max1975 finally drew that comic book he's been threatening for years

[max1975]

Hi there. I'm new here. Thought I'd introduce myself with some sketches. I'm trying to improve, so criticism is very welcome, and if you point me towards your work, I'll happily return the favor :)

3 recent things to start. This first one was an unusual pose for me, and I don't think I quite pulled it off.
http://static.flickr.com/25/50020735_a2398db5c0_o.jpg
This next one's a mess. I was working on several different things and I don't think I put them together very well.
http://static.flickr.com/28/50020658_05c2d6f943_o.jpg
Finally, one I'm pretty happy with, gonna be a big digital painting i think.
http://static.flickr.com/32/50020645_4b5513ecad_o.jpg

[vigostar]

i think the first one by far is the best.. nice form and clean lines.. the face looks a little odd but, that might just be preferance.. keep on posting..

[max1975]

Some more recent work...

http://static.flickr.com/24/50020628_8336d21048.jpghttp://static.flickr.com/30/53472737_f46cd65e0e.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/23/37149149_a64b8f568c.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/30/38008892_5a228f42b4.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/26/47503616_f348e4617d.jpg

and some drawings from life...
http://static.flickr.com/31/50363660_e125b7d526.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/27/53472649_bc35cc01d8.jpg

[vigostar]

those drawings from life look pretty good man.. although it gets a bit confusing to read cuz you havent blocked in the darks yet.. keep it going.... thanks for stopping by my book..

[Rookie80]

i like your Pictures but I think your shade are to the transition from darkly to brightly is to hart

[max1975]

Vigostar: I just started drawing models again after a long time not doing so, so I'm still feeling my way through, figuring out how to make the best use of the time...didn't want to go back and fill in the darks on the one guy because I thought it was one of the best things I've drawn, and I didn't wanna mess it up. But I see how darks would be helpful. I should play with it in photoshop.

Rookie80: The transition from light to dark is one thing I've been focusing on lately, trying to get higher contrast in my pictures for a more dynamic look, also trying to get sharper shadows. I may be erring too much in that direction right now?

Thanks for the comments, guys. They are much appreciated.

From today:
http://static.flickr.com/27/53806032_993e3e9a36_o.jpg

And from a while ago. Working on a really elaborate background for this one, but I suck at backgrounds, and it is really elaborate, so it'll probably be a year or two before it's finished :-/
http://www.elseworld.com/gtr/images/rwValkyriesmall.jpg

[max1975]

From a couple months ago, right before I started a spasm of anatomy studies. People have told me that the position of the hanging leg is possible, but that doesn't make it look right:
http://static.flickr.com/21/35130007_afe0306eb9_o.jpg

From a couple weeks ago:
http://static.flickr.com/24/50020701_8dfd5a50ba_o.jpghttp://static.flickr.com/27/50020534_c42db98100_o.jpg

From this afternoon (first effort for DSG, didn't realize the topic was old):
http://static.flickr.com/25/54112841_7411b4896f_o.jpg

[vigostar]

hey, man.. looking good.. that backside sketch is really well done... thats the difference when putting in those shadows.. keep it going man...

[max1975]

Thanks, will do. More life studies coming Friday.

[max1975]

From today: 20 heads of various quality, including Elfis. Next time I do this exercise, I need to draw bigger. Maybe do ten heads, and make the quality less various.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/20heads.jpg

And another old piece:
http://static.flickr.com/4/8136640_5944c398f4_o.jpg

[joiton]

Hey, you have some nice stuff here!
Cool colors and shading.
And that abstract/surrealist piece is great!!
Keep posting ;)

[max1975]

Joiton: Thanks for the comments, they're always appreciated.

Yesterday: 20 heads. Today: Zero heads.
More life studies from this afternoon:
http://static.flickr.com/25/54711629_af0f6893cd_o.jpg

[fractured1]

Gosh Max! Great start to your SB.
I like it so far. Nice darks and light in your pieces. Makes them stand out very well
I think the last figure study page looks great!
Keep up the good work. :}

[Lazy Gun]

Good stuff here, you draw women really well. Only gripe would be on the faces page a few seem a bit elongated or stumpy but it seems to me that you are bending the conventions on this page anyway so it isn't really a gripe lol.

[max1975]

Lazy: I drew all the heads rather quickly, would have fixed them if I'd taken more time. But the fact that I got them wrong in the first place indicates a weakness I need to work on, so thanks for pointing that out. :)

Fractured: Thanks for stopping by, and for the kind words :)

Think the life studies are starting to bear fruit...here's a drawing from today without reference.
http://static.flickr.com/30/54975881_9f89b350e7_o.jpg

[max1975]

Couple new ones...the first is from Saturday. Gonna go back to it at some point, once I figure out what the hell she's sitting on. Also the skirt needs work...I suck at clothes. Clearly whast I need to do is get various materials, drape them over various body parts, and draw them a lot until I get it, but I wouldn't object if anyone wants to suggest some fast and easy ways to fake it :)

Anatomy regressed a bit on the second one, something to do with the head and shoulders I think...also the arm...didn't finish the legs because I liked the way she sorta fades out down there.

http://static.flickr.com/28/55683562_f8d0129deb_o.jpghttp://static.flickr.com/26/55683584_eb139e389a_o.jpg

[max1975]

Cloth and lizard studies. This was my reference for the cloth, it's a good one: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0486237036/qid=1130269130/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-3705531-6652719?v=glance&s=books. The lizard's on the cover of a big book called Natural World-Living World, which is not a good reference because it's too darn heavy to carry around with me. Also the lizard was fairly complicated and I got bored with it quickly.

http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/cloth.jpg

Then I did some more work on this one...
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/queen2.jpg

[Qxzi]

Good start here max, nice figures and faces. Good clothing too. I would only say, keep on postin :)

[camilografix]

great studies love the one of the girl in bed. keep posting. the head shots need some work though

[fractured1]

Well hello! Thanks for stopping by again. Thought I would look in on your SB and I see some brilliant new stuff. Great figure work. Really showing impovement in form.
Only crit I have right off the go is on the last female figure. IMO the right forearm to hand perspective looks a little- squashed- I guess. The result being that her forearm looks thicker than it should. Give it a look and see what you think. Hand looks too small as well when compared to the left. But Hey! I could be crazy too. : )

[max1975]

Camilo: Hopefully today's heads will be better.

Fractured: You're right. Don't wanna mess with the hand, but I've reshaped the forearm a bit...will post again when I get some more done on it...need to start fleshing out whatever the hell she's sitting on. What's worse is her shin--it's too short, bugging me lots, and probably difficult to fix because I've already darkened it.

Some heads & doodling:
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/doodle.jpg
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/9heads.jpg

[Lazy Gun]

AH-HA this faces page is much better, like it :} also the tonal work on the draped clothes leaped out and punched me in the face lol. good stuff.

[max1975]

Lazygun: Thanks, spent more time on the heads this go-around...still sucking on the upshots, but not quite as bad.

This dude sucks. I can do better. Got bored of him. Didn't get bored of her.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/suckydude.jpghttp://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/melnude.jpg

Model tomorrow, can't wait...

[Cyberotter]

You have some interesting stuff here. What I faind more interesting than the fact that you are getting a grasp on anatomy is the style you are developing. I like your faces. Although I think you should put in some small indication of a background into your pictures.

[max1975]

Cyberotter: Thanks for stopping by, and for the comments.

You're right about backgrounds. I have difficulty suggesting them without drawing every detail, and I usually don't wanna draw every detail, so I leave them empty. Definitely something I need to work on.

[Inkfish]

nice thread,I like "50363660_e125b7d526.jpg" and "melnude.jpg" especially, keep posting more :)

[max1975]

Hey Inkfish, thanks for stopping by :) The two you mentioned are among my favorites, too.

Last one for today...Had to abort because the face just wasn't working and i was about to wear through the paper with all the erasing and redrawing. But I like the concept, so maybe I'll start over from scratch...

http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/gmessup.jpg

[fractured1]

Hey Max!
Those last updates look pretty darn good.
The new "faces" page is leaps ahead of the last one.
Keep it up. :teeth:

Peace

[max1975]

Thanks Fractured.

Lotta little things damaging my calm today, but naked friday is always fun nonetheless. Here's a little warmup:
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/robogal.jpg
And then the life drawings...
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/10-28.jpg

[max1975]

Didn't draw anything particularly interesting over the weekend, so I thought I'd throw up a painting I did over the summer. I'm pretty new at paint. Someday I hope to be as adept with a brush as I am with a pencil, but until then, I rely on pretty colors :)

http://static.flickr.com/22/33444901_171695f7bb_o.jpg

[Cyberotter]

I like your oct 28 picture. The idea of words clinging to someone like that is intriguing. Maybe dragging her down? Her hand has a good expression.

[Saise]

Nice anatomy drawing, very smooth shades, I like it.
I also like other works you draw. I am happy. So i like it :D
(Logicaly...) I really like your works.

[max1975]

Saise: Thanks for stopping by :)

Cyberotter: Dragging her down...that's a really good way of looking at it. I'll keep that in mind when I go back to the idea.

A few quick figure studies, kinda sloppy:
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/sloppy.jpg

[jtheanswer]

I like your life drawings man! Keep it up!

My favourite is the girl on the bed from the first post.

[max1975]

Forgot my pencils today, stuck with ballpoint pen. Which is ok, but I like to at least have a rough pencil underdrawing. Ah well. Just some junk. The boat will probably sink because it's not put together right...I love boats but I don't know much about them.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/pen.jpg

[Zaknafain]

Keep on doing those life drawings. I can definitively see the improvement.
You seem to have problems with faces. Best would be to make some loomis head construction studies. It looks like you are paying more attention to the features than to the rest of the head and the head construction. I don't think that this is a very good idea.
Hoever I really like your drawings style. Looks interesting.

[max1975]

Zaknafain: You're right, my heads need work. They used to be (relatively speaking) a strength, but as I've worked on other things they've fallen behind. So here's a few I did today, putting some more effort into the underlying structure before getting into details. The real trick, though, is going to be attaching them to bodies. That's always where I run into trouble.

http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/moreheads.jpg

[Qxzi]

Like the updates max ! Good studies and faces

That colourful painting(#30) is my personal favourite. Its got really good brush strokes and really nice colours

Keep it up man !!

[max1975]

Qxzi: Yeah, I like that painting too, though it doesn't photograph very well. and looks a little more 2-dimensional than I'd like. But it's certainly the best painting I've ever done (with real paint, anyway)

whee, naked friday!
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/11-4-05.jpg

[max1975]

Some heads, studies, arc construction thumbnails, and attempts to comprehend figure skating...i just don't understand how that kinda thing's possible.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/110705.jpg

[Aether]

your life drawings really stand out and you seem to have a good understanding of anatomy and proportions
If id have to critique id say you should study the planes of the head

Good work
More I say and keep it up!

ps. Thanks for replying in my sb :)

[fractured1]

Hey hey Max!
Great work. You are still going strong. I like the color piece you put up not too long ago. And I am not much of an "abstract" fan. I have to say I agree with Aether. Your body work looks pretty good. You seem to be getting the flow of that down. But the heads look like they are coming out squashed...or too well rounded.
The planes comment rings true. Although the head is a basic oval there are many angles that make up the face. I draw out an oval and map my proportion lines in to get started, after that I draw a rectangle over the top to "box" things in, or to keep the sides of the head from flowing outward along the same plane that an oval would....Errr Hell Does that make any sense? If not drop me a PM and I will try to show you what I mean.
Lights and darks are looking alot better though so keep it up baby! :tihi:

Peace

[Qxzi]

Max i love those faces and figures. They are looking 10 times as better with all these firgure drawings. Like the stuff going on :D

Keep it up!

[max1975]

Thanks for the comments everyone, especially the help on the heads. I did a few today, trying to incorporate what Fractured suggested. I think it helped a bit, but I dunno...the third one's eye still seems to be sliding off her face :dur: I'll keep working on it.

http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/heads119.jpg

[Placeboast]

Hello. It has helped me a lot that I have started to think the head as a 3d box model. Thinking what direction the planes face. You've got a great thread going on here so keep up posting. I'll be back.

[max1975]

Placeboast: Thanks for stopping by :) I will add "3D Box Model" to my list of head techniques to play around with.

Here's a WIP...thought I'd throw it up here so people can tell me what's wrong with the head (etc.) before I move in with darker pencils :) (the drawing's actually a lot lighter than it appears here...I always do level adjustments in photoshop)

http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/bhranadhwyn.jpghttp://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/bhranadhwynhead.jpg

[max1975]

Did some more work on this one, looking a little better I think. Something's wrong with her foot though.
http://static.flickr.com/29/62554663_091fa3957e_o.jpg

And of course, Friday means naked people. Was struggling though, maybe because I was so bloody tired.
http://static.flickr.com/24/62554062_60093eb665_o.jpg

[ApolloNuevo]

the latest set of life drawings are much nicer. kudos.

-apollo

[max1975]

Still looking for a photoshop technique that will look good without being prohibitively slow. This one seems to be working well so far:
http://static.flickr.com/32/62715603_97346969d9_o.jpg

and yay! this is my hundredth post. I should have a drink to celebrate.

[brokk]

hey max, really nice figure studies! The only crit is that on the heads sometimes the placement of the features looks a bit off, like the eyes are too far appart or not on the same level. If your not doing the face studies from life, why not do a self portrait? Also all the faces look a bit alike, in the sense that they all have a similar expresion.

The last image looks cool, try desaturating the background more, so that the figure pops out more. Maybe even dropping the value somewhat too. The figure also doesn't have any strong shadows but it does have a strong lighting, judging by the shoulder and hair. You could add some stronger cast shadows over at areas, like on her clothes, under her arm.

Cheers, keep this up, and post more.

[Qxzi]

hey max!

Like the figures and that last update! Those figures have great shading and have rhythm. That last update looks great with that colour. Can i ask, how did you do it, because im trying to put colour in my drawings, but have no idea how. thx mate. See you around, keep it up

[max1975]

bRØk3n_sPiRiT: Why no self-portrait? The lack of mirrors. Actually I did a few recently, they apparently did not help me much. You're right about the features, and I'm working on it. I'm intentionally not trying for many varying expressions right now, trying to make sure I've got the fundamental structures right first.

Shadows on the color picture are being a bit tricky, I want to get some strong ones in there and also use some complementary colors, but I'm using a new technique on that and unsure how to proceed. But it is a WIP, and I'll post it here if/when I figure that out.

Qxzi: There are people around here who do a much better job than I do in coloring things with Photoshop (bRØk3n_sPiRiT, for one) so you might be better off asking them. But here's what I did for this one.

Do you have a wacom tablet (or any other drawing tablet for your computer)? If not this may not work so well, but here goes. I started with the fully rendered pencil drawing in post #47. The first step is to do a levels adjustment to make sure your darkest areas are black and your brightest areas are white, and you've still got some grays in between.

Then made a new layer, set its blending mode to "multiply," and painted over the clothes in flat, solid colors. I used the paintbrush, but you could also use the polygonal lasso to select the areas and fill them, which would work better if you're using a mouse and not the tablet. I did the same thing for the skin, except for that layer I used "color" as my blending mode.

You'll want to try the various different modes, some work better than others for different materials. In this one, I just changed the blending mode on the clothes from "multiply" to "color burn," and I like the results a lot better.

Next is the part you'd want the tablet for. I went into the layer with my original drawing (after duplicating it so I'd have a backup), took the smudge tool, and smeared up all the pencilwork in little strokes to smooth it out and make it look more like brushwork. The pressure sensitivity of the tablet is really handy for this, I don't think it'd work very well with a mouse.

Send me a message if you need any help with this. But you should also see how other people do it, I've tried a lot of different methods and am still searching for one looks good without being obnoxiously time-consuming, because I'd like to finish a picture once in a while. This method does seem to be working pretty well though.

Here's the pic again, with color burn instead of multiply on the clothes. I like it a lot better this way.
http://aepithex.com/max/bhranadhwyn4-color.jpg

[max1975]

Some environment sketches in photoshop. I don't know what I'm doing with these, but hopefully I'll figure it out if I keep doing them.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/worlds.jpg

[tensai]

nice effort going on here. i have to say your life drawings look a lot more alive (?) than the others. really like the way you map out the shadows and generate a wider range of values in them. the line work is also more lively. how about doing some designs on top of the poses you did in lifedrawing? or in the same state of mind or state of hand?

keep it up.

[brokk]

Nice enviro sketches! There's an enviornment of the week activity you know ; )

and you're too kind, I'm in no position to say anything about painting! Qxzi, if you wanna see cool painting demonstrations, check out bumskee's painting thread (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=47859)

bhranadhwyn4-color.jpg looks really better with the new background color, still needs those shadows ;)

Cheers, keep posting

[max1975]

bRØk3n_sPiRiT: I dunno, I think a lot of your colors are pretty cool. Merchant, massive black, arctic carnivore...especially the arctic carnivore. I'm thinking about doing this week's EoW, but I might also wanna try the IDoW, but I'm not gonna be much use in these weekly things till I find some ways to significantly speed up my process. Shadows on the girl at the bottom of this post, not sure I like 'em yet.

Tensai: I tend to be a lot more confident doing shadows on the life drawings, because I can just draw what's there. On my drawings from imagination I have to figure out where the light's coming from and where the shadows are gonna fall and I'm more hesitant. But I'm trying to move those more in the direction of the life drawings, we'll see how it goes in the future.

Some quick face studies, reference here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/startledrabbit/sets/1021467/ (massive nudity warning if you happen to stray out of the "faces" area).
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/rabbitfaces.jpg

Now the shadows:
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/bhranadhwyn4-color3.jpg

[max1975]

Tryin' the EoW...i think it needs a skeleton in there or something. Maybe some tiny, evil elves. Or maybe just more shrooms.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/shrooms.jpg
mmm, edible cave...

[masterpug]

Wow, there is a lot of improvement in here. Very very nice. Might want to check some of the chins, they look a bit too pointed and there is very little variation from face to face. You have some very interesting environment work, and that ongoing work looks great! Also, your 'body' anatomy looks spot on.

[jtheanswer]

Nice updates! What are you using for your head studies? I mean, what book or references or whatever. I am using Loomis, and though its useful, I find it hard to get the proportions right.

:yayca: :yayca:

[fractured1]

Sheesh Max I don't look in here for a week or so and BAM! Last few updates look great.
Nice color work on the dancing girl. I like the process, seeing you make different adjustments is a great way to learn about the methods.
Critic: IMO the dancing girl has a few items that stand out to me. 1. the bottom foot looks too short, if it is supposed to be foreshortened then the perspective on it is off just a bit. Look at the toes on the bent leg foot and then look at the toes on the bottom foot. I think that might be what is throwing it off. She does not look like she has a big toe there. :$
2. the bent leg looks to me as if it is longer than the straight leg. If you look at the distance from her hip to her knee on both legs you might see what I am saying. 3. her eyes look too far apart. I have also found that the one thing that can throw a portrait drawing off is when the pupils are not facing the same direction. That little subtle shift can really make things look "off". Since our eyes are slaved to one another that is an important detail to maintain.
Hope that helps some.
I like the enviros. They look like you had fun doing them. Very nice.
Anyway that is my 2 cents for what it is worth. Keep up the GREAT work. showing good progress.

Peace

[Bohh]

I really like your work, you can see an improvment even from the top of this page to the bottom. Great work. Heads are what I'm working on too, and for the most part it seems you have it understood. But like, jtheanswer, I'd love to know what your working out of (if anything) If my drawings looked like yours I'd be very happy. Great job, keep going!

[mull77]

You life studies are very nice. Great shading and form, and you can see that they are helping you in your unreferenced work. Just keep at it and this sketchbook will be ace in a few pages.

Oh and the transformer is cool :)

[max1975]

wow, wasn't expecting quite so many comments. Not that I'm complaining :) Thanks to everybody, I really appreciate it.

masterpug: You're right, not a lot of variation in the heads, trying more to create a solid template right now, after which I'll get back to more individual characters. Thanks for the note on the chins, I'll keep an eye on that.

jtheanswer, Bohh: I just invent the heads. I look at a lot of photos on Flickr and other places to check details, and my main anatomy book (handy for its size) is An Atlas of Anatomy for Artists by Fritz Schider. I've also got some Hogarth stuff, some Manga books, and a few other things. But I very rarely copy stuff directly, and where I do in this thread, I've noted it there.

mull77: Transformers are always cool :)

Fractured: Much thanks for the well thought-out criticism. Getting eyes to face the same direction tends to be a bit tricky in photoshop. I'll zoom in to work on them, and then when I zoom out, they don't look the same. And often with the zoomed out, it's hard to tell what's the white of the eye and what's the reflection in the pupil. But I'll do some work on them. I'm thinking now it'll be better if she's looking off to her right, rather than at the viewer. I knew something was wrong with the foot, but I couldn't put my finger on it, so thanks for that too. I'll keep working on it.

Here's today's WIP, trying to draw bigger so it'll be easier to work on details, and dammit, it doesn't fit on the scanner. Also used a lot more construction lines on the head than usual, and look where it got me! Eyes too far apart, nose kinda scary, everything slightly off-balance, same trouble as always :) I'll try to fix that up later.

http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/mahyana.jpg

[Placeboast]

I see you've been working hard. I really like those naked people on the november 13th post. Will propably have to take a life drawing course myself. In your drawings I can see that it really makes a difference. See you again soon.

[max1975]

Placeboast: Yeah, I think the life drawing helps a lot. I hope to be doing it on a more or less permanent basis. Looking forward to your next update.

Some more work on yesterday's. She just barely fit on the scanner when I chopped off the top of her hair. Hope to have colors on it tonight, and maybe a dancing girl update as well.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/mahyana2.jpg

[max1975]

whee, lotsa colors. The new girl needs her sword, and a more serious expression on her face. And maybe...um...a leg transplant. Did a bunch of subtle things with the dancing girl. Some not so subtle maybe. Time to start thinking about a background, but I don't have any particularly good ideas for that...

The new coloring process is showing promise, I think, but I'm having some trouble with the new girl (whose skin should be darker on the whole).

http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/mahyana-color.jpghttp://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/bhranadhwyn4-color4.jpg

Gonna start over on the EoW tonight and tomorrow...have some better ideas I think, but maybe not enough time.

[_^SlayeR^_]

i like the way you do that fine pencil shade.
i think it looks better in crayon..

[That fat kid]

hey max, this is some great work, you've got solid lines and good rendering....i'll be in here a lot....keep it up...

the fat kid

[brokk]

max, on the left girl, the anatomy from the waist up looks really nice, but the legs look a bit weird. On the extended leg, the thigh part from the waist to the knee may be too long, and from the knee to the foot, it seems short. The anatomy of the other girl looks good.

I liked the background color of bhranadhwyn4-color.jpg better than the blue one, because it seemed to be more harmonious with the colors in the figure than the blue right now. If you want to use the blue, try to incorporate some of that color into the figure, especially on the dress, because its competing with the orange. I dunno, maybe if you shifted the hue of the dress to something more purple.

I tried doing a really quick paintover to show what I mean better, I hope you don't mind. Take it with a grain of salt of course.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c399/bksketchb/bhranadhwyn4-color4paintover.jpg

Basically I just changed the hue of the dress, added some shadows, dropped the background tone, and incorporated some of the background color into the shadows. The dress still looks too monochromatic and there could be some bounce light, but oh well :^^;:
I hope I could express what I was thinking : S

Anyways you're doing great, I'm waiting for new stuff.
Cheers

[fractured1]

Right on MAX!!

That new girls head looks WAY better! Great work making some definite improvements. Now for the critic. Seems like her neck is a little too thick. On our left side it could be caused by an uncomfortable "joint" there. The shoulder and neck are not quite flowing correctly there. On the dancing girl I see that you worked her face and gave her some better toes. : )

Looking great!

[max1975]

bRØk3n_sPiRiT: Yeah, gotta do something about that leg. Will probably have to liquify it. Not too concerned with the background color on the dancing girl, it's just standing in till I paint some sorta scene there. Though the blue of the skirt is a bit of a concern...I might actually bounce it to a yellowish shade. Background color in the shadows is a good idea, once I have an actual background with some colors in it :)

fractured1: Thanks again, your crits on the dancing girl were very helpful. Hopefully I can bring the new one up to standard :)

That fat kid: Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate the comments.

_^SlayeR^_: Thanks for the comments, though I don't quite understand what you mean, since I haven't used any crayons.

Okay, time to go visit a few sketchbooks and then draw the other zillion mushrooms.

Naked Friday.
http://static.flickr.com/33/64613285_990db9264f_o.jpg

[max1975]

My EoW:
http://static.flickr.com/24/64893550_764da8020a_o.jpg

[Zebz]

Since I'm all into welcoming the new member of our crew I thought it only proper to slip in a post for ya! Welcome to the Sketch Group! I'm sorry that I'm the worst member of this mix. I've slowed participation quite a bit the past month but hopefully I'll be back in form soon.

Just wanted to encourage you to press on, mate! You've got some really awesome stuff happening in here! I love the naked Friday! You're figure lines are quite nice. Just keep working on that rendering. Let that overtake the form more. And your env above looks great too. Kind of scattered and hard to read. Maybe think a bit more about composition and such. Like pull our eye through it somehow. It's so 'everywhere' at the moment.

Alright! There you are! I'm sure we'll seeing a great deal move of eachother as time passes on. 'Till then keep it up!

[Saise]

From my list visit here, a lot of works you added - Good, good.
Firsty, your EOW for Fungal Tunnel is simple great work, but for me is not 'Tunnel' you know :D And to much Fungus in this Fungal Envrinoment. (Blah, blah...) Other works since my last visit is interesting, like the colored girls sketches, very nice. So. In one word: Good :perv:
I promise, that I will visit your sketchbook in the future :}

[jtheanswer]

Thkx for replying, everyday I learn something new in here. Nice studies!

[max1975]

Thanks, jtheanswer, Saise, and Zebzfree. Yeah, some of my compositional ideas got lost in all the shrooms, and it's not as tunnely as I'd like. Still, I'm pleased with it...I suck and environments and I think this activity yanked me in a good direction.

Trying to design some cool-looking-yet-practical armor. I think the practical is defeating the cool-looking at the moment, which is tricky, because this dude's not gonna wear anything that won't help him win in a fight.

Inspiration: Roman armor, north Indian forearm guards, Norse sword, and Italian dagger from An Historical Guide to Arms and Armor by Stephen Bull.

http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/farmor.jpg

[fractured1]

Max!
Nice work man, great improvement. Swordsmen and Mace men have bigger hands....BIGGER, thicker. That is a natural by product of working with a heavy chunk of metal. Have you ever shaken hands with a guy who does heavy labor? Or a blacksmith? Those guys have hands like pneumatic clamps!

On the picture to the left, the right arm of your Sword man tapers down to an almost non-existant point.
You are making some great progress. Keep it up.

Peace

[Placeboast]

Hello there. Am I right to when I assume that you also find drawing the hair quite difficult? Again I must say that those naked people on your previous post are the ones that cathes my eye. In a good way I mean. Especially the one in the lower left corner. I would like to ask you how you scan your graphite drawings. I usually get a whole lot of shit when I try scanning them. Also tried using PS for altering the images but just couldn't get it to look nearly as good as on paper. See you again soon.

[max1975]

Fractured1: Actually, many of the swordspeople I've shaken hands with had rather small, dainty hands :) But the modern foil they use for fencing isn't quite the same as this big old Norse thing, and your point is well taken. I'll keep that in mind next time I take a stab at this character.

Placeboast: I don't find drawing hair nearly as difficult as coming up with hairstyles that aren't boring. I do tend to be a bit lazy with hair in my sketches and studies, but when I've got a good idea what I want the hair to do, I can usually put my mind to it and do a pretty decent job. It's mostly a matter of establishing the general form and then breaking it into smaller sections, then finally individual hairs in the rendering stage. I don't do much with hair on life studies though because there usually just isn't enough time.

As far as scanning, I always do a levels adjustment to make sure that my darkest lines are well and truly black and my whitest areas are well and truly white. Sometimes this is a rather extreme adjustment. My scanner has helpfully contributed a weird yellow glow to my pages, so if you look at my scans, you can tell which drawings were lighter by how much yellow glow they have (I used to scan in grayscale, but I discovered that I really like the tint). But I digress.

My scans never look as good as the real thing. But I've started drawing with the intent to scan, and that's changed the way I draw. I can't really say whether that's for the better or worse. But here's what I do differently since I started scanning almost everything I draw:

1. Dark outlines. Go over them again and again. I try not to make them too thick, but very dark.

2. Smudge a lot. I've got plenty of sketchy, hard-pencil construction lines cluttering up my paper anyway, so I smudge them up to give the figure a basically gray overall tone. Then I do the shadows over that.

3. "Draw" the highlights with my eraser.

This gives me a solid range of values from black to white, and makes it easier to do the levels adjustment in photoshop, mapping the real black and white to what the scanner sees as black and white. When I do this I get something like the lower right-hand corner of the most recent naked friday. When I don't, I get something like the girl in #63.

[brokk]

hey, the mushrooms enviro looks really nice! the mushrooms look very 3d. I agree with the composititonal comments being made, but very cool.

The last warrior figures, the one on the left looks kinda flat. Try to build the figures onto basic shapes like circles and cylinders, think in 3d. You should get one of those art store manikins if you don't have one, they are great for setting up poses and practicing basic shapes.
Also, the hand thats holding the sword looks rather small, the distance of the hand is roughly the same as the face, from the tip of the fingers to the palm.
The face is looking really nice :)

Anyway, hope that helps for something.
Cheers

[max1975]

bRØk3n_sPiRiT: Actually, I was surprised the first warrior sketch came out even as well as it did...I was mostly just trying to figure out how he would wear the armor. But yeah, all kinds of problems with it, especially the hand.

Gonna need to draw this one again, and next time, find a reference. Because there's not much point in replacing horses with goats when your goats look like horses. Or cows. Also need to draw bigger...had trouble with the dude's anatomy because he was so small on the page...
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/fgoat.jpg

[That fat kid]

hey max, that EOW really caught my eye and drew me in, great work on that!
i really liked the life drawings too....the foreshortening on this most recent one works pretty well, maybe you could do the same with the sword to emphasize it a little bit more? good stuff though, keep it up!

the fat kid

[brokk]

I think the anatomy turned out pretty good actually. The animal's pose looks a bit strange, maybe kinda stiff on the front legs, but the perspective is interesting.

Keep that work comming.

EDIT: One thing to consider, is where you put the details. The more near something is to the viewer, the more details you can place, unless its so close that the focus is actually in the midground.
Think of it this way: foreground, midground, background. Put the focus in the midground and place the attention and most of the details there. Leave the background suggested. The foreground is what is closest to the viewer or camera, like really close, but not in focus.

And I just have to ask, how did you manage to make those mushrooms so 3d looking?

[max1975]

Fat kid: Yeah, I should try foreshortening on swords, but I thought this one needed to be straight out for the composition. Also very hesitant doing anything interesting with a sword, and probably will be until I get myself a ruler and then don't lose it so's I can draw straight lines :P. Thanks for the comments.

bRØk3n_sPiRiT: I guess it's mostly the strong shadows that give the mushrooms the 3D look. I drew the outlines of the mushrooms with the polygonal lasso (which was a shortcut--if it'd been a monthlong project I would have used paths to get some nicer curves, and it would've looked better) and filled them in black, then took a 10% white paintbrush and built up the light on them slowly, so I had something that looks like this:
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/shroomswip.jpg
Did the colors in an overlay layer. There are maybe eight different mushroom layers, and between them I put some rays of light and shadows, which were intended to make the more distant layers less distinct and give the image some depth that way, but I think I ended up making that effect too subtle.

[Zebz]

Hey, lovin' that goat/horse rider! Howz about rendering that mother up?! That's a weak point for you right now, I think. You're lines aren't bad, tho stiff at times. But you really need to render more often!! And yea, like I said, try and loosen up. Sometimes just leaving the pencil on the paper when drawing the whole thing helps. Just don't lift it up. It's a fun study and it's quite beneficial. I always get nice results. I don't know. I think the speed of it... it causes you to just naturally get that flow and movement and if you've been doing studies the knowledge tends to rub itself out onto the page with the line. Experiment! Nice shroomz as well!!

[brokk]

Cool, thanks for explaining that. I'm going to try this and see what happens, new stuff really :)

Cheers.

[max1975]

bRØk3n_sPiRiT: no problem, I enjoy talking about process...makes me feel useful (whether I am useful is another matter :))

ZebzFree: I'll try to render some stuff up for you soon :) I'll also see about loosening up sometimes, but I dunno how much that's really a learnable skill...and you might have me at cross-purposes, since I tend to start my drawings loosely but then tighten up a lot as I approach the rendering phase.

I'm curious now what you mean about lines and looseness. How do you define a "stiff" line? I would say it has to do with lack of variance in thickness, which is something I mean to work on (and have started doing so, albeit tentatively, in my last few drawings). But I wonder if you mean something else. I like economic lines (in my own work, I don't mean I don't appreciate sketchier stuff when I see it) but I do think my stuff lacks some energy compared with others (and compared with my own scribbles, but I find those rather difficult to render).

Maybe I need to be more economic and use fewer lines. That wouldn't necessarily work so well for things I want to paint over, though.

Anyway, thanks for your comments again...sorry I was slow getting over to your book, I was looking for your new work and confused about where to find it.

Some more work on this one (new one first, blue background is the old one for comparison), mostly trying to fix some of the problems with the legs, neck, and skin tone. Reaching the point of diminishing returns...if I have to spend ten more minutes fixing stuff, it'll make more sense just to start over.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/mahyana-color2.jpghttp://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/mahyana-color.jpg

[Cyberotter]

Must say that the new one is a great improvement, both in skintone and in having a background to go with it.

[TGping]

whatever happened to that jetfire pic?
I assume its jetfire anyway. if not whatever happened to that transforming jet pic?:^^:

[max1975]

Cyberotter: Thanks. That's not really a background yet though :)

TGping: Aha! I knew if I hung around here long enough I'd run into some badass transformer artists. I'll be a frequent visitor to your sketchbook.

Jetfire remains imprisoned in the fiery depths of Background Hell. Haven't actually worked on it in a long time, but maybe I'll go back to it now that I've got a somewhat faster computer to work with. Here's what it looks like right now:
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/jetfire.jpg

These are some CoW ideas. Haven't decided which I want to work with.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/cow30.jpg

Finally, there were too many grizzled dudes, creatures, and ungulates. I couldn't take it anymore. Had to draw a quick naked girl.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/girl.jpg

[brokk]

Hey max, good update. On mahyana-color2.jpg, the new color version is working better I think.

Jetfire, he looks so 3d! That is really cool, I really think that is a direction worth exploring. It really calls my attention, because compared to the jetfire and the mushrooms images, your figure sketches look more flat. Why dont you try to do the technique you're using to get that 3d look on a human sketch? Itd be interesting to see the results.

Cheers.

[Qxzi]

hey max,

love the figures and mushrooms. Sorry this is a short comment, gotta rush off. But i love your work and keep it up! Ill be back tomorrow with a better comment. Sorry, and keep it up !!

[max1975]

Qxzi: Thanks for stopping by, you're always welcome.

bRØk3n_sPiRiT: I've tried the Jetfire/mushroom technique with figures, but for some reason they haven't come out as well. Maybe it's because they're curvier than robots and more complex than mushrooms? I dunno...this one (http://static.flickr.com/32/50020645_4b5513ecad_o.jpg) (which I should get back to working on) is probably my best attempt at doing that kinda thing, but I don't think it pops out quite as much. Maybe if I add some color...I'll give that a try tonight.


No Naked Friday this week, due to Thanksgiving. I'm trying to set something up with a friend, but in the meantime I'm doing my best imitation:
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/112505.jpg

[Saise]

Hey, thx for entry into my skechbook - okay, about the study drawing, they are great, beauty shadows, nice bodies :^^:
And about the COW projects, the middle one in the top of the sheet, this with long tongue is my favorite among rest, great tripod idea.
Greetingz.

[max1975]

Thanks, Saise. That's my favorite triped too, I think. Unfortunately, I may not have time to get it finished.

Some more faux naked Friday:
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/112505-2.jpg


And then a real naked Saturday:
http://static.flickr.com/30/67264478_fad153f074_o.jpg

[dCepT]

Nice stuff! Like your lines!

One thing I spotted was on this one (http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/mahyana.jpg) where you've lost something exciting when you moved it into more rendered/finished piece.. her facial expression was way more intense IMHO in the intial sketch. Lost some of the energy sort of...

just my two cents though..

peace

d-C

[max1975]

dCept: You're right, the original face was much more intense. But it was also messed up in a lot of ways and I had to fix it. But I'll also have to find a way to bring that intensity back, because right now she looks way too complacent for a girl holding a big sword at the ready...also intensity is part of her character, and she's just not showing any.

Thanks for stopping by, I love the feedback.

[Placeboast]

Man your working hard. This time the one that caught my eye was that guy knealing in your yesterdays post. I love the "hard" shadow lines on it. Your anatomy is coming along great. I would like to see some head studies from you. Of course I will be following your progression on a daily basis so keep up the hard work. See you.

[Inkfish]

Good stuff, you have really improved alot lately. I really liked your entry for the eow. Keep 'em coming.

[max1975]

yikes...late...thanks for the comments, Inkfish and Placeboast.

Will upload some new sketches later...after i sleep...in the meantime, here's a CoW.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/longjohn.jpg

[jtheanswer]

Your naked fridays are cool, man. Keep em coming!

[tensai]

im sorry but what the hell! that mushroom scape is really incredible. nice composition and lighting and overall atmosphere. wel done - would love to see some more in that style.

[max1975]

tensai: Thanks...a lot of work went into that EoW, and it's good to know it works for some folks :)

jtheanswer: Naked Friday will continue forever, if I have anything to say about it :) althought there's some chance it will change days.

Working on some stuff I'm bad at. Wanted to scan the lines before I do any rendering, might just do all the rendering in Photoshop. Feedback on this would be extra specially appreciated, especially negative feedback :)
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/inn.jpg

[max1975]

EoW WIP.
Still a long way to go if it's gonna compete with the other entries. I think the falling snow looks kinda cheesy right now, but I'm gonna need to have some in the final pic...

http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/winterfield.jpg

[fractured1]

Heya Max!

I love that line drawing of the Citadel! I Love it.
Great work. Nice depth. I will keep watching here for updates as you go along.

Peace

[max1975]

Thanks, fractured1. Will do some more on the citadel tonight.

Head study. Didn't scan as well as I would've liked.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/endarlynface.jpg

[dCepT]

Do you use the burn tool a lot? Both the COW and the EOW looks a bit like it... try to paint it out instead... Or if you are..(hehe) try to tone down all them extreme lights.. I think it'll make it look better... Good lookin' on your pencilwork!
Diggin' on this one (http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/inn.jpg)

Keep 'em coming, man!

peace

d-C

[max1975]

dCepT: Actually, I never use the burn tool. But I think I know what you mean.

I was aiming for stark lighting on the CoW, but I'm actually really kinda lost whenever trying to render any kind of scene (getting less lost is why I'm trying to do these EoWs.) I might attempt a more single-layer just-paint-it approach to the EoW, although I am kinda liking the dreamy sort of effect I have now. Parts of it, anyway.

Speaking of getting lost on scenery, nothing I'm trying for the citadel thing works. Colors, shading, it all looks like crap. This simple single-lightsource overlay is actually the best thing I've come up with--I think it's kinda neat, the perspective lines making it look like it's popping off some parchment map. But I wanna turn it into a fully-rendered painting and I am, as I said, lost. Maybe I need to take a more atmospheric approach to start and worry about light sources later...I dunno...
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/inn2.jpg

[max1975]

An update, a couple variations. Not sure whether I like where this is going, not sure I'll know till it's closer to being there. But I've always got the sketch layer to go back to.

http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/inn3.jpghttp://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/inn4.jpg

[brokk]

max, your figures are getting better, those naked days sound really cool.

On the castle enviornment, I really like the perspective. When I saw the line drawing I was gonna suggest cropping some of the image beneath, as it didn't seem to work with the composition. But seeing the painted works in progress makes me think twice, good lighting choice. I think its going in an interesting direction, keep working it!

The falling snow on the eow is what I like best, its not cheesy, and if it is, who cares :)
The only thing is that maybe you could arrange the falling snow in a way that it integrates more with the composition, maybe suggesting compositional "lines" with several individual falling snowflakes.

Good update.

[max1975]

Blasted insomnia.

Broken: I was originally thinking i'd have to crop out the bottom of the picture, too. But I think it's working okay right now. Wanna have it there so the pillar doesn't just get cut off, I don't think that'd look right...i'd have to fog things up somehow...

The falling snow will stay in the EoW...it's the whole point of the picture. I'll try your suggestion and see if I can make it look a little better...thanks...

All right...hopefully this is my last update for several hours, because I'll be sleeping, like god intended...anyway...more EoW, a harsher take on the same idea. Liking this one more, I think, but the first one has prettier colors, and looks less like everyone else's stuff...hmm...well, don't have to decide just yet.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/winterfield2.jpg

[Placeboast]

Hello again. That town thingy is coming along great. Don't really have any suggestion for that. In my opinion you have a tendancy of drawing the eyes too big and wide. I think it would really make a difference if you took correct proportions on them. Also you don't usually see the underside (ridge) of the upper eyelid cause the lashes cover them. Keep at it. See you.

[max1975]

Hey Placeboast, thanks for dropping in again. Thanks for the tip on the eyelids...I knew something was off there but wasn't sure what. As far as the size of the eyes, well, better too big than too small for an anime-lover like me, but I'll try to keep them under control.

Maybe my scanner's playing tricks on me. Or my eyes. My proportions and things always seem to look much better on the paper than on the monitor. Second attempt at the same girl. Lost some emotion in the rendering. And this one's ALL messed up when I flip it horizontally, looks like the whole right half of her face is bigger than the left...ah well. Hopefully the third time will be the charm.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/endarlynface2.jpg

[max1975]

Naked Friday:
http://static.flickr.com/12/69492154_ee333c187e_o.jpg

[max1975]

Workin' on that girl again...i was actually just playing around to figure out why my proportions and whatnot have been so wonky lately, but it started to turn into one of my better photoshop pieces...
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/endarlynface3.jpg

[dCepT]

I like the light on this one (http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/inn4.jpg), I'd go with that... The other version is too muddy..

Naked friday-stuff looks good!

Keep 'em coming! (oh and by the way... I changed the color on the ship in the scene I'm doing to blue... thought you'd be happy to know that :) )

peace

d-C

[TGping]

man, your still- lifes kick ass!

its good to see other TF artists as well:^^:
the background on jetfire- the bot seems 3-d ish while the bacground doesn't, but it seems since you colored your bot in that style, why not the background? the bot reminds me of the old package art from the 80s, which is a good thing:teeth: maybe if you could see the background from a higher p.o.v.? that might help. either way yuo need to do more TF art, I like your take on jetfire, snazzy. I'm looking to update powermaster primes look soon.

I will have replied to your post also, explaining megs there.

[max1975]

dCepT: I like the lines on that one too, but theoretically, after a few more hours of refinement, the other should be considerably less muddy, so i'm gonna keep pursuing it...then if it still doesn't look better, i'll bring the lines back.

TGping: All right, I'll draw more Transformers if you insist (it's such a hardship :) )

Might as well start a new background for jetfire, probably never gonna finish the current one :-/ I'll be back at your book in a bit, need to stare at your comic pages...

more work with this new painting technique...

EDIT: Could it be I've actually finished a painting? nah, probably not...
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/newendarlyn2.jpg

[max1975]

Weekend bodies. Trying to develop more exciting poses.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/12505.jpg

[mull77]

Loving the life sketches dude, but that citadel enviro rocks! Especial the last one. Love the angle and the colours on the sea.

I've noticed on your head studies that you seem to draw the eyes, nose and mouth a little too large in comparison with the size of the face. It's especially noticable around the eyes. Other than that, it's looking really good.

Keep on!

[armando]

Your imagination figure drawing's are pretty impressive, start applying different analytical methods and you'll really have something. If you do it right it should take about two months to really fix them up. I'll have to agree with Placeboast about the hair, just a simple outline or treating it as another form would be better than scribbling it in. The line you're using for imagination stuff is a bit bold, and flattens things out. I read you're explanation, but I don't notice the same thing happeing as much on naked friday. Make a choice whether you want line or rendering to dominate. Strong outlines can indicate form, but when to much rendering is placed within those lines flatness happens.

[BAKI]

nice studies, still have to work out some perspective kinks, but so do all of us
I love the mountain castle you did with lineart over color
love to see more enviorementals
so keep em comming

[max1975]

Armando: Did you mean something specific by "different analytical methods?" If so I'd love to know what. I'll keep your other comments in mind, too, thanks a bunch...

Baki: More environments are coming soon, if all goes according to plan...

Mull77: I'm glad you could tell that's a sea, I was afraid it'd be mistaken for a river :) I think I'm taking a little break from heads (at least as the sole focus) but I'll try hold those features in check...it's the anime influence...

Don't like to post without a picture so here's an old transformer.
http://www.elseworld.com/gtr/images/gunraptor-bw.jpg

[armando]

Analytical methods: Got off of my lazy ass and copied this from my reply:
"The first thing I did was to make a 3D space for the drawing, which can be seen in some of the drawings where there's a divided rectangle in perspective. I learned this based on Jack Kramer(think he called it form structure) and it's also one of Loomis's 5 P's, and a bunch of other people have said the same thing.
The next thing I did was to figure out the position of the parts. Which I derived from that space based on perspective, and what I felt was right which I learned from "The Natural Way to Draw".
The next thing I did was figure out what forces were acting on the model. Which means gravity, and muscular excersion, pushin pulling etc. That can be seen on the drawings as lines marking the apexes of curves, on the breasts, on the legs of the lying pose, and on the tricep region on the last pose where the mass is being pressed out by the leg. This is explained in "Force: The Key to Capturing life through drawing".
After that I figured out the masses and planes. Of course this wasn't followed exactly though, and there are some other vague ideas I thought of like textural gradient, which I learned from "Drawing and Percieving".
This is most of it, be sure to read a lot of different theories of art and find a way that suits you best.

[TGping]

that bot reminds me of a specific TF, but I can't quite place it...

[max1975]

TGping: He's kinda Springer-ish, at least when he's got his colors, which I'll post below.

Armando: Many thanks for the clarification, I will explore those avenues...

More bodies, still looking for dynamic poses, exaggerating and distorting things a bit more than I normally would...heads run the gamut here, from one of my best to some of my worst. I think the head/neck/shoulders is the trickiest part of the body to draw...
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/12605.jpg

And the TF in color:
http://www.elseworld.com/gtr/images/gunraptor1.jpg

Finally, I seem to have drawn a grizzled hobbit warlord. Dunno where that came from...
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/hobbit.jpg

[max1975]

Some dude walked into the bar (where I do a lot of my drawing) today and offered me some unsolicited criticism and advice. Turned out being a good reminder that there is such a thing as being too open to criticism. Sometimes people are just full of helpfulness but they don't know you or your work and they don't really understand where you're at or what you're trying to accomplish with whatever page your sketchbook happens to be opened to...now ordinarily I'd just file his advice away and and save it for a time when it might be more relevant, but this dude rubbed me the wrong way by dissing computers. So it turns out there are still people who don't understand computers and will look down on you just for mentioning that you happen to touch the evil things once in a while, and are completely unwilling see that a computer is just a tool like any other.

Plus, unsolicited criticism is not so helpful...how are you supposed to experiment and figure out how things work if you have to worry about people looking over your shoulder and saying, "do it this way!"

Solicted criticism, of course, is a completely different matter, so please keep it coming :)

So anyway, here's a quick, defiant photoshop study. I for one welcome our new electronic overlords.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/yellow.jpg

Legs were kinda messed up here, too close to the bottom of the page. I've just started using shoulderblades as a primary landmark in hopes that they will help me with the difficult neck issues I've been having...think it's helping so far, will have to see if it continues...

[Zebz]

Hey, Max! Stuffz lookin' pretty nice in here! Keep it up!!

That robot is really nice but I'd think you could vary the line width even more to give it more sense of weight in areas. Something to think abour. Soemthing else I noticed in your paints (not just the bot) is that they seem flat. Try to pay attention to the planes of the body. The form is important thing to consider when you're rendering these bad boys. Think of how your hand might move across the surface. Take note of the basic shapes and how the value you might wrap around that object. Bridgman's (it's a book if you don't know) has some great studies of planar analysis that helps to break some of this stuff down. Let me know if you don't get this. I spent a great deal of time the other night explaining myself to a friend and he seems to be gettin' it now. It'll really help if you can make yourself think about it. Kind of like the cross sections that BrokenSprit is doin' in some of his studies. Just try and be mindful of those sorts of things. Keep it up!!

[max1975]

Hiya Zeb, good to see you again.

re planes and painting: I think I get it, but I also think I'm already doing it, which would seem to be an indication that I don't get it. Now let's see here...the moon girl is the one that looks flattest to me (not counting the robot, who's an old paint and would have much stronger shadows if I was painting him today)...if we agree that the moongirl's the flattest, then I'll know I'm in the ballpark of getting it, at least :)

[Zebz]

In places I think you're doin' it a bit. But it's more complex than you're treating it. Maybe a tutorial is in order. I'll get back with you. ;) Be patient, k?!

[max1975]

Thread tag!

I think I've got a bit more of a handle on it after looking at your sketchbook...I'll look around for a tutorial.

Thanks!

[brokk]

I hope you're ready for some unsolicited criticism, and the first is, we must destroy technology!

I know what you mean about the encounter with the bar guy, there are a lot of people who think similarly. I totally agree with what you're saying, sometimes its better to see more before shooting your opinion, otherwise you are just asuming too much. About the whole photoshop thing... a friend of mine told me that when oils first started being used a lot, there was a lot of resistance towards them, as if they were the new way to cheat in painting. Of course this could be false, I haven't checked it up, but, its true that "new" stuff is sometimes not held up to the same standards as other things. Personally, the people that I've met who support this kind of oppinion, cannot back up their opinions because they are founded more on ignorance or personal whim rather than facts. So, just let it fly by...

I remember you told me some time back how you had trouble making the chests look 3d, now your figures are having a really good 3d quality. There are some proportion problems, at the legs mostly, but I love the solid look on them. And the dynamic poses are looking really nice too, keep it up.

Cheers.

[Zebz]

We're sending mixed signals, Bro3ken... lol

[brokk]

Lol, I wasn't meaning to contradict you, sorry :^^;:
I was just looking at the figure studies in 12605.jpg, like the chest of the bottom-right figure. I agree that the figure paints look more flat, but in the drawings there is a sense of 3d I think, like on that chest.

I agree that thinking in 3d helps to draw/paint something more 3d-like. If I had to guess, the problem with the paints may be in the way he renders the lighting which makes things look flat, which means, more lighting studies :P

This doesn't happen in the drawings because there don't have value rendering like the painted ones.

Though, the jetfire and mushroom images had a very strong sense of 3d, so does that girl in grayscale on a bed.

In any case... didn't mean to start to sound like I was contradicting :P Sorry for the confusion

[max1975]

bRØk3n_sPiRiT: I think the poses are what's giving the chests mass, more than anything else...just drawing angles where some of the back is visible. I might still be in trouble if I draw people from straight on...maybe I should just never do that again :)

ZebzFree: He's talking more about line, you're talking about rendering...I'm not confused (at least not that I'm aware of) :) I think I've got a handle on what you're talking about and I might post something later tonight for verification.

Jetfire has pretty dynamic lighting and shiny surface, which made it easier to give him a 3D look without thinking too much about it, and his lighting is really just grayscale in different layers. The girl in bed is all grayscale, so I was able to apply the shading principles I know, again, without thinking too much about it. The more recent paints, however, have curving surfaces with color, and it's the mapping of light and dark to four values that I didn't have a handle on...that and integrating my line work with rendering, on pencil drawings...anyway, hopefully improvement will soon be evident.

Some scribbles:
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/12705.jpg

[max1975]

Zebz: I've simplified the forms a bit to illustrate the principle, but is this more what you had in mind?
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/melpaint.jpg

The robot mood strikes. Just some rough ideas...some of these are kinda old school...will do some better drawings once the ideas are more solid. A couple links for bot lovers: http://www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp/STUDIO-SA/gallery/ (unspectacular but decent 3D renders of a lot of classic robots, clearer and better for reference than most of the pictures of toys and toy boxes I found on the web), and http://robot-japan.com/ (sooo much cool stuff).

http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/bots.jpg

[That fat kid]

hey max, your lifedrawings have improved by leaps and bounds in just a few weeks.....your proportions tightened up, and your lines quality has gotten better and more varied, only complaint is the anatomy wonks out here and there...might be the dynamic poses doing that....i'm digging the enviroments, they have a real sense of depth an space to them, not to mention atmosphere....bots galore too! keep it up!

the fat kid

[TGping]

those were some fun links. Maybe I'll do an old school robot drawing, man that stuff just takes me back... *sigh*

[max1975]

EDIT: Another cool robot link... http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~monomania/ore-bine/
I've never seen these guys in the US. If only I had the capital to import them, develop a cartoon, comic books, etc...


Fat Kid: Thanks...will try to keep improving...

TGping: Yes, you should draw an old school bot or two...I'd love to see that :)

A few more bot concepts, some of them in disguise...
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/bots2.jpg

And the final Naked Friday till January 20 (though I will try to schedule some things with friends in the interim):
http://static.flickr.com/34/71903084_a2200aecd2_o.jpg

[max1975]

Have a cool idea for ChoW, but it's rather complicated. Hopefully I won't be too obsessed with robots to pull it off.

Weekend bots: Finished with this guy, at least as much as I'm going to. He's not interesting enough to pursue further, but he did help me get in a groove.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/hohumbot.jpg

Here's some more deliberate bot design. Bought a few matchbox cars, used this one as reference: http://matchbox.com/us/product.asp?id=12240&category_id=7815&category_type_id=17
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/rescue.jpg

And then there's this guy, who's a little closer to the quality I'm aiming for, but doesn't fit on the scanner, dammit.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/destroyer.jpg

[Zebz]

Nice updates, Max! I like the work you're doing with the bots. How about showing a gradual progression of them transforming into their alter egos?? That'd be interesting. Keep at those figures as well. You're lookin' better with each post! I appreciate all the commentary on my SB as well. I'll have to give that a whirl. Keep it real!

[Yina]

the life drawings are looking better with each post! keep it up.. : D

[dCepT]

Good updates! Diggin' on the bot smashing the pole :D

Naked friday drawings are hella good! Nice values and description of form.

One crit, though.. the face on the girl from the friday is weaker than the bodies.. seems you relied more on heavy lines than describing the form of her face. If treated the face with the same amount of love you put into the bodies, they would totally rock!

peace

d-C

[max1975]

dCepT: Yeah, I didn't do a very good job on her face. I really need to be a bit closer to the model to do a good job on those, I think, I've only drawn one or two decent faces in all the life drawings...doesn't look much like her either. Thanks for the comments.

I'm glad you like the robot, but argh! That's supposed to be a building, not a pole! :) hopefully that'll be clearer in the finished pic.

Yina: Thanks for stopping by :) Unfortunately my life drawing sessions are finished until late January, but I'm going to try to get some friends to pose for me in the meantime.

ZebzFree: Always good to see your comments :) Yeah, the in-between stages on the transformers would be cool, I'll try to find some time to do some of that.

This one's for bRØk3n_sPiRiT: A WIP on the big bot I posted earlier in the day. Went over my lines with a 1-pixel pencil to separate the bot into faces. Used the wand to make selections and fill in the colors, then made a vivid light layer called "updownlight", selected all the faces that were pointing kinda down, and filled them in 50% white. All the up faces got 50% black. Made linear light layer called "leftrightlight," went through the same process. Adjusted the opacity on the layers to my iking, and you can see the beginnings of a jetfire-style 3D bot.

I ignored most of the curved parts for now, they're gonna take a little more work (actual painting involved there) and there's a lot of refinement (and shadows) to go, followed doing the background and the building, after which I'll probably flatten the layers and go in with some brushwork. But I thought you might like to see this stage of it, with and without the color.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/destroyer2.jpg

I'll probably run into some trouble with the later stages...exploding buildings don't lend themselves to such precise techniques :)

EDIT: I especially welcome all comments and suggestions on the color scheme. Fortunately that's the easiest thing to change.

[Wingus]

Oooh. A fellow robot-fan. Good. I don't really have anything constructive to say, as it's one-thirty in the morning and I'm not too coherent, but I'm just happy to see another mecha and transformer illustrator around. :D

[armando]

Magenta and yellow work, but the blue bothers me. I think green would work better, just to reinforce bad guy colors. It's up to you whether you'll keep the colors bright or tone them down, I prefer guady in this instance.

[max1975]

Armando: Green, huh? I don't typically like green for bots...too naturey...but I just tried it and you know, that isn't half bad, I might just keep it. I agree the colors should be kinda gaudy on the whole...goes with that old school vibe i'm looking for...

Wingus: Welcome! Check out TGping for some cool robots http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51796. I know there are others around here somewhere, too, but I haven't identified them all yet. Do you have a sketchbook here?

http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/destroyergreen.jpg

[Wingus]

Yeah, I just started one, and I actually watch TGping's Myth Wars stuff on The AllSpark. Good to know there's some folk I know around here. Digging the magenta/yellow guy, getting a Gundam/Brave feel from him. Go take a peek if'n you want some decent robot action. :) http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=57482

[Placeboast]

Hello. Your anatomy is coming along great and so are your colors. I used to watch my share of trans formers in my youth so always nice to see people drawing them. No crits or anything now cause I'm just not up to it today.

[That fat kid]

hey max, loving the figure studies...your linework on the bots and doodles is very tight, good work....try this...you draw a figure, start with the lowest thing you can see, the floor, and the highest thing, the ceiling, and put the model into the setting as opposed to drawing the space to the figure...keep up the had work!

the fat kid

[Zebz]

I think the color schemes work decently well. Are these vector images? Just curious. Interesting to see you experiment man! Don't neglect your drawings tho!! ;)

[max1975]

Placeboast: Thanks for stopping by again, hope you can be smoke-free and functioning properly soon.

Wingus: Thanks. Will have to look for stuff on AllSpark, hate to be missing out on cool transformer art.

Fat Kid: Thanks, I'll try that next time I've got a model to work with.

Zebz: I guess they're vectors on top of pencil, yeah. Don't worry, I won't stop drawing. Of course, my anatomy is suffering today from drawing robots all weekend...heh...should be back up to speed soon, it's not like I took a month off or anything...but whenever I focus on one area it seems like everything else suffers.

A page of ChoW ideas:
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/angelthoughts.jpg

[max1975]

More ChoW work. Loving the topic, but am worried I won't finish on time. Trying to zero in on a pose here and bring my anatomy back up to speed. Also, I just changed the way I draw noses. I think that'll be good in the long run, but I'm still working some kinks out.

The problem with drawing all these naked people is I can't even conceptualize clothing anymore. Blah. Don't wanna put her in some gratuitously sexy outfit, don't wanna put her in a boring old robe, don't wanna cover up her meaningful angelscript tattoos...

And don't get me started on the wings.

http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/angelthoughts2.jpg

[Bennett]

I like the second pose. War Angel plays air guitar. J/K, everything in that pose looks pretty good, but her right leg seems a little too far outstretched. Maybe bend it in a bit so it's at 90 degrees from the ground (below the knee).

[Qxzi]

Wowwow,

excellent stuff here, you have really improved from the last time i posted.The figures i cant get over, they look so 3D, solid and very realistic!Those robots look great and plz do some more, but more in colour this time!

Keep it up man!

[brokk]

max, really sorry I didn't check any sooner, I've been slacking.

the paint on melpaint is looking nice! I think it'd be cool to do more stuff like that.

Figures are looking good too. From the waist up the proportions look good, but the legs look awkward. Don't get too caught up with the muscles, think of the basic shapes and proportions, and then the muscles. Heads and faces are improving a lot, finish the chow on time! :P

Thank you for showing me the destroyer process, gives it a really solid look.

Cheers.

[TGping]

I really like the process of coloring you showed on the bot.

I should have something new soon...

*edit* just posted in wingus's book LOL, funny how that works.

[max1975]

TGping: Cool, looking forward to your next update...

bRØk3n_sPiRiT: Don't worry about making me wait, I know we have other things in our lives than this forum :) thanks for the comments, I'll keep 'em in mind.

Qxzi: Thanks for stopping by...I'm very eager to get back to some full-color bots but I'm running out of time for the chow, so it won't be for a few days at least.

This chow is keeping me occupied...it seems to be demanding my normal months-long character development process, when all I have is...oh...30 some hours now? I made what I hoped was a final sketch earlier today, but the weather kept me from my scanner, so I'm trying to do it all digitally...wouldn't be my first choice, I'm not all that comfortable with the wacom. Still haven't figured out what kinda clothes she needs, although maybe from now on everyone I draw will wear turtlenecks so I won't have to worry about that bloody head/neck/shoulders area that keeps looking like crap...

anyway...here's my very rough and sketchy WIP...c&c very welcome, especially if I get them in time to do something about them...
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/angelthoughts3.jpg

[Alday.J]

Hi !
I'm not a huge fan of these kind of bots, not yours, but you know, all that transformers... It's just my taste. BUT I dig a lot your studies, some of them are very VERY good ! Like the december 10th set-impressive, man ! I'm gonna check your sketchbook more frequently.

About your CHOW entrie. It's a good start. Be carefull with her right hand. It's like she was cutting herself her own wings ! Remove that arm lower has a fighting stance, maybe. In that case, the empty corner will give more space to your pic. Maybe push a bit the dark tones if you want play with some graphic aspect. Like the right leg. Here my C+C. Hope it will help ya-but just forget it, if you explore another way. Hope my english is fine.

See ya Max1975 !

[max1975]

updated WIP...still quite sketchy...hopefully the next will be the final...

http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/angelthoughts4.jpg

[Zebz]

Max, you're working hard as always, man. Keep at it. I think your drawings still just bug me because of how linear everything feels. In areas you get some form but on the whole you rely so much on the lines. I dunno. I think if you understood form and understructure (like anatomy) a bit more it would help you a great, great deal. Take the torso for example, the chest especially seems flat. And the abs are just lines in order to note that the abs are there. You could actually render the forms properly if you better understood how those forms worked and felt to the hand/eye. Or take the legs for example. They flatten out way too much. That highlight doesn't help, I mean, that's a hell of a highlight. I realize that the light source is beaming down but in order to make that form more believable you've really got to render it differently, give a few strong highlights and more half tones. I'm fairly certain, even with that light source, that you wouldn't get that strong of highlights on the figure all over like that. Remember when you look at the figure in real life, the only high lights you're going to issue are those areas that really appear white.... most of the figure can be lit well but isn't coming across as white... if you understand me. Another thing on that light source, think of all the shadows and stuff you're missing. That light should really be playing more of role relfecting off of that girls hair than you're treating it. And it should also have a hell of a cast shadow againt the figure as well. Use the lighting to make the forms come alive. Play with it and use it to your advantage. You're still making a lot of rookie mistakes and I'm gonna have to keep pushing you to do more studies. You've got to understand value scales properly, man. I'm gonna push for some still lifes. Really try and find those 6 value scales in there. You can do it. But your work has to start with studies or else these things aren't ever going to make sense or work correctly in your imagination drawing. Keep at it, bro.

[max1975]

Zebz: I'm a little up against it time-wise here, and still in the process of working things out on this pic...part of the process led to the lighting being a lot starker than I intended, but it is a WIP.

That said, I do very much appreciate your comments...it's easy to get lost in the details when you're working on something and lose sight of where you want it to go, and particular things you set out to do...one of which was the lighting you're talking about. So thank you...you've saved my picture from being completely washed out.

Whether I fully understand you is another matter, and either way I do still need practice. Anyway. Here's the WIP after reading your comments. Dunno if it's close to what you're looking for but it does look better I think.

http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/sarahiel.jpg

And that's the last update for the evening...i'm outta gas.

[armando]

Zebz, by 6 value scales were you refering to highlight, lit side, halftone, core, reflect, cast shadow?
Max, like the pose. What I don't like is the wings, it looks like they're crumbling in on each other. Swipe the wings from "The Victory of Samothrace". I think you'll be able to modify an outfit from that scupture too, it's very revealing. I also liked the porcipine hair in the first incarnation, would have been cool to really emphasize that aspect, like Raditz from Dragon Ball Z.

[max1975]

Thanks so much for the critiques, guys. You've been exceedingly helpful.

Armando: Can't swipe those wings, part of the idea is to invent new ones. I'm kind of happy with mine conceptually, though if I had time to practice drawing them a dozen times I'm sure they'd look better. I may redo them if I have time.

I'm very familiar with that statue, and good call on the clothes...in fact I think I've been inspired by that outfit before. Starting to rough some in...I might still like her better naked, but we'll see how it goes.

Still a WIP, though I'll be updating this file with the final.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/sarahiel2.jpg

EDIT: New wings. Shadows & such still to come.

[Zebz]

It's getting better. Don't forget the cast shadows from the arms and such. Wrap that value. Show us the form, remember how it's a cylinder. Make the cast shadow from the sword "arch" against the leg. Keep these things in mind. Those wings are still a mess man. I have no idea what's going on in there. Hopefully they'll start defining themselves better in the next update. Keep it up!

[jtheanswer]

You ve made great progress with all the advices you ve been given on your last post, I like that spirit! I agree with Zebz, maybe to avoid the plain feeling thingy you should break down the body into basic shapes and when lighting and shadowing, analyze the why and how of this process. I would also recommend you some head studies. Anyway, this is my opinion, hope it helps. :teeth:

:yayca: :yayca:

[Zebz]

Oh and Armando, yes... that is what I meant by 6 value scale.

[brokk]

I like the last chow image best, I think there is some really evident progress in the chow entry alone. Wings are really interesting with those hands.

About values, you may find it usefull to try and separate the different planes for the different values. Figure studies with planes for different values is a good way of studying it, I abhor establishing planes on anything but I think its a necessary evil : P
Tonal studies of still lifes are also good to do.

After that, you can study tonal composition, and arrange the tones within a picture to follow a certain structure. For example, on the last chow image, the brighter values are on the fiugure. But there is a leg to the bottom right corner that has the same light value as the figure. Try to group values by areas instead of breaking them up all around the image. The figure could be the brightest, while getting progressively dark the further from the figure. It would also accent the figure more from those wings. Tonal composition is covered in "Creative Illustration" by Andrew Loomis, I need to get back to it as well :)
A kind of rule of thumb for tonal composition is to arrange the image in 4 main tones (this doesn't go against the 6 value scale for the figure, you kind of have to make both of them work): areas of light (white to very light grey), light midtones (light greys), dark midtones (dark greys) and dark (very dark greys to black). Use one of the 4 for the background, and use the other 3 for figures. For example, a black background, with the figure using light, light midtones, and dark midtones. Creates a nice contrast, you can also merge some shadowy parts with the background by progressively blending the background tone with the shadow tones on the figure. The Creative Illustration chapter explains this more in depth and better than me :^^;:

The only crit regarding the colors on the chow piece is that it looks too monochromatic... but I like the brown version better than the blue one, though its really just a personal prefference.

Cheers, keep up the good work!

[Inkfish]

you have really stepped up a notch. I like the life drawings and the CHOW is looking pretty badass too. i pretty much agree with the crits given to that, so i won't repeat them here. I'd like to see more definition on that right sword (the one that is overlapping the left foor) right now it has almost the same value as the foot, and it doesn't read that well. Maybe check the arch too?

[dCepT]

Good lookin' out on the battleangel... only thing is it could've used a bit more saturated colors... but then, that might be a matter of taste :)

d-C

[max1975]

Thanks much for the comments, everyone. Unfortunately I'm very pressed for time at the moment...and then I'll be gone for a week. Should have plenty of time to draw, but I doubt I'll be able to do any updates (might be able to leave comments for other folks though, we'll see).

I leave you with some crappy head studies. If you put together all the things I did right on each one, you might get one pretty decent looking head I think.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/122005.jpg

[Qxzi]

Hey,

Good update, i kinda like the heads. Do some more and then they will get much better.

Oh, and i see its your birthday(saw it at the bottom of the screen) :D

:party: :party: HAPPY BIRTHDAY :party: :party:

Hope you have a good one :party:

Qxzi! :party:

[brokk]

Its your birthday? Happy birthday man! :)

The faces don't seem very real, the overall construction and placement of features looks good, but something's missing. Studying heads from life can help a lot (I fact I should be doing that : S )

Cheers

EDIT: Or photographs

[max1975]

Qxzi, bRØk3n_sPiRiT: Thanks guys! My birthday was pretty good, though perhaps a few hours more driving than I would have liked :) But at least my birthday dinner, a week later, involved some very tasty sushi.

Ouch. Holidays really damaged my drawing. Didn't have much of a place to work in while I was away, and had a heavy load of non-art work waiting for me when I got back. Picked up the pencil a few times and it was like I'd completely forgotten how to draw.

Still have a heavy workload, so I may not be as active here for a while. But I'll try to get to everyone's sketchbooks later tonight.

Anyway, here are a few of the less-embarassing things I've drawn over the past couple weeks:
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/122805.jpg
This one seemed to be working okay except for the head/neck/shoulders. God I miss naked friday.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/010106.jpg
http://elseworld.com/max/122305.jpg
http://elseworld.com/max/122405.jpg
Some robots, a head, and rendering practice on an earlier battle angel sketch. I dunno what's up with Gaiking. I was trying to add features to my mental robot database, and not really focusing on balance or anything, which is maybe why he looks like he's either delivering a very nonchalant kick, or just tripping over something.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/122705.jpg

[Placeboast]

Hey there. One thing that kinda bothers me here is the way you draw the hair. It seems flat and two dimensional. I guess like me you've had the tendancy of drawing too many bald people and not really practising drawing the hair. You should really take in consideration the placement of the hair in the sideburn region. Other than that I like where you are going with your drawings. See you.

[That fat kid]

hey max, good stuff, I'm like the full figures the most...something's a bit weird abotu the portraits though, like the back of the head isn't working with the face...what kind of pencil do you use?

tfk

[armando]

So I wasn't the only other guy not updating. Here's some of stuff I noticed: One the problems with the heads is the cranial mass is too small in relation to the face, like TFK mentioned. The ratio should be about 2 to 1, the size relation of course varies with angle of view, Hogarth gives some rules of thumb in his heads book. Also what's lacking is the temporal line, which is useful in dividing the forehead from the side of the head. Also look at Loomis's heads book and study using a circle then ellipses to fix the angle and tilt of the head(the brow line is especially important). Also look at KChens figure drawing thread in the tutorials section. The problem with the neck on that one pic is that the sterno-mastoid isn't represented: the sternal notch would be emphasized, and the line for the neck would be an undulating curve. Placement of shoulders and pecs is dependent on the clavicle which isn't established; the pecs should insert under the deltoids; the wonkiness of the arm is caused by the missing brachio radialis; the bottom forearm line would be convex because of flexor carpi ulnaris. Studying the skeleton is the key.

[dCepT]

Hey, max! Good update.. there is some wonkiness in your headstudies, but armando pointed them out way better than I would've..hehe..

I'm totally diggin' on the top right figurestudy in this one (http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/122805.jpg)!!

Keep 'em coming!

d-C

[max1975]

Placeboast: yeah, I guess it's time to stop being lazy with hair.

Fat Kid: I use a dull woodless HB (I think--I've been using it for about three years now after cleverly peeling off its plastic label in a moment of boredom) for all the rough stuff, and a .7 mm mechanical pencil for the finer things and darker things. I sometimes use a 2B for shading but not often.

Armando Many thanks for the indepth comments. I'll be studying them.

dCepT: Yeah, that figure looks great because I stopped drawing before I got to the tricky parts :) It also just came out really well for some reason...possibly because I didn't have anything in particular in mind when I started scribbling. I get some of my better drawings that way, but it's not very useful if I can't produce a particular pose on demand.

Okay. I've been promised a much-needed Naked Wednesday, so I'm trying to get back up to speed. Also working on rendering, and trying to draw noses like Zebz, which is not easy. Have to be very tiny. Not there yet.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/010406.jpg
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/010406zoom.jpg

[artmessiah]

Not bad. I enjoyed the first image as well as the figure study drawings. The transformers were cool cause they brought back warm and fuzzy memories of when I drew transformers - religiously LOL :teeth:

[max1975]

Woohoo, Naked Wednesday!

Unfortunately we started rather late and my model was sleepy. Which would have been okay, but then she was also cold. Maybe we'll do some more today. Anyway I had to invent her head in the second pic, which ordinarily I wouldn't have done, but she was looking a little creepy without it.

And then there are some heads.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/jennweb1.jpg
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/jennweb2.jpg
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/010506.jpg

[Wingus]

Wow. Man. You make me wish I could get ahold of some nude models.

[Zebz]

Ah! Max, ol', boy! Hooray for naked Wednesday! lol The first one is my favorite! You really we're subtle when some of your marks and you're really rendering the form well in that one. The other ones seem kind of harsh in areas, like the bright white "stripes" on the legs and such. I like how soft and smooth the first one seems. Great work. Those faces are much better than some of your other offerings as well. You're learning, man! Just keep at it!

[max1975]

Zebz The white stripe on the leg was a mistake...fatigue was setting in, and I was working without reference at that point. The other one, I dunno. I've had so many opportunities to draw beautiful backs with interesting lighting, and every time I end up disappointed with the result. I'm glad you like it though...I've been working on that rendering you keep nagging me about :)

Wingus: There are a few ways to get ahold of nude models. One is to date someone, and then persuade them to take off their clothes and sit still. Another is to take a class--and this is a little better for the drawing because the models tend to be more practiced, and the lighting better. Also more variety (unless you wanna go all out on the dating, like with three or four members of each sex, which I'd imagine can get kinda complicated :) ). Check to see if you have a local museum or other arts centers that might offer a class.

Naked Thursday, followed by some tiny sketches. Lighting was not good on the first one. Lighting was beautiful on the second, but I don't think I quite captured it. I've got all the areas mapped out though so I might return to it another time.
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/jennweb3.jpg
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/jennweb4.jpg
http://elseworld.com/max/sketchbook/010606.jpg

[Wingus]

Wow. Sweet, man. And I doubt it'd be available in my area. I don't think there's any museums nearby within a good driving area. Oy.

[masterpug]

Nice figure studies. Though, I think that the first one in the last post could use some darker shadows somewhere.

[Uziel]

Idd very nice but I agree with masterpug some reflections of light don't fit.

[Inkfish]

good stuff.I agree with Uziel and Masterpug about the first 2. The poses look good. Only crit i can come up with is that the chicks right ankle looks bent in a odd way.

jennweb2.jpg and jennweb4.jpg are my favourites of the last 2 updates. One thing you might want to try is to vary your line weight. (like thin in light and thick near shadow, or smudged) just a tought.

All the best

Antti

[max1975]

Wingus: Just cuz there's no museums doesn't mean there's no arts community. You should look around...ask someone at your art store if you've got one of those...google it...and if you still can't find any classes, you could always move :) Oh, another thing you can do is get a big mirror and draw yourself. It can be a little awkward, keeping your sketchbook out of the way, but it will help learning anatomy...

Inkfish Don't blame me, that's how her ankle was bent :) maybe part of why it looks odd though is I didn't do a good enough job with the forshortening on her thigh...I think everything's spatially correct but some rendering was needed to convey the third dimension...

masterpug and Uziel: Thanks for stopping by. I didn't have a lot of time on that particular pose and I was more interested in doing her face than all the rendering, but maybe I'll go back to it at some point.


This one was just supposed to be practice, but maybe it's a WIP, if I can figure out her arm and the goat. And her foot. So okay, maybe there's