Jaik Art Sketchbook - Beginnings

[Joe777k7]

Wow amazing!! Dude you are getting so good! Its crazy how fast too. I need to catch up, im following this training thing i made for myself right now so im going to stick with that. Its alot of boring stuff but it seems to be paying off. I cant wait to try stuff like your doing! Keep it up man!!

[Jaik]

Haha thanks Joe! Always great hearing from you makes me feel motivated lol.

--

Another update, most of this is done with in the last week, I think I am now up to date with updates or else there are pieces I cant find/dont care about lol.

Did a portrait, didnt realise it was Olivia Wilde until a friend pointed it out.. because I'm an observant like that -.-
Some industrial design stuff, with a Mechanika study and then my own comm bot.. didnt turn out like i wanted but meh.
Feng Zhu inspired skulls, a character which is hard to see, and a creature. Blah blah blah. I probably dont need to explain what each image is, I think I've gotten past the point where my portraits look like pineapples and my robots like stepped on toasters... I hope..

[liquorbleu]

Woah those little color studies blew me away, nice nice work!! Looks like you are bringing more story into your imaginative landscapes too. Also, I love those odd like shape doodles. They are awesome.

You are so almost close with those clothing studies, squint your eyes at them check your values. You are just slightly slightly off with your darker values. But adding in that contrast really really makes things pop!!

Keep it up! Use those oils paints and learn to mix color, do the same exercises you are doing now just traditionally. You'll learn worlds about color. Or just pick some colors you find in magazines and try to match the hue/value with your own swatches.

[liquorbleu]

Oh whoops, sorry that comment was for last page. New page yeah-yeah! These clothing studies look way better as far as contrast goes! That portrait is great, you just need to do some more of them.

Also, have you checked this guy's videos out? I loved this eye video this morning
http://youtu.be/u6-bCgRmcko

[Greenhouse]

Nice updates! I could see that it was Olivia Wilde, even with just a few stokes. Maby some more work on her but you have definetly past that point; "I think I've gotten past the point where my portraits look like pineapples and my robots like stepped on toasters". Verry funny! Oh,and I love your Feng Zhu skulls!

[Joe777k7]

Yea updates!!! See some Feng Zhu imspired skulls and Doug Chiang study. Loving it!!! Liking to variety of works! Keep it up!!! Woo!!!

[Jaik]

Liqour: Thanks! Yeah I really need to get more into oil paints, I start a course on that specifically sometime in the next few weeks so that should help a bit

Thanks Greenhouse! I'm glad you could recognise her lol. I really do need to start pumping out more portraits.. Part of me wants to do famous people, so that its easier to crit, and the other part of me wants to run and hide from them because a tiny screw up will show =/

Thanks Joe!

--

Really gotta keep updating, but it takes so much time -.- scanning, adjusting, resizing blah blah blah.
Sketching in coloured pencil is awesome, dont know what its so different from normal graphite but I recommend people give it a try
Last cannon is made up, and if anyone could crit the very last thing that would be great, i really need help pushing it further, it will eventually be colour.

[kevin_]

nice updates....really like that leather jacket study!

[Greenhouse]

Nice enviro studies. Interesting architectural image, with the castle on the top of the hill. That could be a really cool image.
I don’t know if I’m of any help but anyway. I think you’re off to a good start with the last one. I think you got the perspectives right on the house and the stairs. More light on the house is necessary. I think that the legs might be longer, especially from the knee and down. The trees in the back look accurate. I like the image in black and white, but it will be interesting to see it colored.
Keep it up!

[Joe777k7]

Get you some elipse guides for them wheels! They are amazing help and makes things look sweet!!! Everything is looking great! I see your still being creative! I aim to do some stuff like your doing soon! Everything is looking great man!!

[Jaik]

Thanks Kevin!

Greenhouse, you may be right, I think I'll fix the figure up after I work out colours and the such since I'll need to repaint it then anyway. Thanks for dropping by!

Yeah Joe, just need to get my hands on a set. what angles have you got? I know theres 2 or 3 diff angles

--

I feel as though there should be more of an update, so I think I'm forgetting a couple of pieces, this is why I shouldnt wait so long to upload.. But a combination of daylight savings and work means that its a bit of a hassle to update in the mornings. Not happy with the portraits but put too much effort into them not to upload =/

[Lakka]

funky composition in the last one, dig it

[CarbonBased]

Hello Jaik. Very nice effort man. Striking at it from many different angles is the way to go.

[Greenhouse]

Hey, Good work with the face studies! I like how easy the lines are. Hard work is really showing.
The grey scale image with the house is very nice! I like how you have blocked in the different grey scale areas. It makes the image interesting and modern.
I see you have worked with the last image. The tree in the front looks nice. Maybe not so much the broken tree against the wall. But it’s just my opinion. I know it’s a wip, so I look forward to the next update.
Keep up the good work!

[Jaik]

Lakka: Hehe thanks man! :3

CarbonBased: Variety is the spice of life, though I still feel like I'm just twidling my thumbs -_-

Greenhouse: Thanks Yeah the tree sort of needs to be there as a story element but I really need to try and fix that up and make it look alright and like it fits >.<

---

Im going to try and update this more often, beginning of a new week and a new promise, lets see if I can keep it (I doubt it).

These took a lot longer than I hoped, with the mechs I wanted to see how I improved from a study, so I tried designing one, did a Mechanika study then designed again. My visual library really isnt strong enough to do these sort of things. Going to try and work out a way to improve this, I think Ill focus on Mech for a month and see where it gets me, especially considering its my weak point.

[Psychobuddy]

Great work man! Awesome work on that knife too, really great rendering. Keep it up.

[Greenhouse]

Big improvement here! Awesome stuff in your last update! The rendering of the knife is very good! It looks smooth and shiny.
The Mechanica studys is so great! I think you have a good eye for that sort of things! I look forward to seeing the rest of those studies!
Keep it up buddy, you skills are heading in the right direction….fast!

[Joe777k7]

Holy crap your penmanship is solid on the tablet. Man you got any advice on how to switch over from paper to wacom? My Elipse guides only go from 15 degrees to 60 degrees then i got a circle templete. Different sizes as well. I wanna get the ones that go from 65 to 90. That would be sweet but i cant find them any where. Man your mech design as well is really solid. I drew a mech in photo shop recently but it doesnt look as solid as yours. Mine is more organic i guess you would say. Seeing great progress from you! Keep it up and stop by my sketchbook sometime!!!

[liquorbleu]

Hey Jaik long time no talk! those mecca are looking fucking amazing. Like holy shit. Looks like you have a knack for that stuff -keep going!!!

With your figure sketches - good ideas but I feel like you stayed pretty tight and concentrated the whole time with those. I feel like you might benefit from some senseless doodling! I'm sure you do some of that stuff in your sketchbook (and prolly don't post it like I don't most of the time) - but organic figurative creatures are all about movement and rhythm. Stay loose! I find it easier to draw pencil lines (or ink) traditionally and get a good look to it but I had to find the right pen that I liked to use for doodling.

One thing about drawing that is important that we forget a lot is it may be a perfect drawing but if there's no emotion behind it it, it won't be nearly as visually compelling.

I just got Iain McCaig's book and here's one of his pointers about learning to draw: "Before you were ten, you probably never thought about whether you could draw or not. You simply did it. Drawing was as natural a way to express yourself as speaking. Then you hit ten and got stupid about it. Drawing was important and if you couldn't do it like Leonardo, you didn't do it at all." ...."now I could draw. Maybe not like Leonardo, because even if you can speak a language, that doesn't make you Shakespeare. But it does mean you can communicate. Which I think is his point. It's not what the drawing looks like but what it's saying. If you focus on that, it's amazing how the drawing seems to look better too!"

[Jaik]

Thanks Psycho and Greenhouse!
Joe: Damnit man, you keep making me want to get ellipse guides.. urgh, i need more money lol.
Liqour! Long time no speak, where have you been? =.= Yeah i really have to learn to loosen up a bit.. What book is that from? Iain McCaig.. This is going to be another book to add to my book list which is already several pages long...

--

The second pic is what Im going to do in oils.. hopefully.. couple of 45min sketches after that and a few mech studies.. more and more mech.. all the time.. woo

[kevin_]

the vehicle work is looking pretty good! environments and characters are un a lesser level but still coming along nicely!

[Joe777k7]

ah man more work!!! Suck awesomeness I still cant get over you lines in photoshop. The Doug Chiang study is looking sweet, that might actually be a sweet excersize for me to do. Some doug Chiang in photoshop. Might help me get use to drawing with the wacom like you. Sweet renderings as well man! Keep going!

[Greenhouse]

I really like those mechs you’re working on! The last one looks hard to do, but I think you’re on to it! I like the classic enviro at the top. And the woman figure is also looking nice. Keep up the good work!

[Jaik]

Thanks all

Not a big update, had my 21st over the weekend so between that and work and hangovers and many nights out i havent done much, but should be getting back to normal pretty soon. Between now and christmas is always hectic because a lot of family have birthdays etc, so itll probably slow down a bit.. anyway, mech mech mech

[Joe777k7]

wow intense man, is that golden one an orginal? Looks sweet, cool to see some more progress

[CountBlackula]

Awesome steam machine robot!

[Greenhouse]

Wow, your mech looks great! The steam dude is so cool! Maybe you could put some shiny light spots on it! That could make the metallic stand out a little more. Keep up the great work!

[Jaik]

Joe: Thanks man, yeah the gold one is an original, not great but gotta start doing originals eventually lol..

Thanks Countblackula!

Greenhouse: Yeah materials are still a weak point of mine, so i have definitely got to practice that lol...

--

Okay so its the end of my 3 weeks of mech studying, I think I definitely improved, but still a really long way to go, but i feel a bit more confident about my abilities to atleast experiment with it.

Three for today, the first one took me some crazy like.. 8hrs or something.. then the next took me 1.5hrs, I detailed a lot more on the first one, but the difference between these two I am not sure its worth the extra time, what does everyone else think? The last one was just a quickie sketch, took maybe 45min, even less, definitely not finished...

[CountBlackula]

These mechs are awesome. You just imagine these things?

[marko markovic]

you examine a lot of diffrent things...friend that is very good and important....just keep it in your mind that everything is simple...you are looking for your colours....that is task forever
...very good progress ..