My Mentoring Thread...

[Jacob Kobryn]

This is where my mentors JL.Alfaro and Justin Oaksford can give me advice as well as assignments, book recommendations, etc. It's basically a journal to show my progress with their help.
Jake

[JL.Alfaro]

Alright man! Lets get some studies in here!I'll try to send you that stuff tonight.

-JL

[Jacob Kobryn]

Great!

[Jacob Kobryn]

OK. Heres what I've done so far with Alfaro's first assignment. Just some quick block figures.
Jake

[JL.Alfaro]

Hey Jake, You might want to stick to good 'ol paper and pencil for the meantime. But if scanning is a problem then digi is ok. Just turn the opacity really low and use a pencil brush. Try not to cut off the feet or other parts of the body. One small trick I have picked up, is to make two lines(horizontal marks) in your paper. about the size of what you want your figure to be. Divide that in half and make a mark. Now you got two parts, take those and divide them in half, now you got four. Take those and divide them in half, and now you got eight- theres your eight heads measurement. some people use 8 heads and some use 7 and a half- if you want to use the standard 7 1/2 heads, just take the bottom head and divide that in two and there you go.

For the meantime, try not to focus too much on the figure details, work on the basic shapes that make up the figure. practice those as much you can for now. cant wait to see your progress!

-JL

[Jacob Kobryn]

It was late and I was far too lazy to go all the way outside to use the scanner... I'll work with pencil from now.
Jake

[Justin.]

Jake, hope you are subscribed to this thread. I've gotten settled so now I can help.

I want you to do 3 Self portraits. Read the following, and DO THEM IN ORDER!!
Self-Portrait#1: Shadows
For this exercise, I want you to sit in a dark room with 1 lightsource, make sure you are not near any walls or light colored objects that will reflect onto your skin. It doesn't matter how you place the light. Once you have it in a secure position, I want you to draw only the lines between shadow and light. You can do construction lines, but don't draw the outline of the head dark or boldly.

The point of this exercise is for you to observe the form of your face. The dips and bumps and curves. It isn't about knowing YOUR FACE, it's about being able to read form well. Unless you feel like drawing sharpie lines down your face, this is a pretty good way to practice seeing form. Do not shade the areas in shadow, I want only a line drawing.

Self-Portrait#2: Blind Contour
If you have ever had an art class, chances are you know what this is. However, read on. Most art teachers have learned the technique itself from their teachers or other good or accomplished artists. HERE IS THE PROBLEM: So often, the purpose behind this exercise is implied that you want to draw your face as accurately as possible without looking at the paper. THIS IS FALSE! It does VERY little to help you get better at ANYTHING art related. In fact it doesn't even help hand-eye coordination as much as you think.
The REAL purpose of this activity is to help you concentrate and focus on seeing form and planes and their movement. Do NOT FOCUS ON YOUR HAND! That is not the point. ALL of your energy should be put toward your eyes; just keep your hand on the paper. You can do this in any lighting situation;
Here is the catch: I want you to MOVE YOUR HEAD slowly while drawing. Remember, it ISN'T ABOUT YOUR HAND, it ISN'T ABOUT HOW THE DRAWING LOOKS! This is a practice for your BRAIN, not your eyes!!! Remember, focus on FORM! Break the face into imaginary planes and draw along the creases of those planes. If you did it properly, you should end up with a large mass of lines, and that's it. Also, DO NOT PICK UP YOUR HAND WHILE DOING THIS EXERCISE!!

Self-Portrait#3: Rendered
This one is going to be tricky; It's a basic self portrait. However, I want you to do this; Spend ONE HOUR drawing ONLY the lines, and make sure they are accurate. SPEND 1 HOUR, there is always something to correct. Do not say "good enough!" Spend an HOUR! After that First hour, I want you to scan it and post it up. The next 20-30 minutes, I want you to draw the lines of where the most shadow and the most light meet, alot like #1. Remember to follow the forms! Then, after that, I want you to draw lines between the mid-shadows and the dark shadows, and the mid-lights and the highlights. Draw these lines lightly. THEN, I want you to shade each area FLATLY! When you are done, you should have 4 Very even values. Dark, Medium Dark, Mid-gray, and light gray. Do not leave the eyes out either! I want them rendered as well. This will get you started on value.

BONUS ASSIGNMENT
Go get The Complete guide to Drawing from Life, by George Bridgeman. The paper back costs 17 bucks and it's a HUGE book and will serve you for years to come. Post in this thread once you get the book.

[KidApe]

Hello guys, I was wondering if this thread is for Jake only or if other people can join in as well because I'm interested in participating with the excercises as well=D I saw your creature post for the 200th Cow contest Jake, I'm going to have some competition=D

[Jacob Kobryn]

Cool. Will do.

[Jacob Kobryn]

Sorry this my own personal thread. I doubt you'll have much competition with me... my 100th cow is really sucking...
Jake

[Zaxser]

To Jake: Sorry to crash your thread.

To Justin: Am I doing it right? (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1494339#post1494339)

[chaosrocks]

this is a mentor relationship thread please
respect those relationships

why Jake has 2 mentors I don't know, It seems rather selfish of him when there are so few willing mentors and so many who want them.
I would suggest that one of you
take over and the other find a new mentee.... it would only be fair

[Zaxser]

I was trying to. That's why I posted a link to my thread rather than posting pics. In addition, I don't care if he has 30 mentors, but I find it highly lame that he isn't posting the assignments. If you want to talk about my behavior further, PM me. I was trying to be discreet. If I failed, sorry. I don't want to hijack anyone's thread.

[Jacob Kobryn]

Justin, I'm SOOO sorry this took so long. I really do appreciate the time you take to make up lessons and things like that. I've been very busy these pass few months and this was my only spare bit of time.

I guess you'll here from me in an other 20 minutes or so...

[Jacob Kobryn]

OK... I'm ready for the next assignment.

[Jacob Kobryn]

Ok...SOOOOOOOO...
Justin knocked flat on my ass and said that he is no longer my mentor and I haven't heard from Jose in two months so I am currently mentor-less. Does anyone want to help me out?

[Jacob Kobryn]

Jose', my assignment is in my sketchbook. Follow the link in my signature and turn to page 3.

[JL.Alfaro]

ok Jake, but why?
you are supposed to post your progress here.

Stick your hand out...no palm down...here it comes;

you are rushing your drawings, stop it. Specially your studies, you had absolutely no trouble with the self portraits, but when it comes to the other boring studies...you rush to get em done. You are not learning anything that way. This is not an algebraic or geometry school assignment that you want to rush through to get done and be done with it. you are supposed to be absorbing these studies as you go. So take your time with a study.

You are doing a good job on those figures I asked you to do. The point behind doing those is that you get familiar with the basic shapes that make up the figure. So when you start sketching a new drawing, those shapes just come out naturally to you.
The next thing on the list is proportions. Look for the proportions part of the book you are using and lay it out. post it here. < here Jake

Make sure you make notes on how the size or measurement of the head compares to the rest of the body parts. -top of the head to chin =one head, chin to clavicle, chin to chest/nipple area, chest to belly button, belly button to crotch, crotch to half upper leg, to knee, to ankle, to bottom of foot.

[Jacob Kobryn]

I can't find the book you gave me. Can you re-email it to me?

[Jacob Kobryn]

Ok, so the proportion studies are from Bridgman's book and the gestures I did off of pose maniacs. They're all 30 second poses.

[JL.Alfaro]

you need to start doing some more proportion studies Jake. keep your drawings straight too. Try drawing a cross on the paper, with the cross section of the line in the middle of the paper.
or maybe your just scanning them crooked...use PS to set them straight. either way, keep your studies neat.

if you are working on your CHOW, try using some of those proportion studies on that as well. I saw your silhouetted wip and its got some problems.

[Jacob Kobryn]

Here are some more JL.