The Rumpus Room! Exercises Within!

[Nerahla]

Mentees:

Confuzed
MidnightDream
Yinteck
BlightedArt
Meds

I am going to teach you how I was taught. Now my freehand still needs work, but the method I am going to teach you first is different than that. It’s more about teaching your eye than your hand. This is probably one of the most important things you could ever learn as an artist – and you will hear other’s mention it, if you heard of it already. But it’s called Learning How to See.

I’m sure you have heard of the notion of how we have a Left Brain and Right Brain. Our Left brain controls all our logic and reasoning, our Right Brain our creative centers. There is a great book out there called “Drawing with the Right Side of your Brain” and what the author is teaching is learning how to see.

When we think of a bird, we know exactly what it looks like. We all know HOW birds should look. So when we sit down to draw one it can get a little disconcerting when we realize that what we have drawn doesn’t look anything like what a bird SHOULD look like. Our left brain is ruling our eyes.

But when we have a reference, be it a picture or a real life object sitting in front of us, we can train our eye to throw away what our brain tells us we’re seeing and actually “see” the lines, planes, angles and form. It’s about breaking down the “bird” into parts, so we can draw it accurately, without our left brain getting into the way.

One of the best ways to learn to draw this way is by using a grid. The masters used this system! They did it differently than us, with our wonderful computer programs, but it’s the exact same idea.

I am going to begin extremely basic, so we can get used to the idea of using a grid. There are two ways we can achieve this goal. I will explain the traditional way, then the way we can use these things in photoshop. For the very first exercise, we will all be using the same picture:


http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/fresh-apple.jpg

Start with a blank sheet of sketchbook paper. Using a ruler, draw with the lightest touch you possibly can a rectangle or square for the drawing space you will be using. Use whatever your reference uses. If it’s a square image, use a square drawing space, and so on. We want it to match as closely as possible. Then, nick off each inch and half-inch mark across the top, bottom and sides. Using the ruler again, join these lines drawing a grid over your paper, lightly. You want to be able to see the lines, but you want to be able to erase them as well. You want it as a guide, not something that will be interrupting your shape.

Using photoshop you can create a new document using whatever dimension you want, pixels or inches, but make it about the same size as the reference.

Go to: View> Rulers -- click on it.

A ruler on the left side and top will appear. You can now click and drag ‘guides’ onto your drawing area from the ruler. Just click down and hold on the ruler, and drag it down or over across the canvas. Wherever you un-click it will stay – but you can drag it around as much as you like. Do this on each inch and half-inch across the top and bottom. What you have is going to look something like this:


http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/grid1.jpg


Now do the same for your reference. In this case it’s a digital photo. You can drag the guides over it in photoshop and it looks thus, I suppose really you can use this guide-covered apple as the reference but I want you to learn how to make the guides/grid yourself.


http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/grid2.jpg


Now, we have a reference with guidelines/grid over it and a blank canvas/sketchpad with our grid over it. We’re ready to begin drawing what we see.

This is very methodical. In some instances you may find this testing, even boring. But trust me, this is an incalculable tool to help shed the left brain when drawing. It’s utterly necessary.


Set your ref and your drawing area side to side. Begin at the top left corner of your grid. Go through every square. Go from left to right, moving down the image like you would read. Draw ONLY what you see in each grid square, and just a contour. No shading, no crosshatching, nothing but the contour line of what you see in each square. I know now it’s just an apple, but this is just to show you the technique.

Here is my quick and dirty example of what you have when you are done with this initial exercise.


http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/grid3.jpg


I know it's just an apple, but you can take this and bring it to /anything/. It's precisely how I did my master copy of Michaelangelo's David in fact! When learning to "see" its always best to throw out what you THINK you see and get down to the nitty gritty of what is actually there. The tool of the grid is one of the simplest forms of helping our brain forget what we think we see. By breaking down the whole picture into parts, we begin to understand that drawing is really just about intersecting lines, and angles.

I don't think will take very long, so a couple days will suffice. How about we see some results by Saturday night/Sunday morning? I already know what I want to move onto next. It's up to you guys!

[Confuzed]

I'll post some more later.

[Nerahla]

Yes this is fantastic!! Excellent start :)

[MidnightDream]

I'm done too, I'm just waiting for my scanner to decide to work now. I did the apple that you posted is that okay or was I suppose to pick my own image?

Edit: I got my scanner to start working finally.
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/9878/applebs4.th.jpg (http://img118.imageshack.us/my.php?image=applebs4.jpg)
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/3769/gridedwt0.th.jpg (http://img444.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gridedwt0.jpg)

[Nerahla]

No working with the apple was totally fine, it's why I offered it up as the first exercise. Something really basic to get used to a grid.

This is /excellent/ guys. I will write up the next part this morning and post it asap!

[Nerahla]

Okay, now we come to the second part of the grid. It is the exact same idea, but we’re going to start shading. This is actually MUCH EASIER with traditional pencil work. But you can do it with Photoshop, too.

The first step is turning that image grayscale. Here is a sample. I upped the contrast to really punch the values here. I probably should have had you do it before, but well I’m learning how to teach, too haha! :)

http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/fresh-apple-gray.jpg

You’re just going to do it square by square, going over it methodically, with the lightest touch possible. You’re going to do that additively, until you’ve shaded the entire picture (skull, apple, what have you :) ) If you are going with pencil, use an eraser to get your lights. If you are using photoshop, use a soft-edged low opacity eraser as well. We're going to avoid painting with anything other than black (or filling in with pencil) for right now.

But go over the entire pic first with each level of shading, complete the apple on the first pass, then go back to square one and shade in the darker parts with a firmer touch – square by square.

This methodical approach breaks it down yet again and lets you ignore the entire scope of the apple, and makes you focus on just what you see inside the square. It becomes abstract, and our left brain is unable to take over.

If you are using photoshop for this part of the assignment, it will look differently than the pencil version, especially if you tend to pick up your pentip a lot while shading. Keep the opacity and flow low, 30% and 20% respectively. Make a new layer beneath your sketch layer to paint on. Also turn your sketch layer to "multiply."

Post when you have it done, couple days should suffice. I’ll be ready for the next step when you guys are =D

EDIT::: Okay, just whipped mine up in 30 minutes, and I cheated, I used my favorite textured brush. :P But I did only erase for the highlights. Now, if you take longer, and really dedicate yourself, you can get it even more photoreal. It's up to you really how detailed you want to make it.

http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/apple-gray2.jpg

[MidnightDream]

Shading is always hard for me but I think it came out good. I'm going to give it a try on photoshop also.

My penciled attemped:

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/8939/gridedjs0.th.png (http://img403.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gridedjs0.png)

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/7803/blendediu2.th.png (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blendediu2.png)

[Nerahla]

This is a very good start Midnight!! I like how you paid attention to the highlights.

What I'd like you to do is try and see even the small details on the surface of the apple. Notice how it's dappled slightly? The edges of the highlights aren't straight lines, there are smaller pinpoints of lights around them, and even the highlights have softer edges in places. Also notice the darker areas of the apple's surface..

The way to make this easier on the brain is to detail out each square as much as possible, try not to look at the WHOLE apple. I do see where you made the graphite a bit darker where it should be on the apple, but don't be afraid to go dark! The only way we can negotiate something on a 2d plane looking three dimensional is by the range of values, dark to light.

If you'd like, I can give another tutorial just on shading - I learned from an excellent set of gnomonworkshop DVDs (I watched all 3) that was just about shading.

When you go sit down for your try in PS, remember to use a low opacity brush and keep your touch gentle. And I mean /really/ low. 30% opacity 20% flow and lower.. Just use black, and a light touch, and it will simulate the pencil.

This is a fantastic start!!:)

[Confuzed]

D= Did I do right?

[Nerahla]

Yes definitely! I am not sure you worked from each square though, as I see very large brushstrokes in there! Your ref is difficult to work from though, as it's like a sort of engraving of sorts, but I do see that you paid close attention to where the shading should be. If you wanted to work on this more, I'd use a much large brush to kind of blend all the individual lines together and then move down to some details.

What you're aiming for is exteme copying of the original, so you can get used to 'seeing' the right way - which is throwing out the 'big picture'.

I'd love to see you try this on the apple :)

[MidnightDream]

The way to make this easier on the brain is to detail out each square as much as possible, try not to look at the WHOLE apple. I do see where you made the graphite a bit darker where it should be on the apple, but don't be afraid to go dark! The only way we can negotiate something on a 2d plane looking three dimensional is by the range of values, dark to light.

I always have this nagging voice in my held that keep telling me not to go too dark cause it wouldn't look good. But I'm going to try out my PS one now and remind myself that its okay to do that.


If you'd like, I can give another tutorial just on shading - I learned from an excellent set of gnomonworkshop DVDs (I watched all 3) that was just about shading.

Oh yes please I could use any advice you can give.

When you go sit down for your try in PS, remember to use a low opacity brush and keep your touch gentle. And I mean /really/ low. 30% opacity 20% flow and lower.. Just use black, and a light touch, and it will simulate the pencil.

Okay thanks, I'll keep that in mind as I work.

Edit: Well I finished my photoshop one using the same Ref from before. This was the first time I tried to paint something and I think it came out kind of good. Any advice would be tons of help. ^^

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/8171/sketchic6.th.png (http://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sketchic6.png)

[Confuzed]

It's an excellent first try. I think the outline could've been crisper. Not all the highlights are comepletely white.


If you'd like, I can give another tutorial just on shading - I learned from an excellent set of gnomonworkshop DVDs (I watched all 3) that was just about shading.
I would like one too.


If you wanted to work on this more, I'd use a much large brush to kind of blend all the individual lines together and then move down to some details.

What you're aiming for is exteme copying of the original, so you can get used to 'seeing' the right way - which is throwing out the 'big picture'.

Ok, I'll try harder. I'll get back to skull asap.

[yinteck]

Ok, hi guys. Hope you guys dont mine if i join in.

Nerahla, ill do all the assignment tomorrow and post them here ASAP.
Thanks for being my mentor.:rendered:

[MidnightDream]

Ok, hi guys. Hope you guys dont mine if i join in.

Nerahla, ill do all the assignment tomorrow and post them here ASAP.
Thanks for being my mentor.:rendered:

Welcome, the more the merrier ^^

It's an excellent first try. I think the outline could've been crisper. Not all the highlights are comepletely white.

Thanks, I'm going to try and do it again. I really like how yours came out. Mind if I ask what kind of brush you used?

[Nerahla]

Hey guys! I can't believe I didn't get an e-mail right away with all these awesome replies. *shakes fist @ ca.org!!*

Okay, these are wonderful starts! I can totally tell that you guys are paying attention to each square :)

It IS much harder with Photoshop, try to remember that. So give yourself big kudos!!

If you ever feel the need to use pencil, don't hesitate. I can always help with photoshop anytime, but I learned this method using pencil :) It's just a little more managable with your hand, and easier to get details sometimes... especially if you're new to photoshop.

I used a textured brush that I made myself using a texture of paint on canvas. It's buried somewhere in my massive .abr file but I can ferret it out and upload it later on. For right now though, using the Hard Round is your best bet.

Hmm, I'm realize I am bad bad bad! I just assumed you knew about "Other Dynamics" in your brush palette. It's where you can set your Opacity Jitter to Pen Pressure.

http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/tutorial1.jpg


I am doing a shading tutorial right now, but I have a fix-it guy at my house and I gotta pick my kids up from school.... so I'll get on that when I get back! :)

[Confuzed]

:D Nice to meet you Yinteck. I like your sketchbook.

Welcome, the more the merrier ^^



Thanks, I'm going to try and do it again. I really like how yours came out. Mind if I ask what kind of brush you used?

I used a normal hard brush with rough 5%~15% opacity and 20% flow. I dot-dot-dotted my apple with my tablet rather than painting with strokes. If you set the opacity even lower you can achieve a more even tone with the same method.

I am doing a shading tutorial right now, but I have a fix-it guy at my house and I gotta pick my kids up from school.... so I'll get on that when I get back

I look foward to it :D

[MidnightDream]

Hmm, I'm realize I am bad bad bad! I just assumed you knew about "Other Dynamics" in your brush palette. It's where you can set your Opacity Jitter to Pen Pressure.

oh no its okay, I have used photoshop for a couple of years now but I just never really did it for painting and drawing. My problem now is just mastering pressing lightly with the pen on the tablet. :^^;:

I am doing a shading tutorial right now, but I have a fix-it guy at my house and I gotta pick my kids up from school.... so I'll get on that when I get back! :)

Take your time ^^

I used a normal hard brush with rough 5%~15% opacity and 20% flow. I dot-dot-dotted my apple with my tablet rather than painting with strokes. If you set the opacity even lower you can achieve a more even tone with the same method.

ah okay, I think I had it a little higher then that maybe thats why. Thanks for the info.

I tried it again, better?
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/2161/sketchxj6.th.png (http://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sketchxj6.png)

[Nerahla]

Okay, shading!

I realized as I was going through planar shapes and spheres, and onto cylinders and cones that it was going to be quite exhaustive. So I just did squares and spheres for now.

Learning these four basic shapes will help you in shading everything you see around you, as almost everything in nature is made up of these forms, learning to shade them and how to make their cast shadows is essential!

We begin with a simple cube.

http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/tutorial3.jpg



To make something appear 3d on a 2d surface is done by a range in values. Dark to Light. You will always use 3 of your middle values to shade your surface. The lightest value (20 and 35) on the surface that gets 90 degrees (or the closest approximation) to your light source. The mid value (50) is the half-lit surface (the top of the cube) and the dark value (60) is for the side in shadow. You save the darkest value (70) for your cast shadow.

http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/tutorial5.jpg


To formulate your cast shadow you draw parallel lines radiating from the direction of your light source to the corners of your cube. This finds the corners of your cast shadow.


http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/tutorial6.jpg


Now finish out the cube. There is more to it than meets the eye! You can use a range of values to really punch the changes. On the shadow side (60) you can use up to 70 on the edge at the top, to really delineate the difference. On the lit side (35) use as far down as 20 to punch the light, the wider the range of values the more dynamic the range of value. Even on the top where the range is the smallest, you can darken up the part of the plane that is farthest away from the light and lighten the corner near the lit side.

The cast shadow is always the darkest part, with a line right below the cube being the darkest. The shadow is always the most crisp right where it begins, and it blurs out the farther it moves away from the object.

You can think about edges here some, very preliminary ideas. Where the light hits at 90 degrees is where the highlights are going to be the strongest, so you’re going to use the lightest values and the hardest edges. Where the shadow side is the values are darker and more soft, because hard lines don’t exist in shade.

Don’t forget about reflected light! The cube sits on a plane, which is lighter than it is, so the plane bounces light back up onto the shadow side as well.


http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/tutorial7.jpg




A sphere works a little differently, but the basic rules still apply.


http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/tutorial8.jpg


There is a bit more line wrangling involved when trying to come up with a sphere’s Core shadow and cast shadow. You want to draw a parallel line from the light source through the middle of your sphere. You can draw an ellipse to help you visualize. Where the line meets the ellipse at 90 degrees is where your core shadow is located. Now, on a sphere and other rounded objects, the core shadow is darker than any other part of the object. It’s like a line delineating where the light tangents the object.

If you follow through the line to the plane the sphere rests on, you can find the far edge of the cast shadow. You connect that spot with the bottom tangent of the ellipse inside the sphere with an ellipse. The illustration below, while in my messy way, explains better than I can! =)


http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/tutorial9.jpg

http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/tutorial10.jpg


Please don't hesitate to ask me to clarify and elaborate, as I am sort of tired after a long day and I am sure I didn't do this as well or thoroughly as I could have.


MidnightDream, that is a wonderful second practice! You can see the marked improvement already, just think that with every time you put your hand to work, you will improve, every single time!

I'd like to see you try again, after reading this shading, with the apple -- or just do the cube and sphere exercises. Whatever suits your fancy!

That applies to everyone really, feel free to try the apple again (or your skull Confuzed) or do the cube and sphere exercises.


Cylinder and Cone to come :)

[yinteck]

Ok , here is my first assignment and second assignment :^^:
I always want to improve my digital or photoshopping skills. So ill do all the assignments in digital.

I have a bit struggle at the shading part for the apple. The color (shading) just wont blend well. Am i doing the wrong thing? cause i used only black color, the shading is all depending on the pen pressure i apply. Should i use gray for the light part and black for the dark part ??

Gonna do the 3th assignment soon.

Thanks for the welcome guys. :^^:

[Nerahla]

Yinteck that's really fantastic! It really is, you did just fine with just your pen pressure.

With the shading exercises, it's absolutely necessary to blend your values this time. You don't ever need to switch brushes from the Hard Round with Opacity set to Pen Pressure, but you can fiddle around with the manual opacity of the brush. It's a little easier to blend if you lower the opacity/flow to 50/50 - that's what I did for the examples for the blending parts. If you want even smoother blending gradients, lower them even more. I normally work with 30/20 and build up value.

I am going to do the cylinder and cone shading exercises today! Will post soon-ish.

[MidnightDream]

okay I tired to do it both in pencil and in photoshop. I will try to do the apple once again and I'll edit it in this post when I finish later.

In Paper(I really need a good scanner :( ):
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/2117/omenkl9.th.gif (http://img517.imageshack.us/my.php?image=omenkl9.gif)

Photoshop:
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/7457/squarexs5.th.gif (http://img229.imageshack.us/my.php?image=squarexs5.gif)
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/5602/circlemx4.th.gif (http://img89.imageshack.us/my.php?image=circlemx4.gif)

[BlightedArt]

*raises hand* I'm interested in taking part if that is okay? :)

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/6310/apple1mo8.jpg

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/3546/apple2jb6.jpg

[Nerahla]

Oh midnight these are great! One thing though, and it's kinda a big thing, but don't worry about it :)

You need to keep the direction of the light parallel so the cast shadow comes out correctly. I am really bad at explaining in words, so I did some paintovers to show you.


Also, on the squares, the plane that is 90 degrees perpendicular to the light receives the most light, so it's the lightest. I tried to show what I mean in the uploaded images. Please ask me to clarify! I find that trying to write this stuff with a hungry family breathing down my neck isn't very easy! haha!

[Nerahla]

*raises hand* I'm interested in taking part if that is okay? :)


Did you want to be an official mentee in the thread? Just want to know so I can add your name at the top :) If you want to just follow along that's completely fine, too - but I'll give the most feedback to the mentees that are signed up :)

[BlightedArt]

I would like to be an official mentee please! :) It would be incredibly helpful, thank you.

[Nerahla]

Alrighty, here are the cylinder and cone shading images..

Just a few things to remember, the core shadow is on rounded surfaces, not on planes. The core shadow will always be where the light tangents the object.

http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/spherediagram.jpg


http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/tutorial12.jpg

http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/tutorial13.jpg

http://www.aequinox.com/paintings/sketchbook/tutorial14.jpg


As I am looking at these, I realize I need to add some things for explanation. I will do that tomorrow!

Also, towards the weekend, more complex studies ahead!

[Nerahla]

I would like to be an official mentee please! :) It would be incredibly helpful, thank you.



Alrighty!

[MidnightDream]

Also, on the squares, the plane that is 90 degrees perpendicular to the light receives the most light, so it's the lightest. I tried to show what I mean in the uploaded images. Please ask me to clarify!

oooh now I seee I was thinking of a wrong light source for the square...thinking about it even with the one I had on mind it still is wrong. I'll try and see if I can make it better.

I find that trying to write this stuff with a hungry family breathing down my neck isn't very easy!

ah, hungry people are always demanding :D thank you at least for still correcting my mistakes.

[yinteck]

i have one question, for the 3th assignment, the value range (20 35 50 60 70).

How do i get that values ? is it the opacity of the brush or is up to me? When i play with the opacity, is not accurate.
Hope you get what i mean.

[Nerahla]

Oh god sorry, that is when the image is in grayscale (image>mode>grayscale), its the % of black white being 0 and black being 100.

[Confuzed]

Welcome to this corner, BlightedArt and Meds.

I'm still abit confused how you obtained the percentages.

Been on and of abit so I'm moving on alittle slower at the moment.

[Nerahla]

Hey confuzed :) Sorry, real quick here because I'm pretty tired but I got the email you posted :)


great shadow construction! Even great choices for your 3 tones - however, if the light is hitting the top of your square, that is gonna be where the lightest tone is. Right now the front (facing us) is the lightest tone, so the direction of your light is wrong. It's one or the other. You gotta pick a side. Right now your lightest side shows the light from the front, but the shadow tells us the light is coming from the top. MidnightDream did the same thing.

That makes me think I didn't explain very well :D

I will ponder this during the holiday tomorrow and try and come up with a more clear explanation. It's hard for me to disseminate something I saw on a video and didn't read. If I had some kind of motion capture I'd show you the same thing!

Anyway, will try on Friday or Saturday to come up with a clearer explanation.

Also, the % are in the Color Palette when you have image>mode>grayscale - instead of the HSB (Hue, Saturation, Brightness) sliders, it changes to 0-100 scale and a % of white to black.

[yinteck]

OK, here is my homework.
Nerahla, for the painting, the brush that i used is Airbrush pen opacity flow. Is more easier to blend the color that hard round, for me...:bashful:
Is it ok that i use that brush instead of hard round brush ??
Going to do the cylinder and cone exercise.

[Confuzed]

Ah, I got the %'s. Thanks :bashful:

I really like Yintack's work. I think the "outlines" of its shape could've been neater, but not a big deal :D

[Nerahla]

Guys these are looking great! It's perfectly OK for you to use a brush that suits you, I just always mention the hard round mostly because it's the most commonly used brush. To get the crisper edges Confuzed was talking about, the hard round brush with a 30-50% opacity and 30-50% flow would be a great option.

And confuzed, I'm sorry I didn't mention this, but in photoshop, if you hold down the "shift" key while using the ellipse tool, it will become a perfect circle. :)

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I will put together another exercise in the next couple of days, something a little harder. As always you can keep practicing the shapes until you feel you have those down, or dive into the new exercise, whatever you like.

[Confuzed]

bump ;p

[Nerahla]

Great work confuzed! You're improving with every one. On the cylinder, it's not as 3d as it could be, watch your value choices - the top and side/core shadow are nearly identical. and your reflected light on the right side is a little high on the cylinder, unless you were trying to create dual light sources? Also, watch your shadow construction. It's going to be really crisp and hard and dark where it first begins near the shape, then soften only as its further away.

I've had an insanely busy holiday weekend. I hope everyone else had a wonderful time as well :)

What I would like everyone to do this week, is to choose a celebrity photo and use the grid system that we used on the apple for that.

Pencil would actually be the optimal choice for this exercise, as your control over opacity is much more firm with a pencil.

If you don't feel comfortable doing a celebrity portrait, you can continue to do the shading exercises as long as you like. Learning about shading, lighting and shadow construction will only help everything you do in the future :)

Anyway, these are looking much better!

[MidnightDream]

Just chiming in to say that I'm still alive and have seen what to do this week. Oh also I was wondering if you could explain a little more about the Cylinder and Cone shading. I'm having a problem trying to make the cone look 3d.

[yinteck]

Thanks confuzed. I like the top view of your cone. For me i think you should take more time on the blending part. The rest I agreed with Nerahla. And ya, you are improving, i can see your work is neater.
Arr.. for MidnightDream, just watch your value choices as Nerahla said. Make sure you can see the difference between the value ( dark to light ). Just make sure the value are not to close to each other. Only my thought...

Ok here is mine, i paid more attention on what you guys said last time. Gonna do the portrait. :oneye:

[yinteck]

OK, here is my portrait. She is Utada Hikaru, a singer from japan.
Spend a lot of time on this but i really really like the outcome and process too!.:hugsmile:

[Nerahla]

Yinteck that looks great! You really paid close attention, very very good :)

The only crit I have is that you need to work on your edges - I know its a photograph you're working from, and this tends to harden every edge, but in a painting it doesn't translate as well. So, not all of your edges on the painting are going to be perfectly precisely hard like you have them. It's mostly around the lips and nose where its most noticeable.

But really, this is very very good - and a perfect way to show just how well a grid can assist you in learning to "see" :)

[Nerahla]

Haven't seen anything from anyone in awhile - but don't fret. I am always here to help with anything, it's the holidays and we're all busy :)

Would it be more helpful for me to come up with weekly exercises or have a more freeform style going? Let me know :)

I'm working on my Last Man Standing entry, but that won't last forever. I am always here to assist in any way I can!

[yinteck]

Im right here and waiting :ilaekae:
Both are ok for me . Which one do you think would improve our skill the most ?

I always want to ask, is it gd that i use the grid system whenever im drawing with a ref ? i know it help me see alot but just wanted to know .

[Confuzed]

<3 yinteck's outcome.

I don't think one should be dependent on something all the time to help them see because any drawing artist's most important and basic skill is hand-eye coordination. The grid system was thought of to help people build up a foundation.

Thanks for the critism, can't go by without fixing my mistakes.

I had difficulty with the portrait in the shading still, though I'm starting to getting by, would get it done soon.

I don't know about midnight or the rest. I'm leaning abit more towards weekly lessons/lecture/excercises since it would allow both progression and the mentees to follow along on our own pace.

[Nerahla]

Much better confuzed, but watch your shadows, they can't be an afterthought (like that one looks like ;) ) they have to be just as carefully considered as the rest of the shape, or else your shape will end up looking not as complete.

The shadow is very crisp with hard edges near where it begins next to the bottom of the shape (sphere, cube, cyilnder - what have you) and it only blurs out when its far away. The farther away, the blurrier and lighter the shadow is -- but never ever is it blurry where it begins. Make that brush hard-edged and higher opacity (or, if you're using 30/20 just keep running it over and over and over until the edge hardens up)

You're definitely improving with every attempt though!


Yinteck, as far as using the grid? Actually, you can use it as much as you like, as often as you like, and it isn't a crutch -- because what begins to happen as you use it, especially the more you draw in general, you begin to build up a library of skills and memory. So the less and less you will NEED it. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen.

At this point, just remember that using reference is the best thing you could ever do for your art skills.


Will try and write something up for next week then, for an exercise. Will try and post this weekend to not start in the middle of the week or on an off day.

[Confuzed]

***will reedit assignment, sorry =p

[Nerahla]

wonderful confuzed! Very accurate, which means that you are learning to 'see' very quickly. The lines really do help us toss out what we 'think' we're seeing. Don't worry about using them, like I said before - you will learn to draw without them over time. Anything worthwhile is worth working hard for :)

You must have spent a lot of time on this one, and your hard work paid off :)

The only crit I would give is to darken up the chin shadow and the neck -- I know it looks VERY close to the same value in the photo, but to help bring it out more in the painting and looking less flat - varying up the value levels will help.

[Confuzed]

Is this better?

What are we learning next? ;D

[yinteck]

cool ! can you resize the image larger ?? i like the way you render her hair ! nice

[Confuzed]

Time for a bump;0

[Nerahla]

Blame Last Man Standing for my inattention -- I'm so sorry - I've been totally sucked up into a brain bender about it.


Let me try and come up with something suitable -- what are you guys interested in at the moment? It's been awhile so we can sort of start where you are feeling a need.

[Confuzed]

Blame Last Man Standing for my inattention -- I'm so sorry - I've been totally sucked up into a brain bender about it.
No worries, I'm glad that it's still on-going.

Let me try and come up with something suitable -- what are you guys interested in at the moment? It's been awhile so we can sort of start where you are feeling a need.

I've been looking into human anatamy, abit stuck on lighting (like time of the day)