Yamsha's sketchbook

[Yamsha]

Hey,
I've been a lurker on this forum for some time and seen some great advice given to people, so I decided to start posting.
I'm a student from Poland. I'm pursuing a masters degree in international relations but I don't like it very much, so I decided I have to try another direction. As probably many people on this forum I'd like to become a professional concept artist or maybe 3d artist (the industry is not very developped here, so it's probably best to do both). I am aware that it's gonna be an uphill battle, since I'm starting late (23), but I don't want to be stuck doing something I hate, so I have to try.
I'm probably the least organised person in the world so I hope keeping a sketchbook here will help me with regular practice. Any comments and critiques welcome, especially the negative ones, because they often seem to be the most constructive.

First thing, a mountain study in Photoshop:

[Yamsha]

Thanks for the encouragement, I definitely plan on getting some live instruction very soon as you suggested.

[Yamsha]

Some gestures (I watched some of the Vilppu videos), a drawing of MMA gloves from life, an octagon in perspective to check if i was able to use a method from Loomis to divide the edges in 3 equal segments, some eggs for light and value.

[Yamsha]

I decided to do some skull studies, both for anatomical information and for value practice.

[Viking Raider]

Really like the last skull and the egg! That egg is really nicely blended...As I'm just starting my adventure into the digital painting thing after 20-odd years drawing with pen and ink, I don't think I have an crits of value for you. But I'll be watching your sketchbook!

[Yamsha]

Some perspective practice with the Scott Robertson Gnomon video. He does it all freehand in the video, but I used a ruler, as my straight lines are not good enough yet. With the amount of lines it takes to do one of these they better be precise ^^'.



Some gestures...


Another skull, the other ones I did in pencil looked absolutely terrible so I wanted to try again.

[Yamsha]

A snowman, because whatever



A study done from a Blade Runner screencap which I took from a file posted by Revidescent (Thanks a lot!). I didn't feel confident at all doing this, a lot of guesswork involved. I think I have to draw a lot of faces before I can start painting them. Any crits would be very useful, since the result is quite meh.

[Yamsha]

A still life and a bridge. The still life is a photo, not a scan, so the quality is not so good. I tried to draw with some charcoal, which I've never done before and I find this medium kind of hard to manage compared to pencil.
I decided to go out to draw some more, hence the bridge. It did not come out so good, but this was the first time I was drawing outside. I wanted to do more of this but it's not easy in this weather.

[Candra H]

You're off to a great start here. I think your digital work seems better than your traditional so maybe spend as much time as possible with pencils and paper to build confidence there.

Also, check out Loomis' books on figure drawing and drawing the head and hands. They'll really help when it comes to constructing figures. And see if you can get to some figure drawing classes, or draw people you know or see on the street, in cafes, on buses etc. Because drawing from life will help with getting a handle on translating 3d forms onto paper.

P.S. I hear you about unpredictable weather. I have the same problem in Sutherland, Scotland. I'm constantly watching the weather to see if I'll get a chance to get outside long enough to draw something without getting soaked or my fingers freezing off. Stick with it if you can though because it'll be worth it in the long run.

Keep going and good luck!

[Yamsha]

Candra: Thank you for your comments and recommendations. I already own two of the loomis books and they are great indeed. You are definitely right about drawing from life more, I guess I got to force myself a little bit to do that more often. I tend to feel insecure when drawing in public.

Here's some new stuff: Stonehenge, a train station in 1 point perspective, some figure drawings (Barney Stinson from HIMYM, Riddick from Chronicles of Riddick, a girl and the character from Drive), also a sort of balcony just to practice perspective.

[Yamsha]

Quick landscape study before going to bed.

[Yamsha]

Two environment studies from photos, and then two still lives from life. Previously I was just doing greyscale paintings so trying to get the colors right was somewhat challenging.

[Yamsha]

A study from photo reference. I included some steps, the first image being the original photo.

[Yamsha]

[Yamsha]

Photo study from a Windows 7 wallpaper. I found it pretty hard, and I don't really like the result. The first difficulty was working directly with color which I haven't done before on photo studies. The other problem was the intricate structure of the rocks. I didn't take the time to do a proper line drawing which would guide me in those areas.

[Yamsha]

Self portrait from life.