Sketchbook: Smallpoly

SmallPoly · Mar 2012

For someone who's been working in 3D Graphics for around 10 years, you'd think this stuff would be better. It is what it is. I'm in a constant fight against mediocrity. Here's to another year.

If this thing gets going this time around, it'll probably start off with a bunch of untextured low poly sketches for the sake of habit building. It won't be impressive, but I'm still open to critique!

Meetup I Run: Santa Barbara Drawing Group
DeviantArt: Smallpoly
Old Sketchbook on ConceptArt.org (Sep 2011- Nov 2013) - "Practice like a Madman"

SmallPoly · Apr 2016

I suppose I'll start this off showing where I'm at with my 2D work. Here we go.

Most of the time when I'm doing quick sketches of things, my preferred tools are ink (usually Pilot G2s) and watercolor. I've also often been using the subreddit /r/RedditGetsDrawn for practicing animals and portraits.

I also enjoy going out to do gesture drawing anywhere people are waiting in line. Usually this means Starbucks or the Costco food court, but pretty much anytime I'm waiting for something I pull out my clipboard and art supplies and start going at it.

Here's some more work from RGD, this time with digital painting. I really love doing animal portraits. I like using bright oversaturated color contrasts within my work, especially mixing in bits of blue into flesh tones.

I practice humans as well, but I often struggle with getting an accurate resemblance.

One of my weakest areas right now are landscapes. Here's a recent photo study.

Lately I've been getting into doing the material ball thing for practice. Sometimes it seems like I just can't get it, other times it goes well. Right now I have the most trouble when the lighting needs to be significantly different from the reference.

I host a drawing group at a local bar once a month, and have been doing it for a couple years now. I bring in lighting, set up a still life, put out a sign and some chips, and grab a drink. The top pic has the old sign, but I recently replaced it with a much nicer one. There's about 5 regulars right now, and the meeting size tends to be between 6 and 10 people. On rare occasions there will be as many as 16, but when there's too many new people at once it's tough to retain any of them.

So that pretty much covers where I'm at with 2D stuff right now. I've gone forward in some areas, and feel like I've slid back in others. Still, I'm doing what I can to push through to the next level. I'm tired of feeling like I'm 10 years behind my peers.