Struggling to become an Artist! at 19 XD

[adammelo]

This is my journey to become an artist, without any formal training, from scratch! My name is Adam, and i'm 18 years old.

Well, if joined CA i think a year to a year and a half ago and started a sketchbook that fell fastly into obscurity partyl because i lost intrest in artwork, namely because i went to ca for inspiration but i never really recieved much in terms of comments or assistance, however i'm back with a more positive outlook!

I've recently been doing timed sketches and attempting to practice anatomy (so no need to inform me of it hehe XD)

Ive done non digital artwork with acrylic/canti/ and charcoal mediums for around 2 years and ive been doodling all my life, I've had a long long history of photoshop use, however that was attested to making signatures for forums which isnt really fine arts imo, and after having boughten a tablet and seeing all the amazing talent you guys have it inspired me to try, against all odds, to improve my art in an attempt to become a better, legitamite artist. Heres some of my work so far:

Change pictures to attract a crowd! :) 09/09/09

So, this is going to be a long and extensive journey, and i'm going to need some help along the way, for my artistic performance isnt all that great atm, so any comments, words of advices, inspiration, anything, please post it :)

I'll attempt to update everyday either with sketches, project updates, or information.

[SMILEFACE]

This Last One Is Looking Great' Cool Concept Now Let's See More!
An Thanks For The Post In Our Team Book It Was A Dead On Idea Thanks

[vardoburrito]

If you're not learning value along side your other studies, please do. :)
Otherwise these are good starts. At least you're doing hand studies.
[ I can't will myself to figure it out :P ]

The crit piece could probably use more progress to be commented on.
It's what is in your head at that time that you have to jot down quickly.
Otherwise you lose it. (For me at least)

[adammelo]

This Last One Is Looking Great' Cool Concept Now Let's See More!
An Thanks For The Post In Our Team Book It Was A Dead On Idea Thanks
I'll post what ive got so far for the digital piece based on the sketch, havent worked on it today namely because i needed to sketch. Thanks for the comments.

If you're not learning value along side your other studies, please do. :)
Otherwise these are good starts. At least you're doing hand studies.
[ I can't will myself to figure it out :P ]

The crit piece could probably use more progress to be commented on.
It's what is in your head at that time that you have to jot down quickly.
Otherwise you lose it. (For me at least)
Any links for good value studies? And i didnt mean the sketch of the crit piece, i actually have it like 30 percent finished digitally, i just didnt post it here. Thanks for the bump and comments :)


Did some more sketching today from observation of a compilation of pictures of samurai that i found on Mr Spect's chow team sketchbook:
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[Huey Yeng]

Everyone start from somewhere. :) Your samurai sketch got a nice composition there.

I suggest getting proportion correct when you do any drawing as a well proportionate object is important in ensuring everything looks right. :D

Keep it up and wish you all the best!

[adammelo]

Everyone start from somewhere. :) Your samurai sketch got a nice composition there.

I suggest getting proportion correct when you do any drawing as a well proportionate object is important in ensuring everything looks right. :D

Keep it up and wish you all the best!

Thanks hueyyeng, the composition of the sketches was purely on accident i wanted to save space on the paper, but once i finished sketching i liked the comp and just uploaded it as such lol.

I'll try to work more on proportions :)

[adammelo]

Well after a long weekend at the wifes house i'm back with a couple sketches a day, might start some timed speed paintings of environments and thumbnail speedies etc.

These studies are from loomis, (popularly refered to around here) and i did a sketch of his character pointing at the sketches that i had done from his book, plus a sketch up of Atlas, just a sketch i figured i might use sometime on a speedy or something.

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I'll post up how my first original digital piece is coming later on tonight, ive got most of the reallly rough work done so i could show everyone how it looks and get some feedback.

EDIT:

Decided i'd just post it now and show you all, mind you the marching men bellow are basically just silloettes of themselves right now but,....

Cough....,

Heres my first really developed digital work so far....

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[Puppet.]

Hey Adammelo, thx for the comment, this last work you're working on looks realy intresting, you can realy tell what is happening and what the situation is, for the painting part try to hide the line-art layer, this is usefull in the beginning of the painting but once your a bit further you should hide it, in the beginning it may not look that good but it's giving you a better look on how to put more contrast in your work and by working the lines away your work will comme out more realistic

keep it up!

[loadedpencil]

nice man
youve got a nice grasp of alot of stuff
especially in the color one.

keep up your long frustrating trip

[vardoburrito]

Any links for good value studies?

I'm just working off of black and white photographs at the moment.
And doing some apples, books, still lifes pretty much.
Training my eye lids to do the 'Squinting' technique.
(Simplifying what your eyes sees into manageable blocks for canvas)
My eye lids can't keep still though. :P It's terrible, plus, I like taking
naps, so I fear I might knock over while trying to squint. :)

Squinting technique, I couldn't find much on Google, but basically
it's closing your eyes enough to have your lashes cover your sight
enough to simplify values/colours/detail.

:)

[SMILEFACE]

Im Really Like'n The Soldiers You Add'd

[Bornlivedie]

Your figures are quite believable, the anatomy practice shows! The samurai' are my favorite.

[adammelo]

Hey Adammelo, thx for the comment, this last work you're working on looks realy intresting, you can realy tell what is happening and what the situation is, for the painting part try to hide the line-art layer, this is usefull in the beginning of the painting but once your a bit further you should hide it, in the beginning it may not look that good but it's giving you a better look on how to put more contrast in your work and by working the lines away your work will comme out more realistic

keep it up!

Thanks for the comments and support puppet, i did intend to remove the sketch layer, i only posted it visible because for the man in the back and the rest of the scout its just solid colors, and i figured id make it more interesting to view for the time being lol :)


Bornlivedie - Thanks for the support, glad to see my practicing is paying off :)

Grandmassa Mr. Spect - Thanks for teh continued support on my jouney :)

dwardo - I'll try teh squint technique! lol

loadedpencil - Thanks for the support, glad youll be there too see me threw the long and winding road :)


I'll update in the morning with more sketchwork, and possibly some speedthumnails and environment attempts XD

[adammelo]

We'll i lied,...

No sketches today, However ! Got to do my first three speed paintings today ;)


All of them were done within 15-20 Each, need alot of work on my speedies.
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I'll be home all day tommorrow so hopefully i'll get some pencil sketches done, and work more on my wip scout.

[JaymeNYC]

nice sketchbook you have here :D really like the last image in post #7!

[adammelo]

Thanks lol, everyone seems too

[xobgob]

Great job adammelo. Not much i can say from experience :) i am lazy good for noting wannabe. Just don't stop drawing. Push push push no matter the cost.

[adammelo]

Heres a 20-30 minute sketch:

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And an acrylic painting i did, ive posted it here before but nobody ever said anything about it :android:
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[adammelo]

Well the weekend is apon us and as such i will venture away from my makeshift studio so there wont be an update until sunday night, however i hope its a big one, for now heres a human proportional study i sketched from someone on CA:

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Comment up ( :ilaekae: ) my page for motivation, id be amazed if it was still on the first page come sunday night lol!

[Pic]

This is a nice little tut i was shown recently, thought I would share it with you.

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

[Suncut]

Nice effort you got going. I suggest you try doing your speedies with a hard edged 100% opacity brush, and only soften some spots in the end if they need it instead of starting too soft and needing to go over everything again to make it look any kind of finished. Also try working a bigger brush and only use a smaller one when you really need to add detail somewhere, not just to scribble over something.

[Karein]

Great start to your sketchbook here :) I would just really suggest all the things that have already been suggested lol. Keep it up though, You'll see the results soon enough :)

[adammelo]

Well, it's been a while since the last time i posted, namely discouraged and looking for a job and my license but that wasn't doing to well, i kept up my art work and will have more to post other than this however, these are both character sketches and a finished project sketch for an acrylic painting with the same character.

His legs are supost to be small, and his arms large, its the kind of features that apply to his race.
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More updates very soon, been tryna finish my book.

[Lapada]

Crit eh? well what i can tell you for sure is DRAW FORM LIFE -- when you start makeing thing sup to much things go wrong. It looks like oyu ahve a pretty good start right now -- about where i was when i was a while back XD

but at this point you gotta just Practice -- Draw somethign every day and push your self to draw more complex things -- good start though , keep it up

[adammelo]

Lapada - thanks for the support man! Will comment back.:lifedrawing:


Well, again it's been a while and i haven't received too many comments likely because its been a while and i haven't been "criting" others lately, hopefully i can avenge that though ;)

All i have for you guys today are some quick sketches on pen, followed by more pencil sketches of character concept art for two novels I'm working on covers for, a sketch of my favorite cat "lucky" and a piece of pencil work that i hope to finish...


Start of with the pen work..:
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Character Concepts for my friends novel, i knew the character would look dumb and sketched this as a point to show him just how strange he would look:
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This character concept is one for another novel i'm working on and i just needed to get a familiarization for the character before actually starting work on the piece sketch and then begin painting it..:
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Cat sketch on moleskin:
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First piece of nearly finished pencil work.:
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I hope to receive some much needed criticism on these bad boys thanks :)

[Sanjo]

Hey! Thanks for your comment in my sketchbook :)

You've got some nice sketches here, I like those from may 8th alot! That acrylic painting is a bit small but looks good, as far as I can see :)

The proportions on some of your figures seem a bit off, you might want to work on that :)

Besides that, cool work, keep it up dude!

[adammelo]

Sanjo - Thanks a lot man, I'll try to incorporate proportions more adequately in the future. Any references?


Here's a quicky of an acrylic painting i did of myself and my girlfriend for her birthday, it was done in roughly 4-7 hours can't remember:

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More crits are always welcome.

[JailBird]

Hey man I appreciate the comment. All I can throw your way for right now is keep up the Loomis baby! Something I realized is when you are doing those studies, make sure you aren't just copying his work, but taking those concepts and playing around with them to make sure you really have the process memorized. Otherwise you wont progress as fast, ya?

Keep up the discipline!

[adammelo]

Hey man I appreciate the comment. All I can throw your way for right now is keep up the Loomis baby! Something I realized is when you are doing those studies, make sure you aren't just copying his work, but taking those concepts and playing around with them to make sure you really have the process memorized. Otherwise you wont progress as fast, ya?

Keep up the discipline!

Yea, you've got a point, i need to buy some books on sketching too as desktop pc's arent the most portable things "free online loomis studies" lol. More crits would be loved, i always crit back :)

[Demodeus]

Hi adam, thank you for commenting my sketchbook ;D
I seems we have a lot in common, beeing both 18 years old and art noobs, trying to become better.
My guess would be, you should do some serious portrait and figure studies - from life and from good books (like loomis 8])
Some stuff allready looks quite good.. so post MOAR and do MOAR and one day it will look great!

[future-fiction]

Ahh so good so far! What really helped me improve was to try really hard not to draw from photos but from real life as much as possible, you learn so much translating something from 3 dimensions onto paper, with a photo half the work is already done for you :] It can be difficult finding models when you don't go to any art schools, but drawing people on the bus/train/any public places in your moleskin is great practise too~
Also your digital stuff has a lot of potential, perhaps do some studies in grayscale to improve your knowledge of tonal values.

[hotbox]

hey there. I agree with future-fiction, try to concentrate on values. maybe do some grayscale value studies. for me value is the most important thing for describing mood,atmosphere and space in an image. keep drawing, you are showing real promise.

[adammelo]

Demodeus -
Thanks Demodeus! I'll periodically comment your pieces on your sketchbook so's neither of us falls low on crits :) Loomis is the best :lifedrawing:

hotbox -
When i get the chance to use my walcom tablet i try working on some grayscale speed paintings just to learn up on values! Thanks hotbox.

future-fiction -
Thanks for the inspiration future-fiction, i'll try working on my grayscales!


More updates to come later today, some sketches in pen or pencil perhaps...

[adammelo]

Welp had a little cook out tonight at the girlfriends house so i only had time to wip up a pen sketch with some printing paper and the pen i had in my pocket...

Enjoy my seamen!
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[Eric Young]

Your at a good start with your anatomy, you need a lot more practice but as long as you keep up with it you're on the right track. You might want to get some anatomy art books (don't get the medical ones unless your interested in getting into medical illustration). I would like to see some more finished work from you, I like your most resent sketch with the ink and would like to see a more finished piece in that style.
keep up the good work!

[jsn]

You're doing well, and you've come to the right place!
Keep practising and you'll be a hit, but it doesn't happen over night! You can do it kid!

I especially like the 4th image you uploaded.

Good luck, and all the best!

[grenappels]

this might sound like trite advice but keep your positive outlook and work hard... working hard is hard to keep up im not really sure how to do it myself but i gotta say drawings more fun the more you do it. anyway i do enjoy your seaman, it has more emotion than most of the stuff i see on ca... even the technically elite stuff... so youre already a good artist on the right hemisphere of your brain... just keep workin on the left hemisphere stuff, proportions accuracy etc. :D

[adammelo]

The Original - Thanks alot the original, i love sketching in pen's so i'll try for more! Once i get back to my house ill have time to do a finished digital piece for ya!

jsn - Thanks for the inspiration, i'll be sure to keep trecking!

grenappels - Very profound advice my friend, thanks for the compliments about my seamans emotions, i'll be sure to keep trying!

No sketches today, tommorrow i'll have some updates along with questions about art supplies! More crits welcome! I always comment back :) :carnifex:

[Windsrock]

I like that portrait of you and your gilfriend but it looks a little bit unfinished. I'm often afraid to continue my work in a fear of ruining it. Your digital is going well. Those knights are nicely detailed, but maybe there could be more variation. That b/w acrylic painting looks good, I might add there one color area to attract attention. You've already got good advices here, just keep going :lifedrawing: You might ask your girlfriend to model for you some times...

[adammelo]

Comments:
hellfiresniper - Thanks for the praise in acrylic i desperately seek comments on that, because i do it more than digi :) and def draw more :)

Windsrock - Yea the girlfriend piece was done essentially in [watercylic] as i call it, (acylic mixed with water, and layered slowly) i've had a tendency of doing it in the past..., thanks for the advice man :)

Now if only she'd actually pose for me.... :P

Updates:
Well, i actually got around to having a good sketch session with my new materials :) (Strathmore sketch pad, New acrylics, Brushes, and Canvas's) and got some Mannequin sketches of figures, along with concept sketches, and sketches from observation! Enjoy :)

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Just a building i liked in a magazine :)


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Some figure drawing mannequin's from observation along with an archer from resources.


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Another archer and knight from observation.

Question:
I've recently acquired some acrylic paints i considered bargain paints (i usually use liquitex) and was curious as to any opinions regarding there quality, so if you've used them or heard of them what do you think of them?:
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Comment's and Crits are welcomed (Be as blunt as you'd like)! I always comment back :)

[JoshDArtist]

nice work so far man...
You are going to get a LOT of advice, critiques along the way (that is what is wonderful about this site) you don't get this in life too much, so soak it all up and don't worry at this stage (too much) about your final projects.
If you are serious about being an artist (WHATEVER form that takes) be extremely extremely patient with yourself. It might take quite a bit of time for concepts and skill/talent to "gel" together and for you to hit your stride... or it might take no time at all.
The key to either is to practice, practice, practice.
Art will become your life, life will become your art... (and if that doesn't make alot of sense now, just give it time)

Study anatomy, do more sketches from life (your cat sketch is a wonderful example) ...
find some artists (dead, alive it doesn't matter) that you "resonate" with and REALLY examine what they are doing in their work... every artist has their own voice (just like every singer, musician, writer, or person you know) and when you can look at an artist's work and "hear" what they are doing, you'll know you've grown leaps and bounds.

Don't be in a hurry. Ease into your path, and walk at your own speed.

Peace

[p sage]

Struggling to become an Artist! at 19

Cool man. At 19 I felt the exact same way.

XD
:upset:

Well, now I don't know what to think :er:

Seems like you're working really hard in here. I picked up that you're looking to do some value studies.

I would advise against that right now, since it seems you're still struggling a bit with form. As Vilppu says, if you don't know what an object looks like in space, how can you shade it?

I would practice perspective with shapes... cubes, boxes, twisted boxes, etc.... and then once you understood how to push them up, down, back, front in space (using perspective), go ahead and start shading those.

But really, for starters, I would advise you to try some gesture drawings. They're the foundation for every good drawing.

Keep working. You won't have to struggle forever :) It gets easier sometimes :) (and then harder again, and then easier, etc)

[blexano]

Hey there. :D
Good to see you pushhhh yourself!

My two cents:
I think you should concentrate more on the form when you do the outlines of a figure. And then try to do some anatomy studies and hatch with the form/muscles when you're rendering. Because for now it's a bit messy.
Also do some color stuff to get a feeling for it.

Well of course you don't have to master it all at once.
Go step by step. ;)

C Ya.

[adammelo]

blexano - Thanks for the words blex, i'll try some colored stuff, colored pencil, or acrylic maybe :)

p sage - Thanks pervy sage, i hope it gets easier :)

JoshDArtist - I've been encompassing myself with art to become art :) So i get watcha mean :) Thanks!

I drew some figures earlier today but I'm too tired to post them so they will be up tomorrow morning with more updates tomorrow night :) Keep the comments flowing, and I'll comment back :)

[littlewendycat]

hi! Thank you for the nice comment on my sketchbook (:

You have a lot of great compositions and ideas going on from what I've seen so far. A great facial expressions (http://cedarseed.deviantart.com/art/Emotions-and-Facial-Expression-47118559) tutorial is on Cedarseed's dA page. All of her tutorials are wonderful and easy to follow. I found them really helpful and I hope you enjoy them as well!

For the acrylic painting of you and your girlfriend, I would suggest really pushing the values--don't be afraid to make the darks really dark and the lights really light. The best piece of advice I've ever gotten when painting is from my friend Helen who said, "Exaggerate the colors." You can always paint over it with acrylics if it gets too dark, so don't be afraid to go there. (:

[NicG]

Thanks for the comment in my SB! This is a nice start. The page of gestures in post 41 is definitely heading in the right direction. Keep going!!

[adammelo]

Littlewendycat - I'll try to be more dynamic with my colors, and that facial expression tut is divine i too will offer the link to those in need :)

NicG - Will do :)


Updates:
Well, i've got more manikins and an attempt at a man which i quickly stopped, aswell as a sketch of a sketch from another concept artist Bergulf (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=159744) .

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Other than that i've also recently gotten more art supplies to widen both my knowledge and my posting, taking advice from people to "try" color, i bought the following :

Watercolors
Colored Pencils ( Roseart :) )
Charcoal Pencils :)
Watercolor Paper
More Canvas
More Acrylic


More comment's and advice would be lovely, remember don't spare any politeness, i love blunt comments :) They help more than being nice :)

I will comment back :), more updates tomorrow :)

[B-Man]

Hi there!
Thanks for the reply in my SB! Im here to return the love.:)
I would recomend studies and lots of em. If you want to learn painting with acrylics then do studies of paintings you like. Try and mimic the brushstrokes and colors. You will learn alot from them. :) I know studies are boring and you are young and impatient. I was impatient as fuck when I was nineteen. :D
Just spend some time on your drawings and really look at em. :) Now be patient! cheers!

[miycko]

thanks a lot for stopping by my sketchbook, cool ideas you've got man. I really love that character you sketched for your friends novel, his armor is really cool & that sketch of the girl up there is very nice :D her stomach area seems to be the biggest part of her body though, then the boobs & legs are a bit small, keep practicing man, in time you'll get very confident with a pencil or whichever medium you like best

nice painting of you & your girlfriend by the way

[Rolo]

You've got a lot of good stuff here! That samurai sketch has a really nice composition! The castle one has a lot of attention to detail, which I liked.
And you've improved a lot from your first few drawings!! Really awesome!
Do more perspective stuff! And do some studies of anatomy. I've figured that it really helps to know what's under the skin to be able to draw the skin!

Gogo draw draw draw!

[inmygucci]

Thanks for comment!
I like your effort but like everyone else I will recommend that you do more anatomy studies. try focusing more on the body rather than a helmet, for instance.
I dont know wether or not youre in art school but i find that life drawing classes are a big help.
good luck! looking forward to seeing more!!

[Bergulf]

Hello Adammelo. Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook. I see that you have made a sketch from one of my drawings. It’s nice that you liked it, I hope you learnt something. However you seem to have got the name wrong…

I think you are on the right track with your artwork. Those stick figures/mannequins have some good movement and poses. Perhaps try fleshing the figures out a bit. It is important to observe how the different parts of the body bend and twist during action yet still view the body as one cohesive machine.

I agree with the other comments here about focusing on construction (anatomy, perspective, composition…) for a while before going into tone and colour. The construction of the image is always most important. Keep up the practice.

[Lunarmoth]

Thank you for commenting in my sketchbook. I like your paintings and the sketch of the man on his knees. I felt the emotions coming from them. You and your girlfriend look so serene in each others presence it seems. I don't think I can say more than anyone else has said as far as criticism.

[dierat]

Hi there, nice start to your sketchbook! I think you're on the right track, you just need to keep at it and you'll get there. My only suggestions at this point are that I think you should keep working on full body sketches and that you should try working up your figures with construction lines before you work out your outline. Keep up the good work!

[adammelo]

B-Man - Sounds like a plan b-man, i always wanted to stuff the master's :)

miycko - Thanks, your the first person to like my friends character :), i'll keep improving!

Rolo - Perspective, will do! :) I really do need to work on it more though lol, thanks for the comments and support rolo!

inmygucci - Nope, no art school for me, but i do practice on my own time, almost all the time now so :) I'll do more real life studies for ya :) Thanks =)

Bergulf - Sorry mate, i fixed your name and link :) I often search multiple sketchbooks at a single time viewing the artwork and then commenting, when i got caught up with your sketch book i forgot it was on another tab so i accidentally pasted the wrong url, and name :( Thanks for the support and i will indeed practice more :)

Lunarmoth - Hehe, thanks for the support Lunarmoth, i'll keep it up for ya :)

dierat - Thanks dierat, i'll try some more fullbody images :)




Updates:
Well, onto the update, sadly my scanner bed cannot accommadate the mix media update i was hoping to post :( I do however have a pencil sketch like always for you :) It was done in 4 minutes timed :), i'll also post a watercolor piece i did today, though i will eventually repost it as it's colors have been very poorly scanned because it simply was held over the scanner :(

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The charcoal drawings and the repost of the watercolor mecha will be done tomorrow along with the update for tomorrow :)

More crits and comments welcomed :), I will definitely comment back :)

[Kamber Parrk]

Hey adammelo,

Getting back to you (thanks fer yer comments)!

Re: your sea-man-- what type of pen did you have, what type of paper did you use, and what was the source/inspiraton for this figure?

Kamber

[RainShinobi]

Hey thanks for commenting my SB ..

You are getting better and better with every post .. try to do some more life drawings .. and faces.

Still life is great for starting life drawings .. its fun :D for me at least .. well hope to hear more from ya

Cheers :coke:

[adammelo]

Kamber Parrk - I'll post the pen's i used later with my update, it was just a regular pen and printing paper, my inspiration was just boredom, and i wanted to draw something in pen badly so i did a little pirate :)

RainShinobi - Thanks for the coke, its my favorite drink :) Ironically enough all my 3-5 minute studies today are faces from life observation :) I'll post my update tonight once i decide i'm done with sketching / artwork :) Thanks for commenting :)

[p sage]

Good job on the perspective on your mecha.

I would agree with the other posters that maybe you'd want to try to get the faces thing and study that for a bit. It's hard, but it will help.

Keep going!

[NicG]

My aunt lent me this book (http://www.amazon.com/How-Draw-Lifelike-Portraits-Photographs/dp/089134635X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251511835&sr=8-4) and it really helped a lot with faces.

[adammelo]

p sage - More faces coming thanks!

NicG - Thanks for the link i might buy it, !



Updates: Ive got 3 charcoal pieces that need to be scanned but i cant mess up my girlfriends scanner so ill have to do them later...


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Updated my rodeo sketch!


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My ode to concept art, wanted to test out my colored pencils... :)


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Timed face sketches.. :)

[ataxas]

Returning the love. Thanks for stopping by! Keep being productive. I really like that acrylic painting you did of yourself and your girl. I think a good exercise for you might be to spend that much time on a pencil drawing. It's really important to keep doing quick sketches but I'd like to see what you can do with a pencil if you give yourself several hours.

I shouldn't take my own advice, by the way - I spent five hours each on the last two inks in my SB... :P

[adammelo]

ataxas - I'll try a finished pencil piece soon i guess, the finished byproduct of the medium is nice, its just painstakingly slow in my opinion.

[Cerasela]

hey thanks for the comment on my sb ;P sure i give it back ,
i do find lifedrawing and observing more important than drawing the concepts from a book, because you will see the world around you for yourself and not on a view of someone else but thats just a personal opinion .
Otherwise its a good start to learn how to draw , when you start simple , having a apple for example with a light source ,how does light interact with form? , how you can represent form? . some stuff i founded useful myself when asking such questions to oneself was :
http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/tutorials/01-intro-01.jpg
http://academart.com/ARTSHOP/art_shop_drawings.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_perspective
inform yourself and look how others resolved problems .....
i hope it helps , and of course have fun ;)
Cera

[velderia]

Strolled through some of the sketchbook. I REALLY love the cat sketch on the first page. It looks so real. I really like your traditional paintings too. I really like post #18.
When digitally painting though, I would recommend using more than one brush.

A couple of critiques I can possibly try to give is that you should really continue studying from life, and try not to make your figures too stiff. Working from shapes is good, but try not to constrain it into a shape too much... If that makes sense.

Overall, good work. Keep doing what you're doing. Can wait to see what you do as you progress even more. :)

[Burdie]

Looking good so far! i love that digital painting and your kitty is wonderful!


one thing i have to say is to try to make your lines flow in your sketches..um..for example when your drawing, say, an arm,instead of drawing a bunch of short lines to make up the arm try to use one or two flowing lines. Sometimes i see this in your work, like in your latest observational sketches, but sometimes you seem to lose that flow.

[adammelo]

Cerasela - Yea i've noticed my lighting to be lacking as of recently lol, i'll work on it, thanks for the comments Cerasela!

velderia - I'll try to work on improving my flow so things dont apear to stiffly drawn, thanks! and i love the ava!

Burdie - Thanks burdie, i love that my girlfriends kitty is getting some stardum! She is a mighty nice kitty :) As par the flow i have been working on it in recent works, and i'll try to keep it coming! Thanks!



More updates tomorrow afternoon, today was to damn rainy and boring to be inspired... :(

[adammelo]

Didn't do any sketching today... Again lol, too tired wat with school rearing it's ugly head :( But i did get around to taking the (all be it blurry) pictures of the charcoal work i did! Enjoy!

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[miycko]

the images are blurry so i can't really make out anything, but i know i'd like that first one :P

[t-jd]

Nice sketchbook, you may want to try some intense anatomy studies. Keep up the good work, I will be checking back later.

[p sage]

The first piece in your last post looks very good... and it shows improvement. Congrats. Keep working!

[Niva.]

I agree that the first piece of the last post shows improvement but perhaps the blurring is hiding some issues with the face of the woman. Not sure what went wrong with your scanning process but you need to do your work more justice!

Anyways, you're dong the right stuff with your studies, keep pressing!

[adammelo]

n1va - Thanks n1va, its not scanned btw, its photographed with a horrible camera lol, i'll scan them soon (now that im at home again)

p sage - Thanks for coming back p sage :)

t-jd - Bought some anatomy books that i'll post up soon to show yas' that i boughtem and im working on it! Thanks

miycko - :) I'll fix that blurry-ness :)


Really tired so im just gonna do a really quick update of a fraction of the stuff ive been working on, i'll elaborate more tommorrow, but heres some moleskin practice in pen, and a quick piece done in pen and watercolor wash :)



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[p sage]

Cool stories, dude. Keep rockin the moleskine.

[miycko]

nice character & that water colour look cool :)

[lupre]

wow, your analog stuff is very kool,
in your second post there is a graphit-illustration which rocks hard.
and this guy with the fire in his hands is awesome, is it acrylic or pastell ?

i think it's really a good thing to try as many different media as possible, all these techniques can learn from each other.. it's funny, but i'm also struggling hard to draw digital, just feel so comfortable with pencil and paper

greeets from vienna, lup

[Aryeh]

You'll go far.

[BlazeF]

The lines are comin along! Keep it up :)

[FiftyFortunes]

Your charcoal work looks so different from everything else you do (which is good) Keep it up, focus on form, and draw till you drop :D

[p sage]

Update?

[adammelo]

Update?

Tonight hopefully, been finding dead ends like crazy at the some 70 job applications I've put out over my area in the past 2 months, I've got two watercolor/pen moleskin quick piece's, a work in progress acrylic painting using some of the studies previously posted, and i recently purchased two drawing books, one with a broad view of study and the other on human anatomy only, namely because people recommended i study more on anatomy, ill post this and more tonight hopefully!

[adammelo]

p sage - Moleskin away!

miycko - Well thanks theres more watercolor were that came from!

lupre - Pyro is charcoal and Watercolor, and thanks, i do love all mediums!

lolbbq - Thanks!

BlazeF - Thanks blaze, inspiration is always welcome!

Valve - Thanks, my friends like my charcoal the best, im to much of a proverbial artist to agree with them lol...


Okay so as i mentioned previously ive got two new moleskin watercolors, the first one of a superhero swinging from the flagpole of a building was done in 2 minutes for the sketch, polished in 2, and painted in 2, as was the knight robbed of his sword on horseback, i also included the older charcoal pieces that were photographed, this time i scanned them at my house for quality purposes, i'll try and post my acrylic works in progress and my studio/room tommorrow, had no batteries in my camera lol! Also please tell me what you think of the new books i purchased on recommendation from your comments, one on art in general and one on anatomy! Enjoy:

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I always sketch back!...

[Datameister]

Cool stuff! I'd say your traditional works are definitely stronger than your digital stuff so far, but that's not unusual for folks who are new to the digital medium. If people are your primary interest in art, I would just keep on studying anatomy however possible. (Something I probably should start doing, too! :P)

[p sage]

Nice charcoals. I see some improvement there! And it looks like you're having fun in the moleskine.

Not familiar with the books; but more knowledge is better than less knowledge, yeah? It's probably good to get a lot of perspectives on this subject--that of drawing and draughtmanship... because there are many ways to go about learning it. Everybody seems to pick it up differently.

My favorite stuff is (of course) Vilppu's... but you'll find yours. Keep working and seeking out the best instruction.

And try to get to some life drawing sessions sometime soon. They really help.
Look for drawing groups in your area that take 5 or 10 bucks a session. I'm in 2 right now, and they indeed help a lot with the observation side of things.

[jatherip]

yeah!!! take those books and practice every day! its gonna help you alot!!! nice work though.....keep goin!!!

[Marian Rowling]

Hi adammelo you've got a good imagination. I really like some of your ideas in particular your acrylic and speed paintings. Will be interesting to watch your skills grow.

[BlazeF]

Hey duder, another thing that I'd noticed that you may want to try is really getting some free flowing lines out. I see a lot of the lines you're putting down look a little etched. You may want to start really drawing from the arm and not the wrist when trying to set up some of your stuff. When it comes down to detail, yeah go for it. But to get some good flows to your already great pictures I'd suggest a little more looseness :D

Sorry if I ramble >.>

[yyates05]

nice watercolors in the moleskine

only thing id say is keep drawing from life

[dierat]

Hey there, great studies in here so far! Just keep at it! I don't have either of those books so I don't know if they're any good, so let us know if you find them really helpful. Keep up the good work!

[death ogre]

ya did great in acrylic paintings.so much appreciate.keep it up mate.

[a la bapsi]

great work so far.
your studies and finished pieces have a lot of heart.
keep it up.

[Mangix]

Your dedication is admirable. Keep it up, I enjoy your watercolors.

[Sunny]

I think you have lots of potential. Just make sure to not put a lot of pressure on yourself to get somewhere with it. The only reason I developed was through small adjustments in my mind. So the more I did the more I learned (if I was paying attention). I suggest trying all kinds of different ways of drawing. Go draw people on a bus, at the mall, ask your friends to pose for you. Try all kinds of different mediums. And the biggest and most important way for an artist to grow, in my mind, is to create and develop "projects". A project can be anything from a painting to a mural to a postcard or tattoo design. The idea is that you should start a project and work on it from start to finish. So for a painting start a sketch, develop an idea with sketching. Then paint it up. THen refine it and refine it over a long period of time until its something beyond what you thought you could do. Learn to keep enhancing in the areas of composition, pattern, contrast, make it dynamic, interesting, make it give a distinct impression or feeling.

When I began to think of my work as projects it really helped me to take things to a new level. Now it wasnt about what I could produce today. It was about how I could change a painting over time. I have all the time in the word now.

Hope that helps!