Still Life

Well I just realized that I haven't shared one of the few projects I've been able to do with this new self imposed boot camp I'm putting myself through here at leas (I've wanted to do this for a while but I was dealing with a bout of depression and other issues). It's on my Facebook and Deviant art but I'll record it here too. 

The piece has some definite improvements over my usual digital painting and it is true, still life is THE best way to work on technique and painting textures. I should be doing these much more often than I have in the past so I've carved out time to to work on something like this eat least once a week along with my figures and other things. 

And here you can see the steps involved in the creation of the project. 

New bonus post: Landscapes

I almost forgot about these. Just finished three 30 minute landscape studies I'd like to share with anyone kind enough to be hanging around here.

All three look much better small but I don't think they're that bad for my firs time in forever doing such quick paintings. All done digitally from photo reference. 

Unit 3: Limbs cont'd feet and Unit 4: Portraiture

 

Okay guys, heads up here's a brief summary of both why posts haven't been coming lately, and why that's changing now in a big way.

I recently quit my job with Walgreens and I realize just how much of my energy the place was sapping. I hadn't been drawing or taking care of myself because I hated what I was doing and hated my situation so much. I'm back to trying to keep things in order and I feel so much better. Now it's time to start doing what I do best again. On that note...

Hands and feet man. Two of the hardest things to draw in existence. I know more than my fair share of artists who are scared of attempting to put too much focus on either of these areas because they're so easy to make look weird. In all honestly I could spend a month just learning to draw these well and I've put nowhere near the focus on them they need. I will likely return to these at some point.
 

Part of the reason I admittedly rushed this important but easy to overlook segment of the body is because I also have another area that is both extremely important, NOT easy to overlook and is an area I've struggled with in the past. The head and face. 

If there's one thing to be on guard against with drawing the face in my opinion, it's drawing what you think is there instead of what is. Everyone spends a lot of their lives looking at faces and while we instinctively know when something is wrong, it doesn't mean we instinctively know how to make it look right. Also I've noticed I have to be on guard for my lean (something that sometimes happens when objects seem to distort and "lean" in a direction. For me, usually up and to the right since I'm right handed. 

These are planar drawings of the head to get a general idea ow how the big shapes are connected. Next up are the features of the head and portraits. I expect I'll do more than a few portraits. Here's one as a baseline before I leave. Let's see if I improve and how quickly. 

Bonus post: More Toros

Pretty much what it says on the tin. More practice with digital paint and torsos. I tried something a bit different this time in that I didn't refine the black and white as much as I usually do. Instead I used it as an underpainting and when I did the color tried to get the details and refinement there. I think I'm going the right way but I still don't feel like I'm there yet.

The issue I'm having is I'm not really sure the shadows are gelling right. I'm going to have to work on that more. In the meantime, more stuff coming soon. I have a whole bunch of stuff that needs scanning and posting. 

Unit Three: The limbs

I'm going to be combining a few things I'd planned on. The two separate units that were going to be arms and legs are getting combined into one. Still, we're starting with arms so let's get to it.

Not much to say this time. Just a general sketch blast.

Started with some structural studies from my drawings books trying to get a feel for the general construction of the arm and its planes. Boy is this thing complex. 

Closing this out with some studies and digital painting studies to end this one. The difference in the skin on this one was cool. The bottom one is of a woman and due to the lighting on her the skin had a bit of a cold tint to it. The arm at the top right had a warmer feel to it and it was awesome to have an exercise force me to look at that.

Unit Two: The trunk cont'd (retroactive)

Why retroactive? Because I found some studies I forgot to upload. 

Unit Two: The Trunk Cont'd

Okay. It's been a bit since I've posted but I warned you that was going to happen. Anyway, continuing the ongoing improvement of figure drawing skills with a study of the trunk of the body.

The first things I worked on for this entry were some muscular studies. I was working on something else (I think it was another study for this blog) and realized that part of my difficulty probably stemmed from not having a solid grasp of what the musculature under the skin was doing. To remedy that I thought some musculature studies similar to my skeleton studies would work. Above you see the pages from my sketchbook and below you'll see some details.

These were a lot of fun and knowing what I know about the skeleton now seeing how everything attaches is really interesting. It also demonstrates how and why armor design so closely resembles musculature. As the muscles protect the organs by layering and interlocking, so does armor. For example, I've always known the pectoral muscles connect at the sternum but was unaware of how they connect to the deltoids, the muscles that make the semi rounded shape of the shoulder. In the back muscles wrap around sort of like a vest from the mid back to the sides of the pecs. All interesting stuff. 

I did fewer studies this time than last, partially because of the detailed nature of the muscle studies but I wanted to do some work on twisting and the back of the trunk. Also, I wanted to do a study with a different skin tone. I did my black and white underpainting and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'll try again. 

On the subject of doing these studies of the back I think it goes without saying (though I'll say it anyway) one must learn to draw the human body from all angles. These exercises of course remind me of what one of my teachers said. You have to learn to make a sort of 3-D model in your head of what you're trying to draw so that you can rotate and manipulate it in your head. Seeing in the round essentially. A skill that serves sculptors of every sort infinitely but is also remarkably helpful to an illustrator doing representational and or figurative work. 

So I need to be able to build my objects in my mind from the inside out AND make the final 3-D image in my mind manipulatable? 

Why does it sound like I'm training to use a Green Lantern ring? Admittedly, second best super power for an artist ever. What's the first? 

Making your drawings come to life. Duh 

:D

See you next time.