applications.

[Rhubix]

I'm going to join the "I like your traditional work" club. I especially like the hands you did with watercolor pencils, they're very expressive and hands are my nemesis this month so I have major admiration for people who have a knack for them.

I want to draw cool faces but I can't..

My best suggestion would be diversify- Your faces aren't as interesting as they could be because they're all so damned pretty! Don't forget the ugly, old, fat, scrawny, disheveled! diversity makes anything more interesting.
There are so many kinds of faces, and so much elasticity in a single face. Do gestures of different kinds of people, sketch people from the real world- explore expressions- use a mirror.
(faces are my favorite thing to draw lol in case it's not obvious)

Anyways- keep up the good fight & happy sketching ^_^

[AllyAlbon]

Great stuff and good luck with the university applications!

[krysjez]

Thank you everyone for sticking with me. I truly appreciate it.
found this thread which sums up me since late-2009 and offers some ways of getting around it: http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=169046 easier said than done, though.

Things have actually been quite decent on the uni side. I finished applications to the US over my holidays (just have interviews left now). More excitingly, I received 3 conditional offers for UK unis (got rejected by one)
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"traditional work club" - I was really surprised because I have always thought my strength lay in digital work!
Luckers - I think another two reasons are a) unfamiliarity with drawing directly (as in, the sketch stage) on a tablet and b) increased impatience when working digitally. You are right about the low opacity stacking. Added to stuff to try: 100% opacity study
jam, lemming, ally: thanks!
ANtY93: sorry for misleading you - but actually we are all noobs in the quest to make better art.
sombertwin: concentration and technique...my enemies...thanks for the words.
Black Spot: but traditional also has an easy undo in the form of the eraser? But good point about it always being there even if you don't use it.
Rhubix: thanks - and yes, I like pretty faces too much

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1-3. fellow participants at a training course. It's pretty hard to draw people who are moving...
4.
5. I learnt a bit of perspective! /cheers

[ANtY93]

Yeah, you're right ^^ also thanks for stopping by, I'll follow ur advice and do some environment studies.

From what I can see you're really good with traditional art, that's awesome! And there is really big progress since 1st page of this thread, keep it up

[krysjez]

forgot to post this in the last update.
sorry it's so big - didn't realize it wasn't automatically resized.

[Lightship69]

Hi there

Thanks for thr SB visit and the comments, that was very kind of you and I appreciate it.

I'm only leaving a short note as I am still going through your SB to get a feel for it, First impressions are its really good in here.
What sort of career path are you aiming at, I only ask because I havnt got a feel for what you intend to do from the work in here yet. This could be down to the fact that I am incredibly old and mental ha ha ha.

all the best and thanks again

[My57]

More of the studies!

Really good stuff so far. Hope to see more :3 - You're doing just fine. Just keep on practising.

[Velocity Kendall]

Love these!

[iven]

I like your sketch book I found all kind of stuff one of my favorite was posts is #241
the water color, I use those in my sb too, I just started to use them.

[Black Spot]

No more acrylics? I like the latest SP - nice and simple in design.

I answered your question in my SB.

[krysjez]

lightship - I don't know really, maybe illustration?
my57, VK, iven: thanks!
black spot: Saw it, thanks for the link. Might bust out the paints briefly tomorrow if there is enough time between doing up lesson plans for my class and having a Chinese New Year reunion dinner.
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On my other computer now, have some things to post but will just leave this here first (a response to 'kill the character above' in the lounge - nameless Asian kid getting a 'B', stereotypical but really quite true). It ended up looking like it was done by two different people - for the kid I tried painting directly over a very loose sketch, didn't work out very well, and for the teacher I painted over black outlines. Couldn't quite get my head around where the light was coming from...

[krysjez]

5. wip, it started out as a midnight doodle and I didn't expect it to get to the rendering stage.
1. one of the images from lightship's render thread
2. from observation at my window.
6. an art class of 15/16-year-olds at the school where I currently teach is going through Betty Edward's 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Workbook'. did this exercise together with them - 'reproduce a drawing upside down', to make you see in terms of lines rather than 'face' or 'hands'. Turning it upside down didn't work for me at all because I just mentally flipped it...the students all insist on using mechanical pencils exclusively and have death grips on their drawing instruments.
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I have MAJOR measuring issues. maybe bargue plate 1 will help?

[Luckers]

I appreciate the ongoing studies, they are really working
About the measuring issues, I've got the same problem myself.
So I'm curious to see how you are going to tackle them.
Keep up the great work

[Fluidity]

Hey there, just like to say, I love your sketchbook, and your quite an inspiration to me! I'm a beginner.

I really like that nearly each drawing/painting you do has inbuilt character in it.

Looking forward to seeing more of your work! ^-^

[shamandalie]

Whoaaaa This is awesome stuff you have here, for someone so young! Keep it going!

[Vay]

The best way to learn light and form is to draw those spheres for a very long time, or you can buy a white plaster statue and draw that. The key is how long you draw. The more naturalistic or realistic you try to render a sphere, the more you will learn about form and light.

[krysjez]

Oddly enough it feels like a very long time since I drew something for fun without worrying about how it would turn out.
Starting a comic. I hope I'll get past 5 pages.

[krysjez]

I printed out Bargue plate 1 (the one with the eyes) to work on during my lunch break at work. It's not a very conducive environment for drawing though, I might have to work with the paper flat. Will put a ring file underneath and see if it helps.
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Started working on something. My goal for this one is really just to finish it. It's been forever since I finished an illustration...

1. color variations...I am pretty bad at these.
2. where I am at now. I forced myself to use brushes with opacity jitter switched off (in the beginning, later I moved to a fixed 60%) to make it less 'mushy' and that does seem to be working, so I'm glad. BUT I am really not fond of how dark it is getting. The blue light thing needs work but I am afraid of posting it in the crit forum >_>; The white patch in the lower left is for text as it's meant to be a poster eventually.

[Naidy]

Hey, mate! Love the fact you're pushing yourself to do more tricky drawings, like dynamic characters with intricate backgrounds and eiree lighting such as the post above. Can't really see anything wrong that jumps out at me, so that's a good sign if any.
Where's the Bargue study again. Did you intend to send me it over msn? My old msn account stopped working, but I can send you my current one if you pm me. My current account's glitchy too, though. So there's no promise it'll work. (a pain, I know) xD

Either way, I think you're going places, mate! Hope to see more of this comic stuff, too. Have you read scott McCloud's books? He's got great stuff about how to make comics.

[rumpenstiltzkin]

very inspiration sketchbook! love seeing the progress from page 1 to the last, keep up the awesome work!

[krysjez]

Naids: I have 2 of his books except they are in Chinese so I just look at the pictures mostly I can read the text if I want to, but it takes me longer. Sorry for the misunderstanding, I meant take a look at the last pic I posted which you already did
rumpen: Thanks people say there is progress, but I can't really see it haha

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Did one picture out of Plate 1 today, working side by side with the printout. So. Hard. this is the hardest I've concentrated on drawing something possibly in my entire life, I think.

[Luckers]

Whoa, you've got to have quite some concentration to do that! I really dig that!
I don't believe I could sit down to do one of those, or maybe in a lot of short sessions
I like the colour schemes, you can already see that you are reducing your low opacity stacking. But It could be improved even more!
Why is it that there is a white gap in all of them though, is it an area for text or something?
Anyway, keep it up! Take care

[krysjez]

I like the colour schemes, you can already see that you are reducing your low opacity stacking. But It could be improved even more!

Yes, I think so too. I keep going back to small brushes. I have this phobia of covering up lines/more detailed sketch areas with paint, even though it's only digital.

Why is it that there is a white gap in all of them though, is it an area for text or something?

Yup
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next page
I bought a new A5 cartridge pad for drawing - got the cheapest one instead of a pretty looking sketchbook so I wouldn't go fetishizing the sketchbook and not dare to draw in it. The paper is rougher than copy paper so now my pen gets caught in it and the ink doesn't flow properly. Inking this page was a pain and I ended up using fineliners for many parts instead.

[Black Spot]

The Brague studies do need a bit of space and quiet to concentrate. Well worth it if you persevere.

[krysjez]

My stuff got moved around a fair bit at work and I couldn't find my Bargue things until yesterday. Still got some of the eyes left to do and then I will post it up.

I decided to take a 2 month sabbatical after my current work stint is done, to work on my coding and art. And to learn to drive.

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1. Page 4
2. My diary is turning into a sketchbook! on the right are very rough animals from Pixelovely's tool done at 1am. I am getting better at judging angles accurately now but distances are still a bit of a crap shoot.
3. More animals - "ow my poor tendons" because something weird, like a writing cramp almost, was going on around the knuckle between the third and fourth fingers of my right hand. i tried switching my grip but it didn't help either. It's gone now though.

Although it was just a few pages and rather hastily done I felt the animal studies were really useful. Perhaps it is just that the learning curve for beginners is steeper but I learnt a lot about the way four-legged mammals are built. Their legs are still a bit of a mystery though.

[Sushy]

What a cute pokemon comic
Now let's see some fighting :3

[Black Spot]

Comic is looking fun. It's always nice to have fun. When will you start on the next phase of universities?

[krysjez]

Sushy
Black Spot: My A-level results come out on Friday (!!! - it's either an A or C for my art...nervous as hell) and then I have until June, I think, to respond to offers from the UK - if I meet their conditions. I will only know the results of my applications to the US in April. Anyway uni normally starts around September so I've got half a year left.
Anyway I am applying for scholarships around now and it's so very torturous. First I have to write lots of essays (only written one so far...) and then get the 1000-word things down to 500 words. Darn my natural verbosity...!
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A little progress on that thing. Light's feeling a bit off, as is the leg on stage right.