Featherwurm - Eager to Learn...

[Featherwurm]

Edit: I own several Bridgman books and I have Loomis on my hard drive, please consider this when writing your comment/critique as specific information is far more helpful than pointing to a general source of reference.

Last Updated: June 27, 2010

Current Goals:

- Individuation of facial features (I'm told nearly all characters I draw look the same, I badly want to rectify this)
- Getting a sense of weight in anatomy
- Refining digital and real media painting techniques
- Learning to paint shadows without black, and incorporating more depth of color in images
- Draw more, Post more, Work on the above
- Anything else others might notice


Orignal Post: Oh I hope I am doing this right...

Hi! I'm Pearl, a mostly unemployed costume designer, with hope of someday doing more. I'm still very new here, but I'm of the firm belief that there's always more out there to be learned, and one should always seek to improve their craft. I'm mostly informally trained, but I do have some classroom knowledge, I do a wide variety of things you might consider artistic, but my skill is nowhere near professional anything. I've worked on-and-off as a costume designer, draftsperson for an architectural firm, and well... whatever I can find. I'm looking to learn and improve as much as I can! (I know I have a lot of room to grow...)

I love seeing the arts and improvements of each sketchbook so I thought I should go ahead and give it a try. I know I need improvement in several areas, and critique will only help!

Anyway, myself aside (boy do I ever talk too much), here's a few things I've done recently just to kick this off, both sketch and (what I would consider to be... though I could be wrong) more finished work. This is just sort of a random selection, hopefully I'll have more things in progress and sketching and learning related to post soon:

[Featherwurm]

Colored version of one of the sketches above, plus some random stuff.

[Featherwurm]

It's been a while since I've last posted, and I have no idea what exactly to update this with. As of this writing I am employed part-time as a substitute teacher (teaching grades 1-12, art and theater with the 1-8th crowd, anything with the highschoolers but mostly arts and theater.)

Unsure of what else to post, here are three variations on the same image, humans with Costa's Hummingbird markings. The first is the digital sketch, the second is a similar version done in cut out paper, and the third is a more fully finished variation in colored pencil.

Following that are to images from the beginning of the year this year. I realize it's difficult to show progress when the subject matter changes drastically, still I desire greatly to improve across the board, and I can't help myself but to try new things when they catch my fancy.

[Featherwurm]

Here are a variety of recent endeavors, a few sketches and a few one more finished thing. I would love any sort of commentary, critique, or feedback.

[Featherwurm]

Two recent digital paintings. Both still left kinda rough, but I have a hard time with finishing and polishing. I'd call them 75% complete or so. The first was for a recent COW of 'The Beast of Revelations'. The second was something personally emotive.

[Nenad]

Wow, you're good, nice and interesting works. The second one is awesome, I just love it. Those heads are nice, no problem with that. Coloured version of the sad disfigured girl is nice, good eye expression. Those humanoids are nice as well, anatomy seems fine to me. All in all, you're not bad. Keep practicing.

[zou]

hi

you've got some nice works i like (like post3 the black figure smoking)

but i wish you talk more about yourself and your goals. this could make it easier for members to feedback and react.

if you want to showcase your work then post MOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR

[Featherwurm]

hi

you've got some nice works i like (like post3 the black figure smoking)

but i wish you talk more about yourself and your goals. this could make it easier for members to feedback and react.

if you want to showcase your work then post MOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR

Will do will do! On both accounts! I always mean to post more, and I will gladly do so. I'll add a list of current goals on the top posting.

[Vritra]

You have a good sketchbook. Keep updating, as it is a little heartbreaking to see 7 posts in a year or so.

The first one (http://attachments.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=710077&stc=1&d=1246250611) is scintillating.

[Featherwurm]

Thank you, I shall try to do so more, I'm not so much hesitant to show my work as I am simply rather forgetful. I shall do my best to keep things better updated as I am usually pretty prolific.

[Featherwurm]

I have become very busy with a short job (more on that later after the NDA ends I think) and doing my own work is a little more difficult right now but I'm not without things to post. Here is a scrapped sketch from the COW for 'Garudians of the Portal' and a completed version of that creature that has... nothing to do with portals. Not my strongest work, but it was relaxing to draw.

[Featherwurm]

I saw this http://nanya.deviantart.com/#/d2t45fp and wanted to try applying it to something. So I used a sketch from about a month ago to test it. I like the technique, I must say, and I think this will prove very useful to know in the future. I'm still having troubles with refining detail in painting and getting an overall polished look, but I think with more practice these things should resolve themselves in due time.

[DefiledVisions]

Don't leave this sketchbook just yet :O The first picture is really cool!

I'm liking your watercolour, it suits your work. And as you say about refining detail in your work and having that polished look, the more you work and explore possibilities, the more confident you'll grow with what you're doing.
What's helped me a lot to know what to focus on when rendering has been looking at artists I think are really cool and want to be just as good as. Trying to find out how they did it and copying what they do has really pushed my work.

Right now I think you should just draw more, even if time doesn't allow, you have all kinds of small gaps during the day that allows for doodling. I mean, 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there easily add up to an hour a day of drawing you otherwise wouldn't have.

So just keep at it, check out some anatomy, I suggest bridgman's books and mind those proportions. Most important, have fun in what you do!

[NyeAlexandaFrayne]

love some of your work. quality

[Featherwurm]

Don't leave this sketchbook just yet :O The first picture is really cool!

No worries! I'm not going anywhere, I just have a tendency to forget to post things. I do draw/sketch on a daily basis, however I don't really feel that posting every single thing I do is something people would want to see. Or maybe they would? I don't really know. In any case I should be posting more soon, I hope, I am trying to become a little more reliable in that regard.

Once I have a little cash in the bank (hopefully quite soon) I'll be ordering up a copy of Bridgman's Life Drawing. I have The Human Machine, but it's a little difficult to follow and I'm looking forward to getting something a little more straightforward.

[Featherwurm]

Work has been putting something of a damper on the time I usually spend on art study and doing art for myself and others. I can't yet post the images from work (cartoon illustrations for a diet book), but I have been doing some things just to unwind. Admittedly not the most productive of studies, but I do try to research and reference where I can (though perhaps not as much as I should). And, well, drawing for fun is still drawing right?

The first is some practice for drawing children (more or less, it is a rather mixed up little character). The second is the line art of another artist's character (http://phantasmagora.deviantart.com/) that I'm working on. And the third is an experiment in a mostly completely alien style.

[vayne108]

Very nice and unique work here !! I like your creatures and style. Keep up the good work !!

[Featherwurm]

Thank you Vayne! I shall try!

I am a rather poor student I admit, I'm not sure if it is a matter that I work best in comprehensive wholes, or if I simply need to work through a personal difficulty in knuckling down and studying specifics. In any case, here are some recent things not particularly related to any studies:

- First, a colorized version of the lineart from the previous post.
- Second and third are both some costuming concept work for a particular character from a personal project I am working on. The first lineart I did not care for, and I ended up using the second.
- Last, a watercolor I did for my own personal sanity. You will recognize the scarred character from one of my earlier posts. The shading is not as deep as I usually prefer, but I think overall there has been some improvement.

I am perhaps self-indulgent in what I do, which makes progress slow. I like to think that continuing to draw, whatever it may be, is how I am best suited to study. That may be perhaps overly generous a thought, but it is where I am at the moment.

[Featherwurm]

I decided to do the Character of the Week #209, and I figured I would re-post my progress on that over the course of the week. It took quite a lot of conceptualizing, and I have mixed feelings about the end result. I would really appreciate critique on this, I can see that there are weak areas, but I'm kindof at a loss to know specifically where things went wrong apart from not finding a decent reference.

http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1038572&stc=1&d=1281500516

http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1038573&stc=1&d=1281500556

http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1039519&stc=1&d=1281588425

http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1039520&stc=1&d=1281588452

http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1039560&stc=1&d=1281591483

http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1040141&stc=1&d=1281666502

http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1040980&stc=1&d=1281770960

http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1041608&stc=1&d=1281852046

[Featherwurm]

I realize these will all benefit from study, I just wanted to get the ideas out of my head and on to paper before I forgot. Ah autumn, will I be able to take a serious approach to my studies in the new school year (answer = probably not)? It's funny, I do know the answer to the question of how to improve, yet I remain rather fiercely lazy. Oh well, I am rapidly reaching the point where I am so fed up with myself that I will have to finally sign up for that long overdue life drawing class.

In any case, instead of doing useful things, here are some concepts rather in need of help of real anatomy, rather than mush.

I know, I know, I curse myself too for being in a hotbed of good advice, and yet rarely being able to follow it. I am thick like that.

[Featherwurm]

And for me, another year of age passes, and I turn 26. I received two very lovely gifts for my birthday; Jame's Gurney's Imaginative Realism (which I cannot praise enough) and Bridgman's Life Drawing. I've not yet had a chance to try some exercises with them (I received them just a couple days ago and I'm still re-reading both), but I look forward to it. In the meantime, here are a few personal mostly finished things I've done just for fun.

[Featherwurm]

I decided to do a '50 Hands' sketch to warm up for doing 50-100 portraits/gestures or something like that to help with that old character distinction that still gives me fits.

ANYWHO... on to hands:

http://www.featherwurmgraphics.com/Sketch-Journal/Hands01.jpg
http://www.featherwurmgraphics.com/Sketch-Journal/Hands02.jpg
http://www.featherwurmgraphics.com/Sketch-Journal/Hands03.jpg
http://www.featherwurmgraphics.com/Sketch-Journal/Hands04.jpg
http://www.featherwurmgraphics.com/Sketch-Journal/Hands05.jpg
http://www.featherwurmgraphics.com/Sketch-Journal/Hands06.jpg
http://www.featherwurmgraphics.com/Sketch-Journal/Hands07.jpg
http://www.featherwurmgraphics.com/Sketch-Journal/Hands08.jpg

[Featherwurm]

Ok so it's not 100 figures/faces but one must start somewhere right? I do mean to do more of various varieties, they probably won't all be this in depth, I got interested in it.

[Featherwurm]

Faces faces... a definite weak point for me, I am going to be doing a number more of these, but I was not able to do as much today as I would have liked. It's not great stuff, but if I get started and get things on paper, I can improve.

[Featherwurm]

More faces, no real progress but that's why one practices I suppose, still pretty early into this thing. It is definitely easier to find male references than female ones, at least from what I see.

[Featherwurm]

Contrary to appearances, I've been rather busy with all manner of sketching. Of course, I have a difficult time being purely academic (as we've all already seen) but I've been trying to incorporate using more reference and study with everything I do. In December I decided to sketch one character a day for the month, and I think the results of the endeavor show pretty favorably, these are all rather on the messier side of things, but they were meant to be done quickly.

Advent Characters Post 1 of 5

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/335/9/7/advent_characters_01_by_verdego-d341kxj.jpg

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/336/b/9/advent_characters_02_by_verdego-d343pu1.jpg

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/337/a/0/advent_characters_03_by_verdego-d345w0w.jpg

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/338/f/f/advent_characters_04_by_verdego-d348a62.jpg

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/339/f/a/advent_characters_05_by_verdego-d34aqox.jpg

[Featherwurm]

Advent Characters Post 2 of 5

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/340/2/3/advent_characters_06_by_verdego-d34dlxu.jpg

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/341/6/a/advent_characters_07_by_verdego-d34frgu.jpg

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/342/c/1/advent_characters_08_by_verdego-d34ig0d.jpg

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/343/a/b/advent_characters_09_by_verdego-d34k6hz.jpg

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/344/4/9/advent_characters_10_by_verdego-d34ly2e.jpg

[Featherwurm]

Advent Characters Post 3 of 5

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/345/e/f/advent_characters_11_by_verdego-d34otyj.jpg

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/346/2/3/advent_characters_12_by_verdego-d34roe9.jpg

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/347/7/e/advent_characters_13_by_verdego-d34twta.jpg

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/348/e/8/advent_characters_14_by_verdego-d34vq6g.jpg

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/349/3/d/advent_characters_15_by_verdego-d34y5kd.jpg

[Featherwurm]

Advent Characters Post 4 of 6

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/350/a/2/advent_characters_16_by_verdego-d350oa2.jpg

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/351/d/8/advent_characters_17_by_verdego-d352lcl.jpg

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/351/a/a/advent_characters_18_by_verdego-d353h85.jpg

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/354/8/6/advent_chracters_19_by_verdego-d35aidi.jpg

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/354/e/3/advent_chracters_20_by_verdego-d35bgsr.jpg

[Featherwurm]

Advent Characters Post 5 of 6

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/355/4/6/advent_chracters_21_by_verdego-d35dr3c.jpg

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/356/c/0/advent_chracters_22_by_verdego-d35fym6.jpg

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/357/d/8/advent_chracters_23_by_verdego-d35iwbw.jpg

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/358/1/5/advent_chracters_24_by_verdego-d35lste.jpg

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/359/a/f/advent_chracters_25_by_verdego-d35nx7m.jpg

[Featherwurm]

Advent Characters Post 6 of 6

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/360/0/e/advent_chracters_26_by_verdego-d35qbv8.jpg

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/361/6/c/advent_chracters_27_by_verdego-d35t716.jpg

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/362/9/d/advent_chracters_28_by_verdego-d35wcpe.jpg

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/363/7/9/advent_chracters_29_by_verdego-d35z8bf.jpg

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/364/a/d/advent_chracters_30_by_verdego-d362eqe.jpg

[NeonDuck]

nice work!

your anatomy is quite wobbly in places tho, you should really do some studies to improve on that. if you need some reference, have a look at loomis or bridgman books and work through those. you'll get better in no time!

[Featherwurm]

nice work!

your anatomy is quite wobbly in places tho, you should really do some studies to improve on that. if you need some reference, have a look at loomis or bridgman books and work through those. you'll get better in no time!

I own and use several of the Bridgman series (though not all as I do not have a full collection) and I have looked through various Loomis books many times, do you have a particular portion of those reference books you think would be of specific use to me? I will be honest, I find copying a bore, and unless I can apply the knowledge in some way, it will not stick for me and I cannot develop it further. The purpose of what I am doing here is studies, this is my sketchbook, I would not consider hardly any of the work here 'finished'.

[Featherwurm]

A couple of recent figure studies.

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/014/2/e/green_woman_by_verdego-d377isw.jpg

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/016/f/9/circut_warrior_by_verdego-d37domf.jpg

[Featherwurm]

More figural practice with various oddities for my own personal enjoyment of actually drawing:

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/036/d/f/parnassus___blessed_by_verdego-d38wy1s.jpg

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/054/c/a/sick_in_the_head_by_verdego-d3a9fhq.jpg