Gonna start posting one at a time again, sporadically. So you can see the full image. I hope no one minds and you all like this. Enjoy. All C+C truly appreciated.
Also I'm finishing up a study in the next couple of days so when that's done, I'll post all of them in big version. For now here's a candy corn creature in the spirit of October.
Some new stuff I've been working out, just some stuff I left out from last week's post.
Here's a machop. I'm working on a ton of new stuff, so I'll update those when I'm done
Dude I think it's time you upgrade to an additional light source. Maybe some backlighting, some rim light and such. Heck maybe even a colored light source.
I've been trying out some rim light with the new stuff, but the fact that you mentioned in means I'm not trying hard enough, so hell yeah upgrading time it is! Any chance you could point me in the right direction when it comes to "backlighting" as I'm not sure what that means. Thanks for the comment though I truly appreaciate it.
Not to push you permanently one way or another on your artistic goals, but if you're going to continue on rockin' out these Pokemon dudes, I might suggest you take one and try to max out what you're capable of, use it as an opportunity to really learn about a drawing principle or two in depth, rather than trying to just knock them out quickly.
I have a suggestion- and I suggest it because it'll be applicable, in one way or another- to almost any representational style or subject you might want to pursue in the future. Cel-shading, pastel painting, comic work, ultra-realism, whatever.
- It's kind of a rehash of what Chico and Iruka were getting at way back in 2012, but I'm laying out a specific process here because I think it'll help make it easier to grasp and apply. With time and experience, you can skip, combine, reorganize, or alter a lot of these steps, but starting out it's a lot easier and effective to focus on one thing at a time, and not have to think about 10 things at once.
You may look at this and go, "God, that seems like a lot of work!", and you know...it is. Not gonna lie. Doing the art here took me about 3-4 hours, and I'm (not to toot my own horn) a professional working artist whose job revolves around rendering stuff like this; so this may take you a full day, 2 days, a week- who knows. But since you're already busting out a ton of drawings (and that's awesome!), it seems you'd have the time available to do something more in depth- and doing so will get you farther, faster than just having a greater quantity of drawings of the same amount of depth. And when you've done something like this, it'll inform and improve all of your quicker work, honest- even if that work is not even remotely in the same style, and you never work this way ever again.
That is the greatest thing I have seen Angel, thank you so much for that. It truly helps me a lot. I had a bit of trouble understanding some technical stuff but I got the gist of it, and I'm definetly going to try it out. Expect my attempt up, very soon, I hope. To make this clear, the pokemon drawings were meant to be a sort of warm up exercise to get me in the mood for drawing everyday, so I would only spend 1 hour or so on them, but yeah, seeing as that's the most I've been posting, I might aswell spend more time on them, and make them extra special. Thanks again for that super awesome tutorial, it helps me tons.
Bacon, have you ever made or seen a tutorial that explains how rimlight works? As far as how the variation of hardness works/where those things fall? Also, thank you sharing some useful photoshop knowledge, helps a lot.
Had to do an entry for a Legend of Zelda Collab of monsters, and well here's my entry, the Like-Like, tried a bunch of the things mentioned on the tutorial, like mapping out my shadows, and working in black and white first, and then adding colors, I also tried that gradient at the end, some backlight, but anyways, I hope this shows I'm trying to improve my art, and that I'm not just posting and ignoring what everyone is saying, cause that's not at all what I'm doing, I'm really trying to get better.
Thank you one again mate, I definetly understand what you mean. Gonna try that this time around, glad to see I didn't mess up so badly on that Like-Like piece. The whole idea of deconstructing to basic shapes help me a ton, and these little tutorials are so amazing! Thank you so much mate.
Just wanted to drop some other opinions on you, @Mabelma. It seems like most of your studies are from stock photos, But I think you really need to put in the hours of doing a few basic still life drawings. Actually set something up in a room and stare at it for a long ass time. Don't forget about the Simple Shape Monthly Enrichment we did, and watch the Proko video again. The thing that we sometimes forget is how complex it can be to just render a sphere so that it looks real. Doing the simple shape studies is important, because its sort of hard to to build on bacon's advice if you cant complete that first step.
Try the egg one. You are going to need to look at that egg for a long time. The thing is, these studies are really not about the end result. You are basically taking notes. Watch the proko video, look at your egg. Watch the proko video, draw the egg once and take notes. Watch the proko video, spend three hours drawing a stupid egg. Get critiques, walk away for two months. Go back and read the crits, Try again.
This is the method I use when I am trying to learn something and make it stick. I still need to sit down and hammer out the fact that basic technical things are eluding me, it never really goes away. I have trouble understanding concepts when I am just frustrated and trying to make a complex drawing work. You need to really break it down to its building blocks, read/watch/take in information, try it, and then go back and review the information. An excellent exercise, for instance, is going back in your own thread and rereading critiques. When I look back in my own thread, I can see the advice that I digested in the moment, but I also can readily see all the little clues that I missed.
I did another collab entry, I tried applying all of the things you've all been telling me to do. I'm also gonna start doing some still life studies, very soon. Anyways, here's the image
, and a sort of progress pic to show I'm actually trying to apply what you're all telling me.
Still trying to grasps some of the concepts being mentioned, so here's a new entry for yet another collab, this time for a Hayao Miyazaki Collab, my entry was Catbus from My Neighbour Totoro.
You are incredibly welcomed to pick it apart, tear it into piece on any account
Do the egg drawing. I know it sounds super not fun, but its not particularly easy to put meaningful information into critiques of these drawing, unless you go at them all AOB style. Simplify the study and we can get you your core issues, and you can concentrate on your core issues. What are you waiting for, on it? Just get an egg, put it under your desk lamp, and draw that shit tonight. 1 light source, let everything else in the room be dark.
I'm actually drawing some simple studies, like you mentioned, no egg though, just like the basic shapes you posted on that thread you linked, I could draw the egg but I don't have a scanner so I would have to do it on the computer, is that good with you?
Yeah digital is fine. I think that doing studies in your primary medium teaches you alot, I mean, doing pencil drawings affords you different levels of control, But I still study digitally because that is where I need the skills to be, primarily. But yes! Do it! Post the shape studies too!
The only trappings of doing this and not doing the egg is that you are essentially copying a picture. You aren't converting the realities of light to a 2D image, rather taking a image that is already flat and re configuring that.
Doing the egg, or drawing a block or ball from life is essential, because you must do a certain level of spacial analysis to accomplish putting it on to paper, or in your case, painting it in photoshop. It also eliminates the problem of faulty reference. This one is a step in the right direction, but its not the best reference, and it'll only ever get as good as the source material.
AOB may have a lot of technical knowledge on lighting, which is impressive, but the actual skill his is showing is critical problem solving that hes gained through observation and is now able to apply to abstract, imaginative concepts. Many people simply gain this by drawing from life a ton, and not really learning the technical terms for it. There is something in the looking and observing of real life objects that helps you gain an understanding of these things. To the point where you will start to casually analyze things around you for their lighting scheme when you are bored.
I see, I'm gonna set up a small little life study area and try to paint things from life, starting with that egg I would just need a light source and a place to set everything on, right?
Yeah. I Have a little room on my desk, so I often just place things under that to draw from. You can put in on paper so there are no textures distracting you. Get a nice desk lamp and keep your overhead lighting off.
Oh got you, I was thinking of maybe rigging a shoebox with some white papers around to minimize reflection of the lightsource, would that be a good idea?
This egg is a great start and shows me a few things,
First, If you are going to primarily use Photoshop, you are going to have to jump through some of the technical hoops to really make the program work for you. You'll want to experiment with switching brushes and changing up your flow/opacity to get smooth results. don't settle for splotchy results, use your selection tools and push the tech to give you the results you want. You would similarly try to control any traditional media, try to think of your digital tools as flexible things.
The trick is though, is not using them all at the same time. When you are going for that extra level of realism, pull out the stops to try and achieve what you see. The benefit of trying to accurately replicate textures is that you will start to think twice about pulling out a "chalk brush" and just using that over a whole image for no good reason.
Saying all that brings me to my second point, which is about increasing your level of observation. Part of doing still lives is learning how to see. It is the most obnoxious thing to try and get across to beginners. Some of it just will come over time, but you will have to be hard on yourself to be accurate. Does the egg you posted really look like the egg on your desk? Where does it fall short? You will need to be able to ask this question in the moment, and look at your drawing objectively.
Try the egg one. You are going to need to look at that egg for a long time. The thing is, these studies are really not about the end result. You are basically taking notes. Watch the proko video, look at your egg. Watch the proko video, draw the egg once and take notes. Watch the proko video, spend three hours drawing a stupid egg. Get critiques, walk away for two months. Go back and read the crits, Try again.
This is no joke. Check out Eyecagers thread for a good look at note taking, you really want to be trying to study these concepts in depth. Personally, I tend not to actually write words, but I still take notes with sketches, and shitty photoshop studies.
And Just one last technical note, there was probably some reflected light in that shadow.
It's been ages since I post anything but I thought it might be nice if I went out and sought feedback on my art. Hopefully I've improved something during these last two years. If not, well give it to me and give it to me hard.
I think this is the last pokemon I drew:
And here's some "new stuff" from latest to earliest.
Thought it'd also be cool to show this little thing I posted in August 2010
You have improved a bit, for sure. I like the octopuses and the buttons.
It seems like you are still suffering from your old lighting issues though. Either you are rushing your work and not thinking about it, or you never really got around to sitting down and putting the studying in. Some of these really just require a basic shift in your understanding of light, but you've just got to put the time in.
Glad you like the octopuses. I'll work on my lighting! Thanks for the comment, really appreciate it.
Sure.
I think the critiques above are still really relevant, and two years later, they should be a lot less frustrating to read through and try some new things. We'll be able to help you more if you post more regularly. And the generally process of working, getting feed back, and moving on unscathed is a lot easier if you just do it all the time.
Glad you like the octopuses. I'll work on my lighting! Thanks for the comment, really appreciate it.
Sure.
I think the critiques above are still really relevant, and two years later, they should be a lot less frustrating to read through and try some new things. We'll be able to help you more if you post more regularly. And the generally process of working, getting feed back, and moving on unscathed is a lot easier if you just do it all the time.
Most definitely, I feel like I can grasps the concepts a little better, I'll try my best to post more regularly as I completely agree with what you're saying about the process of getting better through feedback.
Posts
Also I'm finishing up a study in the next couple of days so when that's done, I'll post all of them in big version. For now here's a candy corn creature in the spirit of October.
Pokemon:
Adventure Time:
Youtube Fan-Art:
Study:
Christmas Collab
Here's a machop. I'm working on a ton of new stuff, so I'll update those when I'm done
I have a suggestion- and I suggest it because it'll be applicable, in one way or another- to almost any representational style or subject you might want to pursue in the future. Cel-shading, pastel painting, comic work, ultra-realism, whatever.
- It's kind of a rehash of what Chico and Iruka were getting at way back in 2012, but I'm laying out a specific process here because I think it'll help make it easier to grasp and apply. With time and experience, you can skip, combine, reorganize, or alter a lot of these steps, but starting out it's a lot easier and effective to focus on one thing at a time, and not have to think about 10 things at once.
You may look at this and go, "God, that seems like a lot of work!", and you know...it is. Not gonna lie. Doing the art here took me about 3-4 hours, and I'm (not to toot my own horn) a professional working artist whose job revolves around rendering stuff like this; so this may take you a full day, 2 days, a week- who knows. But since you're already busting out a ton of drawings (and that's awesome!), it seems you'd have the time available to do something more in depth- and doing so will get you farther, faster than just having a greater quantity of drawings of the same amount of depth. And when you've done something like this, it'll inform and improve all of your quicker work, honest- even if that work is not even remotely in the same style, and you never work this way ever again.
Just...try it once. You might like it.
So, without further ado:
Twitter
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
Follow up on the new piece- kinda hinted at it before, but it's worth elaborating on a bit.
Twitter
Just wanted to drop some other opinions on you, @Mabelma. It seems like most of your studies are from stock photos, But I think you really need to put in the hours of doing a few basic still life drawings. Actually set something up in a room and stare at it for a long ass time. Don't forget about the Simple Shape Monthly Enrichment we did, and watch the Proko video again. The thing that we sometimes forget is how complex it can be to just render a sphere so that it looks real. Doing the simple shape studies is important, because its sort of hard to to build on bacon's advice if you cant complete that first step.
Try the egg one. You are going to need to look at that egg for a long time. The thing is, these studies are really not about the end result. You are basically taking notes. Watch the proko video, look at your egg. Watch the proko video, draw the egg once and take notes. Watch the proko video, spend three hours drawing a stupid egg. Get critiques, walk away for two months. Go back and read the crits, Try again.
This is the method I use when I am trying to learn something and make it stick. I still need to sit down and hammer out the fact that basic technical things are eluding me, it never really goes away. I have trouble understanding concepts when I am just frustrated and trying to make a complex drawing work. You need to really break it down to its building blocks, read/watch/take in information, try it, and then go back and review the information. An excellent exercise, for instance, is going back in your own thread and rereading critiques. When I look back in my own thread, I can see the advice that I digested in the moment, but I also can readily see all the little clues that I missed.
for some more information overload, I have these saved,
http://artanecdotally.tumblr.com/post/51731675342/via-http-forums-penny-arcade-com-discussion-comm
http://artanecdotally.tumblr.com/post/42297819611/http-forums-penny-arcade-com-discussion-comment-2
http://artanecdotally.tumblr.com/post/28450705576/as-a-person-who-has-been-collecting-tutorials-and
Keep Hammering away, man.
, and a sort of progress pic to show I'm actually trying to apply what you're all telling me.
Am I grasping things as I should?
You are incredibly welcomed to pick it apart, tear it into piece on any account
Doing the egg, or drawing a block or ball from life is essential, because you must do a certain level of spacial analysis to accomplish putting it on to paper, or in your case, painting it in photoshop. It also eliminates the problem of faulty reference. This one is a step in the right direction, but its not the best reference, and it'll only ever get as good as the source material.
AOB may have a lot of technical knowledge on lighting, which is impressive, but the actual skill his is showing is critical problem solving that hes gained through observation and is now able to apply to abstract, imaginative concepts. Many people simply gain this by drawing from life a ton, and not really learning the technical terms for it. There is something in the looking and observing of real life objects that helps you gain an understanding of these things. To the point where you will start to casually analyze things around you for their lighting scheme when you are bored.
First, If you are going to primarily use Photoshop, you are going to have to jump through some of the technical hoops to really make the program work for you. You'll want to experiment with switching brushes and changing up your flow/opacity to get smooth results. don't settle for splotchy results, use your selection tools and push the tech to give you the results you want. You would similarly try to control any traditional media, try to think of your digital tools as flexible things.
The trick is though, is not using them all at the same time. When you are going for that extra level of realism, pull out the stops to try and achieve what you see. The benefit of trying to accurately replicate textures is that you will start to think twice about pulling out a "chalk brush" and just using that over a whole image for no good reason.
Saying all that brings me to my second point, which is about increasing your level of observation. Part of doing still lives is learning how to see. It is the most obnoxious thing to try and get across to beginners. Some of it just will come over time, but you will have to be hard on yourself to be accurate. Does the egg you posted really look like the egg on your desk? Where does it fall short? You will need to be able to ask this question in the moment, and look at your drawing objectively.
I wanted to repeat this from my last post too:
This is no joke. Check out Eyecagers thread for a good look at note taking, you really want to be trying to study these concepts in depth. Personally, I tend not to actually write words, but I still take notes with sketches, and shitty photoshop studies.
And Just one last technical note, there was probably some reflected light in that shadow.
I think this is the last pokemon I drew:
And here's some "new stuff" from latest to earliest.
Thought it'd also be cool to show this little thing I posted in August 2010
You have improved a bit, for sure. I like the octopuses and the buttons.
It seems like you are still suffering from your old lighting issues though. Either you are rushing your work and not thinking about it, or you never really got around to sitting down and putting the studying in. Some of these really just require a basic shift in your understanding of light, but you've just got to put the time in.
Sure.
I think the critiques above are still really relevant, and two years later, they should be a lot less frustrating to read through and try some new things. We'll be able to help you more if you post more regularly. And the generally process of working, getting feed back, and moving on unscathed is a lot easier if you just do it all the time.
Glad you like it though, I'm not very sure what you mean by "more sharp in style" could you elaborate? Thank you.
Most definitely, I feel like I can grasps the concepts a little better, I'll try my best to post more regularly as I completely agree with what you're saying about the process of getting better through feedback.
This one's for a mural so it's still in early, early stages but I wanted to see what you all thought of the composition and the pose and such.