After revisiting that maplestory 2 knight drawing I assessed what I think I need to fix and improve, will do this for every non-study piece from now on.
Spoiler
++Knight Assessment++
Observations:
-Poorly done metal texture, esp on sword where it makes no sense
-Poorly done stockings (the lit area)
-Still reliant on lineart, painting didn't feel good enough to stand on its own.
-Blury, smudgy and undefined in areas (legs in particular), need better actual edge control
Main Weaknesses:
-The face, took too long to fix it and I still feel unsure of it.
-The hair, no idea how to render hair in light, still reliant on the same guess-and-check method I used for old pics
-Not giving enough pineapples to finish it, became..bored/discouraged.Need to harden the pineapple up next time and end a pic
properly, its still not even rendered properly in some parts.
-Lack of contrast and real'pushed' values
What I like:
-The hands, best hands I've ever done (I haven't done many hands)
-The dress bit, never really rendered something like that before.
WHat I discovered:
-Pulling down the saturation of a color, and then applying it next to similar color (e.g. blue-grey next to blue)
creates a sense of its compliment (the grey took on a yellow-feel), from this I can work out lighting (the light
was yellow) of stuff, I think.
-Lasso tool can come in handy for setting down patterns (see side of the dress)
-Metal is uh, high contrast (common sense 101 zzz)
What to study/focus on to improve:
-Facial construction, being confident in putting down something that I know will look correct. Back to hampton
and loomis, as well as self portraits, photo break downs and observation
-Life studies of metal, of different textures
-Photo studies of hair, research into methods (ribbon method?)
-RENDERING ABILITY. Look into the ctrlpaint videos you have. + Still life painting
Decided my digital painting/rendering ability was nonexistant so I practiced a bit first. I still have no idea how to handle SAI.
Exams are over (for now), my final set of school exams are in 5weeks, and then my final HSC is in...2-3 months? So I'm just going to take all of tomorrow off to draw *-*
Imagination work this time. I'll do a photo study of an asaro head to compare where I went wrong and what to improve.
It represents the duality of man, the inner conflict between concious and subconscious, a zeitgiest mlieu of trasncendental transience my inability to construct, simplify and render the human noggin.
I'll do a photo study of an asaro head to compare where I went wrong and what to improve.
This is much more complex than the crappy ones I did from imagination, I'll need to memorize the extra planes of the forehead, eyes and lips, and nose, which is pretty much everything so hasjfsadfsad
blergh, time for another still life tomorrow, its been too long, so much for having a study schedule
once that metal-focused still life is down its back to studying anatomy aaaaand then I'll apply what I've learnt to some new piece.
"Oh you did a semi decent photo study of some black and white image with clearly defined planes? WHY NOT TRY A COLOR PHOTO WITH LOTS OF METAL YEA THATS A GREAT IDEA"
Posting while its half baked because I was lazy and didnt do the metal still life like I said I would, went out to eat pho instead. Anyway the actual ref had her uhm, missing most of the front of her armor, so I decided it would be a good learning process to copy down what metal was ON the photo, and then try invent my own and get it to look semingly legit. At the moment though it looks like a messy blob of crap
And this marks the third image in this thread with some generic fantasy girl with the eye level set at her waist. Yea, really pushing the envelope here.
edit: Yep, leaving it at this for now, time to setup my still life n take a break.
At least the drawing was sort of accurate. I know I need more contrast with the metal to actually get it reading as metal, and some sense of edge control so the reflective surface doesn't look like muddy garbage.
Bad news is I got some weird "funny bone" feeling in my drawing-index finger when I stretched it back, so scarred of carpal tunnel now I'm starting to do wrist exercises and all that jazz.
Eughhh going back to maplestory killed any art drive I had so I deleted it (for the seventh time or so) its just felt so mind numbingly simple.
Learning how to apply a frame in perspective to give my figure drawings some more interesting angles. (Free wombat included, decided to spend an hour sketching them to add them into my visual library)
Spoiler
The main problem is I haven't bothered memorizing how the proportions of a body are divided according to eighths of a frame so right now its not as useful as it should be as a guide.
Legs day ^^ taking my time with diagrams from Hampton's Figure Drawing: Design and Invention.
Last day of the holidays art studying will get slower (one hour a night instead of 2-3) as I start school studying more and more.
I'm not dead, but I probably will be soon from exams
Spoiler
Anatomy stuff. All from imagination too so that's pretty neat.
___________________________________
Turning this into the new evekara-redraw. Composition is so blatant I might as well be hitting the audience over the head with a bat labelled "LOOK AT HER. LOOOK AT HER".
The arrows angled upwards don't even make sense unless shes being fired at by midgets.
Spoiler
______________________________________
Changed the comp for the better. The ellipses are rough.
Tired and feeling a bit lost in my approach to painting this, just polished random bits of it with no adherence to what I learnt from the vase. Will attempt to follow it tomorrow, and I'm promising myself that I'll take this to the highest polish I can go.
Spoiler
__________________________________________________ _____
Still not fully adhering to the vase study but my rendering is much stronger than I expected, still woefully far away from professional standards and speed but I have another 4 years....
_____________________________________________
Callin this one done. Got some feedback on my process and its all wrong when it comes to illustration. I started with anatomy when I should've started with simple thumbnails, gesture and general composition, so at the moment its some weird work-study hybrid.
Ah well, I'm proud out the rendering, and I'll probably look back and cringe horribly but it was fun.
Last edited by PoetryIsFail; 2014-08-10 at 11:05 PM.
Small update, reading FORCE - The Key to Capturing Life Through Drawing and trying to improve my gestures and give my figure work life.
I'm happy with 1 and 2, 3 is lulzy and 4 is too constructed to count but its an interesting angle that I haven't taken before. I didn't use photo reference because I'm too lazy to find it
Since Evekara is down, I'll revisit my plans to draw Irena with these poses, they're all meant to show a character reaching for an arrow while holding a bow (the bow is only visible in 4 though)
That divine shield drawing of Evekara is pineappleing sweet.
Good job, Poetry!
THANK YOU! sorryforthelatereply i wanted to have something to post but my wrist was a bit messed up from exams and drawing.
Originally Posted by PoetryIsFail
____
welp been over a month and i haven't done diddly squat. I PROMISE TO RETURN ONCE IM STRONGER! -20/4/2014
Trying again with 300% more archers. Going to try make up the anatomy on the spot instead of methodically putting in a skeleton and then muscles. Composition will probably still be a mess but it'll be something to learn from
Spoiler
________________________
21/8/14
One down 4 to go. Eyeballed the anatomy as well as I could. My ability to draw animoo has improved slightly compared to last time so that's nice.
Going to finish the roughline art for the other four, post it again, then probably refine the lines and go in with color, then I'll try render it as well as I can, opacity lock and color the lines and it should look neat.
Last edited by PoetryIsFail; 2014-08-21 at 08:12 AM.
UPDATE
Almost there with archer sketches, wrist problems + slow working speed (excuses excuses)
__________________________________________
My sketchbook
I said I wouldn't post my trad work but back then I was a dumbass who spammed scratchy pen "gestures" which had no substance or value. Here some stuff, bad and worse, from my sketchbook/daily diary.
I've been thinking about this, and arguing with others over it, so I might as well just vent out my thoughts on the idea of talent.
F'UCK TALENT. DOES IT EXIST? YES. DOES IT MATTER? NO. THE ENTIRE IDEA THAT PEOPLE CAN OR CAN'T SUCCEED IN SOMETHING BECAUSE OF SOME MAGICAL INBORN TRAIT IS GARBAGE.
I get incredibly pissed off when people bring it up as something that actually matters in success in any field. As if hard work and dedication is powerless to overcome the absence of some X factor, as if its some deciding factor in everyone's destiny. F'UCK. THAT.
I want to be an artistillustrator artist (eugh I hate the label) and the thought that some people will just believe that:
If I fail, I just didn't have it in me.
If I succeed, I was just born with some gift.
FUUUUUUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUU. I CHOSE THIS.
Talent is a pathetic excuse mumbled by people unable to accept their own lack of willpower, and I hope I never, ever tell myself or give up on something because
"Oh I'm just not talented"
...
I was a lot angrier about this before, probably because it dug at my own insecurities over failure, the idea of not having some "talent" or deciding factor in me is actually pretty scary. I'm often very critical and doubtful of what I think and say (because 17 year olds are mostly idiots right?), but this is one thing I want to hold "true" for the rest of my life, the idea that anyone can pursue anything.
Vague life goals so far are:
-Get into medicine or optometry at UNI while still developing my abilities
-Get to a professional level of digital art while getting my degree at uni (4-7 years of growth or something)
-??? ugh
-Be the very best like no one ever was (seriously)
Too young, naive and unskilled atm to even consider this properly, yet I reckon have a very good shot at optometry, and once I get in I can easily rack up experience working at my parent's glasses store. Once I land a job working part time I can freelance on the side.
I feel like the amount of time I spend drawing everyday is gimping my chances though so I'll have to dial it back for sure. My UMAT practice results are alright (got 90% raw today :D), and my really high ranking selective highschool + consistent all-subject performance should be enough but if I keep drawing for the amount of time I do now, my marks will drop.
POSTING WITHOUT WORK FOR AN UPDATE ON THIS. PARTICULARLY THE BOLDED SECTION.
YEAAAAA GOT 96 PERCENTILE IN THE UMAT. OVER KILL FOR OPTOMETRY AND ENOUGH FOR A MEDICINE INTERVIEW as long as my atar doesn't suck. THE PRACTICE TESTS AND QUESTIONS EVERY NIGHT FOR 6 MONTHS PAID OFFF YESSSSSSSSSSSS
Sketchbook stuff. 50 hands are done too. Realizing I've been coddled by digital tools for far too long and can barely draw a full figure traditionally.
My crap right now
Where I want to eventually get.
Spoiler
hnnng. that lineweight that shading that everything
Artist: Jana Schrimer
Coloring on the anime archers above is slow and on hold until my final exams are done.
I've managed to pick up a very neat blending brush for skin tones however so it'll turn out alright.
I just don't have the time to HSC study, art study and then work on it right now. excuses i know T-T
I cannot do gesture drawings on tablet for crap ;-;, going to do 20 a night now
Spoiler
Like many of the things I've said I'll do in this thread for practice, I didn't follow it, but hey, I still improved a bit
Additional stuff on my a3 newsprint pad. I've been neglecting my actual sketchbook lately, its just too small to draw from the shoulder on.
Facing impending doom from the HSC. I'm in a very good position with my school and subject ranks and umat but oh man did I piss away several weeks of potential study time. Keen for uni though.
Anatomy revision from imagination focusing on the upper torso and neck. Gonna watch more videos tomorrow and get back into the swing of things from my week long holiday.
Old stuff from reference, closest I'll get to life drawing models until I'm 18 zzzz
Spoiler
Haven't touched my tablet in what feels like a month e-e
Bookmarks