Jorvaa's Sketchbook

[Jansi]

Hi there!

Lovely sketches, but a lot of unfinished stuff. Want to see more progress in individual pieces! :-) Love the expression in post 42, I say that if you've decided you dont't like your drawing - what could be better to dispose of it than to just say to yourself - I don't care about it, so I'm just going to go for it and experiment! Get your charcoal or soft pencils out and just lay in with the blacks - exaggerate the shadows. Then work more on the light bits. It's a trick I've learnt only recently - that often we care too much about single drawings to actually draw them. Which is obviously silly.

Keep up the good work!!

Best,

Ana

[jorvaa]

At Jansi's command: the nearly finished portrait. You give the best advice.
If only I could think of something interesting to do with the background without poking a hole in the printer paper. >_>

[Jansi]

Wow,

It looks great,

Send you lots of good emotions!

Ana

[Marian Rowling]

Hey Elle this last portrait really show what great progress you are making. Well done and keep at it.

[jorvaa]

@ Jansi and Marian: Thanks! ^_^

Ugh. 45 minutes on this crap. WITH eyedropper. Clearly I need help.

[Jansi]

Hello again,

No need to panic - 45 minutes in nothing when you think about how long practice takes in say, a year. But every 45 minutes count, as did these ones, is the nice thing. Perhaps try, first, to sketch the whole of her face (separate layer, just find where the features are, set it on low transparency). Then paint over that sketch - it should guide you nicely.

You are going very hot on the highlights on the face at the moment. If you continue using the eyedropper, take a middle value and cover the whole face (under your sketch) - that should give a you a reference point for the darks and lights.

Oh, one little trick - either use a very soft bush on the background, or use blur filter (sparingly) to get that out of focus feel and make the girl pop.

Doing great!

Ana

[aks9]

Ugh. 45 minutes on this crap. WITH eyedropper. Clearly I need help.

i know how this feels so I feel I want to help if I can. i found your sb through "avisNocturna"'s, when you said "don't get me started on my continuing lack of understanding of color theory. Arg." which I resonated with

I'm just getting started with colour, but since I started to understand what value is and how it affects colour, the whole colour-theory thing seems less intimidating to me. Im still at the beginning but somehow a big chunk of it has disappeared. in a way it's simple:

value dictates the overall balance of an image, whether it reads or not. its super important to be able to clearly see the values in a colour picture clearly. because if not, we'll always be confused as to what it is exactly that makes some things pop and some contrast and so on. I read someone saying do forget about learning colour until you understand value, and I know what they meant now. of course I have no idea how much about value you know, but I just thought I'd share this info incase. learn as much about value and seeing value as you can!

I mention this also partially cos in the last study you did there are a few areas where the values are a little off and that might be part of what was frustrating you

and so once we can clearly see the values, we are left with figuring out the more important (and unique) aspects of colour, such as cool/warm, complements and all that, "separately". with value "out of the equation" we can look at the colour-ness of colour and figure that out by itself, the things that colour do because of their colour, after the values are set.



first is the forehead, as Jansi said,
second is the superwhite hairline

squinting your eyes makes it easier to see value groups and judge their level


the background stuff is super great! the values are all correct and the colours are really close too. the proportions and positioning of some of the elements are "off" but they're easier to correct

after that it's just putting the darks on her cheek, some middles and highs on her face and her neck, etc...


ok so that was a very long post.. i usually don't post such long stuff or try to explain things, so sorry if that came out trite or unhelpful.

[jorvaa]

@ Jansi and aks9: You guys are my heroes. Thanks for the help, and don't ever be afraid of being long-winded. I aspire to be a drawing "geek" so anything I can learn about the art will be welcome.
Unfortunately I have to head to work, so the study will have to wait until tonight. Instead, have a delightfully out of place mammal.

[jorvaa]

Finally!

[Marian Rowling]

Looks fab Elle, well done.

[jorvaa]

Thanks Marian!

Doin some still life drawings this month since they scare me. This is just my makeup foundation, lit by natural light from the left. I hate the pencil strokes in this, as well as the composition. The light is okay, buuuut...
Anyway. It is a start. Glass is really weird to draw, and it is obvious that I need to take more time on drawing what I see.

[jorvaa]

Life is getting stressful. Can't wait for the summer when I can finally take what I've learned and put my portfolio together. (VCUarts hopeful, and I have to put together some semblance of a portfolio before October.)
Right now I don't have much of a plan for drawing. Basically it is: draw what I'm afraid of, and draw stories. This month I'm attacking form and value. Next month maybe bodies and perspective?
All of these are from imagination, except the last one.

[House Hatke]

You're off to a good start, Elle, and you're getting some good advice from people (Jansi-post 61!). That should be an encouraging thing.

My only advice is to just keep drawing every day until the act of drawing becomes comfortable. (it's never "easy" but it can be comfortable and comforting). Never a day without a line! I recently read this great quote from Ira Glass about closing the gap between the work you're TRYING to do and the work you're ACTUALLY DOING. The quote is here, if you're interested:

http://househatke.tumblr.com/post/19271994324

[jorvaa]

@ House Hatke: Thanks so much for your encouragement! I've heard that quotation of Ira Glass, and I really should print it out. Haha, yeah, I've only recently begun to realize that the only way to get better is to make a ton of stuff, show it to the world, and then listen to the people who have the best taste.

Quick Photoshop copy of a Downton Abbey still. I'll probably fix this up later, since I'm learning a lot from it. (I'll post the ref when it is finished.) Bit less frustration this time. I like using higher opacity, and a "chalkier" brush. Round brushes are a little wonky sometimes.

[jorvaa]

Only one WIP for today, since I'm too tired to scan the other stuff. Yes, I'm still chugging away at this, and I'm becoming way more comfortable with digital painting. At least cloth. As you can see I'm spending way too much time on their veil thingies...though I have to say that the faces of the two nurses look much more promising.

[jelmerschmit]

Checking back on your sketchbook, seeing big progress! Keep up the great work. Still love the torso on the 2nd page!

[jorvaa]

@ jelmer: thanks!

Sorry for the small hiatus, guys, but I'm back with good news! I'm taking a painting class, so hopefully I'll have actual oil paintings to show within the next few months. If anyone has some helpful painting tutorials/tips you want to send my way, just post them here and I'd be super thankful.

Still chugging away at the sketchbooks. Tackling some gesture and perspective studies this week, but right now all I have is one sketchbook page to upload.

[jorvaa]

Hehe. Late night painting is the worst.

[jorvaa]

Sigh. Painting class has been taking up the majority of my art time. Unfortunately I'm only doing master copies right now (master copies are surprisingly good teachers). Still have yet to set up my own place to oil paint at home. But here is a crappy sketch of a personal character. I'm going to pretend any anatomical mistakes are actually 'tude. Yeaaah.

[jorvaa]

Quick sketch from imagination. I was just playing around here, drawing on one of my books (kids, don't do this at home), testing myself to see how much I need to improve in doing quick portraits. Any suggestions on how to improve? I know her right eye is wonky, and the hair and the hood could be better. My goal is to be able to sketch with painting an illustration in mind, and right now I'm not sure how to do that.

[jorvaa]

Can't figure out the lighting situation here. I think I might move it over to the right, so I can have less direct light. I still need a bit of room to do still life drawings - should the still life objects be right next to the easel (left or right), or should it be in front of and to the side?
Any suggestions?
Also, would a plain old shop light work for night drawing/painting? I can't seem to get the lighting right.
But I love the spot. It is taking a bit of getting used to, and part of me wishes I had gotten a smaller easel, but I really do love the setup.

[jorvaa]

Contrary to popular opinion, I have been drawing. And painting.

Contest entry. Painted in PS with the default brushes.

[jorvaa]

Some small edits to the above painting:

[jorvaa]

Cloud studies. Portraits to come. It is kind of time consuming to post on CA, but I try to do it when I can, though I don't always upload actual sketchbook practicing. Hope everyone is doing well.

[jorvaa]

Portrait WIP. Emphasis on WIP.

[jorvaa]

Sooo many things wrong with this self portrait. I have to admit, it does look like me, but I haven't really conveyed the form, and there is no set light source (bad lighting on my part). ALSO. The eyes. GOOD LORD.



Studies. Of which I need to do more:

[l'Aria]

It looks like you're starting to perfect your knowledge of portrait drawing, but don't forget the rest of the figure!

Really great work -- keep at it!

[Psychobuddy]

Hey, uhm I see you're having problems with colour, the only real way to learn it is to do it. Maybe take a break from trying and try to paint everything you do? Who knows it might help.

[jorvaa]

Thanks to both of you! Yeah, I definitely favor portraits, which isn't good.
Just what I needed to hear, Psychobuddy. I keep thinking that there is a trick to learning it, but there isn't.

[Stroudle]

Hey! I don't know if you still remember me, but you've made a lot of progress since I've last been here! I especially love your portraits! The cloud studies are really great, too. I wish I could help with the color thing (like your Inception (?) pic) but I still very much struggle with it myself. I'm taking a color theory class, but with gouache drying darker than it is on the palette, I can't say I'm getting much better. I think the great thing with digital painting is that you can put in color afterwards. Maybe focusing on value and then going over in color would help? Also, it looks like you made the forehead nearly one color. Try blocking in shapes that are a little bit smaller and don't worry if the colors don't look exact at first or look weird together. When you blend, it will help a lot and you can always go over it!