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flowereater
04-29-2009, 05:33 AM
Hello! I'm usually pretty shy and unmotivated about my art, so i pushed myself to open up
a sketchbook here. Having absolutely no formation in art whatsoever, and I won't be able
to get any for a long while, I will need the critiques and tips from other artists I might get
here in order to improve.
Due to my ...strange condition, my knowledge about art is almost all self-taught. I may be
decent in some areas while lacking some serious skills in others, not even knowing the basics.
To fix that, I plan to post new drawings or paintings every day or so.
I hope this sketchbook will help me improve, and maybe i could even help others improve
someday haha, but for now, here's a few drawings i did this week:

Some anatomy study from a cool 360° photo. Done in photoshop. Maybe around 20-30 minutes per figure:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3484503375/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3484503375/)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3364/3484503375_b27eb46c7e_o.jpg

Some random photo i liked. I pretty much improvised on the hair, I may have done a better
job at painting it than i usually do actually haha:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3485316548/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3395/3485316548_be3946e833_o.jpg

A master copy from William Bourguereau's "Après le bain". Pretty proud of it :p.
This is my first drapery study, and on photoshop at that! Ah! I think I will be proud
of it for another whole week! Then i'll start being ashamed of it. I hope. That would
mean I'd have improved that much hehe:
Bigger resolution available on flickr so i wouldn't break the 800px height rule from the
forums.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3484503169/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3602/3484503169_059194160f.jpg

One page full of figure drawings from my sketchbook. I might have learnt a lot just from
scanning it and seeing how ugly the values and all were once it was on my monitor.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3485316976/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3621/3485316976_f2fc86f56f_o.jpg

And the last one. I tried to apply what i learnt from my mistake from that sketchbook
scan above: Drew it big and tried to make good use of a limited range of values. I'm
pretty proud of that one as well, even though it has major flaws, especially on the
right side of the drawing that look nothing like the picture I used as reference.
Took about 4h to draw.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3484504151/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3651/3484504151_4dc3e5f797_o.jpg

Well that's all for my first post :rolleyes:... I'll post more tomorrow if i can!
Rebeccak
04-29-2009, 08:39 AM
Some lovely work. :) Welcome to the Anatomy Forum. The Bougereau piece is great! Looking forward to more.
razz
04-29-2009, 10:05 AM
Nice studies, Flowereater. I'll second Rebecca on the Bouguereau's piece, well done. Hope to see more from you soon. Welcome!
lessthanhumanz
04-29-2009, 07:10 PM
Some really great drawings you have there. I like Bouguereau's piece, its is nicely blended and it shows the form and value even the drapery is nicely rendered. You got talent consider you don't didn't any class :D
flowereater
04-30-2009, 01:49 AM
Thank you for the kind words everyone, that's very encouraging! I plan to study the masters
a lot since i want to absorb a bit of that "classic" feel to my drawing, so you will be seeing
more of those hehe!

lessthanhumanz:
I don't think talent really exists, not for me anyways. I have been neglecting drawing a
lot these past few years and when I did draw, my drawing were pretty scary. I plan to
take art way more seriously now, I have been practicing a lot this month and the result
is what you see here... almost not scary anymore! (well, alright, my graphite gestures
drawings are still scary :)) Hard work and practice makes great art, and hard work and practice I shall do.


I quickly browsed through the beginner's lounge today and I decided to try my hand at
gesture drawing. Results scare me, I'm pretty bad under pressure haha, I don't even know
if I actually drew the "gesture" or if I just tried to draw as much as possible as fast as I
could. Timing my drawings was a pretty stressful experience for me as I am used to take
all the time I need but it was fun and I plan to make more until I master it ;)
Here's today's gesture drawing and a surprise for Rebeccak below them ;)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3486732339/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3369/3486732339_c9c6276280_o.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3486732639/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3645/3486732639_f63dc6b797_o.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3487547216/
(forgot to resize it before uploading, bigger resolution on flicker)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3303/3487547216_7666a2ab24.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3486732099/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3486732099_79b7d9d013_o.jpg

Here's what I've been working on most of the day, my second master copy hehe. I think
it'll end up better than my first one. I studied a bit of how I should use values between the
two and I tried to put some extra effort on the folds, which are still unfinished by the way.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3486731883/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3361/3486731883_6b3a8c2ba8_o.jpg
more tomorrow ~

or after tomorrow if i got an headache, damn headaches...
anandpg
04-30-2009, 01:58 AM
Hi Martin! Awesome studies, man! :thumbsup: Looking forward to more!
tbubb1
04-30-2009, 04:57 AM
I like seeing the progressions of some of the sketches!
You've got some really great stuff up so far.
Especially love that horse! Everything is absolutely perfect.
flowereater
05-01-2009, 12:42 AM
anandpg: thanks!
tbubb1: thanks, the horse was pretty challenging, I took a totally different approach for
it. First time I tried to put much attention to the values. Glad you liked it! :)

I did a few more gesture drawing, i think a got a little bit better than yesterday after
reading some posts from RebeccaK about it. Still not very good though. Tried that
opposing curve thing as well on the drawings without much success either :argh:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3490085406/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3332/3490085406_07da3eb439_o.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3490085244/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3416/3490085244_afc7a7b723_o.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3489269649/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3336/3489269649_fc8789f058_o.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3489269595/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3322/3489269595_ff48048100_o.jpg

Some anatomy study from Hogarth's book, i'm guessing i'll do a lot of those in the future:rolleyes:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3490085082/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3408/3490085082_9c2c8bd62d_o.jpg

Here you can see the progress i made on this master copy today, mostly worked on the
dress. So many hours of work for such small results.. I really need to learn to draw
faster...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3489269515/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3490085082/)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3604/3489269515_d9f3253a0d_o.jpg

A quick master copy to finish the day: took about 30 minutes, I tried to put some
emphasis on speed and value.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3490480946/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3352/3490480946_3075eaa311_o.jpg
anandpg
05-01-2009, 05:44 AM
Awesome! You have wonderful understanding of value!:thumbsup:
greenpizza
05-01-2009, 06:44 PM
Nice studies, don't worry too much about the 'speed', you're doing this rightly.
lessthanhumanz
05-01-2009, 07:34 PM
Nice rendering. Maybe not about Talent, more on potential I believe. Even if Michael Jordan don't practice basketball everyday I believe he is still a better basketballer than us
LordMcGoat
05-02-2009, 08:16 PM
Your master copies are coming out fantastically. The cloth on the latest one is so nice. I suppose just leaving praise is of little value, but I don't have much else to say. Hmm your sketches all have a kind of unvarying border round them, which makes them very graphic and less naturalistic than your paintings. But I don't think that's really a criticism, rather an observation on style (I personally prefer most of them at the stage "2" of the 3 you've posted).

Anyway, lovely work. Look forward to seeing your progression :)
flowereater
05-02-2009, 11:43 PM
anandpg: thank you ;) i hope that understanding will stay, stuff i learn has
an annoying tendency to leave me before i'm done with it...

stridiggio: thanks, I guess I'll try to get speed by getting better instead of
trying to get better by being faster hehe

lessthanhumanz: thanks, oh, and I do practice everyday, all day even when I'm
able to :thumbsup:

Lord McGoat: thanks for noticing the cloth! I put soo much effort on that one, and
I should try another one soon so I don't forget how I did it hehe... And you're right
about my sketches, that's just a bad habit of mine that I'm trying to get rid of.


I've been doing faces because i have trouble with them...
and they have been coming out horrible :cry:. Bad day.
At least the hands didn't come out looking like half digested octupuses, yay for that.

Here's two master copy and another where I used a photo from a reference:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3494612479/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3416/3494612479_9e4e64ee60_o.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3494612473/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3349/3494612473_3298679ac3_o.jpg

(reference here (http://hanratty-stock.deviantart.com/art/Nepthys-IX-121048090) so you can just see how bad i messed up)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3494612485/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3333/3494612485_9f5f4ae049_o.jpg

I don't have much of an idea how to improve at portraits... I always seem to get the
proportions or the positioning wrong. I'll continue practicing I guess.
flowereater
05-03-2009, 11:54 PM
I tried to study a bit more heads... I may have learnt something from this exercise, still
have to practice to make them digitally though hehe, I'll probably do that with those
50 heads a month master copy. Though... I'll try to do it inside a week or two.
Can never practice too much you know :rolleyes:


Some quick skull studies
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3498077527/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3558/3498077527_6bef108186_o.jpg

and some 39 heads or so (the first ones are plain ugly)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3498891998/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3410/3498891998_b483ed06b3_o.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37863488@N02/3498892500/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3632/3498892500_32daf7d95c_o.jpg

sigh, I need to stop being scared of using B pencils...
Heozart
05-15-2009, 08:31 AM
Great studies! I really like the drapery studies, awesome values!
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