Spiffy's sketchbook - UPDATE: 05/16/2009

[spiffiness]

I'm gonna try and draw as much as I can, so I don't feel like a complete incompetent at the workshop! (And improve my skills for posterity, of course! :P) So here's my sketch thread, hopefully it'll help push me to draw regularly.

Couple doodles from my head
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/04-25-06.jpg


Went to a drop-in life drawing session today (or yesterday now I guess).
I'm very out of practice, but it was fun! The drawings go from short poses (~1 min) to long ones (~20-30 min?).

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/04-28-06a.jpg

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/04-28-06b.jpg

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/04-28-06c.jpg

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/04-28-06d.jpg

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/04-28-06e.jpg

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/04-28-06f.jpg

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/04-28-06g.jpg

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/04-28-06h.jpg

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/04-28-06i.jpg

Yeah... totally messed up on the foreshortening, and now she's got shrivelled legs... T_T

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/04-28-06j.jpg153237

[spiffiness]

More figure drawing, from 1 min to 30 min poses

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/05-03-06a.JPG

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/05-03-06b.JPG

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/05-03-06c.JPG

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/05-03-06d.JPG

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/05-03-06e.JPG

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/05-03-06f.JPG

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/05-03-06g.JPG

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/05-03-06h.JPG

20 min:
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/05-03-06i.JPG

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/05-03-06j.JPG

30 min:
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/05-03-06k.JPG

Quick paint sketch from my mind:
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/nose%26mouth.jpg

[spiffiness]

Another figure:
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/05-04-06a.jpg

Random drawings & some DSG thumbnails:
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/05-04-06b.jpg

[Ashrumm]

Those figures are really nice, its great you are starting fromt he figure!! there is no better way to practice drawing than starting with the human figure. Bravo i can already see improvement from you first posts to now. Keep it up. I cannot wait to see what comes up next.

Oh yeah i forgot to welcome you to the Conceptart!!

[spiffiness]

Thanks! Hopefully I can keep it up!

[spiffiness]

Haven't posted in quite awhile...


Photoshop doodles, no references.

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/eye_doodle.jpg
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/05-25-06.jpg

[gmags]

Hey Spiffy, nice work on the eyes! Those figure drawings are coming along nicely. Try and get a copy of Andrew Loomis' books online. They help alot. Hope this helps you. Keep em coming bro! :wink:

[spiffiness]

Thanks for the comments, gmags! (And I'm a sis, not a bro ;) )

Got back from Montreal on Monday night, and I must say, it was totally awesome!

But anyways, here are more drawings, mostly from the workshop itself.

First drawing in Montreal - hostel Thunderdome: masked warrior
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/06-08-06.jpg

Some doodles and notes from the first 2 workshop sessions.
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/06-09-06.jpg

1 workshop model drawing, and some doodles. The notes on the nose I got from observing Jason Chan's painting.
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/06-09-06a.jpg

Doodle
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/06-09-06b.jpg

Trying to draw the model on the 2nd day, but not being very successful...
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/06-10-06.jpg

Trying some more
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/06-10-06a.jpg

More notes and some doodles.
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/06-11-06a.jpg

Figure drawing on the 3rd day
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/06-11-06b.jpg

The model on the last day, and the leg of someone I was covertly drawing at the airport in Montreal.
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/06-12-06.jpg

Sesshoumaru fanart from a month or so ago...
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/sess2.jpg

Here's some older paintings from my acrylic painting class last fall:
2 self portraits, one in complementary colours:
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/complementary%20self-portrait.jpg
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/tuque.jpg

3'x4' landscape
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/crater%20lake.jpg

uhh... 2x3 interior study
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/painting%20door.jpg

small canvas panel imaginary landscape paintings
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/beach.JPG
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/purple%20trees.JPG

[darkchild]

Beautiful studies! I really like all the time spent with the life studies. The non ref eye is very nice and awesome job on the self portraits. Keep up the studies.

[hp]

yay! you started a sketchbook! thanks for hanging out in montreal, we had great fun ^^

i love the self portraits, but it seems that the realism goes down just a bit in the landscapes...but prolly you don't want to do landscapes as a living, so...*shrugs* :wink:

post all your OTHER art here too....*hint hint*

[Darktwin]

wonderful figure drawing sketches, your really coming along, great self portraits also, looking damn good. looking forward to seeing more

[hp]

update!!!!!!!!! :uzi2:

[spiffiness]

darkchild: Thanks! I find life studies the hardest to do because things keep changing, but I'll keep working at it hopefully, once the figure drawing classes start up again. In the meantime, I'll dig out my figure drawing books and try to understand what lies beneath the surface :).

hp/luvr: Yeah, I really wish I went to the gay bar... darnit! Oh well, the Bioware guys were cool, too! About the landscapes... yeah, not much practice with them, which means that drawing them out of my head won't work so well :nohope:. And the 3'x4' was done on the night before my portfolio was due! LOL that was a doozy! But I DO want to improve on them, so I'll try to remember to dig out some landscape photos and paint them for practice. Remind me later if I forget, k? XD

Darktwin: Thanks! I'll try to keep working at it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So here's some new stuff, comments and critiques are greatly appreciated. :)

A costume design based on a dream I had about a world where women held all the power >:D ehehe... The politics were based heavily on the game of houses, sort of like Dune, or Cairhien in The Wheel of Time, but the dress is more like Star Wars with heavy Japanese influences.

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/original1.jpg


Here's what I'm working on now - more Sesshoumaru fanart! I'm trying to use a different method of digital painting, more along the lines of what I saw at the workshop with fewer layers and less airbrushing, and looser brush strokes. I'm also trying to work in other tones besides the basic shades of a single colour.

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/sess_wip1.jpg


HP/luvr told me to post some of my other stuff here, so here are some older portraits that I've done from photo refs.


Chiaki Kuriyama (Go Go Yubari from Kill Bill Vol.1)

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/chiaki.jpg


Nicole Kidman

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/kidman1.jpg


Takeshi Kaneshiro (House of Flying Daggers, Returner, Onimusha 1 & 3)

http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/Takeshi_Kaneshiro.jpg

[hp]

that's a cool idea for the costume on the first char. i'm trying to work on costume design bleh :(

i forgot if i commented on your fanart painting but i would block in the whole bg and stuff before finishing the character.

and about copying photos, i would try and render out more of the parts that were contrasty...it looks too much like a photo if it has a lot of white in it. this is mostly a crit for the kill bill one (which looks absolutely great btw)...esp on the arm and maybe rendering out some darks in the nose a little bit more.

join a sketch group! update more! =P

[spiffiness]

K, so world of warcraft hasn't eaten ALL my time XD and I have some updates...

Thanks for the comments, HPslashluvr! Costumes/clothes are hard for me... especially men's clothing. I need to dig through my Vanity Fair mags and do some clothing studies. I'll try to keep your other tips in mind, too!



More costume attempts
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/07-24-06.jpg

Miscellaneous doodles/studies
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/08-15-06.jpg
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/08-12-06.jpg

Hand studies cuz i can't draw/paint hands :(
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/08-22-06.jpg

More of my WIP:
http://www.image-upload.net/files/1471/sess_wip3.jpg

[(c)]

wow the last portraits are really cool! you improve really fast! keep it up

[Nyx702]

The self portraits are smooth. Much better than I could do with acrylics!
The portrait of Nicole Kidman seems to have too much black in the shadows? The right (my right) nostril is pretty wonky…does Nicole Kidman really have a nostril like that??? Her hair is awesome, especially her sideburn above the right ear…the color is right on.

I think that if you want to do anime that it could be greatly improved if you apply some of your life-drawing skill to it.

[spiffiness]

(c): The portraits are old, actually, from 1-2 years ago ^__^. Thanks for commenting!

Nyx: Yeah, I had to use 2 brushes at once, one with paint and the other was rough and dry to blend. In the source picture, Nicole Kidman's nostrils are different sized... :$ Ref at the bottom.

Erm, I actually want to move away from anime style, but I'm not sure how... I should try Loomis maybe? I also have this huge disconnect between my observational drawings and stuff from my head, so I have a lot of work ahead of me. Um about the hand, I don't really get your draw over. There's a foreshortened forearm there. There's a reference photo for that, too.

[Nyx702]

Ohh.....:dur: I didn't know that was a forshortened arm. Well anyways, that bone is too low don't you think?

I am glad you are trying to progress away from anime. I comend you for your decision! Loomis is a great choice. I would highly recomend him; thats who I use. What I do/did is draw exacty from his images and then after a couple of drawing I would test my self by seeing how much I could remember without looking at the book. Maybe this will help you?

[Crane]

Hey there spiffy, I have to say, your portraits are very strong, especially the nicole kidman one. I'm a sucker for anime myself, i just love stuff like hyung tae kim's, but I agree with Nyx, glad your working away from it, i tend to use hogarth more than loomis since i have some of his books, i'd also recommand him alot.
btw check your PMs, i made a sig for everyone, with all the members of ssg33

[spiffiness]

Nyx: Ooo sounds like a good idea! I really want to try working with a ground so i can put in darks and lights. It's more painterly that way. And yeah, I made the arm curve down too much T__T.

Madcat: Thanks! I've been working on portraits the longest...which means everything else is pretty crappy. I've borrowed a book from the library that has some wonderful figure drawings in the classical style. I hope that will help, too.

Here's another portrait painting I'm working on. The mouth is messed up. :( I'm also trying to make it look a bit more painterly than I've been doing before.

[Goodbye..fromthevoid]

Well I can tell you really want me to post in your sketchbook so I will.

No on second thought I don't think I will.

[Nyx702]

The portrait does look more painterly. Good job! what brushes were/are you using?

I think the mouth is odd because it looks like a front view mouth on a slight 3/4 face. If you get the right (my right) side of the lips to bend around the face more it may fix it. This is one of my problems....it's so awkward.

[Ostrander]

Hi Spiffy,
Nice sketchbook! I like your studies and the progress you are making. Keep posting!

[viramz]

Nice work your doing spiffy, i realy love your paintings.
Hey thats Seshoumaru from Inuyasha, ha, cool!

[Crane]

of course, makes sense then, protraits scare me i never know how to start them. glad you found the book, now you need to study your heart out haha. good luck

[hp]

interesting portrait...it is looking more painterly. the hand studies are nice,i think the foreshortened arm looks off cuz the shadow is too strong on the forearm.

[frostsnake]

INuyasha!!
just wanna say that i think your portraits are sweet,
keep on doing studies,to improve!

[Juhani Jokinen]

Hi!

I like your work :) You've got the anatomy of the human body pretty much covered and there's only minor crits here and there. But for now on I'd really like to see some more bolder statement in your work. In terms of drawing linedrawings of human anatomy I'd really like to see bolder lines in the key spots of the pose. It brings great attitude to the drawing :) Look at for example my Piéta master copy, I've reinforced the important lines such as in the armpit to really kick off the pose to the viewer. Same goes to your portrait paintings, technically they are great, good use of the brush and so on. The thing needed again though is bolder statement :) To really kick off the color in key spots takes experience and training.

Just my two cents :) Keep up the good work.

-Juhani

[Tigermilk]

great sence of color! Love the SP:s and Nicole looks good too. Don't forget aboot the drawings tho. ;)
more more!

tiger

[dariocoelho]

nice progress! i think your paintings are outstanding beside the drawings. maybe it helps if you try to draw like you paint...careful. ;)

[Ostrander]

Post more! post more! post more! :)

[spiffiness]

Goodbye: so... does that make your post a paradox? :rolleyes:

Nyx: Thanks! I think I'm using Barontieri's brushes. The specific one is just a standard brush included in his pack, though, I think.

Ostrander: Thanks, good to know that I'm making some progress :rendered: I'll try and post some more, but most of my drawings nowadays are just thumbnails for graphic design projects. School can be so evil...

Viramz: Yeah! Sesshoumaru! :heart: Thanks for dropping by and commenting!

Madcat: Usually I start by drawing the general shape of the face, then the eyes. Man, I'm so bad, I haven't even looked through the book yet and it's almost due...

hpslashluvr: Thanks for the crit! I'll try to pay more attention to the values in the future.

frostsnake: Yay the Inuyasha love! Thanks for stopping by!

Anthriel: Wow, lineweight eh? That's a big step... :P But I can totally see the beauty of varying it. I'll try to keep that in mind. Thanks for the crit!

Tigermilk: Thanks! I'll try to get in some more drawing.

dariocoelho: Thanks! I'm not really sure I understand what you mean by drawing like I paint...? I think I'm a lot more precious with my drawings cuz I can't just paint on top of it, and I tend to stiffen up.

Sorry for the lack of posting. I'm in my last year of visual communication design, and the number of projects they give out at once is staggering. I have a poster due tomorrow night and one on Wednesday, and a flash movie due on Thursday which I haven't even started on... :nohope: But at the same time, I have to bring a portfolio to ACAD on the 20th so they can determine what year to put me in if I decide to go there for character design after I graduate. Maybe that'll motivate me to draw more :P

Anyhoo, enough excuses, I've done a little work on the portrait so he's not so pasty-lookin and weird-lipped.

[Azrael]

Hey Spiffiness! Your paintings are strong and your figure studies are good. You have a good sense of color. You have shown a good sense of depth with the application of global light in most of your paintings, escpecially the one for Takeshi Kaneshiro.

[JERI]

Definitely an improvement in that latest update.

[Tigermilk]

cool update :)
watch it with the thumb tho, looks a bit.. hum, rubbery.
keep posting!

[spiffiness]

Thanks, Azrael, JERI, and Tigermilk! I'll try and refine the thumb. :p

Small, small update on Neil Jackson, and a WIP on a character portrait of Moiraine from The Wheel of Time series. Finally, something from my imagination, eh?

[Ostrander]

I like what's going on, spiffy. The thumb looks better on Neil. And those eyes look great on the women. Nice job!

[Listing]

Some great work. Keep studying.

[madhatter106]

The fabric on the suit for that one painting looks fantastic! I would love to see more of these - and I do like the "painterly" brushwork, with the blending not too refined or worked...

[Pascallo]

well. nicole kidman has got two strange different nostrils ;)

Hi there!
in your pencilwork you sometimes do a bit too many strokes do define one form.
but the colored ones, especially the last ones, are really nice!
cheers!

[oma]

well you digi's looks very good. but, if you wan't to loose that anime style. try doing some bridgeman study's ore hogarth :D.
ore just draw much realistic!

keep it up!

[Ostrander]

*pokes thread with stick*

You awake ova heah?


Post some fresh produce. :)

[spiffiness]

Thanks for the comments! Sorry about the lack of updates. I've been busy with school work and I thought I lost everything in an accidental format of the wrong hard drive. I managed to recover most of the stuff I need though, with the occasional corrupted file. :( Pascallo, yeah, I know I tend to "overdraw," as my drawing prof would say, but I can't seem to just lay down a line and stick with it. Maybe I should practise just making one good line... Actually, I really need to draw a lot more than I have been, especially since I'll be going to the Vancouver Film School in April to learn 3D animation right after I finish my degree.

Worked some more on Neil Jackson and Sesshoumaru, and started a portrait of Demandred from The Wheel of Time.

[Ostrander]

Hi Spiffy,
Neil is coming along nicely. On the 3rd one, Demandred, I would have a look at some different clothing for ref. See how the folds and creases lay. It might help a little a little. Right now everything is very smooth and there are no folds or creases. I'd also try and push some highlights on key places on his face (ie, his nose, forhead, etc). Keep posting! :)

[Juhani Jokinen]

Nice updates! Really liking your character paintings and sketches. You've definitely improved :)

Keep it up!

-Juhani

[spiffiness]

Thanks for the advice and the comments, Ostrander & Anthriel!

I've started school at VFS and I'm loving it! I'm learning so much and it's so exciting! I think I've improved tremendously at life drawing, and it's only been 2 months!

Here's my finished Sesshoumaru wallpaper painting, a couple 20 minute life drawing studies, and a WIP of my composition assignment on colour that's due tomorrow.

There's more to come, but I probably won't have time to post them until next week.

Comments & critiques appreciated!

[Juhani Jokinen]

Nice work mate! I'm glad you are happy with your school and improving your life drawing skills is indeed extremely important. I especially like the one of the hand and shoulder.

Keep posting!

-Juhani

[CTseng]

Ooh, youve made a lot of improvement, compared to your first posts! I was going to say something about the figures, but i dont think i need to bring it up anymore ;) Awesome job, but post more!

[spiffiness]

Thanks, Anthriel and Tytseng!

Natalie Portman painting and character design stuff. I have more drawings, but I'm too lazy to scan them...... Also a class assignment making our own version of Mr. Incredible.

[spiffiness]

Some stuff I haven't uploaded here yet...

Sketch of Tony Stark
Nude Male drawing in Painter
Life drawing from VFS
3D stuff from my demo reel
WIP of the Iron Man model I'm working on
Hand study from Da Vinci done in Painter
3D model rendering of the Wheel of Time symbol

More 3D and figure drawings can be found at my website http://www.eunicelo.com.

Thanks for looking!