Sketchbook Thread of D4ng3rmouse

#1

Hey ive been snooping around the anatomy forum pretty much since it started and posted a few things at the beginning but due to my last year of uni I kind of lost touch with it. Well now I finished my course (YEY) and ive got more time to spend on things so I’m back with avengence. The work that is in the forum now is amazing and its really great to see everyones progress and i was especially inspired by the work of Lyneran. It really made me feel like drawing again. Ive kinda been on and off with drawing for the last few years now so I really want to focus on it a bit more and see if I can improve. Heres a couple of studies Ive done over the last year-ish and im gonna try and tackle some of the 15 min ref sketches that have been posted.

These first 2 were from one of the first workshops i think

This is the first and only digital painting of a human i’ve tried to do so far. I did it about a year ago and I was happy with it at the time. I find choosing the right colours pretty difficult so thats something im hoping to improve.

I’ll post some more stuff 2morrow whn i have my scanner plugged in adn ill try and attempt so quick sketches as well.

#2

OOOh nice work - I do like the painting a lot :thumbsup: Waiting for more :slight_smile:

#3

Right been trying to get back into drawing today so I took a few of the references from the 15min sketch forum and tried to do some sketches from them. Ive always found it really difficult to do quick lose sketches, i always get bogged down somehow. Anyway, ill do some more tonight, might try and doa longer sketch too.

I also have a terrible tendancy to go past the page limit which I know kinda the first rule not too break. Ill try and do better next time :). Also find with quick sketches my proportions seems to go off a bit, liek the top leg. Although it could aslo have been cause i was running out of room on the paper.

Intervain - Thanks for the comment, I was pretty pleased with that painting when i did it. I have a feeling its gonna take a bit of warming up before i try another one. Paintings never really been a strong skill of mine.

#4

D4ng3rmouse,

Welcome back! :slight_smile: It’s always cool to see people who were around when the Anat Forum first started return to see all the changes ~ I’m really happy with the way it’s evolved, and can remember when there were just 3 threads in the WIP 2D area ~ things have definitely come a long way, thanks to everyone’s hard work! :slight_smile:

Enjoying seeing both your drawing and your painting, and I frankly think it’s a better idea to focus on the drawing first as it will hold you in the strongest stead. Really looking forward to seeing your progress here!

To stay informed of the newest Tutorials and Workshops on the Anat Forum, subscribe here:
Notification of New Open Figure Drawing Workshops / + TUTORIALS - SUBSCRIBE HERE!

Cheers, :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#5

Hey Rebeccak
thanks for the welcome :). Yeah its a bit crazy how its gone from just a few thread to LOADS. I am seriously impressed that you actually get the time to go through the threads and reply to as many people as you do. Do you actually ever sleep :eek:.

As for the comments you made I am gonna focus on the drawing just at the moment like you said. At the moment I’m working through one of the loomis books to see if it can help me with my general proportions and weighting of the character. The first drawings are from the book and the 2nd lot are some tests to see if I could use the manaquinne idea when looking at some images from the 15min sketch thread. Im really liking all the dynamic poses. I’ve also found drawing means i have time to listen to something at the same time so I’m trying to learn how to speak japanese as well at the moment. Pfft and my sister tells me I can’t multi task. Well I’ll carry on with these kinda sketches for the moment until i feel comfortable trying to draw them without reference I guess. See ya

#6

Hi just thought id update my sketchbook. I kind of disappeared again, can’t beleive it was august when i last posted. Well the big gap in posts is because i finished uni and got a job, which is a good and a bad thing. Good because im working on films which is what i always wanted to but bad because of lack of free time to do any drawing. Anyway I’ve started to get used to the routine now so I’ve picked up the drawing where i left off and have been sketching for the last month or so. The only problem now is uploading the images as we still don’t have the internet in my house, been waiting 2 months now. Seems to take a very long time to get anything done in london :(. Anyway rest assured I will be uploading lots tommorow.

#7

Right here as promised are some of the sketches ive been doing recently. mainly ive just been working on my drawing, getting the correct proportions and poses rather than anything else and trying to speed up my work flow. I think im beginning to get somewhere but i still have a lot more practicing to go.

Thats all of them for now. I’m not sure now whether i should continue doing this though or try and do some longer studies and looking at shading. Any tip or comments are welcome as always. Hopefully as I said before now im getting used to London and work I’ll be able to post and contribute more regularly.

#8

Hi…James…:slight_smile:

Nice to see you back, I remember that painting from awhile back…:slight_smile:
I think Loomis is good for some things, but I much prefer the teaching methods of Burne Hogarth myself…You might try getting his books…will really give you a better approach for doing the DYNAMIC poses and figures that you seem to be drawn to…:slight_smile:
JUST A THOUGHT AND SUGGESTION, as I am looking at your latest work…:slight_smile:
Really looking forward to seeing more of your studies,and think that once you master the drawing, you will do FANTASTIC PAINTINGS…Just takes time and practice, and a willingness to get there, which you have shown, by coming back, and starting from the beginning…:thumbsup:
TAKE CARE
Glenn

#9

I like your stick figure studies of motion. It really help define the skeletal structure when the hips move and stuff. Your digital painting is fantastic. How loong have you been digitally painting? My only suggestion is her upper arm seems a bit skinny, but not too noticable. Have a porportional problems myself. It comes with practice I am finding out. Keep posting.

#10

Hey thanks very much for the comments. I’m quite enjoying getting back into drawing, I find its quite relaxing after sitting in front of a computer all day, not that i don’t love my job.

Glen - Thanks for the suggestions, ive been looking at your work for a while and I really love the style and feel some of your images have, truely inspiring. I have to admit that i’ve not heard of Burne Hogarth before but i will have a have to have a look around and see what i can find. I was using the loomis books as a ref just because I have been trying to improve my general proportions and pose but whenever I draw a dynamic pose i have to admit they feel a bit static so ill be interested to see the method applied by Hogarth. I really love seeing some of the dynamic drawings the people on this forum do, in some cases it almost feels that its about to move. What i find more stagering is that they have suggested all this in such simple sketches sometimes, just a few lines. Ill have ago this weekend at doing some more sketches and see how it goes.

Aggie93 - Again thanks for the kind words about the painting. I have to admit that i have done very little digital painting or traditional painting. Thats actually the first and only digital painting i have ever really done, i did it for myslef really just to see if I could actually do it. When i was at art college I wanted to study painting but i was told that I didn’t have the skill for it and told to do something else. Not very supported really so I did it for that reason too. Just to prove to myself that if i tried I could achieve something. For now im going to stick to the drawing as rebecca suggested a while back and once i feel a bit more confident in that area i would like to go back and start looking a digital painting again. Its actually my birthday in a couple of weeks so hopefully im going to get a wacom. The tablet i have at the moment isn’t great.

Anyway thanks for the support and suggestions again. Looking forward to the weekend to do some sketching. I think that im starting to see an improvment in my work and over time hopefully ill get better and better :).

#11

Hi…James…:slight_smile:

You can get his books through the internet…not sure of the spelling, but Eibrus . com or Amazon .com…They are pretty inexpensive if you buy them used…:slight_smile:
Where you are at now, I would say the best one to get is …DYNAMIC FIGURE DRAWING, which is his second one,…the first one is DYNAMIC ANATOMY, which deals mostly with the muscle groups, which you probably have good examples of in Loomis already.
DYNAMIC FIGURE DRAWING, deals more with how to creat dynamic poses in a realistic convincing manner…forshortening, action, ect…GREAT BOOK…:thumbsup:
I have them all, and still find myself going through them, whenever I get stumped by a hard pose, or lighting problem ect.
I had him as a teacher years ago…The man really knew his stuff, and had a great method of teaching, which he put into all of his books…hope you are able to get them…I think, if you do,… you will really enjoy, and learn a lot from them…:slight_smile:
TAKE CARE
Glenn

#12

Hi D4ng3rmouse,

I love your sketches, above all the motion in these pics.
And your digital work is impressive!

I see, I have to work harder ^^

#13

Hello people im back again hopefully for a considerable longer amount of time. We finally after 4 and a half months of ordering it have the internet at home, which makes it a lot easier for me to post. Don’t get that much time at work. Christmas was fairly busy too but now im starting to get back into the habbit of drawing and there seems to be an even greater resource here than there was before.

Firstly thanks spiritdreamer i went a found the Burne Hogarth book you mentioned and I am finding it a very interesting approach to figure drawing. Just need a bit more practice and study. At the moment I have decided to have ago at the head workshop from a while back as I’d like to practice trying to imrpove my drawing of one area of the body.

Here are my first 2 attempts

I was fairly happy with this when i started, but i think i got the angle slightly wrong and some of the proportions are out. Her face just looks a bit to wide and it doesn’t really resemeble the painting that much so ill prob have another go at this at some point. I’m also not that great at shading with a pencil as I think i tend to work to light and not have enough levels of variation in tone.

This second one I’m a bit more happy with. I tired to use a softer pencil 6B i think and tried to get a bit more of a tonal range. Its not great but its better than before. I think the pose is a bit better in this one too although i think again that i have made the face a little bit too wide.

My aim for now is to try and do a sketch of at least 1 of the heads each day and see my progress over a month.

#14

Hi nice sketches :slight_smile: I especially like the gymnastics ones…probably because they remind me of when I used to be in gymnastics…that was great fun, why don’t they have classes for adults? :frowning: Ah anyway…they really show movement well! I’m working on those loomis manikins too right now, you’ve done a good job so far!

#15

Hi…James…:thumbsup:

I like those head studies…great the way you keep your notes of observations, with the drawing…nice practice to get into, will be very useful when you look back at them to compare with your newer stuff…:thumbsup:
About the Hogarth book…glad you were able to find it…:slight_smile:
I would not advise copying his images,…the style of drawing that he uses, is strickly for teaching purposes only, and is over emphsized to show what he is teaching, and is really not meant to be imatated or copied, unless you desire to make that your style.
Rather you should read what he says, and see how it works by seeing how it is applied in his drawings, and the drawings and paintings of all the great masters of the past, and the present.
I find that a lot of people in this forum disregard his books and teachings, in favor of a prettier style that they can imatate and copy,
but then when it comes time to create figures from thier own imaginations, they seem to be totally lost, for the simple reason that they never bothered to read what he was saying, and to put it into practice in thier own way or style, but instead just copied his teaching style of drawing, without truely understanding the princables behind it…Almost like disregarding Michelanglio, because you don’t like his style of painting…pretty foolish thing to do, I would say…same goes for disregarding the teachings of Burne Hogarth, who solidified the knowlage in book form of Michelanglio…All of the prinables of creating great figures as the great masters did and do, are in his books,and only a fool would disregard that knowlage…just my opion though…:slight_smile:
Anyway,…I think you are on the right path with your studies, and are showing great progress…can’t wait to see more of your work, and progess…:thumbsup:
TAKE CARE
Glenn

#16

Decided to tackle this one yesterday. This is a pretty quick sketch maybe 30mins to 45. I was gonna start to add the shading but I quite like it like this for some reason. I might go back to it and shade it anyway because at least now I have a version of it before. Haven’t got around to doing another head today yet, went for a wander around london to test out my new camera I got for christmas. Its got quite a lot of features to get used to and its been a while since I have been out taking any photos, hopefully I’ll get back into it. Now I’m gonna get back to doing my 4th head to keep up with my head a day schedule. Thank sagain for the advice guys and I’ll keep trying my best.

*Edit YEY im on my secondpage lol - end of outburst :slight_smile: **

#17

Well heres no4. I went through stages on not liking this and liking it. I think now its finished that its ok. It resembles the sculpture, but i think my shading has let me down again. Theres just to many patches where it seems a bit flat so I guess thats something I’m gonna have to work on a bit. I think the hair on the left hand side went a bit wrong as well. I have a tendancy to start to get less motivated as I get near to completing it so I end up taking short cuts and they just don’t work :). Right thats all for tonight im off to bed for now, work in the morning.

#18

Hi

these “rather quick” exercises are an excellent way to improve vastly.
I’ve been thinking about revisiting the head challenge thread and after seeing your progress in only these few sketches… I think I really will :slight_smile:

Keep at it!

#19

WOW! You are a hidden gem in this ocean of forums! Great work here. Just wanted to say that and I hope to see more from you.:slight_smile:

#20

Eek hadn’t realised it had been so long since i had done any drawings or posted any at least. Ben having some probs with my eyes since November now and that doesn’t help much. Anyway was watching some stuff by glen keane today and really got my inspired to get back to the drawing again. Hopefully i can stick at it a bit better this time. Anyway here are a few sketches from over the last few months. Ones at the top are older and they get more recent as they go down. Any feedback would be very welcome