Pauzels pursuit of happiness

[Pauzel]

Hi, my name is Paul.

After years of lurking around at CA I finally decided to start my own sketchbook, hoping it will motivate me to keep drawing and get better.

I've made several attempts at learning to draw in the past but somehow I always got really frustrated after some time and gave up. But since I REALLY would love to become a solid draftsman, I decided to give It another try some weeks ago, and I promise I will not give up as easily as before. If some of you guys could spare some time for critique, suggestions or simply some words of motivation, I would certainly appreciate it!

Enough words, here is a selection of the better stuff I produced over the last three weeks, mostly studies of bridgeman and loomis books:

(edit: first image for thread thumbnail)

[FourTonMantis]

excellent start so far, keep it up. your line weights are really nice.

[Pauzel]

@ FourTonMantis: Thank you for your kind words! My lines are actually much "post processing", where i draw faintly first and then put stonger lines afterwards.

Here is some new stuff, simple Bargue studies and head anatomy a'la Loomis.

I'll be away the next week, so I probably won't be able to draw till I'm back.

[Pauzel]

Well, after some time of (wannabe) artistic crysis not drawing at all I'm back, and I really hope I will manage to post at least once a week from now on. Otherwise you have full permission to call me names and kick my lazy butt.

[Pauzel]

some more loomis heads and two quick still life line drawings

[Pauzel]

I'm getting depressed again. I feel like I'm making no progress, on the contrary, my drawings seem to get worse. I have no reliable system to tackle a drawing, and each time I don't know how to begin and it's a matter of luck if it ends up as grossly distorted bullshit, which is the case most of the time. Anyway, these are the few ones that came out a little better than the rest:

[Jonathan L.]

Those look pretty damn good to me, mate! You seem like you're on the right track, just keep the posting consistent. You've got the self-discipline to do those studies, now just persevere. Everyone artist gets frustrated, but I can see the progress even if you don't. You'll have good days and bad days, but what's important is that you don't give up.

[tangofanatic]

Don't give in Pauzel. If things aren't looking the way you want them to.. at least next time you won't make that same mistake, you may run into another! hah.
Another thing to consider is a comment from one of Syd Mead's interviews: when he's drawing/designing, he is embodies three people: creator, technician, detached observer. In this context, think of what you want to achieve before making a mark whilst taking your time, you can always start lightly! Then look overall at your piece, and criticise it. Make amendents.. Most importantly smile and enjoy it

[Pauzel]

@ Jonathan L. : Thanks mate!

@ tangofanatic: Thanks, I'll keep your words in mind. Had to look up Syd Mead, his stuff is really mindblowing.

Here comes some new stuff, the same as usual:

[DennisH-Art]

Nice studies so far man! Keep it up! Would love to see some more stuff from imagination, as well as color stuff if you got any!

[Pauzel]

@DennisH-Art: Thank you :-)! I do not have any imaginative stuff to show yet, but I have started to teach myself painting in photoshop the last days and did some colour studies. To be honest, I did the mountain piece and the frog study in grayscale first and coloured those in a second step using a color layer (which affects only hue and saturation), feels a little bit like cheating. I did not use the color picker however. The mountain piece was the on I did first, so it really looks like shit. The frog took me REALLY long, but I am quite satisfied with the result. I definitely need to get faster with these.

Furthermore, I tried to do a simple bargue study, but with comparative measurement instead of sight size measurement. The result contains some nasty distortion, but I think this exercise is good for learning to be patient with your drawing and I think sight size measurement is less practical for concept art. I plan to do another one of those some time with a more complex bargue plate.

Any tips on painting would be much appreciated. I liked the tutorial videos by Matt Kohr.

[Pauzel]

I am still alive and drawing, even if I didn't have too much time lately. Furthermore I have been reading a lot about perspective, colour and other stuff.

Here is what I am doing currently: a screencapture study from the movie "gomorrha" and a simple perspective drawing with a first attempt at rendering.
I don't know if I have enough patience to finish the screencapture study, took me quite long already :-)

[tangofanatic]

Niceee... interesting digital painting studies, turned out pretty good eh. Though I see some parts of the studies in #11 quite blurred maybe because you've focussed on the main form or values etc? and not added the intricate details..
Well if you're not up for finishing off the piece now you can always work it up when you're in the zone

[Pauzel]

@ tangofanatic: well, at some point I decided to stop since I didn't want to spend more time on those studies :-) (yeah, bad pretext)

small update on the screencapture study and some perspective stuff, based on ctrl-paint.com tutorials:

[JesseM]

Good to see you doing Bridgman, Brague, screenshot studies...shows you know the drill. Keep at it!

I have to say..Your color's accurate, your forms look dimensional, your proportions are generally pretty good although some of the pencil work suffers from lopsideness... Overall you seem pretty well-rounded. I'd like to see more work from your head, since that'll reveal your weaknesses and where you need to study best (in addition to being an important skill to practice alongside your studies!). My only other concern is your edgework; pay attention to whether a transition is soft or sharp. You've been neglecting that.

So doing some from your head occasionally, and watching edges are my two suggestions! Otherwise you've been doing a great job--don't stop.

[xinranliu]

Screencap study is looking great so far, nice hand

[ChisLu]

Great studies and your latest is looking amazing already!