Makkon's 2014 sketches in review
polycounter
2014 was a long, difficult year. But during that year I had a great amount of artistic growth, and I'm still going strong in 2015 as a result. Here's a compilation of some of my better pieces during that year.
The following art is in mostly chronological order.
I'm still struggling with certain things and working on what I know, but there are things that I can't see in my art that needs work. Please let me know areas in which you think I can improve.
The following art is in mostly chronological order.
I'm still struggling with certain things and working on what I know, but there are things that I can't see in my art that needs work. Please let me know areas in which you think I can improve.
Replies
You're just f-in crazy!
I love them - every single one of them!
I'll leave some comments when i get the time
Keep up the great work!
Wish I had something more constructive to say. Just keep doing what you're doing and pushing yourself. It seems to be working for you.
or i'll beat u up
So this is with perspective with seeing you grow and change over the years.
I think one thing that i do miss straight away is your take on more realistic characters and style. I love your cartoony stuff but i do miss the more realistic proportions and anatomy at times. I personally think you have taken a step backwards in terms of diversity on the styles you use. I think it's a shame to throw away the more realistic stuff when you were so good at it, and it still had that makkony feel to it.
The other thing you do and i've mentioned it before, but i do think it's important. You always draw everything with the same amount of depth, the same lens.
You use a hyper flat lens, and i think that works in a hell of a lot of cases, mostly design, it reads cleanly and places emphasis on shapes. But i think it is seriously letting you down when it comes to complex poses. There are drawings where the character is reaching towards the camera and the hand is the same size as the hand far away from the camera!
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5301613/2015/sketchbook/2014_35.png
This Harlequin drawing would be pushed so much more if you pushed the front leg towards the camera and really exaggerated that pose.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5301613/2015/sketchbook/2014_24.png
I think the lack of depth has become somewhat as a habit, and depth is something you dropped from your toolbox along the way. This is especially evident in the building sketches.
Also, this is in reference to all your work i've seen this year and not just this. I think you ARE producing some of your best work, especially in design. But you don't polish anything, everything in your gallery is essentially clean sketch work. I want to see you really sit down and make some illustration and concept work where you push the polish to the next level. You don't need to do it for everything but i do think it's severely letting your work down, a lot of roads are probably blocked off to you because you don't do anything to the level where it can be used for marketing art, or in game/movie product assets. I think it's a skillset you do need to work on.
Anyhow, those are just my thoughts, I can't wait to see what you do this year!
Murry: Thanks for the feedback, man. Definitely stuff I can work on.
http://www.jetpens.com/Pentel-Pocket-Brush-Pen-for-Calligraphy/pd/1793
Inspirational stuff, going to print a few sheets of those.
I think over time certain shapes become muscle memory to a point that it becomes very fast and simple to jot a shape or detail down. I think 2015 there's more I'd like to learn, I need a better library for noses eyes, and especially hips.
Makkon, love that you're using a brush pen, may I suggest you look into the following:
http://www.jetpens.com/Pentel-Aquash-Waterbrush-Medium/pd/1774
They come in a variety of sizes, they're technically only supposed to contain water, but they hold ink just as well, and it flows beautifully.
It also gives you a wider range of ink choices over the pocket brush pen, they're cheaper, and they don't leak or dry out, at least not in my experience.
You can also wash it out and re-use.
I've got 3 at the moment, one backup, and 2 filled, one with Winsor & Newton black indian ink, and the other with Winsor & Newton Blue
EDIT:
And forgot to mention, some inks need to be water down, with this, you can very easily water your ink down, to get a wider variety of shades and opacities.