Danyal's Sketchbuch

[oODanyalOo]

Hi all, this is probably going to be an annoyingly long introduction so if you don't read it no worries, and if you do, good for you :cheerleader:

I drew lots as a child, sadly no more; more "important" things to be done. I think the more you go through your formal education, things such as expressing your self through pencil and paper becomes more discouraged. At playgroup (play school, kinder garden, whatever) paint, stamps paper and crayons were everywhere, over peoples hands and faces, and a bit on the paper. But as you're taught to get a job, generally the serious stuff, maths, science becomes more important and doodling is frowned upon, I mean, jeez where are the job prospects in that? loser...

So I guess most of the "skills" I possess today are from the days when all I'd care to do is draw. Don't get me wrong I'm not some douche who hates learning etc. I'm a Zoology student and I love it, it's soooo interesting. Still it's a shame that I can't draw so much as well.. I spend about 0.001% actually drawing anything.

I guess what I'm saying is I kinda wish I had the guts to say I want to try a career in art and to ignore the looks my maths teacher would probably give me, and also that I respect anyone else that has done so, and made a name for themselves.

This first post is some of my better stuff, I haven't got much of a backlog because I haven't been able to take the time to seriously collect it all, alas most of my old drawings are gone. I think I'm uploading these first to emphasise my problem:

Without blowing my trumpet I think I'm fairly good at looking at an image and replicating it in either b&w or colour. But I'm missing some fundamentals somehow that are preventing me from moving forward or sideways if you prefer. For example I can draw a skull, but to then take that skull and try to turn it in space in my head and draw it again seems impossible. I guess I have other things to work on and that's why I'm here :) I'll be happy if even one person looks at this and gives me crit I happily give crit to others, for what it's worth. Hopefully I can find some time to do what I love and get better at it! I've been skulking around here for ages and finally decided to make an account. Thanks in advance.

Dan x

P.s apologies these are taken with a digital camera a lot of detail is lost, I'll work on it. (wow a real lot)

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/gasmask.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/calling.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/ungskeleton.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/manprop.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/goatee.jpg

[Adrian Wilkins]

hey Dan, welcome to CA!!! :yayca:
as you explained, i almost have the same problem, I'm not to much interested in maths or similar subjects, though i love biology, history,and language based subjects which also supports me in my art... I'm really determind to make a living out of my stuff and i know it might be tough but it's the only thing i really feel comfortable with...a big passion like all of the artists who are here... but it's
quite hard in germany... whatever...


now to your work :D you have some really strong fundamental skills i think...i like the first 3 the most,

I'd say post also some things your not so good at or things you want to get some good critique on, we wan't to see you enjoy hard!!! (didn't use the word "work" cuz art should be fun!) environments, life studies, faces, techniques, sci -fi, fantasy, go wild!!

keep da pencil movin' I'll be back!

let us see more of your drawings :)

[oODanyalOo]

Thanks for looking at my sketchbook man! :D Is it weird that I'm this much excited about someone looking at my sketchbook?!

Anyway, thanks for your advice and I totally agree, I'll try going a bit more rigid, buildings, vehicles, environments, are all things I've never really tried to draw, at least from what I can last remember. I tend to go organic if I'm going to draw anything at all. I uploaded these just to show I'm capable of seeing a 2D image and replicating it to an alright degree which most people with time can, what I really need is to get real form and depth to everything and get a real understanding, here's the place to do it :D

I'll keep checkin on your sketchbook also, cheers

[photosynthesis]

Good start. the skeleton is very nice. keep on drawing, draw everything.

[oODanyalOo]

Okay here's some stuff I managed to get done today, I had half a day off at the lab so I managed to get more done than usual:
[EDIT] by the way, does anyone know how I can get an image on my sketchbook ? It's blank at the moment, thanks.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/menfigs.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/randam.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/femfigs.jpg

[Autumnal Dream]

Hey Dan :D
First thing: you've got some really really good studies there, damn really!
I see you've got high potential for improving fast as hell, if you keep practicing.
Second... haha, i think i've got nearly the same problem. I'm doing well in replicating things... i copy them like a scanner, you know? I never use constructing sketches or so... just copying stroke for stroke.. but everytime i do it, i think it's kinda cheating. Just slowly i'm beginning to get the right feel for everything and just replicating is without understanding of the whole body or volume. Well.. in my case.
I think the only way is to draw and sketch everything everywhere everytime! You have to save all the things u draw in your brain and try to draw them from mind at the end of the day. Do lots of lifestudies of (moving) people and gestures, keep them in mind and so amass a huge variety of figures in your head.
The other alternative is hard anatomystudies :P.
One the one hand: copy and paste.. and on the other: study, understand and construct.

Well, personally i can't decide what's the better way... maybe a combination of both. Damn it's hard v.v ...

Good luck tho and be productive!! :D

See ya ;)

[oODanyalOo]

Did this quickly this morning, I hasten to add actually that I'm staying away from what is "home" at the moment and all I have is a cheap sketch pad and a HB pencil, I'll use other media when I can! There's a lot wrong with this I know, it's unexplored territory! And hey I broke my toe the other day and got fever last night (he's dedicated) :P
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/muscman.jpg

[Ty Oulton]

I really like your skeletal structure and the goat head. You should do more animals! Idk why but I think when an artists can do animals well they can probably do anything.

[oODanyalOo]

Thank you all for your comments :)

photosynthesis:thanks man :), I'll try and finish that skeleton, when I get some decent pencils, it's a med sized deer of some sort.
Autumnal Dream:Thanks for stopping by :) your comments were very useful and comforting hope you'll come back again when I put up more updates, and hopefully I can improve like you have been so much.
Ty:Thanks for looking, and thank you for your kind comments, I think I'd have to agree with you to an extent, but maybe humans are harder to draw because we look at them (being humans) more subjectively than we do other animals. More animals a-coming, love them, but I also want to improve in other areas as well and hopefully get some concepts coming :)

Owls are fantastic creatures, don't you think?

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/owls.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/owlface.jpg

[P]

First post is the best, those studies are really cool.

[Ty Oulton]

They certainly are fantastic, they have a deep history in my family on the Swedish side. And oddly enough they are quite prominant out here in Arizona as well.

[erik-jan v/d schuur]

hey thx for droppin by my thread.

you got some good work here try to draw from live and
from your mind so u will train both its funn to do. also try to work
with colors and experiment with different materials like ink,paint,carchaol
also fun thing to do is mix drawings with pictures from magazine try to combine them and make it one piece.

keep it up your doin good!

[Lotet]

great start, i like what im seeing, u got tallent, keep up the good work and ul be fine.

[oODanyalOo]

Hey all, back in the lab so finding it hard to find the time, things haven't been desolate though.
I think this is gonna be more in keeping with the theme of this site, composing an image of my own. The image atm however is directly from reference at wikipedia commons. Anyhoo it's a gargoyle/grotesque spent a couple of hours on it getting it right, had a bit of trouble near the base you might realise. When finished this image should hopefully test a couple of areas. I'll stop babbling now.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/Gargoyle.jpg

[photosynthesis]

Likes your work before so I'm back. Photographs are pretty and tempting to draw from, but drawing from life is always better, so go find some gargoyles... Ah gargoyles, wasn't there a television show about gargoyles in the mid 90s? Anyhow, keep it up.

[oODanyalOo]

Completely agree, photosynthesis, I'll make an effort to draw from life, however I'm not sure how far I'd have to go to find gargoyles around here :P I'll have to stick with the rolling hills, sheep and cows lol - I'll do a life drawing every weekend I think.

And yes it was a show, I used to watch it ^^

[oODanyalOo]

Trying to get a bit militant with studies, to try and improve my understanding etc. Here are some hands I spent about an hour total on tonight, including trying to find some good refs (one being my own hand, wasn't hard)
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/hands.jpg

[iheartmyself]

cool sketchbook, so far so good. like the hands of the last post.
so what you studying?
im starting 3d computer animation in sept,
when i went for my interview they looked at me like a dick and said"...uhm...we get worried about people who can draw applying for the course, because they are the people who get bored with the computer side of it"
...if i got bored of computers, why the hell would i be applying to a computer course
they also almost tried to discourage me from drawing as we wont be doing as much...
but as far as i remember, you still design things with..omg..a pencil!?
quite worrying really...but its one of the best courses in the uk so i cant complain :D

[oODanyalOo]

I'm entering the third year of a zoology course, it's been fun, uni IS FUN, so don't worry about that =). The only drawing I do is of dissections etc, which is fun but not as informative as it might be (anatomical drawings are very stylised generally) Make sure you enjoy your first year and good luck with it, generally its an introduction and fairly easy going. Cheers for looking at my sketchbook

[yinteck]

Hey thanks for dropping by at my SB. I like your skeleton and the mask.

Your render skill is quite ok now. For me i think now u just need to spend sometime on studies. Then you improve in no time. I will come back and see how you improve. Keep them up!

[oODanyalOo]

Well it's been an awful long time since I posted anything on here! I haven't given up! Things have gotten more busy though, so not had so much time. I don't currently have any means of getting my non digital work on here, I decided to put up a little project I've been doing though.

This is the design for a poster for a play that's going on here in Aberystwyth
'100' it is about 4 people who have died, and they are met by a guide (the subject of the image) who informs them they have an hour to decide on one memory which they will live for eternity all other memories will be erased.

The guide is a person who did not decide on his memory, and so it is his fate to watch others play out their memories, in purgatory, having no memory of his past life.

This was done on photoshop, I don't have a tablet so I try and make the best I can with my touch pad on my laptop. The cogs were made a lot easier by the custom brushes in the last issue of advanced photoshop.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/TheGuide.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

Wahey! cheap scanner... To be honest I think the camera was better. This is is just a few things I've been up to, more to come. Again a lot of details are lost ( and colour), mainly construction lines on unfinished ones.

Guess who?
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/Bruce.jpg
Guess where?
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/London.jpg
A Cathedral in New York
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/NYC.jpg
Some amphibious orgunizums
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/Amphi.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e335/kernkraft485/Fabric.jpg

[Fly]

Bruce lee and big Ben! =D
is it weired that i reckonise a mans muscle?

I like the rendering on Bruce and the cathedral. Bruce looks like hes gonna turn out very nice when hes done :)

Also the scans look clearer my end.

[GaussianRaider]

Can't believe you drew that with the touchpad, someone get this guy a tablet pronto!
A friend of mine draws with a bamboo, he seems to do just fine and it's very affordable...anyway, it's nice too see such commitment to studies and traditional drawings...I certainly admire it...as I lack it :P!

[oODanyalOo]

Hey GuassianRaider thanks for stopping by! I hasten to add, though, that the digital image was not drawn from scratch with my touchpad! It was composed of different textures etc I collected but a tablet would've made a few things easier. I was more just commenting on the fact that my digital work is limited to things like this, because I don't have a tablet. But thank you for the kind comments :D

[Leysan]

That Cathedral looks great! I also like the amphibians and the digital composition.
You need to work on the anatomy I think :)
Scans make a huge difference compared to photos, looks a lot better.

[Salavin]

Such wonderful studies! *W*

[Salavin]

Such wonderful studies! *W*

[P]

Some good studies here. Draw more humans and work on anatomy. Dont stop!

[oODanyalOo]

Yeah so it's been a while, slack but not stopped drawing since last time.

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/Photoon2011-06-19at1944.jpg

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/Photoon2010-09-10at2226.jpg

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0214.jpg

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0215.jpg

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0209.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0205.jpg

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0210.jpg

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0204.jpg

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0219.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/Photoon2010-09-10at22342.jpg

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/Photoon2011-06-19at1944.jpg

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0220.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

Scary Place
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/Photoon2010-09-10at2227-1.jpg

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/Photoon2010-09-10at2234.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

Trying some figure studies, I've ordered the new copy of loomis so hope to get geeky with some anatomy studies. :D

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0221.jpg

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0226.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

Each one took 5 minutes or less, can you tell the mantis took less?! I guess this was just an exercise in creating true to life outlines and basic forms at speed.

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0230-1.jpg

I'm making moves to study colour and use it more in my sketches/ pieces - so I'm going to attempt to paint colour wheels and get a feel for how my paints, in particular, behave.

I notice that colours become lower in chroma and recede towards grey towards the middle. The neutral grey that is a result of mixing the complementary colours I understand. But to make a colour approach neutral grey in a gradient - is that achieved by adding gradual amounts of the complementary colour until it reaches grey?

May sound like a silly and fundamental question but I'd like to know the reasons as well as the effects. Anyone who answers first; request anything and I'll sketch it in the next update.

[JulieSS]

This page is brilliant, specially the chicken on the top! Some very nice details going on there. Looking at your "less then 5 min drawings" you have definitely improved with the quick-ish sketches since page one.

Edit: Oh, ehm, and I request that you sketch something made of glass, like a cup or a figurine.

[oODanyalOo]

Thanks JulieSS, the answer was strictly related to the question of colour wheels and colour mixing...:P but I can't deny you your glassy rendition!

[oODanyalOo]

So here's a glass, Jack Daniel's but didn't attempt the writing, might try after posting this. unfortunately the most interesting glass objects in my flat were, in fact, glasses!

Copic Markers ~ 40 minutes

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0232.jpghttp://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/Photoon2010-09-10at2229.jpg

[Izene]

Very cool!Nice pencil work! :)

[oODanyalOo]

Sketched with black fine-liner
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/Photoon2010-09-10at22202.jpg

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/Photoon2011-05-21at10042.jpg

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/Photoon2011-05-21at1003.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

So me and a friend have what we call a "weekly" challenge - in quote marks because it doesn't always happen that way. Two words randomly generated, you can find lots of these on the net.

First one of 2012 - Adoring Marmalade.

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0233.jpg

This was very quickly done, but if one is good enough it should still appear crisp and vivid. Is there anything in this board that doesn't make sense?

I had real trouble suggesting that the guy had put the whole jar in his mouth I don't think it is very obvious :(

[oODanyalOo]

So the Loomis book arrived, certainly should help my figures up a gear if I persist with studies and really get my teeth into it. This wasn't supposed to be 100% accuracy exercise but would've been nice.

Problems:
Top of thighs possibly a bit too wide on the front facing figure, maybe not quite enough on the back facing figures rear and thighs.
Head and shoulders of back facing figure not quite right.

Yeah there's numerous problems, but I can only get better - point out any if you spot 'em be ruthless...
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0235.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

Tried playing around with my acrylics really for the first time, from the reading I've been doing it really made sense to explore them instead of assuming that general rules apply to all pigments and paints. I think I'm getting there; hope to post some still lifes soon.

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0236.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0237.jpg

My first real painting! I actually found placing the board in space surprisingly difficult.. I managed to spend 1hr 30 on this between making food after work.. I wish I had more time to do stuff like this.

[liquorbleu]

Wow, nice job on that last painting. Beautiful!

The most recent hand studies look good too, I'd recommend to keep doing those. Seems like you do a lot of hands. It can be tough, but sometimes trying an exercise where you draw 50 of the things you are worst at. It will really help, I did it for faces - I still have a long way to go but I could barely draw them before I started.

Keep it up!

[Kauil]

Nice apple! I'm very lulled to the world of photoshop so I'm scared to even try traditional :S Good to see you're studying from life, however don't forget to draw/paint the subject matter that you're fond of every once in a while. People tell you to study and observe, which is of course important, but it can also be tedious at times.

[oODanyalOo]

@liquorbleu thank you for the kind words! Are you suggesting there are problems with my hand studies? If so would you mind pointing them out? :D thanks.

@kauil thanks! Very good point with drawing what you enjoy as well as studying, I actually really enjoyed the apple - I guess what i most like is surreal so these studies I hope to be the means to the end. I'm sure digital will be equally as daunting when I eventually try it. I've by no means got to grips with acrylics - it might not help that their a cheap brand.

[Ixallus]

Thanks for visiting my SB, friend!

Hnnnnnngggg so much variation here, makes me want to do more. But buildings, so hard to draw, no can handle it, too stoopid.

[liquorbleu]

Hey Danyal, thanks for your comment. Really good suggestion I do need to do some warm ups! :)

Your most recent hand study (#40) looks flawless. I was noticing the hands on #38 and #32. Looks like you did a study out of a book for #40? And from life for #38 and #32? They are just a bit off on proportion, the anatomy looks slightly off on 32. What might help, if you want to internalize some hand anatomy is to look up some brigman books.

It can help, even when you are studying from life because he explains the tendons and muscles, bones of the hand so you can visualize pretty well how everything fits together.

It looks like you are studying something though, and I've heard hands just come with lots of practice. Loomis says to draw a hand from life every day.

[oODanyalOo]

@Ixallus Variation is the spice of life, but I realise that I should probably be a bit more systematic in my learning!

@liquorbleu thanks for taking the time for that! Really appreciate it. You're dead on, apart from one - the biggest traditional pencil hand is from life. I think the added dimension of drawing negatively made it difficult too. A hand study a day?! I can but try :P Once I've internalised the general proportions of the human body along with basic perspective I'll concentrate on elements. Promise :)

So here's the female - not so happy with this, it needed more fluid lines but I think I was overly concerned with making it accurate in terms of "heads" I'll keep practicing. Mostly just want to work on proportions vertically first, rest can come later.

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0241.jpghttp://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0239.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

Finished.
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0242.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

Been a little while; and it's been a while since I had a lot of time to sit down and study properly. Here are some poses stilled from youtube clips. I've tried to keep the standard proportions (loomis) in mind when doing these. I think I still have some work to do before I move on to figures in perspective etc :(

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0245.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

Busy Busy recently, this was a very quick sketch that aimed for likeness rather that masterful...ness. Still.. I need to work on facial structure.

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/Jack.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

WIP - second attempt with paints, finding acrylics quite difficult to work with in some ways. Mostly having problems with wastage during mixing and sessions because it dries so fast and I'm not so efficient with use of paint yet.

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0265.jpghttp://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0266.jpghttp://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0267.jpghttp://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0269.jpg

Obviously not finished yet, any crit whatsoever would be very appreciated

[oODanyalOo]

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0277.jpg
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0279.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

Coming along..

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0281.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

Ok Photobucket... so I have gone against your terms of use by uploading a relatively harmless female nude, meanwhile you have advertisements left right and centre, showing me huge breasted women who "can't say no" which links to Sex in the UK... Fine

Anyone know how to get around this bullshit?

Anyway - been doing lots of drawing when I can, still doing figures, but I'm not doing enough - but I can say honestly that I don't have time. Still I think I've improved my figures.

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0310.jpg
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0300.jpg
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0302.jpg
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0303.jpg

[Cojac]

The chicken is great. I like what you are doing so far.

[sammfshields]

Hey man, wie gehts, you can really see potential in your work, keep at it and good luck with your art career,

[lenzerwin]

Good variety. Your work really shines when you are patient and strive for quality. You will benefit from studying perspective. Ernest Norling's perspective made easy is a good cheap read.

Keep at it!

[oODanyalOo]

@ Sammfshields Sehr gut, danke schön ^^. Mein deutsch ist furchtbar... So I'll stick with English, as ignorant as it makes me feel. Thanks for you comments :)

@Lenzerwin Thanks for your kind words, I'm generally a patient individual, but time is something I'm lacking. Thank you I will look up that book, it has been mentioned to me before.

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0317.jpg

[oODanyalOo]

Went to my first life drawing class last Wednesday, I plan to go again this week. The main benefit I think is that is an intense environment without distraction - 2 hours dedicated to observational drawing. Anyway here is a variety of poses from the session. Hopefully there will be improvement over the 12 weeks it's on.

http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0328.jpg
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0329.jpg
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m501/oODanyalOo/IMG_0330.jpg