Marcus Aseth's 2d Diary.
polycounter lvl 9
So,26 years old now and I still have this foolish idea of learning how to draw 
I call it foolish because even if I where to learn "how to render properly by hand" as for now,I still have to prove to myself if I would be able to produce anything worth to be rendered - Creativity...I don't know if I have enough of it,if it can be trained and/or improved, and even if a pro 2D artist where to tell to me that this could definitely be done,no disrespect to him but then I would think "and what if my mind is the exception that can't learn it?!"...and so I would dismiss his knowledge and back to uncertainty.
So to put and end to this uncertainty that bothers me from like a decade and brought me to drop drawing altogether more than once,something like 5 days ago I decide to see it through this once and for all,if I fail then "too bad" but if I can succeed...I will see then where to bring it from there
Unfortunately I think I lack the passion (wich I know is the ultimate "booster" in order to learn anything) and my reason for wanting to learn to draw is for the most part "using it as a tool to aid me in the 3d..()",in fact I hate the feeling of having no idea how to translate some parts of a draw into 3d just because I can't perfectly see all the details I need from every perspective in order to model it,So...the plan here is to replace passion with constancy (is that the word?),was it drawing even only 1 hour a day,but the point here is to do it everyday no matter what.
For months now I'm also studying "Japanese everyday no matter what" so in this period I need to figure out things,fine tune stuff and basically build a balance amongs this things in order to keep studying japanese and drawing everyday and also figuring out a way to put some 3d in it...I know that this sounds kind of very "dispervise" (not to mention I plan to draw everything from environment to character without a real focus for now, so...) and everyone would advise me against it,but I think that some kind of productive balance among this things can be achieved
And this topic is a diary to track progress,so that title
Sorry for the long introduction,just in case someone wants to know what the hell I'm up to lol
That's it,I'll go back to draw and below some stuff from the previous 5 or something days :thumbup:
And if you think I'm doing this wrong,pls let me know
I call it foolish because even if I where to learn "how to render properly by hand" as for now,I still have to prove to myself if I would be able to produce anything worth to be rendered - Creativity...I don't know if I have enough of it,if it can be trained and/or improved, and even if a pro 2D artist where to tell to me that this could definitely be done,no disrespect to him but then I would think "and what if my mind is the exception that can't learn it?!"...and so I would dismiss his knowledge and back to uncertainty.So to put and end to this uncertainty that bothers me from like a decade and brought me to drop drawing altogether more than once,something like 5 days ago I decide to see it through this once and for all,if I fail then "too bad" but if I can succeed...I will see then where to bring it from there
Unfortunately I think I lack the passion (wich I know is the ultimate "booster" in order to learn anything) and my reason for wanting to learn to draw is for the most part "using it as a tool to aid me in the 3d..()",in fact I hate the feeling of having no idea how to translate some parts of a draw into 3d just because I can't perfectly see all the details I need from every perspective in order to model it,So...the plan here is to replace passion with constancy (is that the word?),was it drawing even only 1 hour a day,but the point here is to do it everyday no matter what.
For months now I'm also studying "Japanese everyday no matter what" so in this period I need to figure out things,fine tune stuff and basically build a balance amongs this things in order to keep studying japanese and drawing everyday and also figuring out a way to put some 3d in it...I know that this sounds kind of very "dispervise" (not to mention I plan to draw everything from environment to character without a real focus for now, so...) and everyone would advise me against it,but I think that some kind of productive balance among this things can be achieved
And this topic is a diary to track progress,so that title
Sorry for the long introduction,just in case someone wants to know what the hell I'm up to lol
That's it,I'll go back to draw and below some stuff from the previous 5 or something days :thumbup:
And if you think I'm doing this wrong,pls let me know
Replies
Yes,for the pillars I attempted to draw some perspective lines,but
for the exterior I didn't know how to apply perspective to it because I wanted some kind of irregular/tilted ground (like a raising portion of the floating island where the scene is placed in) therefore I think I've fucked up a lot in there :poly136:
No worries, learn and apply it to the next one, keep up the good work man.
Kind of got tired of Akuma so I colored it and let's call it done :S
I was painting value while watching the color,trying to raise the bar lol
I also had to tweak the contrast in the end because I always tend to work with a low contrast for some reason
how the perspective studies are going ?
keep it up
As for now every plan is accepted and changes every day based on my mood I think and also on what I feel I need to learn the most in that moment.For now the point is to NEVER get bored while drawing until it becomes a strong habit
With the last one,the turtle,I was aiming to 1) see value through color 2) See simple shapes and start painting value without a sketch 3) build visual library 4) keep it quick (no more Akuma's xD)
Today's idea is to draw twice the same thing,the first time only value watching the black and white image,the second time the colored subject as it is. In addintion to keep yesterday's 2,3 and 4 goals, with this one excercise I want to see if my brain can make some connections between how a given color corresponds to a certain value.
And since my schedule change everyday,sooner or later I'll be doing more perspective and anatomy.
For me the idea is that everything is linked together in some way and learning anything can help me doing better something else,is just like the "backtracking" in the Metroidvania game(where you need an item to open a path on the other side of the map where you find an item that opens a further path in the place where you picked up the first item),at least until I reach a "good enough place" for me to choose what to focus on
I'm kind of fighting the frustration of constantly see new stuff that is off (in position or proportion or direction or color) while I had thought it was 100% right just 10 minute before,and also it took more time than I would like to just get to that point...Well,I guess it is part of the learning and wouldn't be fair if I wasn't experiencing this xD
w.i.p.
The latest one looks good, it's missing the detail that would make it super convincing but I think it's coming along really well. If you are having trouble with proportions and things out of alignment, then I'd suggest starting zoomed out, and to flip the canvas horizontally every once in a while. I don't stress it too much on my studies like this, I'm trying to study light and color, not trying to copy the reference exactly.
Maybe I'm a bit wrong in that sense, but in trying to keep these as short as possible, I end up focusing purely on the thing I am studying at the moment.
Everything by eye as you do.Though sometimes (like in the last wip) I start painting in black an white,kind of like "sketching the volumes and shapes" and then I start putting colors on top,which doesn't seems productive at all since I'm doing the same job twice :poly141: So I need to get in the habit of start by dropping colors on the canvas,also flipping the canvas yes,I know how important it is but when I focus too much on drawing I simply forget about it...I need to write a note and put it on front of the monitor I guess
keep it up
Thx ayoub
What are you trying to learn when making those studies? You are really staying very true to your reference. Whats your goal in all of this? Do you want to learn to see the right proportions or pick the right colour you see? Or do you want to get as close to the original photo as possible?
That's a very big question! I would just like to be able to draw stuff from imagination that I could later go to create in 3d,from environments to creatures to vehicles...therefore since I don't have any kind of guidance/course or school,I'm just copying stuff in the hope to learn how to do...after all this can only bring me closer to the goal right?
Though...today I spent quite a lot of time trying to draw a Mech from immagination,one like the ones from Armored Core, problem is I couldn't come up with anything decent,worst of all I was struggling like crazy just to get the perspective right so...I'm starting to thinking that even if my random studies are probably helping in some areas,aren't tackling my main problems with the draw at all...so...I don't know,I think I need to figure out some different way of study/training
If you have anything in mind that could help me with this problem,please let me know
I think you should make studies on a more project oriented basis. Lets take this Mecha idea for example. Don't try to come up with something, because you don't know it yet. Get references, draw joints, see how robots in facilities work and look like. Learn where Mechs come from, look at references of that stuff and then combine what you've learned. Draw all of that. It makes a huge difference if you draw a robot arm because you want to understand it to drawing a robot arm because of drawing. Even look at other peoples designs of mechs. You build up your library by working with it. Doing just random stuff gives you a lot of stuff you tend to forget. But if you have a project alongside your studies that unifies all of that you'll remember much more!
Theres another thing. Do you want to paint your own mech or do you want to paint? In case you want to paint, paint a mech that already exists so you don't have to worry about the design.
Perspective wise - break it down into cubes and cylinders first, then get your detail in. Start with a huge box and then break it down into smaller boxes. This helps a lot!
That makes perfectly sense,problem is I tend to lose focus and I know already I would end up drawing something else probably in a matter of days,therefore I need some "encouragement" to stick withing a given project,that means I need to join a contest. The weekly challenge over to conceptart.org seems the perfect place for it,it would be studying a given subject for a week,so it would be a lot less random than now.:):thumbup:
Though even before that,I believe I lack a proper understanding of this "fundamentals" everyone talks about and I also think I totally need those before attempting anything else.
Can you guys recommend me some resource online that can teach me thoroughly this fundamentals?
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/How-Render-fundamentals-shadow-reflectivity/dp/1933492961/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421362097&sr=1-2&keywords=how+to+draw+scott+robertson"]How to Render: the fundamentals of light, shadow and reflectivity: Scott Robertson, Thomas Bertling: 9781933492964: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Illustration-Andrew-Loomis/dp/1845769287/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421362128&sr=1-1&keywords=creative+illustration+andrew+loomis"]Creative Illustration: Andrew Loomis: 9781845769284: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Color-Light-Guide-Realist-Painter/dp/0740797719/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421362154&sr=1-1&keywords=color+and+light"]Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter: James Gurney: 9780740797712: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]
Fuck online!
Thanks for this links! I'll buy those as soon as I can
I was also thinking to join the "Level Up!" course on conceptart.org from next month,at least I would have exercises to complete and less room for my randomness :poly136:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1402563099961950/
I don't usually post the results, but like you I just need the direction, since I tend to feel lost when I try to create things from my mind. I almost feel dejected when I have a good idea and I ruin it with my bad 2d skills, I almost want to paint mundane things so I don't disappoint myself, haha.
Today just drawing boobs from immagination,because if you don't shade boobs in photoshop what's even the point of having it installed right?!
Good job so far!
Today I was messing a bit between 3ds max and photoshop,but I give up,not ready for that throne challenge :poly122:
Forgive my color picks,hope doesn't burn your eyes xD
keep it up
Also, that throne room looks good, like a good base to go from. I've thought of using 3d to base my work off of, but it's such a slowdown, haha.
About the bridge perspective,I think you reffer to the structure going up wich is a stairway that connect to a flying tower off the scene,I had no idea about how to check the perspective for an inclined/tilted object :S
About the lighting,I didn't tought where the sun was either, there was too much going on for me to manage and I also rushed it for some reason x_x
Trying to do better next time
Also,the original I'm painting has no swords and is still more desaturated,I just increased the saturation from photoshop and added swords quickly before closing the file,just for fun :S
That's a good study to paint something at a different angle, I should do the same sometime.
Todays work in progress,basically I'm trying to do a concept myself for a place I would like to model,still lot of things to figure out and I'm experimenting along the way,probably putting the lights now was a really dumb idea since now I have to do the details and then put lights again lol xD
Just a little update on the magic shop before going to dinner,I'm starting defining panneling,details and figuring out more stuff.
Also just added the light's and tweaked the img before uploading only for experiment purpose, the file I'm working on is more "rough"
Try and use these at the end only. You want to develop your natural sense of picking colours, so relying too heavily on colour adjustment tools can get in the way.
As far as the darkness problem, In this, go down to colour relativity.
http://androidarts.com/art_tut.htm
Thanks for the link Muzz,I'll read it when I woke up,since I was up all night :poly122:
I'll also take the suggestion of no "cheats" until the end,which makes perfectly sense for me trying to learn
Last draw of the day,just fucking around in photoshop before going to sleep (color picking this time,not trying to copy in different position or anything,just fucking around
Still in super early stage so I had to put text to show what I'm thinking to do,so let's see how this evolves
I'm starting to suggest buildings all around the yggdrasil,roads are carved directly into the exposed parts of the huge roots,and by now you guys can tell I love Etrian Odissey games xD
The lakes I tried to suggest didn't reads very well imo so I should probably take some photo with a lake view from the same distance and copy it to see how the specular light behave in there,but I leave it for the end,the idea first and the rendering last.
The mountain village which is actually builted on a volcano leads (from the back) to a very dangerous place floating on top of the volcano,therefore is a notorious gathering place for the strongest and craziest adventurer,so I'm putting a dock for flying ships and the overall goal is to keep the village small but very lively
Also I think should be time to learn those atmospheric push tricks I always see on the pro videos,you guys knows any good link that explain the proper way to do it? :poly122:
That magic shop looks really good! Step 3 looks like a totally different piece, in a good way.
One artist that really gets that big epic scale is James Paick. He has some tutorials for sale online, but here's an example of his workflow:
http://youtu.be/AzL9ajlvumM?t=7m57s
I think in one of his tutorials he mentioned wanting to have a stepping-type setup. So things overlap each other and are fainter and fainter as they go back, creating that depth, but what you have might be difficult to show that depth since nothing really overlaps, it will just be a gradient from high contrast up close to low contrast in the distance.
At least that's what I gleaned from it. My environment painting skills are pretty sub-par, so I can't really give too much good advice, haha.
I think I'll have some faint clouds and maybe airships or something flyng for the overlapp and to show more depth,I'll experiment along the way
Now again I need to improve at drawing so that I can easily draw a lot of anatomy and understand that better too.
So I'll be doing the 1 day Master study challenges from Conceptart.org alongside random anatomy I think. The point of this beign 1 day study is that I need to do the best that I can in that time,and deadlines are important,so I hope that in time I get at a point where each day I can say to have finished one of those.
Here's the first two,plus random anatomy study(w.i.p.)