Jester's Sketchbook

[jester]

Here I want to show my sketches and doodles in the same way as MindCandyMan or rubygenesis have started (and to get comments and critiques, of course ;) ).

Today I start with two pages I did yesterday, inspired by MindCandyMan's pen and ink studies. I just grabbed a few GEO and National Geographic magazines and drew what caught my mind. Feel free to comment.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0001.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0002.JPG

Jester

[Lee]

Ive seen ur work here and there and can see vast improvment keep it up.

[I.was.ink]

Yeah, I agree with Lee. Im guessin you went to the zoo. Nice stuff. I like the first page. can't wait to see more stuff:)

[jester]

Lee and iwasink - thanks for dropping by and leaving a note. I also feel that I'm improving. Sometimes it's just like doing a video-game: you are collecting points and nothing seems to happen but suddenly it makes BANG!!!! and you've reached the next level.

:)

Jester

[jester]

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0004.JPG

Grabbed some magazines again and just started off. Quite a lot of rhinos in these... ;)

Jester

[cotron]

haha i believe those rhinos are humping.

[jester]

@cotron - :D :D :D :p ;)

[jester]

Some more...

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0005.JPG

c&c always welcome.

:p

Jester

[nova]

try some gestures.. looks like you can draw great, but that helps you see :)

[jester]

Great article in GEO on wild boars inspired my to draw some pen and ink studies again. Not satisfied with all of them but some areas came out quite nicely IMO.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0006.JPG

nova, thanks for the comment. It's difficult to do gesture drawings when no one's around. But I will do some (hopefully lots) in my holidays in Sweden. I'm going to travel with my whole family (i.e. my parents, my partner's parents and my partner's grandfather, great experiment!). so there'll be lots of people around who cannot escape me and my sketchbook! :D :evilbat: :rolleyes: :p ;)

Jester

[I.was.ink]

great boars, and great improvements. If I were you, I'd do gestures as well, but What I suggest is to also take buy a bridgeman book. he was one of the masters of life drawing. He has a sort of abstract way of drawing the human figure, but at the same time is very exact. you can buy the complete works of bridgman, where he has all of his 6 or 7 books in one. Only 18.00 bucks at borders:)

Or buy each book individually. If u can find the big one, buy it, you'll never regret it, in fact youo'll probably thank me:p . but something else I suggest is to buy his lifedrawing book he has. It one of the books in the big one, but I like it cuz you can take it with you wherever you wish, and it'll help you study, along the way, in Sweden. I'd take em both if you could find them. Two of the best books ive ever bought, ever....

U could practice your drawing skills on the plane off of the big book. And for under twenty bucks, that's just a steal. You'd have to be a mad man, to pass up that deal. The little guys are just 7.00 bucks if the other one is too much money for you right now. good luck with you drawings in Sweden, and please post everything u did. Once you get back from there.

[MindCandyMan]

Jester these are great man! I like the bottom right boar on the last page...among the other ones that are really good! One thing that I do that helps a bit with pen is sketch them out really rough and quick with pencil...sketch out the light and dark areas so you can have them in mind before you start. Great work though man...the bottom right boar has nice line weight on it too...the thickened line on his back makes his figure pop out...great job!

[jester]

@iwasink - hmm, I own a Bridgeman book (Complete Guide to Drawing from Life) and I bought it quite a while ago (about two years). I don't know why, but I never really got friends with him. Probably I made a mistake in just looking at the drawings (which I sometimes find crude and illegible (might be due to the poor printing quality of my edition). Or I bought it too early, when I couldn't appreciate his instructions.

But your enthusiasm convinced me to look into it again. Perhaps his texts are more instructive than his drawings?

:)

@MCM - thanks a lot! Yes, I do previous sketches with a non-photo blue pencil. I found those boars more difficult than the rhinos (maybe because they are anatomically more similar to humans?! ;) )

Jester

[jester]

Yesterday at a quarter to midnight I arrived home from Sweden after a horrible 17 hours drive through snow, storm, rain and several attempts on my families' lives (the worst incident was when my father's car lost the left mirror when an oncoming car - which had only missed my car by an inch or so - drove past; not much fun at 80 km/h on a snowy road in the middle of nowhere in Sweden!). However, we're all well and that's what's important.

I didn't draw as much as I wanted (families can eat up lots of free time!) but managed some at least. Comments and crits are always welcome!

Here are some of the stuff I found at the houses we stayed in:

This was an old (dating from 1827!) oven in the kitchen we used for heating and cooking. The kitchen was always quite dark, that's why I decided to use this dark green paper and prismacolor pencils:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0007.JPG

Watching birds coming to feed was good fun. No birds to be seen on this one because they only came when the temperature dropped below minus 10 degree Celsius:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0017.JPG

A spinning wheel in a corner of the living room:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0018.JPG

Attempts to draw my mother:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0009.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0010.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0014.JPG

best likeness:
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0016.JPG

Attempts to draw my father:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0013.JPG

better likeness but looking too young:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0012.JPG

Attempts to draw my partner's mother:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0015.JPG

better likeness:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0011.JPG

And my partner's grandfather while practising on his harmonica:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0008.JPG


I want to draw some more impressions from Sweden from the photos I took - so watch this space ;)

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

Great to see you back jester...and you're still alive! Woohoo! These sketches look great. Can't wait to see the ones from the photos...I've never been to Sweden. It's awesome you sketched from life so much...that's the way to do it. Welcome back.

[jester]

A friend gave me a cute little gargoyle for a present and I couldn't resist to try to draw it in Kevin Cheng's style.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0019.JPG

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

Looks great jester...nice handle on the perspective (drawing it from all different angles)...looks like it was great practice.

[jester]

I drew this today from a photo I took in Sweden. Prismacolor pencils, took me about one hour. Let me know what you think.

Jester


http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0020.JPG

[I.was.ink]

I like that cabin picture. I'm going to paint similar sceneries today also. I'm going to try and use one of your house refs that you posted!:) I like how on the cabin's surface, you just didn't use red straight out of the box, but you kind of scribbled a few tones in there and the black lines really help it out! Hope to see more. I'll post some of my figure drawings in my sketchbook from today's class!:)

[jester]

Thanks, iwasink. In fact the walls of the cabins were built up from four or five layers of pencil strokes (obviously doesn't show up in the scan) of brown, tuscan red, violet, black and idigo blue. I'm looking forward to your painting!

:)

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

Lookin good jester...wow only an hour huh...I better get crackin to catch up with you...good stuff man.

[davidheijl]

Nice work Jester - wish I could make the time to practice so much...

I still think the bottom-right boar rules ;)

David

[jester]

Thanks, MindCandy and davidheijl.

Here are my latest studies:

First, a hand study in a mixed media piece (marker and pencil)

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0021.JPG

Second, some more hand studies:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0022.JPG

And last but not least - a bug, inspired by the speedpainting thread. Prismacolor Pencils. Since it has no metaphor, I post it here (1 hour app.):

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0023.JPG

Thanks for looking, c&c welcome (I'm especially interested in what you think of the first hand study).

:)

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

These look really great jester. I think the perspective on the first hand study...the one on the top left ...is off a bit and the pinky finger has an abnormal bend to it. The bottom left one looks good except the knuckles at the base of the fingers aren't defined enough...so it makes it hard to distinguish where the fingers bend. The other one holding the lemon is my favorite...the only thing wrong with the pinky is its curvature...and the thumb comes out a bit too far I think...not sure. Bug looks awesome! I love the colors and the texture you got from that. Keep it up bud...keep going. You rock!

[I.was.ink]

Nice hand drawings. I really like the second set. I like the :thumbsup: and the egg holder. As for the first one, there is a line between the pinky and ring finger that confuses me and makes me think that there are 6 fingers. Your stuff is coming along wonderfly!:D

Keep on goin!!!

[jester]

Well, today was our private draw club again and since Fipse's girlfriend was very tired we came to draw mostly her. Fipse had also brought along some medieval garb (and props which we didn't use :o). The first two poses are 10 minutes each, the latter two about 15-20 minutes.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0024.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0025.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0026.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0027.JPG


Thanks, MindCandy and iwasink for your hints on my hand drawings. You are absolutely right.

:p

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

That last one is awesome Jester...keep it up bro these are great. Try really rendering out all the values though. Doing stuff in contour is good as well...but remember to keep it balanced with the other ways to "see". Maybe even try some negative/postive space stuff as well. Keep it up bud...I will comment in more specifics tomorrow when I am not falling asleep hehe.

[jester]

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0028.JPG

Those who know me know that I'm a great fan of structures of nature. Today's exercise was to draw stone and rock structures without reference in different media.

:)

Jester

[I.was.ink]

Those rocks and mountains look good, I like the first and last one of your studies! I like the looseness of the folds in the clothes. Keep em coming!:thumbsup:

[MindCandyMan]

nice jester...I like those a lot...they look great! Awesome work man!!

[jester]

I wanted to try the tips I received from my tutorial request and started to draw a tree. It's not finished yet but I want to show it anyway:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0029.JPG

Yesterday I was on a birthday party and took my chance to draw some of the people present. Since they were talking with each other and not holding still or posing this was quite difficult. I found that it's much easier to draw those people who you really know well in contrast to those you only see once in a while.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0030.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0031.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0033.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0034.JPG

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

That tree looks ready for some watercolors man...oh yeah

[jester]

Thanks, MCM, wow, what a fast reply!!!
Good idea to color it!

:D

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

The advantage of having a booring job...I am always willing to leave it be and look at some good art. Great job man keep it up. One trend I am seeing your work though is that you don't render out the different values...there is usually only the blackest blacks and the whitest whites. Try laying down some tones and see what happens...I think you would find desirable results.

[jester]

When I visited my friend last night I was a bit early and she was still reading a good-night-story to her youngest daughter. I took the chance to draw both (less than 5 minutes).

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0032.JPG

MindCandyMan - leaving out the values is due to just doing very rushed sketches at the moment. However, thanks a lot for pointing that out to me, I'll keep it in mind for the next ones. :)

Jester

[I.was.ink]

I agree with what mind candy man says about the tones in between, but I can already see that you are thinking about it in the latest sketch, which is really good because I can see that you put some tone on the darker part of the woman's face. That rilght there is one step that I can say that you have improved. Why? because this is an under 5 min. sketch and if you are already thinking about tone at this stage, then that means that you are on your way to success. good job JESTER, my man! :thumbsup:


btw, if its 12:00 p.m (noon) here in L.A, then what time is it in Germany?:confused:

[jester]

Thanks, iwasink. Another terribly busy day kept me from drawing (grrrrr!!) And there's still a portrait task to do which Oblio set for me on Monday or Tuesday... :rolleyes: . Hopefully I get to some drawing tomorrow. Some exessive drawing :D.

I'm not quite sure about the time gap, I think you are about 11 hours back (as a rule of thumb I think NY is 8 hours behind Germany). Why?

Jester

[I.was.ink]

Just wondering! ur welcome....oh yeah did u check the mentor thread? check it..its under the name of weekly task now!

[jester]

Since you seem to be online right now as well, it's 11:40 pm, Thursday, 30th January here ;)

Jester

[I.was.ink]

Really? its 2:50 right now p.m. dang you's is really far! my friend.

[jester]

So it's nine hours then. Yep, I'm to bed soon.

:chug:

Jester

[jester]

Not very much new to show, just colored the tree (in Painter7, going nuts with all the tools...) and a quick sketch of my partner at his favourite pastime :) Off to a meeting soon, but hopefully back tonight.

Jester

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0036c.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0037.JPG

[MindCandyMan]

That's what I'm talkin about...good stuff man. Throw that color down.

[Fipse]

Hi Jester,

the sketch of your partner is one of your best figure-studies I´ve seen from you yet. Maybe you should more often work fast to losen up.

Fipse
(who´s now going to draw with his girlfriend)

[jester]

Thanks, Fipse, must be a result of my last jobs: work fast at high quality ;)

Here are today's studies, nothing much but good fun (I'm a great fan of monitor backgrounds with waterdrops so I tried something similar today)

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0038.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0039.JPG

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

dude that's awesome...that stuff looks really hard to do...you did a great job...awesome man.

[jester]

MindCandyMan, it was eeeeasy, really. You can do it in no time yourself! Just grab a bit of colored paper and Prismacolor or any other pencils in the same but darker shade than the paper, white and grey. Draw the outline of the drop with a light stroke with your white pencil. Put in the reflrection mark with white. Shade the bottom with grey (lightly) and add a shadow in the same color as the paper below. For the wet paper area, just use the paper's darker color pencil. Voilá. :D

(Just an afterthought, should work with the chalk tool in Painter, too...)

Jester

[cucaracha]

which kind of pencils did you use? i mean, i never saw prismacolor pencils here in germany.
or did you order them somewhere?

[MindCandyMan]

they are called like karismacolors or something right jester?

[jester]

Yep, here they are called Karismacolor - and the only place I have found them yet is Boesner in Witten. They don't have them in their catalogue and not in their branch at Nuremberg (so gekitsu's research has shown). However, I ordered mine (Prismacolors original) via ebay...

Jester

[jester]

It's drill time again...

This time it's walls. :)

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0040.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0041.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0042.JPG

Jester

[I.was.ink]

Good job Jester! I really like the wall studies! the first one and the second one look really good! Damn good!:eek:

Did you do these with watercolor? traditional right? awesome stuff man, just one little hint would be to add a light source to these puppies, then you can get a dramatic effect. Do some new ones though, these are too nice to mess with.

O!

[jester]

Thanks, iwasink. The first was done with markers (copic) and the second and third with watercolor pencils. Yep, light source is my weak point.

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

Hey jester these are really good however I don't think the randomness is communicated effectively enough on the first one. I think perhaps dark sections dividing the stones is too large it would most likely be smaller than that...this type of thing is really rough to do with copic markers...unless you work at a huge scale. Walls are so tough...they look so easy and they are so so tough. Did you work off picture for these?

[jester]

iwasink - well, I had some sort of reference/instruction in a book dealing with structures. The 1st wall was done in watercolors and I thought it might be nice to try it with markers. You are right with the space, though. And I didn't make an exact copy but tried to "catch the mood". The second was a chalk drawing in my book and I re-worked it in watercolor pencils with watercolor mode engaged ;). The last one was done from what I learned from the first two and completely made up in my mind.

Here's today's drawing (just a 15 minutes pic with brown chalks because I visited a friend and had no time). First idea was to post it in the still life thread but on second thought I thought it a rather meagre still life ;)

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/still-007.JPG

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

How did you like working with those chalks jester I am curious? Looks good man.

[jester]

I'm not really friends with them, because they are rather "scratchy" and "rough" (no fine point, just edges). On the other hand I like the colors. Perhaps I handle them wrong - I'll try more drawings with them soon.

Jester

[jester]

Went to an Open University Open Drawing Class tonight. There is no special task given but you can ask questions on problems you've got. Since I'm struggling with how to make convincing abstraction of areas of multiple detail (eg leaves on a tree, bricks of a wall) I thought it might be a good idea to go there. However, somehow I didn't get the answers I was seeking but had some nice chances of quick life drawings of foreign people. :)

Attempts to solve my "mass" problem:
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0043.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0045.JPG

Quick portraits (between 5 and 15 minutes):
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0046.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0047.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0048.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0044.JPG

Jester

[I.was.ink]

I love those hairbrushes! (at least that's what I think they are. And good thing you r drawing people. Hadn't seen you draw those in a while!

the features on some of them though, look to close together! good progress thouigh.

btw, how are you doing on the first assingmente?

I'm about half ways done!

[jester]

iwasink, thanks a lot. Those "hairbrushes" is a sponge used for cleaning the blackboard :) - tried to get the structure right.

As for the expression of the people: except for the direct en face portrait they didn't know I was drawing them, so it's just that same concentrated look while being creative. The en face drawing was done while that guy was drawing me and I him, funny experience.

My assignment... :rolleyes: I haven't even started (pssst! don't tell anybody) but I want to do it tonight in a long drawing session. Was too busy during the past days... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :mad:

:chug:

Jester

[I.was.ink]

just make sure its finished by the 20th!:mad: :mad:

[MindCandyMan]

Hehe...I'm still waiting for my cast to arrive...hopefully it will arrive by Saturday or I will have to use something else that's for sure. What type of charcoal should we use for this you think?

[I.was.ink]

do u remember the stuff I told you that I used? that's what I'm using. And a pencil eraser, along with a kneaded eraser! on a drawing pad, Strathmore.

The drawing is about 8-10" tall.

[melmann]

jester
Great stuff! Theres a lot of great stuff and gives me inspiration to keep learning! Keep it up!
Peece,
Mel

[jester]

Thanks Mel, it's good to see when one's own humble drawings seem to help someone else.


Today I bought some silicon and just started to make a cast of my right hand. Hopefully I can pour in the plaster (gypsum?) tomorrow and will have proper plaster cast of my right hand by Wednesday. That silicon was the only stuff I could get here and gosh! it WAS expensive (for Germans around: 37,70 EUR!) So cross your fingers that it will come out nicely and was worth investing the money!

Here are two studies with Contè pencils I did at the weekend. As usual, my partner has to serve as my model... That ear took me about 10 minutes, the whole body about the same time (I won't make him sit still longer).

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0049.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0050.JPG

I know that in the second I still have that "hole in the model" problem, however, it was a fast drawing... :rolleyes:

Jester

[I.was.ink]

good drawing of your partner there jester. What do u mean by hole in the model? I see that you like those conte pencils! make sure they are sharpened all the time, and have you tried drawing on newsprint? The pencils work so much better on it!:)

[jester]

iwasink - thank you. I mean that by that white of the paper shining through you get this hole-effect. I haven't tried "newsprint" yet because I'm not quite sure which German equivalent might be the right one. I guess that it's very cheap, thin and smooth paper, but I'm not sure.

Jester

[I.was.ink]

that's right! you described it perfectly. It has a brownish tone to it. It's what is used in a life drawing class. I'm sure you could go to an art store and buy a little 9x12 pad of the stuff. it's what newspaper is made out of. hence newsprint!

O!

[jester]

Well, iwasink, you won't believe it, but I found out that very "normal" things can be done completely different from country to country (even in Europe!). And the newspaper paper here is different from the one you know. Also, it isn't available in pads (as far as I know...).

This goes for the availability of a wide range of materials/media. You probably don't have an idea how difficult it is to get the following here: Prismacolor Pencils and Markers, Alginate, Duct Tape, Sketchbooks like the one you bought recently (the brown rough paper one), magic rub, non-repro-blue pencils, col-erase pencils, plaster casts, and... newsprint. :) So either we are hunting for similar things (that's why a description of what it looks and feels like is so important) or order from the US (which has become really dear since the customs are even taking their toll for private parcels now!!). Sometimes it makes you feel like living on the other side of the iron curtain thirty years ago... This doesn't mean that high quality material/media aren't available at all - just that the brands and choice is very different from yours.

Jester

[I.was.ink]

Ooh! I didn't think of that. But looky here: http://www.dickblick.com/zz102/04/products.asp?param=0&ig_id=819
and here: http://utrechtart.com/

U can use our friend here, the internet to order stuff! I know that sometimes the shipping prices are outrageous, but its the best I can do to help you out.

Just wondering...what is Germany like? Would you mind taking some pics when possible of your town, outside of the houe, down the street. Just regular pics to you but I'm sure will be different and unique to us. Or to me at least.:)

Oskar!

[jester]

No problem. Since I have to go to the bank and post office today I'll take my digicam with me and take a few photos on my way. I'll post them in the Reference Thread. Perhaps we can convince people from everywhere to do this so we get a nice reference library of everyday scenes.

Jester

[I.was.ink]

Hey, an everyday refrence thread. Not a bad idea there Jester! I wasn't thinking of that, but that's an excellent idea!

[jester]

Preparing the middle class assignment #1 I thought it might be a good idea to learn more on hands' anatomy and copied a few drawings from my several anatomy books.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0055.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0054.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0053.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0052.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0051.JPG

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

Good stuff jester. Learn that anatomy man. It helps tremendously. Pay really close attention when copying the drawings from the books though. A lot of these are skewed a bit...really measure and draw it exactly as they have it because drawing the exact proportions of all the bones etc is the best. You don't want to practice drawing it the wrong way ya know. Good stuff man.

[jester]

On Saturday we had a brunch at a friend's flat (was really nice, wasn't it, Fipse?) and I took my sketchbook with me since I guessed that my victims wouldn't escape as long as there's enough food left ;)

Jester

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0056.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0057.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0058.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0059.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0060.JPG

[jester]

Well, though I didn't manage to post during the last week, I wasn't lazy. It was only that my biz and my social life got in the way :D

So here are my latest sketches:

My favourite model :)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0061.JPG

A friend with her cat and several studies of that bummer
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0062.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0063.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0064.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0065.JPG

It's spring!!!! Daffodils prove this :)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0066.JPG

As usual, comments and crits are welcome!

Jester

[jester]

MindCandy started this in his Journal, and I thought it might be fun or interesting for ou to see what my "studio" looks like, too. I wish I had a separate room for this...

So here most of my drawings are done:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/photo/hometown/wsp01.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/photo/hometown/wsp02.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/photo/hometown/wsp03.jpg

And here's my "office" ;)

http://www.jester.de/gallery/photo/hometown/wsp04.jpg

Jester

[StephenC]

i always like seeing peoples studios...its very interesting how different artists have such different character in their studio set ups as well as their work.

[MindCandyMan]

Nice jester...your place is clean!

[jester]

MCM - this is only because I didn't zoom in on the dusty and messy areas... ;)

As I said on the other thread, I haven't been drawing for several days due to my new biz, exessive reading and social life (and the beginning of the war, exessively watching TV on all available channels, German, English and American...).

BUT: Tomorrow I'll be drawing for more than six hours at the theatre! It's a rehearsal of a current play or ballet and a great chance to do many many gestures. I'm really looking forward to it.

So watch out for new posts on Monday!

Jester

[jester]

Hi! I was drawing at the theatre last Saturday. There were two sessions, one from 10 to 11:30 and another from 12 to 2. I did much more gestures and studies than I'm posting here. Still, it is amazing how much you can draw when in a really inspiring situation.

This was a rehearsal for a ballet. The first session was warming up for the dancers, the second half was a rehearsal for the ballet "Fight Club" (yes, after the movie with Brad Pitt) which is currently showing in Dortmund.

I'm posting the studies in chronological order in bunches of dozens or so.

If you have any suggestions of what else one can do in such a drawing situation I'd be really glad. There'll be another chance to draw the dancers in autumn and probably they're going to do "Carmen" then.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0067.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0068.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0069.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0070.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0071.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0072.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0073.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0074.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0075.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0076.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0077.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0078.JPG

[jester]

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0079.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0080.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0081.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0082.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0083.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0084.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0085.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0086.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0087.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0088.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0089.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0090.JPG

[jester]

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0091.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0092.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0093.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0094.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0095.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0096.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0097.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0098.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0099.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0100.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0101.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0102.JPG

[jester]

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0103.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0104.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0105.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0106.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0107.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0108.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0109.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0110.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0111.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0112.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0113.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0114.JPG

[jester]

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0115.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0116.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0117.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0118.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0119.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0120.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0121.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0122.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0123.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0124.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0125.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0126.JPG

[jester]

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0127.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0128.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0129.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0130.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0131.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0132.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0133.JPG http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0134.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0135.JPG

[StephenC]

jester i have a suggestion gor these ... its something i learned from one of my instructors..."for doing gestures, try drawing them with one continuous line ..draw thru the forms...try to feel where there is tension or relaxation in the muscles...this will help you to get a greater feel for the flow of each pose..."

keep it up...seeing how dedicated others are is very inspiring to me.
sc

[jester]

Thanks, Stephen, I'll try to keep this in mind for my next gestures. We got almost no instructions when we started and some people were even more lost than I was.

And thanks for the encouragement, too. I'm just a learner and never thought that my dedication would inspire anyone. So that's very encouraging to me!

Jester

[I.was.ink]

Its really great to see you studying the figure gesture! I also suggest what Stephen said, but you are doing a great job! Sorry for not responding to your stuff in a long time:(

I love this one!:)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0084.JPG
You definetely caught the essence of the pose!

O!

[jester]

Thanks, I.was.ink, I really wondered what happened to you. Tonight I'm continuing my knee-studies, I think I'm gonna post them in the Middle Class Anatomy section later.

Jester

[jester]

I attended a short seminar on hands and feet last weekend and here is my output in chronological order.

Each pose was held for about 15 minutes. The earliest studies had to have a constructional approach to the subject, the last ones were free. We had three different models, two rather you women and a man of about 55 years.

Jester

Here's the first bunch form Friday evening:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0136.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0137.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0138.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0139.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0140.JPG

[jester]

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0141.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0142.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0143.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0144.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0145.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0146.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0147.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0148.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0149.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0150.JPG

[jester]

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0151.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0152.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0153.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0154.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0155.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0156.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0157.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0158.JPG

[R_M]

Hi jester!

I see that I am not the only one trying to do hands! what techinque do you use? Up till recently I would almost always just start from a finger, and build my way, now I try to follow more geometric rules and build a wireframe for the whole hand before going into details. It helps me place the thumb better, and the proportions get more precise.

Feet...well I figured they are ugly anyway so way bother to learn them :D ?
But no matter what, hands are hard andfeet!

I haven't really begun to do it myself, but I think that you should work a bit more on the female hand, and diferentiate it from the male one.

[jester]

R_M - yeah, I'm a hands and feet addict, not because I find them easy but because every drawing is a real challenge.

The teacher who held that weekend seminar told us to start with rough geometric blocking of the main shapes and then work out the details. That's why my hands mostly "look" male: I tried to get the knack of the basic forms rather than achieving a natural look.

Don't regard feet as ugly! I'm very fond of feet (especially of mine :D ) since they carry all that weight, are comparable small and seldom complain ;). I feel tht normally they are neglected too much. Caress your feet and you'll discover how beautiful they can be - and how many shapes they contain.

:P

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

That foot (in black ink I think) hanging over the bed is great jester. The one two after the hand holding the ball. On that particular one you really controlled your stroke and line quality very well and it emphasized and suggested the form very well. This is big body of work keep it up man.

[theognis]

good stuff so far.

i like ur hatchmarking

[killing.people]

you rock chick!

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0080.JPG

i really like this. :)

[2kre8]

A lot of Good stuff jester, I do mean a lot. You are very dedicated keep it up

[I.was.ink]

Damn nice! My fave are the first and second page.

Superb!!!:thumbsup:

[jester]

Hey folks, thanks a lot for your comments! This is very encouraging. I've decided to take a few days off this week and hopefully will find some time to draw in the park and a playground just across the street (we've got lovely spring weather here, a bit chilly still, but sunny and dry!).

:p

Jester

[jester]

Here's some of the exercises I did recently. There are also new anatomical studies in the "Anatomy for Middle Class Artists" Thread in the Middle Class Sub-Forum.

I'm very fond of pirates' stories (i.e. Pirates of the Caribbean) and from time to time I try and draw one. I'm not very good at drawing from my mind so I chose a little statue I own.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0161.JPG

On Saturday my partner had his "no socks day" - :D and I managed to catch them...

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0160.JPG

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

I love pirates too! So does Craig Mullins! Great minds think alike hopefully right? heheh. Feet are so stinkin hard...I hate them. Keep working on them man...lookin good.

[jester]

Just returned from the children's playground across the street. This was great fun, sitting in the sun and drawing children. It became an experience when I suddenly found myself surrounded by up to eight children:

"Hey, you are drawing!"
"Come here, Yanni, she's drawing you!"
"Can you draw him?"
"Can you draw her?"
"Who taught you to draw?"
"Can you draw horses as well?"
"Will you draw me???!!!"
"Go over there, Yanni, she will DRAW you!"

:D :cool: :D

Here are the results:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0163.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0164.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0165.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0166.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0167.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0168.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0169.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0170.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0171.JPG

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0172.JPG


MCM, you love pirates, too? :) One day we should start the Middle Class pirates thread!!!

I'll be off for a few days over Easter and probably only lurk occasionally. I'll be definitely back on Tuesday next week!

Have a nice Easter everybody! :flower:

Jester

[2kre8]

wow jester those children drawings are really nice, porportions are kinda off but I know how hard it is to draw people in motion, one thing that sometimes helps me is drawing the line of action first from the head to the toe then the arms by that time the person already moved and the rest is from memorie. I usually try to make it as dynamic as possible. How do you do it?

[jester]

2kre8 - I usually block in the chest, then arms and legs, head as the last addition because that's moving most.

I tried that "line action" method, too, but found that then my drawings lack dimension/depth.

[jester]

Last Thursday we finally made it (at last) to the exhibition "Palace of Knowledge" in Dortmund. The exhibition closed yesterday (to move on to other locations) and was quite interesting. It showed some of the stuff Tzar Peter the Great had collected in his lifetime. The artifacts were fantastic, the presentation not.

Anyway, of course I had my sketchbook on me... :D

A stuffed out life-size elephant (erm, its right foot...)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0173.jpg

A chinese robe
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0174.jpg

One of Peter's coats
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0175.jpg

A scythian golden belt buckle, wolf and snake
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0176.jpg

Jester

[jester]

I had a few spare minutes before a meeting and just drew what I saw:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0177.jpg

I'm rather proud of this POS because this has been the first imaginary drawing in a looooong time and (though I see the many mistakes in this crappy piece) I think at least I managed to achieve a certain dimensionality.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0178.jpg

These were drawn during a talk show on TV

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0179.jpg

Also, there are some Bridgman copies in the anatomy section of the Middle Class.

Jester

[jester]

I really struggle to get friends with Bridgeman, but alas! his style is very difficult for me to understand:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0181.jpg


There were some great bug's photos in the latest GEO magazine which inspired me to try to draw them.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0183.jpg

Have a nice Mayday!

[off to draw!]

Jester

[jester]

I found those bugs really inspiring - therefore I did some more...

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0184.jpg

and I decided to improve my skills on doing some light and shade studies. Not as easy as it looks!!!

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0185.jpg

Off to the cinema now, X-Men2 :D :D :D

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

I'm diggin your stuff man...keep it coming. The shape study was really good! Great stuff man

[jester]

Thanks MCM, I really appreciate your comments. I heard that X-Men 2 starts tomorrow (Friday) in the US - go and see it, you'll like it! Best entertainment, best action, best SFX!!!

More shape studies to come, I painted a toilet paper roll and a wooden cylinder white and also got two styrofoam balls.

:p

Jester

[jester]

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0186.jpg

:p

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

Yeah I am going to see it tonight. I can't wait to see nightcrawler he is awesome.

[jester]

You'll enjoy it. I'm definitely going to see it again!

Another shape study... :rolleyes:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0187.jpg

:p

Jester

[jester]

Shamelessly copied from the second The Art of the Lord of the Rings Book...

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0188.jpg

:o

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

No shame in that man...it looks great! You gave them credit hehe. Hey I also wanted to let you know that those shape studies are excellent man....really good!

With the LOTR drawing be conscious of your line weights. I may be wrong about this but it seems like line drawings read the best when the thicker line weight is consistent with the shadow areas. For instance in the shadow areas the line would be thicker and in the light areas the line would be very thin. What are your thoughts on this after having done this drawing?

[jester]

Thanks, MindCandyMan, I really enjoyed doing the shape studies as well as the Ent.

You are right with the thicker line weights better to apply to the shadow areas. This is what I tried when drawing this ent, however, I felt that its right knee didn't stick out enough, and thus I made that top line thicker, giving up on consistency there.

My thoughts while copying this drawing were changing all the way through. When I decided to draw this I thought "looks easy enough". I was still quite satisfied when I had done the pre-sketch. I thought I mugged it all up when I started on the details, esp. the leaves, which were a pain for me - I lack patience for this detail - and finally I was quite pleased again. Took me about 90 minutes and I enjoyed myself very much during this time.

Jester

[R_M]

Always fun to browse here! Now I want to do shade studies to...
:chug:

[jester]

Thanks R_M, comments like these keep me going! :)

So today at last my life drawing class started and it was really really demanding. We almost constantly drew for those 3:15h, starting with 3 minutes poses up to 20 minutes poses.

Some of the drawings were to large to be scanned, so I took photos of them (the ones with the black "frame").

Comments and crits are highly appreciated!

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0189.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0190.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0191.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0192.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0193.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0194.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0195.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0196.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0197.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0198.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0199.jpg

Medium is mostly Conté, Sepia, Sanguine and simple pencil.

:)

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

Hey jester these are looking great...that's awesome you get to take that class man! Fantastic! I will relate some things that my figure drawing teacher always tells me. Be careful not to lengthen the torso too much and keep the size of the head in check. Build the figure up like a structure...start with the internal structure (the gesture). The rib cage and the pelvis are two objects that remain consistent in shape...plot them out first and worry about the limbs last. Also don't cut off the feet or hands...they are as important as the rest of the figure. You have to consider composition when doing this as well. If just the feet are cut off then you need to plan more before you start...define a top and bottom line of the figure and stay consistent with that. Good work man keep it up I can't wait to see more. I like the third and the tenth the best...great work bro.

[jester]

Thanks for the advice, I'll try to keep it in mind. Our teacher didn't do and say very much today but went round and gave comments to whatever caught his eye. I think he just wanted to get an impression of everyone's level. The third is one of my favourites, too. :) It was so much fun, I can only recomment life drawing courses to all the readers, posters and lurkers here ;)

Jester

[Nold]

Yes, a good life drawing course can teach a lot. Mindcandy is right, watch the proportions, especially the head seems to be a bit too small sometimes. But anyway, good work. Keep it up.

[jester]

Thanks, Nold, yes, you are right, I was suffering from "small-head-disease" ;). Here are my drawings from yesterday. That disease has even become stronger... :( - it wasn't my day yesterday anyway. I am trying to produce a flyer for my biz... I urgently need it on Thursday. Well, I constructed it in M$ Publisher, since this is the only DTP program I own yet. Well, shortly before I went to that life drawing class I learned that the printer can't use it. I was like :mad: and asked a friend to use his version of PageMaker on his PC at night after the class. Handed in the file today... cross your fingers that everything will be all right and that I get the flyers at noon.

OK, let's stop ranting over my biz and getting back to art!

Here are my drawings. Oh, I almost fogot: I drew doubled size from last time, i.e. A2 instead of A3 size, on an easel... was immensely fighting with this new experience. :)

In random order, all between 3 minutes and 20 minutes, depending on pose. Never have drawn such a voluminous person before... :rolleyes:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0204.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0205.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0206.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0207.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0208.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0209.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0210.jpg

Jester

[jester]

...from this week.

First, a rose is a rose is a rose ;) Got one for Mother's Day in a shop ;) (seems I fit in this "motherly scheme"... ;) ) and couldn't resist to take it and draw it.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0200.jpg

Then, being inspired by MCM's great approach to Bridgman I tried some copies of ears, noses and mouths, too. Ears and noses in pencil (HB and 6B), mouths in Conté Sepia.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0201.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0202.jpg

C&C would be :cool:

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

Alright...that's what I like to see...you are pumping the art out at a hefty pace! Love the rose and the bridgman studies are, of course, close to my heart hehe :)...they are well done man keep going with them they will help you visualize the human figure in 3d space a lot better...bridgman rules.

Voluminous indeed hehe...these figure drawings are a ton better than the other ones that you posted...you are getting noticeably better already. My advice for the future ones is to make sure that you are setting guidelines for yourself...for instance...the top most point...the bottom most point and the center (the pelvic bone)...measure measure measure when you are doing this...and always keep in mind the length of everything...2 heads down are the nipples...etc... stuff like that. It's easy to forget that while you are drawing but after constantly thinking about it...it will eventually become second nature...I'm not there yet heheh. Great work man.

[jester]

Pumping it out at a hefty pace - I like this expression! (Never heard it before but it will sure get into my idioms' list ;)

So here are some more. First another Bridgman study. I wanted to get back to hands again... black Pierre Noire Contè

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0211.jpg

And some random doodles, trying to get a better feeling for the sanguine pencil

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0212.jpg

For those who are following my rants: I got my flyers just in time :D

Jester

[Cashmere]

Jester, I am studiying anatomy using a John Raynes's book : "Human Anatomy for the Artist", do you know it?
I have looked your Brigdman studies and they appear more dynamic than Raynes studies.

The ears, noses and mouths are well done, you beginning from simple shapes and then finish them. This method is very interesting.

[jester]

Hi folks, here's today's booty from my Life Drawing Class.

I was in a much better mood today, and since it was the same model as last week, I sort of got acquainted with those massive forms ;)

We did 13 pieces again, starting with 3 minutes sketches and going over 8-10 to roughly 15 minutes. I leave out the two that were completely mucked up.

1)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0214.jpg

2)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0215.jpg

3)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0216.jpg

4)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0217.jpg

5)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0218.jpg

6)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0219.jpg

7)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0220.jpg

8)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0221.jpg

9)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0223.jpg

10)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0224.jpg

11)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0225.jpg

:p

Cashmere, I don't know the author you mentioned. Bridgeman is a friend whose friendship I'm working hard at - seems it finally starts to pay. In case there's a chance for you to get your hands on these books, try Sarah Simblet's Anatomy and Gottfried Bammes' - both are great teachers.

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

One thing to keep in mind jester (you may already know this)...the skeletal structure of someone doesn't every change...that persons bones are nearly the same size as mine but I am probably 100 lbs lighter...maybe more not sure heheh. But the skeletal structure and underlying muscle structure doesn't ever change. All that fat could be peeled away and then all you would have left is an anatomical chart of a human muscle system. It makes it more challenging to see the underlying structure when someone is fat but try to really see through to the skeleton and then draw their fat according to gravity and weight...etc... Keep it up man...this batch is way better than the last batch even...great job.

[jester]

Life drawings and recent studies 226-243

Yesterday's life drawing class was rather annoyoing (I ranted on MindCandy's Pantura Studio's thread already so I won't repeat it here - if you are interested, check it out) and thus my drawings are rather weak this time. However, here they are, even if they are only good to serve as a bad example...

3 min.
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0226.jpg

3 min.
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0227.jpg

3 min.
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0228.jpg

10 min.
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0229.jpg

10 min.
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0230.jpg

15 min.
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0231.jpg

15 min.
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0232.jpg

15 min.
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0233.jpg

3 min.
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0234.jpg

10 min.
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0235.jpg

15 min.
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0236.jpg

15 min.
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0237.jpg

10 min.
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0238.jpg

Sorry for the crappy photos, I couldn't make out why the sheets of paper reflected the flash that much this time :(

Whoa, that was a big download this time, wasn't it? C&C welcome as always.

:)

Jester

[jester]

And here are some recent studies from the past two weeks:

My partner, watching soccer... ;)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0239.jpg

Two people from Austria who had been held hostages in Algeria during spring and were on a late night show on TV
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0240.jpg

3 pounds of tomatos...

Attempt no.1 in gouache (my first gouache ever) (yesterday, being furious over my art teacher's remarks)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0241.jpg

Attempt no.2 in watercolor pencils with switched on water color mode (yesterday, still furious)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0242.jpg

Attempt no. 3 in Prismacolor pencils (today, absolutely calm after doing some gardening on my balcony)
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0243.jpg

:beer: (what I like most in this icon is the instant refill!)

Jester

[Mindflaw]

Hi there Jester.

I´m been checking your thread and I must say that I like the "oven in the kitchen" sketch the best maybe it´s the colourscheme and the use of white, must think some more about that. I liked the waterdrops too.

One tip that may be helpful with your lifedrawing is that you could, since you scan your drawings, is to lighten up the pics so that they dont show that much then print some copies. Then you could experiment because at least for me I get a feeling of what seems wrong with my drawings and with the copies its easy to see what happens if one change the lines or shading etc. I think that will help one to improve more than just to think about what one did wrong.

[jester]

Mindflaw, thanks a lot for the tip - I'll try that!

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

hey jester how do you like gouache...I've only used white for highlights before...you like it?

[jester]

Gouache feels... hmm stiff. Maybe I had the wrong kind of brush - or I didn't use enough water. Feels like it's a quick version of oil painting somehow. But I'll try again.

[MindCandyMan]

yeah it seemed hard to work with when I used it as well.

[jester]

My most recent works:

A plant I created for Davi's Eliphos thread

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0244.jpg

And a tree study I made for the middle class weekly assigment.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0245.jpg

Off to a barbeque now, maybe return later.

:beer:

Jester

[Nold]

Nice work, jester. I like that eliphos plant. What markers do you use ?

[MindCandyMan]

yeah that eliphos plant is really nice jester I agree...great job!

[Cashmere]

Jester, you are drawn the trees using a Faber Castell PITT Brush Pens, is that so? But are these pens like an oil colours or a water colours? I like their brilliance. Are they difficult to use?

[MindCandyMan]

Jester sind Sie der König. Sie erhalten besser und besser mit jeder Skizze Sie... Sie sind groß!

[Nold]

HAHA !!! MCM, this is great.

[jester]

Nold, I use the Japanese brand Copic markers. They are expensive but I got loads for Xmas. They also seem to last. I use them quite sparingly (and still struggling with them) but the warm grey ones I bought more than a year ago are still as new.

MindCandyMan, thank you, it was good fun. I'm not very good at drawing from my mind but this time I had a cactus at hand (the middle section of the plant) and had just scanned my cacti photos, so I got plenty of reference. The weakest part are the large leaves and guess what - I had no reference here. ;)
Have you discovered Babelfish? This translation is soooo funny :D!

Cashmere, yes, the Brush pens are rather like water colors, or like markers. I found them easy to use, just like a mixture between a small felt tip marker and a small brush. They keep their point and run a smooth and constant line (at least now, being new).

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

Yeah drawing without reference is really hard...that takes time to be able to do that. Especially drawing plants and all...it's hard to make them as random as they are in the real world...great job man keep it up.

Gotta love babelfish!...at the very least I can give you a nold a good laugh every once in a while! hahah

[jester]

Hi, it's Tuesday again - and this means - :D

LIFE DRAWING CLASS.

Today I decided to "ask back". So when my teacher said "That's bad" I asked "why?". The result was twofold: 1) his answers didn't come that fast and it seemed that he had to re-think what he had been taught himself - resulting in less annoying comments. 2) I really learned something, eg. that it's good to draw full size on your paper because then you show that you master that size ;) (don't know what's the problem here, in case I "don't master" the size I can crop the paper anyway...

The first 2 are 3 minute pieces:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0246.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0247.jpg

These are 10-15 minutes:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0248.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0249.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0250.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0251.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0252.jpg

And three 15 minute ones:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0253.jpg
If you think of Disney's Tarzan when looking at it, I do so, too.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0254.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0255.jpg

Since today it was a new and male model (in case you haven't noticed ;) ) I had to adjust and become acquainted with new shapes today. But this model will be the same for the rest of the class (another three sessions), so I think I'll improve.

:p

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

these are much much better than the previous batch jester. The 4th one down is really good. The last one is good as well...foreshortening is hard. That teacher sure sounds dumb...bleh...sorry man. A couple things...It looks as if you could be measuring more...or perhaps measuring more properly. Make sure you have your all the way...etc...cause if you make a mistake measuring one area...and then measure another area off of that it can ruin the drawing. That's why it's good to find something somewhere on the model that is consistent...for instance using his head as the "measurement" against which everything else is judged. Also I would keep in mind the general proportions of the body...4 heads down to the middle of the body...so if someone is sitting they should only be about 4 heads tall...etc... It's always good to constant be utilizing that in the back of your mind. Measure measure measure...have fun!...and smack that teacher for me!

[jester]

Yeah, he IS dumb. For example, he tells me that drawing construction lines first and then the general gesture is too schematic. I should start with one part of the body and then proceed from there. Same with faces/portraits: I shouldn't start with the basic construction lines but with the eyes and then go on. Otherwise I would have to erase the guidelines (yes, so what??? :wtf: ). Be sure that i never will do this :rambo:

:mad:

:realmad:

Oh, and thanks fot the crit, MindCandyMan. Yes, measuring is still my weak point, but I do what I can in these short poses. When doing the really short ones (3 minutes) I just start drawing. For the longer ones (10-15 minutes) I usually spend the first minute just for looking, then getting the main lines and angles, then do the real lines and finally the shading. This end usually at last in clear line work in which I can erase the guidelines later if needed.

Jester

Jester

[Nold]

In life drawing I would be careful whith the general proportions. If you stick too much to them you could possibly be drawing what you are thinking of and not what you see. Only few models look like in an anatomy book, the proportions differ, this gives them a characteristic look. If you alway think about the ideal proportions this could get lost. When I started life drawing classes, we had a model where the center of the body was not where it is in anatomy books, this resulted in legs that were far too long in my drawing. When I'm drawing from life, I have the general proportions in mind, but the first thing I do is measuring where the real proportions differ from them ( where is the center of the body ? how many heads is the distance between the key positions really? how long are the arms ? and so on). IMHO this is a good base to start from because you are aware of the characteristic proportions of this model and you can still use the general proportions like "The center of the body should be here, but with this model I have to move it slightly upwards" and so on.

This is quite a long post for telling you something that I think you already knew.

[MindCandyMan]

Yeah that's exactly right nold. Those "idealized" measurements can only give you a base structure...learning to see properly is a whole other ballgame. People usually lose 1/3 or 1/2 of a head below the knee or in the upper legs...realistically most people only stand about 7 1/2 to 7 2/3's heads tall. Don't sweat it jester...just do it all the time and always measure measure measure. Try this next time...forget that you are drawing a person...consider them just plain shapes and all...so you will force yourself to not put an "eye" where you think an eye should be...but just exactly where you see it. Keep it up bud...life drawing is one of the most draining things...takes so much concentration...so difficult...keep it up bud.

[jester]

Thanks, MCM, this time I measured like hell ;)

Yesterday was my life drawing class again. I sort of got used to that model and my teacher annoyed me less. So I think my output wasn't bad. However, I have no idea why some of the photos came out so blurry, I did all of them with my tripod with the same distance to the drawing... :confused:

As usual, we started with short sketches and then the poses got longer to up to 20 minutes.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0257.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0258.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0259.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0260.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0261.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0262.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0263.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0264.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0265.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0266.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0267.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0268.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0269.jpg



:p

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

You measured and it shows! Look at the third one down. Excellent man. Every batch just keeps getting better and better...keep up your momentum. Your eye is getting much much better!

[jester]

Thanks a lot, MCM, this keeps me goin' :D

Jester

[jester]

Here are my most recent works:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0270.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0271.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0272.jpg


The chimps are from a magazine article on Jane Goodal. The plants are living on my balcony and that tilting tower is near my home (I tilted the camera while I took that photo and since I found this interesting, I didn't correct this).

Comments? Questions? Hints? Tips?

:)

Jester

[R_M]

the tower is the most interesting one. it reminds me of shogun the TV series.
you have used pantones for the greywalls right? in some areas you overlap your lines and darker spots are formed. I think you should take advantage of this and create the brick pattern in this way instead of drawing single bricks.
it is rather messy and difficult to make it look nice, but if you pull it off it works like a charm... :D

[jester]

Thanks, R_M, I appreciate your comment. The marker's brand is Copic, not Pantone, but I think this doesn't matter really. I know what you mean by building up a brick structure with the marker strokes overlapping but I was too chicken to try this.

As for the others, well, I'm just learning and draw whatever catches my attention... Perhaps I'm not bold enough to try strange angles and perspectives yet, that's why they come out rather common, maybe even boring.

However, your comments helps me to try more in this direction.

:)

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

Great animal sketches man! The perspective of the tower is still off in some places...primarily concerning the windows and the middle wood beam on the side. Also the corner wedge facing us seems a little off. Make sure that all parallel lines converge at the same vanishing point. Keep it up bud.

[jester]

MCM, you're right on the windows. I only realised this after looking at the phot again, which I post here for comparison (you'll see that I changed it a bit). Thanks for pointing this out.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/photo/turm-bodelschwing-hell.jpg

As for the animals: good reference makes good drawings, at least for me... ;)

Jester

[Cashmere]

Hi Jester, I'm seeing some pages of your thread. I like the hands with the lemon, the sketch of the rocks and that intricate tree (page 2).
I always repeat to you that you are good to use colours, (the tree, page 3).
The sketches for the ballet "Fight Club" (page 5) are very charming :)
I feel your passion for the structure of nature: the animals, the bugs found on GEO magazine (page 6)...
In the last days I can see that you are making a big work studying the human body...

So... keep up the good work!

[jester]

Hey Cashmere, thanks for taking the time to look through my sketchbook. Yes, I'm really fascinated by nature, but also by technical stuff. However, I don't dare to draw that. Or rather, I draw it but since it's mostly copies from "The art of Star Wars" I don't dare to post it. I usually can't be bothered to work with rulers and take my time - and that shows. A little inexactness doesn't show in nature drawings that much.

It's funny that you mention coloring. I don't feel that this is my strong part. But it's very encouraging to read that someone likes my use of colors. :)

Here are my structure/texture drawings I did for the Middle Class weekly:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0273.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0274.jpg

Jester

[jester]

Here's my booty from today's life drawing class. I went there in quite a bad mood (some things in life can be frustrating!) but even got a praise from my teacher today! So this class lightened up my day a bit. Let me know what you think!

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0275.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0276.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0277.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0278.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0279.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0280.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0281.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0282.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0283.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0284.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0285.jpg

Jester

[jester]

I am working on illustration a novel from my partner. This is meant as a birthday present for a very special friend. The novel (The son of the Dragon) is a very long novel so I won't take the trouble of telling you the plot. What you have to know will come with my drawings.

The first work is still WIP and is a map of the castle. Done with painter as an overdraw over my partner's sketch: so the structure is exactly like the author imagined it. I'm not happy with the background yet.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/karte-alomgil.jpg

Jester

[Cashmere]

I can't wait to see more ! :beer:

[Fipse]

Ah, you´ve started ... Lets see what will come. Next time we meet we can talk about the concepts ;).

Fipse

[jester]

Yes, I've started - and I've got to hurry: That novel is more than 600 pages long and that birthday is by the end of September...

So here is a map of a part of the world I did last year in Painter:



And some flowers, which are mentioned in the first chapter.

"Märzköpfchen" means something like "Little March heads", "Sonnenfänger" is "Sun catcher".

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0288.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0289.jpg

More to come!

And here's a sketch I did while I was waiting for some friends at an Irish pub:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0287.jpg

And a sketch I did yesterday (from reference from a magazine)

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0286.jpg

Thanks for the comments, guys!

:)

Jester

[sic1]

The plants/flowers look very life-like. The last page catches my eye because of the shading style you did there. It reminds me of a displaced glass feeling -- very stylistic and effective, nice jester.

[jester]

Thanks, sic1. I was trying this style because I've seen really good drawings realised with this. However, they didn't look like looking though distorted glass... :rolleyes:

Since we've a holiday today I spent the morning doing some more textures. The first half is from nature reference pics, the second half inspired by the various way correction pens release their fluid.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0291.jpg

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

You've been kicking it up a notch lately jester...I like it! That map looks sweet dude...I love the little extra textures you added to it. The quick sketches have a lot of life to them and, of course, I love the sketch of the flowers...great stuff. Drinkin some guiness I see...or perhaps just using the glass hehe.

[ac_osorio]

Nice work I like it!
You do Scientific Illustrations?
The flowers look great!

[jester]

MindCandyMan, thanks for the encouragement, it means a lot, especially since today I'm absolutely frustrated: I tried to draw that castle (from the plan posted the other day) and it is absolutely difficult. It is standing on a hill (can't be seen on the plan but I know from the author) which doesn't make it easier. So I thought, all right, try a different thing, draw the queen, her daughter and her niece in the castle garden. Arrrgghh! :mad: I suck drawing from mind. It just looks like my drawings from three years ago as if there had been no progress at all. I'm raving mad at the moment!

ac_osorio, thanks a lot. No, I don't do scientific illustrations, I'm a marketing consulter looking for clients... However, I'm glad that you like them, it's really good to read that at least not all of my drawings are crap. :)

Maybe I post my humble drawings later today (if I can stand looking at them again).

Jester

-------------

edit: Here are the crappy drawings I talked about earlier. Come on, rip me apart!

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0293.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0294.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0292.jpg

Jester

[jester]

I'm feeling better, now that I've done this:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0295.jpg

I also scanned it in a different mode:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0296.jpg

Which one do you prefer? The original looks something in between, being colored with cold gray markers.

Jester.

[I.was.ink]

I like the original. Very nice progression jester. ;)

[ac_osorio]

Maybe is because I'm feeling blue, but I prefer the blue one...yeah the blue one.

[sic1]

Originally posted by jester
I was trying this style because I've seen really good drawings realised with this. However, they didn't look like looking though distorted glass... :rolleyes:


Noo, I didn't mean to sound like that :( ... I really love the way it looks! :)

Your new textures look great!
I really admire the recent scan, where it's bluish. Actually, I like them both, but I think the bluish one gives more of a cold and dark feeling to the atmosphere.

[jester]

Thank you, guys. Well, I like the "blue" one better, too, although it gives the pic this cold feeling sic1 mentions. Quite funny, my ref pic shows a really warm athmosphere (it's a street in Portugal).

sic1, glad you like that style and the textures. I'm a great fan of textures. However, I haven't really found the knack yet to use them properly in drawings - either I get too exact and forget to imply shadows and lights or I get messy.

Jester

[buffaloe]

hey nice sketches! I like the blue one of this last set of drawings... the color kinda fits with the fluffy clouds in the sky :)

Also, in the life drawings at the top of the page, that foreshortened view is really nice! You've made a very convincing drawing.... That's one of my favorite poses to draw, maybe because the odd position makes it much harder to think of it as a human form, and you're really forced to draw the contours and shapes as they are, not as you think they should be :) Nice work, jester!

[jester]

Hey buffalo, thank you. I find those "difficult" poses with lots of foreshortening easiest, probably because, as you said it, one doesn't recognise the human form as such but really have to look - seems that I can look reasonably well but when drawing from my mind this doesn't help. And when drawing "normal" human poses it seems that my left brain side wins over my right in telling it that it's soooo boring and why not take a shortcut?! ;)

So, inspired by Rantz' great sketches, I picked up my rough paper again and tried a similar technique - not half as nice as his portraits, but what the hell! I'm learning! :D

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0297.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0298.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0299.jpg


BTW, MCM, yes I had a Guinnes! :chug: but only one because I had to drive home... :( ;)

Jester

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

I didn't get to tell you jester but that city street drawing you did looks awesome...great great work.

[jester]

:) This drawing convinced me that not everything was done in vain. But I'm still unhappy that my drawings from my mind suck so much.

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

I have the same exact problem...Just keep plugging away for years and years and eventually we will get there. I get frustrated too...I draw like 16 pen sketches from guptil's book showing you how to do buildings and I can't even do one right from my head...just takes time I suppose.

[golgari]

Originally posted by jester

(it's a street in Portugal).


hrhr...that's funny, because Portugal was EXACTLY what I thought of when I saw it...very well done, it transports that summer-ish, portugese feeling really well (do you know the algarve? ah, it's such a lovely place... ;) )
did you draw this from a photo reference? or out of mind?

i like the technique you used on your last drawing...that cocoon...(it is a cocoon, isn't it?)
did you use watercolor for the background? or markers?

[jester]

golgari, I've never been to the Algarve (but to several places in Spain which look similar) and I did this drawing from photo reference.

The cocoon's background is just black india ink, applied with a brush because I was too lazy to fill it all in by pen and didn't want to use those expensive markers on that paper.

:)

Jester

[jester]

As time goes by, today was my eigth and last life drawing session for this year.

And I won't spare you the results ;). BTW, there's the 300th pic in this bunch for this thread. Gosh!

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0300.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0301.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0302.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0303.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0304.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0305.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0306.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0307.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0308.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0309.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0310.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0311.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0312.jpg

:p

Jester

[golgari]

your last? duh... are you going to continue with another course?
some drawings look great, others seem to have quite some flaws...how long did you take for each? did you take different time spans for different drawings?
i like the last 3 drawings a lot, especially the one where you used the contour line so remarkably (0310.jpg)
In your third picture, his head looks a bit strange...and is the neck really that slim?
In the fifth picture, you seem to have had a little bit trouble with the chin...and in the seventh, either the nose or left head-contour-line seems strange... I think that if you draw the nose like you did, one should be able to see more of the left eye...i like the first and the ninth sketch...and the eighth (that one where you used a yellow pen) seems pretty good aswell...just that the scan isn't very good...you don't have that in a better quality, do you?

[buffaloe]

you seem to have the same problem I have, jester... fitting the whole figure onto the page ;) Other than that, nice drawings! Hmmm, crits, let's see... ok, on the first one, the shoulder span looks too small for his frame.... and the seventh (i think... the one in red pen) looks like his face is a bit small for his head. The rest seem pretty well proportioned.... I really like the seated pose on the chair covered with cloth. I like the hatching you're using to define the form.. looks nice!

Eighth and final class? You only take 8 in a term? wow... how long are those classes? You're going to continue to draw on your own right? :D

[MindCandyMan]

3rd one from the last = :clapping2 :clapping1

One thing that helps with chopping off the heads or feet is to do a quick gesture sketch (very lightly) before you start defining any regions on the page...just do a quick gesture to make sure everything is composed as you want it.

[jester]

golgari, yes, maybe in fall - but that depends on how my business is doing till then (even a VHS-class costs money...). The time spans varied from 3 minutes to up to 20 minutes, that's why the results look so different and inconsistant.
The last three were the longest poses and it definitely shows. Of the last one I'm quite proud actually.
BTW these are no scans but digital photos - and despite using a tripod I haven't found out yet why some of them come out so blurry. They are much too large for my scanner and I don't have the time to stitch the scans. sorry.

buffalo, on some of them I cut the figure intentionally, but on others it was just badly planned... :rolleyes: As for the hatching on the seated figure - according to my teacher this was bad because cross-hatching implies cloth, so he says (Gottfried Bammes uses this method and I think higher of Bammes than of this teacher so I didn't listen... :D) Each session of the class was three hours. It's just a sort of open university class for all and sundry, so you can't expect much from them. Anyways, at least you get a bunch of naked people you can draw... ;)

MindCandyMan, I'm quite surprised that this is your favourite! My favourites are: the last one and the one where I only draw the top half of the guy holding his hands behind his head. But thanks for the clapping guys! :)

Thanks to you all that you took the time to load all the pics and to give such detailled comments. This is really helpful.

I did some drawings at a small zoo today and copied some of Guptill's pen works which I might post later.

Jester

[jester]

I was at a small zoo yesterday and that was what I could manage to draw, depite the hoards of little children yelling away...

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0313.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0314.jpg

and some studies from Guptill's invaluable book:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0315.jpg

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

Those guptil renderings look nice and clean jester...good job man. Screaming kids = annoying.

[golgari]

yep, the guptil drawings look very good.
i also like the second dragon-rendering (i'm just calling it dragon since i lack the knowledge of it's real name...) -
his foot looks strange though... is that "index toe" really that long? i like the way you shaded it...did you use watercolour for that? i think i have to try out that technique some day, too, it gets me every time. you can create such impressing shadow effects with a few strokes...i think you have to know how to place them, though ;)

[Cashmere]

Jester, the first sketch is very simple... I suppose in that moment some childrens were screaming ;) , the second iguana (?) is more realistic..
The Guptill's studies are perfect.

[jester]

I was quite frustrated today, for several reasons. First of all, that PC problem of my friend was more severe and took more of my time than I expected. Oh well. Then, afterwards, I decided to get onto that novel project again and to try to get to a three dimensional side view from the floor plan and height information I got. I read through the Loomis instructions and the helpful posts in my request thread in the Work in progress section. But I somehow couldn't concentrate and that was the outcome:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0316.jpg

and the rough side views

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0317.jpg

Then I tried to create it with a 3d rendering program called Blender - but I soon realised that I am much too inexperienced with this program to create something fast.

So I ended up building a crude to-scale model from foam card to draw from this. Here are the first sketches I produced with the help of it:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0318.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0319.jpg

The results at least encouraged me to try and draw some castles with pen from reference:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0320.jpg

Life can be annoying sometimes.

Jester

[Jeff Gran]

hey that sounds like a cool project you're working on. I like the drawings from the cardboard but I think you could have done better with the highlights...looks too much like just a line drawing. It would have been better if you had used the white to make the forms pop out. There must have been highlights besides the edges.

The castle drawings are really good! I just got a new pen called a nexus (my old one ran out of ink), and these make me want to try the same kind of drawing.

[jester]

Hey Jeff, the white was just sort of an afterthought. Thanks for
the compliment on my castle drawings - this is where I want to get (but without reference, just from my mind).

That project is for a friend's birthday at the end of September - not sure whether I'll make it in tim :rolleyes:

Jester

[golgari]

hmm, seems like i have missed out on that project...did you tell any further details about it before?
somehow it looks like the buildings in your second cardboard-sketch seem more huddled together (closer to each other) than in the first one...but i like them, although they seem to be very rough sketches.
those castles are great...especially the one in the upper left corner with those nicely rendered rocks beneath it :)

[jester]

Here's a rock study I did for the Middle class weekly:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0321.jpg

golgari, yes I told a bit about the project earlier (here and in the Work in progress section). I'm trying to illustrate a fantasy novel my partner finished recently. My illustrations are not meant for publishing but are for a special book project as a birthday present for a really good fried. That birthday is on 30th September and I should draw more and hang around CA less... ;)

Jester

[golgari]

ahh...okay :)
that rock study looks good. the crosshatching looks a little strange, since all the lines are very clear, free and flowing, and then the shadowy areas are covered with this rigid hatching...makes it look a bit like there was a wire over it, or a plane or something like that.
nice job anyway!

[MindCandyMan]

rocks are so so tough

[sic1]

jester do more rock studies! I love the hatching you've done there. You managed to keep in a lot of details (i always mangle rocks with details) so that is very attractive! I like how you keep the contrast in there while keeping the above in mind.

[Cashmere]

Jester, how many pages have you projected to draw for your partner's book?

[jester]

Cashmere, well. it has 17 chapters and if I make it to produce 2 per chapter I'll be quite happy. Currently I lost some time trying to draw the castle in perspective. Of look and feel I have something similiar to the "The art of [insert film title here]" books, eg LOTR or EP1.

Jester

[jester]

Didn't find that much time to draw, but at least I made afew more rock studies for the middle class weekly and some books in pen for the novel project.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0322.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0323.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0324.jpg

Jester

[golgari]

hey jester,
that new stuff looks really good.
especially the lower stones - i love the way you stated those stripes of the stone on the lowest right stone...
those books look very good, too - the only thing that bothers me about them is the way the lowest book looks like - it's a little weird...the way the lines that should be straight bend...did you do that on purpose? or did you just not use rulers? ;)

[jester]

Thanks golgari. I din't use any rulers, just had the sketchbook on my lap while I was sitting rather comfortably on my balcony - that's where it got that rough look. :)

Jester

[jester]

My first watercolor landscape ever!

It's a view of the landscape around the castle, isnpired by the 1st line in the novel "Spring came to Alomgil."

Ok, it's rather lush for spring, but I managed to catch the feeling I had when reading it.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0325.jpg

and here are two detail shots:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0326.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0327.jpg

Jester

[golgari]

whooh, premiere! :)
i think it looks very good. i especially like the stuff that's further in the back (like the stone-buildings, and the hills that are further away...the red in the foreground is perhaps a little bit too dominant, i'd say. it's also a bit too smudgy - too "washed"...i think the other colours look like they were drawn with less water than this one (especially considering the right lower corner of the picture). and for my feeling, the red should end with the second hill, in the middle (with the forest and the house) - you let it "crawl up" the next hill, too.
anyway, all in all, it's a really nice one!
(and i don't think that it's lush for spring at all - it's very peaceful :) )

[Jeff Gran]

I agree, very nice, jester. I also think the red is a bit overbearing, but I really like the color of the hills. I also like how you rendered the bushes, they look very good.

[jester]

Thanks a lot, golgari and Jeff. I see the issues you mentioned, too, especially the too prominent red in the foreground. Next one will be softer! :)

Another one for the novel project: the protagonist (king's son) sitting in the library, studying a book. This is a pre-pre-study, sort of. He has no typical features yet, dressing is still unclear. I wanted to check the pose, not even the composition and tried to figure out some perspective issues. Also, the whole surroundings/props are missing.

I know that the feet are wrong, maybe the left arm is a bit too long, and the right one on the upper half arm, too. Anyway, this is one of the few attempts at drawing from my mind and trying to catch the picture in my mind and putting it on paper.

Any hints, tips, advice?

Thanks!

Jester

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0328.jpg

[Jeff Gran]

I like it jester. you are getting better at drawing from imagination. The arms look a little strange as you said, but the hands in particular look really good. I also think that his torso looks too thin. maybe his back should come out more just below his neck. To get the pose right you might try drawing the figure unclothed and then drawing the clothes over it. I am looking forward to seeing more on this.

[golgari]

:iws:

looks good. the main points which bother me are, like you already said his right arm, and, like jeff already said, his "backline". personally, i think, his backhead (i'm sure that this is the wrong english word, but you'll get teh point ;) )
as well as his shoulders and his back should all go a little bit further...

[jester]

golgari, yeah, it looks too flat and stiff. I'll try some more, next week.

Jester

[Cashmere]

Jester, this is my opinion: the legs are too short compared to the body and they turn on the right when the body is turned on the left...why?
The composition: what is the focal point in this subject? The man or the paper? Why is this part of the novel so interesting to be drawn...what is happening in this picture? A man who is reading something that is very important for him but I don't understand if he is happy or afraid or angry. (This is only a sketch, I know ;) )
Jester, If I read the novel, first of all I see this picture then I'll read the chapter. So this drawing anticipate the story but it must not be the copy of the story or I'll "see" the scene two times.
Try, with your drawing, to be the second voice in this story: your partner has wrote a part of the story using the words, you draw the other part using the images and both make the novel. Put in your drawing only the things that the words aren't able to express.

[jester]

Ugh, I've been extremely busy the past two weeks and only managed to draw some trees from Guptill's book which I haven't even managed to scan yet.

So this post is just to let you know that I'm still alive and kicking...

golgari, thanks a lot for your questions, this made me think about what I'm going to illustrate, again.

Jester

[TARGETE]

hI jESTER, keep hammering away at it man, drawing is a bitch sometimes, its a constant struggle with ones mind. Hope to see more from you.

J.P.

[jester]

Hi TARGETE, thank you sooo much! It means a lot to know that a pro is looking at my attempts at learning to draw - and the encouragement is really needed sometimes! :nod:

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

jester great job man...definitely keep plugging away. Concerning the perspective of the previous drawing...the desk is pretty much in perspective as well as most of the chair (except for that one leg you erased and resketched)...but the individual isn't in perspective. This may help your thought process...think of the torso as a square and the head as a square. So if the back corner of the desk is higher than the corner closest to us then most likely (even though it's elevated more) the farthest shoulder of the figure will be higher than the one closest to us. The side of his and the side of his torso closest to us would be parallel with the side of the desk closest to us...not sure if I am making sense. At any rate good job and definitely keep going ...drawing the figure from memory has to be the hardest thing to do...sheesh

[StephenC]

jester i cant believe you've got 11 pages worth of sketches here,..thats a lot of work, really an accomplishment.

[jester]

StephenC, and it's going to be even more ;) Thanks for taking a look!

I haven't posted any pics for a while (because I was pretty busy with my Biz) but this doesn't mean that I haven't been drawing!

So in a mega-upload, here's what I've drawn the last weeks:

Some studies from Guptill:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0329.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0330.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0331.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0332.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0333.jpg

Two border designs for the book-illustration project:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0334.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0335.jpg

Preliminary sketches for a watercolor pic illustrating a scene in the second chapter, it's meant to be a sunset scene and is seen "over the shoulder" of the main character:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0336.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0337.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0338.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0339.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0340.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0341.jpg

And finally a color study for the sunset:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0342.jpg

Please let me know what you think!

Jester

[golgari]

hey jester,
nice to hear from you again.
those studies look good - amazing to see how guptill manages to create trees out of those light strokes....
although the last ones don't look that realistically, i think i like them best (those with the straight strokes in the silhouettes). they have such a crisp feeling to them :)
the borders look good too. don't like the second that much, but the first is really great! very good color choice there. somehow i always have to think of tolkien's waterdrawings when i see your style of working on that book. that's a good thing, though, i suppose! =)
concerning your sunset-sketches... i think i like no3 & no4 best. the low horizon in no4 somehow creates a very...vast feeling.
i'd be careful with those heavy blues when creating a sunset. in the mornings, you usually don't have such high-saturated blues, i think...

[jester]

Thanks, golgari, I decided to use the 5th prelim sketch for the final work. Since it's a sunset scene, I'm quite sure that those dark blues fit in. I'd rather put in some more madder/magenta but I don't have them as watercolors, only as watercolor pencils, so I wonder what it will look like.

As for your comparisons to Tolkien :) I haven't noticed that before but I think I know what you mean!

Guptill rules, doesn't he?

Jester

[jester]

It's really really hot here right now - and so I did the only reasonable thing - I went swimming. Of course I took my sketchbook with me and this is what I managed to do, trying not to get caught:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0343.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0345.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0346.jpg

And this little guy was directly inspired by MindCandyMan's pirate sketch :D
http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0347.jpg

:beer: (I'd love to have one now...)

Jester

[golgari]

nice ones. especially drawing them in that heat... =)
the first two pages are really lovely. the first sketch on the second page really appeals to me...
the third page makes the impression of relying a little bit too much on the contours. you should pay attention to the masses, too, i'd say. that way you probably would get them more voluminous, too...
that pirate is nice. he's a bit short, though, isn't he? is that supposed to be so? :)

[Fipse]

Oh that the pirate is a bit shortlegged comes from Jester using her Playmobil-pirates as model ;). Anyway I like the way the pirate goes, the feet seem a bit clumsy.

Fipse

[Hermchen]

Hi Jester. As you might know we share the same hotness right now. I went swimming too and took my sketchbook along. But I wasn't able to do sketches as good as yours. Those people where moving permanently :)
The pirate shows that your efford to learn how to draw is really worth it. And i can see a much looser style, wich is usefull to put ideas down really fast. Keep it up!

[jester]

For all of you noticing those short legs of the pirate... hmmm... I have short legs myself, this could be a reason. ;)

No, Fipse, it's not a playmobil model (but you are very close).

Thanks Hermchen, they ARE moving like hell. Once you sport someone who seems to hold still he's sure to move once you start drawing him! As for the looseness: Signature asked for loose sketches in the Middle Class Weekly and I gave it a try.

Jester

[jester]

Between two meetings I had a spare hour today. I went to a KFC (which had air conditioning) and spent a nice cool hour there. I also managed to draw some of the people present:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0344.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch/jester-0348.jpg

Jester

[golgari]

wow, that are amazing sketches, jester!
i mean, these poses don't look exactly like they would have stayed that way all the time, nonetheless you managed to draw it with quite an amount of detail.
i like that loose way of crosshatching, too.

[jester]

Thanks, golgari, yes they were constantly moving - but the secret I found is to choose people who are always repeating the same movements. so you can choose one pose they are getting into again and again. As long as the look another way or move their arms - draw something different, like the person next to them. Guess what, that girl was much more difficult than the men, even though the one one the right even changed his position from sitting opposite the left one to joing his side!

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

drawing moving people accurately has got to be one of the hardest things...great job...man that's so hard to do

[jester]

True, Mindy, here's another one, done last week at an Australian restaurant while waiting for a friend:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch1/jester-0349.jpg

And some more pirates (I'm falling behind with that book project...)

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch1/jester-0350.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch1/jester-0351.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch1/jester-0352.jpg

[endregan]

Nice!! I love your latest. the pen and inks are great too. reminds me i should start practicing pen and inks again!!!

keep itup!

[golgari]

hey, that's cool.
the arm of that lady looks a little strange,
but the pirates are really good this time.
i especially like the second pirate, the one on the treasure chest. the skeleton-pirate has a very flat skull. it's nice anyway...although i'd also love to see some new stuff for that book-project.

[Jeff Gran]

Jester, those pirate sketches look awesome. I think you're really getting good with that pen. the way you can suggest the forms with hatching is great. one crit, the captain looking through his spyglass is about to fall over backwards.

[jester]

Thanks a lot, guys, I'll do more ;)

Jester

[jester]

Another one for the book illustration project. Maybe a bit too colorful, but that's what I had in mind. Still not happy with my out-of-my-mind-character-drawing, but I have to carry on, otherwise I won't make it it produce at least a drawing per chapter (that's 17).

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch1/jester-0353.jpg

Jester

[jester]

Some years ago (in the mid-eighties, I think) I wrote a poem inspired by a poem by my friend, on an old warrior, fearing to become raven's prey. Here it is (my poem, not his):

Ich sehe die Raben,
sie kommen zu mir,
sie sitzen und warten
und schreien nach mir.

Rabenfraß sein -
davor fürchte ich mich,
des alten Kriegers Schrei
erschütterte mich.

Ich sah sie heut'
über'm Bache kreisen,
ihr heisere Krächzen
drang in mein Ohr.
Und kommen sie wieder
und kreisen mich ein
des alten Kriegers Lieder
soll'n mein Schlachtgesang sein.

Literally translated it would be something like this:

I'm seeing the ravens
they're coming to me
they're sitting and waiting
and crying to me.

To be raven's prey -
that's I'm afraid of,
the old warrior's cry
shattered me.

I saw them today
circling over the brook
their hoarse croak
entered my ear.
And if they come back
and encircle me
the old warrior's songs
shall my battle songs be.

I saw a great documentation on ravens in the latest German GEO magazine (similar to National Geographic magazine) the other day - and this old poem came to my mind and I had to sketch them.

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch1/jester-0354.jpg

Please let me know what you think of this.


Jester

[Jeff Gran]

Jester,

the book illustration looks good. The only crit I have for it is maybe try to get some more dynamic lighting in there... if the sun is that low there would be some dramatic shadows on the back of the person (like you have on the wall) and maybe a rim halo of light just on the left edge. I'm sure it's hard to do with watercolor though.


Those raven sketches look amazing. Really impressive texture with the pen, especially on the big head on top. They look like real feathers. Good job. :)

[jester]

Thanks Jeff. Yeah, more dramatic lighting, I thought so myself, but honestly, I didn't dare. Maybe I try that digitally in Painter first.

Also thanks for the nice comment on the ravens. They were really good fun to draw. Halfway through I thoughht I'd never make those scibbles look like feathers - but I carried on and it seems it paid off to do so.

Here's another illustration for the book project, a corsair being seen through a field glass:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch1/jester-0355.jpg

It was meant as a prelim sketcg first, but then I decided to finish it.

Jester

[jester]

Seems to be a good day for drawing today. Another pirate, photo reference was used (I wish I was that good when drawing from my mind!)

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch1/jester-0356.jpg

Jester

[endregan]

your inkings are mad skilled and coming along great. the raven is great. i like that page a lot actually.

i know of my art teacher in HS who stayed at a place where this man did art but in every single piece he did there would be a raven somewhere!

good stuff

[Jeff Gran]

great stuff again. I guess it was a good day for drawing.
hehe, you wish you could do that without ref., but I wish I could do that without an eraser. keep that pen, it's your lucky charm. ;)

[jester]

Pssssst, Jeff, don't tell anybody ;) but... I couldn't do that without an eraser... :rolleyes: i.e. I'm doing a very light pre-sketch with an H grade pencil (just blocking out the rough shapes) and only then get into working with several markers of several sizes. Since it seems to be "state of the art" I'm going to post a pic of my tools soon.

Jester

[jester]

As promised, my tools for drawing. Just a selection. You know, the less you can draw, the more tools you seem to need... :rolleyes:

Jester

http://www.jester.de/gallery/photo/bild-001.jpg

[golgari]

hey, those pen drawings are really lovely! i like the ravens alot. (actually, i love ravens. i think they are my favorite birds). i have a GEO with a report about ravens lying around here somewhere, too...but i think it's pretty old. hm. they probably revived the thematic =)
the pirate sketches are rad. did you draw the ship on the first one without reference?
nice to see your drawing tools. what is that grey frame-like thing?

[jester]

It's a slide frame I use as a viewfinder...

The ship was derived from a much more modern one, why?

Watch out, I have another pirate drawing in mind! :D

Jester

[MindCandyMan]

That pen drawing of the corsair is sweet jester! Awesome work. Those pirates are great too...and the ravens as well. More more more!!!!

[buffaloe]

I love the raven drawings! You've managed to get the textures of the beak, the feathers and the eye down perfectly! Beautiful work, jester :)

[jester]

MindCandyMan and buffaloe, thanks a lot :) !

Over the weekend I did another pirates pic. Here are the three stages:

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch1/jester-0357.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch1/jester-0358.jpg

http://www.jester.de/gallery/sketch1/jester-0359.jpg

C&c welcome, as always! :p

Jester

[Hermchen]

Hi Jester!

Very Nice! (First I thought the right priate was Ralf Siegel :))
It seems to me as if they hve balance problems. I think the frog-perspective is slightly off, because I can see them right in front of me like in normal perspective.

[jester]

Hermchen, I see what you mean (the Ralph Siegel as well as the perspective issue). Probably I didn't check my reference photo enough.

Jester