Fishspawn's Journey

[Cwn Annwn]

Hey there, it's good to be honest, especially to yourself. Gotta admit the reality of what's happening before you can advance.


The last few posts strike me as being very garish in color. Take a look outside, have a look at the plants and trees. I know we're all used to using colors symbolically, you think plants and your mind automatically thinks green.
However if you have a look outside or even at some photos of environments you'll notice a pure green is rarely found. "Paint the color you see, not the color you think" - is a good rule of thumb.

Dailies are a great habit by the way, keep it up!

[guitarjames]

i think your pencil peaces are really good but on your digital peaces think about the stroke before you put it donw because it seems as if you are laying them down randomly.
james

[sweetoblivion314]

wow man you just keep improving and improving its awsome.

[Fishspawn]

Cwn Anwnn - Thanks, and thanks for getting our SSG going. You're completely right about the colors. I was squinting at stuff the whole day trying to find points of contrast, and i was too fed up/tired to try and find better colors last night. I definately need to work with color from life.

Guitarjames - Thanks. Yeah, i really have no idea what i'm doing painting so half of the time i just throw stuff on and refine it later. I'm studying real painting right now but its a 1.5 hour a week class so its taking some time, but i'll try and translate what i learn to digital. Time to be more careful and act like i know what i'm doing!

Sweetoblivion314 - Thanks, i appriciate it.

I got the chance to draw some more horses today. It was kind've awkward because there were a bunch of people watching me draw... All but the last two were done in charcoal 5-15 minutes, and the last two were ball point pen. Last there are some pictures of the horses so you can see what i was working from.

Here are my morning doodles. They started out drowsy and fast but as i woke up/warmed up i took longer on them and they turned into studies by the time i got home. Trying to work on those silly female shoulders. These are mostly reffed from civardi's Drawing the Human Body.

Hmm, another chronologically backwards post.

[Cwn Annwn]

No probs at all Fishspawn.

Good to see the horse studies. (Yeah I know, I'm animal biased but hehe.)
It's heartening to see you doing quick studies of the horses and not fussing over an image too much. The first few charcoal ones have weird leg joints happening but by the time you got to the pen you had sorted it out. Just some proportionality issues left but it's already a great improvement.

Neat human anatomy studies too. Keep at it. You're doing a good amount of work.

[guitarjames]

wow large update which is good,i can see the horse sketches geting beeter as they go along which is cool, my favrouite is the charcol that is not rendered.keep it up
james

[sweetoblivion314]

Your humans are getting better and better. The horses are nice too, i like the charcoal outlines and penn ones. It shows you can see how the anatomy of the horse goes. But it seems like you lost that when you drew the dark shaded in horses. Im not sure what you did there but it doesnt seem right.

[Fishspawn]

Cwn Annwn - Thanks. I had fun doing them

guitarjames - Glad you like it, i'll try and carry that feel into my rendered ones.

sweetoblivion314 - Yeah i agree, i chose charcoal because it is fast but i was trying to render with little erasing and i wasn't thinking about what i was doing. I should have focused less on value and more on energy. ~Thanks.

Here are some more shoulder studies, i still have problems with those silly shoulders every time. Again i was waking up and the later ones are later in the day. The horse is just ugh. I was going to go into it but i lost my drive and rushed - it doesn't even have the right number of ribs. By rushed i mean the amount of time i considered a study to take a few weeks ago. I GUESS you could critique it but its not worth your time - the shoulders are much more finished and need helpings of beans or lotion or something.

On another note I'm going to be taking a week long class at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena next week. I'll be leaving tomorrow and i get to go to disneyland over the weekend, so posts may be tiny . I should get plenty of drawing done, however, and i believe i will have means to post it. If not, look forward to a colossal post after my class...

[guitarjames]

good update espeacilly the arms the only thing that lets them down is the hands so practice them and also try and do two hands interacting with eachother.
james

[Bartovan]

Good start but you need to refine your sketches more. I had the same problem: i tried to do it all with one pencil. Start sketching with a 2H, doing construction lines and shapes. Erase the faulty and unnecessary ones. Then use a softer pencil (HB) to draw the lines you really need. And when you start shading, use an even softer pencil, like 2B or so. It takes some time and some discipline, but it's the only way.

[Stark]

Great update. The horse and anatomy sketches are great! More life studies (you mentioned you were taking more classes, so I'll wait to see that update) and you've got a brilliant sketch...improving alot

[Cwn Annwn]

Good to see arm studies, some of those have a good sense of movement happening. I chuckled a bit when I saw the crab claw thing happening. Don't despair at doing hands yet.

Hands are tricky to get right and a lot people have trouble doing them, myself included.

I'm not sure about bartovan's 2h recommendation, just making really light lines with a 2b works for me. I find 2h is too hard and sharp to draw with comfortably. I guess as I mentioned before it all comes down personal preference.

[Fishspawn]

Guitarjames - Thanks, i'll try that.

Bartovan - Hmm, i had thought about that but i always figured it wasn't much different. I'll give it a try. Thanks.

Saikin - Thanks very much!

Cwn Annwn - Heh. I enjoyed doing that crab claw >.>... Thanks for the kind words, hands and faces are still my biggest concern.

Not much to say. I didn't have access to a comp for 2 days, today was the first day of class. Fun and hard work! I have much more in my sketchbook but i'm taking pics with a camera so this is just newsprint stuff. Mostly in nupastel.

[guitarjames]

keep it up,but im not sure but the feet on the second from last look a bit large and the last ones face looks streched back,
james

[Stark]

Not a bad update. I like the gestures.

[Fishspawn]

guitarjames - Thanks. I was having trouble on that one... i don't know why.

Saikin - Thanks be to ye.

Day 2. Tons in my sketchbook, maybe i'll scan the highlights when i get home.

[Blue Severin]

Your anatomy has gotten a heck of a lot better than when you started. You already got the crit about your bright greens being way oversaturated in the landscape. In the beginning of this SB you have a lot of SP's. If you enjoy doing those, I'd reccomend spending a bit more time on one and really polishing it up. From some of the anatomy studies you've done lately, I bet you could crank out something pretty sweet.

[fedezz]

Finally. It took a while accessing this thread (I was constantly getting some php error) and some of the other ssg member's sketchbooks.
You've had a great improvement since your first post. I like specially the last two studies, those done in charcoal and white chalk (pastel?) over a toned paper. Keep posting more of those.

[Fishspawn]

Surprising and nice to see new ssg members

Blue Severin - Thanks. I had completely forgotten about those! When i get home maybe i'll try one.

fedezz - Thanks. I'll see what i can do.

Sad when you draw for 7 hours but only have 10 minutes on the computer. Heres some from my sb.

[Stark]

MAJOR improvement! I am glad to see you come so far! Your life studies are your best so far and I know will become way better as you continue. Are you scanning or taking digipics? Maybe scan them if possible because of the brightness....sorta faint

[Fishspawn]

Saikin - Thanks. These are taken with a camera because i'm operating out of a hotel room ahora. And they're 18x24 so they wouldnt fit in a scanner anyway... But i usually fix brightness in PS which i dont have with me.

Last day is tomorrow! I've learned a lot in this short period of time... makes me wish i were going to college next semester :/. More nupastel stuff. The portrait took up a large chunk of the day. Having fun ~

[guitarjames]

huge improvment ,since u started going to those classes and that last poartrait was time ell spentkeep it up james

[guitarjames]

huge improvment since u stated goign to those lessons,and that poartait was time well spent,only crit is on the post 49 the pic with the girl with long hair her hips look a little to large.
keep it up, james

[sweetoblivion314]

better and better. I wish i had your dedication in posting. Keep at it

[Fishspawn]

guitarjames and sweetoblivion 314 - Thanks

Last day invovled costumes and lots of gesturing. I had a blast. For those who are interested my teacher was John Howarth. His passion for drawing was inspiring! Over all i filled up about 65 pages of newsprint and 100 pages of sketchbook, all in 5 days.

And this next week i will be camping so i will not be able to post, but i will continue drawing!

[Cwn Annwn]

Very nice to see the improvements through the sketchbook. Your lines are much more free flowing, good to see your confidence improving!

You're getting a much better handle on anatomy now as well. Just on the last few pics I'm not sure about the hips. I'm impressed at your dedication.

[Fishspawn]

Cwn Annwn - Thanks! Yeah, i'm not too sure about the hips either- that was my first time figure painting and i was kinda fumbly with the brush. I'd like to see you posting more in your sketchbook!

Going away until saturday. I have more sketches that i've done today but i don't have them with me. I have a new approach to sketchbooks that is more about note-taking and then trying my own. I'm also trying to write sideways as much as possible... i don't know why. Trying to visualize everything in 3 dimensions and understand each plane as a draw it. I finally managed to get my, uh, virtual hands on some loomis, and man is it great.

Until saturday,

[Stark]

Nice batch again...some seem to have a few anat problems but since these are quick gestures, nothing has to be perfect

[sweetoblivion314]

good stuff. I just noticed that all your newest stuff slants to the right. Kinda odd, but looking back through the other stuff its apparent there too. Might want to pay attention to why thats happening and try to correct it.

[guitarjames]

i think you should tkae more time on your sketches and get them more acurate