cara's sketchbook - 9/22

[carakhan]

Aright, back to work! Render render render...

[dierat]

Nice. The skin's looking much better imo. Now the cast shadow's hard to see; I think when you were smoothing it out you lost some of the tonal detail. I would go back in there and re-emphasize the crease and the shadow a tad. Remember that the cast shadow of an object is usually darker and sharper than the form shadow from the object itself.

Aother value nitpick here. The hair on the left side is looking a bit flat (like it's not following the contour of the head) and I think darkening and softening the leftmost edge will help. The right side looks great, like it's moving in and out of shadow and space in a believable way, but the highlight on the edge of the left side is pushing it forward in space and flattening it. (Speaking of edges, remember that soft edges suggest rounded forms that curve away from us in space and sharp edges suggest two-dimensional forms, like cardboard cut-outs. Arms and legs in particular, being cylindrical, can really benefit from softened edges.)

Have you considered setting up some cloth as a reference for the bottom? The cloth looks great on top where it's hanging from the two tension points (his knees), but it gets mushy and repetitive when it hits the floor. Having done a couple of cloth studies from life, I know that you could make it look much more interesting and organic if you had something to work from, just to give you some ideas on the shapes and folds it can make. (You wouldn't want to work too closely from it though because that would end up giving the cloth a different treatment that would set it apart from the rest of the image.)

[carakhan]

Hey dierat, thanks for stopping by again

I was struggling with the cast shadow on the arm all night, going over to the mirror and mimicking the pose but I just kept painting that forearm over and over. I'll definitely readdress this weekend.
I see what you mean about the hair, I'll fix that as well.
I had a cloth study set up for the initial block in, but not enough for the whole fabric in the scene, which is pretty much exactly why the top looks so good while the bottom falls apart. I'm going to go to the fabric store today
Thanks again! You're really pushing me I appreciate it.

[carakhan]

Proof that using your own reference is worth it! Went to Joanns + got a satin remnant =this has been the most fun two days ever. I love it when a picture comes together
Obviously some cleanup still to do, and I've had some new ideas swirling around for the background. Maybe I'll finally finish this thing this weekend, I'm startin to get antsy to try something new.

[dierat]

What an improvement, huh. (And isn't drawing cloth fun? ) It still needs a bit of attention to pinpointing the bright brights and the dark darks so there's a little more variation and sense of space, but you're probably aware of that. I had the impression in the previous version that the cloth was kind of meshing with or morphing into that misty cloudiness; was I just imagining that or was that on purpose? In any case, I think adding a touch of mist to the bottom area, kind around the border, might be a nice way of unifying the piece and framing it as well.

Anyway, now that it looks like you're getting pretty close to the end, you might wanna step back from the piece and think about overall color and light and whether it's all working together, etc. I think some of the shadows could be a tad bluer, like the shadows on the cat (which are currently looking kind of purple to me) and you might wanna think about the color of the light source as well. I get the impression that it's white, but I was thinking that if it were a tad warm, that might help out the scene a little because we'd have this juxotoposition of warm and cool that would add a bit of variety and readability to the image. Like you could make it a very very slight warm purple and that would subtly balance the image between warm and cool. I dunno. Just an idea. Consider it!

[carakhan]

Hey dierat! You're definitely right, a lot of little color inconsistencies that need to be addressed. I took the mistiness out to focus on the cloth but I'm going to put it back in I like the idea of the warmth, I'll play around with it, thanks!

I had an itch to do something traditional this weekend to break away from the monotony, so I did my first oil painting. 5 hrs, I've never really mixed colors before so all of this was really eye opening for me. I think I'm
going to do a lot more of these because I fuck around with color way too much.

[carakhan]

Something for a friend...

[carakhan]

I think I can finally call this complete! Went as far as I normally do and then pushed myself some more. Hopefully everything I learned will mean the next one will go much quicker, I'm crazy slow

[dierat]

Very nice. I think the cloth could use some work more - adding a sense of depth and focus by increasing the contrast in the front and dimming it as it moves to the sides - but sometimes you just have to say "it's done!" and move on with what you've learned from it. I'm curious to see what you'll be up to next. Keep up the good work!

[carakhan]

Yea unfortunately I was making this piece for the Rising Stars contest and today was the deadline so I decided to finish it and move on. That and I've been thinking about everything else I need to work on, composition is such a weak point for me, I have no interesting angles or perspective and painting this was just a harsh reminder the whole time. Looking forward to spending some more time in the thumbnail stage!

[carakhan]

Eek 8 days without updates, oops!
Proving I'm not dead... just learning. Trying out some creature design, character design, one from figure drawing, and then LOTS of thumbs to try and teach myself better composition. Reading Gurney's Color and Light at the same time, but also want to dig out my storyboarding book because I still feel like I'm going nowhere with all of these.

[dierat]

also want to dig out my storyboarding book because I still feel like I'm going nowhere with all of these.

I dunno, some of them look really interesting. Another book I heard is good for learning about composition is Picture This: How Pictures Work. Not much else to say.. except watch the head size; head's a bit large on the 3rd image (gypsy girl) and the face is a little tiny on the 4th (nude study). Keep up the good work!

[carakhan]

1hr study before bed...

[carakhan]

10 min studies from figure drawing.. first from photo ref and second from class

[Harmageddon]

Some nice updates you've got - I especially like the pencil drawings. I have a weak spot for those.
I agree with Deirat on the cloth of your last finished painting; for example, on the left it's crisp, and finished, whereas in the center it looks like you ran out of motivation. Understandably, since you've worked on it a long time.
Also, his stomach disturbs me somewhat; like he's more of a caterpillar with all those even folds of skin.
In all, I like the painting though The metal on his arm looks great! I also like the colors a lot.
As for storyboarding and composition - there's a lot of information regarding that online, you've probably found loads.
I feel that usually it just comes down to what feels good, though. As humans, we're naturally inclined to find balancing compositions pleasing to the eye, so you'll see automatically if it sucks or if its great. And others looking at your work will feel the same.

For example, the lady leaning against the wall and your latest painting have a diagonal and central composition, respectively.
Both work well. One of your latest sketches, with the woman on the left, looking right and holding a sword, is an asymmetrical composition, which increases suspense.
I take that is what you were going for, so it works! You're not going nowhere, is all I'm saying.
But keep on studying and you'll go even further!

[carakhan]

Hah now that you mention it, I see what you mean about his stomach. Originally it was his ribs plus a six pack, but I see now that it's so even that it starts to look weird. Sometimes I get caught up in rendering and following whats already there, instead of thinking about what is correct. That might bother me enough to go fix
And I think I'm going to do some straight cloth studies in the future. My reference definitely helped, but where I had to make it up it completely fell apart.
And what I mean about composition is more that all of my paintings are centrally compositional. I like balance and symmetry, apparently. I never explore bird's/worms eye view, or anything more complicated. and even when I thumb it out, I come back to the easy one. Gotta stop that!
Thanks so much for your crit! Really appreciate it.

[Harmageddon]

Haha yeah I know what you mean; taking a step back once in a while might help
I don't think your cloth fell apart at the seams, but it looks like you could not be bothered giving it any more of your time - so it looks a little unfinished in the middle.
I think it's also very hard to make believeable cloth up on the fly - so in that sense, you did a pretty good job.

Ok, I see what you mean, perspective wise.
Well, everyone likes balance and symmetry. It makes us feel comfortable.
So in that sense, "boring" compositions are very strong because they speak to our innate sense of harmony and beauty that we all percieve to be balanced and symmetrical.
Birds/frogs eye (is it worms in English/American?) is very hard.
It's not actually a composition (you can paint a balanced birds eye view painting) but a perspective.
I think that perspective is easiest practiced on building or landscapes, since those are things you might actually see in birds/frogs eye perspective and they are composed of rather simple box and line shapes.
There aren't many bird/frog eye paintings of people that I know of - might be because that's just too hard to paint believeably.
Besides; we like to see things that are speaking to our understanding of the world.
In other words, things that adhere to our commonly experienced perspective.
Anyway, I'm rambling. Hope I'm not just telling you things you already know.
Keep it up, dudette!

[carakhan]

Harmageddon - I like the way you put it I do like the harmony it creates, I just want to challenge myself.
A great example of amazing perspective is from The Last Man Standing contest:
http://attachments.conceptart.org/fo...1&d=1306991251
Love looking at views like this, they take you out of your comfort zone.
I appreciate the thoughts very much
Been drawing like crazy, just not updating.

[carakhan]

Having some fun doodling around today...

[carakhan]

more doodly fun

[carakhan]

Life studies from a concert, class, and a couple thumbs for some compositions, just playing around. Crappy cell phone quality, too lazy to scan

[carakhan]

1.5 hr pinup, I always wanted to do something like this. Might head over to the critique forum with this one to get the most out of it.

[carakhan]

My husband got me a cintiq! So nice to have an on screen tablet again, feels so much more natural. Messing around, inspired by hurricane Irene, I thought of a small planet in orbit of a gas giant, affected by it's storms.

[carakhan]

a friend of ours came over today to jam and asked if i wanted to help design his new tattoo. looks something like this so far...

[Satu]

Really cool updates here! The oil painting looks really good. Is that really your first oil painting? Awesomee The colors are really good. You should do those definitely more! I love this. I like the expression on the woman's face. Kind of reminds me of Loomis women with this classic beauty. This and this are also my favorites from your newest updates. I like the atmosphere in them. The tattoo design looks also good so far. Is it going to stay black and white? Your figure studies are coming along nicely too. Though I would like to see more even more of them from you. Like more quicker gesture drawings also. Anyways, I'll keep on lurking here and maybe someday try to figure out something wiser to say

[carakhan]

Thanks for stopping by again Satupeikko! Yea I really liked the oil painting, though it looks more vivid on here than in real life, I had a lot of fun with it. I just received a bunch of new canvas in the mail so I'm hoping to do a nice long painting soon.
I know I need to do gestures, I hate them so much! I have life drawing twice a week but I always end up hating the gesture portion. Probably because I know I need to work on them haha. I always appreciate the thoughts and advice, thank you

Was running around a lot yesterday, and it seems my cintiq fried my airport card and I spent way too long trying to fix it ;\ A little 1.5 hr study, trying to use a no opacity brush for 90% of it.

[FootstepsBeckon]

hey cara- that forest work is looking really good,i do hope you're planning to put more into it though FROWN.


Will

[carakhan]

Footstepsbeckon - as you wish It was fun to go from photo study to turning it into something new.

[carakhan]

Somethings wrong with the color...

[dierat]

Really enjoy that last piece, though I think it's feeling a bit flat in the foreground, almost like the tree is really a big wooden fence that's shaped like a tree but has no real depth or volume. I think you should consider redrawing the roots from this straight-up profile view to something that illustrates depth more. For example, what if the roots criss-crossed across the lawn towards the viewer as well as to the left and even off towards the horizon a little (just a few yards ofc), maybe something a bit like this.

For the color, the only thing bugging me right now is how saturated the clouds and that strip of yellow on the far off field are; it's a bit distracting from the foreground and is working against your sense of depth a little.

Btw the foresty study is very nice. Keep up the good work!