eli wolff's sketchbook - 7-11-2005 update

[eliWolff]

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/071804_sketch01.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/071804_sketch02.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/071804_sketch03.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/071804_sketch04.jpg

[prostate sunrise]

cool doodles man. it was nice meeting you on sat, keep it up man!

[eliWolff]

some alan lee studies
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/071904_sketch01.jpg

robot studies
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/071904_sketch02.jpg

misc..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/071904_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/071904_sketch04.jpg

[jetpack42]

cool, keep it up man. Next time I want to check out your REAL sketchbook. If you can stick with a page or two a night, you'll get some real improvement in the near future. see you at the next sketchnight! wooo! :chug:

[eliWolff]

thanks JetPack42 and prostate sunrise for the comments! I've been so amped up ever since meeting you all last week, I've been drawing more than animating now.. it's crazy.. I want to get better at animating, but I also want to get better at drawing so that I can try to catch up with how good the rest of you guys are at.. oh well, here's a couple more pages from today..

loomis head studies
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/072004_sketch01.jpg

misc..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/072004_sketch02.jpg

[eliWolff]

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/072504_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/072504_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/072504_sketch03.jpg

[nova]

whoa, that's a pretty hefty sum of sketches there. i like the creatures the best, but the bear and gun drawing is my favorite :D

[eliWolff]

Thanks for checking out my sketchbook, Nova. I wish I could take credit for coming up with that lil bear with the gun on my own, but I saw a toy of that bear online, so I made a sketch of it.. Glad you like the creatures, they're more fun to draw, so I end up doing them when I get frustrated with attempting to draw realistic stuff..

[liam.c]

wow you been proctuctive

[eliWolff]

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/072804_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/072804_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/072804_sketch03.jpg

[eliWolff]

summertime at the beach.. tried to get some gestures of diving board kids..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/080104_sketch01.jpg

gotta practice perspective more..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/080104_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/080104_sketch03.jpg

[xia]

Good to see you here, keep them coming.

[jetpack42]

do you draw from other artists ever? you should do that some to incorporate the way they do things into your skills some. You do alot of imagination stuff, and drawings of people...you'd really benefit from incorporating the way other artists have solved problems into your own way of working.

Balance, grasshopper.

[arghmisfit]

i like ur stuff..

try studying some construction machines, they'll help out with your robots lots. also try to add perspective to ur bots, makes em more intresting.. Do some anatomy studies everyday and still lifes. id like to see u render something also.. DRAW DRAW DRAW sleep DRAW some more!

keep it up!

[eliWolff]

jetpack42 -- yeah, I look at other artist's stuff alot and try to make good copies.. but when I go back to drawing my own stuff it doesn't look nearly as good.. guess I just gotta keep practicing..

arghmisfit -- thanks for checking out my sketches -- that's a good idea about the construction machines, I'll do some studies and post some new robots in the future. I'm also starting to study perspective stuff more, so hopefully my newer robots will be more dynamic looking (I was looking at a book called "how to draw manga robots" when I drew those).. I gotta go buy a ruler.. heh heh -- as for life drawing stuff, I was going to life drawing a lot for a few months but I didn't seem to be getting any better at it, so now I'm studying the Loomis life drawing book.. after I get through it, I'll go back and see if my life drawing is any better..

well, back to drawing now!

[arghmisfit]

hey eliwolff i just checked out ur animation site. PRETTY SICK! :eyecandy:

[jetpack42]

you know, volume is a good thing, but learning is more important. if you're trying to learn a whole bunch of things every day, you'll have a hard time picking up any of them. try and break things down...and go a little slower (in terms of overall study). if you try and draw demons, and cars, and people, and spaceships, and aliens and dragons all on the same day...you're going to be struggling with all of them, and not really learning the lessons to conquer any.

try focusing a little more...maybe try limiting yourself..say (today i'm just going to draw people at the beach and anatomy studies) then you can practice the anatomy out of a book, and then try and apply it on the people at the beach. or draw from an artist you like, and then apply it only to imagination drawings where you can learn some of his/her secret ways (ex: draw from The Art of Star Wars, then only draw some futuristic characters or monsters that day).

I'm by no means the master, this is what I've found productive for myself, and been told by several other artists. I hope this helps.

[dCepT]

You really draw a lot! Keep 'em coming and you'll get better in no time!
Do more loomis-studies to! You should also do some shading-stuff. A really good book on shading is "The Artist's Complete Guide to Drawing the Head" by William L. Maughan.

As I said: Keep 'em coming!

d-C

[eliWolff]

jetpack42 -- hey, that's really good advice as far as trying to focus on one topic at a time... I do tend to jump from style to style when I'm just doodling.. I'm gonna try to get more focused this week! My current goal is to practice perspective.. I'm gonna buy a ruler on my way home tonight in fact!

arghmisfit -- thanks for checking out my animations! I had spent the last few months really focusing on 3D animation, and I had neglected my drawing practice.. now I'm drawing like crazy, but I haven't been animating.. there's just not enough time in the day.. I wish I could just quit my day job and draw half the day then animate the other half.. but, gotta pay the rent..

dCepT -- thanks for the book recommendation, I'll add it to my library wish list! I plan on doing more rendered, shaded stuff.. I've just been trying to get the basic proportions of stuff to look good first.. I figure the line drawings gotta look good before I start shading them.. :)

[eliWolff]

when I went to the art supply store after work, it was already closed, so no ruler for me.. :^^;: well, I'll go there this morning before work! In the mean time I practiced more figures while looking at Loomis stuff..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/080304_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/080304_sketch02.jpg

[dCepT]

Lots more form in these. Lookin' better.

Take a look at the thighs in the last batch. they're too long.

Keep 'em coming!

d-C

[eliWolff]

finally got myself a ruler.. so, here's me starting to study perspective.. when I get bored I draw a head also.. >:D

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/080504_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/080504_sketch02.jpg

[jetpack42]

if you can, you should pick up Feng's #2 DVD, environments. He goes over perspective pretty handily (not completely, but covers all the REAL important stuff). Or I could let you borrow it at one of the sketch nights, up to you!

[eliWolff]

I just watched Feng's #1 and #3 dvds.. I'm waiting to check out #2.. we have a little library of those DVDs here at work, but they're real popular with the other guys too, so I gotta wait in line.. looking forward to it..!

[MrFrost]

youve got some great sketches here bro....keep up the great work!!

[eliWolff]

I used a magazine as ref for the model poses..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/080804_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/080804_sketch02.jpg

[eliWolff]

had to take a break from perspective practicing.. it's slow going trying to get good at that stuff for me for some reason.. so here's some random sketches for ya to check..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081104_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081104_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081104_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081104_sketch04.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081104_sketch05.jpg

[jetpack42]

wow man, you've been really busy. At this rate you're going to be the man sooner then later! come to sketch night friday!!!!!!!!!!!!

[eliWolff]

Hi Jetpack42 -- thanks for checking out my latest progress.. I'll be at sketchnight on Friday for sure! Looking forward to seeing everyone else's new sketches and chatting. :}

[eliWolff]

some sketches from last night's Seattle Sketch Group gathering.. We had a really big turnout and Android showed up in person and did some sketches! It was awesome..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081404_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081404_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081404_sketch03.jpg

[skrubbles]

dude, your work is totally getting better and better each week I sneak a peak at your sketchbook... KEEP AT IT! :teeth:

[eliWolff]

skrubbles -- thanks dude! I plan on keeping at it as much as I can.. I would've drawn more today, but it was sooo damn nice outside, I went for a long bike ride instead.. I did some drawings yesterday though and here they are..

more attempts at perspective.. this stuff is really hard for me for some reason, gotta keep practicing..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081504_sketch01.jpg

my hand..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081504_sketch02.jpg

an attempt at a self portrait..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081504_sketch03.jpg

[arghmisfit]

your perspective stuff is looking sick, and those hands are off the hook man! sept for the top left hand, its got some issues... looks kinda skewed or something to me, mainly the index finger and the palm..

thats cool that u met android :D i thought he lived in texas tho, guess i thought wrong, or is seatle is in texas..? i dunno im a tard when it comes to the states hehehe :bashful:

keep it up man i can see u progress!

ps- pm me ur aim or msn

[jetpack42]

dude, nice. when doing a SP...map out the general measurements and forms of the face first. it really helps aLOT. the quantity is excellent, keep doing what youre doing.

android lives in texas but was up in seattle for the weekend and stopped by our sketch group.

[eliWolff]

jetpack42 -- thanks for the tips on the SP.. I'll try to measure things out more next time.

arghmisfit -- glad you see something good in the perspective work, I really want to get better at it so I keep trying.. will be posting more perspective attempts soon.. as for aim or msn, I don't do either cause I get sidetracked and start chatting too much, so now I'm email only.. keeps me more productive.. :bashful:

just some more random doodles..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081604_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081604_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081604_sketch03.jpg

[jetpack42]

solid...consistant. keep truckin.

[eliWolff]

bonus points if you can guess what movie I was watching while I did these sketches.. (hint.. mario bava) ;)

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081704_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081704_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081704_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081704_sketch04.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081704_sketch05.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081704_sketch06.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081704_sketch07.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081704_sketch08.jpg

[jetpack42]

Spy Kids 3D: Game Over!

[eliWolff]

studying loomis tonight.. gotta lot more studying to do.. :$

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081904_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/081904_sketch02.jpg

[eliWolff]

started drawing some stuff around the house..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082204_sketch01.jpg

more loomis stuff..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082204_sketch02.jpg

last night was another great Seattle Sketchgroup meeting -- we all tried drawing portraits of each other.. so here's some of the ones I did..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082204_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082204_sketch04.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082204_sketch05.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082204_sketch06.jpg

[Bojee]

Eli- Good job man, I really like the one of Ben and Jp 42. Keep it up. :teeth:

[dCepT]

Holy hell! I need to be producing as many sketches as you do, man!
Your rate is off da hook!

I have another tip in addition to jetpack's concerning your SP, wich also can be applied to other portraits. Like he said measure it up.
Do a gesture-drawing of the head, lock down the tilt and twist of the head, then fill in the details and such. It's much easier to get the likeness down that way. I have a tendency to get lost when I draw, and twist the features. This has helped me a lot.

Hope it made sense :D

d-C

[eliWolff]

Bojee -- thanks for checking out my doodles!

dCepT -- The funny thing is that I wish I had so much more time to devote to drawing right now.. I'm doing about 3 or 4 hours a day currently, and then I draw almost all weekend straight through, so that's when I get the most done, but it would be great to have 12 hours a day to draw.. I'd have so much more to post.. thanks for the tips on the head drawing -- I'm studying more of the Loomis head drawing stuff this week, so maybe my next SP will look better.. there's so much to learn .. heads, figures, perspective, and I'm not even thinking about painting yet... :dur:

[arghmisfit]

looking good eliwolf!

man if u drew 12 hours a day u would show us all up.. do it, do it

DRAW LIKE AN ANIMAL!!! :bounce:

[Eew]

nice progress .. one thing that i saw was that it looks to me that you dont realy understand the concept of that digram with human body being in perspective .. cause i see you just guessing the lenght of units .. i searched up the odl thread about it .. it sure helped me in the begining i hope it do same for you :


You made me notice that I sort of brushed over this too but its really simple. The only real point of doing any of this in the first place is so that you can create even distances in perspective. If you want to say that one division is equal to 5 feet and you divide it in this manner, than every division is equal to 5 feet.


I made a pic that should pretty much explain this to you. Iff you want a diagram to the other method let me know.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/some_guy/Diagonals.jpg

[eliWolff]

Eew -- thanks for the helpful perspective guide thing -- I'm still struggling through learning to draw in perspective correctly so every little bit helps! I can draw the grid pretty good on it's own (thanks to a ruler), but when I try drawing a figure on the grid in 3D, it just looks bad.. well gotta keep practicing I guess!

Here's a few new pages I finished yesterday..

I looked at a D&D book for the initial character idea and pose, then tweaked it abit for this sketch..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082304_sketch01.jpg

I was looking at some photos for ref on the light drawings and the dark ones are mostly Loomis studies..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082304_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082304_sketch03.jpg

[Eew]

wel i hope i helped without sounding like an asshole :bashful:

[jook]

this is a great thread to look at. The progress is notable. I like the way you handle environments.

keep them coming sucka.

[eliWolff]

Jook -- that's so cool that you can notice some progress in my sketches already.. I hope I can keep the momentum going and really get better! thanks for letting me know

Eew -- I really appreciate any tips or feedback, thanks again! :)

[eliWolff]

did some more Loomis studies tonight..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082404_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082404_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082404_sketch01.jpg

[eliWolff]

I did a new self portrait this morning before going to work.. :nohope:

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082504_sketch01.jpg

[Bojee]

Eli- looks good man, I definitely can see a likeness. :teeth: A couple of things that might make it stronger, look at the distance between the eyes and the hairline ,I think it needs to be wider/taller, also I think your ears are too small. There are a few other things but those are the things that are mostly jumping out. Great job dude, I can tell your working hard at it. :teeth:

[Jokisalo]

thread full of art! oh my nice stuff here pal.
keep em coming!!!! :bashful:

[eliWolff]

Jokisalo -- thanks for looking, keep checking back and hopefully I'll be getting better!

Bojee -- I appreciate the tips, and I'll keep trying to get better at drawing faces.. it's easier some times then other times it's really tough.. weird..

well, I didn't get much chance to draw the last few days, so here are some sketches from a while ago when I went to the zoo..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082704_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082704_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082704_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082704_sketch04.jpg


I haven't gone to life drawing for a few months and it's starting to bug me, so here are some of my older life drawings and starting next week I plan on going at least once a week again to life drawing! Check back to see my progress.. ;)

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082704_sketch05.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082704_sketch06.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082704_sketch07.jpg

[Bojee]

Eli- No problem dude, I hope I didn't sound discouraging, I think your on the right track. I think you'll have an easier time of it if you spend more time on the set up and measuring, once all that's in place then everything will start falling into place for you. You should definitely come back to life drawing. Keep it up and pretty soon you'll be doing self-portrats like Andrew. Great job man, Keep'em coming. :)

[eliWolff]

went out to visit my uncle's farm this weekend and here are some of the sketches I did..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082904_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082904_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/082904_sketch03.jpg

[eliWolff]

started to study more Loomis anatomy stuff..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/083004_sketch01.jpg

as I was reading through my Loomis book last night he mentioned I should be studying Bridgman stuff too, so here's some first attempts..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/083004_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/083004_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/083004_sketch04.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/083004_sketch05.jpg

[arghmisfit]

nice hand studys eli! keep it up

[eliWolff]

I've decided I want to do a sketch of King Kong fighting a T-Rex, so I started doing some quick sketches last night..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/083104_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/083104_sketch01.jpg

[Bojee]

Eli- These last ones are great, I like the shack drawings , the rocking chair,the hands( I know they're from bridgeman :rendered: ), and the King Kong studies. Your making improvements really fast, each time it's looking more confident. Doing this daily makes a huge difference. :rendered: :rendered: You and gabriel and Ben are really inspiring.

[eliWolff]

Bojee -- thanks so much for the motivation! This online sketchbook is the first time I've ever really drawn constantly every day for over a month straight.. I've always managed to get sidetracked before, so it feels great to keep going! Well, here's my King Kong vs T-Rex sketch.. any crits would be great.. I did a bunch of little thumbnail sketches first and then I liked this pose the best so I tried to make it more finished looking then I usually do with my sketches.. :D

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/083104_sketch03.jpg

[Bojee]

Ok , you asked. I'm not sure if your going for a stylized drawing or not but 2 things jump out at me right off the bat. 1) Kong should be Thicker, stronger looking, this looks more like a chimps body 2) T-Rex looks like an alligator, I think the head needs to be thicker too. Your initial drawings of t-rex were stronger.

Both animals seem small, I think you need to put them in an enviroment (jungle) where maybe they are fighting above the trees to give a sense of scale.In the story Kong fights a Pterodactyl, gaint snake, T-rex and something else too I think.
Heres a frazetta interpretation.
http://members.shaw.ca/gorillagallery2/frazetta_cardpic.jpg

http://ftp.se.kde.org/pub/pictures/fantasy/Frank.Frazetta/kingkong.jpg

Its' a good start just needs some refining. :rendered: It's really inspiring to see you putting this out there.... makes me want to do a sketchbook. Keep at it. :)

[eliWolff]

Bojee -- great crits dude! thanks for those ideas.. once I read what you said I saw right away what you're talking about and I spent the morning busting out a new version.. I don't like my jungle much.. too cartooney, but I think it gives a better sense of scale.. so, here's ver 2.0!

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/090104_sketch01.jpg

[Bojee]

Eli- Hell yeah, much better! :}
Kongs head is still going flat in the back, you might want check out pics of gorilla heads or skulls, but much better on both the bodies. I think you might be able to go even thicker with Kong.

Try one where they're just grappling instead of kong ripping his leg off, I haven't seen gorillas fight before but somehow that doesn't seem right. I like the Jungle by the way, I think it goes with the figures, If you want it to start looking less cartoony start using tone and the figures and enviroment will start lookng less flat. Maybe start with a 10% or 20% grey and build up from there.
Huge leap from the last one, keep'em coming. :)

[Michael78]

Wheres the update! Wheres the update!! Wheres the update!!!!!!!!

you slacker....... :nohope: :wink:

[eliWolff]

one more try at the kong sketch.. I'm gonna put this on hold for a bit and go back to Loomis/Bridgeman stuff.. it was fun to try out some different compositions though.. :bashful:

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/090504_sketch01.jpg

I'm finally going to life drawing again! It's been months.. but I'm gonna start trying to go at least once a week from now on!
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/090504_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/090504_sketch03.jpg

[Bojee]

No more Kong?? I'm bummed. :( I thought you were doing some great stuff. As soon as I get a few more I like I think I'll start a Kong thread. Maybe you can post what you've done there too. Do you ever play around with color??

I like the gestures, love to see them looking a little bit more like Pan though. :wink:

Keep them coming. :)

[tagHeuer]

I like the second kong sketch the best. It would be cool to see a second one where king Kong the beating the t-rex with his own severed leg. :teeth:

My only crit is that it is very reliant on line. Maybe if you tried putting some value in with markers or crosshatching it would help.

[eliWolff]

tagHeuer - hmm.. beating him with his own severed leg.. that could be fun! Or maybe making him eat it? heh heh :devil:

Bojee -- I get bored with projects too fast! It's one area I need to improve, but after a few days of the same project, I'm burned out and I want to draw new stuff.. there's sooooo much stuff I want to be drawing right now it's driving me kinda crazy.. I really want to get through all the Bridgman/Loomis stuff -- I think it'll really help my life drawings get better.. If you start a Kong thread, I'd love to add my sketches there too! I have done some color.. I'm just not doing any right now cause I'm trying to stay focused on just getting better at drawing for the time being.. doing more color seems like a distraction, but here are some of the color things I've done that are also posted on my website..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/gargamesh.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/gidorah.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/martian.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/zombieA.jpg


more life drawings from this morning..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/090504_sketch04.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/090504_sketch05.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/090504_sketch06.jpg

[Bojee]

Bojee -- I get bored with projects too fast! It's one area I need to improve, but after a few days of the same project, I'm burned out and I want to draw new stuff.. there's sooooo much stuff I want to be drawing right now it's driving me kinda crazy.. I really want to get through all the Bridgman/Loomis stuff -- I think it'll really help my life drawings get better.. If you start a Kong thread, I'd love to add my sketches there too! I have done some color.. I'm just not doing any right now cause I'm trying to stay focused on just getting better at drawing for the time being.. doing more color seems like a distraction, but here are some of the color things I've done that are also posted on my website..


That's cool , thought you were doing some solid work. I agree with tagHeuer though, they are a little flat. I was watching the 76 version yesterday and oh man does it stink, the acting's not super bad but all the stuff with kong is terrible. Thanks for posting the color stuff, I think I like the first one and the third one the best.

[Michael78]

Eli.. maybe you should wait 3-4 days and then do one more sit down session of Kong drawings. Youve just filled your noggin with tons of info after doing the first couple batches of thumbs and renders and now it needs to recharge and assimilate. I think the kong drawings are your best work so far. :muscle:

[Bojee]

I agree, but it's your decision dude.

[eliWolff]

Michael78 - you're right about my head being full of info right now.. if I get inspired to do more King Kong stuff, then I'll go for it, but right now I'm just not feeling it.

some more Bridgman hand studies today:

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/090804_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/090804_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/090804_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/090804_sketch04.jpg

[Bojee]

Where's the new posts dude??? :}

[eliWolff]

Bojee -- ask and you shall receive! Here's what I've been scribbling the last few days.. warming up for the current Seattle vs. Cali T-Dome. This will be my first time competing, so I wanna do a good job! The theme is "robotic horses"..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/091104_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/091104_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/091104_sketch03.jpg

[Sok N. Wett]

Your T-Dome piece is looking swweeeeettttt!!! Finally found your sketchbook thread, nice. I can't wait til you kick your challenger's ass.

[Bojee]

Eli- Nice , more solid work. I really like the 2 on the bottom page , lefthand corner.They look less cartoony.

[eliWolff]

some life drawings from this morning.. :^^:

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/091204_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/091204_sketch02.jpg

[Bojee]

Eli- I like the standing pose on the bottom and the close up of the foot the best.

[eliWolff]

had to take a little break from working on the current thunderdome.. starting to get tired of drawing horse robots now.. I was looking at D&D monster manuals when I scribbled these..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/091304_sketch01.jpg

a couple more robot horse ideas.. getting close to where I want the final image to be.. :^^;:
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/091304_sketch02.jpg

[xia]

The horse thinging looks promising...keep them coming. They are so damn hard to nail. Nice hand study! Woo hoo!

[Bojee]

Nice Eli, the horses are looking better, are the out of your head or from reference? It would be cool to see something really dramatic. More please. :)

[eliWolff]

xia -- thanks for dropping by!

bojee - I used reference when drawing the horses.. I've got a book called "the art of animal drawing".. it's a great book! The author is Ken Hultgren if you're interested.. For robot ideas I've been looking at Feng Zhu's concepts and lots of manga robots.

[eliWolff]

more robot horse ideas.. hope I can come up with something I like before the 21st! The pressure is on.. :^^;:

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/091504_sketch01.jpg

[Bojee]

Eli- I really like these, best work so far, I really think you should push the foreshortening on these, Everything getting closer to you getting larger, at least a little bit more. I think it'll add more drama to them. :teeth: Great stuff man, your really stepping up to this one. :teeth:

[Bojee]

Xia's always telling me when people are critiqueing his work if you think you can do it better show me so here you go, not necessarily better but maybe you'll get where I'm coming from. I'm sure you can do a better job of it. :bashful:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v88/bojee/Sketch%20Group/f1.jpg

I hope you don't mind , I feel kinda weird posting on someone elses thread. I was looking at your drawing again....maybe it would be just the opposite of what I did, hips coming forward , head receding. :rolleyes: :bashful: :bashful:

[eliWolff]

Bojee -- thanks for the idea! I'll try adding some of the foreshortening into the next few drawings and see how it works out.. I'll bring my sketches to the sketch group on Saturday night and see what other tips I can get also.. and no worries about posting in this thread -- I'm just here to learn as much as I can from others, and you're a big help and a great motivator for me. Thanks again!! :teeth:

[Bojee]

Cool dude, just don't want to step on anybodies toes, thanks for being so open about it, your enthusiasm is contagious too. :P

[Michael78]

WOW! your improving in leaps and bounds now.. I agree with Bojee the horse drawings are your best work so far. Even better then Kong which was pretty strong. Keep it up!!! :D :$

I also like what Bojee's showing with the tweaked pic.. The perspective is cool. Maybe your final could have a shot of the horse coming down on top of the camera like it bucked the rider and is now about to stomp on its head. You could show the mechanics all along the underside of the torso/ribs. That would be kinda creepy.. metal joints, hinges, hoses and pistons about to stomp your head into the ground...

for one last design it would be cool if you used T-1 terminator design... thats the creepiest machine style ever. METAL HORSE SKULL AND GLOWING RED EYES! MWAHAHAHA!!!

[Sok N. Wett]

Holy Shishkabobs, those are looking very promising. "Shutters" hate to get kick by one of those in my Giglywigs.

[eliWolff]

I managed to drag my hungover ass to life drawing Saturday (some of my friends decided to get me drunk Friday night for my birthday.. drawing with a hangover isn't much fun though).. I also finished my Thunderdome entry, but I won't post it here yet till it's posted in the actual Cali vs Seattle thunderdome thread.

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092004_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092004_sketch02.jpg

[eliWolff]

some more D&D monster manual ref'd sketches..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092104_sketch01.jpg

[Bojee]

Eli- great dude if I could say anything I'd say bump up the values a little bit, maybe use a softer pencil to get that range of darks and lights, anxious to see your t-dome piece. :wink:

[eliWolff]

Bojee -- I see what you mean about the darks and lights -- I just used a mechanical pencil to do those sketches.. I'll try some darker lead next time.

tonight I did more Bridgman studies..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092104_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092104_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092104_sketch04.jpg

[JackalAnubis]

great job on the bridgman anatomy studies and the lifedrawing, definately the best way to improve your drawings. I really like those mechanical horse drawings you're doing, one suggestion is to add more functionality in the horse's legs, look at an anatomy book for a horse and you'll see the very elastic (is that the right word?) tendons stretching on the backs of the horses hooves, that would be a great feature to include mechanically.

[eliWolff]

JackalAnubis -- thanks alot for checking out my sketchbook! I already finished the robot horse, and now that the entries are all up for judging, I can post my final.. If I do more robot horses in the future, I'll try to incorporate your suggestion for the horse's legs.

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/TD_robotHorse.jpg

[Bojee]

Eli - great job dude, If I could say anything I'd still say bump up the values and I'm not sure about the antenna in the back?? Makes it seem more like a toy than the real deal and might get in the way when a rider tries to mount it. Very small stuff I know but it might make it a little stronger. :wink: :wink:

On a side note I was wonder what it would look like if the saddle was incoporate into the body if it was made to ride and you could almost present it like the newest car with leather interior. Great job. :} :}

[Sok N. Wett]

I know it's too early to say this, but good job on winning...hehehe. Love that robotic horse.

[arghmisfit]

I can see lots of progress here :D

That mechanical horse f-ing rocks dude. Great values. not much more i can say on that...

keep up the life studies and ill keep checking in :D

-ARGHY

[eliWolff]

Bojee -- the antenna on the robot horse was one of the last details I added .. just kind of for fun, since I thought it would be cool if the horse was a little remote controlled toy thing..

Sok - thanks!

arghmisfit - glad to see you stopped by, I'm gonna go check out your sketchbook, haven't been there for awhile.


last night I did some more Bridgman studies..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092204_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092204_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092204_sketch03.jpg

[Bojee]

These last drawings are really well done, even though they are copies they are showing much more confidence in your line. :teeth:

[eliWolff]

This morning I tried a new SP.. please critique if you'd like to.. I want to get better and I just tried to draw what I was looking at in the mirror..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092404_sketch01.jpg

[Bojee]

Eli- The use of materials is looking better, more and more you look more confident with the pencil. :) The drawing itself looks pretty good too, you look a lot younger(might be the lack of glasses), the ear seems a little small and the eyes seem a little flat, if you draw th orb of the eye first and then layer the eyelids over the top they will look more 3d, and again for my taste I'd bump up the values, maybe play levels or auto levels to see if it changes at all and then compare the two.
Great job Bro, they're getting better and better. :)

[Michael78]

your best Sp so far! The planes of the face are showing through nicely. Have you tried a blue pencil for SP's? Im finding they are MUCH easier to control when it comes to value. They arent as nice for line but the waxy feel tends to make the values blend and "pop" more.. and try one on bristol paper/board sometime.

[eliWolff]

Bojee - thanks for all the tips and it was great to talk to you tonight at the sketchgroup. I'm going to go get some softer lead pencils to try bumping the values up more.

Michael78 - thanks dude! I have used non-photo blue sometimes, but my favorite is to use the black colored pencils -- they are also waxy, and they don't smudge at all. Once I fill up all my unfinished sketchbooks, I'll treat myself to some fancy bristol paper!


more bridgman studies..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092404_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092404_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092404_sketch04.jpg

a page of sketches from my imagination tonight at the Seattle sketchgroup meeting.. I haven't been drawing without a reference for awhile, so tonight I just drew whatever.. it was fun!
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092404_sketch05.jpg

[Bojee]

Eli- Great stuff, Even the bridgeman work is looking like yours, can't wait to see all that transfered to the figure sessions. :)

[prostate sunrise]

gogogogo, good ideas and studie. keep it up.

[eliWolff]

prostate sunrise -- thanks for the encouragement and thanks for the tips you gave me at the sketchgroup this week!

bojee -- heh, I can't wait to see the Bridgman stuff transfer to my life drawings either.. I wonder how long it'll take? :\

life drawings from this morning .. gestures are all 90 sec poses
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092604_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092604_sketch02.jpg

spent a few hours at the zoo this afternoon
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092604_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092604_sketch04.jpg

[Sok N. Wett]

AHh nice big update man.....I love it all, especially those gestures, hope to see you this weekend for the sketchmeet.

[maxetormer]

I agree, great gesture drawings and your imaginations is
really fantastic man :D I really enjoyed your images :D

[Michael78]

yeah nice update! and the gestures DID turn out very nice.. they all have nice weight and life with correct proportion. Same with the zoo animals.

the force is strong with this one... :}

[eliWolff]

Sok N. Wett - glad you liked the gestures -- they are fun to draw because they are so quick. I'm looking forward to weekend -- sketchgroup and life drawing and maybe another trip to zoo!

maxetormer - thanks so much for compliment! When I read comments like that it feels really good! :)

Michael78 - man if the force was only a little stronger with me maybe I could draw with my lightsaber. :nohope:


I'm going to be doing a lot of head studies to get ready for doing some more portraits for the upcoming Seattle Sketchgroup portrait show. I'm also going to be studying the overall skeleton alot more because I need to learn it better!

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092804_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092804_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092804_sketch03.jpg

[Bojee]

Wahooo! go eli! Looking good bro, my favorite of the last two posts are the gestures, careful you don't make her too squat though, she's a pretty tall girl and has long lines in her poses, also look for those things that seperate her from another girl posing, posture, attributes. You got it on some but not all.

The animals and the anatomy stuff is fun, there's something about these that make them feel cartoony, I think maybe things are shorter and rounder. Your on the right track bro, keep them coming. :) :)

Edit: Heh, these comments brought to you by a monkey with wires coming out of his head. :)

[Sok N. Wett]

Nice man keep at it.

[eliWolff]

well, here's some more skeleton studies.. I know the proportions are off.. I was really having a tough time drawing tonight.. skeletons aren't much fun to draw all the time.. blech.. :dead:

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092904_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/092904_sketch02.jpg

[Bojee]

Eli- Keep at it bro, that shit's going to pay off. The spine and hip stuff looks especially good. :)

[Michael78]

looks good.. I know what your saying about not drawing well.. I tried drawing this morning and it felt like I was trying to control someone elses hand! Nothing was looking good..

[Sok N. Wett]

Those are awesome, i'm loving it.

Michael remember me saying I coudln't draw shit for weeks...ahhh it sucks , ever get frustrated because it seems like all of a sudden you just lost your drawing ability, anybody?

[eliWolff]

Bojee, Michael78, Sok N. Wett -- thanks guys for stopping by again! I'm really looking forward to this weekend and seeing everyone at the Sketchgroup -- it's always good when I'm having nights like this to think of everyone else on the boards drawing too.. some days are just tough..

oh man.. I was having such a hard time drawing tonight.. I almost broke a pencil cause I was getting so mad.. :zzz:

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/093004_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/093004_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/093004_sketch03.jpg

[Bojee]

Eli- heh, everybodies doing anatomy studies, see what you started. :)

[eliWolff]

these are some doodles I did at the Seattle Sketch group meeting last night..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/100404_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/100404_sketch02.jpg

I did these tonight.. used D&D monster manual and industrial clothing for references..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/100404_sketch03.jpg

[JadeDragon]

Eliwolff,

I knew you were a super cool guy the second I opened this thread for the first time and saw KING GHIDORAH!!! My mortal enemy! Harr! I am the worlds HUGEST kaiju fan, and I loves me some Godzilla (Look at my nickname!) but King Ghidorah has always been my fave. And you drew him up superbly!

Great art thread my friend. Glad to see you doing the intense anatomy studies, thats the mark of a true devoted artist. And when you get all that anatomy perfected, I cant wait to see a perfectly muscled King Kong vs Megalon painting!

Keep up the great work, Eli!

Cheers!~~~JadeDragon

[eliWolff]

JadeDragon -- glad someone else around likes Kind Ghidorah! I love those Godzilla monster movies.. I just saw the original Godzilla movie a few months ago when they showed the original Japanese version in theaters.. so much better then the edited US version.. it was actually a serious movie and Godzilla was kind of scary and not all cheesy like in a lot of the later movies..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/100504_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/100504_sketch02.jpg

[Sok N. Wett]

Love these new batches, your keeping your routine strong with anatomy, now only if I had that much devotion.

[Bojee]

Eli- great dude, It's funny I did a page yesterday that was very similar. I'm digging the anatomy stuff and the squid face guy, especially his face. :)

[eliWolff]

messing around in photoshop with the wacom tonight..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/100504_sketch03.jpg

[eliWolff]

more photo ref'd photoshop fun..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/100604_sketch01.jpg

[Sok N. Wett]

These are nice Eli, is that last one a young david carradine.....man I'm too scared to do any photo reference on the wacom, shoot I'm still scared to fiddle around with colors.

[eliWolff]

Sok -- the last one is actually ref'd from Kill Bill.. so it's supposed to be an old Carradine.. I definately need to do lots more of these to get better.. but it is fun to draw digitally for a change.. just getting warmed up with portraits so that hopefully I can do a couple OK ones for our gallery show. I got some black frames, now I just need some art to put in them.. :[

[Sok N. Wett]

Your avatar looks like it came from the Gladiator, the movie, it probably isn't but that mask still rocks.......and post count rises.

[flex mathews]

great progress dude, sweet avatar. MF doom is one of my favorites. Madvillain is one of my all time favorite albumns.

[eliWolff]

flex -- thanks for checking out my sketches! Yep, that's from Madvillian -- I was wondering if someone else in here was into MF Doom.. I eagerly get every thing he puts out.. he's so freakin dope!!! :}

sok -- the avatar is from a hip hop artist named MF Doom. He got his mask idea from the Fantastic Four comic book. If you like underground hip hop, you should check out MF Doom!!

here's a new SP I just did tonight..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/100604_sketch02.jpg

[eliWolff]

4:30am.. at work still.. waiting for the new build.. the game must ship tonight.. sleep deprived scribbles...

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/night.jpg

[Bojee]

Go Eli! I heard you were on crunch mode, heh, looks like you got a weird little party going on inside your head. Hope you get to get some sleep soon. :)

[Sok N. Wett]

I told you not to take those pills now look what happened.....Man you need to get some sleep for awhile, so you can be refresh for this saturday.

[Gonzo]

Wow, go Eli!

I think your sleep deprivation has unleashed a beast!

[xia]

Nice SP there! :) I heard you are on a crunch mod,...haven't seen you at the Life drawing session in a while. Hope to see you soon.

[Michael78]

Eli's such a wanker... I come into work (mon) and find him sleeping!!! on the carpet, using his sweatshirt as a pillow.... :nohope: when will he learn the dedication it takes to work in the game industry? 8)

nice sketchs dude! They say that ones true personality comes out when they sketch... or maybe that was when they're drunk? :x

[eliWolff]

well, I made it through crunch mode and the game shipped! I'm trying to find some more time to get some new drawings done.. well, here's a couple I just did today.. used photo ref..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101304_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101304_sketch02.jpg

[Bojee]

Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce!!! :)

[eliWolff]

yep, I was trying to draw Bruce Lee -- I'm glad you saw the resemblence.. it's fun to draw in photoshop again, I hadn't done it for a few months.. nice to mix up the pencil stuff for a change!

[eliWolff]

I'm doing a Smurf theme for Thunderdome 8 --

here's a WIP.. really early rough, but I think it'll be fun to do..

"Putting the S&M back in the smurfs." >:D
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/SMurf01.jpg

[Bojee]

Lol That's too funny! :teeth: A little crit, the red ball looks a little bit like a red nose. Yeah eli, this is a fun one, I think you could push it even further. Great Job. :)

[eliWolff]

here's stage 2 of the smurf wip thunderdome entry.. roughing in the background with a 3D app.. quick and dirty! :needle:

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/SMurf02.jpg

[Sok N. Wett]

LOL....man Eli that is off the hook, yeah I'm glad you made the mask a different color, cause for a minute there it reminded me too much of the Klu Klux Klan. The Bruce Lee pic is kew too, I'm always a Bruce Fan. Oh you forgot to add shadows for the smurfette.

[Bojee]

It's gotta be fun doing research for this one. :)

[eliWolff]

had a great time at our little Seattle Sketch group meeting tonight -- we all took turns drawing each other for portrait practice. Tonight I drew only with a pen. Nice to take a break from pencil all the time!

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101704_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101704_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101704_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101704_sketch04.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101704_sketch05.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101704_sketch06.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101704_sketch07.jpg

[eliWolff]

it was raining in Seattle today and it was a good day to sit in a coffee shop and draw stuff.. so here are some random coffee shop doodles..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101804_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101804_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101804_sketch03.jpg

[eliWolff]

from life drawing this morning..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101804_sketch04.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101804_sketch05.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101804_sketch06.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101804_sketch07.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101804_sketch08.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101804_sketch09.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/101804_sketch10.jpg

[Bojee]

Seeing progress in a short amount of time with the pen, I like the trailer page, and the close up on the last page. :)

[jetpack42]

cool updates eli. you've improved alot in the last couple months. that TD entry is freakin me out, man!

when you're drawing, don't be afraid to use lines to line things up on the faces (eyes, ears) and make sure the features all run parallel with each other. I've seen you do it a couple times in the last few updates, but remember when you do it to make sure your lines are accurate. doesn't do any good to draw lines in if they aren't straight. keep up the good work dude...glad to hear you survived crunch mode.

[xia]

Good Lord! That's the Smerf I wanna see! The life drawing stuff is looking good Eli. Well done.

[Sok N. Wett]

Great work buddy....man everytime I see your life drawings pics and seeing how fun it is, makes me want to get to the life drawing class, but that will happen sooner or later. Anymore smurf domination going on?

[eliWolff]

hey everybody, thanks for stopping by -- I haven't had much freetime this week so far to draw anything, but I did manage to start the final painting process for my smurf redesign.. man, painting is slowwww.. :^^;:

any tips on getting good results when painting in photoshop would rule! I want to paint the whole thing like this.. but after an hour this is all I got done.. geez

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/SMurf03.jpg

[eliWolff]

did a few more portraits today to maybe enter into the Seattle Sketch group portrait gallery show.. I'm gonna try to do a couple more during the next few days.. the more I do, the better I'll get I hope.

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/102404_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/102404_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/102404_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/102404_sketch04.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/102404_sketch05.jpg

[Sok N. Wett]

Great job Eli, your pumping them out like a newprint shop, glad to see your progression, i guess the more portraits we each create, the better chances of selling at least one per person.

[eliWolff]

my thunderdome8 entry is done! I thought I'd post it here too now that I've posted it in the official entry thread..

putting the "S&M" in the smurfs...
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/smurfs.jpg

[prostate sunrise]

hey nice job bro. the first portrait has good stuff happening in it.

[jetpack42]

your dedication is a model to us all...lets do us some portraits!

lookin good, don't forget about using some measurements to line up the proportions on the face. here's a few general (as in, they work MOST of the time) tips to help you out...

-there is a distance of one eye between the eyes.

-in a straight on view, you can draw a line directly up from the edge of the wing of the nose, and that is where the tear duct starts. (on either side, for either eye)

-inbetween profile and straight on (anything 3 quarter and whatnot) you can draw a line down the edge of the nose (the bridge) and then draw a parallel line up from the edge of the wing again, and that will show you where to begin placing the eye with the tearduct.

-the ear is not straight up and down, but it slants accordingly with the jaw bone...

let me know if you need a little clarification. just some advice...hope this helps! you are doing great, man. keep on with it!

[eliWolff]

prostate sunrise -- thanks for looking at my portraits -- I like that first one the best too.

jetpack42 -- man, I don't know why my measurements always end up so off.. I try to be really careful when I'm drawing these heads, but invariably things get skewed for some reason.. well, I've still got a couple more nights this week to try and do a few more portraits. Maybe I'll get a couple that have the right measurements. Thanks for the tips, and I really do appreciate the feedback, it only makes me get better! :^^:

[Gaussian3d]

Those smurfs crack me up!!! Ha... great job :)
I've always found something hilarious in smurfs for some reason.

A tip that may or may not be useful is how you go about drawing the figure. I've found that once I started allowing myself to loosen up and feel less fear of making mistakes, the lines started flowing better and consequently I found a better conduit between my mind and the pencil. Once in a while I do very loose cartoons just to help me loosen up. Hope my geeky and unclear advice helps, :D

[Sok N. Wett]

Ahhh those Smurf are top notch, glad that you finally finished it. Can't wait to see the rest of your portraits.

[eliWolff]

woah I've been a slacker! I started play San Andreas.. bad idea! Best video game I've played in a long time! Anyways, I managed to pry myself away from it and do some Loomis head studies tonight..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/110104_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/110104_sketch02.jpg

[eliWolff]

more loomis heads and then I was studying some old character concepts from an old RPG called Dragon Warrior.. I really like the style of art for the monsters in that series.

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/110404_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/110404_sketch02.jpg

[eliWolff]

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/110704_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/110704_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/110704_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/110704_sketch04.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/110704_sketch05.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/110704_sketch06.jpg

[Sok N. Wett]

Damn Eli you've been knocking out alot of stuff lately. Those studies are coming pretty good. Can't wait to see what else your going to come up with.

[eliWolff]

Sok - well, I'm trying to make up for lost time.. expect lots more work between now and January. I want to be ready for the workshop!! here's more stuff I did tonight.. now I gotta go to sleep.. more tommorow!

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/110704_sketch07.jpg

[Bojee]

Mr. Eli life drawing has been missing you, good to have you back. Good model yesterday huh???!! :)

[eliWolff]

yeah, that model was really great. I hope I get to draw her again, does she model very often? The rock climbing equipment was such a great idea!

[Bojee]

yeah, that model was really great. I hope I get to draw her again, does she model very often? The rock climbing equipment was such a great idea!

yeah she's a regular and a favorite of mine.
;)

[jetpack42]

awesome dude! the more work you put in now, the more you'll get out of the workshop! never give up! never surrender!

[eliWolff]

jetpack42-- I'm really trying to do alot more studies between now and the workshop. I even started trying to learn Painter 8 last night.. nothing worth showing yet, but I figure it'd be good to be familiar with it before I watch the masters using it in person!

more loomis heads.. I have a real hard time drawing woman's heads right now.. they never look like Loomis' stuff.. but, I won't give up!!

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/110904_sketch01.jpg

[eliWolff]

even more loomis heads :O

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/111104_sketch01.jpg

[Bojee]

Nice Eli- The last batch was rendered really well with strong blacks. If your really trying to draw like loomis try to be a little more careful with the lay in, your heads have a tendency to lean towards the right (hopefully not suggesting any political leanings ;) ). If your a little more careful in the layin portion of the drawing and make sure everything lines up you won't have that problem.
Your perseverence is an inspiration. :)

[Sok N. Wett]

Damn Eli your a studying , but it's paying off.....LOL get it , paying off, ok maybe not. This new batch really shows that by adding a little more value the picture will be stronger, keep at it buddy.

[eliWolff]

Bojee -- I cheated to get those strong blacks.. I drew them normal, then when I scanned them in, I bumped up the levels in PS.. but, I'm glad they turned out looking good! I know what you mean about my heads leaning.. it's really weird and I don't know what's up.. but I do try to draw really carefully and sometimes it works, but mostly they get skewed. But, I am aware of it and I'll keep practicing till I can draw good heads without any little guide lines!

Sok - The drawings are my whores, I'm just pimping them out :swepimp: .

[eliWolff]

1 more page tonight.. never enough time in the day, it seems like it was just last night, and now it's tonight already.. geeeeeez. >:|

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/111104_sketch02.jpg

[tagHeuer]

Cool work Eli, I defiantly see a lot of improvement.

One thing I’ve noticed looking at your sketchbook is you are very reliant on line. I think you may benefit from trying to draw with value only.

Anyway, keep up the good work and let me know next time you guys go to the zoo.

[skrubbles]

dude, it was awesome hangin' out with ya this past saturday... you definately need to post your new life drawing sketches. You are growing as an artist real fucking fast... I'm so jealous of all the time you spend drawing.

[Sok N. Wett]

This new piece has FUCKING HARDCORE labeled on it, cause it shows hella improvement, your faces aren't leaning now. Can't wait to hang out with ya in town in San Fran that's going to be an awesome experience.

[eliWolff]

tagHeuer -- yes, I am mostly focused on line drawings right now, I'm just trying to copy the drawings I see in Loomis and Bridgman and get the proportions right, but I do plan on moving into more value studies soon.. there's always so much more to study and learn!

skrubbles -- thanks so much, that's a major compliment coming from you! I just gotta keep drawing to try to catch up to your drawing level! I guess I'm just lucky I don't have a girlfriend, so I have more time to draw.. :\

Sok N. Wett -- thanks dude! I think I just got lucky with that last batch of faces.. I drew so more over the weekend just out of my head, and they were leaning again.. grrrr!


life drawings from yesterday.. inverted the colors on the first one in PS just for fun.. ;)
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/111404_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/111404_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/111404_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/111404_sketch04.jpg

[jetpack42]

whoa!

i am floored man, these are HUGE steps up from when I was at life drawing with you a few months ago. Keep drawing man, its going to pay off in January....this is nuts man! nuts! :cheerleader: <3

[Madoliane]

These last life studies are fantastic !

[eliWolff]

jetpack42 -- wow, I'm glad you can see some big improvements in my life drawings. that just makes me want to practice even more. This weekend I'm going to try drawing alot bigger with charcoal to see what my results are like.. check back monday for some more updates!

Madoliane -- thank you very much for stopping by and I'm glad you liked the life drawings. they were fun to do!

OK, now I've decided for my next painting I'm going to attempt to finish the King Kong vs TRex that I started a few months back.. so here's my newest quicky sketch.. I want to get the composition and pose as cool and tight as I can before I spend 10+ hours painting it.. so please tear this appart and give me your real thoughts. That's the only way I'm gonna get better, so let me know what you think!

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/111904_sketch01.jpg

[jetpack42]

eli, a few thoughts on your painting.

What are you trying to convey with your image? Any emotions? Story? Mood? What do you want the viewer to feel/think?

The way it stands now, its a zoomed out view, with the focus right in the middle, and a sideways pose. Overall, the mood is pretty boring. You're showing us a pretty straight on view.

I'm going to tell you how I would solve the problems, so I hope this is helpful for you.
Composition is the main problem. How can the viewer relate to this? I would assume you would want to put the viewer somewhere closer to the action, so he is better able to smell the TRex's breath, feel King Kong's power. First thing I would do is get closer to the action. Also, for some action, throwing off the horizon will throw off the viewer. We are always used to viewing things on a horizontal plane, if you skew it, it becomes foreign and exciting, putting the viewer off balance. Also, I would want to show off King Kong (since I'm assuming he's the victor, and he's doing the cool thing, in this instance) so I'd move the view so you are better able to see him really ripping the TRex (and maybe the TRex's teeth ripping his fingers, and his fingers going in the noseholes and such) a new one, while at the same time really demonstrating his monkey roaring power. I did a quick 30 second sketch to give you an idea of what I mean

http://www.mlentz.com/elisketch.jpg

Just as a general rule of thumb, placing the focus in the middle is boring, expected. You'll want to move that, especially for an action scene. When you are drawing something like this, an illustration type of piece, think how the viewer will relate to it. Hope this helps

[Bojee]

Eli- The last batch of life drawings has got some good stuff in there. I don't know if Kongs pose is quite right but I really like the feel you've got going, think thicker for Kong especially in the legs and arms, like I said though the vibe is right...you've got me excited about it. ;)

[Bojee]

JP's definitely got the right idea, I think he's putting you more on the right track. Show us what you got Eli, I know you've got it in you. ;)

[Bojee]

Eli- Here is Joe Sorren's link, that's the painter I was talking about last night. JOe SoRRen (http://www.joesorren.com/archive/index.html)

[Michael78]

The Elinator- I kinda agree with JP also.. although I know you dont like the extreme zoom in shots. Maybe just placing T-Rex in front of Kong will do the trick. The profile view is unexciting.

Couple things you might be curious to look up in a composition book.

1)Rule of thirds

(this is what JP means by placing anything in the middle of the frame.

2)How angles and curves divide up the empty space of a composition and direct the eye.

(right now your compostion is essentially a circle inside a square. No tension is created because everything feels dormant.. no energy. Just having an arm or leg break through the border of the pic will create a little tension. Or breaking up the empty space into triangles. If you look at JPs sketch hes created 2 triangles of empty space surrounding the subject whos breaking through the borders of the pic frame in a diagonal. You almost feel like the subjects are alive and fighting right in front of you. Its a dynamic composition, not static.

The anatomy and pose is cool though! It really looks like Kong is taking T-Rex down and you can feel the T-Rex struggling.. your earlier drawings didnt have as much energy.

One more thing I notice.. maybe you should increase the upper torso/head of T-Rex so he looks less like a lizard. T-Rex's have huge heads right? :perv:

Looks like this next painting will be your best yet. I need to get crackin and catch up :O :nohope: :O

[Sok N. Wett]

I agree with JP too as well, if you do a closer shot to show force and power of the fight that would really captivate the audience. Maybe kinda like a closeup view of Kong trying to rip the T-Rex's mouth with both his hands, and give him an aggression mode. My roommate loves who in your face action drawings, that pretty much speaks to most people, but overall man your improving greatly, especially with your life stuff. I love those poses btw.

[eliWolff]

jetpack42 -- awesome advice for me to consider when I keep working on the Kong painting (and other paintings in the future)! Thanks for taking the time to give me some new ideas for the composition -- I don't know if I'm going to make it a more "in your face" angle though.. I'll keep trying things till it feels right. I guess the mood I'm trying to convey is really more like I want to show a drawing of two cool beats fighting and keep it easy to read as a concept, so that's why I went with a side pose like that. I've been really inspired by Mark Ryden's paintings this week and I'd like to do a few paintings the way he does his, which could be considered boring I guess, but I dig it..

Michael78 -- thanks for the info and feedback!

Sok N. Wett -- I don't know if I'm going to do a in your face composition for this painting right now.. I'm kind of not feeling it, see what I wrote above to Jetpack..

Bojee -- thanks for all the encouragement like usual! You keep on dropping lots of great art tips on me. I wish I had started getting help from you on my drawings a few years ago, cause now that I'm getting used to it, you're gonna be moving.. geeez

some drawings from the last few days..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112104_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112104_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112104_sketch03.jpg

[jetpack42]

Eli- it doesn't neccesarily have to be "in your face"...but thats a better route to choose for this sort of action pose. The challenge becomes getting the viewer to feel the action, which is difficult from far away on a hill. It can be done, but it will take more work. No worries though, I'm just throwing that out there for you to think about, you'll figure things out the way you like them.

Also, keep in mind a sense of scale. Its difficult to tell from your rough, beause the trees themselves don't show enough scale....I cant tell if they're big or little (and also, if these are real monsters, or little toys). In this kind of situation, especially if you aren't going to get in close, don't neglect the environment. Throwing a few extra animals in there fleeing the scene would make the environment real, as well as convey a sense of scale (whatever the scale may be).

Hope this helps man, lookin forward to the finished piece.

[eliWolff]

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112204_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112204_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112204_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112204_sketch04.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112204_sketch05.jpg

[Bojee]

There are some funny little characters in the post before this, I'm starting to get more of and idea about where your coming from and where your trying to go. The life stuff is coming along too, your getting some good starts on these, my favorite is the last one. I think more construction lines initially will help a lot even though they feel restrictive to you.
Great hanging out with you yesterday doing the sketch crawl, another good art day. Thanks I appreciate it.:)

[eliWolff]

:yawn:


http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112204_sketch06.jpg

[Bojee]

Not exactly sure why he'd grab him that way but I like it. ;)

[Bojee]

Foster's Kong (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=34120)

Hey have you seen this, I think foster's trying to copy you. ;)

[eliWolff]

heh heh.. something tells me he's not copying me.. damn, that is a sweet painting of kong.. thanks for the link bojee! inspiration around every corner.. so many good artists.. :O

[eliWolff]

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112804_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112804_sketch02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112804_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112804_sketch04.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112804_sketch05.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112804_sketch06.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112804_sketch07.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112804_sketch08.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/112804_sketch09.jpg

[tagHeuer]

whoa, that last standing pose is great.

[Bojee]

The figure work's getting better bro, and the doodles are fun, start making some compositions out of them. :)

[eliWolff]

tagHeuer -- thanks for the compliment! sometimes I feel like drawing is like fishing.. you can spend hours drawing and get nothing, but then all of a sudden you catch a good drawing and it's all worth it.

Bojee -- I plan on making lots of compositions out of the doodles.. but first I must finish my King Kong painting.. it's a slow road, but it'll be cool when it's done.. here's a little sneak preview..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/kongHead.jpg

[tagHeuer]

Hey Eli,

I think the kong painting may benefit from more color harmony like so.

http://eliheuer.com/bs/elipaintover.jpg

[eliWolff]

tagHeuer -- I haven't heard of color harmony before, but I like what you did with the painting! Can you explain what you did to make it look better like that? Thanks for taking the time to do the paint-over! This is the type of thing I missed out on since I didn't go to art school I guess..

[Bojee]

Eli- I like what tagheur did on your painting too, I think if you kept some of the warmth in the mouth it would be even more powerful. Also kong's looking good but I think you need to tweak the teeth a bit, the bottom teeth need the other side and top row looks like it needs to transition from the front to the back better he's got that one tooth that's poking out at a funky angle. Keep it coming.

[tagHeuer]

I think of color harmony as making everything look like it belongs in the scene, trying to emulate natural light.

The best way to achieve this at first is with an under painting. Here is a great tutorial on doing an under painting.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=31674&highlight=underpainting

[eliWolff]

tagHeuer -- that's a great tutorial link, thanks! I'll try to use underpainting on one of my next projects.

I can't work on this anymore.. :nohope: the more I tweak it, the more I'm getting sick of it.. I can't stand working on one image for so long cause there's so much more stuff I want to draw, so here is the painting.....

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/KongVsTrex.jpg

[Michael78]

Your best painting yet.. it pops more then the smurfs :P

one comment, that background color is kinda "off" in my oppinion... it seems like its fighting your subjects for attention. Its the same value (intensity) as the subjects and the Hue is also not working as well with the chosen palette your working with. Maybe if you lighten it up so the figures stand out more.. and shift the hue a little. Your ealier sketch seemd to work better with the lighter green background.

[eliWolff]

Michael78 -- thanks for the comments on kong. I'm not going to work on that painting anymore right now.. got burned out on working on it for too long.. back to just sketches again for awhile.

sunday life drawings..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/120604_sketch01.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/120604_sketch02.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/120604_sketch03.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/120604_sketch04.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/120604_sketch05.jpg

mark ryden inspired..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/120604_sketch06.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/120604_sketch07.jpg

[Sok N. Wett]

Nice I really like that Kong picture. I need to get crackin on some coloring as well, I need to at least get to your level, I've been doing black and whites so long, I don't see things in color anymore......keep up with the drawings, The Ryden inspired stuff is pretty cool too.

[tagHeuer]

The Ryden inspired sketches are looking pretty cool; it’s always a good idea to learn as much as you can by mimicking artists you admire.

Your life drawing is also progressing nicely, you are capturing movement and force in your drawings.

Keep it up.

[Bojee]

Eli- I was looking at your work and I was thinking How about starting with a Ryden like character the having the next character interact with it and the next and next, then you start to have the whole page working together and might help with your compositions more. :bashful: ;)

[Michael78]

Eli I like Bojees idea... heres an idea for a composition.

"Christmas Mourning..."

I can already see the little girl unwrapping the bloody doll...

MWAHAHAHAHA!

[eliWolff]

Sok N. Wett -- glad you liked how the kong painting turned out. It would be great to see you do some color stuff, I'll be watching your sketchbook!

tagHeuer -- thanks for noticing my occasional life drawing improvements. I'm not improving as fast as I'd like to, but I guess that's just how it goes..

Bojee -- yeah, I like that idea alot, I'll keep it in mind as I'm doing more sketches, it would be cool to see more of a composition on the pages sometiems.

Michael78 -- good one! I've added it to my list of things to draw.

here is the 1st issue of a comic book I made when I was in high school waaaaay back in 1989.. I told tagHeuer that I'd post it when we were talking about our old comics during Saturday night's sketch meet in Seattle.. so here it is.. :bashful: :bashful: :bashful: :\

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/mrCat01cover.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/mrCat01page01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/mrCat01page02.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/mrCat01page03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/mrCat01page04.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/mrCat01page05.jpg

[Michael78]

Oh SWEET ALAH!!! thats hilarious! :O The sunglasses on the fish is the best! you need to write/draw some more! Include some of the crazy monsters you draw. :perv:

[tagHeuer]

hahaha thats classic. I like how Mr. cat has a cut off tank-top and 3-d glasses. I'll post some of my highschool stuff when I go home for Christmas. But I honestly don't think it will be able to top the coolness of your comic.

[Bojee]

Eli- This is the best, I don't know why you ever stopped. <3 <3 That's exactly what I was talking about. Here's all those cool little characters interacting with each other. You should do more of this with your current stuff. Let your mind run wild, there's a lot of cool strangeness in there and it's all your own. It's like Strong Bad or South Park, very cool Bro! :teeth:

[eliWolff]

woah guys, I didn't think anybody would like those old comics so much! thanks for the comments though!! If you want, I can scan in some more.. I did 12 issues in all and I've still got them.. I don't have the desire to make comic books now, I like animation so much more, but maybe I can do a 3D animated movie about those characters some time..?

Well, since we're walking down "memory lane", click on this link to see an old Flash movie I did based on that first issue of the comic..

Mr. Cat, Herb, and Mr. Fish (http://www.eliwolff.com/mrcat.htm)

:O :O :O :O :O

;)

[eliWolff]

oh here's some drawings from the weekend..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/121304_sketch01.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/121304_sketch02.jpg

[cotron]

I like the humor in your stuff, it's refreshing- especially the monkey vs dino, hilarious grab. Your comics remind me of the ones I did when I was in high school, I had a character named Action Rabbit who just found new ways of getting creamed in every issue. Keep up the drawings, don't get too serious, we need funny artists!

[Sok N. Wett]

Eli you should redo it, with the skills you have now, shit it would be the shit. It'll be a hit on a web comic plateau. The Flash movie is very interesting, with the stuff you know now, you can push the rendering even further, shit do 3d animations of it.

[eliWolff]

cotron -- I'm glad that I'm able to get some of my sense of humor across in some of my drawings. I want to get better at that, because I have lots of ideas in my head that I think are funny, and sometimes other people think they're funny too..

Sok N. Wett -- I attempted to redo it when I did that flash thing, but it takes soooo much time to do all that animation by myself.. doing it in 3D would be insane.. I'd really have to quit my day job and work fulltime on it for a year to finish it.. I'm just not as interested in doing web comics -- I'm really into making 3D video game animations the most, so that's what I focus the most of my energies into... then with drawing on the side just cause I enjoy drawing so much.

and since I have a captive audience, I'll let you see one more of my classic old Flash cartoons.. enjoy?

The Drunken Bastard (http://www.eliwolff.com/drunken.htm)

:vodkamachine: :evilmustache:

;)

[Bojee]

Didn't have time to tell you yesterday that I loved that episode ! The only thing that bummed me out was that it didn't have more sound, sound effects, theme song etc. Very cool bro. :) I PMed you by the way.

[mikeb]

Cool comic!
The floating fish bowl is most radical.

[eliWolff]

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/121504_sketch01.jpg

[eliWolff]

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/121804_sketch01.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/121804_sketch02.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/121804_sketch03.jpg

[jetpack42]

Eli, your life drawings seem like they are always on the rise. You are getting a better sense of proportion and more comfortable with the pencil. At this point, I feel like you will really benefit from some anatomy studies, as the limbs often look like rubber hoses or jello. Bridgman or Barcsay will have what you need, and if you spend a few weeks working your way around the figure, damned if these wouldn't be twice as solid. Lookin good, bro.

[eliWolff]

jetpack42 -- thanks for stopping by.. I do keep studying the anatomy stuff but it doesn't really stick with me very good.. I think I have a bad memory or I'm a slow learner or something.. but I'll keep working at it.. I'm at least persistant if nothing else! I've never heard of Barcsay, so I'll check him out thanks!

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/121904_sketch01.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/121904_sketch02.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/121904_sketch03.jpg

[eliWolff]

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/122704_sketch01.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/122704_sketch02.jpg

[eliWolff]

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/122804_sketch01.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/122804_sketch02.jpg

[Bojee]

Keep it up Eli! I'll send the check tomorrow, sorry I've been slacking, been super busy. :) I'll give you a call.-A

[eliWolff]

Bojee -- great to hear from you! How is unpacking going? Looking forward to seeing you in SF next week -- it's gonna be soo fun! My flight leaves a week from tommorow.

[Sok N. Wett]

Eli these last few pages that you've done has shown a great deal of improvements you should really pat yourself on the back, and man I wish you great learning experience during the workshop, I won't be there but I will be there in spirit.

[lavhoes]

Your faces have definitely improved =P

I love the subtle poses your cat sketches have.

[eliWolff]

Sok N. Wett -- Our hotel room just won't be the same without you there buddy.. well, take care of your $$ stuff and try to make it to some sketch meets sometime soon, I wanna see your sketchbook in person again! oh, thanks for noticing the improvements on the last few pages.. I'm just drawing stuff from an old kung fu movie this week for fun and it's a nice break from doing anatomy studies.. I think I'm gonna keep drawing stuff from movies that I like for awhile now!

lavhoes -- thanks dude! those cats always end up lounging around me when I'm drawing stuff that's on TV, so sometimes I just sketch them too.. they get into some weird poses sometimes.. check that one where the cat is laying upside on it's back.. she does that all the time..

here's some more sketches from that same movie..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/122904_sketch01.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/122904_sketch02.jpg

[Undertow]

Eli, that upper right hand head is the best one on the page, great stuff:) You're definitely improving. I think I might be able to show you a few tricks that I picked up that will improve your figures. We'll stay up late on the 6th and draw.. I might be drunk that night but I can still pass on what little knowlege I have when I'm wasted;) Dude 1 week.. sweeeeet. BTW, I bought a 40Gig iPod yesterday, and I have a backpack that has built in speakers so we've got tunes for the room!:)
-Mike

[eliWolff]

Undertow -- backpack with speakers? that's cool! Looking forward to hearing any tips you've got that might help me improve.. it would be nice to draw figures more confidently.. so far I guess I just need to keep practicing.. ?

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/010305_sketch01.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/010305_sketch02.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/010305_sketch03.jpg

[nova]

the playstation controller is the coolest! post some of those sketches from sunday!

[Sok N. Wett]

I've just notice that your using more of the cross hatchings now to render than your previous post with the side of a pencil to render, overall it shows alot of commitment to learning, and they can never take that away from you...NEVER!

[eliWolff]

Sok N. Wett -- I'm using cross hatching now cause I'm drawing with a mechanical pencial mostly right now, and it's hard to shade with the side of the little thin lead.

nova -- thanks for noticing the PS2 controller.. I was happy with how that turned out. Here's the page of doodles I did on Sunday at Vita's -- it was fun hanging out with you and drawing!

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/010405_sketch01.jpg

[guggemmaneuver]

great improvement with your figurative studies. I love how there are so many on a page, and how you are really focusing on roughing things in the right way. Great improvement with them. The more cartoonish stuff is funny and I dig it. good faces as well. I like how you are expressing so much with so few lines.

adios.
jb

[van]

Excellent work. Another nice progressive thread. :) Really enjoying your figurative studies. Keep drawing!

[eliWolff]

guggenmaneuver -- thanks for stopping by. I'm trying to find a balance between figurative studies and more cartoony stuff.. I'm a fan of so many different drawing styles, I can't just stick with the realistic stuff all the time..

van -- thanks for the comments! I've been trying to go to life drawing a couple times a week for the last few months and I hope to keep going as much as posible this year. I'm hoping to see more improvement during the next few months!

I just got back from the great San Francisco workshop -- I had a really good time and I only wish I had better drawings to take with me to get critiqued, but I'll try even harder this year to improve and then maybe at the next workshop I'll be ready to get some face-to-face crits..

a few skribbles from the airport..

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/011305_sketch01.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/011305_sketch02.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/011305_sketch03.jpg

all the drawings I did at the workshop were terrible for some reason, so I'm not even going to scan them in..
:\

[David York]

Wow, you do so much work! Excellent and inspirinng. Looks like time for an update! I'd love to compare what you and I did today, similar angles but seriously different work.

I like the 'inspired by film' sketches, I think I'm going to start doing that.

[Sok N. Wett]

Eli - dude man i love it that your getting so inspire to keep on going, that's something I myself gotta work on, but your dedication is priceless. Show me all the notes and stuff you did at the workshop this coming up saturday.

Dave - yo man I miss you, hopefully you'll make it this coming saturday, cause I'll be there thanks to laura.

[eliWolff]

Sok N. Wett -- looking forward to seeing you this weekend! I didn't really take notes at the workshop, I just wondered around in a daze cause everyone else there could draw soooo good... my new mantra is: "less sleep, more drawing".

David York -- drawing from films is really fun, you should try it for sure. whenever I'm stuck for new stuff to draw, I fire up a movie I really like and I'm always revved up to draw more stuff..

last weekend's life drawing..
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/011505_sketch01.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/011505_sketch02.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/011605_sketch01.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/011605_sketch02.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/011605_sketch03.jpg

[Bojee]

Keep 'em coming Eli, great to see the progress. Thanks again for rooming with me in San Fran, it was cool to see some familiar faces. :)

[jetpack42]

great work eli. your dedication is always taking you another step ahead. don't forget when you are having a problem with visual memory or structure; the masters have solved all of the problems for us. If you study some of thier drawings, it can help you further your understanding and your own approach.

Never give up! Never Surrender!

[Sok N. Wett]

Eli I can feel your power and aura, I believe this year your going to make a major breakthrough and figure out how the secret to drawing and you'll get real good at it. It took me awhile to get to where I am today, and that's with trying out new techniques and practicing. I'm always inspired to see you keeping a steady update, makes me want to keep going.

[eliWolff]

Bojee -- It was great to have you share the room with us in SF too! Glad you could make it! Hope school is going to be fun this year for you.

jetpack42 -- thanks for the encouragement, you've always got sage words of wisdom. so many masters to study, so little time..

Sok N. Wett -- you gotta just keep drawing, that's the main thing. I have a new outlook this year on my art.. I'm not worried so much about getting better, now I just want to enjoy the process of simply drawing every day. I figure if I spend a few hours drawing every day for the rest of my life, I'll have a much better life than many people that never pick up a pencil..


http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/011805_sketch01.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/011805_sketch02.jpg
http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/011805_sketch03.jpg

http://www.eliwolff.com/sketchbook/pumpkinPaul.jpg