Fighting to improve, critique very welcome.

[AndreM]

Greetings conceptart.org.

I need to improve, so here we go. - Newest stuff at last page.

Crits & pointers are very welcome!

[AndreM]

Quick update before bed, shape studies, spent about 3 hours doing these (waaaay too long for 4 simple shapes, but I guess speed will come eventually), and I am still not satisfied with the shadows.

Its a bit hard for me to imagine where the shadow projects onto the ground, so studies and practice is the way forward.
Especially the shadow of the ball kept looking like it was cast on a curved surface instead of a flat ground.

Also did a self portrait and a few gesture drawings (60s ones) but no scanner yet!

[blazingdimensions]

nice start- btw i think you should focus mostly on black and white and line drawings right now(either digital or traditional) because color just adds a whole nother thing that you need to worry about- right now i think you should focus mostly on your pencil/traditional stuff so it would be great to see it when you scan it in. and if you need any advice for books for figures you should look up Bridgeman or Andrew loomis , also some of Loomis' books such as successful drawing teach you all about light and perspective. Im not a proffessional concept artist so you don't have to listen to my advice just trying to give you some tips. Keep up the practice and keep doing life drawings also. lookin good so far ill stay tuned so keep posting . btw you can click the link and drop by my sketchbook whenever ud like

[CMioveanu]

Hey, those glasses looking good, was it still life or photo?

Maybe you can consider doing some gestures, they're a fun way to start with the figure.

[AndreM]

@Blazingdimensions: Thanks for the encouragement! Yep I will definitely be focusing my studies on form, and yes, colour is confusing the heck out of me

@CMioveanu: Thanks man, it was a still life. Great suggestion, gestures are fun!
Will post a bunch of them when I can.

Thanks for dropping, very much appreciated

Today I got a BUNCH of advise on cylinders and shadow projection from this awesome guy named Brelli - I believe I spent 2+ hours interrogating him about my shadows and how to project the shadow onto the ground, THANKS man, great help and great patience!

Also a joke on my little pony. Call it a form study

And of course, more perspective stuff (which is really kicking my butt)

Going away for the weekend, will post an update on monday.

[AndreM]

Only got a chance to spend about 4 hours painting this one today.

From reference, with a bunch of small thinking breaks, to avoid just copying mindlessly, which probably happened anyway haha

And now I realize that there are a few obvious proportional errors here. The nose is way too thin and the right jaw (right on pic, her left) is a bit oversized. Bah

[AndreM]

Good evening conceptart.org

Nighttime update from here. Too tired to keep working at the face study.

[AndreM]

Quick post before bed, day off today, expected SO much of my studies today, have to say im a bit dissapointed, but hey, had a great day

Self portrait... Will do another tomorrow, and try for more consistent lighting, and more focus on the forms around the mouth (looks kinda flat on this one). The sun was setting and acting as only light source, I realize thats a bad idea now

And yes, the headset is absolutely horrible (2 hrs of wearing them = pain in the earlope)

[DinaCardillo]

Hey, very nice, I think you're improving! The picture of the blonde girl is very nice to look at despite the anatomical mistakes because you managed to give her a very nice, calm smile; and the colors are very harmonic. What bothers me the most with the anatomy is her left eye.

Keep posting!

[yogeshj25]

Andre thse are lovely studies and work! keep pushing man!

[AndreM]

Dina: Thanks a ton! Yeah Im working on those anatomical mistakes, although they arent always easy to spot. I can see it looks off, but not why

Yog: Thanks Yog! I will keep pushing!

So here's a weekend update. This weekend I learned to save more often. (First picture is a screendump of a stalled PS window, yay).
In addition to perspective here's some poses and a SP which I did with a hard round brush only, which doesnt make sense... completely forgot to use any other brushes. Also my ears are funny.
Did a few longer figure studies in colour, lets just say proportions kicked my ass haha.

EDIT: Looking at the SP I can now see that my nose is extremely long, will do a proportions check later today. Should have done that yesterday before posting, bah

[AndreM]

Phew, long weekend! Lots of work to catch up with, finally got a moment to catch my breath and get back to studies.

Tonight a SP, and a SP from last week... aaand some random doodles working on proportions of the human body. Failed slightly.
I think I should start actually studying anatomy instead of just doodling and laughing at my mistakes haha. I still suck at face will definitely keep doing these portrait paintings till I get to somewhere decent.
Tonights SP took about 2 hrs, and Id say Im slooowly starting to think in terms of planes and how they turn and twist along the facial structure.
Tomorrow Ill try for a few skulls if I can find the time... and skulls

- The eyes are too big, making me look like a child, gotta fix that on next SP!

[AndreM]

Arrgh totally slacked off today doing an environment from imagination painting instead of studies.

Was fun, but probably not useful

From a concepting standpoint I belive the picture is rather dull. I like the idea of treehouses, but they deserved more attention/detail. Priorities!

[Januz]

That last enviro is really good, it has a great mood. Try doing more head studies from Loomis or David Finch. It kind of looks like your eyes are too wide, the noses too thin and the mouths a bit too small.

Keep pushing!

[AndreM]

Thanks for the comment Januz, I definitely gotta work on my faces, I can see what you are saying about the proportions. Have to work them out and check theme every step of the way
Currently working my way through Loomis' Successful drawing. Next stop is portraits/heads.
Last enviro was a bit of a lucky accident, definitely gotta do more of those, had a blast

Its been a week, so its time for a sketch dump!
Most SPs took about 2 hours, poses are 2 minutes per pose (Trying to focus on clean and precise lines, so slowed down a bit).

[AndreM]

Had a bit of fun today painting an environment. Learned a lot I think.

Scene:
ET vessel beaming something into its maw, terrorizing a city.

So what did I learn here? Make sure you have a plan for your design!
Size considerations failed on this one. The maw is fine, but where does it come from? Perhaps even walking on earth (I could easily imagine this being some kind of worm, having crept its way through the city) instead of looking like its just coming from outer space. (stupid fix because the initial plan was to have it come out of a hovering spaceshuttle).

Thinking my idea through I realize it doesnt make sense, so why didnt I fix it? Well I was more busy doing small details here and there. Gah! Utter fail, especially the last minute save by making the picture larger, must retry.

Process included.

[AndreM]

last painting is nagging at me, looked wrong!

So here's an update. Gonna leave it at that and get back to studies

Details are meh, but I have no idea how to do them yet. Studies required I guess.

[AndreM]

Tonight a few life studies, spent most of the time on the mouse/mousepad painting. I know it looks super rough, but I did spend a good 3 hours on it, I guess I am just super slow

Hoping for that to improve eventually.

[AndreM]

Only got to do traditional drawing (ballpoint pen) yesterday due to an unexpected, though pleasant, visit. Quick apple sketch (30 minutes) while the unexpectees (? wait, what?) are napping.
From photoref, it does so feel like cheating compared to life painting (I can never find the same viewpoint whenever my eyes shift away from the ref, practice I guess, eh )

Must keep still life refs nearby. Expect a still life apple on cloth soon!
(edit: now with a few fixes here and there, as a gif! fun fun)

[AndreM]

Monday evening update. Spent the entire day on a selfportrait / form study.
greyscale to focus on form rather than colours, one less colour plane to confuse me, really think it helped! This SP actually looks a liiiittle bit like me

Bit too heavy on the eye shading, must pay more attention
For the next SP ill try to save the process as well.

[Izer]

Hey andre nice updates man, keep at it.

[AndreM]

Hi Izer, thanks man, I definitely will!

So today a quick environment followed by a bonzai tree study (because the trees in my environment were absolutely dreadful)
phew, trying to get every leaf right from a reference is a killer, guess Ill be less of a ref-slave next time and try to grasp the general leaf/twig placement instead

[AndreM]

Finally got back to pencil sketching a bit from life today. Maybe I was just in the "zone" or lucky with my pencilstrokes, but it really felt easier than it usually does! So either Im less bothered by my mistakes ,or Im actually improving

Pictures taken with my phone, not the best solution but it'll have to suffice for now.

So in order of posting:
SP ~1 hr
gestures/quick drawings (120 sec per drawing or so)
life drawing fun w. pencil ~1½ hrs
photo study, little mermaid, ~1 hr

note: Looking at the little mermaid study I can see how terrible the water is haha. Will have to study that.
Expect next update on 18/06-2012, will be away for the weekend.

[AndreM]

Good evening CA.org.

Yet another update, finally got the time to upload. Work has been killing me, spent a lot of time reading/studying hogarth for faces, along with sketching a ton of 2 minute poses/heads. Really helps to get proportions right on the initial sketch I guess.

Lots of fun, please crit me so I can improve


Last SP took 40 mins, impressed with the amount of details/form I got down in that time, unfortunately Im out of time for today
I believe the form studies (funny coloured shaped) have helped, must do more!

[AndreM]

Last update before the weekend (going away again, Ill try to bring pen/paper this time)

2-3 hours of gestures (edit: 45 sec per pose, used to doing 2 mins per pose, so pardon the incomplete people here and there) followed by two photo studies, each around 2 hours.

Worst part of posting just before bed, too hyped to fall asleep because I feel Im making progress.

[JakehC]

nice work dude. keep focusing. try to work from life as much as possible.

[AndreM]

Aryeh: Thanks for stopping by, I got it, more life studies incoming

Tonights sketch dump, a few drawings from the weekend and a digital one from today (imagination random girl, yay Im starting to get the facial features pinned down more accurately, must keep going at it!).
The spacehelmet girl is actually a ref study of a cover from Imagine FX, created by Derek Stenning, check him out if you dont already know of him! - Amazing stuff

[AndreM]

Today a 4 hr environment from imagination (shouldnt take that long! bah) and a drapery study. More clothing to come, definitely (great form/value material!)

[Januz]

You win an internet for sticking with a study for so long
That looks pretty cool for coming from imagination only. I think it could use more variation in values, to give it a bit more of interest. The tree in the middle of the forest looks out of proportion (unless it's meant to be a huge tree), it's almost as big as the car in the foreground. Also, the waterfall should be a bit more vertical.
I liked the drapery study too. Drappery is a lot of fun to draw.

[AndreM]

Thanks Januz!
Ahhh I can definitely see your point about the waterfall! I didnt think about following the perspective of the waterfall when figuring perspective lines for the huts.
And yes, the tree is meant to be large, although I agree it looks a bit lame. Must fix that. Either by making it even larger, or by replacing it.
The values are an issue, I think the entire background has to be reworked (left top area doesnt make sense haha)

I will give it another shot, thanks for the crit - Very much appreciated!