HugeHarHars Learning Art? [I need a scanner... [10/04/07]

[HugeHarHar]

Ok, I'm on this crazy roll lately, and I figure it would be best to actually work on one of these daily sketchbook things. So here goes.

[HugeHarHar]

WATCH OUT!!! WHOOOO!!!! More in one day, I have a good feeling about being able to keep up with this one.

[HugeHarHar]

[RETEP]

hey HugeHarHar,
good to see you've started a sketchbook!!
the rendering on this last one looks really good.
-later

[HugeHarHar]

RETEP - Hey man, glad to see you finally get back on here. Yeah, that's a picture of Sulgi from ACA.

Here's a quick self portrait. I couldn't finish it, and I figure I'd rather just keep a continous roll of posts, so here it is.

[HugeHarHar]

I just bought a new anatomy book for $10. The Cyclopedia Anatomicae. While it's not the best book made for artists, its 600 pages and 10 dollars, so good enough deal.

Just some stuff I copied out of it.

[Dan1989]

Great stuff. I just wish they had better quality so I could see them better. Investing in a scanner would probably be a good idea, hope to more from you soon!

[HugeHarHar]

Some stuff I worked on today.

I was doing a study of a chocolate muffin, but hunger took over and before I even thought of taking a picture of it so I could finish the study, I ate the whole thing. But here's a WIP.

[klinesmoker]

We need to get you a scanner! The facial studies are getting progressively better. Keep at them! It's hard to crit because some of these shots make the art hard to see

[HugeHarHar]

klinesmoker - yeah, the thing is I have a scanner, but no time. I mean not even enough for a one minute scan right now. Between school, working 6 days a week, and all this college stuff coming up, I'm torn down. I'll scan all the stuff on here and repost it tonight.

[HugeHarHar]

I would scan this, but it's bigger then my scanner, so for now all I have is a picture.

It's the WIP I posted earlier finished.

[HugeHarHar]

Finally an update.

This week was supposed to be my spring break, but uh, yeah I've been working. I've been drawing as much as possible, but I've been so burnt out.

I've finally gotten enough done up, here's mah' UPDATE!

[HugeHarHar]

I've been putting more effort into keeping up with my sketchbook.

Also hopefully I'm going to be able to be jobless for awhile, working 6 days a week kills art time, and I'll be able to commit more time to what I enjoy.

[HugeHarHar]

A random painting I did. I've decided just to post my work in here from now on, I don't consider my work good enough to put in the Finally Finished section, at least not yet.

[HugeHarHar]

Some new sketches.

[SeraphSword]

Well, the digicamera makes it a little tough to see, but there are some good things going on in here. My suggestion would be to be careful with your proportions and to keep studying up on anatomy. Also try to do as many studies as possible, try downloading the Loomis books if you get a chance. Also, life drawing, including self-portraits, will help immensely. Going good, keep it up.

[HugeHarHar]

SeraphSword- sadly, I do have a scanner, but the amount of time I have during the day, I must sacrifice something. I may in the future, go back and scan in all of my stuff for here, but right now I would have to sacrifice drawing more to get stuff scanned in.

Thanks again for the awesome sketch support group. My post for today, next, my crits.

[Odds]

hey fellow sketchgroup buddy.
i really dig the creativity and ideas in all of your sketches, but I think they lack a sense of depth/form. as all of us should, you too should study some more anatomy. it always helps your work when working with the human figure or something similar to it. i'll throw that link back at ya! www.saveloomis.org
keep it up, and cya tomorrow.

[SJ Bennighof]

Yes, go for saveloomis when it loads for you, and in the meantime, I like the hat on that above pic, but it might be a little too styliszed in omparison with the rest of the picture. That's teh kind of general conept that I'm sure you'll be able to express much more fluently once you've done some loomis. Keep it up!

[Pan]

I like your pen sketches. I assume they're pen, or really dark pencil. It's kind of hard to tell, but they have a nice gestural quality about them. The best ones capture the mood and essence of a pose without being too defined.

Basically I agree with what was said about life drawing. I suck because I haven't really familiarized myself with Loomis too much, but I doubt you can go wrong with that as a resource. For your most recent sketch, I think the pose would be more effective if he was leaning back more. His straight torso de-emphasizes the action going on with the cape and the guns blasting. Basically when a figure is in action, the whole body is affected, even if you can't see it. It makes for a much more dynamic pose.

Keep up the good work

[HugeHarHar]

Odds- Thanks man. The Loomis page won't work on my computer, I must have an old Acrobat file or something. I'll keep trying to get it, I would really enjoy it.

SJ Bennighof- I believe the reason the hat seems to be a different style would be it is based off another sketch I did earlier, kind of a blind contour drawing. I liked the hat, so I applied to to this fellow.

Pan- Thanks, I see what you're saying. I'm going to keep that in mind.

Here's todays. I spent around 3 hours on both peices. The portrait is oil pastel, while the beach is chalk pastel. I enjoy both mediums a great deal.

[cthomp]

you are very loose. i would work on some of your shading. most of your stuff is just onlines. while it is good to do outline drawings i would still try some. keep improvin

[willpaxton]

good stuff but the pics i can see i cant really understand....

[S.C. Watson]

SHANE'S 3 POINT CRITIQUE

• Gesture sketchs are good. I'd like to see more brought to completion, but it's not necessary. Try not to scribble so much, as it detracts from your line work.
• Proportions seems to be fairly good, but are definately stronger in some places than others. Hands need attention.
• heads and faces definately need work. I can see a progression from first to most recent, with what looks like an occaisional emphasis on noses. They're tough. Keep working at it.

IN CONCLUSION: Good stuff overall. The sketch pages are kind of hard to see, but it's understandable because you are using a camera instead of a scanner. I do like the color the paper ends up though I really like your loose scketches - those are nice.

[Odds]

oh wow... you really put some time into these, and you can tell!
first of all, get a new camera/tripod or learn to stay still while taking pictures.
well, i think the sp is definitely better than the environment because it has a more dynamic composition as well as a wider range of value. the environment needs some value variation.. i think that would help with the depth issue. with the sp, i think the transition from the forehead to the top of the head is a little too sharp. try rounding that out, because it looks like he has a square head right now. keep it up, man!

[LaPalida]

Hello. I am here to crit and chew bubble gum... and I'm all outta gum. Ok seriously now.

Crit: TEH SCANS ARE TEH BLURRY! In other words: you may want to do a better job on the scanning. I can't tell any detail in the pics. I think the stronger one is the portrait. Is it real life or from photo? I find the beach painting a bit muddy and it lacks detail. Maybe that's the intent but ... it comes out a bit clumsy. The cloud shapes aren't working. They are a bit strange and awkward looking. There seems to be an array of light coming from below the horizon. Is it sunset? If so why is the sky an even blue. Or is the sun still in clouds (as you can see by the pattern on the beach it makes me wonder if this is a 2 sun planet). I can't tell the sea and the sky apart.

I really like the portrait but I do wish it wasn't so blurry.

[Pan]

I like the portrait, the dark shadows give it a nice graphic feel. For your pastel beach piece, what stands out the most for me, is that you used a very stark gray for the clouds, and it really separates them from the sky more than necessary. The clouds should be reflecting some of the blue in the sky. Also the beach and sky show that theres a light source, but your buildings are very flattened out so it detracts from the depth of the image.

Out of curiousity when you use pastels, do you use white or colored paper?

[HugeHarHar]

So here's today's. It's actually a WIP, so it'll be what I update until I'm done.

cthomp- This newest peice I'm trying to tighten up my pencil work, I hope it's noticable.
willpaxton- I do have that problem, my images seem to loose the message, but thanks.
Oregano- Awesome way of delivering crits. Once I find the power cord for my scanner I will commence using it.
Odds- I see what you're saying about the forehead, I'll see if I can fix that.
LaPalida- No gum? Well I got some Winterfresh. There is no sea in the picture, but I agree, the picture is quite weak in many points.
Pan- I agree about the grays seperating the clouds from the sky, there's still a lot I could do to fix it. And I usually use whtie paper, there's been a few times I've used felt paper.

And here it is!

[Pan]

Not bad so far, but I recommend staying away from putting in your darker values until the rest of the piece is more developed. Really, since you're working light to dark, the darkest values should be saved for last. It'll help you avoid having to erase it out if you've made a mistake and you'll be able to determine more acurately where the darkest values should go.

[SJ Bennighof]

Hm... Loomis advocates going lightest, darkest, middle. I guess it's just personal preference.

Crits:

The chin in the blue portrait seems a bit too far back. Th values in the landscap seem too relaxed to inoke realism. Sharper values and cast shadows should help with this.

Whatever's going on with the hands in the latest one seems a little vague, but I imagine this will improve as values continue to go into the thing.