Diary of a sketchy kid

[IsaacEs]

My name is Isaac Espitia and i hope to be a concept artist i am 17 years old and not getting any younger. I draw pretty much 6 days out of the week i tend to draw mainly at night because i work all day.

Im hoping to make some new friends along the way too

I do not know how often i will be updating but hopefully i can get some good critiques and people motivating me to do so!
I barely paint digitally so im trying to change that too.

I need pressure to make me paint everyday i rarely ever paint!

edit: i had too much stuff posted so i narrowed it down to the most recent excuse the watermarks i had to compress them @.@




a sketch nothing too interesting i just wanted to do something a little more polished


some croc studies with pen

random concepts





sketches from last night

this was the latest digital painting, apple study i was working pretty large and rarely zoomed in so thats why the brush economy is ugly :/

these were dragon concepts for sinixdesign's design lab videos

[IsaacEs]

I just finished two quick little paintings critiques welcome of course!

[kevin_]

nice start! especially like the last update, i would say work on your edges these look a bit soft, anyways keep posting!

[IsaacEs]

Thank you for stopping by! wow i didnt notice that before, ill keep that in mind next time! thank you again

[Balor]

Really like your sketchbook. I would like to see further development of the dragon concepts as well!

[IsaacEs]

thank you means alot ill see what i can do, i actually have a sketch of the first one in my actual sketchbook which i didnt upload to here ill upload it later if youd like to see it

Edit: uploaded recent pages

[Pete Hidalgo]

Hey man thanks for stopping by my book.

Just like me I would say work on the confidence of your line. I know just as well as you this can be hard. But always keep that in mind. I wish I had more Valuable information but I am still a noob too.

[IsaacEs]

Thank you for stoppig by mine as well really appreciate it yeha i have a tough time too specially since i kinda have a dont look back kinda thing i tend to go over lines nstead of erasing them, not good, ill keep it in mind thoughthank you

[Aragah]

doing good man. just keep practicing!

[IsaacEs]

Thank you ill try my best! I need to stop being so damn lazy!

[Shahan]

Hey dude!
Nice concepts and imagination. ooh and props for using imgur
This drawing struck me as particularly good your very close on the proportions, but still need to work on anatomy for the arms and pelvis. but the overall is good.

I'd Love to see more of this sketch that loooks great, do more creatures.
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Thx for the nice words on my SB.
and no artist is lazier artist than me man... your rendering is great. Try a community activity challenge like COW or w/e, even if you think you won't win, for a lot of artists it is not about winning, it still helps you grow like an artist reaaaallly well and fast. it is a combination of positive stress and healthy competition. also it gets more visitors to your SB so you get a broad spectrum of advice all in all helping you become better.

oh and yeah my original Wurm WIP was lost via Photoshop crash :'( ... so my final entry was new.

have a good one mate!!

[Xelar]

The pencil are good even though there are some anatomy issues. Your figures look quite short. Try to make the head smaller and the body and limbs more slender.
I can't say too much about the paintings because they are pretty simple but the lines are too fuzzy. Maybe you should work with a higher brush opacity ?

Hope that helps.

[IsaacEs]

Sporus: thank you for posting on my sb and the word of encouragement idk how i managed to pull that off haha i just randomly started and got it but i noticed i made my chests too big, yeah im thinking of joining the next teen challenge i just need to push myself to do more studies and paintings!

Xelar: yeah ik im having problems with proportions because im trying to do it from the mind instead of using guidelines so sometimes they are unproportioned, and yeah the banana one i kinda bsed completely but i needed something new on here the ball i spent a bit more time and didnt realize how fuzzy it was until later, ill definitely work on that next time thank you for stopping by!

[Pete Hidalgo]

UPDATES!!!!!!! ha ha.

[kevin_]

haha yes i agree with pete updates!

[IsaacEs]

haha yeah ive been slacking! but heres the latest this is literally all ive drawn since last update....

[POPUPSart]

Hey man love the sketchbook. I'm in a similar sort of position myself.

What study materials are you using?

[IsaacEs]

Thank you! i left you a post on your sb answering your question

[Kanda]

This is a pretty cool sketchbook. I really like your pencils. As for line confidence crit that Pete Hidalgo pointed out, I've found this exercise here that helps with hand stability.

Can't wait to see more work from you

[IsaacEs]

Thank you for that but yeah sometimes i do but its mainly because i like to draw gesturely

[Shahan]

hey man replied on my SB to your last post. thank youuu
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More sketches dude. must see moarrrr

This is pretty good, heads look decent and i can see some understanding of shapes in space.

i really like the lion head here the scribble forms are also good. try tube forming and more complex tube forms.

this was also a good batch a dynamic pose here and there... good sketches overall since my last post!

I see your not focusing on any one thing. neither do i ..ever... if you're just sketching around try that old thing everyone does where they fill pages with sketches of heads and body parts... studies blah blah blah
have fun with it. but also be constructive.
Loving the eyeball forehead ... god i love that shit! haha
the imagination shines through a bit more in the last posts.. would love to see you be more creative or more imaginative works, put on some loud music (if that's your thing) and get comfortable putting the tablet to the side of monitor and let it flow.

Keep posting. and thank you so very much again.

[IsaacEs]

Yeah i used to fill up 3 pages front and back of studies in the beginning, but recently ive completely stopped doing anatomy studies and i just scribble around without thinking... im pretty disappointed in myself but i dont have as much time as most people do since i work till 6~8 :/ its hard i have become completely unmotivated

my digital desires have died out too, i can barely finish one side of a page nowadays and ive stopped drawing everyday, i dont wanna break this because then its going to be really hard to get back into it im kinda worried o.o, how do you keep the passion alive and the desire to do studies, i know ive improved but no matter what i cant get myself to do anything

im so fucking lazyyy!!!!

[Psychobuddy]

Hey man, don't give up, and don't feel discouraged, I work all day too, and most days I get home late at night, don't worry too much about work output, I mean it's great, just worry about drawing, studying, even if it's a little. A little is still a lot better than none, so if all you can do is an hour a day do an hour a day, at least you're still putting in an effort! Just keep pushing man, if this is really what you want, you'll find a way.

[IsaacEs]

Thank you so much but its easy to draw everyday when you already draw everyday once you start slowing then it gets kinda hard :/ thts the thing though i really want to be a concept artist but lately my mind keeps telling me.... Whats the point? Hopefully ican smack it out of myself with the help of this site, thank you for the words though sometimes thats all we need, what i really need though is direction and someone to push me along!

[IsaacEs]

sorry i havent been uploading ill scan my sb pages later but this is a face study i JUST did ill be updating accordingly

[Pete Hidalgo]

Thank you so much but its easy to draw everyday when you already draw everyday once you start slowing then it gets kinda hard :/ thts the thing though i really want to be a concept artist but lately my mind keeps telling me.... Whats the point?

Whats the point? Dude you are 17!!! You realize that you have so much going for you starting this early!!!!
Motivation can be a big bummer when you get in a slump. But no matter what dude always tell yourself "YOU CAN DO THIS"!

Let me ask you, do you go through a lot of peoples works here on CA? If so that can easily be discouraging and motivating. The shear amount of talent on this site is OVERWHELMING! But at the same time use it to motivate yourself. These people put in lots of time and lots of effort and LOTS of studies. Change up what your doing. Draw from imagination after you have studies something. Test your skills. If you don't get it to look right ask why, then focus on that study it then try again.

I hope you don't give up. And always push yourself to be better than you are now. Not better than someone else or as good as someone else. Good luck dude and keep DRAWING!!!!

[IsaacEs]

thank you alot man that actually helped me alot but the reason i was having that mindset is because i would look at people 19 or younger than me with greater skills im just like wow..... i suck, but im trying to change that ive kinda forgotten how ot study though hahah

i need to get back into it and draw more than one page, i need to make myself a list and everything, btw dude i gotta say thank you so much your diligence and enthusiasm is really encouraging youre already on your 4th page of your sb!! im barely on my first haha

anyways this is the last of the portraits they were just warm ups i wanna paint clouds now
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tried to paint clouds pretty complicated anyone know any good tips to paint clouds? i kind of just rushed it and speed painted :?

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these are this weeks sketches :/ not too much tried to be more fluid

[Shahan]

Hey dude, gonna post some .psd files for "motivating you"
this is experimental we'll see how it works out and no doubt I'll be forcing my love of gestural crap on you in this... haha
basically just attaching .PSD files so you can see the scale to work in and what not. The material is... idk... try and interact with the figures i've drawn and other stuff i've drawn.

If you don't like it or don't get to it, no biggy at all dude, just do what ya love. I like this SB.

also heres my work station now adays, TABLET PLACED TO THE RIGHT OR LEFT OF SCREEN NOT IN FRONT OF SCREEN. i learned that way too late...


yeah i am pushing you twoards digital... it is just better... what kind of tablet do you have? specs on your computer???

Working as it says in the ZIPs below may make working digital easier.

oh and yeah... just place the zips on desktop and extract to desktop for PSD files.
sorry i know it looks shady but the PSD'd were too big to upload.

anyone else viewing can use these too, just let me know what you though.

hope this wasn't too confusing dude...

EDIT: awww crap they're not opening the way they should..as in the layers you're supposed to see first..... just uhh... hide all layers except for the 'Background' and layer after that...

basically just mess around with the layer eyeballs and opacity of layers... damn this didn't turn out so good... lemme know what ya think D:

[IsaacEs]

Wow dude thank you so much for this! ive been kinda overwhelmed i dont know what a good workflow would be when it comes to painting stuff like still lifes and studies thats my main problem, but haha what a coincidence we have the exact same resolution!

i have a bamboo pen tablet the small one (pen only, no touch)
my specs are windows 7 4gb ram, i think 500 gbs of memory its an hp pavilion dv6 laptop

i tend to paint on my bed and by that i mean that i sit with my legs stretched out, laptop almost on my knees and tablet on my thighs in front of monitor, i realized its a bit uncomfortable but i dont have room on my comp desk because i have a giant gaming keyboard ive never used for gaming ha!

anyways i really appreciate this man its really helping me get out of the funk i was actually thinking of joining the new teen challenge but it seems to broad and im not too good with creature design yet :/ or am i just making excuses? :0


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edit: also i wanna ask you how you manage to do ref paintings because when i ref paint i open a new window with that pic and just drag it out of place so it becomes its own window then i shrink it a little bit but its still too big for my canvas :/ if i move it more to the side it blocks my color picker!
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here is the layout i was talking about its how i normally have stuff thats just a sample pic

[Shahan]

Wow dude thank you so much for this! ive been kinda overwhelmed i dont know what a good workflow would be when it comes to painting stuff like still lifes and studies thats my main problem, but haha what a coincidence we have the exact same resolution!

i have a bamboo pen tablet the small one (pen only, no touch)
my specs are windows 7 4gb ram, i think 500 gbs of memory its an hp pavilion dv6 laptop

i tend to paint on my bed and by that i mean that i sit with my legs stretched out, laptop almost on my knees and tablet on my thighs in front of monitor, i realized its a bit uncomfortable but i dont have room on my comp desk because i have a giant gaming keyboard ive never used for gaming ha!

anyways i really appreciate this man its really helping me get out of the funk i was actually thinking of joining the new teen challenge but it seems to broad and im not too good with creature design yet :/ or am i just making excuses? :0


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edit: also i wanna ask you how you manage to do ref paintings because when i ref paint i open a new window with that pic and just drag it out of place so it becomes its own window then i shrink it a little bit but its still too big for my canvas :/ if i move it more to the side it blocks my color picker!

No problemo compadre! Just remember it is not by any means a "good" workstation, just mine. Also I am Left Handed so you may want to try swapping everything.
You're shitting me! your screens 1366x768 too?! that's convenient.

As far as your tablet goes, be sure to work on large scales because mechanically you'll be doing LARGe strokes, do you get my meaning here? On a small tablet the worse possible thing can happen and I don't mean to scare you but constant limited range of motion clutching the stylus is SO bad for the wrist and hand. I'm getting 'Carpel Tunnel pains' nowadays, idk exactly what it is but it sucksss...

user andres333 posted these and I wont link them but [*IMG] them to grab everyone's attention.


and (made by user: andres333 NOT me)



aaaaand Daarken's foreboding post. here -> http://enliighten.com/blog/ergonomic...e-workstation/


^ goddd i wish someone would've showed me that stuff when I was starting out. Practice those habits man and you'll be much better off for it!.


Really invest in a slightly larger tablet. I sold my intuos3 small to buy a intuos4 medium and medium is not bad.
If i could do it again i'd just get a larger intuos3 but intuos4 has served me well now.

uhhhh lets see...

Those are exactly my laptops specs dude! Dell Inspiron N5010 runnings Windows 7 ultimate 64-bit, on 4GB Ram and a 500GB hardrive.
make sure you have a 64bit OS installed because then 64bit Photoshop runs slightly faster.
And I have OpenGL turned off always... and RAM usage in preferences to max.

http://www.deviantart.com/download/36714486/howo.jpg <-How to Optimize Photoshop...
by `Norke

it is a lot of reading but uhhh... the main jest from me would be turn off OpenGL and use that "efficiency thing to see if you're alright.

Same specs and hardware dude you've got no excuse XD

uhhm seriously re-think your bed painting thing... probably makes the laptop overheat depending on where it is, but in general use a desk. but hey if that is most comfortable for you, go for it... but take a look at daarken's post..

Oh and just say "fuck-it" and tryy the TC, it is a technical topic but hey... even if you don't submit it, you'll have something.... lol these same words never motivated me, but here i am telling you... sigh idk man.. motivation is intrinsic, come from with in to be all artsy fartsy.

and for refs.... LMAO i don't use refs x_x this is VERY bad... I am using them at the moment now and will upload later.

Sometimes if you have a spare monitor any kind at all you can hook it up to your laptop via VGA (hopefully) and use Splitscreen to open up a picture viewer on the other screen.

or .. fuckin print em out ... i think i may.
dude we have a small screen so i feel your pain on that one... idk.

anyways man, gotta go eat. take it easy dude. hope i'm not overwhelming you.

I HATE to read as well so don't feel pressured to respond quickly or anything I won't take it personal at ALL. haha

PS/EDIT:
Alright just saw that last edit with the pink drapery. uhm yeah that's about as good as it gets...

basically all the stuff from this page of Daarken's tuts may help ya there... http://enliighten.com/blog/category/tutorials/page/7/

he actually had a video addressing this exact issue... i WISH i could find it.. or sadly it may have a been like 2 minutes of another video... he like opened a new doc and did something to it... it was cool.. wish i could remember right now...

I found this just the other day! -> http://www.shaddyconceptart.com/download
super awesome. In the middle is a way to set up your tablet shortcuts... for intuos... but it may apply to bamboo..

I was overwhelmed myself I went looking for brushes and wound up here: http://www.pandemoniumart.net/brushes/
and you can actually click the names next to the brushes and WOW
lotsa cool stuff....

"Point is... there is a LOT of useful crap on the internet." -George Washington