Rissa Kay's Gotta Improve!! ((Updated 3/29!))

[RissaKay]

Mini update. Today and tomorrow is full of finals and moving and sleeping so don't expect any updates til later in the weekend.
Wish me luck guys.

[kalahiras]

Hey so in post 21 you have a two point perspective study. But the vanishing points are too close together, so the box tops aren't square but diamonds. The solution to this is to place the vanishing points further apart, sometimes even have one of them off the page. Then it will look square.

[RissaKay]

@kalahiras-- Okay, I'll try that in the future. Thank you!

Also guys have a bunch of stuff that isn't referenced, because I've been naughty.

[RissaKay]

Hi guys!

first, have some sketches:


Now, I have been painting my great grandmother for my grandma, and I'd like some tips and stuff as to how to make it better:


Thanks a bunch!

[Januz]

Hey RissaKay, nice stuff! You're getting better, but you need to hit the fundamentals more.

Check out Perspective 101 by seedling. Also, use a site like quickposes.com and draw tons of quick gestures everyday. Try to capture the action and proportions, don't worry about details.

Don't forget to measure and look for horizontals/verticals when doing referenced work. It'll take you longer but you will slowly get an idea of proportions.



Keep it coming!

[mdog]

The portrait of your grandmother seems to be coming out pretty well! I would suggest making her eyes bigger to better fit the proportions of her head. I think the overall shape of her face looks good. I look forward to seeing it as you add more values and contrast!

[RissaKay]

@Januz
Thank you so much! This is a lot of what I have problems with, so your advice is well recieved.
I tried the measure thing with these bottles, but I'll need lots of work:


I also did a bunch of gestures as per your suggestion, but on pixellovely since quickposes was acting up momentarily:



I'll also work on perspective before I upload again. Thank you so much for such useful advice and stopping by!

@mdog
I'm very hesitant to do that, since my grandma has small eyes. Here's a couple of the references I'm using, for perspective:


Also, have this dumb doodle:


Also, a wip of my grandmother:

[mdog]

Oh yeah, I really see what you mean. That being the case, I think if you define the shadows and wrinkles around her eyes, referencing the photos of her, it will look more natural. And by the way, I like your recent troll doodle! The shape of her face, especially. It's very nice!

[RissaKay]

@mdog
I'll make sure to do that--her wrinkles tell 92 years of stories, so I definately want to highlight them.
Also, thank you! Do you read homestuck? This is my headcanon for Aradia, so I'm really glad you like it!

Here are a few perspective studies I did:

[mdog]

Yeah, I just started reading Homestuck a few months ago. By the way, what software did you use to do the perspective studies? I'm really new to digital art, and I have a much harder time trying to figure out how to do perspective digitally than traditionally. Most of the time I use Paint Tool SAI for illustrations, but it really doesn't have any tools for making straight lines/anything that would help in doing perspective drawings like you did there...

[kamikazel33t]

Well, I Have to say it's a good call going back to perspective! I started to realize this myself after doing some more perspective studies and probably you have realized it too. It is that whenever I draw a head from imagination, firstly that I habitually try to draw it in front or side view and whenever I try to draw it in 3/4 view it comes out terribly this also goes with mostly every other subject you would end up drawing. A quick tip on the drawing of your grandmother, you need to check the proportions of height to the width. Anway overall it seemed like you were doing a caricature instead of a proper observational drawing. That being said if you ever get the time try to sit down and do a long observational drawing and try to draw exactly what you see instead of the symbol of what you think you saw in your head.

As for gestures it is suppose to be something you are doing in a routine so try to sit for at least half an hour a day and do a couple of them(I do an hour of thirty second gestures a day but they are a pain to scan). Try to focus on rhythm in where to you try to capture the asymmetric qualities of the figure a good book on that is The Vilppu Drawing Manual. Keep it up!

[RissaKay]

@mdog
Great, I love me some Homestuck fans! I use Adobe Photoshop CS5 for all my digital stuff.

@kamikazel33t
Thank you very much for your insight on perspective--I'll definitely work on that more, though I would argue that my grandmother's portrait is pretty accurate from height to width, considering the reference photos. I also love Vlippu, so I'll try to study more from him in the future.

Quick 10 minute painting practice:


Update on my grandmother:

[Clur]

That portrait of your grandmother is coming along nicely - you caught her expression really well. Don't forget to shade her eyes though! In your reference it looks like her eyes are in a lot of shadow, you've got them bright and unshaded. Also adding a bit more blue to your shadows might give them a bit more depth.

[RissaKay]

@Clur- thank you! You're right about the eyes, and I wish I had had more time before I had it printed, because it turned out like this:


Anywho, unreferenced stuff:


Also referenced stuff and a bunch of gestures:


To work on in the near future:
-CLEANING UP THOSE GESTURES
-PERSPECTIVE
-DRASTIC HEAD ANGLES

[lionheartGFX]

amazing hard work, and great work on faces, i suggest you focus on the things that hit you the hardest from what i can see that is still lifes and perspective, great effort on the figure and portraits i love that one of your grandmother, you could lower the eyelids to give it a bit more of a delicate expression unless of course that is not what you are going for, merry xmas and keep on drawing

[mdog]

I do like how it came out, even if you didn't have all the time you wanted to flesh out the eyes. Also, those gesture faces you did are really great! I love the noses you did for them.

[RissaKay]

@lionheart-- Gosh, thanks a bunch! You're right, I do need to work on perspective and objects a lot more! I'll try to work on them more in the future.
@mdog-- Thanks a bunch! People around me keep saying that I'm good at noses.

Right on Christmas, a bunch of people commissioned me and my financial situation is such that I couldn't turn them down, so until I finish them all it'll be mostly unreferenced stuff.

Sketches:


A finished thingy:


A finished commission:

[RissaKay]

Hey guys!
I've just one commission left, but here's a bunch of stuff.

Unreferenced Sketches:


Referenced Sketched:


Clean/Finished:

[RissaKay]

Referenced Sketches:


Unreferenced Sketches:


I'd like to work more on how to draw full bodies, b/c I can get parts of it down, but it's harder for me to get it in one clean working engine y'know?

[Januz]

I'm seeing quite a progress in your faces, though you're still drawing the eyes too big in some of them.
Don't forget to draw some construction lines around the head to make sure everything points to the same direction.
Nice Aang sketch!

Keep up!

[mdog]

Nice progress, keep it up!

[RissaKay]

@Januz- Brilliant advice, and I definately think you're right about the eyes! My roots in anime and cartoon stuff will plague me forever, I'm afraid sometimes. I'll definately try to practice construction more!
@mdog- thanks, mate!

Unreferenced:


Referenced:


Woot, this time there's more referenced than unreferenced (barely, but eh)

I think that I'd like to practice repetition from memory and foreshortening (also perspective.)

Also have a semi finished thing to finish this update.

[mdog]

A lot more nice stuff this time! I love the variety of body types you draw, and your studies are so creative! I would love to see you do some environments/backgrounds. That would be really cool to see!

[RissaKay]

Hi guys!!! Quick update--I've been really busy, sorry for lack of updates!

Forshortening practice (These are so bad i need so much practice omg)


Unreferenced or only Semi-referenced


Fully Referenced:


Finally, the finished version of the thing I showed you last time:


What to work on:
Foreshortening
Environments
Facial differences
Bodies
HANDS wow u suck at those rissa

[RissaKay]

Some quick leg studies and doodles from Last night!


What to work on:
Foreshortening
Environments
Facial differences
Bodies
HANDS

[JDBI]

The first thing I noticed in your portraits is that you you're thinking too much in terms of line. Like in the drawing of your grandmother, you're trying to draw the contours you see in the reference instead of the actual forms. Although I can see improvident in the newer sketches.
Try to reduce what you see in the face to simple volumes, wrap those volumes around if it helps. Drawing simple geometric shapes in different perspectives will also help you.

[peppercake]

Your drawings from imagination are fun but don't forget to do lots of studies and drawings from reference to balance them out. Try and do a lot more drawings from life, especially still lifes of simple objects and self portraits to wor on your values and see how light interacts with surfaces. Keep on with the gesture drawings and anatomy studies, as well as perspective studies.

[RissaKay]

@JDBI-- Thank you! I will try to think more in volumes, because I think you're definitely right!
@peppercake- Thank you so much for the advice! I will try to do many more studies than imagination from now on, since they help so much! I will also draw from life more--the two quick sketches of the short haired girls in black and white that are in this post are actually from life!

Imagination:


Studies:

[RissaKay]

Hi guys! Another update today!

A commission I finished today, slightly referenced:


Studies:


What to work on:
Foreshortening
Environments
Facial differences
Bodies
HANDS

[M.Calza]

Your heads are getting better, but for a faster progress I think you should grab Loomis books, and really focus on the structure and construction beneath it. Keep posting, you seem motivated!