Trisscar's Sketchbook

[Trisscar]

(nervous wave)

I feel like a mouse creeping into the lion's den with a big side of ham strapped to my back, daring to come here. However, I've made the decision that I want to be better at drawing, so what better way to do that than to chuck myself into the lion's den?

I've now left university where I gained a BA Honours in Digital Art (Second Class Lower Division though, which is a bit of a kick in the teeth) and I'm hoping to become a comic book illustrator or a children's book illustrator. I recently looked up job vacancies for artists/animators and, after reading some of the requirements, I have a horrible feeling that employers would take one look at my work, laugh and tell me to bugger off.

My brother told me that if I wanted to improve my artwork, then I ought to join this site, so... I have :P

Anyway, sermon over for now. I'll do my best to try and uphold the standards of quality of this website, and to listen to all the advice/insults/rants given to me.

[B-Man]

Great, fresh meat! welcome! Now bring it man, so we can start picking you into peices!>:D
kidding... sort of.
Post some pictures and I'll help in any way I can. :)
mahalo!

[Icedearth15876]

Hey welcome to CA, post some stuff so we can start helping you (Evil Grin).

[Trisscar]

I really hope this doesn't turn out ridiculously huge... Hell, I hope it just turns out!

This crazy bandit first appeared in a nightmare I had back in 2007. Unfortunately I didn't have the sense to do a sketch of him while he was still fresh in my memory, so this is the next best. He was part of my Artworks Project at university, where I drew a comic about him.

This was the first 'refined' sketch I did of him back in 2008. I'll upload all my concept drawings of him in my thread here, to allow people to see the character concept progress from 2008 to 2009.

Lastly, he has no name. I've just given him the title of 'The Freak'.





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[Trisscar]

Thank you for the welcome, B-Man and Icedearth15876 :)

Pick me to pieces all you like. I want to learn from my mistakes and then stitch myself together again :)

[Trisscar]

My tutor had told me that he felt that this was my strongest drawing of the Freak. I didn't particularly mean to draw him in a sort of manga style, that was really unintentional.

I wish I knew how to reduce my digital drawings properly so that the resolution wouldn't be so murdered :(

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[Trisscar]

This was done using Sai. I was toying with the idea of giving my man a hat, since quite a few horror-type icons wear hats.

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[Trisscar]

The Freak without his coat. I'd like to think that the belts hanging from his arms resemble the straps of a straight jacket.

I used Hellsing volume 3 as a reference for this pose.

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[Trisscar]

I was just practising my cel-shading skills with all these drawings of him, especially with his leather suit. I don't really want it to look like it's been ironed smooth. I suppose it should look a bit crinkly. I had a look at the leather suits of the cenobites from Hellraiser to get some inspiration.

Again, I used Hellsing volume 3 as a reference for this pose.

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[B-Man]

OK. Your knowlage in anatomy is poor and the proportions of the character change in every picture you draw. I would recomend that you just like everyone new to drawing starts with studys of the human body.
start practicing box figures. Its a great way to get a grip on basic chapes.
and also figure drawing. fill pages with small bodies in different poses.
Post your studies so its easyer for ppl to help explain where the pictures are going wrong. sometimes its hard to see.
now work hard :)

[Trisscar]

Agh! I didn't realise I was that bad :(

All right, I'll get to practising anatomy better, but I'd still like to post the rest of my current concept drawings of the Freak for now...

[Trisscar]

Ok, so my anatomy is bad, but still.... have a look at my stuff to see how the Freak progressed through the year.

I've been drawings for years, so this is so embarrassing.....

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[Trisscar]

I drew this one after a friend told me that the previous alleyway one looked too colourful and cartoony. I had Freddy Krueger on the mind when I drew this one :)

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[Trisscar]

This is my avatar! I drew his hat completely wrong here. It's supposed to be a trilby, but this looks like it should have fish-hooks in it.....

And, er, these are all the drawings I'm going to post of the Freak for now. I had planned to post everything I have of him, but I'd rather not embarrass myself further.....

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[Dibujio::Guru]

Damn that guy looks pretty damn fly

Nice character and thanks for posting in my thread.:

[IanE]

This character has a nice idea behind it, but it's coming off really incomplete, and maybe it's just this last image you put up, but I'm really seeing Tony the Tiger mixed with Hellboy mixed with The Crow mixed with Freddy Krueger and that makes me reach 1 critique for you:

Refine.

Pick an idea, pick the best, most important aspects or criteria of it, and develop those flawlessly and let the style develop on its own. It seems like you've got too many ideas going on here, which isn't a bad thing to have too many ideas, it's just bad to try and apply them all without any true purpose for each one.

Let's see some more work now!

[Trisscar]

Gorilla@Attack: thank you for your kind words and it's a pleasure going through your sketchbook :)

IanE: (salute) Sir, yes Sir! But first I have to work on my anatomy as B-Man suggested.

And also... I almost burst out laughing at the Tony the Tiger comparison. I've had quite a few people liken him to Hellboy, Freddy Krueger, the Crow etc, but Tony the Tiger?!

I did try my best to draw him how he looked in my nightmare, but I'll try to refine him a lot more. As Foghorn Leghorn would say, 'It's back, Ah say it's back to the drawing board...'

Thank you very much for your feedback :) It's greatly appreciated.

[Trisscar]

I would've updated my sketchbook sooner, but I've been enduring jury duty for the past few days.

Practising postures and body structure with box figures.

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All of these (except for the silly one) are taken from the book 'Figure Drawing without a Model'. What I aim to do next is to box-salamify images from magazines, newspapers and the like to get a better understanding of anatomy.

[My57]

k. If ya wanna make a comic or w.e. i would recommend a lot of anatomy studies and face studies. If you have a tablet work on painting with it as well. I would say that learning anatomy and faces is probably one of the most important things for comics (tied with doing environments). Unless you plan on doing a cartoonish comic thats filled with funny jokes and hilariousness. Like penny arcade. <- Which isn't a bad idea, but you gotta be funny.

scribd.com has a lot of anatomy books you can look at. Including stuff from hogarth and such...

[The7Artist7]

Hey - my internet is back from holiday lol

The work you have here is not a bad start at all - one really important thing you have is life and character in what you create (rather stiff and suffering from quite a bit of what I call 'jelly-joints' but interesting and engaging). I'm really liking the box figures!

Recommendations for now:

http://www.posemaniacs.com/

draw, draw, draw when practicing - quick roughs, simple stuff and small focussed studies, studies from life (any objects around you etc) anatomy study (carful not to just copy but learn)

+ work on some quality finished pieces - with these really put your all into it and outdo yourself (you will find you also learn a lot when doing this too)

Be the sponge - soak up all that art skill goodness :painting:

And remember - enjoy yourself at every opportunity with your art! :steph:

[Trisscar]

Okie doke, I'll try and do all that :)

'Jelly-joints'..... gotta add that to my vocabulary!

[Tb0ne]

For the type of structures you're using in those last few sketches I think it would be helpful to check out some books that review proportion. For example, right now you're drawing the head volume as a cube instead of a rectangular box shape. Many (most?) systems of proportion use the head as the basic measurement so having a solid understanding of the dimensions will be very important. I would elaborate but I don't have the proportion systems commited to memory yet and I don't want to give you inaccurate information.

If you like though I can suggest some books to you that I found very helpful.

Beyond merely drawing with volume boxes though I think you need to pick up a book on perspective. It's not enough that you draw these boxes, you need to draw these boxes in perspective with awareness of the eye line (or horizon line).

Finally, when drawing the boxes for the rib cage and pelvis don't hestitate to 'draw through'. I see that you were drawing through when the legs overlapped the other parts of the body, but you might also find it helpful to draw the faces of the box you can't see, especially once you start putting these in perspective.

[Trisscar]

Some more box-figure sketches. I know that some of them have pieces missing, but that's because I couldn't see every limb/the whole body. As my ole tutor used to say, 'If you can't see it, don't draw it,'.....

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.... except when a wet fish is involved.....

Tb0ne: Thank you for the advice. Would you please tell me about the books you had in mind?

[Tb0ne]

As my ole tutor used to say, 'If you can't see it, don't draw it,'.....

.... except when a wet fish is involved.....

Tb0ne: Thank you for the advice. Would you please tell me about the books you had in mind?

Perspective Made Easy: A good overview of one and two point perspective.
Bridgeman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life : This book covers drawing the figure in perspective (especially heads), with rythm, proportion, and anatomy.
Dynamic Figure Drawing (Burne Hogarth): Discusses rythm, structure and offers theory on how to create the illusion forshortening.

Any book by Andrew Loomis would be great as well but they're currently out of print.

[Trisscar]

Perspective Made Easy: A good overview of one and two point perspective.
Bridgeman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life : This book covers drawing the figure in perspective (especially heads), with rythm, proportion, and anatomy.
Dynamic Figure Drawing (Burne Hogarth): Discusses rythm, structure and offers theory on how to create the illusion forshortening.

Any book by Andrew Loomis would be great as well but they're currently out of print.

Noted and appreciated. Thanks very much :)

Looks like I'm going to have to give my bookcase a serious overhaul!

[Trisscar]

I nearly forgot that I had this. It's just a little Rorschach fanart I did a few months back. While I was at university, when I was doing my comic about the Freak for my Artworks project, I spoke with a narrative construction tutor to help me with my script.

He told me that he thought my Freak character was similar to Rorschach from 'Watchmen'. At the time, I'd only heard the name a couple of times when the film was advertised on TV, so the tutor recommended that I buy the graphic novel. A day or two later, I paid my local Waterstones a little visit....

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I know it's not the best, but I was quite pleased with how clean it looks. This was done with Sai.

[Trisscar]

This is the pencil work of one of the panels of my comic. Drawing environments was never my strongest point, and I'd really like to overcome that.

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[Trisscar]

After IanE's comment about the Freak looking like Tony the Tiger, I just couldn't resist this....

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Want some Frosties?

[Jesus Food]

lol u like darth maul or somethin?

[Trisscar]

lol u like darth maul or somethin?

Heh heh :P

It's just that my character 'The Freak' has those weird triangular markings on his face. As I saw him in a nightmare, he must have some Darth Maul-type qualities because of his face. I remember watching 'Star Wars Episode 1' quite a lot when it first came out :D

I've heard that dreams are just a manifestation of things you've seen throughout your day.... or week.... or month.... or lifetime.......

[Trisscar]

A little sketch I did of a table while I was at a restaurant with my Mum and her friends for lunch today. Might not be going back there again anytime soon, though. My Mum had steak pie and the pastry was like charcoal, and my mashed potatoes tasted of nothing.

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[Trisscar]

More box figures than a box figure factory working on a new batch of box figures.

Some quick sketches from the restaurant. Most of them are modelled on my Mum and her friends, because there wasn't a lot of people around :P

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That sketch at the top left was the beginning of a sketch from that posemaniacs site, but I couldn't get my head in the game when I tried to sketch it. And that boy in the middle is actually from a painting that was hanging beside our table.

[Trisscar]

Jings, I'm not exactly updating my sketchbook as much as I should, am I? Bad me.

I thought I would update with a drawing of Flik from Disney's 'A Bug's Life'. Someone over on Fanart Central requested it, and I'd like to know what you guys think, please?

Go on. Be brutal! (hides behind a steel wall)

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[Eon]

I like your Freak character. His face reminds of of WWE Kane's old mask. The ant character looks good.

You've got good instincts for this. Just build on that foundation. Ron Tiner's Figure Drawing Without a Model is a great book. However take into account that the name of the book describes a goal to attain and not a method. To achieve that goal requires a lot of drawing from human beings, be it reference or live model. It's a long process of osmosis and then regurgitating as we try our best to recreate human beings from our heads. The more you know the more you can do. It's quite amazing how this works at times.

Study: Basic shapes/ figure construction from simple ''skeletons'' on to construction with simple shapes.

Practice your observational drawing skills with still life. The better you are at seeing and interpreting information the more you'll get out of your studies.

Get your hands on as many sources as you can. Look up Andrew Loomis, George Bridgman, Burne Hogarth, Glenn Vilppu.

All the work you'll put into it will pay off. That's the cool thing about it. You get your rewards! Rock on!

[Trisscar]

Thanks so much, Eon :) I'll keep practising as much as possible. I actually had recently ordered a few of those books via amazon.com and I've already got 'Figure Drawing Without a Model', but it's taking me a while to devour them all!

I'm so glad I registered on this site. All the artists here are so awesome and it's giving me so much inspiration.

One of my problems, however, is that sometimes so many ideas come into my head at once and I don't know which one to focus on first :B

[Trisscar]

Sketch of a table while I was at a restaurant for lunch with my Mum today. I pencilled it out first, then did the shading with a ballpoint pen. You can see that I tried doing some other sketches of a salt cellar before the table, but it turned out terrible. I really must keep a wider range of pencils with me besides a 4H.

And also, I really need to work on drawing circles.....

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[Harmageddon]

Hey Trisscar

I agree with most of the crits here: look at anatomy and meanwhile keep on drawing comic style stuff. You'll find they complement one another at some point. The boxfigures can be put to work in realistic drawings too, and anatomy knowledge does help comic figures look more real (even if mostly they have totally unrealistic and thus comical anatomy).

Personally, I like the Freak character (the cenobite style suit, the armflaps).
Try and put him in some solid cast: i.e. always 6 heads tall for example.
Btw 6 is arbitrary here, just see what fits the character best.

About the Freak: he looks friendly in most pictures. Is he a nice guy, gone haywire?
Or is he really just a solid bastard through and through.
Oh and thanks for posting in my thread. Now draw! draw! draw!

[Trisscar]

Hey Trisscar

I agree with most of the crits here: look at anatomy and meanwhile keep on drawing comic style stuff. You'll find they complement one another at some point. The boxfigures can be put to work in realistic drawings too, and anatomy knowledge does help comic figures look more real (even if mostly they have totally unrealistic and thus comical anatomy).

Personally, I like the Freak character (the cenobite style suit, the armflaps).
Try and put him in some solid cast: i.e. always 6 heads tall for example.
Btw 6 is arbitrary here, just see what fits the character best.

About the Freak: he looks friendly in most pictures. Is he a nice guy, gone haywire?
Or is he really just a solid bastard through and through.
Oh and thanks for posting in my thread. Now draw! draw! draw!

Thanks very much for your advice :)

Regarding the Freak..... I'm really still trying to get his character down without turning him into a Gary Stu. I'd like to think that he was a prisoner of a place similar to Hell, but was caught on his first escape attempt (resulting in those interesting marks of his). He manages to escape the second time and finds his way to a city.

He tries to be a good guy and a hero, but sometimes his psychotic tendancies get the better of him and ends up almost taking things too far. In my first comic of him, he rescues a young woman from a gang of thugs intent on robbery and assault, but he gets carried away and nearly gores the face of one of the thugs with those claws of his.

I suppose he's really still a work in progress. As has been suggested, I need to refine him a lot more. In those concept drawings I've done, he's like a yo-yo dieter :D I need to stop screwing around with his body shape!

[Trisscar]

This one is just a work in progress. I started sketching it while I was on holiday in June, but forgot all about it since.

I'm stuck on what kind of background I should give it, if any. Anyone got any ideas or advice to throw at me?

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[Trisscar]

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Freddie the Frog, from the 1992 movie 'Freddie as F.R.O.7', one of the worst animated films ever made. I'd seen it on tv a couple of years ago, and more recently I watched the uncut version on YouTube. I never knew that there were two versions. It was the American version I saw on tv and America pretty much murdered it by cutting out so much of the movie, trying to make it more 'moralistic'. They cut out any innuendo scenes, murder scenes, a few fight scenes (phew!) and a whole song. Not that it made the movie any better....

Despite the rigorous editing, I noticed that, during the song 'Lay Down Your Arms', there's a lyric saying "we rape the land and tear the skin" 0_o' How did they miss that?!

I enjoy nostalgia :)

This was drawn with Sai

[Trisscar]

I know I really ought to be working on my anatomy skills, but...

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A couple of nights back, I had a dream that I was working on an animation (lordy but I need to get out more) involving this little guy, Bitey of Brackenwood, and I felt the urge to do some little sketches of him in flight. I am a huge fan of Adam Phillips' animations.

I kinda buggered up the sketch on the left there. He's supposed to be turning around in mid-air, but I didn't capture it very well :(

[The7Artist7]

...huge fan of Adam Phillips' animations.'

You and me both! and your Bitey sketches are cool :D

Lets see a few sketchbook pages covered with anatomy practice - try and keep it energetic and see the individual muscle shapes and remember the structure / proportions of the skeleton - go for it!

I gotta remember to drop by more often

I wanna see at least one page of anatomy practice next time I visit!

[Trisscar]

I wanna see at least one page of anatomy practice next time I visit!

(Looks guiltily at the floor) I know I should be getting going with my anatomical drawings, but I'm also busy looking for a job..... Ok ok, poor excuse :P

I've also been busy with some request drawings on another website. All people want me to draw are Sonic the bloody Hedgehog pictures! >:C

[The7Artist7]

:tiptoes into sketchbook thread: ... <_<... >_> ... :whispers: I shall pretend I didn't visit as there is a distinct lack of anatomy sketch-ige around here just yet ... maybe next time!

... you ain't see me 'right? :sneaks out again:

[Trisscar]

Since The7Artist7 is also a big Brackenwood fan....

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I actually did this about 2 years ago in Photoshop, using a screenshot of 'The YuYu' as a reference. I love the music in that animation :)

[Trisscar]

I had decided to make a little "How I Did It" of 'Run Bitey Run!' because a couple of folk on DeviantArt thought that it was a screenshot....

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[The7Artist7]

Really cool stuff :D

(still getting the weird feeling SOMETHING is missing from your sketchbook though ... I wonder what IT could be ... ;) )

Hope things working out with job etc and you're learning to turn down request pics of cartoon characters that annoy you!

Rock on :yayca:

[The7Artist7]

Hey Triss - anything new?

Cheers :)

[Trisscar]

Not much :( Still pressurised by the job centre and my Mum to find a job, and my aunt recently gave me a commission to redesign her primary schools' badge and logo.

[Trisscar]

Not much...

Actually, tell a lie. I did a little animation of Bitey leaping around some rocks, but I'm not sure how to upload Flash files to my sketchbook, if I can at all....

[The7Artist7]

I have also had that problem with .swf files etc - I think the only animation type you can upload are gif files which can be awkward to create and badly effect page loading times :(

The other option of course is to open a youtube account, upload your animations there and simply use the '[yt] insert link here [ /yt]' thingy to show it in posts here.

All the best with getting a job etc and cool to have practice with commissions!

[Trisscar]

A couple of male body sketches, referenced from newspaper images.

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I've got a lot of bad habits regarding my anatomy drawings, but I'll definitely keep trying to break those habits.

[The7Artist7]

Yay - anatomy practice! This is more like it - try imagining the skeleton structure with muscle and skin on top. Practice, practice - and try to practice with simple looser strokes too - form and expressive character.

Good work so far - keep it up :painting:

[Trisscar]

More studies, referenced from posemaniacs.com.

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[Trisscar]

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Perhaps I shouldn't have tried to include muscle structure yet. I haven't done a very good job of it :\

[The7Artist7]

I can see some improvement already! keep it up :) :cheerleader:

[Trisscar]

Thanks so much! That posemaniacs website is fantastic :) Although I tried to use newspaper cut-outs for referencing, but I had a hard time imagining the muscle structure.

[Trisscar]

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I probably shouldn't have tried to draw birds' eye and worms'-eye view yet. Or hands. The woman on the right looks like she has tentacles for fingers.

[The7Artist7]

No no - it's great for you to practice different views so long as you practice accurate anatomy. Try doing pages of really quick anatomy sketches using the posemaniacs 30 second viewer too. Also I'd like to see how your figures are without the box guides - instead try to imagine them in your head as you draw :painting:

I'm hoping to start doing a few more of my Dynamic Energy challenges - my aim with those is to help the entrants learn and /or test themselves so you should join in! That would be cool :)

Sorry I'm not giving you many crits at the moment - I feel you are learning pretty good just by drawing more for now. Having said that, that dude in the last page has HUGE shoulders!

Keep at it! :cheerleader:

[Trisscar]

Ok, I'll give that a try, perhaps after a couple more box-figured sketches.

What's this Dynamic Energy challenge all about, then?

[The7Artist7]

Dynamic Energy!! via perspective, colour, pose, etc and based usually on a superhero topic but I'm thinking I'll add other themes too :)

Kinda busy to get it sorted just yet but will start the next one as soon as I have time :lounge:

[Trisscar]

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This is my character from the game The Elderscrolls IV: Oblivion, Tiria. I'm planning to make a comic based on one of the quests in the game with her as the main protagonist.

I've always had a bit of a problem drawing womens' faces. They usually end up, well, not looking like women :\ Everytime I try to draw lips, the woman looks as if she's been punched in the mouth. That's another thing I need to work on.

I was thinking of colouring this digitally later, after I get an opinion on it. Or rather if I get an opinion on it.

[The7Artist7]

OK here's a quick 'paintover' and as it was difficult to see when over the top I've put them side by side. Wowzers yes I agree - you've pretty much drawn a dude! Think slender think delicate when drawing ladies - mine is not the best elven lady but study the differences. hope it helps - find ref and please stop using the box thingies for a while as I think they may be holding you back :( Try filling pages with 30second studies from posemaniacs - honestly I think it's that sort of practice you need now :painting: quick and quantity from good ref.

[majortom]

Hey man good work so far! I'd have to agree with The7Artist7, to make your figures more feminine you have to really think about what makes someone look like a female. Notice the forms and the gentle curves that are more apparent on a woman. I hope that helps!

[Novbert]

some nice studies here. Don't be affraid to draw different angles, hands and all kind of stuff out of your comfort zone. Just be sure you also study at least some basic muscle and skeletal structure. Sketching up the large masses as rectangular shapes is a good start, but arranging the muscles properly on those basic shapes is at least as important. Also try different approaches for blocking! Loomis (http://fineart.sk/index.php?cat=12), Bridgman (http://books.google.hu/books?id=XTBYsTYwcYsC&pg=PP1&dq=bridgman+anatomy&ei=oqj6SsWHBaWCzASJ9fTuAw#v=onepage&q=bridgman%20anatomy&f=false) and many others use different approaches - try them and find the best one for you!
I second The7Artist7 on suggestion of doing 30 sec posemaniacs studies. You can really learn a bunch from doing them.
Keep on sketchin'!

[Trisscar]

OK here's a quick 'paintover' and as it was difficult to see when over the top I've put them side by side. Wowzers yes I agree - you've pretty much drawn a dude!

D'OH! Ok, I'll try to wean off the box figures :salute:

to make your figures more feminine you have to really think about what makes someone look like a female.

It's kinda sickly ironic (or a better word than that) that I happen to be female myself. Except after years of fist-fighting with my older brother, I'm half built like a boy :P

But thanks, everyone, for the good advice :)

[Trisscar]

Some 30 second studies from Posemaniacs.

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And what have I learned today by doing these studies? That I'm a pedantic little freak!!

[The7Artist7]

Ok! :D tis a start!

Do you know you can adjust the time to 90 seconds? I gave it a go today on the 90 sec one and came up with this page :)

there you go - you don't have to feel so bad huh! ;)

[Trisscar]

Ok! :D tis a start!

Do you know you can adjust the time to 90 seconds?

Yeah, I did see that. Guess I should've started with them 90 second drawings and then move on to 30 seconds. However, here's another page of 30 seconders.

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[Trisscar]

90 second studies this time. In the first one, you can see where I decided to screw doing the 30 second poses.

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[The7Artist7]

Keep at it! also try breaking down the image into shapes - this is particularly useful with posemaniacs as they show the muscle groups and you can draw each main large muscle shape. Don't worry if you feel your first page-fulls are not that great - that's a good thing as you will learn and start to 'feel' the change. Once in a while stop and make a more detailed study - try to overlap shapes in the figure studies and flow with your lines.

Basically what I'm attempting to do is help you loosen up as you do have a great clean style already - this will be well complimented by more life and action with your lines :)

:cheerleader:

[Trisscar]

Basically what I'm attempting to do is help you loosen up as you do have a great clean style already - this will be well complimented by more life and action with your lines :)

:cheerleader:

Yeah, that's my main problem. I don't mean to be so pedantic with my drawings, but it's such a bad habit now that it's difficult to break out of.

And sometimes I feel like my style is too clean..... I look at other peoples' artwork and they have so much more detail in them.

[Trisscar]

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[Trisscar]

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I think I'm getting better..... at drawing arses.

Please excuse the patchy Photoshopping here and there.

[The7Artist7]

Good practice :painting: keep it up Triss! as you're doing 30/60/90sec pose studies try doing a non-timed one here and there too.

Also I'd like to see you draw a finished study of a realistic character now and then as well - practice looseness and characterful lines. :)

[Trisscar]

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I forgot myself on the first drawing. It completely slipped my mind that I shouldn't be using the boxes to draw figures. I didn't do it for the second one and just tried a method that I picked up while I was doing the 90 second studies, however I've made her torso too short :/

[Trisscar]

Lookee what I found!

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I did this back in 2007 as sketchbook fodder for my art class at university. I have a poster in my room of the shaolin 'Wheel of Life' show that I went to see a few years ago in Glasgow. It has five images of monks displaying five styles of kung fu: tiger, crane, eagle, snake and leopard. This one here is leopard.

Draw in its entirety with a fine pen. I always thought I had lost this image after I scanned it in two years ago. I'm glad I've still got it :)

[Trisscar]

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Fanart of Adam Phillips' latest Brackenwood feature, 'The Last of the Dashkin' :D

Drawn and coloured in Sai, blur effect done in Photoshop.

Brackenwood and all its creatures are (c) of Adam Phillips.

[The7Artist7]

hey hey :)

Great to see some updates! Keep em coming :painting: :lounge:

Studies looking good - maybe take one or two of them a bit further - try breaking up your posemaniacs studies with more finished stuff so you can see the progress you are making :D

The monk looks cool but is suffering from serious proportion oddities - if you still have the ref material it'd be cool to see you do another one or maybe just make a few studies from it (assuming it's photos you're working from??)

Cool Brackenwood fanart - only question what is 'Sai'???

Keep rockin - :yayca:

[Trisscar]

Thanks! :)

I'll be able to focus a bit more on my drawing skills now, since I'm now out of a job :(

The monk drawing was from a poster that's still hanging up in my room, so yeah, I've still got the ref!

As for Sai, it's a Japanese art program you can download from the internet (obviously you can get an English version!). My friend Zooni on DeviantArt uses it almost all the time and she gave me a link of where to get it. It's kinda like Photoshop, only with more variety like different brushes, better pressure sensitivity, and you can turn the "page" around as you would a normal piece of paper and put it back the right way up easily too :)

[ceriously]

Hey. I really think posemaniacs is a great idea, but I think you might be being too careful with them. Your lines are sometimes scratchy and you seem to be avoiding the legs a lot of the time, or just not getting round to them. If you're still doing them, I think you should go down to something like 10 seconds. That really forces you to move your pen(cil) quickly. When I look back on my first posemaniacs pages, the 10 second ones are not great but I usually got the full figure down even if it was little more than a stickman. Once you've done some that quickly, when you move onto 30 seconds you should be able to get a much more detailed representation of the figure. I never used to simplify into shapes when I first did them. I just sort of followed the outline. It's only recently I've gotten into the whole shape anatomy thing, and though I think it's useful now to do posemaniacs applying that, I think doing gestures should be about movement first and foremost. I think it would be a good idea to loosen yourself up by just getting the 'feel' of the figure before fixing yourself down to accuracy.

...I also think it would be good to do them with a pen. I'm not sure if that /really/ makes any difference, I just feel like a pencil encourages a carefulness that doesn't really go with quick work like that.

Good luck. :D

[Trisscar]

ceriously: You're absolutely right when you say I'm being too careful. That's my main problem when I draw... my habit of being over-pedantic and a perfectionist. I've been like that for years now and I am trying so hard to break out of that habit :(

Thanks so much for your advice :) I'll try to be more loose.

[The7Artist7]

:cheerleader: Draw Loose! :cheerleader: Draw Loose! :cheerleader: Draw Loose Trisscar - we know you can! :cheerleader: <<read like cheerleader chant ...

Hahahaha! XD

Aww sorry to hear you out of a job - all the best and Utilise the time to sit down (or stand up if you prefer!) and DRAW!! practice Loose shapes ... force yourself to ignore the lack of control at the start ... back in the day our tutor at college had us draw holding the very end of a pencil / paintbrush away from the tip - she even had us painting using random bits of ripped cardboard!

Just go for it all out mad crazy rooooocccckkkkkkinggg looseness! use your careful perfectionist side for cleaning up an idea and adding details :painting:

Have fun and express action and character - plus give yourself plenty of space ... get a picture of what your after in your mind's eye first then let loose! :anime:

I'm excited to see how your style develops as you've got a very cool cartoonist illustrator vibe!

[The7Artist7]

Here you go - whipped up a quick example for you!

[Trisscar]

Thanks so much for the encouragement :) I truly appreciate it.

Actually, you know what? I'm going to make that my New Years' resolution. I resolve to draw loose and be more relaxed with my artwork. So there!

And also.... Happy Christmas or whatever it is you choose to celebrate! :D

[Trisscar]

A very Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you've all recovered from the Hogmany shenanigans and your hangover ain't too bad :D I greeted the New Year with an exploding barbecue. Don't ask.

Anyway, I'm going to start off this new year with a couple of new additions to my sketchbook! I was wondering whether or not I ought to post these here because I thought they weren't ConceptArt-worthy. They aren't, but then I'm more likely to receive some good critique on them here rather than on DeviantArt.



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Now, I know what you're thinking: 'Oh crap, manga shit! KILL IT WITH FIRE!!' but hear me out!

This was a request picture for someone over on Fanart Central. I was more concerned with the background here than I was with the character. Especially that pond. I desperately need advice on how to draw water.


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Another request for a Fanart Central user. I don't know why, but the last four requests I received there asked for me to draw specific characters in a field at night. No idea why.

[Trisscar]

Some more studies of the female body. I tried to do some shading on the bottom one, but it hasn't worked out very well :\

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And I've also tried some 10 second studies. These poor creatures used to be human....

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I've actually got a lot more pages of these studies, but they're just more or less the same as what's shown here.

[Trisscar]

I quite enjoyed using a pen on these ones. Nice and messy!

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Here are my first attempts to refine my character 'The Freak'. Sorry about the different line qualities. I had drawn these in my A3 sketchbook and since my scanner can only take A4, I had to scan these in two parts.

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The story behind those hands..... what I've got so far is that The Freak is a sort of prisoner in a realm like hell. On his first escape attempt, he was caught by the monstrous guardian of the realm who grabbed him by the back of his head and dragged him back in, its claws burning those marks on The Freaks' face.

What I want to achieve is something hideously deformed, rather like the fleshy lumps I saw when I watched the 'Call of Cthulhu: Destiny's End' trailer on YouTube. Just gotta keep trying.

[The7Artist7]

Keep it up with the studies! (try doing a lot more studies from life too - try to find pics of normal people doing normal stuff and draw that too)

You need to pull away from the manga style whenever you don't need to draw it - learning realism will help your manga stuff too!

With the freak dude - I'm assuming he's a good guy trapped in a bad situation? Try aiming for a weathered, worn , damaged look ... but maintaining some hero factor.

As far as constructing his look - start with what you know is a constant as in his skull shape. Then add to that - think about how his skin/hair would try to mend around the wounds and or react/effect the rest of his head/face. Also try giving him a slightly more serious/heroic/long-suffering expression. Of course he seems he would always have that humorous glint in his eye!

[Trisscar]

You need to pull away from the manga style whenever you don't need to draw it - learning realism will help your manga stuff too!

Oh Christ, I hope you're just referring to the catgirl drawing. If not, I'm in trouble. I'm seriously not trying to draw in a manga style.

With the freak dude - I'm assuming he's a good guy trapped in a bad situation? Try aiming for a weathered, worn , damaged look ... but maintaining some hero factor.

About The Freak, I'm really still trying to develop his story, asking myself things like 'Who is he?' 'What is he?' 'Why is he here?' etc. He is the result of a nightmare I had a couple of years back. I've really got to start drawing up a mindmap or something....


Besides that, here's some nostalgia!

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This is Stew Dapples from an old 80s puppet show called 'Terrahawks' (it's in a similar vein to 'Thunderbirds', even produced by the same guys). I got the boxset of 'Terrahawks' for Christmas and I recently watched the episode 'Cry UFO', where Stew was the only person to witness a spaceship fly over a roadside diner but nobody believed him. It was the only episode where the focus was put on a character who wasn't a Terrahawk or an alien. It's currently my favourite and Stew is my new favourite character. He's got such a goofy voice and is totally adorable! Unfortunately I've drawn his legs too short here. My excuse is that I've no idea how tall he is since you never usually see past a puppets' waist.

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His hair is a pain in the butt to draw, with all that red and blue rinse through it.

[Jamie Romoser]

Keep up those studys :)
looking forward to seeing how you progress
have a good one
till next time
-Jamie

[Trisscar]

Thank you, OmertA :)

I'm currently on an employability training course where you can learn either film-making, photography, drama or glass-making, and during the final two weeks you get to do a work placement in the field that you'd really like to work in (that's if the tutors can manage to fix it up.) I recently got a call from one of my tutors telling me that I might be getting a work placement with Axis Productions, an animation company in Glasgow. They ask that I make up a showreel of my best work as well as give them my CV.

I'm both excited and absolutely terrified by this. Terrified because I don't know whether they'll like my artwork or not. Meep.

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I didn't want to go into lavish detail with this, I just wanted to make light of my enormous apprehension. For the pose on the left, I used a drawing from my buddy Zooni on DeviantArt as a reference. Please accept my apologies if I've done the link wrong: http://zooni.deviantart.com/art/Yay-a-unicorn-p3-111132844

[Trisscar]

I went to see 'The Princess and The Frog' last Saturday and I've practically fallen in love with Dr. Facilier ever since.

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This one was sort of reference-less. I completely forgot about his cheekbones ^^' I was also trying to make it look as though he just appeared in a poof of smoke, but need to practice more with that....


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This was taken from a quick sketch I did in my notebook, although I chopped and changed it A LOT in Photoshop. There was just so many things wrong with it.


And now for a sketchdump. LOOK HOW F**KIN' HUGE HIS HANDS ARE!!
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These were referenced from YouTube videos. This guy is so much fun to draw!

Oh aye, one last thing. Didn't get that placement. Boo. But at least they still wanted to see a showreel of my work, so it's not all bad, right?

[The7Artist7]

Whoa haven't been here for ages (your sketchbook) I thought I had subscribed ... in fact I'm certain I subscribed! Grrr why didn't I get updates? Ahh well hmph lol

Hey hey - nice to see you still drawin and posting (cool pics!) but lets see some more of 'your' art! - try some enviros and characters and studies from life - plenty of variety!

I'll try to drop by more often - keep up the good work!

[Trisscar]

You actually subscribed for this crap?! Thank you! :D

Ok, I'll try to do less fanart and more original nonsense.

But not before I post these two!


Recently in my employability class, I'd been sketching Dr. Facilier in my notebook. One person came over to see what I was drawing, laughed and said 'Is that a leprechaun?' and then she proceeded to dance a small jig.

What. The. Smeg.

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Done in Sai.


And then the Freak stole all his clothes...

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Drawn with ink and then coloured in Photoshop.

And now for something a bit more original. Ish.

I've been wanting to experiment with digital painting for some time now, after looking at the works of my buddies em-j-akahana (http://em-j-akahana.deviantart.com/) and veggie-burgerqueen (http://veggie-burgerqueen.deviantart.com/). So here's my first of possibly many attempts.

This was originally meant to be part of a sketchdump for the Freak, but then I decided to try and give it a painty-kinda-look. Wasn't sure whether to leave it looking painted or include the sketchy outline. The whole thing was done in Sai. And, as you can see, I'd been doing a bit of (somewhat disturbing) research into 3rd degree burns to try and improve on the burns on the Freaks' face. I think I'll keep experimenting with that, because the current design sort of makes him look like he's got slices of overcooked pizza on his face.

What d'ye reckon?

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[The7Artist7]

Ok that's weird - got an email update showing your latest post but there's nothing here! cue twilight zone music... O.O;

With post 95 I like the clean lines of the fist piece - the freak in Dr. Facilier's outfit is looking like you drew it with confidence - I'd still like to see you loosen up with your work more though. I think you're getting there :)

As for pizza-face ... ahem sorry i mean more-realistic-freak faces ... the black lines are waaay too strong (if they need to be there at all?) and it's kinda weird that his hair isn't following the width of the burn - it's receding more at the thinner end? also I'd reduce his neck width a little.

For me personally I'd like to see you practice making other characters and studying a bigger variety of things - this will in turn help you get the freak character down. Try doing enviro studies and face studies of people of all shapes and sizes - look at the body in motion etc ... of course I haven't seen your latest post so I do apologise if you're already doing this!

But keep at it and basically try as much different stuff as possible! :D :painting:

[Trisscar]

Yeah, about nothing showing up.... I had tried to submit my new stuff yesterday but for some reason the images wouldn't appear. Just their attachment details, which was pretty strange. So I deleted the post and decided to wait until later. For a horrible moment, I though it was ConceptArt's way of saying 'GTFO you talentless hack!!'

Another person on a different site thought the black lines on the Freaks' face were too strong as well. Looks like I need to do more research into burns. But it's so horrible!

Anyway, not exactly a whole bunch by way of updates. These were taken from 'Dynamic Figure Drawing' by Hogarth.

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I'm going to try and make weekly updates from now on. I figure I was a bit more confident with the Facilier Freak drawing because it was stupid and I was having a laugh with it.

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As for this, I felt like doing a doodle of myself in the style of Art Speigelman. I forgot I shouldn't have a tail if I'm wearing a mask, though. D'oh!

[Trisscar]

Well, I said I would try and make weekly updates, but I haven't got a lot for this week :/

Remember that sketch of Tiria a few posts back? I've done some more sketches of her and tried to femme her up a bit, rather than have her looking like that shemale I first drew :dur: I've also included a couple of my screenshot references.

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Still need to work on it. She looks younger than she should be. I want her to look like she's in her late 20s/ early 30s.

I wish everyone a Happy Easter! :)

[Trisscar]

A couple of Bridgman studies.

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More sketches of Tiria in her iron armour.

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And a frustration scribble on Sai.

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I'm trying to work on a digital painting and it's not working out very well. Anyone know 'Digital Painting for Dummies'?

[The7Artist7]

Hey Triss - this is great!! Studies and more characters :) ... I would comment on the anatomy/proportions of the Tiria sketches but I'd like to see how much you can work out yourself! :D try finding photos of a similar body-type lady from a magazine, film stills, teh internetz or whatever and compare - see if you can spot things to tweak and post your results :painting: :lounge: :yayca: Keep it up and also try doing photo studies or studies from life and push them as far as you can :D

Digital painting? draw draw draw - start simple and gradually push that further. What is it you're having difficulty with?

[Trisscar]

Ach, it's just trying to get to grips with it. I think painting characters digitally is my main problem. Like when I try to do shading, it ends up looking like mud has been smeared under the characters' chin and face.

I did do a little painting of a Pokemon to try and practice, but I don't think that would be a good thing to post here XD

[Trisscar]

Woops, late update ;p

Being doing some muscle structure sketches.

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Going to be doing some more of these.

Now, as for these, would you believe me if I told you that these were actually done in late 2003/ early 2004? I can't remember the exact date I drew these because I had a very bad habit of not signing and dating my work when I was younger :( So now I've done it digitally.

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This was part of a human anatomy project back in college, where we had to study Gray's Anatomy and choose to draw either the structure of a hand or a foot. I chose a hand, obviously.

I hadn't scanned it in before because it was pasted into a big A2 sketchbook. I'm currently doing some anatomy studies and I decided to look at this for inspiration. Then I decided to take its page out of the A2 sketchbook, scan it and submit it. I couldn't take the mounted drawings themselves out of the sketchbook for fear of tearing them, if you understand what I'm talking about.

I think these are actually two of the best drawings I've ever done, now that I look back at them. They also make me wonder 'What the hell happened?'

[Trisscar]

I'm trying to decide on the body shape for the Freak, using a torso from characterdesigns.com and an image of a leather trench coat as a reference.

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This is a burberry prorsum leather trench coat.


Some more torso sketches, again referenced from characterdesigns.com.
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[Trisscar]

Some perspective practice, using 'Perspective Made Easy' by Ernest R Norling.


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[Trisscar]

I felt nostalgic when I heard about the release of Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver.

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This painting was a request from one of my Dad's friends at his Rotary club three years ago. He asked if I could do a painting of the ruins of an old flour mill beside his farm, so I visited the place to take some photos for reference and produced this six months later (not because I'm slow, but sometimes I just got frustrated with it.)

I've just recently uploaded it onto art sites I usually visit. I tried taking photos of it in the past, but I'm not a great photographer, so I forgot about it until recently. I scanned it into my computer in two parts and joined them together in Photoshop. You can see the line near the middle where the two halves join.

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The photo I used for reference. I left out the bunch of branches on the ground because I felt they were too difficult for me to paint.

[The7Artist7]

Great work Triss - you're progressing! With anatomy studies try to remember practice quick loose studies too that focus on shape rather than details. You're dudes are still quite feminine and Females still quite dude-ish :/ you're gettin there though keep at it!

Awesome! You're diving into perspective studies!

The Pokemon pic is cute but that last painting is pretty crazy! I hope they liked it as you've obviously put a ton of effort into that! My only crit really (you probably don't want to hear) is to pay attention to the lighting as it's looking a bit flat :painting:

Rock on! :rocker:

[Trisscar]

I hope they liked it as you've obviously put a ton of effort into that! My only crit really (you probably don't want to hear) is to pay attention to the lighting as it's looking a bit flat :painting:

Rock on! :rocker:

I DO want to hear crits! If I didn't, I would've stayed on Fanart Central and DeviantArt! That painting was done 3 years ago, but let that not be an excuse.

I shall do as you suggest and keep working on my figures :yayca:

[The7Artist7]

No problem :) always do my best to give some constructive feedback when I drop by :)

I just thought of a photoshop challenge for you! Take the flour mill painting put it in photoshop and add a new layer above - use this layer to work on improving the lighting as best as you can! See how well you can do and have fun - work with quite large brushes and don't get too detailed!

[Trisscar]

Oh crikey 0_o' But I shall accept your challenge! Um, no strict deadline though, please, because I've got a gig to illustrate a children's book coming up. I'm not sure when exactly because the woman in charge has yet to get it all sorted, but I'm still excited about it! :D

[Trisscar]

I don't have much by way of updates this time. I've been suffering from a lack of drive recently.

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This is a WIP of an art trade between me and a girl on Fanart Central. She asked me to draw a couple of characters eating in a pizza parlour. Doing the furniture in perspective is simple enough, but drawing the characters in perspective is going to be a bit tricky.


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A quick drawing of Bitey skidding to a halt after bouncing at top speed. Going to add an environment and colour it in later, plus redraw Bitey a little. It wasn't until some time after I submitted it that I realised the proportions are a bit skew-whiff.

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And lastly, another quick drawing. Lexington from Disney's 'Gargoyles.' I'm not overly pleased with his legs :\ Drawn completely in Sai.

[Novbert]

Whoa, someone is definitely on the right track here. Not too much to crit except from things The7Artist7 already mentioned: In the first stage of drawing you really should let loose and concentrate on major action and contour lines of tha figure rather than on drawing anatomically correct body parts. Same applies to 30sec drawings. You can't possibly draw the whole figure with correct anatomy in 30 secs so you should rather focus on drawing the whole figure than on anatomy. You can check my 30 sec stuff here (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2500334&postcount=184)to see what I mean.
:yayca:

[Trisscar]

Novbert: Ok, I'll keep practising :) Thanks for linking me to your examples.

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2nd WIP of the pizza parlour drawing, an art-trade with a girl on Fanart Central. Drawing characters in perspective is a bit tricky. I'm unsure of what to have showing through the windows.

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This is the main character from my favourite "Kingdom" story in 2000AD, Gene the Hackman. He's supposed to be wearing a backpack and wielding a pair of blades, but I omitted them because I wanted to focus on his muscle structure.

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I'm not good at drawing rounded objects :C

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This is more of a joke than anything, after so many Darth Maul comparisons :D A girl on DeviantArt thought I was inspired by Darth Vader when I did this, despite me clearly stating this was Darth Maul inspired -_-'

[Trisscar]

Just one update before I go on holiday tomorrow.

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I repositioned Bitey's head because I felt as though it looked it wasn't attached to his shoulders in the previous sketch. Also moved his right arm down a bit.

I'm going to be on holiday from the 12th to the 26th. If I don't update for at least a month after that, I've either died or gotten stranded. I seriously hate flying and I'm not looking forward to having to endure two and a half hours of sheer terror. It was my Mum who booked this holiday, not me, and she's making me go. It's impossible to argue with a doctor.

[Harmageddon]

Good to see you are still working at it, Trisscar.
You're definitely improving, and you've gotten some very helpful advice already.
If I'd emphasize anything I'd say : loosen up your sketches/line work.
It gives a much more organic feel to your drawings, more playful, more pleasant to look at and *bonus track* it improves your line work considerably.

And when you move on to the finishing stage, you'll be cleaning up the lines anyway, so you will end up with crisp, clean drawings, that have underneath them a basis of playfulness and style.

You're on the right track.

[Trisscar]

Thanks, Harmageddon :)

I'm back from my holiday and still alive, despite having to endure irritating delays going to and from Majorca. I did some sketches while I was away, in my awesome little moleskine sketchbook I got for my birthday.

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All in mechanical pencil. I tried to do them quickly and not be so anal about small details.

[Trisscar]

So much for the weekly updates plan! :D

This is a sketch of one of my favourite restaurants. About that thing on top of the cabinet... there are weird little pasta-shaped characters dotted here and there around the restaurant :P They're a bit silly, really.
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A few quick sketches of people. I feel a bit uncomfortable doing these since I have to take a good look at people before drawing, and I'm afraid in case some kid screams 'MUMMY THAT WEIRD GIRL KEEPS STARING AT ME!!'

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[hunter_info]

nice sketches ..
great studies .. specially your anatomy studies ..
keep going up !!

[Trisscar]

Here's that pizza parlour drawing finished.

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I've also had a small glut of requests recently on another site. One guy asked me to draw his character 'The Killer' locked away in a dungeon.

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A girl asked me to draw Tom Kaultiz of Tokio Hotel fame for her.

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Also, just for shits and giggles, I joined a contest where you just had to draw any Pokemon you liked! I always thought Machamp was pretty badass with four arms. Two arms to hold you in place while the other two beat your face into raw hamburger meat. Unfortunately I buggered up the lower right arm, even though I tried to fix it in the coloured version.

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Lastly, a just for fun sketchdump of Freddie the Frog :)

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[Trisscar]

For some reason, this one wouldn't upload in the previous post. This is another request picture from a guy who asked me to draw himself giving Tom Kaulitz a hug.

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[Trisscar]

A couple of ten second studies.

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Studies of the female anatomy, taken from an article featured in the anatomy edition of ImagineFX magazine.

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Some thumbnail sketches of a Halloween picture I'm planning: Pumpkin Jack in his pumpkin patch, holding up a flaming pumpkin head. I'd love to do a digital painting based on one of these.

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[Trisscar]

More 10 second studies.

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[Trisscar]

Another couple of ideas for a Halloween picture.

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[Trisscar]

This is a study of a skull from p266 of 'Gray's Anatomy'. As I was doing the lineart, I tried not to lift my pencil from the page, but you can see the places where I went into sketchy mode :P


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[Trisscar]

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The face is pretty much complete.

[Trisscar]

Finished skull study. Or at least I'd like to think that it's finished.

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[Trisscar]

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A few quick sketches of Pumpkin Jack. I'm enjoying drawing him :) Also developing upon a previous thumbnail where Jack is perched on top of a large pumpkin, experimenting with his "skeletal" structure and trying to think of a better outfit for him rather than just a jumper and trousers.

[Vertical]

Thanks for the comment! Looks like you're working hard to get better and on the right track. You might want to try this (http://pixelovely.com/tools/gesture.html) in place of posemaniacs for gesture drawing. It's sort of impressive that you can get down the gestures in such a short time, but I don't think limiting yourself to 10 seconds is necessary. Ten seconds gives you the right idea, instantly capturing the gesture without getting lost in detail. Try to do that with 30 seconds. Keep it up!

[Trisscar]

Thanks much for the link, Vertical :)

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Just experimenting with different clothes for Jack. It started as a drawing in my sketchbook, but then I thought it would be easier to scan it into Photoshop and duplicated it as many times as I saw fit.

I liked the idea of Jack wearing a long coat and trousers tattered and torn. As I progressed, I thought that Jacks' clothes were beginning to look a bit Elizabethian, so I decided to see how that would look. I kinda like it.

Granted, he's beginning to look a bit like Billy the zombie from 'Hocus Pocus' but sod it :P I'm also making his stick-skeletal structure more like that of Jack Pumpkinhead from 'Return to Oz.'

[Trisscar]

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My somewhat rushed Halloween picture. Sketched on paper, cleaned up in Photoshop and the rest was done in Sai.

I know his left leg looks weird, but his pelvis just consists of one thick stick.

[Trisscar]

I felt like drawing something fun, so here's Clopin to mix things up!

Drawn completely in Sai.

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[Trisscar]

My first attempts using the Gesture Drawing Tool. I panicked a bit in the first one :P There was just more in the photos than there were in Posemaniacs.

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[Trisscar]

I'm trying to apply for a vacancy at a company that specialises in humorous greeting cards, and they asked for a piece of work based on the caption 'You're only young once... but you can be immature all your life.'

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I've gone for a more cartoony look rather than put so much blood and sweat into it.

Pen + Photoshop

[Trisscar]

Halloween may be over, but I've been wanting to do some drawings of Billy the zombie for a while now.

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A few just-for-fun sketches after finishing that previous drawing. Billy Butcherson is from an old Disney movie called Hocus Pocus. He was the lover of the witch, Winnifred, until she caught him sporting with her sister, Sarah. Winnie killed Billy by poisoning him and then she stitched his mouth shut to prevent him revealing her magic secrets, even after his death. Winnie raises Billy from the grave 300 years later to force him to carry out her bidding.

Luckily, Billy isn't the shuffle-around-searching-for-brains-type zombie. He just wants to go back to sleep.

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Billy is (c) of Disney

[jellyswirl]

Wow I love all the details of the pencil sketched skull on top of the page.And I can definitely see your getting better with your digital work compared to your first page ^^.

[Trisscar]

Thank you, Jellyswirl :)

Here be some Bridgman studies.

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[Trisscar]

I'm probably going to regret this later, but sod it XD

I was "inspired" to make this atrocity after watching a voice meme on YouTube by Canadian-rainwater, an artist on DeviantArt. One of the questions of the meme was 'What was the last thing you listened to?' and for an answer, she puts on her Clopin Halloween outfit and starts dancing to Adam Lamberts' For Your Entertainment!

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I am a sad, strange little woman...

[Trisscar]

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It's been about 5 months since I last drew the Freak. I started drawing him again a couple of days ago and when I finished the top left drawing, I thought 'Who the hell is this?!' He looked so different from the last time I drew him. I did say in the past that he was due to change, but even I wasn't prepared for this!

As I continued, I started thinking that he was beginning to resemble the character Mani from Brotherhood of the Wolf, so I used some clips from the movie as a reference for the Freak's body shape (and hairline =P). I like the idea of his body being lean and muscular, but not hugely muscly.

I feel that his face looks a bit too human here, too pretty-like. I'm going to have to keep working on that.

Pencil

[HAJiME]

Wow, the improvements from the first page are immense.

Keep drawing from reference (and life when possible! MAKE it possible!) and keep letting it inform your imaginative drawing, it's working wonders.

Your characters are nice.

[Trisscar]

Thank you, Hajime :)

A couple more uploads of the Freak, then I'll go onto something else.

I took one of the previous sketches, enlarged it in Photoshop and played around with the shading and burns. Hopefully they look less like overcooked pizza now.

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Last night I drew another sketch whilst watching Brotherhood of the Wolf,
using Mark Dacascos as reference.

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I liked that sketch so much, I took it into Photoshop and tried to paint it.

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His face is still too humany for my liking, but I really like how this turned out. Also not sure what the background is all about. It just sprang to my mind.

[Trisscar]

I've been learning about the Reilly Method of drawing the human figure with my free CD from ImagineFX magazine.

I still need practice :P

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[Trisscar]

I've been a bit of an artistic flibbertigibbet as of late. I've got so many things I want to draw that I find it hard to focus on just one and I keep hopping from project to project. I've got a skeleton waiting to be finished, Bitey is in mid-leap and I want to do a couple of comics as well. Everything is unfinished!

However, I do have a couple of kinda finished things...

I'm currently (slowly) working on a new comic for the Freak, and I'm quite pleased with how this particular frame turned out. I've never attempted to do a cityscape like this before. I still have a few issues regarding scale, however.

If you look closely, you can see the characters' outline as he jumps from the taller building. And I apologise for the corny shop name. I couldn't think of anything else :P The thicker lines on the right of the page were a few practice drawings for my 'Machamp' contest drawing. And those are bits of masking tape at the bottom of the page.

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Recently, one of my mates on DeviantArt, Anime-tr-oblast-kurt, posted a journal asking people for help in designing the head of a fursuit that he's going to have made. The costume is of his Turkish wolf character, Arbuzan.

These are the initial sketches. I hate how that front view looks so derp.
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Finished design.
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Arbuzan is (c) of Anime-tr-oblast-kurt (http://anime-tr-oblast-kurt.deviantart.com/)

[Trisscar]

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I'm going to draw another skeleton since this one has so many proportional mistakes in it.

[Trisscar]

A WIP of a Christmas present for a friend on DeviantArt.

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[Trisscar]

Some slight progress. I changed his right leg, but it still looks a bit weird...

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[Trisscar]

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This was supposed to be a quick sketch of my Samsung, but then I got carried away with the shading.

Pencil.

[Devotion]

Thx for visiting my sketchbook :)

Very nice sb here, I love your cartoony style :)
I really dig those pose studies, going to do some later on too!
but...
In post #136, where are his nipples?
And the cell phone looks a bit curved, try to use a straight line for it :) (I know, it's hard, struggling with it myself too...)

Those were the only crits I could give ^^

[Trisscar]

In post #136, where are his nipples?

Oh bugger! I can't believe I forgot them X( I don't suppose that saying he's a Disney character is a valid excuse, is it? Right, I won't forget them next time!

And I'm going to try my best to draw straight lines without going spazzy. I've just read about a drawing exercise to help with that: you draw a dot on a page, then draw a line heading towards it from another part of the page without looking at where the line started from. Simple enough, I suppose.

Thanks much for your input :) I greatly appreciate it!

[Trisscar]

Christmas present finished!

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For my friend Legendbourne on DeviantArt (http://legendbourne.deviantart.com/) His character Ezra, who has the ability to see several hours into the future and control his aura in the form of blue fire.

A safe and happy Christmas to everyone!

[turtlecracker]

Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook. =] Wow, I can see that you've made some progress from page one to the most recent picture.

Hm, looking at the WIPs for Ezra there, I think the one in post #143 looks a bit more balanced, although the legs are a bit too short. For the edited leg, I would have tried to turn it a bit inwards, so that the knee would point towards the viewer.
His right arm (to our left) looks like it's a bit dislocated when the chest is turned like that. I don't know if you used a reference for the pose or not, but either trying the pose yourself or using a model can really help in finding out what feels awkward and what can work.

=] Let's both work on doing more studies and improving in 2011!
Happy new year!

[Trisscar]

Turtlecracker: Belated Happy New Year to you! Likewise, thank you for visiting my sketchbook :) I think I'll redraw the Ezra one since foreshortening and pose are fail. Plus, the guy I drew him for said that he ought to be a little chunkier.

Here's a few drawings and sketches I did over the holiday.

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Here, I was playing about with my scanner options, trying to make the lineart look a bit cleaner.
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And this piece of nonsense was inspired when I watched Canadian-Rainwater's Topsy Turvy vlog bloopers on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8yR_Fh2vZM
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[Trisscar]

This isn't really any more accurate than the last one, but at least I got it all on the page this time. When I started sketching out this one, I didn't realise that I had started too low on the page until I got right down to the toes. So I transferred the lot onto tracing paper and shifted it higher up the page.

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Also, molskein sketches! On the left page are sketches of a lich from the Elderscrolls Oblivion, the other is failed observation. I was at a seafood restaurant with my Mum on Thursday and I tried to draw part of the table next to us. I didn't do very well. The plate, cutlery and glasses are too close together.

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[Trisscar]

Thumbnails and a rough sketch of a new picture involving Pumpkin Jack.

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[Trisscar]

I'd been wanting to give Jack more of a horror edge, so I'm experimenting with making his body look like a skeleton made out of sticks. Not a complete skeleton, just a few parts like a ribcage.

This was supposed to be a sort of experimental sketchdump, but I really liked the evil laugh pose and developed it further. So you've got naked Jack and clothed Jack ;p

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[Trisscar]

One of my New Years resolutions was to try and draw my own birthday cards, thank you cards, etc. This one is for a friend of my Mum's. I just added my signature to it digitally to post it online.

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Pen + Coloured pencil

[Trisscar]

Developed the previous sketch of Pumpkin Jack further.

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[Trisscar]

Something I did for fun after watching Hellfirecomm's commentary on Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. During the first part of the movie, NTom and The Helldragon wondered why hardly anybody on DeviantArt has drawn a Charizard wearing battle armour. I had a quick search myself and there are a couple of pictures, but not a lot. So I decided to contribute!

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Granted, I'm not very good at designing armour. I've tried to make it look feasible, but the neck guard still looks a a big neckbrace. The idea is to not only protect Charizards' neck and throat, but also allow for movement. The parts sticking out at the back of the neck are for a rider to hold onto, because I think a Charizard would be used more for aerial assaults rather than fighting on the ground.

I used the Pokemon manga as a reference for the Charizard here, since they're much more badass than in the cartoon.

[Trisscar]

My sketchbook has been taken over by mice!

I'm entering a contest by Corel where you have to choose one of Aesop's Fables (or anyone else who's written fables) and either create one illustration, a series of illustrations or an animation. I've chosen to do an illustration for Town Mouse and Country Mouse.

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At the beginning, I tried drawing a mouse without reference, but as I progressed, I felt they looked too much like rats. I went onto Google and found a good few images to draw from and get the body structure right. Then I moved on to giving the mice clothes to depict their social status. I went for a sort of farmer look for the Country Mouse, with a bunnet and a neckerchief. I was inspired by the way farmers were drawn in British comics from the 1940s.

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The winner of the contest gets a copy of Painter 11, but I'm not doing this with a view of winning. I want to be a bit more sociable in the art world by entering more contests and letting more people see my work.

Pencil

[raminafshari]

i like your style ... your drawings are clean .

[Trisscar]

Raminafshari: Thanks so much for stopping by :)

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This is the work in progress of my entry for Corel's Fables competition. I chose to illustrate the interior of the Country Mouse's home, which is a small grass hillock. I imagined it to be like one big room with all the furniture and stuff arranged around it, and roots protruding from the walls.

I had to darken the contrast of the image so it could be seen properly. It looked pretty faint when I first scanned it into my computer.

I'm not really sure how I should proceed with this. I was thinking about copying it onto another sheet of paper, inking it then colouring in Photoshop, but what to use? Cel-shading? Paint? I'm not very good at painting fur :C Oy, so many possibilities....

If anybody has any critique to make, then please go ahead.

Pencil

[turtlecracker]

I adore that little picture frame hanging from the root by the fireplace. It's a really nice detail that I didn't spot at first.

You know what? My imagination began running amok when I saw the latest picture. I thought I had completely run out of creativity lately.

I think the room looks a bit empty, possibly because there's so much floor space that isn't used. I also think you could try to lower the ceiling, to make it seem cozier, but at the same time maybe bit too cramped for the Town Mouse.
You could try to emphasize that they're in the country-side. You could do something like making the furniture look like they're made of things Country Mouse found or made out of things from nature, while still keeping that human-like feel you get with the tools, the fire and the little garlics hanging by the fireplace. His bed could be placed in a little dug out hole in the wall, and the same with the food shelves. The table could be made out of the bulge of a tree root sticking up out of the floor, or maybe a flat rock. It could even be a wooden bobbin taken from the nearby farm.

I think you should try painting, if only because it'll push you out of your comfort zone. (... am I a hypocrite for saying that to others when I'm afraid to do so myself? Possibly... ) When it comes to fur, remember that you don't have to paint every single strand of hair, but just enough texture that you get the appearance that they've got soft fur. Look at your references and try to figure out how you should go about using shade and highlights, and think of the mice as shapes, just like you would when you paint the table, or the bed.

[Trisscar]

Thanks so much for your critique and suggestions, Turtlecracker. I'll do more experimenting with the drawing based on what you've said :)

[Trisscar]

A tribute to Brian Jacques, author of the Redwall series, who passed away after a heart attack on February 5th this year.


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[Trisscar]

Re-do of the Country Mouse's home. I like this one a lot better :)
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I've been having a busy time recently. A couple of job interviews (didn't get the first job but was offered work experience that'll start in April), a whole lot of baking for the second interview and baking for a concert organised by my Dad's Rotary club! I'm beginning to smell like scones.

I haven't drawn in all the little roots and blades of grass because I'll just paint them in digitally. There's still not a lot going on on the floor, but it's not as derelict as the previous sketch at least. There's also now a stone wash basin, a window, a slate shelf and a food store.

[Trisscar]

Finally finished, my entry for Corel's Fables Competition.
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Town Mouse and Country Mouse share a meal in Country Mouses' home, which is the interior of a small hillock. Country Mouse is clearly enjoying his food, whereas Town Mouse is not impressed.

God, this was such a headache. I have the worst time management skills in the world. This could have been a lot better if I had put more time and effort into it. Even had to pull two all-nighters to try and finish it. Now, I'm going to have a very long nap.

Photoshop

[Trisscar]

A card I made for Mother's Day.
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Unfortunately, this was rushed too. My Mum likes the flower fairy series, so I drew a little bluebell fairy for her. I looked through Brian Froud's Good Faeries/Bad Faeries for inspiration.

[Trisscar]

Trying to get back into the swing of things with some 30 second studies.
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[Trisscar]

Since it was a gloriously sunny day today, I sat outside and drew a couple of daffodils in my moleskine. And I spelled it wrong on the sketch *facepalm*
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[The7Artist7]

Hey Triss been a while - nice to see some sketches from life and they're well done too! Would be cool to see some more from you! :) Enjoyed the mouse character sketches too!

I'm seeing improvements - keep having fun!

[Trisscar]

The7Artist7: Thankee!

Heh, can you believe it? I went from unemployed schmuck to having two jobs at once! I'm now working full-time at a new arts and crafts centre, and I'm also working for my Dad (temporarily, but at least I'm earning money).

Here's another sunny day page. Studies of pansies using a faber castell brush pen, for the top sketches, anyway. Then I switched to a medium pen for the rest.
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This is Ichabod Azrael from 2000AD. Taken from prog 1683, but there's a bit of a style clash going on. I wanted to use my style, but some of the strips' own style crept into my fingers. Oops :P
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Lastly, a quick Sai drawing of HAZARDouszilla's character, Cleaver (http://hazardouszilla.deviantart.com/). He's some form of weird, anthro bat, but here I couldn't be bothered including his wings. I just wanted to draw something fun.
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[MrHuffer]

Hey thanks for the comment on my sketchbook. Good stuff here, like that skeleton study which looks pretty great. keep.it.uup!

[Trisscar]

MrHuffer: Likewise, thank you for visiting my sketchbook :)

Some sketches of Bitey of Brackenwood, done at work when the shop was quiet.
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A few "quickie" drawings, done in Sai. First one is Kom from A Monkey's Tale or Le Chateau de Singes, a little known French animated film from 1999.

In the movie, rebellious teenaged monkey Kom is fed up with the superstitious beliefs of his tree-top dwelling tribe and wants more from life. But when he falls from the trees and is discovered by another tribe of monkeys, he gets more than he bargained for!
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Next is Marco from Shaman King. This is taken from volume 13 where Marco is comforting Lyserg. I actually had a bit of difficulty doing this since my fingers kept screaming 'No! The anatomy is wrong!' I really had to fight against everything I just learned about drawing human anatomy properly!
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Last one is Hotsuma from Tenchi in Tokyo. Copied from a screenshot. I love how Hotsuma looks, but it's too bad he's a knob.
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[Trisscar]

Some studies of different blades, randomly found on Google images.
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Sketches of the character Claude Maric from the Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. He'll be Tiria's eventual love interest when I finally make my fan comic.
I'm having a bit of bother drawing Claude's stubble without making it look like a scribbled or dotted mess :( It's the sort of look when a man hasn't shaved for one day, not the furry chin look.
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I've been practising drawing male and female bodyshapes, particularly that of Claude and Tiria. It's a bit weird that most of the characters in Oblivion have the same height and bodyshape.
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[Trisscar]

Practice with 1-point perspective.

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I've been on holiday in Spain and I attempted some sketches of buildings and cafe scenes, but didn't get to finish them. I took a photo of them so I could try and finish them in my own time. This one has the most work done on it. I would've finished it, but my Dad was with me at the time and, after an hour of me sitting sketching, he demanded that we go and have lunch :D

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Unfortunately, my sketchbook got a bit bent in the rucksack on the journey home :C

[Trisscar]

More holiday doodlings featuring Claude and Tiria.

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The top right sketch of Claude is supposed to be swinging a glass mace, but I haven't done it very well. Also, glass armour is a tricky beast to draw. I had to finish off the armour when I returned home because I couldn't remember what it looked like :\

I know the sword Claude is holding isn't very good, but I was focusing more on the armour than anything.

And some Gargoyles fanart. Brooklyn!
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Sai.

[Trisscar]

I wanted to draw a different view of the Freak in his "straightjacket" attire. I've really neglected drawing him as of late. Must stop doing that. I'm also trying harder to highlight his form and muscle structure better rather than making him look flat.
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...Ok, ok. I really just wanted to draw his butt =P
Sketched in pencil and inked in Sai

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Study of polar bears for a (hopefully) digital painting based on a scene from Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights.

Photoshop

All images were taken from Google.

[Trisscar]

More sketching for my Northern Lights piece. Iorek Byrnison, with the Google reference up in the corner.

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To be honest, I don't know if polar bears can wrinkle up their muzzles like that, but can I use the excuse of artistic license when I say that it just looks kinda cool?

[Trisscar]

I'm not sure I really know what I'm doing when it comes to digital painting, but I've tried to just wing it here.

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Critique would be greatly appreciated!

[Trisscar]

A wedding anniversary card I made for my parents recently.
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And a birthday card for my soon-to-be-sister-in-law. She and my brother have a pet tortoise, so I decided to put a pretty bow on him! I think he turned out a little creepy, though, rather than cute.
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[Trisscar]

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I never was all that happy with the first painting, and when I was told about the AOI's Images 36 competition, I saw it as an opportunity to improve the old painting.

I'm a lot happier with this version, but unfortunately I had already sent it away as a contest entry when a friend on another website pointed out some depth and perspective mistakes. D'oh!

[Trisscar]

Totally forgot to post this one...

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I had done some practice with painting mice in Photoshop in preparation for improving the Town Mouse Country Mouse painting.

[Trisscar]

One of a few requests from my friend legendbourne on DeviantArt. This is the Karu-Lim Grunt, an armoured ninja. Legendbourne wanted an undead/demon design to the Grunt's armour and mask, so of course the first thing that popped into my head was Japanese culture.
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I reckoned that the Grunt couldn't wear too much armour, otherwise he wouldn't be able to be as acrobatic as a ninja should be. Plus, it would be really crap if he were sneaking up on a target only to be given away by a sudden 'CLANK!'

The last sketch was supposed to be the generic fold-arms-and-look-menacing pose, but now that I look at it, the Grunt looks as if he's just cold.

If the text is too small to see, a bigger file exists here: http://sagaxus.deviantart.com/art/Karu-Lim-Grunt-Development-257502796

[Trisscar]

I had decided to take part in a contest over on Fanart Central titled Dance the Night Away, where all you had to do was to draw your favourite characters dancing (derp).

I chose to draw Tiria and Claude, wearing the posh attire in Oblivion.
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A friend pointed out that Claude looked as if he was twisting Tiria's wrist painfully rather than gently holding her hand, so I redrew it several times in order to try and fix it.
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Not exactly perfect, but handses are hard :( Moan, moan, whinge, whine. And unfortunately I didn't have time to include a decent background. It seemed like everything and everyone was out to try and stop me finishing this in time for the contest deadline! So much so I had to request an extension. Chores would suddenly pop up, errands demanded to be run, and computer-illiterate parents wanted to use my computer. FFFFFFFFF.

[Harmageddon]

hey Trisscar,
looks like you've made some progress :)
As for the last picture, I suggest to make Claude's hands bigger (especially his left hand) You could practice some poses from posemaniacs (www.posemaniacs.com), the 30 second drawing tool (or 60 or 90 seconds) is great for quickly sketching human bodies, both male and female, in all kinds of stances. This should help you understand the human form easier. I'm practicing with it, and it seems to work, slowly :)

[Trisscar]

Thanks, Harmageddon :)

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A couple of sketches of Gene the Hackman from the 2000AD story, Kingdom.

I've been feeling somewhat down recently because of my lack of success in my job search, and I just hadn't been inspired to draw anything. I'm trying to get myself back into a routine, starting off with a bit of copy work for fun.

I actually drew these on a big scrap of wallpaper that I had been using to help me with a bit of perspective work. The one on the left is from the Call of the Wild story arc, and was inked with pen. The ink went a bit spidery as I worked, though. The one on the right is from the Promised Land story arc, and is just pencil cleaned up in Photoshop.

Gene is (c) of Dan Abnett and Richard Elson

[Trisscar]

This is for a birthday card for one of my Mum's friends.
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I thought it would be good to do a tonal study of this rose before I go on to colour it. I won't lie, I had to copy from a Google image since I'm not good at drawing roses from memory :\ http://www.justourpictures.com/roses/imgs/valentinesdayredrose.jpg

Pen + Pencil

[Trisscar]

WIP of the rose being coloured.
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I didn't want to use black for the shading because I thought it would look a bit muddy.

Goddammit, it looks a lot smoother in real life than it does after being scanned, honest!

[Trisscar]

Second progress shot of the rose.
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I wish my scanner had a neck, so I could strangle it.

[Trisscar]

The rose finished.
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