Valya's Sketchbook - harsh critique welcome (update: 23/03/2013)

[Ramalooke]

Hi. Thanks for comment in my sketchbook . I went through your SB and I'm delighted. You have quite nice skillz and your rendering is pretty good. I won't get any in depth critz, cuz you seem to know exactly what to do. But I have few personal thoughts about your work. First is the tendency to make your compositions to static. When you plan your paintings try to add more diagonal lines. Another thing is more of a personal preference. To me your paintings have to much of this digital look. It makes them quite dead. I don't have clear solution for you cuz you have higher skill level. But you can consider my words, maybe they help. Anyway I'm eager to see how you improve. Keep working, cheers!

[Valyavande]

in2eternity: thank you so much! I'm hopinh so much that my faces will get better

Ramalooke: haha, I would say it's an illusion that I know what I do. I have no plan at all! I'm just doing this and that. Thanks a lot for your thoughts. I'm always glad to read different opinions on my work =)

another head from imagination


life painting


screenshot sutdy


poses

[p sage]

Hello...

Hope this is ok?

The rendering was good, but the face looked a little off. Thought I'd give you a little redline.



Keep working hard!

[Ramalooke]

Good update. I really loved the gestures. I always admire people that are capable to come up with so many different poses. Good stuff!

[Valyavande]

p sage: thanks for the redlines! I was a bit confused in the beginning, but I tried to make drawing based on your lines. So I hope, I was heading in the right direction now. I have so often the problem, that I see that something is not right, but I just don't get it D=
This is what I did now:


Ramalooke: woah, thanks for visiting again! And it took my aweful long to come up with those poses! But I try to step out my comfort zone a bit to do some dynamical things.

so, another portrait. Watched Zhanglu this evening and painted this meanwhile.

[Fetsch]

Great studies in here, keep up the good work. Try and watch your proportions more when you do stuff from mind.

[teapo]

great digitals valyavande digging the edge work on your still life. looks like you have most of your structure right, with slight mistakes here and there but you manage to correct that with ease ^^ can't wait for moar!

[Partisan]

pretty good stuff, sorry that it took me so long to return the favor of dropping by your SB. Your on your way not much to say or crit from me.

Hau rein !

Seb

[Strato]

Hi fellow 22 year old. Thanks for checking out the sketchbook =). Hope if I follow your advice I'll be able to do gestures just like you do! Lots of good stuff going on here. Like I said in LordLouis's book, watch out that your eyes don't form tangents with the side of the face. There's a little bit of skull there that if we can't see makes it look like they don't have bones.

[Valyavande]

Wow, so many visitors here :o

Fetsch: yeah, I will try. Thanks for stopping by!
teopo: thanks, that sounds encouraging =)
Partisan: No prob, I'm glad about everyone everytime who write some words. I try to do my best. Und vergiss selbst nicht reinzuhauen
Strato: You're welcome! Seems like I should look at some skulls again to get their structure

Sooo. Update. Crappy portrait from imagination from this morning. Again that sh**** airbrushy style. it will be hard work to change that in my own paintings. Don't manage it at moment to think about form, values, colours and brushstrokes at the same time. But there needs to be a way! Need to practise more! (sorry about the rant, I just want more improvement than I can have)


And a photo study. Found this awesome blog today while searching for references of asian people: http://arnaudphotoblog.blogspot.com/
Gosh, that painting was a hard contrast compared to the other portrait. And that at the same day... Well, I totally missed the colours, but I tried to get better brushstrokes. And I need to say that old people are fascinating

[LordLouis]

Hey valyavande, needed to return the favour of commenting in my sb. you are always so encouraging! what can I say to make it up to you?
I love the last photostudy you have done, wrinkles and age in general are so hard to convey and I think this is a very nice management thereof; though her left eye seems misplaced. Good to see that other people struggle with faces as well even though you do so with much more fundamental skill and nice rendering abilities, keep it going!
I am happy to join your 22-group in less than four weeks lol!

[LtPlissken]

You really started to get the hang of digital painting on
the last pages. Something happened, maybe you saw
some tutorials or read something very useful, that made
you improve much quicker than earlier. Still. Still, I would
strongly advice that you do some more greyscale studies.
I know that it tends to be boring and working with colors
are much more fun, but you just try to go back to the basics,
cause it will help you even more to realize some things about
light, shadows, contrast, forms and etc.
Your always repeated mistakes are the proportions
and wrongly positioned facial features, but
I can see that they already pointed those out. So, you just
keep on working hard and maybe try to share some more pencils
with us.

[Ricardo Robles]

those pencil studies are outstanding, you seem to know anatomy pretty well. Also i have to agree with those who said you do better things from mind, then magically some tension dissappears. Very nice work, and thanks for your visit.

[Lightship69]

Hi matey

just thought I would drop you a note and say that there so many good things going on in here that I cant count them, and so as its good and consistently so! you are now an inspiration and I have subscribed to the thread.
congratulations and make payments to etc etc. P.S. all major credit cards accepted.

LOL all the best matey and thanks for taking the time to post stuff, seriously its very good.

[Samurai_Nik]

Hi Valya, really digging your SB. I'm about to try more digi painting any tips or a good direction to find them, thnx.

[Fallenangel]

Cool colors and rendering, my crit would be the proportions and the anatomy, if you"ll do some more pure anatomy studies it will pull your skills and thus your work to another level.

Keep working you're doing great so far!

[[Rhÿnn]]

I really like these pencil characters, they're very dynamic! It's something I always struggle with. I also agree with others here that you seem to have greatly improved your rendering and colour mastering. I really enjoy seeing your colour studies!

Others have already given very appropriate critiques so I'll just say that I'm looking forward to see your future pieces and studies!

[p sage]

p sage: thanks for the redlines! I was a bit confused in the beginning, but I tried to make drawing based on your lines. So I hope, I was heading in the right direction now. I have so often the problem, that I see that something is not right, but I just don't get it D=

The lines I drew there weren't meant as a guide for drawing; just as a way to check yourself.

If you feel like your drawing is off... draw a line on the front of the face from the peak of the nose (between the eyebrows) to between the two top teeth... and extend it up and down.



Then put lines in that are square to each other. There will be a little bit of perspective there, but don't worry about it for a face right now.

Now, if you still can't figure out how to see the problem, put in triangles.



The triangles will be in perspective. This should help you see the alignments that might be off.


Anyhow... just keep practicing, as this is what will teach you the proportions after all I was just giving a quick redline incase you hadn't seen the mistake.

Cheers and good luck!

[Little-Maiden]

hey! nice set of updates since i last visited. Viewing what other members have commented here I can't really add more. I have to point out though that when you do skin for younger characters it tends to come out a bit too smooth. Its a matter of texture really but it does feel kind of waxy. I haven't resolved that issue in my own work yet nonetheless its the only minor crit I can offer.

PS! cheers for stopping by the ole' SB!

[monstertree]

Looking good, loads of improvement through your SB!

[in2eternity]

wow, great updates, cool portraits! I like your heads a lot, sure it'll be better and better with time)))

[Valyavande]

So many comments ._. I wonder why...
Well, thanks to all of you.

LordLouis: seems like we can found a club for 22 year old people! But I don't think I do my stuff with more fundamental skills. It's just my rendering that may let look like that. I really fail in the basics

Plissken: yeah, I will go on with grayscales. I just miss colours sometimes because I'm more used to them.
But I still don't get my own mistakes in faces... Seems like it's not possible to repeat them enough for me to understand

Ricardo Robles: Interesting comment. Thanks!

Lightship69: I'm an inspiration? Sound strange, I never feel like that ^^; I'm just trying to do my things if I'm able to do them. But thanks a lot for you comment and subscription!

Samurai_Nik: there are so many good tutorials in the internet about digital painting that can you teach more than I ever could. So, just keep your eyes open and have fun

Fallenangel: will try to do that! thank ya for visiting!

[Rhÿnn]: thank you! It's always good to read, that other people may see some improvement I don't see

p sage: Yeah, I know that your lines weren't meant as a drawing guide, but I'm just struggling so much with the whole topic of heads that I try everything to find and understand my problems. It tires me to repeat them again and again, but no matter what I tried, I was never able to figure out the real mistake that messes everything else up.
So, I really appreciate your efforts to show me my mistakes. Even if it still feels like it will took ages until I understand and see.
Seems like I need to go on and on with the fundamentals.

Little-maiden: Texture is really a topic I should work on! Thanks for visiting!

monstertree: thank you! Always glad that some people are able to see some improvement.

in2eternity: I hope your words become the thruth!


So, no update for a long time. And still no update now. It's not that I haven't done a thing. Sometimes I did a bunch of sketches and paintings. But I'm not feeling well and I'm not in the mood to show something even if I started this posting to do so. I'm just feeling so bad... Yeah, I can earn more money with cleaning toilets at moment than doing paintings. Means, that I need to work harder, but I don't know how. I had already used all the time I had besides my studies and my work. I'm just feeling so empty at moment. I always try to show people that I can improve, but instead I feel like I always reapeat the same mistakes and don't understand how to fix them, even if people explain them to me. I feel so stupid...
But well, I'm sorry. I should stop this whining here.

[rumpenstiltzkin]

i kinda know youre feeling, and also as someone said to me in my sketchbook when i was feeling down; its allowed to, its good to get it out of you rather than keep it inside you boiling and just getting worse! sometimes a break from drawing can help you, or maybe you just need to keep pushing yourself even if it doesnt feel great atm.
just keep working and do your best and let those ups and downs come and go as they need to. also dont forget to have fun with it, thats why we draw isnt it!
take care and hope you feel better soon!

[Valyavande]

rumpenstiltzkin: Thank you a lot for your nice words =) It was really good to read them. I think I'm feeling better now. Some private things looked bad at the weekend and everything comes together in the wrong way... but now, everything took a better direction and I can look forward.

Last update was nearly a month ago. That was to long D=
Well, some digital portraits. Not all I've done, even sketched many on paper. But these are the only ones I would like to show. I hope the day will come where I start to understand the real structure of heads.

[Nemome]

Hey!
Thanks for commenting my new sketchbook

Your heads are definitely coming along better than mine.
One little thing i would suggest is to train the form of the nose.
Sometimes it looks wrong in my opinion.
But beside of that fine.

Keep going!

[rumpenstiltzkin]

glad to hear things is going for the better!
your portraits are coming along really well, i find heads and faces overall to be so difficult

[Black Spot]

Mainly it's the volume of the cheeks not being the same that gives that 'off' look. Hope that helps.

[Leysan]

I hope the day will come where I start to understand the real structure of heads.

Do studies of human skulls.

[vices]

wow, just amazing works~~! Loved your ocarina photostudy on page 1!

[Valyavande]

Thank you all for the support!

Maybe, this is my last posting this year. Next week, I start working on my bachelor thesis. I have to draw and paint a lot, but no way to show something.
My last update was a month ago... I'm not sure if I'm ill or just overworked, but I'm feeling so tired everyday that even the daily life and the work I have to do are hard. Need to find out what's up. So, there's not much I can show now. I did only a very few things.
But still I'd like to say thanks to all people who visited this sketchbook and try to help to become a better artist. Have a good time!

This was a birthday present for a friend of mine who likes the characters


another silly portrait