Wim's Sketchbook (sketches & drawings) - last update March 5, 2010 -

[wim]

* Wim's Sketchbook *

I'm 25 years old, living in Belgium (Western-Europe) and I started taking art classes almost a month ago.
Currently we're still doing some really basic stuff, like contour and blind contour drawing, negative drawing and so on. However, I think I've already taken a liking to portrait/life drawing. So I guess you'll come across a lot of anatomy studies in my sketchbook...

I didn't have much drawing experience prior to the start of the art-class, so I'm really just starting out.
Comments and (constructive) critique are always welcome, of course.

[wim]

From a photograph

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/girl01.jpg

Probably the first face I've drawn, ever. Any crits welcome !

edit : really been busy lately, but I'm expecting Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life tomorrow, so I will update my SB more often...

[wim]

Self-portrait (sort of)

1. I know I should have started more to the left of the page
2. Drawn from a photograph (see here (http://users.pandora.be/level-zero/drawings/selfportrait_photo001.png))

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/selfportrait001.png

C&C welcome :rendered:

[wim]

Are the drawings so bad, that you guys (and girls :rendered: ) don't know where to start ?
Since I'm still a beginner, I really could use the critique though...

[karma0zero]

pretty good considering you've just started
hard to tell where your weak areas are from just 2 sketches
the eyes look a bit pop outy

[wim]

I probably won't update my SB with everything I draw, it's all practice, so that may get boring for others to look at after a while.
Anyway, started with Loomis today (Figure Drawing : For All It's Worth), studying proportions :

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/proportions001.png

[wim]

Updated the previous image with a profile drawing of the same man (8 heads tall)

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/proportions002.png

Drawing on the left: tried a blind contour drawing for a change, but I completely messed up the proportions (especially the legs, they are way too short). Will have to work on that...

[madplanet]

Keep with those anatomy studies and pay attention to how the eyes fit into the face. There is a big improvement from the first face to the second, though. The face has it's planes and surfaces and the eyeballs have form, too. they don't just lay flat on the face like centipedes. Good start with the basics and keep up the good work.

[wim]

A little something I tried at work today (drawn from reference) :

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/face001.png

I find drawing the eyelashes very difficult, can't seem to do 'em realistically. They always look too much like pencil strokes... :(

[spacemanchris]

your stuff is looking good and promising. One thing you may want to try is really building the form of your characters with shapes. Make a face with a bunch of spheres, really understand the volume of what you are drawing. Making clean clear lines comes later. Make a mess of pencil lines, then redraw it cleaner, then redraw it again cleaner. There are few people who don't make a bunch of messy sketches before the good clean one. Keep up the great work and you'll be awesome in no time.

[wim]

Thanks for the advice. I'm reading Loomis's books now, and I wanted to try something different for a change.
But you're absolutely right, the basics are important and should be mastered before doing more complicated stuff.

[SirGreenSock]

You appear to be on the right track. Keep looking at Loomis and Bridgman, its a great help. Right now I'd say just focus on life studies, and look at form and shape more closely.
I can already see that you are noticing more things and are improving, such as the eye you did in the last study.

[wim]

I drew the male proportions again, as I wasn't pleased with the previous drawing

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/proportions003.png

I think that'll be enough for now, next: female proportions :rendered:

Actually how important is being able to draw from memory at this stage (meaning : proportions, perspective, planes,...) ?

[spacemanchris]

he's already looking more solid and filled out.

drawing from memory is never really super important. Everyone uses references, be it a favorite artist, a guy on the street, a photograph. A better way to approach it is to draw everything around you, use as many references as you can. After some practice, you'll have seen how, say, an arm looks. All that practice can then be applied to some character you create from your head.

As far as proportions go, once again, from practice you'll automatically start to remember what basic proportions people have and apply that knowledge. Remember though, everyone has different proportions, some people have longer legs etc. but you'll pick that up later.

For perspective, there isn't really much memory needed. Once you learn about single, two-point, three-point perspective, you just use the techniques that you'll learn.

Keep up the good work.

[wim]

I tried one more face today, but I messed everything up when I started drawing the hair (I'm not good at that).
The result looked horrible, so I scanned it, removed most of the hair in Photoshop and here it is :

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/face002.png

I think I'll stick to the basics for now...

[spacemanchris]

looks good, but you gotta show us the bad hair if you want us to help you get better at it:)

[wim]

I think the girl's right eye (our left) looks a bit strange though, but I can't tell exactly what's wrong with it. Maybe it's a little too big...

[wim]

From Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life :

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/bridgman001.png

At first I thought his style was a bit crude, but now I'm actually starting to like the drawings in the book. And a good thing too, because I'll have to draw them a lot...

[wim]

Finally did the female proportions (Andrew Loomis) :

Front & Side

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/proportions004.png

Back + some more Bridgman

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/proportions005.png

[wim]

More Bridgman

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/bridgman002.png

The right one looks a bit off, the position of the head seems rather 'unnatural'...

[blacky]

It's good you use books, like Loomis and Bridgman as referances instead of photographies for now. As on photos you receive way too much visual information. And for a beginner it's hard to figure out what lines are important and which not.
You migh also want to do some imaginative stuff once in a while. Doesn't matter if it looks bad. What matters about those, is how to develop ideas/ concepts. Creativity practice so to speak. Cuz copying all the time is not only boring but also degenerates your imagination (sort of).
Keep working hard it's gonna pay of.

[wim]

I finally have something to show again.

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/skull1.png
http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/skull2.png

Drawing skulls turned out to be a real b*tch :) I know I should avoid those scribbly lines while drawing...

As for the lack of 'imaginative stuff' in my SB : people more talented than me might be able to do that after only three months of practice, but I guess I'm not that lucky :) I'll do more of that when i feel more confident about the basics.

Next : bargue drawing (you'll be able to follow my progress here).

[wim]

After reading bumskee's thread about Digital Painting in PS (here (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=47859)), I wanted to try something myself, and here is the result (with my mouse, unfortunately no Wacom) :

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/apple_PS.jpg

I know I've already posted my apple in the thread I mentioned above, but I'll probably get more reactions here...

[tullie]

Hi Wim, its great to see someone else who has just started out with drawing :). I think you are doing really well so far. Using the Loomis books and Bridgman will really help you and give you those proper foundations, which are so important.
Your proportion work is looking good so far, as are the bridgman studies. The skulls are a great idea and will help improve your face drawings. I recommend that you just keep drawing as much as you can from life and references. Also, have a go at still life and perspective - I neglected those when I started an am now totally intimidated by the thought of starting to learn them.
Good luck and keep posting!!

[tullie]

Heya, I only have two drawing from imagination in my sketch book hehe, and thats pretty average (if that lol). As a beginner, don't worry about drawing from imagination too much. Things like that take years to develope, depending on how hard you work on it. I always see it as - if I still struggle to draw from reference, Im going to have problems with drawing from imagination.
Just keep at it, it's really hard when you start out, but it gets more fun. I'll be watching your progess.

[wim]

Another piece of fruit, colored in PS.

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/lemon_PS.jpg

[wim]

Another skull I did today (it's not perfect yet, but I'm starting to see its construction in my mind)

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/skull3.png

The following is something I'm kind of struggling with, and I could use some advice on this.

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/eggs.png

The egg on the right for example, does it seem convincing (in terms of volume), or does it look flat ?
What I'm trying to say is, when drawing an egg (or a sphere) you have not only to make sure the egg is round along the X-axis (green arrow), it also has a slight curvature along the Y-axis (orange arrow).
There's my problem : my eggs don't show this Y-axis curvature, and I just can't seem to get it right on paper.
How would you handle this ?


http://users.pandora.be/level-zero/drawings/eggs_volume.png

[wim]

Anybody got some advice on my eggs/spheres problem (see previous reply) ?

[wim]

I did another self-portrait today, and while the drawing is not entirely accurate (mouth too small and too close to my nose), I'm more interested in the technical aspect right now.
Good things (if any), bad things, things I should avoid doing ?

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/selfportrait002.png

You can see the reference photo here (http://users.pandora.be/level-zero/drawings/selfportrait_photo002.png). Be warned though, I'm not exactly what you would call good-looking :)

[wim]

I notice I've not been getting much reactions lately.
I am eager to learn from all these great artists here, but without someone to point out my mistakes or comment on my work from time to time, I think there's only so much one can improve. Sure, practice is important, but if you keep making the same mistakes over and over again (without noticing them), what have you really accomplished in the end ?

Anyway, I think it's time to get my priorities straight. I'm going to read Nicolaides' book (among others) and see if I can finish what I started. Until then, thanks to the people who wrote something here and take care :)

[NightVision]

you're definately learning anyway ! :P

A few things that might help:

On the selfportrait: the larger masses of your head are rather empty in your drawing, you're studying the skull: connect those bony masses with what you see, they come through on a lot of places (highlight on zygomatic arch, shadow beneath; temporal fossa (shadow); mental protuberance/mentalis muscle (part of the chin that sticks out: light, shadow on both sides, not only above and below ... and don't be afraid to push your darks)
Your proportions seem pretty good, so I take it you measure them ? Next thing would to also pay attention to the forms ! :)

The one before (skull): if you drew the cross through the face, it'd be nowhere 90 degree angles: horizontal through the nose: top of skull is off, and it's also very clear on the line through the zygomatic bones) SYMMETRY !
Fixing the top/side of the cranium would already make a huge difference.

The eggs: if you put it on a table, put in the shadow on the table as well, that'll help the impression.
For the direction of the light/shadow ... I haven't studied that yet, but I imagine if you could draw a straight line all around on your (real-life) egg (or 3 lines: one around each axis) and practiced drawing those lines, it'd be a huge help ... I ocasionally do that for a sphere (a puzzleball I have) and it helps big time, it's not easy though (but who cares about easy anyway). Practice on ellipses too (glasses, other objects).

On drawing from imagination: try to redraw things you drew from reference without ref. At first you'll probably remember nothing ... close your eyes, and keep thinking, ask yourself questions about it. Then redraw with ref, make sure you now answer all your questions you couldn't before ... redraw without ref. Think about large things first (action, big masses, direction these large masses are in, ...) ! Jot down what you know in small drawings, and compose the final from that (like in a test, when you first seem to remember nothing, then a few keywords, until it all comes back).
This is also very much an excercise in observation and in problemsolving, so it's not all that important what you use as subject, but preferably things that interest you, and that are simple (at first). Loomis has some excercises on this (his approach to draw a head & figure (mannikin frame,...)), other than that things from life or from masterdrawings would be best imo.

See ya !

[wim]

you're definately learning anyway ! :P

A few things that might help:...Thanks for the advice. That's some very valuable information, I'll keep it in mind.
By the way, the Loomis studies you did (the male & female proportions) are amazing. Very clean and smooth lines, hope I'll be able to draw like that someday.

[spacemanchris]

love the self portrait, really good solid proportions going man. Self-portraits are friggin' hard to get a likeness. The drawing excersises look to be paying off!

[wim]

While reading and drawing from Loomis & Nicolaides, I felt like doing something else for a change :

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/nude001.png

I kinda skipped the feet because I haven't practiced drawing feet yet. C&C welcome (and much appreciated)...

[Flynn]

goddamn wim, improving so much. Im gonna take a leaf out of your book and start doing these bridgeman studies cheers :)

And about joining the SSG thats no problem at all, never worry about your quality, i know i dont :)

Look forward to seeing more Wim :)

[OBX]

its good to see were ure heading, just keep drawing man. and welcome to the 12 disciples of drawing. i definatly see potential. just keep plugin away, and we'll be here to help u with wat we can.

[Master 25 Days]

hey Wim, you're starting off good here, bub. you're starting to see the construction of the skull is a great thing.

Night Vision has the right idea about setting up an egg still life. I think one thing that makes the egg not so eggish is because your darks and highlights aren't strong enough. So it looks more like a dome rather than a round object. A cast shadow will help to like Night Vision said, it grounds your object. I didn't have an egg handy but I tried it out it photoshop, painted from my mind. Hope it helps. Blur your eyes since i didn't blend too well hehe.
http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/6503/egg2jw.jpg

When you sketch do you start off with basic geometric shapes? If not you really should, it'll help you keep all your features straight. You can avoid proportions problem like your mouth looking too small in your self portrait pic. Sketch out the basic shapes first, then add in the details. Try to not think of lines if you want to get a realistic looking picture. Think of values instead. In your self portrait, the bottom lines of the eye should be lighter since thats where light will hit and you can show this by shading the area underneath.

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/8060/face3tx.jpg

[wim]

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/loomis001.png

Don't worry, I won't be posting these stick-figures every day.
For creativity practice, I'm planning to draw 1 creature, 1 landscape and 1 vehicle a week (both fictional and real), and I'll add some other stuff as well. Hopefully TV hasn't killed whatever little remained of my creativity :)

edit : after looking at the other sketchbooks from SSG #12, I realized that you guys are much further along than I am, and that doesn't make it any easier to give crits :) But I'll keep checking them every day, and I'll reply when I have something useful to say...

[OBX]

edit : after looking at the other sketchbooks from SSG #12, I realized that you guys are much further along than I am, and that doesn't make it any easier to give crits :) But I'll keep checking them every day, and I'll reply when I have something useful to say...

yah, it doesnt matter if u have a crit or not, positive input is just as good. were all here to keep pressing eachother, and challenging eachother to better ourselves, and achieve our goals. keep up the stuff. sounds like u got some good plans too.

[wim]

Today was supposed to be my "creature-drawing day". I was thinking about a very angry gorilla-like monster with one big eye (like a Cyclops) and tusks, so I searched the web for reference and I ended up with...

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/gorilla001.png

Not exactly what I had in mind, so far for creativity :( And I'll have to get myself a good book about animal anatomy, I guess...

[Zhengpeng]

The face looks very humanlike. Don't know if you intended it that way, or an accident. Nice studies in general though and I think you've got an eye for detail. Welkom to the group. I'm very new the this studygroup and the whole drawing thing aswell. I'm curious, what they teach you at an artclass. Could you maybe write down, the exercises and assignments you got every lesson, so I can practise along?

[Boogieman]

Ever read "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain"? The text is mostly bullshit but the excercises are real good and I think you might like it. Some of your drawings are looking accurate like the Loomis studie and the sp, and some of your other stuff look like they suffer from poor observation like the gorilla from yesterday or the skewed skulls up top. It seems like some days you're seeing good and some days you're not. I think DotRotB might help you.

[wim]

Zhengpeng - the art school I'm going to is nothing fancy, just something I do after work, three classes a week, 3 hours each (for 4 years). But they already did teach me stuff I didn't know before, so I guess it ain't too bad :)
To answer your question : if you want I'll write some of it down for you, but we're still doing all the basic stuff : contour/ blind contour drawing, negative drawing, still life (spheres, eggs, ...) and so on.

Boogieman - Yeah, I noticed that too. I was already planning on doing some bargue drawings (see here (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=12104)), according to MindCandyMan it's a great way to train the eye. And if that still doesn't do the trick, I think I'll buy DotRSotB anyway. Being able to observe correctly is something I just can't do without.

[wim]

I set everything up to start working on my first bargue drawing (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=12104) tomorrow. Does that count as my daily contribution ? :[

Zhengpeng - practiced drawing spheres today for a couple of hours. As I said, rather basic stuff : light, cast & form shadow, shading techniques, volume, ... But maybe your question should be answered by someone who's going to a real art school, I don't know.

[Art_Addict]

Another Belgian dude on the boards, excellent !
Progression is allready visable.
Good luck on that bargue drawing.

( vraagje : Waar heb je die print voor die Bargue gehaald? Is moeilijk te vinden opt net vind ik, buiten dan die Sargent tekening die ik niet zo geschikt vind )

Cheers

[wim]

( vraagje : Waar heb je die print voor die Bargue gehaald? Is moeilijk te vinden opt net vind ik, buiten dan die Sargent tekening die ik niet zo geschikt vind )
CheersIk heb bij Google > Afbeeldingen gezocht op "bargue" en ik ben uitgekomen bij http://digilander.libero.it/tuttobianco/Cash-Bargue-Original.jpg. Er stonden nog wel andere voorbeelden, maar de meeste waren te klein om te laten printen op A3-formaat.

[Kresh]

i like that eye u drew. Those wire gesture studies I really enjoy. Lets see some more.

[Master 25 Days]

Have fun doing the barque painting!

I saw "Sargent" in Art Addict's reply. His paintings are amazing. One of my fav is the Vernon Lee.

[wim]

Master 25days, Penciler, OBX, Kresh, Flynn, Zhengpeng and Boogieman :

Could you please put me on hold for the SSG, for now ? Observation is something I really need to work on (as Boogieman said), so I'll be doing my bargue-drawing for the next few days/weeks... I'll keep checking the other sketchbooks though.

[Boogieman]

Why don't you post your progress like every few days? You got a digicam?

[Master 25 Days]

hey tis no problem man. Just do your stuff.

[Kresh]

update?

[wim]

Unfortunately, only a small update today :(

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/misc001.png

[ThabisoMhlaba]

mm i like it, the torso in the middle looks a bit wide though.

[Boogieman]

Cancelled the bargue? Studies are looking good, the ulna/radius ones especially. That stuff is real good for understanding the mechanics of the body, but you already know that. You could use a little more rythm and fluidity in your quick poses, but that's the kinda thing that comes with practice and increased confidence. So just keep on drawing.

[wim]

Cancelled the bargue?...Not at all :) I'm going to the copycenter later this day to have my new bargue printed. The previous one turned out to be too difficult for a first bargue...

[Flynn]

keep it up wim i almost jealous of your progress :) excelent loomis studies, i havent gotten that far yet but i shall :)

[wim]

Loomis studies. The proportions need work on some of my stick figures :[

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/loomis002.png

A quick Mentler study, trying to create more dynamic/fleshed out figures. It's really fun to see these blocks come alive...

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/mmentler_study001.png

[wim]

More Mentler-based figures (the figure in the middle is from OBX's SB, just not as good :))

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/mmentler_study002.png

I should probably do a more in-depth analysis of Mr. Mentler's working method, to make these figures look better. Anyway, back to the bargue for now...

[wim]

My weekly self-portrait (work in progress). I'm using the head tutorial here (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14119) as a guide.

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/selfportrait003_WIP.png

The portrait was supposed to be finished today :( but I'll continue working on it tomorrow.

[Boogieman]

SP's coming along good. You doing it from mirror or photo? Post a mug of yourself so it's easier for us to crit. Unless your afraid of stalkers...

[wim]

Boogieman - it's from a photo, but everyone keeps telling me I should sit in front of a mirror instead. I did that once and it turned out to be much more difficult (don't know why). Maybe soon, when I feel more confident about doing portrait...

Photo is here (http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/selfportrait_photo003.png) (BEWARE : version with glasses, somewhat nerdy :rendered:)

[Master 25 Days]

looking good wim. I wasn't aware you updated your SB since you said you would be out for awhile because of the barque painting.

anyways the self portrait is a good start but I think doing the contour first isn't a good idea. You should start with a gesture sketch first, start loose then tighten up, otherwise your picture will come out looking too stiff. Figure studies look good, I think the pelvic are should be drawn with a longer block, so its closer to the dimension of a cube but not as deep.

[wim]

Some anatomy studies (simplified muscle structure of the leg) :

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/anatomy001.png

[Boogieman]

Looking good. But you left out a whole bunch of muscles. You got the general shape down tho and I guess that's what matters. You did that simplifaction on your own or you copying a book? Either way it's good work.

[Master 25 Days]

good to see you're studying anatomy. Why the leg first? Simplifying is the way to go.

[Zhengpeng]

Obviously to kick sum ass, and it does!

[wim]

You should start with a gesture sketch first, start loose then tighten up, otherwise your picture will come out looking too stiff.What do you mean by 'stiff' ? I understand the importance of dynamism in figure drawing, but when doing portrait creating a good resemblance is what's most important, no ?
Could you show me an example of what you mean, that'll make it easier to understand ?

[Kresh]

this is good that your learning this. I dont even know this shit so u probably already know more than i do.

[Kresh]

looks a lil flat to me right now. U need a slight curverture with the brow line too show the roundess of the face. Maybe its too early to judge but come on get your ass in gear in and I want to see progress on this tonight!!! Sorry for bustin but im trying to help you get motivated and better ;)

[Master 25 Days]

Actually now that I look at what you have so far again, I think you're starting good. The scan isn't clear so at first it looks like you were outlining the contour which is bad because you can never match the contour exactly. YOu should strive for likeness through how the shapes relate to one another.

what I mean was to start loose with your lines first. The first stage doesn't need the likeness you just need to lay down some lines so you can see the face on your canvas. Then you lay down loose shapes in mass values, this part is the most important to me because if you do this right then you can achieve likeness here. then tighten it up and add more values in between.then add details at the end. I've add a progress pic here. The likeness isn't all there because I'm not that good yet but hopefully you get get what I'm talking about. Now that I've look at it again, I think the lips and the lower jaw could use some tweak.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=750268&postcount=85

[wim]

Kresh - I'm struggling with my latest SP as I type this, but since there's no noticeable progress since the previous version (see above) I'll have to wait until tomorrow to update.

Master 25 Days - thanks for the explanation, I understand it better now. By the way, your Johnny Depp painting is looking awesome, very good likeness I think.

[Master 25 Days]

hey forget that I said, that was all out of wack.

New approach is to sketch loosely but precisely if that makes sense. Basically you have to get the likeness in the early stages or else it'll be hard to fix it come near completion time. I think the way Sargent worked is that he would lay down some loose lines with charcoal very quickly. Then he would model from mids first, then darks/lights, being very careful.

[wim]

Finally an update. First, some Mentler studies :

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/mmentler_study003.png

And some Mentler figures I did on the train (small notebook, from mind) :

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/misc002.png

[Boogieman]

Studies is the way to go, and mentlers technique is real good. These all look a little stiff tho, and you kept the anatomy real simple. If you want my advice I say go attend some life drawing classes. It's a good way of learning anatomy (combined with study) and drawing living things should help you put some life and rythm on your paper.

[OBX]

awsome, great to see u studying mentler. he's the man.

just one thing, u gotta work on ur lines. sometimes i just sit down and practice lines. do u worry about where u lines might be going? whether or not thier going where u want them too? i did. so i used to do a bunch of short flick lines making up one long one. in honest truth there is no easy way past this. just practice. and knowing how ur hand works.

tips. make 2 dots on a paper about 2 inches apart, and try and connect them as smoothly as possible. use ur elbow as a pivot, and keep ur wrist stiff for long lines. leave small lil jittery details to ur hand. for super long lines that go the width of the paper, ull have to utilize ur shoulder aswell. for curvy lines hold u pencil near the eraser end. ghost the line first, invisible draw the line without touching the paper. try and go left to right. practice drawing various curves and then duplicate the curve as close to the next one over and over. make cubes. set up perspective grids. ghost ghost ghost. i do it like crazy. practice makes perfect.

peace.

[wim]

OBX - I'll try to do one page of these everyday. As I found out (again) today, my lines DO need work indeed. So thanks for the advice.

@ SSG #12 - Didn't feel much like drawing the past couple of days, but I'll start updating my SB again tomorrow on a (hopefully) daily basis. Otherwise I may have to pull the plug on this one, and I don't really feel like doing that...

[Boogieman]

Step it up and just draw man. I know sometimes you get kinda bummed out and feel like everything you do is crap and you don't wanna draw anymore. I get it myself alot... What you gotta do is accept your own skill for whatever it is, stop worrying about making pretty pictures and start drawing just for the sake of drawing. Keeping your motivation up is hard tho I know, specially in the beginning when you don't really feel stoked about your own work. But try and stick with it and after while as you get better you'll feel drawing is becoming such a big part of who you are you won't be able to NOT do it. Everybody's entitled to a break tho and if you feel you need it just say fuck it for a week or so and come back after that. I'd hate to see you drop this entirely tho. We need you homie!

[Zhengpeng]

Good luck on the portrait, the tutorial seems nice. Don't get overworked in all the studies though, draw things for fun once in a while and do a great variaty of stuff(atleast, thats how I keep myself motivated). And whenever I don't feel like drawing I always looking for inspirational works, reference pictures and photo's, tuts, lesson, animes etc.

Edit: oops was looking at the wrong page(where is the portrait you were working on anyway?)

[wim]

Something I did in charcoal today, trying to get acquainted with the medium (so it ain't really finished).

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/nude002.png

Unfortunately, I messed up the face (looks too manly, I think) and the lower half of the body. I'll try to do better next time, but at least I started drawing again. SSG, I'm back ! :)

[OBX]

i like the contour lines. they lookl like they have way more confidence! thats an A+ picture my friend. keep it up.

[Flynn]

I like that picture alot wim :) my only troub le is reading the knee`s they look in a painfull positiion :(

[Zhengpeng]

tiny foot :p , but like obx said, look fine, bring on more of those

[wim]

Zhengpeng - I'll finish that portrait as soon as I can, but I'm working on some other stuff right now...

To everyone else, thanks for the crits.

[-ThePenciler-]

Sorry i haven't checked on you, wim. I just went through your sketchbook and i see really great stuff. What these guys are saying is true, just draw. don't compare yourself to anyone but yourself. if your showing improvement then thats all that matters. Also, from experience i can tell you that whenever i take time away from drawing i get really rusty. When i come back to it my work sucks really bad and it takes sometimes all day to get warmed up again. This is another reason to draw every day. It will keep you up at your current skill level. Besides everyone knows that every artist from Belgium is destined to be a bad ass!!!

[Zhengpeng]

What do you mean "every artist from Belgium"... its not just the artists!

Oops, sorry about that :p

[wim]

What do you mean "every artist from Belgium"... its not just the artists!

Oops, sorry about that :pWhat's that supposed to mean ? :)

[wim]

Another selfportrait (done in charcoal).
I just picked up a piece of charcoal and started drawing, but I probably should have paid more attention to my proportions :( The face is way too broad, compared to the reference photo. Should've noticed that sooner though...

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/selfportrait004.png

[Master 25 Days]

hey welcome back!

Just keep drawing away man. Don't stop. When you can't think of anything to draw, study anatomy. When I'm feeling down on something, a thing that gets me back up is to draw something that I know I can draw well. Boost my confidence level up.

I know I'm repeating myself a lot but when you do figures, use the lines for guides only, then block in your values to define the form.

[wim]

Something I found in one of the magazines lying around here, trying to improve my line-quality, but I don't know what to think of it...

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/lines001.png
http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/lines002.png

[Boogieman]

Yeah man looks good, looks clean. No signs of scribbly hesitation :) I think you should doing some life drawing. Do an sp from the mirror or draw your mates or just draw random people passing you by. Or you could screw people and draw still lifes or environments. Life drawing gets you where you wanna be and I think that's what you want to be doing. It's helping me loads.

[OBX]

yeah boogie is right, life is the shit. damn i gotta sign up for a class and the art gallery here. but im just a lazy dood lol. ok n e ways, lines will come with practice and pencil miles. any tips ive given will help u get there faster, but u just gotta be patient. body builders dont get strong in 3 workout sessions, they spend months and years. same goes with drawing. but like body building or anything else, if u know proper techniques u'll get there faster. so keep at it.

[-ThePenciler-]

Your last post has much more confident lines than your previous work. I agree with what has already been said about doing life drawings. I get something from it everytime. Also, i may have mentioned this but a good way to work on your line work is to take one of your drawings and pull out some tracing paper. Draw over it quickly making smooth, sweeping, confident strokes. Try not to just push hard and trace it. Keep loose but controled. Then slide the tracing paper over a little and do it again. Even by the second time you'll notice an improvement in both quality and speed.

[Alcian]

The loomis and bridgman studies are looking great, doing some full figure studies will balance things out as well. When drawing think about the form and shape more than the detail. the 'creature drawing day' is a great idea, Im def going to have to start doing that :).

[wim]

Some bone studies, unfortunately I didn't get much done today :(

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/bones001.png

[ThabisoMhlaba]

Great stuff with the bone study, be careful with the metaphalanges [Middle of the feet] and the trochanter, which is just under the hip. Their great land marks for when you're drawing a figure.

[OBX]

damn nice lines! much improvement. u been doing any of those exercised i gave u? very nice.

[Master 25 Days]

good job with the anatomy study, wim. Very important to get your anatomy down. Try to break the bones into simple shapes so you can remember them better and try to go with 1 bone/group at a time so you can absorb better.

[wim]

Oki - thanks dude.
OBX - yeah, and it looks like it helped me a lot. So, thanks :)
Master 25 Days - i'll pay attention to that, but I was so thrilled about my anatomy book that I just started drawing from it.

[Pesmerga]

Anatomy is useless if you don't understand human proportions. Start simplyfing the form and doing some gestures.

Drawing from life is always the best way to improve your skills.

Keep it up. I like that charcoal figure.

[wim]

A while ago, someone on this forum posted "Art is never finished, only abandoned". So I decided to work some more on that charcoal nude, before I start another one.
The legs ain't finished, but they're in a very unnatural position on the reference photo, so I decided to leave 'em out. I still don't understand how it's possible to bend your legs that way...

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/nude002a.png

I'm also following an oil painting class one evening per week, i'll post a photo of my progress later this evening.

edit : the reference I used for the nude model can be found here (http://domai.com/news/2002/may03/LubaYoga-0013.jpg).

[wim]

My very first attempt at oil-painting... it ain't finished yet, but since there's so many great painters on this forum, critiques and tips are more than welcome :rendered:

/

[Boogieman]

Well, try to render it next time :) It looks very flat right now with only minimal value shifts. I suggest you start out with a more limited palette (tit white + dark of choice) and do some value work before you go all out with color. Color is alot more fun tho so I don't blame you if you don't take my advice. And if it's for your class you'd better do what the teacher tells you. It's cool you're trying it out tho. Oil painting is real fun right?

[Master 25 Days]

oil painting is the best. I've only done it for about two months in my class and it's a blast. I have to resist the temtation to fool around with it cus I want to focus on the fundamentals first before moving on.

Wim: You should post the reference photo for the sitting nude so we can give you better crits. SOmetimes things will look odd but it would be like that in the photo.

[Master 25 Days]

when you update could you leave a comment on my SB so I won't haev to keep checking your SB? It takes awhile to load sometimes since I usually check at night in the US which is the day for Europe I guess.

[wim]

I know this update ain't much, but my drawing skills are a bit rusty after two months of barely any practice. So nothing too complicated yet...

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/misc003.png

From now on : regular (and hopefully daily) updates, but that will depend on the SSG's rules...

[Master 25 Days]

what do you mean depends on the ssg's rules? you can update as often as you want. I can't really see how the humerus, radius, and ulna are constructed in your drawing. You wanna break it down while still keeping proportions. That's the hardest part about learning anatomy, being able to simplify things in order to understand and remember it.

with that.....welcome back!

[Mitchell]

Anatomy and much practice will be your best friends. Keep at it and don't give up. Your lines are looking really confident. Good job.

[wim]

As most of the faces I (try to) draw end up looking like a zombie, I wanted to practice facial expressions today.

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/misc004.png

More stuff tomorrow...

[Master 25 Days]

watch the spacing and alignment on the eyes, wim. They're too close and the ones on the face on the right mid isn't even. The top right head looks pretty good. not really zombielike. The eyes are just too close, right eye should be more to the right, lips a bit low, and the jaw line is too sharp. The main thing to drawing a good head is making the features line up right so don't worry about details for now and just draw the shapes like you're doing on the top left but draw that from all angles.

[eazym]

Here's what I think: The charcoal nude; I think you picked a very difficult position to draw. When you do that, even if you do capture the likeness exactly, it might not be believable because it simply looks wrong to the eye. For example her right arm looks off. The upper lip is a bit long. You definately need to push to values a bit.

That being said, I think your sketch of the hip-bone is fantastic.

[wim]

I know this is probably not really interesting for other people to look at, but I decided to start all over again with my anatomy studies.
First, the skull, following Mentler's skull treatise (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=374419&postcount=175).
Something went wrong with the lower jawbone however, it came out way too short :(

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/skulls004.png

So, more (and hopefully better-looking) skulls tomorrow...

[Master 25 Days]

the jaw looks right to me. The eyesockets look too far apart though. They should also be a bit more square but that's not important if you're just working on proportions now. Mentler's diagram looks really handy.

[Flynn]

Na keep it up Wim, im doing the exact same pretty soon ;)

[wim]

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/skulls005.png

I just noticed the skull has some symmetry issues and I messed up the shape of the eye-sockets (again) :[
I'll do some more of these in perspective tomorrow and then I'll call it a day, as far as skulls are concerned (at least for now)...

[Master 25 Days]

nah don't call it a wrap for skulls yet. You gotta study the proportions and draw it over and over again until you can draw it quickly from any angle. Then you have to keep it in mind everytime you draw a head because like anything, if you don't use the knowledge regularly, you will lose it. I started studying anatomy on and off for a little more than a year and right now I don't really remember anything except the skull, thorax, and spinal column since that's what I'm on.

[OBX]

yep, master is right. you dont have to do them as much, just do a lil quick one b4 u start the next thing. Its a continual thing. I hate to do it my working out is such an easy parallel to use for drawing practice. Wen ppl body build they dont just work out one muscle group a month. they do one per day. and hit them all within a week. and then through regular repetition they become strong. just parallel that to drawing. in stead of studying ur workout ur drawing arm. your hand has its own memory. it has a life of its own, its favorite lines, and shapes to draw etc. it also memorises things that you study, so wen u draw from your imagination u dont have to think, your hand does for u.

post edit: im super impressed with your line tightness. unlike any of your older things.

[wim]

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/skulls006.png

Couldn't get the left eye-socket to look right though :[ gonna have to practice that some more...

[Flynn]

looking better mate, though the 3d rendition is looking a tad tired ;) but kreep at iyt!

[Master 25 Days]

what the bugger? I post a crit last night now it's gone.

anyways when you use guidelines, be sure they all line up when they're suppose to. Some of your lines aren't parallel and that lead to skewing. Try to simplify more. Something you can do is to use only parallel lines where they appear on the skull and then use those lines as guidelines to draw the rest.

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/6041/skulls0068mw.jpg
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/7494/skulls00617kv.jpg

[Boogieman]

Also remember that perspective effects the skull just as it does everything else. Altho parallell lines are a good approximation if the vanishing point approaches infinity you might want to experiment a little with a tighter set v.p. That way you can see what it looks like when you draw a skull in perspective with guidelines that converges to a point. Might be cool?

[wim]

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been doing some reading, mostly about facial expressions and stuff. Update due tomorrow...

[Master 25 Days]

hey wim, I don't know about you but as I read up on anatomy, it helps me to sketch as I read. If you read a section all the way through then try to do a sketch, you'll probably won't be able to do it completely right. So try to make notes with sketches as you read so you can retain the information. I go back and forth between sketching and reading a lot. looking fwd to the update tomorrow.

[wim]

The partial skull on the right is from mind, rest is loosely based on reference and done in ink pen. Feels weird, not being able to erase anything :)
http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/misc005.png

The Moleskine scan is rather useless : I sketched it very quickly on the train without giving much thought to proportions and anatomy, but I decided to put it in anyway.

[Master 25 Days]

hey that's from the Peck's anatomy book right? very good book. I remember in the book, we see more of the top of her head however.

[Boogieman]

Crap man, the top face in your latest post look great! You kept it clean and simple with confident lines and hatching. Do more of that :)

[wim]

Boogieman - thanks :rendered:
Master 25 Days - yep, that's from Peck. I made the top of her head too small indeed, so I'd better get back to drawing skulls...

To keep this SB somewhat interesting though, I'm trying something else for a change. I went to the zoo last week to draw animals (took lots of photos as well, for later reference).

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/animals001.png

More of this tomorrow...

[Master 25 Days]

haha i didn't know elephants have flamingo heads coming out of their heads. Looks pretty interesting. I like your shadings in these.

[OBX]

er... im not a huge fan of the box method... for figures. its nice to get the perspective but its confussing if u dont know wat ur doing. ur drawing looks like u took a skull made of rubber and mashed it inside a glass box. instead of trying to like everything up along the planes of the box, ur have to simply touch the most climactic points to the box panels. arg this is hard to explain. here im not trying to shuv mentler stuff down ur mouth but this helps with my point. look at the sphere in the cube. see how it touched in the me middle of each square? the only part of the skull that will be touching the climax of that plane it the nose. the reason your eyes arent lining up is coz u havent receeded the good eye. infact the unfinished socket is more correct. it just doesnt look right cos the other eye is so far forward. hope that helps.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v413/mentler/VERS.jpg

anyways good sketches. i like the elephant studies.

[wim]

I haven't updated in a while because I've been working on my site (so that I'll have a place to display my 'art' somewhere).
Anyway, I did something in charcoal today to use on that same website. The drawing in itself is pretty useless (I didn't learn much from working on it), but at least I posted something before getting back to the real stuff tomorrow...

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/face.png

edit : now that I look at it again, I think I made her forehead too short :(

[-ThePenciler-]

Your drawings are getting better! Just draw as often as you can, try different things and eventually you will find what works best for you. The animals look great!

[Master 25 Days]

Eyes should be halfway roughly from top to bottom of head, Wim. GOod idea from penciler too. The only way to improve is to draw and try to learn something with every new drawing.

[wim]

Yeah, I've been told plenty of times that from the top of the head to the chin, the skull can be divided in equal parts of 1/3 each (top -> eyebrows, eyebrows -> tip of nose, tip of nose -> chin).
It's just when I'm drawing, I seem to forget all that stuff :( Better learn to draw and think at the same time, huh ?

Anyway, still trying to get a better grasp of skulls (mixture of from reference & from mind) :

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/skulls007.png

That small paper is actually a photocopy out of Peck's book (Atlas of Human Anatomy), I tried to complete the skull structure from what was already in the original drawing (done from mind).

[-ThePenciler-]

Actually wim that is why they are called studies. If you study it and draw it enough it will become second nature when you draw. Unfortunately for some people they have to do it hundreds of times where others only have to do it a few. I think i'm in with the crowd doing it hundreds of times. Keep it up kiddo your doing good.

[Master 25 Days]

yep, only way to learn stuff is to draw it over and over til you get it. best bet is to simplify as much as you can into basic shapes so you can remember things better.
Right now the eye sockets from the side looks too big. We're seeing it from the side so the shape for the socket should be thinner. Peck's book is really good!

[OBX]

yah its all about building up ur hands memory. u start to learn lil rythmic movements wen creating lines. so wen ur doing ur quick sketch u dont even thing ur line just farts out this crazy ass continuous line, and bang it kinda looks like the brow or a skull. then fart fart.. o look there is the ear! fart fart fart o i have a face and neck. then once u get those continues blurps up u start to flesh out and work off those lines to get somethign more tight and smooth.

thats wat its like after uve done tones of studies. not need to think. i kinda dramatized it but hey, thats just the way it is. ur mind builds lil algorithms based of the thousands of studies uve done and just applies them to wat ur current drawing is. proportions become second nature after awhile. u just check them out everynow and then to see if ur still good. study damnit! and wen u do them dont always try and draw the thing exactly how u see it. instead go for quantity and not quality. wen u do a slow exact study ur trying work ur form and stuff. but if u wanna just study to get the idea of things and good anatomy proportions etc. crank out stuff. do like 10 craps and one nice. use em to warm up for a bigger peice.

damn i should shut up i could go on forever. hope u get it. keep it up im liking line work a lot now. getting much better. post more.

[wim]

Thanks for the advice everyone.
Sorry for the lack of updates, but the past few weeks, everything's been kind of hectic where I work. I'm just too tired to draw when I get home in the evening. I'm thinking about quitting this sh*t job, so I'll have more time (and energy) to draw, but unfortunately being unemployed is not gonna pay the rent and stuff.

Anyway, this is the (obviously crappy) result after two weeks of barely any drawing :(

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/crap.png

I'll try to post more often though.

[Master 25 Days]

hey! as long as you're drawing, you will continue to improve. Just try to motivate yourself to draw something everyday no matter what. Even if it's just a 5 minutes doodle. I know sometimes you just don't have the energy and I'm guilty of going days w/o updates as well.
Just a note, the ribs slant downward from back to front.

[wim]

Because I don't have access to life drawing classes (gonna change in September though), I did some nude drawings from Peck.

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/nude003.png

More stuff this evening...

[-ThePenciler-]

Good job on the last studies wim! You see, the practice IS paying off!! I like the quick scratchy rendering as well. Something you might try is after you have drawn something like that from reference close the book and draw it again to see how much you retained in both brain and muscle memory.

[wim]

And some studies of the facial features (no eyes yet) :

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/face003.png

Goodnight :rendered:

[Master 25 Days]

yeah man Peck's book is full of goodness. The female model in it is has a pretty normal build so it's good to study her.

[wim]

I've been doing a lot of reading on colors / oil painting, and I came across an interesting exercise in Richard Schmid's book Alla Prima.
You just put all the colors on your palette on the first horizontal row, and in the vertical column you lower the value of each color gradually (adding white), ending with an almost-white color.

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/colchart1.png

And when that's done, I'll have to do 11 more of these charts, for each color individually mixed with the remaining colors on my palette, and then again lowering the value of each mixture. This seems a good way to understand how colors work, so I found it worthwhile to try it out.
I'll be back as soon as this is finished.

edit : exercise, not exercice. Confusing it with French again :)

[Flynn]

It does look like an interesting exercise on colour ;) Keep it up mate.

[Master 25 Days]

That's a very useful exercise, indeed. We did that in painting class and a lot of people rushed through it and in the end I can tell they were having problems mixing colors. I don't think you have to do it for every colors though. We only did 5 colors for value, 5 for chroma, and 5 for temperature.

How are you going about mixing the paint? We put in the oposites first (pure color, and off-white), then mix the middle, then the use the middle color to mix the colors in between.

[wim]

I gradually lighten each pigment until I get an almost-white color. How did you do the exercises about chroma and temperature ? Might be interesting to know...

[Master 25 Days]

for chroma, we either mix the complimentary color or gray/umber. Temperature we mix ultramarine/alizarin, and we also mixed a cool and warm orange, I can scan the worksheet for you if you want.

[wim]

That would be great.
I'm probably not gonna look into it right away (can't ignore drawing), but I'm sure it'll come in handy someday. Thanks dude :)

[wim]

Not really an update, just a sketch I did on the train today, in ink pen. Unfortunately I didn't have time to get more detail in it (train ride was short), but I think I'm gonna do this more often.

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/misc006.png

to SSG #12 :
starting in September, I'm gonna take art classes again after work, three days a week (Monday till Wednesday).
Afterwards, I'll get home around 10.30 pm (that leaves me just enough time to eat something and shower before going to bed), so you'll have to excuse me if I don't update on these days.

[Master 25 Days]

no problem man. Just update the following day. Nice sketch btw.

[Master 25 Days]

here you go.
http://home.comcast.net/~dreadedfist/colormixing.rar

happy painting!

[wim]

Master 25 Days - thanks for the notes, appreciate it :rendered:

Anyway, I was looking at some of Tony Ryder (http://www.tonyryder.com/a-drawings.htm)'s work today, to see how he draws the facial features (eyes, nose, ...).
I tried to incorporate that into something of my own, but I'm not pleased with the result at all :[ It might have looked better if I had worked on the hair, I don't know...

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/face004.png

[ThabisoMhlaba]

Cool portrait, all you need to do is make her neck a little thinner and a little shorter.

[wim]

Oki - thanks for the advice :rendered:

Tried to work on hair today. I think the person in my sketch seems a lot older than on the original photo (http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/reference.jpg) (she's supposed to be 19), and I have no clue as to why :[ Any ideas ?

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/face005.png

edit : never mind, I already found out. Angle of the nose is incorrect (not steep enough), therefore the mouth and chin are protruding too much and also, the ear should have been more to the back of the head. I also should have made the skull more elongated. Or how one error in measurement can mess up an entire drawing...

[Master 25 Days]

Showing good observation there man. Already spot your own mistakes. Other things I notice are that her chin is too big, lips too flappy, and her teeth stand out too much. When you do something like this with mostly lines only though, it's hard to capture likeness. Right now w/o some shadings, it looks like she has no neck.

What I think would be useful to do is to map the shapes out first, before you get to details since likeness is obtained through facial masses instead of details.

[OBX]

definate improvement my friend. keep pushing away.

like master said ur observation skills are improveing greatly.

do u use an HB pencil to do those renders? try useing a B aswell, u only have so much of a grayscale with the HB, the B allows u to hit darker deeper and bolder values. its will give ur renders more of a pounce. good stuff tho, keep workin away.

-joel

[OBX]

good stuff.

yeah my wacom tablet is a intuos3 9x12. I love it, coz i got long fingers and make big strokes. but lots of the dudes at the workshop liked the 6x8 tablet. infact dirty _C had a 9x12 b4, but down graded cos he thought it was too big.

IMO i think its best to consider a few things b4 u get one. like ur work enviroment, the movability if ur using a labtop, the size of ur screen. the 9x12 has an almost perfect screen to stroke ratio with 19 inch monitor. do u have a wide screen monitor? mabey ull want to get a widescreen tablet. u just gotta consider all the options. i read just about every thread i could find on tablets on the CA forums b4 i ordered mine. i almost got a cintiq but i figured it was to large of jump and commitment. i went to the workshop instead. but yeah my 9x12 is just perfect. i had a 4x5 graphire b4, the 1024 levels of pressure makes a notable difference between the intous and graphires. intous drivers are better too.

i hope that helps u. peace.

[sabe2003]

Alla Prima- a great book! Real great! You loosened up a little on the last portrait compared to the post before it. Good!
I like htis head study, has a nice angle to it. http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/misc005.png

[wim]

Studying the (simplified) bone structure of the hand. The hand at the bottom of the page is my own, by the way.

http://users.telenet.be/wverhulst/drawings/anatomy002.png

Anyway, I'm thinking about doing something else with this sketchbook, so stay tuned folks :wink:

[Boogieman]

The studies are really paying off cause you'r getting alot better. Keep us updated. I'll be watching.

[wim]

Finally an update. The combination of work during the day + art classes in the evening can be exhausting sometimes :)
Anyway, trying out some watercolor :

[wim]

Trying out oils.
Just an underpainting for now (W&N Terra Rosa straight from the tube + mixed with black and white to achieve a darker and lighter value).
Maybe I'll put color on top of this when it's dry, not yet sure though.
Crits and advice are appreciated, of course.

edit : since I'd like to work "alla prima" eventually, is it recommended to do an underpainting first ?
Because if I understand correctly, alla prima paintings are usually done in 1 session, and having to wait for the underpainting to dry doesn't really help in this case.

[Hyskoa]

Uzelf afvragen wat die eerste laag doet bij olieverf.
In meeste gevallen is het voor het ganse beeld een samenhorigheid te geven. Een overheersende toch non dwingende kleur. Zoals donkerbruin tot grijs-blauw.

Et vult ook de gaten op moest je een vakje vergeten te overschilderen.

Beiden zijn truken die u later kunnen helpen, nu nog niet. Gewoon witte achtergrond, constructielijnen erop met een fijn penseel en dan de correcte kleuren mengen.

Zal ongeveer half uur tot een uur kleuren mengen zijn de eerste paar maand en mss 10 minuutjes schilderen.


Alla prima is voor kleurherkenning, vorm aftasting, schaduwpatroonherkenning, en een stabielere hand te krijgen+ meer aandacht voor je een streek doet. Probeer die dingen er dan ook wel degelijk uit te krijgen.

Veel plezier ermee.

Begin met een zelfportret anders, die kunnen zeer goed zijn.
Paar weekjes in de spiegel kijken voor details.

Dan leer je ook de correcte afstand voor details te zien en 'the big picture'.
Leren in en uitzoomen-focussen met de ogen enzovoort.

[wim]

I decided to give oils another try, after my painting of a pear that failed miserably :rendered:
I'm not entirely pleased with the result, but I'm not sure where I messed up, so comments and crits are more than welcome.

[wim]

Starting next week : time to get something decent in this sketchbook, after a two year absence.
Unfortunately the room where I'm (temporarily) staying is rather cramped, so oil painting and even drawing on paper bigger than A4 (8.5 x 11 in) won't be happening until my house has been renovated. Just to let you guys (and gal :rendered:) know.

[Freddy Scribbles]

Hey Wim,

Happy 2010! Can't wait to see some new stuff!
-Freddy

[wim]

Some older sketches, while I'm striving to get back to my old skill level.
Sure, it's crappy (academic) stuff, but all the studies and doodles I'm doing right now ain't much to look at either :[

Stay tuned for new work !

[Flashback]

those animal sketches are looking pretty good.

[Ariel9]

I like the animal sketches too! Also, I suggest you clean up the photos you take of your pieces using Photoshop if you can, they're a bit too dark and I think with more complicated studies you could lose too much.
Try Image -> Adjustments -> Levels, then use the white color picker on the whitest point you can see on your picture, then in the Levels window slide the little black triangle to the right until the pic looks good.
If the effect is too strong, you can always just lower the opacity of the adjustment layer and the image should still be more readable than it is as it is.

Hope you don't mind me trying my hand at it:

[wim]

I'm back :rendered: and I know this update sucks, but keep in mind that I haven't drawn anything at all in the past 2 years. I will get better though.
Oh yeah, it's a contour drawing of my right running shoe, face of an old man (after Rebecca Kimmel) and trying to construct a sitting figure.

Until I start again with art classes in September (mostly cast and life drawing), I'm going to do loads of anatomy-studies and Moleskine sketches from... well everything that draws my attention.

Also, at the moment I've got no GIMP or Photoshop for resizing and cleaning up my scans. Reason : working on an old computer while my regular PC is being repaired.

Wim

[wim]

A few studies from Vogue. Minor update, because I have to get up at 6.15 AM tomorrow. Though I scanned at 300 dpi, the scan looks rather grainy and I have no idea why.
These magazines contain lots of interesting material to draw, but me standing in the 'Women fashion magazines'-section of the bookshop drew quite some stares :rendered:

See you soon,

Wim