ZhangLu and Jason Manley Digital Painting (Thread now contains teaser and art too!)

[petitemistress]

at the risk of being banned for insulting a "fellow CA-er", and trust me, no one "questions authoritah" quite like me, Twinkie, COME ON! SERIOUSLY? stfu.

[Arshes Nei]

Well that gave me an opportunity to try out the infraction system. Good Day sir.

[Noah Bradley]

You misquoted me. Go back and, this time, just quote, don't alter. You made me sound like a self-righteous jackass when I'm only trying to help.

Somehow I should think that copy & pasting is pretty much immune to misquoting. If you edited it after the fact that's up to you, but don't you dare accuse me of something I didn't say or do only to try to cover up what you edited.

[el coro]

well i dont think having an uninformed opinion on something they can't possibly know all the intricacies of is a bannable offense either.

twinkie is perfectly welcome, in my opinion to express his/her point of view, same way i am to express mine.

thing is i dont condemn that way of thinking. its just a little too idealistic i think, especially after having seen how bad the torrenting has become over time...

please dont ban Twinkie over this. i think thats a bit too harsh for just expressing an opinion.

c36

[kjdawson80]

Also at the risk of being banned (although I'm hoping it would only be temporary >_> ), I think the last couple of responses is why Arshes Nei made that threat.

Twinkie, you've basically derailed the thread, taking it from "Check out the new video! Tell us what you think! And feel free to post the art you made after watching it!" to "Hey let's bring up the piracy/torrents/charging nominal fees to help cover costs and why I think we ought to do it THIS way versus THAT way..."

Hopefully this thread won't be locked, and people will still post their (amazing) artworks in here and give each other feedback and tips and share what they learned.

As for taking your threads to DA, well, they charge too, just as an FYI. I'm a paying member there >_>

[Penumbra]

This video was put together very well. The philosophy is easily as valuable as the mechanics of the process. The multiple images being worked on make you want to watch it many times to see the progress of each one. Focusing on the essential qualities of characterization before leaping into the details of observation-that's gold.

Thanks

[Arshes Nei]

well i dont think having an uninformed opinion on something they can't possibly know all the intricacies of is a bannable offense either.

c36

The dissenting opinion wasn't why I did it. I asked that the debate be taken elsewhere and instead of just making a simple PM - as to where or just cutting it simple to "where" even on this thread would have sufficed. I just didn't want people's pictures spammed up with the other crap. Twinkie went well beyond that after the warning. That's where the hammer came down.

This is also a temp ban, not permanent.

The rest of you guys posting your works, please continue to do so! Feedback is fine, but the piracy debate was - http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=156973 <- that thread

[Arshes Nei]

First time I've ever watched one of those and it sure was great :) i doubted how much I could learn since i found it rather short, but when I tried doing a portrait myself, I could already feel I've learned a lot. I absolutely love his technique. The music distracted me a bit but only because i liked it.
So thanks for doing a great job.

So here's my first try: ( 2 hours )


Hi isha,

Well even though the video was short, there were a few resources Jason pointed out you could use, the learning doesn't stop there - check out those resources Just the first attempt, you're correct you're learning. Art is trial and error. So keep at it, we all have our first times ;)

In this picture you've done, I'd say you went too dark too fast. Usually working at 2 values will get you in the habit of knowing what is going to be your darkest areas.

One other tip for you photoshop users, while it wasn't mentioned in Zhanglu's video you should be using it to help spot errors, try using a Horizontal Flip. Usually, you'll have to go to the upper menu controls on PS to Flip horizontally, but you can also program a shortcut key for this too: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/custom-keyboard-shortcuts/

[Brashen]

bla bla I want to see more portraits!!

[Zapp!]

Really want to get another video soon and quite like the look of this one. But I saw that there is a portrait video by coro being released soon. As I can only afford one just now (though I will difinetly buy both eventually), I was wondering which of these would be better to get first, or does it matter?

[spaztastic]

i used ref for this but Zhanglu inspired me. so, meh half and half, i'll give the free form a go later.

[AdventDawn]

hey spaz is that the chick who played amilie? if not it looks like her

[courtyard]

I rewatched the vid and noticed how much ZhangLu adjusts the flow of his brushes, which is something I have never messed with but was excited to try. I use GIMP and couldn't find an equivalent (I couldn't find one on Adobe Elements, either). Does anyone have any suggestions for workarounds in either program to get flow capability? Internet searches suggest I'm out of luck...thanks.

Here's a second portrait, but from ref so it doesn't really count towards my 10 ;)

[spaztastic]

AdventDawn, yes, yes it is. I m glad you could tell.

[MassiveDVD]

They're quite different videos and I don't think it matters too much which one you get first. Coro's is oil and color, Zhanglu works in photoshop and b&w, and there's almost zero overlap in content. If I had to generalize I would say Coro's probably leans a bit more on the technical end while Manley talks more in depth about attitude and inspiration.

Really want to get another video soon and quite like the look of this one. But I saw that there is a portrait video by coro being released soon. As I can only afford one just now (though I will difinetly buy both eventually), I was wondering which of these would be better to get first, or does it matter?

[Noah Bradley]

Half way to 10. :) These are really making me realize how much I have to learn. I feel like such a n00b. ;)

684408

[courtyard]

#3...self portrait from life. I ended up using GIMP's airbrush tool to mimic the flow function in PS.

[typeangel]

Thank you so much Jason and ZhangLu! I just placed my order and waiting for the vid to download!!! :))

[James Kei]

Great portraits in here, guys.
Keep posting!

[Zapp!]

They're quite different videos and I don't think it matters too much which one you get first. Coro's is oil and color, Zhanglu works in photoshop and b&w, and there's almost zero overlap in content. If I had to generalize I would say Coro's probably leans a bit more on the technical end while Manley talks more in depth about attitude and inspiration.

Thank you very much. I think I'll get this one then on tuesday when I get my money

[Jason Manley]

Anyone even remotely supporting the mentality that artist rights should not be protected will be banned. Arshes did the right thing in my mind...though I see the others points. I am ok with a temp ban. She also deleted the posts where he threatened to smear me across the internet. People need to refrain from pooping all over such a great thread. That is counter productive to the whole purpose of this site and the artistic happenings in here which are coming along great. Twinkie will stay banned for now.

I will spend some time to crit tomorrow you guys. This thread is wonderful. Truly inspiring to see everyone getting results and making progress. Please keep it up.

[Jason Manley]

Very humbling posting these with all the other great work... but hey, I'll get there someday (hopefully). ;) Third one!

682595


watch the contours of the face...her far side has a lumpy quality to it. you are getting some success with lost edges...keep it up...there is something really sad about this piece...but I think some of the basic drawing issues are keeping you from really hitting that. Another hour would have resolved a lot of that. Also, some studies with actual lighting would be helpful as that is an area you can focus on.

[Jason Manley]

From imagination...please rip it apart. (haircut= I couldn't remember how to draw ears :D) Thanks so much for this vid, guys.

You need a bit better suggestion of lighting...and a bit more care with the hair would be nice. It is a nice start but now Id suggest spending another hour on it to refine in some key areas...


keep it up!

[Jason Manley]

ha did 10. Think I peaked in my learning around the 6 mark. The ones after were fun to do but i think i need to do some other head studies and come back to it in a couple of months.


Plz do me a favor and find some pictures of skulls. Draw them from every angle..top side three quarter etc....then do an exercise where you draw a skull lightly before painting the heads. Do not paint the head til you have the skull PROPER. k?

The main weakness is that the heads dont look like they have skulls inside them.

[Jason Manley]

Oh we can do this now?

A portrait I did same day. (was up all night watching)
(on my laptop though. I bet the values are really strange on your monitors)

Oh by the way, When's the next one coming?

Using photo ref too closely makes it seem like you might could do better with some lighting studies first. If you want to use photo ref..great...just try to light it with your own lighting. Nice mood and such...the softness on the teeth is a nice touch.

[Φ]

ohhh…I wont leave out the chance of jason kicking my ass! though I feel soo unworthy right now cuz I been really "busy" not having the time to draw often…but anyways heres a rough portrait from mind……once again, thank you so much for this wonderful download :yayca:

[Jason Manley]

Damn, that was an inspirational video! I learnt a bunch from watching and listening, as I always do from these videos. Thank you very much!
And here is my attempt at a portrait from imagination (and a bit help from the mirror for some shadows and stuff :) ). Critique would be great!


You should do a lot more of these. You will get it. I want you to look at her face and see if you see what I am. Her face looks bruised..is this on purpose? Like with some of the others setting up one overhead light and doing some lighting studies in self portraits or on your friend would be helpful. Lighting is a big area you need to study.

[Jason Manley]

had fun following Zhanglu's style....a lot of mistakes on my first try but good learning experience. Thanks MB and thanks Zhang!!

Nice clean image...my question is whether her nose is supposed to be so large..and if you wanted her to look sleepy and kinda snobby. What was your intent?

I think you will have this down if you do another twenty or thirty of them.


j

[Jason Manley]

Yet another one. Must... keep... practicing!

683418


You are studying edges and atmosphere..which is good...id take a break and do a master copy from sargent...this will solve some of your finishing skill challenges you have right now. Id do a complete and total master copy...til it looks EXACTLY like the original. If you post it in this thread once it does, I will give you a crit and more help...but you gotta make it look exact first!!!

[Jason Manley]

I made another one :O Last one I'll post in this thread.
This time without any reference.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v510/Maiku-/thingy2.jpg

not a bad sketch...something is off with the lighting..perhaps it is the range of value between light and shadow..it is varying depending on what the surface is..a bit more than would happen. Also her eyes are not pointing to the same place. Is this on purpose? You show talent...lets see some more eh?

[Jason Manley]

real nice piece...I think you could soften the nose a bit..is a bit harsh in its flat plate on the front of it...the nose varies..even when subtle...the features are perhaps a little large but I dont think that is bad as it kinda looks like an illustration rather than a painting from life...id love to see more from you.


Great video Jason. Thanks to you, Zhanglu and MassiveDVD for all your hard work in putting it together. Really bang up job. We waited a long time for it and it was well worth the wait.

I can't help but be pleased to see a video that focuses so much on the classic fundamentals of draftsmanship. To me, it seems Zhanglu isn't doing anything particularly different from what one would do with a charcoal pencil on newsprint - in fact, the early block-ins using angles and straight lines to define the general head shape comes right out of Bargue, and using soft marks to indicate placement of the features is exactly the same method we practice at the ateliers and private art schools down here. I loved watching his process. No tricks, no gimmicks, just straight up solid drawing. His portraits remind me a lot of the pieces I've seen from students at the Repin Academy in China, which should come as no surprise considering his background.

There is a wealth of information and guidance here to be found in the video, and can be gleaned from anyone patient enough to ask themselves the question "why?" What is the reasoning behind Zhanglu choosing to make that value darker or lighter? Why did he make this edge soft or hard compared to that edge? Why is he choosing to emphasize detail there but simplifying here? I figure you can probably get a semester's worth of head drawing tips in this video if you keep asking yourself why as you watch it over and over again. Not a bad deal for $20, I'd say!

Anyway, here's my first attempt. I may tweak it more, but eh, I've got work in a few hours and I really should get to bed. Nine more to go from here. I spent a lot of time getting used to his method and configuring the default brush, but once that was out of the way, it was just a matter of playing around and having fun. This isn't completely out of my imagination - I referred back to Zhanglu's pictures for ideas on mark-making, composition, and technique - but a good 90% of it is. From someone who studies mostly with a model in front of him and is often a bit timid about drawing without one, this was a really good exercise for me to go through... so, thanks for the push. I learned an immense amount from doing this.

Looking forward to the next line in this series. Thanks again.

[Jason Manley]

ok is five thirty am...more crits to come.


j

[Pawkfox]

not a bad sketch...something is off with the lighting..perhaps it is the range of value between light and shadow..it is varying depending on what the surface is..a bit more than would happen. Also her eyes are not pointing to the same place. Is this on purpose? You show talent...lets see some more eh?
I had loads of trouble with the lighting on that one, I had no predefined light source, it kinda came into existence while painting, so I decided about halfway I wanted it to be a very strong almost horizontal light source which wasn't very easy to draw :P
As for the eyes, uhm no. She was supposed to look very much to her left our right. One eye looks slightly up.. Its really hard :<
I noticed the same thing in some of Zhanglus portraits too.

Jason wants more, Jason gets more.

No ref, obviously :/
Still working on those edges.. hard vs soft etc.

(I'm just dying to see what these things look like on a proper monitor! They could be super ugly for all I know x_x)

[chuck18mp]

looks very cool! Thanks for sharing :D

[arghmisfit]

two more from imagination.. feeling better about this last one

[Bushido]

I definitly need to get this video!

:star::star::star::star::star: Thread!!!

Jason im really gladly to read your constructive critics, i think that is really usefull and good for all uf us here on CA. At least i really appreciate it.
I think we can all have differences, but how we say things whats really makes the difference.
Becouse i think, this is all about; Be constuctive and positive. That is what really counts in first place to help others.

Thanks

(I hope you understand my bad english)

[Liz Edwards]

Erk, I couldn't get her eyes right for the life of me. Oh well, just means I gotta go study pretty ladies some more!

[Brashen]

Nice clean image...my question is whether her nose is supposed to be so large..and if you wanted her to look sleepy and kinda snobby. What was your intent?

I think you will have this down if you do another twenty or thirty of them.


j

Hey Jason thanks for taking the time out to crit us mate.

I must admit that I was barely paying attention to the proportions....trying to emulate another artists painting style and habitual strokes when you've been used to your own style of rendering is a difficult thing to do.

And yes I was trying to go for a snobby feel for her.......shit she does look droopy haha.

20-30 hah I'm getting it right by the third mate ;)

[spaztastic]

this one has no ref..... i know it is very obvious. guess i need to do like 40 more of these.

[Jason Manley]

I would suggest you slow down and work from life for a bit. Do five self portraits with top down lighting. spend three to six hours on each one.


here's my first attempt. No reference for this one, but the next few I do I'll use reference cos looking at this one I have alot to learn.

I didn't pay much attention to changing brush hardness or anything. just used the same brush whole way through with just different sizes. Will bother with those things on the next one because I'm realising more strongly how important it is to mix hard and soft edges.

So 1 down 9 to go. then when those are done can try negro types, asian, and other races.

Edit: Hey by the way is it cheating to use reference for the assignment? As in, is the point of the excerise forfeit if I copied a photo instead of concepting a character types attitude, appearance, expression, etc.?

[Jason Manley]

As said with a previous post, I think you should slow down and do some portraits from life. You are squishing your skulls. I would also draw some skulls. There is bone under there...right now you must learn the proportions of the head.

However you have touched on a key issue...when you are paying attention to people this much you will begin to better understand your local culture and the people who are your subjects. Keep at it!


Hello Mr Jason Manley, after viewing the video, ive learnt to focus more on human expressions..
Here are my take on the exercises that youve given to your students :)

Do you mind giving me some tips,advices on how should i capture the expression,features in 2min/portrait?
I tried to do it but i couldn't draw it that fast. If i try to draw fast, my construction of head will fail miserably,
if i construct first, it will take me awhile to draw in the features.
However after i construct, the human head moved and i have to reconstruct :/

Oh ive noticed my country are full of stressfull people after starting observing people around me.


Usually i draw emotionless people but after watching the video ill take note of their expressions!


A big THANK YOU for the video!

[Swampdigger]

My first try on this, I don't know what I was expecting but this was hard. I learned a lot though.

Great video, very happy I got this. Thanks for putting this out here for us. Keep up the great work.

[Jason Manley]

Your shading is arbitrary. Try doing a self portrait with a top down light so you can learn to understand how to model form. Your values are in direct relation to the angle of the light source..at least they should be. if you have a top down light then planes on the top will have more light..planes on the bottom less.

More life drawing...that is my suggestion to you as well...and there are more who will get that same advice.


The video was amazing, and it inspired me to give this a shot. It's still way too stylized, and I have too much line art going on, but I used masses and forms a lot more than I have in like... ever.

I hope I attached this right!

>_>

Is the image too big for you guys? I can resize if needed!

[Jason Manley]

Im glad you found some inspiration to work on this skillset. Like some of the others, you really need to do some work from life. Start with self portraits. do about five of them with a top down light source. work until it looks like what you see...even if it takes many hours..that goes for everyone. after you can do that well you can paint much better from imagination.


jason

First time I've ever watched one of those and it sure was great :) i doubted how much I could learn since i found it rather short, but when I tried doing a portrait myself, I could already feel I've learned a lot. I absolutely love his technique. The music distracted me a bit but only because i liked it.
So thanks for doing a great job.

So here's my first try: ( 2 hours )

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc151/knarken/conceptart/sorthvidpotrt1.jpg

[Jason Manley]

definitely have to give zhanglu credit for inspiration. that last download was perhaps the most motivating video I've seen...since...hell there all awesome!

http://fc05.deviantart.com/fs45/i/2009/149/c/5/FFP_RElax_illustration_by_AdventDawn.png

not a bad start...you are ignoring the structure of how the neck fits on the body and by doing so, diminishing the overall quality of the work. Presentation is good..vibe is right...just need to do a lot more of them...and do not ignore your anatomy and structure.

[Jason Manley]

i used ref for this but Zhanglu inspired me. so, meh half and half, i'll give the free form a go later.



not bad at all...using ref will keep you from describing forms well if you dont think it through. some subtle strengthening of forms by putting soft values to suggest sides, bottoms, and tops of forms will help. Expression is nice. Iris are not round though...eyes should be cared for.

[Jason Manley]

I rewatched the vid and noticed how much ZhangLu adjusts the flow of his brushes, which is something I have never messed with but was excited to try. I use GIMP and couldn't find an equivalent (I couldn't find one on Adobe Elements, either). Does anyone have any suggestions for workarounds in either program to get flow capability? Internet searches suggest I'm out of luck...thanks.

Here's a second portrait, but from ref so it doesn't really count towards my 10 ;)

nice for a first go...your airbrush marks are looking digital...too digital...id do some sargent master copies..two or three of them..so you can study his brushmarks, and edge play on every single shape and mark.

Keep it up.

[Jason Manley]

#3...self portrait from life. I ended up using GIMP's airbrush tool to mimic the flow function in PS.

noah i am not sure what you are trying to have her feeling inside. it looks like sadness and confusion...but doesnt look quite right.

also there are perspective problems on the eyes and they could be placed in the eyesocket better. get reference if you have to. work from life..is always better. You are going to need to do a bunch to get this down so get to it!!

[Jason Manley]

#3...self portrait from life. I ended up using GIMP's airbrush tool to mimic the flow function in PS.


the planes on the nose (and those attaching it to the face) could be cared for more. Overall I love seeing people working from life though. Don't let the ears go without care!

[Samuel Gray]

Jason I appreciate your efforts into helping everyone out. I plan on getting this once I get some more dough. But, I did just get the foundation painting one and it is great! Thanks again.

[ceasar]

This looks really amazing.

[purb36]

nice job everybody! keep pushing!

thx for the vids, jason and zhang (and aaron and the rest of the production staff)...y'all rock!

first 3. bottom right is kinda :nohope: ... :(

[Cam Sykes]

OK as advised in the video, I've done a sargent study. In keeping with the theme of caucasian females I'll be doing lady agnew next.

I know this isn't exactly like it but I definately learnt alot studying his brushstrokes and pallette. It's helping me to see colour by not colour picking from the photo and really trying to nail the colour by eye.

Took about 2 1/2 hours in photoshop.

[Noah Bradley]

Guess great minds think alike, CamSyko. ;) I was a little surprised to see we had picked the same Sargent piece to study from, but what can I say... it's a gorgeous portrait the man painted. :) Your colors are looking a little cool in general... Maybe try adding some warmer tones in there. A bigger brush size might help you, too. But I don't know. I'll let the master (aka Jason) teach you. :)

Anyways, to Jason: Thank you sooooo much for the advice and crits. I really appreciate it. I worked quite a while on this and I think I'm satisfied enough to post it. I think the proportions may have gotten a little too long, but regardless I learned a ton from doing it. Suggestions on what to do next? More/better master studies? Back to imagination practice? Anatomy study? All of the above? ;) Thanks again, it's been so helpful.

685204

[Cam Sykes]

ah dude you nailed it. Yeah I think I did to many brushstokes and you're right about the colours.
I used a pretty scratchy brush which probably didnt make it look gooey enough also.

I'd suggest you do a bougereau study. He does amazing portraits. Maybe a female this time.


Edit: Ok just spent about 5 mins, doing some cheap tricks. did some smudge tool and a warming filter to improve it a little. I was avoiding using the smudge tool but I think it was necessary now.

[zeal]

Here's Mine. It was a struggle tonight, I realize I have to keep practicing
to improve. I started to noodle and realized it was time to stop. I'm not happy w/ the hair, but I'm throwing in the towel, many more to do!

[Jason Manley]

ohhh…I wont leave out the chance of jason kicking my ass! though I feel soo unworthy right now cuz I been really "busy" not having the time to draw often…but anyways heres a rough portrait from mind……once again, thank you so much for this wonderful download :yayca:

Your music note bubble is super distracting...your values are off so her face looks like it has gray stuff smeared on it instead of feeling like shadow. Do some studies with real light so you can remember light/shadow value ranges....also time with the model or self portraits will help you with proportion...skull drawings...you have to focus on foundations for a bit.


jason

[Jason Manley]

not bad...

not quite sure on her expression...looks like her jaw is skewed...like she is chewing her cheek or something...your rendering of the eyes is real nice...the hair looks..i dunno..like its not cared for...kinda dirty or something...maybe get more ref on hair til you can suggest it better. more studies of yourself under real light will solve your lighting problem. you will remember lighting conditions if you do.


jason

I had loads of trouble with the lighting on that one, I had no predefined light source, it kinda came into existence while painting, so I decided about halfway I wanted it to be a very strong almost horizontal light source which wasn't very easy to draw :P
As for the eyes, uhm no. She was supposed to look very much to her left our right. One eye looks slightly up.. Its really hard :<
I noticed the same thing in some of Zhanglus portraits too.

Jason wants more, Jason gets more.

No ref, obviously :/
Still working on those edges.. hard vs soft etc.

(I'm just dying to see what these things look like on a proper monitor! They could be super ugly for all I know x_x)

[Jason Manley]

More life drawing...your lighting is killin ya. also get some ref for how the ignored areas of the head can be handled..ie the sides of the nose or the transition from mouth to cheek to chin....

those sargent master studies will be helpful...if you want to stay more contemporary then look at james jean or coro or wes burt or...and see how they are handling brush marks...right now there is something sloppy feeling about your marks and if you study the loose painters..the painterly painters..you might see some good improvement.

good to see you keeping at it..more more more.


jason


two more from imagination.. feeling better about this last one

[Jason Manley]

like soe of the others, your lighting, or lack of, is hurting the image...get some ref..get a light and use yourself as the lighting model but paint the shadows on the girl...light yourself...if there is a shadow under your noise put a shadow under her nose...ya follow?

not a bad piece..just needs far better lighting.



jason


Erk, I couldn't get her eyes right for the life of me. Oh well, just means I gotta go study pretty ladies some more!

[Jason Manley]

this one has no ref..... i know it is very obvious. guess i need to do like 40 more of these.


study your collar bones..use a light and yourself as ref...also your shadows are a bit dense...maybe adding some reflect light will solve it...but nice piece and i think you will get this...keep at it.

[reme]

Hi Mr Jason Manley, i have a question, when doing life drawing of portraits, we should capture its proportion first and then likeness? Sometimes i capture the proportion but i failed to capture my friends likeness. It makes me feel bad :/

[Jason Manley]

Hi Mr Jason Manley, i have a question, when doing life drawing of portraits, we should capture its proportion first and then likeness? Sometimes i capture the proportion but i failed to capture my friends likeness. It makes me feel bad :/


work on both at the same time...focus on capturing what your friends inner side feels like too...its all of it simulataneously. like patting your belly and rubbing the top of your head. you will get it.

[Pawkfox]

not bad...

not quite sure on her expression...looks like her jaw is skewed...like she is chewing her cheek or something...your rendering of the eyes is real nice...the hair looks..i dunno..like its not cared for...kinda dirty or something...maybe get more ref on hair til you can suggest it better. more studies of yourself under real light will solve your lighting problem. you will remember lighting conditions if you do.


jason

I guess I failed, She's supposed to be biting her lip, I went to the mirror many times to get it right. I could have exaggerated and make it so she bit the entire lip, but I notice that when you bite your lip you dont really notice it very much, what you do notice is how your jaw moves slightly off and your lip pokes out on the opposite corner. The lip gets stretched, so it shouldn't look so round/full as it does. But it doesn't move up much.
As for the hair, I agree completely. Tried to go looser, not giving much thought to detail, but eh.. didnt work and then I ran out of time.

[aaro_n]

great hustle peeps, especially you jason manley. Learning lots from your critiques ;) Frickin burned out my nib so im photoshopless (actually started to shave off the base of the pen's tip :| ) anyways, still on focus with womenz; here are some pencils. keep it up everyone :D

[isha]

my second try:

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc151/knarken/conceptart/potrt2.jpg

Arshes Nei: Thanks for the suggestion about flipping the image, sure helped!

Jason Manley: okay I'm gonna make those self-portraits, can only agree that i need to do more work from life.

[kjdawson80]

Your shading is arbitrary. Try doing a self portrait with a top down light so you can learn to understand how to model form. Your values are in direct relation to the angle of the light source..at least they should be. if you have a top down light then planes on the top will have more light..planes on the bottom less.

More life drawing...that is my suggestion to you as well...and there are more who will get that same advice.

Yeah, that's what I get for trying to draw so late at night, in my bed, haha. I took your advice to heart, and did a self portrait today in PS.

I spent about 90 minutes on this. I can see that my shading is still off, but I *think* it looks more modeled this time. It was difficult because my light source was kind of wonky, and, well, I'm not too hot at painting in PS to begin with. Still, I think this looks better than my first attempt. Well, more realistic, anyway :D

The biggest issue is that we're supposed to be drawing beautiful women, and I don't really meet that criteria. So I'm already working with flawed material to begin with :P

[Bushido]

great hustle peeps, especially you jason manley. Learning lots from your critiques ;) Frickin burned out my nib so im photoshopless (actually started to shave off the base of the pen's tip :| ) anyways, still on focus with womenz; here are some pencils. keep it up everyone :D

That first one is really nice!

More! :geekg:

[kryoth]

This was my first download from MB, freaking awesome! Thank you very much for putting it together, guys, truly inspirational stuff!

Here's something I did after watching it. I can already feel the progress, but still have lots to learn.

[Jason Manley]

Hey all. I am headed to e3 in the morning and am slammed for a bit. Will give crits when and if time allows. For now keep it up and feel free to give each other feedback. The more eyes on the stuff the better.

Happy drawing...


Jason

[Jacob Kobryn]

Ugh I want to watch this soooooooo badly but with the semester coming to a close school has entirely eaten up my life! SUMMER PLEASE COME!!!

[aaro_n]

I hope I'm not that "guy". Had a dude at old art school get really pissed at me for suggesting something, so I rarely give out critiques :|

isha : Theres improvement but try to practice for a few days before taking a stab on the next one. Theres mostly structural problems..wheres the clavicle?

kjdawson80 : 90 minutes? doesn't seem long enough. There is lost information, or information not done right. Really take a chunk out of a day, and sit in front of a mirror for 3 hours, take breaks if you need to. Make it two days, three, five..get it, till its right. A face is a face, the method will be the same. 2 eyes one nose one mouth. train that hand, and what to look for

kono: not too shabby. my eyes hurt when i see it though...because it is really,really soft, making it blurry. Look at paintings like manley suggested. Also work on form some, ahh you'll be practicing anyways I can feel theres more to come.

Bushido thanks man, yeah loving me some graphite. Its really delicate though. I want my photoshop back :P miss the ultimate reassessment tool :) But I am loving pencil..traditional feverr hmmmmm I might actually try to do some monochromatic study/piece with some acrylics or something

going to go practice before the next one, hope this helps seeya :)

[George Abraham]

Don't shake the boat while I'm downloading, the line is tender.

Let's see if these will make my view on woman more manley.

[kjdawson80]

/snip

kjdawson80 : 90 minutes? doesn't seem long enough. There is lost information, or information not done right. Really take a chunk out of a day, and sit in front of a mirror for 3 hours, take breaks if you need to. Make it two days, three, five..get it, till its right. A face is a face, the method will be the same. 2 eyes one nose one mouth. train that hand, and what to look for

/end snip



Thanks for the feedback, aaro_n - I do appreciate it :D There is some lost information for sure, but I'm not used to rendering in Photoshop for so long (I decided to call it quits before I chucked the Wacom). I'm so used to "get it done in one sitting," which is a habit I need to break.

I'll pick up a decent portable mirror for some longer studies, and do the 100 heads exercise mentioned in the video too.

[George Abraham]

Loomis: - "The effort of correcting fawlty work is far greater that the effort that goes into learning to get things right"

You chucked a wakom??!!

[kjdawson80]

Loomis: - "The effort of correcting fawlty work is far greater that the effort that goes into learning to get things right"

You chucked a wakom??!!

True that. I've been working on and off for the past few months to unlearn some bad habits I picked up (and kept) in high school.

And no, I didn't chuck it, but I was getting pretty close. I figured it was time to call it quits when the mirror fell.

... turns out I may have broken the mirror last night >_>

[purb36]

@everybody - i think one thing we all need to figure out, especially when working from imagination, is how to create convincing form. i think a lot of times, people say, "work on form," but that's not helpful for those of us who don't know how to create convincing form. one thing that's been helpful for me is reading some books or tutorials on form (i'll give references when i get a chance), working from still lifes, and doing form studies from imagination (simple shapes, blocks, polygonal solids, cylinders, cones, and spheres). but, on form:

form has everything to do with lighting, which is why jason is harping on about lighting so much. things are made of planes (sides) of various orientation (directions that they face); these planes can be large and flat (as in the case of a cube), or they can be infinitely small (as with a sphere). the way we see them is that light hits those planes and bounces into our eyes, so how we see an object depends on two main things: 1) the angle of the object to the light source, and 2) the angle of a given part of an object to the viewer. so the planes that are facing the light source will have the highest value (be the brightest; value is the measure of relative lightness or darkness), and the planes facing away from the light will have the lowest value (be the darkest), and the planes that face the different directions between the two extremes will change their values accordingly. this means, that when the direction of the plane changes, the value will change. the big thing about this is that when rendering (painting, drawing, etc.), if you change the value, you are indicating a change in form! sharp forms change value sharply, whereas rounded forms change value more gradually.

you will end up with two sides of an object: the light side and the shadow side. because light bounces around from object to object, on the shadow side there will also be some light that is reflected from other surfaces in the location, meaning that the shadow side will lighten and darken depending on how much reflected light it receives. so the darkest part of an object will be where the transition from light to dark occurs (called the "core shadow" or the "terminator"). again, because sharp forms change value sharply, whereas rounded forms change value more gradually, the boundary between the light and shadow will reflect the quality of this change between planes (the "edge"); a sharp form change will have a hard edge, a highly curved form change will have a "lost" edge, and there is a wide range in between. for more detail on this, please see elwell's thread on edges. (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51913)

one last thing about edges and values is that because of the way our world works, things closer to us will appear to be in higher contrast, and the edges will be clearer, than things farther away from us (called "atmospheric perspective"). so when we are creating forms that go back in space, we want to save our darker darks, our lighter lights, and our clearer edges for the foreground, and reduce the contrast and soften the edges on things that are further back in space.

all objects are basically overlapping and fused shapes, so working on shading basic shapes will help with more complex forms. study the planes of the head (bridgman or loomis...don't really know much about hogarth so i can't recommend him for good or bad) as well, so you come to understand how something will generally appear in a given light source and position, and then use your imagination to fill in the particulars. then, the key is to decide on where the light source is, how the object is oriented, or posed, in that light source, and where the viewer is.


applying this to portrait painting from imagination (only a couple crits, but people can learn from them, i hope):

isha - your nose is the best part of the portrait, great job with the form on that. things besides what has been said already: remember to save the darkest darks for the things that are closese to the viewer, so you'll want to lighten and soften even more the line at the back of her hair, because it brings the back of the hair forward and flattens out the picture. the bottom of the chin is probably a little wider and rounder than is shown, so don't make it too narrow or it'll look cartoony. more contrast in where the hair meets the face on the near side. you have a pretty defined shadow under the nose...where's the hair shadow on the front of her face? where's the head shadow on her neck and shoulders? also, the bottom of her nose should be lighter than the shadow made by her nose because it gets light reflected onto it. also, the far side of her face seems lighter than the close side. if you lighten the side of her face closer to us a little bit, that will make it appear closer. lastly, more contrast between the dark of the eyes and the whites of the eyes will bring the focus there a little more. hope these help with your next one; g'luck!

kdawson - i really like the nose on yours too, and i think you really captured the "searching" expression that i'm sure you had while drawing it. nice. :) first of all, i think you could stand to work with bigger brushes, especially in the hair. when rendering form, try to use strokes that follow along the major form, so this could help her underlip and her chin. the forehead could have a softer transition from the lights to the mid-values to the darks. the area above the lip is also a separate plane from the cheeks, so that could be a little lighter because it's facing more into the light than the cheeks are. you could also lighten the underside of the nose so it's lighter than it's shadow. the tip of the nose will be the darkest part (the core shadow), and it will get lighter underneath. try softening outward the lines of the nose where the nostrils fuse with the face, and lighten the other side along the lentgh of the nose a little bit so it's less of an outline. actually, as much as possible, try to get rid of "outlines", fill them more with paint (like in her lower jaw on the right. a little darker value for the shadow between the closer hair and the neck and face will bring the front closer to the viewer. darkening the line between lips on the close side will also help with that. lastly, the glasses look like they're floating, so darkening the shadow under the nosepad and your face will make it feel like it's resting on your face. that's all for now; g'luck with your next one!

kono - great job! not much to crit here, just work more contrast and firmer edges on the closer things, and keep the far things soft. she also needs a slightly darker shadow where her nostril meets the cheek, and on the neck under her chin.


again, thx zhanglu and jason for the video, aaro_n for the crits, and everybody for the hard work. keep at it! :yayca:

ps. please feel free to add or correct any information in this post.

resources:
The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression - Gary Fagin (http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Complete-Guide-Facial-Expression/dp/0823004325/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243881840&sr=8-1)
Basic Rendering - Robert W. Gill (http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Rendering-Effective-Designers-Illustrators/dp/050027634X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243877135&sr=1-6) (best book on rendering all types of objects that i've ever come across...and only US$7 plus shipping)

Ron Lemen's head tutorial (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=84105) (head planes, value, etc.)
fredflickstone's figure drawing 1 & 2 tutorial (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14035) (forms and shading, edges, etc.)
EM Gist's figure drawing tutorial (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=135935) (forms, edges, etc.)

get yo' learn on!

[Farvus]

Thanks for the video. It was mesmerizing to watch.

Here's my portrait. All from imagination except for the hair style.

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[George Abraham]

Finished watching.

High quality production indeed.

There is a high risk of getting severely emotionally quickened by drawing woman this way, those eyes are really intense. Something I think Mr. Camera man will never get to know. Projecting into those eyes might just be a bit too much for me if I look at it that way.

There was a hoard of finer tweaking there that's just way over my head but I guess the most important thing I got from this video is to grab essence quickly and do everything you can not to destroy it as you go towards your final rendering every move must be in harmony with it.

It's something to notice just how early in the illustration he had the woman character or feeling down, it's almost not necessary to have gone the extra hour, but compare that with struggling to make something look alive for an hour or just human or at least symmetrical.

Another thing, working in tone to "bring definition out" it seems much easier to sculpt towards the right idea, and working in a way that allows movement for value. Mr Manley touched on the idea that you work relatively, building contrast.

There are one or two simple things that might effect my strategy and shortcut settings but those are for the people who buy the video.

[sfa]

Farvus,

Great piece! If I may add some minor suggestions to push your image a little further:

1. The lighting on her filtrum suggests a top-down set-up, so in that case, we should see some indication of cast shadows also falling onto her forehead from the fringes of her hair, below the tuft of hair near her left ear, as well as underneath the ear itself. It would also increase believability if the cast shadow underneath her chin falling on her neck followed more the curves of the neck muscles, such as the sternocleidomastoids. By the way, sharpen and define the edges of the cast shadows more: by making them into harder edges, you also as an by-product soften every other edge in the image by comparison.

2. I would expand the canvas at the bottom so that the v-neck opening of her shirt doesn't touch the edge of the image. Having that element of the picture so close to the boundaries of the frame introduces a feeling of claustrophobia. Lengthening the area there would allow your piece to "breathe" more, if that makes any sense.

3. This is a high-key image, and that while that may be your intention, I feel that there remains some room to push the separation between the lights and shadows. Try putting an brightness/contrast adjustment layer on top and decrease the brightness level to test this idea out. If it looks better, as in, the form reads more clearly, then you can go from there and add new highlights and dark accents as necessary to strengthen the divide between the lights and shadows. Great job reigning in your values by the way; the tendency for almost everyone, including myself, is to go unnecessarily too dark.

Anyway, these are really small quibbles, you've done a terrific job all around. Looking forward to seeing more.

[Mumph]

You should do a lot more of these. You will get it. I want you to look at her face and see if you see what I am. Her face looks bruised..is this on purpose? Like with some of the others setting up one overhead light and doing some lighting studies in self portraits or on your friend would be helpful. Lighting is a big area you need to study.

Jason Manley: Thank you very much for the critique! The bruising is not on purpose. Yes, I will do a lot more and also study from life under different lightning setups. The first one i´m posting I did before I read your critique. The second one is a self portrait without a clear light source. For the next one I will set up a overhead light.
purb36: Good stuff! Thanks!

[MattGamer]

yay, ordered a truckload of MB videos today, and downloading this one first.

thank you Jason, ZhangLu and all who make these rare videos. keep up the
good work! keep drawing :]

[spaztastic]

NOOOooooooOOOOoooooo JASON COME BACK TO US!!!!!! (runs off and weeps in corner)

[FraserMcT]

Bought and watched it today. Very awesome video, thanks Jason and Zhanglu. Very greatful for the the .psds and jpegs too. Great inspiration.

[MattGamer]

So much inspiration and hardcore lecture within the first few minutes of the
film that I wished it to last forever.

Thank you Jason, Zhanglu and the rest of the production team for this fantastic film!
One of my top favorites now. Cannot wait for the next parts in this series and most
definitely worth the $$$. ;]

[Matthew Campbell]

Really enjoyed this video, Zhanglu has a fantastic style.

Here's my ham-fisted attempt at emulating his technique. It was a good learning experience. For some reason it looks worse after uploading it though.

Looking forward to Coro's video now...

[Jacki OH]

Wow! one of my favs... looks like she got a lot of love on her face and then you got bored....that happens to me all the time.. with people, not drawing :P

GREAT WORK!

xOHx

Really enjoyed this video, Zhanglu has a fantastic style.

Here's my ham-fisted attempt at emulating his technique. It was a good learning experience. For some reason it looks worse after uploading it though.

Looking forward to Coro's video now...

[spaztastic]

another one with ref. I am kinda too scared to do it with out a ref. but I guess I need to get over that. speedpaint 1:20 min

[RyerOrdStar]

Blah. I went a little overboard with the lights....Oh well. Not bad for a first attempt. I just wish I had a better brush for the finishing touches. I haven't been able to make/find a good brush that can make his straight sharp strokes, like a chisel cutting into the "paint". Does anyone know what brushes he used for Female #12?

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Did a colour one just to see how it would transition...And fixed some of her proportions..I guess she's "prettier" now.

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[sfa]

I would wager he uses the default hard round brush for practically everything.

To get that chiseled look, paint with straight lines. If you watch his strokes closely, Zhanglu uses predominantly straights, and makes a definite and conscious choice to paint in the directions of the planes of the head. If anyone is unclear with what I mean by planes of the head, Google "Asaro Head".

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2180/2181887818_6114d7d587_o.jpg

I feel he thinks in much the same manner as an inker like Charles Dana Gibson would.

http://www.artisticanatomyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/00/artistic-anatomy-charles-dana-gibson-01.jpg

Painting with straight lines is not inconsistent with Jason's lecture. Stack enough straight lines next to each other like fallen dominoes, and you can get curves.

[RyerOrdStar]

I realize that, but I was more speaking about some of the final touches he does. For instance, I would love to have a brush that is long and narrow, with one edge that makes a stronger mark than the other. I'm not even sure that's possible...

690014

[danlambert]

I would wager that he uses a hard round for everything from start to finish.

[danlambert]

This is an awesome download by the way. I'm not ready to try from my head yet I don't think, but either way it's incredibly insightful.
Thank you for taking the time, and looking forward to any others you have planned in whatever format they may emerge

[ben-ten]

Bought this tutorial today. :sungod: Worth all $$$. Waiting for new tuts from Zhang Lu. :yayca:

[hala]

Loved the tutorial! :yayca:

Looking forward to doing 9 more of these,and more and more. Really need the practice.

It's really nice to see everyone's renditions :)

Edit: Did the second one, with a ref this time, looks so much better, and makes me appreciate this download even more. :) well worth the money.

[sfa]

I realize that, but I was more speaking about some of the final touches he does. For instance, I would love to have a brush that is long and narrow, with one edge that makes a stronger mark than the other. I'm not even sure that's possible...

690014

Still looks like one brush, the default hard round, shrunk down to make tiny hatch marks.

Using this brush, Zhanglu gets hard edges with a single stroke, and softer edges by painting a second stroke right next to or over the edge of the first. Old painting trick.

The stronger marks you speak of are due to contrast, of both edges and value. By contrast in value, I mean:

On a value scale of 0 - 9, if 0 is absolute black, and 9 is absolute white, then the contrast between a stroke that is at value 3 (darker grey) next to a stroke that is value 8 (near white) is much higher than the contrast between a stroke that is at value 3 next to one that is at value 4 (dark grey). We would notice the difference between the first pair right away, the second, perhaps not at all.

Our eyes tend to gravitate towards areas of high contrast. Those highlights you pointed out in Zhanglu's painting seem strong because they are much lighter than their surrounding areas (value contrast) and also have harder edges than what is around them (edge contrast).

Zoom into one of the attached PSDs in the download and you'll see what I mean.

[Matthew Campbell]

Thanks Jacki OH!

Here's another study; hopefully there's been some progression since the last one. It feels a little less painterly than I'd like though. Having fun doing these.

:yayca:

[Ketka]

very light, soft and full of life style
very inspiring video!

my little fan art
but my portraits have very cartoon style -/
http://ketka.ru/artforum/uploads/monthly_05_2009/post-2-1243420831.jpg

[Pawkfox]

Really quick sketch.. Gah, I wouldn't take her home with me :P
Daaamn, what is sexy? I need to do more stuff from reference.

anyway, keep it up.

go go ketka! Looking nice!

[kraal]

I realize that, but I was more speaking about some of the final touches he does. For instance, I would love to have a brush that is long and narrow, with one edge that makes a stronger mark than the other. I'm not even sure that's possible...


i think another setting on the brush is pressure sensitivity. you can set that to size to get the thick to thin line

[courtyard]

Great portaits, guys! I'm still learning, so take everything I say with a grain of salt...

Mumph--I think the skull structure on both of these is holding them back. On the female, if you soften some of those lines (especially the cheeks) she'll look more feminine (her hairline also reads as quite male). The eyes are quite a bit too large on both of them, but the guy has a great expression. I think if you incorporate some hard brushes, it will really help to create points of interest.

Matthew Campbell, that second image is *gorgeous*...you've captured her emotion beautifully. Leaps and bounds beyond the first one. I love the hair that you chose for her--she'd definitely style it that way. Beautiful work!

Spaz--I really like the image you chose. Maybe next time experiment with edge control a bit more. The eyes in particular are quite flat, and the hair could use a bit more care. We're all just learning, so no need to worry about posting images from imagination. :)

RyerOrdStar--Really well done. I like that she looks a little pissed off and disapproving. The hair and hairline are kind of distracting for me, and I think because you went into such extreme detail with the eyes, it kind of throws the rest of the image off balance. If you check out ZhangLu's psd files and study the eyes, you'll see how rough he leaves them, which might be cool to test out for variety. For colorizing grayscale images, I found this tutorial (http://en.367art.com/final.asp?id=93&page=1) to be really helpful. I'm 99% sure that sfa is right in regards to your brush question, btw...I think you have handled some of those edges beautifully, so you're well on your way.

sfa, your posts in this thread have all been incredibly helpful. One of the best things about the download has been studying the brushstrokes in the included psd files, and looking at how he plays with contrast to make the eye travel around the image. Thanks for the Asaro image.

Hala--looking good! I think giving some indication of the planes of the head will make her look more dimensional, and her hair, neck, and ear could use more TLC.

Ketka--great to see some men on here. The one on the right has a fantastic expression, and I like that you've left some areas soft. The one on the left has wonderful solidity to him, which is perhaps why the hair looks really jarring to me. I guess I'm playing into stereotypes, but I think cropped hair would complement the image more.

Pawnfox--you're working so hard! I find her expression to be a bit troubling. Is she supposed to be looking at us? As it stands, her eyes are looking in different directions, but both at the ceiling. ;) I like the somber, almost menacing feel you've given to the painting. I agree that doing a couple from ref might help.

Jason, you giving those 3 crits doubled the value of the video for me. Thank you so much. I'm definitely moving on to Sargent next (I got distracted by this week's ChoW).

[Jazz]

Oh, crud!! I never did show what I did after seeing that video! It's actually from reference; my best friend. I was trying to get the "essence" of her expression. I was thinking "proud" and a little bit "flirty", but also caniving. That might be too many adjectives for her expression, though. lol!

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I'm kinda scared to do a portrait out of nothing right now, but I'll try. I'm trying to read through the Hogarth book on heads. But I also need work on bodies. :P One step at a time!

Oh! And did I attach the pic wrong? Sorry if I did! I used the attachment manager. o_o

[ShroudStar]

ZhangLu is amazing. Wonderful job, Jason for making this available to us. I couldn't help but rip into that bad boy once I got it.

My try. 'Twas supposed to be a female but I'm so bloody used to drawing guys that it ended looking like one. XP More practice there but this is probably the easiest I've had it with Photoshop.

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[Pixie Bergman]

Thank you Zhanglu, Jason and the rest of the crew for this tute! I find it incredibly inspiring and informative! :D

Heres my first attempt, 9 more to go!
Started with grey scale first
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I need more pratice with hair :[

[Matthew Campbell]

Thanks for the kind words courtyard!

Here's another portrait.

Nice work Pixie. You mentioned needing to practice hair. I think the issue you're having is with uniformly hard edges; if you soften them up a bit you should get better results. There's lots of good information out there on the subject of edges. In my opinion hair is generally best treated as a big simple solid mass, rather than trying to paint strand after strand. You can add detail and harder edges near the focal point, and the viewer's eye will do the rest. It's also less labour-intensive this way - always a plus. :P

[ben-ten]

Matthew Campbell
Wow. Last one painted really beautifully. She has a good personality. Also... I see some constructional mistakes about her right cheek and chin. I guess, there is something wrong with perspective and construction lines (try to mirror picture horizontal - you should see where the problem is).

But this one is also a progress, if we compare it with previous two. I love her eyes, nose, lips and hair. Just try to do perspective lines more carefully.

P.S. I'm sorry for my bad english.

[hala]

Wow, everyone's pieces are looking so great! I'm really blown away by the ever progressing talent :yayca: It's good motivation to keep trying. :)

here's my third one, done without a ref this time. Not too pleased with the results, I definitely need to get into some studies on ears/heads in general. Her nose piercing looks more like just a dot. xP

Thanks courtyard for the crit :)

[spaztastic]

@ Matthew Campbell: Are you using CS4 extended? or are using painter? I am trying to figure what brushes will best suite this for painter..... I suck at making my own :(


update. was using Zhanglu's as ref for shading and lighting techniques, tried the softer edges, I think I am getting there, it's just taking foreva......

edit: put the cropped version in instead.

[danlambert]

Really quick sketch.. Gah, I wouldn't take her home with me :P
Daaamn, what is sexy? I need to do more stuff from reference.

anyway, keep it up.

go go ketka! Looking nice!

I think the beauty of working digitally on something like this is that you can literally just cut out and move her features about until you think she looks pretty. Then just make a mental note of why she looks better, or what you did to the features (e.g moved the eyes closer together) to make them appear prettier.

[Pawkfox]

I think the beauty of working digitally on something like this is that you can literally just cut out and move her features about until you think she looks pretty. Then just make a mental note of why she looks better, or what you did to the features (e.g moved the eyes closer together) to make them appear prettier.

Myeeaaah.. But thats kinda lazy and I wont acknowledge myself as a real artist until I can do it without those tricks.
They are great to use sometimes but when it comes to portraiture, I wanna be able to nail it.

Which is why I have spent all yesterday doing self portraits in my sketchbook!
Took about 8 of them before it started to look like me, towards the end, they all looked like me. I was very proud :D

Ed*Here's a smexy smex one I did for fun :D the resemblance is uncanny!

(~3~)
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[Ian Barker]

I got home from school last month and for some reason my parents had CA blocked. D: Finally got them to unblock it though, so I'm just now buying this. I've struggled with painting portraits, so I'm pretty excited to see this!

[Nick Young]

Just bought this one and also the Jason Chan Style Exploration video. My night is all set tonight, can't wait to dive into these!

[Barts]

Heres my humble offering, great download btw :D

[Frank Gressie]

hugely inspired by the video, here is my try:

[Jacki OH]

:aw::ao::aw::a!: I love this one!

xOHx

Thanks Jacki OH!

Here's another study; hopefully there's been some progression since the last one. It feels a little less painterly than I'd like though. Having fun doing these.

:yayca:

[spaztastic]

damn frank that's brilliant....

and now my pathetic attempt... with ref about 45 min going to be doing some more refining.

[SalOnimaruRem]

YESSSH finally got mine :D time for me to get skooled by Zhanglu and Jason lol

[spaztastic]

no ref between 2-3 hours

[Morano]

I just love those tutorials when someone is showing how is constructing face with few lines and next step is... photo blendered in painter... lovely , A-MAZING!

[euphony]

i have been in awe of these portraits since you posted them awhile back. thank you so much for these!!

[EmReu]

Well, 't's the least I can do, after having watched (yet another) of these ever-so inspiring videos, to show off a little of what I've done. Not really venturing all that much into complete, on-the-spot innovation - on the left is my pale attempt at following Zhang Lou's main picture in the video, on the right a somewhat freestyle Scarlett Johansson. Done on a laptop, though - wonder what it'll look like on proper monitors... and if I post more - well, why not? I'll be sure to clean them edges up more - looking at 'em, it's a bit sloppy here and there. Oh, 'nuff of this...

Aaanyway. Hopefully the first of many, many more portraits - I've yet to zoom in on all them little paintings on the side of the video and try my hand at those! Nowadays I'm a great believer in references - recent convert, half a year ago I still shunned the concept for some silly reason - and what better than references of all stages of a picture? Much obliged, MB!

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/4342/louheads.jpg

Oh, also, long-time viewer, first-time poster. Hi there.

[Mumph]

Ok, another self portrait. I think I need to watch the video again. I set up an overhead lightning but I think it was too weak.

[noiprox]

Im sorry if this has been mentioned before, but what is the title of background music from the trailer? I can't find it anywhere, even though I know the artist's name :(

[GriNGo]

Nice video.. learned some useful tips in there.. but was kinda annoyed by the fact that Jason cuts the dialog about halfway into the video.. His explanations were interesting, but I was kinda expecting a narration explaining the particular pieces he was doing until the end. Not necessarily nonstop conversation, but when he did something interesting or painted a particular hard part of the head.. Oh "you should be careful about how you render that area, cause...", things like that. I know Jason said, "if you want more detailed information, check out Bridgeman, Hogarth, paint paint paint every day, you'll get better you'll see." which are valid tips, i was kinda hoping more specific solutions to what was happening in the video... still, it was a good 20 bucks invested.. watching him paint that much was enlightening.

[Jason Manley]

Sometimes it is best to just be quiet and let the viewer take it in and make their own decisions. I could ramble on for a month but I felt that with the quantity of paintings included in the video that at a certain point the voice would have been distracting from the importance of watching zhanglu finish his paintings.


Jason

[kraal]

i understand what you are saying jason....i really like the aproach you took in this... a lot of times we get in a rut of 'how do we render' and forget to ask 'why do we render' after the talking stopped i wasnt asking 'how' i was understanding 'why' good job on this nideo

[sony]

Hi guys

This is amazing thread and i must praise you Jason for such a great lecture and Zhanglu your sketching was mesmerizing, beautiful. I have watched it like 4 time and want to watch it more and more. Every time I watch I learn some thing new from this. I am really very thankful to both of you for compiling such a great resource. Looking forward for more.

From lecture and i am really happy with the improvement. This is[first one] from imagination and points from the lecture in mind. I did a lot of pencil work will post soon needs time to scan. here my first try digitally after watching the lecture.

And I did a copy from Emily G's work that's the latest stuff.

b/w i have also downloaded Greg Manchess' training, that is sweet. he shares really value-able information.

Cheers

[kittens]

Just downloaded this is awesome! Thank you! = )

[sony]

This is really fun here's my second post, i still think i need to study more to get work done from my mind.
ref link (http://www.behance.net/Gallery/p-a-i-n-t-i-n-g-s/215913) to Joanna Kustra's photographs, he is an amazing photographer. what a beautiful lights costume everything awesome i really enjoyed doing portrait form his work. i really learn t much from this.

[velderia]

This is fascinating but is there going to be another video like this but with black females, males, hispanics, asians, etc?

[Jason Manley]

This is fascinating but is there going to be another video like this but with black females, males, hispanics, asians, etc?

Yes. Asian Males will be done soon and we have done a bunch of different iconic character types. It wont be out until well into july though. Coro has finished his in depth portrait painting vid and it is up next.


Jason

[velderia]

Yes. Asian Males will be done soon and we have done a bunch of different iconic character types. It wont be out until well into july though. Coro has finished his in depth portrait painting vid and it is up next.


Jason

Awesome. :) I could use a male painting tutorial like this.

[sony]

Ref Link (http://www.behance.net/Gallery/p-a-i-n-t-i-n-g-s/215913) to first Joanna Kustra's photographs.

Ref Link (http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Marlene-Dietrich/222337)to second portrait by Giuliano Bekor's Portfolio.

[>Flo<]

A Great thank to you Jason, and to all the persons who brought us this cool stuff, can't wait more, download is at 26%, want it now !:yum:

Thank again

[Albertos]

I want to be an artist like you. Your work above is very nice. Great work!

Simulation pret (http://simulationpretimmobilier.net)

[projectghost2501]

Loved both these vids i'm a massive fan of Jason Chan ever since i saw his work in imagine FX i've been hooked so these vids are like crack to me hehe

Thought i'd get the Zhan vid as well and watched it and got inspired
I can't make people up from my mind atm not had enough practice so i thought i'd d a portrait study and this is what i got:

http://www.digital-sketch.co.uk/images/biancastudy.jpg

[Ian Barker]

@projectghost2501: Just want to point out because this is a mistake I always used to make: your nose is way too long. If you look at the reference, the nose is only slightly over two eye heights tall, whereas your drawing's nose is over three. Always look for little measurements like these, it will help you a TON, not only in reference drawings but also in drawing from the imagination.

[hala]

Oh man, I can't wait then for the next volume. This tutorial was so helpful--I imagine the next one is going to be just as amazing. All the hard work you guys put into these vids and education material really pays off :)

[projectghost2501]

@liffey:

Thanks for the tip i've always struggled getting the locations and proportions right on portraiture pictures and was trying to eyeball this one. there'sseveral flaws that i'm aware of but I must admit that one was apparent to me until you pointed it out and now i see it i can't believe i missed it hehe. I'll be doing more portraits from reference when i get a chance and i'll definately test them against the 2 eye length now ^^

Thanks again

[DarthAdamant]

I just spent close to $100 on several videos on here. I can't imagine why anyone would want to spend their money and then give something like that away... I work too hard for my money to just throw it away like that.

Thanks for having the videos here for download while you could. They're really awesome. As the saying goes... no good deed goes unpunished.

I hope you guys can find an acceptable solution for streaming. Lynda.com seems to do well with their software training videos and they're a paysite.

[My57]

that little teaser just encouraged me to start drawing a face everyday now xD ive been lazy lately with drawing faces sooooo i gotta get working on it.

[Pau1Winslow]

I enjoy paying for what I get from these downloads. The torrent situation sucks.

Wanted this one pretty badly when I saw it, and finally grabbed it a couple of days ago. Totally invaluable watching Zhanglu paint from scratch. Gonna be one of those ones I'm forever referring back to :)

[Carbon Productions]

Just finished watching this. Its been a huge help with understanding how character and mood can be conveyed. Will be watching this many more times :)

Big thanks to ZhangLu, Jason Manley and everyone who made the video cheers guys! :D

[Jon Sun]

Woot, downloading it now. Finally finally! My first CA download. I'm super excited.

[shenriquez]

Just downloaded and watched the whole thing! super interesting, and it gives indeed some extra motivation to sketch and draw everyday!!!
I have just a question though, what do you mean by "sargent" I understand it like "doing it everyday" kind of way, or does it means something more like in the pickup community?
Anyways thanks for this video, hope there will be more to come!

[Carbon Productions]

Think Jason ment studying John Singer Sargent's works http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=187

:)

[shenriquez]

thanks! plus the website link is awesome!

[Jon Sun]

Finished watching the video. Here's my first attempt. No ref.

706071

[Noah Bradley]

More. :)

706191

[Gurt]

First, I'd like to say I just adored this video. It was so helpful and I really think something clicked, so thank you so much everyone at Massive Black, Zhang, Jason, etc. Stellar video.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v140/gurtperk1/portraitmegcopy02resized.jpg

This is what I've come up with practicing some more. Based off a picture with Megan Fox of Transformer fame.

[Sidharth Chaturvedi]

Finally got around to this. Here's my try.

[rodrigotrovao]

Another try here

[gregoo23]

Awesome work everyone.

Here's my try after watching this awesome tutorial. Of course it's largely inspired but i plan to do more from imagination.


Copy/study of the tutorial:
http://www.greg-naud.com/blog/wp-content/gallery/sketches/sketch84.jpg


This one is more from imagination.
http://www.greg-naud.com/blog/wp-content/gallery/sketches/sketch86b.jpg

[Adam Nowak]

Your first post since November of 2006? Good work on both of them. If there's anything to say about the first one it's the shadow casting on her neck and chest has too harsh of an edge. Her hair would produce a more soft, varied shadow.

[gregoo23]

Thanks Gamerhomie!

Well I've always been so impressed by the amazing work produced be CA members that I was too shy to post anything before:)
Thanks for the comment and you're absolutly right for the shadow... I thought something was weird in the neck area too but didn't really figure out.

[Choob]

*Added to list of must get thingies*

Looks awesome Jason, I really like how you can feel the portraits, get an emotion, a sense of what the person would be like.

And that's just the trailer. :D

Thanks, I gotta get this. :)

[Muscari]

this video was amazing. i did a couple of studies from the teaser images posted here, but once i got my first credit card, decided that this was among the first things i wanted to get. gotta say, worth every penny. great to see how the work is done, and the comments/advices given are top notch.

i'm very satisfied with the purchase

[stine]

thanks so much for the opportunity to learn new stuff! and many thanks for implementing papyal and making the file downloadable: instant gratification! :)

all the best for your projects and again: thanks for sharing!

stine

[-D_art-]

thanks a ton for the video, it was more than helpful.

[Mr.Razorblades]

I just bought this and it is fucking amazing. I do have one question though. How does Zhanglu set up his brush? Thanks for any awnsers.

[Spirit]

I'm probably going to buy this download very soon anyway as it looks awesome, but I have a quick question.
Is this video a good choice for traditional artists too? As I have never worked digital, and won't for a very long time, if at all. I ask because I know some of the videos are focused on digital painting, but from the reviews I have read, it doesn't seem to apply here :) Thank you!

EDIT: Ignore what I asked, I'm going to go ahead and buy it anyway as soon as I can! Its too awesome not to buy it

[bloodless]

just downloaded this baby and im gonna watch it tomorrow morning :D

Your teaching resources are so fucking incredible that its argh!!!

you guys might consider opening an art school :D it would be the most awesom place ever!!

[hala]

I just bought this and it is fucking amazing. I do have one question though. How does Zhanglu set up his brush? Thanks for any awnsers.

In the default set of brushes for photoshop there is a hard round brush size 19 before the airbrush set, you'll see it in the stroke thumbnail it will have faded edges rather than solid like the other hard brushes (sorry i forget the name).
He uses this brush and just adjusts the flow and opacity.

:)

[Sebastard]

Apologies if this question has been answered already - but what's the length and size (mb) of the download? Currently on a DSL line that's slower then a three-legged mule, so i don't want to begin a GB download :P

Gracias ^^

[Jacki OH]

It's a 500 or so MB file... one hour and 7 mins :]

[Sebastard]

Thanks! Although i think on my connection it'll be a few days :P

Well, i'm sure the video will prove to be quite the educational experience, perhaps improving both my current workflow and technique. Considering however, i'm currently so deeply entrenched into my anatomy/gesture/lifedrawing/pose studies, i think i'll wait a week or so before buying the it - i want to improve at these studies further first. Watching the portraits in the thread as well as the teaser though, gah, i want to become better, better, better and better ;).

Draw, draw and draw. Back to scribbling ^^.

By the way; Thanks, Jason for these videos/this education. I haven't purchased any of Massive Black's DVD's/videos as of yet, considering i'm a 30-day drawing amateur who is still stuck on drawing the correct curve for a damn human spine, but once i improve i'll buy videos such as these in the order that i'll think i need them to learn better. Their price is considerably lower then most art education/lectures around the world (although living in Sweden, all education is free but still :P) and i think they seem damn much more educational then the average 1-2hours spent in a dusty old classroom listening to some dull-eyed, dreary delinquent drone on about decorative arts.

[posha]

hands down the best 20$ i've ever spent!
thank you so much, very very insightful.

[gicvive]

hands down the best 20$ i've ever spent!
thank you so much, very very insightful.

Nice work--thank you for sharing-
Thanks so much for this. I appreciate the effort. It really helps a lot.:assspank:

[kyubisharingan]

Im REALLY thinking of buying this, but before i do i have a question as to what the video includes. Does the video go into the "planes" of the head (like how Loomis used to make the artist understand where shades go)?

[Jovian M]

Bought this yesterday. Started watching it a little while ago.

Fantastic.

[t i m]

A review:

ZhangLu's skill radiate through the screen and one can not help but sit back and admire a truly masterful artist at work. Not overwhelming, simple pieces slowly begin to breath and what comes together are some of the best portraits to be seen anywhere. The amount of knowledge passed on through the viewing of this video alone is worth 10x the price of admission. Seeing 4 pieces worked on simultaneously lends itself to a high replay value. ZhangLu bares all, his methods, process and work flow are laid out for the viewer to study over and over again.

In a perfect pairing Jason Manley's commentary covers the subject from all angles. An encyclopedia of artistic knowledge is laid down in an easy to understand conversational way. Be it technical, historical, or ideational, nothing is spared and much is stood to gain. Most importantly Jason raises questions that every artist should, but often doesn't, ask himself before even picking up the pen. It's focusing on these questions that a good portrait can be turned into something else...something with a life of it's own.

Amazing work, I can not recommend this enough.

Tim

[Dim5um]

Will there be a follow-up video on Zhang Lu's digital painting for Full body?

[Mackezenny]

After reading EVERYONE state that this helped them out a lot, that this is the best thing since the wheel, that without this they wouldnt be able to draw circles, and that life would cease to exist if Zhanglu hadnt worked his voodoo in this video I felt VERY inclined to give a proper explanation and well thought out response to this video. Unfortunately I dont have time as I am still picking up my jaw from the talent that Zhanglu shows.

All kidding aside, if your looking for something that can be a guide, a motivator and a general knowledge builder then this is probably worth the $20 dollars to you, probably even $40. But what I like just as much as the video is the files that come with it, there are 6 .psd files, 10 .jpg files, and the 1hr 7min video that takes you step by step on not one but 4 portraits (one is much larger and easily viewed to show all the tiny details as they are added).

This site is supposed to be going down sometime later today (its 1am EST here) but I just wanted to let everyone that views this before it does.....this is amazing, and it helps an amazing cause. Well worth the $20.

-Mackezenny

[Ian Barker]

^Agreed. Zhang Lu is a brilliant digital painter, and to see him work while listening to Manley's insight is a special treat.

Buy this vid, support CA! :D

[jakobweiq]

is it possible for a future release for Female Asians??? :)

[bloopatone]

My first attempts after watching the female portrait video:

First attempt was a disaster, so then I tried following along with the video:

http://www.bloopatone.com/images/news_images/femaleHead2.jpg

No reference ( clearly i need to study hair styles!!):

http://www.bloopatone.com/images/news_images/femaleHead3.jpg

With reference:

http://www.bloopatone.com/images/news_images/femaleHead4.jpg

[bloopatone]

One of my friends demanded that I paint Faith since I did Buffy. Here's my try. I think it needs a little more work but I may move on becuase I'm eager to try and create some original characters. The hair is getting a little better though.

http://www.bloopatone.com/images/news_images/femaleHead6.jpg

[sohfia]

That awesome! Thanks!

[NickGuy]

i wouldve liked more of the "art history" talk from jason, i was kinda bummed that it ended after just a half hour in....aside from that this was an excellent video, worth more than the puny 20 bucks ca is charging.

[HappyFatThing]

bought it and im looking forward to it. Thanks :D

[Faxtar]

My try

[Rustybucket]

Just bought the video and have only scanned through the content. Does nobody else find the music distracting? Is there a version without it? When I saw the Youtube demo I assumed that the music would just be used over the intro in the full video.

Not only is the music quite dominant at some stages, it contains vocals. This is meant to be an instruction video and I feel like I'm trying to hear the knowledge imparted over music in a shared house.

Am I just being a grumpy, uncool git?

[David.Mansaray]

Just purchased woohoo! im new here and i love it here :)

[Jason Manley]

Thank you all. It is inspiring to see everyones progress. Beautiful works!!!

We have another vid in the works and look forward to continuing to make great art and sharing our knowledge.

Thanks for the support!!!


Jason

[valdo19alves]

Maneiro!!

[marcotronic]

Hi,
I´ve just bought and watched the video. I really liked the drawing style and the information given by the speaker but I was really about to stop watching the video after a couple of minutes due to the background music! This is totally disturbing! (Especially on headphones) Please folks: Please please please don´t use any background music when somebody is talking - I have bought over a hundred of video tutorials (usually 3D stuff) and ALL of them were without music. I don´t see any advantage when using background music - it´s totally annoying and totally distracts from the main voice. Additionally, music is really a matter of taste and that kind of music was really getting on my nerves extremely.

If there´s no option for future videos to get them without music then this was the first and last video I bought from Conceptart/Massive Black...

Marco

[Philo_a]

yester day was a history today is a mystery and Jason and Hanglu are super awesome.

[Kfeeras]

I bought the thing 2 days ago and I really like it. This is my first real attempt at a portrait from mind. I used reference but only to quickly look up mouth-shapes. Started with a soft brush and really light tones and built it up. Really great techniques!
I posted it in the crit forum, made it smaller here to not be so spammy ;-)

thanks jason and zhang for this!

1119807

bytheway: the female anatomy streaming class is great, too. lots of useful info!

[Crucible]

I found a site that has the entire female painting video on it. If the mods want to know just PM me. I thought it was kinda crappy to host the whole video that you can watch from your browser.

[Antipiracy Director]

Please send any links you find to torrentremoval@theartdepartment.org


Kelly Manley
Director
Anti Piracy
Conceptart.org
Theartdepartment.org

[jakobweiq]

will there b lessons on asian females?

[bbbbethhhh]

This video has been really beneficial for me, I think Zhang Lu has a really unique style and it was interesting to see it develop throughout the video. The narration was very inspiring also :)