Elz's Sketchbook of silly things

[Elz]

Edit: I dont update this sketchbook as much as I'd like to, but a job and full uni course does that. :|
Please feel free to leave me a comment/critique!

[Evxyza92]

Welcome to CA, and im assuming this is a Work in progress (WIP)? Anyway it looks goodm though i would try a different baxkground as her back is kind of just fading into the picture , also I Think the hair might be to high upon her forehead, it seems like a wig.

[Elz]

Captain Kirk from the new Star Trek film, kinda speedpainting-y.
Also got two piece from my final major project at college. :]

Edit: Evxyza92, thanks for the reply! No, it's not a WIP, I realise there are a lot of mistakes with it but I worked on it for so long I really got bored of it. I need to work on developing my backgrounds more, definately. :P

[Elz]

Just a WIP; colour study. May work into it and develop it more, but dont know yet.

[Elz]

Completed Man Bear. ;)

[dierat]

Great start to your sketchbook. For your color study, pay attention to the temperature of the figure. In your ref, the skin is very warm which stands out against the black background. In your painting, the skin is very neutral against a warm background which makes it appear even cooler.

[Elz]

Very true, I didn't think about that! Thanks for the comment :)
I'll remember that for next time~

[tandy1000]

manbearpig plz next time :)

haha great stuff

[aardvarks]

Niiiice stuff. I especially like the bear guy. I think the few sharp details work really well as focus points... like in the fur and eye. I could imagine that looking good in other places, too that are otherwise really soft paintings. It just adds extra variety to it.

That and it's a guy with a bear head. I can't ignore it haha.

[Elz]

Haha, thanks both :P
Glad you like my man bear ;)

[AmourFonce]

Wow. I adore your studies. Especially the ones from Character Designs. Great sense of shadow. Love the bear head. :)

[Elz]

Thanks for the comment AmourFonce, glad you like :D

Some studies from a while ago
(should get some more done)

[Pnyx]

nice studies! :)
I frontal views of the faces are very good already, but i think you should study some 3/4 views (just as i should ^^ ;) )

keep it up! :)

[Elz]

Haha, thankyou :) I'll try do some studies of faces later on :P

WIP

[Elz]

Having difficulty with the head on this, frustratinggg :c

[Elz]

Ah well, I give up on it for now. need to do feet studies because these are awful.

[Ogrebait]

Diggin those face studies, and I'd be very interested to see a much looser version of your last piece- the WIP with the linework still showing brings me in more than the more finished version. Keep it up!

[Elz]

Thankyou for the comment :P
Haha, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, i think. I'll upload some rougher, quicker studies when I do 'em. :)

[Evxyza92]

Your last piece is good, however the painting still seems unfinished, i can still see brush strokes, and it doesn't flow.

[Elz]

It shouldn't have brush strokes to be called complete? Maybe on something worth perfecting, but not on a study. :P Just my personal preference, of course. thanks for the comment :)

[Elz]

Still Life from a while ago. Steps

[Elz]

Reworking a picture, I should've added the background BEFORE painting the faces, cause now the lightsources are totally screwed. blaaah

[Elz]

Difficult. x-x;

[Jamie Romoser]

Whats up Elz
You have a good sketchbook going so far
keep it up!

[Penny Bird]

Hi, you have a good sketchbook here, I especially like your costume designs. However, I think you should work on your volumes - some of your pictures seem a little flat. I know it's something I have to work on, as well.

[Pnyx]

yes, starting with the background is always a plus ;D or you make use of layers... but i always tend to paint with the background color instead of erasing so does not work for me in most cases ^^ dunno how it is for you :)

but in any case... if you want to add a background without needing to repaint the faces you should simply think of a background that fits to the lighting situation you have on your faces ;D
but apart from that... the lower face doesn't match the upper faces lighting situation anyway ^^
but then again... it seems more like a movie poster composition so it probably doesn't matter that much ;)
but now... i cant think of another but :)


It shouldn't have brush strokes to be called complete? Maybe on something worth perfecting, but not on a study. :P Just my personal preference, of course.[...]

I would agree on that, though i wouldn't even say no to big brush strokes on a finished piece, but of cause, this is just my preference ;D I would even have said that it would be cool to see more brushstrokes for a painterly feel in your studies :) (maybe that even gives a bit of the "flow" Evxyza92 was talking about)

keep it up :)

[pauscorpi]

Hi, Elz,

Thanks for the reassuring comment in my sketchbook - it was very kind :)

I quite like your colour schemes and I love the still life with the glass - keeep the studies going , you're doing a good job.
Best of luck :)

[Elz]

OmertA - Thankyou very much :)
Penny Bird - Hopefully thats something I'll improve on with practice XD thankyou ^^
Pnyx - Yeh, I've never paid attention to backgrounds... :c But I'll figure something out, and its more of a movie composition, aye :P Thanks for the comment!
pauscorpi - Thankyou! :) Best of luck to you, too.

Here are some traditional things, few months old now, I think - College work.
The scribbly still life was "not allowed to take the pen off the paper" :x
The Mucha ones are just pretty things to decorate my sketchbook pages with. References from Mucha's own stuff.

[Elz]

30 min speedie, no ref. lacking inspiration, blah

[JOSEPHO'C]

Nice stuff, I particuarly like the one with the nude red head (and not because she's nude...), and thanks for the comment on my sketchbook.

[Elz]

Haha, thankyou very much :)

[Braintree]

Thanks for stopping by my SB :)

The panel full of characters from post #3 and sylar from the heroes piece are your best so far, but you seem to be moving in the right direction. Keep it up.

[abr7man]

hey man...great sketchbook...you're so on the right way...and i think you're so good for an 18 yo artist ;)
just wanted to say when you make those figure studies...you better draw the masses first...to keep the porportions right...then block in the colors... :D

[IvoM]

Thanks for stopping by the sb! Love the Star Trek piece (I'm guessing it's from the new film) Sorry for being unable to comment something useful since you're far better than me :)

[Elz]

Gah, it said I had no new comments! Only now did I check second page i see them...

Braintree; Thanks so much :) I'd say Sylar is my best piece so far, but I'm not happy with it being referenced fan art. But I'll work into it eventually, it'll probabaly take me a hell of a long time though.

abr7man; Haha, thanks :D I do try to get the masses in first, i have a sketch underneath going all over and showing me where the pieces are. If I'm good for 18, thats nice, but i still wanna be better :D

IvoM; Pfft! You're progressing very nicely, dont doubt yourself. You'll overtake me in no time :P
Glad you like the piece, thanks for stopping by :D


I've been on WoW, shame on me, just wanted a break. Got some real life comissions too, so sorry for inactivity on my part :(

[Elz]

WIP of mine, gahh
first/second time at trying one of these.

[Nellin]

Nice stuff! Keep at it.

[dierat]

The digi painting in post #16 turned out really nice. I see what you mean about the feet, but I feel like the area that really needs the most work is the face. It feels a bit angular and undeveloped. Personally, I like to take the areas of particular detail and annoyance (like faces, hands, feet) and pull them into a new document where I can double the size and really try to get it right. But that's just me. The torso in that painting looks great, so you're definitely doing something right.

For the cup in post #21, I feel like some of the edges (particularly the left and bottom) are a little too sharp; they make the form feel a bit flat. If an object is round, the edge that we see should be soft to demonstrate that it is actually curving back in space.

I really enjoy the speedie in post #29. My only suggestion is that if the space directly around the blue head were not blue (say, red or purple), the head would pop out more and the image would in general be easier to read.

Great work, keep it up!

[Elz]

Nellin; thanks! :)

dierat; Thankyou very much for the comment and critiques! :)
I don't usually go back into a picture and work on it, since by the time I'm done I'm tired of it. But Ill definately keep your critiques in mind for future artwork, thanks again. Useful! ^^

Here's the 'finished' space image. I'm not going back into it, but I know about the rocks. I'm hoping I'll work on that some time should I do another. It was just to get some anger and frustration out my system, space is therapeutic :o

[Rotor]

Thanks for stopping by my SB. :)
I like what you've done here, I think you are off to a good start. Keep it up with the studies. Interesting colours on the space image.

[Elz]

thanks! :)

Just some WIPS.
(will also upload my comissions at some point, camera has no battery atm.)

[dierat]

Looks good! The troll's feet and the dino's jaws are great. For a crit, the perspective on the troll's tusks look a bit off (they appear to be angled away from us more than the face. I would get a ref to double-check that) and the girl's breasts appear to be facing us almost straight-on even though the torso is turned (or another way to say it is the torso appears to be turned further than the breasts). Keep posting! ;)

[Elz]

Haha, those were the two thing that bothered me but I couldnt be bothered/didnt know how to fix. *sob*
His tusks are.. urgh. I dont know what they are but I wish I could take them off completely XD

I also thought about her breasts being that way because her arm is pulling the muscle, or something? Again, not sure. Will definately work on them though, haha! Thankyou. ^^

[dierat]

I also thought about her breasts being that way because her arm is pulling the muscle, or something?I don't think it works that way ^^ Here are some refs you might find helpful: photo1 (http://senshistock.deviantart.com/art/Sailor-Lizzy-Borden-2-120822871), photo2 (http://senshistock.deviantart.com/art/Sailor-Sakky-Reaching-2-130141669), photo3 (http://senshistock.deviantart.com/art/Sailor-Sakky-Reaching-6-132157269)

I'd take a troll screenshot for your tusk problem but the wow servers are down atm :P

[jackpot_anjr90]

That space picture is sick :) I think you should keep doing some anatomy and gesture studies...they'd really help you in making your poses seem more natural.

[Elz]

Haha, thanks dierat, I'll see about working on it :D Had enough art for one morning though, grandmas 12 comissions are dragging me down. :/ baw.
Haha, my friend's gotta occupy herself now that the realms are down :O oh noes!

Thanks jackpot, haha. I'll definately work on them, I know how awkward my poses tend to be :P

[Elz]

eesh, on a real art downer lately. Can't ever finish a piece, I lose inspiration for them. *sigh*

Crap WIP (meaning it'll probs never be complete) piece, grabbed the inspiration from the CoW - Killer Prom Queen. :/

[dierat]

That's not a crap wip! :P But I know how you feel about not being able to finish stuff. It's so fun in the beginning when you're able to make so much progress on an image, but then it gets slow and you have to fix all these little annoying un-fun things. But that's just something we have to live with and learn to deal with.

Anyway I remembered your troll today and took a screenshot for you (http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q17/dierat/WoWScrnShot_080809_120731.jpg) :P This was as close as I could get to your wip.

[catukas]

nice studies :)
and your last wips look pretty good

[Elz]

dierat, thanks ever so much for the screenie, it helped a ton ^^
I'm gonna work some more on it later but I've fixed his tusks now i think. :P
(I'll post a WIP when some more is done)

I've also finished the prom queen one, but I don't like it. It's done, and I'll have to avoid doing such a thing ever again. XD

[dierat]

I think the prom queen image is just fine, I quite like the hair and the face. I think the hand is a bit off (her thumb is a bit thin and flat) and I don't quite understand your concept (besides the obvious, that she's putting on her make-up with a mirror). Keep posting! ;)

[Elz]

Haha, I didnt think it was that abvious by the end. The idea is the silhouette in the background is a woman who wants the crown for herself and has a knife in hand, though because she's so shadowed its not really seen. Its overall a failed concept but i wanted to finish it anyway. :P

Here's an update on the troll (its not getting far because I really have no inspiration for it anymore. :c)
And just for fun, a Sylar painting (i say for fun only since its done from a photo with no imagination involved and probabaly only hinders my progress)
I wish I was as inspired to do original art as I was doing the Sylar image. I finished it in two evenings because I actually enjoyed it, gahh. I need inspiration therapy
(and sylars lips/stubble look off, but i tried a lot to fix them and I cant. Ah well, I'm calling it finished)

[Elz]

Just finished the other WIP quickly, since I can't stand to look at it anymore XD

[theories]

not good enough for your age?! hah, don't make me laugh, you're amazing

i love how you colour and your anatomy is just fantastic

[Elz]

XD I'm not amazing, but thankyou for the compliments! :P
Its great to read such a comment, haha

[Elz]

Quick studies. Couldnt be bothered to do faces, tireeed. *snore*

[Elz]

quick lip studies :/

[zou]

post 52: good work on the portrait. It stands out. Your rendering is good

perhaps you should train for proportions. Do some line bargue.
for the pencil sketches, avoid furry short lines. Do long confident line.

You can practice by drawing in big size some still life (chair, cubes things,straight lines not curves)

keep the work, you're doing good

[zippy]

Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook. Also, I love your Sylar and Prom Queen (you're being way too hard on yourself on the Prom Queen imo). Keep up the good work!

[ryonryon]

Hi, thanks for watching my stekchbook!

I saw you do a lots of study drawing. Very good! Keep it up! And I love your HERO pieces~~

[Elz]

Thanks everyone for your kind comments! :)
I'm going on holiday this Saturday (And a busy week!) so I wont be updating here for a while. I'll try to draw some on holiday, we're DRIVING to spain. :c

[Elz]

Okay, should've posted a LONG time ago.
(And i updated my ancient thread which needs to be locked, hopefully I can find someone to do that for me)

Life studies and Edward for my sister. Really need to post more

[Michαλis Vareλiαs]

Beautiful job, I lived the very first illustration and the lycanthrope, as well as your last sketchy concepts, quite reminds me art nouveau the woman with the dragon head. In my honest opinion, try and put more emphasis on more dynamic landscapes and backgrounds as it will boost your concepts. Keep it up!

[Elz]

Thanks very much, haha. Agree 100% on the background thing!

Heres some sketches, all reffed (third one not so much).

[Sweron]

I'ts ok to be ambitious, but don't be too harsh on yourself :) I'm 22 and not that good as you in digital drawing/painting :P
Sou,.. your art is going to be great great soon, have more patience and spent more hours working on your backgrounds and details :)

See my sketchbook , I'd like it :)

[Elz]

I'm always harsh on myself haha, it feels like theres so much to improve on @@;
I'll have to try some environment pieces, probabaly just referenced work for starters because i can't paint them at all :c

Thankyou for the comment :) I'll check out your sketchbook

[Elz]

urgh, bad night. Some semi-referenced pieces, and no i didn't use sandra bullock o-o

[Elz]

comission for a friend. :) Still a major WIP

[Elz]

eye study

[Elz]

comission finished. :)

[Boo!]

nice renders. you are very talented

[Elz]

A material study from direct reference. trying to see the colours and stuff. :)
Stock image referenced by Marcus Ranum

[knoxie]

holeeey cow. those still life studies are beautifull. wel done.

hands are on my list of things to learn too. :P I always end up having to take ref. :P I find sculpting facial features a great help in learning and committing the anatomy to memory.

[zerdron]

You've got very nice portraits.

[Elz]

another one from the same guy, stock-wise.
I'm gonna start putting all my pieces into one post after this. >_>;

[Elz]

Dunno why, but i never saw your comments last night. :c
Thankyou both, very much!

[Elz]

environment sketches, about 40 minutes each.

[Lenieth]

your work is so amazing hop i'll learn more to do something great like that^_^thnx for your advise and keep it up

[Elz]

Haha, thankyou. :) And you're welcome!

[schumak]

Hey buddy, i like what you did with the mountain! :)
Keep it up!

[Noro]

Hey Elz! cool studies. And great work on those enviros too

[skMOP]

You work has really improved since the first page o_o and I like the portraits and life studies the most.

As for any critique, on your Avatar piece, in my opinion the torso should be twisted more so that the body is kind of in a profile as well and also the braid falls kind of unnaturally. I really like all the detail you put into it with all the jewelry and things.

[Elz]

schumak: Thankyou :)
Noro: Haha, thanks a lot! I should do more enviros though. Need to neaten them up a bit.
sKETCHii-MOP: Really? Haha, I didn't think it had, haha. I enjoy portraits and life studies, but I need to stray away a little bit. I should study anatomy a LOT because Im quite bad at it.
Thanks for the critique though, I'll make a mental note to study me some torso!

A quick speedie thing of a friend, and some realllly bad camera shots of shitty sketchbook work. Some is old, some is more recent, and some are reffed. I'll take better photos next time, since my scanner doesn't pick anything up. :/
(Or maybe I need to draw darker, but still.)

[Elz]

Couldnt fit this one in, -or- my computer had a spaz

[PaintMyBrain]

wow some really good work. I love your avatar fan art, that movie was awesome btw. You seure did a really good job with that one. Cheers/Brain

[knoxie]

environments... concept characters... anatomy.... sounds like you ane me are learning out of the same book!~... gah!!! too much to learn!!! :P little by little. you are definitely making good progress.

[Eric Young]

Good work so far, your Avatar painting is pretty good. My only suggestion is maybe define the background a little more, it kinda looks like abstract lines and shapes. Your sketches and figure drawings look good, just keep doing them.

[Elz]

Thanks for your comments! :)
Lacking inspiration lately, borrowed my friends tablet for a quick doodle while she was out. Did some anatomy doodles and stuff on paper and crap life studies, but I'm not postin' them.

she had a reference ages ago, for the pose, but i found it again today and painted in her face and stuff, not like the ref at all so the head looks off, her neck kinda broke in the process @@;

[Turbosnail]

Nice SB Elz. The still life in post#62 is real good, but remember the view of the chain behind the bottle would probably be distorted through the glass. Keep pushing yourself my friend.

[Elz]

Thankyou turbosnail :D
Not been very active recently, I have RSI in my right hand and it's.. gah. painful.

been working on a project with my friend, also. So some slightly cartoony stuff.
and a random face from mind, lots wrong with it but got lazy and didnt finish it as such.

OH and matt smiths eye.

[Elz]

Just a WIP. I'll show the bigger piece eventually
No references, hence the alien-likeness.

[fantasyartist]

That last WIP looks very nice. Beautiful colors. Be more carefull with proportions though. Her breasts look slightly too high on her chest and her shoulder area should be a little wider. To improve your work overall I think you should focus more on gesture drawing to really bring you characters to life. Keep up the great work!

[Elz]

Thankyou :) I forgot to post it, I didnt really work on it much, I tired of it. :x
I'll definately try working on gesture studies though, thanks :D

Still life from this morning, too. 1-2hours.

[Ivan Turcin]

Elz. lots of hard work in here. You are doing good. Progressing with each page. Eye study on the previous in my favorite piece. Keep posting.

[skMOP]

Nice colors on the girl, especially the skin tones.

EDIT: I had a critique but fantasyartist beat me to it.D:

Keep up the studies!

[Danny_K]

open bridgmena/hogarth/loomis books and start studying what they teach it will take your art to the next levels.

[Sulphur]

Latest pic looks like a big improvement from your earlier stuff, but I think the boobs need some work. They look petite and yet they are shaped like cheap implants. I can't really explain haha. But here's the good part - you get to look at plenty of tits to improve!
Best homework ever?
Hahaha.

Keep it up :)

[K.Janzen]

Wow! Love your sketchbook! I see people posting all kinds of constructive advice, but personally I see nothing wrong. I don't even have 0.1% of your skill! I'm just soo frustrated that I've never attempted colouring or painting anything I drew because I'm partially colour blind, and have always been scared of using the wrong colours and sucking at blending! lol. Keep up the good work, I'm really inspired to invest countless more hours into my art and stop using the comp. so much!

[Elz]

@Ivan Turcin; Thanks!
@skMOP; Thankyou! I'm still learning with skintones. ^^;
@Danny_K; I'll have a look and see if they have any at my uni libary in a few weeks :)
@Sulphur; Haha, I've always had problems with boobs. I'll go er, study rofl
@K.Janzen; There's always something to improve on with your artwork. :P Never be scared of messing with colours, I tend to work with really weird colours sometimes and see what happens, greens and purples as well as oranges and yellows and reds in skintones.
I've not been very inspired lately, been working on a site (daelune.net) with my friend, so theres some cartoony things that I've done for it.

Also an alien speedpaint as a comission on subeta (Yeh im a kid. :C)

And an environment from ref, one with very loose ref.

[dierat]

Hey there, your studies are coming along nicely in here! The still life studies are great, I hope you keep it up! I was going to leave a critique concerning the girl in post #93's torso, but it looks like you've had a few comments concerning that already. I would definitely recommend some studies to help you in the future, and there are more than enough photos around the 'net that you can look to for examples. The face looks great, especially considering the lack of reference. Keep up the good work! :D

[Naidy]

Think you're making great progress, I'm loving the way you colour.
Keep up the studies, I'm sure you already know about Loomis, bridgeman and the crew-

I can see this developing into an amazing sketchbook. :heart:

[Elz]

@dierat Thankyou very much. ^^

@Naidy Thanks! And I do know about them, just tend to lack inspiration/motivation to ever pick up a book on them. x_x;
And I definately need to study more. C:

These next two images are comissions for people, the african one has many flaws but i couldnt work on it anymore. I was taking way too long. Ugh. The face is bad. :/

[Elz]

Started to give myself a challenge of 30 still life images while doing my college work. A bit crazy with work recently

Im getting quicker at these, shot glass took me about 30minutes where the other two took me an hour or two.
(yeh, the shot glass has bad perspective problems, i wish i could have a bigger desk so I could arrange some nice still life things but alas, im poor :C )

[Naidy]

Lo again! Love the last post, very interesting colours and you're doing some awesome still lifes I've noticed.
I think everyone has troubles doing studies, try to find ways to make it interesting.
Like, if I'm doing studies on faces/angles- I might turn them into zombies or give them stupid bodies. It keeps me interested, and I'd like to think I'm still learning something.
Jamming them inbetween drawings you want to do might also work.

Anyways, I'll stop rambling. Keep up the good work!

[freakmod]

Wonderful improvement and paintings! One criticism I have is that a lot of your paintings have a "flat" look, I think it's because of the way you shade/lighten around edges instead of around a 3d form. Try to push things into 3d as much as possible by shading through their forms instead of their silhouette. Keep it up I hope to see more cool ideas :)

[dierat]

Yay moar still lives! I really enjoy the first one. For a crit, the symmetry on your glass is off; try flipping the canvas horizontally or laying a copy that has been flipped and has lowered opacity over the original to help you identify these kinds of issues.
1082906

About the "flat" look mentioned above, try to avoid outlines and crisp edges. Soft edges allow objects to appear more 3-dimensional, as if they curve away from the viewer in space. Here's a helpful thread concerning painted edges: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51913

[Frost-Vixen]

heya! decided to pay a visit since you did the same for me :P anyway, you have some great stuff here! you have some very neat portraits, fantasy drawings, and still life paintings. The only thing that I have to say (regarding the post with matt smith's eye) is that the head of the woman in the picture with the green background looks a little big for her body. neat concept though :) and I'd like to see those top three pictures finished! and I really like that eye one you did :D

[Elz]

Thanks guys. :D

Naidy - Thankyou! I like the idea of making things into zombies and such, sounds fun. :P I'll keep it in mind!

freakmod - You're right, I think the problem is that I sketch it out first with lines, and then paint over it without removing the line layers. I also tend to see things as blocks of colours and not about how it should look. I dont know. I'll definately see about trying to fix that. Thanks!

dierat - Thankyou very much for that! I can see how totally off my glass is now. XD A nice technique ^^
And thanks for the link, I understand how edges and focus works a little more now, its something I think about a lot but end up focusing on each part to make all my image sharper. If i was to stare at one area the rest would blur though, and now I know I need to try and make my stills more like that. :D

Frost-Vixen - Thanks very much! I agree with the head on her, a lot of my drawings have bad anatomy issues. :( Though, I dont know what you mean about finishing the last three. ^^;


My update is just a fanart piece based on a reference, found it again after a month or so and worked on it some more.
ref; http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/7149/pbmag512vt8.jpg

[Frost-Vixen]

ey, no prob! and no way, your sense of anatomy is already very good! though as always, there's room for improvement =P in fact I need more work on anatomy than you do, haha.

oh sorry! I meant the ones in the same post with the eye xP the sketch of the girl with the green background, those lil creature studies with the embryo (?), and the one with the red-haired woman... I'd just like to see those colored and/or refined. but it looks like you already churned out a colored version of the creature one, along with a few more creatures. which make me happy, cuz I like creatures! lol ;P

[Elz]

Haha! Thankyou. <3
And yes, I've done a few creatures but I dont post them all. :0
Heres one I did today though;
(and a quick environment sketch)

[Elz]

some 'speedpaints', around 1h30mins each

[Naidy]

Oho! Great uses of colour on theose speed paints, That enviro sketch you did looks like it'll be awesome when finished. If you do finish it, that is. ahaha

Anyways, keep up the good work! :D

[Elz]

Lol! I need to study environments some more. I'm very newbie to rendering them. :P
Thankyou very much, though!

[Elz]

more. second one was 30minutes, kinda rushed before i went to bed. >>;

[PaintMyBrain]

very nice work. love the colors of the girl with the red hair, beutiful work with lightning. keep it up

[Sulphur]

Wow, you've improved alot since I was last here :D
The portrait of Samuel looks really proffessional and slick!

[Elz]

Thankyou both! :)

getting $15 for this one. about 2 hours

[J.Isphording]

Hey Elz, after answering your comment I needed to check your sketchbook. I especially like your use of colour. They are so saturated! Posts 64, 90 and especially the last one look really good, but why don't you post more sketchbook pages? Only critique is that in post 111 and 114 the proportions of the faces look a bit off, especially the height of the eyes. An issue which neither occured before or after those posts. But since I struggle myself with this it is a mere pointer. But your direction is great!

[seungy]

Man... you're only 18 and you can do all this!

It's so depressing! =/ haha

I think your strengths lay within your portrait work. Particularly some of the more rendered ones. You can sense a bit of their emotions, and also makes the viewer to try and interpret the thoughts of the person in the painting.

Keep up the good work mate

[Justas]

Hey, i could advise you to use a bit more colors in the flesh/hair tones, eventhough we dont see them with our eyes so directly, as we see the overall color and tones, they exist, and make the work seem to have more life, than just with one flesh color, one hair color, etc, differencing with tones only. Not saying you should use open colors :)

And try to imagine some face shapes, as geometric forms, so you can understand the structure of it better :)

Hope it will help

[michael92]

I really like the way you use color into your paintings!

[Elz]

@J.Isphording
Hey! Thanks for the critique. :D
Yeh, I noticed that my eyes go a little funky sometimes, especially on the headband one. Shes got no forehead x-x;; But the comissioner wanted big eyes so it got a little crazy. I need to pay attention more. :c
I'd post more sketchbook stuff, I just never get good images of it. I also dont do much, my tutor's basically told me off for doing things too realistically, and wants more abstract pieces and media changes. :/ But I'll scan some stuff in when I get the time!

@seungy
Im 19 now, haha! But I've been drawing for a few years now, I really want to get better. D: I dont draw half as much as I should!
But thankyou, your comment made me smile. I had no idea my portraits showed emotions, I have great difficulty with it D:

@Justas
Yeh, I usually try to add some purples/greens/yellows in my pictures, but I kind of rushed a few of my previous ones and didnt think so much. I also have no idea how to paint hair, especially black. I don't know what colours to add into it or how it should really.. shine? :c

I'm also aware my face shapes tend to stay in one shape, I'll try to fix that. Thankyou!

@michael92
Thankyou! :)

[Jamie Romoser]

Hey whats up Elz? dig your sketchbook you have some cool designs
think some more life studies and some master studies would help out
You should try a master study and try and hard as possible to make it almost like the original. Think you would enjoy some Waterhouse thats who im studing at the momment its been way fun :D
anyway have a good one
keep burning those pencils and wacom nibs!
-Jamie

[Elz]

@OmertA
Thankyou so much for posting, I'll definately put it up on my list of to-do's to get a Waterhouse piece done.
http://www.artrenewal.org is a great place for master studies if you havent got it already :)
I'm attempting a slow 30 still life pieces also, but I'll have to go get some fruit and a table to set one up in my room.
I had to go to bed but felt so inspired by your comment I got a quick 30-40minute still life done. Thanks!

[B-Man]

Ahhh, Dr Pepper. Damn tasty! Good job on this. 30-40 min thats awesome. Keep on doing life studies. :) They really help. cheers!

[Mitze]

Nice stuff. Keep them coming.

[jskotte]

Hi Elz, sorry to hear you are also suffering from RSI, damn annoying.

Nice sketchbook, I really like the two movie portraits you did, also the eye studies look great. Some of the characters seem a bit stiff, I can really recommend the book "Force", it really made me see what's important for dynamic figure drawing (not saying I can do it though ;) ).
Nice Dr. Pepper, keep doing loads of those still life studies, they really malke you see colors better.

[Elz]

@B-Man
Thankyou! :D And yeh, I'll keep doing life studies, I just tend to find things that arent very interesting so I'll have to set one up properly at some point.

@Mitze
Thankyou :)

@Jskotte
Yeh, it really is. I just have to take regular breaks, but I dont know if it'll ever really go away. :/ Most of the time it doesnt bother me though, only when i work on something for about 2hours straight. xD;
I'll look into getting the book, thanks. :D

A quick still life, maybe around 30minutes if that, rushing around this morning. x-x;
Very off, i found it really difficult to get the perspective. :c

Edit: Just finished off a comission, no refs other than a frontal photograph (she wanted it to look like her).
Also, the eyes aren't realistic at all, but she wanted very blue shocking eyes that stood out. :)
(i should work on backgrounds, i get so lazy)

[raminafshari]

your drawings are realistic , you are working with good observation .

[Elz]

@Raminafshari
Thankyou very much :)

A quick WIP, about 40minutes so far. Gave blood which went badly (needle came out, blood everywhere ugh) and I just feel exhausted. So I'm having an early night tonight. :)
Picture is from Waterhouse, as suggested!
(Im only doing the knight guy, his armour looks fun)

[Elz]

second WIP.

[mrd33ds]

The painting of Robert Knepper is stellar! :)

[SteFlack]

Nice sketchbook, you have some really great studies in here already.

[Naidy]

Oh, I really love how that last study of yours is going.
Keep it up! Yeah!

[Elz]

@ mrd33ds
Thankyou! :)

@[ste]
Thankyou very much!

@Naidy
Thanks, getting bored of it though haha. XD So much metal. :|

Here's my last WIP for now, I might refine it at a later date but I feel like I've spent too long on it and I'm getting lazy. Lots of colours in metal though, wow. x-x;

[Abee]

Heya! I think your studies are great and from one pic to another you can see that you're always snapping a lesson or two from every painting.

What I would say, I don't know if you do this already is, flipping your image horizontaly from time to time. This really helps with proportion and it really helps to keep the interest up while painting, especially something (IMO) boring like life-studies haha! Also this basically gives you a "new set" of eyes everytime you flip it, meaning, colors read easier etc etc.

Anyways! Keep up keep up! Try to post more often aswell, it's a good way to motivate oneself to keep going :)

Cheers
abee

[JRStagg]

Pretty epic stuff here, loved looking at your steps, It's exactly how i construct my digital pieces, but I'm not used to the tablet, or all the Photo shop features. brilliant work

[dierat]

Awesome master study so far! I just love Waterhouse, and especially that Waterhouse piece. I really like that nail clipper too. Watch the symmetry on your ellipses; your Dr. Pepper can is lop-sided on top. Keep up the good work! :D

[Elz]

@ Abee
Thankyou! And yes, I do flip my images but very rarely. I should definately do it more often. xD
And I wish I could draw 24-7, but my wrist demands breaks constantly XD And uni wants essays. *sigh*

@JRStagg
Thankyou so much. :D

@dierat
Haha yeh, it was very quick but I should try to pay attention a bit more. Thankyou!

Just some doodles from tonight, and a WIP I did this afternoon. My wrist's playing up again. :(

[Elz]

Wrist getting irritating now. Having to try and work on uni stuff as well, hand is dead atm.
Feeling a bit shitty so I started a different challenge, really took my mind off things. 45mins for all 3 of these, no refs.

[skMOP]

For the first two thumbs, maybe some color variation? Their both just based around one color. On the volcano one, it would help the composition to have the stream kind of flow/move around instead of going in one straight direction (haha, not sure if you get what I'm saying).
Watch perspective on the last one too.
Keep up the life studies and maybe try something more than a solid background for them (something I need to do too!)

[catukas]

studies are nice. I for some reason never get the colors right... colors come a little too dark.

[Elz]

Thanks both. :) Yeh, I really need to work on colours and stuff for enviros/backgrounds. They're so hard for me. :/

Heres some speedy doodles from the other night. I've had a crazy christmas and I've just not bothered to do much. :x
No refs, except the bald guy from tron.

[PaintMyBrain]

last updates look really nice :D

[Featheredface]

Loving the still lives you've been doing. :) Also, I really like the man's armor, the texture and shine is very realistic! Keep it up!

[Elz]

Thankyou, both :)

I've been doing some kinda speedpiants (between 1 and 3 hours) using screencaps from youtube. xD I think they'll help me a bit, i dunno

[Elz]

skull for the daily sketch thread, a little sad i didnt make it more unique, but it was fun :)

reference used btw.

[kiwigarbage]

Hi there, you're workin hard!

I'd work on some more interesting compositions. Right now, everything is pretty well horizontal, parallel to each other and flat. Try to get some oblique angles in there and some colors to lead the eye.

good luck!

[Elz]

Haha, thankyou. :)
Yes, I've noticed about compositions, I figured movie screencaps might help a little? And I'm going to work more on dynamic poses too, thanks!

Edit: did some poses from mind. bleh.

[Elz]

a wip; got help from my friend with his face. Blargh. :c
The people in the background were scribbled on over a blurry stock photo, i only wanted silhouettes and i didnt have the patience. Tried to do it without clothing, so they're more program-like, and will edit more later to reifne them and add lights etc.

phew.

edit: added 2nd wip

[Naidy]

Ah, been quite a few updates since I last checked. As always, I love the way you colour.

No crits this time, just keep up the good work! :D

[Elz]

Thanks Naidy, it means a lot. :3

Finished the castor piece, dont wanna work on it anymore. A lot of frustration but I think its came out okay. Could've worked on the background more but bleh.

[Sean McClain]

that last one is cool. There is a shadow under his foot on the left, but not the right, it is noticeable. have a good one!

[Elz]

Haha, didnt notice it. :C Thanks though!

Finished another tron piece. Really been lacking inspiration lately. 2011 hasnt been too good so far.

[Naidy]

Hey again!

That first tron guy reminds me of Bowie.
Putting that firmly aside, I'm really liking the digital paintings. Hope to see more soon. :D

[Elz]

Haha, he reminds a lot of people of Bowie. XD
Thankyou <3

A bit of everything now, working on some backdrops for a website, some screencap speedies, bleh.

[Naidy]

Woah, some gorgeous colours in that last batch. I think you're becoming great at digital paintings. Are all of them from reff, because I found that swamp really interesting, thought it might have been an imaginitive peice.

WELL, going to stop rambling, just keep up the good work, mate. :D

[Elz]

Aw, thanks so much <3
The environments are from mind. ^^

Speedpaint for this morning, took more like 2-3 hours now i look at the time though. So difficult D:
Then again, i was rushing about this morning trying to find my sisters school clothes. x-x;
From screencap of iron man, though didnt do it exactly. I just love his house. XD

[Elz]

wip; havent decided on the background yet. hm.

[Sadako-xD]

M8, I love your stuff, really!!! *__*
It's just awesome how you draw! The details, the feelings in your pictures... no criticism OO
Please keep up that good work!!

PS: WIP looks fantastic! ^..~

Reply? :)

[Elz]

Thankyou! :)

Some sketches from mind on paper, my wrist is fucked again so all i can do atm.

[Elz]

Deciding on doing 'themed room concepts' for my business project at uni. Really dont wannt do advertising and logo shit atm. D:
So, getting some practice in before i actually start on them;
Inspired by various rooms i was looking at on google, apologies for any perspective fuck ups, i dont use grids though I should start.

Also, a WIP on the Reaver picture. derpderp.

[Elz]

Some quick lip studies this morning, refs by morgana88 on deviantart.

[Elz]

Aaaand some nose studies from various celebs. I put the initials next to each nose but I bet you cant guess them. o3o

Edit: I keep triple triple posting so im gonna edit this one instead. With eyyyyyyes from the same celebs

Edit 2: Did a quick face from mind, thinking back to the studies I did. Bleh

[Naidy]

THOSE ANIMALS
I REALLY LIKE THOSE ANIMALS.

And those eyes too! And the noses. and the last face. And not to mention that dashing young lad in the steam-punk-esque clothes. That environment/room's good too!

Uh. I've had too much coffee to think straight, but I just like everything right now.
IT'D BE GREAT TO SEE SOME MORE ANIMALS. That's all I'll say.
Now go on and keep up the good work. Paint/draw/study like a madman so I get to check on you more often.

[raminafshari]

good referenced works , try to use a little bit of imagination .

[Philosiflo]

Dopeness, thanks for stopping by the thread. Cool that you are diving into color early. Keep posting.

One luv.

[Tuesday]

I'm loving your speedpaints of the movie screencaps, the lighting in them looks great! c8 Keep up the awesome studies!

[Partisan]

thank you for your kind words in my SB really appreciate it !

so long
Seb

[Sweron]

O yeah, you improved and I like the way you are going in :)

Must do Tron fanart myself someday, that costume on girl is yummi :D

[dierat]

Those are some seriously gorgeous studies in the last few posts! I also really enjoy that portrait sketch as well. I was thinking it might be helpful for you to do a few studies of neck and shoulders area as well as that seems in general to be a weak area in your work. Keep posting! :D

[NickyBeats]

great photostudies!! i really liked that Tron movie, even though alot of other people didnt, i thought it was visually a masterpiece. especially in 3d! love the scenes youve painted here! great color/lighting. keep going!

[Elz]

Back from my holiday, and as enjoyable as it was I now feel like I should have drawn more. I feel like I've lost any direction I had before I left and really struggle to get things right. *sigh*
I've had a shot at using references but not directly... Its difficult, and I've looked at this sketch for 2 days now, flipping it constantly and trying to see whats wrong. I dont -know- if it looks like him, and if theres something wrong I cant see it, as hard as I try. :C His face changes in every reference and I cant seem to find a middle ground. Guhhh
Any critique would be lovely. He's Marcus from V. (Lovely series, I cant believe they're (most likely) going to cancel it.)

Blah. What do you do when inspiration dies on you? I get frustrated at the fact I'm 20 and cant seem to finish anything. How am I supposed to get anywhere in the industry like thissss

Thanks guys, also.
Naidy: I'm glad you like the animals, theres a lot of flaws in my animal anatomy, I'll study it sometime. I'm glad you like my dashing young lad. ;)
raminafshari: Yeh, I wish I could grow an imagination. I really suck at it.
Philosiflo: Thankyou, and you're welcome. :) I like using colour, though I get a bit stuck sometimes.
Tuesday: Haha, glad you like them! Thankyou.
Partisan: You're welcome!
Sweron: Thankyou. :) Tron is a great inspiration too!
dierat: Cheers! I've actually done some Hogarth studies on the neck and shoulder area, I'll have to upload them when I can.
NickyBeats: Ahh, it was a brilliant movie. I really enjoyed it. :P I went and saw it in IMAX as well, that was stunning.

[LtPlissken]

Your sense for colors are fantastic right from the
start of your sketchbook, just as your understanding
of light. Your digitals are much better than your pencils,
so I suggest that you should do more pencil studies and
drawings. You lack of anatomy knowledge and most of
the time you make some face proportion issues, so you
should study also more head and face anatomy.
Draw a lot from life, maybe focus more on life drawings
than screen cap paintings. Of course these are just
my humble suggestions, but I honestly think that they
would make you improve even more, even faster,
and they would rise the realism of your paintings
tremendously.
Keep on working hard. Cheers.

[raminafshari]

WOW ... its nice , keep it coming .

[Elz]

@raminafshari Thankyou :)

@LtPlissken
thankyou so much for commenting :)
I agree, my digital stuff is definately better than my pencils, I only use pencil for studies and I should work harder on that.
I've got a lot of studies to upload once I get the time, I've been busy with uni work lately and keep forgetting. :c
I need to work on all my anatomy, faces and heads (especially the neck and how it joins) - I'm going to work on all of this over the summer. I'll finally get some time and hopefully I can improve a little!
I should work more from life, yes, I'll have to pick up the courage and ask my partner to pose for me. ;P
And draw things on my desk.

Heres a WIP, no references. I plan on adding boats in the background there, some ocean, and trying to get some dramatic lighting on her.
Need to finish it soon too, I have to get things together for some uni work :C

[LtPlissken]

You not only have to ask your partner to pose for you.
You have to ask him to pose for you naked.
You have put down the base colors on this last
one beautiful. Now just take it easy on the rendering,
this will be a magnificent masterpiece.

[Elz]

Haha, thankyou very much again. :)
Though I doubt it will be a masterpiece of any kind. D:
Really struggling with art -again-... I lack inspiration and motivation so badly.

Just a WIP and a quick-ish snowy picture.

[Elz]

Blah, just sketches I've done over the past few days :x Im a slacker.

And the last 3 were sketch comissions for random people with no references.

[Elz]

And a collab with my partner, a few days on and off.

[Elz]

Two comissions from imagination

[Elz]

Another painting, got help from my friend to capture their likenesses better.

And some sketches. :|

[dierat]

Hey Elz, your paintings are really coming along! Your portraits are wonderful as usual (especially those studies in post #179 (http://conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=3176117&postcount=179)). For a crit, try not to overuse edge highlights (the ones that kind of outline the edge of the form) because they tend to flatten your objects and make them feel 2-dimensional, like they're cardboard cut-outs. They do add contrast and drama to a scene, but at the expense of volume, so try not to lean on them too much. If you can set up the lighting to produce highlights that follow the contour of the form, that's going to show off the sense of volume and space much better. Keep up the good work! ;)

[Elz]

Thankyou very much for the crit, I see what you mean haha - I have to work on shading the face a bit more with different lighting I think, I end up getting a bit scared to touch the face after a while so the highlights stay at the edge. :c

20 hand studies today, some my own, some various photographs. Number 20 was from mind in about 3 minutes to see if I could do it. Gonna aim for 100 of these and move onto arms or something.

[Elz]

Joining the hands to arms/bodies, should move to colour soonish

[Elz]

Doing a batch of character designs for a site, first one is a morgue doctor guy >_> Will colour eventually.

Also some backgrounds for a different site.

[dierat]

Love the hand studies in post #184; I hope you'll continue with those. For the doctor guy, his head looks very large proportionally which is gives his body an adolescent appearance.

[Elz]

Hey, thanks for the crit! I didnt really notice it till I looked at some other pieces on massiveblack, but you're right. XD I've made his head smaller and started colouring, hopefully its looking better. c:
And I'll work on hands too, haha - But it'll be hand connecting to arms/bodies this time since I find it more helpful.

[Elz]

Gonna call this done, enough work for $20 i think. xD

Full body to show, but the comissioner will probabaly want only a half body to place on the website.

Edit: Added some backgrounds. One was a speedpaint, the other not so much. Both belong to other comissioners now. c:

[Elz]

hhhngh art. Some quickish paintings, trying to break out of my moody frame of mind. Urk.

[Elz]

Came up with 'Jellyfish' and 'suit' from a randomiser, so here's... that. Huh.
Feet seem wrong but I'll try fix that later. One of my first attempts at something slightly weird with perspective, so forgive plz

[Elz]

update on the jellyfish.. thing
not sure about colours, might do other variations tomorrow.

[m0uS3r]

good design i just wanna tell you to watch out for the proportions just so its not a lot of work try and select the drawing ctr+t and then warp and play with her shoulders they are a bit to wide or at least its how they look to me.

[dierat]

I absolutely love that design! It's so elegant and exotic. You know what it really reminds me of? FFXII - this design would really fit in that kind of eastern fantasy setting.

Okay, crits. First, I think you should get in the habit of doing silhouettes or thumbs up front. This design is really nice the way it is, but it would be cool to see you exploring different shapes rather than going with the first one you come up with. Then you could take your chosen thumb and see how it looks with various colors before you get this far.

Also, you might want to back up and double-check her full body proportions: the torso feels a bit wide and long, the head is not centered on the body, the breasts and shoulders are skewed, and the calf of the back leg should be visible behind the front leg. Try to get the figure nailed first; it will be much easier to fix it before you get into the design than after. Also be careful about your choice of refs; that booth babe shot is from below which will skew the proportions.

Quick sketch-over + manip/alteration to fit the sketch. I'm not an expert so take my advice with a grain of salt of course.

1324718

[Elz]

Thankyou so much for the crit and comment, I'm sorry for taking so long getting back to you, I've been a bit busy :c

I totally agree on the silhouette thing, I'll keep that in mind for my future work, or maybe just do a page or so of silhouettes for fun. Its not something I've really ever done or gotten into, so thankyou :3

I think I wanted to go for more of an agle on this character, so thats why I chose the ref. I just struggle so much with weird perspectives that it's ended up just toally skewing the body, and I couldnt tell until you did your sketchover D:

It helped a lot, I still think its a bit strange in places, but hopefully its better now? I put the old one next to it to compare. c:

Also added some very quick gesture studies, another thing I've never really tried. My friend told me how some of them are quite off but I'll work harder on them next time.

m0uS3r; thanks for the comment, Hopefully I fixed up her shoulders a little too.

[dierat]

Looking better. I would shrink the head down and make the arm larger. Remember the wrist lines up with the crotch when the arm is relaxed. The gestures look nice too. I've started to think lately that gestures work better with curvy exaggerated motions that ignore the joints and focus more on capturing the overall shape, so maybe give that a try and see if it works for you. I just feel that when people focus on skeletal shapes and straight lines attached by joints, the figures tend to come out very stiff and unimaginative.

[Vella C Raptor]

Wooow your studies and designs are fantastic ; u;

[AlexTooth]

Great figure work, Elz, especially love those hands, where would we be without 'em eh :)

[Elz]

Thanks guys! Sorry, I'm not too active on here anymore... But I'll post occasionally. :c
Did a bunch of free comissions on my week off from uni. Used a few loose refs here and there, but nothing too direct. Was quite fun!

[Elz]

Eek. Im a slacker on updates D:
some stuffff