Sketchbook Thread of AlmostKungfu

[Rebeccak]

almostkungfu,

Welcome! :) Good to see you start a Sketchbook here. Some strong studies, and it'll be great to follow your progress.

One thing I might suggest is to work against a toned / mid gray background. This is because all values are relative, and working against white makes all your values look dark by comparison.

You will make your life infinitely easier by filling the white with a mid gray or mid tone value and then working up in lights, and down in darks. Having an automatic midtone eliminates half of the work for you! This is a tried and true artistic practice that dates back to the Renaissance even. :)

Gesture drawings can be anything from 1-2-5-10-15 minute drawings. The main purpose of a gesture drawing is just to get the main action of the pose as quickly as you can.

Looking forward to seeing more of your work!

EDIT: One thing that I recommend is that everyone keep their images for the web to 800 pix. maximum - then no one has to unnecessarily scroll. Thanks! :)

[almostkungfu]

Thanks! Never thought of that!

Ah, okay, yeah, I'll to keep to 800p in the future. ;)

Hehe, gesture drawings it is, then. :thumbsup:

There! Tried a new image with the greyscale technique. Heeeeres johnny!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/shining.jpg
Hmm, it got a bit dark, hm? Well well...

The reference is obvious I guess, but here it is anyway:
http://surf4you.free.fr/Images/affiches_cin%E9/Shining.jpg

[Odyism]

^
I really like that one, painting against the midtoned grey helped. I don't think it's too dark either. It fits the mood of the picture nicely.

[reaveress]

Hi there almostkungfu! I`m new at cg society too. :)

You have some pretty charismatic caracters there :thumbsup:
I myself am pretty new to art, and Rebeccak advised me to do master copies in grayscale for a bit to get a feel for shapes and light and dark and the human figure. I`ve only done a couple so far and some sketches for the sketchathon(its fun! :) ) but i can feel myself getting started at getting better. Why dont you try the same thing as your values in your last sketch seem a bit inconsistent.
All the best :D

[SylvanMist]

Hey nice sketches, I especially like the last one, yeah it does look a lot better on the gray background :)

[almostkungfu]

Odyism, Thanks! :)

reaveress, Ah, it's great to see I'm not the only one new to this. :P
Yeah, I've also decided to do b/w master-copies now, as I need to get the hold of this anatomy stuff once and for all! I've done a few, 2-3 I think, sketches for the master copy workshop things, and I agree, it's great fun! :)

Haven't tested this sketchaton thing yet though, a wild guess tells me it involves sketching a lot, I'll absolutely check it out. ;)

Yeah, the values kinda screwed up in the latest one, it's very different to work from greys. I think i added too much shadow and too little light.. After all, before, I never added light at all. :p

However, I really think this method helps me think more about where I actually place highlights, and gives me more control over the light setting. Can't wait to get jamming with photoshop again tomorrow! :bounce:

Thanks a lot guys, I finally feel like a part of CGtalk.com :D

[almostkungfu]

Didn't get around to do much real anatomy exercise today, but copied this from a game manual I had lying around on my desk. I really liked the result, so here you go. :thumbsup:
I guess I should have cleaned up the coat, but gwa, then I would have been sitting up all night, and I seriously need sleep now. =P

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/richter.jpg

Hopefully, I'll get around to do some real master copies tomorrow..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/Untitled-1-4.jpg
(Did some mirror studies as well. :)

[almostkungfu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/anatomy.jpg

More male anatomy.. These are studies after Poser 7. :thumbsup:

[almostkungfu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/female01.jpg

Moving on to female characters for a while. :)
More is coming!

[almostkungfu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/female02.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/female03.jpg

[almostkungfu]

*Argh, I went berserk with the POST button.*

[almostkungfu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/doodle.jpg
Not really an anatomy sketch, rather a stylized doodle. I'm short on content though, so heck.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/skin.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/skin2.jpg

Male anatomy ...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/portrait-1.jpg
Portrait from mind, a little reference here and there. Proud of this!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/expr.jpg
Ack. This one got this ... look. I don't know what it is, but it gets this rather funny look. Looks wrong in some way. I get this on a lot of my drawings. Could anyone help me point out what's wrong with this guy?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/lessvulgar.jpg
Another female!

[Mu]

Hi almostkungfu.

Great to see your thread up and running.

few remarks:

- are you using the coloring techniques introduce in nebezials tutorial thread for the colored male anatomy studies? They look a lot like you did. If not, do check out his thread in the tutorial section - it rocks and I think it would suit your approach. Those studies are looking good, anyway.

- If you are "short on content" then check out the sketchathon reference thread (there are two threads for the sketchathon, one for the sketches and the other one for refs...) incredible ressource.... and while you're at it you could post your results in the thread.


Have Fun!

:thumbsup:

[almostkungfu]

Hahah, you noticed! Yeah, hehe, I'm a big fan of nebezial, and trying to go somewhat in that direction with my stuff. Practice makes champion. :D

Aha, okay! I'll check out the sketchaton! :thumbsup:

Thanks a lot Mu!

[almostkungfu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/Untitled-2-1.jpg

I refined my blender today, reading through some tutorial threads again. I've read it all before, but now with more experience, I suddenly understand a lot more.

*Back to work!* :wip:

[almostkungfu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/tull.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/feeemale.jpg

Testing out this blending and coloring stuff.

[Gord-MacDonald]

Great to see your efforts - keep going!

Gord

[almostkungfu]

Thanks! Great to see people are watching! :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/guy.jpg
Portrait 100% from mind..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/abovebelow.jpg
I thought I shoul do some people from really weird angles, to make sure I really get the anatomy and don't just draw like, um, symbolism...objects things. :P
I find it really hard though, I suck at foreshortening. :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/study.jpg
Just lines, this one..

[Mu]

hey almostkungfu,


sadly one of your images got banned by photobucket. Check out the info threads on the problem around the anatomy forum.. It's a sticky somewhere.

Question: does your "refined blender" make use of dodge and burn techniques? Because while the gradations are indeed smoother, the values and the level of saturation was a bit more appealing in the previous image.

[almostkungfu]

Thanks for reply! :thumbsup:

Eek. All my images are disappearing before my eyes. :eek:
And THAT ONE. I have a feeling I'll be seeing a lot more banned images in the future. :hmm:

About the saturation, heh, it's just a little coloring mistake. :D
The color quality really differs from image to image now, as I try out many techniques to find something that suits me. I didn't really see the oversaturation of those shadows. Thanks for noticing for me. ;)

(The "refined blender" is really just that I put some other specs on my smudge tool ^^ )


Anyway, latest work:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/stuff.jpg
Some lighter, comicy, less anatomic sketches. I've been having influenza, so more serious stuff didn't work out. :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/headddd.jpg
Tried to block out some planes.. There's something wrong with this, down with the mouth.. I couldn't figure what.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/mullet-1.jpg
Head study portrait thing, again trying to concentrate on those planes..

[Rebeccak]

Keep pushing your values! I can't emphasize how much more value is important to form than color. Don't worry about color yet - try to get form. That's really the key. :)

[almostkungfu]

Yeah, I've decided to work with black-and-whites for a time now; coloring is too much unneccessary stress, it just takes away the time I should use to learn form. =P

My digital work the last weeks, not much:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/yay.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/cross.jpg

I've been really busy with studying on paper now, but today I decided to draw a few sketches from mind; to sort of meditate what I've learned, as well as check out how far I've come.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/sketchh.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/sketchhhh.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/sketchhhhhh.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/headddddd.jpg

Nothing's better than seeing improvement! Nothing! :D

[Rebeccak]

Keep going! Those leaps in improvement add up, keep pushing your work.

[almostkungfu]

Every day! :thumbsup:

Another study! I'm a bit proud of this one, I think it's my best so far! I didn't shade it, may get around to do that later ...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/funky.jpg

[almostkungfu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/hoyhoy.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/hoyhoy2.jpg

Ship ohoy, more stuff!

[almostkungfu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/oldie.jpg
No-ref quicky!

[almostkungfu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/wannabe.jpg
Made this after browsing zhuzhu's sketchbook. :D

[NR43]

Made this after browsing zhuzhu's sketchbook. :D


The man is some source of inspiration to all of us isn't he?

There is good progress visible in your head sketches!

[almostkungfu]

Yeah, I love his stuff. :)
Glad to hear I'm making improvement!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/daneferry-1.jpg

Trying a different angle at heads. Don't mind the silly speech-bubbles, it's just a lame internal joke. :thumbsup:

[NR43]

Hey btw,

I would love to see you do this skull shading tutorial
It's somewhere in the tutorial section of the anatomy forums ;)

[almostkungfu]

Ah, that one, I think I read it once, but never bothered doing it.. But sure, I'll look into it, I definitely need to exercise shading and shape and stuff.. thanks for the tip, NR43! :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/vosding.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/revenge.jpg

No-ref images. I can see own improvement! :bounce:

[almostkungfu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/dmi.jpg

[almostkungfu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/dmitrii-1.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/vostrikov.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/eithovudeogeingrunmannj.jpg

More stuff from mind.. Oof, I really should get back to studies again soon. =P

[almostkungfu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/eye.jpg
Followed Bergkvists tutorial! I realized I suck at painting, so I should start at the basics. :)

Yeah, I'm gonna get that skull study done soon.. :D

[almostkungfu]

SKULL! SKULL! I added a textured version too, as I need to practice texturing ^^
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/skullshadecopy.jpg

Random heads for " knowledge meditation":
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/booya.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/cool.jpg

[almostkungfu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/yegarovcopy.jpg
Some comic-style sketch thing. Kind of old now, but whatever.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/woo-1.jpg
From mind!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/dicaprio.jpg
It's DiCaprio! This is probably the best thing I've done ever! : O
I'm gonna do more portraits now, I'm fed up with both anatomy studies and mind drawing. xD

[NR43]

Hi

I think that eye study from Linda Bergkvist's tutorial is really nice.
Would love to see you tackle some more facial feature studies... eyes, noses, lips, ears,...

The skull study is also nice but I don't think the textured version works well. Try painting texture on it (I think you used filters, which make things look flat - ironically)

Oh, and how can you get fed up with anatomy? :D
Maybe you just need to paint or draw some still life or some environments :D

Whatever you do, keep drawing!

[almostkungfu]

Yeah, I'm definitely gonna go through some face detail close-ups. Thanks for the idea!


Okay, gonna sum up the latest month's highlights.. Taken a hiatus from art, but got a few things down. =P

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/studiiiesss2.jpg
Here's the plates I ended up with after going through structure-of-man face stuff, second time. Learnt a lot! :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/horse.jpg
This person drove me nuts, whining about me drawing just humans. So here.. Horse. :thumbsup:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/dingding.jpg
Stuff from mind.

___________________

Sketchaton time!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/sketch001.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/sketch002.jpg

Trying to take the 15-minute sketchaton serious this week, doing 2-3 or more like this every day. 15 minutes goes way too fast. :D

[almostkungfu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/sketch003.jpg
15min, plus 3-4 min to clean certain messy parts up.

[almostkungfu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/sketch005-1.jpg
Wooo, new quality milestone I think! I see now there's some trouble with the stomach area.. Bah.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Apeloff/sketch0004.jpg
Another 15 minute sketchaton thing. Total disaster. =P

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