exon's fruity perilous badass conquest

[Exon-Ion]

Greetings, fellow inhabitants of conceptart.org :)

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Amit, I'm 17 years old and I'm from the United Kingdom. I'm new here, well not exactly, I've been skulking around on this site for around 2-3 years never really thought seriously about creating my own sketchbook until now. This thread will act as my personal archive, with all of the ups and downs from the beginning of my journey right through the end. I really should have done this along time ago, but they no use to lament over lost time, it looks like I've got alot of time to atone.

During my time on this site, I've seen alot of work and dedication from professionals and self-taught artist alike, and it extremely inspiring. I to, would like to reach my dreams and goals. I always had a habit of making sketches and scraps, you know the usual stuff, like doodles and graffiti. I've only started taking art seriously over the past six months, drawing at home, drawing during lessons, drawing during bustrips, drawing during lunchbreaks, just whenever I can really.

Which pretty much explains my presence here, in time I hope to improve my craftmanship and also my imagination. I'll appreciate every critique, advice and comment that I'll recieve.
Thank you CA. :yayca:

I'll try to update as often I can,
well, here I go. :confident

Heres some pages of 30 second poses I did off posemaniacs, suffering from poor proportions. I've spent the summer going through the human body briefy, from the superfical muscle layer to the bone.

http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0007.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0008.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0009.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0010.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0011.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0012.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0013.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0014.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0016.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0017.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0019.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0020.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0021.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0022.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0023.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0024.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0025.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0026.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0027.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0028.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0030.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0031.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0032.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0033.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0035.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0036.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0037.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0038.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0039.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0040.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0041.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0042.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0043.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0044.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0045.jpg

Also a value study I did, well it isn't exactly complete. Got to get out of the habit of blending/smudging, whatever you want to call that method it. My pencil rendering definitely needs way more practice.

http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0097.jpg

[stormrider85]

great blending on the value study , i still cant get smooth blends like that with my pencil stuff, would love to see it finished good stuff

[Exon-Ion]

stormrider85, thanks, I still need to work on that, can't seem to get a smooth graduation without the aid of blending materials.

Well, heres some more 30 second poses and a few pages of value studies.

http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0046.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0047.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0048.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0049.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0050.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0051.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0052.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0053.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0054.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0055.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0056.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0057.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0058.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0059.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0060.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0061.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0062.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0063.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0064.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0065.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0066.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0067.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0068.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0069.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0070.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0071.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0072.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0073.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0074.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0075.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0076.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0077.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0078.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0079.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0080.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0081.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0082.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0083.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0084.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0085.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0086.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0087.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0088.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0089.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0090.jpg

http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0004800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0005800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0008800x600.jpg

[stormrider85]

the values and blending on the last skull studies seem right, what pencils are you using because it looks like your using some light then something really dark, id suggest using some H pencils with even pressure then going from like a 4h to a 3-2h then layering over to get nice smoother blends.

keep the studies going

[Exon-Ion]

stormrider85, yeah your right, I used a 4B then jumped to 2B without varying the pressure, impatience got the better of me, and thanks for your tip, I'll try that.

Today's stuff, some more 30 sec's and pressing on with Bridgeman studies.

http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0091.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0092.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0093.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0094.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0095.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0096.jpg

http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0031800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0029800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0028800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0030800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0027800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0026800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0025800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0024800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0016800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0017800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0018800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0019800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0009800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0011800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0012800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0013800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0014800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0015800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0020800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0021800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0022800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0032800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0033800x600.jpg

[Agarwaen]

Nice to see another 30-seconds-drawer :D
Thanks for commenting at my sketchbook :)
Great studies so far and great shading! I really like your drawing style.

[Scimok]

Very nice studies and gestures. The sheer number of them and how much you've improved over the course of them at capturing the forms speaks volumes to your dedication.

[Exon-Ion]

Agarwaen, When I started them, 30 second poses, they were quite a bore, but once you get going you just cant stop, and thanks.

Scimok, Thanks man, it really means a lot.

So I moved on to doing 60 second poses, much easier than those 30 secs, still struggling on capturing the form quickly, but eh', they were fun.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0001800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0002800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0003800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0004800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0005800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0006800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0007800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0008800x600-1.jpg

Some more anatomy studies
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0009800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0010800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0011800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0012800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0013800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0030800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0031800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0034800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0035800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0020800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0016800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0017800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0021800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0025800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0027800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0022800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0033800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0032800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0028800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0019800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0018800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0029800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0026800x600-1.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0014800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0015800x600-1.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0023800x600.jpghttp://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0024800x600-1.jpg

[Turbosnail]

Thanks for visiting my SB The Exon. Excellent effort with the posemaniacs sketches and the anatomy studies are coming along nicely. Keep pushing yourself my friend!!

[Jamie Romoser]

great start for your sketchbook dude
i started out with graffiti aswell, dont do much any more though
just keep at it man it all looks promising
looking forward to seeing your progression
have a good one
-Jamie

[Exon-Ion]

Turbosnail, Thanks my friend.

OmertA, Thanks for visting, I still do practice graffiti every now and then, Its a another completley different form of art, its another dimension of art in which I want to get fluent in too.

Haven't posted in a while, knee deep in school work and stuff.


It's not gona stop me though.

Some anatomy studies and stuff. Trying to focus on line quality.

http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0005800x600-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0006800x600-1.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0002800x600-1.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0003-1.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0004-1.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0001800x600-1.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0007-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0008-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0009-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0010-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0011800x600-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0012-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0013800x600-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0015-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0015-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0018-1.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0019-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0020-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0020-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0022-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0023-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0024-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0027-2.jpg
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/TheExon/scan0034-1.jpg

[greyskill]

Cool stuff here. I see you are working hard. Keep it up.

Post some more Bridgman, you do some really nice studies of them.

Thanks for the post on my sketchbook, it's really appreciated.

[swulf]

One advice that may help you to make these studies more interesting.Try different pressure when you draw lines and not always the same thickness.Experiment with different kind of lines and different ways to draw a lines.Keep up with hard work.

[Exon-Ion]

greyskill, More Bridgman?, will do and thanks for visiting. :)

swulf, Thanks for the tips and the visit, ;)

Some more 60 second poses and bridgman studies, a couple quick of life drawing done at school, need to more. You can see from from that they lack depth and form, gotto train my eye I found the experience way different from what I was used to, copying from photos and such.

And some scraps and faces I did during my school lunch break. My faces seriosly suck, even though these were reffed I find difficulty getting the features correct. I must work on that.

[Craz]

You must have the patience of an oak tree to upload all those posemaniacs.
They're really, really good, but your proportion is weak, and I think you really need to work on it. There's just a huge disparity between your knowledge/application of proportions and everything else.

[Christian223]

Excellent!. I have not seen things more imagination though, are all these drawings from reference?, try to draw from imagination to see what things you have not memorized. Drawing from imagination will be a test to see if the drawings from reference have achieved their purpose :)

Keep posting!.:asspat:

[kingkostas]

Great.Damn how i love that value study you did.Its simply great.Btw with that hard work and all these studies you are gonna do really great very soon mate.
Keep this up and thnx for stopping by my sketchbook :)

[kingkostas]

Great.Damn how i love that value study you did.Its simply great.Btw with that hard work and all these studies you are gonna do really great very soon mate.
Keep this up and thnx for stopping by my sketchbook :)

[Exon-Ion]

kigkostas, Thanks for your kind words and visit. :)

Christian223, Your right, I'll get down to doing some refless pieces, thanks for bringing that thought to my attention.

Craz, Your completely right, I must admit I find it hard to get down the correct proportions of the human figure under that time. more practice needed I guess. I've just started reading Kimon Nicolaides' Natural Way To Draw. One line caught my attention.
In order to concentrate, one can act furiously over a short space of time or one can work with calm determination, quietly, over a long extended period.

Though I'm generally a slow worker, my art teachers mocks me for that, like he has for the past 2 and a half years. :er:
I had finished my GCSE three days before the examiner was due in school, gives an idea of how slow I had worked for those 2 years, lol. :bashful:
But I'm increasing speed with quality slowly so more practice needed I guess.


Anyway, I started the digital media a couple months back so I'm pretty much noob at this stuff. So just a quick blending study to familarise myself and a photo enviro study, impatience got the better of me with the foliage.

Started doing hands today, Giovanni Civardi studies done straight with a ballpoint pen. You'' see me doing more studies in pen, permanent ink, which will hopefully force me to make first time correct lines and strokes.

And some comic strips I've done as coursework for my AS Level course, reffed from comics, pencilled and inked with Micron pens.

[FightingSeraph]

Nice posemaniacs and anatomy studies, but I think that you should study perspective, composition, values, etc.

[Pixie Trick]

Wow! That's a lot of studies! I agree that more attention to proportions is in order. Also, something that was recently pointed out to me was my lack of values in creating a form, which would apply to you as well a bit. (ie. all lines and no shading) You've already mentioned how different life vs photos is. You learn a lot more per amount of time spent if you work from life. Keep it up and you will be beating our asses in no time! :sungod:

edit: The comics look great!

[Spikings]

The amount of Posemaniac drawings are mindblowing, you're like a frickin' hurricane...especially jealour of you clean and accurate hand anatomy, it's one part of the body I want to improve upon most. You might want to loosen up when properly drawing your characters though, become as loose as you are with your PM practices to get a better feel for proportions and variances. :)

[Peetaer]

You're off to a fantastic start man! You're doing posemaniacs, Bridgman and other anatomy studies. Those three core exercises serve as an excellent foundation. A lot of beginners can often get WAY ahead of themselves and drive right into color and painting without having, at least, adequate drawing skills. You must be a good draftsman before you can really delve into the realm of painting (unless you want to do more abstract stuff).

Just keep going!!!

PS: It would be wise to include drawing from life (animate and inanimate objects) as part of your foundational exercises!!!

[Craz]

You're off to a fantastic start man! You're doing posemaniacs, Bridgman and other anatomy studies. Those three core exercises serve as an excellent foundation. A lot of beginners can often get WAY ahead of themselves and drive right into color and painting without having, at least, adequate drawing skills. You must be a good draftsman before you can really delve into the realm of painting (unless you want to do more abstract stuff).

Just keep going!!!

PS: It would be wise to include drawing from life (animate and inanimate objects) as part of your foundational exercises!!!

Seconded. I had this problem and still haven't fully shaken it.


Though I'm generally a slow worker, my art teachers mocks me for that, like he has for the past 2 and a half years. :er:


Is that because you've been working on the same piece for those 2 and a half years? :P


Anyway, I started the digital media a couple months back so I'm pretty much noob at this stuff. So just a quick blending study to familarise myself and a photo enviro study, impatience got the better of me with the foliage.

I don't know if you need this advice, but I'm going to give it just in case.

1. What program are you using? (That obviously isn't advice, but it will decide some of the specific advice I give in the future.)
2. Blending will be aided by having a brush whose opacity level is sensitive to pressure (i.e. the more pressure, the more opaque the stroke). I'm going on the assumption that you have a drawing tablet.
3. Unlike a lot of people, I don't think it's necessary to have a traditional painting background. However, I do think it's necessary to get the foundations of painting down before you dive headlong into things. The only specific way I, with my limited knowledge, can think to do this is painting from life. Still lifes are great. Start with the big forms, values and areas of colour and work your way to detail. If you can find anyone who can tell you more on how to get comfortable with the foundations, that would be excellent. For now, though, I think still lifes are the best thing for you to do. Pick one, decisive light source, set up a variety of objects, remember Big to Small and paint.


Started doing hands today, Giovanni Civardi studies done straight with a ballpoint pen. You'' see me doing more studies in pen, permanent ink, which will hopefully force me to make first time correct lines and strokes.

These are great. Make sure you're really thinking and learning what's there and not just copying.


And some comic strips I've done as coursework for my AS Level course, reffed from comics, pencilled and inked with Micron pens.

"I have no home, your war destroyed it." As far as I can tell, the person saying this or the place they're saying it from is an amorphous heap. I'm not sure how it will look after its rendered, but it doesn't really matter that much. If the silhouette doesn't tell me what I'm looking at instantly, there's a problem to fix. If it's some sort of structure, I recommend pulling the viewpoint back to give us more information if you can. Of course, this place might be set up clearly in a previous panel and linked to this panel with an identifying visual code, in which case my comment would be baseless.

I hope I've been helpful and not rude... Sometimes it's hard to ride that line. :)
I'm subscribed, so you'll probably be seeing more of me. Have fun learning.

[Exon-Ion]

FightingSeraph, Perspective, composition, values? I'll gather some books and references and start on them right away, and thanks for the visit. :)

Pixie Trick, your right about the proportions and about the lack of value studies, I'll get some done real soon, thanks for the visit. :)

Spikings, Like hurricane I wish, :}, I find myself wasting far too much valuable time, I could get alot more done, thanks for the visit. :)

Peetaer, Thanks for the kind words, dude! I'll get some still life done for sure...

Craz, My art teacher almost mocks me on my speed on a daily basis, >:{ I guess it a kind of motivation. But I dunno, I just fail to keep concentration going for longer periods of time but rather in burst, well I shouldn't exactly rush art but then When I take my time with my art, I'm just....slow,lol. :\

I'm using CS3 at the moment occasionally Painter , I know lil bit about opacity blending and stuff and little more scouting here and there and with plently of practice I'll get the hand of it...I hope.

Don't have much comic booking experience, well not any actually, these were directly reffed, from some Star Wars comics I had, but I can see where your coming from.

Oh yeah, and thanks for subcribing, gives a me a morale boost, and in future posts, be as rude as you want to be. :D Its what'll make me stronger.



Long time, no update, internet was messing up, though it seems like its behaving, for the time being atleast. I took in what you guys said and decided to give those gestures a break for now. It seem like I was rushing those poses and failed to identifiy significant landmarks and correct proportions of the figure. So I started doing some more poses but with a longer timing frame. Feels alot more comfortable.

[Craz]

FightingSeraph, Perspective, composition, values? I'll gather some books and references and start on them right away, and thanks for the visit. :)

Jason Manley's Composition download is a great one to look into.


Craz, My art teacher almost mocks me on my speed on a daily basis, >:{ I guess it a kind of motivation. But I dunno, I just fail to keep concentration going for longer periods of time but rather in burst, well I shouldn't exactly rush art but then When I take my time with my art, I'm just....slow,lol. :\

I have the same problems with sustaining concentration. I find it hard to focus on one thing for very

Remember that the key to speed is not to rush or go quickly, but to be as economical with your moves as possible. How much can you say with one line? How few strokes can you describe that figure in? Plan your next move before you do it. That might seem like it will take longer, but it should actually improve your speed.


I'm using CS3 at the moment occasionally Painter , I know lil bit about opacity blending and stuff and little more scouting here and there and with plently of practice I'll get the hand of it...I hope.

You will.


Don't have much comic booking experience, well not any actually, these were directly reffed, from some Star Wars comics I had, but I can see where your coming from.

I'm interested to hear what you've learned from the experience.
(When you entered the copyright information to upload the images, you remembered to put the copyright holder of the comic you referenced, right?)



Long time, no update, internet was messing up, though it seems like its behaving, for the time being atleast. I took in what you guys said and decided to give those gestures a break for now. It seem like I was rushing those poses and failed to identifiy significant landmarks and correct proportions of the figure. So I started doing some more poses but with a longer timing frame. Feels alot more comfortable.

Even on these longer poses, begin with quick gesture. Get something energetic, then build up the accurate pose with it as a base. Don't let the energy of the pose leave your drawing.

[Call0ps]

nice to see so many studies =) sketching helps so much to keep your curiosity alive ;) and you sir and doing it wonderfully. i would recommend to draw more from life if possible, theres more information than you brain can handle =p and those comic pages are just ace!! love them to death!
keep up the good work!

[Exon-Ion]

Craz, Thanks for the tips on speed keeping, I'll try to keep that in mind when I'm drawing. For the comic pieces I did learn quite abit about line weight and thickness when I was inking. The closer the object to the light, the thinner the lines, the further away the object the thicker the lines. It may sound odd, but I also feel as if my hand has gained more control over the user instrument, pencil, pen, etc, I dunno but its as if I can hold my wrist/hand more steadily then before when making those longer freehand hatches. I also find pencilling comic pieces a good way of practicing proportions, as their so much detail that a single mishap could just destroy the whole piece.

Call0ps, Thanks for the visit, dude! Your right about life studies, I gotto definitely put more time into doing them.


Some lame still life fruit studies I did in CS3, struggled with the apple, I guess I need to more apples. Paticularly enjoyed doing the banana, perhaps its because I like eating them... :}

[Jamie Romoser]

Great studies dude you have a really fresh Graff style :yum:
but it all looks promising fersher, You should construct your figures more before you lay down the hard lines
have a good one man
till next time
-Jamie

[Craz]

Good work on those studies. Think about setting up your subject before you start, though. Don't just plonk a piece of fruit down and start painting it. In particular, think about lighting the subject effectively. For now, use a single light source and set up a dark background (any kind of black fabric or construction paper will do) to surround your object. Place the light in a spot (consider strength of light and distance from the subject as well) that describes the form of your subject to you the best.

I'm away from home right now, so I didn't have much to improvise this with, but here's a visual demonstration. My camera's also crap for taking photos like this, as the user has very little control of exposure. Good lighting is made to look slightly worse because the camera can't handle lighting very well.
The picture on the left is what not to do. It's flat. If you drag a colour picker over it, you'll see that there's very little contrast. All you've really got is the shape of the banana, and it's not very well defined at that. It's a bit lighter than its background.
The one on the right is still not ideal, but it's a couple of steps in the right direction. The planes are better defined because the light source is deliberate and the contrast it creates is greater. The shape is more defined because there's a bigger difference in value between the subject and its surroundings.
907097

It comes down to setting up the object and your viewpoint in a way that gives the most information about it.

EDIT: Try to get a light object on a dark background or a dark object on a light background.

[Exon-Ion]

OmertA, Thanks dude, my graf still needs alot of work on though, but thanks. :)

Craz, Thanks for the advice on setting still life up and the effects lighting has, never really thought about that. but I will now, thanks to you. :)

Tried out SAI for the first time today, It was pretty fun doing a tomato study from life.

And some oil paintings which I'm currently working on, not too happy with the first one, to be honest I was'nt really sure about the skin pallete tones when painting the first one but after a few 'experiments' and try outs with different colours I'm getting more familiar with colour mixing, picking, etc.

Don't really want to go back and finish the first but I might as well as it'll count as another piece for my AS portfolio.

Also a few sketchbook scraps, done from imagination, finding it really hard to think/create something thats beyond my perception.

[Craz]

I'm guessing that the areas where light is hitting the tomato most strongly weren't as white as you've depicted them.
Second oil painting looks very promising. Keep it going!

EDIT: One more thing about the tomato lighting. I'm going to assume that the light on the left hand side is bounced light (from the table). It should be much weaker. Bounced light is never as strong as light that comes directly from a light source, especially when bounced off an area that's in shadow (the table in this case). There is less light bouncing off an area in shadow- that's why shadows are darker.

Don't get hung up on your highlights. Wait until towards the end to put them in. Get in mass light (essentially the light half of a sphere lit from one source) and mass dark (the other side) first. The core shadow (dark line that would divide the two halves of a sphere) you have running across the left side of the tomato is what signals the beginning of your mass dark. The bounced light is in your mass dark and should be darker than anything in the mass light.

[greyskill]

Wow you really work hard! keep it up!

I love your comic book pages, they have a lot of action in them, and I like your style. I would love to be able to see a complete book, that would rock!

your posemaniacs look really good too!

[Peetaer]

Keep working those forms man. Check out Vilppu's Guide to Figure Drawing if you can get your hands on it. Super helpful! Also, check any Bridgeman! Brilliant stuff.

[Exon-Ion]

Craz, So much advice....Thank you! I think when I paint I tend to see parts of the object little by little, rather than seeing the tomato as whole. Which is probably why I didn't even think of comparing the reflected light to the highlight I like you pointed out.

greyskill, Thanks man, but these comic pages were copied, all credit goes to Brian Ching, he's so awesome, but one day, maybe one day I could make my own comic book series. :confident

Peetaer, Your right, still struggling with the forms, but it'll get there, I'l' see if I can can get my hands of some of Villppu's stuff.

Some line drawing of figures I did using a charcoal pencil. Using the underhand method to hold the pencil as my art teacher suggested, I found it pretty fun and easy doing these. Focusing on improving my line economy. Hand feels alot more looser and relaxed.

Did a few more of these but camera ran out of power. >:| And these were around A3-ish, too big for my puny A4 scanner.

[Craz]

Craz, So much advice....Thank you! I think when I paint I tend to see parts of the object little by little, rather than seeing the tomato as whole. Which is probably why I didn't even think of comparing the reflected light to the highlight I like you pointed out.


That gets especially treacherous when dealing with light and shadow, as your eyes will adjust to different brightnesses.

[Ian Barker]

You are off to a great start. When you are doing studies though don't be afraid to grab a ruler or something to make sure your shapes are accurate. It's fine to measure starting off, soon you won't need to anymore. :)

[Kasei]

I really like your studies from life, they all look great! Keep up the hard work--you might try working more with mass and gesture in your figure drawings since you clearly have the line drawing technique down. Ever tried working with a thick piece of charcoal (not compressed, it's too dark to get good value easily, but actual willow bark charcoal)? If not I recommend it highly, it can be really lose and fun and you can achieve a lot of sweeping shapes by using it on its side and such to really get a feel for the motion of the figure.

Here are some decent examples of mass gesture drawings, though I'm sure you could do better: 1 (http://www.mde-art.com/art-blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/gesture-drawing-acrylic.jpg) 2 (http://artfromintuition.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/gesture5.jpg)

Keep posting!

[Nibras]

Daaaamn! This is so kickass!
Tons of awesome studies and such dedication, wooo
You're doing great, I got a recommendation for human anatomy though, do some studies from kevin chen, search figure drawing academy on google and it's a blog with tons of awesome drawings advice. Really think of the body as forms and it'll help tons.

Only advice I have is DRAW FROM IMAGINATION!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your studying all this stuff but if you don't apply it from mind then you're gonna forget it all and not make use of it, trust me! So do imagination drawings and put your best effort into them, really push them to the highest level of your ability. These should be a good motivation everytime you compare them, once every two weeks and see the improvement =]
Keep at it

[markey2d]

Draw from life A LOT!!! the rest will come.

keep it up!

[Exon-Ion]

Liffey, I had used to use the ruler, but I feel more confident now and it did help, and thanks for the visit. :)

Kasei, Theres some of that willow charcoal down at the art department at my school, I've never used it though I always wanted, well I guess I was intimidated by it , I'll get some of those figures done like the ones you showed. Thanks for the visit. :)

lilnebo, Never heard of Kevin Chen, I'll look up on that, and you right about my refless studies, I got to do more, and thanks. :)


markey2d, Your right, I'm not very good with my time managment, but I'll try to get as much life and secondary observations done with equal amounts of time.

Couple more comic strips for school, got to do more on the last one. Rushed them a little, well spent alot less on them them my previous pieces.

Also I managed to get a Hogarth study, ended up blending it with paper tortillion, I seriously have to break away from that habit, but those uneven pencil bands annoy me. :\ Paper tooth didn't exactly help me either but I guess I should stop complaining and get on with it. More Hogarth to come...

[zerdron]

you do good photo studies.

[Eddieee]

Hey man I'm 17 too! You've got a good start. You're proportions are definitely improving. My only critique would be to work on that a bit more and don't be afraid of faces. :)

[exodusparadigm]

good stuff, keep on working and working outside those comfort zones, i would kill to go back in time and get going at 17, so for me and everyone else that didn't get started that early, don't let up!

[Exon-Ion]

zerdron, Thanks man! :)

Eddieee, Nice to hear another 17 year old fighting this old war, you keep at it too, and thanks though I don't see any clear improvement in my proportions, your right about the faces, I don't have many, if any.

exodusparadigm, Oh, I'll make you and the all other guys proud, :D Or so I hope.

Some figure studies done using willow charcoal as suggested by Kasei, it's pretty fun, can't seem to get the energy in the figures they all seem to stiff. Didn't want to open any windows or doors in the Art Dep, was too cold but certainly should have, fixative started giving me a headache you'll notice the last three/four of them seem sloppy and squigglish, which was actually quite fun. So i kinda feel as if i learned a new skill, scribbles, well i always knew of it, but never actually practised figures through scribbles until today, very expressive.

And my first take on a shiny surfaced object, its not finished, it would have been, I accidentally knocked it off my computer desk, then I just kinda didn't want to finish it. I know i'm slacking on my digitals, but i'll get more done, i promise.

[Craz]

Those gestures use too many lines. Try to get them down in a few flowing, one-stroke lines. That's what will fight the stiffness.

What was your process on the spoon?

[krel]

Great to see the massive amount of studies. The comic study looks really good.
Keep it up duder!

[Turbosnail]

Hey Exon, nice updates. You've got some really promising stuff here mate, just try Vilppu's Drawing Manual (http://www.scribd.com/doc/6641821/The-Vilppu-Drawing-Manual) to help with those anatomical proportions. Keep pushing yourself my friend!!

[Exon-Ion]

Craz, I'll get some more done with fewer lines then, thanks. As for the process on the spoon i used the simple blocking in method, then blending. Thats wasn't the best spoon study, due to my laziness, but I'll get another shiny surfaced study done in the coming days.

krel, Thanks for the morale boost Krel. :)

Turbosnail, Thanks for the link pal, I definitely got to improve the proportions on my figures, much appreciated. :^^:


A enviro speedy done in painter, which took just over a hour, man I suck so badly at enviros. I didn't even want to post this up here, but i guess it's part of my long, perilous journey. More to come of these to come, oh how I love working outside these so called 'comfort zones'.

[Drew Walker]

Brilliant so far, keep up the effort ! I especially love the comics :)

I'd like to see more of your traditional paintings, plus you need to keep an eye on your proportions: This, combined with your anatomical studies will see your figure's go from strength to strength. (Loomis and Bammes have good proportion sections.)

I think that atm you should perhaps focus on traditional media painting: The lack of an undo button forces you to really think and would help you nail the fundamentals. Just a suggestion, though, I'm but a noob myself.

Bye !

[schumak]

Nice studies!

[Exon-Ion]

Loki., Your completely right about traditional painting, but I feel as if i'll fall behind with the digital world, so i'm trying to get a balance between the two right now its clear that I'm not working enough on both sides. I'll try to get some loomis and bammes done, though its hard to fit it into due to school, but i'll make time for it.

schumak, Thanks! :)

60 second pose maniacs figures, haven't done them for a while. Also a few figures done with a fineliner and a progress update on my oil painting.
I know that the tones are off, it's my first attempt at oils without using any 'flesh' tint paint. For this piece i'm using, naples yellow, cadmium red, cadmium red light, titanium white, burnt sienna, burnt umber and occasional use of scarlet lake, though I've over done in with the scarlet. I'll finish this piece with my current pallette. Its quite a nuisance using this canvas textured paper, oils dry like within a hour or so. Not exactly confident enough to do alla prima stuff, so i'm going slowly with it. Kind of afraid of how much paint i should apply.

I've read and heard that some people don't need/use any sort of factory created 'flesh' tint and that its better off creating tones without it. I've seen paintings done by student in my art dep using the 'flesh tint', which look incredible. I'm unsure whether I should continue practicing with or without that 'flesh' tint, is it just a personal preference?

[Craz]

I suggest mixing your own colours. There's no reason why you can't create a great painting with a Flesh colour paint, however, I think it's going to be easier to not use it. Firstly, flesh isn't Flesh coloured. There are all sorts of colours even in one individual's flesh. Having a palate from which you can mix a wide range of colours is going to allow you so much more elasticity to pick the colours you actually need. Using Flesh is a crutch that's going to hold you back. I really think that if you sit down and try to mix the colours you see with a limited palate (Start with three: a warm, a cool and a white) and then bring in more colours when you've pushed that as far as it will go, you're going to have a better command of colour and mixing. I also think that using scarlet is a cheap way out. Get as close as you possibly can with just a few colours, then bring in a bit of cadmium red or something if you need too.

[Tee_]

Good stuff here mate, keep up the hardwork. I'm loving the comic stuff. :D

[justcg]

so much exercise! very good! It is useful for you.

[strange1900]

wow, you started out pretty impressive and you're getting better with more and more practice. It should be really cool to see where you end up if you stick to it :)
Compliments aside I had a few questions about the longer figure drawings you've been doing. How are you aproaching them? Some of them have a really sensitive line, are you doing them as contour drawing or something like that? In other places they remind me of straight line drawing though, It's hard to tell XD I'm also curious where you're coming at the gestures from. I saw that you mentioned problems with energy-less drawings and stiff poses and I started thinking that none of the gestures seem to be drawn at the core of the movement. Are you approaching them differently or am I just not looking closely enough? If it's the former I'd like to know how you go at them. As far as I can tell you're starting with a rough outline of the figure, is that the case?

[Blondebeard]

Love the progress and work load you're putting out!

Keep it going!

[Bella DC]

Hey Exon-Ion! Thank for visiting my sketchbook! You're doing a great job so far at the rate you're going your probably going to draw like a pro in no time O_o! I really like your hand studies and may do some myself actually haha =D. Keep it up!

[mylez]

Damn man, your totally inspiring me to draw more! Great job!

[Exon-Ion]

Craz, Yeah, your quite right about stretching more colours out of a limited pallete, though I might give that "flesh tint' a go, see how it works...

Tee_, Thanks, :D

justcg, Thanks, :)

strange1900, I actually haven't drawn any figures over long periods of time. But those done in charcoal took around 3-5 mins, i usually start with the head then ust go down the body, arm, torso, legs, but they are all singled lines, so no corection,so there pretty much contours, I'm just scared with charcoal rendering. I guess I should thank you for identify a fear. :D

Blondebeard, Thanks but my work load is decreasing ever so rapidly, I'm wasting way too much time. :[

Bella DC, Thank you, I gotto do more of these hand studies.

mylez, I don't think i'm much of an inspirer but thanks! :teeth:

Some painter practice, being lazy with the shadow. Some pencils from life, finding it quite hard to see grayscale values on coloured objects, page of blind contours and a page of self portraits, inconsistent proportions, though the one of the bottom left is pretty close.

[BANDD]

nice progress, i like the comic... cool that you're doing one at such an early stage X)
i would recomend guide lines for your faces, they tend to "fall off" as you draw it. The easy way is the circle triangle and then use those lines to place the rest of the face...

great job XD

[Exon-Ion]

BANDD, Thanks, I reffed these those comic pages for school but there quite good practice, I learnt alot about inking and and the use of lines from them. Your right about the faces, need to work on them.

Small, sloppy output. Feeling quite depressed today. Found out today that some fuckers have been leeching off my bank account, lost about 100-200 quid. I was saving that up for a graphic tablet. :[

Well I'm lucky that my school has about 6 Intuos 3 tablets, letting me borrow one of them. Oh i do hope my money gets recovered somehow. :S

[Craz]

Have you alerted the bank and looked into whether you can get reimbursed even if they don't recover it?
There are some good studies here, even if you do feel that it's sloppy output. Something you should get into the habit of doing is pulling back from the image and looking at it as a whole. Get a firm grip on the ability to do this constantly while painting and work the whole image at once.
And don't listen to anyone who tells you that this can't be done in quite the same way when using digital. All you have to do is pull back from the monitor and not just your painting area.

[Exon-Ion]

Craz, Yeah i had fill some forms and stuff out, so i should get the money back after the investigation since that fool used all that money to top his phone credit up, so all of that is pretty much easily tracable through the phone company records. I do pull back when i'm painting traditionally, helps me spot the irregular trends, but i haven't actually tried that when doing stuff digitally.


Would have got more stuff done, if it weren't for coursework deadlines and stuff, but the quick it'll be out of the way the better. >:|
Started on a new oil painting, i know i have finished my other two, but i had an irresistable urge to start a new piece, this time in monochrome, wierd but interesting pose. following Craz's idea to use a limited pallete as well as a training method for value judging. Work in progress. Slow shit, maybe its because i'm applying less paint, i dont now, fun none the less. Need to do some alla primas.

[Sweron]

One thing I have to say which could improve you.

When you do some page or two of anatomy study, pick one pose you find most interesting and try to do a real qulity art out with it. I think if you (or I or anyone) work that way, you can check if you can really implement those anatomy studies to make something on your own :)

[ArteJuan]

aaa so many goodnes in studies! so inspiring man keep it up

[Turbosnail]

You've made an excellent start to post #64 and it looks extremely promising mate. Looking forward to seeing it finished. In my best Austrian/Californian accent........."I'll be back".

[GriNGo]

That drawing in 64 looks really nice - really good man, keep it up :)

[Exon-Ion]

Sweron, Yeah, your right, i need to do some slower anatomy studies.

ArteJuan, Thanks dude! :)

Turbosnail, Thanks man. *giggles at arnie expression* :}

GriNGo, Thanks. :)


Wonky photo, update on oil piece, leg needs more blending. School coursework starting to die down, increase in work load soon.

[Exon-Ion]

Some charcoal shits during i did during lunch to relieve stress, a mouse quickie, about 10 mins during break, don't like photoshop elements. And a half of a hogarth study, god i take ages at rendering.

[Exon-Ion]

Finished the older hogarth study and another...

[CarlSpringer]

love the last two rendering look stunning, real smooth

[Exon-Ion]

CarlSpringer, my pencil rendering got long way to go but, thanks. Shitty scan, i think i might reupload them without using my scanner, haven't quite got the hang of it.

Update on oil piece, damn i'm so slow at painting, maybe because its the amount of paint i slap on, i dunno, got to find a way around it immediately. Leg on the right looks wierd, need more blending though its dried. I'll try wetting it with linseed and see of that does the trick.

[Exon-Ion]

Some graffiti practice and a start on michaelangelo studies for school.

[Exon-Ion]

A start on a Jenny Saville study in oils for school...

[Exon-Ion]

a quick apple done in painter this morning, i'd finish it now but i'm like getting late for school....

[sketcheth]

Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook, man. I love your sketchbook so far, tons of progress, you're taking all the right steps it looks like. My advice to you: don't isolate your subject matter! I say this because it looks like your striving for realism and it's an extreme rarity that things are enveloped in a pure white space. Everything you observe in life is effected by the color around it, so even if you have your apple on a white table, that table's not going to be pure white. Give it a shot!
Anyways--as I said, your progress is great so far, it looks like you're learning a ton. Go with gusto!

[Exon-Ion]

sketcheth, thanks, and yes your right, i really should find appropiate photo references. Though i can't see or feel as if i'm making any improvement yet, its always good to hear that atleast someone can see that i'm making progress. :D

Some female eyes/noses done from magazines and photos, inconsistent faces and poses from imagination. Slacking too much, need to increase workload...

[CarlSpringer]

love the faces keep it coming

[Exon-Ion]

Shit faces, need more practice, but thanks Carl.

Some hands from life, done with a fineliner. Crappy update, got to push my self to pump more work out.

[greyskill]

I really like your pencil work, and that greyscale oil painting is coming out very well. You keep up the good work! You will become an amazing artist some day in the near future!

[Exon-Ion]

greyskill, That oil painting has been lying around in school for some time, being half term and that, i'll get it finished soon, and thanks.

A couple of eye photo studies. eurgh, hate doing eye lashes.

[Jamie Romoser]

hey nice studies man seeing some progression with every post
keep it up
have a good one
-Jamie

[Craz]

I recommend... *Drumroll*
Master Copies!

The Velasquez copy I have going on in my sketchbook right now is the first serious Master Copy I've done. I did a Sargent one months ago, but I had no idea what I was doing. "What are these Master Copy things for?" I had no idea.
However, now that I do have some idea, I've learned a tonne just from a half finished copy. I think copies are great when you need to improve an overall foundation.
Here's what I prescribe:
Find paintings you think are GREAT. Find paintings that you want your art to look more like. Find paintings that make you wonder just how they were done. The Master Copy is a tool for unlocking the knowledge inherent in the painting.
Copy it until it looks exactly like the original. Exactly.
Have a process. That process will be dictated by what you want to learn. Want to learn about shape and silhouette? Mark the shapes down with lines first. First the big shapes of value, then smaller, then smaller, helping you recognise how the master builds up silhouette. Want to learn about value placement? Get the drawing right, then place down areas of average value. When you have the canvas covered and it looks like a generalised version of the painting, get more specific. Say you have a big midtone area- in the original there will be (probably) a variety of midtones in that area. Block them in. Repeat until it looks exactly like the original. Want to learn about the way light works instead? Recognise the shapes that are there, then paint them with the darkest value in the shape. Build the light up onto that shape, paying attention to specularity of material and colour shift from dark to light. This will tell you how to describe form and material with light.

I recommend starting with a simple painting... you'll have to copy the simple paintings anyway, so you might as well do them now when you can handle less than you'll be able to in a couple of months.
Ideally, do it in the same medium as the original painter. I'm not for the Velasquez because of time and materials, but for my sargent copy I definitely shall. He was too much about the handling of his brushstrokes to pass up doing it in oils...

Remember to go in with and agenda and to structure your process and thinking around that agenda.
Don't just do them either... TAKE NOTES! You'll forget most of it if you don't.

[Exon-Ion]

OmertA, thanks!

Craz, master copies?, seems scary, though i'll give it go. Though i have to ask, say if I copied a Velasquez for which medium would i be better off in gaining more experience, in oils or digital? Or would it not matter on the medium?
And thanks for all that help on the different approaches, i owe you.


Tomato from life, being lazy to paint the stuff around it, unable to maintain concentration for longer periods of time.

[Craz]

I think you should do the next few still lifes in greyscale and then add colour with multiply or overlay layers. The reason I think you should is because you're not paying enough attention to the underlying values. I took a close-up of the image and drained out the colour. You can see that the values don't convey a sphere very well. You're still suffering a bit from the strong bounced light problem, but less so.
On the right hand side of the blue line is a very wuick alteration that I did in Painter. You can see how even a mildly decisive divide between a light side and a dark side improves the form.
Tip: If you're going to colour using a multiply layer, make the image about a full scale lighter first, as the multiply layer will darken it considerably.

Master copies are very intimidating, but take all the time you need to get the drawing absolutely correct, don't rush, and you should be fine.
Velasquez worked in oils, so I think there's more to gain by doing the copy in oils. Information about how to use oils is embedded in that painting. There is also plenty of information about painting which applies to all media, but there is information specifically for oils and nothing specifically for other media. Therefore, I think you can get more out of it if you copy it in oils.

[FraserMcT]

Your traditional stuff has some sexy blending. Nice persistance.
One thing I noticed about your work is that the lines can seem really scratchy. Get some confidence! Your work would look a lot better with some cleaner lines in my opinon.
Keep up the good work.

[PurplePlatypus]

Really liking your studies, keep doing them :D

I really like how you did the hands, breaking them up like that. I agree with FraserMct though, you stuff would look a lot better with smoother lines. That can be difficult though, I know I struggle with confidence when drawing them.

[kojot]

Hey Dude
thanks for visit me sketchbook :)
I think the bestway to learn how to drawing is drawing still nature
i recommend vilppu and bammes books than bridman
cheers and keep it up :)

[kojot]

Hey Dude
thanks for visit me sketchbook :)
I think the bestway to learn how to drawing is drawing still nature
i recommend vilppu and bammes books than bridman
cheers and keep it up :)

[Exon-Ion]

craz, damn your right.

frasermct, thanks, expect some more oils, i want to improve in that field pretty badly, and your right about the lines.

purpleplatypus, yeah, hands are hard, especially when using ink, but that way i'll learn faster.

kojot, thanks for the visit and the recommendations.

Just another crappy tomato still life i did today, better than nothing, i guess.

[Craz]

There's improvement since the last tomato, but you're going crazy on the really light areas. It's hard to tell exactly what you're doing wrong, but they just don't gel with the value or colour space. I think it will help if you take a photo of it from the same position as you draw it and then compare the two. It's easier to see the way things really are in a flat image. I also think you could benefit from painting a sphere. Just a simple sphere with no detail. Try to get it looking as perfectly spherical as possible. I don't know if you've tried this before, but it's much harder than it sounds.

[xinranliu]

Hello hello
For life studies I would suggest really focusing and trying to paint what you're seeing: shape, value, hue and saturation, while thinking about the logic behind it (how the form turns, how light hits the form, how the saturation of the subject changes under different lighting situations, subsurface scattering, etc etc).

Keep it up!

[Exon-Ion]

Damn, its like been nearly almost a month since my last update, exams and stuff so you know. Not much done, mostly memory work during lessons and lunch breaks, which I suck at. And a couple of inconsistent selfs. Got a few hogarth studies done, but camera ran out of batteries, and i dont particularly like scanning graphite...

[greyskill]

Heyya Exon, are you blocking out major shapes in those Hogarth inspired figures?
If you draw the position of things like the ribcage, hip, and head and figure out the proportion and angle of those first it is easier to fill in the things around them and have it all work together better.

Have you ever done any Bridgeman? I think that his stuff would be better for you at this point than Hogarth's stuff. Bridgeman concentrates more on blocking out the human figure and less on the individual muscles that make it up. I think that you would benefit from copying some of his stuff, I know the little bit that I have done has helped me!

Good Luck, and don't fret about missing posting during exams, it happens to everyone. And worrying about it just makes one miss more posts!

[Exon-Ion]

craz, yeh still suffering at digitals, i'l get some of those spheres done.

xinranliu, i dont really think when i paint about all of that stuff you mentioned, but your right!

greyskill, well i'm taking on those hogarth studies how i normally would do so for when i'm replicated anything eles, you know with the outline and then moving in with the rendering, just taking my time on those and trying not to rush em. And yeh i'v done few bits and pices of bridgeman before, on here somewhere, i finally got my self an hard back copy of his complete guide, i aim to do his stuff extensively once the exams are over....

Hogarth studies, like heavily overrendered, some da vinci stuff for school and work in progress of a piece for school.

[Exon-Ion]

Done some more to that piece for school, a3-ish...

[Louise Louisa]

Hi hi, thanks for visiting my sketchbook... And dang. It's nice to see someone working so hard. Your oils are super sexy (lol) :P

[Exon-Ion]

louise, nah, ugly oils :D

shitty flat, figure in oils, monochrome, well, payne's grey and white, couldn't find black, explains the bluish hue, anyway around 4-5 hours into it so far couldn't even fit the figure, on some wierd size thats between a4-3...

[Exon-Ion]

some bones of the arm, focusing on line quality, did some stuff for school, but its irrelevant to post it here, one exam left now, then i'll be free, free to draw....

[Craz]

Just one exam left, eh? I've got two left and a driving theory test tomorrow.

Line quality is about more than just having decisive lines. The quality of your lines is something that should vary throughout your piece. Elwell has a post somewhere about all the different line weights in various circumstances. It's things like having hard, thin lines in the light and focus and softer lines as the object recedes out of focus. There's also the constructionist element to think about. It and some of the stuff you might find in Elwell's post are covered well in this thread:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=170008&highlight=elwell+line+quality

[007-r0b3r7]

Wow, love the last two hands :)
They look great! Also, when drawing the whole human anatomy, try not to focus on individual little lines so much as the figure as a whole.
Keep up the good work!

[Exon-Ion]

craz, got one physics exam left, not looking forward to it, feel like sitting ducks, want to draw, but can't cause of the exam. thanks for the link, i'l look into it.

007-r0b3r7, thanks for the visit and the tip.

Not much done, preparing for last exam, finished that school piece, the portrait looks rubbish, shows how much i need to work on faces, nonetheless gained some decent amount of experience from it...

[Craz]

Keep up the good fight, dude!
Last piece is good, but the nostril seems way too big and the composition is unbalanced a tad.

[kojot]

hey Exon-Ion

the last studies are really nice but try analyse the model
Try to make big shapes firstly catch the gesture ad rhythm. Don't copy from drawing books but use the techniques/schematic from book to use them in life drawing or from photo :)

cheers and keep it :)

[Exon-Ion]

kojot, yeh, i goto start taking some notes and stuff from studies

some sucky bridgeman stuff...

[Craz]

Yes! Form! How are you coping with Bridgman's writing?

[Exon-Ion]

craz, so far i'm understanding the text, but i haven't gotten to deep into yet.

Some bridgman...

[kingkostas]

yo mate!!!You are doing great with these anatomy studies, so definitely keep up with them
Other than that just be careful not to totally get lost into muscles and forget to see the simplified form and proportions of the figure.
The bridgman figures are looking awesome
Keep going!!!

[Exon-Ion]

kostas, yeh, i tend to lose form of my figure when attempting to create muscles layers from memory...

some crap i did during my lunch break.

[Craz]

kostas, yeh, i tend to lose form of my figure when attempting to create muscles layers from memory...


When you're finished with a Bridgman study, try drawing the muscles into those big, simple forms.

[Exon-Ion]

craz, will do.

some bridgman and two reffed figures.

[DTP]

amazing dude...so many bridgeman studies :O

[Nenad]

The most extensive anatomy study I've seen so far. Good for you Exon, keep on! By the way, are you thinking of doing some complete human concepts?

[Exon-Ion]

dtp, thank you.

nenad, human concepts? i would if i had the skill to do so, but thats definitely one of the areas i want to excell in...

edit: yeah... sorted out the images, so now they should be the right way up. :D

[Craz]

Last post is upside-down. :)
The referenced figures from the second-to-last post look very good. What are they referenced from?

[greyskill]

¿uʍop ǝpısdn sɐʍ ʇsod ʇsɐן ǝɥʇ ɟı sǝɹɐɔ oɥʍ
:P

Those Bridgman studies are coming out really well. Keep up the good work!

Even if you don't have the skill to do a human concept as well as you would like, it might be a good idea to do one anyway. We artists can't just study all the time, we gotta push ourselves to our mental and technical limits sometimes to see improvement.

Good luck sir, have fun!

[Exon-Ion]

craz, upside down posts probably due to the lack of sleep... :D
oh and the references are taken from www.characterdesigns.com, under the photosets section under archives.

greyskill, thanks, and your right, i gotto meet my fears head on...

some bridgman and still lifes.

[GRMC]

Wow really hard working yo. at this rate you`ll gonna be pro in no time.

Really like your developing progress. keep rocking

[Exon-Ion]

grmc, 'pro',... let's hope it'll end that way.

some bridgman, wasting too many potential hours, i gotto find a way of sustaining my concentration...

[Exon-Ion]

some more bridgman...

[MattGamer]

awesome studies! that's what i loveee to see! go go go, draw draw draw!!

[Exon-Ion]

matt, thanks for the morale boost!

[ThomasM]

nice SB so far dude, really hard work and its obviously paying off so keep it up! Will definitely be back to check out some more posts and see the improvements! You've inspired me to do a value study too, thanks!

[Exon-Ion]

thomas, i've never inspired anyone else before...:D

bridgman...

[Exon-Ion]

stuff from today.

[chuck18mp]

WOW! You study a lot! :O
I'm sorta jealous now, haha
I admire your tenacity, and your works are just amazing! :)

[Exon-Ion]

chuck, nah, i dont study enough, but thanks!

today's crap.

[Craz]

Bridgman Studies are looking good. I think you need a reminder to be more confident with your lines. Get in the habit of knowing what stroke you're going to make, then making it. Stop and take a breath first if you have to. You don't have to make the stroke quickly, or even in one pass (Though you should aim for one pass if you can). Just avoid the noodling lines you get sometimes at the moment.
It's like you're being too intense with it. Loosen up and take time to get control. Be decisive. Get this down with pencils and I think you'll save yourself a lot of trouble when it comes to brush stroke eceonomy. Bridgman studies could be a good place to practice this, since he was a complete badass when it came to this stuff.

[Exon-Ion]

craz, i'm using inks for these bridgman studies for that quite reason, to force myself to make first time accurate lines, but i guess your right about loosening things up.

feeling like shit for the past couple of day, i'm slacking too much, some bridgman for now.

[ThomasM]

Looking good man, the studies are nice and the hatching on the last ones is nice and delicate. I like your idea of using ink to force ourself to do decent lines. Also the permanence of ink makes it daunting and I think its unhealthy to feel daunted by any one type of medium. Keep it up!

[Exon-Ion]

thomas, yeah ink's good, i've actually grown into liking it now,

urgh, I hate school, destroys so much valuble time, yet i always find myself slacking when i do have time. Anyways, a cube i reffed from Scott Robertson's gnomon dvd (learning a ton about value from that stuff), bridgeman and an lousy self drawing, i suck drawing from life. Gotto do that more often...

[greyskill]

Looks like the Bridgman studies are really helping! Keep up the good work!

[Exon-Ion]

greyskill, will do.

weird-ass self portrait.

[Exon-Ion]

depression....

a character from head.

[ThomasM]

Dude your SB is coming along nicely - I would crit one thing thought that applies to basically everyone: Perhaps work on your line width and weight? Upping the contrast between your pencil strokes really can add another level of depth to your sketches

[pgd]

Hey Exon-Ion. Thanks for the comments on my sketchbook. I'm really impressed with the amount of work your doing. Your improvement is impressive.

You complimented me on my gestures. If I could make a suggestion on yours, possibly try doing your gestures rapidly while taking your pencil off the paper as few times as possible.
I had a really great life drawing teacher who hammered into us that he wanted us to touch the tips of the toes and the tips of the fingers in the first ten seconds of the gesture while not taking our charcoal off the page. The gesture length was usually 30 seconds to one minute.

Also bear down harder when you're hitting a strong gestural line (outside of the thigh etc).

Anyway, keep working at it. Your progress is impressive.

[Exon-Ion]

thomas, your right, i must look further into line width and weight....

pgd, this act of getting down the tips of fingers and toes interests me first, interests me, glad your seeing some sort of progress, cause i'm not.

[Vertical]

Hey thanks for looking at my sketchbook! The bridgeman studies are looking good, nice use of hatching too.

[N E X T]

Hey - thanks for the comment :)

You are doing fine with the head&value studies.

Maybe you should focus on "make better transitions" on your value studies - they would look much better then :P

Keep it up!

[Exon-Ion]

vertical, thank you :)
next, yurp, they do look pretty blotchy...

small update...

[StolenSky]

You've got some great stuff going on here! I adore your comic pages! Keep the studies going, you're learning a lot. With the digital paints, try using broader strokes with a hard brush maybe?

Keep going :)

Sky

[Exon-Ion]

sky, thanks, i'm mostly using hard brushes,i'll use much more broader strokes now, i have realised that i tend to use smaller sized brushes all round.

[Exon-Ion]

some hogarth.

[Raffix]

thanks for coming by my sketchbook again man,
anatomy studies are looking really great and you're developing a great structural style.
the most recent hogarth heads are looking ace, the only thing i'd say is you could have pushed the contrast more in the bottom right one.
keep it up!

[Exon-Ion]

raffix, yeh, i should have pushed more into the last head, the reflected light doesn't helps either...

[Exon-Ion]

stuff,

[Exon-Ion]

pencil crap.

[offwhite]

wow dude those bridgeman studies are amazing, they're so accurate. i might as well copy from your studies instead of the book. yo if you apply the same kind of copying that you're doing in those studies to real life your life drawing is going to be out of this world. the same shapes that you're seeing in bridgman, that you're able to copy... well those shapes exist in real life too. you just need to find em and bang put em down on paper just like that. oh and thanks for stopping by my sb

[Devrak]

Hallo, thanks for the comment in my sketchbook. I don't have much to say to you other then keep doing those studies, you are doing really good. You have really encouraged me to do alot more studies. ;)

Perhaps you should do some more portraits aswell? Your self portrait is looking pretty good, doing some portraits of other people aswell would be awesome.

Using ink also sounds like a neat idea, I'll have to try that myself.

[N E X T]

Your the bridgeman studies are looking really good! & i like the head studies from hogarth ;)

[Exon-Ion]

offwhite, not quite accurate, but its getting there. Your so right about those shapes in real life, thanks for the morale boost! :D

devrak, i'm glad i've encouraged you to do more, yeh photo studies what i'm heading towards next, been avoiding that for awhile. and yeh try out with inks it'l be daunting at first but a great way to force yourself to minimise errors.

next, thanks :}

[Dipz108]

Nice studies - I think you need to look more at the fluidity/motion of the figure from imagination, (eg. #135 - nice design but very "stiff". He lacks.... expression/emotion)

[CarlSpringer]

nice bridgman studies of the face. i find his style so difficult to copy

[Exon-Ion]

dipz, argh, your so right, but i cant seem to, probably need to more dynamic figures then and thanks. :}

carl, bridgman is hard at the a start you soon get a hang of it, just forget the doubt and give it a go. :)

[Benjy]

Impressive work with all those bridgman studies. You have a really nice take on his lines.

[Exon-Ion]

benjy, thanks! :)

hogarth pencil study

[Exon-Ion]

how do i waste so much time, hogarth study

[Dipz108]

how long did this take?

[Exon-Ion]

dipz, i think about 3ish hours, hard to tell, i can't seem to keep my concentration in a continous stream so i work in breaks. trying to break that habit though. :)

a page of bridgman.

[Nartano]

Bloody hell: Such amazing lines. I want moremoremore.

[Calader]

Those are some heavy studies. :) Don't forget every once in a while(or every couple of pages or so) to do something from imagination without the ref, to check what you have learn and try to apply it. Doing extensive studies is great but without constantly applying in practice it could easily turn into automatic copying. Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to see some cool results here!

[Exon-Ion]

nartano, your making my stuff seem much better than it really is :} thanks.

calader, aieeeeeeeeee your definitely right, and thanks :)


hogarth study...

[Exon-Ion]

hogarth....

[Exon-Ion]

crappy hogarthh

[Exon-Ion]

another hogarth...

[Raffix]

looking good man! one thing: all of the head studies seem to have too big cranial masses. i havnt seen the hogarths you're studying but they look a bit off to me.
keep it up!

[batcustard]

looking good man! one thing: all of the head studies seem to have too big cranial masses. i havnt seen the hogarths you're studying but they look a bit off to me.
keep it up!

It's a hogarth thing. His heads are always slightly stylized but, they are close enough to the real thing. People tend to suggest loomis over hogarth it's all apples to me.

Is that how that saying goes?

anyways: Taking breaks isn't a bad habit really and those book studies are looking super good.

Just doing formal studies over and over and over is going to make your drawing way more solid, but doing concept work, in my experience is less about shapes and more about discovery. Most people who train too hard at one side lack the other, so maybe try to work all of your muscles evenly and turn into that unstoppable art monster you've always wanted to be.

[Exon-Ion]

haven't uploaded for a while now, the end of this 'journey' seems more of a dream than before.

[ThomasM]

Buddy your sketchbook has really come along since I last viewed it. Sorry I haven't checked up on it in a while!! I really like these hogarth studies and your "journey" is coming along nicely. You sound a bit downhearted about it, just remember to take the improvements one step at a time. If you look to see how far away the ultimate aim is then you only make the task harder.

I see real improvement, no crits here just keep up the good work

[Exon-Ion]

batcustard, mmmmmh, your right, i should get into the habit of balancing studies out.
raffix, thanks!
thomas, thanks for the encouragement.

an oil study of annibale carracci, having visited a couple of galleries around london, i'm amazed at the amount of motivation it gives out.

[Exon-Ion]

some pencil stuff, the last is a dan milligan studyy.

[Exon-Ion]

a stinky oil piece, jenny saville study, actually starting to find oils fun now...

[Exon-Ion]

more crappy oils, self portrait, first in colour, which totally reeks, with a shitload of faults, and another in black/white, had more fun with the monochrome, resembles me of me than the colour one.

[Lightpunk]

Hey Exon, thanks for the comments on my SB. Good work on the anatomy studies, you clearly are working hard on that!

I really like the fact that you write comments on your sketches. I think 'marking' your work like this is a great way to progress, but stop being so hard on yourself! Most of your recent posts start with 'this is a crappy', 'this is a stinky' etc. You've got good skills and their is clear progression in this thread so chin up!

I think perspective would be a good area to spend some time working on, and as a few people have said mix up the studies with work from the imagination. If you've not seen it, check out Feng Zhu's design school on YouTube, endless inspiration there.

Good luck!

[Exon-Ion]

lightpunk, hah i found it quite fun being hard on myself, you know I dont really want to be actually pleased with any of my work, being unstaisfied almost kinda keeps me hungry and determined to work harder to not being so crappy, just a wierd way I look of these such thing, ahhhh feng zhu, i'l look into that.

yea, some figures from life drawin, my first session, but yeh, makes me wanna do more of these and not stop and a pencil face study thing...

[Exon-Ion]

self portrait from mirror in oils, getting better at colours......kinda...

[greyskill]

Hello sir!

I'm really liking the pencil life studies in the post before last. They look nice. I think that the features on that face pencil study are really well placed and they fit well into a single face, that is often something I have trouble with.

Keep forging ahead on your path to greatness, and we can have a party when we all get there!

[Sean McClain]

great studies!

[raminafshari]

massive studies .... i see you are so busy with art .

[Exon-Ion]

greyskill, thanks,yah, a real, big party.....
sean, thanks!
ramin, nah, not as busy as I look, wasting way to much time i is.

an apple from life, yeh, i know, the bowl looks flat. ive never painted something that isnt a face or portraiture from life, it was somewhat, fun and different...

[Exon-Ion]

a coupla figures from life drawing, kinda gettin the hang of all this life drawing thing

[wunts]

I love your comix, your cells are nicely composed, do you just do it out of your head?

anyway, thanks for leaving a comment on my sketchbook, your younger and better than me :) so your not doing so bad.

[Mag-Neo]

---comix was awesome... & so as anatomy studying too..... keep posting man... :yayca:

[Seage]

Nice life drawings. Only advice would be to be more confident with your strokes. I love that shakey look you have with your lines, but id like to see it mixed with more defined strokes as well.

Keep it up yo.

[greyskill]

Heyya! Nice figure drawings.
I would really like to see some life and weight put into those though.
It would really make them pop.

You have a great grasp of the structure of the human body, way better than I do, but you really could use a better understanding of the spirit.

My suggestion is that you find some pictures or something that you feel have more life than you can see at a glance,
and then copy the gesture of those as well as you possibly can in a very short amount of time.
Do this even if you cannot get the proportions and structure correct on these...

Keep working hard! Do hard things, because what else is worth doing?

[ambujjoshi]

Wow your one hard working fella :lifedrawing:

Really great work and efforts in here! My suggestion for you would be to draw the figure from memory each time you study some. Drawing from memory helps us to think what volume or form needs to be there then compare it to the masters and note down the difference. So construct form from memory try in a different pose or angle. Also, I would suggest you to be more confident in your lines. Just trust your pencil :)

Keep it up dude!

[Exon-Ion]

wunts, nooo i wish i could do comics from my head, those were ones which i studied and copied, original were done by brian ching of darkhorse, and thaanks :)

neo, thanks!

seage, yeah, ima kinda shaky with my lines spesh when it comes to figures, i'l work on it!

greyskill, nice tip on the short timed gestures, i used to do them but havent done so for agess, guess i shouldnt get back into the habit and thanks :)

ambu, i really think im not working hard enough! my memory work is definitely on a low :(

been reallly slacking recently, just got accepted into my local university for a foundation course, starting in a few months times, so that gives me alittle boost for my motivation.
well done a coupla figures done from refs in pen, and a oil painting ima currently working on.....

[TomDeVis]

cool figure studies, keep em up !

[Exon-Ion]

tom, thanks!

some quick pen sketches of ruben piecess

[warburton]

Nice sketchbook dude, I think your sketchbook studies are paying off, great progress. A possible suggestion could be to do some painting studies, colour and black and white of the human form as well as line studies. This will not only help you with your values but also give you beter understanding of form.Keep up the good work mate ;)

[ErikR]

nice studies keep em coming