Sketch Things (October 21, 2012)

[dan liimatta]

I can only agree with Mokhi - especially about the economy of line (I understand why one so often wants to scratch and build by constant testing and hacking, but I don't think it will help you as fast as if you would try to do bold strong strokes instead).

[Niva.]

Your character icon by your name cracks me up, it was just at the right speed at it started moving and I had to scroll back up because of a 'wtf' type moment.

Some of your work is brilliant, especially the figure studies. I myself seriously need to go back to do more of those. Cheers.

[Flaskpost]

congrats on your intous4 dude! much enjoyment
cool new stuff and make sure to rock that wacom!

[surus]

Could you post more reference photographs of this Asaro head? Where can I buy this one?

[Pigeonkill]

I watched a bit of your video. Yea I'm not a big fan of mass gesture either. I had one life drawing teacher emphasis feeling rather than construction or anatomy.

[p sage]

Didn't get two of my three normal life drawing sessions this week (bro's 40th bday on Wed, and just a demo on Thursday)

I'm happy about the work for this week, and excited about the progress.

First off, big thanks to AustenFM, whose awesome stickers now grace the (newly laminated) cover of my moleskine.

The pile is growing.

The Dip Pen studies are going really well from the Japanese book. Filled an 18x24 sheet in one session with this study... the blotch at the end pissed me off, though

A little Bridgman never hurt... the BiC pens tend to gob ink, which is why the gluteal cleft is a bit ruddy

Happy with Friday's sitdown in the foodcourt at the mall... it's getting easier


For Saturday's session, I wanted to make sure I would improve. I tried to think what would work best for the session based on my past pain and learnings. I went in thinking 1) Work bigger. Think about the big shapes and get them fast. Don't do too much measuring here 2) Use horizontals and verticals. 3) When you get to the detail (like when measuring facial features), that's when you look really, really really REALLY closely. If something doesn't feel right, measure again. But don't get too fussy. Just measure twice, cut once. Like a carpenter.

I captured progress shots after each one of the model's breaks (which were every 20 minutes). Happily, as you can see, the first break saw me having the entire thing blocked in. I wanted to track progress and see where I might've gone wrong, if I did...








(a couple shots left out)... so, that was it. And after I adjusted a few things at the end of the session, here's what I got. I'm pleased. The eyes turned out pretty well, and the likeness is there.


Finally got some sillies drawn... decided to include the second (still nearly empty page).... will probably fill it up at some point and scan again.

Cheers to all for your comments and visits. I know commenting on a video is like passing a kidney stone. Don't sweat it.

MoKhi Cheers. It's all about work. The sphere exercise helps proportion in that for each one, you're drawing the outside guidelines. If you focus on making the square perfect... and do it quickly, you start to build a habit of seeing the correct proportions in those easy shapes.
We all think we know the proportions of a square. But quite simply, our eye gets fooled. I still make them too fat on occasion. But doing this exercise definitely helps all my proportions.
And cheers for the C&C on line economy. Because of your and dan's comments, I tried to work a bit more on that... especially in the mall drawings. Hope it shows.

dan liimatta dan, thank you for visiting my sb. Ever since B Man stopped with the spankings, I've been craving the Scandinavian C&C... and thank you for providing just that. I've tried as you suggested this week, and will keep it up. Thank you for pushing me, and it's awesome to get this kind of feedback from someone of your ability. Cheers!

Niva I'm seriously impressed by your work... and feel a bit odd and flattered that you'd call my work brilliant. I certainly aspire to that. Cheers.

Flaskpost Dude, it's too much fun. Seriously it feels like cheating Thank you.

surus It costs about a hundred bucks. http://www.planesofthehead.com/

Pigeonkill I'm glad you stomached a piece of my video. Thank you I really wasn't trying to make fun of Nicolaides or his followers... everything was done tongue-in cheek. But you're right; I don't see much value in searching for a form if you know the form. If you know it, draw it. Scribbly lines get you scribbly figures. Different strokes for different folks, eh? (literally)

[Karonno]

Noow That is Drive!

[Liberty]

That pile of yours, that`s serious business, good job; and in your latest posts u didnt scratch with lines so much so thats good too. Keep doing what you love. Cheers.

[ICH]

Hey, I see quick progress here, and great potential.
You are not scared by the hard work (lines, exercises, lines, drawing from real, lines... and lines ) and that are clearly giving benefits to your works.
Love your moleskines, nice composition and cute pencil render. It seems that you feel more confortable on the small spaces than to the big artboards, my advice is to work and think on why (if it's true) you feel this difference... but it's just my two cents
Keep it up the good work!
Cheers!

[m0uS3r]

impressive paper work hehe, i just want to point something on that portrait, it could have used a bit more structure before going into shading.

But good stuff.

[Invalid User]

You've been busy! I like the work you did from life (in ink) I tried it in the city once (Melbourne) Everyone kept giving me crazy looks and leaving before anything got accomplished, any advice? Perhaps I could hide in a tree!

[Seage]

Great studies man, and omffgggggggggg, that pile is HUUUUUUGE. The shame I feel right now, lol.

[ArtZealot]

To expand on what dan liimatta said at the top of the thread about line economy; A way i've found to fix that (cause i have the same problem) is to do cleanup passes on my stuff before i scan it in and call it done.

This can be done obviously with tracing paper, or a lightbox, or even in photoshop (though it's tough to do with a standard wacom tablet) but if you're a scratcher like i am, that extra step of re-tracing your own drawing on another sheet of paper can make all the difference in the world.

Oftentimes some of the best artists i've found, redraw their shit, redraw the same exact drawing, many times over for the sole reason that drawings almost always get cleaner with each "tracing". Just check out algenpfleger to see what i mean [check out his blog here]

But anyway, i hope that helps. Also I really appreciate the kind words over at my sketchbook, thanks for checking it out, i'm glad u like. Cheers'

[prsnsweeney]

i like the life studies and the food court drawings keep it going

[oma]

can't crit u! lol.. ur doing fine! and u will grow more and more.. love the construction u putting in ur drawings! only the rendering seems to lack sometimes.. well lack,,, its not from the same lvl ur construction in the drawing is imo... but i can be wrong.. love the pile of spares and stuff u making!!! LOVE IT!~!! keep it going!

[Eightball_]

the ink studies and the line drawing block ins are looking good man! keep working hard! your form and construction studies will do you good in the long run.

[Jephyr X]

Hi, It's very impressive to see all your gesture studies, life drawing, portraits etc, and really love your sense of humor/style from your sketchbooks! Yes...I was thinking about Kung Pow Chicken! Made me laugh

Watched your gesture video too...thanks!

[Kerah]

Hey, good to meet you!
You know, portraits sometimes come out very beautiful but with less than a thimbleful of resemblance to the model used. I'm really happy for you that you managed to capture the model so well (according to the post, there is no ref after all!)!
Seems like you're a hardworking artist, my favorite kind

I'll sure subscribe to this only because it seems like fun watching your works,
Cheers!

[dan liimatta]

I'll be happy to help ~ and ArtZealot put it well - and I often do just that as I re:draw the same piece until I'm happy with the lines if I do line art.

& nice bridgeman and damn thats a big pile

[strybjorn]

good stuff man - really liking the food court sketches - i think observation drawing of random people in the real world is really important and you'll definitely feel the benefit of it when you do life drawing - you see how much easier it is when your subject isnt moving!

need to see some more stuff soon man!

[p sage]

Damn... just got a whole huge post uploaded... and then CA deleted my attachments?

I'm trying this one more time...

MatejaPetkovic inspired me this week... thought I'd go post some older stuff just for some perspective.

This stuff is from four years ago when I took the "art" class at my University. It's pretty pedantic stuff (some perspective, and interesting assignments... but no real instruction) I did enjoy doing the Billy Gibbons piece as I recall.

DUMP FROM 2007









Now the present (which feels like a gift after that stuff... har har)

A lot of figurative/portraiture practice this week... starting with an attempt at another selfie. Process shot, and result... (didn't work too well). Problem was I tried to use vine charcoal for the whole thing, and started looking at the shadows... which isn't how I was trained. Proportions got away from me a bit--could have fixed it, but it was late and I learned what I needed from it.



Next we have Thursday (sort of out-of-order)... this is from a local academy where they teach the "shadow shape" method. I tried it... and in the end I got his face too small, which meant I had to resize the entire head... and I didn't finish. Needless to say, the lesson there was: stick with what works for you!


Back to Wednesday, we actually had a good time... drawing using Horizontals/Verticals and sighting angles. Two quick poses, followed by the all night pose


And this was tricky, because when the model first sat down... his head was angled as I drew it. After his first break, it was angled the other way! I'm actually stoked about this one, because despite the head having moved, I was able to capture a really good likeness anyway... the model gave his compliments as did others


Saturday... did really well until the very end... when I noticed the mouth was a bit low (happens when you stop measuring!)... so I adjusted it, and only had 10 minutes before the end of the session... which meant I had to draw the nose and eye in 10 minutes (yeah... I left those for the end!)
But I'm stoked about the rendering on the chest and neck






Another 30 minutes and I would not have misplaced the eye, and the nose would have been rendered much better.


Sticking with the serious arts for a sec... I went back to the Asaro Head to get a good rendering of it for a portfolio-type situation. I'm doing a tight charcoal rendering of the graphite drawing I did earlier.

I set this up behind my drafting table for reference on the shadows again


And here's a WIP of it... should take a couple days of two hours at a time.


Okay... now some fun stuff... playing around with Paint Tool Sai + Wacom Intuos4 (wonky proportions ... but fun)



Then I got a wild hair and decided to start Chow #256 on Friday. My initial scribble of an idea was this very messy thing


Then I started working seriously on it... and you know what? I'ma gonna finish it. I like how it's going.


Some sit-down food court stuff. The fish weren't biting too much. I need more patience...


Finally, some sillies. This page was a lot of fun


---------------------------------------------------------------
Karonno Preciate ya!
Liberty Thank you. You know you're right... I do love this--hope you do too!
ICH Wow... thank you so much. I've always seen your avatar around, and when I see your comments in others books and then your art... I'm quite impressed.

You are probably right about me not working as much on the fun stuff on big art boards... the reason is probably just that my moleskine is small... and that's where the fun stuff is going right now. But I like working big, and will take your suggestion. Cheers!
m0uS3r Very good point about the structure... things read so much better when I do that. Thank you for reminding me.
Invalid User Hehe... don't hide in a tree... a koala will get you :p... instead, try to be very casual. If someone sees you, don't look away right away. Just look for a second, make a stroke... look down... and then look over their heads and pretend to keep drawing. They'll get less self-concious. It really is like fishing. You have to be patient.
Seage The only shame you should feel is the shame of being awesome... wait... did that make sense? Thanks man.
ArtZealot Thank you for the thoughtful critique. I don't mind cleaning up my drawings... and you're right, that's a good method. I would like to get the drawings better in a single shot though.. so more practice it is. Keep going yourself there... you have a lot of momentum!
prsnsweeney Thanks bro! Always good to read your words.
oma Haha thank you!! You're right about the rendering; I need to take more care there... it's all about refinement, as you say. Cheers for your visit!
Eightball_ Thank you, I'll take your suggestion.
Jephyr X Hehe... I'm glad someone thinks it's funny... that makes two of us Keep rocking in your book... your work is getting really exceptional.
Kerah Hey, thank you for the kind words. There really is a "sure way" and I'm following your example.
dan liimatta Dan, yes please and tack! Glad you liked the Bridgman.
strybjorn Yeah I noticed that the best artists always do those types of drawings... and I thought about it... how do you get faster/better at observation? By drawing rapidly moving things accurately. It's a big challenge (and like I say.. it's kind of like fishing... you probably aren't going to catch the nervous fish)

Appreciate your thoughts and comments.

Thanks everyone... this stuff is getting more and more fun all the time. I'm having a damn blast, and hope you are in your books as well. If I've neglected to give yours a visit... I'm swingin by soon

[Leonor]

I enjoyed looking at your studies. Unfortunately I have no crits. I'll come back to look more carefully soon.

I wanted to ask... Is it OK if I used your Asaro head photo on post #15 to do a study?

[p sage]

Leonor You're talking about the photograph, right? Sure... use it if you need to. But be aware that it's a little blown-out to see many details. I'm not using it myself... I'm actually using the real thing for reference. Good luck on your drawing!

[BlackDelphin]

Figures are looking better and better sage, great job! The only thing I'd like to point out are the proportions.
Be careful, particularly with the head-rest of the body ones. You tend to make the head larger than it should.
Rendering looks sweet and that cast drawing! Looking forward to seeing that one done!

[Marian Rowling]

Hey, hey Sage great to have you back and thanks for your comment in my SB. Have to say that this new one of yours is already looking good and full of such interesting and useful info. The sphere gesture video is brilliant and I have to say I think you're a natural at teaching. Look out Myron, you might have competition!

The asaro head and self portrait also look really good and I'm so glad that you have managed to find the fun in your drawing again. I can really see the progress in these last life drawings.

So I'm really looking forward to your next video production and your colour studies. It will be interesting to compare our results. At the moment I just seem to have used a lot of paint without really painting much. LOL

[lohes]

I agree with Marian^^ The sphere gesture tutorial video was great! I sat glued throughout - I look forward to the next one Impressive work!

[Liberty]

Yeah definitely stick with what works for you Just to add on your spheres; I just cant see them being useful enough, drills like that can help, but are they worth of your time? I mean, doing this like crazy will lead u to being good at drawing this drills and mby slightly better at random something...Meh dont mind the talk, you do your stuff. Take care

[Jephyr X]

Love the Billy Gobbons morph from 2007! Looking at those images shows even then you had a sensitive line quality and touch,

The recent figure studies are really good too..."Jason" deserved it's praise!

And once again lovin' your sense of humor from your sketchbook...Lilly Munster gave me a laugh.

Thanks for the ongoing encouragment in your replies both here and in my sb!

Ciao

[m0uS3r]

I see some symmetry problems, i would say do more exercises of portrait perspective, you have the intention to show to much of the side that is not near to us.

Hope this helped but nice upgrade keep it up.

Stay excellent!

[MatthewHD]

Hey Psage

I'm really liking the charcoal head drawing you are doing. I'll be investing in one too, I think.

Keep up the good work.