Sketchbook of Noë

[sleep]

eee! you've been updating. i was stupid not to come in here earlier. marleen marleen marleeeeeen. well done! every time i come in here i can see the improvements you've been making! i'm scared.. i should practise more eheh..

on your digital stuff.. try to use fewer lines... use bigger brushes and see if you can just hint at details with the big brush rather than actually drawing them in with a small one.

always i see through your artwork and music tastes the darker side of your character... the cold, grey colours..questionable subject matter.. it's a bit scary hahah.

reminds me i need to do more reference stuff.. i can't say much now, you're doing the right things. the things i should be doing

[Noë]

Thanks Sean, unfortunately I don't feel that way.. I draw so little every day :S
I have two hours of school work every day, and when I'm done, I also have dance twice a week, sometimes I want to watch a movie, and then my time is up! So I guess I shouldn't watch movies anymore and hang out less on CA, so I can draw instead? :S
Well here's today's crap. I'm at home, my mum said I was sick so I had to stay home :P didn't have any usefull classes today anyways.

http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/129.jpg http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/130.jpg
left; old sketch made into some ill zombie girl :S, right; male person thing from mind

http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/131.jpg http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/132.jpg
left; blergh, right; a bit blergh

love
Marleen

[chaosrocks]

proportion are getting better. you need to look at legs and length and rotation of them..... more art faster

chaos

[Erilaz]

Marleen, your faces are getting really good likenesses to them!
This (http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/118.jpg) is gorgeous.

I love to see a few more pages of full figures, as you're REALLY starting to nail it, but not quite yet. I see some really good observation going on in there.

[verao]

whoa, you've been busy, alot of sketches. your getting pretty good a the digital stuff to. you got some really nice pieces, your selfportrait from picture on one of the earlier pieces is really good. I just got a feeling that with of your drawings the eyes are to big, or maybe i'm just drawing them to small.; It is a good way to get the expression over. en blijf op dit tempo doorgaan!!

[Noë]

I've been very very busy.. Have hardly been able to find time to draw because of the homework piling up in front of me. It's really too much, can't even find the time to draw for one hour a day, how sick is that?
So I decided today to just leave the homework, and only start it after I drew some stuff.
Now I'll be a bit more stuck with the school work, but it's okay..

@ Chaos; Thanks girl :) Will do some leg studies.. If I have time..
@ Erilaz; I'm doing some more full figures atm, using the virtual figure drawing studios from Cloudstars (http://www.cloudstars.com) Next monday I'll also be starting my life drawing course ^^ So every monday or tuesday there will be a figure drawing update from now on :D
The drawing you're referring to in your post is a selfportrait on cardboard, I didn't finish it, but I kind of like the look of the unfinishedness.. If I ever have time again, I'll try to finish.
@ Verao; Yup, you're right about the eyes, I really need to watch that closely or it will go wrong again and again.. :P I do try to sketch for an hour a day or so, but most of the time I don't get to that hour.

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Now! The update!

http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/133.jpg http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/134.jpg
left; speedpaint from an old sketch.. I kinda like the skin on the head, but it's not great.. right; some fashionable figures from mind and weird head.

http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/135.jpg http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/136.jpg
just studies, on the right; the upper two figures are from mind.

http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/137.jpg http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/138.jpg
study and school assignment idea.. We have to draw something with the subject "summer in the city" and the background lines should go over the foreground, and we need to use different colours, well just a bit of an abstractish assignment.. Tomorrow I'll start working on this on a BIG piece of thick paper.. What do you think about the colours and composition? (Not that I would change it all again, but just to learn from my mistakes :D)

lots of love, and a promise to try and draw more
Marleen

[Taj]

These are good contour drawings Marleen, but if your gonna do contour studies it should be to improve your line at this point, therefore you shouldnt be spending much time on them, one movement = one line, do not go over the same place twice eventually you'll get better and your line quality as well as form will improve. Less scratchy lines!

[crimsoneye]

Alright I going to try this again, I'm trying not to sound like a broken record. Your showing improvement in drawing the human form, and agree with Taj on the contour studies. Also, try blind contour studies too that helps too.

[Noë]

Hi there :D
I've finally been able to draw a lot! I went to a meeting of a lot of my friends this weekend, and I forgot to bring my homework, so I could draw all weekend! ^^ Well not all weekend, but I did draw kind of much compared to what I did lately.

@ Taj; You're right.. I guess I thought that if I drew enough contours the line would follow eventually because I would get more confident in it. But it might be good to just put extra pressure on myself not drawing so many lines.
@ Crimsoneye; Thanks :) Are blind contour studies the ones that only show the black form and not the lines that create them? Kinda like photos of people against a strong light (like sunset)?

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Update time!

http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/139.jpg http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/140.jpg
The drawings on lined paper were done in the train and are mainly doodles.

http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/141.jpg http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/142.jpg
I forgot my sketchbook, but I could use some printer paper :) The face is a portrait from life, there are three legs from life :P and one dragon from statue.. It looks terrible hehe.

http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/143.jpg http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/144.jpg
left; some abstractism, my drawings teacher would very much like it hehe lol.. Right; a drawing inspired by the front of "the Time" magazine. A picture of Hizballah.

http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/145.jpg http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/146.jpg
left; a mondriaan tree, kind of to tell somebody else what kind of drawing I meant with "the tree series of Mondriaan", but the drawing didn't really turn out well haha. right; some people sketches from life (except for the naked lady and weird dinosaur) the couple on the lower half of the page looked so cute that I wanted to draw them. And they sat still for me for like 15 minutes (not that that was hard because they already sat in that pose for half an hour before ^^)

that's it..
Hope you enjoyed it a bit..
tonight will be my first life drawing class!!!!!!! :teeth: so tomorrow there'll be a life drawing update YAAAY

love
Marleen

[crimsoneye]

Good luck on that drawing class.

[Noë]

Thanks crimsoneye!
We didn't do very many drawings in the life drawing class, because we also got to know eachother in the beginning and we had a little pause.
But here the drawings are!

1 and 2; are 2 minute drawings. I think the one of her standing up with her arms in the air went very well for 2 mins.

3; was a 20 minute drawing.. I don't really think it's better than the 2 min drawings hihi.

4; was like 30 minutes I think. In the end I just stopped and looked around at what others were doing. Some were painting, and really got beautiful paintings out of those 30 mins. I think I'll be trying some paint next week too.

Love
Marleen

[Lee W]

good start on your first life drawing class ..

[lefran]

your form and anatomy is improving heaps, those life drawing sketches show great improvement also, and are also nice sketches, i look foreward to seeing some of your paints from next week then :)

[Noë]

@ Oldnoobie; thanks :)
@ Lefran; Thank you too! I'm trying to improve as fast as I can. The paint of next week won't be that great because I rather suck at traditional paints (got the lowest mark on my painting of hills in drawing class at school, but maybe that's just my drawing teacher wanting me to be abstract :P) I did find out my digital painting skills are getting a bit better.

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I did 3 speedpaints from reference photos, I'll post the references too.
I guess I drew a LOT today, but now i need to do an hour of homework and get to sleep hihi :P I should do more homework and less drawing.. Well according to my teachers I should.. Should I?

1; speedie from mind, not that good.. Head looks way too big :P
2; first ref speedy 30 min approximately
3; second ref speedy 30 min approximately
4; third speedy from ref, 30 min approximately (again :P)
5; sketchpage :D I kinda like the sexy medusa with snakehair.
6; second sketchpage, using my 7b pencil to get some contrasts

7; first reference
8; second reference (me, a bit overexposed :P)
9; third reference (me, I really really like this picture of me)

Love
Marleen

[Merlin]

wow, you are really improving. those life drawings are pretty good. speed paints good color use, still need to work more on the verhoudingen.

[Noë]

@ Merlin; Thanks man :) I'm trying to get those proportions better.. See this new update :P Proportions are the hardest things to master, that and the straight un scribbly lines.


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Painting done in drawing class. Got a 6,2 out of 10 (6,5 for composition, 6,0 for technique, and another 6,0 for something) Don't look too much at the fruit on the corners.. The painting has been rolled up for transport, so it wouldn't lie flat on the floor without some fruity help.

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these are pen drawings from virtual figure drawing studio by Cloudstars (www.cloudstars.com)

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that's just a CRAPPY page of hand drawings, also done from a program from Cloudstars. I really need to get those hands better. When I am able to erase things they're okay, but I guess this is what comes out when I cant..

Love
Marleen

[Taj]

Wow last update after life drawing was a HUGE improvement, I'm really impressed!

[CGMonkey]

You've improved alot. Very fun to watch.. will be fun to follow aswell.. :)

[hp]

line drawing is indeed getting a lot better. you have the prettiest hair! :)

i wouldn't go so far to say you use too many straight lines, but try to throw a curve in here and there in your drawings =P esp in the shading...watch the hatching.

[Dose206]

wow, you're really improving. I'm glad to see that you're in a life drawing class, and I'm also jealous. The sketches from your first session look really great, good job! I like your work from ref, you seem to be learning alot from that, but it would be cool if you could apply that a bit more in your drawings from the mind.

Chris

[Noë]

Yay thanks for all the reply's guys (and girl :D)

@ Taj; Thanks :) that really means a lot to me.
@ Cgmonkey; Thanks!
@ hpslashluvr; Thanks! (again :P), you're right about the curves, will keep it in mind. Maybe I'll try to draw some figures trying to use only curves.
@ Chris; (how original;) Thanks! Yup I guess the drawing from mind is a lot less good than the drawing from life and pictures. What can I do to improve the mind drawing? Do a lot of them? Or do a lot from ref and a few from mind to find out more about "how to"? Hmmz.. Gotta think about that. :)

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The Update;

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PS sketch from me in a mirror (blah :P)

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a more blah idea for teen challenge.. I don't think I'll enter anything there :P

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15 min charcoal (life)drawing and very blah 20 min painting from life

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another blah painting and quick sketches.. All of the sketches below were done in 1-2 minutes. I think I got some okay results for that short amount of time.

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That's it!
I hope I have a new update ready soon, but am not sure for testweek is coming up (with some awful hard tests and exams in it)
Love
Marleen

[Lee W]

to improve drawing from the mind, you can do a drawing from ref, then do the same drawing from memory the same day or the day after.Compare the drawing to the ref and see what parts aren't right and needs to be worked on .. doing this will train your brain to retain the information that it has dealt with.

[crimsoneye]

Hey, On the first one, I will say you need to work on the jaw more. Also, you may want to check the stucture of the right side of the face. I really like where you are going with this one. It really shows off how much you improved in photoshop. I would Just look at those things mention above.

You and I really should work on our line quality though. If I find anything about how to improve it I will tell you. Keep it up with the life drawing. I wish that class had model every time.

[Noë]

@ OldNoobie; thanks :) I'll do that! After finishing the 100 gestures :P
@ CrimsonEye; hey man :) thanks for the crits on phothoshop thing. I won't take it further because I feel I'll be wasting a lot of my time trying to get it just a little bit better (and it's hard to get the same lighting as then again). You're definetely right about those lines... But we're both working on it right!? :)

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The Update;

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Some gestures for the 100 gestures in one week thunderdome. I'm at 42 now I think..

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Some acrylic paint thingies on A5 paint cards which I found back in the back of my closet somewhere.

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Scribblies from school (one with art history notes on it)

love
Marleen

[hp]

try to use continuous lines instead of scratchy ones on your life drawings. I know they're fast but still try to use a fluid motion. also are you using charcoal? the class may limit you, i don't know, but charcoal (or similar kind of material, even india ink) is my favorite for large gestures...you can really get the form down in even just one or two strokes sometimes. on your paintings watch that you dont outline. you might want to look at some of the ateliers and see how they plan out their life drawings with the masses of shadow. kind of memorize where the blocks of shadow go and start there after painting your base color. that way, you can still outline parts if you need to but you know that you'll have put a lot more depth into your paintings.

blah blah, long incoherent writing =P

keep it up.

[Waffle_King]

Marleen-

know what one of the best things about starting a SB here on CA is? You get to easily look back and see the vast improvements you've made!

Great job- especially the life-drawing. It looks like your starting to have a real understanding of form- and are starting to be able to utilize it!

Remeber, it's always easier to understand the forms of something under a strong light source- whether it be a face, a rock or a pile of dirty laundry, the shadows cast by a strong light will show you how forms move up and down, in and out- and how they attach to make what it is you're looking at. Try drawing yourself or a friend under a strong light- it might help!

Keep drawing, keep painting, keep CREATING, and keep having FUN.

Cheers and much encouragement!

-Andrew

[Dose206]

Marleen,

on your latest post, the second pic of muscle studies are wonderful. just great! anyhoo, I hafta agree with OldNoobie about drawing the same one twice, it seems like a great way to go. I'm gonna have to take that idea for sure.
I also wish that I could encourage as well as the Waffle King.
Keep it up Marleen!

Chris

[Noë]

@ hpslashluvr; Hi girl :) Thanks for the advice. I'm having trouble making fluent lines because my figure drawing teacher keeps telling me to be very loose. And somehow I translate loose to scratchy lines? :P I'm still having trouble with the whole painting thing. I decided to go paint in B/W first and when I get the feeling of how the B/W paint works, I might try it with one or two colours. Bah I really should comment in your sketchbook sometime.. It's awesome!
@ Waffle_King; Thanks for the encouragement :). In a week I'll have a week of free time, that week I'll try doing some studies of cloths and some SP's. Will remember the light source.
@ Chris; Thanks a lot :) But erm, everybody who posts in my sketchbook encourages me! Ooh I must reply to your SB soon, somehow I didn't get all the updates in my inbox. And you did quite a lot.
----------------------
Update; mostly lifedrawing

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[wil.whalen]

Been a while.

You've improved your figures and life drawing a lot. That's good. Digital paintings are also improving rapidly.

Your figures, while indeed loose, are also pretty sketchy and that makes them lose some of their form. A few well placed lines could easily take the place of those numerous scratchy ones. You should try to do some gestures with a certain number of lines; maybe start at 15 and work your way down as low as you can go. I'll see if I can find (or make) some examples of this soon.

Until then , just keep doing what you're doing. It's obviously working.

-Wil

[Noë]

@ Wil; Thanks man! I should pay a visit to your SB soon too.. I will later today when I finished my homework :) What do you mean with one line.. Is that just all you draw while holding your pen or pencil tip on the paper?

---
The Update

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Just some tries at more gestures. And one octopus thing.

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Two faces, trying to get better at those skin tones.

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Idea for Teen Challenge (The Nightmare), I hate it already :P

love
Marleen

[Lee W]

doing well with the figure drawings :) I think what wil is trying to explain is using just one line to express a section of the figure such as from the wrist to the elbow, shoulder to elbow, etc ... or even just one line to denote the movement of the body rather than using multiple lines to feather it in. am I confusing you yet?

[Chr]

Impressive improvements!

One thing that needs extra attention maybe is your necks and heads. They dont always seem to connect well. I know I need to work on this.

[Noë]

Hiya!
I'm back home with a humble update for ya. :)

@ Oldnoobie; no I understand what you mean :) I was just confused about what Wil meant with "one line"
@ Chr; good one! I didn't really realize that.. Hmm will need to write that on my to do list too.

---
The Update

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left; just a doo, trying out those skin tones again.. right; a WIP.. I decided to do the figure all over again though, because she's in a very stiff pose atm.

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left; oh how I love dance poses! I tried to block in the areas of light and dark, think most of it came out well.. :) The foot on the floor seems to be a bit too large? right; ah this was less nice, just trying out to draw with black&white only.

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not much to say.. I kinda like the sheet thing on the lower left, and the SP on the lower right.

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I was becoming very doodlish and scratchy (left), so I started drawing with pen (right). the lower left woman looks allright.. at least she looks allright for non erasing, trying to use less lines in pen :P

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.. but I hated the pen so much I got back to pencil.. They're mostly doodles, only the unfinished tissue on the right was kinda serious.

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left; aaah I feel só sorry for this "guy".. He's some sort of pet, named "Spike". I want to turn this one in to a painting, but I don't know if I can look at him for that long, cos I get a bit sad when I look at him. right; more doodles and starting on the animal gestures (see the challenge arena gesture challenge #3 for that)

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those were my animal gestures so far, I'm at 25 and I need 50 before wednesday (because I'm going to ROME wednesday!!)
I think this'll be my last update before Rome, so next update will probably be wednesday the 25th.. Gotta get me a new sketchbook for Rome, this one is almost full ^^.. Going to draw a lot of statues and things ^^ wheeee!

love
Marleen

[Noë]

Just a quick update with the new gestures.. Might edit this later today with some stuff from imagination and all, but I really need to go pack my bag first..
.... I'm so excited! :D

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Love
Marleen

P.S. these images are a lot bigger in filesize, because somehow JPEGs with these grey spotty backgrounds are bigger than the ones with white on the BG. I did use save for web, so can't help it.

[Taj]

Your sketchbook reminds me of how lazy i am :).

I need to hit up a zoo or something, copy you.

[crimsoneye]

Hey Noe, the last face look really good. The left side of it looks kind of incomplete to me. That is just my own opinion on that. In other drawing you need to watch the propotions when placing facial features into the face.

I say keep working with the pen, I might trying doing that to. Here what I think of trying is every time that you or I make a sketchy like line we will start the drawing over again. You did really good job on the first pen line drawing, but keep at it . I think it will help you use less lines.

[wil.whalen]

Good good good stuff lately. I see you've gotten yourself a website too.

One thing I've noticed in a lot of your darwing is the misalignment of facial features. Construction lines would probably be a good idea when you lay down the sketch for a drawing.

In your piece for the portrait thunderdome you have a lot of sketchy lines. Do you plan to go over these? I think (if you intend to leave them at all) maybe you could smooth them on the human side, and leave then scratch on the alien/monster side. Just an idea.

Refering to my comment a while back, what I mean by 'one line' is...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v602/koroshiya001/marleendemo.jpg
These are suppost to be about the same gesture... and be correct anatomy...

but it was a rush job.

Anyway, I hope this all helps you out. keep on keepin on and find yourself some dollars to get from the Netherlands to the workshop.

_Wil

[Kvick]

Hmmm, I've been meaning to look at your SB for awhile now since I see a lot of your posts around CA. Nice job on the animal sketches, not something I see too many of. I never like to restate whats said multiple times but, good improvement on the figures :P.

[Koh]

I like your animal studies they are good, I think that you should build thier basic values though and try to find the values in all of your studies as well, its key to making things seem really there or like they have actual shape.

[Hyver]

great progress in this book! going from page one to five, i was thinking yup, this girl is on the right track. keep studying, work from ref as you try to understand why stuff looks the way it does. try to get the system behind it. make it your knowledge, and use that in your freehand stuff.
when doing colored pieces from ref, try to substitute colors (eg paint a face with only greens and blues as opposed to trying to match "real" skintones")

keep it up!

[hp]

well, just try not to outline your paintings so much :)

life drawings are better...those last ones...are they with charcoal? it looks like the charcoal for some reason isn't gliding on the paper quite right...

make sure when you split your face for drawings, leave out the line. :) or it'll just look like you just drew a line through a face. (which perhaps you were going for anyways)

[purb36]

hey dude, sorry for not posting anything of substance right now, im setting a placemarker so i can come back here. talk to you tomorrow. take care. :)

[Noë]

oh WOW :D thanks for so many replies!!
will reply to them later, as I really need to do school work now

here's the update!

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love
Marleen

[purb36]

k, im back. i will say that yes, your drawings have gotten TONS better than before, so congratulations on that. while you're working out the kinks in your anatomy, i would suggest that you take some time to really study different body parts, like doing a different body part every week or 2 weeks, for example, one week you do head, then the next week the neck, next week the torso, next week the back, then the shoulder, next the upper arm, lower arm, etc. until you have hit every part of the body. you might want to spend more time on each one, or you might not want to do too much at one time, or you might get burned out on a body part. after youve come full circle, start all over again. each time around, youll pick up more and more valuable information and add to your knowledge and your skill at each body part. studying them isolated will help when you go to do full figures, and youll find that you can do them much better than you used to. well, theres my 2 yen; hope it helps. g'luck dude, and see ya round. :)

[Noë]

@ Taj; that means I'm unlazy? :S :P I fel so lazy right now, I should and could do so much more drawing.. Ah well. Going to a zoo is good ^^ I should do that some time, drawing animals from life. These animals were all googled pictures.
@ Crimsoneye; yes that is a good idea I think. But it takes so much time :P have to think about it some more time.
@ wil; thanks for that drawing :) I think I understand what you mean. I've been seeing the misaligned facial features too, and I kinda don't understand why I'm doing that so much. After all I've been drawing faces the longest..
Ah well, I've decided to focus on drawing good faces for the next two weeks.. Starting out with the international self portrait day! ^^ Argh I want to do so much drawing, but meanwhile I'm getting so much behind on my mathematics homework.
@ Kvick; thanks! and eh thanks ^^ I think animals are good to keep repeating.. I should do more of them actually.. Damn I should do more of everything blah :P
@ Koh; hmm maybe I should put in more values? I kinda stuck to the lines because people tell me so much to get the lines good first and then go further like in value and colour. hmmmz
@ Hyver; thanks! Those are some great tips.
@ hpslashluvr; thanks for the crits and all :) I don't really see where I'm outlining my paintings though. and I noticed too that the charcoal is being weird on my paper, I think it's just me cos all the others in lifedrawing are having none of these problems with charcoal :S
On the weird portrait of girl, which I coloured very quickly I was going for a line across the face.. Because the idea of that contest in challenge arena was to draw a face half alien/monster/something else, and half normal. So I divided the face into two halfs.
@ Purb; Thanks :), and thanks for the advice too. I think I'm going to follow it, and start off with two weeks doing faces.. I just hope I can make enough time to really dó a lot of faces tho. Thanks for all the advice.. I really want to visit your SB now but I have to do maths after I finish this update post, so I'll do that another time.

now, after a lot of replies :), The update;

first; a selfportrait which I kinda messed up, and some lifedrawing sketches and two paintings;
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and.. I found some older sketches (about a month old) done on A5 cards with markers. And a boring perspective sketch for school.
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Lots of love :)
Marleen

[Noë]

Aaaand I'm back!
I found out yesterday that I kinda like working with ink &water on paper :)
Sooo I did some hands and a selfportrait in ink.

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I started on the faces :) from now on I'm doing only faces for ehh a week or maybe two weeks. :)

Love
Marleen

[hp]

watch your proportions...but i'm sure you know that.
the life painting on the right like a post up is really nice.

[Noë]

@ hpslashluvr; hi girl :D thanks for posting here. gotta return the favour soon.. Or maybe not so soon.. When I have more time I will!

The update!;

I know I've been away for a while. I guess I just didn't want to spend the time to updating because I feel like I have to do more work for school (and then I end up thinking "ah let's not do school, lets play the piano or draw" so ah well.. I just decided to update :P)
Here it is.. I still have some big life drawings and a school assignment, but can't take a picture now.. There's no daylight now and the camera is shit with just artificial light.

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Love
Marleen

[lefran]

hey marleen, nice update
the second image-browny coloured portrait- is very nice, but id say perhaps the colours are a bit dark? very nice though =] you taking part in the TD?

[Floris Didden]

Hey Marleen,

You made some nice progress since the start of the sketchbook, well done ).

It's good that you're doing life drawing, your proportions are generally quite good, but I think you need to pay more attention to what happens with the shape of the leg when it bends (far), how do the muscles bulge when pressed together? It's a tricky thing!
Also when life drawing (specifically with fast poses) don't give more attention to the face then to the rest of the body. I had to work this out of my system as well, but it helped a lot to suggest the face with only a few strokes in the same way that you can suggest a hand or an arm. Same goes for the fingers, don't think to consciously about drawing each separate finger.
Both issues you can see in this drawing that you did. (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=31225&d=1159872885)

I really like this drawing (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=43286&d=1162377738). You went efficiently for the right silhouette. These (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=43287&d=1162377742) are nice as well. I love drawing legs like the one on the left :P.

I was looking at the color speedpaint that you did off you ref photo and wondered how I would make it. The silhouette is very accurate, but the image is very flat. I found it hard to put in to words my thoughts so I copied it in to photoshop and quickly painted over it. I kept the photo next to it but didn't color pick from it because you can pick up freak pixels with a strange color and miss the true local color. I didn't go for copying the picture, just added a bit of background to improve the composition.

I could start explaining everything I did but then I would just ramble on and confuse you, hah. Posted both pictures next to each other so you can compare. If you have any questions lemme know.

- Floris

[Noë]

@ Floris.. Just wow!
Things I learned from this;
- to use more saturated colours also in the darker areas of skin, I tend to go to the unsaturated greens in shadows, but I don't think that's such a good idea right now.
- to define the shape more, not be afraid of sharper edges
- use some highlights instead of highlighting everything
- paint in more background or an illusion of background (like darker colours on one side)
- the folds (dunno how to explain properly)
- to spend some more time on speedpaints, so they'll look much better (although probably not half as good as yours *slime :P*)
I might PM you later with questions :)

The update

I have some old school work that I could finally take home (and I even like the sketch better hihi) and I have some old figure drawing things that totally suck, and ehh some doodles.
Here they are..
EDIT; WHY are they showing up as thumbnails? :S they are the right size..
I'll just show them the other way.

[Noë]

:D figure drawing went so well last night! I really had a good drawing day..
Here are the results.

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The last one started out as a doodle, and then I reminded myself of a school drawing assignment in which we have to create six so called "freecards". So I decided to make this a card.. I'm not sure about the text colour and placement though, so please if you think you know a better colour and/or placement for the text, tell me!
For the non dutch people; the text says "through which window do you think?"

love
Marleen

[crimsoneye]

I really see some progress in your work from the last time that I visited. The last few photoshop pic really show good use of color. Your pencil work has improved to I see. I don't know it me or not, but the width of the forearm looks weird on the second to last life drawing. Another one is last one where the lower legs look to short for the models body. Keep up the good work. Thanks for the replies in my sketchbook.

See ya
Jones

[Dose206]

well well well, you have clearly been a busy girl. thank you for giving us so much to look at. I gotta say, everything has been getting better, but the biggest improvement i've noticed is that you're digi skills are getting better, you seem to be having a much better technical understanding of how to paint digitally than you did when you first started. I hate to make some excuses for not having crits, but it seems to me that you're much more talented than me in so many ways, i'm just not sure how to crit you. anyhoo, i hope you have a great day!

Chris

[Kronos]

hey marleen!

wowy-wowy-wow-wow have you gotten better! its been AGES since i last checked your sketchbook but you have improved by the buckets, you confidence with the figure is really starting to show...

these are some i really liked

you got the foreshortening down pat on this one(but the feet are too small especially considering foreshortening)

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=52490&d=1164100852

and this one is beautiful (hand is a bit small, and i think the head got cut off a little short on our left) but yeah really beautiful :D

http://pic16.picturetrail.com/VOL655/2419646/5277014/137889985.jpg

this is cool, neck is a little unconfident but i really like the silhouette and the muscles in the face do a good job of describing tension in the head

http://pic16.picturetrail.com/VOL655/2419646/5277014/166395937.jpg

these are really confident looking figure drawings, even though they are very simple they captured a lot of information about the pose, the volume of them seem right too, you must have been thinking in 3d :)

http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=25015&stc=1&d=1158657627

this is a really nice silhouette, she looks pretty balanced although the arm is too long and the leg in the air might be too

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=36488&d=1161001111

this one is just beautiful, i can't fault it one bit!!!! awesome

http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/118.jpg



keep up the great work!

[Noë]

@ Crimsoneye (Jones :P); Thanks :D I agree with all your crits. Whee :P
@ Chris; Thanks man, I really think you should study at your own pace. But do think about the time you have available and how you spend it. Don't feel like you've got no talent and all, I just think you should sketch more to improve faster, but that can be hard with a lot of other responsibilities around you. Love you ^^ :) *hugs*
@ Kronos; I love you ^^ :P That's really nice to hear. :)

---

UPDATE

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Love to all members of my SSG and to the entire CA community :^^:
Marleen

[Noë]

Hello all of you!
I have a new update for ya..
Most of this is school stuff.. We have to design so called Freecards.
Ah well, here's the crap ^^

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Lots of love
Marleen

[boogz]

Hey, just looked through the whole thread really quick, will take a closer look soon. Just wanted to say you've improved a whole lot since you started this thread. :) I especially like your referenced pictures and of course your studies, it inspires me to study more, more, MORE! Ah... Maybe I should go draw something in a few.

Thanks!

[nuki]

if you make something like this (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=55818&d=1164822112) for the dance festival, maybe without the Machine Pistol, it would be great i guess
Large improvements you made, maybe, if you didnt knew the site yet, you can find inspiration and reference for your poseshere (http://characterdesigns.com/index.php?sitepage=photosets)..i can't leave this site anymore since I found it today :tihi:

just keep it up and express yourself - use it as a valve for your emotions...your sketchbook is something personal, like a diary ;)

[lefran]

hey marleen, i think your gestures etc are coming along nicely, and as mentioned above, i think it would be nice to see you apply it to a character, so i set you the task (teehee :) )to create a character design- doesnt have to be that amazingly intricate or whatever but just clothing and pose etc =]

Fran
x

[hp]

watch how short you make the legs on your drawings :)

try to experiment with using more curvy lines on the girls in your figure drawing, even if they end up looking "fat," they'll be more natural looking.

[Floris Didden]

Things I learned from this;
- to use more saturated colours also in the darker areas of skin, I tend to go to the unsaturated greens in shadows, but I don't think that's such a good idea right now.
- to define the shape more, not be afraid of sharper edges
- use some highlights instead of highlighting everything
- paint in more background or an illusion of background (like darker colours on one side)
- the folds (dunno how to explain properly)
- to spend some more time on speedpaints, so they'll look much better (although probably not half as good as yours *slime *)
I might PM you later with questions

The photo we used was overexposed, so the lighter values, especially on your skin were so light that they lost their color, becomming plain white. I toned the values in the lighted areas down a bit so I could use the lightest value where I really needed it. You'll see that I also put green in the core shadow of the arm, but it's still red, just greener. Does that make sense? There's no one rule to always put green in shadows of human flesh. Think about the lighting conditions. If a light source is warm the shadows will be cool, and visa versa. What color is the ambient light, blue from the sky? Is the object catching bounce light from the surrounding, what color is it? Etc.
Edges are very important. This picture by Greg Pro explains it better then I could :: http://www.gregpro.com/forums/Conceptorg/Paintover01.jpg

The main focus with speedpainting is to learn something, not to make something as fast as possible. Rushing in and making something sloppy gets you nowhere. Think about what you want to achieve, paint, experiment, reflect, learn -- that leads to becoming efficient and achieving speed in your painting.

How was the HKU open day? I wanted to do a painting demo with a beamer, but was so bussy that I forgot and missed it :/.

Ciao,

Floris

[Noë]

@ Boogz; wow thanks :D I'm very honoured to be an inspiration :P I don't see myself as that at all..
@ nuki; thanks! Yes I guess some of my drawings are personal. Though I'm having so much trouble drawing something without a ref.. Damnit :P It's not nice to be dependant from references. I know the site you gave me, it's great, I draw a LOT from there.. I kindof gave up on the dance festival, and decided to change some stuff on the first (colourful) drawing and just give our teacher that one.
@ Lefran; thanks for the assignment! ^^ I tried a character, it's in my post below. I need to practice more yay! :P
@ Hpslashluvr; thanks for the crits :teeth: I really tried to get curvy in my pen drawings in this update, don't think it worked, but I tried :P
@ Floris; wowie.. Thanks again. Ah well, you read the PM :P Hope to see you on a sketchmeet soon.

The Update

I worked a bit more on a sketch from the previous page of this SB;

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And I tried to go curvy with pen drawings.. Failed a bit at curvyness :P

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(oh and drawing with your left hand (when right handed) is really hard.. I'm gonna practice that more, it feels so weird..)

lots of love!!
Marleen

[Noë]

wow I actually didn't do much today. I spent some time on a painting which you can't see yet (I did send it through PM to my SSG buddies for crits), and I did a little character sketch and a weird master study.
Oh and in this update are some works from figure drawing. I had a really bad day hihi, so don't judge me too hard on the weird face painting.

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this last "character" was done without ref :P

love
Marleen

[lefran]

hey, you did my 'assignment' hehe its a nice idea :) but i think her right upper arm is too short and her left arm is too long, if im drawing arms ( i usually draw them purposely too long hehe but still) normally, i tend to think about how long they would be how ive drawn them if they were straight to the side if you get what i mean, so for example if i drew a character with their hand on their hip, to judge its length i would imagine how long that arm i drew would be if it was straight. If you stand up straight your hand comes to about 1/3 of the way / half way depending on how long your arms are down your thigh and the bend of your arm comes about at the smalled bit of your waist, like the centre bit of the hourglass? maybe that will help you, i apologise for my simplicity as im sure you already know where your arms are! but just if it helps hehe

[Crofty]

really inspiring stuff. Your getting really good at life drawing. Thank you for uploading

[Kir Nuyts]

Hey Noë, cool to meet someone from Holland here :D u seem to draw ALOT! U also have alot of cool ideas captured in your sketches...u should always keep these in mind, they will help alot later with creating unique creatures and characters and stuff... I love the acrylic paintings u did, they'r so simple, loose and... colorfull :D Those speedys are comming along nicely too.

I would love to see more monsters and stuff (like the one u did for the teen chalanche wich u were not gonna enter lol:)
Sweet stuff, ik zal probere van nu en dan eens te komen kijken eh, doe zo verder en veeeel groete

Kir

[Dose206]

haha, this naked guy in your last post is awesome! I'm sure this is not what you were going for, but he looks like he'd have a Napolean complex.
My main crit is to pay closer attention to the proportions of your reference, and try to copy them more closely to your drawing. I think that goes for most of your drawings in general. I've also noticed that your hands get very akward from time to time, I think mostly when you're not working from ref. So, my answer: do some hand studies. Yeah studies!
Anyway, good job on keeping us updated, keep em coming

Chris

[crimsoneye]

Hey, Noe the photoshop paintings are coming along nicely. In your last post the torso of that man looks weird and you might want to check his proportions. I glad see you still doing those pen drawings. Also, try not to force your lines let come naturally.

[Kronos]

HEY MARLEEN! really good updates!

keep up all these figure drawings, i'm sure you know that they are helping HEAPS!

those curvy pen figure drawings are really good so more of those, confident lines, nice one!

i did a really quick paint over of one of your speedpaints. you had a really ambiguous light source, i don't know if what i did is what you were thinking for lighting, but yeah. think in planes. eye sockets usually have some kind of shadow going on, and the top lip is in shadow a lot of the time(this really helps sell a mouth) yeah, i included a quick planes thing, i am not the greatest at that but its kind of what i'm working on at the moment so yeah, hopefully it helps.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a173/stupidsoup/noe-thing.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a173/stupidsoup/noe-planes.jpg

[Noë]

ahhh thanks soo much for all the crits :)
It just gets more and more the longer I wait with updating :P
Sorry for letting you wait for so long.

@ lefran; thanks for the tips about arms. I usually do the same thing, but forget it every now and then ^^ thanks for reminding.
@ Crofty; thanks!
@ Kir Nuyts; thanks for stopping by ^^. I'll be doing more creatures soon, as that ís something I need to practice a lot. But it's hard to find a balance since I'm also studying figures, I need to do environments, and I need to do creatures :P
@ Chris; ah more studies! Yes I should do more :P Argh :P The weird napoleon guy is drawn from an old master painting, but I drew the legs too short, shoulders too wide, etc. and it turned out like this. I think the moustache really adds the napoleon feel to it :P
@ Crimsoneye; thanks :) I try not to force my lines, but it's hard when you know you also have to use confident lines and you shouldn't go scribbly :P
@ Kronos; HEYA! Thanks a huge lot! I think you're very right about the shadows, I might add them dome day, not that dark, but quite a bit darker than they are now :teeth: thanks for the great post.
---

The UPDATE
I have 18 images for you all.. Most of them are crap, but a few of them I like..
Most of this is in chonological order... I try :P

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EDIT; These two portraits are what I did the last four lessons with drawing class at school. Now I'm the teachers's favourite and I got two times a 9 out of 10 and lots of praises from classmates.. Oh damn :P I don't like being in all the attention.

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[Kronos]

awesome update!

just stopping by today really :S but yeah looking nice, just keep at those figure studies they are always getting better.... also i don't know if you want to but i've been doing some studies of george bridgman lately and they have REALLY helped me, i suggest you check him out at least... the book i'm going from is called Bridgman's Life Drawing, i'm sure you've heard of it before around here but yeah, i've found it to be awesome!

REALLY nice colours here!
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=65702&d=1166649525

both the portraits for school are really nice, but i really like the confidence in this one, you described a lot with some quite gestural marks
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=66262&d=1166734121

ps, how the hell do you write stuff inbetween the attachments?

[Dose206]

Hey Marleen, great update. I think that my two favs are the hand at the beginning of the post and the very last portrait. They both look awesome to me. Let's see, Hogarth is good for learning anatomy, but I've found that usually his anatomy is a bit overdone, but he's good for learning placement and everything. I really like Bridgman, who Kronos suggested. Keep up the good stuff! I got a bunch of art supplies and other stuff for Christmas so I should have some more stuff for you to look at soon.

Chris

[sweetoblivion314]

Nic estuff you've got here. I really like the last portrait. His eyes dont match but keep working at it and you'll get there.

The hogarth studies look good too. keep it up :)

[Noë]

First of all; I'm really sorry for having so much time between my updates!
I'm trying to draw daily, but there's so much homework, it's just crazy.

@ Kronos; Thanks! I just bought two books by Burne Hogarth, so I won't have any money to spend on this sort of stuff for about 4 months, but I'll keep the bridgeman in mind.. Hey :) I could ask a book for my birthday! (16th of february)
@ Chris; whee@the art supplies! I know about the overdone ness of Hogarth, and I'm keeping that in mind. But I think it is good to see the muscles so overdone to know which bulge under the skin ends where :)
@ Sweetoblivion; thanks :) you're right about the eyes, the right (viewers left) eye looks a bit less nice than the left (viewers right :P). But ah well :)

-----
the update (figure drawing pictures will come later, as I don't have a camera available at the moment)

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[Dose206]

Marleen,

Great to see that you're still plugging away. I'm glad to hear that you're aware of the Hogarth issues, and I totally agree that he's a great way to learn where the muscles go and what overlaps what, etc. etc., as long as you keep in mind that on the average person the muscles don't look the way that he draws them.

Of this latest batch, my favorite is the woman with the baby ripping out of her... abdomen. Is she poking that baby in the eye? That's a horrible way to start motherhood, but you know, haha. I also like the assassin. I'm sure that she's supposed to be wearing a leotard, but I prefer thinking of her naked. I mean, if I'm gonna be assassinated, let it be by a hot naked assassin.

Keep it up and hopefully you'll get access to a camera cause I wanna see those figure drawings.

Chris

[Kronos]

hey marleen! its always great seeing progress, i think these last few updates show a pretty big jump in your confidence.

proportions are getting much better, STUDY THAT HOGARTH LIKE CRAZY!!!!! and your lines are getting much more clear if you know what i mean, it looks like they are doing what you are telling them to :P

my favorite in the last post is definitely the simple line drawing of the head on the top right of the second page(the page of cards). the lips could do with a little alteration and the nose is a tiny bit small. but the lines are so clear and the overall direction of the drawing i like a lot!

i think you would benefit from doing some more stuff like this, studies and from your head.

.... i just thought i'd stick in another "STUDY THAT HOGARTH LIKE CRAZY!!!!!" as well as keeping up the life drawing of course, which we are all waiting for an update of btw :P

anywayz, not all that many crits for today just keep drawing!!!! :D

[Noë]

aaaand, it's time for a new updatesie ^^
@ Chris;Thanks :) I first drew the assasin naked.. Maybe I should've let her stay that way huh? :P ^^ One day I'll draw you a naked assasin for a present :P
@ Kronos; Oh dear, I really should start returning crits in your sketchiebook :S Thanks for all the critsies :) I shall resume studying Hogarth then ^^ :teeth:
----
Update!

It's a bit of everything I guess.. Mostly digital:

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Love,
Marleen

[Kronos]

hey marleen, i seriously don't know why more people don't post comments in your SB??? you certainly deserve more attention, your putting in a lot of hard work :D

latest batch is looking good, those pen drawings are once again showing your confidence improving, keep working on the line economy and confidence, if nothing else it'll make you draw faster :P nah just kidding it will help you with everything. some lies are still looking a little angular, try loosening up, get some really free curvy lines, hold the pen/pencil further back if you like.

SP's looking good, i'd say keep working on that one, its a good start but it could do with a lot more work, you have nice darks in the eyes but at the moment you don't have the same value range anywhere else, so they stand out, think about the cast shadows of there are any (was this from a photo or mirror?) rendering is always a little scary i find, but just keep building up the values, your approach looks good so far.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=79707&d=1169215193 this ones looking good, it think you could spend a little more time just sharpening up a few details, and the piece would draw the viewer in and keep their interest a lot longer.

your sense of colour is developing fast, keep going with that!

i just fiddled with your teen tdome piece for a sec, i like what you did in the alteration, she doesn't look evil... anyway, i basically just exaggerated the alterations you did, i don't know if its better or not, but yeah

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a173/stupidsoup/ngronuobetnoireo.jpg

HOGARTH!!!! WHERE ARE THEY????!?!? :P

[Noë]

Hey Kronos, sorry, no Hogarth studies again this time :P.. Only the stuff from the last two lifedrawings and some crappy pens, but ah there's just not a lot of time to draw at the moment. I'll keep the pen things in mind, the loose and curvy lines are really really hard for me, I just keep on doing straight angular ones :S but I'll try, ofcourse :teeth:
Thanks for the great crits :)

Here's the update;

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Left: speedie of a picture of Björk (http://unit.bjork.com/specials/pics/misc/09_21_2000TimeOut_Chris_Buck002.jpg) - Right: awful portrait drawing, colour pencils, the proportions came out all weirdo, but the colours turned out okay.

the lifedrawing stuff:
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Right; more pen drawings... Nevermind the comments :P
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Love,
Marleen

[(c)]

nice nice nice havent seen ya thread for ages!!!!! nice like the paintings!!! first I wanted to say work on charpness but the last value study from bjoerk is cool maybe push a bit more the contrast. dont be afraid to use hard close to black colours.

[Noë]

Thanks (c) ! I'll try to get some really dark tones in later :D

I have a general question to anyone who's reading..: I'm currently painting a portrait in cheap ass school gouache. The paint really lightens up a lot when it dries. So currently I'm mixing my colours too dark so it'll come out right. Does anyone of you have some cheap ass gouache tips? :teeth:

here's a new update, it's not much, but ah, you know, busy busy and all that.

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Love
Marleen

P.S. Yes Kronos, the Hogarth studies ARE coming :P I promise the next time I open my sketchbook I'll start the Hogarth stuff ^^

[Kronos]

HOGARTH! HOGARTH! HOGARTH! HOGARTH! HOGARTH! HOGARTH! HOGARTH!
HOGARTH! HOGARTH! HOGARTH! HOGARTH! HOGARTH! HOGARTH! HOGARTH!
HOGARTH! HOGARTH! HOGARTH! HOGARTH! HOGARTH! HOGARTH! HOGARTH!

hehe, i'm just kidding..... but at the same time, IM NOT KIDDING!

i think definitely keep working on your line confidence. i feel pretentious using my own stuff as an example, but try doing something a little like this (http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=72281&stc=1&d=1167901266), do your very best to only use a single line for a line (if you know what i mean)

proportions on this (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=82472&d=1169654819) page are looking very good, nice work!

sorry i don't have any cheap ass gouache tips, but the colours in the paintings looks good, legs look a little short in both of them though. anyway

good to see updates as always, keep going!

PS, stop by my sb sometime, i'm getting better :D

[Taj]

Ok ok! I'll update sometime with everything from my sketchbook since my last post. Last time i posted i was 1/4 into my sketchbook, now im about finished it.

Right now i would recommend really studying contemporary artists and some of the old ones. Mainly because your drawings are ok, but it doesnt look like you know where your going with your art, doodle a lot!

[Dose206]

Marleen,
Great updates here since last I posted. I think your digital stuff is coming along well, and also your stuff from life. Overall, great improvements. I agree with Taj that I'd like to see more random stuff from your head. Perhaps it's just me, who for some reason resists studies like they're the devil.

I really like the digi of Bjork. You didn't nail it, but it looks pretty good. I know it was a speedpaint but do you have any plans to finish it?

Keep it up!
Chris

[crimsoneye]

Hey, this the second time that I wrote a message on your tread and something happen to it. Like at begain of this year my computer crashed when I was writing a message to be posted on your tread and this I accidently press the back button.

Anyhow, I got say your proprotion have improved, but watch your leg proprotion they feel a littlebit to long for the body that your drawing them for. Then with the charcoal drawings got I say you should flow little bit more freely with the charcoal. Try to avoid angles when drawing the human form. I notice that lot in your charcoal drawing, but not in your pencil drawings. Just think of the human body as a bunch of curves that contourdict each on each side of the body.

[Noë]

sorry don't have time to react to all your comments :) love you all

here's a very small update. I did try some hogarth but everything turned out crappy so I didn't scan.

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Love,
Marleen

[Noë]

soo.. You wanted doodles? You'll get them ^^

@ Kronos; well, shame on me, still didn't do much Hogarth.. I did do colour and value studies? Does that make it up a liiiitle bit? *puppy eyes* ^^
Will keep working on line confidence.
@ Taj; thanks for the ideas :) I worked on them, as you can see in the next post. Now you UPDATE ^^
@ Chris; thanks :) I do think I want to try that speedie of Bjork again, not finish it, just start over. And as you can see I doodled a bit more than usual ^^ I'll put in the comments which was from ref, and which was from mind.
@ Crimsoneye; hi there :) , I will try to watch my leg proportions better. I have comments that they're too short, and I have crits that they're too long, so probably I just don't know what to do with them most of the time and not get them right a lot ^^. Oh and about crashing messages.. I think my thread had evilness in it.. :needle: hihi ^^

-----------------------------------------------
now.. The Update

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Left: acrylic paintinc on cardboard, A4 size. In real life it looks way more dull, since the scanner put a bit more contrast in it. Right: two quick sketches to "get into" the pose. Upper sketch is way off, but the values were kinda cool to do. Painting is based on this Photo (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/46891772/?qo=38&q=by%3Alina-tsu&qh=sort%3Atime+-in%3Ascraps) by Lina-Tsu on Deviantart. Her Gallery (http://lina-tsu.deviantart.com/gallery/) is really worth checking, there's lovely nude pictures in there (I only go to Deviantart for the stock pictures a lot of people have there ^^).

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These were both done in the train, they're from mind. Right page is coloured with colour pencils.

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This was from ref, except the weird gasmask thing in the left corner

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DOODLES! :P all from mind, except the few hands and feet.. I know most of this sucks BIG time ^^

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From ref. These were compositional sketches for the new project in drawing class at school. Topic is "a new spring" :P but I have a lot of extra time on drawing, so I think I'll make two images. One with two nuclear bombs that just explode (it's warm and it's the shape of a mushroom, so like spring? :P) and this one, very ehhh sweet and girlish. Oh nevermind the face of the girl sitting down, that sucks ^^

I wish you all lots of love (on valentine's day),
Marleen

P.S. Friday is my birthday.. I'm getting old (I'll be 17 then)

[Lee W]

just wanted to say this came out very nice
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=93265

[Dose206]

marleen,

hey i really like the acrylic painting on... cardboard? that's cool. i think the value study that you did before actually painting it looks like a lotta fun and I'm sure helped a lot with the painting itself. I don't have really any crits right now, but keep it up!

Chris

btw, I'm sending you a PM, so check your inbox

[hp]

the life painting is really nice....one of your strongest pieces. as well as the "new spring" project....nice char sketches.

watch your proportions on some of your drawings of chars.

keep updating ^^

[Noë]

Hey all! I have quite a lot of new sketchpages for you ^^
I had a lovely week of vacation, but tomorrow school begins again so I guess the amount of sketching will get less. I've decided to do another drawing for "a new spring" This one was a bit too sweet for me. I want to draw a couple which is in love, with gas masks on ^^
Now first; my reactions to all of your posts..

@ Oldnoobie; thanks!
@ Chris; Thanks too :) I like painting on cardboard I think :) It's cheap and easy. :) Value studie was quite fun to do indeed.
@ hp; thanksies ^^, I'll try to watch the proportions more. Could you point out some mistakes on chars some time? The new update is mainly studying, but a few chars as well, so you can go tear those apart ^^ yay :teeth:

The New Update

It's a bunch of stuff from a few months back until now.. I've decided to make better use of my sketchbook, since I first only drew at the right pages. Right now I'm filling up the left pages as well. Also I'm cleaning up some old awful sketches which I didn't scan, and fill up the rest of the page. So here's the update!
important: I numbered the images (beneath every two images are two numbers, in fat) so that if you want to say something about a particular image, you can just say "number 10 is nice" or something like that.

99051 99053
01 ... 02 old sketchpage which I filled up with some new stuff

99052 99054
03 The cheap-ass gouache portrait for school. Hate how the eyes turned out, but I think for gouache, it turned out okay, teacher thought so to, he gave me a 10 out of 10 :P. 04 old faces

99055 99056
05 ... 06 LOOK Kronos! Hogarth! ^^

99057 99058
07 LOOK Kronos! More Hogarth! ^^ 08 Badly proportioned char

99059 99060
09 Somehow I just love the girl in the dress.. 10 ..

99061 99062
11 I like the female alien char, I think she's quite intriguing. I might colour her a bit to see how she can turn out. Any ideas and crits on her? 12 The thing with the american football was from Bodies the Exhibition (www.bodiestheexhibition.com), I drew some more from there, you'll recognise them.. They're quite bad ^^

99063 99064
13 .... 14 ....

99066 99070
15 .... 16 These were some sketches for mascots I'll be painting for a child group (kinda like boy scouts but different), the first one with the rat I want to be just like that, but the butterflies and bird I want to be more ehh personal I think.. Any ideas?? Please!!

99068 99069 99067
17 .... 18 .... 19 ....

lots of love!
Marleen (who turned 17 !! woohoo!)

[crimsoneye]

I gotta say improved in drawing the human body. In only problem see is need work more on the head. In some them see that you have some structure problems. Like in the self-portrait it the shape of head that think I think is the problem with. I just gotta you definitely improved in drawing the body.

[Noë]

@ Crimsoneye; thanks for the crits. Currently I'm just improving my figures. I will try to pay more attention to the heads but they're not the priority now I think. :) Oh and that painting wasn't a self portrait, just so you know ^^

UPDATE! (very crappy.. :( )

I have a new update for you. Don't forget to put the number of the image in your scentence when you're talking about a specific page, saves you time, and makes it easier for me to understand exactly what you're critting! ^^

100599 100600
20 crappy paintchat drawing. blablabla :P 21 I loved making this one. It's from lifedrawing, the model didn't like the pose, she said she felt like a bag of potatoes :P but I loved it ^^ The other lifedrawing stuff I can't post now, cause my dad went to moscow for a week, and he took the digital cam.

100601 100602
22 first page in my little A5 sketchbook to take with me to school. Almost everything in there is from mind. Face on the right is my (little) sister. 23 Blah page in the same sketchbook.

100603 100604
24 Hogarth pen drawings. I know they're not good. 25 I don't think that my hands improved in the last half year.. Maybe I should practice them more :P thing on the right is from life, except for the smoke ^^

100605 100606
26 Hogarth.. I'm trying to figure out how to work with those torso masses. If you have any tips on that please tell me! 27 Two drawings from BODIES, they're quite old ^^, and one quick Hogarth to fill the page.

100607
28 NEW sketch for school "a new spring" .. from mind.. I can't take photo references at the moment since my dad took the cam.. grr

So this is it for now. I'm trying to draw as much as I can, and keep the balance with my homework. It's not quite working at the moment. I had to take a day off school today (pretend to be sick) just to get back on schedule with my homework.. :(

love,
Marleen

[Kronos]

its late here, but i promise i will edit this post with a big old critique soon, i swear this has to be one of the most image heavy pages on the site, WHY DOESN'T ANYONE ELSE POST HERE!!! Marleen you are working very hard, and not getting the credit you deserve!


GO MARLEEN :cheerleader: :cheerleader: :cheerleader:

[Infinit]

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=93265&d=1171466229
easyly your best pic ever imo
I l<3ve it

[Kronos]

Hey there Marleen

ok so i said i'd give a big old critique, but now that i'm thinking of something to say, i can't really see a whole lot of things to critique! at least, i'm pretty sure you know the things you should be working on already, so there is no point repeating them.
Infinit is right this (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=93265&d=1171466229) one is extremely nice, it shows that the studies you did for it really did help, and i really like the colours. the greens pop the flesh tones out nicely.
I like this (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=99052&d=1172442640) too. it looks like the side in shadow is a bit too fat and the side in the light is quite skinny? if you know what i mean, although the cast shadow of the hair might be doing that :S i'm not sure, i hope you understood what i meant. the background isn't doing it for me, but the lighting and skin tones are really nice, perhaps a little too pink, but the deep reds in the hair look really nice. it looks like it has solid form too :D

speaking of form, 21 is very god in that respect, shows that you are thinking about volume :)

the hogarth torso page is good too


just keep working!

YAY!

[Björn]

Wow you are developing like mad. Very nice sketchbook Marleen!:)

[lefran]

hey marleen thers some awesome stuff going on, huge improvements =D
your selp portrait sketch, the acrylic painting and your gouache painting are very nice, you have some nice ideas too

fran =]

[Noë]

@ Kronos; aww sweetie :) , I really don't need a lot of replies to this thread because I'm getting plenty of great crits! Thanks for your nice crits :) On the gouache portrait you're absolutely right, the right part of the face should've been a lot wider (but it also looks a bit smaller because of the cast shadow of the hair yes) thanks :) I'll keep working on my studies.
@ Infinit; thanks! :) I think so too ^^
@ Björn; thanks too :teeth:, are you the Björn I paintchatted with a while ago?
@ Fran; thanks too :P

-----------------------------------
The Update
Mostly old stuff, and dooooodles.. I'm sorry, no real studies :( they will come in a few days..

103418
old, found these back between my school notes

103419
newer, from my doodlebook, just like the rest of this update.

103420

103421

103422

love!
Marleen

[Noë]

Hello there again !
I tried to do some more studies, and I got a sad sort of mood in which I basically thought; "I haven't learned anything from all these studies yet"
Please read the text I wrote on the first image here, and reply to it.. I feel like I'm doing my studies wrong, but I don't know how I should do them right!

Update!

103920 103921
42 (please respond to this!) 43 pen and pencil stuffs

103922 103923
44 pen Loomis stuff 45 more pen loomis and pencil MENTLER! ^^

103924
46 some more Loomis

Love,
Marleen

[Kronos]

hmm, well the number 44 of pen loomis does look nice, i don't know what your thought processes are when you are doing studies, i think as long as you are focusing on the things you are trying to improve on like construction or something rather than focusing on just copying the lines. i do fall into the trap everynow and again of just mindlessly copying the pretty pictures, but i think to learn you really have to engage with what you are trying to learn.

doing a copy and then trying to repeat it from your mind isn't a bad idea, if nothing else it will let you see what you are not comfortable with and let you focus on the things that need attention...

construction is INCREDIBLY important and powerful when you are doing figures from your mind.

anyway, i hope this helps :S let me know if it hasn't and i'll try again :P

DON'T GET DISCOURAGED!

[Noë]

Thanks for the helpful reply Kronos,
I thought it over some more, and I think that the problem might have been that I've been copying more than understanding or something like that.
I'll be trying to do more understanding !

I am ofcoures nót getting discouraged ^^ I just sometimes have these moods, especially when I'm tired, but usually I'm pretty positive, so don't worry about that :)

I didn't draw other stuff today, just got back from school and a movie.
But I have a little drawing to show that I did last weekend. Lifedrawing will be photographed tomorrow, because my dad gets back from Moscow tonight, so he'll bring the digital camera with him too ^^
I'll go do my homework now and then hopefully I still have time to design my new bikini, and hopefully after that I have time to do some Hogarth and Loomis. (OH! and my bridgeman books will arrive somewhere at the end of March! ^^)

thanks again ^^
byebyes
Marleen

[Noë]

So I'm back again ^^
First of all .... WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!! ^^ 105050 !!
I love love love the Bridgeman book, it's so huge, so full of valuable information.. Yay ^^ bad thing is that I didn't know where to start ^^

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

Here's my Update, mostly lifedrawing pictures (daddy got back from Moscow).. Not so great at all.

105051 105052
48 hmm I don't really know what to think of this one, it turned out allright, but I don't really like it. 49 this was a real quick fineliner portrait of our model, right before the pose was over.

105053 105054 105055
50BLAH! Our teacher thought of something "nice" to do for warming up: the model moves slowly from pose to pose, she never really stands still. She does the same little thing about 7 times, but I hate this because I don't have enough paper to start on lots of poses, and get back on them when the model gets back to it, so I stand there waiting most of the time. And all the other people on the lifedrawing course are being very abstract, but I just want to learn to draw the figure!! This exercise might be good for quick sketching, but then still the model should move slower than this, and not make so many complicated movements.
51 this one was allright 52 same thing as 50

105056 105057
53 and 54 same thing as 50

105058 105059
55 saved the best for last, I made this one after I burst out crying at figure drawing because I was feeling so stupid about the thing with the moving model (see 50), and the teacher was telling me to be more loose and to not try to be so exact and all that, I just couldn't help thinking "is it never good my way?", and I was tired so I started crying, went outside for a few minutes and after that I was like "hah, I'll show them! :P" and made this. ^^
56 this is the bikini design I was talking about.. I'm going to make it as soon as I have the time. When I'm done with it I'll show you a picture of me in the bikini (aaah the horror ^^ nah just kidding)

105060
57 My very first Bridgeman studies ^^ I'll start doing my own thumbnails figures like this as soon as I get the hang of these.

Hehe this was it.. I'm sorry I put so much text in here. Don't feel bad if you didn't read it all, mostly it's just a bunch of whining from a frustrated teenage girl ^^.
Love
Marleen

[Dose206]

Marleen,

I am completely shamed. I wanna say my notifications have been on the fritz but I think it's that I'm just slacking, both in drawing and critiquing.
Well, as usual your studies look great, but you're having trouble applying that eh? Responding to your question from a few posts back, I've always heard that drawing from ref, taking a break and then trying to draw the same thing from memory is helpful. I dunno though, never tried it. I find that I have the same problem that you do, I don't seem to learn from my refs.
Anyhoo, keep bombarding us with new work and I'll keep being inspired to sit down and draw.

Chris

[Noë]

@ Chris; thanks! I'm tryin to draw something from ref and then draw it from mind, but I keep not remembering what the ref looked like, and then I draw something completely else ^^ kinda weird. But I think I am improving in the drawing from mind, a bit, although ofcourse I'm not quite good enough ^^

The Update!;
There was a Dutch Sketchgroop Meeting today, and we did some figure drawing from a model ^^ it was nice :) I Also did more Bridgeman studies and especially tried to apply the things I learned from Bridgeman, the things with the white *'s next to it are from mind, please crit thém mostly ^^
-----
105866 105867
58 and 59: Bridgeman on grey paper.. * = from mind

105868 105869
60 5-min sketches of my little sister posing ^^ 61 doodles, all from mind.

105870 105871
62 and 63 Fineliner drawings from ref, I really miss my black ballpoint pen, fineliner is way harder to get smooth lines with.

105872 105873
64 same as above 65 doodle, and some OLD drawings from BODIES; the exhibition

105874 105875
66 lifedrawing from sketchgroup meeting! These were 5-min poses, 67 a bit longer, this was the last pose.

105876 105877
68 the other 5-min poses 69 longer poses, I think they were approximately 20-30 mins, but I'm really not sure.

This was the new update!
I'm quite proud of the amount of time I spent drawing these last few days, I'm not that proud of the amount of time I spent on homework though.. hmm ^^
Love,
Marleen

[Anid Maro]

You've got nice work in here, and you've been making lots of improvements.

In your latest post, I really like #61. You say that figure is from your mind? If so, very well done! The great thing about this figure is that it is very lively, not stiff at all.

The pen studies are good too, again they are lively, full of motion and life.

I think you're doing well in applying your Hogarth/Bridgman studies.

I want to pick out #67 for some critique though, because it looks very stiff and lifeless.

I understand that you were drawing from life and you can't help how the model sits, but you should keep in mind that you can change your own vantage point to get a more interesting sketch.

If a model is just sitting there, looking dumpy and bored, well if you just sit directly in front of them and draw from a boring and uninteresting angle, then you're dooming yourself from the start.

Also, here's an idea for applying your anatomy studies/knowledge to imaginative works. Try creating your own pose and viewing angle, but then use a reference book or model or photograph to see where and how to draw the form correctly.

That way you get the benefit of using reference, but you also force yourself to think about it and learn from it. You also don't have to limit yourself to one reference either, grab half a dozen if you need it.

Anyhow, keep up the work.

Just don't forget your homework too, not that I'm any better about it. :)

[Taj]

Very exciting to see some volume in your figures, keep working at it though. You need to work on your faces, remember nothing is ever straight, even straight things have some what of a curve to them. Keep your arm loose and keep your studies plentiful!

[Kronos]

hey Marleen, not much to say, things are progressing solidly i think. the white * figures look really good! in most cases i couldn't tell the difference.

KEEP DRAWiNG!!! AND KEEP HAVING FUN!!!!!!

[(c)]

hallo long time no post heheh but I can see u worked half way your ass off... nice to see so much commitment :) and it pays off!!!! your figures become better and better. sometimes they still lokk a bit static, maybe some more pose studys would be nice and a bit looser lines :D

btw I was yesterday in the Van abbe. funny exhibitions there. do u still work there??

[(c)]

hallo long time no post heheh but I can see u worked half way your ass off... nice to see so much commitment :) and it pays off!!!! your figures become better and better. sometimes they still lokk a bit static, maybe some more pose studys would be nice and a bit looser lines :D

btw I was yesterday in the Van abbe. funny exhibitions there. do u still work there??

[Noë]

aaaand I'm back!
I did so much school work the last week, that I just didn't have time to draw.. I still have to find a balance.. Luckily for me, it's test week now, I know all my stuff well (because of all the studying) so I have some time for myself now :)
Here's a small update. It's still not much, I'll start drawing more today.. Really need to get that one hour a day to draw.. draw draw draw! ^^

@ Anid Maro; thanks a lot for your detailed post. I agree with you on everything. You're right about #67, I was sitting in the place directly in front of her indeed, maybe drawing her from another angle would've been better. I think also that I could've handled the folds on the jacket a lot better. The face got drawn after the pose so that's probably the reason it looks so weird. Should practice faces more. I don't really understand the thing about creating your own pose and viewing angle. I don't have a model to work with (except photos of myself ^^), and I don't understand how I can use multiple references to create one new image how I want it :P
@ Taj; thanks! I'm sorry about not posting in your SB after that huge dump.. I will soon, it's just that I want to give a crit on everything posted, and I'll need some time to do that.. You keep posting too ^^
@ Kronos; thanks a lot! From now on I'll draw a lot more. :) have to balance homework and drawing better.
@ (c); hmm maybe I should work harder, my ass is still quite firmly attached to my body :S ^^. But you read my PM :) Thanks for the reply!

----------------------------
The small UPDATE!!!

113736 113737
70; hehe everything is out of proportion ^^ 71; I rather liked this one, only thing I didn't like was the assignment itself (we had to draw the background and leave the model out.. But I don't pay for an evening of figure drawing to draw a background! :S)

113738 113739
72; same as #71 73; dancer doodle, drew it yesterday during a break, I was at the dance school yesterday (and my muscles hurt really bad now, since I danced for 3,5 hours yesterday). About the doodle; I think her left arm should be more in perspective, for the rest I'm pretty satisfied about her actually!

113740 113742
74; some studies and doodles 75; boring doodlepage

113743 113744
76; a Fembot! ^^ she was designed by evil aliens to distract male soldiers from their missions, but since this only worked for a very short while, they now only serve as security to guard areas. 77; doodlepage

113745 113747 113748
78; doodlepage, but right "figure" was modeled for by my sister. 79; little digital painting I started.. Dunno if I'll ever finish it. Face sucks I know. 80; sketcher doodle, from a while ago.. Just found it back.

next time the update will be bigger (or the time in between the updates will be shorter ^^)..
Love!
Marleen

P.S. Yay! Page 7!
P.P.S. AAAH! I have 4 stars! That is so flattering ^^... whee :P

[Dose206]

Hey Marleen,
great stuff here. As usual your studies are fantastic and your life drawings seem to be getting better to me. I also think that the stuff from your head is getting better, but I'd like to see you apply what you learn from your studies into your imagined works a little more.
I wish I had more crits for you right now but I don't.

Chris

[Noë]

EDIT; Hey Chris! You posted while I was updating ^^
@ Chris; thanks for the reply :) When I'm doodling I could think a bit more about how I can apply my studies to work from mind, yes :) But most of my drawing time is Lifedrawing and studies :) But I'll try!

yay ^^ I did lifedrawing yesterday, and for warming up we did normal poses (without the model moving) so I really liked those warming up sketches, and I think they turned out rather well too..
Well without further ado, heres the Update;

114237 114238
81 Charcoal sketch on A3 paper, doodles.. 82 lifedrawing sketch

114239 114240
83 and 84 two more lifedrawing sketches (yes the model is this thin :P almost)

114241 114242
85 another sketch, this pose was really weird but nice 86 Bleh acrylic lifedrawing painting.

114243 114244
87 second lifedrawing painting, and a detail (the feet ^^) I rather liked how they turned out, for the short amount of time.

Hope you enjoyed the updatesie ^^
Love
Marleen

[motives]

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=52489&d=1164100847
I really like this one! very nice forshortening.
and yes its very good to draw with the opposite hand of yours. the hands u did turned out great!

[chaosrocks]

great strides! Its been a while since I stopped by, but the growth and improvement is wonderful. I particularly love the life and livelyness of your figure studies. I am glad to see they are not losing that as they get more accurate. It happens so often.
keep it up grl!

chaos

[crimsoneye]

See some improvement in your work. In sketch 85 you did great job render the model with color. I just want point out a problem with the bottom thigh area and watch the length of the torso. Also noticing that you making the legs on models to thin in some of your sketches. In sketch 75 I think you did great job on the nose and mouth on that face. Noe, keep up the good work.

[Noë]

@ Motives; thanks :)
@ chaosrocks; thanks!!
@ Crimsoneye; thanks also ^^, I totally agree with you on the thigh problem but I don't know about the torso, the model I was painting from has quite a big torso compared to her legs, so it could be that, don't know for sure.

------
I've been busy!
I've decided to work out how I want my digital paintings to look, and I've decided to go work on my skintones, with traditional paint and with photoshop. These images all took quite long.
Next update will be more sketches :lineart:

115252 115253
88 Did this one from a sketch by Bloostone (Noëlle), ofcourse mine turned out way less nice than hers ^^, I really have a problem with faces.. I've decided to do way more face studies. 89 Speedpaint from ref, again problems with the face, and I think I made her a bit fatter :P

115255
90 acrylic paint on cardboard, I'm not quite happy about this.. Screwed up the proportions and colours on the face big time. I'm getting back to this this evening or tomorrow.!

115254 115256
91 This was really quick.. Bit too messy :P 92 I'm quite happy how this turned out.. Her face is better, but still not good.. Background is the texture that is on the right of the page of #90 ^^

115397 115396 115398
93 drawing of a photo of me in which I held a flashlight on my face :P 94; some face drawings, I know.. need to improve 'em. 95 quick drawing of a picture I came across

115399 115603
96 GRRR blegh male face drawings, mebbe I should spend a bit more time on them ^^ 97 (edit) Update on the face, I'm happier about the colours now, but I just found out that I made the mouth too small :P grrr

I'll have a BIG update for you next Tuesday (i'm gone for the weekend, and monday evening is last figure drawing lesson, also I'll bring back some school works ^^)

Love,
Marleen

[Noë]

Yay, new update!
I don't have time now to put numbers and comment with every image, so just the images this time.

117327 117328 117329

117330 117331

117332 117333

117334

117335

117336 117337 117338

Hope you liked it ^^
love
Marleen

[motives]

ofcourse we liked it!:)
some lifedrawings are really great! what i think u can practise on is the faces. you may not have to draw it in detail but just put some shadows or lines where it belongs and it will lift your drawings very much!

[voraz]

Hi, you've got lots of nice studies here. It seems you have been working a lot and it really shows, I think you're improving a lot.
keep it up.
cheers

[Noë]

I have easter break!! 6 days of total freedom (with homework ofcourse :P)
I'm looking forward to drawing a lot!

@ motives; thanks! About the faces: i just started with lots of face studies. I'm currently gathering some male faces to start drawing more male faces too. I understand how important faces and facial expressions are, so I should practice them more ^^
@ voraz; thanks too :) but for my feeling I've been spending a lot of my time on 'nothing' too, like when I surf the internet and forget time.. ^^ I can only hope I spend enough time drawing, and I draw the right things the right way right now, so I can be good enough when I need to be. (whehe, talking about vague scentences... here's one :P)

----

Update! Studies and studies!
I've decided to stop the numbering.. Because it just takes too much time :P

117921 117923
a not very quick head speedy, didn't work out amazingly, also some head studies (they took quite long and it doesn't show :( )

117922 117924
a sketchpage I forgot to scan for last update and quick Bridgeman stuff, with baaaaad proportions

117925 117926
more head studies (also from Bridgeman), and the SKULL study for the anatomy study group (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=92957) in the Fine Arts, Studies and Discoveries forum :lineart:

That was todays dump, I hope to have a new one ready tomorrow, but need to do some real homework as well. :)

*edit* only 3 images, so didn't want to put it in a new post.. New update will be Wednesday!

118328 118329
New avatar ^^ and a speedish thing, 20 minutes I think

118330
sketch for the ChOW.. Not very original.

Love
Marleen

[costas]

hey Marleen really nice.... I think you're getting better and better... I saw all your drawing (from the 1st to the 7th and last page) and I saw really big improvement... keep up the good work....

[oma]

looks good jow.

and keep studieng :).
and maybe i'll see you in Utrecht at the HKU :0.

[Noë]

@ costas; wow, that was pretty much to look at :P well thanks ^^
@ oma; hehe thanks! And I'm not so sure about HKU still ^^ but maybe Hilversum.

--------
UPDATE

121089 121090

121091 121092

121093 121094

121096 121098

121095

No time to write stuff beneath it.
I have other stuff to show, those sketchpages are just not finished yet. :)

Love
Marleen

[Noë]

Well it's only a small update, but I did spend quite some time on each of these sketchpages or studies. Except for the last one.

121595 121596
sorry about the bad quality of left one, it was done for a school assignment, got wrinkled on the way back home. Right one was school assignment as well (loved doing this)

121597 121598
all from mind (except lines of bird, they were from an earlier sketch), right one are the egg heads as Justin Oaksford calls them.. Damn they really take quite long! To fill a page with that is..

121599
Sketch for new school assignment: cover for a magazine, topic "island"

love
Marleen

[cuss_man]

hey, just like to say the amount of really nicely done drawings in your sketchbook has increased considerably; that curtain/sheet in your last update is pretty amazing! keep at it!

[Noë]

@ lirce; thanks :)
@ cuss_man; wow :P your only post on the entire CA forums is here :P but thanks too ^^

----
UPDATE

124386
doodles from my doodlebook which I take on my train rides and with me to school

124387 124388
also more doodles, left one I edited a bit in PS too.

124427 124428
This one is a new school assignment: cover for a magazine called "Hollands Diep, left is sketch (well drawing, it only took 2 hours :P), and right is the final design. I'm going to get it printed in a copyshop ^^
@ Fooxoo: thanks for your advice! I also got some help from my dad, and we've decided to do it like this, so well the dillema is over ^^

love
Marleen

[lefran]

hey marleen , that cloth study is really great =], your faces are improving a lot too as is your digi painting skills =]
maybe some larger portrait studies though, let you practice form and proportion more in depth like the one you did for your avatar
good improvement throughout :)
Fran
x

[fooxoo]

Hey Hey!!!

I see you re working really hard, girl!!!

Look at the ton of images!

Some crits: I think you should watch the proportions a bit more, especially on faces, you re usually messing up the 1/3 x 1/3 x 1/3 proportion of the face, like making the jaw part too big, it makes the face look a bit odd. So keep your eye on that.

The variety of stuff here is great! And digis are progressing nicely.

As regards the magazine cover, I d go either with the full black and white, or with the full colour one (versions 1 and 4).

Cool stuff!
Keep working.
Cheers

[Banshax]

Im liking this, inspiring works! Die poster voor hollandsdiep is ernstig vet
harde hoeken erin geven het een prachtig resultaat.
keep it up!

[Dose206]

marlee, I just can't keep up with you! it seems you update too fast for me. but hey, that's great, because all your hard work is clearly paying off. The drapery school assignment from a few updates back is great!

A crit that kinda rides along with what fooxoo wrote: it seems to me that the most inconsistent part of your drawing repertoire is faces. sometimes they are scrunched in the middle and sometimes they are spread too far out.
glad to see that you're doing lots of faces though, i suppose you probably already knew this shortcoming and i didn't really need to say it but, ah well.

great stuff and I'm happy that I never have to urge you for an update (not like the rest of our ssg, myself included).

take it easy!

chris

[Noë]

@ Lefran; Thanks! I'm working on the "a bit larger portrait studies" now.
@ fooxoo; thanks a lot too ! Yup you're right about the faces, I'm going to practice them a lót now ^^. And ehh how the hell did I miss you and Hurri being a couple :S I only realized it when I saw the new avatar :P
@ Banshax; hey thanks :) another Dutchie in here ^^
@ Chris; hello there, I'm glad I update too fast for you :P but really, I feell like I've been drawing too little.. I've been spending so much of my time on usesess stuff.. Should I push myself harder (well I guess so :P). Thanks for pointing those faces out :) I knew that they were less than the rest already but just keep repeating it so I'll actually do something about it.. I'm going to focus on the structure of the face now, doing some larger studies, but tyring to keep things quick so I'll learn about the proportions.

----
Small Update
Sorry.. I'm so ashamed. Only 3 images! :S. I've been really stressed out because I had to do a presentation for school and I really suck at presentations (I go red, and start to stutter if I didn't like practice everyting 20 times). So now the presentation happened (quite well), and my headache and my insomnia are gone ^^ and I start drawing again!
But I've been spending my free time so uselessly.. that I'm quite angry at myself.. must not forget the time watching stupid television, and I must certainly not forget the time while browsing the internet.

well then, here's the stuff:

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Head studies (wow, I really need to find more male references.. so if you're male; please send me a lot of pictures of you ^^)

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Start of a digital master study, from a picture of a sculpt thing. :)

EDIT: a new update: 23rd of April, I wanted to make up for the few images in this post, so I just post the update here oki?

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head studies (left) and my boyfriend.. aarghh shouldnt have shaded this.. :S (right)

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some handsies (left) and heads from mind (right)

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People I drew on the train ride (damn those jolting trains :P)


love
Marleen

[Noë]

Hello peeps :)

I've started a Bargue drawing, spent about 3 hours on it until now, as you see I haven't done much yet, but I can assure you I remeasured everything that is on the paper right now. If you have any tips (that aren't in the Bargue threads already, because I read those), then please tell me! The method I use for the lines right now is to first draw it by using my eye and then measure it with a ruler.
Oh, and I put the two papers on a good piece of cardboard, I pinned this cardboard to the wall of my room because I don't have an easel to use :)

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stuff I use, except for the rulers :P they were just lying around.

Because of the few pictures from the Bargue I decided to add some pictures of my room, so I can still show you something :P

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I hope you liked :)
love
Marleen

[artificial_green]

Hey! some serious studies around here :P That "hollands diep" poster is good! I liked your self portraits in the what-does-everyone-look-etc thread too. And I wish I had the patience to try a Bargue drawing :P Good luck with that one.

[Da-blue-monk]

The work you have here shows real progress, compairing your first page and your last.

I'm not sure what I can offer in the way of constructive crits, but I can (and will) offer words of encouragement. Keep up the studies. Wow us all!

[Noë]

@ artificial_green; thanks :)
@ Da-blue-monk; thanks too :) about the crits, if you see something that looks off to you just say so ^^ it's not really that hard :teeth: and encouragement is always nice, as long as they're not asspats :D

small update
I worked some more on the Bargue, but it's not much to see for you (rather boring right?) so I scanned some really quick doodles and sketches for you to tear apart:

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doodles and portraits from classmates, and some chemistry ^^ (left), and a little drawing from reference (right)

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40-minute drawing from a cloth, because I had nothing else to do in drawing class :)

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two really quick pen doodles, slightly from ref. They took 30 seconds each I think :P so they really don't belong here :S


well that was the quick update. My drawing time is mostly spent on the Bargue at the moment.
I want to announce that I'll have vacation this next week, and I'll be at my boyfriends house. I won't take the Bargue with me, but will take the Bridgeman book and portrait references. I'll do lots of studies! (and be back monday the 7th of May with a big update!)

Love
Marleen

[Dose206]

Marleen,

Sweet that you'll be back with a big update! This last post is pretty good, I especially like the cloth study, you seem to have those down pretty good.
The first drawing in the post, the portraits of classmates, seems off. The one that seems the most off is the one with the all-white hair. The chin seems skewed to (our) right too much. It also seems to me that one a couple of the other ones the mouth is too far back, I think that the lower jaw needs to protrude a little more. I suppose, without seeing your refs I could be completely wrong, but that's what I see.
I really really like the second drawing you posted, the girl with her hands in front of her face. Great, although I'd like to see a little more in the hands, they're little more than outlines, but the legs have details in them.
The two 30 second sketches are also very charming, and sure they belong here! I'd like to see a lot more, as a matter of fact, and since they only take 30 seconds or so it should be easy to crank out a bunch!
Keep it up and have a great vacation!

Chris

[hurricane]

great art!
you're doing great!

cheers

[voraz]

Hi, just checking your new stuff.
I like that Hollands Diep illustration, and that Bargue drawing you are doing. Also great drappery studies.
Something I would like to suggest is that you spend a little more time in some studies, i think with just a little more time it could improve a lot.
i also think that the digital studies would gain with a little more contrast, especially some darker shadows, and some highlights.
keep it up
cheers

[johanson]

Still digging your book. It's great to see you doing all those studies (something I should start doing again). That fabric study from April 12th is sweet and I also really like your Hollands Diep drawing. Good work.
-andrew

[h2rra]

Wow, nice progress! I really like the sketches done on a train, I tried sketching people at a bar and failed miserably :P. The cloth studies are also great. Btw you tend to draw heads in profile portraits too narrow. Did you finish the Bargue drawing?

[Noë]

Wow! I should not update for 1,5 week more often :P I got so many replies!
I found a job for the vacation, so I've been working 9 hours a day ánd I have to do a lot of homework, so I haven't been drawing much :( :\ *kicks herself for not drawing more*
I hope to draw a bit more tomorrow. Will have to do homework first today.
Here are my reactions to your nice replies!
@ Chris; You're right about the classmates, they move very much ofcourse so had like 20-30 seconds to get the likeness down, but it is obvious that I still don't really understand the basic facial proportions. Thanks on the girl with hands before her head, I rather liked that one myself, because I also liked the ref a lot :P You're right about the hands, I had some trouble with them while drawing, should've probably payed more attention to them :) About the cloth: yes, maybe I shouldn't be doing them a lot, since I seem to do them quite well.. Will spend my time on stuff I can't do quite well yet ^^ I guess you're right about the 30 second sketches.. I'm almost forgetting thatt 30 sec sketches also belong in a sketchbook :P lol. I've been doing some 30 second portraits in pen, and some longer pen stuff. I'll be trying to do some more quick pen stuff.. It's good line training I think.
Thanks a lot for the nice crits and pointing things out!!
@ hurricane; wow, I have hurri in my sketchbook! yay! [fangirl mode] I really really like your stuff [/fangirl mode] Thanks man :), but you shouldn't say that to me a lot, it might make me work less hard :S.
@ voraz; Hey thanks for stopping by! I wonder: which studies do you mean with "some studies"? It's rather vague. Sometimes the studies are meant to be quick, and sometimes I just can't do it slower because my subject is moving (classmate portraits for example). I'll try that on the contrast with the digitals. It's hard because I easily overdo the contrast on digital stuff. And I ususally see great results with little contrast on skintones (on other people's work :P not mine so far hihi), so I think I shouldn't do lots of contrast on skin, maybe a bit more saturation.. Well I'll definately think about it! Thanks ^^
@ johanson; Hey person who beat me in thunderdome !! It's nice to hear from you ^^ Thanks for the comments :)
@ h2rra; To start with the answer to your last question: no, I didn't finish the Bargue by far. I'm currently at my boyfriends place and I couldn't take the Bargue with me, so it's still quite much in the shape it was in from the last Bargue update. I'll continue to work on it when I'm home again though. I really don't like the train sketches :P But I guess they're better than most of my quick head sketches (maybe that is because they weren't really quick). Thanks for pointing the drawing profile heads to narrow thing, I did notice that a bit but I should think about it more, especially when I'm drawing! :P Will take a look at some references for that.. Thanks for stopping by! I'll return the favour soon. ^^

Now I'm back with update.. It's not so much.. I'm really ashamed... sorry!

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I have a lot to do still, but I'll try to get an hour a day to do drawing..
*has a sad feeling in her stomach.. like I'll never get where I want to be with the time I'm spending on drawing a day*

Love
Marleen

[cherryworx]

Thought i'd stop by your sketchbook after you left encouraging comments on mine! very nice work, i really like your style. your digital work looks very good.
keep it up!

[Jorge Gecov]

You're working hard girl!
And i see a good improvement too.
Keep posting!



Sketchbook:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=80575

[voraz]

Hi Marleen, nice update. the cats look nice, especially the 2nd and 3rd. The other drawings I think are a little too rushed...
Don't feel bad about the time you spend drawing a day, I see lots of studies here so I guess you have been working, what I think it is important is that you really try to make the time you spend drawing worth the while by being really objective and self critique about what you are doing.
When I said that you could go further with some studies I wasn't very specific about which studies I meant, because I see that in a lot of studies/doodles that are looking good but you give up on them very early and I feel they could turn out really good pieces if you worked a little more on them. I have the same problem since I don't like to spend much time in a single piece and what I like to do more is just doodle... But i have been trying to make an effort to take some of the projects further and I think that it is a excellent learning experience, it may be frustrating but it is also very rewarding when I finish something and I feel it is an improvement in relation to what I usually do .
Another thing that I see here is that when you're doodling you draw a lot of faces, i used to do that a lot and still do, but I am trying to get away from that habit and draw other stuff...
I hope this makes sense...:^^;: (otherwise ignore it... :wink: )
keep posting!
cheers

[Noë]

@ cherryworks; thanks :)
@ Jorge Gecov; thanks too :P will keep drawing ofcourse :teeth:
@ voraz; thanks a lot :) I'm happy you explained what you meant. It's definately more clear now. I understand that it looks like I draw a lót of faces, and on this last page I díd. But the reason why I'm doing so many faces is because a lot of people told me that I needed to practice them more because they were and are lacking. I am also drawing full figures ofcourse, but less. It's hard to focus on multiple things to study. What do you think that I should study most at the moment? (I know, it's a really hard question, and I can't answer it myself I think).
Something I want to say about the stuff that looks rushed: When I'm doing pen drawings this is usually how it looks, except when I spent really lots of time on getting every line right, but that just takes so much time. I'm currently doing only pen drawings, and some pencil where I do not erase. I think it's important to do that right now. I know it kinda sounds like I'm reading your critique and saying all this stuff and eventually not taking anything in you typed, but I am really thinking about it. It's just that I'm getting opposite critiques: for example Dose206 told me to do more of those 30 second pen sketches, so I did and tried more quick pen drawings. But then you tell me that they look too rushed. I don't think you ór Dose said anything that is not correct, but it's kinda confusing for me. :)
Lastly: about taking projects further.. Yes you have a good point about that.. I rarely finish anything :P I guess I just want to make most of my time, and do lots of sketches to get more understanding of things.. But Maybe I should reserve like two hours a week to work on something like a project.. It's hard to reserve time because I'm so *beep* busy.. I've drawn 2 hours a day and I just want to draw MORE but I'm so behind on homework I can't.
Oh sorry for typing so much.. Hope you don't mind.. :[

Update!
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left:school assignment, sucky, don't understand why I got a great mark for it :S, right: quick sketch from mind for a new school assignment.. sucky too :P

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two other quick sketches from mind for school assignment

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left: drawing my sister and mum, no erasing, right: some awful figures and some Bridgeman head studies, still don't understand much of it :S

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more studies and some Bridgeman for fun because I found some really lovely drawings in the book, to copy :P

love,
Marleen

[voraz]

Hi there, nice update. Sorry if I am making this confusing... I guess it is nice to do some quick pen studies, but I would like to see also more rendered stuff. I think you have some faces very well done throughout the sketchbook and done very quickly, if you do it in pencil, correct it by erasing they could be great. The downside of pen is that you cannot correct it very well and then you may be a little frustrated it if doesn't come out rigth in the first place. I like much more some of the faces you posted now that were made with pencil. But I also like some of those pen pose studies (like the guy arched to the back).
This one (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=135615&d=1178647424) would apply very well to what I was saying about nice studies that I would like to see more fully rendered! :D

[Kronos]

hey marleen! you are working really hard! nice work!

i know sometimes it seems like you don't get enough time to draw, but it is a good sign that you do actually want to draw more. Drawing an hour a day is good! if you can keep that going as a force of habit that is fantastic because you will have days where you do way more than an hour too. if you manage to keep drawing consistently its like training, imagine if you did an hour of pushups everyday! you would kick super mans butt! :P

i won't say anything specific as it seems you are already getting lots of advise and such. just remember to try never to get frustrated or down about your drawing (not saying you are, just saying) just keep drawing and keep having fun with it :)

[Noë]

sorry, don't have time to answer right now :( will reply later..

Update
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First try (left), and more work on it after receiving some great crits from Idiot Apathy (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1315690&postcount=53).

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a 1,5 hour speedie (left) and a 40 minute portrait (right)

Love,
Marleen

EDIT: what is it with the images also showing in the attach frame? :( this is not nice :P evething is showing up twice!

[Dose206]

Marleen, this last speedie is coming along really well. I dunno if, as a speedie, you plan on going any further with it but IMo you should. It has great atmosphere. My biggest suggestion would be to vary the tones in the background and too.... I guess that's it. on your last update, the Bridgeman studies look great.
you mentioned before on drawing only things that you know you need to work on, and this is a great attitude but it's okay every once in awhile to give yourslef an asspat and draw something that you know is gonna come out well.

Anyhoo, keep up the great work and show us more stuff!

Chris

[Noë]

So.. Here I am again :) I have only a small update, but I'm replying anyway.. (wow, that is against my standards huh :P)

@ voraz; thanks again :) Yeah you're right about that some studies could be great. I'm just not really going for things to be great, I want to learn out of it. And I think that if I do stuff with pen I'll learn more because I'm learning to get the lines right at once, so eventually I won't have to erase. I agree though that when I want to go and do a nice looking studie it shouldn't be in pen. On this one (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=135615&d=1178647424), I don't think this is a study.. It's a 5 minute sketch from mind, just to get some ideas on paper. So really I don't want to work it out more :P does that make sense? lol. Thanks for your input man. I really appreciate it :teeth: As you can see I did a little longer face study in pencils :D any crits?
@ Kronos; Hey thanks man! I stop around your sketchbook sometimes, but everything I want to say there has already been said by someone else :P. Well I'll drop by anyway and give you some ehhh encouragement :P :teeth: Thanks for the encouragement for me!
@ Chris; thanks :) you're right about drawing something you know is going to come out well.. But I feel like I don't have time for that :P Right now I"m trying to draw stuff which I need to improve on, ánd make it come out well :P so if that works I achieved both :P yay. I'm going to work more on the last speedie. You can regard it as something I know is going to come out well, or well, I am more confident in this one because it's monochromatic.. Colours are quite hard for me still. I'm posting a little update on the last speedie in this post.. I'm planning to work more on the face next time. I'm posting the reference as well :)

update!

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More work on speedy, and a tryout of cool lightsource on the face.. I'm very happy about the improvement on this. Think I definately learned good things by doing this.

that's it, sorry I don't have more to show now.
Will be back with update in a few days :D

lots of love
Marleen

[Dose206]

Marleen, these last two look pretty good. I really like the greyscale one however I think that there's something odd about the color one's neck, where it meets the shoulder. As far as the colors go, vast improvement over where it was before.

Chris

[Mindflaw]

Hi

you got some nice stuff going on here.
As I am trying to learn to get skin colours right myself...I would say don't forget to think about the colour temperature but heh it does looks like you already does :confident

keep going

[Noë]

Hello all, here's some quick replies, don't have much time, need to go to school in 10 minutes ^^

@ Chris; Thanks :) Yup you're definately right about the neck, I will fix that :) Must look more at ref. :P
@ Mindflaw; Thanks :) Yup I got reminded of temperature by Idiot Apathy, and now I'm trying to really keep it in mind. :teeth:

-----
Update!
They're mostly characters, some from ref and some from mind. I'll just put "ref" and "mind" underneath them so you can see.

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left: from mind, I don't like her arm and shoes, and hips are prolly too wide? But I like how she turned out, considering it was totally from mind... Right: studies of a toy mouse, ref.

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left: mind, right: ref

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left: ref, right: face from ref, rest from mind (body pile concept FTW :P)

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left: big face from life, rest mind, right: all mind (doodles in train)

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Also all from mind (again train doodle)

I hope I gave all of you some critting food ! :teeth:
Love,
Marleen

[voraz]

Hi Marleen, nice sketches. I like those form ref, the girl with stripped shirt.
Also the face from life looks good. The digital one I don't like so much but I guess you are still starting, I think that there's something wrong with the left shoulder (seems something' missing there :D), about the hips being too wide that only depends of the kind of body you want to make, since it is from your mind, but rigth now it look normal.
Just noticed in your signature that you have a website, but I guess it is new... :P, I like the entry page so far but I think you could refine the head a little bit more!
keep it up.
by the way I am going to visit your country this week, you think you could leave here some basic words (like good morning, hi, thanks... you know, the very basics!:D), if you don't mind of course!
cheers

[Dose206]

Marleen,

It seems to me that your "from mind" abilities are catching up to your "reffed" abilities. Although one thing that I notice is that it seems generally in your mind sketches you don't shade as much and those sketches lose some volume.
As a way of encouragement, keep up the studies and reffed pics cause it's paying off.

Chris

[Kronos]

hey marleen, your definitely improving, and you lines are getting more fluid, keep working on that though, aim to only use one stroke to indicate a single line, i'm still working on that myself :P

one thing i noticed is the eye in this (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=141699&d=1179733742) one looks good, but there is just something about it thats not working for me and i think its that the eye lids don't wrap around the eyeball they just stop? remember the eye is a sphere and the eye lids are just flaps of skin wrapping around the contour of the sphere. now i did these from my head and you were going from life so i could be terribly wrong, but maybe this helps you see my point.

good work marleen :D

[Noë]

@ voraz; thanks for all the great crit& comments! Agree with you on everything yay :)
@ Chris; thanks a lot! That made me smile a bit ^^ I'll try some more shading in the mind sketches. thanks!
@ Kronos; thanks a lot, I think you're right on about the eye.. Will try to look better at how the eyelid is shaped around the eyeball. :) Thanks for the eyes too, I see your point. I guess I didn't pay enough attention to fluid lines on this update (mainly because of the weird fineliners I used) but I will pay more attention on the lines next time. :) Thanks for the encouragement!

-----
Update!

I had a really quick msn chat with Justin Oaksford this morning (the chat was approximately 5 lines :P) and he gave me This AWESOME site! (http://www.posemaniacs.com/pose/thirtysecond.html). I've been drawing some stuff from it with fine liners (sorry for the messy lines! Will keep them cleaner next time!). The quick figures you see in this update are all from that site, they're all 30 - 90 second sketches.

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I did this yesterday with oil paints, the lowest layer is acrylics on cardboard and then I started with the oil paints.. I love love love oil paints and never want to use acrylics again in my life! :P

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left: a quick messy not good doodle, and right; some old doodles

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left: some other doodles, right: start of the quick 60-second figures

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both pages are 60-second sketches

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left: 60-sec, right: 90-sec

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left: 30 sec, right: a bit of everything and some negative space stuff.

Lots of love!
Marleen

[Noë]

@ lirce; hi, thanks for stopping by! I did spend another 2 hours on the Bargue but I'm still working on the lines (I think I need another 5 hours or something to get them right.. When the lines are finished I'll post a Bargue update again though). Thanks for reminding me about the Bargue though.. Should work on it more. I saw that thing with the eyes too, but I guess I decided to just not go back on it anymore. I learned heaps since, so I just start new stuff..

Update! (yes, again)
I did a 2 hour digital study thingy.. I used a face as reference but tried to use my own colours to practice skintones. I think this is a good improvement.. :)
Please crit though! :)

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heres the digi, and on the right (duh :P) the reference.

Lots of love,
Marleen.

[Dose206]

Hey, this latest digi is looking pretty nice. The skin tones that you chose seem to be working well.

Thanks for sharing that posing site with the rest of us, I'm definitely gonna do some of those soon. Keep up the good work.

Chris

sorry about the lack of crits but I got nothing right now.

[Noë]

@ Chris; thanks :) Yea, everybody should know about that site ^^.

Update!

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left: train doodles, very scribbly blegh, right: approximately 5 minutes each.. From PoseManiacs

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right: blegh Waterhouse study and face doodles (gotta stop doodling so many faces.. :S)

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right: a níce Waterhouse study.. I love that painting.. I'm going to try painting that girl with oils some day.

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Blegh train people sketches

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the beginning of turn around drawing from a really cool pose from www.posemaniacs.com/blog (GO THERE NOW (if you haven't already))
CLICK for big version (http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/543-1.jpg)

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EDIT; this is a watercolour Waterhouse study which I just started (I spent about 2 hours on it so far). Expect this finished next update ! ^^

Hope you liked the bigger update. It's a lot of quicker stuff.
Love
Marleen

[Noë]

Update!
It's "only" figures this time.. Spent about an hour on these pages.. God I love that 30 - 90 second drawing ^^)

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left: bad scribbly scribbles from school, right: weird fineliner sunset cos I was bored and wanted to do something without thinking too much.

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yea, that's it again..
Next time: two finished watercolour things.. (I hope)
Oh and I'm really starting to neglect school work now :S ^^
Love
Marleen

[lefran]

hey marleen your figures are looking great and your digi is improving every post :)
fran

[Merlin]

This one is very nice, well done http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=145078

You are definitely improving :)

[Kronos]

hey marleen, your lines in those fast figure drawings are very nice, economic and good curves.

i think with the painting on post #412, thats cool to use your own colours but you will also learn a lot about colours by trying to get them as close to the reference as possible, using your own is kindof like a way to see where your colour knowledge is at but if you did nothing but that you would probably get stuck with one way of colouring something??? does that make sense? i'm just rambling :S


NICE!

[Noë]

@ Lefran; thanks girl :)
@ Merlin; thanks too :)
@ Kronos; yes it does make sense. I'm also definately trying to get colour right on other stuffs (like the waterhouse water colour study :P) and my next digi will be such a study. Thanks!

Update!
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left: watercolour self portrait, neck should be darker, it wasn't finished but I don't feel like finishing it. Right: more quick gestures.

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right: really messed up sketch :P It was nice until I did the watercolour over it.

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60-second gestures on A3 paper

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These were all pretty big 90-second gestures. They all were approximately 2/3 rd of the A3 paper in height. So I had to take separate photos, because each of them was done on a separate page in my A3 sketchpad.

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It's more of the same really, but I hope you liked !
Love
Marleen

[Noë]

I kinda felt like this needed a separate post,
I just read this:
Creating art is like picking up a girl. The harder you try the less you will achive. If you just stop caring, the girls will come on their own.

I mean, where is your art supposed to come from, when you just sit in your studio and do studies all day? Go out, expierience life in all it's beauty, make good friends, people who got something to say, drink, smoke, laugh, enjoy yourselves and the company of others. Go to a rock-concert and smell the sweat and heat of a hundred people moshing, drive outta town and camp in the wilderness, try throwing rocks at airplanes when they cross above your heads. Relax, cool down, live the moment with all it's intensity and when you feel like you had enough, go back to the drawing board and create. Share what you are and what you've been through with the paper or canvas. But don't force it. Don't forget what life has to offer for you during the times when try to you sharpen your skills. Because in the end, you're just exploring your technique with all your studies, you're just forcing yourselves into routine. But knowing how to render a foreshortend arm, or a figure in perspective doesn't mean you're capable of expressing anything. Because art is what's on your mind and what you got to say, technique is just the groundwork to be able to express yourselves. See it like this, language, the tounge in your mouth gives you the abilty to speak, communicate, bring your thoughts across, but only if your mind is open, you can actaully say something of lasting value, somthing that will be quoted throughout the time. A great singer can have an angelic voice, but isn't it the great lyrics that we keep and store in our memories? But great lyrics only come from great minds or great situations in life. Inspiration that is drawn from the everyday situations we all go through every morning and every evening.
We can close our eyes and say, it's all boring, but it is not. It is what we make out of it. I don't care if I got nothing to do, lying on my bed, counting the flies on the ceiling or if I have an amazing night with friends barhopping throughout the city. I can enjoy both and draw my energy from both.

Just stop worrying, because it leads nowhere and blends out all the good things that happen to you. Accept that you cannot force anything in this universe, whether it's art, girls, friends, job offers, car accidents, etc...and finally feel free and open to create great things.


Cheers to you all
Marko
...
Maybe I'm trying too hard.

Love
Marleen

[Noë]

148061 148062
left: character sketch.. I love this sketch and the idea, I think I'll make this a finished character.. The scene I created around her just doesn't make sense..
right: some perspective tryouts and environment, this was an idea for the teen challenge "the outbreak" but this is just not the right thing for it.

148063 148064
more tryouts.. It just keeps getting worse :P

148065 148066
untill this.. where I decided to stop :P.. Right: this was also really really awful :P The head is just HUGE, but I only noticed it when I scanned it! :S DOH :P

148067 148068
left: quick drawing in sketchbook from a tryout portrait drawing class.
right: third drawing I think from the tryout class.. The teacher was really not nice, she kept telling me to be scribbly and make many many lines and make the many lines be one line together.. But ehh wait a second.. Wasn't that what everybody's been telling me NOT to do? GRR :P So I decided to definately not do the portrait drawing course ^^

148069 148070
More from the tryout thing

148071
last one..
And yes, these were all supposed to be the same guy :P I know, terrible..
I've decided to draw a male portrait a day from now on.


and now I really need to go sleep and tomorrow I need to do school work. Because I didn't do a thing for school this entire weekend! I'm so damn lazy!
I've decided to go do school stuff at school tomorrow, so I can't be distracted. And when I'm finished I'll go into the city to draw some buildings or something. I never did that, so it'll be interesting to say the least :P
Oh and now don't think I'm depressed or anything because I'm negative about my sketchies.. I really don't mind, I know I'm improving by doing them!

Love!!
Marleen

EDIT; hey! Page 8 already?! Cool :P

[loveandasandwich]

You have some lovely ladies in this sketchbook. One of my favorites. :) (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=129695&d=1180119249)

[johanson]

Hey, Marleen.
Good stuff, and goodluck with your school work. In your sketches for "the outbreak" I might suggest going back to the pose where one leg is bent up behind her. It gives a better feeling of movement. She's going to have to unfold that leg or she'll fall down. Also, putting her in a more unbalanced pose might help build tension because should she fall she has no way to catch herself.

see you around next update,
-andrew

[Dose206]

Marleen,
Congrats on page 8!
That Marko quote was fantastic, I've saved it on my computer and plan on printing it out to hang in my workspace once I get some more printer ink. Your pose gestures seem to be getting better and better, are they all from that same site?
I completely agree with Johanson about the breakout sketch. The latest version has lost alot when compared to the initial sketch, which was very strong. Haha, just follow that Marko quote, relax a bit and when you get a chance come back to it.

Chris

[Noë]

@ 28chelseaslater; Thanks :)
@ johanson; Hmm, it's an interesting suggestion. The thing is though, that I want her to be running away quickly, not 'floating' around in the air being pretty.. At least, in that scene I built for her I want her to be running. So how do I tackle this? Oh and thanks a lot about the off balance thing! I'll definately use that! Would've never thought of that on my own. Thanks for the great suggestions :) I'm still going to drop that 'outbreak' thing though.. I'm going to make the girl floating in the air being pretty :P lol, like in the first sketch.
@ Chris!; thanks man, I really need to comment in your sketchbook again, sorry! I'll just plan an hour for going around sketchbooks tomorrow! Oh and about the Marko quote.. There's more in this thread (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=43158). Oh and the gestures are indeed all from that site. But I think it's time for me to do some from mind as well. Just to practice and all ! ^^
----
Update!
148479 148480
warmup sketches before school this morning (yes I got up early :P)

148481 148482

148483
After school I went to sit on a grassy bit on the side of the road, got my sketchbook and sketched these buildings (they're from the Technical University Eindhoven :P in case you were wondering)

148484 148485
And when I got home I got HUGELY inspired by my new ImagineFX on my door mat (it's about concept art.. I highly reccomend buying this issue.. It's awesome!)
And I did this above thing.. I'm having trouble with the 'wings' though.. Don't know how to make them look wingy :P Please do tell me if you have anything to say about the colours/whatever.. I really want to know!

Lots of love
Marleen

[Kronos]

HOLY MOLY! the colours in that last one are beautiful and that transition from the blue to the pinkish bit from the mouth to the cheek really help describe the form. i would say her ear need a little more attention, and her head kinda looks like its missing a bit on the back, but that could just be a kind of optical illusion from the tall hair.

thank you SO MUCH for the pose maniacs link, i've been doing lots of them lately. yours are looking really great! and that marko quote was indeed awesome, cheers for that also.

oh yeah and that tutor for that class thing sounds weird :S did you see any of her drawings? and were here scribbly lines effective? i don't want to say she is wrong, but "make many many lines and make the many lines be one" to ME that sounds like complete bullshit.

anyway, nice :)

[Dose206]

Marleen,

ooh, nice update. I like this latest piece you are working on. I do agree with Kronos, the head seems as though it's missing a bit in the back. I wish I could help you out with the wings, maybe try defining a bit the bones in the wing (the long ones near the top, i guess) and then doing the feathery texture over that, kinda like learning how cloth drapes over a figure, how do the feathers hang from the bones and skin?

Keep it up and yes, please do crit my sb some more, yours are always helpful even if i don't always listen ;)

-Chris

[Grimey]

the posing site is the coolest thing ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks for posting it.

[Noë]

@Kronos; thanks for reply! Your holy moly made me smile :P That's a nice expression ^^. You're right about the back of the head, I have a tendency to do that. Will work on this more! Definately! Tomorrow, or later.. I have two big math test in the next three days :P About the tutor; I think she's more into abstract stuff really, I didn't see her drawings, but did see some of her students which she liked, and I didn't really like them, they were way too scribbly. I think she found a way of drawing that works nice for her and now she forces it upon her students.. So yeah, I don't really like that.
@ Chris; thanks man! Yes, I totally forgot about the structure underneath wings :P lol I just scribbled away. Will fix it as soon as I'll be working more on this.
@ stonercurly; hehe no problem, be sure to pass the link on to people you know! Everybody should know about it hehe.

-----

I've been under some stress lately and I'm beginning to feel it in my body now (I'm extremely tired and I have lots of headache). So I'll be trying to slow down a bit.. It's hard because I don't know what to slow down on. Because I love drawing and do it to relax a bit.. But when I do I get carried away and spend too much time on it, which causes stress because I need to do more homework (have test week next week.. And I'm quite a lot behind on some subjects). I need more self control! :P GRR

Now the update :P Not very interesting, just studies. Maybe I should doodle more, but I don't have time :P

149046 149047
yay! more gestures :P Pretty boring huh? Should I scale them down a bit? :P

149048 149049

149050 149051

149052
some studies from a book called "anatomy for fantasy artists" which I downloaded along with a LOT of other art books.. Should I post the torrent?

Love
Marleen

[voraz]

Hi Marleen, I see you have been sketching a lot. Lots of nice studies, i also needed to do that to improve in some particular aspects, but I don't have patience or time! :dur:
That last one on post 425 is looking great.
About feeling you are trying to hard I think what is most important is that you enjoy what you are doing, so you don't stress.
cheers

[Noë]

@ voraz; Thanks :) Yes, I definately enjoy doing all my drawings. And the stress is mainly because of homework, and big testweek coming up.

Update!
I've drawn quite much today. First maths test went rather well under the circumstances, and I went home afterwards because of headache. So I had lots of extra time for homework (yay) and drawing :) .

149549 149550
"only" two pages of gestures this time :)

149551 149552
some studies, portraits from picture, and hands and sticky figures from e-books

149553 149554
left: my own try at a sort of comic character (from mind).. Is it drawn/proportioned well? Right: study of a Deviantart stock picture, approx. 40 minutes (thanks Kronos for the link (http://justmeina.deviantart.com/gallery)!).

Love!
Marleen

[wookiedabo]

the most recent batch of gestures look improved from the last, getting more fluid and, well, gestural. the figures and faces look good on the whole in terms of form, though it might be worth putting a bit more time into rendering one or two really well. but with the amount your drawing, improvement is simply inevitable.

[maxetormer]

sweet hand
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=149552&d=1181149559

[Noë]

@ wookiedabo; Thanks :) will render some faces really well :) By the way, you've been commenting in loads of sketchbooks yesterday haven't you? I saw your name almost everywhere :P
@ maxetormer; thanks :) Love your ravenchick.

Update
Gah! Somebody voted two stars on my thread. I'm just wondering if thats because that person thought 4 stars was too much for this SB (which I think too), or if that person thought this SB was bad? (which I don't think) :P
But lol.. Maybe I should care a little less hehe.

150138
some good morning gestures. Digital this time. It's quite weird to do this digitally. Halfway through I taped some paper to my tablet, and that made the gestures go a whole lot easier.

150139
some males, because they're so much harder to draw than females

150140 150141
left: photoshop speedie that didn't turn out so well, won't do more work on this one, but will try another painting with this reference.. Right: school assignment: a poster for a festival. It wasn't really finished yet but I don't care anymore. Got a nice grade for it.

150142
doodles done on school, first few gestures done in an extra hour, and the right page was all doodle.

150143
Some colourfull portraits with stabilo pens I found lying around. I really like them.

Love
Marleen

[asoir]

you shouldn't mind the stars, but i do, this is a brilliant 'book!
i love the advertisement for the festival, brilliant composition and painting.
great work

[Noë]

:nohope: rrrrr.. Asoir :P
You know this SB doesn't deserve the 5 you just gave me!
I shouldn't have mentioned that in my post really. Gah :P

I'm actually having lots of fun about those stars right now :P and I do appreciate the "exellent", but you know it isn't. So please just vote 3 or maybe maybe 4 next time I start a sketchbook? :teeth: lol :wink: !

Love
Marleen (who is now going to get some sleep :zzz:)

[Dose206]

Marleen, great updates since last I looked here. I really enjoy the Unicef poster, it looks a great deal better than when it was in the WIP stage.

Don't fret too much about the stars, be glad that people think enough of your art to give you stars. You clearly deserve a good grade for the effort you've put into your art.

Your gestures are still improving, and several posts back you showed a comic character you drew without ref. Well, the way (his) right leg is extended looks just a tad akward, I think his knee might be a touch over-extended. Also his left thigh is a little short, it's either a problem anatomically or forshortening..ly. Other than those things though, he looks good.

Keep it up!

Chris

(and how could you say that men are harder to draw? so not true. perhaps it's easier for artists to draw members of their own sex... I dunno)

[(c)]

mooi mooi nice nice getting there hu?? like the brush strokes in the last two paintings!! a lot of improvement good light and coloursss.. ok mundial hmmmm.... would prefer the boeken cafee rose festival but hmm.. matter of tast I would say... keep up the work I see oh good painter growing :D

[asoir]

haha, i just really wanted this book to bump up to 4, how can you check what ratings you've gotten? ive been here for years and im still a noob :(

[Blaz]

Nice sb you have here! :)

Definetly makes me study figures more!...in fact im gonna do it right now ...*runs away*

[Noë]

Wow.. So many replies! :P

@ Asoir: Yea, I guess I understood that. It's sweet of you ^^. Ehm I just do simple calculations in my head for the star ratings :P Didn't even do them on purpose actually. Just hover the stars and see how many votes, and the average, and if you know the new average you know the old one as well.
@ Chris; yup I know, I ám glad! Thanks for the crits on the comic guy, You're absolutely right. I think the left upper leg was supposed to be foreshortened, but it doens't come across like that. Hehe, about drawing males / females is harder.. I think I find females easier to draw because I've drawn them more. And I find those female curves much easier than males who have less curves and bigger muscles and angles.
@ (c); Thanks man! I don't care about the mundial festival, the school assignment was "design a poster for the Mundial festival" so I kindof had to :P Myself, I would prefer Fields of Rock (www.fieldsofrock.nl)!
@ Blaz; thanks! Hehe cool that this SB makes you want to do figure studies ^^ I must be doing something right then yay :teeth:

Small update
So yeah, I really made this update to answer to all of you.. Because there's so many replies!! Can't let you wait until monday..
So right after this I'll be going to my boyfriend, and I'll be back next monday evening with a big update :) Nothing digital because I won't be taking my wacom. But who cares :D
Here's the three images:

150446 150447

150448

Love
Marleen

[Dose206]

Marleen,

PLease do post the torrent for those books! Haha, that's all that I've got for now.

Chris

[wookiedabo]

the paintings are lovely. i really like the portrait speedy. and ye, ive got exams at the mo, and the commenting is really procrastination as i dont really know how to revise.... and its a seriously good way to kill time. see, im doin it again.

[EFrost]

Really awesome updates Marleen.
Wish I had some of the motivation you had...

[voraz]

Hi, I see you've been working a lot on that fast poses, they are looking good.
I lile those illustrations from post 434, I like the speedie that you gave up, I think it was looking good, the poster for the festival mundial is also looking great I like the composition and the colours, I'm just not sure about the arms and the fan, i think the fan looks like it is cutting the breast in half, though i guess it is supposed between the breasts... :teeth:
keep it up!

[Noë]

@ Chris; Ah! Yes ofcourse. I'm not sure if they're still seeded well, but I found them here (http://www.mininova.org/tor/547542) and here (http://www.mininova.org/tor/547539). Tell me if they're not seeded, I'll see if I can still seed some :)
@ wookiedabo; hehe, I know about that.. But really it's better to do some revising y'know ;). If you réally don't want to revise.. Just draw more! Yay!
@ EFrost; thanks :) but I really think you create your own motivation at some point. Sometimes it's good to push yourself a little (but not too much ^^)

Update!
So, I worked more on the portrait, and started painting the sketch from a few updates back.. Tell me what you like and don't like.. And CRIT! ^^ (please?)

151821
some 60-sec posemaniacs poses and two Björks! But the portrait doesn't look like her at all.

151822
More work on this one. I really don't know what to do with the background! I plan on refining the wings and top a bit more and then stop working on this. But I need to know which background colour would work best, and (most importantly) why!?

151823 151824
First two progress shots of painting the sketch

151828 151825
left: third progress shot (that's where I am now.) I plan to make the hair kinda flow over into the clouds. I'm also thinking about buildings from a city in the horizon line, to have something to look at in the background other than blue.. Please tell me what you think about it? :) Right: some doodles and a perspective sketchie, because I really need to start doing some of that mechanical stuff.. So I'll be doing some perspective stuff!

151827 151826
And some quick (left) and a long (right) study/studies.. Please tell me what's off about the right one? I know about the right arm, but the rest..?

Well, that's it for now.. I really need to do homework (again) and tomorrow I réally need to do homework :P after that I'll have vacation almost, so I'll have more and more time!
Love
Marleen

[Dopecoil]

cool update marleen especially, the last one looks really good (realistic)! love this thread, keep up the good work :)

[asoir]

wow, great updates. love the sketches on the transparent background, very clean cut and accurate. good job.

[JellevdVegt]

looking good girl! nice anatomy studies

[RandAlThor]

Nice gestures, nice lines, nice sketchbook.. nice. ;-)

[oma]

Noë thank you.

Thank you very much.
Inspiring.

[Noë]

Hello all.. Wow I have so many comments! Awesome people.. I love you ^^
@ Dopecoil, Asoir, Teh Gosu and RandAlThor; thanks a lot all of you! I really appreciate the comments (though some crits would be cool too ^^).
@ Oma; wow.. that's really making me go all blushy :scribble: :P thanks for finding my SB inspiring! Now let me go find a way to deal with your comment without feeling that I'm not good enough to be thanked like that :bashful: (I know, I need to work on how I respond to compliments, usually I go all shy and red :S).
Update! again :P
I'm really feeling that the vacation is almost there, and my motivation for actually learning for school stuff is pretty much down to zero because I'm already sure I'll make it into next year (so why study right? :P) so I'm just drawing to compensate the lack of doing homework:

152380
Just two 10-sec poses pages, and a 30-sec one. Was concentrating more on finding interesting shapes, but I can't really find interesting shapes in here :P Maybe I should go get a brush pen, or whatever it's called, to fill up stuff to make the interesting shapes :P

152381 152382
60 and 90 sec poses, blegh I don't like how the lines of fineliner turn out, I'll go back to my 6b pencil tomorrow.

152383 152384
More poses, and some rough doodles. all face doodles were from mind

152385 152410
Left: I think this took me 1,5 hours so far, but I'm not sure, didn't look at the time I started and finished. It's a little study from a photo ref I found between holiday pictures. I figured I'd start simple :P and when I get better on enviros I'll move on to complicated structures and stuff from my mind. Should I spend some more time on this to finish the windows and all, or start a new enviro/structure study? Right: the upper left portrait looked really good (in pen) and I wanted to try out my mums ink brush thing to make the hair black, and a huge ink blob came out, so that ruined the face :P But it looks cool now as well :P

152411 152412
More ink stuff blabla, it's quite bad ^^ don't think that ink brush pen thing is really me. I like normal brushes a lot more :P.

Lots of love!
Marleen
EDIT: just added the three ink sketches.

[asoir]

ah it's crits you want? alright, PLEH! terrible! that last one looks utterly horrid!
just kidding, you could improve the perspective on the last one, it looks a little distorted. i'd paint over it, but im on a laptop.
keep doing colour stuff, it'll help. peace.

[Noë]

Heya Asoir, thanks a lot for that. I kinda assumed it was allright :S shouldn't do that hihi.
So here's some stuff I did to it in photoshop, on a path I constructed a possible horizon line and the vanishing points on it. Does it look allright, and is the placement of the horizon line allright? First I put the horizon line a lot lower but then I realized you'd have to be standing beneath the ground to see it in such a perspective.

152657

Love
Marleen

[Dose206]

Marleen,
I am by no means an expert on perspective, but your lines look alright to me. As far as the colors and mood, I think they look great. Perhaps try correcting the perspective to match those lines and then move on to another.

Chris

[Flutic]

Lovely drawings over here, I realy like the festival poster.


Greets, Tom

[Noë]

@ Chris; thanks :) I'll fix that thing tomorrow :)
@ Tom; thanks !
153057 153058

153059 153060

153062
OC'ing with Kronos :) middle right and lower right things are mine

Love
Marleen

[LePompadoriousFohawk]

Wow Noe! I just went through your whole sketchbook and I like how well you've progressed. It's great how a sketchbook online can do that for someone :) It's great to have inspiration like that because I'm a N00b at this. Would LOVE to see more soon :D

[Dile_]

I saw your painting in the Paint Over Thread, and I was curious if those really were yours haha, because they were really damn good.

And by that I mean not that you sucked before, but that you've become so much better over a short time! Your updates in this book really surprised me, its a lot of quality and lots of studies.. Keep that up and you will know that you get better fast!

Keep it up!

-Dennis

[Evil_Sloth]

you got so much potential, very inspiring!

[Fvallejo]

great potential! If I can suggest in your gestures that you draw through the figures instead of drawing just the outline or contour. It will help give them more energy and can cause some happy accidents. Good luck!

[Noë]

Wow.. I've never been asspatted as much as this last week! :\ But thanks all! It really means much to me that you're finding my stuffs better and better. Means I'm finally finding some real improvement, that shows :P
@ LePompadoriousFohawk (omg, could you pick a longer username? lol ^^); Thanks a lot :) and you'll see more soon because these last two weeks I've been updating every day, except for the weekends ^^ and I plan to continue that.
@ Dile; wow.. thanks a lot. I know exactly what you mean and I'm really happy to surprise you ^^ That's exactly what I would like to do. I guess it would be so cool to just dissapear a few months and then come back with some killer works :P But hey I don't wanna dissapear, I love the crits and the sketchbook so much! ^^ Thanks a lot Dennis, love your sketchbook! Might post an asspat in the new one when you did another update :)
@ Sloth; thanks man, you too by the way :P
@ Fvallejo; thanks :) Do you mean to be more scribbly a bit? I guess on the gestures I júst have enough time to put down the lines on the 30 and 60 second ones. I'm a bit confused in how to interpret the drawing through the figures thing.. Maybe you or someone else can help me out?
--
Update ^^ again
So tomorrow I'll go to my boyfriend and this weekend I'll be going to Fields of Rock (www.fieldsofrock.nl) (a metal festival).. I'll be taking my sketchbook, because there'll be lots of crazy looking people to draw, and I'll be inspired by the music. Just hope I have some time and energy left after bouncing around in the pit at Machine Head and other bands ^^
Right.. less chatting, more drawing (huh Kronos ^^):

153457 153458
Left; more work in this one, please check out the awesome paintovers that Justin Oaksford did for me in the paint over thread (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1355787&postcount=68), right: some males.. I remembered my markers, so I'm using them again..

153459 153460
I set a computer timer at 90 seconds, and opened my folder of characterdesigns references.. :D Here ya go, 90 second male gestures.. I'm wondering why these are so much more scribbly than the ones from posemaniacs :S

153461 153462 153463
.. and some posemaniacs gestures, and a longer "pose" (approx 15 mins)

Love!
Marleen

[asoir]

yeah, perspective lines look pretty correct! i recognise that dude from the game design site, nice job!

[Noë]

@ Asoir; thanks man :) Yeah I love www.characterdesigns.com, I downloaded all the photosets and Kevin Chen tutorials from there ^^ (using Mozilla Firefox addons "Linky" and "DownThemAll")

Wow.. :P I just couldn't resist updating again.. I've been drawing these sketchies this morning.
Oh, by the way; I forgot to post the Corrected perspective (http://www.marleenrenders.com/sketchbook/629-2.jpg) thingy church graveyard thing, so there it is.

153710 153711
a weirdo and kitty cats, and on the right some characterdesign figures.

153712 153713
More characterdesign sketches, and on the right I've just been scribbling away with ink pen thing and markers.

Now I'm really gone :P see you next monday or something!
Love
Marleen

[markey2d]

i really like all the poses you've done, seems to be helping ur work a lot. ur dedication and commit is unmatched. i may not be looking but this is the first 20 page! SB i've seen.

AMAZING.

[markey2d]

sorry about previous post must have been someone else with 20 page SB. (kicking myself) i feel so stupid, im sorry.

[Noë]

@ Markey2d; eh thanks I guess :P If you want some 20 + pages sketchbooks, just go to advanced search, search in the sketchbooks forum, "find threads with" at least 1200 replies and type something like "sketch" in the search area ^^ I tried this search and found 17 of them.
Update!
I got back from Fields, didn't get to draw much over there, first day I forgot my sketchbook, and the second day my neck was hurting so much from headbanging that I couldn't really concentrate on drawing. It was awesome though. I've been bouncing around in the pit at Ill Niño and Papa Roach, and well I visited loads of other performances where I was a bit less extreme :P
But well, I did draw a little bit of everything these past four days, so here are my sketchpages:

155909 155910
the female octopus doodle thing, was originally an idea from Kronos, and he made quite a nicer doodle than I did.

155911 155912

155913 155914

155915 155916

Love
Marleen

[oma]

progress at lightning speed!

[DeJakhalz]

Hey Marleen! Really nice improvements I see here! I like it that you take those perspective and anatomy studies serious. Keep it up!

[paperX]

wow you have a really awesome sb :)...i liked your idea for the last teen challenge and was sad to see it go unfinished so i came over to check out your sb :P

turns out you did do more work on it after alll :O sad to see you didn't meet the deadline :(, it looks pretty nice :)

I can see that you work really hard and is making progress astoundingly quickly, i think i'll stick around if you don't mind :P

PS: just one really random question...i've always wondered...how do you check who gives your thread how many stars? :S

[0shade0]

wauw! :0
echt goeie studies, mooie vooruitgang.
kheb spijt dat ik hier niet eerder ben gekomen ^^"
kga nu geen crits geven ofzo want ik moet door studeren, (heb nog examens) ^^".

[Noë]

Wow so many replies!
@ oma; gheghe, thanks man. But the lightning goes really fast y'know.. ? :P
@ DeJakhalz; Hi Joost :) thanks! Well yeah I'm taking them seriously, but I like doing drawing studies a lot :) it doesn't feel like studying y'know?
@ PaperX; Thanks :) yes I did like the idea for that teen challenge as well, but I think even if I would've finished this on time, I wouldn't have entered it because I don't think it fits the topic like this. It's not finished yet by the way, I'm planning to take it a lot futher. No problem if you stick around ofcourse! The more the merrier (well that's not entirely true, wouln't want a sketchbook with as much asspats as Hurricane has :P, but crits are always nice!). Oh about the star thingy, I just hover it and see the average and the amount of votes. For example I remembered that a while ago it was 10 votes, 3,6 average and now it's 11 votes 3,64 average so I just estimate that someone voted 4 stars these past few days. You can also calculate it like before it was 36 points in total, so now if you do 3,64 times 11 you get something around 40 so you know how many points got added to it. :P but really I just know it because this calculation goes off in my head. It's not like I go sit behind the calculator finding out who voted what :P I have more important stuff to do hehe. :)
@ 0shade0; hee hoi! Dankuwel!
Update
so it's mainly studies this time. I drew quite a lot since yesterday evening. I think I did 4 pages yesterday and 6 today or something :| but whatever. I like it!

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arms (left) ane some faces from characterdesigns, and a character drawn over a posemaniacs gesture.

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two figures from characterdesigns, both approx 20 minutes (left), and doodles from mind (right)

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posemaniacs gestures

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more posemaniacs and some skulls (http://electronicmediaarts.com/ema/skull/pages/DSCN3355.htm)

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some more indepth skull studies.. Please check this blog (http://www.digitalartform.com), the anatomy and digital painting archives are really great!

Love
Marleen

[Dopecoil]

those skulls are cool, need to update my sketchbook.. but i still need to make a few ''proefwerken'':p

[asoir]

haha, singing while you draw? in text? never quite seen it before!
great arm studies, really solid! damn.

[crimsoneye]

I got to say your figure draws have gotten better from the last time that I posted. I really like the one with the girl running with her books. And your photoshop skills have also gotten better . It seems learned a lot since the last time I posted on your SB.
I like how you handle the face in this ps painting. http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=150140&d=11812463e (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=150140&d=1181246340)

Keep up the good work

[paperX]

thanks for the explaination :) good studies in this update, working really hard :)
thanks for reminding me what a lazy bum i am :P

just one more stupid question (i dont usually do this haha sorry) how do you upload pics to CA but can still type stuff between the pics? do you have a separate thread where you post the pics or something? :S

[Noë]

Hello people :)
I'm sorry, no sketches this post. I do have a few pages but haven't scanned them and I'm on the laptop right now. So well whatever.
I just want to say that I'm taking a small break. In one week I'll be back with hopefully a big update with hopefully some other stuff than usual. Because I'm going to try and draw more from mind. I got a nice PM from Dile who gave me some advice on something I asked (thinking I do studies too much opposed to drawing from mind) and so I'm going to do some studies to really remember stuff, not just draw it over and over and forget what it looks like. And I'm going to draw from mind so yes, next update will be more crappy than usual but whatever :teeth:
I've been a little down the past few days, probably because I've been so stressed out at the end of the school period and now I have to do nothing at all and my body responds to that with making me having headaches and making me need a lot of sleep (and making me irritated quickly so I fight a lot with my parents and sister :S which is not very nice of me). Probably because I've been so busy and now there's finally time to recover from that.
But I'm going to be active again and draw more and just do stuff. So eh right that was my boring post :P Now here are the reactions to the reactions ;)

@ Dopecoil; hiya :) thanks :) oh and 'proefwerken' are called tests in English ;)
@ Asoir; hehe :) gotta bring some rhythm into the paper when the drawings are lacking it :P, nah I just had time left on the 90 second poses so each time I was 'finished' with the lines of a pose I did some lalalalalalala on the paper hihi. Thanks about the arm studies. I'll do some more but then a bit more like I'll learn something from it I guess :)
@ crimsoneye; thanks man! Good to have you back :)
@ PaperX; No prob! For inserting the images just click the little paperclip icon above the text entering field. After attaching the images click it again and you can choose to insert certain attachments or all of them, so you can write between them. For more info; I'm sure there is a thread about it in the support subforum :) Thanks for the nice comments :)

So I'll see you in a week or so :)
Lots of love!
Marleen

[Jens]

nice work Noë

the girl with the wings you've been working one, really needs a back of a head.. look at the skull study you just made. Line of the neck is a bit weird and straight. Colors on her are very nice.

Really nice line studies, especially those skulls!

[paperX]

wow thanks a lot marleen (if i may)!!! it was bothering me for the longest time haha :bashful: can't wait to for your next update :)

[voraz]

Hi Marleen, i see your sketchbook is on fire! :D
Nice to see so much movement here.
I see you keep doing lots of studies and I think they are getting better. Now I'm still waiting to see more longer studies, those digitall ones are looking good.
I liked that painting for the festival mundial ( I'm saying this again because I think you missed my last post... ;))
keep posting
cheers

[h2rra]

It's always nice to see your sb, especially if you update it so much. Thanks for posting the posemaniacs link. I've been messing around with it but my results a nowhere as good as your :P

I think you are frustrated because despite the amount of studies done, there are still few finished pieces you are proud of. You have good skills and imho you should put them together in more finished pieces. That's how I feel about my work currently anyway. This (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=153457&d=1181850762) one has a great potential and would look great finished.

Now some crits. In this (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=151822&d=1181588712) piece the composition doesn't work because all the diagonals lock the eye in the center of the picture but there's nothing there. Moving the wings downwards would improve it and add more movement.

For some reason you keep drawing the eyes too high. The eyes are above middle line when the head is tilted upwards.

Don't be on the break for too long ;)

[dannE-B]

Hey, lots and lots of great studies going on here..i was taking a look at your older stuff on earlier pages and its amazing how much you've improved...especially of recent...all those anatomy studies seem to be paying off...keep up the good Work!

[Dile_]

haha, you are probably one of those who will go to the massive-black-school one day. Keep working ! And i'm looking forward to your 'mostly-from-mind' update ;)

-Dennis

[Shobunkin]

WOW! It's really incredible to see your progress in two years and your devotion to getting better. It's also nice to see that you haven't changed your style completely, it's just grown with you it seems. Cool stuff!

[Noë]

Oh dear.. :P One page in less than a month! But I did get more replies than ever, so that's probably the reason ^^. Thanks for the many replies guys, I feel unworthy :^^:
@ Jens; thanks man! Yup that girl needs the back of her head, even though it is rather flat in the reference, thanks to Justin's paintover I realized that I probably shouldn't follow the picture with that. I'll fix the last few things on that one and quit working on it..
@ PaperX; no prob, glad I could help.Thanks ^^
@ voraz; oops! I did read the last post, just forgot to reply to it. Ah well :P I agree with the fan cutting her breasts in half, also it doesn't look the shape of a fan, and well there are some proportion issues (obviously). Thanks for the nice comments :)
@ h2rra; wow thanks a lot man! I'll try to make the composition a bit more interesting on the one you pointed out. I understand what you mean with the diagonals. I will try to make some more finished stuff. I'm getting a little more confidence and I'll try to really finish stuff. Usually I get fed up with something after working on it for 3 hours or more. But I'll try to break that habit.
@ Prophet; Thanks a lot man! Wow you're in a nice sketchgroup! Lots of people from whom I like their stuff (including yours ofcourse)
@ Dennis/Dile; Thanks :x I don't think I'll be going to the massive black school. There's the being away from my boyfriend too long issue, and the money issue, and ofcourse I would need to get in..? :P But thanks for having so much faith in me. Don't lose it all after seeing this update please? :P
@ Shobunkin; wow thanks! Do I have a style? :P didn't really notice haha ^^
--
update :\
so well I doodled a bit more on this update. And I have some pages from a week ago that I didn't scan before. But you'll see.. haha ^^

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quick evil cat doodle (reffed) and some posemaniacs

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Awesome OC session I had with Kronos.. Was very fun. You can see the stuff I did because the lines are a bit more messy than the stuff that Kronos did. I guess I could work on line quality :) Kronos did all the good parts ofcourse :P (nah just kidding I did nice stuff too)

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mor posemaniacs

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more.. and some doodles, I like the skull thingy on the right.

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left: really quick doodles, just trying to find shapes, right: more worked out doodles.

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some weird studies, cos I really had to do something other than doodle :P

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Stupid marker pages that really shouldn't be in here, bus as they're in my sketchbook I decided to post them anyways

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more crazy doodles

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scribbling away with ideas for thunderdome challenge "the curse", this stuff is mostly reffed, but I kinda tried to add my own swing to it :P

Love
Marleen

[JellevdVegt]

hey marleen, whatsup girl!!

like the fastness of the sketches. i have a question about your 90 second doodles. because i like them, but i never do these kind of sketches myself because i dont see why they would help me. what do you learn from these very fast sketches of the figure?

anyway, looking good. cya!!

[paperX]

hey hey! great update! really like your imagination...i can sorta relate to how you feel about doing studies compared to doodles from ur mind...but i can see you doing a good amount of both which im sure will help you a lot :) keep at it!! :yayca:

[Dose206]

Marleen,

Wow, you've been busy since the last time that I posted here. Sorry that I haven't been checking in so much lately. I'm at work right now so I can't really get in depth and crit you, but keep it up and I'll be back later to let you know what I think.

chris

[hp]

hey your anatomy is getting a whole lot better! i'm really jealous :D

[iceman478]

nice sketches i love the teddy bear the most !

SketchbOOK!
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=98822

[TheGnoll]

hey Noe,
nice lines in here.You've improved loads since i last stoped in here...studies are regualrar and as i see they are very useflu too.I should start some posemaniacs too.About anatomy, i can only suggest to work not just on the general overall anatomy, but to start and get into some more detail too.Check out hogart, he has a great way to explain the body mechanics, or Glen Vilppu. All the articulations and muscles have quite complex structures that show up even above the skin, someties in very explicit wasy, other times its just very subtle, but significant nonetheless.

About subjects, be sure to keep 'em varied.Animals are a very complex matter on their own, since they have their own anatomy, that can be a very interesting subject to analize.Try and spice up things once in a while by drawing things you never uusually draw, like mech things, or enviroments.

But you're doing really well, improvement is steady...keep sharing, i'll be back :)

ciao!

[sketcheth]

Your pen drawings really display your lines, very nice work there. All of the posemaniac studies are real nice, keep it up!! Definitely keep up the figure studies.

[Dose206]

Marleen,

Well, I could give you the same advice you gave me, although I have the problem much worse than you do. Try to use more confident lines, yours are not many small scribbly lines, but rather you have a collection of longer, more confident lines, but still it could be brought down to maybe one or two.
Also, even though you said that your marker page was crappy I would urge you to keep trying with them. I am by no means an expert or anything more than a novice with markers, but they are fun and I guess it's good to be relatively proficient in other mediums right?
Anyhoo, keep it up and give us an update!

Chris

[asoir]

for some strange reason, your sketches remind me of my own..but better!

very nice updates, lots of inspiration clearly. gotta go draw now, thanks! :)

[Noë]

Announcement!
I have a summerjob in Meppel (the hometown of my boyfriend), so I'll be staying with my boyfriend over the next four weeks. Maybe I'll come home in between, but anyways, I won't be scanning sketchbook updates over there so I will do sketches but you'll only see them in a few weeks when I'm back home again to scan stuff.. So this means there'll be a few weeks in between updates, bút the updates will be big!

@ Teh Gosu; thanks man :) I answered your question in your own sketchbook topic.
@ PaperX; thanks for the encouragement!
@ Chris; thanks! I'll watch the line confidence, but I'm already practicing it ofcourse. I've been doing a little more marker stuff after I read your reply, so thanks for that. I really like how they're turning out. Markers are just very nice! You'll have to wait for the next update for a while :(
@ hp; hey girly! thanks for stopping by! I love your sketchbook ^^
@ iceman; euhm thanks :P you mean the teddy bear from the 1st page? That's about 2 years ago hihi ^^
@ The Gnoll; thanks man! I'll bring my Hogarth books with me and study some of the detail in anatomy ^^ Also I'm trying to step out of my comfort zone a little but it is ofcourse a little hard :P thanks for stopping by!
@ sketcheth; thanks!
@ asoir; cool! cos I like your sketches ^^
----
update of 22 images
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left: entirely from mind, right; entirely wonky from ref

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left; face from mind and man from life, right; some reffed drawings and bla :P

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some posemaniaccies

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all from mind

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some gestures

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trying to get out of my comfort zone? :P

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right; self portrait digital.. Took quite long.. I just can't understand how Icon does stuff like this (http://phobian-art.com/ca/lemur9.jpg) in one hour :P but I guess it takes practice ^^

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trying out how to colour b/w stuffs in photoshop

hope you enjoyed, it's not much interesting stuff really :P
See you in a few weeks! Happy holidays!
Love
Marleen

[Dose206]

Marleen, have you noticed that the default posts per page is now 30 instead of 60, so your sketchbook is 17 pages long. Congrats!

Anyhoo, this is a nice big update, I like. I notice that you are definitely practicing confidence in lines, but in stuff like the posemaniacs, I think that you are sacrificing a bit of form, they seem not as "on" as usual.
I like the set of guns, are they watercolor or ink and brush? I think that my favorite image from this whole post is on the page with the zombie guy, the MP5 rifle with holographic sight at the bottom. That's great! It looks like markers and pen, is that correct? I'd like to see more in this style.
The SP is coming along well, and I agree with your observations about Icon. You got interesting results color the b&w image, I'd like to see what you can do if you play with this more.
Well, boohoo on having to wait for the next update, but perhaps it will give me some time to try and catch up. Keep it up!

Chris

[DeadlyFreeze]

You must have the HL2 concept art book, I recognize the zombie guy. Amazing SB, a true pillar to dedication.

[loveandasandwich]

Very nice gentle looking sp. and man, do i love tinted paper. everything always tends to look nicer on it.

[Noë]

@ Chris; hehe I noticed! But I really liked the 60 post pages, so I turned the option of 60-posts per page on in the control panel -> options ^^ hihi. About the posemaniacs, I didn't really think at all while doing them, was having a bad day so maybe that's the reason. Anyhow I'll try to get both confident lines and good form ^^. The guns are pencil and markers, and so is the MP5 rifle (had no idea it was an MP5 rifle by the way.. I don't know shit about guns.. Can you recommend me a book or a handy website or something? :P) And I'm definately going to play with the b/w to colour thingy, because I think it can save a lot of time. On the other hand I think the best results will still come from starting with colour from the beginning on. So here's another update, but after that I'll be definately gone for at least a week ^^ so go catch up hihi! Oh that reminds me, I need to reply to your sketchbook! Gonna do that tomorrow tho, need sleep.
@ DeadlyFreeze; well, actually I don't own it. I downloaded it to see if it was worth buying and found out that it isn't for me. But I found the zombie quite cool (except for those pointy ends.. What's up with that? :P) so I drew that one off the screen. Thanks for posting!
@ 28chelseaslater; Thanks! And yes I love tinted paper as well.. Cool stuff you can do with that! And it saves time ofcourse.
---
little update, had Dutch Sketchgroup Meeting at my house today.. Was a lot of fun
A friend of mine came to model for a bit, and we did a lil thunderdome (it got me down a little because I couln't get the ideas out of my head on paper).. So it was fun.. click (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1379044&postcount=684) to see some of the pictures we took. I'm the girly in the grey longsleeve looking a lil' embarassed :P. So, enough babbling.. Here's an update!

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two lil lifedrawing sketches, left 10 min, right 5.. Drawn in Daniels sketchbook (moleskine like, very smooth paper.. awesome to draw on)

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left; another 5 min pose, right; a little painting from a 30 min pose, painting got out of hand and my friend now looks like a zombie, which gives a kinda funny effect also I guess :P Too bad I didn't draw the hands down..

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three warming up poses, 5 min (these were the first ones actually, this is not scanned in chronological order :P) I know they're really wonky.. Don't bother mentioning it :S

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two doodles, right one was for the mini thunderdome "summer plague" (C.O.W. topic of last week)

Hope you enjoyed. So now I'm really gone :P Seeya in a few weeks then!
Love
Marleen

[Dose206]

ah Marleen,

nice update, my favorites are the toned paper ones. I hope that you'll still be drawing while you're gone, or is that too much to ask for? I'm excited to see you still using the markers.
I'm kinda jealous that you got a local sketchgroup together, nobody in my area wants to get together. Ah well.
Um, right now I don't know a website for you that has ref and info on guns, all my knowledge is just from being in the military, but I'll dig around the net and see what I can find for you.
Keep it up, but not too up cause I gotta catch up. My wife and child are on vacation so I have the house and my time to myself (aside from work of course).

Chris

[Nizza_waaarg]

yo marleen, i think i saw some of your stuff a while back, your toned paper stuff is incredible (why can't i ever find toned paper around here >_<). also that digital sp a few posts back is insane, really good work.

keep on posting :teeth:

[Kronos]

lucky lucky lucky! Dutch sketchmeet looks like it was fun. are they all CAers?.. just looked at the whole tread and they are. lucky!

we can't have a super secret 9 page sketchbook club anymore :P nuts.

updates look good, you are definitely just doing what you need to do, so just keep doing it :)
nice colours (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=164799&d=1183760079)

oh and, oc again some time when you get back :D cool!