more practice

[Beatnik]

I have been thinking about starting a daily sketchbook for a while now but I doubt I'll have the time to update daily. However, I do want to try to improve and if anyone has the time for a crit I'd really appreciate it. I'll add to this as time allows and it is my hope that over time there will be a noticable improvement. I try to participate in the daily sketch group as often as possible so there are a few dsg's included here.

These forums have been an amazing source of inspiration. I hope with focus and practice I'll be able to improve over time.

Ok, here goes nothin'

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/monkey_dude.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/dude.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/dobything.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/dsg_hungry_goblin.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/banshee.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/cowplow.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/lavabug.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/dsg_329.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/weirdfish.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/muscles.jpg

Well there's a starting point.

[Beatnik]

Some other dsg's

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/beatnik_dsg_358.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/dsg_340.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/dsg_330.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/dsg_322.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/dsg_213.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/dsg_269.jpg

[Beatnik]

http://www.zmans.com/misc/dsg_363.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/misc/dsg_364b.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/misc/dinothing.jpg

[illy]

keep on drawing and crankin them out. everything is looking good so far. love the elderly hulk. lol.

[Beatnik]

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/hottie.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/misc/dsg_366.jpg

[Beatnik]

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/eyesthing.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/hogthing.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/smileygator.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/yeller.jpg

[Fipse]

Hi Beatnik,

I really like your cartoony style and you have some nice examples in your sketchbook. As you said you´re looking for improvement. Maybe it could be good for you stepping back from the cartoony stuff and doing something different to get your thoughts working in other areas. Try some other stuff, still lifes, anatomy, life studies whatever. I think some "realistic" work will help you on the long run in the cartoon stuff.

Anyway keep on trucking!

Fipse
(who isn´t sure that he makes himself understandable)

[Beatnik]

Fipse thank you for your feedback. Much appreciated. I've been trying a few different things here and there and i'm starting to feel a little better about the sketching. I know I have a long way to go but it's been fun trying new stuff.

There is a nice park on the intracoastal that I like to visit often. The boats come through at idle speed so that gives me an average of just under a minute to sketch their shape. I'll be trying to do the boats at least once a week.
http://www.zmans.com/sketch/sketch4.jpg

[Beatnik]

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/sketch7.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/sketch5.jpg

[Spacemanchuck]

Hey Beatnik, looking good, I like your color stuff!!! Good start on your life drawing aswell!!! Beatnik do you know Kerouac???


:blue:

[Beatnik]

Thanks for the comments spaceman. Been tryin a lot of different things lately but here are a few ballpoint pen sketches. Just random stuff from life, books and magazines.

http://zmans.com/sketch/armmuscles.jpg

http://zmans.com/sketch/pensketch.jpg

http://zmans.com/sketch/hands.jpg

http://zmans.com/sketch/turtle.jpg

[Beatnik]

Some more pen stuff

http://zmans.com/sketch/lures.jpg

a little quick splash of color in ps
http://zmans.com/sketch/randomsketch.jpg

[siskol p]

so from what i gather from your drawings, i'd say that your forte is in traditional illustration. this is a double edged sword. its nice for memorizing forms and playing around with them, but at the same time, by doing this, you really start to pigeon-hole yourself into a single mode of drawing that you never really break out of. thats what i'm seeing in your pieces here. they're all nice, sure, but they're all handled the exact same way, no matter the medium. and its good that you can make any medium obey you like that. but when you pick up a pencil vs. a pen theres a REASON you pick up a pencil, you've got to obey your medium as well. even your painted entries here have the same feel as your drawings. the few drawings on here that i'd say weren't charicature-ized really show. if i had any advice, i'd say do the illustrative work on the record, but every time you're drawing on your own, get as FAR AWAY from it as you can. do anything and everything you can BUT that illustrative work. in the end all you can do is broaden your horizons and find new modes of working, which in turn you can take into the illustrative work...

so, bluntly in a nutshell : the drawings are nice, lets see something different..

peace,

siskol

[Beatnik]

Siskol thank you very much for taking the time for the crit. I definitely want to do some traditional illustration in the future, I just don't really know where I'm going yet. I've been trying to do some different things to break it up a little lately but you're right, it pretty much ends up looking the same. I need to work on that but for now its just the way I sketch. It is going to take some time and a lot of experimenting but I'm sure I'll be able to broaden styles and sharpen skills eventually. I registered for a life drawing class in the summer and I'm really looking forward to that. Hopefully that will help too. For now all I can do is keep practicing.

Here's today's dsg

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/dsg_395.jpg

I need to get a digital camera so I can get some shots of an acrylic I've been working on. It's nice getting my hands dirty with real paint again.

Thanks again for the comments!

[Beatnik]

Been a while. I need to get scanning again. Here's one from the workshop.

http://zmans.com/sketch/eyecreature.jpg

[jetpack42]

Ah Beatnik,
It was cool meeting you, glad you could join the ruckuss in 238 the 3rd night. I watched you do some of that last one, what have you been working on since the workshop??

[Beatnik]

Jetpack it was great to meet you too man. I had a really good time hanging out with everyone and sketchin in the room. I wish there were more people around here to do that with.

Most of the stuff I've worked on since the workshop has been for work but here are a few sketches. These were for the Drah'n time threads. Fun threads!


http://zmans.com/sketch/minininja.jpg

http://zmans.com/sketch/reptilething.jpg

http://zmans.com/sketch/biker.jpg

[Beatnik]

Here's a giant octopus thing that has some weedy green shit on his head. He lures boaters closer by letting it sit on top of the surface. (When fishing offshore, fisherman look for weed lines and birds... it's usually a good sign of fish in the area) Anyway these poor suckers are going to find more than a fish under the weedline.



http://zmans.com/sketch/octo.jpg

[Beatnik]

http://zmans.com/sketch/skully1.jpg

[Beatnik]

Two more from today

http://zmans.com/sketch/skully2.jpg

http://zmans.com/sketch/sketchn7.jpg

[Beatnik]

Today's DSG "Mutated Dog"

http://zmans.com/sketch/dsg_475.jpg

[Beatnik]

Haven't put any thumbs in here yet so I thought I'd add a few today. Still not sure where I'm going so I'm just going to keep practicing.

http://zmans.com/sketch/thumbs1.jpg

[Beatnik]

http://zmans.com/sketch/catapillah.jpg

Catapillars are neato

[Beatnik]

Just some motion drawings from an anatomy book.

http://zmans.com/sketch/poses1.jpg

http://zmans.com/sketch/poses2.jpg

[Mike Frank]

That giant octopus is cool man, made me think of Cthulu.

[Beatnik]

Hey thanks for dropping by some_guy. I was thinking of putting some color on that octopus dude but I'm still trying to learn values and get my shadowing right. For the longest time I had some strange fear of darks, lately I've overused them. Hopefully I'll fall in the middle sometime soon.

Been working a lot today but managed to get in today's sketch. Just a rocker type creature guy. It's really been pissing me off that when I scan I lose most of my values but thats what I get for using a 6 year old scanner. That's about all of the excuses I can think of for teh suck at the moment.

http://zmans.com/sketch/rockin2.jpg

[jetpack42]

i agree, the giant octopus more or less rocks. I guess your scanner must be really horrible, because I'd say you could use alot MORE value and contrast. Of course, the original drawings tell the story, but don't be afraid to pop that stuff out. I'm really trying to push it in my own drawings at the moment too...keep it up.

[Mike Frank]

Yeah scanning pretty much lightens up everything it seems, if you use photoshop try running your pic through an Image->Adjustment->Auto Contrast. This usually brings up the contrast just a tad higher than what my page looks like and then I brighten them up some to get it back. If you're not using any image editing type software, see if you're scanning software has any kind of options of upping the contrast, brightness, etc.

[Beatnik]

Thanks jetpack and some guy. I tried some more contrast in the drawing and also messed with the settings on the scanner. I think it's closer but still off a little. I'll just keep working on it... both the drawing and the settings.

Here are yesterday's and today's dsg's.

Carnival Freak of 3000

Ladies and gentlemen, step right up for the lovely, the talented... Miss Boobiebutts! (Sex sells right? Always has, always will.)
http://zmans.com/sketch/dsg_481.jpg

Today's was "Voodoo Child". I fought the urge to give Hendrix a shot and somehow wound up with a creepy little voodoo girl.
http://zmans.com/sketch/voodoo_child.jpg

[Beatnik]

More practice crapola

http://www.zmans.com/misc/dsg_494.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/misc/lizardthing.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/misc/clawthing.jpg
this one was originally started for an old drah'n time but i gave up on it :rolleyes:

[Beatnik]

http://www.zmans.com/misc/dblmouth.jpg

http://www.zmans.com/misc/fangthing.jpg

ah well, at the very least they are fun to do. I'll learn eventually.

[arghmisfit]

Hey dood

i can see LOADS of improvement in these last 2 creatures!! seriously

great values on them

id saw do more anatomy studys and life studys tho, they will help u the most

dont stop posting!! :D

-ARRRGH

[Beatnik]

Hey thanks arghmisfit I appreciate the feedback. I'm really looking forward to doing some life drawings soon but for now I'll just keep practicing the creatures. Once I get better grip on anatomy I'm hoping they will improve. I have a few going but I don't think they are ready to scan yet.

For now here are a couple paintings I've been working on. Getting ready to add highlights and start detailing it. It's just referenced from the cover of the video but I am a huge Blues Brothers fan so I thought it would be fun. Thinking about putting some elements from the movie in the bg but I'm not sure if I can pull it off without cluttering it up.
http://www.zmans.com/sketch/bluesbrosWIP.jpg

Here's a painting of my pups ref'ed from a picture I took a long ago. I started this for my girlfriend at the time.. who is now my ex so I'm not sure if I'll ever bother finishing it. Pretty boring to work on anyway.
http://www.zmans.com/sketch/pups.jpg

And here's a pic of my Spidey kicking the ass of my stupid old school art mannequin heh
http://www.zmans.com/sketch/spidey.jpg
:eyeloss:

[Beatnik]

Been getting involved in the challenges lately. Lots of fun... an hour or two our deadline definitely adds a new spectrum of interest to sketching. Here are a few from the challenges.

2 hrs - topic - creature in a band
http://www.zmans.com/sketch/rockmonster.jpg

2 hrs - topic - psychic alien
http://www.zmans.com/sketch/psychic_alien.jpg

1 hour - topic - aquatic armor
http://zmans.com/sketch/aquatic_armor.jpg

a creature just for fun
http://www.zmans.com/sketch/stingerthing.jpg

[Beatnik]

A challenge from today. Topic bunny/bird hybrid - One hour

http://www.zmans.com/sketch/bunnybird.jpg

I'm addicted to the challenges... great practice and lots of fun.

[Beatnik]

a monster and his favorite weapon, and his favorite toy


http://zmans.com/sketch/eyeguy_stimpy.jpg

[Cyanid]

nice picuters, I like the skulls and the last creatures the most :confident

keep it up!

[Beatnik]

Thanks Cyanid. I guess I should probably scan some stuff from the past few months but I've been lazy. Here are a couple COWs from the past few weeks.


C.O.W. #6 Digger Creature
This is a Desert-native Sandweller. He sleeps at night under the sand when it's cold and only comes out during the day to get his body temperature back up. He uses his front spiked appendages to break up and push away the harder sand clumps and rock and then basically slowly swims through the sand with his lower legs. The feet act as small shovels to push the sand back and move himself further along underground. Beneath his hard protective shell and leathery skin is an enormous air reserve sac that he uses to breathe from when sleeping underground. The Sandweller goes into a sort of hybernation when sleeping to use minimal air so he can exist underground for long periods of time. He loves Frank Sinatra and prefers Pepsi over Coke.
http://zmans.com/sketch/digger_dude.jpg

______

C.O.W. #8 Evil Easter Creature From Dark Planet
The deadly and terrifying Chictobat is known on his home planet of Murdstar as the "Easterbastard". Legend has it that hundreds of years ago some Murdstar miners accidentally stumbled upon him while digging for materials to be used for fuel. The Chictobat was so furious from being disturbed from his slumber that he instantly killed the miners and everyone in sight and ate them. He took their skulls and painted them with multiple bright colors and put them on stakes in the front of his cave as a warning for others who might disturb him. Now the tradition is on every easter (the day of the miner incident) the villages collect corpses of various Murdstar creatures and paint the skulls with bright colors to pay tribute to the Chictobat. (well it IS a dark planet)
http://zmans.com/sketch/easterCOW.jpg

[Beatnik]

Been playing around with this gator dude for a while and I'm over it. Didn't work out the way I had it planned but it was fun for a while.

http://hotfish.com/new/gator_wip2.jpg

http://zmans.com/sketch/gator5wip.jpg

Hopefully the next try will be better