Old book... find the new one in my sig

[IanE]

NEWER WORK POSTED ON MOST RECENTLY ADDED PAGE

PLEASE BEGIN AT PAGE 20:
FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE, THE FIRST 20 PAGES WORTH OF IMAGES HAVE BEEN COMPILED ON PAGE -20-
GO TO PAGE -20- TO SEE EVERYTHING FROM -START- TO -JANUARY 7, 2008- ON THE SAME PAGE!!!






JANUARY 1, 2008 UPDATE: I'M NOT DEAD! It's been horribly too too too too too long since I've been here, and I'm certain I will be maimed and stoned and punished for the truth I am about to confess. I have not drawn, since my last post... To be quite honest, since July of 05 until today, my life has taken me everywhere, done everything to me, I've gone back to Brazil for a while (where I'm from!), moved a bunch of times, and gotten accepted, and enrolled, and 3 different universities. I was also MISdiagnosed with fatal kidney failure, so in a way, you guys were right to have thought I had died, cus according to the hospital, I was going to.... not sure how they screwed that up, since it was just bronchitis with a 106 degree fever for 5 days... hm. RIGHT! So, I'm back. And the news is I'm starting my second semester at the University of Texas, majoring in Architecture, a I've studied and loved for so so many years. Art is still a huge passion of mine, as I've spent the last couple hours drawing my kitchen, the first thing I've drawn in ages, but architecture makes me so happy... So, now that this teaser is here, I should have a nice scan of this here drawing later tonight. Also, I'll be getting a 9x12 Wacom soon, once the scholarship moneys pile in again for this semester, so naturally, me+architecture=lots of environment drawings! I hope everyone has been doing well, it's such a long long story as to where I've been, what's happened, and what I've done since I've gone, but.. It's incredible to be back, actually. Lovely. So... back to sketching! I expect no mercy once it's posted.



Thanks so much for checking this out, and any and every comment is welcome. I look forward to growing with you all over the next few months and years as many of the veterans here have.

Addition: Critique as much as you can. There will always be something I'll overlook, and besides, I love to learn! Feel free to post anything you like here, draw over my sketches, or whatever if you think it would be of any help! Thanks for coming, guys!

Attn: Some of the images contain nudity... so if you're not ok with that, look out.

Ian M. Ellis

[stine33]

im a newbie and this is my first post!
you're not too bad for a beginner. you've got some potential i think. im not a professional or anything i just love to look and might be posting some of my sketches later. but yea not too bad i like the guy crying the best.

[Sketch]

Nice start. It's good that you have varing subject matter. I'd loose the anime stuff till you are more comfortable with drawing in general. Than bring it back later if you still want to draw like that.... otherwise you'll learn a lot of bad things from it that you won't be able to shake later on. I'd focus on your porportions right now. I like your drawings from real life the best. Keep going!

[IanE]

Michael Mentler rules. Here's my foot, thanks to him and the SOFA.



More to come.

[IanE]

Another formulated technical drawing I studied by Michael Mentler.

[HEROIC]

really cool man,, i really like you drawings!!!!
looking forward to see more drawings from u dude

[mentler]

I will get back to you soon when I have a little more time ::: probably in the morning!

[Arcthurus]

Hi Ian,

I´been looking at your work and the others posts... I recomend you the same, try to step away from anime / manga style for a short time, later is very difficult to do that, je je..
Also, if you are scanning woth photoshop try to desaturate the images and adjust the levels.... some important details of your drawings are getting lost with the scan...

Well, keep posting, and thanx for viewing my sketchbook

Take care

[arghmisfit]

good start here. i'd also say steer away from anime for now. try drawing from life as much as u can, u'll find that u improve much faster that way. o yeah and exploited rules, just had to say that.

keep it up

[IanE]

Haha, everywhere I go everyone says anime bad! I'm glad I only spent a couple days on it. I've been doing life drawings a lot lately.

Thanks so much for the advice man, and yes, Exploited does rule.

Ian

[pvpham]

Hey Ian. Looks like ur off to a good start. Also its not that anime is bad, its just that its stylised and flat. The problems with learning that way is that its difficult to draw any other style other than anime. Whereas anime is life which has been simplified, so if you were to change styles you would be going backwards and having alot of trouble. Ok I'm ranting....I'll shut up now.

Happy drawing

Phil

[IanE]

Thanks much, pvpham. I'm glad you think I'm off to a good start and heading in the right direction.

Lately, Ive been doing a lot of anatomy studies and figure drawing, going over old sketches and correcting them. Like the City Rogue DSG character I drew, shoulders were way too wide.

I wish I could scan some of the stuff I'm doing now, but alas we have to wait until Sunday or Monday. Right now I'm off to the mall to sketch people.

Thanks to everyone who has given advice and critiques so far, keep em coming!

[denrik]

Hey man, do you do nude females, if so email me- danielwilson46@hotmail.com

Daniel.

[mos667]

Like previously stated, steer away from anime

I think you should also worry less about the shading and focus on form right now. Getting down the basic shapes (especially in the human body) really helps with shading, so rather than putting two or three values down, try to clean up your lines.

You are doing really great for only been drawing a month. Keep it up!

[EccoXile]

Going with what everyone else has said. Just wanted to say that doing self portraits can help you a ton. I do one every night, and I would recommend that to everyone who wants to improve, especially with the head area. As far as noticing flaws...hmm. More like, if I redid this and threw in some stuff there, it could look better. I tend not to redo the same exact thing unless it's being done in a different medium or colors or lighting. Im sure after do a few sp's you could look back at past drawings and notice things you missed or something being off.

[IanE]

denrik: Not professionaly, as you can see, I'm just starting out, but hey I'll draw pretty much anything as long as it's good practice.

Mos667: Thanks for the advice! How exactly should I clean up my lines? I agree, form and proportion are far more important than shading. Thank you for the kind words!

EccoXile: Yea, I've seen a bunch of poeple that do SP's daily improve greatly, so that's my new year's resolution, more SP's! Thanks for the advice, man.

Happy new year, everyone!

[inpho]

Wow man... that digital piece almost made me fall out of my seat.. KEEP IT UP!

[IanE]

Thanks so much, inpho! Can you tell me which piece you are talking about, though?

Thanks everyone for the advice and critiques, keep them coming!

[jester]

Hiya Ian, great start, great pencil mileage: keep that up! You have managed to make Mr Mentler recognize you - that's a great thing, I'm sure you'll learn a lot from him.

Thanks for dropping by at my sketchbook, too. It's always encouraging to get a few comments!

Jester

[IanE]

Thanks for checking out my sketchbook, Jester. Yea, I've learned quite a bit already from Mr. Mentler. Thanks for the kind words and for checking in.

Ian

[IanE]

So over the winter holidays I didn't have much time to draw, but I got these three studies completed and memorized.

Pelvis study with detailed ribcage:


Perspective study of the human skull:

I feel as if the right eye on this one if wrong... let me know.

Profile view of the human skull:


More to come. I plan on attending local figure drawing classes soon hopefully. Any comments or critiques are as always, more than welcome.

Thanks much.

[mentler]

You are doing very well on your schematics ~~~ and know it takes some time to decipher my scribbles ~~~ I will do a step-by-step at SoFA today on the pelvis ~~~ by the way some of this stuff is in the books these are just my reinvention of a way of working that has been used for centuries
As you already know many follow a different drummer and think that they only draw what they see ~~~ but we only see what we look for and are conditioned to see ~~~ so in essence we only see what we already know!
Most people do not realize that humans see two dimensionally are perception of depth is only threw experience!

will do the pelvis thing for sure in the next couple of days !!! reworking skull treatise a little this morning ::: I am sure you have seen my revise on the front view!

[IanE]

Woo! I win! What'd I win? Haha. Thanks so much Mr. Mentler.

"As you already know many follow a different drummer and think that they only draw what they see ~~~ but we only see what we look for and are conditioned to see ~~~ so in essence we only see what we already know!"

This is very true and I try to temporarilly ignore what I know while keeping what I know in mind when drawing, if that makes any sense at all, and focus on what I need to learn and improve on, pretty hard.

I haven't seen your revision to the front view yet, I'll be looking for it and also the new pelvis demo.

As for centuries old formulas that you reinvented, you did a great job. Where are most of the old formulas and diagrams from? I've looked at some of da Vinci's and some old medical books, but yours seem to be the most effecient.

Thanks for the comments, I really appreciate it.

[van]

Great stuff, man! Keep going with those bone studies...they will pay off BIG.

[IanE]

Thanks so much for the visit and the kind words, Van!

[NightVision]

Hey Ian, thanks for your reply on my thread !

Good studies you've got here, I bet next time you do your own stuff again, you'll notice quite some improvement, I'll keep visiting your thread for sure.

I did notice in your skull studies that you sometimes end up with almost no forehead and a bit of a elongated skull. It took me a while to figure out where you went wrong compared to mentler's study, and it seems to me that it's a matter of slight differences in lines, that make in this case a noticable difference in the drawing. Take the time, after you've done a study, to step back and look at the general forms and see if it really looks as what it's supposed to. 2 things that have helped me out in the past, is, print out the example and turn both upside down or mirror them (turn the pages & hold to the light) ... or trace the example and pay a lot of attention how things curve, how they are spaced, and what not.
Also take into account, that the artist you take as an example, may exagerate and push reality, but still come out with smt believable ... a little push further though can make it look wrong (in other words, don't forget to THINK, and don't deny your own knowledge ... especially in the stages where you step back and scan for errors ( but always be open to learning new stuff and adjusting your knowledge ... it's a bit going back and forth between 'em).

See you around !

[IanE]

Thanks for the advice, NightVision!

Yea, one night I was looking at the skulls upside down and noticed they looked rather melon like and that the head was somewhat slicked back, if you will, but I'm still learning anatomy so I didn't really think much of it at the time, I'm so glad you pointed it out.

I'm trying to do a few studies of each major bone mass by 3 different people, that was my take on Mr. Mentler's.

Tonight I finally have some free time so I'll see what I come up with. Thanks again for the critiques and kind words!

[IanE]

I'm working with some Andrew Loomis stuff, male heads, right now. I'll see if I can get it done and scanned tonight.

Anyone recommend some good things to study? I hear the name Bridgman a lot I think, anyone got info on that person?

Thanks in advance.

[IanE]

Here's the Loomis head exercise from the post above. Let me know what you guys think.

Also, I'll be cleaning up the images day by day since the scanner makes them look brown, nothing a little Photoshop can't fix.

Here it is:

[auden100]

I dig Bridgeman. He has such a loose, expressive style. His lines just swoop around and seem to compose these body parts that I never noticed had any rythm like that. He exaggerates a lot, but I think some of that is necessary for the student to begin noticeing those rythms and integrating them into their own style. Of course, I heard on these forums once that the reason they are so loose was because he drew them with a stick of charcoal on a three foot stick while drunk. hmm. If so, then more power to him.

As for other guys to look into I recommend Stephen Rogers Peck's Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist. It's been my old standby for a while now.

Keep rocking with these studies, dude. you're doing great.