Sketchbook Thread of Kewn

[NR43]

Hello Kewn,

you're off to a great start with these... I would say... enjoy the ride :D

Have you been drawing and painting since long? Did you go to an art school maybe? (not that it's important to have done art school, it's just interesting to know a bit about your background ;) )

Hope to see more work from you soon
take care

[Kewn]

Hey NR43, I used to draw alot as a kid till I got in highschool, which sucked. Now I've been trying to stick to it but so far I've been drawing on and off. I hope to keep going now cause I really need to get better, I'd love to work in concept art someday..

Anyway, I never had any art education, that's what makes it pretty difficult to hold on now cause I always keep doubting about how to study and what I should do.. Too bed I can't afford a good school now.
I planned to study masters, draw alot from life and do speedpaintings (or something).

Here's another master study I just did, did this one pretty quickly tho:

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/10_06_06/mastercopy_RIBERA_Martyrdom_of_St_Philip_sm.jpg

[Kewn]

New master study:

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/10_07_06/mastercopy_MICHELANGELO_dawn_sm.jpg

Shading is hard.

[NR43]

Kewn,

thanks for the info :)
It's good to hear you have some sort of plan. The hard part is to stick to it :D

Maybe these video's Bobby Chiu made will give you some answers regarding what and how exactly you should study.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=410461

I noticed your scans look quite bright. I would suggest playing a bit with the levels and contrast in GIMP or Photoshop (or whatever image editing software you are using) so your drawings are more visible.

As for shading, there are some nice threads about that here as well, by our Anatomy godess Rebecca :)

digital:

REBECCA KIMMEL'S Anatomy Review 003: SHADING TUTORIAL AND HUMAN SKULL EXERCISE (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=259291)

traditional (crosshatching):
TUTORIAL - General Principles of Anatomical and Figurative Art / Cross Hatching (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=374939)

Hope these links are useful to you (they were to me for sure)
and let's see some more work here soon :thumbsup:

[Rebeccak]

Kewn,

Glad to see you start up a Sketchbook. :) I think that you will greatly benefit from these Master Studies - following the Torsos Workshop, I would encourage you to take a few of them further in terms of rendering so as to really study them in depth.

NR43, thanks for providing those links! :)

Cheers,

-Rebeccak

[Kewn]

Hey Rebeccak thanks for the reply! I'll try to render em out more alltho I find it pretty hard to get the right values down. There are so many :D

Forgot to post this one yesterday:

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/10_07_06/mastercopy_RIBERA_Saint_Onufri_sm.jpg

097:
RIBERA, Jusepe de
Saint Onufri
1637
Oil on canvas

Did a quick Daumier study too:

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/10_07_06/mastercopy_DAUMIER_don_quixote_and_sancho_panza_sm.jpg

I love the original piece :)

[Kewn]

I figured maybe I should take it easy with the master studies; I feel like I'm diving into this too early and I need more patience with my progress in drawing, of course master studies are very beneficial but I think it's better with some more fundamental skills. I will keep doing master studies, but not as much as studying anatomy seperately and drawing from life.

I planned to study the head first, starting with the skull. First I filled a page with skulls without any reference to test my knowledge as it is now, as you see it needs alot of work:

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/10_11_06/skulls_imagin.jpg

I'll post reference studies later.

[NR43]

yep, couldn't agree more.
it's best to take things at your own pace and study one thing at the time

Wanna study heads? check this out:

Anatomy Lesson Series: Body Part 1 - The Head (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=375031)


This is a great source of inspiration, motivation and reference. It's available here thanks to Rebecca's efforts.

That's a fine headstart you got there with those skull studies :D
Are you using a book or the work of a particular artist to guidy you in your studies or do you google for reference material of the subject you want to study?

I hope you'll post some more head studies up soon!
Good luck and have fun creating!

[Rebeccak]

Hi Kewn,

Looks like you have a good start here! :)

Thanks to NR43 for the suggestion and link to the Portrait Workshop - indeed that's a great place to start! I also recommend delving into the Shading Tutorial linked here:

Personal Sketchbook Primer and Tutorial / Workshop Guide (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=403198)
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=403198

NR43 himself did a lovely piece based off of the shading tutorial which you can see at the back of his Sketchbook Thread. There are links to many others' exercises which can serve as inspiration in the link above. :) You are welcome to try the Shading Exercise using traditional media, as several others have done before with some very nice results. I think it will be a great way to ease into your studies here on the Anatomy Forum.

Cheers, :)

-Rebeccak

[Kewn]

NR43 - Hey thanks for the tip and the encouriging words. Well I got quite some books now (i.e. from Hale, Vilppu, Peck, Bridgman, Loomis, Hamm, Simblet) but I got the feeling that I've got obsessed with methods and books way too much lately, instead of just hardcore drawing, drawing and more drawing. So far I've learned most from Vilppu but methods to learn to draw are confusing me so much lately, so I kinda decided to just draw:
Draw from life and study anatomy from pure reference (reference without a method involved, like Peck or Barcsay's book).

I mean, if you don't use any methods or books about drawing but just draw from life alot, you will find out how to draw well and improve by yourself right? It's kinda hard to explain what I mean..
I could be completely wrong about this, I just find all this art stuff hard to tackle without education. It's just overwhelming, so much to learn, so many ways to learn, so many opinions, so many websites, so many books etc. I may sound like a total freak now but it's just hard. Part of it is a luxury problem I guess. I don't know if anyone understands or has similar problems but I just find all this pretty difficult.

Rebeccak - Thanks for the tips Rebeccak, I'll checkout all the links (it looks great) and start drawing more. Need some sleep now, gotta work in a couple of hours..

[NR43]

It's just overwhelming, so much to learn, so many ways to learn, so many opinions, so many websites, so many books etc.
Yeah I know what you mean. Therefore, and I'm talking from my own experience, it's a good idea to make up your mind. Think of a nice longterm plan.This doesn't come over night (at least not in my case. You can still do it in different ways:

1. Pick an artist and study his method for drawing heads, arms, torso's, anything
2. Pick a subject and study different artists methods (eg with master studies). The anatomy challenges here at cgtalk are a wonderful resource for that.

Personally I have a planning that is kind of a mix of the 2. I started heads with the 50 heads challenge and got some cheap books where the method of loomis was explained. That really got me going. So focussing on the loomis technique, I tried to implement it in my work for the 50 heads challenge. Did a variety of exercises: lots of really quick ones (5-10min) to get those basic rules into my own system. Alternated with a few longer studies, going into detail.

If you try it this way, it's important that you evaluate your own work. This sb thread is a great way to post up all your exercises (good and bad) and get feedback. Evaluate and adapt where needed.
After a while, when you feel you have the studied technique (mind ya, it doesn't have to be loomis, pick one particular artist you like best), you will feel confident using it. The natural evolution will be you'll be curious about how other artists do it. Just take your time, if you need a year before you feel confident enough to jump to a different artist/method, so be it. The main thing is to draw on regular basis (daily if possible), evaluate, adapt and improve while always keeping your longterm plan in the back of your mind :)

I mean, if you don't use any methods or books about drawing but just draw from life alot, you will find out how to draw well and improve by yourself right?

Sure, but I think you will improve faster if you stick to one particular technique/method.
One thing I've also learned is that it's easy to get discouraged/mad/frustrated by not getting the results expected. The solution is not to expect too much from the drawing/sketch you are about to make. Loosen up before you start, decide what you plan to draw (quick study? longer study?)... and just observe the subject (whether it's from life or a image doesn't really matter I think)... then just start drawing with a clear mind.
I used to draw in a kind of rushed mood. When I draw now, I totally forget time and all. Just focussing on the subject and my drawing... very relaxing :)
The more relaxed you are, the better you'll be able to focus, the less you'll be distracted, the more and faster you will learn and improve.

Anyway,
apologies for this long explanation lol... got a bit carried away here hehe
I'm not that experienced, but I tried to describe a few things which will hopefully be helpful to you in a way.

Take care and I'm looking forward to see more stuff from you!

[jancko]

I`m totally agree with Johan ( I can't say too much in english :sad: )
your's sketchs in pen are great.............one advice, whatever method you choose, keep always making quick sketchs, and gesture drawings, this would help you too much along the way.

[Kewn]

NR43 - Thanks for the help again man! I see you understand what I mean.

I just wrote a huge reply about how I made up my mind by choosing Vilppu's method but then I deleted it, cause by the end of typing my reply I changed my mind again. Bridgman, Vilppu, Peck, Hale. All nice books I guess but I keep changing my mind about it. I just want to be able to draw realistic figures from my imagination, so I like realism. A good example of this is how Puddnhead starts drawing his creatures on his Gnomon dvd, how he just puts the figure and the anatomy on the paper.
Now I don't know via what kind of methods he or any other artist learned this (I only know he attended 2 great art academies, and I have no idea what methods they use there), but I constantly feel like methods like Vilppu and Bridgman are not realistic enough (too abstrahized is that a word?).

Thinking like this makes me end up at the same solution as my last reply: Study anatomy from a realistic anatomy reference book (like Peck or Barcsay) combined with drawing from life, evolving my own ways and ideas. Together with that studying masters. Somehow this feels like a confident solution, somehow I still feel lost in the woods, but hell I gotta stop whining and get working so this is just what it's gonna be:

* anatomy study from a reference book
* drawing from life (anything)
* study masters (like you said, I will pick a subject and study different artists.)

This seems like a made up mind right? I will never stop doubting but I gotta get started, period. I'll ask a friend to kick my ass cause that's probably what I need the most. I think this is the end of my very weird vague story for now. :D

What you said about loosening up before starting is so true, I should think about that more cause sometimes it's really hard to stay relaxed. I think the last time I forgot about time while drawing is a pretty long time ago.. putting too much pressure on myself. Thanks so much for your help. Oh and I like the long explanation, it's clarifying :D


Jancko - Thanks! I will definately keep doing quick sketches and gestures, I understand the importance of these things more and more. I should go out and draw from life way more.

I tried to color one of the skulls I posted:

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/10_11_06/skull%20avat.jpg

I got a bunch of pencil drawings too but I can't scan them right now, but at least I got all this method stuff off my chest.

[NR43]

all right! good to hear you're heading in a certain direction!
looking forward to see more studies from you :)

[Kewn]

Damnit I've been gone for too long, hope nobody planned any funerals yet :D

Anyway here's some skull studies, I hope this is the most complex part cause wow it's hard to draw it accurately from any angle.

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/10_19_06/skull_study1.jpg

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/10_19_06/skull_study2.jpg

[Kewn]

This one's from life, felt kinda useless to do tho :P

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/10_17_06/cylinderstudy1.jpg

Some new sketches and studies or something.

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/10_21_06/bridg.jpg

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/10_21_06/bridg1.jpg

[Kewn]

Master study (for the skull), not too awesome but I had alot of fun:

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/10_22_06/skullstudy1.jpg

[Rebeccak]

Kewn,

I really like the start you have to that last skull - would be nice to see you develop it further. :)

Cheers,

-Rebeccak

[Kewn]

Thanks Rebecca, maybe I'll develop it some more, just did a little Sargent study:

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/10_22_06/sargentstudy.jpg

[Rebeccak]

Ah, these studies are showing a lot of promise. :) I think it would be great if you picked one and developed it further. Or, participate in one of our upcoming OFDWs. :)

[Kewn]

Thanks Rebecca, I got some new traditional stuff but borrowed my scanner to a friend so I'll scan em as soon as I can. I just got my new Hale book "Master class in figure drawing" and it looks promising, I still feel like I can learn most from masters.

Oh by the way, what are OFDWs? :P

[NR43]

what are OFDWs?

Open Figure Drawing Workshops

Check out this thread for inspiration:
SPOTLIGHT: Best of the Artistic Anatomy and Figurative Art Forum (http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=198)

it's also a good idea to subscribe to the following thread Rebecca has created:
Notification of New Open Figure Drawing Workshops / + TUTORIALS - SUBSCRIBE HERE! (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=379951)

This way, when a new OFDW, anatomy lesson challenge starts you'll be notified :)
And there's more than this to find there...

[Kewn]

Thanks for the help NR43, I'll check that out. Didn't post for a while.. Did more sketches then this but most is not even worth posting (so sketchy), anyone here's some of it:

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/11_02_06/sketch_small.jpg

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/11_02_06/sketch1_small.jpg

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/11_02_06/sketch2_small.jpg

http://coen.3d-sea.nl/_sketch/11_02_06/sketch3_small.jpg



I'm thinkin about ordering this book A Guide to Drawing (http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Drawing-Daniel-M-Mendelowitz/dp/0495006947/sr=8-1/qid=1162503477/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-6020172-0369622?ie=UTF8&s=books)

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