eilidh: sketches, WIPs, and the abandoned

#1

I used to paint quite actively during 2003-2004; enough so as to consider dropping my main studies and taking art courses instead. Ironically enough, as soon as I started art classes most of my inclination to painting went away somewhere. I learned a lot, of course, but perhaps the process of learning and the process of conceptual creation use up the same memory space in my brain. So 2006 finds me doing linguistics again, and drawing/painting on rare occassions. :stuck_out_tongue:

This past month, however, Iā€™ve discovered the daily sketch group forum. I found it was an excellent way of keeping in shape ā€“ lots of fun too. So I thought Iā€™d start this thread where I could put together sketches as they crop up, along with some other neverending WIPs. Who knows, some critique may actually prove to be motivational. :slight_smile:

Starting with my first three weeks at DSG; along the way Iā€™ll post some of my other sketches and WIPs too.

719 Roses are red, Guns are gunmetal gray: The 22ā€™ version is posted in the thread, and you can see it here, too, but I thought it was ugly. So about an hour or so later I settled for this version:

Painter, Photoshop. It was the first time I painted after several months, and I felt extremely clumsy. I was happy with how the colours turned out, though, and with the theme, too. I mean to polish up this one, so suggestions are welcome.

727 Avatar war from hell
Against howlinghorse, because I liked the horse in his avatar. :slight_smile:

Photoshop, Painter, ca. 1.5-2h

732 Stalker, two entries


Painter, 15ā€™ & 16ā€™ each. The second is from a still from Tarkovskyā€™s Stalker.

733 Nerd
ā€¦ someone said they can build a nuclear reactor out of a paperclip. Bad, bad input. :smiley:

Painter, 11ā€™

376 White

Photoshop, Painter, ca. 2.5h. This had better become a WIP.

#2

The colours are wonderful! I especially love the colours in the last one, very subtle! The first one is nice but a little bit static. Great work on the 2 stalker entries, the atmosphere are great!

#3

thanks, Diane :slight_smile: And I think you just gave me a hint on how to rework on the first one.

The attempt for the Daily Sketch 736 "Self potrait... as a samurai" has been a little eventful. I started with a pencil sketch with the sole intention of practicing a little on the fabrics. At 45', I had reached the first stage (see below), which was nowhere near submittable. With another 2h, it looked like it was really going somewhere, so I slapped my face on top of it (mirror-referenced: [here's a close-up](http://users.tellas.gr/%7Eeilidh/misc/samurai5closeup.jpg)).

[img]http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j108/eilidheln/samurai-steps.jpg[/img]

Several hours later and after much, much refining it's somewhere around here, where I made a pause:
[img]http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j108/eilidheln/samurai5.jpg[/img]

And realised there were serious issues; the most important the katana (which is hardly long enough even for a wakizashi :p) and the grip of that hand, the doors which look like they're about to fall apart, plus the smudge on the upper left corner (I'd forgotten to spray it with fixative). I left it at that as of yesterday morning, and will probably work on it more later on tonight, see if I can make any corrections -- but I am seriously considered making a completely new drawing out of it.
#4

That fabric is :eek: amazing!!!

#5

all these works are amazing! :thumbsup:

i like the stalker entry with the cat most of all. :bounce:

#6

Salubri3i, Runecaster: thank you. :slight_smile:

Runecaster, You mean the samurai one, donā€™t you? (then again, I donā€™t think the other fabric on White counts as amazing anyway) :wink:

Salubri3iā€¦ Iā€™m afraid itā€™s a dog!

#7

I was a little late joining the current OFDW, but I gave it a try nonetheless.

Painter, about 2,5-3 hours in total.

first three stages:

The first one isnā€™t very early on, because I forgot to save. :slight_smile: At any rate, I started by blocking in the main colours, trying to find the forms as I worked on them. This was done hastily, and I spent a lot of time in the next two steps correcting it, up to the point where I had to cut and paste his whole lower jaw, beard and all.


My palette ā€“ though I didnā€™t use all the colours. I mainly settled for ochres and umbers, and used the brighter colours as glazes so that it wouldnā€™t get too muddy. The blue wasnā€™t used at all ā€“ a simple grey worked where I thought Iā€™d initially seen blue.
I found myself a lot of the time alternating between venetian red and raw umber (fifth on top row) a lot while working on the skin. I was quite at home with this, because I often use greens as shadows in my own skintones.

final image:

I liked the small red dot on the inner corner of his eye in the original ā€“ really makes a difference ā€“ so I copied it too.

And the original, so that you wonā€™t have to go searching around for it:

02_Sorolla_Tres-cabezas.jpg800x384

#8

Calling it finished after a little more tweaking. The same issues remain, more or less. I am planning on a painted version of this (digital), where I hope to fix those. :slight_smile:

#9

Funny you mention your interest ā€˜partingā€™ while studying.
Iā€™m glad Iā€™m not the only one with this problem.
One time I found myself studing bassguitar at the conservatory. I NEVER played somuch piano as I did thenā€¦:wink:

but whatever, ā€¦

I have no idea about painting, drawing techniques & all, but all these works emit some sort of unique atmosphere, which is most important, I think.
So youā€™re already nailing that one to begin with. I like it.

#10

I love these, very beautiful and intense. ^,^

:thumbsup:

#11

hellas,

nice work eilidh :thumbsup: I really like your tarkovsky stalker ā€¦ i got to see that movie nowā€¦hnng mustnt forgetā€¦gotta rent it tomorrowā€¦ :lightbulb!

The OFDW turned out really well too ā€¦ just the brushwork on the right side of the bg disturbs me a bitā€¦ but i think thats just me :slight_smile: other than that its :love:

hehe and im really looking forward to the painted samurai lady :smiley:

cya later :wavey:

#12

General Midi: I think itā€™s quite common in cases such as this. And, thank you. Technique is something that builds up, anyway, so Iā€™m happy to hear it. :slight_smile:

JM: Thanks! :slight_smile:

Vahn: I think this is the second time you address me and say ā€˜hellasā€™! Why so? :wink:
Thanks for the comments. Iā€™ll get the samurai started pretty soon; there are several people nagging me to do it so itā€™s pretty certain. (Which makes me think I wanted to start first thing today, only I woke two hours early from some terrible noise and have a splitting headache :p)
And yes, go see Stalker. If you donā€™t like it, you can always yell at me later :stuck_out_tongue: ā€“ but I think youā€™ll be quite fond of it. Just bear in mind ā€“ itā€™s slow. :slight_smile:

#13

An early start at OFDW 018 (though not as early as some others, this workshop is progressing at a tremendous rate!). I opted for VelĆ”zquezā€™s Pope Innocent X, a personal favourite of mine. :slight_smile:

Started with a pencil sketch on an A4 sheet. If it turns out well, Iā€™ll scan and paint it in Photoshop/Painter. I have considered an oil painting, too, but that would mean I have to restock ā€“ Iā€™m out of canvas, linseed oil, my oil palette is meagre at the moment, and unfortunately, so is my wallet. :stuck_out_tongue:

Some 50-60 minutes so far, attention went mostly to the face because I love his expression (so cunning!) and getting the proportions right. Measurements mostly with the eye alone, but for some parts I used a second pencil to double check the distances and alignment.

#14

hehe ā€¦ hellas because it says you are in greece and it sounds and writes a bit like ā€œhelloā€ :smiley:

btw ā€¦it takes ages to reply to this thread because your imagelinks load very very slowlyā€¦u might consider photobucket :shrug:

#15

Heh ā€“ I certainly hadnā€™t thought of it that way. :))

Youā€™re right about the loading times, theyā€™re dreadful. I am only temporarily uploading images on the tellas (that rhymes doesnā€™t it?) server, because I have issues with my own webspace at planewalk. I hope to be able to move them soon ā€“ thatā€™s why I havenā€™t gone for photobucket at this point.

#16

Thereā€™s some really interesting work going on here and its clear you have a talent, donā€™t give up the art!

#17

Vitreous, thanks. :slight_smile: Iā€™m trying not to!

Didnā€™t work much this week ā€“ just a small progress on Innocent X for OFDW 018.

#18

Moved the images from tellas to photobucket for now. I hope loading times are more tolerable (let me know if theyā€™re not).

#19

Very nice sketch! Will you paint it?
The image is loading faster now :slight_smile:

#20

Thanks :slight_smile:

Yes, thatā€™s the idea. As mentioned before, Iā€™ve been tempted to make it with oils, but Iā€™ll most likely do it digitally. Iā€™d like to make a finished drawing out of this first, though, to polish up my pencil skills a little.

By the way, Diane, since youā€™re quite the pencil expert ā€“ do you have any technique tips? I feel my approach so far is quite random ā€“ not sure where to use the flat end of the pencil, were the point, how to outline/fill my forms. I guess it looks more or less okay in the end, but I wonder if a more orderly approach in possible.