Sketchbook Thread of Aviva

[razz]

Well what can I say, welcome back!
Nice new stuff, especially the sea dragon. Though as you said it yourself something should be done with the background. If I may suggest anything, I'd say don't do anything in particular, just some gradating colors might work here. Try some variations digitally.
About the scaling of the lizard thing, you really don't need to draw every scale. Find some ways around that, create a texture brush, imitate the scaling, detail more where the focal point is and it should work. Painting every would be very time consuming and hardly worth it.
There's also a neat technique in Photoshop for indents like that. Create a new layer and turn on the bevel and emboss feature for that layer and just draw. There was a tutorial on this by forum member Nebezial, if you're willing to search for it.
Good luck with your stuff!
Cheers

[NR43]

Hi Tessa

Welcome back!
I like your pencil drawing.
Watch the alignment of the eyes though...

[JohanGold]

hey welcome back :) ..

i liked the pencil drawings .. very nice

post more :)

cya

[Aviva]

Razz - thank you for all your suggestions! Trying different background variations digitally is a great idea. I shall play around with a bevelled and embossed layer in photoshop.

Johan – Thanks! I know, I ended up with wonky eye. Sometimes I really needa walk away from what I’m drawing for a while so that when I return I might actually notice the mistakes.

MIX3XIM – Thank you! Here’s some more :)

20 min sketch
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/15min_dress.jpg

Work in progress of a ruby throated hummingbird
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/RubyHummer1.jpg

[Aviva]

Studies from Ken Hultgren's Art of Drawing Animals. Now with wonky deer snouts.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Hultgren01.jpg

More ruby hummer.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/RubyHummer2.jpg

[Lemog]

Wow... Your ruby throated hummingbird is incredible... great and alive :thumbsup:

[ratheesh300]

hai Tessa, beautiful works.i like your humming bird and animal sketches a lot.nice lines and study. keep updating friend. :thumbsup:

[anandpg]

Hi Tessa! Welcome! great start!:thumbsup: I love that hummingbird picture... and beautiful colors on the sea dragon!:cool:

[Heozart]

Hi Tessa, nice animal studies! That hummingbird looks awesome. I would love to see some kind of background, though. ;) Keep it up!

[sanpaiya]

hey tessa, ,
beautiful work. . nice clean lines on the animals.. the humming birds come out real neat too . . btw i am in love with your sea horse . . the grains on the scanner/paper looks like floating particles in deep sea. . :) . .

[Aviva]

Thank you for your kind & encouraging comments, Lemog, ratheesh300, anandpg, Heozart & sanpaiya! :) Backgrounds will be comming soon... ;)

Here's an update.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/RubyHummer4.jpg

[batte812]

Hi Aviva, great start for your sketchbook! I like the animal drawings. Keep going.

[Aviva]

Thank you batte812!

Ok, I’ve had enough of this so I’m gonna call it done. I promise I’ll draw a real background for the next thing a fully render. ;) This was done from a reference to see if I could draw feathery things.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/RubyHummer.jpg

This was a sketch for some friends who just got engaged. They sent the piece of cloth along with the invitation and asked us to use it in place of a card. So I took the opportunity to use my new copic markers. They bled a lot more than I expected on the fabric, but I was quite impressed by how well the markers blend. The Kuchibeni koi symbolise long lasting, loving relationships. :)
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Koi.jpg

[selphoo]

hey hey welcome aboard :)

nice start with your thread, i like the animal sketches...maybe in last one the blue colour is too "clean" :) but all the rest is really good ;]

keep working

cheers

[NR43]

Those Koi will make an awesome gift Aviva!

And the bird is pretty amazing!
Lovely!

[Lemog]

Your friends must be very happy and honored by this gift... very original and well made on fabric... :thumbsup:

...about the bird's background, I finally prefer the previous, the grany new one is too much detailed, that give less contrast for the beautiful bird...
...but a new real background will be great, but very smoothie...

[Aviva]

It’s been an unproductive few weeks. But I did finally clean up the old desk downstairs so I can set up a place to use messier mediums such as paint and pastels. I went on an art supply shopping spree when I finished honours, so I got plenty of new things to try. I’ve also been drawing a diagram about the lung control system for my dad, learning to use illustrator in the process. It’s taken way more time than it should have. Illustrator looks deceptively like Photoshop, but there are things like changing the gradient colour that are frustratingly different. And why is there no colour picker when you click to change colour???

Selphoo – thanks! The blue is fairly intense, but I had limited colours to work with.

Johan – thank you! My friends are both into marine biology, so I thought fish would be the way to go.

Lemog – You are right, the sharp grains do detract attention from the bird; I tried to soften it up, this any better?
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/RubyThroatedHummer.jpg

More Hultgren studies and some random cats, including a scribble of my fluffy owner.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Hultgren02.jpg

[Aviva]

Birds! From various sources, including: Charles R. Knight and Lian Quan Zhen.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Knight_Zhen01.jpg

This is my first, somewhat quick and clumsy, attempt with pastels. I know the beak’s on wonky. It was drawn on velour paper (which I had great difficulty finding), following a tutorial by Lesley Harrison. The velour paper is awesome (and pricy); just wish I could find somewhere local that sells a colour other than white.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/PastelGosling.jpg

And for something a bit different: this is the diagram I drew for my dad that I mentioned earlier. He’s very happy with it, but as I am trying to use it as a learning experience, I was wondering if there is any way I can improve it visually.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/LungControl.jpg

Thanks for looking! :)

[Lemog]

For a first pastel, it's not so bad... maybe that need again more technic... but that will come for sure.
That remain me an oil painting I've made many years ago... :love:

I never used velour paper... and I never saw that here... maybe it's an another name ?

You father must be proud of you... this anatomical drawing is well made... Adobe Illustrator I suppose ?

(it's not very important, but maybe the color brain is a bit too "nuts" :scream: hahaha... )

[Aviva]

Thank you for taking the time to comment Lemog. I hadn’t heard of velour paper till I read Lesley Harrison’s book – it’s got a kinda fuzzy surface sorta like felt. Not sure if it goes by another name, but it was quite hard to find. It's meant to be really good for detailed pastel work. Yup, the diagram was made in illustrator. Hahah, you’re right - I drew a peanut brain!

For the 15 minute sketchathon:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/15min_malefront.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/15min_maleback.jpg

I wanted to do some sort of drawing course, and since everything else had already started and I’m interested in science illustration, I ended up choosing a botanical illustration short course. This is the first thing I’ve completed: Acacia flowers (bottlebrush).
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Acacia.jpg

[SpiritDreamer]

Hi Tessa

Just stopping by to say that i'm really enjoying your thread.
Great job on those animal drawings,..and I especally like that last drawing of the plants/flowers..I think you made a wise choise in taking that botanical drawing class..will really help you in learning how to see and remember what you've seen from life/nature..Plus doing good plants/flowers,and having them in your composition, is always an asset to any figure study...What would DaVinci's Maddona of the ROCKS painting be without those plants/flowers...ALOT ...LESS.
Keep up the great studies and progress.
TAKE CARE
Glenn

[daWinky]

Hi Tessa,

it's easy to see that you like science illustration, you have some great animal sketches here (and a really fluffy cat,cute!), and the flower illustration is very well done. The quick figure studies are impressive, your strokes are accurate but also dynamic!:thumbsup:
I just saw the pastel on velour paper, this is great to make some furry, soft stuff...I know that this paper is available in a wide range of colors, why don't you look around for it in an internet-shop?

Cheers,

-sabrina

[Intervain]

beautiful wildlife illustrations - I really like the bird with a red throat! Beautiful work

[Aviva]

Merry 2009 everyone!!!
:beer:


After having very little work for 6 months, I suddenly had four different jobs in the last two months. Go figure. I’ve still been doing some drawing, just haven’t had much time for posting between the working and the holiday celebrating.

Thank you Glenn! I really enjoyed the course – the only problem was that it was too short! We progressed from sketches to watercolours and it was great to be painting using real media again – but I’m sooo slow! Now that the work crazy has died downt, I must finish & post something.

Sabrina, thank you for your kind words! My cat Sunshine is indeed super fluffy. Thanks for the suggestion about the velour paper. I’ll have to have a look online.

Magdalena – thank you! :)

I attempted some small landscape studies and ended up with:

Pink Soup
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/PinkSoup.jpg

Mooshy (unfinished) Gumtrees
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/AmungTheGumtrees.jpg

[krispee]

some beautiful work here, Aviva, keep it up.....

kris

[NR43]

Hi Tessa!
Great to see you active here again :)
Nice atmosphere in both of the landscapes
Would be awesome if some animal was watching the viewer from one of those gumtrees ...

[yarabe]

Great thread! Very nice animal sketches and the red bird is sooo nice! Keep it up! :thumbsup:

[Aviva]

Thank you Chris, Johan & Cindy :)

Here's the start of two Galahs on a Gumtree branch.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/WIP/Galahs1.jpg

[Lemog]

héhé.... charming... well started :thumbsup:

[Aviva]

Thank you Lemog! :)

I finally finished the dot-a-thon I began in my botanical illustration class. I'm happy with some bits, but the lighting's a bit confusing and some bits are too flat. It certainly was a test of my patience. The floating gumnut is at the actual size that I drew the whole thing.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/GumnutDotAthon.jpg

Some sky.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/WIP/Galahs2.jpg

[Lemog]

I really like your dot's drawing... that remain me log time ago I've made many portraits like that, with rotring's pen with china ink...
...I agree with you, that miss of contrast, of white zone to really play with light... but if it's your first, It's already very good :beer:

[Aviva]

Thanks Lemog - I actually recall stippling one other picture back in early high school, some sort of raptor I think, and I remember it being really good, but I probably just thought it was back then ;) I wonder if I can find it.

Some feather and wing studies:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Thomson_FeatherTracts.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/InnerWing.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/UpperWing.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/FoldingWing.jpg

I finaly got a chance to spend some time down by the coast this summer and had a great time wondering around the beaches and taking photos. I was fortunate enough to see some awesome critters along the Great Ocean Road, including these two:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Photos/WrenSMALL.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Photos/EchidnaSMALL.jpg


While I was away Australia experienced its worst natural disaster, the bushfires in my home state. Today was another high danger day, fire-fighters have managed to maintain control of the worst fires still burning, but we really need some good rain in those areas. Many people have lost everything they own including their homes and workplaces, and there are thousands of displaced and hungry animals. If anyone would like to help out please follow the links below:

http://www.redcross.org.au (http://www.redcross.org.au/)

http://www.rspcavic.org/campaigns_news/news_bushfires.htm



.

[bhaskar]

Hi Aviva,
Many things to say but i ll try making this short. Firstly, i really loved your animal and birds studies. Specially bird's diagrams ( reminds me this word only) which makes me recall my school science projects. With this, Your stippling reminded me of my college project in which i had done an outdoor with that technique. Yep, it was good looking like yours, but needless it was very painful and tedious to get it to final ( for me specially) that i never had tried that once again.
Also I admire and appreciate to be so nice with those animals and mankind who ve lost their homes and habitat in that bushfire.

And finally loved your hedgehog picture and all your works.
Waiting for more stuff like those.

[Aviva]

Hi Basker, thank you for taking the time to comment!

My mum bought home an entry to an art competition, where there is a “magical” egg that has hatched and you have to draw what came out of this egg. I get out my sketchbook and try to think of what should come out of this egg, and instead I come up with ideas for lots of other things, like such as this:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/WIP/aftermath.jpg

In light of the recent fires, it’s not surprising that this is what came to me as I looked through the apocalypse survival bunny thread. I've never really done a concept piece before, so although the workshop is over I guess I'll see how far I can take it.

And this is a quick painting (which I didn't get finished on time) for my Dad, who celebrated his 50th birthday yesterday. It’s his favourite animal, the Australian Magpie (of course that’s because it’s his footy team’s mascot).
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/WIP/maggie.jpg

Still not sure what should come out of that egg.

[NR43]

Hey Tessa,

your IFW 002 entry looks great! Really nice atmosphere you got there.
My advise would be to desaturate the colors in the background and add volumetric perspective this way.

Bird painting looks very nice!
Nitpick crit would be to blur the background slightly as it is a bit distracting (just a tiny bit, really). Compositionally, I love it! Try to flip it horizontally and see which you like best. It might work better since our eyes have this natural tendency to read from left to right, which would mean the viewer's eye would be focussed around the bird a lot more when flipped.
Not sure if it works though, try and see ;)

Awesome updates lately Tessa!
Keep them coming :D

[Aviva]

Hi Johan, thanks heaps for the suggestions! I'm surrounded by non-art oriented people here, so I really appreciate critiques!

I tried flipping the Magpie picture, but it didn't seem to work as well for me. I'm not sure if that's just because I'm so used to seeing this way. Silly me somehow managed to lose all my layers so I had to paint over to fix things. I faded out the background so I hope it's not so distracting now.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/maggie.jpg

I think I'm about done with it, which means I have to work out how to get it printed. I've never had anything professionally printed before, so anyone have any tips? There are so many places and paper types etc to choose from.

I haven't gotten very far with the galahs coz I keep changing the background. I'm really not sure what I want to do with it, but this is the latest incarnation.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/WIP/Galahs3.jpg

This was fun to do - black & white vector in illustrator:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Cocky.jpg

I really can't seem to get away from birds.

[Aviva]

Somthing quick and a little different:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/frog.jpg

Real paint!
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/WIP/BG.jpg
My clumsy attempt at using acrylics for Mum's birthday present. Had enough trouble with the background so I'm a little hesitant to paint in the main figure. Why does the paint have to dry so fast? I know, it's probably just me being slow. The first thing I learnt (the hard way) is too make sure I mix enough of the colour I'm using because its near impossible to get the same colour again! So I'm gonna jump into painting the (you guessed it) bird, and if I'm not happy with it I'll try something else for mum's present.

[NR43]

Hey!
great to see you using acrylics!
I've recently started painting with acrylics as well and it's so much fun isn't it?

The fact that it dries fast can be used to your advantage Tessa.
Don't hesitate too much to put in the main figure. When you screw up, you can just paint over it again when it's dry ;)

Looking forward to see your next update.
Have fun!

[sanpaiya]

acrylic . . yay !! its a awesome medium once u get the hang of it. . a very forgiving medium . . gives u a chance to redeem at any stage. . love the bird studies. . beautiful .

[stridiggio]

Hey, Acrylics is the best!, I used it all time.
Just dilute with water and that give you more time, but also you can better use it with Acrylic Gesso to expand the pigment (a little bit of Acrylic Color+some Acrylic Gesso=a lot of Acrylic, without lost the original pigment. :D)
I use a teaspoon of acrylic color, and half a glass of Gesso and I have for a glass of any acrylic color.

Also if you use Acrylic Paste first to fill the canvas you can control the weight and 3d volume to get the feeling of relief, rather than a flat canvas.
Keep going!.

[LordMcGoat]

I have nothing to say really, but I feel bad going through all your work and then leaving without a word. So thanks, there's some really great stuff there. Inspiring to see you playing with so many different approaches and techniques too.

[Aviva]

Hi Johan, acrylics certainly are fun! I was very amused to find my hands all covered in paint when I was done. The fast drying can be advantageous on the painting itself, but not on your palette. I couldn't seem to add water fast enough that first time!

Santhosh - Thank you! I look forward to getting more practise with the acrylics.

David - Thanks heaps for the suggestions! I looked for the Gesso and was given something called flow medium, which helped heaps! I didn't realise how much you could dilute the paint while still keeping it strongly pigmented.

Chris - Thank you for checking out my sketchbook and taking the time to comment :)

Here's the acrylic bird. There's still some problems with it, but overall it turned out much better than I'd expected.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/ButchyBird.jpg

[KarthikAL]

Aviva nice acrylics works:thumbsup:

[Aviva]

Thank you Karthik! :)

I finally filed away a pile of old notes and papers that have been collecting dust in the corner of my room for years and re-discovered a dragon that I use to sketch when bored during class. Thought I might try paint it, as I haven't done anything from my imagination for a long while. Here's what I've got so far:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/WIP/Dragon1.jpg

I keep changing the horn closest to the viewer and it still looks wrong. Does anything else look out of wack?

[razz]

Hey, how's that blue/black bird called seen in the photo a few posts back? Beautiful little creature. I like the b&w parrot. Birds are an interesting subject, though I'd have to find a way to avoid painting every feather if I were ever to paint one :) Try using more saturated colors in your digital paintings.
Cheers!

[Aviva]

Hi razz, the bird is a male supurb fairy wren - they are stunning little creatures. :) They are commen in coastal scrubland, but this is only the third one I've ever seen. There's plenty of amazing bird art that doesn't include so much feather detail - it's just I'm still contemplating science/natural history illustration, which is all about the detail. There's so much to learn! Thanks for the suggestion - on this screen everything is very saturated, so I guess I tone it down too much, although the next one's really saturated as far as I can tell.

I feel like I've been working on clouds and smoke for a very very long time now...
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/WIP/aftermath2.jpg
..and still haven't finished! They are quite a challenging subject. Are the clouds too mooshy? The lighting on the smoke's probably way off...

[Aviva]

More clouds and some trees.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/WIP/aftermath3.jpg

[Aviva]

Been slack with the scanning in of stuff. So this is from a while ago. Forgot to take my sketchbook to the aquarium after all the intending to, so these are under 30 second scribbles from photos. Must get into habit of taking sketchbook!

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/penguins.jpg

Penguins rule.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/aquarium09.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Hamm01_reptiles.jpg

[NR43]

Really like those animal sketches!
Great progress on that painting too!

[stridiggio]

I Agree too, I like those, in special the tortoise and its neighbors. About the clouds you might also work with more opacity to get a bit sense of transparancy in these, mostly in the left cloud. keept going!

[Mu]

Hey Aviva

Did you know the guy whose book you recommended has demonstration videos up on youtube?

Three of them start with this part here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzX9RMXXHvs

thanks for the hint!

[NR43]

WHOA!
Just checked one of those vids... that is total stroke control!
I'm in awe!

[sycen]

love the animal study :thumbsup:

[wickedsamara]

Oh my god! your aquarium scribbles is worth preserving. Love the animals :love:

[Aviva]

Johan - thank you :)

stridiggio - thanks! The left cloud is suppose to be really really thick bushfire smoke but it probably could be a bit more transparant round the edges.

Mu - No I didn't know that - thanks heaps for the link! Wow, it's amazing what he can do with so few brushstrokes. As soon as my brother cleans up his mess of computer parts on my art desk I intend to pull out some water colours and try that blowing technique. Looks fun!

Thank you Sycan and Wickedsamara! :)

Phylum: Chordata.
Class: Mammalia
Body Part: forlimbs

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Hamm02_feet.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Hamm02_forelimbs.jpg

[wickedsamara]

you know wats the best thing about these sketches? Its simple yet has lovely forms which defines which limb belongs to which mammal. Thank you for these images, teaches me alot of things. :bounce:

[Heozart]

Nice animal sketches! Which reminds me, I need to go to the aquarium before my annual membership expires. :D

[Aviva]

Thank you Heozart! Hope you make it to the aquarium soon. :)

wickedsamara: most of those sketches come from Jack Hamm's How to draw animals, which I definitely recommend if you are interested in learning how to draw mammals. More legs coming soon ;)

Had a busy few weeks, which included a three day workshop on Insect Illustration. The workshop was a lot of fun; will scan drawings in soon. Before I went to the workshop, I dug up the last insects I drew, about three years ago now in Invertebrate Structure and Function class. This is them:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Mantodea.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Diptera.jpg

This fellow's missing a pair of legs
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Odonata.jpg

I do miss that part of uni - if only all classes had involved drawing specimens.

This started off as a post apocalyptic survival bunny piece, but I felt that a surviving leadbeaters possum fits the bush setting better. I think its done. On this monitor (which I drew it on) I can see some chimney and rubble details, on my other monitors its all too dark; not sure which to trust.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/WIP/aftermath-1.jpg

[gregoo23]

Nice Sketchbook Aviva!

Awesome mood on the last painting. You could have tried a more cinematic format for this one cause the atmosphere you painted really deserved a little more dramatic composition.

I really like your humming bird and sea dragon from the previous pages, good work!

[batte812]

Hi Aviva, i like these animal studies! Good to see you take a systematic approach to it! Try to make sure you understand the underlying volumes. Keep going!

[Aviva]

Thanks gregoo23! Guess I could have gone wider with the last painting, I must learn to think plan stuff like composition instead of just painting. Ack, on this screen there is an ugly blue line at the base of the trees, must fix that.

batte812 thank you! Could you please clarify what you mean by the underlying volumes? I know I struggle with seeing and drawing things in perspective. It's much easier to understand what I'm trying to draw when I have a 3D model to examine and I've been trying to use my cat and myself to understand the anatomy. I think I need to do some perspective studies too.

Cicada I drew during the illustation worshop:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Cicada_Tosena_paviei00.jpg
This took ages because we had to take measuresments of the insect then upscale those measurements and map them out on the paper before drawing, so it's very acurate. This is drawn 2x the size of the specimen.

Starting to paint it (water colour):
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Cicada_Tosena_paviei.jpg

[Frejasphere]

Hi Aviva :)

You have some lovely work in here, glad to have popped in and will be back again
for sure! :wavey:

Take care & cheers
a. :)

[batte812]

Hi Tessa, i mean that you should try to see what you are drawing as cubes, spheres, cylinders and other basic shapes. Try to see how they overlap and where htey are in space. If you have established these basic construction (very lightly), you can use your linework to emphesize depth. Use thicker and darker lines for shapes in the forground, and fade out to the background. Of course it helps if you do some perspective exercises.
There are some very interesting tutorials by Vilppu; his DVD's are very good. Here is a link to a little free tutorial:
http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.7/3.7pages/3.7vilppu.html

I hope this helps!

[Aviva]

Ack! I can't believe how much time has passed again.

Happy 2010 everyone!!! :)

Frejasphere - thank you for visiting my thread! :)

batte812 - thank you for the explanation and link! :) Construction is definately something I need to work on.

Picking up from where I left off with the studies...
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/HammHultgen_hindlimbs.jpg

Playing with my newish set of copics:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Copiclings.jpg

And I made this wider:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/tesskou_After.jpg

[NR43]

like the colors of your little cartoony animals :)

[killermachine]

hey
popped in your gallery for first time and glad to have done that..your progressing in right direction and i only hope you keep up your spunk with it :D im really interested in how your painting in last poat wil end up like
tc
KM

[Heozart]

I thought I loved your new avatar, then I came to your thread and wasn't ready for all those lil creatures! They are so adorable, looking at them made my day. :D Nice leg studies as well.

[razz]

Oh, lots of animals in here. Something I haven't tackled myself yet. Where are those anatomy studies coming from? Well, keep up with them, it's for sure worth it.

[Aviva]

Thank you Johan, killermachine & Wes! :)

Razz the animal studies are comming from:
"How to Draw Animals" by Jack Hamm
"The Art of Animal Drawing" by Ken Hultgren
Hope it does pay off - doesn't really feel like I'm getting anywhere yet... but I shall persist.

Some more (quick) mammal limb studies:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/15min_femaleLegs.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/15min_malearms.jpg

A friend requested a design with an African protea and New Zealand fern for her next tattoo. This is something that has taken me ages because I was trying to learn how to use the pen tool properly (kinda gave up on that and went back to the pencil tool) and then Illustrator kept crashing. But I think it's finally done, and my friend says she's happy with it, which is what matters.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/MISA/ttatt2.jpg

[Aviva]

I've been asked to go in for a trial day for a potential new job tomorrow and I feel like I'm comming down with a cold. Just great timing that is. Go away sore throat!

Some sketches of my friend's conure, Oz, who I had the pleasure of bird sitting last year. Could only draw him while he wasn't sure of me, coz once he decided I was harmless, my fingers were not allowed to do anything but give him scratches.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Oz.jpg

Shark study from here (http://www.amazon.com/Reef-Scubazoo/dp/0756655757/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266388164&sr=1-1), using my new smudgard (http://www.smudgeguard.com/).
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/BlacktipShark.jpg

Been stalking these shy little parrots for ages trying to get a good reference photo, but they don't let me get close enough (I need a bigger lens!). I liked the pose from one of the blurry far off shots so started this:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/WIP/RedRumpedFlight1.jpg
The bird is a red rumped parrot. :)

[NR43]

Nice animals!

Good luck at the job interview!

[Heozart]

Nice studies! Does the smudgeguard work well? It looks kinda funny, but I hate getting smudges when I try to draw with a pencil.

Hope the job trial went well!

[Aviva]

Thanks Johan & Wes, unfortunately no luck with that job, or with the other interviews that followed. Seems there is always someone with more experience out their (that's the reason I was given), or I just suck at selling myself. Was feeling down about the whole job thing so took a break from it and went on a shopping spree to make myself feel better ;) I bought:

Scientific Illustration (http://www.amazon.com/Scientific-Illustration-Biological-Zoological-Techniques/dp/0471285250/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272616261&sr=8-1)
The Guild Handbook of Scientific Illustration (http://www.amazon.com/Guild-Handbook-Scientific-Illustration/dp/0471360112/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272616261&sr=8-3)
The Colour Pencil Painting Bible (http://www.amazon.com/Colored-Pencil-Painting-Bible-Ultra-Realistic/dp/0823099202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272616392&sr=1-1-spell)

The scienctific illustration books have an immense amount of information on different mediums, techniques, subjects etc, and the pencil bible looks like it has some great practical demonstrations. I've been reading and taking notes on light on form and colour theory, and I think need to do something practical to reinforce what I'm reading, but I'm not sure how exactly to approach this.

I've been making pencil colour charts and continuing the mammal anatomy studies:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Hamm03_heads.jpg

In early March I took my coloured pencils to the beach with me for a week. Unfortunately I only took a cheap sharpener with me and kept breaking the silly leads. I think I need to invest in one of them electric sharpeners. Anyway, I did this to try out the Mi-Teintes paper, which is certainly good at holding several pencil layers and enduring erasures:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/tesskou_ZooSpiderMonkey.jpg

And since I already had my pencils out, I finally revisited this:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/WIP/WeedySeaDragon.jpg
Have I ruined it yet? heh, now I'm not sure what to do with the blue outline...

Wes, yes, the smudgeguard does look weird, and it felt odd too when I first put it on, but it has worked preventing smudges with lead pencils and coloured pencils so far, and I no longer notice it when I'm wearing it. :)

[Heozart]

Welcome back, Tessa!

Sorry to hear about the job situation. Hope you are enjoying your new books at least. :) I like that monkey. *Throws a banana* :D

[Aviva]

Thanks Wes! :)

More mammal anatomy:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Hamm04_GreyhoundBoneMuscleFront.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Hamm05_GreyhoundBoneMuscleBack.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Hamm06_GreyhoundSurfaceAnatomy.jpg

[Aviva]

My shoddy to somewhat ok attempts at drawing bubbles for something I'm working on:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/BubblesStudy.jpg

And more mammals:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b40/AvivaPhi/Sketches/Hamm07_MammalAction.jpg

[runn]

Great work here. Nice clean lines and some awesome bird renderings. Those bubbles actually look good, I think its the background that doesn't do them justice.

Cheers.

[Gord-MacDonald]

Nice work on the animals!

a couple of more animal references:

Jack Hamm - How to draw animals - inexpensive but great book
http://www.amazon.com/Draw-Animals-Perigee-Jack-Hamm/dp/0399508023/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1279204785&sr=1-3


Cyclopedia Anatomicae: More Than 1,500 Illustrations of the Human and Animal Figure for the Artist
http://www.amazon.com/Cyclopedia-Anatomicae-Illustrations-Animal-Figure/dp/1884822878
(amazon is selling the hardcover - the paperback is available for less than half the cost.)

[SpiritDreamer]

Hi Tessa..:)

Nice job on getting those animals into action...:thumbsup:
Maybe create a scene with them, having a interaction/reaction between a pair of them..cheetah chasing antelope...wolve chasing rabbit..bear confronting bison ect...Think DRAMA, and create it...Put the anatomy you've learned to use before it escapes your memory, which it has a way of doing unless it is put to use while still fresh in your mind..:)
Just a passing thought that may be useful to you.:)
TAKE CARE
Glenn

[DriftingEmber]

I'm in need of learning horse anatomy, so I'll have to check out the books you've mentioned here. Thank you!

Very lovely stuff. I particularly like your mammal studies. Keep it coming!

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