Bard's Sketchbook: Fundamentals and paintings

[Bard]

Here are my studies, in painting. Crits are absolutely welcome.

I'm gonna go back to basics and relearn stuff I missed.
Hopefully some assistance might help.

Here's some of my latest to start.

These are from a tutorial of Katherine Dinger and a Mike Corriero tutorial about brush creation.
Thanks for both. And these plates were sent off to a test coloring gig that wanted uber realism.





A cat




A statue




I'll post my anatomy studies later.

[Bard]

Learning anatomy from a Bammes book. I read it from Taxmans thread, and Mr. Mentler agreed it was good stuff, so I tried doing it. It really helps a lot.

I know very little anatomy and it was hurting my animation or drawings.
Always gets in trouble with crap anatomy.

Here's a gesture....I gust hit exclusion by chance and liked it better this way.
And very old work of an Ironman.(swiped bg, I was young then...)

[Lazy]

Great start!
Good study of a bird and even with a smal tut.
The studies are very realistic, especially the statue.
But still i find the bird a little to "grainy".
Welcome to sketchbooks and have fun!

[evolutionofshaun]

Wicked start to the sketchbook, looks like you already got some knowledge behind ya! Check mine out, we should form up a SSG!

[AztcFireFlower]

Hi Bard,
Some nice stuff going on. I'm also in the same phase, going through and re-aquainting with the old drawing principles I learned years ago, and applying to recent knowledge.
Will look forward to your anatomy posts.

[Zoio]

Love to see some mora!
I like very much from the iron man!
Great light in there!
Keep posting man!

[oma]

okeey, a new 5 star sketchbook, well done. Great start. Realy like the study's!

[Tigermilk]

looking good bard, really like the high contrast drawings of the torsos
keep posting
t

[central]

nice stuff the statue paint is def a highlight for me, really great. got any process pics? would be great to see as im absolutely crap at painting.
nice torso studies too, try and take it into a finished character tho, always helps me find out where my weaknesses are. more plz, keep pushing !

[Matsign]

Those wire-frame poses seem to be effective, what medium/program are those in? Great stuff so far!

I'd like to be part of SSG 37, if theres no problem.

[Bard]

Lazy-Thanks for the welcome! I'm enjoying it!
evolutionofshaun- Thanks for organizing our sketchgroup! Go!SSG37!!!
AztcFireFlower-Your thread rocks!! That's excactly what I want my anatomy studies to achieve!
I hope you can guide me in my efforts!hehe
Zoio-I have some more Ironman, I'm in the process of painting it, just to test if what I'm learning is doing it's thing.
Not by a long shot, I still have miles to go in painting. Thanks I'll post it up soon.
Oma-Thanks, man! glad you liked the studies!
Tigermilk-Thanks a lot. I'll be posting some of my skull studies soon.
Central- Thanks, when I first posted the first ones it had a process but i took it out because...people might think I'm trying to teach or whatever. I just learned it. hehe
http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/1768/birdygr2.gif
Matsign- welcome to our group!!! Those were hand drawn and inverted in PS in Exclusion layer. It kinda shows the compliment of the color when that layer is turned on. (the oranges were blue and the green were just red colored pencils.)

Thanks ALL!!!

[Nam]

Cool studies and your ink work below iron man looks good. Keep working on the dynamic poses as well.

[Moai]

Very nice start to your sketchbook. Those figure studies with the simplified skeleton shapes rock. That'd make a nice robot.
So, you're going for uber-realism. From what I've seen, two things are necessary for creating very realistic pieces. One is knowledge of light, how it affects various textures and surfaces. The other is knowledge of where to put hard and soft edges. Aside from that ball of yarn in the first image, which needs to be observed a little better, you seem to have a very good knowledge of light and color. However, your edge quality needs a little work before your pictures can go into true uber-realism. How to do that, I don't know. Keep in mind these are just the theories of a guy who is a long way away from achieving realism himself.
Putting the hornbill as your title image was a very good choice. Hornbills are some of my favorite animals, so that's what drew me in to look at your sketchbook.

[Listing]

Great start. Keep producing.

[AztcFireFlower]

Bard, Thanks for the flattering comments. I'd say, you are more than well on your way to excellent solid work. You have a control of line and maintain a nice balance of symmetry where needed. You're already developing a process of study, understanding the big shapes, understructure, before building on the smaller ones. Best way to start IMO. I believe your grasp of things will be quicker than you think in the anatomy dept.

The kaiju is really strong in shape and dramatic. I'm curious. Is it partial traditional ink with digital ink? I forgot to mention the Ironman and the face underneath are sharp.

[Bard]

crits..sorry I typed a lengthy letter thanking everybody. It got lost when I hit submit. grrr.

edit it later.

But a small update....

[Nam]

Dude, nice!. I'm feeling that dragon and the colors... lot of cool new things happening in that one. Keep it up!

[Lee W]

very nice work the work and detail on this one is unbelievable, I thought it was a picture at first glance.

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/356/statue9jpgwt1.jpg

keep the good work up

[oma]

i really like that bird in the last one.

but the pose of that warrior isn't correct in my eye's.
he could never trow a speer if he have is arm's like that.

i think that previous weapon you used will come out better in that image.

and the glass effect > where made in painter IX in the fx brush section.

[anubis713]

Great work in here!
I def. like seeing the people gestures.
The cat is my favorite.
And number 9 is a very powerful piece.
Keep them coming!!

[Bard]

I think I'll abandon some of my conceptstuff, and facelifting of the old stuff.
I want to focus on still life and foundation starting the new year.
Because my plan of attack was like Monday:painting Tuesday:portraits etc.
End of the week there wasn't something done-done...I was kinda like all over the place.
So abandoned stuff posted hehe...they were getting in the way as to why I really wanted a sketchbook thread.
Gonna get my life drawings, stilllifeand color theory before I begin tackling these again.

Thanks for looking


a cable...still can't do decent hands from imagination...hehe

collosus: huante-jimlee mix and I tried and tried to be J.sweet. bleh

An Iron man trying to give it a face lift.
A Wolvie...can't make the claws point at us...

If I ever make it in comics I would like to have cheesecake girls.

[Bard]

Some concept stuff.
Thumbnailing









Preview of my charcoal painting...fun doing this again traditionally. Hoping I could put my recent knowledge about planes on this one. Didn't know about those things before and was just copying and no understanding. I just know I will have a problem with edges though Still don't know where to place 'em.


Ephemeral- Thanks Buddy. Have to work 'em this coming year definitely!!
Moai- You are definitely right about the edges, But I found a Seegmiller book that I hope will help me somehow. And God bless GregPro for an awesome tut about it! The bird....I did that because his neck looks like a scrotum...hehe.
Listing- Thanks Man, love your stuff! I envy on how much you produce. Thanks
Aztc- Thanks my muse(hope that didn't come off creepy) Yeah done with marker and then some digital stuff on the kaiju.
Eph- Thanks I had to stop doing it though until I have my Targete dvds and a dinosaur dvd too from gnomon. Colors, I think I think I'm begining to crack.
Nice book by M.Keesler- Color Harmony in your paintings. Used to do just grays before.
OldNoobie- Thanks man, Thank god I did a lot of grays in my art career. I found out in traditional painting some would do grayscale and do glaze in the color later on. So That's what I did in ps, and applied layer>color.
Oma- Yeah been cutting and pasting the guy for a more dynamic pose.
Don't like him that much too, Don't worry though..he's like a standee. I think I'll change the guy itno a roman soldier so that he'll have a cape and some sort of movement. The spear I kinda like because..um..It points the dinosaur and the tail kinda points the warrior. That was my mindset changing that, but thanks for the crit I really appreciate that. And thanks for replying about the shattered galss!
anubis713- Thanks for stopping by, Yeah I love cats used to have 20 cats in my home before. I live near fields and sometimes people will throw away unwanted kittens on the road. Can't help but pick them up, Or else snakes will eat 'em there. Thanks!

[Lee W]

the charcoal painting looks good but I think the darks are a bit too strong. And out of curiosity, why is the mouth area the way it is?

[Matsign]

Very diverse update. I love the comicbook characters, those are pretty solid looking. The charcoal pic is nicely laid out, looks like your really taking your time with it.

[anubis713]

Holy shit!! 20 cats?!? Wow! Dream come true! hehe
That is good though, that you care so much! I would probably do the same thing!

[bunny]

Nice SB!

I really like your progress in your charcoal drawing, and I actually really like the bird in your top post... really nice textures.

What I think you could improve upon is more definition between hard/soft edges in your CGs. There's also some muddied colours going on in your cgs... like... you've used too many colours in one spot. ahahha. well.

that's all I can say for now. Its new years and Im kinda jacked on a lot of stuff so I apologise if this post isn't very comprehensible

Keep on artin' man.

[Beelow]

Solid stuff! I like those concept stuff. What I really dig is the organization. Presentation is something that I really dig. Keep posting dude!XD

[Bard]

OldNoobie- Yeah, I tried to do things without measuring for awhile, trying out what Matsigns' instructor said. And F*ck he's right without the guides I suck, So I tried giving it guidelines in the end. The ears were too high, he flippin' don't have a jaw ...hehe. I think that's my disease when I have a copy...that I just copy, not thinking about the anatomy. AND...Going into details right away even if my outline structure ain't finished yet. I'm too rusty and gah...
Almost don't know what I'm doing at some point. But I think I've fixed some errors now. I'll post it when its done. And you are right about the blackness. I don't know because I'm not doing this thing the same way taught in an academy. Not that it's better, it's just what I know for the moment.
I used charcoal dust and use brushes for tone. Even in outlining it's emptied kiddie felt pen dipped in charcoal. Controling my tone and keeping it under 5, is a struggle for me.
Thanks for the crit!!

Matsign- It's not laid out well!!!!!! You see the white on the ears? Tha'ts where the ear should be. I tried to do what your instructor said, but did the line grid thingie in the end because I think this was a cool pic.
Thanks, man!

anubis713-- hehe.. Yeah people think I'm a crazy cat person.

bunny- Thanks, I know. Very nice input. Don't know color combos yet. And edges.....I'm just starting on reading . hope i can apply it on my stuff right now. Thanks

Beelow- I'll present it right for everyone from now on!!!Thanks!

[Wilsondf]

Great (x10) pieces, I wish you bought these over whenever you drop by the house. Switching to different media at a quick interval! Man, that is some f***in' commitment. What if we found out about CA 2 years ago? makes ya think.

I feel you have a knack for environments (send me a larger vers of those thumbnails)

[Pascallo]

Good stuff! Especially like the dragon defending its eggs. Cool, dude!