Concept Art 101

[Chizome]

I have tons of artist friends in real life, but none of them live near me. :/ In fact, the charcoal portrait I'm working on is of one of them, but she's back out in Cali. >< I remember that she got her friend (now girlfriend) to draw a nude of her, so I know she's definately fine with the idea, but the only way that would happen is if she set up a webcam. And no webcam has that high of a resolution. XD

[Seedling]

LOL! Drawing from life means no screens between you and your subject. :-) That's some friend you've got.

[Chizome]

Exactly. XD None of my friends out here are anywhere NEAR that open-minded. I get coments like "Jesus won't like that" daily, so I know it won't happen. :| And I know she's awesome. ^^ I've known her for about two years, and she's ALWAYS been like that. XD

Okay, so... um.... :/ This is a problem. Nude samples= nonexistant in western Kentucky. Now, if I were still in CALI, I'd have oodles of people that would be willing to pose and be mature about it. And not call me names over it. >< I'd prefer to draw a nude instead of someone clothed, because then I could get a better feel for the anatomy and natural flow of the body, but I don't think I have much of a choice at this point.

[DoubleXdragoN]

You know, Chizome, if it's so difficult to get a nude model you can try using mirrors if you have any lying around!

As luck had it, I took 2 full-sized mirrors from garage and will soon start using myself as a model. I SACRIFICE MYSELF FOR SCIENCE!

It may not be as comfortable or free to pose, but methinks it's better than nothing.

[Chizome]

Haha! Dragon, that's an AWESOME idea! Thank you! I'll give it a shot as soon as I can, which probably won't be tonight... but that's good, because I have tons of Spanish homework and now some for Criminal Justice as well, before I can finish the charcoal portrait and watercolor painting. Thanks so much!

I'm glad you think outside the box, because that would have NEVER crossed my mind in a million years. XD

[pepps]

you could always have them posing in swimming suit....better than nothing..=)

[Seedling]

Swimsuits make another possible alternative. Sketch friends sunbathing?

Remind me later to tell you about a life-sized nude self-portrait I did that came back to haunt me. ;-)

[DoubleXdragoN]

Not a problem, C. ^^

Goin' the same way, why not to help?

Seedling: will wait to hear. XD Oh, sorry for taking too long with the assignments. I have much stuff happening lately. Ok, I shall continue them tomorrow! Can't be lazy!

Kthxbye!

[Seedling]

No apologies necessary- I'm not keeping track.

So, um, yeah. I did a life-sized self-portrait of myself as a centaur, shirtless, of course. It was caran d’ache on masonite, a big, heavy, and no- great drawing. I was too lazy to find a good way to destroy it when I wanted to be rid of it, so, I left it out with the trash when I moved to a new apartment.

Fast-forward about a year. A friend told me about this kooky little gallery in the basement of an old movie theater nearby in Dedham. The “Museum of Bad Art”. Their “submissions” are gleaned from trash cans and garage sales. I went there to laugh at the horrible things other people had made.

My drawing was the centerpiece of the exhibition.

[Ian Mack]

Ah Seedling! That's too funny...and I wonder why artists don't show their old work.

I've been perusing through thr thread here and I have to say that there is some good work going on! I really liked Pepps redesign...mostly because of the expression on the face. There were als small elemtsnt hat jumped out after I took a closer look..like how his arms had that kind of grasshopper feel to them, and the fact that he has a japanese house on his head?? Made me laugh.

Keep it up everyone!

[novenus]

This is why you need to burn your art when you want to get rid of them...

[pepps]

did you actually sign that drawing seedling? eheheh

ian mack: thanks! i´m glad you like it =)

[Chizome]

Oh my goodness! Poor Seedling! >< That must have been so embarrassing. Did anyone know it was you that drew it when you went to see it?

And sorry, didn't get to work on much of anything last night. I had chores, then got in trouble, then relaxed for two hours before remembering I had homework, painted said homework, and then more chores before bed. >< So tonight. I dunno about tomorrow, I'm staying after to pull up my grade in Spanish.

[tatiana]

...I did a life-sized self-portrait of myself as a centaur, shirtless, of course....My drawing was the centerpiece of the exhibition.

ROFL! But I'm laughing with you...not at you.
Funny, I did a centaur version of myself, too, when i was in high school in pastel on 24x36. After seeing it, my uncle offered to buy it. I said no.
BTW...I still have the picture. Maybe it will show up somewhere after I'm dead.

t

[Chizome]

Uh oh. Seedling! >< I need your artistic uberness to help me out again, please. I'm having a *really* hard time drawing a portrait. It's for my friend (the same friend I mentioned before), and I plan to submit it with my portfolio in my college applications. I screwed the first draft of it up, by trying to outline it in graphite before going over in charcoal, but while trying to fix the eyes I kept messing up the glasses so now it has these dark lines that show the old angles of them. I'm using the head tutorials here on CA, but this particular picture is giving me a real headache. Maybe I'm just trying too hard, but... any suggestions?

[Seedling]

You guys can laugh all you want. I’m still laughing at it! The universe sure decided to take me down a peg that day. I sent my friends to go see it, too, because it was the only time I had ever had art shown in a gallery. ;-)

Uh oh. Seedling! > I'm having a *really* hard time drawing a portrait.

I think your first try is lovely. I don’t know how to tell you to improve it. There are a zillion ways to draw portraits, and I’ve never felt particularly confidant at catching likenesses accurately, myself. I like those elegant lines you are finding – they’re rather art nouveau. It looks like maybe you committed to the heavy lines too early, before you had found the correct placement of all the facial features.

[DoubleXdragoN]

Oh, Chizome, this might sound stupid from me, and at this moment, bu-u-ut someone's said to make the picture look like real, not draw it dot-by-dot.

Also (that's just in general) you might want to consider making a few pre-work sketches and if you feel uncertain about a part: draw it on a separate sheet of paper. Think visual, don't start worrying if something's not coming out! Just think of ways to fix it or improvise. Seedling is right - there are countless, "..zillions.." of, ways to draw a portrait.

Please tell me to shut up if I'm talking gibberish or anything!

[Chizome]

Thanks to both of you. ^^ I've been trying to practice portraits lately, but this particular one has been bugging me. I was trying to get all the angles and proportions juuuuust right, because I'm a big-time perfectionist (which has screwed me up many a time). Dragon, I like the idea of improvision, especiallyfor when I draw a portrait just for practice- but improvising on here could be a problem because it's for a college app portfolio. >_0 Anyways, I'll work on it over the weekend and try to generalize more.

EDIT: I finished the arbitrary colors portrait this morning. 45 minutes in front of the mirror, woke up late but made the bus and got it done! :] So I'm happy with it. You can see the light lines where I began to paint in the glasses, but I decided that I had best not keep the bus driver waiting. XD

I realize now the head is a bit big :/ Oh well. I like watercolors because they force me to keep going even if I screw up, which is a lesson I sorely need to get crammed into my skull.

[DoubleXdragoN]

Wow! That's a very solid practice picture!

Being a perfectionist in arts won't help. I was once like that. Still am a bit, but getting over it just because it doesn't help. It's better to have a perfectionistic vision in the picture than the picture to be perfectionistic.
And I think I see the little problem in the picture: left/right side effect (not side-effect). ^^ But you'll get over it with practices. First time for everything!
Take me for example - I had no idea how to draw hands. Now I can draw it at any angle, at any size! All thanks to life drawing, studies, practices and Seedling's lectures. ^^

[Chizome]

Haha, this one wasn't practice, Well maybe... I only took 45 minutes on it. :/ And yeah, it's the right side of the picture (left of the figure? XD) where the hair decides to go "GRaaaAH!" that it looks kooky. I figure it's better to stop worrying about it so much, especially since all it's gotten is good criticism (and the kids at school know it's me. I took it to school to scan it). ^^

[Sepulverture]

Hey Seedling. I think this is a great thread, and regret not reading through it more earlier. Thanks a lot for taking the time to put this information and these assignments up. It's really helpful.

[DoubleXdragoN]

Yeah, C, that happens sometimes. ^^ Nobody said arts are instant or that you can do wonders with your early age of skill! I guess your daily schedules are quite crammed with 'to do' stuff, so it's quite understandable if it's not the practice picture. Still, from what I see here you sure have quite a portfolio. XD Certainly a lot more than I have. ^^'

I'll be lurking 'round. :3

Seedling! I need a little help. I'm terribly concentrating on hand studies at the moment (reading B. Hogarth's Dynamic Hands for in-debth material) and starting to think that I might be going overboard. Should I tweak the weekly goals then? Or carry on with the hands then start drawing everything around, aka Natur Morte, for a week?

[mauser]

Many Thanks Seedling for this! It's helping me out so much =) I'm going to start you assignments from #1 =] Thanks bro!

[roseille]

I've gone through all four pages, and I have enjoyed this and your other sigged threads so much that I registered solely because of it. I tend to feel self-conscious about my work on a professional level, and have a hard time putting it out. I'm hoping that I can just put stuff up and get critiques so I can get better. Thanks a lot. You're very inspiring.

[Andrew_ak-47]

hey guys, new to this section. wud b nice if sum1 wud katch me up on the latest stuff

stay (sic)

[gorkem]

Here is my assignment one mixed with dice roll.. Not an object maybe but the hell it is a nice subject...
The Honey Badger....

[Chizome]

Uh oh. Seedling, I've run into yet another problem. The name is 'dad'. >< < I went into Sandy and Randy's room yesterday to use their giant mirror for that life drawing, and he told me I wasn't allowed in there anymore 'because he said so', and then when I said I'd just go upstairs and try to use my smaller mirrors, he got mad and said 'you are NOT drawing yourself naked!' When I asked why not, he said 'You don't need to.' Gah. Now what? :|

[tatiana]

"Life drawing" doesn't always mean "Nude drawing". Some of the models I had in my figure drawing classes at university would wear clothes or bring props along (draped cloth, hats, books, flowers, etc.) to provide different elements along with the figure to improve our study. It was the opportunity to draw a figure "in the round" as opposed to from a photo or from memory/imagination that was the point of those exercises.

If you are trying to improve your drawing skill by drawing from life, it shouldn't matter if your subject, whether yourself or someone else, has clothing on. Don't sweat the details.

t

[Chizome]

I understand that much. I mean, I do tons of drawings of people with their clothes ON. >>; But I figured I need to learn anatomy, especially if I want to draw someone in an especially skimpy outfit (haha). Also, since I like drawing action scenes, I need to learn how the body looks in different contortions... and so on and so forth. ><

[tatiana]

I see your point.

In that case, since you're currently living in a restricted environment (parental control, I'm thinking) and not under your own at the moment, what about studying anatomy via the library or the web for the time being. There should be good reference available of the skeletal structure of the figure and muscles in various science and anatomy study books and websites. Develop a good understanding of the inner structure of the body for your foundation, since you aren't allowed to draw nude human figures. Those studies will definitely help later. I still go back to those myself for practice since I don't have access or time like I used to for figure drawing classes. In fact, I just picked up this book and will be working with it over the weekend: Mastering Drawing the Human Figure from Life, Memory, Imagination by Jack Faragasso. I found it through The American Art archives in the section on the artist, Frank Reilly.


And, there's always life drawing at the zoo where generally the animals don't wear clothing, but you'll get a very good idea of how their muscles work in motion. Could help you in the future for your action concept development of creatures as well as humans. Maybe see if you can get access to those tabletop skeletons for artists for studies in the round at home?

t