Wertle's Sketchbook (12-19-05)

**Wertle** · March 5th, 2005, 11:22 AM

I am starting a daily sketchbook anyway, may as well get feedback and create more homework for myself as I go!

Many of these will be master copies, as my goal is at least one copy a day from one of my many anatomy books (after I've determined that no, just *owning* the books isn't going to make me better ^_^ )

Barcsay's Anatomy for the Artist

Gordon's How to Draw the Human Figure

Samurai Virus, a character that's been kicking around and evolving since my 8th grade science class notebook. I brought him back for a silly ashcan comic I did last summer, and would like to continue trying to develop him into...something. I have a lot of questions I need to figure out for him (such as, how exactly is he holding that sword?)

**Wertle** · March 5th, 2005, 09:58 PM

Hammond's Draw Real Hands, and a dragon thing. 3-5-04

**Wertle** · March 8th, 2005, 12:03 AM

Yesterday..my character from a game of Nobilis I'm in. Power of Candy! I would have finished, but I ran out of supplies...you know, what's that stuff? Need it for good drawings? Oh yeah, patience!

I'm slow on the drawing today because I'm focusing on a 3D project. I'm making some masks. But the latex isn't dry yet, so here's the negative

**Mindflaw** · March 8th, 2005, 08:00 AM

Hi Wertle
Your exercises are looking good so far. As to try to give some feedback You could try to redraw the pic from memory a couple of minutes after you have drawn it.That will force you to remember what you have drawn and get better at remember such stuff. This so you could use that knowledge and not only how to draw when seeing things. Well thats my theory anyway. Have not yet starting to do so but is going to start doing so myself this week.

**Wertle** · March 8th, 2005, 09:37 AM

Oh, that's a great idea, thank you! I will try it with my work-sketch tonight.

**Rich Pellegrino** · March 9th, 2005, 09:54 AM

nice hand study (p.44) keep doing them and each time your training your eye even if you dont realize it. start using a mirror and harsh lighting to see the form better. Rather than be restricted to a flat image in a book. keep up the good work!

**Sawa** · October 3rd, 2005, 04:48 PM

nice update on the drapery study. its looking pretty good now. i should do some of these too

**Wertle** · October 4th, 2005, 07:09 AM

Thank you! It is far from finished I'm sure, but I have to take a break from it. I'm starting to work up that dragon sketch.

I have no experience with Painter, so this will be a learning experience for that too. I didn't really know where to start, so I figured maybe I'd do like with a real painting and start working on a tonal underpainting?

Whole thing...

Head detail...

Here's a link to a bigger size, so as not to totally destroy the download time for this thread

http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/100405c.jpg

**bengonzalez** · October 4th, 2005, 11:32 AM

Nice work so far. Your pencil technique reminds me a lot of my own. A general crit that I have received is that the short lines tend to hurt the look of the sketch. Practice or force yourself to work in longer strokes. Try to get the line right on the first pass. It will not be perfect when you start but it will help establish better hand to eye coordination. so that your hand moves the way your eyes want it to.

The Painter understudy looks good so far. I'm not big on the digital software techniques yet so no help on that end from me. But as far as replicating a real painting understudy good job.

**Wertle** · October 5th, 2005, 07:00 AM

Thank you, I will try that exercise tomorrow with my next set of anatomy studies.

More working on the thing. I redid the arms, but I'm still having some trouble with that whole chest/shoulder area.

Big

Detail

**Danomight** · October 5th, 2005, 01:03 PM

Good anatomy studies, you have the right idea by drawing them from memory after drawing from the book. I have done some of that and it helps a ton. Also a great idea on the drapery studies, I'll have to give it a try.

I don't have much experience with digital painting, but I might suggest creating a more even tonal background to avoid any confusion. Maybe flesh out your sketch a bit more before going into painting. If you're having trouble building the anatomy for an area, think about flat surfaces and planes, how they might show because of the muscle structure. Great start for having no experience, keep up the good work, you'll have it before long.

**Interceptor** · October 5th, 2005, 05:00 PM

Hey Wertle!!
So many sketches, it's great to see you working so hard. I'm also glad at the variety, not just drawing big monsters or just hot chicks. One thing I'm noticing though is that the shading in some of the pictures is'nt very gradual. It's black, black, black, WHITE!. Try varying the shading levels and it may come off more natural! Post more!!

**redFIVE** · October 5th, 2005, 05:02 PM

Looks like you're off to a good start. I think I found your animal studies the most interesting because of the repeated lines in the gesture. Kinda gives it this big passionate feel to it. I'd say keep concintrating on the forms and how these things feel and turn in space.

I agree with Dan, probably one of the first things todo in a painting is KILL ALL THE WHITEY. Since white can bring such a big contrast it's best to eliminate it completely at first and then reintroduce it to the parts of the painting where you <b>want</b> the big contrasts- where you want the eye to be attracted to most (I guess which is usually the face). That said, I really like the emotional feel from the lighting on the dragon, but all the white splotches are too distracting to keep focused on it.

**Snowsfall** · October 5th, 2005, 09:47 PM

I don't have much to add except to make sure you get some diverse colors in the dragon painting, both warm and cool colors.
I love your animal gestures btw, keep doing that

**Wertle** · October 6th, 2005, 07:02 AM

More from Gordon---an attempt at bengonzalez's suggestion to work in longer strokes. I propped up my sketchbook so that I would be drawing from my shoulder more.

HARD!!

Danomight -- Thank you. I need a setting for this critter, but I'm a little undecided. I'm thinking maybe something foresty or some rocky cliff face (rocky cliff face being decidedly easier in my mind, so I'll probably go with foresty to force myself into a challenge. Argg!)

Interceptor -- That's probably a kickback from when I used to shade everything in the same middle gray, now I'm going the opposite extreme! I'll try to reign myself back in and take more time.

Redfive -- Thank you on the animals, I'm hoping to plan another zoo trip soon, and then focus longer studies on just a few animals. Tomorrow when I try to flesh in a background in the painting, I'll take that time to get rid of any patches of "canvas" showing through.

Snowsfall -- I will probably start working in some cool colors to help the shadows pop out. It's still just a tonal underpainting, though, and I haven't really given much thought as to what colors the dragon will end up being. Any suggestions? Possibly it will be somewhat dependent on the background environment I paint in for him?

Thanks for the comments, all.

**bengonzalez** · October 6th, 2005, 11:59 AM

Nicely done better than I can manage. Im still chopping the line and going back and forth with the pencil. It's hard to get use to it but eventually it becomes easier to use all of your arm to draw with, or so I've been told by my teachers.

**Wertle** · October 6th, 2005, 07:54 PM

bengonzalez -- I found that it really helped to prop up my sketchbook and draw holding my pencil like I would hold a piece of chalk, with the sketchbook about arms' length away. I knew it was forcing me to draw with my whole arm, because my shoulder was quite sore afterwards

Give it a try!

I need to get an easel for starting some paintings anyway, but I could use one to try and do sketches in this manner more often.

**Interceptor** · October 6th, 2005, 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by Wertle

bengonzalez -- I found that it really helped to prop up my sketchbook and draw holding my pencil like I would hold a piece of chalk, with the sketchbook about arms' length away. I knew it was forcing me to draw with my whole arm, because my shoulder was quite sore afterwards

Give it a try!

I need to get an easel for starting some paintings anyway, but I could use one to try and do sketches in this manner more often.

What do you use to prop up your sketchbook wertle? that seems like a good idea.

**Wertle** · October 6th, 2005, 08:53 PM

Oh I just have my work table pushed up against the wall, so I was able to prop it against the wall and still reach it across my work surface (secured by various items I had lying around shoved up against the base). Then I propped the book page I was working from up next to it. I really would rather have an easel, though.

Meanwhile, dragon updates, I sketchied in a background idea.

I referenced the background from a photo I took while in Japan this summer, which can be found here: http://www.wertle.com/personal/image...fujicaves1.jpg

The white streaks are on a different layer, and they are just guides to give me ideas about where patchy lighting might fall.

**gibsini** · October 6th, 2005, 09:00 PM

Always nice lookin at others work keep it up

**Danomight** · October 7th, 2005, 12:09 AM

I'm really liking the new gesture sketches you posted, so fluid and much more expressive. I tend to draw much better when I have more movement from my shoulder as well (that's why I hate drawing while on the couch!), your strokes become much different. Can;t wait to see more on the dragon picture.

**Sawa** · October 7th, 2005, 09:43 AM

i like the background on your dragon piece. great idea to let the light fall in like that

i only think that you shouldnt show all of the beams of light that clear in the final piece. at least make those that are in the background a bit more faded, if you know what im talking about

overall im pretty much diggin that painting so far

**redFIVE** · October 13th, 2005, 05:48 AM

Definitely keep working with the longer strokes. Those figures utlizing them speak of much potential.

The dragon's looking alot more focused now with the middle tone filled in completely. I think you could stand to knock down the beams of light a little in value, that way your brighter values are more focused on the dragon's head and it'll help draw the eye to it.

**Wertle** · October 13th, 2005, 07:04 AM

Thanks for the comments all, I intend to do some of those long-stroke gestures much more, it is a good exercise.

More on dragon...

The white beams of light were intended to just be guides for me to give me an idea of light direction and where it might fall. I hid the layer so it would be less distracting.

**bengonzalez** · October 13th, 2005, 12:25 PM

hey nice work so far on the dragon. Now you need to bring in more contrast and sharpness to the image. I liked the beams of light I would think of using them in some way. then one thing right now is that he looks like a clay sculpture. Try to bring in other colors into the dragon to make him standout.

**Danomight** · October 15th, 2005, 11:31 PM

Good to see your are making progress on the dragon picture. One thing I'm noticing is the bluriness. Most of the edges and planes have a really undefined feel to them, maybe it's the brush type or maybe you just posted a low res pic. Hope to see more!

**Interceptor** · October 23rd, 2005, 12:41 PM

Ben and Dan here pretty much took the words right out of my mouth. Keep this pic going, though, you can do it!!

**Wertle** · October 25th, 2005, 06:26 AM

ben--I probably will include some sort of beams, probably after I get the base painted out. I hope the light isn't too patchy. I think the underpainting is getting to the point where I feel like I'm getting the basic forms okay, so I will start working in ideas for color next (please understand that I never intended to keep him terracotta orange, I was just using that for tone. Maybe I should convert tonal underpaintings to grayscale when posting)

Dan--I will pay attention to the edges next time I do more work on it. Next time I post a process, I may include a high-res version, as a lot of the brushiness converts to blur when I resize it. Maybe I shouldn't be working at such a high resolution?

Interceptor--thank you! I really hope to see this through to completion.

For now, though, here are some feet. I tried doing more of the "attempting to draw with as few and as long line strokes as possible." HARD

After the book copies, I tried to use the same idea with my own feet. And discovered that I apparently don't know the structure of the foot very well x_x

So back to the book and the basic structure (I tend to draw from Bridgman when I'm having trouble figuring the very very basic shapes and volumes in a body part)