Wertle's Sketchbook (12-19-05)

[Wertle]

I am starting a daily sketchbook anyway, may as well get feedback and create more homework for myself as I go!

Many of these will be master copies, as my goal is at least one copy a day from one of my many anatomy books (after I've determined that no, just *owning* the books isn't going to make me better ^_^ )

Barcsay's Anatomy for the Artist
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/mcopy1.jpg

Gordon's How to Draw the Human Figure
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/mcopy2.jpg

Samurai Virus, a character that's been kicking around and evolving since my 8th grade science class notebook. I brought him back for a silly ashcan comic I did last summer, and would like to continue trying to develop him into...something. I have a lot of questions I need to figure out for him (such as, how exactly is he holding that sword?)
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/samvi.jpg

[Wertle]

Hammond's Draw Real Hands, and a dragon thing. 3-5-04

http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/mcopy3.jpg

[Wertle]

Yesterday..my character from a game of Nobilis I'm in. Power of Candy! I would have finished, but I ran out of supplies...you know, what's that stuff? Need it for good drawings? Oh yeah, patience!

http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/astaroth.jpg

I'm slow on the drawing today because I'm focusing on a 3D project. I'm making some masks. But the latex isn't dry yet, so here's the negative

http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/mask.jpg

[Mindflaw]

Hi Wertle
Your exercises are looking good so far. As to try to give some feedback You could try to redraw the pic from memory a couple of minutes after you have drawn it.That will force you to remember what you have drawn and get better at remember such stuff. This so you could use that knowledge and not only how to draw when seeing things. Well thats my theory anyway. Have not yet starting to do so but is going to start doing so myself this week.

[Wertle]

Oh, that's a great idea, thank you! I will try it with my work-sketch tonight.

[Rich Pellegrino]

nice hand study (p.44) keep doing them and each time your training your eye even if you dont realize it. start using a mirror and harsh lighting to see the form better. Rather than be restricted to a flat image in a book. keep up the good work!

[leslief]

Thought I'd stop by, since you were kind enough to drop a note in my sketchbook. :)

Your studies look pretty good. I agree with what mindflaw said about coming back and working from your memory after you do a study. I have just started doing this as an exercise evey day for the last couple of weeks and I feel it is really helping me to learn the anatomy.

Keep up the good work!

[Wertle]

I promise I did that study-from-memory thing, the sketchbook in question is just left at a friends house. No really!

In the meantime, I went to the zoo today with my big sketchbook (14 x 17 inch pages) to do some quick studies. It's something I'll definately have to do more often.

Tiger, polar bear, sea lion
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/zootrip/zoo15.jpg

Fruit bats
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/zootrip/zoo14.jpg

More fruit bats and a black-necked stilt
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/zootrip/zoo12.jpg

orangutans
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/zootrip/zoo11.jpg

more orangutans
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/zootrip/zoo10.jpg

More big sleepin cats, eagle, weird bird thing
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/zootrip/zoo13.jpg

Fishing cat, penguin
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/zootrip/zoo09.jpg

Komodo dragon
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/zootrip/zoo08.jpg

rhinos
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/zootrip/zoo07.jpg

More rhino, steller's eagle, giraffe
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/zootrip/zoo06.jpg

Giraffes
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/zootrip/zoo05.jpg

Addex (i think)
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/zootrip/zoo04.jpg

camel, lion
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/zootrip/zoo03.jpg

lion, some kind of tamerin
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/zootrip/zoo02.jpg

gorillas
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/zootrip/zoo01.jpg

It was a fun trip. I think next time I'm going to focus on just a few animals and do more and longer studies of them. Any tips on animal life drawing?

[Mindflaw]

I would say go about animal lifedrawing as you would with the human figure...like with human you might look at the ribcage and simplyfie the the form to an egg, do the same thing with animals. Study them try to figure out how they are constructed. Muscles, bones, tendons, have the same functions as they have in humans thus constructed in a similar way, although to fit the animal construction.

[Wertle]

I'll just skip over making excuses for my absence and get straight to the post.

Today I tried out the whole "draw, then wait, then draw from memory" suggestion. I focused on the knee. All these are from Louise Gordon's How to Draw the Human Figure.

My first attempt. The left is from looking at the book, the right from memory. Clearly I know nothing about the knee x_x I decided that maybe doing this exercise and drawing in the negative might be a bit much, so I reverted and tried again.
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/092505a.jpg

A little better, at least this time I tried to pay attention to the structure, and not stitch shapes together.
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/092505b.jpg


And again
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/092505c.jpg

A couple more copies from the book
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/092505d.jpg

Tried another copy, study, draw-again-from-memory at the top. Then some sketches of my own knee at the bottom (upside down)
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/092505e.jpg

[Wertle]

Another copy from Gordon's book. Also, my foot.

http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/092605a.jpg

[Sawa]

you got nice anatomy studies here :) actually i am using the same book XD

sawa

[Wertle]

Thank you! I'm very fond of this book. I have two others in which one is overly simplified and one is overly exaggerated, but I've found this one to be a very pleasant happy medium.

[Wertle]

More Gordon copies, and then my hand

http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/092705a.jpg

[Wertle]

There are two things I hate about art, and both of them are drapery studies.

I'm haaaaaaaaate drapery studies, but if you've ever seen me try to draw clothes, you'll know that this is something I need to do often. This is actually only half of the study, there's another whole side of cloth I didn't get to.

I have a huge problem with consistent value, and my drapery studies tend to look very patchy to me, probably because I have a habit of throwing blocks of light and shadow here and there, without looking at the whole thing. Help?

http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/092805a.jpg

[Wertle]

Worked more on the drapery study
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/100305a.jpg

Quick and sketchy dragon thing to keep my brain from melting from all these studies
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/100305b.jpg

[Sawa]

nice update on the drapery study. its looking pretty good now. i should do some of these too ;)

[Wertle]

Thank you! It is far from finished I'm sure, but I have to take a break from it. I'm starting to work up that dragon sketch.

I have no experience with Painter, so this will be a learning experience for that too. I didn't really know where to start, so I figured maybe I'd do like with a real painting and start working on a tonal underpainting?

Whole thing...
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/100405a.jpg

Head detail...
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/100405b.jpg

Here's a link to a bigger size, so as not to totally destroy the download time for this thread

http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/100405c.jpg

[bengonzalez]

Nice work so far. Your pencil technique reminds me a lot of my own. A general crit that I have received is that the short lines tend to hurt the look of the sketch. Practice or force yourself to work in longer strokes. Try to get the line right on the first pass. It will not be perfect when you start but it will help establish better hand to eye coordination. so that your hand moves the way your eyes want it to.

The Painter understudy looks good so far. I'm not big on the digital software techniques yet so no help on that end from me. But as far as replicating a real painting understudy good job.

[Wertle]

Thank you, I will try that exercise tomorrow with my next set of anatomy studies.

More working on the thing. I redid the arms, but I'm still having some trouble with that whole chest/shoulder area.

Big
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/100505a.jpg

Detail
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/100505b.jpg

[Danomight]

Good anatomy studies, you have the right idea by drawing them from memory after drawing from the book. I have done some of that and it helps a ton. Also a great idea on the drapery studies, I'll have to give it a try.

I don't have much experience with digital painting, but I might suggest creating a more even tonal background to avoid any confusion. Maybe flesh out your sketch a bit more before going into painting. If you're having trouble building the anatomy for an area, think about flat surfaces and planes, how they might show because of the muscle structure. Great start for having no experience, keep up the good work, you'll have it before long.

[Interceptor]

Hey Wertle!!
So many sketches, it's great to see you working so hard. I'm also glad at the variety, not just drawing big monsters or just hot chicks. One thing I'm noticing though is that the shading in some of the pictures is'nt very gradual. It's black, black, black, WHITE!. Try varying the shading levels and it may come off more natural! Post more!!

[redFIVE]

Looks like you're off to a good start. I think I found your animal studies the most interesting because of the repeated lines in the gesture. Kinda gives it this big passionate feel to it. I'd say keep concintrating on the forms and how these things feel and turn in space.

I agree with Dan, probably one of the first things todo in a painting is KILL ALL THE WHITEY. Since white can bring such a big contrast it's best to eliminate it completely at first and then reintroduce it to the parts of the painting where you <b>want</b> the big contrasts- where you want the eye to be attracted to most (I guess which is usually the face). That said, I really like the emotional feel from the lighting on the dragon, but all the white splotches are too distracting to keep focused on it.

[Snowsfall]

I don't have much to add except to make sure you get some diverse colors in the dragon painting, both warm and cool colors.
I love your animal gestures btw, keep doing that:)

[Wertle]

More from Gordon---an attempt at bengonzalez's suggestion to work in longer strokes. I propped up my sketchbook so that I would be drawing from my shoulder more.

HARD!!

http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/100605.jpg

Danomight -- Thank you. I need a setting for this critter, but I'm a little undecided. I'm thinking maybe something foresty or some rocky cliff face (rocky cliff face being decidedly easier in my mind, so I'll probably go with foresty to force myself into a challenge. Argg!)

Interceptor -- That's probably a kickback from when I used to shade everything in the same middle gray, now I'm going the opposite extreme! I'll try to reign myself back in and take more time.

Redfive -- Thank you on the animals, I'm hoping to plan another zoo trip soon, and then focus longer studies on just a few animals. Tomorrow when I try to flesh in a background in the painting, I'll take that time to get rid of any patches of "canvas" showing through.

Snowsfall -- I will probably start working in some cool colors to help the shadows pop out. It's still just a tonal underpainting, though, and I haven't really given much thought as to what colors the dragon will end up being. Any suggestions? Possibly it will be somewhat dependent on the background environment I paint in for him?

Thanks for the comments, all.

[bengonzalez]

Nicely done better than I can manage. Im still chopping the line and going back and forth with the pencil. It's hard to get use to it but eventually it becomes easier to use all of your arm to draw with, or so I've been told by my teachers. ;)

[Wertle]

bengonzalez -- I found that it really helped to prop up my sketchbook and draw holding my pencil like I would hold a piece of chalk, with the sketchbook about arms' length away. I knew it was forcing me to draw with my whole arm, because my shoulder was quite sore afterwards :) Give it a try!

I need to get an easel for starting some paintings anyway, but I could use one to try and do sketches in this manner more often.

[Interceptor]

bengonzalez -- I found that it really helped to prop up my sketchbook and draw holding my pencil like I would hold a piece of chalk, with the sketchbook about arms' length away. I knew it was forcing me to draw with my whole arm, because my shoulder was quite sore afterwards :) Give it a try!

I need to get an easel for starting some paintings anyway, but I could use one to try and do sketches in this manner more often.
What do you use to prop up your sketchbook wertle? that seems like a good idea.

[Wertle]

Oh I just have my work table pushed up against the wall, so I was able to prop it against the wall and still reach it across my work surface (secured by various items I had lying around shoved up against the base). Then I propped the book page I was working from up next to it. I really would rather have an easel, though.

Meanwhile, dragon updates, I sketchied in a background idea.
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/100605b.jpg

I referenced the background from a photo I took while in Japan this summer, which can be found here: http://www.wertle.com/personal/images/photos/japantrip/japan-fujicaves1.jpg

The white streaks are on a different layer, and they are just guides to give me ideas about where patchy lighting might fall.

[gibsini]

Always nice lookin at others work keep it up

[Danomight]

I'm really liking the new gesture sketches you posted, so fluid and much more expressive. I tend to draw much better when I have more movement from my shoulder as well (that's why I hate drawing while on the couch!), your strokes become much different. Can;t wait to see more on the dragon picture.

[Sawa]

i like the background on your dragon piece. great idea to let the light fall in like that :) i only think that you shouldnt show all of the beams of light that clear in the final piece. at least make those that are in the background a bit more faded, if you know what im talking about ;) overall im pretty much diggin that painting so far

[redFIVE]

Definitely keep working with the longer strokes. Those figures utlizing them speak of much potential.

The dragon's looking alot more focused now with the middle tone filled in completely. I think you could stand to knock down the beams of light a little in value, that way your brighter values are more focused on the dragon's head and it'll help draw the eye to it.

[Wertle]

Thanks for the comments all, I intend to do some of those long-stroke gestures much more, it is a good exercise.

More on dragon...

The white beams of light were intended to just be guides for me to give me an idea of light direction and where it might fall. I hid the layer so it would be less distracting.


http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/101305.jpg

[bengonzalez]

hey nice work so far on the dragon. Now you need to bring in more contrast and sharpness to the image. I liked the beams of light I would think of using them in some way. then one thing right now is that he looks like a clay sculpture. Try to bring in other colors into the dragon to make him standout.

[Danomight]

Good to see your are making progress on the dragon picture. One thing I'm noticing is the bluriness. Most of the edges and planes have a really undefined feel to them, maybe it's the brush type or maybe you just posted a low res pic. Hope to see more!

[Interceptor]

Ben and Dan here pretty much took the words right out of my mouth. Keep this pic going, though, you can do it!!

[Wertle]

ben--I probably will include some sort of beams, probably after I get the base painted out. I hope the light isn't too patchy. I think the underpainting is getting to the point where I feel like I'm getting the basic forms okay, so I will start working in ideas for color next (please understand that I never intended to keep him terracotta orange, I was just using that for tone. Maybe I should convert tonal underpaintings to grayscale when posting)

Dan--I will pay attention to the edges next time I do more work on it. Next time I post a process, I may include a high-res version, as a lot of the brushiness converts to blur when I resize it. Maybe I shouldn't be working at such a high resolution?

Interceptor--thank you! I really hope to see this through to completion.

For now, though, here are some feet. I tried doing more of the "attempting to draw with as few and as long line strokes as possible." HARD
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/102505a.jpg

After the book copies, I tried to use the same idea with my own feet. And discovered that I apparently don't know the structure of the foot very well x_x
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/102505b.jpg http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/102505c.jpg

So back to the book and the basic structure (I tend to draw from Bridgman when I'm having trouble figuring the very very basic shapes and volumes in a body part)
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/102505d.jpg

More on the dragon soon.

[Mikko Voipio]

Really nice to see that you are taking your anatomy seriously. You basicly never study it enough. It's a lifelong process. Hey, where's the mask update.
Does it take a year ti dry. Would like to see it.

[bengonzalez]

good work on the anatomy studies. It's a though thing to get a handle on. Keep at it. Reverse the drawings when you copy them from bridgman (don't know if you are or not.) The reversing thing is a way to really make your mind work to figure out the shapes and structure. and your doing a lot better than me with the long line drawing (I'm lazy) keep at it.

[Danomight]

Noce foot studies Wertle. I am also trying to learn to draw using less lines, it is tough. I find it helpful to sketch stuff really loosely and crazily, using circles and curves to find shapes and joints. I don't try to get it perfect on the first try, I just try to figure out the structure, but after a few attempts, I have the general "path" of how it should be drawn.

[Snowsfall]

Remember to draw from your head too and try to apply the anatomy knowledge that you've learned. Then you can study those drawings and see what you know and don't know. Then work on those areas appropriately.

[Wertle]

Thanks for the tips, all. Snowsfall--I will definately try this idea next.

Placeboast--Holy crap! I'd totally forgotten about the mask! I'd been waiting until I could get a foam head to mount it on when my camera died. It doesn't really look good all flat and laying out like this, but this is better than nothing, I suppose

http://www.wertle.com/dump/goblin.jpg

Anyway, not much of an update this time. I'm working in on the dragon's face, and trying to resolve this blurriness/resolution issue I'm having. I tried sharpening on the resize this time, which seems to help a bit

http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/110205a.jpg

This is the actual size that I'm working on the whole piece in...
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/110205b.jpg

[bengonzalez]

Dude nice mask. Is it Clay or paper. when and if you can get it to sit up right I'd like to see what it looks like from other angles.

The dragon's face is starting lo look a little humanoid like. Also is it this supposed to be a beginning dragon cause if it is you are getting the right look. He looks like he is wonder or dazed. Very friendly an innocent face.

[poise]

hey man!,
Your studies are coming along really well. :) keep em up!

[Kittywolf13]

Figured its about time i do my part of the "Support" group. i've been both busy..with hurricane wilma, and lazy...ah the vain of the procrasitantor.

But yes. i really, really like all the anatomy studies your doing! Something i really need to try and get myself to swing back into. What book are you useing? perhaps i shall purchase a copy for myself. your progression shots of the dragon is very cool. is it open canvas or painter? at first i thought it was OC but with the later updates it looks more like painter.

either way keep it up! i can definatly see you have talent!! :)

:heart:

[Astrobil]

i finallay looked at your sketch book
i need too grab diner right now but your figural stuff is wonderful
i ll post in more detail later.
astrobil

[Wertle]

Kittywolf -- I have several books that I really like referring from. How to draw the Human Figure by Louise Gordon is my favorite. It is a nice intermediate level book. For really basic stylization, like when I'm trying to hammer down the very basic shapes of the figure, I often refer to George Bridgman's Life Drawing. On the opposite end, if I'm trying to work out some whacky extreme angle, I sometimes take a look at Burne Hogarth's Dynamic Figure Drawing, which is exagerated to the opposite extreme. Jeno Barcsay's Anatomy for the Artist is another one that I draw from.

The dragon is in Painter. It's my first time using it, but I'm finding my real-life oil painting experience is helping me out with it.

Ben -- I was sort of going for a dazed, dopey sort of look. It's quite a change from the original sketch, in which he looks rather depressed, but I decided I wanted something more placid.

Thanks for the comments everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates. Thunderdome will probably change that x_x

[Wertle]

I get 10000 lashes! Shame! Shaaaaaaaaame! I'm really sorry for being so absent, guys. Mysterious illnesses.

I have a couple things to share, though.

The first, my Kempo instructor wanted me to whip out a few line drawings that he could put on a brochure. They were to be super simple and needed to be done super fast. He wanted me to take influence from the illustrations in the book Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804800049/104-4214494-8333535?v=glance&n=283155), excepting that the lines had to be way thicker.

Anyway, I'm only so-so happy with them, but it is definately an exercise in drawing the figure from memory and seeing if the things I've been learning from drawing from anatomy books actually stuck. On the up and up, when he picked out which ones he wanted to use, he correctly identified them by the technique. I guess that's somewhat good, yeah?
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/kempo.gif

Next up, I've been drawing this snakey sort of dude off and on for awhile now, so I gave him an upgrade. Want to see his original incarnation? No you don't... (http://www.wertle.com/portfolio/display.php?id=00048)
http://www.wertle.com/dump/snakedude.jpg

Lastly, a dino monster girl. She originally showed up in this sketch (http://www.wertle.com/portfolio/display.php?id=00230). We're using her in an animation project I'm working on, so I've been trying desperately to simplify her. I drew up this sheet for someone who's working on a scene she's in.

A link for this one because I cannot post the image directly (http://www.argproductions.com/arglog/gallery/albums/critterssketchdump/dinogirl.jpg)

[Icey]

you've started your sktchbook so well! ;)
you should continue with the studys - try to use reference for everything you do and ask yourself questions wile you drow - like muscle weight, gravity, torsion, bending... it's a easy way to learn - imo

cheers! :)

[Wertle]

Thanks for the comments, Icey!

Okay, now for something completely different.

If there's one thing I consider myself sorely unpracticed on, it's perspective and architecture. Imagine my reluctance to work on a scene in our animation project that involved a cityscape x_x

No matter, though. After layers of vanishing points and bright red guidelines, I was able to create several buildings that I was fairly pleased with. Several of the designs I picked off of one of our storyboarder's work, but a couple more were of my own devising.

Because I am lazy, I screencapped these right out of Flash, so that's why the little orientation marker thing-a-do is still there.

http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/building1.jpg
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/building2.jpg
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/building3.jpg
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/building4.jpg
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/building5.jpg
http://www.wertle.com/CAorg/sketchbook/building6.jpg

Now here they are in action. (http://www.argproductions.com/arglog/gallery/albums/lkjjtrailer_animations/lkjj_trailer_16lisa12_18_05.swf) This runs a lot smoother if you don't watch it full screen.

[bengonzalez]

Hey Lisa the gesture drawings for the Aikido project are missing the line weight variation that the originals have. I know that they are supposed to be quick and heavy with the lines but there is a grace in the originals' brush work which is missing in yours. I'm guessing that they are digital. Are you using a tablet or mouse? the Gestures are nice don't get me wrong but the grace is missing.

Lots of improvement on the Naga guy. It shows that your are really growing.

The buildings I like very much, they have this very pulpish feel to them. like the old old superman animated clips. I really like where the flash animation is going too.

Keep at it. Nice bunch of work.

[redFIVE]

Aw. I was hoping to see a finished dragon by now. Get back to work!
Well, I like your flash vector stuff. Fun style.

[poise]

the vectors are nice. But I want to see more drawings, especially the anatomy ones those where coming along very nicely. keep workin!!

[redFIVE]

*knock knock*

[Listing]

nice work with both illustration and anatomy study. Do some self portraits or still life work very basically (in pen, pencil). It should give you a good sense of where you are and where'd you like to be technically. I like those zoo sketches. I need to get to that.