Lumisade's sketchb00k

[Lumisade]

..I once promised to myself that I would never show my sketchbook to any1 else, because my sketchbook is a place where failures are accepted and I dont have to take any pressure about others seeing it..oh well. =)



so let's see if i can make this work... This was just facestudies (most of them from a reference) and I decided to make it a bit more interesting.. the picture isn't done yet but i will finish it soon... i think.... anyway i had so much fun doing this.



And this is one of the 4 assingments for my (hopefully) future school. (isnt a sketch but anyway). A still life from kitchen tools, a3 paper, pencil. Thats what the description was... I know its kinda boring but I absolutely LOVED making this one! it is my first still-life ever and I just learnt so much when drawing this.. I tried to challenge myself as much as I could and I decided to take no shortcuts. It took me 3 days = kitchen table out of use for 3 days. lol. They said "make it visually interesting" and I dont know if this is it, but...I'm happy with the result knowing that I gave it my best.

More sketches coming soon.....

[Loathsome]

Hello! Welcome to CA!
I like your values! I haven't seen much from you yet so I can't say this for sure but; the structure seems to be the weakest point, so attack that I guess. Keep posting though, I can't say much right now

[Lumisade]

Hey Loathsome, thank you =) Could you explain what you mean by the "structure" ? I just wan't to be sure I understand you so I can work on it. =)

[Lumisade]

damnnnn. I have neglected my CA sketchbook..but not because i havent been drawing, but BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN DRAWING so much that I haven't had any time to update this. So..thats a valid reason =)

However...I havent had any time to do any studies or personal drawings which pisses me off. For now I'm just concentrating on my school assingments because those drawings will be my admission test. I still got 2 assingments left, and only 7 days time :/

Since this is my SKETCHbook i'll upload the sketch as well the finished drawing.


this is how i usually start..I dont sketch the WHOLE thing first, which i probably SHOULD do. I usually dont have the patience for that. The method for this drawing was free so I wanted to make something digital since the other assingments are traditional media.



This is the finished version...im not too happy with it. I wanted to put in alot of detail and make it crazy but Im not sure if THIS is what I wanted...I always have this "it looks great and Im pleased with it"-feeling UNTIL the second I hit that "save as.." and its finished. And usually when I'm not satisfied with my work I do whatever it takes to MAKE IT LOOK GOOD and correct the parts that I dont like, but now theres a time issue =( I put so much time and energy on this and it's due august 6th so if you guys have some advice on how to make it better, I'd be happy to hear! I tried to make it as correct as I could but Obviously some of the anatomical mistakes are intentional (such as the weird faces and the weird boobs on the snappy lady who had a boob job). You can see me sitting on the back of the bus...


I can't wait until this is over and I can focus on studies and all that. Thats when I start updating this regulary.

[Darknale]

what your doing is awesome, you only been drawing for a couple of years as u said and you doing this kind of work is amazing, ive been drawing almost all my life. but for u to get these well in such a good time is great and im willing to bet you will get into a school really soon, good luck
love your work

[Lumisade]

Darknale, wow thank you so much.
I've still been really busy with my asingments but this all will be over on friday. YAY! The 3rd assingment was to paint myself watching to a light room FROM a dark room. Medium: water colors on a3 paper. I wouldn't find this difficult at all if this could be done with oilpaints, pencil...digitally... I find watercolors extremely challenging. I love playing with them and all, but when you have to do realistic stuff it takes more skills than I have...(yeah i know, who said I have to make it realistic??).

I'm running out of time so bad, so I have no choice but to settle with this one that I already started It is absolutely uninteresting and it doens't capture the atmosphere the way I planned. I had difficulties controlling the colors and getting the values etc right. Here are the quick sketches:



so many things wrong with those now that I see em on my screen

And this is what I'm working on now...obviously isn't ready yet. I hate it how many layers of colour I have put there and i was just telling my mom this morning how this looks like something that kids do at school The LIGHT was supposed to be the whole POINT of the painting but now it looks like fake tan gone terribly wrong



but again, this is GREAT practice for me, so I don't wanna complain too much I'll post the finished piece on friday.

[Lumisade]

okay. i thought im done with this but now that i look at it, i think im gonna make the hair darker and fix the ear a bit. Gotta return this tomorrow at 2 oclock so i still have time. Anyway. Im not happy with the result at all because I know i could have done better. But still, this was good practicing =)

[Lumisade]

WOOHOO. I just called the school for the results and I'm in! finally. I'm starting there in a few weeks =) but like I said, it's just one-year education that won't give me a degree but it counts as a "foundation year" when I apply to London again. (last time my application was "unsuccessful" because I hadn't completed a foundation programm).

I'm so glad the stress is finally GONE and I have time for personal work. A few weeks ago I bought a nice new sketchbook with red covers, and that will be like a uhmmm diary. Except for there will be drawings instead of writing. I started the first page yesterday and uhmm... yeah.. Onion burps. You guys get that as well after eating raw onions?

[Lumisade]

I'm not particularly good at drawing and I don't call myself an "artist". I post my finished work on facebook just to share it with my friends, not to brag or anything. Really, there isn't anything to brag about. But in some peoples head, if you can draw atleast SOMETHING a bit better than an average person who isn't into art at all, YOURE GOOD. For example..when I started drawing I created a file where I saved all kind of amazing, inspirational work. That was 2 years ago. Now when I go back to that file and browse through the images, they'r not all that great at all. My eye was just untrained. Anyway..

I have been asked to done CD cover art, logo design, paintings, portraits etc etc, by my friends. Without any pay. Regardless of the crazy amount of time it takes of my days, I have always done it for them because

a) they are my friends
b) it's good practicing for me
c) i'm not a professional artist or even that good, who am I to ask money for it)
d) I'm embarassed to refuse/ask money in return.

A couple of days ago a friend of mine (who isn't really a friend, just somebody I used to chat with online years ago) asked if I could do a portrait of him. He said 2 other persons already did it but he wasnt happy with the result, so he threw them away..ok...I know I could have said NO but I couldn't. He's a cool guy and AGAIN; this is good practice for me. I told him I will do it. And now I'm working on it...although I got tons of other things to do and these are the last days of my holiday..

Do you think I'm rude if I start charging my friends? As an amateur artist Am I in any position to start asking money for portraits etc? I'm afraid they'll be like.. "30 e for a crappy portait? You dont even have any art education haha, are you serious? Who does this girl think she is?"

Ok enough. So here are my VERY FIRST sketches of that portrait...These don't really look like the person but I know i'll work that out, these are just to get an understanding of the photo. I usually do like 20 of these before I start the actual work. All the mistakes I'm going to do will happen in my sketches..Then I correct them and sketch as long as I'm 100% ready to start the real thing. I dont wanna be halfway through the portrait and notice that the nose is too long. I'll post more sketches tomorrow.

[Lumisade]

I don't really care how many times I have to do this until I get it... I refuse to return sloppy work =)





Here you can see major resemblance



I'm having so much fun haha. I think it's just AMAZING how even just MINOR changes can make him look like a totally different person!! The one on the left is gettin quite close..I'm glad I don't have a deadline with this so I'll just take my time and do whatever it takes to make it look good.

I'll be out of town for a few days, gonna go see grandma (= 4 hours of drawing in the train). I think it's good thing, that way my eye doesn't get too familiar with the photo, so I'll hopefully see more details that I didn't notice before when I get back home.

Ps. I',m gonna ask that dude if its Okay to post the original photo here so you can give some feedback =)

[Lumisade]

Back in the capital city.

okay so..I singned up for some art projects and yesterday I found out that I didn't get accepted..I was sad and kinda embarassed for a while but not long. I'm getting used to it. I try to be active and apply to different projects/schools but my applications are always unsuccessfull. It doesn't feel good at all.. but I guess I just gotta keep trying and work harder. I'm glad I'm starting school next wednesday. I'm gonna make it my priority =)

Here is my final sketch for the portait. I'm gonna fix the eye and the lips and all but other than that it is just fine. I've come to realize just how important sketching is. I'm gonna get this done before wednesday and I'll update this page as I progress !

[Lumisade]

To be honest..I have been REALLY lazy with that portrait I got tons of other sketches but havent got around the scanner yet..I've been busy with school which started on wednesday! I love it there. I love learning.

Here's something that I started months ago but didnt feel like its worth finishing..Today it just popped in my head and I was thinkin bout making a traditional pencil work of this but now that I look at it I think I'ma finish it this weekend, with Photoshop. Just wanna see what comes out of it. This was mainly just a practice for working with many layers and textures.

[maria riaz]

hey nice start....like those faces connected to each other, very nice contrast....love that bus illustration, its crazy in a good way
keep it up....cheers

[smuli]

Great start! Nice shadings on the first post, some of the faces look very solid and the variety of soft and hard edges on the fabric behind the kettles looks great. Some of the sketches of your friend and some of the faces of the collage on the first post seem just a tad skewed. On the face of the baby on the first row and the second lowest face on the collage, the center line of the face slants a bit to the lower left for example. If you used some kind of frame like the one Loomis teaches for the head sketches, it would be easier to place the features accurately. I think the bus sketch would look less "busy" with a more constricted palette. There's a lot of things on the edges partly cropped so that they lead the eye out of the picture, like the baby on the floor and the lady on the right, especially her shirt and hair being so bright colored. Still good handling of a hard topic but just some things to consider. Great expression on that lady by the way.

Keep up the good work!

[Lumisade]

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment here!

Smuli , yeah I'm aware of the flaws in the picture with many faces. I noticed them when I watched it through the mirror...thats why I never finished it I checked the link you posted and I got started with it as soon as woke up. I did some other head-studies as well, I'll scan them tomorrow. Thanks for commentin on that bus-drawing. I'll keep that in mind!

I continued with the portrait today..it's uhmm..I'm not sure how I feel about it yet but I'll try to get it done tomorrow.



I finished this one today. (just for the sake of FINISHING.) bleh.

[Abnormally]

Awesome...that's all I have to say...

[Lumisade]

Abnormally you made my day , thanks.

recent stuff. When I started these head studies I had NO idea what I was doing but now I'm starting to understand it a bit.







my figure drawing lessons start tomorrow and I can't wait! =)

[Suncut]

I really dig your concepts and the graphic style you have going, once you get your technical ability up to par your work is going to be really interesting! Bridgeman's anatomy books would be a great supplement to life drawing, and really cheap too if you order from adlibris.

[Lumisade]

Suncut ! Thank you =) That made me smile!

Even though I might not update my CA sketchbook too often, it doesnt mean that I'm not working my ass off everyday 5 Hours of drawing at school today and I'm gonna start with a perspective assignment in a minute. I'm always really tired when I get home from school..I have to leave home at 7 every morning and I'm back around 4 or 5 even 6. That's fine! That just doesn't leave too much time for personal works I should be growing my portfolio like whoaaa but don't have enough time. Oh well..I got weekends and nights

Here's some random works from school. Took the photos today. My sketchbook at home is A3 size and that's a bitch to scan with a A4 scanner


Water colors


I'm sad that we only get figure drawing on mondays


Our teacher tried to teach me this shading technique and even though I had my own, different visions about it I decided to shut up and was really trying to listen to him. I think it came out okay. I just need more practice.

[Suncut]

I'm not really one to comment on getting personal work done while art school, I think I did about zero of it . I was just so bone tired after drawing everyday. Good on you being so hard working!

I really like that watercolor you've done, the shell has some nice colors. Some color variations on the shadows on the table might help, some warm reflections coming from the shell in all the blue.

I think the skull could use some pushing back on general shadow areas, right now it's a little hard to tell which parts of it are in light and which in shadow or halflight. Maybe something to keep in mind for the future if you won't go back to this one.

[Abnormally]

Hey , I think I've figured out you have the same problem as i do. Your 'finished' and more serious works look amazing, when it comes to sketching though you seem to have a 'tight' hand. The only way to loosen up that hand is to do quick strokes and not focus on the outline of the figure so much. In your loomis studies there your head circles seem to be almost perfect, well so does the rendering and details.

When u're doing 'quick studies' try not to focus on the details, but rather just give a good indication of what's going on. Someone commented to me to try and 'give more , with less line' , well that was some of the best advice I've gotten...remember, they're sketches, they don't have to be perfect. You obviously have the skill and talent, as we see in your painting and more detailed larger works...but sketching is important too, and meant for warm ups and getting the 'feel' ...not spending time doing tedious detailing!

I only say this because I see your skills, and really think you can expand on them by doing a lot of sketching (something I try to work on...and it is hard , I'm obsessed with detail). Try to give yourself a time limit (posemaniacs.com has timed exercises u can do, also). Hope to see more, soon!
-AbnOrmAlLy

[vanaga]

I like your sketchbook. It's like a diary
I will subscribe too see how it goes on.
I'm just a beginner, so no crits from me. But cool sketchbook. Really.

[Lumisade]

Yes, Vanaga, this is like a diary/blog/whatever I shoud just post more often. Thanks though!

So....I wrote a couple of posts ago how I feel about doing free stuff for friends, etc, but I continued to do it. FAIL.

I'm not even going to start about it because I feel depressed and I'm so disappointed in myself for not able to finish whatever I had started and promised to do.
At this point of my life, school is my number 1 priority and it takes 75% of my energy. And what goes to the other 25%, I need that to keep my sanity. Skipping artschool for having the time/energy pursue an art project for a friend was stupid. I'm never going to do that mistake again.

It did teach me a valuable lesson, though. But enough about that.
Here's some recent stuff, I'm no longer going to work on them.

[Lumisade]

here's something i've recently been working on.



photography and art history courses started in school = not much time for drawing. I'm moving in a couple of weeks and that's great because I need more working space and less people around me.

[TASmith]

MOAR WATERKULRZ!!! The level of attention and observation you put into that shell puts everything else to shame. Start a series of still lifes in watercolor, and your portraits will improve. Hell, try a watercolor self portrait. You'll see a world of difference, because you obviously think/see in terms of color.

[Lumisade]

thanks, TASmith. I definitely put a lot of thought in what you said and I'm gonna do still lifes in watercolor. A lot of important deadlines etc are approaching but I'm gonna get to it in a couple of weeks. I find working with watercolors extremely challenging but we were forced to do that in school. We were just playing with the colors and practicing how to find the right colors, values etc. Only now I realize how much that taught me! =)

I draw every single day but I dont put it all here because..well. Yeah. But heres some recent stuff from school.

Only now that I see this big drawing on my computer screen I'm able to spot all the mistakes that it has haha.



I had a good start going on here but at some point I got really frustrated and started adding more colors and chaos withouth putting any mind to it.. blah.



Photos of me today @ school. why? just for fun.

[Benjy]

That still life with the cooking pots is great. Cool sketchbook.

[Abnormally]

Your watercolors are amazing!

[HydroFoiL]

A lot of potential here, I'm sure gonna be following this one Good luck

[Lumisade]

thank you all !!!! you guys brighten up my day ! =)

heres update on that nyc-map drawing. I have 2 weeks time to finish.

it!