Get it by your hands--- 2009-2012

[AlexEh]

Hello I am new, and what is this? I am 21 and fun is drawing.

I merged my old sketchbooks with my new one. Sorry for the confusion!

Nyarr

[AlexEh]

Thanks for droping by! Just uploaded a few from myoriginal post, it wasnt friendly how many there were and they were all the same things!!!

-Dylan

[Mimesis]

That's quite the initial dump you have made an entrance with. I especially like the black/white/brown conte studies, and the texture. I would advise compressing the files a bit more if you can in the future, there is no reason some of them should be so big (each on 300+ kb and takes forever to load your entire thread). Selecting 'Save for Web and Devices' and photoshop can fix this, and making sure resolution is no more than 75ppi for internet browsing.

Keep up the work, I'll be sure to check back as you update.

(ps. Cory)

[AlexEh]

Thanks Cory, I definently will get to compressing the files XD I saved them as 72 DPI each however I must of saved them as full quality jpegs

[JJ McKool]

Diggin the pen (?) work on the figures. Lot of character, especially with the faster stuff.

[AlexEh]

JJ McKool: Mmhm I enjoy the looseness of the pen. You bet work on the figures! I've started to go to figure drawing twice a week which is as much as I can on my schedule at this time. However there’s no reason why I can't study from other sources, photographs, anatomy books. Just something about drawing from life, I enjoy it alot more.


Anyways here is my update for today, spent the day working on black and white Gouache paintings, there around 7x10 each. Thought I would try that instead of conte and I'm glad i did!

[AlexEh]

Was a little lazy on Sunday and Saturday night so this is the result, not a large update =(

Had fun watching Azumanga Dio though =D Actually I resently foudn out that youtube has a playlist application to it, I'm haveing lots of fun listening to some OST's of some shows I enjoy.

Listening to music helps me get going if no one else is around me drawing! Actually the sketchgroup this week failed as well, no one came =( Maybe next week!

More pencials less brushpen for a while, suck with creating edges! One (four)of the uploads was a project for my drawing class, we had to draw same still life four times in different value keys.

[Genome]

Hey Dylan, I really like what you have going here. You are going to go very far if you keep up this attitude.

Here are some quick crits, Learn perspective in and out. Do it now, because everything we see is effected by our POV (point of view) this can hold us back if we dont know perspective as well as we ought to. Or it can allow us to play with scenes that would normally be cliche.

When sketching people on the street, you seem to be focusing on their features rather than the shapes that represent them. Let me expand on that, all faces are built around a bone structure that provides planes and angles. These angles when mixed with light create the definition and changes in shadow that allow us to understand that what we are looking at is a 3d object. If you focus on the values and planes (tones and basic shapes) of the face then you will not only train your eye but be able to capture the person quicker. This is why pointillism works, because the right blob of paint in the right place at the right value equals what we see. All we can really see are these streak of light that bounce off stuff and into our eyes. Use lines to express the shape and value of what if bounces off of. Sounds complicated and artsy but it isn't .

I bet you've heard all this before and are actively doing it as i speak but what the heck we can all use reminders once in a while. In the end I think you've got a nice start here and you draw quite well. But attitude and persistency are what matter the most, and you seem to have it in spades. AKA you got it made kid.

[DoubleThink]

Good to see you're eager and want to draw a lot.

Might want to take a step back and actually examine the stuff you're doing first.
Some proportions on your drawings is really messed up.
The loose lines are good, but try & remember the rules of perspective & other whilest doing this.

[AlexEh]

Genome: You bet I'm going to get far because I am going to keep up this attitude =) I'm going to figure drawing twice I week so I hope that will help with my proportional issues because I defiantly see how weird some of the proportions are sometimes.

I decided to when I'm on the train or anywhere really to focus more on the architecture since I really want to get perspective down flat! I hope to be able to design really nice environments along with characters someday =)


DoubleThink: Thank you DoubleThink. Yes I see what you mean, I started drawing only with pencil so I can go back and fix things easier. I really love the looseness of ink but, I think I need to learn to rethink things a little more. Thanks for the cri




Anyways my update, gosh I had a good full couple last days, lots of drawing and painting. Two of these are a project we were assigned in painting 2 weeks ago. Remade one of them yesterday though, I defiantly got a definition of an edge on that one. The other one? Well it's all nebulous in some areas, maybe I should of worked it some more but, not sure. I didn’t *shrug* We were supost to have two that have a change in lighting using a landscape collage we made in a box.


Still listening to my Azumanga Diaoh OST haha! My Mp3 player has been broken for longest time and its past its warranty, so I asked my dad if he had one. Turns out he bought one awhile back on sale but rarely uses it. It's very nice! Goes well with my nearly audiophile head phones!

Wow I'm really excited to where the story in Naruto is heading, I read the darn thing every week for years haha! Never been this good!

[AlexEh]

Hurray! This was our last color chart for my color theory class! I got to admit they do drain me alot, I was working on it for 14 hours yesterday at school thinking. "Oh I can't wait to get home so I can do some drawing. But seriously I got home, ate and I was way too tired to even want to draw. Oh well mixing colors over and over again and comparing them to each other helps alot =) Just a few hours of work on it today so I'm sure I can still draw today

The values are off in alot of areas, and I'm not saying my colors were mixed perfectly but they all seem a little cool or warm in some areas. When I scanned it in overall it looked way to cool, thought I would try and correct that by messing around with the channels a tad. I think it worked!

What was the reason the scan looked to cool? I noticed when I make a print of something it tends to look to warm. So perhaps something is happening from the translation from RGB? I'm assuming... I guess prints use CMYK. Can anyone explain this for me? I know I’ve read things before about it but never really looked at it in a way to understand.

[AlexEh]

Lately I've been feeling I should put in the mix some more "finished" looking studies in the mix of my quick stuff. So I was working on a photo study all day yesterday and quite happy with how it's turning out. Went on a little adventure at night taking photographs in the potentially last snowfall of the season. Which was huge!

I'm looking forward to the anime convention in my town this year, only a month a way. I'm seriously considering setting up a vendor table with the idea of drawing portraits of people and such in a more illustrative type fashion. So I better start experimenting, Ill give Bobby Chiu's way of studying other artists a good shot =)

Anyways a tired looking update, sometimes I wonder where all the time goes.

Will be exciting when I get to the point where I'm studying massive amounts during the day! Some of you people on this site are great, I love your hard work =) Kind of funny how people like Algenpflger love to bash them self’s! But hey! It's a source of motivation for the guy! Anyways the drive to always improve is definitely in him and that's very important to us artists. Right guys?

Sometimes I wonder where all the time goes.

[AlexEh]

Fighting with acrilics and color and such, random bus drawing, small sketch of a friend, and figure drawings.

*Thinks about his impending lack of sleep tonight =(

[AlexEh]

So much stuff has been going on in my life, ack it was basically flipped upside down!!! Took awhile to get back up, thank god I did =) I managed some drawing here and there but nothing like from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep... I honestly can't really blame my self but a kick in the ass wouldn't hurt ^_^

[AlexEh]

Beggining to work on tones seriously now since I felt I have a decent grasp on proportion... Though my lines still suck ass HAHAH! Man this stuff hard, oh well it will all come in time =) A shame I was out of it for a few weeks =(

[AlexEh]

Drew my friends playing badminton today at an indoor fitness center -a HUGE one- and some portraits of people. Copied a concept by El Coro since I just love this one, atmosphere, texture, space, figure. All works great =) Fuck didn't give it any justice though, rushed it near the end since it's late and got to get going home! Dont think ill have the motivation to go back into it tomorrow, got other things to draw haha!

[kevinwueste]

Hi Dylan - thanks for your kind words about my sketchbook stuff! i took a look at your work and can see the clear improvements and your hard work (that is paying off). I think Genome above had some good feedback that will serve you well - to think about shapes - the big, basic ones and the planes before you are sorting out the small details. Believe me, I screw this up all the time but when my drawings and paintings work best, it's when they began very very simply and, as Glenn Orbik says: 'you let the details sneak up on you'.. and go easy on them..

I will check back.. thanks again and thanks for asking me to review you work!

cheers, Kevin

[AlexEh]

Just a small update today, didn't go to that figure drawing session after all, @$&#%^ Was working on this. Wanted to fire out a sketch trying to figure out the composition before going into a finished drawing. Which I hope to get a fair amount done tonight. The character was basically made from an image I saw relating to Serial Experiments Lain. I really enjoy that anime =)

[Link]

I hope to figure out what's missing from it while working on the finished drawing, it's missing something key... I'm not sure what o.o I think the values just need more contrast, it looks very grey, but I'm not sure. Fuck something really bugs me when looking at this, maybe its something so basic as the composition... What ever ill just do it and hope I figure it how to fix it =)

[AlexEh]

Anyways working on that drawing still, trying to make a more finished drawing. Still a long ways to go I just wanted a break from drawing so I thought I would come online and post what I've done so far. I'm... not to sure how I feel about it at the moment. I'm not to sure if I'm just trying to make something look all pretty that's already fundamentally flawed. My minds eye isnt that strong yet XD But I plan to through drawing from my head into the mix of drawing from life now, I feel I'm at the point I need to strengthen my minds eye =)

Oh and a small amount of drawings I did last night on the way home...

-Dylan

[AlexEh]

Anyways working on that drawing still, trying to make a more finished drawing. Still a long ways to go I just wanted a break from drawing so I thought I would come online and post what I've done so far. I'm... not to sure how I feel about it at the moment. I'm not to sure if I'm just trying to make something look all pretty that's already fundamentally flawed. My minds eye isnt that strong yet XD But I plan to through drawing from my head into the mix of drawing from life now, I feel I'm at the point I need to strengthen my minds eye =)

Oh and a small amount of drawings I did last night on the way home...

-Dylan

[Imaginary]

Hey, another studyoholic. Great to see you pumping out so much quality stuff! I like the homeless guy (?) a lot, has a neat atmosphere. I think you were right about your drawing needing more contrast between the values btw, looked very gray some post ago, you'r on the right path now though, keep it up!

[AlexEh]

Having fun working on this one! Went to a private meeting with my painting teacher today asking about what teachers and courses would be good for what I want out of next year, as well asked her to critique this. She says I have a real good sense of atmosphere and space but I'm not too good and defining things. I agree with her fully.

She suggested instead of going out and doing all these little drawings I sit down with a still life and really try very hard to record what I see. I plan to do that right when I get home, going to take a break from this till Sunday and work on still life’s for next few days =)

Any ideas about the values? There not quite there yet.

-Dylan

[IoDelta]

Hey fellow Calgarian! I'm hoping to go to ACAD in the fall, I'm just waiting to hear how my portfolio did.

I like your brushstrokes on the greyscale paintings near the top, they have a nice texture. And your line work seems really flexible.

Keep it up!

[polipol]

wooa these studies studies, the traditional stuff will help sharpen your drawin, its great to see your drawing a lot from life cause it'll carry over to your imaginative work if you port it i guess........ keep it up dude, keep at it

[Imaginary]

Don't have any real suggestions on the values, you might wanna lighten the left side of her coat a bit cause it looks like it's merging with the monster other than that i think it looks good. Still lifes is a good idea, has helped me with figuring out some stuff... think i need to way more of em though... think i'll go do one now actually, hehe. ^_^

[Kiera]

hi, cool start, I like your lines very much
some crits on the drawing inspired by Lain: push the values, either make the darkest or the lightest point the most interesting point. Don't be afraid to make the background behind the fat guy either much darker or much lighter to give a contrast to the figures.

Some crits on general technique from what I saw from this small sketchbook:
You mainly work with outlines, a searching line that you draw on the paper by observing and in some of the lifedrawings with a block-in method.
But you don't use a method where you understand the figure in 3d and where you construct the body or the head.
With this a construction technique (building the figure out of forms ) you can give your drawings a much better sense of form, perspective and dimension and additionally another style of lines and movement. It also helps a lot to really understand the figure for shading.
Try out the Loomis book "drawing the head and the hands" or maybe "figure drawing for all it's worth", you can download them for free if you search for them.

thank you for that kickass comment in my sketchbook

[Karein]

Great sketchbook you have here so far, Keep those studies coming, the more, the better
I can't really say too much, as everyone else has already said it really. Just try to work on your values It will help you out in the long run, Keep the work coming

[AlexEh]

Man these still lifes take forever and are fustraiting! I guess that's why there good, I'm learning alot What you see here is honestly a whole weekends worth of work. I'm sure if I keep doing this eventually Ill get them to read correctly.

Saw Spectrum 14 today and wow, there all such amazeing artists. It was amazeing looking though it I so want to buy them all now T___T

-Dylan

[Imaginary]

Looking good man, a tip for still lifes is to have strong light coming from a position of your choice, it's kinda hard to tell the shape if there ain't much light like in the middle one. Keep drawing!

[AlexEh]

Finally got around to updating! Been working on my final projects for school this week, have not really slept to well. Had some time play some video games tonight, going to now draw a little self portrait for a few hours then head off to bed, I'm exhausted. Excited for tomorrow, get to attend this 9 hour figure drawing session!