My Sketch Book, mostly all sorts of things

[Blade-14]

Hi people, I'd like to introduce my sketch thread, just like everyone one, i'll be posting all my stuff regularly in an attempt to receive crits and the like.
I have to admit that this 1st wave of work is mostly fanart, but i just need a few crits on these b4 i post other stuff if thats not too much to ask.

Well lets begin shall we?

[Blade-14]

Just some more stuff i've done ova the drawing era,

[Zombie_dla]

Hey, nice stuff, clean lines. See that you got Testament and Sol there too :P Keep it up!

[Delmar]

Very dynamic style, first one is really good.

Keep it up

[Blade-14]

Oh cheers people, glad u like em. Btw any improvements u'd like to suggest to enhance my style in any way? cos i'd really like to improve as much as i can and i think u guys are the only people who can help me with this.

Thanks again all, more stuff to come :)

[Envisor]

Welcome to CA. Really nice stuff, clean lines. The only crit that i can give you, well its more of a tip actually, is to draw from life and do figure studies and studies from anatomy. It'll help you improve quickly. Not that you need to, not in my eyes. Your stuff is already awesome. Keep at it.

[Blade-14]

Thanks all, your encouraging and helpful words mean a lot to me, and now for some more stuff! :D. I've begun to do figure studies and shading ones too, Back in the say i used to shade all my pencil work, but then for a time was afraid to. Well thanks to this place I actually have the courage to try and get back into it properly. So yeah he he i'm happy!

[kischi]

He Blade really nice start! You are into manga.Aren't you?
So its good that you now practice anatomie and heads and stuff!
Keept up the good work!

[Blade-14]

I thought i'd show some more character sketches just for now, The figure drawing studies will continue, but i's still like to have some fun doing my own stuff too, oh btw all the character drawings were doen much b4 the figure drawing stuff im doing now, so don;t b surprised if they're a little off.

[Blade-14]

Right sorry i havent submitted much stuff, n this isn't even much of an update but i've tried to keep on the figure drwing thing, gotta start doing males soon, or else i'll begin to feminise all my work! lol.

[Envisor]

These character studies are great. Need to do some like these in my own sketches. I really like the finished figure study up a couple of posts. You did real well on the lighting and rendering of that one. And the figures in your last post are good as well. keep up the good work.

[dan liimatta]

the first post is great - and I like the studies; as for problems besides the first 4 images or so I'm having some problems with how you have drawn the faces; they don't really hold in compared to the clothes and bodies - so I'd probably work more on that part.

I really liked the Testament piece btw - especially the render of Testament himself.

[Blade-14]

Thanks for the kind words again people, still need to study like sooo much stuff on this drawing thing, as for colors im not gonna really delve into thse until im satisfied with my drawing. I will be shading all of my images and studies tho to get a feel for where shades, shadows and tones should be in relation to light.

More to come peeps :D oh btw does anyone know how i can make a sig down at the bottom of my posts with a link to my sketch book on it? much appreciated if sumone cud help me out here.

[Jasper_]

Hey man, I think you have some really cool armor and robot concepts. Drawings from life, especially like random objects around the house or something should help you improve shading.

About the signature, click on User CP on the first menu at the top, then edit signature, and copy and paste the link to your sketchbook in there.

[Blade-14]

cheers, mate i do this now :)

[Blade-14]

Yeah i know it's been like foreva since i posted anything here but to make up for it i have been hard at work with my art studies!

I started with a few neck muscle group studies, then went onto the legs but something kept plaguing my mind on what the real subject i should have been studing was,

HANDS the nightmare all illustration subjects and they have been a night mare for me too. be noted that all the images are shown in order of wen they were done. hope i've made progress.

Be re informed that the pictures above were done b4 i started this anatmical study subject. so i hope improvement shows if i do any future images.

As always C&C's are vital. Thanks again people to take the time to look.

[Blade-14]

Just some more sketch book malarkey

[BazookaJoe]

Nice work Blade-14. I can tell you have quite some experience. I like your new style, it seems that you are developing a more realistic and not so cartoonie style.

[Blade-14]

well to be honest i'm still in the process of trying to master my actual studies as i really only started this book about 4 weeks ago, but im dabbling on everything just to see where my real weaknesses are and in turn deal with them until im satisfied for that time, which i will then move onto something else.

Lil by lil dude, thats all i can say, thanks for the comment tho, much appreciated. :D

[Looped_Warrior]

Great finger and hand studies!!

[CouchPotato]

Hey, thanks for stopping by my sketchbook blade! I think your stuff are good man, no crits from me, nothing I can really say that you already seem to know ^^

[Blade-14]

No problem mate, like to give the comments as well as get them so no worries yeah? lol

and the encouragement im getting from all of u is a mega motivator for me so if u can keep it coming! :D

I'll be posting some more stuff over the next few days, gotta get myself a new set of graphite pencils, nu putty eraser, plus a nu A3 sketchbook, good times ahead! ;)

[mrpank]

the anatomy and colors are fantastic!!
cheers

[JERI]

Blade-14, nice studies mate. All I can say I see nothing wrong with your works and the direction you're taking at all. So keep it up dude, only a matter of time.

[Edit] I might suggest that you sketch looser and lighter than you are now, and don't use as much strokes. Or you can sketch lightly your usual way with an HB and then go over it with a darker 2B ( I personally find it useful). Just my two cents, hope that's relevant to ya.

[Blade-14]

highly valued advice mate, i shall definetly try it next time. The reason i use hard graded pencils is usually cos i don't want my work to smudge easily, but seem to sacrifice contrast in doing so.

But as i sed i will give it a go, probly will do me wonders.

peace out :)

[CouchPotato]

Maybe you can use that pencil Loomis seems to like so much. Prisma Black 356, or something like that. According to him it doesn't smudge easily (I know the problem man, when I use like 4b or something and my palm goes over to a new area, the whole thing just smudges up). Drawback is that it's also hard to erase. Obviously, for advance users only haha. You should be able to handle it though :D

[JERI]

highly valued advice mate, i shall definetly try it next time. The reason i use hard graded pencils is usually cos i don't want my work to smudge easily, but seem to sacrifice contrast in doing so.

It's more about confidence in lines actually. I get the impression that you appear to be going over a stroke several times to get to one that you feel right with. I suffer from the same problem myself, and I personally feel that when I sketch lightly with HB and then go over with the darker 2B I develop the confidence to sketch with fewer lines in the process. Not sure if you'll find it as helpful though.

[Matsign]

Sweet ass hand studies. Way to persist through that study. In response to Jeri, I personally use a 2H for lineart to be inked later. I just can't stand the HB sometimes and as I tend to smudge a lot of graphite, the harder 2H sticks around longer. If I'm doing a study lot of a book or something I'll go HB and add in softer leaders for contrast.

[Blade-14]

Maybe you can use that pencil Loomis seems to like so much. Prisma Black 356, or something like that. According to him it doesn't smudge easily (I know the problem man, when I use like 4b or something and my palm goes over to a new area, the whole thing just smudges up). Drawback is that it's also hard to erase. Obviously, for advance users only haha. You should be able to handle it though :D

lol wel i know i i need to take more chances in my pencil grades to make my values and contrasts stand out more, it will definetly be tried


t's more about confidence in lines actually. I get the impression that you appear to be going over a stroke several times to get to one that you feel right with. I suffer from the same problem myself, and I personally feel that when I sketch lightly with HB and then go over with the darker 2B I develop the confidence to sketch with fewer lines in the process. Not sure if you'll find it as helpful though.


U got me down in 1, what i tend to to is use the 2h to block out the image then go ova it in hb, imma try a darker grade for this, but what i'd kill to have is a photo senstive pencil as thats what the pros use to draw on their blocked out sketches, it'd be the answer to my prayers


Sweet ass hand studies. Way to persist through that study. In response to Jeri, I personally use a 2H for lineart to be inked later. I just can't stand the HB sometimes and as I tend to smudge a lot of graphite, the harder 2H sticks around longer. If I'm doing a study lot of a book or something I'll go HB and add in softer leaders for contrast.

Yep and im stilll not done with em, i plan to do a lot more until hands become second nature to me, although it still gives many artists and illustators headaches. I have to break this weakness i feel i have with them.

Thanks all for thoughts and suggestions, more work to come, promise!! :D

[maxetormer]

Keep doing the hand studies, and listen to JERI he knows his stuff ;)

[Blade-14]

Thought i'd loosen up by doing a few other studies and some magazine sketches i happened to buy ARENA recently and they've got some really cool poses and subject in there so i thought i do a few avril lavigne sketches.

I happen to think shes quite attractive now, had a blast doin em, anyways, hope u enjoy :D

[FactorZero]

this is a promising start. keep it up and splash some color in there. try to stay away from short choppy strokes when sketching

[Blade-14]

Lol thanks dude, if u take a look at your thread, i've just thrown a fit of astonishment at your own work!

[CouchPotato]

Blade, the cloth studies look good. Any tips for me? XD and the last two portraits are really looking good man. Hair is a bit clumpy on the last one, but nice pose.

[Blade-14]

well u cud always try and take pictures of a teacloth blowing in the wind of a fan or a hair dryer like i did, and then try to get the mannerisms of the cloth down by drawing em out,

As for the hair in the last pic, that was insane hard to do with the shading and stuff, so yeah the hair came out a bit dreadlike, i mite try it again, but a nu tecnique wud be needed for a more convincing effect, u fail once u try again eh? lol

JERI: really sorry for the misinterpretation of the advice u gave me, i was thinking u were taking about the pencil grades when really u were talking about the strokes! i feel real dumb now for not reading your post thoroughly, let me say it's an element on my sketches that i will incorporate as of now, as i've already seen the results of how much more mature it can make ones work too, so cheers mate.:D

[Blade-14]

Right another update we have here, i was dying to try JERIs nu suggested line technique, i think it did me wonders, neways finally done some male life drawing, since i seemed to b having trouble drawing males from my head.

Oh yeah i also attempted redoing that avril hair shake picture as well, just to see if i cud make an improvement on the last one.

hope they please :D

[Fishspawn]

Can't believe i saw chaos legion fanart, i thought i was the only person who liked that game! Studies and doodles looking good. I will second the votes for lighter, looser, less scratchy lines, and i also think you should work more on those faces. If you're looking for a good anatomy reference, check out george bridgeman - he's my favorite. Keep up the good work.

[Lee W]

very nice stuff :) great cloth blowing in the wind studies and the male figures will come, just keep working on them. Did a great job on this study (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=103627&stc=1&d=1173147368), the hair still needs a little more attention but it is very hard to render hair, especially having the strands moving about liike that. I usually do the hair last, so if I screw up, I do it at the end after I spent hours on the rest of the sketch :D

[Blade-14]

Fishspawn: Indeed i am a big fan of that game, it still annoys me to hell that capcom havent announced a sequel for it. So much untapped potential remains in that franchise, oh well 1 can only hope, glad u like the sketch tho, i actually wanna do a image of one of the grand legions attacks, but will come later. As for faces i plan to do some feature studies 2day cos faces are really kicking my ass at the moment!


OldNoobie: It was indeed a very hard task, i think the main problem tho lies with the meduim i chose, if i was using chalk n charcoal, it wud have been much easier, but cos i have to manage the values of white on the page it often gave me nightmares regarding the positioning of the strands and the values of them too. But still was fun to work on. Cloth studies will continue down the line.


Oh and i notice peeps are a lil bummed about no recent color work, i shall reveal again that im wanting to boost my drawing b4 i go into color, form 1st values later. All in good time :D

[scottmcd]

Very nice sketchbook so far (thanks for dropping by mine). It's obvious you're putting in a lot of work. I particularly like the figure studies - the new line techniqe shows up in the most recent male studies, but I like the look of the female ones as well. No real crits, but I like! (You have a new subscriber.)

[CouchPotato]

I think your lines are stronger, just comparing the two hair shake pics. Think the facial features are coming out more strongly especially?

The hair looks the same to my untrained eye, however...haha, sorry about that : /

[FactorZero]

those male studies came out nice. Keep doing the right stuff. Pen also helps with training your lines, at least i think it helped me a bit. when you can't erase it makes you think more about the form you are drawing before you put a line down. it's like every line is a committment. anyways i'll stop ranting cause i need to do some more studies myself. Keep doing the right stuff. Analyze your technique to find your weakness and see where you can improve. And thanks for stopping by my sketchbook. i appreciate the enthusiasm.

[Blade-14]

My smooth line dreams have yet to be realised. learning is a real bitch at times, but must be done nevertheless, theres still lots of room for improvement for me, eventually that room will be filled, then extended! heh heh!

[EaN]

Hey Blade, I really like you characters. Your studies are awesome, the hands look spot on. Nice Sketchbook!

[darkchild]

Very cool variety of styles!! Love the use of vivid colors on your first couple posts. But the figure and hand studies are the most impressive of all. Nice work you seem to be progressing very nicely:) You have very imaginative characters. You do that armor very well. Keep those studies and concepts flowing!!

[nilaffle]

Awesome studies, especially the hands. I need to do more of those myself. I'm impressed by the lady flipping her hair, it takes guts to even attempt something like that. You're not afraid to push your work and go for some complex poses, and that's how every artist should be. Keep on working on those figure studies, your stuff is getting better and better. Can't wait to see more :)

[Bard]

Some great stuff blade...although some pics I can't see (red x's).
I'll check it later on an another pc.:)

[Longxiang]

Your studies are creepy as hell--even the hands! How do you do that?

Those hands by the way are very tight.

[BryanYoung]

Thanks for stopping by my sb. You've got some good stuff going on here. The studies are coming along nicely. Keep working on your marks. More smooth lines, less short choppy ones. Keep it up!

[Krigbrann]

Wow. I really like the sheer volume of good stuff that you've shown everyone. The pictures of human anatomy really interest me, especially the guy's muscle anatomy. The female shaking her hair looks amazing.

[Blade-14]

EaN: Thank u i plan on developing them further when i have the chance!

Darkchild: and let me say that that 1st one i posted in this thread took me literally forever!, 1st i had to draw it, then trace color it with pencils, then scan it into ps where i used the smudge tool to get the painterly effect. was quite tedious, so i am looking for a painting method wich is a lot quicker. I am glad all that hard work paid off tho!


Nilaffle: Hands were really murdering my art so they had to be beaten to blood with practice. As with complex poses and challenging pics, i feel that a) to pull of an image with is full of movement and dynamicism is very important for ones art appeal so long as u can pull it off nicely, so u will see more!

Bard: Sometimes i get that too, try refreshing the page or going on another time k?

Longxiang: Practice and determination that 1 art element will not stand in your way no matter what the cost!

Bryanyoung: Yep im all for them man, my scans are actually looking a lot better thanks to this nu line technique im trying. still a ways to go tho.


Maxofthesouth: lol im sure there's others who have submitted more than me but i preciate the fact that u think i work so hard!, im pretty familiar with the muscle groups alredy but must do a few check overs on that part wich is why i did it. As for the avril lavigne hair shake pic, i mite touch it up in PS to make it look, well.... better lol, that'll be down the line tho. thank u!



Right here's the next update from me, thought i'd work on facial freature this time round to see if im having any particular trouble drawing them, only thing that really got me was mouth deformation, which i will continue studying soon. but yeah here they are, n hope they please-ish

[darkwolfb87]

Nice dedication being shown here :) I think your figures would benefit from a structural approach that builds them out from spheres, cubes and egg shapes. Try putting a time limit on your anatomy studies to try and focus only on the underlying forms. Good luck!

~ Stephen

[Envisor]

Hey dude. Sorry its been so long since I last visited. Those hand studies you posted a while back are really good. But in most of your sketches, you need to use cleaner lines, most of them look good, but if you take a little more time on them, and use some cleaner lines, they'll look freaking awesome. Cant wait to see more.

[Dreamworker]

Very good SB! I like your studies , my favorite pice is this concept http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=95257&stc=1&d=1171736881
very strong character!
Keep it up, ciao :)

[CouchPotato]

lol, I didn't realise there were differences in noses between genders until today. Great stuff you've got here man, keep up the good work!

[Blade-14]

Hi guys this is a quick basic showing of a new picture i've done, took forever to do, about 20 hrs in total, done on A3,

lol once again, a CHAOS LEGION picture,

Crits and comments on it wud be highly welcome, lol don;t worry im not gonna get deflated, i pretty much know what wrong with some parts anyway. But i'm hoping it pleases :D

[Envisor]

The only thing that I see is that on the figure with the tongue sticking out, the tongue seems kinda flat and needs more contrast and roundness to it. As does the whole piece needs more contrast to it. But that front figure is just awesome. Great expression on him.

[Zoroko]

You got lovely black and white work, nice use of contrast and everything! The body part studies are very good as well.

I feel like your color works lose the amount of detail that they have though. if you could create more depth in the color works the detail won't get lost.

Great work though! I look forward to more!

[AvatarJimmy]

Some cool pics in here. You're definitely heading the right direction with the figure studies (especially the hands, you can never do too much of those :) ). Its been mentioned in here before that your lines are a little rough and overworked, this is something I struggle a lot with too. By watching some life drawing videos by Glenn Villpu, I picked up a technique thats helped me a lot. After some real light gesture work, before he lays down the final line, he moves his hand along where he feels the line should be, only its about a quarter inch off the paper. Sometimes he'll do this 3-4 times before he actually makes the mark. This way he pulls a really long flowing line. Trying this myself, it really helped me to visualize what I wanted instead of making a big mess on my paper. Anyway, hope that helps. Good work in here and keep on drawing.

[Blade-14]

Envisor- Agreed, i guess it was the viewpoint i chose, it definetly makes it tricky to render things consistently, dimension wise. i think the reason they look faded is cos i did it intentionally in PS to make the bigger figures look more like they were in the dstance, so the eyes could read the image much easier. But i will definetly add some more contrast in there to soldify the whole thing more

Zoroko-Hiya! great sketch book btw, Yeah colors have always been plaguing me from day 1, what they tend to do when they're applied to line work is deform the dimensions of the original image if not placed properly producing undesired results. And as for color theory, don't get me started on that lol. It will come with time. But there are occaisions where i don't really know what to work on; color or lines. lol well u neva know i mite surprise ya ;)

AvatarJimmy- Yeah about the line subject it is frustrating me to hell, and it's something i've been recently trying to address, but that nu technique u mentioned i will give a go. I'll take any help i can get so thanks dude :D.

[Brendan N]

Hey dude, thanks for stopping by my book, really appreciate it!

You have some good stuff going here, the studies are shaping up very well. Work on your line some - try not to go over the same line repeatedly. Instead take it from point A to point B in one go. If you don't have more in information to add to the form, the don't do anything else. Less is more.

Keep it up!

- d.

[Envisor]

Congrats on page numero two-o. Thx for the motivational coment you left on my thread. Keep up the good work dude. Youve got some inspirational mech and character designs.

[robmorfin]

Thanks for stopping at my sketchbook, your sketchbook is great, some of your anime characters express much more life in them than any others I have seen and they don't express innocence like almost everyonce elses anime characters do, I really liked that, also really great life drawing studies, I specially liked the chick with the hair all around, keep drawing this great stuff.

[Jakian]

Dude, love your stuff. ; )


I did notice 2 things that really caught me.

Try to blend more when you're shading so that you don't get the strange sketchy rectangular shapes on the shadows.

I'd also like to see you drawing more loosely. : )

I think that's about it.

LOOOOVE alot of stuff. Specially your characer oriented peices.

[Blade-14]

BrendanN- LOL!!! sooooo many people are bashing my lines!! leve em alone!!!
Only kidding :D. still working on that department actively mate, there will be improvement, don't worry :).

Envisor- I see your a regular subscriber to my thread :P very flattered. I plan to do some mechanical subject studies to attempt to gain a greater understanding of conceptualising mech based characters. so they should be getting better.

Robmorphin- Thanks mate, i am trying to get away from the mange style but i guess it still finds it's way into my images now and then.

Jakian- Hey the art prodigy visits my sketch book! how u doin u cool? lol. Sketching loosely is at the top of my priorities right now, Hopefully im making headway in that department, my newest images should show case my attempts for this. and for color it's clear i'll need to study that in depth too, but will come with time promise. :)

Ok people time for another update, I've revisited the life drawing and hand studies, and done a few good copies of my fave pin up girl, the likeness is terrible but i'm still trying for the confident line approach to my sketches. Hope i done an ok job for now.

[Blade-14]

Just thought i'd post the more complete version of that pose sketch i did b4

[Blade-14]

Right thought i'd try and get my teeth into some environment drawings to try and expand my scope. Jungles seemed to appeal to me the most so doing a couple of vegetatotion studies and some thumbnails to go with it. It's not much but there will be more to come, also i thought i's show a few new images of my earlier characters as well.

Hope they please, feel free to rip em apart :D

[P.J.Irwin]

Blade, thankyou for looking at my sketchbook, you have a very nice one going on here, it looks like you've been getting good feedback and advice. If I may give a small crit on your environments, I'd say that your trees look a bit like cotton or stylized clouds, real trees are stupid hard to draw in my opinion, but if you put in some sky holes and seperate leaf masses according to the branch structure, they can become fairly easy to fake. A great book on the subject is " THE ARTISTIC ANATOMY OF TREES" by Rex Vicat Cole. It was originally published in 1915, so the language is very dry and boring, and Rex is very full of himself, but the book has more useful information on trees than any other I've ever seen.

--My Sketchbook-- (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=91362)

[DARAF]

Right on man , keep posting.

[Yautja892]

Hey Blade-14 really appreciate the advice you gave in my sb, all that you said is what I've been trying to work on, and apply. I'm really enjoy your mech designs, and you are doing some great studies also , you are defiantly on the right road. I also enjoy the line work you have in your characters, but I think if really want to get those characters to come out more, is to really work on shading them, and also will help working with lighting as well. Overall great stuff, I really like post #10. I'll be watching your progress.

[AvatarJimmy]

Nice updates. The latest characters look really nice; solid and stylized. The line quality in the thumbnails shows that they were quick, but it also shows confidence, so keep up with that. Good work overall, showing nice improvement.

[Ragathol]

Looked through it all and I gotta say you've really come a long way just during the course of this sketchbook :)
There's a big difference between the first and most recent posts.
You have some really nice design work there, so just keep it up with the anatomy and faces and I'm sure you'll produce some stunning work in a few years' time.

[MrBobMarley]

Thanks for dropping by my book man! You're on the right path with those hand studies for sure and they look good from here. Chicks looking good too. I would tell you to watch your lines but I'd have to tell myself that too hehe.

Keep posting!

[Raptor]

Ive gotta say, you do really nicely with fingers, an aria I constantly have trouble with (that and feet). If I were you i might stay away from "world of warcraft" anatomy, while its kinda cool, its a bit of a crutch and its harder to draw people with reasonable proportion and the subtle nuance of flesh over muscle. I really like your studies, I think they are strong. Do you use a micron pen for these?

Also, something I did for a while and it really helped me with faces. I drew the skull first, them impregnated them with eyes, then lightly did muscle and the the outline and erased the rest. Your faces right now look like they are made out of puddly, doing this will fix that. Its time for me to start doing that again as well, I need to buy a skull *sigh* .

[Bubstar]

Thanks for coming by my sketch book and offering up advice, your anantomy studies are really good and definitely keep them up.Your line quality has really improved from your first images till the more recent. Keep drawing and going at it.

[paperX]

hey man thanks for the nice comment over at my sb....really like your style and your dedication...:)

one little crit i would like to give you is that watch your line quality...keep it loose and flowing, right now you are making repeated marks that sometimes can make the piece look over 'sketchy' (trust me i do this all the time lol :( )

anyways keep up the hard work! i think ill stick around if u dont mind :P

[Pigeonkill]

I'm picking up a super hero W.o.W vibes. I like the power ups on the first page. Has a larger than life feel. Keep posting!

[CouchPotato]

Love your last three stuff! They are really powerfull looking!

[mumrah]

For the hell of it try just a tonal sketch where you don't define the edges with lines at all, just use patches of tone. Also it's good to see you working on faces and facial expression as they have definatly improved since the start of your SB. Nice work

[Lander]

Thanks for the encouragement in my sb. YOu are really putting some effort into your studies. Now you force me to do mine. (the ones I have avoided all my life) . It's a good thing. Keep it up. Power to your drawing. Those characters really fill the canvas with energy.