Colourific!

After talking about values and tones at sketchgroup I decided to try rendering a greyscale image using different colours. I worked under a white "colour" layer and in hindsight I should have tried working without it in order to actually gain something from doing this drawing. I was more curious than anything though, so I guess now I know what that looks like ...pretty psychedelic!

I've been wanting to put up photos of the skull model I got for Christmas for a while now so that more people can get some use out of it since I am probably not doing it justice. So here they are for all those artists looking for a (fairly) clear turnaround of a skull. Below is a just thumbnail but you can download the .zip folder containing high res images using the link below.

Download high resolution skull references here

Taking photos of the skull was kind of my way of "backing it up" as well because I was about to cover it in plasticine and I'm not sure if it's going to come off easily. I sculpted the muscles of the face onto the skull which was actually a pretty good learning activity. I figured they must be fairly accurate because the face started creeping me out while I was working on it. At least it stuck in my head what the muscles look like and where they go (what they do exactly is another thing!).

I think I will take a similar set of turnaround shots before I do the skin layer and then keep them as references for later.

Here are those handbags I was talking about in a previous post. I'm not sure if I would actually expect anyone to use these but they were fun to make and I have some better ideas for some that might actually be acceptable in public. These are my Aunties' dogs, say hi to Molly and Wishbone.

I've also been doing a fair bit of reading lately (probably a manifestation of my procrastination) but if you are a serial procrastinator like me try to get your hands on a copy of the War of Art by Steven Pressfield I'm confident just about any creative person can pick out a few quotes from this book to keep them soldiering on. It also comes in audio tape format so you can listen and work at the same time.

One-eyed sketch and father time progress..

Okay no more posts until at least next Monday. I will try to make this a weekly thing.

I'm constantly struggling with motivation and distraction from various sources (#1 being the internet argh! the irony...)... I'm busy organising another attempt to allocate my free time to drawing with a balance of learning, exploring and applying knowledge. I don't want to divulge too much because sometimes I get the impression that when I say things, I'm less likely to actually do them- I'd rather just do them and surprise people with the results.

Just a random sketch of an angry one eyed man.

And another sketch for father time. I tried to tell a story in this one but I realised two things;
1.) This is not a valid entry because half of the character is missing
2.) The challenge ended. What the heck? I thought we at least had until Tuesday mornings? I guess it changed... Oh well.

I wanted it to be a little creepy- old lady dies watching static on a tv, a spilt mug on the floor and a cat that seems to notice. My take on the myth is that father time guides old souls to bodies needing new souls, by then the souls have lost their forms and memories. Father times only collects souls which have died of old age.. the grim reaper collects the souls of people who have died before their time.

I was actually going to do a more character focused design but yeah, the thread closed. So now I'm looking forward to the next challenge "Military Unit: The Hacker".

Todays scribbles

A few things I drew today.. the faces were looking a lot worse. It's surprising how looking at a totally unrelated face reference can help so much in just getting the proportions right.. I always draw massive eyes >.<

The gladiator slicing someone's butt was unintentional.. but a nice touch I think. Happy accidents.

Face studies

I pretty much spent the whole day listening to Bobby Chiu's podcasts (thanks for the link Mark ;) ). His personality is something to be inspired by, with that mentality I have no doubt he could succeed at anything- art related or not.

Anyway, here are a few faces I drew while I was listening, the bottom right ones (labelled with nr) were done without any references. Still got a long ways to go but I'm glad I found a new source of inspiration.

Symmetry is something that I can't seem to get right, I'm not really sure how to solve that one just yet.

Catching up..

Okay it's more like a month and a half! Anyway here's some more... there's some me and Ed collab in here.

Big update incomming...

Wow I haven't updated for what.. a month? Geez where does the time go? I've been in Melbourne for almost 6 months now.. what is going on!?

Anyway I mostly blame my PC which I have been trying to fix (to no avail yet) and due to repeated formats I have been reluctant and too lazy to continually install the drivers for my scanner and tablet. Anyway I decided to do it last night because I have a few days off work which is ample time to tackle the growing pile of artwork that needs scanning. So the next few posts should catch up to where I'm at now.

Sorry for the lack of responses to comments too, that I can't really make an excuse for but I will be replying soon.. I appreciate the feedback.. so thanks guys :)

Progress...

I better update this before I get too far behind and too lazy.. Here are some sketchbook pages filled over the few days:

A couple of sketchbook pages. Faces, eyes, gesturals plus some rough looking man on the tram and some noses.

A head, no reference.

I did a sketch a while ago for the Kitsune topic for Character of the Week. I was just playing around with painting the face and then gave up on it.. looks nothing like the original sketch..

More noses and anatomy studies.

B&W sketch of a gun-wielding chick... not sure if I will take it any further. Her static pose is bugging me.

More sketchbook pages, the right one was done on public transport, it's unfortunate that the scary hulking naked dude was actually based on someone. The left one was just some random people around the city and down the bottom are the results of me trying to draw Oddworld characters from memory.. Oddworld was one of my big inspirations for drawing critters and 3D modelling.

Studies/ Thumbnails + Watercolor

 A quote that kinda got me going the other day from How to Sketch with Watercolor:

"I'm a strong believer in practice and hard work as the means to achieving excellence in art. Listening to a lecture, reading books, buying the latest and greatest supplies, cleaning your studio, watching others give demonstrations, anything that doesn't include putting a pencil, pen or brush to paper yourself, doesn't help as much as sitting down and sketching, drawing or painting." -David R. Becker

I spend so much time reading about art, buying supplies and cleaning my studio. I have to spend more time actually doing it... I always find that for me, the most motivational quotes are a lot like Nike's JUST DO IT. Although I find if I get worked up and full of an almost aggressive determination, it's so hard to put that energy into something as passive as drawing. Maybe I need to do something like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54UL0xUt8-s XD

On the update.. I've been mucking around with some watercolour quite unsuccessfully, not totally sure yet if it was my fault or the paper.. probably both. I will have another go now that I'm back at home with my art supplies.

I really want to digitally shrink that last guy's eye.. but that defeats the purpose of a pencil sketch argh, digital is so much easier >.> I'm not sure if I will learn more by making mistakes in permanent inks or working on them until they are correct in digital format?

I think my direction for this week is just studying portraits so I can acquire a few more face and features types to draw and also take note of general similarities they have.

I'm gonna shut up now and JUST DO IT rawr!

People practice

I've been doing a fair bit of random art stuff at my parent's country home, including an easter pinata :D . I did these without reference (except for a quick look at army uniforms/firearms) but not without a lot of random chopping and changing of original ideas. Luckily we got hooked up to TV and internet the other day so I can upload these, will scan the others when I get back :)


Yes the girl is zombiefied because I was lazy to tackle her other eye.. for shame :S

Animation of how I kept changing stuff :P

CA Sketchmeet Sunday- 21nd of Feb + Face sculpt

Some gesturals from Sunday and some other random things thrown in there. I think the appearance of my quick gesturals might actually be improving.. they look more natural and like real people. I particularly like the old grandma sitting and reading for some reason.

While we were sitting on the pretend grass at the QV building we were thrown comfy beanbags to sit on and a band called Husky rocked up and played in front of us (hence the guy with a guitar in the sketches). I thought that was particularly awesome because stuff like that never happens in Perth. That was the third free performance I'd experienced in a week; the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performance on Sunday was of such high quality it felt weird that I wasn't paying for it. Melbourne is awesome.

I took up knoxie's idea to sculpt a part of the face... I kind of made the eye a bit too wide open and huge.. but hey, I actually found myself learning more about the nose and how the cheek attaches to the side of it. Definitely need to study more noses! I guess that will be my next sculpt.

Here are some poorly lit photos of my sculpting..

 

I haven't been working on a lot else because I have some commission work to do. I'm kind of feeling the effects of not having an income, I need to get a stable job soon!