Diedra's sketchbook Vol. 2 - update 4/26/13

[dierat]

Hello there peoples; I'm finally starting a new sketchbook! But first, here's a link to my previous sketchbook thread:


Diedra's sketchbook Vol. 1: July '07 - December '09

[dierat]

To start off, here are 2 'finished' pieces.




And here are some studies and sketches.


a self-portrait~


still-life objects~


and anatomical construction practice~


a random sketch~


drawings from my local petting zoo~

[dierat]

Here are some more studies focusing on portrait construction.

[Black Spot]

Glad to see you back. I see you got rid of the sheep on the first finished one. The petting zoo animals are pretty good - it's hard to draw animals as they don't stay still for very long.

[ZombieGrub]

Hey! Liking your use/study of basic shapes when it comes to complex forms. I think that's a really useful tool to study.

Your paintings are great, and while have next to zero knowledge when it comes to the technique of painting, I can say that the second 'finished' piece needs some more extreme lights and darks. The centaur one is very interesting to look at with the range of shades, and while the softness of the second one might be what you're going for, I feel like it doesn't leave quite the impact.

Hope to see more!

[Elz]

Very nice animal sketches/studies
And I love the way you've painted the centaur image. Keep it up!

[miycko]

Hey D, glad to see you're back on ca i have to say it really wasn't the same without you here. The Lutist came to a beautiful finish, all the details fit together so well making it one of your best pieces. The white dragon painting looks great and i still can't get over how your characters fit so harmoniously into their environments, for a crit it feels like the dragon's feet are a bit oddly placed, almost as if they vanish in the rock beneath the dragon, for a future painting you could have them fold in on themselves, kind of like how dogs or other four legged animals do when they sit. Amazing self portrait, i like the way your brush strokes give it a finished look without having to go deep into details. The still life's are great, especially the light bulb, it's really hard to paint glass so kudos to you

You certainly haven't been slacking in the studies department, i like the animals and anatomical construction studies. Great improvement on the facial studies, they are looking much betterer now

Its great to have you back D. and i'm looking forward to seeing more of your works.

[Saramel]

Thanks for the comments - I love your studies, they are very form and rythym oriented - your color pieces are also looking really nice, beautiful rendering.

[dierat]

Black Spot - Oh yeah, I forgot about the sheep At some point I just got tired of fiddling with them and I thought the image looked okay without them. I also realized that at that distance, they should really just be little white specks anyway. And yeah, drawing moving animals is tough, but it's great practice! You basically have to draw the form from memory and just look at them for help with details and stuff.

ZombieGrub - I can totally see what you mean; I can see that that image has a lower value range now that you mention it. Thanks for the crit!

Elz - Thanks, I will!

miycko - You're referring to the dragon's back legs, right? Yeah I wasn't really sure what to do about that. I tried having that foot visible next to the belly but I thought it looked really stupid. I'm still not sure what I should have done differently, but it's my goal to get better at animal antomy once I've concquered human anatomy (lol, like that'll ever happen ). And I'm glad to hear your like my brush strokes; I've really been feeling lately like that's a weak point in my work. Like especially in the self-portrait, the rendering feels choppy and awkward to me. I think the brush I use is good for laying down the foundation for the image, but it's not very good for blending. I should try to find something better.

Saramel - Thank you!



This is the painting I'm currently working on. The stuff in the back is (supposed to be) a stained glass window.




These are some WIPs I hope to finish next.




And here's some more anatomical construction stuff.

[Naidy]

Hello there!
I love how smooth your pictures turn out when you colour them!
As for the stained glass though, this tends to have a dappled effect, What's the direction of the light in your picture?
Anyways, this might be a good refference for the texture. http://www.trendir.com/archives/dani...ined-glass.jpg

The woman in it looks lovely though so keep up the good work.

[Lang Oulk]

Hey hey, thanks for stopping by! Nice studies! All your digitals look sooo smooooth , I haven't done anything in photoshop yet, but maybe try some textural stuff for fun? That's just my 2 cents though, keep it up!

[tobbA]

Nice SB. I like that sci-fi chick! As a crit I think you could work some more on your materials and textures right now everything from clothes to skin looks kinda samey.

Keep on rockin (in the free world!)

[Rotor]

Thanks for dropping by! It's good to see you're back on track with new sketchies.
Your rendering of fabrics is awesome, well that and the general mood and light you give these pieces.
Keep it up!

[Black Spot]

The cloth in your WIPs is brilliant. All of them look like interesting projects.

[dierat]

Naidy - Oh yeah, right now I'm kinda putting off adding the texture of the glass until I get the design of the window worked out. I haven't really thought much about the light direction (I presume you mean, what direction the light is hitting the window?) or how I'm going to do the texture.. I've never done stained glass before so I'll probably have to do some small tests to figure out what works best. Thanks for the help!

Lang Oulk - You're right, texturing stuff should definitely be had; thanks for making the suggestion!

tobbA - I think I see what you mean. I've been rather loathe to grapple textures so far, but it sounds like it's something I need to start dealing with. I'm thinking about taking some time in the near future to do some studies specifically regarding texture and style to figure out how to best deal with the issue. Thanks for the critique!

Rotor - Thank you, and I will!

Black Spot - Aw thanks girl; I really appreciate the encouragement. Some days, your comments help to make me feel like I can really do this



Small update this week. I was bored so I started reworking this other half-started piece I had sitting around. I decided to go back to a different thumb and take the image in a different direction.

[Black Spot]

Don't put yourself down as I think you can render the shit out of something and make it special. The last sphinx creature needs stronger back legs to match her arms, but her face is great with some attitude.

[miycko]

So many studies, you're definitely on your way to mastering human anatomy hehe, now i feel guilty for not working so hard. For the dragon painting i think the angle of the hill makes it more difficult to place the hind legs, it's a bit too steep i think.

Your painting in post #9 is looking great so far, your rendering of her clothing is wonderful and i like the way you've done the simple shapes of the creatures for the glass (something i should practice). The lighting is a bit confusing though, i imagine there's one light source to our right & the second being the stained glass(please ignore this if i'm wrong) which i think would drop her shadow on to her lap.

the third thumb in your latest post is my fave but the one you rendered is great as well. i have two crits though her front paws to dont look like they're firmly placed on the tree trunk, folding the left paw so it rests on the tree might solve this (or cause even more complications) and also her torso is a bit short which makes her look kinda stubby. Great updates D, looking forward to seeing these progress

[tobbA]

Lion woman looks cool. You could allways check google for cats in trees to get inspiration for the pose

[Naidy]

Hello again! I'm loving the look of the sphinx, good shading going on- can't wait to see some more finished stuff!

Keep up the good work, lass.

[dierat]

Black Spot - Thanks gurl I'm glad you like her face; 'attitude' is an apt description for what I was going for. I think I see what you mean about the back legs, and I'm wondering if it's also a proportional problem as I have a tendency to make the animal half in half-human creatures too small. I'll work on that next and see if I can improve it. Thanks for the crit!

miycko - Oh lol, I doubt I'll ever master anatomy, but it's a nice dream Btw those studies are from Figure Drawing Design and Invention. I don't remember if I told you about it or not, but it has an approach very similar to those Bodyworks articles from ImagineFX, so you might wanna check it out if you found those helpful. It's a good book and very thorough.

About the stained glass image, the lighting is (supposed to be) set up so the window is the light source. I just realized that this probably isn't very apparent because the contrast from light to shadow on the figure is very low; she should be much more obviously back-lit. So the cloth that's in the foreground is being lit by the light coming in from further up, and her torso and lap area should be much darker. I think I might go work on that right now and try to fix that.

Yeah I liked the 3rd thumb as well, which was why I originally started with that pose, but after a while I felt it was kind of static. I like the seated pose because it has more attitude I feel, like she appears more proud and territorial. For the paws, I'm thinking I might just change it so they're both flat against the tree trunk. I was going for one paw over the other and up on that slanted branch but that'll probably just end up looking unnatural anyway. I'm not entirely sure what you mean about the torso since it blends into the cat body. If I increase the size and length of the cat half (that is, everything to the left of her arm), do you think that would help?

tobbA - Thanks, and yeah I did Google cat poses for the image. Research is an artist's best friend!

Naidy - Hello back! Thanks for the encouraging words



I finished the design of the stained glass window in this one; next I need to figure out the texture and lighting on the window itself.


This is a study of an ear with a tattoo for CGHub's anatomicae recent challenge.


This is a wip I started for a different CGHub challenge. Right now I'm kinda steering off-topic so I'm not really sure where it's going from here..



Aaand just a couple of anatomical construction studies.

[PaintMyBrain]

hey. Just thought Id tell you that one of ur comments on another SB really helped me out too, so thx. And tour work here looks nice, keep it up.

Brain

[Mr.Pryminista]

Hello there, thanks for posting in my sketchbook!

There seems to be a gap in your drawing and painting abilities. I find your painting abilities to be far superior to your drawing abilities. This is not to say that your drawing skills are bad; that could be more refined like your painting skills.

Are those anatomy studies from Ron Lemen? They look an awful lot like his stuff. Anyways, keep drawing and painting. Maybe draw a little more and try different mediums.

Take care

[Creusa]

Hi there, you've quite mastered those pleats. I gave a look at your old sktchbook to understand the why. And eventually I didn't get it. You just work on details, slowly but effectively.

[miycko]

thanks so much for the link .D i'll make very good use of it
For the stained glass image since main light source is the glass then her right cheek would be darker whilst her right cheek & part of her forehead as bright as her shoulders. i have to say it's not gonna be easy rendering that glass, it will be interesting to see how you tackle it

increasing the length of the cat half should help solve the issu and make her look more majestic very cool tattoo, the only issue area is that it doesn't blend very well with the skin. the image for the cg challenge is looking great, i'm not so sure about the color red for her scarf thingy though, at first glance it looks like blood and the guys left arm looks a little short, something to do with the foreshortening i think. great updates, MOAR

[Suncut]

I really enjoy the neat structure and clear rendering of your paintings, they seem so complete. They remind me of symbolism paintings.

[Black Spot]

I like the girl in your latest as is - not so polished. It gives a new look for your work that is fresher.

[hücumkedi]

yea nice,clear finished digis...

[Nemome]

Hey!

Beautiful anatomy figure studies! Keep them definitely up!
Just don't stop working!

[Wr00m]

Dig the challenge one. keep it up

[Naidy]

Hullo again!
I love how you're always exploring new themes/interesting poses. Keep up the good work (and studies ) as always!