Brief diversion. Feeling uneasy about my skillset, embarking on a handful of color studies to make some corrections. Starting off... Poorly! I'll iron it out.
Thank you guys so much! Little bits of encouragement mean a ton, I'm terrible at self-motivating and art's a really goddamn discouraging thing to work on sometimes.
Not a big update today, did a tag a pretty bad figure study today -- wanted to share this. I do this at least once a week, it's a silly little way I stay sane at work. Really hard to draw anything good though!
Your 2D shows promise, keep at it . The next thing I'd say is work on your line work (i.e. tidy it up and try to make it look slightly like comic book line work). The next thing is Google this guys:
ANDREW LOOMIS!!!!
This man is a fecking genius at life drawing and also teaching it aswell. He has 5 books on Free PDF's. Check out "Life Drawing, for all it's worth".
Uh, thanks man. I've had the loomis books since 06 or something! Another bad study and a doodle from a couple days ago. These studies are productive, so far. Skintones are easier than I expected -- drawing is harder than I expected.
yuck. I'm very encouraged about how easy (basic) painting in color is, i'm very discouraged by how poorly i'm conveying forms. Need to draw draw draw.
Part of these have been experimenting with workflow, how to tackle an image like this. The reclining woman a few posts back, i think, represents the best execution of these so far. I'm gonna make a conscious effort to approach the next few the way I approached her.
Still in the funkiest of funks. Cutesy bullshit to keep the thread warm, while i erase everything i draw. Mentally burned out from my obnoxious job, wake up excited to draw and get home drained and thrashing around with my stylus. Doing little studies here and there, learning more every day, just frustrating that I can't seem to apply any of it this week. whine whine whine.
Hey man, this last page or two has shown some significant improvement. Not only in tackling more subjects (love that tank), but in technique. When you slow down, you produce much better work, by far! I still need to remind myself of this at times as I tend to get carried away with trying to quickly push an idea down on canvas..which is fine at first, but having the tenacity to push forward with it and not leave it in the 'Forever a quicksketch/wip pile' is also important.
Thanks saya! Yeah, slowing down is honestly a struggle. Too high strung and anxious, always feel like i gotta hurry! Need to remember that smooth is fast.
Trying to make an active effort to relax more, and take more control of my mental game when i'm painting.
So, these aren't too great, and i probably dumped too much time into this for a doodle, but my confidence in color from imagination is going wayyyy up. Need to get back to productive stuff, like studies and that soldiers project above.
It's interesting what things i find more (or less) difficult to portray in color vs pure value. Eyes especially are incredibly hard to draw in color, whereas i feel i can imply them pretty easily in value.
Those were pretty bad. Trying to design exhausted is never a good move. I gotta manage my time better! This is more like it. This is the heavier, explosive and anti-vehicle cousin of the 'b rifleman' on the last page (who needs a lot of work.) I know my sketches are kinda all over the place, I'll organize these various art projects eventually.
Initially these guys were going to be 'blue' team, with a lot of muted cyans and greys, but I think reds and yellows work way better on the techy, interlocking plates.
Where i can fit time in around work, i'm gonna take this guy to completion. And then him and his buddy the grenadier are going to get back views and weapon concepts.
really liking the colored marine suprore, and that apc too. And I'm a huge fan of non-traditional color schemes-- few things bore me more than generic menacing dark blue/black faceless soldier types, unless the colors actually work properly in the context of a larger piece.
Anyway, on the off chance that you're not already familiar you should check out Justin Sweet (you'll recognize his work if you played Icewind Dale or Fallout). I bring him up not only because he's just awesome overall, but specifically because of his mastery with muted palettes, something which I think lends itself really well to military sketches/paintings. He loves to have 95% of a piece stay within a very narrow color range and then hit you with a pop of contrast, like here and here. I think the current soldier would look really good with a more muted overall palette but then with a punch of contrast from chevrons, color patches or striping.
Thanks a ton wake! Very helpful post. That dude's a pimp! I'll try and integrate some of those concepts. My skill with color is still pretty hazy.
I bought a bunch of new art supplies. Some ink pens and brushes that i can't use yet because i apparently only own silver ink (???), and some China Markers and newsprint! China markers are downright incredible.
From imagination, just doodling and relaxing today. 5x8 cachet and then 18x24 newsprint.
Back to updating every day effective immediately. My job still sucks, but I'm letting it get too me too much. Still been drawing every day, just not enouuuughhh! More overdose guns coming soon. Some 5 minute doodles from yesterday.
Bonus: When I'm trying to digest ideas, I oftentimes draw them and take notes.
Sometimes these are very basic ideas that I should intimately know already.
Typically these are very embarrassing. Here we go.
Have I been placing the eyes in slightly the wrong place all along?
Maybe so. I plead the fifth.
EDIT: Kerpow. This one's a little more interesting, to me. Photoshop is so many mediums!
Sketches from yesterday and today, doodling out a character idea. He's pretty feminine, and pretty boring.
Also, I still work in retail hell, It's still pretty awful, but I am getting SO GOOD AT IT. A couple of days ago I taped a paper towel around the tip of a sharpie and made some magic happen.
I think the amount of work you've put out in the last is downright admirable and the results show great improvement. But I think you've got some stylistic tendencies that keep recurring; for example, the eyes you draw often have little width and are placed far apart, with little attention to the socket. If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion, I imagine you'd benefit from sculpting a likeness, forcing you to abandon that typical Suprore-style for a while.
Aye, zwebbie, thanks for stopping by! Good advice, definitely something I should do. Im really lazy about doing realistic or accurate art, espcially from photos, it's definitely my biggest weakness as far as my development goes. Will find time to do it eventually, though.
I'm at a phase where I'm really not very content with how I analyze forms and draw. I feel like there's a sense of weight and presence that's sorely lacking from my work, and a couple of anatomical problems that stem from the same core lack of understanding; shoulders, knees, hips, and many shapes in the face seem to get flattened out and muddy when I draw them. Gotta understand those planes!
Replies
Brief diversion. Feeling uneasy about my skillset, embarking on a handful of color studies to make some corrections. Starting off... Poorly! I'll iron it out.
The improvement seen when tabbing between this page and the first one is very inspirational.
Keep it up!
Not a big update today, did a tag a pretty bad figure study today -- wanted to share this. I do this at least once a week, it's a silly little way I stay sane at work. Really hard to draw anything good though!
And tags from today and yesterday
ANDREW LOOMIS!!!!
This man is a fecking genius at life drawing and also teaching it aswell. He has 5 books on Free PDF's. Check out "Life Drawing, for all it's worth".
Part of these have been experimenting with workflow, how to tackle an image like this. The reclining woman a few posts back, i think, represents the best execution of these so far. I'm gonna make a conscious effort to approach the next few the way I approached her.
more
First one's a tag, go play.
Keep rockin man
Trying to make an active effort to relax more, and take more control of my mental game when i'm painting.
It's interesting what things i find more (or less) difficult to portray in color vs pure value. Eyes especially are incredibly hard to draw in color, whereas i feel i can imply them pretty easily in value.
edited another one in
also
Anyway, on the off chance that you're not already familiar you should check out Justin Sweet (you'll recognize his work if you played Icewind Dale or Fallout). I bring him up not only because he's just awesome overall, but specifically because of his mastery with muted palettes, something which I think lends itself really well to military sketches/paintings. He loves to have 95% of a piece stay within a very narrow color range and then hit you with a pop of contrast, like here and here. I think the current soldier would look really good with a more muted overall palette but then with a punch of contrast from chevrons, color patches or striping.
Either way you've got a cool sketchbook.
I bought a bunch of new art supplies. Some ink pens and brushes that i can't use yet because i apparently only own silver ink (???), and some China Markers and newsprint! China markers are downright incredible.
From imagination, just doodling and relaxing today. 5x8 cachet and then 18x24 newsprint.
its been really inspiring to me lately
Keep it up
i like this a lot.
3d stuff today.
Meanwhile, throwing some stuff Overdose's way. Fun themes to work with, they have a lot of cool ideas going on!
Bonus: When I'm trying to digest ideas, I oftentimes draw them and take notes.
Sometimes these are very basic ideas that I should intimately know already.
Typically these are very embarrassing.
Here we go.
Have I been placing the eyes in slightly the wrong place all along?
Maybe so. I plead the fifth.
EDIT: Kerpow. This one's a little more interesting, to me. Photoshop is so many mediums!
Time to go to work!
Doodles. ignore the text, note to myself about one of my brush presets!
Meanwhile!
quick study i should maybe finish! still SOOOO bad at observational stuff, the proportions are all jacked up. I hate doing photo studies!
Sketches from yesterday and today, doodling out a character idea. He's pretty feminine, and pretty boring.
Also, I still work in retail hell, It's still pretty awful, but I am getting SO GOOD AT IT. A couple of days ago I taped a paper towel around the tip of a sharpie and made some magic happen.
edit: 10 minutes of mermaids before bed
Doing more studies here and there, too!
Anyway. Design doodles.
I'm at a phase where I'm really not very content with how I analyze forms and draw. I feel like there's a sense of weight and presence that's sorely lacking from my work, and a couple of anatomical problems that stem from the same core lack of understanding; shoulders, knees, hips, and many shapes in the face seem to get flattened out and muddy when I draw them. Gotta understand those planes!
bad day!