MyOrangeHat's Sketchbook~Now with more children's book illustration~ GO TO LAST PAGE

[MyOrangeHat]

Do your eyes a favor, GO TO THE LAST PAGE. Or at the very least page six.

The beginning pages are positively embarrassing. Though this first post's images are amusingly bad. So after you're done laughing at these first two attempts at the figure just go to the last page. It'll save you a lot of time.


---------------
After quitting a soul killing cubicle job last spring I took up drawing again. Amazing how inspriation comes back when you're no longer miserable at work. The first art class I'd had in at least 10 years was a figure drawing class in June 2006. To give you a reference point of where I've improved from I'll start this sketchbook with a couple figure drawings from that June class. Because as bad as my figure drawings are now belive it or not they're better than where I started last year. :)

[MyOrangeHat]

And now some stuff from the last couple of weeks. I go to an open figure drawing class,which all of these newer drawings are from, for a few hours every Sunday night after work. So I'll update my sketchbook at LEAST once a week because I've always got a handful of new drawings from that class. All these drawings are in chronological order not that it matters that much since they only span about three or four weeks.

I am very very slow when I draw and most of these poses are 20min or less so I never have a chance to finish like I'd like to do. I also have trouble with drawing a slouching sitting position.

[deltron05]

Good progression ...i suggest you keep going to those classes......and if you can't draw the hole body it's good sometimes to work on some parts only like focus on one single area and try to understand what's going on. Also...i suggest that you work on the feeling more than just nailing down a nice drawing . Those classes are made for you to understand how the human body is moving...flowing sketches......Peace....Keep Drawing

[MyOrangeHat]

deltron05- Thanks. Yup I love the figure drawing classes on Sundays and I'm definitely going to keep going. If I could find one for another night of the week too I'd go but there's nothing close that I've found. I'll try drawing a smaller more manageable portion of the body this Sunday when I go. That's a good idea. We do really short ones 1 min or so for flow and movement. Much looser sketches there.

Just got inspired to doodle a bit. My bro was sitting at him comp playing so I skribbled him a bit. Hands aren't that great and I was in woeful need of a ruler but I still kinda like it.

[MyOrangeHat]

Oh poor sketchbook, how I've neglected thee.

[MyOrangeHat]

I'm going to try to get better at updating this thing. So here goes. Updates two days in a row. Yay me!

[MyOrangeHat]

Sunday night figure drawing update. I'm always happy to get a critique so rip 'em to shreds if you like.

[~*CIN*~]

to sketchy for me

[motives]

Its great that you theese human studies! its the key for all drawing.
Try to reduce the amount of strokes. if you dont nail it the first time just ignore it and continue on another part. Dont worry if it looks wrong, it takes time to learn to see. Just keep it up and draw all the time. there is no shortcuts:)

cheers!

[Taiylz]

Good that ye going to life drawing classes, they really help. You should take a sketchbook with ye whenever ye go out and draw people around ye on the train/bus-stop/bus/school whatever, y'know? Keep them coming.

[MyOrangeHat]

Thanks for the support, guy. :) I was so scarce around here for awhile that I missed those last couple comments when they were new!

My weekly figure drawing class stopped meeting the first week of May. It should start meeting again in the next few weeks though! :D We use a room in a local college and it wasn't available to us during the summer semesters.

I started working on a self portrait but I got a comment that it looked like I hadn't ever really studied the head so I'm putting the portrait on hold and really going over the head section of my anatomy book.

Oh and I threw in an arm study for good measure. I've gotta get my butt in gear and do more of these. My first semester of art school starts in a short 4 months! EEeeep!

[MyOrangeHat]

Just started my first semester of art school. It's only been a week and I've already learned SO much! This is so exciting!

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[funfetus]

Good work! You're in art school, so I don't know if I can give you anything that they won't at this point. Maybe check out the Loomis (http://acid.noobgrinder.com/Loomis) books to supplement. Keep it up, I'll check back.

[MyOrangeHat]

FunFetus- Thanks for the link! That's a really awesome resource. I'm gonna dig right in. I've been really enjoying looking through your sketchbook. You do great stuff.

I've got a few updates from my computer class. I've never used illustrator before this so these are really simple. I'm just learning the tools. And the wings seem to have cropped themselves when I opened them in Photoshop. In Illustrator when I saved it they weren't cut off like that. I'm going to have to figure out why that happened.

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[MyOrangeHat]

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[MyOrangeHat]

More stuff. Mostly figure drawings of rather short poses. And one painting...which I don't particulairly like. I'm re-doing it now so any critiques on this, the version that bombed, would be helpful as I paint the new one.

[MyOrangeHat]

And my personal logo/signature as created for computer class. The letters are my initials. I'm thinking of drawing a fishbowl around him when I go to the computer lab today. Somehow the idea of fishing in a fishbowl amuses me.

[MyOrangeHat]

Been too long since I've last updated. It's not that i haven't been drawing it's just that I haven't been updating. I'll try to get some of the stuff I've done over the past week up.

This is a small (3x5 in maybe) postcard painting. I'm painting it to mail to my granny since she's not feeling well. It's not done yet. I need to add the crowd walking down the sidewalk and then sharpen up and detail the foreground a lot(street light, and closest cars). Critiques really appreciate on this one. I did it REALLY fast and I never work fast. Plus I want it to be nice for my grandma.

[MyOrangeHat]

Illustrator stuff. Still learning the tools. The self portrait started out as an assignment to learn how to trace using the pen. So the guts of this one ARE traced. It was an in-class assignment and we were allowed to mess around with it and stylize if we got bored. I just messed around and ended up with this.
Oh and in my defense the picture I traced was from Halloween.

[MyOrangeHat]

I was just procrastinating on finishing my homework and I found some doodles I made about a year ago to make some friends of mine laugh. They made me giggle when I ran across them on my computer again. The were drawn with a mouse using my left hand. The last one was a joke on the fact that I looked back at these and realized they all had mitten hands.

[MyOrangeHat]

Take two on the beach still life. Done on a completely different canvas. I started over totally. I think it turned out a tad better but I'm still not pleased with it. I'll probably at least rework the umbrella at the top before I declare it done.

[MyOrangeHat]

Acrylic 12x10 took about 12 hours

[Flutic]

Nice update you're having, I like the paintings,
keep the lines in you figure's clean I did that to till recently.
If you're drawing clean lines you will learn faster because you remember it better.
And the airbag thing is Hilarius!

Greets,Tom

[MyOrangeHat]

Thanks for the comment, Flutic. I've been told before by teachers that my figures are too scratchy and I should watch my line. Thanks for the reminder. It really is something I need to watch.


Been working from Loomis a bit. This drawing took me a practical eternity because I really wanted to get the proportion right so I could learn from it. I'm gonna keep going with Loomis. He's a good writer too! I found myself really engrossed in what he wrote.

[ItalianHorsey]

Sweet, figure drawing like crazy in here. Do some more anatomy studies. You are lookin good. Cool still life paintings. I love that little cartoony fish. Keep it up!

[l0stinth0ughts]

nice start with the human anatomy, keep working on the shading, and work on doing light contour lines first that way its easier to find the good cut out for your shading. keep posting up your art and ill keep checking in to see how your progressing. :rocker:

[MyOrangeHat]

ItalianHorsey- Thanks. I've got a soft spot for the little fishie myself. He's one of my favorite little doodles currently. I'm having lots of fun with my still life paintings. I had never worked with acrylic before and it was very frustrating at first but now I'm really loving it. I'll get at it and do some more figure studies today. I'll jump into Loomis again. :)

l0stinth0ughts- Okay light contour. I'll work on it. Thank you!

[l0stinth0ughts]

hey man i just notice you had some acrylic paintings up. very good job. i myself am experimenting with acrylics also so if you have any tips or need any help drop me a line. oh btw nice sketches. some of the anatomy is off but your improving, best of luck. :rocker:

[Vyliss]

I work from Loomis also, he rocks. He breaks everything down nicely for beginners. Really cool paintings, keep at them.

Your figure drawings are getting better. Was the last few from life? The first one though looks a bit slanted, like she's going to fall over or maybe it's supose to be like that because the table or thing she's on is so wonky. With line, just take your time with it and go light, then go over it more confidently with a harder stroke. Hope that helps.

[MyOrangeHat]

A 10x12 layout sketch/painting for a much larger painting. Final will be 30x36.

Edit to add: YAAAY! I made it to page number two. New goal; page number three. :)

[MyOrangeHat]

Oops looks like a double post snuck in here somehow. My bad.

[l0stinth0ughts]

hmm..make the bird lighter or the ocean darker man, other an than just work on detail man, you get there.... peace

[MyOrangeHat]

A self portrait that is the result of me taking out a lot of anger(I was having a REALLY bad day) on some poor innocent paint and canvas.

[MyOrangeHat]

Some figure drawing. The first two are longer poses and the others are short poses.

[MyOrangeHat]

My midterm WIP. The assignment was "beach." So that's pretty open ended. A happy beach scene is boring so here are people living on a beach under a bridge. Basically I decided on this because I wanted to edge the picture with the bridge support on the left like that.

Any critiques or criticism on this is greatly appreciated. It's worth half my grade!

[Farin]

It seems to be, that u r hard-working. Like your lifedrawings.
I guess you should concentrate more on achieving the round form at your lifedrawings you see in front of you.
Joe Kubert once wrote "think round". Imo that's an aspect missing to your drawings. Focusing on that and your lines will improve

Im sorry but Im not able to say anything usefull to the last collage-beach-bridge-piece... it is not my metier.

keep it up!

[MyOrangeHat]

Farin- Thank you. I'll definitely try to think more about round form during figure drawing. The beach piece isn't a collage however. I'm just bad at composing a drawing in my head so to lay it out I put the pieces on paper and move them around until they look right. Once they're right I'll paint them in. It's just faster than painting them in and realizing they need to be moved and then painting over and then painting the figures again.

WIP update. Getting there. I can only do so much of the bridge at a time without the risk of smearing. I need to rest at least a finger down for those straight lines.

[MyOrangeHat]

This is the first draft of my final project for Visual Computing class. It's made in SketchUp. The assignment was to make something 3D using sketchup and then take screen shots of it like you're making a movie. There was supposed to be a story or concept with the images. I'm thinking of maybe presenting the story in more of a comic book format. It would require more screen shots and I'd have to build a larger environment to establish the place but I think it might be worth it. Critiques greatly apprecited. This is pretty much worth my whole grade. Thanks.

[MyOrangeHat]

Self portrait. Reference wasn't really high quality. I used my reflection in a train window.

[MyOrangeHat]

A little faster drawing than usual.

[MyOrangeHat]

Close up shots of the figures in my most recent painting.

[DeJakhalz]

wow ur a fast learner! Your anatomy and poses are getting better and better. Keep it up man!

Oh and why not use Photoshop?

[MyOrangeHat]

wow ur a fast learner! Your anatomy and poses are getting better and better. Keep it up man!
Wow thanks! I've gotten lucky with having some really good teachers along the way. Plus conceptart is an awesome resource. And honestly from where I started I had nowhere to go but up. I'm lucky that I was soooo oblivious when I started that I didn't know how awful I was so I didn't get frustrated with being bad. I had no idea I WAS bad. lol

Oh and why not use Photoshop?
To layout paintings? Meh. I'm weird. I need to have something in my hand to move around. I know how to use Photoshop well enough to lay out a painting in it but it just doesn't feel right to me. I need something actually in my hand, however impractical it may be.

[MyOrangeHat]

This one went a little easier than any I've done in the past. I guess that's a good sign.

[enrigo]

Hey, nice life drawings! The legs are especially well drawn and I tend to notice them before anything else.
There's a lot of good bold strokes you uses, but you might want to try mixing in some sharper lines in there too to make it look more interesting.

keep it up !

[Maerrick]

i like your traditional paintings. As for your charcoal drawings you definately have the gestures and proportions down. but the one thing i can suggest is trying to take line weight into consideration. trying varying the thick and thin in your lines so they can look a more appealing. Your doing very well keep it up! =)

[AztcFireFlower]

Hey,

I rarely complete a sketch. It depends on what you are focusing on. The more new ideas I try to incorporate in my studies, the slower I get. And always keep in mind speed isn't the point of a study. Just continue to analyze as you are. I can see your really paying attention to the figure as you draw. Really good as uninstructed work.

Definitely continue to draw as much as possible to refine your observation skills.
And Loomis is the way to go! Once you absorb his basic information on human proportions you'll be running........far.

Laying down the main (gesture) line in as few strokes as possible will help you refine your coordination.

This one is nice. It shows alot more confidence in your strokes.
http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=325875&stc=1&d=1205606344


Keep on practicing,

[MyOrangeHat]

Figure drawing is definitely getting easier, not sure I'm getting better but at least it's not as much of a struggle.

[MyOrangeHat]

Tried a little something different with this painting. I'm not 100% happy with the face so I'm going to re-work that. I got too distracted and facinated with the feet and just kind of half assed the face because I was getting tired.

The layout and logo aren't crooked. It's the photograph.

[Grafguy]

cool stuff, i like the paintings alot
certainly ur last, its the best togheter with the beach project

[MyOrangeHat]

Wow so many comments all of a sudden! Thanks guys it really means a lot and is a total motivator. :D Sorry I didn't reply sooner, darn finals.

enrigo- Thank you for noticing the legs. I've worked so hard on them for the past year. I was having trouble because I was drawing tree trunk legs and they made the whole figure look bad. Once I started really concentrating I was surprised how complex a leg was. I'll try to remember to add in sharper lines as well. Really I will. All the advice I get here or in the critique center is constantly floating around in my head when I draw or paint.

Maerrick- Okay I'll be more careful with line weight. I've been getting carried away with the vine charcoal and making thick lines. But it makes such pretty thick bold lines I can barely resist making them all that way. :P

AztcFireFlower-Thank you for the advice and encouragement. Yeah Loomis is the bomb(wow just dated myself there). I'm going to dedicate my summer off to trying to finish Loomis' figure drawing book.

Grafguy- Thank you. I've really been enjoying painting even more than drawing recently. Glad it shows. :)


Here's a fun retrospecitve at all the self portraits I've done. I was sorting files on my computer today and I was pretty shocked when I realized how far I'd come in two years. It's a good motivator. Makes me want to get even better!! Imagine two years from NOW if I work hard.

[MyOrangeHat]

New painting was kinda fun. It's made to match seamlessly on top of the bridge painting. The colors don't match in the photo because of lighting but trust me they are an exact match. The paper bag is supposed to look like it's filing up the ocean in a kind of mind bending way. I realize from the angle it's not even possible, but it was just supposed to be funny. The water gave me one hell of a time. Not easy to paint.

[MyOrangeHat]

illustrator + free time in class + fun = One wacky badass duck-thing :P

[MyOrangeHat]

POP POP POP This stuff is SO much more time consuming that I thought before I started. Much more respect to this style than I had just a little while ago.

18 inches by 28 inches. Acrylic on canvas. The colors are better in person especially the top right and bottom left. I'm just a horrible photographer.

Oh and I was at a Creating Your Portfolio panel today at Comic Con and they mentioned that if you can "compete with the guys over at conceptart.org" then you should do pretty well getting a job. I was so giddy. That was my goal anyway. I want to be good enough to post in the Finally Finished center before I graduate, hopefully by next year. That's my goal! I'm gonna rock it...which means I should stop typing and go draw.

[MyOrangeHat]

A Photoshop project. The background landscape picture was not taken by me but I forgot where I borrowed it from so I can't give credit. The Skittles bag was taken from the Skittles site. The horse picture was taken by me.

Just for fun and to update my poor neglected sketchbook and because rainbow colored ponies are adorable. I haven't been sketching much lately, too busy painting.

[MyOrangeHat]

Since the semester is over and I"m off of school for the summer I"m going to work really hard at not being lazy. So I've decided to do at least a couple paintings a week. I figure it will help me with my life drawing and it will help me get more used to handling oils. My oil paintings tend to feel too stilted and planned for my taste. I'm hoping to fix that this summer. Maybe I'll throw in an acrylic on occasion too.

First of many. My shoe. Quick study.

[cephme]

Just don't get any ideas about dying the horses' hair. :P

Excellent work. Hope finals are going/have gone well.

J

[MyOrangeHat]

I always forget to update here during the summer. Also I tend to finish things much less when I'm not in school so less to post. One of the upsides of school is that it forces me to finish things.

Anway just got back to school and did a couple of quick paintings already. My painting seems to be getting looser, well that's certainly better than stilted like it was before! :) I think my anatomy is getting better but I always appreciate help in that area. I want my anatomy to be perfect.

[MyOrangeHat]

Apx 2.5 hours maybe a little less

[Brun]

really like those anatomy sketches, keep it up, great work

don't forget about the basics, and keep rocking those studies

[MyOrangeHat]

Brun- Thank you. I've really worked on my anatomy. And thanks for the encouragement. :) I'll keep on working the studies. Gotta get back to more Loomis.

[MyOrangeHat]

Still life in oils

[MyOrangeHat]

More skulls, this time little sketches done quickly.

[MyOrangeHat]

Portraits

[MyOrangeHat]

FINALLY finished my skulls. I'm not as pleased with the profile view. I think I'd light it differently next time. The light falling on the face side kind of makes the features hard to read on white paper. :\

[MyOrangeHat]

Still Life....and the only good lemon I've ever painted. lol

[bombchu]

Thanks for posting in mine :heart:

Oooh~ Your stuff's really good. I really like the shading, very geometric. And you can paint! I can't paint... and I have to paint for class :( I'm jealous...

Do you love Illustrator yet? ... Nobody does except Graphic Designers and me ._. Join me in vector-land... I'll give you tips! :D?

And hooray Loomis!

[cephme]

I am really digging your still life paintings. Perhaps I will get to see some of them in really life.

Right now I am sitting here in SF watching Angel Island burn. Once I knew it was across the bay it actually became quite beautiful to see. The coloration of the oranges and red against the black sky silouetting the cityscape.

J

[MyOrangeHat]

Thanks, cephme. (never like to use real names online unless someone tells me its okay) :) The still life paintings aren't my favorite but I'm learning a lot from them. I still owe you a painting/drawing maybe a still life not one of these though. They suck. Or something else. Whatever. If you keep waiting though you can ask for the painting when I'm much better than I am now.

bombchu- I started painting about a year and a half ago. If you just stick with it and try not to get frustrated it's pretty easy to pick up. Acrylic is easier than oil though. I think I like oils better but they are definitely harder to work with. But I can't do vectors like you! Your stuff is nice! The pen tool in Illustrator still kicks my ass. I just can't do it. The only think I've created in Illustrator that I like is my fishie avatar. I just get too frustrated with the program and walk away. I'll get back to messing with it some day though. It is a nice program. The problem is I just don't know how to use it well enough to get what I want out of it.

[MyOrangeHat]

Which one's real? Ok just humor me, I know it's easy to tell. :P Sadly I had to use the flash and it took the shadow off of the wall. It was more fun when they matched with the shadow too, but it was too dark for my camera.

[Bagg]

wow your improvement is amazing from your first posts, you are really getting good, i have to admit your not far off your goal, just need something to post there lol anyways keep drawing :)

[MyOrangeHat]

Bagg - Thanks. I feel like I've come a long way since I started and that makes me excited to see how far I can go in a couple more years if I just work hard. And I've said it before but I'm just glad I didn't realize how awful I was when I started. Back when I drew them, I thought I was rocking it out with the first two figures I posted in my sketchbook. That is a stunning amount of clueless. lol
I feel the Finally Finished Forum getting closer and closer. I just want to wait until I'm positive I've got something that won't get kicked out of there. THAT would be embarrassing.


Work in progress....Eye area isn't done yet. I know it looks off there. Just needed the paint to dry a bit. That's the mission for tomorrow. Still pondering the background.

[UCT]

I havent actually read much of your posts (sorry, this was a quicky) but it seems as tho you are using acrylic paint and dont like waiting for the paint to dry. It also looks like you enjoy applying thick undiluted paint.

Two things:
Firstly, you could experiment with the wet on wet techniques and see if that helps with your deisre to get the paint on the canvas as quickly as possible. This basically means you will know about all the different little 'good' mistakes that happen when using the wet on wet approach. Applying different tones over each other when wet, what colours dominate, how to treat the brush and how to apply it and how the paint reacts to being applied to existing wet paint. I had/do have the problem of being impatient and learning about wet on wet is a great way to work with it. Its a different disapline that requires patience and time, however I still feel like learning it is taking too long, but its helping me enjoy the practice and results of painting.

Secondly: You could always mix 'polly filler' into your acrylic paints so that they dry faster and you can almost plaster the medium on. Polly filler is not water soluble so the paint will have to be applied thick and the paint will also appear more pastel and less plastic being subtle. Mixing polly filler into the medium almost forces two different approaches to happen. The paint will now be thicker meaning alot more surface texture will show when applying it, giving the painting another dimension but possibly one you dont want to incorperate. If you do like the texture then that opens up another headache. If you look at impressionist paintings, theres a hell of alot of subtle textures that help the paint sit. So the first approach would be to work with the texture you will now have in abundance. Second approach is to take time preparing and arranging all your colours with polly filler layed out perfectly and simply apply them with a pallet knife almost like pastel.

Anyway, rant over. Its going good man it looks great, the violin is fantastic & last portrait looks great. Keep going. :)

Oh- if youre not using acrylic, sorry for rambling.

[cephme]

I still owe you a painting/drawing maybe a still life not one of these though. They suck. Or something else. Whatever. If you keep waiting though you can ask for the painting when I'm much better than I am now.

I'm a patient man. I can wait.

Big improvement from the first painting of P. to this one. Glad you are doing well. I the violin a lot too.

Keep in touch.

[MyOrangeHat]

UCT: Wow! Thank you!! That is the most helpful comment I've ever gotten on any thread. About half of the paintings in my sketchbook are oils and half are acrylic. The most recent portrait and the violin are oils though. But you did manage to see my biggest habit of what I call "globbing on" the paint. Whether it's oil or acrylic I don't really thin the paint with anything and just get it mounding on the brush and smush it on. I'll try working wet on wet though. And polly filler sounds like a ridiculously amount of fun! Definitely going to try that. I really like the texture I can make with acrylics and the polly fill sounds like that texture turned up to eleven.

Cephme You could tell who the painting is of! Yay! I think this painting of P is better than the last. I still don't think it quite looks like her but there is a resemblance and that makes me happy. :) I swear that one of these days I'll get you that drawing/painting I owe you.

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Did some more work on the eerie portrait this evening. That one hand that is reaching out is absolutely KILLING ME!!! If someone would like to do me a paint-over of that hand/wrist I'd be the happiest person in the world. Really. I would.

[MyOrangeHat]

sketch in paint

[MyOrangeHat]

quickie oil on canvas

[MyOrangeHat]

Completed except for a few tweaks. Hand in the extreme fore still needs some work on that finger, I've decided to retake reference photos and bend the finger ever so slightly. And the right cheek got a little whittled away when I painted the hair in so I need to add it back.

[silverrspells]

I suggest you to blend the colors on the forehead a little bit more.
It is very expressive and it would be interesting to see the final version :)

[MyOrangeHat]

Pre-drawing. I'll transfer this onto the good paper and when it's done (in a million and two hours) it will be as polished as the skulls I did.

[MyOrangeHat]

finished this. took awhile, but i'm glad I took the time to draw and redraw it to get it right.

[l0stinth0ughts]

holy hell nice paints man!! your much better at paint than i am. also nice skeletal work man.
id like to see the finish work, :P

[bombchu]

Wow. The woman is amazing. Iunno what you see in my flying monsters lol but yours is awesome.

[cephme]

finished this. took awhile, but i'm glad I took the time to draw and redraw it to get it right.

I don't think he is going to live. :P Great work.

P with a knife is really starting to creep me out.

Looks like you are having a great semester. Keep in touch.

[monotony]

I can see awesome improvement in your work, man.
especially your paintings and drawings from life like the violin are getting really good. your pencil lines are so much cleaner and precise by now.
and the skeleton is great!

[MyOrangeHat]

l0stinth0ughts Thanks, man. I've been working really hard on my painting.

bombchu I <3 adorable flying monsters! :) I actually wish I could draw cute things like flying monsters, but everything that I manage to get down on paper is so academic. Bleh! I say down with technical academic painting technique stuffs and up with cuddly flying monsters!

cephme The knife was P's idea when I was taking reference photos. lol Ran to the kitchen to grab it.

monotony Thank you for stopping by. Your sketchbook is amazing and I'm really grateful to have your input. :) Glad you can see improvement! The work is paying off.

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Sketch in paint (I'm really liking sketching in paint more than in pencil) And closeup of the skeleton drawing.

[MyOrangeHat]

Sketching in paint again. Who needs a pencil? Not I!
Self portrait. It's a passable likeness. If I was standing right next to it you'd be able to tell I was attempting to paint myself. Face turned out too heart shaped though. Oh well it was a quickie. Only took a couple hours.

[Φ]

woha, love the rendering on that skulls and skeleton! GREAT!!
keep it up!
cheers

[MyOrangeHat]

bigfooTrooper - Thank you. I'm glad I had a teacher that pushed hard enough so that I actually stuck with a single drawing for that long. I've never done that before.

Another sketch in paint. I think I've finally fallen completely in love with oils. Took a couple hours to paint, but only because I'm highly distractable.

[MyOrangeHat]

Thanksgiving means train ride means time to doodle in the sketchbook

[silverrspells]

Your work on the skeleton is amazing; did you use a model for it?

[MyOrangeHat]

silverrspells - Yes I used a model for the skeleton drawings. My anatomy class has several life size human skeletons that my prof sets up. Only one is an actual human skeleton. The others are casts. These skeleton drawings are truly an exercise in patience and focus. They take so darn long! I'm working on the last one of the semester right now. Fingers crossed I get it done in time.

[MyOrangeHat]

Another skeleton drawing that will be finished by tomorrow. This is the pre-drawing. I'm transferring it onto the terribly expensive paper right now. I swear, the pre-drawing takes me ten times longer than actually transferring and rendering the stupid thing. I wish I was more confident in my line art and that I didn't have to redraw so much.

[bombchu]

Well, you can sketch with paint! That's awesome. Painting is much harder than drawing! Besides, I need to work on my technical things. If you ponder a bit I'm sure you can doodle a monster. Try it out? :) Just don't try too hard... and using simple shapes helps! I think.

Everything's looking great though! The self portrait makes you look kinda devious so I'da gone a little lighter under the eyes, a softer transition from the bone... unless that's what you were going for!

[kikindaface]

Man, you've made big improvment since the beginning !! Keep working hard, and you'll reach your goal !

[Mischeviouslittleelf]

proper work you got here mate, the pencils being your strong point any way you see it. Liking that you are working with your paints and stuff, but you might wanna get into some digital colours to if you will, it is by far an easier medium to work things out in;)

Keep at what you are doing, and you might wanna get some every day life drawings on as well:)

-E

[MyOrangeHat]

Thanks for the comments and visit to my sketchbook, y'all. I'll respond properly after I get some sleep. Last night was a total all nighter (not even a nap) and I had six hours of class today. Neeeeeeeeed pillow!

But before sleep I just wanted to share the reason I didn't sleep a wink. Last skeleton drawing of the semester. Even though it took all night I can really feel myself picking up a bit of speed on these (Finally!)

[MyOrangeHat]

bombchu - oh wow you're right the sp does look a little devious. I was going for dead tired because that's how I was feeling, but I guess that didn't read. I'll keep it in mind. I accept your monster drawing challenge. :) I tried the other day and got nothing good, but by the end of the year I swear to draw at least one good cute monster!

Walid D - Thank you. I'm gonna keep working at it. Just chipping away at individual skills little by little. I'll get there eventually.

Mischeviouslittleelf - You're right I do need to get back to life drawing. I tend to be more of a big project person and not so much a sketcher. So when I don't have a life drawing class it slides. Good reminder. Thank you. I'd love to practice coloring digitally, but I only have a mouse to work with. Maybe I'll get a Wacom this year and play with it a bit. It's just too tedious to tackle with a mouse.

[wilkerson]

Thanks for visiting my book.
The skeleton drawing is pretty sweet, great rendering.
I notice the proportions in your faces are sometimes off. I would suggest analysing the distance between brow and bottom of nose and then mouth to chin and nose and really nailing down in your mind what those proportions are.
Keep working hard.

[cephme]

Wow you have been prolific these days. I really like the top train doodle and could tell the sketch was you (with your angry face on :P). Wish I could offer more constrictive comments, but as a person who can barely draw a stick figure I will leave that to others and simply offer words of encouragement. Best of luck with your finals.

[MyOrangeHat]

wilkerson Thank you. I'll watch my facial proportions. I think I've been rushing to get to the putting paint down stage and haven't spent enough time sketching first.

cephme Yeah I've been working hard so far this semester. And with more practice I'm getting frustrated less often so I get more done.

Now more stuff. The horse isn't yet finished it's a WIP and a master copy btw. The still life is finished, but I'll admit I probably should have put more time in on it. But I got bored with it and moved on.

[MyOrangeHat]

Figure study with violin. Quickie in class with model as reference.

Also I did finish the materstudy with Domo in it and I put it in storage before remembering to take a picture of it. Oops.

[MyOrangeHat]

From photo ref. It can't be normal for it to take this long to draw a simple figure like this. This took me eight hours! What on earth was I doing for eight hours? I gotta be doing something wrong. Siiiigh. I did enjoy drawing it though. Just hard to be productive when I'm so slow.

[kina]

Wicked! I don't think I could ever really do skeletons.. it seems like it would take a lot of patience.

Your still life paintings have a lot of story in them, especially the one with the photo and the perscription drugs in it, that one got me thinking. Your figure works are great, too! keep it up :)

[cephme]

That drawing might have taken you 8 hours but it is really spectacular. The face is one of the best you have done so far.

[MyOrangeHat]

kina- Thank you. And yes the skeletons take an unimaginable amount of patience. And I'm definitely not known for my patience. I did them each over the course of several weeks. Doing it a little at a time made it easier since I didn't have to be patient for one really long stretch. Though I did often render them in a sitting, but that part isn't the part that frustrates me. It's getting all the proportions, connections and angles of the bones correct. That first step is the hardest I think. You should try it. You may surprise yourself. :)

cephme- Thank you. I like the face on that one too.

This one is an experiment of oil paint on vellum. The packaging said it would work and by golly they're right. Can't make the paint too thin though or it beads. Took a little getting used to. This is over a photocopy of the earlier drawing since I had the photocopy sitting around from resizing anyway. I'm kinda meh on it, but I really like the knees.

[aliciad33]

i think you are really wonderful at detailed graphite work. dont be afraid to loosen up a bit in shading, add some loose lines and interesting texture!

[MyOrangeHat]

aliciad33: Thank you. I'll try to loosen up a bit.

And now my attempts at a cute character. And some life drawings. I had trouble seeing the model's feet from where I was sitting so that's why they're missing. The silly picture was supposed to incorporate the model and fit the words; silly, exploding, cat.

[cephme]

It is really bad of me but cats in microwaves make me laugh. But the little birdy told me to (looks innocent) :D

The velum was interesting, but as you are probably eluding to you lost some of the detail of the facial structure in coloration. I liked the more distinct lines. My non artist 2 cents.

[MyOrangeHat]

I agree. The face really suffered in the transfer to the vellum. Not the vellum's fault though, that'd be me. I'm just not used to working with it yet. I'm planning to fixing up that painting a bit this evening and putting some of the contrast back in. I think I can do something with it.

[Angel Intheuk]

Hi Orange
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment, was really nice, I want to develop that character more :).

Just had a nice browse in your SB.. and wow, I can see how much you've improved! and the way you use lines and block colour reminds me of Matisse. I must say as well I was going to comment on that you seem to be shy of using too much tone and contrast (in your acrylic especially) but you're obviously learning the right stuff your course..keep em coming :) (may I add, a useful tip my oil/portrait tutor told me was using blue and green in the shadows of faces, just bit here and there, gives the shadowed areas interest. I can see a little of that in the eye area of #75) which I really like, the expression is great and #58 (the seethru one) stood out like a hitchock film poster (but, and don't tell the model this, it might be because it really reminds me of him)

sorry for rambling, see you round, i'll pop by again too :)

p.s (I spell it caricature, but my boyfriend gets all british about the spelling and says it's characature....but google and the rest of the world seem to prefer my version :D)

[MyOrangeHat]

Angel Intheuk: Haha you're right #58 does look like Hitchcock. I'll keep the shadow advice in mind when I'm painting over the next few days, thank you. And please do develop that character more. It's a fairy I would have loved to see in books when I was little. And for a little kid I was astoundingly picky about which books' illustrations I liked, but I'm sure that one would have been a favorite. :) And thanks for stopping by my book.

Just a quick study I did for something larger I'm working on. From photo ref. I took the perspective lines out that indicate the walls of the box just to see what it would do....aaaand now she looks like she's floating. That wasn't really the plan.

[MyOrangeHat]

This project is part of a series I'm doing using denril, which is basically a bad-ass vellum. :D It's meant to be hung on a window, or back lit if there's not window. But I prefer a window since the light changes through the day. The space is supposed to look much different when back lit and the area around the figure that didn't look like much before suddenly is creating a shadowy space (since the paint makes the denril more opaque) for the figure to interact with. The picture of this one back lit washed out the shadow a little since I only had a spotlight to light it with at the time. Love to hear your thoughts on this all thoughts welcome; good, bad, befuddled, skeptical, anything. :)

Here is the sketch of the figure, the room lit version, and the back lit version.

[karmiclychee]

Returning the favor!

The original sketch for the girl in the box is incredible. She's got weight, the lines flow, her face is somehow perfect - I think it's the eyes. You must have been in the flow.

[aliciad33]

thought of adding any color to the newest piece? I think a few splotches of a primary like red would look awesome, but also push it in a new direction. Just something real loose and gritty.btw mucho thanks for the horse reference.

[the_original_sean]

your studies and paintings are excellent. the leap from pre school to being in school is like night and day. i've really got no advice for you. i dont know if i'd be able to keep interested in a stil life like these long enough to finish them. how do you do that?

[Untouched24]

From photo ref. It can't be normal for it to take this long to draw a simple figure like this. This took me eight hours! What on earth was I doing for eight hours? I gotta be doing something wrong. Siiiigh. I did enjoy drawing it though. Just hard to be productive when I'm so slow.

I wouldn't worry too much about the speed right now. I take a long time to draw things too, but lately I've noticed I've become a BIT faster. I think its just because at first, like 90% of what you're drawing (human figure, heads, other complex forms) are very new and foreign to you, but as you improve and get more used to drawing such things, you're not so new to them so it doesn't take as long to visually figure them out and as it becomes more natural and second nature it won't take as long.

At least this is what I think. But either way, it turned out good. Keep it up.

[SilverX50]

some nice pieces you have got going here.

[MyOrangeHat]

Abacus: Thank you. I think the original girl in the box sketch is better. It got really stiff when I tried to change the pose for the final version.

aliciad33: Actually a new piece I'm working on now is similar to the girl in the box, but with just a couple splashes of color. Not colored in, more just areas of color. I think it will work! :D Or it will fail horribly and I'll try again.

the_original_sean: Thank you. I've been working hard in school and I think a lot of the intensive work has kicked me off that plateau I was on before I got here. How do I personally concentrate on a still life that long? Uhh I'm going to be honest here, deadlines. lol Normally when I'd get seriously frustrated I'd walk away all grouchy but having things due for class makes me push through the frustration because it needs to get done. I'm learning more and more to work through frustration even when there isn't a deadline pushing me. Try it. Even give yourself a deadline, a completely not movable deadline. It should work.

Untouched24 Thank you for the encouragement. It's nice to hear from someone who's been there. I guess I'll pick up speed like you have. I just need to keep at it. Thanks again for the really helpful advice. :)

SilverX50: Thank you.


I finally got new batteries for my digital camera so here's a few things. Two pre-drawings and a play painting. I know the painting isn't good, but it sure was fun.

[MyOrangeHat]

I'm still having fun with my vellum and positioning figures in a rectangle in interesting ways to get different feelings/emotions. This is TOTALLY more fine arts than I ever thought I'd ever go, but it's just working. So hell, I"ll run with it for now. Odd though since all my favorite art in general is illustration. Oh well.

This is the latest figure without the surrounding space because it didn't photograph well at all.

[MyOrangeHat]

A WIP. The assignment was "Reinventing the Rainbow." This is just the first coat of paint. I'm going to stick with a more graphic style as I finish it up though. I kind of like the look of this one. It's killing me to have all the soda sitting around in my still life and not be able to drink it though!

[cephme]

uh maybe "vintage" was the wrong word. Probably "sell by date" would have been more appropriate. Did the drinks survive painting? Looks like Pepsi, Fanta, and Welch's didn't quite make it. :P

:D

[MyOrangeHat]

cephme: Hehe yeah vintage I would have been able to resist. You know I'm not much of a drinker. Though that stuff you got me last year to go with the chocolate was yummy! Sadly not all the soda made it through unscathed. The orange and grape sodas I took a swig of for artistic purposes since all the levels the same was boring. The Pepsi was me giving in to temptation and last night while I was painting on this one some more I needed energy so I totally opened and guzzled the Coke. Bought a new one for the still life this morning. The Mt. Dew is in no danger. Couldn't pay me to drink that. Ick!



Bought my first Moleskin sketch book and I loooove it. I did my first quick sketch in it yesterday. The cow sketch is by a friend doddling on my page. :)

[the_original_sean]

deadlines is good advice. now that i think about it, tattoos and monthly challenges are the only things i finish. you are definitely onto something here. i guess shelling out all the cash for school is a good motivator too. btw, what's vellum?

[Warforce17]

Yeah and know this feeling when something takes you hours and when you look sth up here which just looks awesome and the artist says:
"Took me 30 minutes"

But as long it is fun ;)

Your Sb, most times times the figure drawings, looks really nice.
e.g
Saw the skelleton leg: "Ok looks good"
Saw the shadowed skelleton leg :"Nice"
Not to forget th 8 hour work.

[MyOrangeHat]

the_original_sean Vellum is like a bad-ass tracing paper. It's translucent, but you can easily erase on it and it's really strong. I'm not actually what it's made of. It almost feels like a plastic. You should pick some up and play with it. It's really fun. The vellum I'm using right now is really nice and it's called Denril. Love it.

Warforce17 Thanks :)


Just another doodle pose. Think I'll polish it up later.

[MyOrangeHat]

More figure work. I wish I had figure drawing more often. The open figure drawing class is at the most inconvenient time possible so I never make it. But I like figure drawing.

[cephme]

Yeah I should have known about the vintage. You are definitely one drink one drunk. :P And I agree on Mountain ew.

Nice work on the ifonly picture in particular. I really like your figure sketches.

Keep in touch,
J

[MyOrangeHat]

Did some more work on this sketch

[cephme]

Very nice work. I particularly like the texturing in the hair, the shading around the left forearm, and tendons on the left foot. a It is really amazing the progress you are making. Keep up the good work.

[MyOrangeHat]

Oil study. Quickie. Didn't use black and mixed all my grays which is a big deal for me.

[MyOrangeHat]

I liked this one and thought it was pretty successful but my teacher and classmates at the critique didn't get it. So that's not good. I'll try again. I still like it though.

[MyOrangeHat]

Skeleton says "Gaaaaaaaaar!"

[cephme]

Obviously gar was not on the menu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gar

What do you mean buy the did not get the violin picture?

[MyOrangeHat]

What do you mean buy the did not get the violin picture?

It's supposed to be arthritic hands holding the violin that they can't play anymore. Which I apparently missed by a mile since all my class got out of it was "picture of violin." Haha. That just means I need to try again. But I didn't think it was quite that unclear when I was drawing it.

[cephme]

Ah. Perhaps make them a little more clenched. When one is arthritic it is hard to fully extend the fingers. As such the person might be cupping their hands a bit more than usual and cradling the violin with her for arms and palms bit more. Just a suggestion from your friend who isn't a doctor and kinda fakes it sorta during the day.

[GentleFood3]

thanks for stopping by my neglected sketchbook

I guessed right about the violin pic, but it is a bit unclear. Maybe if you drew them more realistically so the abnormalities were more apparent.

What year and major are you?

[MyOrangeHat]

Damn artist's block. Garh. Haven't done anything worthwhile in over a week just this scribbly shit. I figure if I just keep my pencil moving I'll get back to normal eventually.

GentleFood: I'm 2nd year fine arts. I think by now I answered you somewhere else already but I can't remember.

[MyOrangeHat]

Still having a block. Just gonna keep moving the pencil.

[MyOrangeHat]

Still busy producing work of absolutely no value or inspiration. I need to go bang my head against a wall now.

[Shehaub]

I just want to encourage you to take your time and keep sketching. The practice is really helping!

[MyOrangeHat]

Shehaub: Thank you for the encouraging words. They really do help especially while I'm in this funk.


I've been drawing consistently but all my stuff is in progress now and none of the WIPs are interesting to look at yet. But I've been doing some traditional photography and I had a few that turned out well I think. Sadly I don't have a scanner so these are pictures of the pictures. And I've learned to dodge and burn. Is it awful to admit that I thought those were just Photoshop functions? Hahah!

[cephme]

Those are both very good shots. I like taking B&Ws myself. When I am using a film camera, I like to get them developed with white borders. It gives them kind of a post card look.

[jatherip]

nice sketchbook! these skeleton studys are really cool, from them you can learn much about anatomy!
keep practising!

[MyOrangeHat]

jatherip: Thank you. The skeletons have taught me a lot. :)

[SaiVix]

Hey!! Great updates man. Its coming along pretty nicely. How are those other Wips coming along?

[MyOrangeHat]

SaiVix- Thanks, man. Most of the WIP are done. I've just been really lazy about updating. Plus I like to declare something finished and then change my mind and then fiddle with it some more (repeat process ten times or so :P). You avatar pic is awesome by the way. Not sure if I ever mentioned that before. Looove the froggie ball. :)
I'll get off my butt and post more of my finished stuff today.

[MyOrangeHat]

School is back in session. Yay! I missed it. We had a model today that I absolutely adored! I'm not sure what it was but something about her just made me want to get all crazy with exaggerating proportion. Lots of fun. We're supposed to get her again next week. Fingers crossed. I'd love to do more of these.

[MyOrangeHat]

More sketchies. Model's pose was done before I got to feet or head sadly. Would have liked to finish. I shouldn't put them off until the end. Bad habit.

[MyOrangeHat]

I love working from the model. Might work that background a bit more.

[MyOrangeHat]

Pirate day. Garrrrr!

[MyOrangeHat]

sketchies again. need to start something big soon, just sketches are getting me nowhere. but they are mighty fun.

[MyOrangeHat]

Small study in oils. Figure what basically erased into the background. Whole background was painted first then the figure was painted with just turpentine on a clean brush. Fun exercise. Challenging. Might do a big one the same way.

[MyOrangeHat]

I don't do enough stuff from my head so I've set out to fix that. I marked off two pages per day and pre-dated them. Each day I have to fill those two pages with something, anything, preferably from my head instead of a study. If I miss a day I can't go back and I'll be stuck with a dated blank page in my Moleskin.

Okay here's the first. Two more (or one double pager) to follow every day until this new sketch book is full.

Edit to add: Aaaand I lost the new Moleskin sketchbook after getting only a few days of those sketches done. Now I need a new one.

[MyOrangeHat]

The beginning of a painting, probably with collaged layers in it. I've never collaged before so this should be interesting.
The second face is the first version I did it was looser heavier lined. I think I like it better.

[MyOrangeHat]

Ten minute sketches

[MyOrangeHat]

Just more sketches. Downside is I'm in an art funk, upside is I'm getting better at drawing from my head.

[MyOrangeHat]

Puppet girl doodle has turned into a painting, but I've got a few touches to work on before I post it. Mostly adding the strings and getting them to the way I like it. Until then a mash up of thoughts in the form of a small painting. It's small apx 4 in x 6 in.

[MyOrangeHat]

Being lured to Hadese and poisioned with a pommogranate

[MyOrangeHat]

The painting that the puppet girl drawing turned into.

[MyOrangeHat]

Oil on gesso-ed paper. 8 in x 8.5 in

Photo gave it a yellow tint it doesn't actually have.

[MyOrangeHat]

Strawberries. Done very small. Apx 1 inch in the smallest direction. Oil on paper.

[purplegoat]

Your sketches and paintings have an interesting stlyle. I hope you get out of (or are out of) your art funk! Keep on, keepin on!

[MyOrangeHat]

purplegoat: Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook. :) I think I'm finally out of my art funk just this past week. yay!

More sketches and stuffs. In a brand NEW sketch book. A hundred crisp fresh white pages calling my name.

[MyOrangeHat]

Man. One comment in like six months. I guess that means I'm getting worse not better. That's cool. I'll embrace it! :P

A WIP. Oil on canvas 36 inches tall.

[Shehaub]

You are certainly not getting worse. I lurk your sketchbook via subscription. I like your sketches. They have a lot of character, so I stop and look quite often. I feel funny giving you a crit, since I consider your work much better than my own.

I love the idea of your puppet painting, but I think it lacks the color or value differences to make a good contrast. One color is just kind of melting into another, value wise. It is a good drawing and it has a lot of potential for a fantastic painting. It is certainly worth a review or a repaint if you were up to it.

I REALLY like your anatomy painting, so far. I like the negative space in this. Be sure to post more progress pics on this one. The hand has tons of potential as a focus. It is already asking "What do you think I am going to do next?" Maybe you could get really brave on this and really push your colors and values.

Whatever you do, don't stop posting. I get your new posts as email notices and my mailbox would be lonely..

[MyOrangeHat]

Shehaub: Wow I have a subscriber to my sketchbook? That kind of made my day. Thank you. I'm glad you decided to comment because I try to keep up with the sketchbooks of everyone who's ever left me a comment. Now I can add yours to ones I watch. :) It's very nice btw. You handle paint so naturally! I'm jealous!
Oh and you called my bull on the puppet painting! haha. I was so nervous about shading without reference that I kind of chickened out and didn't have much value change. I need to get back to that one and fix it. Been avoiding it because of machinery in the background that I have to fix. Thank you for that spot on crit!


Just a few WIP's. Just first coats of paint. These are oil on paper. I've got a LOT of stuff in progress right now. Working on them all just a little at a time.

[GentleFood3]

hey fellow sva-er. Pity about those vanishing paintings, but the new ones are looking good.

I still wish your mark making with pencil was more...specific. Look at Marko's old stuff

[MyOrangeHat]

hey fellow sva-er. Pity about those vanishing paintings, but the new ones are looking good.
I'm still bummed but I'm getting over it. I'll just re do them. I'm more worried about time than anything at this point. I need a couple dozen of those small paintings finished and mounted on wood to complete my piece. These new little ones are just me starting that project over. I'm going to try to work on a few at a time so I don't waste time while they're drying.


I still wish your mark making with pencil was more...specific. Look at Marko's old stuff
I know who Marko is, but where can I find his old stuff? I'd love to look at it. I know you're right. I don't draw very confident lines.

Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook. :)

[Shehaub]

I like the last two studies. The brush strokes really describe the form well. Are you working from life? or from photo?

One of the things my instructor told me was that anything can be a reference for imaginary items. Put a ball under a light or perhaps shape a napkin to resemble a shape you are working with. Maybe use a teapot to understand reflections, etc. I have not played with this idea much, but I will pass on his suggestion.

[MyOrangeHat]

I like the last two studies. The brush strokes really describe the form well. Are you working from life? or from photo?

The ear is from a black and white photo because it's my ear and I can't see it while I paint. The pomegranate is from life and I do believe it's the only pomegranate I've ever bought in my entire life. lol
Thanks you for passing on your instructor's tip about reference. I kind of knew that but it was so far in the back of my mind that it never occurred to me to do! haha.


Here's the ear done (I think). Something about the hair is still bugging me. I might go back in after the hair drys and mess with it. Too wet now to do anything other than make a muddy mess. This is small like most of my recent stuff 5in x 5in I threw the extra pic in for scale. It looks larger than it is when it's cropped.

[MyOrangeHat]

I think the mouth works and the ear works but I'm unsure on this one. I'm not sure the stomach has enough contours, planes and just distinguishing characteristics to make it interesting. I was a little unsure about the ear in the WIP stage too so maybe I'll feel better about it as I paint on this more. We'll see. Or maybe I'll just re-do with a closer zoom on the belly button.

WIP first coat of paint.

[MyOrangeHat]

An update on the mouth profile WIP (it's about 80% done now) and an update on the bellybutton. I did decide to crop the bellybutton down and I like it better this way. I threw on a glaze that just finished drying but it came out a little uneven so I'm going to have to go back in and fix that up a bit. I didn't count on the glaze pooling in areas. D'oh!

Edited to add: I guess the mouth WIP isn't so much an update as new. I forgot I hated the first coat of paint so much that I didn't post it. lol I didn't even keep the digital pic of it. I deleted that.

Edit AGAIN: Oh I found a pic of the orig WIP! It snuck into a picture of something else because it was propped against the same drawing board. Isn't it awful? I think I need to just come to terms that 100% of the time my first coat of paint sucks beyond all reason.

[MyOrangeHat]

Another WIP. Yes that's the whole painting. It's really cropped like that. Oils on paper 2.25 inches wide. This is only the first sitting on this. I mucked up the bridge of the nose so now I'm just waiting for it to get tacky so that I can fix it. The mouth shape needs some serious attention too but alas it's just too darn wet. I use too much linseed oil. :(

The picture's colors are different than reality cause I'm a shitty photographer, but it's close enough. The photo just over saturates it. When it's dry I'll just scan it.

[Shehaub]

I have a couple links for ya that I found very handy when doing portraits.

http://www.davethepaintingguy.com/

He has lots of video of live painting. He makes his light cool and shadows warm. Following his advice, I discovered that the form reads a lot better in my own portraits.


http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Portraiture/Palette/

This explains where the blood in the face is and why some areas are more red than others.

IMO if you really get some detail going in that eye and touch up the areas you stated already, you will have a very nice painting. The eye has both the highest value contrast as well as cool/warm contrast making it the focal point of your painting. I really like the color changes on the forehead that do not make any drastic changes in value. Like you said, photo's of paintings tend to mess up the color a LOT, so it is hard to say that this isn't also going on with the rest of your painting.

As for using too much oil, I did that a lot at first. It is almost like I was afraid to have too much paint on my brush but still needed the liquid content. I figured out that what I was attempting to do was approximate the color and try to blend it in by making it thin. I was also guilty of having way too much white in my paint. That is why so many of my paintings look chalky and stale. Yours look much better than mine.

Your use of color is much much better in this last paint. Looking forward to the update!

[MyOrangeHat]

Shehaub thank you SO much for that link. It's wonderful and full of information I've never heard mentioned anywhere else!

Exciting Update! I hauled my paintings to one of the school scanners so for the first time in the history of my sketchbook here are crisp non-blurry images.

The portrait is done now. The mouth/chin is done aside for some touch ups. And the ear is done too. I'm going to start at least one new body part tomorrow. Remember all these paintings are tiny. 5 inches at the biggest.

[Shehaub]

Beautiful brushwork. LOVE the update. I have to say the ear is my favorite, but all are wonderful. If you get a chance, take a picture next to a quarter or something to show the scale. I am just curious.

[velderia]

I just went from page 1 to 6 and I see some massive improvement. Keep it up. :)

[Shehaub]

Now that the holidays are over I am just checking in with some of my favorite sketchbooks. Hope you have a Happy New Year and a Great New Decade! Hope to see more updates soon!!

[MyOrangeHat]

Hit up the scanner today. Scanned a few things. A few including the oil painting are WIPs

[MyOrangeHat]

More cartoony stuff

[Shehaub]

I really like where you took that sketch. Your colors are much more alive in these.

[MyOrangeHat]

Shehaub: Thanks :) I liked the colors too. I'm going to try a version with slightly different colors soon and see how that turns out.

Here's the finished donkey and a sketchbook page

[Angel Intheuk]

Hello Orange

Thanks for stopping by my SB, I'm sorry i've haven't seen yours sooner, keep meaning to browse more often and never have time. Anyway, I really like what you've done so far. The little oil paintings are really good, I like the delicate details and the fact they're only 5" max I thought I worked small at A5 :)

my favourite is Sam the Star Collector :D He's adorable, I guess he could do with a bit more contrast but that might ruin the effect.

Keep at it dude!

[purplegoat]

I'm digging the lines and strokes on the donkey image. Nicely done!

[MyOrangeHat]

Thanks for the sb comments, guys.

Angel Intheuk: I'm trying to browse through sketchbooks more often too. I've been bad about it. But last time I pulled up the sb forum yours was right at the top and I was happy to see it again. It had been way too long since I'd visited. :)

[bombchu]

Wowowowowowowow! You sure have improved :O Man... I am in LOVE with your little space cadet collecting stars. So cute! Thanks for still stoppin' by my sketchbook after all this time :)

[Kelp]

Dude I love your style! That star-gathering guy is so cute! He kinda steals my heart :3 Though I somewhat prefer the drawn version to the painted one, I not sure why. The colors of the painted one don't really speak to me, whereas the black-white-grey of the drawn version is just right.
But don't fret too much over that, because the painting is still damn good cause it's such a cute idea!

Anyway, I wanted to thank you for what you said a while ago in my sketchbook. You mentioned the tendency we have to draw symbols of an object rather than the object itself, and that thought kinda stuck with me when I was drawing things this past month. I kept trying not to think of the symbol of noses (or whatever I was drawing) but more of planes and values, and I think it's working! (somewhat.) So, thanks!

[MyOrangeHat]

Bombchu: Thanks for checking back on my sb after all this time too. :) I'm glad you like the little spaceman. He's got a special place in my heart. I actually started trying to draw cute stuff only after I realized how much I wanted to hug your sketchbook. haha I don't think I would have gone that direction without cruising through your sb. I used to be too scared of drawing from my head to do it. So, thank you. Really.

Kelp: Oh wow, man. I can't believe a crit of mine actually helped you out. I must admit though, I was just passing on advice that had been given to me that helped.
Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook. To be honest I like Spaceman Sam better in the non-colored version too. I made the colors too intense I think. I'm working on a few new versions of him and I'd be thrilled if you popped by some other time to tell me if you think those colors are any better. I do appreciate the feedback.


This is a rough paint sketch of a book cover for Spaceman Sam. The text for the book is nearly done and has gone through at least a dozen rounds of heavy revisions. I think it's finally getting to where I want it.

[MyOrangeHat]

Finished Spaceman book cover and a quick layout sketch for more little spaceman goodness. He's building a spaceship out of cardboard boxes.

[MyOrangeHat]

Another Spaceman Sam redesign

[cgaddict]

Nice work, my personal fave is the image with the child on the moon - the lighting you chose is simply brilliant. Very dynamic and moody, almost like a 3D render. Looks like you have your own unique style, too, looking forward to seeing how it develops. Keep at it!

[Kelp]

Hey man, just popping back to check out the new spaceman Sams! I'm really liking the one in the update of march 27th, that one is cover-worthy! It's a big improvement over the colored one I commented earlier on.
Just two things though:
1) I was initially confused by the lighting. He's being illuminated from behind, yet his front is also lit. It took me more than a few looks to find out that his front is being illuminated by the little star. Now I was trying to find out why the light didn't work, but a normal reader doesn't do that. They just think: "Weird light. Meh. Next book." It has to be in one glance obvious what's going on here. To make it clear that a face is illuminated from below, faces are often drawn with an illuminated tip of the nose, chin, cheeckbones and eyebrows, while those same features cast long upwards dark shadows. There's a nice example here (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=84105), the dwarf. Now I know Sam doesn't have pointy cheekbones like that, so his shadows will be less defined, but he's still gonna need those shadows to show he's being illuminated.
What's more, the light from the star is huge. Sam's entire front is being illuminated, which makes it less obvious that it's coming from the star. If you make the pool of light smaller than it becomes clearer that it's from the star.
2) In your original drawing of Sam, I really liked that there were stars, and that the stars were hanging from wires. Why not put them back up again, (especially with those wires!) they look great there! Very cute and weird.

So you're making your own book? Sounds awesome man! Is it getting published? And do you often make books?

Anyway, use what you find useful and ignore what you think is wrong. We all try.

[MyOrangeHat]

Just a super quick image drop. I need to get off of this computer quickly since there's a line so I can't respond to your posts right now, but I will later tonight. I really appreciate you stopping by and taking the time to comment. :D

New Sam painting. I think these are getting better. Could be wrong. :P

[Angel Intheuk]

Yo Orange! hello :D long time no see. Gotta say Wow! The spaceman bookcover is sooo cute! (I wanted to hug your sketchbook :D) in fact I had to stifle an 'Aaaw' because I'm at work, good job.

Your last piece is just as cute, he does look at little angry, I think raising his eyebrows would help that and make him look like he's straining upwards, his ear as well looks too far back (just a tad). Also the moon isn't quite perfectly round and that's throwing off the compostion a little, other than that it looks really good :D Keep up the good work dude!

[MyOrangeHat]

Wish it had scanned better. The scan made especially the edges of the highlight areas overly sharp and lacking in subtlety. I'm going to start doing lots more of these. I think I've finally settled on a way I like to handle charcoal that works.

[MyOrangeHat]

Added some elements. A little torn on which way I like it better, but it was a good exercise anyway. I had planned the bird from the beginning. Bird is painted in oil over the sealed charcoal drawing.

The idea was for this to be a book cover. It's supposed to be an illustration of Pandora opening up the box again and once and for all letting out hope (the idiot). I figured hope would look like a bird.

[MyOrangeHat]

These are illustrations for a children's book I wrote called Around The Corner. These are all acrylic on paper.

[MyOrangeHat]

Character redesigns for Spaceman Sam. I was asked to combine the boy with the giraffe style, with the Spaceman Sam character. This is what I came up with. No two are intended to be exactly the same character. I think I like the last one best. Any opinions?

[MyOrangeHat]

Old man selling beans to Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk

Oil paint over acrylic washes

[Artpotion]

Hey thanks for stoping by my sketchbook, i really like your 197 with the bird and the woman, you have some awesome values there. your general figure drawing is good man. can't give a whole lot of advice but yeah, i like you're kid character too ^_^ have a good one!

[Rhubix]

That donkey-lion is pretty much the cutest thing - such a great idea - and his face is great.
I wouldn't mind seeing more illustrator work - your thumbnail is a tease :D

Happy sketching!

[alizak]

I love spaceman Sam - such a cute design, but I think by far my favourite image is the giraffe holding the light bulb - I love the look of wonderment in the boy's face.

[blogmatix]

Seeing as you were so kind to comment on my sketchbook,. I thought I'd come take a look at yours. I can't give you any advice, seeing as I am far more amateurish. What I can say is that you have made truly wonderful progress over the years. I look for ward to seeing more of your work!