NeonDuck's Sketchbook

[NeonDuck]

2nd try, this time with a bit more knowledge about how to actually post ;)


This is mostly stuff I did recently, more stuff comin up


Constructive critique more than welcome, let's have it :)

[LtPlissken]

I am fascinated with the Mouse/House and the Car/Buildings drawings.

[BToole]

Very nice here! I live the shots with backgrounds the most! Post more!!

[George Abraham]

Love your animals.

[zerdron]

I'm enticed by your title but I can't see much nudes in here. Though..it's a great work.

[NeonDuck]

thanks guys :) any critiques?

@zerdron - don't worry, more are on their way :P

[Madice]

love the ratatouille study!

[Elz]

Great animal studies! :D Cute penguins, haha.

[NeonDuck]

This is more recent stuff. still more to scan and post later :)

[Porg]

Those life studies of the buildings and the boat are fantastic, great use of light and shade. Looking forward to seeing more of your work.
The anatomy work is really nice but would like to see it executed in the same way as your landscapes and buildings.
Edit: Just looked over your folio, incredible stuff. Highly jealous of your skills.

Thanks for your comment too, seems I rush in bit too much to get an image finished. Will remember to think more.

[Untouched24]

Cool stuff man. I really like some of those environments, they look good. Looks like you're doing a good number of studies, keep it up, and thanks for the comment in my sketchbook :D

[NeonDuck]

even more stuff!

I try to do a few drawings each day, and with my laziness in updating... well it accumulates. The "scan and upload" pile on my desk seems to get bigger every day :D

Porg: you're right, I hardly ever do "finished" pieces with characters. probably because I don't feel confident enough to sink 3 days into a single character drawing yet... but you got a good point, I should take that leap!


Thanks everyone for the comments, I was hoping for some criticism as well - otherwise I'll never improve! so let's hear it! tell me things you hate about these! :)

[JasonHickey]

Hey! You are showing a good improvement over the last year. I think you're line is becoming more subtle which is helping you a lot and your rendering skills are great.

I'd like to see some more gestural work. Gestural work helps to make quick decisions about what you are observing and can help a lot later on when you get in to more colour work. I have found that I am the opposite of you in that I have done lots of gesture but I never finish anything. :)

So we all have something to learn. :) Thanks for the comments on my book. If you need any advice on how to draw with "squiggly" lines just pop in and ask. :) (I'm not the best at it but my approach does help you learn some things about line and shape)

[NeonDuck]

thanks Jason, gestural drawing is what I'm gonna do!

in the meantime, more stuff:

[Blondebeard]

Great variety of studies you got going on here. Already seeing some good improvements.

Two small suggestions for you to try out. Try out some different strokes and lines with the pencil (hatching, smudging, cross-hatching) and try out soft-pastels or charcoal sometime to see if you like it.

Otherwise keep up the great work!

[Jesus Food]

ya i like ur wide range of subject matter, probably the fastest way to improve is not to get locked into 1 subject. as blonde beard said variations of line would help but GJ so far

[Diarum]

Holy crap......
wow that took me by surprise. Damn your so good at those life studies.
And you folio is amazing too. lol I thought my still lifes were good but damn yours are on a whole nother planet. Hope to see more!

[freakmod]

Mad skillz yo! I like the painterly strokes and rhythm in many of your drawings. The rats and environments are super. I can see improvement in the life drawings, especially the last one. Some of the earlier ones look a little scratchy but for 10 minute poses that's understandable :) Can't wait to see more.

[Metal Fingers]

Loving those enviro renders, and all the studies. keep at it.

[Jasper_]

Cool stuff man, glad to see your doing the right kind of studies, keep it up!

[Cranberry]

Great sb! Love the environments a lot!!

[NeonDuck]

And some more stuff yet again!

If you see a drop in quality it's because I've been trying to speed up and do some quick-ish gesture drawings. I can't seem to get too fast, because then I feel I'm just scribbling randomly and not learning anything. So this is as fast as it goes.

Hope this exposes some of my problems, so that you guys can tell me what they are :P

[NeonDuck]

some new stuff, mostly life drawings

enjoy :)

[Chr. Steam]

Great pencil!

[iven]

woooooooooow,...........amazing !!
Indeed great pencil,....

[Metal Fingers]

Hey man, keep up the drawing. I would really be careful about all the heavy edge lines, really try and work some feathering in there to break up the surface tension, implied lines can really add a lot to how a drawing reads with out having to stick in some values. Do you use a measuring stick while doing your life drawing? I don't use them for measuring but rather just checking alignments from one body part to another, they are really handy tools for just aligning everything and checking it really quick.

[NeonDuck]

thanks for the kind words, guys :)

@Metal Fingers: thanks, that's actually what I'm noticing lately, I think a lot more about line weight and different ways to place lines to imply certain shapes without having to draw them out.
I don't really use a measuring stick, but right at the start of a drawing I sometimes use my pencil to memorize the general dimensions. Then I try to refine them in blocking. I should probably start measuring angles a bit tho, I'll try that! thanks!


So here's the latest update. Wouldn't you believe it, the break was actually not because I was too lazy to draw, but TOO LAZY TO SCAN AND POST! Been drawing like crazy, including some studies from a book called FORCE, which is pretty cool for life drawing.

There's a bazillion drawings still to post (on average I fill about 3 pages a day), so I'll try to catch up :)

[NeonDuck]

and more stuff again, tryin to catch up with all the stuff I've drawn

as usual, critiques much appreciated. I can take it, so bring it on!

:)

[Kelp]

Edit:
Oh I just saw how long this post turned out. Well, it's a usefull one though. I have no regrets writing it!
/Edit

So, occasionally I visit a skecthbook, look through it, and when I think I can say
something usefull to the person drawing it (and to all other viewers!) I usually do. So
here goes!
First of all, your drawings are awesome! Those fully rendered b/w scenes (the
gargoyle, the house with mouse, the car in the street) are just great, and it takes a
lot of skill to be able to draw those. Also your anatomy seems to be very solid. Are
those baseballplayers from imagination? If so, then they're extremely well done. If not,
then they're still well done.

But there's more. Just browsing through your sketchbook I noticed one thing: you only
use pencil. Trying different materials can really improve the way you draw in
unexpected ways, you can learn things about pencil drawing from using acrylics and
things about pastel from charcoal. Mix it up a little, trying different methods teaches
you not only how to use those different methods but also the underlying principles
those methods have in common, such as composition and rhytm.

And there's more: Those different methods such as acrylic, pastel and digital use color,
and they teach you how to use color. Your b/w drawings are great, but the world
doesn't care too much about b/w. The world (generally) wants color. I know, you're
using color in your portfolio. But you're not practicing it in your sketchbook and it
shows in your folio. It has good color, but not great color. Find a book about color
theory, study it and practice it in your daily sketch-regimen, with various methods like
acrylic and digital! (And when you do find a good book about color theory, could you
let me know? I have no idea which ones are good.)

And more still: I believe you're doing something a lot of people do, and it is not a very
good thing to do often. Are you drawing from photographs? Your folio (and sketchbook)
are suggesting that you do. The drawings resulting from that look always great, much
better then when drawn from life, but they're a bad habit.
When drawing a concept (which is our endgame), you come up with something in your
mind, place it in a good position in your mind and find a good viewpoint, in your mind.
The only way your mind can do this is if it can think of your concept as three
dimensional. This is difficult for the mind to do and must be practiced. Next you have
to translate this 3D-object to a 2D-one, namely the picture on your piece of paper, by
using your hand and pencil. The translation from 3D to 2D is also difficult and must also
be practiced. Now if you draw from a photograph, then this translation from 3D to 2D
has already been done, by the camera! It doesn't teach you anymore how to do this, it
teaches you how to become a Xerox machine!
Note that the pro's often do use photo's as reference, but they're using it different
then we do: They gather a lot of photo's of a single subject (or idea, or mood), then
quickly, as a warm-up, draw some direct-copies of them. After that they start with the
real deal: drawing the subject in a position different than it appears on the photo's,
using the photo's to figure out what it would look like in this new position. Why would
they do this? Because if they didn't they'd be restricted to using only the positions on
the photo's, which would in general not be ideal for the scene they are drawing! By
transcending the direct copying, they can imagine the ideal position the subject must
take to make their scene work! Loomis summed this up in the following short sentence:
"You are not a meat camera!"
Now I'm not saying that you can't do this 3D-imagining and 3D-to-2D-translation,
because I think you can and much better than me, I think your life-drawing class has
taught you that. But I also think that you're not as good at it as you could be. Stop
drawing directly from photo's and instead start drawing from life, it teaches you the
above things.
If instead all of the above drawings are not direct copies form photo's but instead
from life, then I've said nothing and will now be spending the remainder of the day
trying to find where the hell my jaw dropped.

As a last remark: One drawing I especially like is the drawing of the girl with the
umbrella in the post of feb. 22nd. Can't quite put my finger on why I like it,
but...maybe it has to do with her being placed offcentre, creating suspense on the
right side, that which lies ahead of her. Also the way her pants curve back near her
calves works great, like she's erecting herself completely to bring her full attention to
the umbrella.

Anyway, that's my two cents. Feel free to use what you like or ignore what you think
is wrong. We all try.

[NeonDuck]

another update! playin catch up with my pile of unscanned drawings!

still a ways to go, I've been drawing 2-3 pages a day lately!

@Kelp: Many many thanks for the post, I'll leave a longer reply in your sketchbook :)

everyone else: bring it on, tell me where I suck!

[RickyS]

Holy crap your pencil renderings and lines are amazing! I don't know how you keep the lines so clean and detailed. :O I also like the sense of motion and gesture in your figure studies. I don't know of any critiques to give you, but maybe you could do more studies of faces because it seems most of the time you just suggest the face with a cross, but don't draw the features. Keep up the good work!

[Avvatar]

Thanks for visiting my sketchbook! It looks like you have a very good handle on shading and in understanding tone and values, I especially like the last 3 images right above this post. I think your figure drawings are looking a little bit flat and stiff, I would suggest trying to show more of the shapes that make up the figure. Also some more line variety would help to better show what body part is in front of another, and create some depth. There is good improvement from those early on in your post, so just keep on doing studies and they will keep getting better!

[Ordic]

really love your work keep it up =D

[jskotte]

very nice work in your sketchbook, your pencils are amazing, very detailed and values look good. I like your figure studies as well.

[NeonDuck]

bit of a crappy bunch this time, couple of failed life drawings, 1-2 successes, and 1 hippo looking down disapprovingly upon them all

at least this should highlight some of my problems :)

@RickyS: cheers for the compliments, the clean lines are actually just the result of many non-clean lines underneath! I only draw the final lines once I really know where they're going :) will do some more faces soon, promise! but they're hard and scary!

@ Avvatar: yep, figure drawings could definitely be looser, will work on that! it's a common criticism because I tend to get caught up in the details. especially when something doesn't work on the first try. I'm very cautious and self-conscious that way...

[Prion]

Wow, I think I learnt something by simply browsing through here. Especially in relation to shading.

Great work, I love the animals. :) Thx for the heads up btw.

[NeonDuck]

small update, this time with army dudes!

[greyskill]

WOW, I really love your pencil style, so clean and crisp. I love your line-weight and the way you use tone and the white of the paper, your hatching too. It is so awesome to see how hard you are working too.

Inspirational!

Keep up the awesome work!

[NeonDuck]

thanks for the kind words guys :)

now go find something to criticize, I need to improve!

here's another update, assorted figures and one cute monkey

[NeonDuck]

some more updates: trying to tackle some issues with shoes, and the usual life drawing

[LAL]

I like those practices for shoes,nice practices!keep it up!

[Diarum]

Hey NeonDuck what been happening? you stuff is pretty sick. Your poses looks loose and thats good, last time I check lmao. Your shoes came out really nicly and your soldiers are sweet. Nothing that I can crit on other then anatomy? lol But I think you know that. Maybe post some Basic practices? like prespective or 3d shapes. Thats the only thang I could think of. Anywho Hope your doing good :D

[NeonDuck]

thanks guys, yes i'm studying more and more anatomy (see below), and slowly getting into gestural stuff to loosen up more. will post some of those later, i'm still lagging behind with scanning. doin about 25-30 pages a week these days, and my scanner is sloooooow :(

here's some more life drawing stuff:

[NeonDuck]

time for updated... legs? yes, legs! and feet!

[NeonDuck]

time for some more life drawings.

and a bunny, there's always time for a bunny!

[Myllys]

Hi.

Thanks for commenting my sb. It's hard to tell you where you suck, when you don't seem to suck at all :D Try sucking more so it'll be easier to crit :D

If you'd tell which one you did with reference and and which are from imagination, it would be easier to crit. It seem's you're doing all but life studies from photo ref. Your photo ref'd environments/movie stills are definately your strongest point. So I'd draw more from imagination to expose the weaknesses(in anatomy/lighting etc.) Also try to do some self portraits from mirror to train the eye.

You have awesome way to render with pencil. Keep at it!

Mikko

[NeonDuck]

some more updates, most of them quick sketches.
and some cool life drawings as usual!

[NeonDuck]

the inevitable cloth studies :P
some trouble with the interior shapes, but slowly getting better at it

[greyskill]

Hey NeonDuck! You haven't posted in awhile, I hope that you are still drawing.
I wanted to suggest that you try painting something (digital or solid)
I think that it would help you improve your rendering. I think that you should try to do some really polished pencil drawings too, to see how far you can push it.

Come back to CA.org!

[Myllys]

Yo Duck! Where's the updates? :D

[NeonDuck]

Thanks guys!

Yep i'm still drawing, haven't slowed down!

But lost interest in posting for a bit, it's really hard to get good feedback. I was hoping to get some strong second opinions on my work (in addition to the strong first opinions i get from my mentor) so I can focus on mistakes and weak areas.

So in that spirit: here's some stuff from the last few months, rip it to pieces! Just tell me why, so I can improve!

[NeonDuck]

time for another random update!

as usual, still drawing every day, but way too lazy to scan and upload :)

[Jonathan C]

oh my goodness studies! i can see your progress across this page alone! keep it up

[blazinwolf]

Seeing loads of progress, keep it up. :)

[rDigital]

Thanks for the advice! Your SB is looking good!

[cgaddict]

Lots of figure studies here, very inspiring work. Keep it up!

[NeonDuck]

some more updates, including some experiments with pen/marker that i think turned out pretty well :)

as usual, comments/critiques much appreciated

[BAMeyer]

Hey Man thanks for leaving a comment in my SB really appreciate it.

As for a crit I would say study the face it seems thats the weakest point on your figures at the moment, I know I struggle with the face too. I feel like your lines have a nice flow in some of these pieces that with more practice will turn out amazingly just keep plugging away =).

[cgaddict]

Nice updates, those hands are looking ace.

[andres333]

Edit:
Oh I just saw how long this post turned out. Well, it's a usefull one though. I have no regrets writing it!
/Edit

And more still: I believe you're doing something a lot of people do, and it is not a very
good thing to do often. Are you drawing from photographs? Your folio (and sketchbook)
are suggesting that you do. The drawings resulting from that look always great, much
better then when drawn from life, but they're a bad habit.
When drawing a concept (which is our endgame), you come up with something in your
mind, place it in a good position in your mind and find a good viewpoint, in your mind.
The only way your mind can do this is if it can think of your concept as three
dimensional. This is difficult for the mind to do and must be practiced. Next you have
to translate this 3D-object to a 2D-one, namely the picture on your piece of paper, by
using your hand and pencil. The translation from 3D to 2D is also difficult and must also
be practiced. Now if you draw from a photograph, then this translation from 3D to 2D
has already been done, by the camera! It doesn't teach you anymore how to do this, it
teaches you how to become a Xerox machine!



To overcome this just draw from photos or from life ALWAYS thinking of forms rather than contours, in other words the only way to learn to draw from imagination is to draw from life the way you do from imagination.
I can see that you've got some great gestures, man those drawings are alive :D :D :D and those forms are coming along nicely
keep it up I've got nothing else to add

[NeonDuck]

thanks for the crits guys!

BAMeyer: yep faces are one of the areas i've been avoiding so far, they're so complex it's intimidating. will get there eventually, just gotta do some perspective work first

andres333: yep, totally agree! plus it's actually much easier to think in terms of 3d volumes because it gives you so much more freedom. without proper construction all you can do is copy, so I'm doing my best! the fact that I'm actually a 3D artist by trade probably helps me a bit :)


some more updates, pen + marker again because it's just so great in bringing out the 3-dimensional forms with harsh lighting:

[NeonDuck]

another update, why not...

some life drawing stuff, i miss those classes... work's been too busy lately so I haven't been :(

[Lucyohlucy]

Thank you very much for critique in my sb, i really appreciate it and i need it:) Its easy to figure out what my drawings dont have when i looke at yours. Great sketches. Thanks again for your crits! :)

[NeonDuck]

another small update, some gestures, faces (just messing around, not doing proper construction yet), and - woohoo - something from imagination!

[NeonDuck]

and some more

[NeonDuck]

some more updates!

gestures, big guy, and the creepiest greyhound ever

[NeonDuck]

some more updates, more gestures and anatomy

[Surion]

Wow man, there are awesome :o
Those shaded studies look like a lot of fun to do. Are these done with markers?
You're definitely improving in here, thanks for sharing!

[NeonDuck]

Surion - Yep, pen drawings shaded with markers. good fun :)


some more updates, mostly gestury kind of stuff

[NeonDuck]

some more gestural stuff

[NeonDuck]

and some more gestures

[Mr.Scribbles]

Really sick SB. Your very ambitious. I can't wait to see more. Thx for sharing and stopping on by my SB.

[NeonDuck]

some more gestures, and some shading practice

[Ellipses]

the marker stuff is pretty awesome - kind of what marker is it?

keep it up

[benlinalexander]

I really enjoyed seeing your progress. Great work! Keep putting more up.

[The_Flying_Dutchman]

Nice work, the tonal (Pantone?) pieces work very well. Keep it up!

[SpectreX]

Nice sketchbook with good progress.
I know you're read this alot but your environmental work is amazing ^^
Gonna check this sketchbook out from time to time ^^

[Vumi]

I love your marker stuff and studies, but I think that you really should work on the faces. Anyway, great stuff!

[theUNKNOWNsketcher]

wow! Really great improvement in your work! Very nice! Keep it up :)

[NeonDuck]

thx guys :)

Ellipses - it's prisma markers (40% grey i think) over black ballpoint pen. nice combination because it smudges just a little bit and so creates quite interesting blends and gradients

and yes, noted, i should do some faces! working on it, gonna post when i've caught up with posting!


some more gestural stuff, some sketches with character designs, and the usual life drawing:

[vices]

I thought for sure those arm and feet pieces up top were from photoshop. They are really awesome! The line quality and the tones are just superb.

Also your 3d show reel on your site is kick ass ^^

[NeonDuck]

vices - thanks, i'm really happy with the markers too! it's quite hard to do tho, because one mistake can throw you off.

thanks for checking out my online folio too, 3D is what i do for a living :)


some more updates, bit more variation this time:

[Vumi]

Your enviro is really nice but I find it shaded quite weird. I mean that it looks like you're forgetting 'bout some light rays that are visible in dark space.

[JSpayde]

Thanks for the feedback. I really like your pen+marker studies. :)

[NeonDuck]

thanks for the feedback guys!

Vumi: yep that environment I wrote off as a fail, was done mostly without ref

JSpayde: thx, I like the marker stuff too. it's pretty tough to do but great for learning!


some more life drawings today:

[Vumi]

These are just awesome. Waiting for more!:)

[NeonDuck]

update time!

some more sketches, and some value studies!

[catukas]

nice update, keep practising

[pisces_painter]

Hi neonduck, thank you for your comments and suggestions in my sketchbook, really appreciate it! ^^ You have a great sketchbook, all the best!

[NeonDuck]

thanks guys!

some more stuff, life drawing and digital (for once) value studies:

[aks9]

youre really good at animals, theyre so cool
those ballpoint+makers, the simple two value studies, woah.
your studies are great, something tells me maybe try doing more of the pen stuff, or more "finished" pieces?
im not sure how to explain it but when i see your dynamic poses it seems you have a much better grasp of anatomy than with the "life" studies. the dynamics are from imagination right? what did techniques/artists did you study from to learn that sort of thing?

[NeonDuck]

aks9 - thx, I think i'll stick to studies for now. drawing from imagination is still going to take a while.
those dynamic poses are all from photos, they're probably more accurate because i've got more time to do them. the life drawing sessions are timed, poses range from 2 to 20 mins for the full body. not a lot of time, but it does bring out some more gestural stuff :)

here's some more anatomy, and some lighting practice:

[NeonDuck]

update: some more shading studies, and compositions

[ezekrialase]

very nice studies, your figure drawings and shading great

[aks9]

nice studies, its interesting how you draw some parts separately (before adding them into the sketch?) so you can figure out how it will go (like the forearm in the first pic you posted). i hadn't thought of doing this and will have to try it
are those studies in the 2nd image (perspective environments) done from ref?

[NeonDuck]

happy new year!

aks9 - actually I think whenever I draw parts separately it's because I screwed them up in the study i did. so rather than do the whole thing again I just focus on what went wrong, and try to improve on it

and yep, those perspective studies are from ref. everything in here is, i haven't really done much from imagination :(

here's some more life drawing, and arnold :)

[vices]

The curled up bald girl and the jumping ballerina are particularly nice ^^ Take a look at your girl sitting on the fence post, flip it in a mirror or something, it's got something wrong with the midsection but i'm not sure what.. happy hunting!

[NeonDuck]

vices - thanks, yes you're right about the girl on the fence, it's one of my less successful studies. the perspective is pretty screwy too, not happy with it :(

some more updates

[NeonDuck]

some more life drawings, switched to red pencils with great results:

[Vumi]

These are amazing, but why don't you show us some of your face studies? :)

[NeonDuck]

yep, here you go!
more to come, I'm still working through the backlog :)

[NeonDuck]

some more life drawing, with possibly my favorite pictures I've ever drawn at the end!

RED PENCILS ARE MAGIC!

[dessinateurimpulsif]

this last drawing is nice, a very efficient line, good volume, and clear

[Nisshoku]

I ADORE your life drawings! They're so light and free, yet beautiful. It's hard to create the blissful feeling through lines, but you succeed. Your proportions are very nicely done and the red pencils do create a beautiful effect! I came in here hoping to say something helpful, but now I can't think of anything :(. Maybe... Maybe I'd like to see more color? Other then that, I've got nothing. Amazing job!

[NeonDuck]

thx guys! I'm still holding off on colour, haven't even really worked out values

but as luck would have it, I did do a colour study! here it is:

[Mikko Voipio]

Thanks for popping by my sb. I had to measure the leg shortness thing you pointed out, and behold you were right. The ref has 10+ % longer than my painting. Thanks for the good advice.

I see you also like them red pencils. And you're working them to your advantage. Really cool studies you have here. Keep on working hard.

[ThomasM]

great studies here and you are obviously working hard to improve and focusing on the important things whilst staying away from colour. That is a seriously good decision, and very classical in terms of training. As with most people I dived straight into colour when I started my sketchbook, and now I am taking 3/4 months off to work solidly in pencil and inks to really get those foundation skills down. Without that foundation it is hard to improve, so nice work on staying disciplined.

One crit from me would be to try and avoid blocking in a dark outline which is continuous. Continuous outlines flatten images and take away depth. I see why you place a heavy line around the figure as it does bring out the depth, but remember to break the line if you can

Gogogo!

[REONIN]

Nice studies of constructions and the life drawings are great.
thx fortoping by my post :)

[TheMonkeyX3000]

Gotta say I love your figure studies, they are well done and the shading is great. I must also say I enjoyed looking at the sunset painting that you did. Keep up the good work dude!

[Malakuko]

love the figures so much! Especially the digital ones, simple but just so clear and nice! They work :D I was in a run of studies before christmas that centered around box forms and direction, need to get back to it because its really helpful to make it clear in your mind whats happening! Keep it up!

[NeonDuck]

thx guys!

ThomasM - yep you're right, a lot of my figures have that. some of it happens when i correct too much, the more you refine the heavier a line gets. i'll watch out for that!


here's some more of the usual anatomy stuff, and 2 colour studies! did these at work during lunch for a while, until i got frustrated and went back to pure value

[NeonDuck]

some more coloured pieces, dabbling in photoshop again

[Opheliac]

Awesome studies here-- I especially like your digital stuff and figure studies. I really love the gun in your last post, too, it looks great. Keep it up! :)

[NeonDuck]

thx!

here's some more - 2 art studies from a book on environment drawing i've got, and 2 digital lighting studies. i've given up on doing those in pencil, too much work doing all the values and the range is too narrow. photoshop is best for these

[NeonDuck]

some more heads and lighting/comp studies. enjoy!

[Dayle]

Thanks for the feedback on my sketchbook. Your figure studies are great, I like the coloured pencils too, have you experimented with pastels or combining 2 or 3 colours for highlights and shadows maybe? Your second lighting study is good but the achievement their (I think) has to be the perspective of the staircase. Would also make a great setting for a character! hint hint.

[Pigeonkill]

I like the gestures and construction in your bodies. Those marker studies are nice in clean. I never got the hang of them. Keep up on the face/head studies. They seem to be a bit mushy on your figure drawings, I understand that it's a rush when doing gestures though.

[NeonDuck]

thanks guys!

i'm definitely keeping up with the head studies, here's some more:

[A Faux]

i cant look at you work anymore haha!
its just that GOOD with a pencil especially, definently have to apreciate such a simple and yet effective tool.- definently an imspiration to the fine arts and sketchbookers alike!

[Velocity Kendall]

I love your life studies; these are especially are awesome

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1133434&stc=1&d=1293858592

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1133436&stc=1&d=1293858608

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1135036&stc=1&d=1294055318

[zeezee1210]

Love your work, especially the poses and hand/feets studies.

Your figure drawings do seem to have a flavour of Mike Mattesi have you used his book? or developed it another way?

[NeonDuck]

thx for the comments guys!

zeezee: yea, I probably got that style off mike mattesi's book. it's a great one for line quality and flow, altho I think he caricatures his subjects a little too much

here's some more head studies:

[PeteJ]

thanks for commenting in my sketch book. Your head studies all look great.

[Mazui]

I really like your environments. The other stuff is mostly good too. :)

[Wingal]

Love the animals! And your pencil environments are really good (not that the other ones arnt) but i enjoy them =)

[zeezee1210]

Love that last male head study in red!
Think it's the eyes and jaw line I like most, can't wait to see more.

[Volute]

What a great sketchbook you have !

I really like your pencil work, especially the environments. They have so much delicacy, they're awesome.

Keep it up !

[Elophant]

Nice head studies in here. Good work.

[goldilockz]

Oh wow! You're awesome. Love the studies, and I think I saw Michael Clark Duncan in one post, love that guy. Thanks for stopping by my sketch thread so I could then discover yours! :)

[p sage]

Okay... I wanted to come by your thread because it looked like you were serious about getting better and weren't interested in butt pats. I don't want to go Chernobyl on you or anything... but here goes what I hope will be helpful critiques for you...

great studies here and you are obviously working hard to improve and focusing on the important things whilst staying away from colour. That is a seriously good decision, and very classical in terms of training. As with most people I dived straight into colour when I started my sketchbook, and now I am taking 3/4 months off to work solidly in pencil and inks to really get those foundation skills down. Without that foundation it is hard to improve, so nice work on staying disciplined.

One crit from me would be to try and avoid blocking in a dark outline which is continuous. Continuous outlines flatten images and take away depth. I see why you place a heavy line around the figure as it does bring out the depth, but remember to break the line if you can

This guy has it right. As Yoda might say, "Yes! To Obi-Wan you listen" (cept I'm not Yoda ;p)

Here's the thing... a dark line implies a hole. You can stick things in it. You can cram stuff behind it.

It also removes what you've drawn from its natural lighting and its space, and turns your shapes flat. Essentially a uniform dark line implies a flat light from right in front of your subject so that a rim shadow appears around the contour.

Light like that doesn't exist in 3D. You cant uniformly light a 3D object like a body from the front and get a uniform rim shadow around the edge. So, a dark outline turns your shape flat. Really try to get away from thinking of "drawing" as creating a contour; think more of drawing as designing and constructing 3D shapes.

Specific Crits:

This one (http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=997270&stc=1&d=1276312464) has decent proportions, but the outline kills it.

Sometimes the proportions get away from you, as they do here... (http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1109617&stc=1&d=1290825990)... the arms look strange because the foreshortening isn't working. It's not working because no depth is conveyed there (the guy needs a neck, too... :))

From that observation, I see you went to the basics here (http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1132821&stc=1&d=1293781111)... which was a great idea, but those shapes aren't convincing 3D shapes on a 2D page.

And that's really the trick... to pull off the illusion of depth in your pictures. Starting with cubes, spheres, and pyramids is great... but you have to commit to making those look as solid and believable as possible before you can draw the model convincingly.

One more "crit" and then some good stuff... you're familiar with Betty Edwards, so I'll just give you the phrase "eye symbols (http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1169314&stc=1&d=1297732034)" and leave you with the same advice as above... don't put a dark outline around the eyes. Pick up Vanderpoel's book (it's about 7 bucks)... and is excellent for showing how to draw eyes.

I really liked how these studies went:

http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1109625&stc=1&d=1290826060
http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1110297&stc=1&d=1290921854

From a book? Remember to try and internalize your studies immediately as you do them. As I've suggested to others here... if you're studying something, yet drawing something else from your imagination... your studies are like spinning your wheels. Use what you study to draw from imagination immediately.

Finally, these (http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1130917&stc=1&d=1293578292) look great. From a book?

I didn't want to be too harsh with you as I think you need support and positivity. But I believe it's also dangerous to get thinking that you're on the right track sometimes when mistakes you have made for a year have been holding you back.

Remember that not all folks here are professionals (myself included)... but many are. I would seek out their advice and take much of the rest with a grain of salt.

My advice comes from classical training I received at one of the best art schools in the US (Barnstone Studios)... but my skills have yet to be honed with the information I've received. This means that I'm by no means making masterpieces right now; but I know of what I speak. I tell you this so you know why I feel at least a little compelled to give you feedback.

Keep working hard, and observe how others who are making great art go about their business. You may already be doing that.

Cheers, good luck, and happy drawing.

[greyskill]

Wow, you really have a good grasp of movement in your drawings. You lines are full of force and action, I could really learn something from studying some of your studies. Putting movement and action into characters is something that even really good artists sometimes miss.

Also, I really love your studies with tone wash, those are excellent! Keep working on your faces and hands, they are looking really good, and I can see that you have been improving on them quickly!

Keep up the good work! I look forward to coming back here and seeing new stuff!

[Lightpunk]

Hey NeonDuck,

Life studies are looking great (love the red pencil!) also really like those environment value studies. I wanted to say thank you to you for your comments on my sb and advice to get to life class, it was something I've been meaning to do for ages but you spurred me on to actually do it and I'm loving it, so thank you very much!

Keep up the good work dude, will be checking here regularly!

Best

Kris

[NeonDuck]

finally got around to doing another update!


thanks for the comments, much appreciated!

p sage - many thanks mate, you raise some good points!

line weight is something that gets away from me sometimes, in almost all cases where you've pointed it out I can see it happened because I was over-correcting. trying to find the right line sometimes takes a lot of tries, and especially with a conte pencil (charcoal/crayon stuff) it goes really dark really fast. I'll work on that!

not sure where you're getting eye symbols from, I think you mean it looks too cartoony. it's not the same thing but noted nonetheless. Eyes are still a bit tricky, and I have to correct a lot while drawing them.

drawing volumes - check, doing that. not sure why you're not seeing it, maybe the construction disappears under the heavier lines, maybe I can do something to bring it out more. definitely something for me to think about.

all those studies are mine, I don't copy from books much... yes I'm very proud of those two-tone hands and feet :)



so, update time! here's some more faces, and I was noticing my line quality going to pot over the last few weeks so I did some animal studies just to draw something "swooshy".

a bit embarrassing to still be posting drawings from 2010, but I guess that's a good thing - I draw faster than I can upload :)

[NeonDuck]

time for another update

haven't really stopped drawing, just stopped posting. so my backlog is massive by now, i'm posting 2010 stuff here :(


as usual, crits more than welcome, bring it on!

[NeonDuck]

update time!

the usual studies, mostly animals this time. pay particular attention to the alternative bear head design drawn by my lead artist :P

the last 3 are feng zhu studies, so they're really just copies, not studies

[tronrobot]

Thanks for the visit man! great perspective in these new ones.
and i love your life drawings. Keep it up man =D.

[p sage]

You've been working hard, my friend. Dominate those edges!

[NeonDuck]

thanks guys!

some more studies and feng zhu copies here, and a bird picture from imagination:

[n1frit]

Hey! Thanks for checking my! U hardly push anatomy and animal studies as i see! And u doing it well! So keep it up and post more work will be interesting to see your future digital stuff! Cheers!

[smallergod]

Hello Neon Duck thanks for checking out my sb!! and thanks also for the advice I take all crticisms really seriously and i welcome them as I want to become a better artist. I do work with construction lines but i have a more freeform approach to my figures (bunch of loose circles seems to do it for me).

Now, I think your work is really great, I love the animal studies! specially the birds and the bear, i'd like to know what references are you using? the faces are also very good and I sure know they can be very tough.

[ear5cm]

Hi~
Thank u for checking my sketchbook~
ur animals are very cute,I like them, plz keep doing these

[NeonDuck]

thanks guys! I usually use photo reference, except for life drawings. too lazy to go out and draw from life otherwise :P

some more updates, all digital. only the train engine is from ref, the rest from imagination

[tronrobot]

Fuck yeah!

[A Faux]

Trains epic man. =/ real epic!

[wasabi89]

Hey man,
Great stuff in here. Everything is pretty solid too
Keep with it, its def helping a lot

cheers

[Minelo]

Hey! I really like your studies. Your life drawings especially, they have a very nice sence of movement and life. I don't really have any crits, explore some color maybe? :)

[NeonDuck]

thanks guys, yes I'm doing some colour studies, will post soon :)

some more pencils, mostly figures and hands:

[Metal Fingers]

those perspective studies are nice man! keep it up :D I'll always remember your thread attachment/avatar from one of the first people that commented in my sb. :D

[DNVN]

Hey man thanks for the post in my Sketchbook i really appreaciate the honest and constructive critisism i feel that is hard to come by sometimes, great stuff in your sketchbook i really got some good ideas on what you were talking about. cheers :)

[NeonDuck]

you're welcome guys, I always try to give some constructive feedback when I see interesting sketchbooks. nice to know it's appreciated :)

some more drawings, the usual anatomy:

[wasabi89]

Damn man,
pretty solid studies, loving them all
keep working man
looking foward for more!
cheers

[NeonDuck]

thanks :)

more studies:

[Betty86]

really good studies, waiting for more from you :)

and thanks for visiting my SB

[Gridur]

Sweet sketchbook! You got some solid light and shadows on your figures! and super nice anatomy! :) Keep it up!

[Dark_Eyes]

5 stars! Merry christmas! *****