Sounding like a broken record, but I still feel very off track with art. Drawing a lot more, though, finally -- motivated primarily by how much I hate my job.
Also included: A little doodle to show how I gestured figures from a month ago that i never posted.
It's weird, in some ways i'm clearly improving, my knowledge of anatomy and understanding of light and all that is steadily creeping forward, but everything i'm drawing is stiff and two dimensional. Does anyone know any exercises or tricks to bring life back to your drawing? Right now i'm just filling pages with shitty sharpie doodles to try and rehab my comfort level sketching, but a magic bullet would be really nice.
Focus on the big shapes. Lay down the entire sketch within the first 30 seconds of your drawing, then refine all the elements. that last picture of a dude, for example, it looks like you did each element by itself - first the head, then the chest, then an arm or whatever. Every time you make a new stroke, think about what it add to the entire picture.
As for 3-dimentionality, do more life drawing, still lives etc.
Man, thanks! You're exactly right. I can't tell you how much a little piece of common sense advice like that helps, working in a vacuum all the time really makes it tough to keep perspective. That had an instantaneous positive effect on how i'm drawing and how i can diagnose my mistakes.
If your work is feeling a little flat or stiff, try putting in some contour lines for the forms of your drawings afterwards. Not for presentation, but to see which areas you're causing to be read as flat.
Also, direct quote referenced from the ever-amazing PSG art tutorial:
Problem: Flat and stiff poses, figures look fly-swatted.
Solution: I do this a lot. It's so easy to draw people from the side or front with arms stretching out. This will end up looking very boring and undynamic, unless you have a compositional idea, or you're doing an icon. It's tempting to try to show all the details of a character in one drawing, but if you're going for a dynamic pose that is rarely possible. Letting the body obscure an arm might be sacrifice you have to make in order to get a good pose. Also, when hiding a detail, you'll let the viewer's imagination decide how it looks, which can be a good thing! It can look better in the mind than it ever could on canvas. Anyways, Learn foreshortening and dynamic poses from doing studies of comics and real life models or photos. Fly-swatted characters will only get you so far.
You're doing this occasionally with the shoulder/arm that's away from the viewer in specific.
Hate your job? I find it hard to believe your not doing some kind of art related work. I love your art and loose style, surely there must be some kind of artist job you can grab hold of? Either way, it's only a matter of time!
You guys are the best! Input like this is really damn helpful.
Finaldragon - Excellent quote, I need to read that thing more often.
Conte- I'll pick that up in a couple days for sure, thanks for the recommendation.
Giles- I'm what you get if you never finish anything! It is, though, just a matter of time, and I've got plenty of it.
These ladies are dabbling in a simple game mockup. Nothing that really pushes me forward as an artist, but nice to do fun and something I can make progress on. Starter class archtypes for a hypothetical scifi dungeon crawler.
Hopefully I'm gonna get a lot of art hours in today, I'll edit this post as the night goes on.
doodles/studies-
continuations of the girls above-
If you want to pay me to draw a bunch of trite cartoon girl busts, please form an orderly queue.
Good drawings, SupRore!
One little advice, that i am giving to myself everyday- try to
establish design before adding values, that way you wont have to
design and model at the same time, which will save a lot of energy really.
Conte, that makes a lot of sense, I'll start to work on it. I tend to think best in value, but it does add a ton of work.
I got derailed from what i was working on earlier today and ended up checking out a local sketchgroup that meets near where I live -- some awesome artists there, inspired me to churn out a bunch of sketches. Nothing outstandingly good, and I didn't push myself enough (at all) but at least a good volume; these are 80% of them:
-click for fullsize on my dropbox, photobucket shrunk it.-
Thanks for your comment I checked your work and liked to see your improvement from site 1 to 3 Maybe you should use some less lines. oh and i personal like your paper paintings more than the digital ones - i don't know...i can draw a lot better on paper than with the wacom...of course great for coloring but the basic sketches are more precise when i do them by hand - but that just a personal thing
-
This skull was fun. I always envy people's ability to get super vibrant, sherberty pallettes looking natural. This didn't come out great, but it's actually way easier than I expected. Here's the cheater black background version.
Two so far today. Some bridgman studies i shoulda spent more time on, and a quick value doodle from imagination to see how much i internalized from those two studies, and to see about integrating some inky blacks into the rendering.
A little something more. I'm very frustrated by how much trouble I have working traditionally -- mostly I just can't adapt to having to draw things right the first time!
Couldn't sleep, decided to make some baby steps toward correcting my problems. The one on the left came out pretty good, considering my poor traditional skill.
Thanks a lot guys! Sorry about the lack of updates for a while, I took a whole week off art to dive in and try to learn to use unity, with no programming experience, which is REALLY FUN and inspiring.
I've made a huge mess that's actually reasonably functional which i'm hopefully gonna turn into a simple little game.
Ahh, i didnt actually draw! Been working eight hour days and occupied with trying to learn this coding hogwash. Tomorrow i'll have time. I DID get this simplistic AI working though, check it out:
in fairness this scratchy style has SOME direction unlike others .
it does promote concept skills , but we need some refined line work to show your understanding of line weight/economy as mentioned earlier.
having bold strokes shows spontaneousity (sp?) , alla prima style. yet doing it with colours involved is the fun part!
keep up the work i know its hard with a job on the side..
Thank you guys. Squir, i know, trying to put together some clean likework is something i will definitely done soon.
Ahh! I haven't painted textures in so long, this is throwing me off my game. These are just not good, I need to hammer out some solid concepts and then try again.
this is a better direciton, and i THINK should be pretty easy to design as a modular setup -- sand, machinery, and temple would each have their own set of tiles that could layer.
Those are some nice concept layouts, I like that Egyptian style one, just need to define the textures a little more. I would rethink the floor texture though, got to much going on. I found that usually simpler is better. Good start man I would like to see it all done.
cool sketchbook, lots of work
I see you have a lack of confidence in what you do, you are never satisfied with what you draw
but this is the way things work, you will never be satisfied with your work except for brief moments and after that will only see the mistakes, that is a sign that you are going further, that you are improving
there is no short cut to this becouse doing art or design means teaching your brain to function in a certain way, it was not easy to learn to speak or to walk or to read and write was it?
but as with any learning process it will only happen if there is the reward in there
small step followed by a reward, which in this case is your satisfaction of doing a good drawing
so don't do so many things at the same time, try to do only one thing at the time
work on one thing that you like most like for example characters or whatever
also choose a technique that you feel most comfortable with and stick with it
you will progress faster in the field you chose because it is the one that you enjoy doing the most, and more important you build confidence
and learn working approach that you can then apply on other stuff
the way you are now, you do a lot of stuff but nothing gets past a certain amount time you put into it
this way you will never know what really works for you and you may actually accumulate more frustration than pleasure of working
working on a primary subject doesn't mean you will not draw anything else but concentrate on one main subject and go as far as you can with it
I hope this helps
Thank you guys! Altasa, that's super cool advice, and i've been ruminating on it a bit. I'll write a better reply later, im rushing off to work and wanna throw what little i had time for today up here. I'm so uncomfortable with 3d now! even this blockout is going slow for me.
Pow. Plenty of places I can still optimize, but i'm not really interested in getting into that until i have him textured and rigged and I've got a stronger idea of what technical challenges I will and wont face. UVs and textures coming next time I get a chance to sit down and work on this.
I can't keep lurking anymore. I fucking love this sketchbook. Each update is a fun little treat.
That said, when it comes to drawing figures and characters, you should work in more dynamic poses. It's something I've become more conscious of since noticing it lacking in my own work. The legs always seem to be drawn in relatively the same straight, pointed position. Draw some action poses! Get wild!
I've really been slacking on studies to fit in time for other projects. I meant to do a few figure studies today, but I overslept, and I gotta run to work. I squeezed this alternate take on some of the themes from the girl above in to try and get a feel for alchemy. A bit too noisy shape-wise, not really communicating everything i want clearly, but i'm digging this way of working.
Today was mostly for fun over productivity. I just havent felt like i've been drawing enough, largely doodling. Some rather poor studies of bridgman and photos mixed in.
I like your drawings but see a thing a lot people do: using a lot of pen strokes where one is enough. Mostly when people aren't sure about how to draw something the make short strokes and a lot of them. I do this also but sometimes i remember: avoiding to stop a stroke and just let the pencil stay on the paper for a longer time makes the drawing more..clean and dynamic. I hope my description isn't too confusing
Replies
Also included: A little doodle to show how I gestured figures from a month ago that i never posted.
It's weird, in some ways i'm clearly improving, my knowledge of anatomy and understanding of light and all that is steadily creeping forward, but everything i'm drawing is stiff and two dimensional. Does anyone know any exercises or tricks to bring life back to your drawing? Right now i'm just filling pages with shitty sharpie doodles to try and rehab my comfort level sketching, but a magic bullet would be really nice.
As for 3-dimentionality, do more life drawing, still lives etc.
Also, direct quote referenced from the ever-amazing PSG art tutorial:
You're doing this occasionally with the shoulder/arm that's away from the viewer in specific.
Finaldragon - Excellent quote, I need to read that thing more often.
Conte- I'll pick that up in a couple days for sure, thanks for the recommendation.
Giles- I'm what you get if you never finish anything! It is, though, just a matter of time, and I've got plenty of it.
These ladies are dabbling in a simple game mockup. Nothing that really pushes me forward as an artist, but nice to do fun and something I can make progress on. Starter class archtypes for a hypothetical scifi dungeon crawler.
Hopefully I'm gonna get a lot of art hours in today, I'll edit this post as the night goes on.
doodles/studies-
continuations of the girls above-
If you want to pay me to draw a bunch of trite cartoon girl busts, please form an orderly queue.
Doing my usual thing and editing more into this post as the day continues.
-
-Kinda lost the score with this one. But some parts are ok.
One little advice, that i am giving to myself everyday- try to
establish design before adding values, that way you wont have to
design and model at the same time, which will save a lot of energy really.
Oranghe, im trying!!
Conte, that makes a lot of sense, I'll start to work on it. I tend to think best in value, but it does add a ton of work.
I got derailed from what i was working on earlier today and ended up checking out a local sketchgroup that meets near where I live -- some awesome artists there, inspired me to churn out a bunch of sketches. Nothing outstandingly good, and I didn't push myself enough (at all) but at least a good volume; these are 80% of them:
-click for fullsize on my dropbox, photobucket shrunk it.-
and what I was working on before -
-And then more of this stuff.
-Steps included to show how haphazardly I tend to proceed when I'm drawing!
... I dont think that robot is actually anywhere near oriented on the ground plane. Whoops.
-
This skull was fun. I always envy people's ability to get super vibrant, sherberty pallettes looking natural. This didn't come out great, but it's actually way easier than I expected. Here's the cheater black background version.
From concept jam
screwed up the likeness.
Another one. Click for fullsize final.
edit: additionally, some dumb shit
[IMG][/img]
Two so far today. Some bridgman studies i shoulda spent more time on, and a quick value doodle from imagination to see how much i internalized from those two studies, and to see about integrating some inky blacks into the rendering.
A little something more. I'm very frustrated by how much trouble I have working traditionally -- mostly I just can't adapt to having to draw things right the first time!
Couldn't sleep, decided to make some baby steps toward correcting my problems. The one on the left came out pretty good, considering my poor traditional skill.
And this, started as a study and wandered a bit -
(first iteration -- has its own merits, but is weaker overall)
I've made a huge mess that's actually reasonably functional which i'm hopefully gonna turn into a simple little game.
Drawing every day begins again tomorrow.
Unity Webplayer on my dropbox
character design for this little unity game.
ehh, didnt co,me out too well, i get bogged down trying to understand color.
it does promote concept skills , but we need some refined line work to show your understanding of line weight/economy as mentioned earlier.
having bold strokes shows spontaneousity (sp?) , alla prima style. yet doing it with colours involved is the fun part!
keep up the work i know its hard with a job on the side..
Ahh! I haven't painted textures in so long, this is throwing me off my game. These are just not good, I need to hammer out some solid concepts and then try again.
this is a better direciton, and i THINK should be pretty easy to design as a modular setup -- sand, machinery, and temple would each have their own set of tiles that could layer.
Keep at it!
Best of luck.
Alex
I see you have a lack of confidence in what you do, you are never satisfied with what you draw
but this is the way things work, you will never be satisfied with your work except for brief moments and after that will only see the mistakes, that is a sign that you are going further, that you are improving
there is no short cut to this becouse doing art or design means teaching your brain to function in a certain way, it was not easy to learn to speak or to walk or to read and write was it?
but as with any learning process it will only happen if there is the reward in there
small step followed by a reward, which in this case is your satisfaction of doing a good drawing
so don't do so many things at the same time, try to do only one thing at the time
work on one thing that you like most like for example characters or whatever
also choose a technique that you feel most comfortable with and stick with it
you will progress faster in the field you chose because it is the one that you enjoy doing the most, and more important you build confidence
and learn working approach that you can then apply on other stuff
the way you are now, you do a lot of stuff but nothing gets past a certain amount time you put into it
this way you will never know what really works for you and you may actually accumulate more frustration than pleasure of working
working on a primary subject doesn't mean you will not draw anything else but concentrate on one main subject and go as far as you can with it
I hope this helps
i suuuuck at 3d art. More soon.
and one little doodle
That said, when it comes to drawing figures and characters, you should work in more dynamic poses. It's something I've become more conscious of since noticing it lacking in my own work. The legs always seem to be drawn in relatively the same straight, pointed position. Draw some action poses! Get wild!
(kitty model is dope)
Spacey you're the man, one of the most encouraging things i've read, thanks a lot dude.
Will do on the dynamic poses, I need to draw from observation more!
edit: wumpf. Still bad at speedsculpts.
This goes on the things i need to revisit pile.
Afraid i did a little sketch of your cat marine really like him haha hope you don't mind! was just for some fun
I'd like to post with your permission
Thanks Sup! posted now thanks for the inspiration.
Today was mostly for fun over productivity. I just havent felt like i've been drawing enough, largely doodling. Some rather poor studies of bridgman and photos mixed in.
THIS TOO