Time to get serious -- xerenity's sketchbook

[xerenity]

Hai everyone!

So, I've been around here awhile and made a few posts, but now I'm ready to get damn serious about my art. I'm tired of being mediocre and uninspired, so it's time to stop watching tutorials and start making some goddamn pretty pictures!

I've been drawing/painting for awhile now, but I've hit a rut recently and I need to break out of it badly. So, I decided it's time to start back at square one and start pushing on fundamentals again.

Crits and comments are definitely welcome and appreciated. ^_^

[alamed]

Congrats on making the jump keep it up
Good work on the hands (I'm currently working on them). Try to look at the form of the hand in any tutorial (its more like a square/wedge for the palm) and just draw 100+ of them

[xerenity]

Ah, always good to know someone else is working on hands. Hands and feet, people, hands and feet.

Good point about wedges; I tried to draw strictly from observation, today I tried applying more of a 3d form/wedge approach. Definitely felt a bit more success in at least thinking about the forms (damn hands are complicated sometimes ).

Also decided to jump back into Loomis and play around with the mannikin frame. Some of the poses you all should recognize from the book, but I used a few references from ArtsyPoses (loving this place!! ^_^ ).

I'm trying to structure my learning here; there's so much I need to know and practice, but no clear path yet. Sooooo, basically I'm gonna eat through Loomis' books and move on to Bridgeman, maybe.. no idea, but I do know I need to draw much much more.

Edit: I should add, going through loomis' mannikin poses are awesome. I have tried doing figure drawing, and I can't quite nail the grace of movement yet with the 3d forms. But just dealing with the "skeletal structure" just makes it so much easier to feel the rhythm of the movement.

[xerenity]

A few more sketches... still trying to find a direction to go. Still going through loomis, I have a few more sketches that I'll scan in later.. .this was done in photoshop..

[xerenity]

So, I figured I needed to get more comfy with pencils and pens, so I've been working mostly with that. I'm still rockin' and rollin'!

Still copying the figure poses from Loomis, I seem to be struggling with coming up with more dynamic poses from my mind. Need to observe people more, I think. ^^

[xerenity]

Been busy past couple of days, but I suddenly got hit with a desire to paint clouds. Found myself really struggling, though... mostly because I'm still unsure how to paint and everything feels like I'm pecking at it. I'm always amazed how some artists seem to accomplish so much with so few strokes.

I was mostly using the round-hard brush in photoshop, though I did try to play around with some other brushes... mostly trying to get a feel for the shape of clouds..







Actually kind of happy with this one


Did a quick beach scene..



Oh yeah, and some skulls.

[xerenity]

Some more stuffs.... I have been practicing drawing/painting heads and getting likenesses and proportions down.. still have a lot of work to do there.





This was supposed to be Juila Stiles... not even close.. lol








Then I decided that I needed to start applying the studying I've been doing on anatomy, and try to do interesting stuff... So, maybe some more conceptual work from the imagination down the line..

[xerenity]

So, I decided to study some horses... awesome creatures. ^^

After closely looking at my work, I've determined that I'm not allowing myself enough time to really focus on details. I've noticed that I just rush through and then I'm not happy with the result.

So, first try with a horse.. meh...



Getting a feel for how a horse moves...



Had a lot of fun painting this one, and I finally gave myself some time to actually work it out. ^^

[xerenity]

Been a couple of days... I saw a brush that Jacob Kobryn posted in this thread that looked like a fun tool to play with... so I have been. ^_^

I'm trying to look at things as complete forms, and not get lost in the details. I think a problem I've been having is not being able to judge what should go into a painting and what shouldn't. That, and not judging proportions very well. Ah well, still going at it.

[The Ripple]

Nice to see lots of work. Keep it up!

I've been recomended http://www.ctrlpaint.com/ for some tips on photoshop take a look if you havent already.

But yh keep it comin!

[Jamie Romoser]

nice sketchbook you have going here
keep up the studies draw and paint anything you think looks cool
have a good one looking forward to seeing more of this journey
-Jamie

[xerenity]

@ The Ripple: Thanx for the support, it's very appreciated. ^_^ I haven't been to ctrlpaint in a while, thank you for reminding me about it. I've been trying to limit how many tutorials I watch because I tend to just watch them and not do anything.


@ OmertA: Thank you also for the support! For once in my life I'm really enjoying the process and just pushing forward learning as much as possible.

Another small update...


I like large cats. Will probably attempt a lynx or something in a day or two. ^^






I want to do a few more landscape studies, and take the opportunity to work in much higher resolutions then I'm used to. (usually I'm around the 800px range... time to push that up. ) I'm noticing also that everything I paint is still very mushy and I need to work harder at nailing details without over complicating...

[thefro3po]

I like the motivation and going back to the basics can be very rewarding.

Hands aren't my favorite thing to draw so kudos to you for doing a great job on yours. But don't forget to add some width to them, if you make the hand to skinny it's hard to attach all the fingers to them.

I also like you animal drawings, they have a lot of life in them (horse close-up and cougar eye) which can sometimes be hard to pull off.

Art is one of those things you got to sit down and just do it (like Nike), but don't feel bad, we all procrastinate, even when we're dong art related things (like watching a tutorial or posting in other people's sketchbooks )

[xerenity]

@thefro3po - Ah, great comment on the hands.... thank you. I knew there was something off with my hands (besides the obvious poor technical skill ), and width feels like one of the big ones. You reminded me I need to do more hands. Also, thank you for the comment on animals; I love them! ^_^


On to the update!

So, some more hand studies.... I feel slightly better about the width... some are still lacking the "chunkiness" of life, but at least I'm conscious of some of the problems now.




Some gestures... meh, I've no idea what I'm doing here. Just thought maybe I should do some quick gestures to get a sense of movement and proportions. They're awful, I know that much. lol





I promised a lynx... here it is. This took me so long, and the hair gave me fits. At some point, I just got bored with it and realized I still haven't quite figured out what is causing the muddiness of my painting. After desaturating, it seems that it's lack of contrast.. I'll need to work that out. ^^

[JakeB]

Loving those hands. Props for having the commitment to just pump out lots of them. Impressive. .
Definitely agree with the "push the fundamental" thing. Basics first, then fancy stuff

[xerenity]

@JakeB: Thank you for stopping by! I know at some point I'll be able to move onto more concepty stuff, but I don't quite feel ready for it. I've been looking at the concept challenges and at least thinking about what I could do, but I still need waaay more work on the basics before I dive in. ^^


So, realizing that my paint work is very bleh, I've decided to paint simpler objects and really focus on making the colors pop. i.e. more focused work on light and shadow, and working with a limited palette...






And feet. Because if I'm going to focus on hands, might as well get feet down too.

[elwghee]

Nice studies, keep at it !

It's nice to start from the basics again. I always learn something new whenever I do.

[Autumnflame]

Thanks for stopping by! I really like what I see here - gettin' down to business is always cool to watch. And I like that you switch things up a bit too, it makes me feel less ADD, haha.

A suggestion: have you tried some simple line exercises? I forget the name for them, alas - hopefully someone here can help, or provide I link - I learned of them from someone in person, so I've no idea where to find it on the web or how to Google it. (Apologies if you already know of these, too!) Basically, though, it consists of two or three different exercises:

1) placing two points and drawing a line between them in one stroke, as steadily as you can (neither fast nor slow). Repeat as many times as you can, filling the paper, until you start screaming and flipping tables. (I find it actually pretty soothing, especially if I'm doing something else at the same time - watching something or sitting around gaming with friends or so.)

2) Drawing circles or ellipses in one stroke, then quartering them with lines to see if you got them even. Typically done with multiple ellipses in a row, to try and learn how to consistently place and center them. Repeat as above.

3) Something I never actually ended up doing, but apparently drawing perspective lines and boxes within them is also part of the set of practices. Basically simple perspective study.

Line surety and cleanliness is also something that comes with time, but I found the exercises helped me a good amount (if not as much as I'd hoped). There's also just trying to draw everything smoothly without picking up the pencil, even if it ends up looking horrible and awkward for the first few hundred tries. Essentially just training yourself out of doing the scratchy feather-strokes when sketching. (I still lapse - a lot - but it's something to keep in mind.)

[FightingSeraph]

Those studies look nice for somebody that just started, whereas most of mine aren't up to my expectations.

[zryanart]

Great sketches and studies! You seem to be really improving with your practice!

[xerenity]

@elwghee: Thank you for stopping by! I looked through your blog, such awesome stuff!

@Autumnflame: You're stuff is pretty to look at, very inspirational to me. ^^ I have heard of the first of your suggestions, but I haven't really taken the time to do some line exercises... I suppose now is the time to tackle clean line work! Thanx for the push.

@FightingSeraph: Oh, I'm not new to art at all. I've been doing this half assed for many years now. It's just that now I've decided to take it much more seriously and take it on. Don't worry too much about hardcore expectations right now, just keep your passion secured and have fun. Your desire to learn what you need will kick in and you'll be great. I saw a lot of dedication in your sketchbook, just keep rockin! ^_^

@zyranart: Thank you for noticing! It's nice to know that improvement is visible to others, sometimes I can't notice it myself.

Not much to update with, still trying to nail down my contrast/muddy paint issues.





Decided to approach hands from a form perspective rather than contour line perspective... killing two birds with one stone I suppose. I also pre picked my palette to begin with, and stuck to those colors alone. The result is kinda meh, but I learned a bit I think. ^_^

[xerenity]

Update time, been kind of slow the past couple of days, maybe it's the change in season. ^_^


So, I'm beginning to study film stills to get a handle on lighting for mood and atmosphere... I'm going to study black a white movies for now, so I can get a handle on just values for now.... I really liked doing this study, I could feel the emotion as I went. It was the first time I think I've been immersed in the completeness of the scene... I'm probably talking gibberish, what I mean was that I had a kick ass time doing it.



I seriously need more work on head construction... these are just utter bleh garbage..


So, in frustration of doing the above, I read a bit of Loomis' approach, and then went to idrawgirls (because I like the look of his faces), then picked another portrait subject to do... slightly better results..




I finally got off my lazy butt and did a light setup on my desk so I can do life studies with a controlled light source, so more light studies to come (maybe I'll do a cue ball/8 ball combo next time).

Spoon, resting on my wacom pen holder.

[Jarrad]

I just went from the top of your page down to the bottom and there is some serious improvement! I especially like that wreath you did.

[xerenity]

@Jarrad: Thank you for stopping by. That wreath was a serious challenge, but I think overall I captured the major forms of it. Still need sooo much work in rendering.


So, I have been doing some pencil and paper stuff, but the scanner is unplugged and it's over there, and I'm over here.



More hands, of course.





And the aforementioned cue ball/8 ball.





And a film study. ^_^

[Jarrad]

nice film study! I think you captured the reflections on the visor quite well!

[xerenity]

@Jarrad: Ah, thank you! ^^ It was constantly back and forth on that one, was trying to catch that whole "my god, it's full of stars" look on him, close but not quite.


Felt like doing some high fantasy type stuff (closer to my heart) to break up what I have been doing.. not that I've been bored, really, but I would like to see where I'm at as far as anatomy, proportions and general rendering...

I did use reference (here, if you're curious)..I ended up altering things a little bit and adding stuff that felt interesting to me, but it's generally the same... my proportions are way off, I need to pay closer attention to what I'm doing there...

[xerenity]

Sup.

More practice in establishing mood and atmosphere... also trying to nail rendering techniques down, so my stuff has more of a polished look. I've been spending time analyzing current concept artists to get a feel for how it's done on a professional level... may the studies continue.

[Taroan]

These are good studies,
Your anatomy studies are really good. If you need more reference, look up bridge man's books, their what I've been using for anatomy. I think they're free online if you can't find one at a book store.

[JakeB]

Your stuff's clearly coming along! Like it.

One thing I would say about your line work is to try to be much more confident. At the moment you seem to be scribbling a little bit, and it makes the lines look a bit, I don't know, hairy(?)
If you can simplify it right down to much fewer, stronger, cleaner lines, they'll look much better.

Shattered, and can't think of any decent examples, If I remember I'll drop one in here tomorrow .
Keep it up though, good work!

[bpic]

Heya, thanks for visiting my new thread. I had a crit on the fantasy piece from post 26: It looks like your trying to blend a lot which can end with a sort of washed out or ambiguous look. I think you should study planes and try to realize that each plane has its own value and the edges of planes meeting have different qualities to them (soft, firm, hard, lost). I see your doing a lot of studies though so I think youll stumble upon a lot of info that way but specifically I think bridgman talks about it, Loomis, and Jack Faragasso (one of Frank Reilly's students I believe).

Anyway, really nice emotion in the peice and in your latest and the studies are looking great!