inertia, aka, sit down and draw!

[Asatira]

Hi. I'm rather nervous to be putting this up, but I figured it'd be the best time. I've been drawing off and on since junior high, but the biggest problem I've had is I've never been consistent when it came to practice. I've also, over time, developed a little fear when it comes to making art, and I feel like I've lost some of my creativity (or at least harder to get at it). In my mind, I'm a complete amateur. I need help with just about everything. I'm also a dabbler, trying everything from graphite to watercolors to digital media.

So, here's my sketchbook. I'm hoping to post here frequently, mostly exercises from this board and many other sources. Here's hoping for improvements.

To start off, here are some pics I drew, exercises from the How to Draw on the Right Side of the Brain Workbook. I'd like to think of them as a point of reference for comparison.

Feb. 18, 2008 Those of you who have been following along, and for those who are just dropping by, may notice that a number of my posts have been either edited or deleted. I recently moved to a new webhost, but I'd stupidly forgotten to backup some of my older drawings. Rather than have a bunch of broken links, I decided to edit them as needed. In the future, I may repost some of the older images if I find them. In the meantime, I plan to keep putting up the record of my progress. Thanks for dropping by.

[Funny_Jedi]

It looks like your about my age, and your on the right track. I want to adress some things first :)

there is nothing wrong with being a "dabbler" this is actually a good thing, the best artist is a well rounded artist. Also the worste thing you can do is start and stop. Keep on going, always draw. Draw in class, draw while your waiting for your Mcdonalds order to come through, draw while on the can. This is a best thing that you can do is draw from the second minute you wake up to well into the night. A person that likes to create art draws an hour a day, a good artist draws for 2 hours a day, a great artist is the person that has an indent of a pencil in their hand.

Now to what your doing and posting. Its great :):)
Keep going through that book, its a good one. It will help you see and not just draw. One thing that would help you out is to post some goals that you want to achieve, such as learning colour or being able to draw a figure from imagination.

BTW dont worry about lack of replies, if you start posting in other sketchbooks and update this thread regularly and they will be pouring in :)

Overall your on the right track. Also dont be afraid to just attack the paper, I know you have crazy imagination in there let it free man.

[Asatira]

Funny_JediThanks for the words. I think I've figured out my goals. Namely, I want to improve my tones and values so my objects can have more depth. I can't wait to get to that part of the workbook. I also want to build up my hand-learning by drawing a number of objects, building up my library so to speak.

Edited for lost content

[@work]

Thanks for dropping by my SB !

Great start you got here. Keep practising I'd say, you certainly show a lot of talent. What I like is the fact that you use heavy lines and light lines in your sketches, wich is really good. Only... If you should place heavy and light at the right place, your drawings would be even better.

Use heavy lines where shadow falls.
Use light (hairlines) where light falls.

or/and

Use heavy lines at places near the viewer and hairlines for things further away. (like you did in this (http://org-chaos.net/blog/020507a.jpg)drawing) (the legs are to wide here, witch distorts the perspective, but you're on the right track there). Dare to exaggerate lines !

Keep it up man !!! Hope to see more of your work.

[Rebeccak]

Hi Asatira,

Keep working on these master studies / quick sketches, I can see that they are really helping you improve! :) Thanks for dropping by my Sketchbook, and it's good to have your participation in the Anatomy Forum. I really encourage you to participate in OFDW 021, it's a great learning experience, and everyone who participates improves / learns something I think, most definitely including myself.

One suggestion I have for the line work is to hold your pencil a bit more loosely and to draw with a more rhythmic and gestural stroke. The 15 minute sketchathon is a great gymnasium for this kind of exercise, it has really helped me to get more life into my drawings recently. Try doing at least one or two 15 minute gestural drawings a day - it will really make a difference!

Cheers, :)

-Rebeccak

[monna-giovanna]

and i'm also rather nervous because my eng is really, really bad:D

nice work, esp #2... i dont like drawing hands:> but yours is good:) kisses!

[Asatira]

@work Thanks for coming by mine! And you have a point about the lines. Right now I'm working on accuracy, but I hope to be more flexible with the lineweights soon.

Rebeccak Thanks for dropping by. I agree, my lines do tend to be tight. Holding it the way you suggest will take some practice, but it should be worth it because all sorts of artists have suggested holding it that way.

monna-giovonna Thanks for coming by. I'm glad you like the hand. I plan to improve it in the near future.

edited for lost content

[Burak Geçgil]

nice..

[nilaffle]

Lookin' good Asatira, keep going with the studies. :) You've got some great ideas and a good idea for value and contrast. I like your sketches from the park lake, that's the sort of thing I'd love to see more of. Whenever you get the chance, do sketches and studies from life. It's tough sometimes, but well worth it.

Keep drawing and keep posting!

[Asatira]

nilaffle Thanks for the positive crits. I'm working on doing drawings whenever I can, just a bit hard on myself.

edited for lost content

[Zoroko]

I love the figures, very nice!! Moooree~! XD

[Asatira]

Zoroko: Thanks so much. Here's the latest from class last night: 1-min gestures and a long pose drawn over the course of 1 1/2 hours.

edited for lost content

[dmitri]

I bet you are feeling the power of life drawing!
The long pose looks really nice, some errors here and there, but I can get the feeling of that twist really well.
The gestures seem to have too many lines - try, as a change maybe, drawing a gesture with one continuous line. Remember it's not about getting the contour of the body correct, but the gesture!

[Asatira]

dmitri: Thanks for the crits. Yeah, I'm loving the figure drawings. I know there are errors, even if I can't point them out, but I'm glad you caught the main ... ummph of the image.

This is my last week of figure drawing classes, at least for now. I've got one more set of pics coming up tonight, but I thought I'd go ahead and post these.

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/061107a.jpg http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/061107b.jpg

[Master 25 Days]

Always nice to see figure drawings from life. I really like the ducks sketch too for some reason. Try to put more darker darks in your figures. Are you drawing through to construct the figures? Try to locate the lines for the spine, torso, and pelvic, and go from there. Most of the energy from a pose will come from the lower torso as it's the center of gravity.

[Asatira]

Master 25 Days: Thank you, I'm glad you like the geese. I need to do more animals. I'm not really constructing the figures from the hidden structures (like the spine you mentioned), but I know they're important. I'll probably try to do so more in the future, especially in regards to imaginative works.

Last long pose of the class (but not the last figure drawing I'll do. :p )
http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/061307.jpg

[RandAlThor]

Some excellent advice already in this thread, heed their words. Excellent start to a sketchbook, i can see the improvment already, keep at it andyou will really have something to offer... ;-)

[Sealegs]

Hey there! nice improvement with those life drawings!!! Keep at it!

[muleskinner]

Wow! Great progression shown in your figures. Some of your sketches in the beginning of your sketchbook aren't showing up for some reason, but the form and lighting on the latest postings you did are very nicely done.

[iceman478]

i really like the full body studies ...very nice

[Asatira]

RandAlThor, Sealegs, iceman478: Thank you for your kind words. I sort of slacked off these last couple weeks, but plan to fix that.

edited for lost content

Personal goal: work on building a visual dictionary so I can do more concept art and illustrations.

[Asatira]

Did some drawings during an outdoor ballet performance. Audience figures were about 30secs to 1min, stick/gesture figures of dancers were about 15secs or less (it was dark and they don't stay in a pose for very long).

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/072007.jpg http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/072007b.jpg

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/072007c.jpg http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/072007d.jpg

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/072007e.jpg

[Asatira]

Ech! Been too long. I'm going to have, mixed in with hopefully a lot of other stuff, one hundred portraits. Here's the first.

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/082607.jpg

[phoric]

Thanks for visiting my SB. :) Good job on the portrait, I need to be doing more of those. Keep up the good figure studies.

[javvie-pl]

Hey Asatira :D!

Lovely drawings! I like your style, and lines. But especially I like those 'sketchbooky' figure studies!
Sorry I don't know what to say more D: but hmm maybe more color sketches ;)? (meh loves color sketches XD)

See you!

[UriL]

I like your line and the way you show form in you figure studies. I like it very much lots of improvement.

[Asatira]

Javvie!! How's it going! Glad to see you. Maybe on the color sketches. :D

UriL: Thanks for stopping by. I'm glad you like the figure studies.

phoric: You're welcome. Thanks for stopping buy.

Wow. I really need to update this thing.

[jompen]

Cool improvements going on here! Keep it up!

[Asatira]

jompen: Thanks.

[nilaffle]

Nice stuff! Love the gestures from the ballet performance, what an awesome idea. I love drawings of dancers.

It'd be cool to see more studies of proportion and shape here. You've got some good poses here, a little more volume would really make them pop.

Keep posting!

[Asatira]

nilaffle: Wow, thanks for dropping by. Yeah, I've been ignoring this thread for a while, I haven't had much I felt worth posting. But I'll see what I can do. Adding volume to my drawings is something I'd love to do.

[Linzoy]

I can see a lot of improvement here. The drawing on the right side of the brain exercises helped me a lot also. I think you would have more freedom if you used other mediums besides pencils.

[Asatira]

Linzoy: I do plan to try other media in the near future, but graphite is good for getting the basics of dry media. Thanks for dropping by.

As I said, I didn't have all that much to post lately. But here are some sketches from the threads around here.

Abstraction thread in Classroom for All:
http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/112007a.jpg
http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/112007b.jpg

Perspective
http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/120407a.jpg http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/120707b.jpg

Some 1-min. gestures from a while back.
http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/oct_50gestb.jpg
http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/oct_50gestm.jpg
http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/oct_50gestk.jpg

[AsaB]

Hey there, loads of interesting stuff going on here! I see improvements already from your first posts, just keep that pencil going! I like your quick gesture drawings a lot, they've got movement in them. You're on the right track, just keep it coming :)

[Davio]

Good work, I can see that you are making alot of progress from your first posts, keep it up.

[Asatira]

AsaB, Davio: Thanks for the praise, and for stopping by.

Here are some things I don't post very often here, digital coloring. First are the original sketches, then the inked and digitally colored versions. I need help getting smooth coloring when it comes to shades. Textures from http://mayang.com/textures

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/122807.jpg

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/122807_mullein.jpg

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/122807_tsuba.jpg

[Asatira]

Working on the basics. Trying out one of Jens's color studies. First time trying a digital painting like this.
time: about 30min.

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/020708.jpg

[Asatira]

Some drawing from an artist's reference book.

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/021508a.jpg

This is slightly overhead angle.
http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/021508b.jpg

[Asatira]

Character design assignment from funshack. The prompt is to draw a picture of a human musician, male or female, who loves nature, doesn't wear shoes, and has an instrument large enough to double as a weapon. My idea: a hippie with a rainstick.

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/021608.jpg

[l0stinth0ughts]

nice sketchbook you got here, some of your pictures werent showing up for me, it could be might computer but i thought id let you know. its good your picking up on those anatomy figures, one thing i can give advice on is work on getting good clear contour lines then work in with the shading. hope that helps you out a bit. keep posting and ill keep checking in to see how your progressing. :rocker:

[Asatira]

l0stinth0ughts: Thanks. Shading is something I know I need to work on. Still intimidates me. As for the broken images, I recently transferred to a new server, but didn't have backups for a number of my images. I'm tempted to either edit/delete those posts, or start a new thread.

[Asatira]

Hand studies, an exercise arkos78 and I are doing this week in the character design thread.

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/021908.jpg

[Asatira]

Two more nights' worth of hand studies.

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/022008.jpg http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/022308.jpg

[Asatira]

A rare speedpaint, hope to do more in the future to build skills. Right now, needs work.

~30min. Ref photo from Character Designs (http://www.characterdesigns.com/)
http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/030908.jpg

[Asatira]

A Barque study I did a couple nights ago. I took a little under two hours to do. Smoothness of shading needs work.
http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/031008.jpg

Early sketches of a character design.
http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/031208.jpg

[Asatira]

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/031908a.jpg http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/031908b.jpg

[Asatira]

Just some photos from the Bargue class I'm taking part in.
Day 1
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=344729&d=1207881352

Day2
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=345553&d=1207965480

Day 3 (finish outlines for now)
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=346941&d=1208145341

[Asatira]

Some 30 second poses from Pose Maniac.

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/041608a.jpg

http://www.org-chaos.net/blog/041608b.jpg

[Asatira]

CGtalk's latest OFDW is hands. This is a study of Waterhouse's Destiny, found here. (http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/image.asp?id=9643)
Will come back to this another time.

351542

[Asatira]

Don't have much to say. Going to try to focus on more finished pieces over sketches. Also, I'm taking figure drawing classes again, so there will be those. And taking part in a drawing challenge, so working on developing a character, some sketches of are below.

Important goal: do more research. All of these are drawn without regards to reference of clothing or animal anatomy; it shows.

391219 391221

[Asatira]

A piece for a recent open challenge, theme "Divine Prophecy." Textures from cgtextures.com

406716

[Lake]

the watermarks are detracting from your images :(

[Asatira]

Ok. I'll drop 'em or make 'em smaller.

[Asatira]

Some more drawings of my character, Moriko, as part of the on going Art Grind (http://community.livejournal.com/artgrind/).

Marker drawing
447095

447097

I intend to work on this idea. Any advice to improve it (it needs a lot of work) is welcome. I am willing to, in fact I expect to, redraw this.
447096

[Onir]

Hey Asatira, nice work in here :) I like that you've been going back and forth with studies and personal work; it's nice to bounce between those so you don't get drained doing one too long. I really like your 30 second gestures, you're capturing them quite nicely; if I could suggest anything I would say try doing some value studies. Right now it looks like alot of what you've done remains in only 2 or 3 values; not a terrible thing, but pushing your values further helps with form and depth in your drawings.

In this last drawing I would suggest looking at the limbs and the body masses as simpler shapes in space (cubes, cylinders, etc.) and just think of how they would act in perspective. I find it can help with the structure of the character at times. Keep working away at it either way... don't be afraid to do lots of thumbnails before hand and take it slowly :) Good luck!

[Envisor]

Great sketchbook. You've got confident and clean lines and cool concepts, but you are lacking in anatomy and the structure of the human body. Draw from life and photos, and do lots of anatomy studies. The hand studies you did for the character design thread is a good exercise to continue. Really study proportion. Great stuff so far. Now lets see some more! Keep at it.

[Demo]

THe gesture figures are amazingly good but those stiken watermarkes are really distracting me idk if you can do anything about them but theyr difenatly an eye catcher. for now since your studies are working good just keep it up because they are definatly helping you

[FearSelf]

Hi! Glad you joined our little SSG. Keep up the studies and sketching.

[Trefle]

Hi! :)
welcome to our SSG ^^

Nice sketchbook! As envisor said, further studies on anatomy are needed. But don't be down! Your sketches were great! Keep drawing, I can't wait to see more.

[katinki]

hey fellow sketchgroupian! i'm sorry that i didn't say hello earlier!

nice to see you mixing studies and personal illustrations! my advise is first of all to post more and more often! your last post is more than three weeks old! but that's what a ssg is for, i guess...

don't be a slacker! work and show us what you do! go and draw! now! :P

[Asatira]

Hello, SSG 50-ers! Glad to see you dropping by.

Demo: Haha. I'm amused that the signatures size keeps coming up. But yeah, I've either dropped them or made them much smaller.

Envisor, FearSelf, Trefle, Demo, katiniki: Thanks for the welcome and the advice. Part of the reason I asked to join is so I will do more studies and drawings from life and reference, and to post more often. I figure if I'm part of a group, I'll have to answer to somebody!:hugsmile:

That said, I'm posting something pretty simple today. A back to basics sketch of some rectangular items around the room. Trying to get relearn sighting and work on my values.

470205

[Envisor]

When drawing a box shape, the lines should be parallel to one another. Not pointing in two different directions. Watch out for that next time. Good studies. Nice values as well.

[Demo]

studies are comming along nicely a good little trick for doing straight edges on boxes and stuff in a sketch book is to find a good sturdy business card or like a plastic library card and keep it in your wallet or SB that way when you need to crisp up your lines you can just pull it out and use it its a lot less bulkey then a ruler
keep studing :)

[Asatira]

Envisor: Yep, trying to work on measuring so I'll quit doing that. Thank you.

Demo: I'll try to keep that in mind. Should help for when I do field drawings.

Not much today. Did some 30sec gestures from Posemaniacs. Normally, I do 1min but I think I waste strokes, alot of going back over lines. Gonna try 30sec to get improve it.

471304

[katinki]

those gestures look really good! your lines look so much more confident than on the last studies. time pressure helps a lot it seems! i would love to see the single figures a bit more separated atm they are a bit hard to read. and some heads are a tad small.

[Envisor]

I agree with kat, you should keep up with these. Your lines are a lot more confident than previous sketches. Use a darker pencil, these seem pretty light, or mess with the contrast levels on your scanner.

[Asatira]

katinki: I'm finding the time limit helps. I'm not consistent yet, but we know what to do about that.

Envisor: Definitely needed to switch to a darker pencil. Hence below.

A pair of sketches of a chair; blind contour and negative space drawing. Again, angling and measuring needs work.
473322 473323

Today's gesture drawings. Again, 30 sec.
473324

473325

[FearSelf]

Good studies, although the gesture drawings look stiff, try loosening up your lines and let it flow. Don't hesitate to add curves, especially for women. Can you do 6 second gesture drawings? They help alot.

[Demo]

Your quicker stuff is looking amazing and practice like that will only pay off in the end u wait and see. only thing i would add is make sure your not outlining the gustures too much work with interior shapes

[katinki]

your gestures really start to improve your lines, but fearself is right, they are a bit stiff.
how about going for this week's spartan camp and producing fifty gestures till sunday?! i'm a firm believer that in such cases mass helps!

[HAJiME]

Nice start... I really like the gesture drawings. I don't find them particularly stuff, but maybe looking at real anatomy more would help inform them.

Some colour observations from life would be really nice.

[Asatira]

Hajime: Thank you for your crits. Anatomy is one of the things I need to work on. I swear, I'm going to make a list and set up some excercises to work on those things. And I'd love to do some color studies, especially with watercolors.

In the meantime, here are today's gestures.

475152 475153

475154

[Envisor]

Nice gestures. You've got confident lines and it just makes them look better. Keep at it.

[FearSelf]

Keep those gestures coming.

[Trefle]

Sorry for not replying for so long :(

I see a lot of sketching xD nice gestures!
Keep studying and drawing!

[Asatira]

Envisor, fearself, Trefle: Thanks for the encouragement with the gestures.

I slacked off on drawing this weekend. Yeah, lazy on my part. But I did take some time to set up a tentative plan for what to do each day. Gestures are still going to be part of my routine; about 10 minutes to act as a warm up. Then I'll try to get at least a half hour a day of drawing from life (not photos). After that, gonna work through Loomis's Drawing the Head and Hands, do some anatomy studies, and some drawings from photo ref on miscellaneous stuff.

Today...:bashful: Only got the gestures, a little bit of life (the blind contour), and attempts at Loomis. Those simple heads are harder than I thought.

478128 478129 478130

478132 478133

[Asatira]

Stuff so far today.

478722 478724 478726

This last one is an exercise from Nicolaides's The Natural Way to Draw. I don't think he complete melds with my drawing "techniques", but there are a few exercises that stood out and I liked. This exercise is where you model with a crayon (I used charcoal stick) and model the object, being lightest where the object turns towards you and darker where it turns away. I think I should have used a simpler object, but I liked it.
478727

[katinki]

that sounds like a really good plan! not too much to get strenous but you'll get the basics covered! now it will be important to keep it up really regularly!
the loomis heads look good, just watch out for the eye placement, i think that throws the overall impression off. you can just mark the eedges of the eyes on the brow line, that'll be enough at that stadium!

keep it up!

[Asatira]

katiniki: Thanks for the advice. I thought the eyes would add a little to the dimensions, but I don't think I was wrapping 'em very well. So, as you see below, dropped them for now.

Got some more art done for the evening. Makes me happy because it means I'm getting over my art inertia. Going in stages, but still going.:bounce:

479003 479004 479005

[FearSelf]

Nice studies! Great schedule, keep to it. One thing that bothers me is in your last post on the right with the heads, the very bottom head I don't understand. And in your hair brush study, is the second hairbrush tilted away from you? Because the handle is bigger than it should be, but the um head of the brush doesn't show that it's further away from you. Be aware of foreshortening.

[Asatira]

The brush is slightly turned away from me, and the handle does curve out a bit. The very bottom head is off because I haven't gotten a handle on the perspective of drawing heads that look straight ahead but the angle is from below.

[FearSelf]

angle is from below? I don't understand, sorry.
To make the brush's head look further away, you have to be sure to make it a bit narrower and shorter. Have you studied vanishing points yet? I think that would help out.

[Asatira]

The angle the person took the photo from was near the guy's knees, so the photographer was looking up at the model.

[katinki]

loomis heads are definitely improving, keep that up for a few more days and you'll produce pretty heads!
and about the brush question - it doesn't matter from which angle the photo was taken as long you don't communicate it.

[Asatira]

Gee, guess the brushes weren't all that great. Anywho, not much done today. Just gestures and a ballpoint sketch done while literally watching water boil. Goes quicker when you aren't looking at a clock.

479906 479907 479908 479909

[Demo]

wow youve improved leaps and bounds since iv been here last those loomis studies seem to be improving your elipices in your other sketches. and those loomis head studies makes me think i should go back and restudie emm i think i half assed mine last time

[Envisor]

Wooah! Lots of new goodies. The figures are getting better an better. And the head studies are great exercises. Keep it up.

[Asatira]

Not much for last night. These are some very rough roughs for concept class thread in the mentoring forum. I'm going to add some colors to them to reflect different times of day. For final versions, I will actually refer to the references I've gathered and take my time. (Image 2 I'm definitely changing the perspective so it works...)

481278 481279 481280

[katinki]

whatever this project is about - it looks definitly interesting, very asian(?)! i don't really understand what these roughs are for - are they beginnings of environmental painting or perhaps thumbnails?
however, i think some have basic problems which make them a bit confusing. the first is good, i can see clearly that it is kind of a temple with sear cushions at the shore. good use of one point perspective. the shore stops too abruptly. the second has interesting wall designs and a way leads through a hole in the wall. but do we see the scene straight from above (like the way suggests) or at an angle (like the wall suggests)? the third takes place in some mountains. but i am terribly confused about the scale. if it is a full blown temple the benches are as high as one level and the tree is bigger than a redwood....
enlight me (visually!)!

[Trefle]

nice studies here!
The head studies..I think the jawline are too short..
and yes, the brush looked weird. I think the front end should be smaller?

and the poses were great! Would definitely love to see more ^^

[FearSelf]

I think you may need to brush up on perspective. But I do like the concept of your sketches. Keep studying buildings, your room, brushes. :)

[Asatira]

Only got the warm up done today. Maybe I can get something drawn tonight.

482650 482651 482652

[eminkey2003]

Keep onnnnn truckin'. I think this one (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=406716&d=1215373498)'s fingers are very weird. They all look like different shapes. One is rectangular, another is crushed-in, etc. I think there are other anatomical problems in the drawings, so just do more life-drawing, anatomy studying, and practicing, and little things like that should work out soon.

[Envisor]

Yes! Keep up those figures, also try to do more complete figures, I know these are gestures, but it would be nice to see more to them.

[Asatira]

eminkey2003: Oh, I know the figure is very, very off in that image, especially the hand. I have yet to get the completeness of my image as it is in my head onto the paper yet.

Envisor: Will do. I'm at that point of looking through Loomis, for example, where I need to apply it to reference.

Anywho: usual 30sec gestures, a page of Loomis, and a skull study from Mark Simon's Facial Expressions. I know there are things wrong, but it's been forever since I've drawn a skull. I spent about an hour on this one. (must find a model skull)

483615 483616 483617

483618 483619

[FearSelf]

The ear placement on the 2 3/4 view loomis head study bothers me a bit, I think you need to place it a bit closer to the jaw bone. But otherwise good studies, keep them up I'm seeing improvement.

[katinki]

great to see you are keeping doing all those gestures regularly! the last few batches of them have all a nice flow to them!
you should start to incorporate the hands and feet which you tend to cut off at the moment. and another suggestion would be to try not to go over the same line over and over again. leave just the first line or do aomething really different with the second - just doing the same line thrice wasts your time.

keep it up! more!

[Asatira]

katiniki Yeah, economizing my lines is something I need to work on. Details like hands or feet are not a priority when I do these. If the timer hasn't gone off/picture changed, then I get them

I was feeling depressed today and only got a few gestures in. I actually got two pages done, but my stupid scanner would not scan the full section no matter how many times I scanned. I need to hook up my other scanner (it also has better adjustment functions).

[Demo]

i admire your gesture working abilitys something i should do more of :(
the skull looks great studing helps and your definitaly showing it

[Asatira]

Demo: Thanks.

Yesterday's gestures and a study from photo ref from Smith's The Nude Figure. Haven't drawn from ref in forever (and it shows). (scanner scanned it darker than it really is and couldn't quite correct it)

486714 486715 486716 486717

And today's gestures. Will try to get more studies done tonight and post either tonight or tomorrow.

486718 486719

[Demo]

more great studies though although those nipples look like they could cut a dimond or some thing lol sorry

[katinki]

heh - looks like i'm not the only one with an art slump - three days without update? shame on us!

last gestures look good though. you could make the critique job easier if you tried to draw the figures more separated and without overlapping each other!
the figure drawing is a good start, too. more knowledge will bring the gestures to a new level! her head is too small and the foot and lower arm are strange. but the body itself looks pretty good!

more!

[Asatira]

katinki: Yeah, I was pretty bad. There are days when I just can't bring myself to pick up a pencil. I hate when I do that.:dead: :upset: And yeah, I do overlap my gesture figures. I do that because I can't be bothered with turning to a fresh page, want to get as many as I can done, and I don't plan for space.

Demo: Eh, the figure sorta did. And I tend draw very in straight lines and then cutting the figure out.

I did draw a little bit this weekend. I couldn't get the heart to do much, even though I knew I should. Got the usual gestures, a page of Loomis. Tonight, did a few anatomical nose studies based on Richard Peck and John Sheppard illustrations.

490400 490401

490402 490403

490404 490405

490406 490407

[Demo]

wow those nose studies are great and your writing is really good compared to mine also another art form i think is over look sometimes a great example of good writing is Mentlers stuff sorr i know im off topic.. more studies pleze :asspat:

[Asatira]

Demo: Thanks. I'm really enjoying the nose studies. And I also enjoy Mentler's "Book of Bones," his work, while very academic and for study, are art works in themselves. My handwriting on the other hand is much worse, but my print writing is alright.

Got the last day's gestures and nose studies. I really enjoy John Sheppard's anatomy for artists book; the anatomy diagrams are a mix of linework, pen I think, and more modeled sketches. The noses I did are from a page full of noses. I need to come back and do these on gray paper like Sheppard did so I can get things like highlights.

491859 491861

491862 491865

And today's gestures. I really need to get back to the still lifes and such studies. I plan to work on doing some noses from photo ref today as well.

491866 491868 491870

edit: (6:56pm) Got some ref'd studies done. One page tonight. From Mark Simon.
492019

[Asatira]

Just gestures.

[katinki]

just dropping some encouragement - keep it up!
you could try to start your gestures with a line of action, that helps to establish some rythm. just try to capture the essence of the pose in one line. and i like the noses, too!

[Demo]

shouldent repet whats already been said by katinki just keep up the good work and ull get their :)

[Asatira]

Slacked off again on the weekend. :shrug: :^^;: Got today's drawings. 10min of 30 sec gestures, a pair of quick drawings of my hand, and a modeled drawing of a M&M dispenser.

Got to try and get a half hour in of life drawing everyday, and to get out of my comfort zone. I've fallen into a half-hearted routine and I hate when I do that.

[Envisor]

Good to see you still doing the figure studies. Seems you do not draw the hands much. Keep drawing hands until you become more comfortable with them. Also try some more complex figure studies. You are over simplifying the figures at the moment, but I know that is intentional. Keep working hard.

[katinki]

yeah - what eric said: break the routine. include new things. longer poses. shorter poses. concentration on hands. concentration on head shapes. etc.
it's not boring, it's endlessly versatile!
more! more! more!

[Asatira]

Envisor, katinki: Yeah, I definitely plan to expand to more complex subjects and media in the next few days. I think doing simple toned watercolor studies once I find a place to set it up (ie clean, flat surface to put the palette and water). And will start digital studies in the next few days as well. Wow, October's nearly over.

Today's gestures and life drawing. My biggest complaint about the two balls I drew, other than poor shading, is I didn't set it up well. The light was too weak to do a proper study with.

[Asatira]

Today's gestures and for my required 30 minutes I decided to change the scenery a little. Went to the neighborhood park and spent some time on a piece of playground equipment and a bench. While I feel eh about the final, I enjoyed getting out drawing something different.

[Envisor]

Looking good! The loomis studies are great. Try to also mess with line weight(thickness of the line) and how you can give more form to your figures. Keep at it, cant wait to see those digi's.

[Asatira]

I suck at painting digitally. Here's an assignment in the mentoring forum, focus is on an environment. It's, eh.

[katinki]

i'm struggling with environment myself but i think you're off to a good start. right now it seems like you painted everything very much in the local colour (and very bright ones). and you should try to think about light - where does it come from, where does it cast shadows etc.? the temple thingie looks very floating, try to ground it more. thus - more light and shadows and less bright colours and more of it! more! muharrharr!

[Asatira]

katinki: I guess that's what I did.

Today's gestures, and hand anatomy studies.

[Asatira]

Some ref'd drawings from some figure reference books. Meant to be quick and dirty, getting the general forms.

[Asatira]

Not much. Got a lot spread out over the last few days. Got the gestures from Thursday, Bargue eye plate copies/studies from Friday, and the self portrait from today.

507455 507457

507458

507459

[Trefle]

Ooh, nice pics! :D
Sorry for not replying for so long x_X

In the self portrait, the eyes are placed in different places. Also, the left one looks bigger than the right one. But it's good and I like how your shading doesn't become too...sketchy, but still shows the planes and the form of the cheekbones.

And I really like the studies! It's nice to see you're studying a lot, but may I suggest making a few somewhat-detailed studies? Like, learning the more detailed picture instead of sketches. Still, just a suggestion here... X_X

And well, your environment pic is great for a first time! :D As katinki said, you need more shadow and more darker colors, and paler colors for further objects, with the mist and all...

Good luck! I would love to see more XD

[katinki]

good to see you keeping up the gesture routine! how long are they? 30 sec? i don't know anything about bargue plates - what's the deal with them? for the other anatomy studies from the book, it seems like you concentrate on outline pretty much, don't forget about the basic volumes first! and the self portrait is cute!

[Asatira]

Trefle: Thanks, I'm rather fond of the self portrait. I also noticed the eye level (albeit after it was toned), but was pleased overall. I think it's a slight improvement over the one I started with. Now, to figure out how to do black hair, and dreads specifically... I do plan to go to more detailed studies.

katinki: Yep, still 30 second gestures. I think I actually got a little worse for a while, but getting back on track. The Bargue plates are mostly for learning tone. This particular plate was line drawings of eyes, however. I'll be getting to a few others as I go along.

Didn't post much this week. I was ashamed to do mostly gestures and not many real studies. I got a little done, and I'm back to the Loomis. I'm having a hard time figuring out how best to use them. And a 20min attempt at digital painting. A pair of thumbdrives.

512266

512267512268512269

512270512271512272

512274512275512277

512278

[katinki]

that's quite an update! soo many gestures! if you don't feel like doing studies at the moment, then do something you feel more like doing, perhaps an illustration or other stuff from imagination? don't restrict yourself too much to a fixed work regimen.

[Demo]

i think your line weight is really improving esp in those skulls
ill come back tomorrow for more goodness and to leave any good help i can but now it is time for sleepie so goodday
demo is back :yayca:

[FearSelf]

Sorry for not being around for awhile.
Gestures are improving. Hands still need work, have you tried just making hands out of shapes? Sometimes that helps me. Just a quick few blocks stacked on top of eachother with a bit of roundness and what not. I think shapes or important although I hate geometry -.-
So anyways nice self portrait, making value with pencil is haaaarrrdd so good job. Although I just noticed you do most of your stuff in pencil, do you have any other media to work with just to switch it up a bit and challenge yourself more?

[eminkey2003]

Hey there. Looks like you could loosen up your gestures. Instead of so many scratchy lines, try just a few lines.

[Asatira]

Hey, guys. Sorry for dropping out for the last week or so. Been kinda bummed, and that leads to excuses. That's all I'm going to say.

Did get a little done during the week. Mostly gestures, but I did get a little done towards the end of the week.

All gestures are either 30sec or 1min.
525302 525303

Ref'd from Characterdesigns.com; I liked how the shadows were on her body, so did a sort of two tone exercise. Proportions (namely head, so everything is off) don't like, but glad to have done.
525304

525306525307525308525309

Trying to work on sighting and measuring, still needs a lot of work. Ruler needed.
525310 525311

Concept class sim exercise. Brainstorm characters this time, chose the guardian archetype. Drew from Asian mythologies and folklore. Will add to these.
525313

[Asatira]

A cleaned up final version of the last exercise. Added a few more creatures/characters.
527240

[Asatira]

Not much to say. Usual gestures.
532654 532655
532658532659

Also, some initial character sketches for a character I want to use in a short, one-shot story/comic. There are problems with them, but they were drawn from my head without reference, something I haven't done too much of late. It was fun to do. Expect to see more of in the future.

532657532656

[Demo]

Those characters are looking vastley better the diferance between your first posts and now are asowme.also thos gestures are getting you where u wana go their getting more fuluid and easier for you i think

[Asatira]

Gestures.
535836

535838

535839

535840

[Asatira]

Not much to say, just a mix of stuff from the last week+, which is not much.

545010

Girl from imagination.
545011

545013

Study of my hands, always useful if all else fails. Second has a few copies from "How to Draw Lilo and Stitch".
545014 545015

545016

Gestures from imagination/memory, of ballet.
545018

545019

545020

[FearSelf]

Sorry for not posting in like forever. I just noticed in your sketches when you do quick gestures from refrence they're all sketchy and really rough, and when it's from imagination like the ballet pieces the lines are very nice and fluid. Why is that? Can you transfer the fluidness into the refrenced figure drawings?

Sorry that's all I have for now.

[Asatira]

Just some sketches at the area cultural park. Getting into the habit of going out to draw.

550173 550174

[Trefle]

Hi there! Sorry I haven't been here for so long.

your art's definitely improved from the last time. I like your park sketches, esp. the trees.

And I agreed with Fearself; the ballet piece is very fluid compared to few of your sketches. Although I can understand; I have the same problems too. (Even my drawing-from-imaginations isn't that fluid D:)

would love to see more of you ^^

[Asatira]

Today's gestures, 30sec, and a few ref'd portraits as quick studies from Longstock on DA (http://longstock.deviantart.com). All I got to say about the portraits, I need to do more faces and heads.

552024 552026

552027

[Asatira]

Last drawings for the year. Here's to 2009.

552652 552653

[pegasi]

I don't know if you know, but you have improved a lot! And you will continue to, so keep it up!!

[Asatira]

Trefle, Fearself: Yeah, I kinda noticed the differences. I think part of it is with the ones from imagination I could ease up a little, whereas the ref'd ones, at least from Posemaniacs, I get caught up a little with what I see. (I get thrown by the visible muscles)

Pegasi: Thanks, this makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere.

Just some gestures from Posemaniacs.
555884

555885

I have a new routine, just got to start using it.

[Asatira]

Gestures, studies of random objects around, and a digital sketch.

556932

Studies of a gyroscope and an ink cartridge. Trying to do more still lifes, and to improve my lines.
556933

From a personal photo, trying to practice. :er: :$ :bomb:
556934

[lilnebo]

Heeyy!
Nice studies, doing alot eh
Slow down with them studies and just try to really focus and learn as much as you can from them.
Other than that
Keep it up and have fun

[lilnebo]

Heeyy!
Nice studies, doing alot eh
Slow down with them studies and just try to really focus and learn as much as you can from them.
Other than that
Keep it up and have fun