Inward outward! i want to draw

[GrayPersona]

thank man really appreciate it!

[Kvetch]

Hey, the mannequins are looking great, very solid. It's probably been said already but the poses are pretty stiff. Those head constructions are looking good too.

[pavolsvk]

I like your heads, I think your poses are good, mayby try to add some dynamics to them. I like your perspective drawing and those little vehicles. Studies like that are quite helpful to start think in form and not just the outline. Keep up good work!!

[MrFrenik]

Great head studies, Gray, and thanks for the link - that definitely helped out a lot. Oh, and the perspective thread's up. I don't have any "assignments" or anything up yet though, because I'd like for you guys to post some ideas in the thread as to what you'd like us to study. So head on over and check it out!

[Joe777k7]

Good ol Scott robertson values!! Woo!! Keep learning!! I also posted some stuff in that perspetcive thread. Hopefully it takes off I like what you posted

[lionheartGFX]

awesome head studies have you read about the reily method or his head abstractions? they are really helpful nathan fowkes uses them in his blog, http://nathanfowkes.blogspot.mx/2012...p-by-step.html

[Skill3ss]

Some good studies in here - keep it going

[Jarrad]

Hey grey! Thanks for stopping by in ma sb and thank you very much for the advice! . It loooks like you are doing good things here. just do lots and lots and lots more! .
one thing I noticed is that you have a very small value range when you are using pencil, like in all of the apple drawings. As Michelangelo said: “Draw, Antonio; draw, Antonio; draw and don’t waste time!"


p.s. have you ever thought about doing a cast drawing? I've found them to be quite helpful. I think I may be overdue in fact!

[GrayPersona]

Chilingo-thanks man.

Kvetch-thanks,need to work on my gestures I guess.

pavolsvk-thank you!

ionheartGFX-his site is amazing,I wasnt aware of him so thank a lot.

Skill3ss-appreciate it.

Jarrad-I should do a cast drawing only that i dont have any casts,probably will settle for a bargue study.

tried to do color studies but I wasted so much time I decided to try later here are my regular studies + a sargent study

[Kvetch]

Ooh, nice update. It's probably good that you're working so much on 3d and construction, I always find that stuff really helpful. Your lip, nose and skull constructions are great.

[Jarrad]

Yeah your constructions are super solid! I strongly recommend spending more time on value related things to balance it out. Again, the apple in the last post has almost no value changes. Something that helps me is to mark down with whatever tool(s) i'm using the darkest possible mark that can be made either in the corner of the page or on a separate page for reference. Or you can use that darkest mark for the shadows then work from there. This way you can build from dark to light and then just try not to darken the lights to severely! Hope that can be of use!

[GrayPersona]

Jarrad-thanks man you are definetely right about my values,I will try harder next time.

Kvetch-thanks dude,I am actually not that pleased with my construction,its kinda half assed and unsymetrical,need to build up more patience and work slower.

here are some studies from today

[bobtail]

Great sketchbook! Your studies are really good - and you can clearly see that knowledge being applied to your portraits . Awesome!!

[LordBob]

Hello Sergei.
There are some very good quality studies in here.
If I may ask, what are your anatomy studies based on (the mannequins and skeletons/body parts) ? I'm interested in doing some of these myself and would like to know how to find good models.

[nickydraws]

Great studies.

[GrayPersona]

Hello Sergei.
There are some very good quality studies in here.
If I may ask, what are your anatomy studies based on (the mannequins and skeletons/body parts) ? I'm interested in doing some of these myself and would like to know how to find good models.

thanks everybody!

I use the loomis manikin ,for constructive anatomy I use the godfried bammes books and bridgmans books,for artistic anatomy(accurate diagrammes) I use paul richer book and eliot goldfingers book.

I also own a lot of other books but those are the main ones,some things are from imagination others from the loomis books and others from photographes.

I would recommend practicing the manikin a lot before doing constructive anatomy.

[Andrew Sonea]

SORRY FOR THE SUPER LONG POST...I didn't intend to write so much, it just sorta wrote itself. I just ask that you take the time to look through each link properly and don't skip over this stuff as I think it's very useful info. It will probably take a few nights of looking/reading/researching to fully get into everything I talk about below, but it will be worth it!

Jesus Christ your studies are great! LOVE that you are focusing so much on construction and perspective (I have a thing for figures and figure construction), it's definitely something I think everyone should focus on more. I wish I did more of that before (and still should do more today), it would have made me improve 10 times faster. I started learning to draw by copying tons of Bridgman and Stephen Rogers Peck, although I didn't emphasize construction as much as you.

Critique-wise there isn't a whole lot for me to say now, as all that I have to offer at the moment I can tell you are either already working on or will resolve on your own very soon. I can tell that you are just on the cusp of being great...you are studying all the right things and don't have any of the weaknesses I typically see holding people back. Give it a year or two and you will be scary good if you keep is up


I will however throw a few links at you that I have a feeling you will appreciate (sorry for the dump of links and info!):

Achadobu's sketchbook -- like you, VERY strong at perspective and figure construction, this is my favourite sketchbook of all time on this site, still a major inspiration for me. Go through it all, you will probably pick a few things up along the way.
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...ty*&highlight=

Kevin Chen -- GREAT figure construction demos
http://www.angelfire.com/art3/kchendemos/

Stan Prokopenko videos -- nice breakdown of construction of head/features
http://www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV

Michael Hampton's book -- excellent excellent figure drawing book with very heavy emphasis on construction, from my understanding the book is basically Steve Huston's notes compiled by Hampton (Huston is one of my favourite figure artists btw). The book's info looks to be a combination of info from a bunch of sources like Bridgman, Loomis, Vilppu, Hogarth etc, but is presented in a really clear nice way. Worth buying for sure.
http://www.figuredrawing.info/book/



Also I'd explore the Reilly Method if I were you. It's hard to find good info on it online, but do a bit of research. It's got in my opinion THE best head construction PERIOD, and a very unique and powerful method of figure construction. Problem is that many diagrams you find online are poorly drawn, or differ from other diagrams. Some of the best ones are by Erik and Meadow Gist, but not super in depth:
http://www.deadoftheday.blogspot.ca/p/downloads.html

A few artists on this site use it, and have some good info that they've posted if you do a bit of digging. Much of the method you can sort of reverse engineer by dissecting the drawings by people who use it. Erik Gist and RaileyH have great threads showing the power of this method in action:
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...ses&highlight=
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...20-10-post-196


And ccsears has a couple head tutorials posted around the site, I can only find this one now, but I know somewhere in his super long and awesome sketchbook he has another one from a 3/4 angle (scroll down the page on the following link):
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...idelines/page3


Some artists off the top f my head that you can research into that are associated with the Reilly Method: Glenn Orbik, Fred Fixler, Jeffrey Watts, Greg Pro, Ron Lemen, Doug Higgins, Chris Legaspi. There are a few books on the subject but they are mostly incomplete or can be much better as far as I know. I only own one, the one by Jack Faragasso, and while it is full of good info it is a pain to get through and has some of the worst diagrams I've ever seen and has some needlessly overcomplicated things. The drawings he has in the book are also very inconsistent and range from crap to really nice. Currently I'm in the process of making my own versions of diagrams to clear up the constructions both for myself and for others (well I've only done the front view so far haha). Might make a thread on it soon and try to get others to contribute if I can since I think this is a super powerful method that is grossly underrepresented and generally unknown. I haven't used the method extensively myself, but have sort of had an eye on it for a while and am trying to get into it more.

Anyways, hope that helps! I went on a bit long there especially with the Reilly Method, but I wanted to discuss it a bit since you are using pretty much only Loomis constructions, which I'm not a huge fan of. He has some good stuff, but I prefer some other sources (at least his head construction is better than others like Bridgman and Hogarth!). Still, I prefer the Reilly Method to Loomis!

EDIT: Forgot to mention you might wanna buy an Asaro Head too, it's a useful thing to have kicking around
Also, if you are curious as to what types of exercises might be useful and what some Reilly stuff looks like in practice, I attended a week-long workshop at Watts Atelier and posted/wrote up about it...and because I haven't updated my blog in forever and a half it's still the latest post on my blog haha! The link is in my signature if you're curious.

[GrayPersona]

man thank you so much for this comment,probably one of the best pieces of advice that I ever got.
I will respond later in more detail as I am a bit tired right now.
also thanks again to everybody else who commented and watches this thread,it really means a lot.

heres todays sketch

[I STRaY I]

Hey GrayPersona. I too, like many who have commented, really admire your work ethic and skill. I one day hope to pull my head out and work like you. You have some terrific stuff here. Also, this past post from Andrew Sonea is epic. I'm sure you'll make good use of it, I know I will. Keep up the good work and inspirational effort!

[GrayPersona]

SORRY FOR THE SUPER LONG POST...I didn't intend to write so much, it just sorta wrote itself. I just ask that you take the time to look through each link properly and don't skip over this stuff as I think it's very useful info. It will probably take a few nights of looking/reading/researching to fully get into everything I talk about below, but it will be worth it! I read this comment 3 times and I cannot thank you enough.

Jesus Christ your studies are great! LOVE that you are focusing so much on construction and perspective (I have a thing for figures and figure construction), it's definitely something I think everyone should focus on more. I wish I did more of that before (and still should do more today), it would have made me improve 10 times faster. I started learning to draw by copying tons of Bridgman and Stephen Rogers Peck, although I didn't emphasize construction as much as you.

I love the figure and really want form to be a strong theme in my art,hopefully it will.

Critique-wise there isn't a whole lot for me to say now, as all that I have to offer at the moment I can tell you are either already working on or will resolve on your own very soon. I can tell that you are just on the cusp of being great...you are studying all the right things and don't have any of the weaknesses I typically see holding people back. Give it a year or two and you will be scary good if you keep is up

thanks man,just have to keep my head down and not get complacent.

I will however throw a few links at you that I have a feeling you will appreciate (sorry for the dump of links and info!):

Achadobu's sketchbook -- like you, VERY strong at perspective and figure construction, this is my favourite sketchbook of all time on this site, still a major inspiration for me. Go through it all, you will probably pick a few things up along the way.
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...ty*&highlight=

Kevin Chen -- GREAT figure construction demos
http://www.angelfire.com/art3/kchendemos/


Stan Prokopenko videos -- nice breakdown of construction of head/features
http://www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV

Michael Hampton's book -- excellent excellent figure drawing book with very heavy emphasis on construction, from my understanding the book is basically Steve Huston's notes compiled by Hampton (Huston is one of my favourite figure artists btw). The book's info looks to be a combination of info from a bunch of sources like Bridgman, Loomis, Vilppu, Hogarth etc, but is presented in a really clear nice way. Worth buying for sure.
http://www.figuredrawing.info/book/


the links are awesome especially that sketchbook,need to browse through it all.

Also I'd explore the Reilly Method if I were you. It's hard to find good info on it online, but do a bit of research. It's got in my opinion THE best head construction PERIOD, and a very unique and powerful method of figure construction. Problem is that many diagrams you find online are poorly drawn, or differ from other diagrams. Some of the best ones are by Erik and Meadow Gist, but not super in depth:
http://www.deadoftheday.blogspot.ca/p/downloads.html

A few artists on this site use it, and have some good info that they've posted if you do a bit of digging. Much of the method you can sort of reverse engineer by dissecting the drawings by people who use it. Erik Gist and RaileyH have great threads showing the power of this method in action:
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...ses&highlight=
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...20-10-post-196


And ccsears has a couple head tutorials posted around the site, I can only find this one now, but I know somewhere in his super long and awesome sketchbook he has another one from a 3/4 angle (scroll down the page on the following link):
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...idelines/page3


Some artists off the top f my head that you can research into that are associated with the Reilly Method: Glenn Orbik, Fred Fixler, Jeffrey Watts, Greg Pro, Ron Lemen, Doug Higgins, Chris Legaspi. There are a few books on the subject but they are mostly incomplete or can be much better as far as I know. I only own one, the one by Jack Faragasso, and while it is full of good info it is a pain to get through and has some of the worst diagrams I've ever seen and has some needlessly overcomplicated things. The drawings he has in the book are also very inconsistent and range from crap to really nice. Currently I'm in the process of making my own versions of diagrams to clear up the constructions both for myself and for others (well I've only done the front view so far haha). Might make a thread on it soon and try to get others to contribute if I can since I think this is a super powerful method that is grossly underrepresented and generally unknown. I haven't used the method extensively myself, but have sort of had an eye on it for a while and am trying to get into it more.

Anyways, hope that helps! I went on a bit long there especially with the Reilly Method, but I wanted to discuss it a bit since you are using pretty much only Loomis constructions, which I'm not a huge fan of. He has some good stuff, but I prefer some other sources (at least his head construction is better than others like Bridgman and Hogarth!). Still, I prefer the Reilly Method to Loomis!

EDIT: Forgot to mention you might wanna buy an Asaro Head too, it's a useful thing to have kicking around
Also, if you are curious as to what types of exercises might be useful and what some Reilly stuff looks like in practice, I attended a week-long workshop at Watts Atelier and posted/wrote up about it...and because I haven't updated my blog in forever and a half it's still the latest post on my blog haha! The link is in my signature if you're curious.

thanks for the artist list ,except ron lemen I knew none of them,as for the reily method-it is definitely on my scope I just feel like I want to master the loomis way first.
the thing is is that I tried to juggle body conceptions before and what happened was that my figure turned really inconsistent looking proportions wise,I guess I want
to have a clear rock solid conception of the figure and deviate from that solid base to different styles.
I will though at somepoint try to incorporate the reily rythems into my constructions.
[COLOR="#FF0000"]
*the asaro head is bad ass,just need to save some money up!

your blog is great and you are only 20,its really amazing to see young people like you an algenfleger have such tremendous work ethic,its humbling really.
and this comment is a huge motivator for me to keep working hard,I cant thank you enough really.


I STRaY I-thank you so much man,just draw and youll be better in no time!


here are todays sketches and a perspective study.
*maybe I will take a brake for a week from the internet to push myself more as I am not able to moderate it as much as I would like.*

[GrayPersona]

so a week without internet is pretty hard on the old nerves but managed a lot of work,there are tons of pages that I need to scan but here are the digital stuff.

[Benedikt]

I see very palpable improvement in your studies since last I left a comment here. The first time I looked over this I thought that it's pretty uncanny how much overlap there is between the resources we both use- Scott's stuff on perspective, Sargent studies, the Asaro heads, the Reilly method...
At this point there isn't much I can tell you besides that you're on the right track as far as I can tell, just soldier on mate.
One thing I'd like to see more are more polished/finished studies where you go further from the planar stage. You're great with planes already, really pushing your soft and lost edges will bring your finished work to the next level I'm prepared to bet.

I'll be visting regularily, so don't slack off or I'll hit you with a digital stick or something!

[kopfscheu]

Thank you so much for your helpful comment in my sketchbook. I looked through your stuff and I'm very impressed by your construction of heads and the perspective studies and also very curious to see you working with a little bit more color.

[MrFrenik]

Keep going, man. I can definitely see that everything's starting to "click" for you. And I totally agree about getting away from doing just the theory side of art and actually applying the stuff we study. It's a bad habit that I'm trying to tame at the moment.

[ivan4oto]

Amazing stuff man ! I really appreciate the advices you gave me in my sketchbook and i will definitely follow them ! The only advice i can give you is to keep going and don't ever stop doing what you love doing ! What i really like in your studies, besides everything, is the linework, it's very clean and precise. Your pencil stuff is very pleasant to look at. Very smooth and clean.

[GrayPersona]

Benedikt-thanks man,I am really influenced by your sketchbook(asaro head,reily) but other things like sargent and scot robertson are from way back when.
my theory(well not really mine) is that there is a natural selection proccess happening for these resources .

kopfscheu-thanks you.

MrFrenik-I dont really feel like that but i am so absorbed in my studies that I cant see them objectively .

ivan4oto-thanks mate,keep studying.


here is a value study that I made an overly with some really wrong colors
and a manikin






edit:here are some more studies,uploading these makes me realize how rigid and repetitive I am.
all my stuff looks the same,need to branch out and do other types of studies.






also I got my copy of framed ink from amazon-its a really good book,not a how to book or a fundamentals book but rather
a book of demonstrations and approaches to creating composition and layout.
you get tips of how a professional working in the industry thinks and also the art is bad ass if you are into black and white ink.

here is a picture of the book with some other books I own.





oh and if I am at it at showing off my art books here is also my "books" books library.
I started reading at 19 to impress a chick at work who really read a lot(guess how that turned out hhh...) and have been hooked ever since.
its fun and it helps develop your imagination and visual library.

[Jarrad]

Your constructions are really solid! Its funny because I totally agree with you that I should work on more construction stuff.. It seems to be weaker than my value stuff.. and I feel the opposite about you! Your constructions and perspective constructions are really solid, but values not so much. I would suggest just focusing on value studies and value heavy things! Time for us to get out of our comfort zones! You are making great progress!

[Joe777k7]

Thanks alot for stopping by my sketchbook!!! Im glad im starting to paint as well, its like the hardest thing im doing right now with art, to me anyways. It my Achillies heel hahahahah But man, great updates!You are really killing it! Those books will help alot! I have quite a few of those myself! Keep up the awesome work!

[ceddo]

Hey man, thanks for the post on my SB! About your studies looking a bit too lifeless - it could be worth doing one extra stage before beginning construction: sketching out the rhythms of what you're about to draw, quite loosely. Blue pencil has worked well for me, because once you apply pencil the blue recedes. This can be really useful to give more life to your drawings, and helps you consider the things that are really important, which are the overall message of a drawing - what story is this person's pose telling? I'll admit I'm not the best at this, but it's worth working on!

C

[ecki]

Nice studies you've been uploading Sir.

Great constructions.

You could try to put some expression into the face constructions, but I think that you just the right things, so just keep on rocking