MrFrenik's Sketchbook

[MrFrenik]

Hi all! Just joined up with this site after following it for quite a while and am excited to contribute and being a part of this community. I'll start off with posting a few sketches/studies I've done recently. Thanks for any crits/advice/simple comments I get from anyone!


Latest work at the end. You know this already!

[MrFrenik]

Figure/tonal study. Also trying to get a better handle on using the brushes in Photoshop more effectively.

[MrFrenik]

A recent design I did. Lineart was inked by hand in Photoshop, not too happy with colors/shading but I learned quite a bit from it.

[MrFrenik]

Random figure sketches without reference.

[MrFrenik]

Sketching with reference to "The Sartorialist", by Scott Scuman. Great resource for a variety of styles of clothing, fashion, etc.

[Jarrad]

Thanks for dropping by my SB! Your stuff looks really good! As far as critiques goes.. Some of the figures in your last drawing by memory look stylized and less realistic. however, I really like the way that looks but in case you were trying to go for a realistic look I think certain things like the waist on the top right figure gets quite narrow and in the bottom middle figure there is what looks like a rather sharp edge on her leg. although It is hard to tell. I personally really like the way those figures look. They have their own unique character to them!

[MrFrenik]

Loomis study today on arms while out at my favorite sandwich shop in town. I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to focus more when not at home. It's going to make me broke, methinks.

[James Thomas]

Your cartooning style is pretty fresh bruz, i think you should work on that more and evolve it, get into some graphic art type shizz and really make it wicked.

[MrFrenik]

Jarrad - Thanks for the reply and stopping by my SB. I agree, the figures are quite rough so I think I make them "feel" right as much as possible by stylizing them, although I know that can only get me so far, which is why I study anatomy/figure drawings like a beast right now!

A Faux - Thanks to you as well for the reply and views. I actually threw around the idea of doing logo/mascot design. I used to be in a band and did all the artwork for it and thought about continuing that on a wider base.

[MrFrenik]

These are a new "series" of sketches I'll start up in my online sketchbook titled "Work Sketches" in which, you've guessed it, I'll be posting sketches that I do while at work. I'm a server at a popular restaurant here in town and in order to keep the peace (and my job ) as much as possible, I'll be "censoring" any mention of the name on all of these sketches. A few of them are just random fun bits, others are the start of other ideas that I carried to completion ( doodle monkey and the gangster), and then there's the start of a technique that I came up with recently to help me "invent" poses from my imagination. I call it the "scribble technique" where I do just that: scribble in an allotted space on a page and then try and find a figure pose from that. It's been very interesting in helping me work out rather complicated poses and has shown much of my weaknesses for drawing the human figure in certain perspectives. I'll continue to post more of this exercise as I do them.

[MrFrenik]

Working with rhythm in the figures. This is where I really began to feel the figure drawing becoming fluid and more instinctual.

[MrFrenik]

A portrait of my friend Carrie that I did (by mouse, ugh) when I first got into Photoshop. I really liked the way this one turned out, other than the hair.

[MrFrenik]

More figure drawings. The last one is more of the scribble technique that I use to come up with poses from imagination.

[MrFrenik]

Design for a tattoo idea for my girlfriend. Earth as the Death Star, anyone?

[Jarrad]

daamn i love all the new stuff! I am so subscribing to this!

[MrFrenik]

Thanks, Jarrad. I'll be posting daily so I look forward to your comments/crits. Time to draw now.

[MrFrenik]

Arms again today. ::flexes::

[Oranghe]

Thanks for the comment on my book

Loving the marks wish i did traditional more now haha been awhile.
Keep being creative while learning like you are

[Samszym]

Oh man the hatching around the arms look liike a maze I don't know where to start D:
haha, nice drawings man, keep it up!
Make sure you're not just doing anatomy studies to do anatomy studies, you have to actually analyze and learn what the people in your books are saying. Your Loomis studies are fairly accurate, but have you really memorized the arm muscles he's described? Could you remake these drawings totally from memory or draw a similar arm in another position with no reference? Make sure you're able to, or at least start teaching yourself how to. If you can't apply what you learned from a study after doing it, then it wasn't really a successful study, just doodling.
Remember, you draw more with your brain than with your hand.

[MrFrenik]

Thanks for the kind comments and crits, guys. I totally agree with you, Vertical, and was actually thinking to myself tonight that I've been doing a few too many studies and not enough ACTUAL drawing or painting generally to test out what I've been studying. I'll post some work that shows whether or not I've absorbed my anatomy knowledge soon.

[David Keen]

Hey MrFrenik, great start to your sketchbook here! I'm really impressed at the furious rate you've been updating at, definitely something I could learn from. I really like the characters you've shown us so far, looking forward to seeing more in that style. The post from Vertical above contains some really good information. Keep at it with the anatomy drawing, it's a great way to gauge your improving skills. Good work so far!

[MrFrenik]

Happy Thanksgiving update! Hope everyone's holiday was great. Just posting a couple of studies I did yesterday while I had a little downtime from eating.

The first is a group of poses from imagination using the scribble method.

The second is a full male anatomy study. (It turned out a little "wider" than I would've liked, but I learned a bit from it, such as visual landmarks and such).

As always, thanks for comments/crits from anyone.

[Wheeljack18]

Thanks for stopping by my SB!
Its good to see that you are studying from guys like Loomis and Mattesi. You are on the right track but don't rush yourself when learning anatomy. Take your time. I can't help but think that you might enjoy the pattern doodles which border your studies more than the studies themselves
Enjoy your Turkey Hangover,
Cheers!

[MrFrenik]

Feeling sick. But I've been asked to do some tattoos for people at work, and it seems that my work's getting more and more popular between co-workers and their friends. Might be an avenue to look into seriously. Here's the latest one I finished tonight.

[MrFrenik]

Quick color study - portrait of an old man. Learned quite a bit from this one.

[MrFrenik]

Quick portrait, studying values and facial planes.

[Wheeljack18]

Hey Man, #25 has Devil Snake Eyes! Did you intend that? Not a bad study and you are making some progress, Next time, I suggest you try adding some Blue and Red. Think about how blood sits under the surface of the skin. You will find that it rounds out the tones nicely.
Cheers!

[MrFrenik]

Thanks for the reply and crit as always, Wheeljack. I want to post a portrait I'm doing now for some "WIP" crit from you guys so I can make sure I'm headed in the correct direction. I've posted the original shot as well as the painting in progress. Let me know what you think!

P.S. my girlfriend's a goober.

[MrFrenik]

Small update. I've decided that I'm going to not only use this as a sketchbook, but also as my journal to track my progress and to keep myself motivated. I'm learning this all on my own, so it only makes sense to set myself up some kind of schedule that I stick to regularly so that I can keep myself focused and feeling as if I am moving forward regularly. The best thing I can think of is to have days where I devote myself solely to certain areas, separate from any actual pieces/portfolio work that I might be doing. My studies will include the basics: Color theory, perspective, design, anatomy/figure drawing, tonal/value studies, lighting, any others that I might be forgetting at the moment . Here's to hoping that in enough time of actually sticking to this routine, like working out I'll continue to a "bulking up" of my artistic muscles and get myself even closer to landing a job away from waiting tables.

[MrFrenik]

- Design: Character, Environmental, Creature, Industrial, UI ( 1 of each; environments in color, draw-throughs of concepts, color variations of creatures, characters, etc.)

- Painting from Nature: 2 environments, 1 color, 1 grey scale.

- Drawing in Perspective: Draw 10 objects, from reference images, in perspective planes.

- Figure Studies/Anatomy: 10 figure drawings, 40 individual drawings of specific anatomy, all with basic rendering.

- Value/Tonal Still Life: 1 color / 1 greyscale

- Portraiture: 1 greyscale / 1 color

- Material Studies: 5 material balls in color, 5 in greyscale

- Studio Time/Portfolio work: work on pieces/individual projects, etc.


Basic Weekly plan as follows:

Monday: Figure Studies/Anatomy
Tuesday: Painting from Nature/Environments
Wednesday: Drawing in Perspective
Thursday: Portraiture
Friday: Material Studies
Saturday: Value/Tonal Still Life
Sunday: Design

* Studio Time/Portfolio work is in all of these days but only AFTER studies have been done.