KT's Sketchbook. Joining in the Deathline Challenge.

[KT]

Went to a figure session with a clothed model, it was fun:

[KT]

I missed my daily mark and I barely drew today, I feel bad Oh well, heres what I did today:

Took about 15 mins, yeah I didn't take much time on it:

[KT]

Ho hum, well another day past but I have been trying to draw from imagination more. Well, here are my meager offerings:

A page of hands from observation and imagination/memory. You can probably guess which are which:


The guy in the corner and the small hand in the middle are from imagination:


Cat sketches from observation and memory, also some weird dragon thing in the corner:

[KT]

Sigh, well another day has gone past. I only have one page from today:

[kdiegert]

Those zoo studies are fantastic. What was different that day? Were you extra calm? Did you skip your coffee or have extra coffee? Chase that zone, don't let it get away. Drawing and meditation have a lot in common.

Draws lines, but think and feel in forms. Hold the shape of your subject in your head and feel it with the pencil through the page.

Use measuring angles and distances sparingly. It can help sometimes when you're confused but it is a 2d technique and it will limit you if you use it excessively.

Don't draw because you should / need to /have to. Draw because you want to. Find ways to help you want to draw.

Keep it up!

[ancientdrake]

Hey man, thanks for stopping by and taking your time to comment. I do agree, the book is quite amazing, could be interesting to know what's actually written in it . I have to agree with kdiegert about the zoo studies, they seem very precise and fluid. And the uni is in the UK, so a bit out of your way I think .

[KT]

@kdiegert: Thanks for visiting my sb, it's been a bit lonely in here. I'm not sure what mental state I was in, I don't drink coffee so it's not that heh heh. I was a bit tired but I think I enjoyed it because I got to get close to some of the animals. I should be trying to draw and think in volume and three dimensional terms but sometimes I just space out. I really need to focus more

Don't draw because you should / need to /have to. Draw because you want to. Find ways to help you want to draw.

Thanks for mentioning this. I had been thinking about this for a while because sometimes it felt as if I was forcing myself to draw and learning nothing from it. Thanks for taking the time to reply and I will keep drawing and trying to improve.

@ancientdrake: Hey, thanks man. Yeah I really hope they translate that book sometime in the future. At least we have this one in english now. Wow the UK huh, well I hope you do well there and use it to your advantage.

Well some more stuff from today, I stayed up late to finish an english paper yesterday and I'm exhausted:

[Vins_2011]

hey Kendall , nice sb you'r working really hard , you are already doing great only thing i would suggest you is to do some long studies too sometimes , do a long 2 3 hours study, spend some time on rendering too. gud luk

[bobmeatbag]

Wow, you make me feel lazy. You've improved quite a bit in life drawing. Not sure if you've heard of this but it's the only I know that may help: if you have trouble with placing the head or connecting it to the shoulders, just draw the ears. It will instantly tell you where everything is.

[KT]

@Vins_2011: I wish I was a REAL hard worker. It just looks like it, there are other people on here who work a lot harder, I'm trying though.( And yes I really should do more long drawings, I think I'll attempt some this weekend.)

@bobmeatbag:Well if I have improved it's probably only a little and that bit only due to luck, but thanks. That ear thing sounds interesting, though I have to wonder about isolating parts of the head instead of getting the whole mass down. I'll try it though.

More crap, only two pages today. I wish I would stop saying I'll try to do more but actually DO more and with substance:

[KT]

Today's stuff:

[CarmenJudy]

Wow you've been working hard. The sheer volume of studies you have is impressive, I should practice as much. Your sketches of bones are some of my favorites they have so many minute notches and crevasse, very beautiful. I find myself wondering what your more finished long term drawling look like.

[yogeshj25]

great updates KT. Your line work is improving. keep them anatomy studies coming!

[KT]

@CarmenJudy: Thanks. I wish I worked harder. I procrastinate a lot more than it looks like, and my studies are sometimes unfocused. About the anatomy studies, I'm trying to save up for a skeleton that's as accurate as possible. You get better knowledge of the solidity and three dimensionality from real bones.

@yogeshj25: Thanks. I really am trying to do more anatomy but I'm arguing with myself whether or not to wait to get bones.

Thanks for replying guy's I appreciate it.

Went to Figure drawing session today. It was a long pose session and I played around a bit in the beginning.

About 20 mins:

Also about 20 mins:

Spent an hour and a half on this one, it feels overworked:

[CarmenJudy]

Id have to agree with you on the half hr study above. You lost some of the delicacy your quick gestures have and seem to have gone back to the outlines repeatedly and they are heavy and dark. The part where the above drawling is most successful is where you went into value cross contour. Perhaps next time you do a longer study you should do your contours lightly and then focus a bit more on value. My drawling professor likes to point out that when our forms don't look quite right to us we have the tendency to return to them and darken the outline to get more definition but what we should do is work on the value in the form to better define its shape. You've done so many gestures and contours might I suggest a few studies to practice value? Looking at the values in a form and studying them can inform your contour lines as well. keep it up Im looking forward to seeing more. Its pretty cool that you are going to buy and anatomical skeleton, I never though of doing such a thing but it probably beats copying other drawling of photos..

[KT]

@CarmenJudy: Yeah, I think I did darken the shading lines a bit in that drawing, although some of that is due to my crappy photo and editing. I don't draw for very long periods most of the time and it shows. I should practice keeping the vitality all the way through until the end. I also don't do as many pure value studies even though everything is connected in drawing, I tend to focus more on the line and construction aspect. About the bones, I began to consider buying them after reading Robert Beverly Hale's book and he mentions that you should get your conception of the skeleton from a real skeleton, it's a great book by the way. Thanks for dropping by and giving the critique, I appreciate it.

I feel really awful because I barely drew today, I have non art homework to do because I procrastinate so much it's ridiculous. I will try to get in more drawing time tomorrow:


Some square construction from observation. I am really trying to get a feel for the structure of things, getting the proportion right and getting the lines to relate to each other. It's hard, even in something so simple:

[KT]

Got in more drawing time to day but still not very much:

This is another attempt at a cast drawing. Took about 30 Minutes:

[Asatira]

Good work. Glad you're keeping at it. I really enjoy your figures from the 15th, especially the first pages. Very fluid, and you included the prop (that's very helpful).

[KT]

@Asatira: Hey glad your back for a bit and thanks. Is everything all right? No ones really been around lately.

I haven't posted in a while, been struggling with a few personal issues. I'll try to get through it anyway. Spent most of the day drawing for the first time in a while, it felt good. Anyway, here's what I did today:

Took about 2 and a half hours on this. Should have mapped out the proportions a bit better:

And sketches:

[Racquel]

Very cool studies. I especially like the cat sketches and the wip steps. All of your hard work is really showing through.

[strybjorn]

nice life drawings man - really good to see them progress... remember to keep your lines confident (like you've done them in post 121)

look forward to seeing more soon!

[Asatira]

Nice study of David.

To answer your question: I have been going through a slump (despite my best intentions and plans), so no drawing. I don't tend to say anything if I have nothing to say. But thanks for your concerns. That's very nice.

[KT]

@Racquel: Thank, you, although I really need to work harder and smarter.
@strybjorn: Thank you very much for the compliment. I am usually bad at line confidence, just another thing I have to work on!
@Asatira: Sorry to hear about your slump, I hope everything work's out well for you though.

Been gone for a little while but I'm back now. I went to the MB/Steambot workshop in San Fran and it was awesome! I listened to quite a few talks and got inspired and learned a lot. I saw Dave Rapoza and Daniel warren and although I didn't get to talk to them, I really liked what they were doing, both with the crimson daggers and the fish knight they were demo-ing. I met a few people too, john who I found out is Blue Severin on here, I really appreciated him talking to me as I know I look a bit weird/odd in regular life, I also spoke to Jehan who was nice as well. Anyway it was a nice event and next time I plan to have better stuff ready and will be more sociable.

Death Line Challenge. So I decided to join in the crimson daggers and do the death line challenge. I think it helps to share your goals with people, you know? (I'll probably revise this goals list a bit later.)

DEATHLINE GOALS:

• Keep on the path at Community College so I can transfer to an Art School or San Jose State and make more time to do studies and art while in CC.
• Get a better hold on perspective, form, anatomy all of the basics really.
• Do more personal work and do more finished drawings and work.
• Get at least a part time job.

So anyway onto the crap art that I have, But first this:



I got this skeleton from bone clones, it's pretty accurate. It arrived Monday and I plan to do a longer study off of it later.
Below are some of the drawings I've made from it so far:






Heres a figure I did at the workshop:


The rest of this is just sketchbook junk:

[Dirgeance]

Man! those skull studies are looking way too prime, I'm jealous :].

Also, the workshop sketches are pretty sweet as well.

As far as constructive feedback, I'd say try to render some of your figures and faces with the same love you've given the skull. Contours are nice, but you'll get a much better sense of form if you tackle some values.

[Untouched24]

Thanks for the comment KT. It's good to see you're doing a lot of pencil work, it's really important to have a strong foundation in drawing. No real critiques, I'd just say keep going and try to keep general proportions in mind in terms of how everything in the drawing relates to each other measurement wise. I'd also suggest maybe fitting in some work that you spend longer on in addition to the quicker stuff, as a lot of your stuff seems to be faster drawings. Also doing studies then trying to replicate them from imagination is always really helpful. Anyway I'm rambling, looks good, keep it up!

[Aragah]

real nice sketches man, the skulls specially
i would like to see some more longer work

[KT]

@Dirgeance: Thanks. Yeah value is one of the many things I have to work on, I'll keep trying though.
@Untouched24: No problem, and thanks. Longer studies are something I neglected to put in my deathline but no more, I'm gonna try to get some longer studies in.
@Aragah: Thanks, and yes long studies are something I definitely need to do.

So I think I might rework my deathline a bit. I haven't been very productive the last week or so and I really lack focus. That's definitely going to be one of my goals, to be more focused. Anyway, I am going to start doing a schedule now and I'm going to start with perspective on monday and see what happens. So here's some crap for now:

Figures, 5 mins for the first two and 20 mins for the rest:














Here are some sketches for the recently passed first crimson daggers character challenge:



And here's the utterly terrible final:

[Dark_Eyes]

5 stars! Merry christmas! *****

[KT]

Thanks Dark_Eyes, though I really don't deserve it. And also merry Christmas.

I've still been slacking off and I really have no excuse for doing so. Well next week is a new week and another chance. I've been trying to get a better hold of perspective this week but It's really complex. I have a few of the main books on the subject and I've been trying to work through them. I also have been doing some master studies from Michelangelo, but I really should have put more time into them. On the left is Michelangelo's original, on the right is my crappy attempt(I took about an hour):



I'll upload more next week, gotta get back to working on not being so lazy. Merry Christmas Everybody!

[Sprogis7]

Keep studying the basic structures man, boxes, cylinders, spheres, that kinda stuff. Theres a great book on it that Im sure you've seen its called Figure Drawing design and Invention incase you havnt. I think you would benefit from it. You seem to be jumping right into musculature before worrying about proportion and structure, which is a mistake....but its alright we learn from mistakes! Keep at it tho, and stop slacking haha