James Thomas' Weekly Sketchbook :D

[James Thomas]

Hello all, Think this is the 3rd day, which means i have to post - didn't do anything super spectacular, had a busy weekend, and just my luck? im sick as a dog. hopefully make up for it tomorro with some good produce
Just experimenting with creatures for this week, so did a beetle trying to have some fun with rendering and yeah.
- and also just some more experimental creatures, really quick stuff.
Will post more tomorro of more quick-concepts. As for now, ima sleep off my sickness Enjoy.

[James Thomas]

Wanted to do some poses for various reasons, sorta like thumbnails, just to get me thinking about them; Nothing too flashy here but yeah, i am very sick so i am just trying to take it easy currently. Still i am glad i did something, because i dont want to get slack and lose momentum. Might post tomorro, might not, i have uni homework -.-
- his mouth looks so dumb haha, thank the lord i can always go back and photoshop these, but i doubt it will

[James Thomas]

Hmm another post, another mundane day of living..
I Can't wait for holidays, i have 3 weeks left and then i can sit on my ass...
well not really..probably more work than uni, and i have to potentially renovate my "studio". Its not a studio yet, but it could be within a few weeks, thats if i can be bothered.
I was thinking of buying a wicked new computer and 2 big tv's for screens..
i dunno why, but yeah, i am planning to go digital once i complete this sketchbook/ soon.
Just did a random babe cus i am bored, and underneath is like a Tree Ent/beast thing, i have no friggin clue tbh. it was just fun to draw.
I really shouldnt render so much, thats just how ive learnt to draw.
Though i wonder sometimes if i can even draw at all =s.

[James Thomas]

Not a big post, i have been very sick..
My art has taken many directions over the years, i guess it has somehow evolved from scribble for less crappy scribble within 2 years. Before that i had no skills exept for the Drive to do so, ive always grown up with an enourmous imagination, ive absolutely fell in love with many tv shows, books, movies etc. Ive fallen inlove with games, the general graphics of things, even how things are made in real life.
There comes a sad time in ones life when i guess they realise they are all talk; dont get me wrong- i have some good ideas, i can draw basic things, i know my fair share of programs and i know the basics of many industries.
But theres a fine line on what i know, and what i can acheive.

Ive always looked at illustrations, books..anything i can set my eyes upon and gone "i could do that." or "i want to do that, thats definently happening"
But lately i feel like i am not evolving fast enough.
I see many ordinary kids my age doing cool things, and yes i can probably do better, yet i dont always. Its perplexing.
Theres nothing else i really want out of life. I dont find joy in many things.
I dont really enjoy family, friends annoy me fast, i am interesting in science, but dont have the qualifications or the legalities to have fun with it (without being arrested of course) theres so many things i could do with my life, but ive chosen to draw pictures, ive chosen to create amazement, for those who cannot or can't be bothered putting in the hours.
I want to be someone who can inspire another, someone who has wealth beyond the dollar.

I have a friend, who is probably reading this, for years i have been in his shadow, in all aspects. he gets so much credit from others, ive seen his work evolve just as mine has, but hes had so much support and everyone i know admires him in some way for it.I havent even been recognised once for my work, i cant recall anyone coming upto me and being legitimately interested.
We are close friends, and his interests only revolve around art.I cant even be friends with him anymore due to the overwhelming pressure i feel when around him. As much as i know good work ethic, good ideas, i cant seem to compete with him.
It has been tough for me, in all aspects of life. and for once i just want to own something that i am proud of.

Anyways long story short, as much as i love posting and want to be some super blogger and have cool friends and stuff, i dont see it happening. both because of my own inner weakness, and because of my lack of talent (not talent, but man hours..good teaching, watever u want to call talent)
Ive tried so hard and got nowere, even if others say i have, it only matters to me if i feel like i have.
I am truely stumped, so i have to bow out to conceptart yet again.
I do not care how many views i lose, or how many comments i have, i am not happy, and i want to see if i ever can be. That is my true goal, to find what ive been searching for for so many years..(at least 7 years)

It is true if i was a better person i would love for all to succeed, and be happy no matter. but im not, i never have been the good guy.

If you read this far, i hope you find some sort of inspiration, and i hope you can find what makes you truely happy...If i ever make it to the top, ill be sure to rub it in peoples face XD( no you, the reader) , just for being jerks and not supporting me muaha....ah..anyways. Enjoy my last post- I will return from the darkness once i have learnt to control my powers. Gomen na

[James Thomas]

*Brushes self off*

..Ok im back, time to give it a fair go, ive got 4 months of holidays and i dont plan to waste them.
I will hopefully be exploring some pencil sketches-
Largely focusing on digital pieces (both 2D and 3D)
Also i hope to make a game of my own whilst on holidays
I figured any path i take is better than the one i am taking now (doing nothing)
Whatever the outcome..
Wish me luck and give me some good crits or..some sort of motivation idk

Will be posting work tonite onward

[n1frit]

Nice pencil work! Keep Pushing)

[James Thomas]

N1frit -> Thanks man, i will go back to pencil once i get some more fundementals down, so i can produce pencil drawings faster and then apply rendering (that i enjoy doing)

Fore now though, i might work mainly digital whilst i study pencil on the side.
I do hope i can return to pencil better than ever! I have 4 months so i should be okay
- Haha before anyone says anything, yeah the yellow is a little weird in the sand
but i couldnt be bothered, sand is pretty difficult..i preferred it being luminous than a dirty sand colour. Im sure i will get better ;}
Oh yeh, my friend is going to egypt soon, this might be funny wen this thing kills him haha.

[James Thomas]

Just another warmup, still getting used to doing work again and especially photoshop..
I guess overall on the holidays i will slowly increase my work output,
maybe like 1 week of 1 a day + some doodling, then
2-3 weeks of 2 a day,
then the rest 3+ a day (3-6 hours+)..hopefully get into a nice rythym for the duration of the holidays, i should see some improvement then at least.

This piece was a 30-35 minute quick concept on Photoshop..im not very good haha!

[Flaskpost]

you´re doing good man! here´s my favorite tutorial on the whole interweb:
http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm
contains mucho awesome info. make sure to read it lots of times, and go back to it then and then.
also, the book Color and Light by James Gurney is fantastic. a real must-buy to be honest.
keep working hard!

[AlexTooth]

Mucho creativity going on here! Love some of your strokes and marks, very flowing and full of feeling. So keep that up!

More technically, be good to see more life studies I think, or at least from photos, particularly colour work.

Lets see moar!

[James Thomas]

Flaskpost -> Thanks alot for the link, ive breifly looked over it and it looks awesome. Has certainly persuaded my mind to hit the basics again for a few weeks or months! (not that you shouldnt always refresh) but i really should learn them before doing big "finals" like ive been attempting. Thanks for your support

The link is for anyone else wanting to use it:
http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

AlexTooth -> thanks for the post, i really enjoyed viewing your progress from day 1 till now, totally amazing stuff...
Its beyond words sometimes haha! i hope i can churn out as much as you did in those few vital months- was a shame to hear you stopped for along time too though! i dont blame ya =]


Below: one of my poor attempts at a semi-final. Another reason to go back to basics and fundementals for QUITE SOME TIME!
....its long overdue. You can clearly see why [hard self crit right there] meh.
Enjoy and dont forget to leave me some mean and nasty crits
Apologies for the bad photo, i suck ass at taking photos, and my room doesnt have lights..i have lamps -.- rofl. Its actually on a moleskin paper, waste i know. but mehhhh

[James Thomas]

99x 30 Second poses from posemanics... Was interesting, going to aim for the same amount tomorro + more work ontop of that, really want to get this boring stuff out of the way- though i need it.

Crits would be greatly appreciated, so i can work on it tomorro.

Not sure if ill do as large one, was a pain in the butt to scan as u can imagine.
Then again, we shall see. I figured id lay them out in 3's, they fit across my screen (22inch) just fine, though on a laptop it might cut them.
Pretty rough stuff, but they are 30 seconds, and i think i learn a bit from it.
and will continue to do so until someone tells me otherwise tbh.

Thanks if you comment :]

[JulyZerg]

Hi, I'm a fellow beginner, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

It looks like you put a lot of time and effort in your drawings, which I think is awesome because it's the most important thing in my opinion.
And it looks like you really quickly sketch the outline and hatch and work on values all of the remaining time. And that's not a good thing, because as you don't have knowledge of underlying structure, the construction of human body is messed up hence the outline becomes messed up. Which sucks cause even if you do a good job of hatching and working on values, the whole picture would still look screwed.

So what I advise? First and foremost study structure of a body. Don't go into too much details of anatomy. You just need basics. Books that help with that: Andrew Loomis, Jack Hamm. And I'm sure there are hundreds of video tutorials on youtube e.g. Sycra's channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Sycra pretty simple and profound tutorials.
Draw from reference and life but spend most time on getting the structure and proportions down. And for example if you're drawing a figure from a photo and you see that the finished piece suck. Try to find where you messed up and re-do the drawing. That's a practice that helped me most so far with portraits.


As for anime stylization. I have to say that it's easy to transition from realism to manga, and hard to transition from manga to realism.

As for posemaniacs. I personally love this website. And it's cool that you're doing quick gestures. But it would be better to do one and a half minute drawings instead of 30 sec to try to be more accurate. Maybe ten 30sec poses as a warm-up and then ten 1min30sec poses as an actual exercise.

And last thing. Don't doubt yourself. You have potential. Just be consistent with studies. Do them daily(sketch from life and photo reference), they will help you imporve the most.

[Sushy]

try to draw figures as a whole instead of those parts in your last sketchbook post.
I found trying drawing the silhouette only sometimes helps

Other than that, keep practicing (just like I should :V)

[James Thomas]

JulyZerg -> Thanks alot for your detailed feedback, your right on the money, i have a long way to go and will consider your advice Thank you

Sushy -> thanks, i will, was one of my first times doing Posemaniacs, i will do some more in depth studies tomorrow!

Here is my post for tonight, its not much, but i think i really learn a few things (its not pretty, but i think some of it sunk in, this stuff makes me ashamed, but i have to do it..oh god how i hate it...makes me feel so amatuer ><..)

Lets hope tomorrow can be even more productive! My goal: 6 pages tomorrow!
Bring the pain.

[L-J-U]

Hey there!

Thanks for visiting my sketchbook! Nice pencil work, keep up the studies and you will begin to see big improvement in no time! Bridgman helped me a lot with anatomy so I would suggest checking out his books if you can!




______________________

Sketchbook

[f1x]

Hello A Faux

I've been browsing through your SB looking to do some comments to help as you requested ;D
So far I think you are going the proper direction, I cant see any bad habit or anything problematic, you just gotta follow the learning curve you are already following
but I can point you some guides:
1.- Study color theory and do color exercises, you know that boring stuff about chromatic wheel and such, its indeed boring but it will help you in the future
2.- Do more life studies, going from imagination is nice and you should keep working on that but also life studies will help you with references and understanding of light and space
3.- Keep with your anathomy studies, thats nice, you could check Bridgman's books , specially the book of hands helps a lot with body blocks and such

hope it helps =)

[James Thomas]

L-J-U -> thanks i will try to see if i have some bridgeman on my computer perhaps it will suit me more.


f1x -> Thanks, its a hard learning curve, i had a hissy fit yesterday..but im still gunna post it even though it looks terrible


And heres my shameful post [my nemesis is probably eating this up for lols]
Enjoy. Might post more tonite, but definently tomorro.

[Obacmar]

yo dood thx for stopping by my sketchbook

Nice stuff you got up in errr . I like the pencil renderings of late, and the more creepy creatures . I think you need to focus on scale and proportion.

oot

[James Thomas]

Obacmar -> Thanks for your feedback - yeah i am trying to work on fundementals atm, anatomy, perspective, and just general rules..
so that i can later apply my concepts and ideas into more accurate forms of delivery instead of just "winging it" each time. that way i can have some more certainty across my work...An even playingfield so to speak.

-- TO NOTE: I know ive been lazy and not posting. so ill make this vowel for anyone reading this to condemn me on. If i dont post daily- Ill quit my job as an artist . Unless its a legit excuse, but i wont lie!.


Here is some studies i did today. Though i already knew perspective, i wanted to re-cap and re-study it. I did more than just copy it, i spent a while experimenting and working it out in my head also.
Nothing too flashy visually: Just working the basics. Itll come into Use later on.

[James Thomas]

Well i guess i should keep my word- i was lazy, no real excuse.
So i am officially quitting conceptart.org - permenently.
Thanks for everyone who tried to inspire me along the way, its been an interesting year..
Now i must depart like my shattered soul.

Note: I do not hold any copyrights to the below picture, purely for inspirational purposes.

"Bye-bye"

[Obacmar]

WTF Don't quit bro, Just keep drawing! There's no need for this kind of pressure on yourself.
hey
If you're not having fun doing this then you're probably going in the right direction. Nothings easy, especially drawing

[James Thomas]

Obacmar - Ok man, ill try not to quit, i just hate the pressures of it all..but i guess its like that, i suppose thats the type of industry it is...i suppose its good practise to weed out the negative thoughts and stuff and keep going.

I dont have many friends that give me inspiration, infact most of my family hate the fact i study games ><. (im a poor student $$)
Thanks for the inspiration...

Below: work in progress, just trying to perfect my own particular style, deciding over the next few days/weeks how id like to approach my work (ie. line first, color first, do i like landscapes, do i like this/that). We will see.
My main goal atm is to have fun, so i dont quit again and again.

[Obacmar]

Hay man
Nice portrait. The eyes, nose, and mouth are great! Nice proportions and line quality. It reads well as a beautiful woman, that's hard to do. Are you going to add a light source?

[James Thomas]

Ah yes i return from my slumber of lazyness for the last time. I am truely inspired. Certain even have opened my eyes and now i am ready to destroy..
not anyone, but myself- the lazy me.

Heres something i worked on tonite, finished off that picture, im sorta looking for that rough "sketched" look, just a simple picture, to calm ones mind.
I had fun with it. Enjoy my rise to the top muaha!!

[James Thomas]

Forgot to post this last night, a "gundam" inspired concept i guess, i took it in my own direction a bit. Basically hes like in water or something and i wanted a space-like feel to it. Hope you like

[Obacmar]

yeah! space water!

[James Thomas]

Current W.I.P of a tree/Ent concept, just working out the layout and stuff, going to render it in all greys though, minimal linework, keep it mostly solid colours and so forth, going to attempt a "bark" effect on the tree, instead of a smooth tree, i will see.
Hope you like, Feedback welcome and will be considered into the final piece

[James Thomas]

A funny piece i sent to a particular burger venue in australia, im sure you can guess which one.I posted it on their Fb wall, its pretty funny.
You can also search my Facebook profile "A Faux" -Artist. (category)
Which would be great if you could "Like" my page hopefully someone does !

Hope you enjoy it haha.

[Springly]

Lolwat, who charges extra for no cheese? Good on you for fighting the Man.

Anywho, think your tree enviro is coming along swimmingly. Try and finish it, go on. You can do it. It'll be a total bitch, but afterwards you'll be like 'aaaah'.