Crimson Dark sketchbook

[Crimson Dark]

I have decided to start doing a sketch o painting a day I really want to improve in my painting.
any tips or tutorials anyone has on painting would be incredible.
well here are the pics
this one is the first painting I have ever done.
I use Artweaver a freeware art program for my art.
Thurs dec 06
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k26/crimson_dark/apple1paintinglesson.jpg
fri dec 06
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k26/crimson_dark/apple2paintinglesson.jpg

[Crimson Dark]

I have been really lazy and I havn't been drawing everyday but I am goin to attempt to keep to it this time.
I downloaded a 30 day trail of painter 9 and wow its amazing it works so much better its brush response is amazing.
Here is todays.
jan,5,07.
This one I did for COW but its not up to the level there so I didn't post it.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k26/crimson_dark/cow72final.jpg
just a light study.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k26/crimson_dark/lightstudy1.jpg

[Wake101]

keep studying everyday, and you'll get to where it is you want to go. Its good to see that you are working from life. Do as many still life studies as you can as these can really help you to develop a better natural eye for things.

if your looking into digital painting I highly recomend you get photoshop. Painter is nice and all but photoshop can be a highly useful tool to digital artists. Your apple painting shows that you understand how digital painting works and that is good. The best thing for you to do is to just keep at it. That is the best way to learn.

keep going man

[Crimson Dark]

thanks a lot wake101 and I will download a trial of photoshop as well and see which one I like more.

I learned a valuable lesson today never sketch fruit when your hungry today I was going to do another apple but I ate it before I started the sketch.
So I did a banana today took about 20mins.
I will probably do some more today depending on time.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k26/crimson_dark/bananastudy.jpg

[Sepulverture]

Hey, man. It's good to see you starting your sketchbook with studies. On your next round of studies, try starting your canvas with a neutral background, like grays or desaturated reds, or something like that. If you do that your eyes won't get tired from the bright white background and you'll be able to see your own mistakes easier, and therefore produce better studies. Plus your eyes won't be so tired so you can do even more studies!

Edit: Try painting from reference, especially landscapes, because based on your flying blue thing, it is easy to see you don't have much experience in doing environments. Keep at it, as they say there's nowhere to go but up!

[Crimson Dark]

Thanks a lot I will use more reference and practice on doing some enviro's.
I took your advice on the background colour and it made a world of difference thanks for that tip.
here is todays I wasn't able to get much usefull sketchin done over the weekend due to volleyball practices.
just a light and shapes study I plan on doing a more difficult light study tommorow.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k26/crimson_dark/light-shapesstudy.jpg

[Sepulverture]

What are you using as reference here? What you should do is just get an orange, or a simple object like that and observe it for a while and paint it. Then do it again, and again, and again, but from different angles perhaps, or with your light source in different places if you can do it.

[Crimson Dark]

What are you using as reference here? What you should do is just get an orange, or a simple object like that and observe it for a while and paint it. Then do it again, and again, and again, but from different angles perhaps, or with your light source in different places if you can do it.
I had an axe bottle for the tube and that was all I used.
I will try an orange today several times my basketball game is canceled due to blizzard.
thanks for the tip.

[Crimson Dark]

I did some oranges today using a ref.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k26/crimson_dark/oranges.jpg

[Sepulverture]

Good job on those oranges, but really try to observe what you're painting. Really look at the orange in your ref, or from your still life, and you'll notice a lot of things that you missed here. For example the reflected light from the surface it's been placed on. Take a look through this tutorial (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=37474). Just read through it, and then try to apply the concepts discussed in it in your next round of studies. If your game has been canceled you might as well use this extra free time to do another few studies. The more you put into your studying the more you'll get out of it, and the quicker you'll be able to see your own improvement! Keep at 'er.

Edit: Take your time to really try to pound out a couple good solid studies, but don't forget to just go crazy sometimes and doodle anything you happen to have in your mind. Have fun with it!

[Crimson Dark]

wow thanks a lot that tutorial taught me a lot I am going to read over it again tommorow it had a lot of information.
and thanks a lot for all the crits so far its been really helpful.
I only did some quick sketches today and then painted 2 in greyscale just to see values.
I will colour these tommorow when I have time
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k26/crimson_dark/quicklineart.jpg

[Crimson Dark]

I wasn't able to get any sketches done on saturday I had 6 hours of volleyball practice that day and sunday was only a quick fruit study.
on sunday I bought 2 books.
Human anatomy made amazingly easy-by Christopher Hart.
Drawing the figure- by John Raynes.
I have been reading them and started with doing a sketch of the human head.
here they are I am going to do more.
Fruit and cirle study I did these as a test for some compressed charcoal I was given.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k26/crimson_dark/IMGP3425.jpg
on this fave the lips and eyes are screwed up, and I noticed everything is a bit slanted.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k26/crimson_dark/portrait.jpg

[Wake101]

your life studies are looking better, and better. You've been really smart about your studying by doing things that will help you improve. Watch some of the colors on the digital paintings though. A little bit more contrast in the shading will help the object to really pop out. You seem to understand this on your greyscale images, just don't be afraid of contrast in color.

the face looks really good. You seem to be understanding structure quite well. watch the porportions though. The ears look a tad big. It can be hard but it really helps to add to the realism of the face if you nail portions just right.

Keep up the studies, your drawings are looking better and better; and your on a great path toward major improvement.

[Crimson Dark]

thanks so much wake101
I actually had noticed the contrast thing in my colours today I converted some of them to greyscale and noticed they where lacking value.
I will work on adding some more to my colours and make them pop.
I will work more on my proportions.
thanks a lot for the crits and encouragment its nice to know I am doing something decent.
well here are 2 from today.
the first one is just a doodle using compressed charcoal.
the second on is a bunch of studies I did.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k26/crimson_dark/2b.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k26/crimson_dark/studiesbetter.jpg

[Sepulverture]

Hey man, keep at it with those studies! There are a lot of problems with it now, but if you just keep at it you will see a ton of improvement in no time flat! I suggest finding some Andrew loomise pdf's, you can find links to them on this site if you search for them. Anyone who has studies art will tell you that loomis is your big brother when studying the basics. Can't go wrong with him! Keep at 'er.

[Kubushas]

Hi there, some tips I can give for you, from my own expierience, dunno maybe you follow some of em, maybe not
1. When drawing anything, sart from simplified forms, that will make your work faster, easier and more acurate, for example boxes, or circles for umm, lets say oranges, aples, and etc.
2. don't be afraid to make mistakes, incorect lines, you can always erase them if u draw with pencil or go digi, don't try to fit everything at the first try.
3. Practise your shading on balls and try make them softer) not so contrasting.
4. And of course practise every day and try to have a sketchbook at your side everywhere you go )

Cheers and good luck!

[shidoken]

:up: i agree with what he said..

as for me, i keep drawing circles and straight lines til my arm falls off. you just need more practice. even pros need practice. everyone needs practice for the sake of practice. you just can't get enough of it.

one excercise you can do is copy a photo reference of a simple ball with 1 light source. try to copy it as much as you can.. make it believable and make it look exactly like the photo. you can learn a lot by doing this. kudos man. :)

[Crimson Dark]

wow thanks a lot guys I will try doing everything you guys mentioned.
I have a bunch of loomis pdf's on my computer so I will go look at those and do some studies.
thanks a lot for the tips guys these will help a lot.

[Crimson Dark]

I did a bunch studies this evening and drawing circles and stuff.
I started this sketch when I saw the new COW.
any tips on what to do with it or anything would be great I may yet change the tail to feathers and redo the legs as well.

[Sepulverture]

I'd strongly suggest getting a reference for the different aspects of the body. For example, google up images of birds for the bird part, and people for any human anatomy that might be in there.

[Crimson Dark]

Hey guys sorry I havn't been drawing to much lately I had finals and then I sprained my index finger at the start of a tournament so its been taped to my other fingers.
so I havn't done any productive drawing at all but that will change the finger is getting better so I will be back by friday hopefully.

[Sepulverture]

Hey, man. Finals can be tough, eh? Don't sweat not posting much if you're just too busy to scan and post and whatnot, but you should still try to be active in your art, even if you're not in your posting, then make a huge badass dump when you get the time! I think I'd suggest you to close photoshop for a while, and just focus on your pencil and paper. It's good that you've got the ambition to jump right into digis, but taking your studies in small steps will ultimately prove more beneficial to you. Master your values, and basic fundamentals with your pencil, and you will see the pay off in your digital work.

[Crimson Dark]

thanks I am going to put aside digital right now also plus my trial is almost over anyways so I will do a ton more pencil.
I was able to get some drawing done today I spent 2 hours in a library just sketching and reading plant books I will post them tommorow somtime.