CecelyV's Sketchbook (Updated 6/16/10)

[CecelyV]

Hello to All,

I'm starting this sketchbook thread as a way to continue my art studies and record my growth as an artist.

My goal is to become an awesome concept artist, and I'm beginning by focusing on the human figure.

Any and all constructive critiques and advise are welcome and appreciated!
:yayca:

[darkface]

Hey man, these are nice studies. Make sure you do proportion studies along with these anatomy studies. I'd also recommend drawing from life as much as possible.

When drawing a figure, dont focus too much on each individual muscle in there. Instead try to draw the figure using abstractions that you can easily remember and turn around. Having a good understanding of anatomy does help indeed.

So keep this up and you'll reach your goal!

[hedwordup]

im also trying my hand at anatomy at the moment, you should try and get into a life drawing class as its nice to be with people trying to achieve the same goal

[CecelyV]

im also trying my hand at anatomy at the moment, you should try and get into a life drawing class as its nice to be with people trying to achieve the same goal

hedwordup,

Thanks. I actually took many, many hours worth of life drawing classes back when I was in college. I majored in painting, so I've done about two years' worth of life drawing. Problem is, even though you get a good grasp of the figure with a model, it doesn't help much with drawing the figure from your imagination.
I do want to take another life drawing class so I can have access to models, though.

Darkface,

Thanks for the advise. I want to draw from life, but I'm not sure how to accomplish that. I mean, my husband can't stand to sit still long enough to pose for me, and I don't know enough people in my area to ask to pose.

Plus, I have a day job so through week I can only devote about three hours a night to my work. When I tried drawing people in public places, they'd get all weird and turn around or move so I couldn't draw them...<sigh>

What do you think?

[ped454]

you know i found that it is very hard to draw accurately without a model in front of you.....i actually set a plan in motion to not work for a summer and just take 7 life drawing classes a week in order to just......instill it into my being so to speak (lucky i have this luxury)

personally i think you're off to a great start. some places i found great for drawing are @ bus/subway stops. just sit @ a bench in a corner somewhere with shades on and do it there if oyu can...it really depends on how fast you can draw. sleeping people are good as well but lately i've been finding myself just taking a hell of a lot of photo refrences...the thing with this is that it also kind of affects your style in drawing.

but yeah sorry i can't be much of a help. nice studies:)

[darkface]

Well if you absolutely cant draw from life, you should use reference as much as possible. A couple of books that might help you draw the figure, easily, from imagination are; Vilppu's Drawing Manual.....and.....Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life.

Both of these artists are masters as far as anatomy goes, and both use abstractions to draw different muscles from any angle.

Good Luck!

[CecelyV]

Okay, it took me a while to find time to scan some of my new stuff...started a new day job >:{
Anyway,
Crits much appreciated! Thanks everyone :yayca:

[Seedling]

Hey CecelyV, how’s the new job going? If you have as much as three hours a day after work to devote to learning this stuff, that’s terrific. The most important thing is to make sure you use that time. Get yourself into a sustainable, daily habit of drawing, and keep doing it even on days when you don’t feel like drawing.

Drawing people from life will help you to draw better figures from imagination. Would it be possible to talk a friend or coworker to do short, clothed poses for you for an hour sometime, or sit for a portrait while they read a book? Bribe them with dinner, perhaps?

(On my list-of-things-to-do, when the weather turns cold again I plan to bring my paints in to work and do hour-long portraits of my coworkers. I’ll start asking around beforehand to stir up some interest, and I may bribe them by offering them the paintings.)

Another thing to try: if you still have those figure drawings you did in college, dig them out. Pick one figure, and redraw it in some sort of costume.

And if you have a camera, you can supplement this stuff with photographs. Got a friend that you could talk into goofing off in front of the camera?

And when none of the above is available, do self-portraits, keep doing the anatomy studies, and draw still-lifes. If you use your time to do even just one still-life a day, your drawing abilities will skyrocket.

Good luck.


Oh, by the way, there is also a Ladies’ Forum here at CA. If you haven’t been spotted yet, then go put a post here: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=98595

[CecelyV]

Okay, not too much for today. I've been exhausted & sore, so I haven't done as much during my studio sessions. I'm all better now, so things will pick up.

Here is very first sketch ever using Painter X and my new wacom + stylus. I'm new to Painter and my wacom, so much of what I post from now on will be done in Painter--Gotta Practice!!!<3

[CecelyV]

Been very busy with the day job and learning about Painter X--the exercises I'm doing to learn it aren't exactly sketchbook posting material, but I've got a couple of things I want to add here today.

[CecelyV]

Rose still life I did as part of my studies in Painter X.

[DragonSnail]

Good work - only thing I'm missing is quantity atm! You need to post more - as it is now, I have a hard time getting a feel for your style and to give feedback. I believe you are currently too much focused on lineart and would advice you to try more with shading to get the general shape of the subject. Try not to see only the outline of your subject, but the form it makes up of shadows and highlights, if you get what I mean? Maybe a good practise for you would be to try black and whites for a bit, dividing your subject into dark and light areas without making any outline at all but concentrating on the 3D shape. I could probably use the same practise myself, come to think of it... :P

Looking forward to some updates when I visit next! :D

The DragonSnail

[CecelyV]

Hi DragonSnail!

How are you?

Yes, I know I need to post more--things have been hectic. I have my all girl TD piece to post, but I couldn't post it until the TD voting results were in. I'm working on a Minotaur concept now, too. I'll be posting more after Thanksgiving.

Thanks for the crit, I appreciate it. I'm struggling most with the whole teaching myself thing. I probably already mentioned that I'm trained in the fine arts via state art department training. So, where I'm hitting the biggest snag is figuring out how to concept characters--where to start, how to continue once I get started...that kind of thing. But, I feel like it's going pretty well. If it feels right, I keep going...because not doing anything at all feels horrible.

Anyway, I'll try to see if I can post before the holiday, so I don't forget.

Thanks!

[CecelyV]

Not that I think anyone actually looks here, but I've been crazy busy with the holidays and my day job. Just when I didn't need it to, the stupid day job got very demanding and annoying. It seems to be tapering off now, so I have a chance to post the bit I've been able to do. These are all still in the beginning stages, except for my TD entry--which was my first "painting" effort in Painter X. I'm pretty happy with it considering I'm a newbie and I had to crop like mad to meet the deadline. Anyway, here's what I've been upto :yayca: DragonSnail, you're right about my focusing too much on line art. I've just been squeezing in whatever I can after I get home from work, which is usually a quick sketch for my current minotaur project--and I've been working late. But, I've a nice bit of vacation on the horizon so I'll be able to relax and be more productive where it really matters.

[FourTonMantis]

Cool stuff. Keep working.

[CecelyV]

Okay, I've had a nice, loooong vacation and I'm feeling much refreshed. I got back to my sketchbook last night, and my New Year's resolution, which I don't usually bother with, is to draw and/or paint every single day and to post here at least once each week.

Good Luck to everyone on your resolutions if you've made any.

Happy drawing/painting :yayca:

[CecelyV]

Oy! I keep forgetting to post my stuff here. I've been sticking to my new year's resolution pretty well. I've only missed a couple of days so far this year: one because of a suprise visit from my lil brother, and one cuz I caught a cold. Other than that I'm doing pretty well...except for the part where I always forget to post my work...sorry.

I'll add another resolution to do better at that...or did I already do that...everything is stillf fuzzy from this cold, so I'm not sure...anyway, I'll post my minotaur stuff this week.

[BeautyGirl1510]

I really like what I've seen so far, but I would love to see more! :D Your linework is very nice. As DragonSnail said, try not to focus on the outline all of the time. Take an object and try and define it through shading only, no lines. (Actually, I think that pretty much what DragonSnail said... oops) Again, nice stuff! Keep posting!

[CecelyV]

Okay,

I've finally found time (and remembered) to post my work here. It takes some getting used to...I'm still learning to work digitally, and my comfort zone is still with my physical sketchbook, so I often forget to post my work here. I'm workin' on that...but Thank you so much for all the encouragement to those of you who've posted here. I'm still not out of my line work yet--I only have about an hour or so to work when I come home after the day job, so I'm working my way up from rough line sketches to value. Next project I think I'll work from values first and take some of the suggestions that have been posted here.

I've been working on my Minotaur. I'm having major issues with the head...turns out even drawing a bull's head isn't easy...go figure...Anyway, here's what I've been upto. I'll post him on the critique center when I've got him more complete--which won't be for a while, as I'd like to clothe him and do something about texture, a weapon, etc, etc...

Please comment, I'm always looking to improve! Oh, and please bear with me through my droughts in posting, I work A LOT for my stupid day job but this is my true passion so I'll never stop working at it :yayca:

He's supposed to be putting his foot on top of something...possibly a crushed skull or a carcass...or a rock...not sure yet. I want to stick with this pose, and I'm working on getting a fierce expression on his face. I'm still not totally happy with the gesture of the pose--doesn't look fluid or dynamic enough. I'm finding that difficult to accomplish without a model/ref in that pose. I'll try to draw a bit more loosely, see if that helps...

[king_scribbles]

Someone who seems to like horns as much as me! Good, studies keep it up and do more studies from life and reference to show off. I like the softness in the rose you did show more subtle transitions in your gradiations. Definately do more, as many as possible. Mix gestures with your studies. Keep posting! :)

[CecelyV]

Here are some studies I've done to get settled on my minotaur's head/horns. I used a ref to get the general shape of a bull's head, then I went from my head to see what would fit the pose I've chosen. I think the dark blue one works best, so I'll probably keep that one and move on to fur/body hair and getting his "look" down.
Oh, and I am taking everyone's suggestions about working more with shapes and value...I just haven't started yet--but I haven't forgotten, promise!
I'll be starting that soon--I just like to get the contours/lines/shapes of things down first, it's a habit. When I start my fur/body hair studies I'll focus on value more than lines.

[CecelyV]

Some fur/body hair studies for my minotaur. I can't say I'm happy with them, but I have an idea of where I want to go and where I don't with the body hair/fur now. I didn't work on the value for the face/head because I wanted to focus on the rest of the body to get a feel for the body hair, but I'll be working on the value there in a bit. His foot is propped up, too, because I plan to have him stepping on something...a rock, a crushed skull...something...but I don't want to get involved in the background yet. These are a bit dark because I was trying out everyone's suggestions about working from value--not my best value work, but I don't have any experience with this much fur/body hair, so I didn't know what I was doing...but I knew I was doing it, and that's what's most important. I will be doing some studies from refs (these are from my head) to get better aquainted with fur/hair on bulls/cows.
Crits welcome and appreciated, as always :yayca:

:painting:

[CecelyV]

A bull's hide study I did to get a better feel for things.

[CecelyV]

Study of longer, shaggy, course-haired Highland bull.

[CecelyV]

Thumbnail studies of a long haired brown highland bull. I think I'm just about ready to decide on the hair for my minotaur. I'm gonna work on that and the horns this weekend. :painting: Does anyone have any tips on drawing hair and fur? I know it's mostly value work, but I was wondering if anyone has a lot of experience with it and could share a bit of knowledge. Crits and conversation always welcome ^_^
:yayca:

[king_scribbles]

Looking good, nice value studies on the fur. Don't be afraid to get dark with the darks, if you feel that you get too dark in an area then you can pull the mids and highlights out of that spot with a gum eraser. I think that the bottom two are your strongest, on the top one the highlights look burned in (I did the same thing on my fuzzy legged demon in my sketchbook.) Keep it up.

[CecelyV]

Thanks King scribbles ^_^
You're right about the values in my last post. Before this I'd never had any experience with drawing fur or horns seriously, so this is turning into an awesome learning experience.
Here's my latest study, and my best so far. I'm getting the hang of fur and beginning to feel more comfortable with it as a texture. Crits always welcome and appreciated! Thanks to all who look in and comment, I appreciate your help!
I'll look in on you sketchbook King Scribbles, I want to see more of your work. and Thank You for looking in on mine! :yayca:

:painting:

[CecelyV]

I decided to switch gears in my quest to create characters. I need to get more comfortable with anatomy, so I'm focusing more on anatomy while getting out sketchies of my character ideas.

I'm starting with the spine/pelvis/torso area.

[CecelyV]

I don't think I've ever enjoyed drawing bones quite so much--the spine is AWESOME! So complex ^_^
So, it's nearly time for me to move on in my anatomy study rotation--next is the ribcage, since I'm still in the bones stage of my studies...it's all about foundations and building blocks ^_^ :lifedrawing:

Here's what I've been working on lately. Tomorrow is my spinal studies inspired digital painting session--wish me luck ^_^

[CecelyV]

WIP in Painter of character inspired by my studies of the spinal column. I'm very raw with Painter, so I'm not really sure what I'm doing--but I'm doing it anyway ^_^

[CecelyV]

Stage 2 of my spinal column studies inspired character/self-portrait.

[CecelyV]

The next phase of my butterfly; a background still eludes me, but I want to keep it simple and cohesive.

[CecelyV]

I've been suffering from some eye strain brought by having to stare at the computer so much at my stupid day job--POS job is screwing with my health...anyway, that's why I haven't posted in a while...and why I haven't even been able to work on my butterfly piece. But, I'm going to be back at it in a few days; just have to get a protective screen for my computer at home and get my eyes examined and healed up.

I'll post some stuff this weekend. I think I can start drawing in my sketchbook and scanning at least.
:yayca:

[CecelyV]

When I participated in the ladies only Fairytales & Folklore TD, someone suggested a good way to check out your values is to drop all the color and have a look at your progress in black and white...so, here's my b & w test.

The figure needs more darks, and the wings/mask/spine area could use a few bright highlights. I've got the tree in for a placement reference, but I haven't started much on that yet. Still no idea what to do with the background.

[CecelyV]

The eyestrain is clearing up and I got myself handy dandy anti-glare/radiation screens for my home and work computers--and my new glasses are on their way...soooooo...back to work! Yes!

My spinal butterly stage 4...I think I'm almost done with the values on the figure portion, except for the blending. Then of course I have to finish out the wings and the tree. Still clueless about a background...if anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears.
Thanks to all who check out my journeys here. Keep watching, I'm never gonna stop :painting:!
:yayca:

[CecelyV]

I am now bespectacled and fully able to work on my digital paintings without worrying about my eyes...YES!!!

Okay, here's my latest update...I'll be able to post more now that my eyes are feeling more kindly toward me ^_^ I'm going to try to finish my spinal butterfly this week, but my mom's big is 50th this week so that may be difficult to swing. We bought her a BIG gift for her milestone, and I'm making her a birthday brunch this weekend. But, I will be finishing this soon as I'd like to move on to studying the ribcage next.

Crits and comments welcome...particularly on background ideas and help with the placement of shadows...i'm making them up, so i'm not sure if they look believable.

[CecelyV]

Next leg of my project my current WIP. I think I'm going to leave the figure portion alone now. I'm working out the values on the wings/spine and then I'll move on to the tree/flowers. After that, I'll finish everything out with the blending brush. I'm thinking I'll add a soft purple tint with some airbrushy, whispy clouds in the background in PS...maybe a couple of birds in the distance to demonstrate the height of the character in the tree.

I think a couple of the highlighted areas on the figure are looking odd, but it's coming together. I'm getting faster, too, so that's nice--my new glasses are helping tremendously.

Can someone tell me what the resaturation setting in the Oils brushes in Painter X does?

[CecelyV]

It's been forever since I posted. Had a few things going on, and now I'm almost done with my spinal butterfly piece. I've learned three very important things about doing a background when designing a character: One-Avoid if at all possible; Two-If avoidance isn't an option for whatever reason, keep the background simple; and Three-put in whatever background you plan to have on the "canvas" layer of Painter--cuz it's a lot of work to get the background underneath whatever you put on the canvas.

I feel really good about this piece, and I was able to get in almost three hours of work today--good stuff! :confident

My last steps will be to blend my strokes together to smooth everything out, and do the cast shadows--not much experience there without a reference, but I'm gonna hammer it out. I'm going to keep an unblended version as well so I can compare blended vs unblended.

Okay, here she is. Comments and crits always welcome and appreciated. When this is done I'm going to post it in the "Finally Finished" thread and see what kind of feedback I get. Thanks to all who stop by and check out my journeys here. If there's anything I can do to help you, please just let me know here or via PM.

[CecelyV]

Thank you ResidentSamurai357 for your offer to help me improve ^_^
I drew The Batman and I've posted it below. Please let me know what you think so we can go from here; I'm ready for my next assignment Obi Wan ^_^

I can definitely already see areas I need to work on...weight distribution, for starters, as it looks like the front foot is weighted instead of the back leg; and scale--you can tell I ran out of room in my little sketchbook and had to add some paper on the bottom.

Thanks again for your help, I appreciate it ^_^

[CecelyV]

Nearing the finish line. Special Thanks to davi and ResidentSamurai357 for the awesome and helpful chat over Ventrilo last night.

I finish what I start, so I'm going to finish my spinal butterfly piece in color since that's how I started it. I'm just going to finish the blending and cast shadows and move on to more anatomy studies from the book I'm currently working from: Anatomy for the Artist by Sarah Simblett. It's an okay book, not great. I think the bulk of it reads more like a book for medical illustration.

Excluding this piece, everything else will be in black and white for the next long while so I can focus solely on anatomy, gesture, perspective, and so on.
I'll leave color alone for now.

[ResidentSamurai357]

Hey Ces! Your personal project is looking nice, kinda abstract in my opinion, I suggest a different color for the tree however since blue and green do not work so well together.

Batman looks good, pretty good proportions, Needs more value however. Look forward to seeing you improve!

- Rez

[CecelyV]

Thanks for your help, Rez.
I decided to take your suggestion for the tree in my spinal butterfly piece. I think I may try a yellow/brown and see how that works. I'm trying to decide whether or not to chuck the whole tree bit and sit her on a bench or pedastool of some sort. I also think I'll post it in the critique center and see what happens.

I worked on my second batman drawing tonight, and I paid especially close attention to my action line, working light to dark, making confident strokes, weight distribution, putting mass in my shapes, and fitting my drawing to the page.
I definitely feel like I improved the way I see a figure during the construction stage. I still have to practice these things more; I feel like I lost some of the mass I had in my construction stage when i began fleshing him out. Still, I feel good about the work I did today.

I did a few thumbnails first, trying to loosen up and relax before I got started on my batman gesture.
I'm pretty slow at this point, so I wasn't able to get all the value and details done, but you'd said not to worry about that so I didn't ^_^

I posted my thumbnails, construction lines, and what I was able to finish of my batman gesture from imagination here. The only references I used were the quick sketch you gave me and the first batman image I emulated yesterday.

[Trent Magnum]

I'm getting more interested in that biomechanical-bone armor piece as it evolves. Very surreal, yet you can see the pelvis.. it's kind of like a creepy Glutial butterfly, excuse the heinous metaphor... :dur:

As a comic book dork I never pass on some character sketches. Your body structures and sketches are really good in terms of size and proportion. Rock on!

Your body structures are looking really good in position and displaying personality. I think your Batman may be a little off balance ever so slightly.. but it could be the scan, too. But yeah, so far so good! :)

Keep it up!

[CecelyV]

Thanks for checking out my sketchbook Trent ^_^
I am sooooo happy today! It felt so awesomely good to spend so many hours working last night. I didn't get to bed until nearly midnight, but I feel so good it doesn't even matter.

I'm so giddy and excited about my work ^_^ And I can hardly wait to get home and back to work. I do as much leg work as I can at my day job. I'm gonna choose a few poses from posemaniacs for my sketch session tonight so I dive right in when I get home :painting:

:yayca:

[ResidentSamurai357]

Hey Ces, Good work so far. I like your new Batman, although it does not differ much from the reference I gave you. But thats alright!

The purpose of posemaniacs is to get you to see shapes in the figure and work with them quickly, you cannot just simply "Pick poses" as you say you are going to do tonight. Just click on the 30 second button, than click start and in a few seconds you start drawing what you see but with as little line as possible. Your gestures are looking great so far! I wonder what pencil you are using?

From what I see so far if you keep it up you will most def improve. Look forward to seeing your posemainiacs Poses tonight.

[CecelyV]

Yeah, I've only visited the posemaniacs site once, so I have to learn how it's used tonight. I'd mess around with it at work but...well, that would probably be frowned upon should anyone happen by. But, I'm almost free...only an hour and a half left..yes! Then, I draw!

Oh, and I used the sketching pencil in Painter X for my drawings last night.
It works pretty well. I took the opacity down to 20% to help myself focus on working light to dark, and I turned the jitter completely off so the lines were smooth.

I wanna get people's opinion on something: I started studying anatomy out of one book, Anatomy for the Artist by Sarah Simblett, but then my Bridgeman books arrived yesterday--such awesome timing.
Should I finish the book I started with first (you know, finish what I start) and then move on to bridgeman, or should I put the Simblett book on the back burner for Bridgeman? It may not matter, but I've heard so much about Bridgeman that I feel like I should put his stuff first.

[CecelyV]

I forgot how short 30 seconds feels when you haven't done 30 second gestures in while :bashful:

I am so rusty at this kind of drawing...but then I expected I would be, since I haven't done it in years. After about an hour and a half of 15 minute sessions, I feel like it's coming back--gotta get my eyes to see right and my hand to translate the commands from my brain right again. It was awesome, though, I had so much fun. And the poses on pose maniacs are amazing!

I ended up with about 23 pages of gestures...most of which demonstrate how rusty I felt while I was at it, but some good stuff started peeking out in a few. I had to calm myself down while I was working cuz I was thinking more about the time I had than where things needed to go and seeing what I needed to see.

Practice makes you better, so there'll be more tomorrow. ^_^
I scanned most of today's session--and learned I need a scanner with a larger plate.

Thanks for this assignment, Rez, it's a blast. I'll be at it everyday--I'm hooked pose maniacs now :D

These are my first session's scans (icky to slightly less icky):

[ResidentSamurai357]

Some of these are pretty great in fact. I see towards the end you were all warmed up and doing them pretty well. Your seeing shapes pretty well now, I wish the other artists on CA would see this and give you a round of applause for your effort (It is sad really)..

You have to excuse them as most of them do not see or know how many of the industries finest have developed and gained their skills over the years. But they went through the same shit. Keep at it! It will be awesome when you start showing tons of improvement, as you already have shown little by little. Now as your drawing try to finish your poses more often and use different mediums such as pen/marker and pencil! I find Pen to be the most rewarding, nice n smooth! but Pencil will always be my love.

- Rez

[CecelyV]

A bit more comfortable today, and seeing the shapes a bit better, too--and almost out of room in my sketchbook ^_^
I'm gonna buy a couple of new ones tomorrow so I can keep going :^^:

Thanks for the crit and kudos Rez. I am working on finishing my gestures more, and getting a feel for gesture drawing in general again.

Pose Maniac Session #2 drawings:

[ResidentSamurai357]

Hmm I think for Thursday and Friday you should do some Anatomy studies. I believe the studies will enhance your knowledge of the figure. So work out of those Loomis books and lets see what you can do! =]

[Micaiah Nelson]

Very productive. I think its time you get into anatomy. As well as proportions. Drawing portraits will help. And to help with blending colors do some traditional painting.

[CecelyV]

Thanks for the crits and help Rez and Micaiah Nelson.

I actually think I need to slow down a little bit, too. I'm finding thirty second poses too fast, and being years out of practice with gesture drawing isn't helping either.
When I slowed it down I was able to see the shapes better and get more of a feel for the gesture and anatomy.
I'm gonna turn to my Bridgeman books and work with those together with 45, 60 and 90 sec poses on pose maniacs and see what comes out.

[CecelyV]

Acutally, Rez,

Now that I think about it...I don't think we ever did 30 second poses in my life drawing classes. I'll have to go back and look at my drawings to be sure, but I think they only went as fast as 60 seconds. I think the progression was something like 1 min, 2 min, 5 min, 10 min, 20 min, 30 min, etc...

That might explain why I was so blown away at how fast 30 seconds is when I started...yeah, definitely need to work my way to getting good enough to do 30 seconds ^_^

[CecelyV]

Today was not one of my better studio days. I'm pretty tired, so I had a hard time concentrating. :zzz:

I did my first study of the ribcage; can't say I'm happy with it, but I'll be doing more tomorrow.
No pose maniacs today...I tried, but I'm wiped, and I still have one more day of 8 hours at my day job for this week. >:{
Gotta get some decent sleep tonight or I'll be completely useless in my studio tomorrow, and that just will not do.

Ribcage studies and practice:

[CecelyV]

Started working out of Bridgeman's Constructive Anatomy book. I used what I learned so far in pose maniacs with 60 second poses.

[grundybug]

i like all of the anatomy stuff, its something i need to do more of, keep drawing man, nice

[ResidentSamurai357]

Good Job Ces! Looks like your getting the line of action pretty well. I suggest fleshing out some gestures now. work on some muscles as well.

[CecelyV]

Got some reference images to work from now...a few hundred, in fact ^_^ They should last me a good while. Started drawing from one to practice mass and proportions, drawing lightly, etc. I didn't really mean to get into value, but I just kept going with it once I started. I still think I'm having a problem with the mass part...it looks flat to me.

I can't say I really like how the value came out, but I am happy with the proprtions and the feel of the figure--'cept for the head, which is too small, and the feet, which got cut off in the picture :bashful:

It felt good, though, so I'm keeping in this direction; gonna keep working from my refs I took myself; keep working from Bridgeman and pose maniacs; and keep at it everyday. :D

Thanks to Mike Corriero (I hope I spelled that right), Davi, and Borto for all the help in Ventrilo last night :bow: I really appreciate your input.

Thanks to you, too, Rez for mentoring me, checking in with my work and giving me all the helpful suggestions and crits. :^^:

[ResidentSamurai357]

LOLZ.. you remind me of my Teacher, he really enjoys drawing the penis on his characters and beasties in full detail haha... =]

This is what I told this other guy that is around your level Ces..

"Seems to me your rushing a bit amigo, slow it down and actually take the time to study. You do not learn much by rushing. Slow down and ask yourself questions about yourself and your own art. as you draw more and more the speed will naturally pick up"!.


Now I know you are not rushing like he is, but I would like to see some detailed studies from you. sit down with your books or use reference for a bit and get to know each part and muscle one by one. ask yourself questions about what your having trouble with and focus on that area. I can see your mind is set on the shapes of the body, but do you know why you draw it like that? Is it easier for you? Or is it more difficult. If so adapt by kicking the shit out of your bad habits or finding a way around it, or..preferably through your problems. Hope this helps, Great job on the last figure btw. Good step in the right direction! Your lines...are real nice on the figure. kick ass!

Here check out Cole's studies and go through his sketch book! See how he learns. I suggest reading what he has to say and looking closely at his anatomy studies. I am sure Cole will not mind, he is self taught and an inspiration to us all. The next big thing really.


http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=118736

[CecelyV]

LOLZ.. you remind me of my Teacher, he really enjoys drawing the penis on his characters and beasties in full detail haha... =]
Now I know you are not rushing like he is, but I would like to see some detailed studies from you. sit down with your books or use reference for a bit and get to know each part and muscle one by one. ask yourself questions about what your having trouble with and focus on that area. I can see your mind is set on the shapes of the body, but do you know why you draw it like that? Is it easier for you? Or is it more difficult. If so adapt by kicking the shit out of your bad habits or finding a way around it, or..preferably through your problems. Hope this helps, Great job on the last figure btw. Good step in the right direction! Your lines...are real nice on the figure. kick ass!

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=118736

Hey Rez,
Thanks for the crit and advise. I wasn't sure what you meant before when you said to do some anatomy studies; there are a lot of ways to do anatomy studies, so I wasn't sure where start. I can definitely get behind detailed studies. I think it'll help bring things together to work those in with everything I've picked up so far.

I am focused on shapes. I think I draw them the way I do because of my early starts in life drawing, and my instruction there on how to draw the figure. Also, every book I've ever read about it, and everyone I've talked to, says to start with shapes and get the general shapes of everything down before getting to details--you know, general to specific, light to dark, etc.

I've been drawing the shapes the way I have lately because I'm trying to emulate the work of other artists I've seen who's level is more advanced and who have an awesome grasp of the human figure.
It's actually really frustrating and difficult to sketch the body in a block shape sometimes because it can involve perspective depending on what the pose is--and perspective is something I need to work on, too. I'm okay with your one and two point...anything beyond that...well, practice practice practice :^^:
I like feeling a bit frustrated, though, because it means I'm trying to get it right and I'm getting out of my comfort zone.

I'm so glad I joined in on Ventrilo chat :^^: I've learned so much over the past couple of weeks just by talking to you, Davi, Mike, Borto, and others on the IRC chat. Plus, it's always fun to listen to guy talk ^_^
I especially love what you said about kicking the shit out of my bad habits, that was awesome :D

[CecelyV]

I took one of the tips from Mike, Helioth and Borto on Ventrilo and started doodling at my day job as much as I could. I was surpised that I was able to fill a page pretty well :^^:
It helped keep me more sane throughout the day--but the flip side of that was I was more anxious to get home and get in my studio, so the last two hours dragged by :blah:

They're all from imagination so it's all really rough and out of proportion...but it felt awesome, so I'm happy :bounce:

[CecelyV]

Took your suggestion, Rez, and did some details studies. I also spent some time today identifying my weaker areas regarding the figure. There's the normal stuff: head/face, hands, feet...but I also have trouble with the joints/connectors on the body: shoulders, neck, elbows, hips, knees, ankles.

I started with the shoulders today.

[CecelyV]

Had way too many errands to take care of after work today, so I wasn't able to work for very long at all. It's doodles today. I should have more time the rest of this week, though.

[CecelyV]

More detailed anatomy study. It was interesting to study how the muscles and bones of the back, arms and shoulders change when the arms are raised.
I still have to get into the muscles, it's on my project list :^^:

[ResidentSamurai357]

Looking good Ces, try to gather idea's in your creations. Look at things that inspire you to draw and gain ideas from them. Than sketch them out real quick and work on it as a project.

[CecelyV]

Thanks Rez,
that sounds like a good idea. One of the sketchbook doodles I did, the one with the fat man and the alien girl face, was inspired by a face I saw in a linoleum design in a bathroom here at work. You know, like how you can see shapes in the clouds? Same thing.
Thanks for checking in with my progress, and Thanks for your help I really appreciate it :^^:

[Hyver]

i think you should draw more concrete jungles ;)

[DragonSnail]

Wow, there's some serious improvement in here since last time I visited - well done! Those short pose studies has really helped you a lot, and as other people have already mentioned I would also love to see some more detailed work. Put together all those anatomy and pose studies you have practiced so far, join them at the hip, and I'm positive you can do something awsome out from it! Be especially aware of your values, as I've seen that is still something you have problems with. What you did with that spine-butterfly image was a good thing, I would recommend more of that sort.

Small tip on the spine-butterfly image: blur out the tree/plant thingie she is sitting on at the edges of the canvas, to put more focus on the creature. Also, you could try darkening the background around her a bit, so the greatest difference between dark and light will be ON the creature, not on the tree/plant. That way the viewer will automatically focus on the creature first, not on what's around her.

All in all, amazing improvement! You certainly have a dedication that I sometimes feel I lack - keep going! :steph:

[ResidentSamurai357]

Hmm I was expecting to see lots and lots of studies and figure drawing's this weekend? I wonder what happened? =[

[CecelyV]

Hmm I was expecting to see lots and lots of studies and figure drawing's this weekend? I wonder what happened? =[

Hey Rez,

I couldn't find time to be in my studio over the weekend, unfortunately. My husband and I had a lot of house and yard work to do that we'd been putting off--lots of dust and built up mess to clean up, plus mowing and so on.
It's done, so my time should be more freed up on the weekends for a while.

This is exactly why it's difficult to have a day job and try to do my artwork part time--I have to be at my stupid day job so much through the week that almost all of our errands and chores have to packed into a two day weekend along with my studio time and the distant memory of rest :^^;:

[CecelyV]

Greetings all :^^:

Here are some more shoulder studies. I'm nearly finished with my study of the shoulders--at least for the moment, anyway. I'm going to move on the the next area I have trouble with--elbows.

Crits and suggestions are welcome and appreciated, of course ^_^

[CecelyV]

Studies of shoulder bones, plus a doodle.

[Andrew Marks]

Oi, its great that you do lots of anatomy studies, just be sure to remember the shapes of the body and where they go,which it seems as though you need to work on. Another thing is how you say that you finished with studying with a area of the body such as the shoulders. But as stated before you should show something that shows it and not just a study. Also for your imagination drawing, you need to spend as much time that you do for your studys. Just find a way to balance things out such as a study, then something from imagination that compliments the study that you just did.

But the most important thing is that you find time to draw. Draw as much as you can, only then will you see your results, and the more you do it the faster the improvements will improve.

Also noticed that your faces need work, an easy way to work on this is just to do self portraits.

But keep it up and try to get more time for art in, you will really see a big improvement.

-AM

[CecelyV]

Practiced the torso a bit today. It was interesting to see just how little movement we actually use and have available in that area--most people can't bend too far in any one direction except forward. Just doing the torso apart from the arms, legs and head helps me to see the whole better. Odd that by leaving parts out you can see their roles in a new way.

These are some simple torso studies; I worked to capture the gesture of only the torso. I also did a couple of studies of the scapula. I don't feel I get too much out of my bone studies at this point, but I'll continue to do those general bone and muscle studies so that I keep the whole picture in mind when I draw.

[CecelyV]

Blah! Damn technical difficulties! I tried to post some work last night but CA was down for the count for some reason. I'll post more tonight when I get home--hopefully CA won't be down again.

[CecelyV]

Some practice with male and female torsos over the past couple of days. I'm focusing on seeing the line of the pose, the shapes and the proportions right now. In another day or so I'll be moving on to longer, more detailed studies of the torso.

[ResidentSamurai357]

Last update is looking good Ces, lol but no need to draw in the extremities, you remind me of my silly professor who draws the penis with extreme detail haha.. My suggestion now would to find a group of artist you know or admire and start a draw night. I started one here in Northglen Colorado and it has helped my skills a whole lot. Drawing with your fellow artists can be an inspiration and a learning experience!

Wish you the best!

~ Rez

[CecelyV]

Thanks for the crit Rez. Yeah, I do plan on finding other artists in my area to get together with, but it may be another year or so before I can do anything really involved in that area. Between my studio time, my day job, my marriage, and helping to run our household, I barely find enough time to get enough sleep--socializing outside the web and family isn't making the top of my list right now:^^:

But it's cool; I'm enjoying my work and my life is good, so no complaints. I hope your work is going well, too.

[Ignominious]

nice work! just try not to get stuck in a rut of doing just contour drawings. also, try to remeber that although there are different parts of the body, it's still all one mass so try to avoid making your people look can-ish or block-ish

[l0stinth0ughts]

hey dude, nice colors and very good imagination you got there. just keep drawing everyday and you will get somewhere with it. its also good that you didnt give it up, id give you a high five for that. as for your drawings and critiques go for, just get some of the darks dark and the lights light, that way you can tell what object is behind or up close. if you gets what im saying then your all set man. just keep practicing and ill check up on ya. Best of luck man :rocker:

[CecelyV]

l0stinth0ughts - Thanks for checking out my sketchbook, for the crits and the encouragement, I appreciate it. I stopped by your sketchbook. I haven't been through the whole thing yet, but I'll comment once I do.

Ignominious - Thanks for your crit and for looking at my sb, I appreciate all the help I can get. I agree with you about the contours and the can-ish/block-ish look. The past few sessions in my studio have been dedicated to only seeing and drawing the shapes and the long line of the pose, then fleshing out the form lightly--but only with contour, again, to focus on the shape. I've done it this way so I don't get too caught up in the details and the finished product, as has been my habit. I'm breaking everything down into its simplest forms so I can see the foundations. That way, when I begin my detailed studies tomorrow, I will understand what I'm seeing better--and therefore draw it better.

I'm teaching myself all of this, and I know there's no one right way, but I don't always know what I'm doing. In fact, I often feel like I don't know what I'm doing. But, this direction feels good so I'm going with it. I'm taking the advice I've gotten from everyone and incorporating what works for me into my studio sessions.

Here are the last of my shape studies before I begin my detailed drawings. Sorry I haven't posted much the past few days, I haven't felt like myself.

Thanks again for the crits everyone :^^:

[CecelyV]

Started my detailed torso studies today. I decided to make it more interested by giving it a collage look. Haven't gotten all the figures sketched in yet--the large one in the middle gave me some trouble...

Also posted an older piece, a still life I did when I was in college. Sorry for the streaks/scratches on it, the frame it's in doesn't photograph well. I'll have to take it out when I want to take some better photographs.

Had some trouble with my file sizing...but you get the idea :^^:

[ResidentSamurai357]

wow what happened did you give up? =/ Your letting yourself slip away... Your getting better, now you just have to draw everyday. The famous "draw draw draw"!

[CecelyV]

wow what happened did you give up? =/ Your letting yourself slip away... Your getting better, now you just have to draw everyday. The famous "draw draw draw"!

Hey Res,

No, I haven't given up. Thanks for checking in with me. I've been waging an internal battle with myself lately, and I wasn't doing very well the past few days. It's a process, but I'm doing better now. I'm finding that fighting with myself is the hardest war to win. Luckily, I'm too stubborn about getting what I want to lose :D

I've cleared my plate to make things easier for myself--I through the gym in the backseat so all I have to do is come home and work in my studio.

I really appreciate you looking in on my sketchbook to see how my work is going; it gives me a great boost everytime :^^:
I haven't given up. I'll never give up. I may stumble every now and again, but I will never give up.

Thanks Res.

[CecelyV]

Sorry for the drop off in posting, I was taking some time to figure stuff out. I've still been working though. Here's the latest WIP from my detailed torso study. I'm happy to report my new schedule is working. I've worked 2.5 hrs today, and I've still got another 1/2 hour to go :D

I think I made the figure I've added value to a bit too dark, but I'm still getting some good practice in so it's all good.

[CecelyV]

Another completed figure on my torso detail drawing, plus some figure doodles I've done from imagination at work. The doodles are very rough and all contour because I literally have to steal away time at my current day job to work in my sketchbook...but, I figure practice with the shapes of the figure, contour or otherwise, whenever I can get it is awesome.

Plus, I'm trying to draw from imagination along with my studies anyway so it's win win.

Question: Can someone tell me how you are able to write descriptions between images you post?

[CecelyV]

More work on my torso detail study. :^^:

[ResidentSamurai357]

Your coming along there girl! Like the hard shading you have in the Middle image. I suggest working with another pencil or more mediums, such as different grades of pencils, try working with pens as well they seem to be fun.


Seems to me your well on your way, keep it up.

[CecelyV]

:^^:
Another figure done.

[CecelyV]

Had some problems with this figure...my ref wasn't very good--well, the ref is fine but the printout of the ref...not so much. I have to respect the wishes of my male model and remove his head digitally when I post. I don't want to cause any problems for him since he was nice enough to pose for me.

Just imagine whatever kind of male head you'd like in the empty spaces :^^:

[CecelyV]

Thought I should try somthing without a ref...something more than a contour drawing :^^:

[MarkWinters]

Nice work! Keep up with those studies!

[CecelyV]

Here's my latest go at a figure from imagination. I'm not particularly happy with it--the value on it is horrid...but I feel okay about the proportions. Sorry for the posting drought of late; I'm in the middle of changing jobs, so I've had a lot of extra stuff to do for that. It's almost over though, thankfully.

[Andrew Marks]

Wow, your drawings from ref are really strong, love the way you are pushing those values, keep at it.
Your proportions are still off though, try to keep in the mind the universal space that the human figure has, such as people are 7 and a half heads tall, from shoulder to shoulder its 3 heads roughly, and so on.
As for you faces, I still suggest a self portrait, you see see mistakes that you probally wouldnt see normally.

Keep up the art!

[Eric Young]

You're on the right track! Your refrenced figure drawing are really well done and you can really tell the amount of time and effort you put into them. You have improved a lot since you started your sketchbook. I imagine if you stay on the track you're on, and keep on doing what your doing, you will continue to improve.
As for some critiques, As with every artist, your anatomy is not perfect, but you're doing what you need to in order to fix it so just keep up with those anatomy studies. Also your proportions need some work. I find it best to remember the proportions by remembering how many of "something" is in "something else". For example; there are about 2 - 2 1/2 head lengths in a torso, and about 4 head lengths in a leg, about 2 in the upper leg and about 2 in the lower leg. You don't need to actually break out a ruler and measure all this, just try and eye up the measurements when you're planning out the figure.
All these things will come in time, you'll learn little tricks, just keep on drawing and you'll greatly improve!

[CecelyV]

Andrew & [E]: Thank you for checking out my sketchbook! Yes, I completely agree with you about the proportions. I don't know what it is, but I have to focus more when I'm making up my characters...I get started and I just kind of zone out and just go by instinct I guess...somehow the proportions always seem to fall by the wayside. I'll be more mindful of it from now on. Thanks for the crits :^^:

[CecelyV]

I'm definitely participating in DEEP, so I'm not sure how to handle posting in my sketchbook if our sketches/drawings for DEEP are to be posted in the corresponding project of the week thread (CHOW, COW, POW, etc)

I'm going to try my hand at something for at least four of the five categories...i have no expierence at all with industrial design, but i'll give it a shot if I have time.

I'm doing this for the practice and cuz it's awesome...not expecting to win by any means but it'll be fun to put my best foot out there.

Good luck to everyone!

[CecelyV]

Finishing up my torso study piece. My goal is to finish the last two figures tomorrow so I can start sketching for DEEP.

Made the model slightly too thick in the wait..by about a quarter inch or so...and the pose was trickier than I thought it'd be. I had a lot of fun with it :^^:
As usual, I'm ready to be done with the project...stuff's happened that needs tending and my project gets drawn out longer than I'd like...I guess that's life, but I'm working on it.

[CecelyV]

Tonight's figure took me a little longer than expected; I had to re-draw some parts that were a bit off. Started on the last figure, I'll finish it tomorrow evening & start on my DEEP sketches. I've already got many pages of story notes and ideas.

[CecelyV]

Finished! :^^:
On to my sketches for DEEP :D (which I'll be cross posting here and in the corresponding community activity forums)

[CecelyV]

Name and description to follow when I decide on 'em :^^:

[CecelyV]

Been out of town for a friend's wedding...being a bridesmaid a lot of work!
But my friend looked beautiful and soooo happy ^_^

Here's what I've done lately:

[CecelyV]

creature design is fun... ^_^
I'm gonna be really slow at character and creature design for quite a while I imagine since i'm new to it all, but it's still so much fun!

I know, I need to work more with varying my lines and using value and massing in my shapes and so many things...still figuring everything out, one day at a time. I'm working from bridgman right now, too. I've come up with curriculum for myself for some helpful structure, and keep myself on a cohesive path and all that good stuff...A tangible/visible road to my artistic goals ^_^

Okay, here's my latest...i'm waiting to post it in C.O.W until I've developed it a bit more.

[CecelyV]

I posted this on the Austin/Dallas/Houston/San Antonio, TX artists thread and thought I should put it here, too, just in case.

My husband and I live in Manor, about 25 minutes from downtown Austin. We are having a 4th of July BBQ, and I am extending an open invitation to any fellow artist who would like to come and meet up either on the day of our BBQ on the 4th, or that weekend on the 5th or 6th of July to talk art and draw and meet new people.

If you would like to come to our BBQ, please let me know you are coming no later than June 30th so I can make sure we have enough food. If you'd like to get together to draw that weekend on the 5th or 6th, please PM, e-mail (c.valderra@gmail.com), or call me at 512-627-0852 and we can decide where to meet.

[CecelyV]

I decided I would be utilizing my time in the evenings best if I focused on one character or creature design, rather than trying to do too much in too little time and getting nothing done. I'm happy to say it's been working--so, the tweaking continues successfully.

I've surprised myself with this creature; and I think I'm beginning to understand the process of character/creature design steadily as I go...and my art process.

I'm taking my creature to the digital stage now--where I'm a LOT less comfortable, but...I'm learning that you can't wait until you know how to do something until you do it...in fact, most of the time in life, I find if I don't do it I won't really learn it. I'll also be making myself really focus on my other weaker areas: value, perspective, line variation, etc...

So, here is my first ever creature design:

[CecelyV]

I wasn't able to take my creatures to the digital stage in time because my husband got sick for a few days and needed looking after. He's feeling better now, but six days isn't enough time for me to get a fully worked up creature in Painter--I'm still too new and too slow at the program right now.

I'm still finishing my creatures and my world concept inspired by DEEP, and I'll post them here in my sketchbook.

[CecelyV]

Stage 1 digital painting of my DEEP contest inspired creature:

[colt .45cal]

dude can u just free hand a pic without the shape of the body. just go of the dome no main i dea just it does what ever ur imaginaqtion takes u? thats what i do alot.
ps i like the idea with the bull dude

[CecelyV]

Some more stuff in my continuing journey :painting:

[Andrew Marks]

Great to see you still going at it. When you shade be careful to mind the forms or else your drawings look flat. And those figures, just wondering are you drawing them from life?

[CecelyV]

Great to see you still going at it. When you shade be careful to mind the forms or else your drawings look flat. And those figures, just wondering are you drawing them from life?

Hey Andrew, Thanks for checking out my SB.
Yes, I'm still at it ^_^ Never quit!

Anyway, no, I'm not drawing all of these from life; some are from a couple of life drawing sessions--I'm soooo rusty..haven't had a live model to draw from in years...but it begins to come back. The wire forms are from a DVD series my husband bought me, The Structure of Man. We learned about it from Imagine FX magazine. It's awesome; it shows you how to draw the human figure from imagination by demonstrating the formulas involved with placement of the different parts of our anatomy. I never found an anatomy book, or even a professor or fellow artist, who could demonstrate anatomy the way this guy, Riven Phoenix, does.

I'm finally seeing better, because I'm understanding exactly where everything is--and the relationships with everything else.

So, here's some more sketches from Structure of Man, as I'm focusing on that until I've been through all the videos.

[CecelyV]

A couple of character head experiments using what I've learned so far with lessons from Structure of Man w/ Riven Phoenix. No references.

[CecelyV]

Some more anatomy practice. No refs used.
Working my way up slowly but surely. I'd like to tackle values soon, but I don't wanna try to do too much at once. Crits & Comments welcome. I have the same policy as many others...comment in mine, and I'll comment in yours ^_^
:yayca:
Happy drawing!

[CecelyV]

Some experimentation using what I've learned from Structure of Man.

[CecelyV]

More practice with skulls...

[MALAKA]

Hey I went through your whole sketchbook haha, I'm new to CA so checking it out, I like your stuff so far, you no doubt improved from the start thats awesome.

So you got Riven's DVD, I've seen it once before but honestly it felt like it tries to batter too much info into your head all at once, too mathy and sciency for me, but wicked cool if it helps you.

A website I like to study from is http://www.posemaniacs.com (http://www.posemaniacs.com/?pagename=thirtysecond) it features a online flash program called 30-second drawing, where you draw human figures in a variety of poses (it picks 1 at random from like a million) for 30-seconds, the trick is to draw as fast as you can without thinking, its a great way to lay down accurate figures quickly, it really helps give it a go if you have not done so far.

Keep it up rarara.

[CecelyV]

Thanks Malaka ^_^
Yes, I've been on pose maniacs before, it's an awesome sight. For now I'm focusin on the Riven Phoenix DVDs because I find the more technical aspect helps me--I like how the figure is broken down to its basest form and then built back up again, it helps me to visualize so much better.

[CecelyV]

My journey into the human figure continues with S.o.M. Here's the latest (no ref). Skull looks a little flat, I gotta work on that...not really sure why it happens...perhaps the values and line direction...

[CecelyV]

Geez! I haven't posted in sooooo long!
I've missed CA. I'm not gone, and I haven't quit. I've been doing some software training for work/digital art. I'm trained up on Photoshop, Illustrator and Painter--I learned the basics and some of the advanced stuff. I also had to learn the rest of the Adobe Suite for work, but that'll come in handy for me personally, too.

I'm finally back to my anatomy studies--I was beginning to experience physical pain and serious moodiness from being away so long ^_^

Happy Drawing everyone!
:yayca:

[CecelyV]

Some of my anatomy sketches from my studies. I have a lot more, but it's mostly stuff I reviewed from having switched gears temporarily.

[CecelyV]

Hey I went through your whole sketchbook haha, I'm new to CA so checking it out, I like your stuff so far, you no doubt improved from the start thats awesome.

So you got Riven's DVD, I've seen it once before but honestly it felt like it tries to batter too much info into your head all at once, too mathy and sciency for me, but wicked cool if it helps you.

A website I like to study from is http://www.posemaniacs.com (http://www.posemaniacs.com/?pagename=thirtysecond) it features a online flash program called 30-second drawing, where you draw human figures in a variety of poses (it picks 1 at random from like a million) for 30-seconds, the trick is to draw as fast as you can without thinking, its a great way to lay down accurate figures quickly, it really helps give it a go if you have not done so far.

Keep it up rarara.
Malaka,
Thanks for checking out my sketchbook. I know it was a while ago, so you may not remember. I took a break to do some software training, but I'm back to drawing and posting and I hope you'll visit again ^_^ Do you have a sketchbook?

[SMILEFACE]

did yall studies yall could b a dr.

[CecelyV]

did yall studies yall could b a dr.

Thanks for visiting my SB ^_^
I'm not sure if you're asking a question, or commenting on my sketches...but thanks either way ^_^

[CecelyV]

Painter practice...

[CecelyV]

I'm so excited! I just paid my tuition for Reverie! I can't wait ^_^
I haven't been posting, but I have been working. I'm still in study mode, so these are more skeleton sketches. I'm moving into the muscles this week. I'm finally beginning to feel more comfortable with the figure. After my muscles studies, I'm moving out of study mode for a while ^_^ Looking forward to that...gets tiring cramming a bunch of information into your head everyday...:zzz:

[ASVogel]

Heya, good to meet you at Reverie. Hope you made the drive back ok. Looking forward to further updates of your sketchbook.

[CecelyV]

Hi,
Thanks for dropping in to visit my sketchbook. Yes, I made it back to Austin fine. In fact, I just finished e-mailing you ^_^

Maybe we can get together and draw sometime, or meet up at one of the life drawing sessions. I'm going twice a week, starting this Sunday ^_^

I'll leave a comment in your sketchbook, too.

:yayca:

[CecelyV]

Things are finally more calm now, so I've found time to post ^_^

[Marth]

your work certainly is improving. Keep it up. I rather like that last, sitting female figure you did.

[CecelyV]

I've got the bones of a process for character creation. This is my first character sketch, plus an experiment in making up the tone/value from my head--still needs a bit of work, but what I have so far gives me a good idea of where I need go from here. Comments & Crits welcome as always.

Happy Drawing :painting:
:yayca:

[CecelyV]

Another experiment in "made up" value/tones (no ref). After talking to AikidoAl, I think I got a better handle on this. I'm looking forward to seeing her paint-over of this. Thanks again, Alicia ^_^

[ASVogel]

I did a paintover of the initial pose (which I liked...it has a nice lyrical movement) and found some issues with the skeleton. Mostly in foreshortening. The back leg doesn't recede and as a result looks overly long. The foreleg could use some exaggerating. The arms are really long in proportion to the body as they also don't move forward or backwards into space as the figure is twisting. You also may want to check the hip. The figure I put on top of the piece is my attempt to correct. I'm not totally pleased with my version but I think it's a step in the right direction.

The second paintover is blocking out the light and dark areas on the piece as it exists. I didn't change anything anatomically, although I worked primarily with the figure. I would recommend being bold in assigning dark and light areas. Start with major areas before breaking down the lighting in individual muscles/wrinkles/clothing. From how you worked in your latest piece (which was an improvement over the previous version) I think that is what's going on...trying to address each tiny part's lighting will drive you insane.:) As far as the white and black outlines...don't be afraid to leave out lines and let the color/tone define some areas. When I work, I use dark lines to define and I use lighter lines to "crisp up" certain highlighted areas. Light lines can also indicate that the figure has some backlighting as well. Their overuse will make the figure look kinda wierd.

Hope this helps!

[ASVogel]

One more thing, if you paint in your values on a layer with "multiply" on you can keep your lines as reference and erase as needed.

[CecelyV]

I decided to make a few corrections after your awesome advice AikidoAl ^_^
Thanks again for the paintover and all your help! I'm happier with this sketch, it moves better. I still have to draw in the face, but since I am doing the rest digitally I figure I'll do it there...plus, I'm not so great with faces yet, so I'll need to take my time there. I'm sure there are other areas here I could obsess over, but it's time for me to finish this and move on. I'm getting to the value study portion of it now, as I got a couple of tips from one of the Chan Man's downloads ^_^
Comments and crits welcome and appreciated. I'm not able to be on the forum so much anymore because of my schedule, but if anyone wants crits or paintovers please just message me and I'll be more than happy to do that for you ^_^ Happy drawing everyone!

[ASVogel]

Some things that jumped out anatomically...the front foot in how it points directly at the viewer looks like it's going to twist her ankle badly at the next step. It needs to be pointed more towards the right. The back foot looks also sort of flat and could use more foreshortening to indicate that the toes are going into the distance.

It's looking much better and your strokes look more confident. I really like the hand gestures. I look forward to seeing how you paint this.

[CecelyV]

I'm almost done with this piece. It's been a great experience in process and learning about tone. I actually think I've got a good start at figuring out how to paint realistic looking hair ^_^ Stumbled upon it by accident :)

I'm not sure about how I'll go about blending the values so they're smoother, but I'll have a go at it once I've finished painting all the values.

[ASVogel]

Looking really good and that's a fine start to underpainting...especially the hair. Actually the hair is almost done.

What I've done (everyone's got a different method) is after I've done the blocking, I make another layer and add transparent "glazes" (like oil) on top. That way it keeps some of the texture and doesn't have that funky airbrushed look.

[CecelyV]

So, I learned the hard way about putting values on different layers...HUGE pain in the ass to correct. I'd basically have to re-paint everything on to one layer, and since I'd really like to take what I've learned so far and move on I'm calling this one done. Minus the blending and finishing out the wing (which I'm not sure would've looked good), it's completed.

For a first character, I'm satisfied with my progress. I was able to flesh out a process, which was my primary goal. I also learned a little about tone and working with layers (specifically how NOT to work with layers ^_^).

I'm starting to feel like I'm spinning my wheels with this one, so I'm going to move on to some value studies, portraits, and looking through some digital downloads and books on value, Painter and character design.

It didn't take long to determine that I'd made my life very difficult by putting the shadows on a different layer from the highlights, so this finished image doesn't look much different than my last post--I just changed the layer types on a few things and tried my hand at blending the shadows a little bit. I also learned that it is not necessary (or even advisable) to have each layer set to Multiply...just the initial layer to figure out your tonal blocks...and then I need to change it back to normal, unless I know I want to keep it.

Oh, and there's no cast shadows :bashful: I'm still learning about light, shade and shadow so...I totally forgot about the cast shadows towards the end--I was only thinking about the values on the figure. I'll make sure I remember them for my next character ^_^

Anyway, this was a great experience. I'm looking forward to the growth I'll gain in my next piece. Thanks for all your help, the great crits, and the paintovers AikidoAl ^_^

Happy Drawing everyone! :yayca:

[CecelyV]

Started studying the principles of Light, Shade & Shadow. Here are a couple of cube studies w/ one light source positioned above, to the right at a 45 degree angle.

[CecelyV]

I took the Concept Art for Video Games (Introduction to Concept Art, with Manny Carrasco & Joe Watmough)workshop at Gemini last week, and learned a lot. Here are a couple of things from class. The environment is my first ever, and still a WIP. I'm doing a lot of experimentation with brush creation...still getting the hang of it. A lot of this still feels contrived to me, probably because I'm not used to environments. I'm learning a lot as I go. It's all still one value for the most part; it needs lots of values, a light source, and I'm sure the perspective is off but it's great fun. After this...MORE!!! ^_^
:yayca:

[donm]

cool, I like your cubes. yeah I wanted to take that course too, but had to spend some $cha-ching on the colour theory class. ^^ keep on drawing.

[CecelyV]

The journey continues ^_^ I'm still working on this. I'd hoped to be done by now, but as I don't want to half ass it I'm finding it's taking some time. I'm trying to employ all I learned from last week's workshop and Jason's Color Theory class. I knew there was a lot to making a good image, I just didn't understand what all that was...but know I really getting to know what it takes, and what all the elements are.
I'm glad. I'm finally starting to feel like things are coming together, slowly but surely, with my work ^_^ It's a good feeling.

Anyway, here's another WIP of my first ever environment. I started adding cast shadows. I'm quite sure they're a bit off, but I'm feeling my way through it and trying to make sure I remember what I learned from Jason's Color class. I'll have to watch it again on demand.

I still don't know what to do with the large tree in the left side of the foreground. The feeling is that the viewer should be peering through the two trees to see the lake and the path to the gate...right now it just sort of looks like a clunky place holder ^_^
Anyway, I'll keep at it.

[CecelyV]

All done ^_^
At least, as far as I can tell I'm done. I think I've probably over worked this a bit, but I'm happy with this as my first attempt at an environment concept. It isn't completely harmonious, though I'm not sure that's a bad thing. The two trees in the front are very dominating, too--not sure I got the effect I was going for there. The temperatures of the cast shadows are off, and I think the piece came out with a lot more green than I had intended. BUT, I finished it and I Love it ^_^ I love it because I was able to take it to completion, and I learned a LOT from this experience.

I'm looking forward to the next one. In the meantime, I'm moving on to value studies with wooden models, and then a self-portrait. Bought the oil paints Jason mentioned in his Color Theory class, so I will do the self-portrait in oils. Definitely looking forward to getting back to oils...haven't painted traditionally in nearly five years.

I think I'll stick with value studies with wooden models, still life, self-portraiture and pictures for a while. Gaining an understanding of light and color is really helping me visualize a lot better.

Here's the completed environment ^_^

[CecelyV]

Finished my first round of value studies with the wooden models, and I feel like I'm starting to see the value ranges and reflected light better. I was able to get more comfortable with the settings in Painter for the charcoal variation, too. The order of the studies were: 1. Cube, 2. Pyramid, 3. Hexagonal Prism, and 4. Cylinder.

Next round of studies is cone, sphere, hemisphere and vase.
:painting:

[CecelyV]

Next round of value studies. The sphere was deceptively difficult...I'll have to work on spherical shapes more. I know I need to make the shadow darker, but so far so good ^_^
:painting:

[CecelyV]

Another WIP for my second value studies session with wooden models. I have another couple exercise sets and then it's on to still life (non wooden models) drawing/painting for a while--and I'll start to explore color there, too ^_^

[CecelyV]

Finished with this round of value studies, now it's on to the next--breaking the cast shadow with a vertical.

The last one, the vase, was a bit more complex than I realized. The cast shadow gave me some real problems, as you can tell. It had a lot of value range in it...probably because my husband came home and turned on a few extra lights while I was working..bleh ^_^ Oh, well. At any rate, I learned a lot. And this teaches me that I'll need to study multiple light sources, and be more patient with textured surfaces. Didn't have a smooth, non-glass vase shape to work with so a textured vase it had to be. That made the values a bit more interesting and complex.

On to the next! :yayca:
:painting:

[CecelyV]

Value study of cube with a vertical to break path of the cast shadow.

[CecelyV]

Value study of a pyramid wooden model w/ vertical to break the plane of the cast shadow. I decided not to do the reflective part of the table this time, so I treated it like the ground surface was dull. I wanted to focus on the variations in the shades and shadows.

Next up is the sphere, same set up. Then I'll finish up my study of the wooden models by doing a grouped study of about 8 of them together. After that, I'll work on a self-portrait and still life studies--alternating between traditional and digital media. Once the portrait is complete, I'll try my hand at another character design. My plan is to always have a still life or photo ref piece going simultaneously with my main projects so that I'm always practicing my foundational skills.

Anyway, here's the latest study:

[CecelyV]

Latest value study, another sphere. For some reason, I find shading spheres quite a bit more difficult than any other shape. I don't seem to see the values as well, so I'll have to do more so I can get better with them. On to the next ^_^

[CecelyV]

WIP of my last study using wooden models...at least for a while anyway. Next up is more still life work and a self-portrait in traditional oils.

First things first...

[CecelyV]

Latest WIP of my grouped wooden models study....a family member passed away last week, so I haven't gotten quite so much done lately. Anyway, I'm almost done, and then when I get back in to town after the funeral I can get started on my self-portrait and another still life.

[CecelyV]

I'm so glad to be home and back to my routine...wasn't able to draw while I was visiting family cuz....well, I was visiting and celebrating a life. Anyway, after taking Chris Hatala's class, I realized that I'd slightly lost some of my focus. I needed to work on light, shade, and shadow, and I am happy with the studies I've done. However, now that I've completed my initial basic studies there, I need to refocus on my ultimate goal which is character design, and studying other things, like perspective, through that vein.

So, to that end, I've completed this last still life w/ wooden models. Now I'm on to my self-portrait, and also quick gestures from which I will do another character. Here goes ^_^

Thanks to all the great artists and staff at CA for this site and all the great classes!
:yayca:

[CecelyV]

Oh, it felt so good to get back to the human figure ^_^ I've worked solely on gesture drawing since Chris Hatala's class, and I'm going to keep going with this to follow his advice. Thanks again for the great classes, MB/CA!
:yayca:

[CecelyV]

More gestures...

[CecelyV]

And yet more gestures...90 sec poses...:painting:
:yayca:

[ASVogel]

Looking good. Watch your proportions and keep it up!

[CecelyV]

Thanks, Alicia! I will. I kind of hurt my neck on Tuesday, so that's why it's been a few days since I've posted. More to come this weekend though. Thanks for looking in on my SB ^_^ Yours is my next stop today.

[CecelyV]

I was out of commission for a while with a bad cold...completely shot my paycheck for last week to hell, and my head was too fuzzy to draw...then there was all the sneezing...

I'm hoping my schedule stays nice and unchanged for the rest of the year...no surprises that throw me off, they're getting annoying now...

Anyway, here's some more gestures. 60 and 90 sec poses from refs.
Happy drawing everyone!
:painting:

[CecelyV]

Today's gestures (from figure ref book)
It'd be nice if there were some ref books with people who weren't the same general body type--you don't get many elderly, overweight, funny shaped or minority models in these things, at least not that I've found so far. Good thing we're all basically built the same, gives us a starting point ^_^

:painting:

[Mik2121]

Hey!. I just checked your first and last pages, and there's definitely quite a lot of difference. I love this kind of stuff, when you can tell how someone has improved!.

I see you are doing also a lot of body studies. Good luck with that!!

[donm]

nice job! doing much better me sees. :)

[CecelyV]

Thank you Mik2121 and Jagmed ^_^
I appreciate all comments and crits; they help me know I'm going in the right direction, and that's really important.

I do feel like I'm improving. I think I'm really finally getting my time management down and focusing on the right things, and, most importantly for the time I have available, focusing on one thing at a time and not trying to do too much at once.

I've been focusing only on the torso in my gesture studies, and I've been reading Hogarth. He puts the order of drawing gestures as 1. Torso 2. Legs 3. Arms 4. Head. I'm going to channel my studies that way. I can already tell it's helping, too. I feel like the more I draw and focus on the torso, the more I understand it. So far I'm keeping myself to 60 and 90 second studies; Chris Hatala was talking about the importance of the gesture/pose in his streaming class, and he said gesture drawing shouldn't be more than 2-5 minutes. So with that inspiration, I take my ref books and my timer and draw.

I'd love to draw from life more, but time doesn't really allow it right now I'll have to wait until about next summer when I can do this full time ^_^

Thanks again you guys for your comments, I appreciate it. Jagmed, I'll hit your SB next.

[CecelyV]

More gestures, and I've started mixing in some silhouettes that I'll post in a bit (from the same refs I use for the gestures).

It's interesting to discover that models who aren't lean and muscular are much more challenging to draw. It's fun to learn about how skin folds or how the shape of the hip bone changes slightly when there is more body fat present. I find the drawings I did of a model with more body fat a bit more interesting than the drawings of slim models...they seem more...I don't know, just "more", if that makes sense :^^: I guess the word is character...more character, more interesting forms.

I think I'll spend some time searching out more varied models to draw from. If anyone has any suggestions on that, please let me know I'd really appreciate it.


:painting:

PS: Has anyone ever had an issue with their SB thread not appearing to be updated on their User CP or the main SB thread?

[CecelyV]

First round of silhouettes...I'm only happy with the first one. I need to choose better poses so the silhouettes read better, plus I need more practice. Anyway, it's very helpful in seeing the overall form and how everything works together and with the negative vs. positive space. I'm going through the Dynamic Light & Shade book by Hogarth for these exercises--very good book, highly recommend it. I like to read the books, and then go through each section again with sketches.

[CecelyV]

More gestures...dual figures presented some interesting forms and problems for me. I wasn't seeing the forms or proportions as well today...More practice!

:painting:

[CecelyV]

Just wanted to drop a quick update here about some technical glitches I'm having with my SB. Whenever I post here I change the "updated 10/21/09" to the date of the new posts I'm putting up--however, for some reason my very first post was mysteriously deleted and I can't get to this field to update it.

I'll continue to post my work here of course, but until this is fixed (if it can be fixed) my thread will keep saying "Updated 10/21/09". I've e-mailed Davi about this, hopefully it can be resolved soon. If it can't be fixed, I may consider just starting a new SB thread or asking to have a moderator edit the thread name.

Thanks to everyone who visits my SB! I appreciate the views, comments and crits. ^_^

Happy Drawing
:painting:

[CecelyV]

Bye bye technical glitches--Thanks, Davi!

In case anyone else has a similar issue, logging out and then logging back has fixed the problem in my case. I think the cookies needed clearing.

[CecelyV]

Some more gestures and silhouettes. Freakishly muscled people are almost as difficult to draw as people with more body fat, interestingly enough. I think I was getting too caught up in all the details presented by this model's many huge muscles--I seriously don't think this guys has any body fat...

I counted the gestures I've done so far out of curiosity, and the count is at about 120 gestures (all focusing on the torso), and it's helping a lot. When I get to 250, I'll put all the practice to use by trying some things from imagination with a focus on the torso...like a character design ^_^

I felt more comfortable on the silhouettes today. Still need a lot more practice, but it's coming along.

[CecelyV]

More silhouettes today. I really don't know what I'm doing in this area...I'm so used to drawing with line first that I have to make myself work with a larger brush so that I do forms/shapes instead when I do these silhouettes.

I'm not sure if I'm doing this right, but I'll just keep at it until it starts to feel right ^_^ I probably need to increase the brush size a bit more, and focus even more on making myself see and draw in shapes rather than lines.

I know my proportions suffer when I do silhouettes, but I'm not sure what to do about it. My inclination is to go back to contours, but that should probably be something I do at the end after I've gotten all the shapes in--General to the specific and all that ^_^

Couldn't do as much today cuz of craziness at my day job, but I still got in a good bit so I can sleep easy ^_^ No missed studio days for nearly two weeks now! :confident

Now I need sleep...:zzz:

[CecelyV]

More silhouettes today. I'm still not sure if I'm doing them right, as far as the process, but it's starting to feel better. I did a mix of shapes and contours today and that helped me see better.

Work's been nuts, and probably will be for a few more weeks yet. So far I've been able to keep it from messing with my studio time though :confident

Now I need sleep...:zzz:

[CecelyV]

More silhouettes. Happy Halloween ^_^

[CecelyV]

And yet more silhouettes ^_^
They're not as smooth looking as some silhouettes I've seen from other artists, but I'm hitting the poses pretty well...and my proportions are getting better. For some reason it just doesn't feel natural trying to draw without lines, but I like a challenge :confident

:painting:

[CecelyV]

More silhouettes, but I'm starting to introduce some blocks of light. I was initially going for minimal light...but I got a little carried away :bashful:

I'm happy with the first, but not the second silhouette here. I think the first came out better because I wasn't thinking too hard about what I was doing...
I got some good tips on silhouettes from Davi, so I'll be working from those as well. Thanks, Davi!

[ASVogel]

I like the direction of the latter silhouettes, as all the anatomical parts flow together into a whole.

[IronFistGoon]

good stuff. Keep working out those figures. Study some master painters. I would also say draw outside. Get some outside the class room life drawing in. Here are some links to check out.
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=199&t=298699
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=839593#post839593
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=59125
keep up the good stuff.

[CecelyV]

AikidoAl: Thanks for your comments and for stopping in to my SB ^_^
I felt like I grew a bit in that latest session with silhouettes. I'd still like to get better working with them--figure out to how get them more crisp and clean, better proportioned--but I feel like I'm on the right track.

I find silhouettes much more difficult than drawing with line, which is probably a good thing because it means I need to work on it. It helps to make yourself work with a really large brush size, that way you can't revert to line work ^_^ Working with silhouettes is a great way to figure out your lighting, too. It helps to be able to see that without all the details (texture, color, line, etc) complicating your view of the overall light source(s).

IronFistGoon: Thanks for all the awesome links and your comments! Thanks for stopping by my SB, too. I appreciate all the comments and crits I get. I'll definitely be contributing to the Sketchathon on CG Society, thanks for sharing that. I would love to do some outside life drawing, the only problem is working it in. Time is at a premium in my schedule right now, but you've inspired me to try getting outside life drawing at least a couple of times a month--I mean, outside life drawing doesn't mean only drawing people so I should be able to work it in. Thanks again!
:yayca:

[CecelyV]

More silhouettes with light blocked in. I'm digging these exercises ^_^ They really help me see the light and shadow values better. I just need to work at not trying to get too detailed too soon...we all have our little things :bashful:

I wanted to more today, but sadly I'm very sore which is making me very sleepy :zzz:...MT & BJJ are fun, but they can be rough ^_^

[CecelyV]

Haven't posted in a while because I've been a bit under the weather...stupid allergies...
As expected after not having drawn for a few days, everything felt all wrong and stiff...I hate that. >:{ My gestures came out okay considering, but I think today's silhouette is crap..which is fine, but still :blah:
I should be back to normal soon :confident

[CecelyV]

Okay...Now I'm feeling more like myself...Freakin' allergies, man...
Oh well, not much I can do about it but medicate ^_^

Here are a few gestures I did today. Also started a WIP for something from imagination, but I'm feeling superstitious so I'm not posting that just yet...want to get it a bit farther along, see how my process goes.

Thank you to everyone who stops in on my SB, I appreciate it :yayca:
Happy Drawing everyone
:painting:

[IronFistGoon]

I went through your sketchbook again, and I am really impressed with your hard work on anatomy. You are really improving on porportions, angles, and structure. I like that you are pushing yourself with the silloettes. That is something I have avoided, and know that would help. Keep it up. You are getting better and better. (please excuse the bad spelling)

[CecelyV]

IronFistGoon:Thank you! I really appreciate it whenever anyone stops by my sketchbook. Thanks for taking the time to look at my stuff ^_^

It's great to know I'm heading in the right direction. Silhouettes can be frustrating when you do them for gesture drawing. Davi told me they're mostly for when you don't know what direction a character/creature is going to take--they help you figure out forms. Mostly what frustrates me is the light blocking I'm working on. It's hard to get it the way I want it, but I'm sure I just need more practice.

Next stop: your sketchbook ^_^
Happy Drawing!
:painting:

[My57]

nice to see all of these studies. Good improvement from page 1.

[CecelyV]

My goodness, it's been a while. I've still been working, but I started on the Secret Santa and I don't think it's fair to the recipient to post any of the WIPs or sketches until he/she gets the gift. Since that's all I've been working on lately, I haven't had anything else to post.

Thank you to everyone who keeps up with my work here. For those of you that do, I wanted to let you know I'm still here ^_^
Not going anywhere, not ever!

AikidoAl and I are having our first Artluck; we'll be working on this week's CHOW, though I don't know if I'll be able to have anything ready to submit for this one. It'll still be a great experience, and I'll definitely keep doing them so that over the next few CHOWs I can post some finished characters.

Thank you again to everyone who looks at my SB! And still more thanks for your words of encouragement, they really help me a lot ^_^
:yayca:

[theechoinside]

Hey there,

Just went through this and it's wonderful to see the evolution as you progress along. As I'm trying to understand anatomy more as well, it was great to see how you approached it. Your extended dedication is also impressive I have to say.

Keep it up! =)

[CecelyV]

Good grief, it's been a while since I posted. Christmas is over now, and we're finally in to 2010! Happy New Year Everyone!

A huge thanks again to everyone who checks up on me here. I'm not gone, it's just been super crazy at work--which should be calming down in another couple of weeks, Thank God.
Anyway, here's what I made for the Secret Santa here on CA--I didn't receive anything back...but it was still a fun experience to create my Santa Bot ^_^ This one is completely from imagination, and I'm very happy with ho it turned out. Didn't realize til after I was done, though, that his stomach looks like it's disjointed from his lower half...but..oh well ^_^

To whomever drew my name in the Secret Santa...:P It would've been nice to get something, since that was the whole idea behind participating, but...oh well.

Anyway, it's back to our normal craziness starting on Monday--which means I'm going to get back to doing my best to post more often and be very active here and in my studio.

[CecelyV]

Just a quick update. I'm still here, I've just been in study mode. Picked up the Sketchbook Clinic and Anatomy with Vandruff over the holidays, and I was only just able to finish the Sketchbook Clinic OnDemand last week. It's completely and totally awesome and definitely worth the price of admission. I recommend it for everyone at any level. I'm planning on at least starting the Vandruff OnDemand class tonight--work's still nuts, so it's been hard to nail down a time to finish these.

Anyway, I highly recommend both of these downloads. I only wish Mr. Vandruff had some books out we could read. He spoke at Reverie, and it was completely amazing--I took reams of notes ^_^

Happy Drawing everyone!

[CecelyV]

<sigh> It's been way too long...
I've officially learned my lesson about sacrificing my studio time for a day job--never again. Just a few more months and we'll cross the finish line...

Anyway, I'm back to the Chow I didn't get to finish due to work craziness. It's evolving into an interesting story, so I think I'll keep going with it and see what it transforms into over time. I decided to make the central character of the first part of the story pregnant--and since I know next to nothing about pregnancy, but plan on becoming so in a few short months, I figured I'd better do some studies. Here's the first study; didn't quite get the shape/form of the belly quite right, so I'll focus more on that next time. From every download and streaming class I've taken, I know shape/form are paramount so I want to make sure focus on that for this piece.

[ASVogel]

Hey Cecely,

I like your Secret Santa piece. Sucks that you haven't gotten your end, but the Secret Santa was good experience in making a piece eh?

The CHOW: The ideas are there but they need to hit the paper. Start with silhouettes and broad generic drawings before you start refining.

[CecelyV]

Thanks AikidoAl
I really appreciate you looking in here. Sorry it's taken me so long to respond. I hadn't checked my SB in months when you posted, and a little more than a month later my contract ended where I was working. No more day job ^_^

It was a bit of a shock at first, but we've shifted our plans around and made some adjustments. I have a wonderful husband and family, so it's been a pretty smooth adjustment.
Anyway, I'm almost done with a creature design for a dragon. I'll post that in another day or two when it's done. I'm working on characters/creatures in my traditional SB and on rag paper, then scanning them in. I'm going to get some practice painting digitally, then revisit my designs and finish them out in color in PS
It's pretty amazing, actually. I've spent nearly 20 hours in my studio just since last Friday--before it would've taken me 2 weeks or more to carve out that kind of time. I LOVE drawing for hours on end, or studying anatomy from masters like Hogarth. I'm starting a master study, too--Caravaggio's St. Jerome.

[CecelyV]

Okay, so I had a really cool idea for a story from the first ever CHOW I attempted a couple months back...I'm still learning how to create a complete visual narrative illustration, so I had to simplify ^_^ Here's a WIP of an idea that spun off from the dragon character I'd originally thought of.
I'm taking my time trying to finish and make sure I get all the elements in and go about the process properly without rushing. I'm hoping to finish it tonight.

[CecelyV]

Still working on the creature design. I've got family visiting, so my work got put on hold for a few days. Should be able to finish up and post final work by the end of this week.

[CecelyV]

Another WIP of my Chinese Dragon. Almost done :)
I think another couple of hours and I'll have it finished. I'm very happy with it, and I managed to surprise myself with the values. It's the best I've done so far, so I'm excited to keep going ^_^

[CecelyV]

Another WIP of my Chinese Dragon...almost done. I'm learning a lot about how long things take. "A couple more hours" turned out to be another three and half today--I keep underestimating how long the detail work takes :P My eyes started to cross and my tummy is grumbly, so I'll have to tackle this again tomorrow to finish it. Learning a lot, and I'm happy with it so it's been an awesome experience ^_^

As always, comments and crits welcome :yayca:

[CecelyV]

Yay!!! I finally finished it! I now have an understanding of just how long a high degree of rendering takes...good grief! It was awesome, though ^_^ Loved every minute of it cuz I learned SO much...of course, somehow I managed to get a smudge that magically appeared while I was putting the Matte finish on...shenanigans!! <sigh> Oh, well, I'm still very happy with it :)

Comments and crits very welcome and appreciated, as always.

Thank you to everyone who visits my SB, I appreciate it (even if you don't comment, thanks for stopping by to check out my work ^_^)!

Happy Drawing Everyone!
:zzz:

[Juhani Jokinen]

Cool stuff! I really like that last dragon- nice work with the values! the scan/photo could be a little better though.. Anyhow I really like the detailing. Hard work really paid off :)

One little thing though... the horns and the face seem to be lining up into different vanishing points.. and there are a couple other perspective issues but who cares :)

Good work! And thanks for stopping by in my sb!

-J

[CecelyV]

@ Juhani Jokinen: Thanks for checking out my work and commenting, I really appreciate it! I didn't even notice the vanishing points for the head and horns differing from the body--thanks for the heads up! I have to admit I didn't pay any attention at all to perspective in this piece--I was just trying to see how I would do with a highly detailed and rendered creature design. My main goal in this piece was to get through it and have at least good bones for a working process at the end of it--but I shouldn't be forgetting the basics either ^_^

You're right about the scan--unfortunately, my scanner is too small to fit the whole piece so I had to take a digital photo to get the whole thing, but that didn't turn out as well as I'd like either.

I'll pay closer attention to perspective in my next design. I'm going to start doing CHOWs next week for practice with character design.

Thanks again for stopping by and commenting, I really REALLY appreciate the crits!

I started a master study of Caravaggio's St. Jerome today. I haven't done oils in years, so I'm going to take my time and do my best to get as close to the original as I can. Also continuing with Hogarth studies--gotta keep up my anatomy studies ^_^

Happy Drawing!

[Juhani Jokinen]

Sounds like a plan to me :) Master studies always help.. should probably do some more myself.

You could scan it in smaller portions and stitch them back together in photoshop? That's how I would do it i guess..

Keep on going!

-J

[CecelyV]

That's a good idea, stitching it together. I'll either do that or just go use the large scanners at like a Kinkos or something ^_^

[CecelyV]

Working through a Hogarth book for dynamic figure drawing, plus a Caravaggio master study. At the beginnings of both, and not entirely sure what I'm doing, but so far so good ^_^

Happy Drawing everyone!
:yayca:

[CecelyV]

More studies from Hogarth :)

[CecelyV]

More Hogarth ^_^
Not sure if I'm studying him properly, but I can't see a downside to drawing from Hogarth...

[Juhani Jokinen]

Those anatomy studies are looking great! Keep at it :)
-J

[CecelyV]

Thanks Juhani Jokinen! Thanks for the encouragement, and for stopping by my SB ^_^

[CecelyV]

Running out of different ways to say "more Hogarth studies" ^_^
It's amazing how much information on each page of this book. Hogarth Rocks!

[CecelyV]

Still rockin' Hogarth ^_^