Lyraina's Sketchbook

[Lyraina]

Jakobvs: Thank you!

andres: Thanks for the link, I already watched some videos from over there.

Charli(e): Thanks a lot for the suggestion - I will definitely try out painting some greyscale from life the next time!

dolmen: Thanks as well

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Here are some sketches from the last days, finally found the time to scan them. I'm a bit stuck with Loomis, as I'm done with the first part of the anatomy stuff, but don't feel like I progressed enough to go on with the next chapter. So I tried out Michael Hampton's figure drawing, I'm sure you will see the different drawing style in my sketches. Also started on drawing faces and some hands from life, a long way to go as always!
Also, some 30 sec posemaniacs.

[Lyraina]

More stuff, this time a lot of Hampton. I think I should draw some skulls before drawing faces/heads...

I find Hampton's simplified muscles easier than Loomis, but then again, I already gained some knowledge from Loomis studies, so this may help as well.

[Lyraina]

some not-so-good stuff from life, didn't get everything finished... more pencil drawings to come, just have to scan them first.

[Lyraina]

Some things from the last days - mostly from Hampton, I'm done with his book now, I learnt some great concepts/simplifications from him!

[Lyraina]

More stuff from life. I don't find more interesting subjects I'm not satisfied with the dinner-one, I'm always struggling a lot when I have to paint round objects (like the plate and the bread)... sure, the circle looks like an ellipse when lowering the view point, but still... always looks quite off.

[Lyraina]

I think I just figured out how to use the attachments appropriately... let's try!

First are Loomis studies, but I applied my own shading technique. It's faster and gives me the information I need, I guess.


Figures are 5 minutes pixelovely for each pose. This was the first time where I really felt like all the anatomy stuff paid off... I do however heavily rely on my construction lines, so I can build the bodies from circles and lines before I draw the contour (just look at the hundreds of lighter lines, that's what I mean), I don't know if this is good or not? Should I try to work more clean or won't this hurt the learning process?
The hands are drawn from life again - long way to go.
The fancy block-thingy on the bottom is my first attempt in three point perspective after this lovely perspectice 101.


Here is my first attempt at ... well, composition practice? Done after "How pictures work" book. Does anybody have some advice for me, what I could do to practice composition?

[Liberty]

What? Nice amount of work and people shy to congraz you.
You rely on construction lines as you should, draw your cubes, spheres, circles, elipses, whatever helps you to set up figure properly, and if you rly want more cleaner work nail "contour" lines in as few strokes as you can. Gesture and construction lines will not hurt your work.

Take care.

[BigEfru]

I do have a limited knowledge of the english language.

so i speak in german.

deine studien gefallen mir sehr gut ich mag so belistift skizzen sehr gern.
ich finde auch deine photoshop bilder sehr gut und man sieht auch wirklich fortschritte . ich muss ja ehrlich sagen bin bissl neidisch auf deine fertigkeit mit photoshop ich wünschte ich wäre soweit.

danke dir vielmals fürs vorbei schauen in mein skizzen buch .


LG Efru

[Lyraina]

Liberty: Thank you. I'll try to very slowly reduce my construction lines, then.

BigEfru: Hehe, danke dir Mach dir wegen Photoshop mal keine Gedanken - letztendlich ist das auch nur ein Werkzeug, das gelernt werden muss, mit bisschen Zeitinvestition geht das schon... die Basics sind das wirklich wichtige, also Anatomie, Farben usw.. und dafür brauchts kein PS

--

Here are some more sketches from Pixelovely photos. 5 minutes each pose again. Most of them really are fun to do - how I wish I could draw them from life! I also tried drawing myself standing in front of the mirrow today, but it was quite awkward, hard to stand in an interesting pose, hold my paper and draw at the same time..
The perspective practices are again from this tutorial.


This is... not good *hides*

[anonanon]

Your last set of studies it truly lovely. They have a swinging movement and energy to them that I have been trying to capture. Keep up your color work and don't say it isn't good, cus it is a hell of a lot better than I can do

[Liberty]

Nice, keep drawing.

[Lyraina]

anonanon, Liberty: Thank you.

This time, shadows in perspective. I messed up the one-point-perspective one a lot, still unsure if I did right now. Where do I know from how long the "foot" of the light has to be? I can imagine placing a street lamp on the same flat area of my box/house (even though I'd have to think about how to place it there first), but what if I have a floating light - like a flying lamp, where do I know the lower limitations of my shadow? Same with the sun. Or is the sun's "foot" always placed on the horizon?
This certainly looked easier before I actually tried doing it myself!


Can it be that hands have the ability to have lines which are curved inwards the same time they are curved outwards? I could swear they change every time I look at them.

Being utterly unsatisfied with my latest hand drawings, I decided to do some studies again... so I dug out my Bridgman. But it was really frustrating, I seem unable to understand much of what he explains, and I did a really poor job copying his drawings as well... I also don't understand the structure of the book, since it is not devided in bones-muscles-skin, but somewhat random, so I'm just hopping from page to page and picking out the explanations and pictures that seem most useful for me. Does anybody know a book which might suit me a bit better? But maybe it's just much more practice I need, not another book. (Are my images too big? It's a bit hard to know, since my screen is quite wide)


I'm desperate for improvement these days, I feel like I draw all day, but only filled like five pages until night. Perspective and color study (reading wise) takes a lot of time, maybe I should cut those times shorter, and just draw more. It's only three days until the new semester starts again, and I'm really afraid this will then eat up all my time for drawing How am I ever to get better like this? I'm a slow learner (in everything) and already so far behind, age-wise..

Anyway! More pixelovely 5-minute-poses


I would really appreciate every advice/critique/suggestion for other exercises etc.
Thanks for watching!

[Vins_2011]

woww all i can say is awesome.. you have some really neat stuff here . both your pencil work and digital painting looks amazing , will be following your sb..nd btw thanks for coming by sb ))

[Magyar]

Nice progress, especially with the hands, even in a short amount of time they have improved a lot

[BigEfru]

hey

nice work don't stop.

ich verstehe das meiste vom englisch nur das was ich dazu sagen will ist ein wenig schwer für mich das in englisch zu schreiben daher nun wieder mal in deutsch. kopf hoch ich denke es kommt nicht auf die menge an blättern zeichnet oder malt viel wichtiger ist das was man daraus lernt. und das was man so liest hier und überall ist das es viel wichtiger ist überhaupt was zu zeichnen

lg Efru

[Lyraina]

Vins: Thanks for your feedback, and following

Magyar: Thank you - but I fear I didn't really improve with my hands yet, it is just easier to copy from Bridgman than from life. I tried to draw them from life again today, and they look quite off again...

BigEfru: Danke Ja.. das denk ich mir auch immer.. selbst wenns daneben geht, hauptsache dran bleiben. Und nochmal versuchen.
-

Had a rough start today, wasted paper after paper with heads worse than I did 3 years ago, so I went back to my 5 minute pixelovely drawings. The lip-page is from Loomis, hands from life.



Here's a little WIP, I tried to put the perspective practices to some use... I'm really new to all this perspective stuff, I find it really hard to draw a simple street! I realized a little late that all doors and such should be on a same/similar head sized level... also, the eye level is a bit too high for a human I think? (I honestly forgot to even think about that beforehand!)

[Riox]

Hey Lyraina,

I wish I had your drive to do so many studies. All these look fantastic, just keep doing what your doing because it's working. I particualry like your bridgeman studies, I find they help me out more than most anatomy books.

Keep it up :o)

[BigEfru]

hey Lyraina

The road does not look so bad. Practice makes the master. with hands maybe it is really better from life i think sooooooooo. happy weekend

lg efru

[Lyraina]

Riox: Thanks - I love Bridgman, but I find it quite hart to draw from him and "extract" the information from his drawings, but I guess it's worth the struggle.

BigEfru: Thanks, hope you had a nice weekend as well

--

The first two rows are 5 minute poses from pixelovely again. They are fun, but I don't like that my figures are looking somewhat simplified again, I'm afrait my anime style will break through again, and I would really prefer to learn drawing/painting the muscles and masses of the bodies right. So I guess I'll have to go back to muscles again. Third row is Loomis.


These figures and faces are from imagination. It is quite daunting to see the difference to the referenced stuff. Also, I feel like even the faces I drew at school in my notes looked better than my newer attempts, not sure why...
I'm not sure what's better, drawing more from reference, or trying to apply the stuff in imagination drawings and failing. I guess doing both might be best?
Also, I don't know why my faces are so completely random. I draw one and think, hey, that turned out okay, draw another one, which is a complete mess. I'm still a bit lost on how to practice faces best, maybe draw some more skulls first.


And some hands from life again. I like the one in the middle the best. The less fingernails, the better

[Lyraina]

Some basic anatomy stuff to so I won't forget it.


Some Bridgman studies, because I feel always unsure when drawing knees.


More Bridgman!


These are 10 minute pixelovely poses, so that I have some more time to look for muscles than with my 5 minute poses.


Lastly, some heads from Loomis. I don't know why my heads are this bad!

[Sushy]

Really good studies Maybe try some more from imagination too.

[Vins_2011]

nice you are really working hard , keep it up ..

[Lyraina]

Sushy, Vins_2011: Thanks you two

I did not get much done today, a sheet of heads I'll scan tomorrow, and this color study. I'll do some greyscale next.

[Lyraina]

Loomis-day again. Some hands first:


And some heads:


And some pixelovely 10 minutes poses.

[BigEfru]

hey Lyraina

ich finde es echt genial wieviel du zeichnest bei mir ist gerade ein wenig die luft raus. du bist auf nem guten weg die zeichnungen werden besser und das beste du postest regelmässig . mach weiter so daumen hoch.

lg Efru

[Riox]

Hey cheers for dropping by my sketchbook. I really wish I had your drive to study still-life. How long do you usually spend on these still-life studies?

Plus your anatomy studies seem to be getting better everytime I drop in. Have you tried Loomis for you anatomy studies, if your stuggling a little with bridgeman? I find it's always good to learn from other angles.

Keep updating. :o)

[Lyraina]

BigEfru: Danke! Kann ich aber verstehen, ich bin momentan auch wieder am schwächeln. Ich finds vor allem schwer die Motivation aufrecht zu erhalten, wenn man nicht wirklich weiß ob man auf dem richtigen Weg ist, oder nur seine Zeit verschwendet weil man "falsch" übt oder sonstwas..

Riox: Thank you! Yes, I started out with Loomis, I think he is great for the basic anatomy and proportions, but not so good for in-deph-muscle studies..
About the still life, it really depends. I'd say one hour at average, if I'm impatient it can go down to 30-45 minutes, more complex objects (like the shoe study) can go up to 2 hours. I would like to increase the time I invest in those, and do more complicated studies/compositions later, but I find it quite hard to find subjects I can stand looking at for longer than an hour...

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I did some screencap studies from the Sleepy Hollow today, I tried to use only my round hard edged brush with 100% opacity, no fancy texture brushes.


The originals:


And from life again, a bit rushed at the end...

[Lyraina]

Finally I got around and did some value studies. They are from photo reference.


Ref


Ref


Ref

[BigEfru]

hey

sehr schöne studien gefallen mir sehr gut die lampe sieht noch ein wenig schief aus . ja die motivation aufrecht zu erhalten ist in der tat schwer.
ich frag mich regelmässig wofür ich es mache da mir alle sagen ich soll es als ein hobby betrachten. nur irgendwie würd ich schon gerne damit was machen ist halt nur die frage was perspektivisch gesehen möglich und erreichbar ist. aber ich denke du bist auf einem guten weg deine sachen werden immer besser. ich sollte glaube auch endlich aufhören rum zu jammern und lieber etwas zeichnen. also bis bald .

lg Efru

[Lyraina]

BigEfru: Danke.. und ja, bei der Lampe hast du mich ertappt Ich habs immer so eilig zur Struktur und zum "Malen" zu kommen, dass ich gerade bei symmetrischen/ebenmäßigen Formen gern mal daneben liege.
Ja, das ist eben die große Frage, zwar will hier jeder ein großer Künstler/Concept Artist/wasauchimmer werden, aber wie realistisch das ist ist halt die Frage - zumal in Deutschland glaube ich die Ausbildung in die Richtung auch eher mager ist. Wenn man den Leuten hier glauben darf, kommt es aber ja sowieso mehr aufs Portfolio, denn auf den Abschluss an - also ist das übliche "Complain less, draw more" wohl schon angebracht
Was mir manchmal hilft ist der Gedanke "Zwar keine Ahnung ob ich irgendwann vom Zeichnen leben kann (vermutlich eher nicht), aber zumindest schadet es nicht, die Zeit zum üben zu nutzen - wer weiß wohin der Weg führt und wer weiß was noch so passiert". Also gogo, weniger grübeln, mehr zeichnen

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Another value study form a photo, and also some more stuff from loomis+life. The bone page was from imagination, to check what I remembered so far (I dislike ribs!). Is it better to do value studies from colored objects/photos or to turn them black/white beforehand? I guess colored reference/nature is better, because it's harder?