end of sketchbook, come see my new one under the username AlexC

**Mitchell** · January 3rd, 2007, 06:10 PM

pretty good stuff in here. Just always keep in mind your proportions when doing portraits. think in terms of negative space, how wide is the space from the edge of the nose to the outside of the cheek?, the bottom of the lips to the bottom of the chin? make sure it is exact and take your time. The slightest error could drastically change the apperance. Eventually you'll begin to automatically think in terms like that, and your speed will progress. These are some tips that have helped me.

Your doing exceptionally well and have inspired me to draw more. Keep it up.

**j a k e** · January 3rd, 2007, 06:16 PM

I agree with Skeiff. That aside dude I think it's awesome that youre constantly studying etc. Your pencils are getting awesome, I really liked the sketch of the horse from the TC. And I think the pencil challenge or whatever is coming up so that should be good!

**blanquish** · January 4th, 2007, 08:45 PM

Bumskee; MIN, haha, howve you been?
I think its the scans, wobbly and all.
hobos unite!
Skeiff; thanks mate, heh, its so much easier with ref, and most of these are crummy imagination. Thats great I have inspired someone, I hope you do draw more, you really need to draw more, especially in the holidays, Im drawing about 7-8 hours a day( I do more than you see here).
thanks mate

J a k e ; thanks mate, the teen challenge is gonna be hard, bloody book challenge, I dont read much, maybe Ill cop out and do a book with a movie for inspiration, which is probably cheating lol.

#fingers crossed, Ive recieved information about the David Kessan Workshop, and I have to persuade my parents to let me go, the price is reasonably( I was expecting more), and it looks really good, David is an amazing artist, lets hope for the best

random crap, picked up some national geographic mags from the library which are great, ref+imagination+ davinci study
+robot for IRC contest with Min, davi,eriboss, and slash

**bumskee** · January 4th, 2007, 08:49 PM

Yo!

what's this david kessan workshop?

**blanquish** · January 4th, 2007, 08:52 PM

Min, the David Kessan workshop is being held in Byron Bay for the blues festival, its 5 days, 400 dollars( good value), and we get to see him draw and paint. Find David Kessans sketchbook and give him your email adress so you can recieve emails from the lady in charge( trisha I think).

I m hoping i can go

**bumskee** · January 4th, 2007, 08:57 PM

byron bay isn't too far from where I am think.. woop it must be like a driving distance. NICE! I will do that give out my email and see.

Thanks for the info mate!

**entdroid** · January 4th, 2007, 09:25 PM

Nice updates Blanq! I like the robot thingie. The head not so much though.
The studies are nice too! Your animals are shaping up some more.

I have a complain to make: where's the Technicolor, dude? You fooled me, I thought you had posted some color stuff. I hope to see some of that soon, huh?

Keep it up!

**rodrigo!** · January 5th, 2007, 01:30 AM

yo man thanks for the tip ill definitely look into it!
good sketches comin out of the what looks to be a daler-rowney. shame they dont make the "daler" ones they were the ultimate.
=definitely seeing some improvement too, i like the looseness of the robot. cheers man!

oh yeah, im not going to the kassan workshop yet. but if i get another job and i can afford it i'll definitely try to make it. also its more geared towards those who are painters, and ive only just started that shit. lemme know if you go man!

**j a k e** · January 5th, 2007, 01:47 AM

I was actually told by my parents I was allowed to go to David's workshop, but it was in the middle of some important school stuff. UGH. Damn that would have been amazing, he is such an awesome painter. AAAAaannywho, Blanq I haven't finished a whole book since year 5, so I'm in the same boat as you. Haha.

**armando** · January 5th, 2007, 03:25 AM

I can hardly believe the progress you've made, incredible. I must admit that I'm jealous, but well you've earned it.

**blanquish** · January 5th, 2007, 07:39 AM

bumskee; min, that would be sweet it be both could go, you could tell me how to use your brushes!!
cheers
entdroid; haha, here is some colour for you

I knew you wouldnt like the head!

haha
sorry
rodrigo! yeah ill tell you if im going, it would be great to sketch together, I need a job too!
j a k e ; haha, whats more important, a once in a life time oppurtunity or school

Man, we gotta cheat and use books that have movies! haha, come to think of it, thats not a bad idea.

armando, too kind mate, its just practice and hard work, and practice

this was a 1 hour IRC challenge, i came up with the challenge, octopus magical character
heh 1 hour, OC, Photoshop and painter(gotta multitask

**designboot** · January 5th, 2007, 12:04 PM

Great skeches!

**Wolfbane** · January 6th, 2007, 05:44 AM

Oh man i love the smell of improvement! seriously, these last sketches rocks!
love the creativity with those animals/creatures on page 4. Everything's
ggrown better, still need to work slightly ont he facial structure though, in
some very few cases it looks flat. But the expressions are really neat ^__^

Glad to see your working with pencil, though i'd like to see some more
digital work from you. For example you could join the td battle with me

OVERALL: great improvement, alex! cant wait to see more work popping
out!

**Dile_** · January 6th, 2007, 05:47 AM

yeah, that 1 hour thing is damn fun, If you happen to be on IRC at the time the topic is given, feel free to send me a PM, and yes, for me, I think everything is sorted out ; ) up to you decide how you feel though.
However, uhm, You draw a lot from reference, thats good, really good, but my advice would be to try to get some dynamism in there, cause your stuff looks kinda stiff, Im studying hogarth right now, I think its great stuff about dynamism in there, after all, all his books are focused on how to get stuff look dynamic.

~Dile

**blanquish** · January 7th, 2007, 06:22 PM

designboot

wolfbane;hey thanks mate, nice to have you back. I'm hoping my digis will consistently get better as I figure out the kinks of ps and painter.

Dile; thanks mate

Yes, 1 hour challenges are great, did one last night with bumskee and idiot apathy, I wont show it, it was pooor, but it was fun, the topic was emo demon

I can get hogerth from the library( i dont like staring at a screen to study)
anyway, thanks mate

had a couple crappy sketchdays

**Texahol** · January 7th, 2007, 06:26 PM

your rendering seems to be getting quite nice, but I think you need to think about getting the form right before you try to polish...otherwise you're just polishing bad forms.

**skullsquid** · January 7th, 2007, 06:27 PM

Good improvement, really enjoy the sketches. When you paint in any media, avoid using white as the backdrop, it will alter the way you see color.

Cheers.

**Wolfbane** · January 7th, 2007, 06:28 PM

Awww! That shark drawing kicks arse! I'm guessing refrence, but hell, your
waaay better than me when it comes to texturing your drawings. Hope we'll
start up to continue on the Pirakha thing soon, looking forward to work with
you bro!

**entdroid** · January 8th, 2007, 06:36 PM

Cool sketches and studies blanq!
Your SP looks very good and I really like the sharks.
The hands in your drawings could use a bit more attention.
I like the octopus head guy too, though I think you should have used a less saturated blue for the bg to make the octopus pop more.
Keep up the hard work, my friend! Your dedication always makes me realize how lazy I am

**blanquish** · January 9th, 2007, 04:45 AM

hey guys, this will be my last update for a week+, because tomorrow Im going away to the beach with my family, I will be back next wednesday( the 15th) with a large update

texahol, hmm, Im a bit confused, isnt the forms the polishing? Ill work harder from now on.
evildisco; what, where has the attractive panda suit women avatar gone?

, thanks birthday sharing pal, thanks for the tips

WolfBane, hee, thanks kjartan, I'm looking foward to the pixels you will be pushing in pirahka, chat to you later, or in a week.

Gleeson, aw thanks, I dont particularly want stars, heh, no idea what percentage they are though, because of my browsers being funky. heh, you deserve it more though, your stuff is looking very nice

entdroid;

thanks, hmm, the SP, doesnt look much like me unfortunately,me and a friend were chopping it about, trying to find the section that looked like me.
With the less saturated blue, would a darker blue, or a lighter blue look better? I will try and fix it before i leave.
yep, you gotta work harder

thanks Victoria

silly graphite Ive been pushing around lately
(Wolfbane, pirahka stuff in the next update, i promise, its just wip atm)

unimaginative imaginative stuff( no ref)

**Gleeson** · January 11th, 2007, 05:59 PM

Hey Blanquish

Sorry for taking a bit of time to get back to you in your sb. I read what Skief had to say and I know where he is coming from and I think that those kinds of rules are the bread and butter of competent drawing. However in saying that I last looked at your sb about a month ago and since then your work has gone up another notch. It seems to me that you are really starting to gain confidence in your own imagination and ideas and that’s awesome because in my opinion both skill and imagination have to developed and run at parallel for you to really be proud of what you create with your artwork. You have some awesome rendering skills coming along there and your drapery is awesome. Try and take some time with your drawing and work out what works and what doesn’t and have some fun with your ideas.

Gave you some stars aswell

Gleeson

**entdroid** · January 11th, 2007, 08:35 PM

Re: octopus guy. I think the value is ok really, you just need to makes it less saturated. You know, more "gray-ish", roughly speaking.

I think you need to be a bit more conscious about laying basics shapes, specially when working from the mind. You stuff from imagination is very noticeable less consistent than your reffed stuff... maybe some loose gestures could help.

And I'm trying to work harder... I just get frustrated sometimes...
Keep it up blanq!

**Qxzi** · January 13th, 2007, 02:49 PM

Hey,

those are some good sketchs there, i really liek those faces, the shading is ace! Well done! The octopus is funny, i think its body is too small for its neck

Keep it up

Qxzi

**blanquish** · January 14th, 2007, 06:49 PM

hi guys, pit stop on the vacation, we had to return for my next door newighbours funeral =(
filled my sketchbook, need to buy a second.
mostly done life crap in my old white sketchbook, but its boring as hell to see, so i wont scsan it

random crap
gleeson; thanks mate, yeah, I feel Im trying to develop those ideas further than I used to. I dunno, before I seemed to just be doing the same thing, and it didnt bring as much satisfaction.
As an artist, you often question whether 1;your drawing enough, 2, your improving, and 3, people like your work. Sometimes you forget what brings you satisfaction in work.
thanks for your comment =)

entdroid; yeah I get what your saying about the octopus.
I hope your working harder

you are a top gun illustrator , you should be making mega bucks!

qxzi,

If you wanna see the kings of rendering, look for sketchbooks by Wes, Lukias, rodrigo and skeif, to name a few! rendering pals unite!
hehe thanks

meh..
some crap from life(the rocks), found a pinecone, made it somewhat into a character
meh
Im thinking of buying some guache paints and do some painting..

**entdroid** · January 14th, 2007, 07:40 PM

Liking the studies there blanq! Nice pinecone!
I like the first image too... seems a bit surreal.
Thanks for the compliments

I updated yesterday, so you see I'm working, I'm working!

**Dile_** · January 15th, 2007, 01:54 AM

hehehe, great to hear you filled your sketchbook

although, that means you have tons to scan (if its a 100 page moleskine?) right ?

oh well man, you doing alright, just one thing i've noticed is that all your stuff (almost at least) kinda leans to the left, maybe your are sitting in some special way ? I know that
when I'm twisting my body to the left, and kinda look down at the paper, I automatically write like that after a while, maybe you are doing the same thing ?

just an assumption , keep it up man

~Dile

**blanquish** · January 17th, 2007, 06:05 PM

hey guys, back again from vacation feeling burnt and tired.
Been sketching like hell lately, drawing most of the day.
Filled a book of math paper(lol), which is sorta fun, and is where all my pre lim drawings/ life studies and other studies have been going.
Ill show you 1 page of some quick poses of my sister.

entdroid; thanks Im glad you like the pine cone, here another for you( milking the same idea twice

)
I saw your updates, good to see your working !

Dile: I think you misread that, I finished my old molekine, which is the work you have been seeing above+last page.
Bought a new one though
Nope, my drawings arent leaning over, its just the way I have been scanning them( its an a5 sketchbook on an a4 scanner, unless I match the edges up its crooked) should be better in this post becaue i lined it up

1 channeling Wes self portrait

( really freaky though, i was drawing this and looked out the window at a car parked on the street, and the number plate was WES, hehe, freaky!
2pine cone dude( pinecone from life)
3 mixing animals (ref +life)
4 chair +girl from life
5 backwards legs +sketches, all from imagination

**character** · January 17th, 2007, 09:18 PM

nice sketchbook! watch the slant. alot of your stuff is crooked. flip your moleskin upside down while you're drawing and it'll be a bit more obvious to catch from the begining!

**Dile_** · January 18th, 2007, 03:32 AM

Originally Posted by character

nice sketchbook! watch the slant. alot of your stuff is crooked. flip your moleskin upside down while you're drawing and it'll be a bit more obvious to catch from the begining!

Well, yeah, your stuff is leaning to the left slightly, even in the new update.

Great stuff though, keep it up and keep posting!

btw, you bought a new moleskine from where ? (Website ?) You have a store
close to you , cause it took me (ordering from a swedish company) more then 1 week to receive it ;( Oh well, great to hear you have a new one

~Dile