Improvement happening... gradually.

**Bing!** · May 26th, 2011, 08:07 AM

you've shown a lot of improvement with the latest one! go check out some of ron lemen's tutorials on drawing the head..thats what i need right now...lol..good progress though

**Nelka** · June 6th, 2011, 08:20 PM

Charmer, Bing!, thank you! I've tried to use better reference, so I'm glad the difference is noticeable.

So I finally brought myself to finish that damn nude study. I didn't want to go into crazy detail rendering mode though. I'm kinda getting tired of using the hard round brush all the time, so I'm gonna try work with some other brushes for my next one. Also, the skintone on the reference was a very similar kind of orange, I think the final colour on this one is very close.

Crits always appreciated

Edit: Had a monitor problem, realized some colour-grading needed to be done. Sorry >.<

**George Abraham** · June 8th, 2011, 01:48 AM

Nice scetchbook. Good hard work.

**Nelka** · June 9th, 2011, 12:16 AM

Finally! A self portrait where I don't look like a mutant!
The yellow light thing bothers me but hey, it's something. Now to try and paint with colours that aren't monochrome >.<

**Nelka** · June 14th, 2011, 09:31 AM

So I'm trying something new. Gonna get the colours and values down after I know what they are. The sketch, luckily, is just a base from which to work from. I want to paint this thing, so the definition and detail tweaks will happen later. If anyone has any suggestion I would appreciate the feedback. There aren't enough crits up in here.

**Ogihara** · June 14th, 2011, 09:48 AM

great improvement, keep it up!

**Nelka** · June 14th, 2011, 10:50 AM

Was trying to do something stylized. Just a quick sketch for my little sister. I'm not too fond of it.

**kidult** · June 14th, 2011, 11:07 AM

Nice sketch of your sista! Nice lines on the character too! Try work out those hands and the eyes 1st before you go into painting, its alot easier to fix mistakes in the linework phase than the painting ones. That way you just have to worry about painting and not fixing things.

Cool details on her

**Nelka** · June 21st, 2011, 12:00 AM

Kidult: Yeah, I just can't seem to get it right, especially when I try to stylize. Blah.

Aaand now for something completely different. Trying to do a sort of werewolf thing based on an old '08 sketch. Here's the sillhouette thing so far. And no, it's not gonna be a gay werewolf, it's gonna be a "screw you pop culture i'mma tear some throats out" one. Because I always enjoyed the mythos behind them, more back to the european horror versions.

**Nelka** · June 21st, 2011, 09:37 AM

...aaaand done for now. I'm sure there are so many mistakes I overlooked staring at this thing, especially since there's no exact reference and I had to frankenstein. I did a bunch of flipping and everything but it happens. Neh.

**kidult** · June 21st, 2011, 10:19 AM

Hey that came out looking pretty cool! I like the face bit alot, nice feel for the blood

**Charmer** · June 21st, 2011, 07:01 PM

Hey Nelka! Thanks for your comment :-)
Yeah I've been to lazy to update but I drew almost every day at least a bit.
And I cannot tell you why but I have the feeling that I got better with this.. let's say break. Because actually it was a break. Didn't read much or write much here and just did my daily stuff. And I feel very much more comfortable with it now!

You have raised your skills very high. I mean your self portrait looks awesome, maybe because you're very pretty if you really look like that

Anyway your stuff is going forward and I like that. Keep it up,
logged in for three times today and you haven't been there. Its very silent in there last time. We need more young IRC padawans!

- Flo

**kidult** · June 22nd, 2011, 02:18 AM

Hey Nelka

You asked about the flat colour studies I did in my SB, thought I would anwser here...The flat colour studies were done to practice seeing colours as they are and their relation to each other. I used a flat hard brush so I wouldnt be able to mix colours on the canvas....had to eye ball them all. Also it was mainly to learn how to dial in colours using just the rgb sliders and not having to open up the colour picking window....to speed up workflow. And yes my 1st issue was....I have the right hue but I need a darker value of it...what now? Was tricky at 1st but I eventually figured out how to dial in darker values.
When I do these studies I just load the ref up in photoshop, enlarge the canvas and paint right next to the original image (takes great restraint to not colour pick!!) that way its easier to check colours. Also didnt pay much attention to doing good drawing was all about the colour

**Charmer** · June 24th, 2011, 06:07 AM

What I can say to the comment of kidult is, I think I figured out that all the time the values go darker, they're getting more saturated. You know what I mean? Lets take an orange for example. It's beginning with a really light, low saturated orange/yellow/almost white on the top (light). Now the darker you go, the more saturation will get in. In the middle its a lot more saturated and darker. The shadows aren't just the same color darker, they are darker and more saturated. Hope sharing that does help you a bit

For me it helped a lot.

Flo

**kidult** · June 25th, 2011, 02:31 AM

Originally Posted by Charmer

What I can say to the comment of kidult is, I think I figured out that all the time the values go darker, they're getting more saturated. You know what I mean? Lets take an orange for example. It's beginning with a really light, low saturated orange/yellow/almost white on the top (light). Now the darker you go, the more saturation will get in. In the middle its a lot more saturated and darker. The shadows aren't just the same color darker, they are darker and more saturated. Hope sharing that does help you a bit

For me it helped a lot.

Flo

er.....that's not really the case all the time, sometimes the darker bits become less saturated. If you open up some images with differant types of lighting and do some colour picking you'l notice some go the other way. If you are really observant you'l see how the hue and saturation will vary as a colour becomes lighter or darker. It's the slight changes in hues that helps the image look more real / interesting. Otherwise why not just drop a bunch of gradients and be done with? or dodge and burn. With the using of the rgb sliders, you cant always dial in the exact darker or lighter value of a hue by eyeball so you get that slight hue change for free....if that makes sense

**Urötskidoji** · June 30th, 2011, 04:08 AM

Wow, I´ve been missing out on some of your work! Post # 62 is really, really good, cool to see your progress. Maybe you should try doing some male studies as well?

Keep going!

**GweNdZ** · July 7th, 2011, 06:57 AM

glad to find you here aswell

awesome updates keep it up

**Nelka** · July 10th, 2011, 04:16 PM

Charmer, Kidult: Interesting discussion, and makes a lot of sense. I'm playing around with colour more these days, and I'll try see what conclusions I can get out of it. Thank you for stopping by

Urötskidoji: Male study will be coming up soon. I found some awesome reference pics, and I'm really keen on doing some muscle for a change.
GweNdZ: Awesome! You're here too! *stalk*

Anyway, I've been in a funk for the last couple of weeks, and I decided a good way to get out of my stupid "lie in bed, forget to eat, sleep too much, be an emo-kid" phase was to do some stuff for fun for a change. I've been doing too many studies and while it's good to do that, I just wanted a break from the routine.

Anyway, the pencil sketches are one of those cases where you go to a park with a bunch of students with guitars, get terribly drunk on wine, and then run around sketching. Was a lot of fun, even if it looks horrid

I'm still trying to decide what to do with the silhouette thing, and the blue wip ended up as a troll after randomly doodling in photoshop like a retard. And hey, check it out guys, I'm using a brush that for once ISN'T the hard round one! A bit of texture all up in here, woot!

Also, many thanks for the support, C&C always appreciated.

**nim** · July 10th, 2011, 09:07 PM

I see great talent in your artsy pieces! full painting side continue to be worked worked worked worked on and great works will pop out! and it looks like you're doing a good job

(then when you get as good as some of your past role models you realise you need to work work work work more more more (and the buggars don't wait for you either, they keep getting better too, buggary) x) up up up the zigurat, lickety-split!) kutgw!

**kidult** · July 11th, 2011, 01:43 AM

Great updates, I quite like your sketches....wine induced and all!! Nice doodles and elf girl!

**Nelka** · July 11th, 2011, 03:48 AM

A WIP for a character I'm currently doing. No reference, so it's taking a while for me. =/

**Steveland** · July 11th, 2011, 04:03 AM

I'm liking the silhouette and the troll piece. I'm also interested to see where your WIP is going

**GweNdZ** · July 11th, 2011, 06:14 AM

gorgeous sillouhette

am looking forward to that character WIP

**RyanRyan** · July 11th, 2011, 06:32 AM

Just stopping by. Looking good. The perspective/proportion is off on some of those pencil drawings in #78.

**Ivan_kolor** · September 20th, 2011, 04:25 AM

Definitely like #62!!! admire colouring skills! Keep on

**Charmer** · March 5th, 2012, 06:53 PM

Hey Nelka how has it been? What's up, are your still painting etc.? Can't join the IRC for months, is it really down or do only I have that problem? Whatever. Hope you're fine and so is your art!

Greets,
Flo