Journey of an Absolute Rookie: Paintings and Sketches

**MindCandyMan** · September 21st, 2002

Just putting this first image in to update my sketchbook thumbnail

Journey of an Absolute Rookie: Paintings and Sketches

**killing.people** · September 21st, 2002

huge imporvements, cant wait for your sketches, try to keep all your stuff in one thread homie, that way we can see your progress easier,
keep it up - its up to you now.

-killing

**Dark_Crystal** · September 22nd, 2002

http://www.teamgt.com/ft-tutes.htm
http://www.anticz.com/drawing1.htm

If you haven't already read these tutorials you should.
I found them to be really usefull.

http://www.geocities.com/david_malc/cubes.txt

This is how my cubes turned after reading them

[edit]damn url's[/edit]

**MindCandyMan** · September 23rd, 2002

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September 21st

Journey of an Absolute Rookie: Paintings and Sketches

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***Below is for everyone who hasn't seen my previous posts***
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Hi Everyone,
If you didn't see my last post(s) on www.conceptart.org then I will bring you up to speed. Basically I have been inspired by the art produced and the work ethic of Jon Foster, Andrew Jones, Jason Manley, and my brother "Smeagol71" (among many others) and have decided to learn how to paint (primarily digitally). I am starting from rock bottom and I am going to paint at least one painting and do at least one sketch every day...probably two on the weekends. The order you see them in is the order that I am painting and/or sketching them...every day starting on 9/15/02. I am bearing my soul to everyone. I will post everything I do...whether it is awful or not. Most of the paintings and sketches, in the beginning, are going to look like crap but hopefully over the days/weeks/months/years they will start to get better. I have no formal art training but have signed up for classes this semester. I have a passion to paint and welcome any encouragement or critique that you want to give. Any feedback you want to give me you can leave in the threads I or just email me.
Thanks

September 22nd

Hi All,
Thanks for the encouragement and help killing.people and Dark_Crystal. I am going to read those tutorials tomorrow Dark_Crystal...it's kind of late tonight and I am just going to get one painting in...but wow they look really informative...btw...your cubes look awesome (did you do them in photoshop?) At any rate here are some sketches that I posted the other day...tell me what you think of them...any criticism is welcome...first is a candle that I sketched while sitting on my toilet (not using it at the time hehe) and the other was just a wooden spoon sitting on a stack of white papers.

Attachment 90147

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Also I just painted this one right now...it's late at night and I am definitely having problems keeping my head up...but tell me what you think...

Attachment 90148

***Below is for everyone who hasn't seen my previous posts***
__________________________________________________ ________
Hi Everyone,
If you didn't see my last post(s) on www.conceptart.org then I will bring you up to speed. Basically I have been inspired by the art produced and the work ethic of Jon Foster, Andrew Jones, Jason Manley, and my brother "Smeagol71" (among many others) and have decided to learn how to paint (primarily digitally). I am starting from rock bottom and I am going to paint at least one painting and do at least one sketch every day...probably two on the weekends. The order you see them in is the order that I am painting and/or sketching them...every day starting on 9/15/02. I am bearing my soul to everyone. I will post everything I do...whether it is awful or not. Most of the paintings and sketches, in the beginning, are going to look like crap but hopefully over the days/weeks/months/years they will start to get better. I have no formal art training but have signed up for classes this semester. I have a passion to paint and welcome any encouragement or critique that you want to give. Any feedback you want to give me you can leave in the threads I or just email me.
Thanks

**MindCandyMan** · September 24th, 2002

Hi All,
I got my wacom intuos 2 9 x 12 tablet last night!!!! Man it is awesome...but I have a shaky hand...I sketched out a cup and tried to shade it...this is the first thing I did with my wacom...it didn't work to well...hehe...but here it is:

Attachment 90540

Here are 3 more sketches I did as well...tell me what you think...I'm just trying to draw objects as they are. Also...do you guys use templates a lot?...is that sort of cheating? Anyways here they are...also I think I am starting to understand the perspective idea...I am going to buy a few of the recommended books on it...this is so much fun.

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**gekitsu** · September 24th, 2002

hey mcm

i have a tip for the cylindrical hollow objects you are painting:

the shadowline on the outside works pretty well. it's like a vertical on the outer surface.
the inner shadow line, though you draw at a strange angle. so it looks like it is a bit concave on top but not like a jar orr anything like that.
try to get the inner shadowline like a vertical on the surface, too. just the inner surface, not the outer one.

hope that made sense

**Death.By.Pencil** · September 24th, 2002

your energy is inspiring and improvement is great. keep on going

**MindCandyMan** · September 25th, 2002

September 24th
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Death.By.Pencil - Thanks so much for the encouragement I really appreciate it.

Gekitsu - Thanks for always giving me tips and encouraging me. It helps so much...I am still painting Gekitsu cubes hehe.

You guys help keep me going. I was up really late last night doing homework (of course after I painted and sketched hehe) so it's good to get encouragment to keep going...especially now since I can't really draw anything cool hehe...just household items...etc. Well last night I tried but both my painting and my sketch came out really crappy. I still finished them though and will try again tomorrow night. Hopefully things will get better hehe...I am fumbling through painter's interface at this point so it makes it hard for me...but I will learn it eventually.

Ok here is painting number 11...I was trying to get the shading to fall on the second cube...I realized after I finished that the front of the blue cube should be way darker than it is...cause it would be in shadow...it turned out really really crappy but here it is (I definitely took a step back last night hehe):

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Here are two sketches I did last night as well...the first one was of this bowl that had these spiral divets in it...I had no idea how to draw that...I tried but it looks really bad. The second picture is just a cube that I purposefully did really quick in like 1-2 minutes to just try to learn light, perspective, etc...

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**MindCandyMan** · September 26th, 2002

September 25th
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Hey Everybody...Once again thanks for the constant encouragement I am just moving along here...staying up late and drawing and painting hehe. I love my new wacom...I picked up painter 7 too which is awesome. I am really loving it. Last night I really wanted to focus on getting the concept down for perspective. I really want to nail that down because I feel like (I'm assuming) that if I don't nail that down now then I will pay for it later. At any rate here is the sketch I did last night and I am going to paint it...I want to take my time on this painting so I painted part of it...I am gonna finish it tonight...check these out...I guess I had dali on the mind...weird huh.

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And I am going to try to paint it...

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**Dark_Crystal** · September 26th, 2002

nice work, The perspective looks much better in these.
Maybe you could try ruling the perspective lines?

Cool idea with the ground melting as well

**MindCandyMan** · September 27th, 2002

September 26th
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Dark_Crystal - Thanks so much for the feedback...I thought I had the perspective lines right when I started drawing but I messed them up hehe...but I just completed the drawing anyways. I will definitely use a ruler next time. Hey can anyone help me understand how to calculate the shadows...I am having a really hard time understanding it for some reason. I went to that website on perspective but I am still having trouble understanding what lines and from where to draw them...thanks.

Well here is last nights work...I am still working on finishing the painting of that double cube picture...it isn't turning out the greatest but I just want to finish it...we'll see how it turns out.

This first one was sort of an experiment with strokes...I wanted to see how different strokes would change the conception of how the foliage looked.

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This was just a sphere for practice and to try to achieve the "apogee" effect.

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This was an apple that I did last night...I was using the seegmiller tutorial on his website as a reference but I didn't do it exactly as he said...but close.

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**MindCandyMan** · September 28th, 2002

September 27th
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Hi All,
I have to post these early...I am shooting a short scene for submission to the contest "project greenlight" tonight so I will be busy for like 7-8 hours (will be up all night hehe). So I wanted to post early (early in my time zone at least). Thanks for all the constant encouragement everybody...you keep me going. I am having a blast drawing and painting all this stuff. Ok don't make me cry...

At any rate here is my new drawing and "painting"...I did them totally in painter...sketch and all. The original sketch was from a reference sketch in a drawing book that I bought.

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I tried painting into this one...didn't work out at all...Oh well...gotta try right.

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NoonThirty · September 28th, 2002

Hey MindCandyMan, I just wanted to say that I think it's absolutely great what you're doing here. I wish more people were willing to pursue a goal with the kind of courage and positive attitude you obviously have.

I can scarcely believe you've only been doing this since September 15th. And with no formal training! Maybe you don't realize it, since you're posting on this board so full of skilled artists and you haven't been able to compare your work to other beginners, but you've reached a point in two weeks that it takes most people months or even years to reach.

I do have a little general advice for you:

Try not to dismiss your own work. I think it's counterproductive. I mean, of course you should evaluate your stuff as honestly as you can, and identify problems to work on, but don't be reductive. Try not to say "this sucks" or "I was trying to do thus-and-so, but totally botched it." Even in a piece that doesn't accomplish what you intended, you should be able to find a few things you did well. Look for those things and remind yourself of them when you're self-critiquing. No drawing is a complete train wreck. Hope this helps!

Keep posting! I think I speak for a lot of beginners and intermediate artists (and perhaps even some of the pros?) when I say that your progress has an inspiring effect on others.

Noon:30

**gekitsu** · September 28th, 2002

i feel he won't stop practising until he ownz us all

i wish i had that energy...

**killing.people** · September 28th, 2002

such engery and passion for drawing you have!
-Change the Light Source and you need a new shadow-

Journey of an Absolute Rookie: Paintings and Sketches

you must define the shadows vanishing point, and the lights vanishing point.

the light's vanishing point is the source or center of the light. you must realize that in real life not all light has a center that it radiates from, with perspective they try to generalize the concepts - for an easier way to apply measurement to a picture as well as to make it simpler to understand. in this image it shows a box in to point pespective. it shows the lights origin and its base/position. think of it like a spot light.

the shadow's vanishing point defines the distance of the spotlight - or its placement on the ground. this point marks how far left and right the light is and how far forward and back the spot light is being placed. if it where the sun it would be all the way back as far as you could see - on the horizon line.

the light's vanishing point[/i] defines how tall your spot light is.

when drawing a casted shadow think of the light's vanishing point as your eye - you are filling the areas the light can see with light. think about where the shadow will start (the edge of the object), and where the edge will be projected (whatever is blocking the straight path/beam of light.)

now i think you should have more practice in perspective drawing and get used to perspective drawing all together before you jump into shadows, but if you want to lurk with in the shadows try it with one point perspective to keep it simple.

well i gave it a try and yeah! it is crazy hard, its not even fun.
i will try another in the future and try to make it more readable.
Journey of an Absolute Rookie: Paintings and Sketches