Lyraina's Sketchbook

[Jaik]

Son of a-.... While I've been taking time off, you have been absolutely charging ahead. Dayumm..
So much to comment on! That interior looks stunning, you really did a good job on those shadow shapes too.
As for the silhouettes I like 4 12 and 16 the most, very interesting looking. Something I found out from silhouettes, and something I have heard other people say, is that you should avoid them until you are very confident, so that you can turn what you see into proper forms (don't know if you will find it the same though ). I struggled for so long with trying to make forms read and get what I was imagining on to paper. It was a good exercise though and I learnt a lot.
Which masters did you use for those mountains, they look really good, I love studies like that, that look like a window on a neutral grey background.
Those hand studies from pictures really look good.. Hands are a pain in the ass, seriously.. I don't know why they are so difficult to draw, but spending time getting them right is definitely worth it.
And those two figure studies way up, excellent as well, you truly are making leaps and bounds in your progress! Keep it up! I cant wait to see more

[Lyraina]

Jaik: Thanks man! Taking some time off is important as well, helps recharge the motivation and batteries!
Interesting what you say about silhouettes - I never really thought about at which skill level they should oder should not be used. Anyway, I think it is a good way to help the brain bring up ideas, like quick thumbnails for environments (and coming up with ideas is always very hard for me, so I'm glad for everything that helps me start off )
Mountain studies were mostly from memod, blinck, frank hong, unidcolor over at dA... forgot who exactly, I just went through my favourites and picked some parts I liked!
Yeah, hands are terrible to draw, feet as well... and neither photo studies, nor life studies, nor learning the anatomy seems to help to get them right without just blindly copying them...


Environment update... some photo studies and one personal piece I tried to push a bit further.

[Aqualeot]

"I don't like those days when I'm drawing all day, but only crap comes out. Feels like I haven't done anything at the end."

I think the fact that you continue to draw all day and you don't give up is something that really contributes to your improvement. Pushing through and continuing to work is the key and you are doing it! Makes me want to keep going too even when I am tired and often don't have much time to draw. I really like the last environment you posted.

[kamikazel33t]

Thanks for the comment on my SB! I like that you are moving forward now, it looked like you took a long break for a while. I've noticed you tried to pencil sketch and I'd like to see you push that further, try keeping scheduled gesture warm-ups before you get to do anything else(1hr a day of minute gestures?), I also suggest learning or reviewing the geometric construction of the face as well as the planes. To add to it learn to get a stronger sense of form by doing tons of form studies as well. I wish you the best and happy sketching.

[Lyraina]

Aqualeot: I hope you're right! The thing is, when I stop doing something that doesn't go like I'd like it to, I get scared to even try again next time. And that's even worse, had that a couple of times, especially with anatomy...
Glad you like the environment

kamikazel33t: Yes, the weeks before christmas university stressed me out really badly (I was literally afraid I might set my lab or myself on fire!), I really couldn't focus on art on the side. I do pencil/pen warm ups daily, but not for an hour.. and not always gestures! I'll add them to my schedule again What exactly do you mean by construction of the face? Muscles and bones?

So there I was, thinking I might do some quick cloud studies from photos, so I would get a feeling for different kinds of clouds, and especially that "clouds follow perspective too" thing. As always, I ended up "not so quick" and also it was harder than I thought! The further away the clouds, the less I know how to paint them. Anyway - I did learn a thing or two doing those! Even created a new texture brush I like









I also decided to add my thoughts to my studies here as well, not only on my blog. Didn't do so until now 'cause it's always so basic things and probably wrong half of the time :p
What did I learn?
- Try to find a good balance between big, mushy shapes and sharp, defined edges
- Experiment with subsurface shattering more (not sure if it is called like that on clouds)
- Perspective!! (As always)
- Lower opacity for those very distant, stretched and transparent strands of clouds and paint them in layers
- Carefully consider how the values and hues of the blue sky gradually change, depending on the position of the sun (if needed, look it up in James Gurney's book, chapter "Sky Blue")

And a few more silhouettes. I should better give me a specific topic I guess, instead of just scribbling away.

[Aqualeot]

The clouds look great!

[Lyraina]

Thank you, Aqualeot!

I want to be better. I want to be better faster! I don't want to do the same mistakes over and over again.
I don't want to draw asymmetric faces all the time. I don't want to be tired and unfocused even with enough sleep.
Yes, I'm quite whiney today.

Feet.


Same crap as always. The messier, the less referenced.





Fun stuff, not referenced, apart from my wrinkle chart. The guy is absolutely horrible, but I'll post him anyway, this way he'll be a reminder to do better next time until I fill up this sketchbook page.
I'm very unhappy with almost everything portrait related lately, I don't like the shapes of faces I draw, I don't like the way I do the features, I want to achieve a more subtle, soft way of painting. Not even to mention the skin colors..







Need to do more studies. MANY MORE

[Lyraina]

After my last post, I'm now trying to push my rendering/technique in a way that I might like better.

Here is what I've got so far:

From imagination, I don't like the face, but I used softer brushes and tried to blend the features more into the face. I also realized how bad I am at skintones from imagination.


Beautiful Jennifer Lawrence, I like the softness, but it is too airbrushy-plastic-like.


Jennifer again, less plastic-faced. I love this girl!


Anatomy from photos. I'm always struggling with edges and not making them look "dirty", not sure why - I guess that also is a practice thing.

[Sushy]

Massive practice again *v*
I would suggest using harder brushes and putting the figure on a seperate layer from the background. Maybe you already did that, but then you can erase (with an hard eraser, no opacity stuff on that one) the soft edges.
The portrait of Jennifer (with the short hair, or is it in a tail? XD) came out really nice.

[ClockworkLives]

Hey, Lyraina! Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook, loving all the study grinding in here! I think that the problem with your faces is that you are basically doing the same stylized face with the same shape of features and the same proportions many times over - I do this a lot too. In order to break this habit, why not find some photos of people with genuinely unique faces and do studies of their features for a bit? It may help you in terms of bringing more character into your portraits.

[kamikazel33t]

By construction I meant plane-breaks as well as the geometric forms that make up the face, for example you appear to be missing overlaps and such which could be found in the construction of the face. For example, here's a page from Michael Hampton's book which I feel tackles one of the issues you may face in constructing the head as a geometric form.

[Istmin52]

Thanks for commenting on my sketchbook Lyraina. I agree with what everyone is saying, especially what ClockworkLives says. I do the same thing with my faces sometimes. Have you ever thought about doing some self portraits? I did some last week when I haven't in a long time. I discovered new things I never realized before about the features of a face.

I think doing some self portraits would help you. Try doing them from life.

I think the cloud studies came out great and I like the silhouettes.

[Lyraina]

Thanks Sushy! I'm keeping the character on a seperate layer, only problem is that I have the bad habit of cleaning edges with the background color instead of erasing I tried harder brushes as well, I guess it's the better approach for practice, but this always makes it almost impossible for me to render something nicely with all those muscle subtleties... still a long way to go it seems! Glad you like the portrait!

ClockworkLives: Thank you You're right, whenever I don't use reference, my faces look the same (and most of the time I don't like them). More photo or live studies it is, then

Thanks a lot for the clarification, kamikazel33t, I know what you mean now. I even have a copy of one of those Hampton heads hanging besides my desk. Maybe I should draw a few of those every day before I start drawing from photographs or from mind, until it will seep into my brain

Istmin52: Thank you as well I've done a few self portraits, but that was quite some time ago... maybe it's time to do some again, you're right. Thank you for the advice and kind words.

---

Today, I wasted 2 hours or so trying to come up with an urban/scifi environment (including plants), I don't know why this is so hard for me. It's not even that perspective etc are the problem, but I don't even come up with compositions/ideas. None of my usual idea creation processes seem to work. The only thing I have in my mind are images painted or photographed by others, and a vague feeling I would like to convey. I just can't bring anything to paper (or canvas). Should I do more photo/rl studies of cityscapes, houses, hard surface stuff to solve that problem, or just force anything on paper?

Anyway! Here's some random stuff I did after my brain had melted, the usual sketches I'll scan tomorrow.









Bird reference: link link

[kamikazel33t]

Yep, if you want to improve on visual landscapes and stuff with more intricate details and to be able to come up with better ideas for em. You'd need to train your visual library, try for like two hours a day to draw something you don't normally see or draw(ruins, monuments, planes and other things) that way you get everything down to the finer level and be able to later combine these details and ideas you see from life and expand on your imaginative drawings. Here is a good video I recommend you watch!

[Lyraina]

As alway, thanks so much for the valuable feedback, kamikazel33t! That's what I will do then, until I'm able to draw fancy castles, cities and spaceships on my own
I need 48 hour days! Thanks for the video, I already knew it, but it's a good reminder. (I love listening to Feng...)

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Sketches from the last days










And playing a bit with colors

[Jaik]

Wow you put so much work in, its great to see, truly inspiring, but I think I have said that many times before. The colour on those bird are great, dont be scared of soft edges though, some of your portraits looks like they are kind of copied and pasted on to the background. Great stuff though, love your figurative stuff.. man.. i feel so lazy...

[KateTheTerrorist]

Just a mini tut...
I KNOW how frustrating it is to have asymetrical fetures...
You seem to be improving on that part, but Im going to give you a little push and see if I can help....

Usually when I draw, I skin out what I want.
But the one thing I usually rely on to get my eyes right is a line and 2 circles....
The lines help with the general area I want my eyes in... If I want my eyes to look up, down, 3/4 pose ect. I use my line and draw (and redraw) the perfect area and direction I would like my eyes in.
Then when I am happy I draw two general circles where the eyes should be, to determine how big my eyes are and how far apart I want my eyes to be.
I usually redraw these, but im so used to it now I don't even think about it.

Then when im happy with the two eye placements, I draw my eye details....
I catch myself drawing the upper eyelid on the line and my eyebrows on the top of the circles...

Even though these people I drew are more anime-esque, they very do much help me in my realism drawings.

Enjoy.

[Lyraina]

No art update from me today, sorry. This whole royalty drama is really dragging me down, I love this place, and I don't want it to die. Still, I will not be able to stay if I think I can't support this place with good conscience, depending on the outcome of the audit etc. I still hope that it will turn out to be just a collection of misinformation, bad temper and misunderstandings, not as dramatic as it seemed in the beginning. Time will show I guess, I think it is important to let both sides speak before judging.

I still want to answer your comments though.

Thank you Jaik. Yeah, edges and me are not on very friendly terms yet. To hard, too soft, too dirty - I'll try to pay more attention though!

KateTheTerrorist: Thanks a lot for the advice and taking the time to draw it out for me! I am using a somewhat similar method, but still manage to make the eyes look out of place Maybe I need to be more careful, or I'm still too insecure to even place the circles right. I'll try to do better! Thank you!

[Lyraina]

White0head: Yeah, gestures are fun! Those last ones were done with pixelovely though, so it's photos and not 3d renders. Also, a lot less weird poses.

[Lyraina]

It is now one person's word against the other's, so I'm willing to believe that there was indeed no bad intention involved in all this drama. Meaning I can stay in this place, thank god!

Art!! Sargent studies, photo studies (mainly for torso and arm muscles) and a lazy self portrait from mirror.

[Rustveld]

I'm glad to hear that you decided to stay.
Your studies are looking awesome. Have you been doing the Hampton Studies? Cause your faces are improving, keep it up!

[Alekina]

Those Sargent studies are looking awesome, love the texture!

I took the liberty to quickly paint over that last portrait and put some thoughts as critique (hope you don't mind). One of the first things I noticed was the lack of confidence that you showed with your brushstrokes, compared to the Sargent studies. They seem really soft and afraid of making bold statements.



Good thing is, I see your improvement and you show promise at landscapes (btw I suck at it so kudos to you) keep updating!

[Lyraina]

Rustveld: I'm glad as well, was very worried about what might happen to CA for a while. I'm trying to get my hands on every head ressource possible, Hampton, Loomis, mirror and whatever, because I'm so sick of drawing warped features and multilated face shapes by now And whenever I'm discouraged I go to your sketchbook, look at your graceful portrait and figure studies to get motivated again! Glad you see improvement, thank you!

Alekina: Thank you very much for the paintover! It's funny that you mention my insecure brush strokes - because this was exactly why I made those Sargent studies. I see the difference in edges and strokes between those and my own portrait now. I'll keep your advice in mind!

--
Only a mini-update today, tried to apply some of the critiques for the digi-faces, and be more bold and loose with brush strokes. Took me a lot longer than what it lookes like

[Lyraina]

Hopefully I will not re-upload anything, seems like some images got lost with the server transfer.. but I think those here are new.

[Jaik]

Man you are seriously making me want to do more facial based studies.. SO MUCH TO LEARN looking great though. A small note on the last digital face painting you did, is be careful which way your values make your shapes go. What I mean by that is, for example, on the face 2 posts up, the camera right (her left) brow line looks as though it is indented rather than protruding, Since the light is coming from cam left you should lighten that up so that it comes forward rather than recedes. I hope that makes sense.. I'm not very good at explaining things lol. I really like the way you did the gestures in sketchdump93_1 lol, very fluid and cool
P.S. I went ahead and bought a years sub to gnomon, I know you were tossing up getting it or not, I havent been through many tutorials yet (if only I had the time) but I may be able to answer some questions

[Lyraina]

Jaik: You bought the sub? Cool! I'm still hesitating because I have no idea how much time I'll have to invest in my master thesis, don't want to waste 6+ months due to that... but I also don't want to wait so long Would be great if you could could tell me if there's some stuff that helps people on our level as soon as you had the time to watch some
Thank you for the face-feedback, I don't know why this stuping head thing is so hard to paint O_o

--

Still unsuccessfully trying to make the figures look not-so-stiff


bloodsport entry... I think I should do more finished work

[LtPlissken]

I’ve sensed your material aroma, as you’ve been dipping your body into the chamomile
filled hot bathwater. Steamy window, hard triggering cowboy hand roll. Details from the
ancient satellite pointed right through your aura, deserving the subliminal autumn pretorian.
I’m so satisfied with your new internationally made face studies through the business machine,
improvement all around, just like roses in the green bush. As you are doing more and more of
those faces, the power of the holy ghost is coming to a town, and you are hitting the nail on the
head harder and harder. So the secret was to do more, as you already knew, if you build it, they
will come. You’ve started to build yourself a hard base, and the rest is coming like strawberry
on a summer table. Many friends here to help you, sharing precious advices, you should not
be afraid from the heights and from falling. When you are doing those greyscale portraits, the
floor is receding and you are improving double time. I so much like how you did the reflection
in the eyes, such a polyester nice feeling, as the air gets colder. Remember this; every pencil
stroke you make on the everyday material paper, will make your current reality to turn into
a blossomed colorful future, so do not waste any time. You have the motivation, the power,
the knowledge and the obligation to improve. You are the one who can do it, and the number
above your head is definitely one. Do it right now, do finished and unfinished, you just do,
I want to see more, don’t think about tomorrow, think about now. I will be chopping down
the sorrow while you recuperate, and we will talk then. Thank you for being with me all
the time in hard weathers and bad splashes. A bright future awaits us.

[Lyraina]

LtPlissken: Aah, always a delight to see you set aside time from your busy schedule to write something, thank you so much, it means a lot Yes, many faces, although I'm stagnating again.. but this just means I need to keep working, find new ways to do stuff, experiment and go on... until there is improvement. Not thinking about tomorrow too much is good advice, would that I could, my mind is a fickle thing at times and thoughts hard to control! I sincerely want to believe what you say about the future.
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I'm not feeling too well these days, can't concentrate at all and would just like to sleep and lie on my bed and sleep and lie... I'm going home to my parents for a few days, so updates might get a bit slower.

[SandyMan]

Hey lyraina; nice work overall!

I'd advice to be more cautious with your line quality and structure/anatomy. There are some structural oddities in your face constructs, but more than anything it seems to me like you don't have a clear direction as to what you want to achieve with those head studies concisely. You tend to make eyes huge and jawlines uneven. There are some verygood bammes tutorials, and they can be found for free online.

Also, focus on varying edge quality. Most of your edges are blurry or very smooth, making your otherwise tonally satisfying paintings look like they're made out of marshmellow! It's a common mistake, and a good solution to tackling it is to keep the brush hardness at a minimum of 70. Planar changes(which dictate tonal differences) in shadows tend to be blurry because the light hitting them is dim....and if light is hitting a spot directly, and that spot is next to a shadow, the edge will most likely be more clear cut. This is a vague explanation but I think you'll get what I mean

Keep working hard!

[LtPlissken]

You have been away only for a week or two, and I already miss you so much.
Hope that you will come back with some hot new studies and paintings, cause
we all hardly can wait to see them.