This thread has insomnia.

Sleepless

Hi!



This is me. Suave as fuck!

I am a poor not so starving Edmonton artist, and here is my art. Wowzers! At this point I'm simply posting my portrait work because a) it's my most recent collection of stuff, and b) the rest is dog crap.







Basically, I've lurked the AC for a solid millennium and have finally gotten up the guts to throw my hat in. Right now I'm doing portraits of friends and people I know just to warm myself back up to CS5 after spending a year doing strictly traditional media work. I really want to break into the realm of illustration or concept art, and knowing that a few posters in this section hold such positions, I figure this is one of the first places to get the kinds of critique I'm looking for!

So what it do, AC?

Mustang

I don't know why you've taken so long, this is good stuff. It actually reminds me a bit of Irukas style.
Though I would like to see more finished work before critiquing you.

Sleepless

Im actually putting together a series of finished works right now. Ill post as I go!

Automatic Jack

Mmm, pleasantly chunky, like a good tomato sauce.

The eyes look a bit wonky in the third image; the right eye might be too high or too strongly elevated. Horizontal flip that sucker to check if that's the case, methinks.

Sleepless

So, here is what I'm working on now.



I'm doing a series of SF pictures for a friend of mine as part of a commission. Here's good ol' Ryu, lookin mighty furious I tell you what.

Kendeathwalker

You have a pretty decent grasp of the more basic structures.

There are two avenues you can purse in order to enhance your understanding of what you are drawing.

Both end at the same place but if you stop along either part way to the goal you will have drastically different results.

I promote doing both and not just one.

1. Delve deeply into studying the strucutre and anatomy of the body

2. Observe the body and draw what you observe.


If you do neither of those things and continue just making art thinking your brain will work things out on its own get ready for lots of frustration and failure and not knowing why you failed.

Again everything is relative to context. You need to provide a much clearer context for your goals so more specific critiques can be provided. Where are you on your path? just starting out? Have you studied formally in the past? Illustration and concept art are broad fields. I would suggest finding out what you like to do by trying everything and not listening to other people tell you what they like to do.

In terms of portraits, throw up the reference photography so we can tell what you are doing in terms of likeness or if you are making a departure intentionally or through lack of skill...

Sleepless

Kendeathwalker wrote: »

Again everything is relative to context. You need to provide a much clearer context for your goals so more specific critiques can be provided. Where are you on your path? just starting out? Have you studied formally in the past? Illustration and concept art are broad fields. I would suggest finding out what you like to do by trying everything and not listening to other people tell you what they like to do.

In terms of portraits, throw up the reference photography so we can tell what you are doing in terms of likeness or if you are making a departure intentionally or through lack of skill...

You make a lot of sense Ken.

Where I am right now is in the middle of a whole bunch of stuff. I studied formally at Alberta College of Art and Design for a year. While there I gained a basic grasp of anatomy, did some figure drawing and painting. I can't afford to go back there at the moment, so I'm trying to study on my own while I get some money.

What I want to do? Honestly I don't know. I'm aware of the broad definitions of character design and illustration, but I lack the knowledge of the fields to really narrow down what I want to do. If it comes down to what I love to do, then I love drawing characters, especially superheros. My dream job would be a character designer at BioWare or working as an Artist doing covers for Superman.

I've been taking these portrait requests from people I know, and the photographs are as follows.




I managed to lose track of the last portrait reference.

Those are my credentials and where I come from.

Kendeathwalker

I would suggest you invest the time to discover what the life of the people working at those companies is like. Just email them. If they post their cellphones on the internet. Call them. Just ask.

Im assuming you know how to carry on a normal conversation, and you arent going to just breath heavy while they say "Hello?"

I'd avoid asking them "How did you get your job" because thats such a lazy question they propably wont even continue speaking to you. Ask them specific questions that show that you give a fuck.

as in... "Did you read any of these story boarding books?"

"What did you think about __________"

eventually they will just start talking about their life.



Being some ones appretience is an alternative to studying at a universtiy. You wont get the same exposure though.


in regards to the art, these just look like half finishe studies- or did you stop at the limits of your knowledge?

Sleepless

That's good advice.

They essentially are half finished studies. However I did try and push myself in different directions with them and work out some methodology for how I'd progress through a digital painting.

As for the limits of my knowledge, I'm constantly trying to expand it and study other artists and reference other pieces to compliment my work. That is to say I run up on my limits all the time and am trying to cross each bridge as I come to it.

This street fighter one I'm attempting right now is my latest, and I want to see how cleanly I can execute and finish a picture, color and all.

CountBlackula

This is great stuff, Sleepless. And you're a liar about claiming that the rest of your work is "dog crap". Don't put yourself down, dude.

I particularly enjoy your shading style I tend to block things in as opposed to doing that hatching.

Have you ever seen J.C. Leyendecker's art?

I'd like to see you do some color work.

Kendeathwalker

Do you want one of the portraits critiqued/dissected?

Sleepless

I would be greatly appreciative if you would. Choose whichever you think needs the most work. You're being a great help!

wakkawa

For a general crit, use larger brushes. Really try to avoid those little scratchy marks.

Otherwise, the values look nice.

Kendeathwalker

Crit inside.

I just dropped a multiply layer and hit it with a soft airbrush. You were ignoring the fall of light from top to bottom present in the reference. I exaggerated it.

I corrected the structure in the nose a bit as well. You would benefit from analyzing the entire structure of the head and the structure of the individual parts if you wish to pursue portraiture, and just continue to draw the figure in general.

It was evident you were copying shapes vs analyzing and interpreting. Its fine for now- we all have done it and still slip back into it.

Im going to stop there because more would just be a waste of text. Its just practice and more practice. After you finish with the practice- Practice some more. The next thing you know people are calling you a professional. Just keep practicing.

You have a good mindset.

Cheers.

I added some hard edges in the hair by using the lasso tool to mask off spikey shapes then loosely painted inside of them. I just thought it looked cool

Sleepless

Thanks for pointing out that I copied the form rather than built the drawing.

In other news: I haven't had any time to draw lately due to work and business of a sort, but I'll be ramping back up this week.

I recently went out and got myself an anatomy book on recommendation from a friend by Byrne; Dynamic Anatomy. It breaks down a lot of the body and goes really in depth and I think it will point me in the right direction of study that you mentioned.

Thanks for the comments everyone!

e: Sorry, book was by Burne Hogarth

Kendeathwalker

Burne Hogarth is great to study when you are just starting out. Big Simplfied masses that are easy to understand. But thats the problem. Over simplification and then he doesnt warn students enough that a lot of the aesthetic choices are just that. Aesthetic choices. I would have a real anatomy book open next to me. You really need to have about 3 or 4 open all the time when you are studying. When one falls on its face turn to another one to fill in the gap so you have no break in the study flow.

http://www.amazon.com/Human-Anatomy-Artists-Elements-Form/dp/0195052064
Best book I have


http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Human-Anatomy-Artist-Galaxy/dp/0195030958/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278771582&sr=1-2
decent

http://www.amazon.com/Artistic-Anatomy-Practical-Art-Books/dp/0823002977/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278771611&sr=1-1
This + Goldfinger is about all I use for reference anymore because they are so thorough.

http://www.amazon.com/Force-Dynamic-Drawing-Animators-Second/dp/0240808452/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278771677&sr=1-1
Good Principles to mix in with the ones Hogarth is pimping.



And if you can swing it. Glen Vilppu's figure drawing dvd's


I also have an ecorche that I bought from Freedom of Teach

Doing these is another useful exercise. Get master drawings and draw the anatomy.

Sleepless

Oh god, its been a while. So, I made more art. YEP.




For the past few days i've been running a live stream and creating work while people watch (or don't) these have been the products of those sessions.