As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options
even awful art is good art [NSFW]
kevindee
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Ahem. Hi. I've been lurking the corner for probably around 4 years now, and I while I didn't start drawing back then, I feel like I should probably start a thread and get some critiques.
I've never had any art training, in school or elsewhere, so pretty much everything I know I learned by watching what people did here, and trying to listen. This will sound corny, but I feel like I owe some people here a hell of a lot. The least I could do is improve, and try to give back.
Last year, I made a conscious decision to try and learn and develop. This year, I want to add onto that. I'm starting weekly courses at a local atelier next week, so I'll add whatever traditional media stuff comes out of that.
A Sargent study (3hours? could be 4)
Some girl, tried to keep her youthful but I don't think it worked out that well
I'm relatively new to even trying colour, so usually I doodle in BW like this. Too many doodles, not enough practice.
I usually just do some quick value paintings or studies today, and really feel I need to shake things up a bit to get back to actually discovering giant flaws, since I all too often pass shitty work off as rushed, instead of just poorly executed. One of my goals this year was to be in a place where I could consider assembling a portfolio, and I wouldn't like to let myself down on that.
To be honest, I'm open to pretty much whatever, and welcome you tearing into me. Crit away. If you can think of some type of study or excercise you think I'd benefit from, please let me know, I know I need to get out of my usual comfort zone, and I could use someone to punch me out of it.
I've never had any art training, in school or elsewhere, so pretty much everything I know I learned by watching what people did here, and trying to listen. This will sound corny, but I feel like I owe some people here a hell of a lot. The least I could do is improve, and try to give back.
Last year, I made a conscious decision to try and learn and develop. This year, I want to add onto that. I'm starting weekly courses at a local atelier next week, so I'll add whatever traditional media stuff comes out of that.
A Sargent study (3hours? could be 4)
Some girl, tried to keep her youthful but I don't think it worked out that well
I'm relatively new to even trying colour, so usually I doodle in BW like this. Too many doodles, not enough practice.
I usually just do some quick value paintings or studies today, and really feel I need to shake things up a bit to get back to actually discovering giant flaws, since I all too often pass shitty work off as rushed, instead of just poorly executed. One of my goals this year was to be in a place where I could consider assembling a portfolio, and I wouldn't like to let myself down on that.
To be honest, I'm open to pretty much whatever, and welcome you tearing into me. Crit away. If you can think of some type of study or excercise you think I'd benefit from, please let me know, I know I need to get out of my usual comfort zone, and I could use someone to punch me out of it.
DMAC on
+1
Posts
The Scoundrel & The Bastard
My Comics Thread
first two from refs, last one from memory. I get less stiff, but more inaccurate when i do it from memory I guess
from ref,one with pencil, done fairly slowly, the second more sloppy, and possibly in charcoal?
also from ref, trying to slow down
after warm-up, from memory
from life.
from memory.
Currently working my way through Scott Robertson's perspective form drawing DVDs, should probably revisit Bridgeman after I'm through with those.
I had finished a bargue drawing at the atelier, but have to redo it since I...used the wrong side of the paper, and the honeycomb texture made things such a nightmare. I really have no idea what I'm doing
I've been going through some vilppu, and struggling somewhat with his approach. I'm not sure if I should work more on the gesture part of the drawing, or do longer poses to flesh things out.
Little spinning top guy concept
I feel like I'm sort of stuck in an awkward place where I'm too stiff if I draw from reference, and too inaccurate to do it from imagination. I'm also struggling with constructing anything with lines. For some reason, just painting it out makes me understand the form a lot more, I'm not sure how to get past that other than just filling out sketchbooks full of pencil work :c
Any crits are super welcomed, I'm really unsure of which approach to take here
Reference is always always ALWAYS best if you're going for realism. Find any figure drawing studios in your area and go there! That's far better than any DVD; but if there aren't any in your area or you can't get to one, DVD/pic is better than no reference at all.
Filling up sketchbooks with pencil work is the way to improve
I've noticed the disproportion before myself, and always attributed it to me never spending enough time on constructing the whole (I usually did a torso, and then left it at that). The atelier I go to once a week has figure drawing on thursdays, but it's pretty much impossible for me to go, since I could never take two days off work a week.
Instead, I've spent some money and got my hands on some vilppu DVDs, and so far I'm enjoying his teaching style immensely. I'll go through them over the weekend and just try to take in as much as I can.
I've filled up a sketchbook this past month, and am going through my second one now - it really does do wonders for just getting loosened up.
Finished my first Bargue copy at the atlier, hard to believe I spent 9 hours on it in total - hopefully I can keep the patience up and do better on the next ones.
I'm trying to keep up with gesture drawing, and not spending more than 10 mins on a single pose. I still haven't got the basics down really well, and I feel like I'm just winging most of these, not knowing if they'll end up terrible, or decent.
I went over Erik Gist's (from Watts) notes on figure drawing, and have been trying to apply his steps, although they feel very counterintuitive, and the way to figure out the trunk can really stiffen up some figures when I do it wrong.
I tried applying things from the sketchbook to digital drawing, and tried my hand at just creating characters from imagination. I'm not super happy with how things turned out, and I feel like I don't have a good enough handle on anatomy or values to do a good job yet. Some things like how the trunk wedges into the body still mystify me, same for a lot of landmarks and specific body parts. I gotta do some in-depth studies of specific stuff to improve on that, i guess.
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
I've been spending some time brushing up on my anatomy, started a second bargue plate, and have been messing around with environment paintings and just random painting, but it's time to dump some more gestures in.
I've been trying to transition the few things I'm learning to drawing from imagination, and want to try doing a full-on character design this month - gotta do it some time.
Still feeling pretty stiff, but I'm trying to keep the lines as tight as I can without losing some of the movement
Any values were laid down after the lay-in, and are off the top of my head - I wanted to get out of refs for the lighting
Some of these were from memory, some had reference. This last one was entirely from memory, just to see if stuff sticks. I can't get over how much harder it is to do this on a tablet. I'm not sure if I'm getting better, but it does feel a lot easier. I had to make a much bigger effort last time to get things coming out decently.
Poses are still pretty stiff, and I'm open to any advice on what to work on specifically, other than doing a boatload more drawing - there's loads of flaws, but I don't know of a good way to fix em.
I'm the true RODENT of esteem
You could also say I foster
a deep love affair with STEAM
Which forumer am I?
I got bored of pencil, and tried my hand at charcoal on newsprint, which proceeded to completely brutalise me for the better part of a night:
I know this is all super dry and boring stuff, so here's some character concept thumbs, which is super unfamiliar territory.
I'm gonna try and develop the witch doctor first, but don't really have any ideas on how to build on a solid foundation and work towards a finished product on that. I could really use some advice.
Developed this a bit and threw some colors over value. I really wish I worked at a higher res for this, and actually zoomed in instead of roughing it. Also, I have a really hard time detailing anything - I suppose that's to be expected, I haven't tried to draw any of this kind of stuff before. I have to learn how to work from big and simple to small and complex eventually though, I can't leave things so rough all the time.
As a first experience it was kind of weird, but fun! I don't feel like I want to leave it at this, I'll try to work bigger and get something more polished out of it.
One small point is just to check your proportions before you finish the rough. Check out her left arm size compared to the right, and where you've put the knees.
I reworked it into a male, and spent a bit more time on it this time, tried to keep it tighter? Felt weird. Forgot to reference anything, and it shows. Oh well, at least I know I really need to do some drapery and limbs studies, pronto.
EDIT: imageshack keeps breaking, so i switched to photobucket
Here's the first 2! Mind you, these are thumbs, and they were meant to be done within 1 hour (I am sure I took longer on the first one already). I dont have them in a bigger file, since they were done at this size.
1st
ref:
2nd
ref:
I'd appreciate crits on these, as I want to start the class off on a good note. The last week is about portfolio building, so I'm kind of hoping this pushes me to put more effort into finishing up work, and eventually getting some portfolio pieces out of it!
It's so hard to keep to the time limit, I went over on the first one by at least half an hour, then did the second one for 45 mins before calling it quits. ugh. The stuff with a lot of minute detail takes me forever to tackle, and I wish I could simplify things with an abstraction more naturally, I hate feeling like i'm just copying without analyzing.
Looking at other student's work, it looks like I let myself down in keeping things simple (I went over the 1 hour time limit at least four times, too), and focused too much on copying accurately rather than analysing.
It's a habit I'll have to get out of. I think it was good practice, though, and I can't wait for week 2.
All 12 of 'em:
I think those color studies are successful though! Keep working at it! Don't forget about your soft brushes.
Thanks for the encouragement, Iruka. I'll keep updating the thread as I go along, but so far the class is super insightful, and I'm stoked about it. About the soft brushes, I...I don't think I used any here, but I've made some since. It's been plaguing me for some time, but I usually just use various hard brushes with opacity pressure, and try to get a sense of softness by being light with them. Usually I just get an odd muddiness though, it's one of the hardest things to get right, I can't really get a good separation between what's in focus, and what is softer. If there was a class specifically on using brushes to achieve the edges and DOF you want, I'd enroll in a heartbeat.
Week 2's assignment has now been finished as well, and christ was it tough.
Essentially, the task was to create a colour key for a grayscale 3d render of a scene, using warm and cool light sources.
I can't share the resources provided, but there were 3 scenes to choose from, and the one I picked was pretty barebones, just a primitive render of a guard standing somewhere, with most of the scenery soft brushed out. I basically just painted on top of it all with normal layers, and tried to somehow get shit to look okay.
Since I sort of messed up my warm light source, I had to cheese my way through introducing a cool one, and threw in a little ghost coming to haunt the dude, as he tries to keep it together. The light is supposed to be skylight (I know, it's unnaturally warm), and ghostly spotlight:
I think I managed okay considering the first few hours I had no idea what I was doing, and I came this close to abandoning the assignment altogether. My color choices might not be super good,but that's part of why I'm in the class, and I'm sure I'll gain a better understanding as the class goes on. Also, I need to do some materials studies or something, because that reflective armour kicked my ass all over.
I had some issues getting this to display right, if I colour proof it to Monitor RGB on my monitor the reds are blown out completely, I'm not sure why. Either way, if it looks eye-burningly saturated, please let me know. I might have messed up some settings in PS.
So far, I'm really digging the class. Nathan is a great teacher, and the feedback videos are super helpful. I think it was @Eyecager who got me into this one in the first place, and I'm hungry for more stuff like this.
Stay tuned for next week: Week 3 - Colour Harmony!
This week's class focused on obtaining colour harmony through the principle of Unity with Variety. We were shown a load of colour comps and quick studies that the instructor did (similar to the ones AoB posted for the colour thread), and he explained the principles behind making colours 'work'.
The assignment itself was simple enough: Make one value drawing, and colour key it in 5 thumbnails, focusing on changing the hue, value, temperature and saturation of your colours in each one to establish a new, differently lit scene. Incorporate the principles covered in class to achieve a sense of harmony in your thumbs.
This one was hard, really out of my comfort zone. I don't think I've ever tried this type of exercise, but it did make me think about light and colour a lot more than I usually would have. I'm not super pleased with it, but I did learn.
Haven't had any time for figure drawing whatsoever, but I've been trying out an easier way to handle figure drawing without a ref, and whipped up this fast sketch to illustrate. I think with some refinement these steps are a lot more structured than how I usually roll, hopefully it lets me control and group values better.
Some imagination comps. I was lucky enough to be able to use these for both classes.
Nathan Fowkes Week 4: Colour and Emotion:
This week's class focused on strategic use of colour value, hues and temperatures to evoke specific emotions and impressions. Greens can be verdant and natural, or otherworldly, alien and scientific. Yellows can be serene, warm and peaceful, or shift to desolate when desaturated. I submitted the above images and some others for the assignment, and was given as a critique that I should aim to incorporate more hues, and shoot for a more complex colour harmony. It's true, i'm relatively new to colour so I always just went for analogous or complementary comps without even thinking about it. I'll read up in Gurney's book and try to keep it in mind as I go forward.
It's a great class, but I just find that the Noah camp eats up most of the time I have, plus the variety of that keeps things constantly interesting. I'll try to not fall behind for Nathan's class though, since it's kind of kicking off in a big way now.
Nathan fowkes update, DOUBLE DOWN EDITION:
Week 5: Full Concept
This week's assignment was to incorporate the prior concepts of believability, colour harmony and mood, and to show them off in a single finished concept piece. I submitted two, since I can't finish things and it makes me feel guilty:
The critique I got back said I need to watch out for dominating red/browns, since it gives off a feel like there's an umber underpainting everywhere. My guess is I shift colours to red because of a lack of knowledge in handling warm daylight properly.
Week 6: Atmosphere
Christ, I barely remember what happened in this one. A lot of talk about the prince of egypt movie Nathan worked on, and a lot of beautifully done work showcasing how atmosphere is properly handled. Atmosphere being any meterological/physical properties in the piece that contribute to and enhance the overall feeling you'd like to communicate - weather like hail, rain, cloudiness, sandstorms, tornados were obvious ones, more subtle were effects like dry heat, fog, and morning haze. Time of day is also key.
We were given frame renders or line drawings from actual Dreamworks productions, and asked to fully do a paintover, establishing a clear atmosphere to the piece. I submitted these:
I'm not super happy with these, I find the first one to be too flat, and the second one to be almost cartoony. On the other hand, at this point in time I'm not sure I can produce anything that's a lot better, so I guess I'll have to take in the critique and try to work on it.
Not much personal work going on recently due to the Noah camp, but I revisited a study I did back in April:
Original:
New:
Heh. Suck it, April-me!
I am trying to be more aware of light just as I'm out and about. Maybe that would benefit you as well.
I started doing some plein air painting (shameful disclaimer: I've never touched paint in my life before), but i have no control at all over watercolors, so anything more complex than a single object usually results in a lot of frustration. I'm dedicated to pushing through and working from life though, the idea of being able to have a small sketchbook and half pan paint case in my pocket is so dope I have no choice but to get better at it.
Perhaps oddly, the less time I seem to spend, the stronger things get. Once I look at it for too long I seem to sabotage things for myself, so keeping them short focuses me to keep starting well, and not think about finishing.
I'm also looking at stuff from last year and revisiting some pieces in the same amount of time, to see how I do things now. I hate repainting old things, but I can't deny it's a very clear way of finding out what you still suck at.
June last year:
Now:
Nathan fowkes class is entering the last stage, which has us doing a three-week assignment, culminating in a leading portfolio piece. Exciting, I just hope I find the time to commit to it.
I'll try to update within the next week with the value studies for that, in the meantime - crit away please!
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
This is all super rad dude.
Nathan Fowkes week 7: Designing With Light
This class was the first in a three-part series on how to go through a piece from value to colour keys, and eventually to a finalised version that could be a portfolio piece. The first stage is getting to a value comp, but this week's lecture glosses over values in favour of talking about designing with light. There was a demo paintover that was a value comp, but Nathan moves quick, and it can be hard to follow his train of thought if you're not there yet.
I turned in this as my value comp:
Ugh, this goddamn week. Value is something I've always had problems with, and I've very little experience with value comps, or environments for that matter - I struggle especially with having things read properly, and getting depth come through in the image. I'm not super pleased with this, but I've reached the point where I need some help to go forward, since it's just not coming out as I want it. I don't know if I'll be able to make this fit what I want, but if I can't I'll just have to go through more basic value comp studies until I nail the initial read better.
The whole thing is very low-key, which seems to be a trend with me. I don't really work the halftone and middle range well at all, and I need to deal with it. I have no idea if I'll be able to fix the issues in the colour pass, or if this thing isn't going to get any better.