Sketchbook Thread of Johan Derycke

#1461

One can tell you’ve been working on your drawing skills. That is great to see. Ok, one thing I can tell from the work I see here is that it’s all done pretty fast. I remember I’ve been told that it’s also good to do something that requires lots of time. You know, i do believe that sometimes ot’s more useful to spend an hour on each of twenty pieces, but it’s good to spend twenty hours on one piece also. Just something to keep in mind :slight_smile: And I haven’t seen a lot of digital stuff lately from you. But you seem to have quite an idea on what you’re after, so I don’t want to be giving suggestions that are useless to you. I think you know the right way yourself :slight_smile: Keep it up, mate!

#1462

HEY Johan…Razz is making a good point there…Speed isn’t the end all,…In fact, most of the old masters saved their speed and swift power strokes for the finale,… just to breath life into the piece once all of the hard work and planning had been acomplished…Speed was then applied like the iceing on the cake so to speak…:slight_smile: Kind of like a marathon race, where the racer paces him or herself throughout the race, and only then lets out that final burst of energy when the finish line comes into view.
I like the dragonflies…AMAZING creatures, especally when you look at them up close…Over the years,I have collected a bunch of them which have died and I find laying around on the path next to the saltwater marsh where I walk my dog…They make GREAT paintings,…especally when done digitally…:smiley: You can use all of the specal effects…like glow ect. to enhane that magical quality that the dragonfly posseses…Of all of the pieces that i’ve sold over the years, the digitally created dragonflies seem to sell the most…People just seem to enjoy and really like that magical quality that they possess,Just giving you some food for thought here…:smiley:
As always,…It’s a real pleasure going through your sketchbook,and an enjoyment seeing your works and your steady/study progress…:thumbsup:
TAKE CARE
Glenn

#1463

razz
I need to work much much more, both on quickies and longer pieces. I’ve a couple of longer ones in the making but they’re not finished yet -remember I have 3 kids and a gf :wink:
Soon, my friend, soon…

Glenn
Thanks for the support and the inspiration! You know, I might implement some bugs in one of my next paintings :smiley:

On a sidenote, the curtain has finally fallen at work.
Today, we’ve been told we will all have to leave before end of Q1 2010. The whole department will be outsourced. Legally, we can at least stay until somewhere december, so I expect to be fired by the end of the year (Merry Xmas DHL!)
Anyway, we all kind of feel relieved because at least now we know what’s gonna happen.
It will be strange though, going to work some more months, knowing I will have to leave.
Oh well, playing time is over now.

If you see me online constantly… kick my butt and tell my to stop surfing and start painting!

Here’s the first of Sequentina, A Linear World.
A new, side project I started a while ago. It’s about a fictive world without violence, where a new part starts to exist every day (at least one frame per day).
You can read all about it on my blog, where I am posting a new frame every day.
Putting them next to eachother is really nice :smiley:

Remember, a new frame each day on my blog :wink:

#1464

garden city:thumbsup:
you has a good command of drawing。Great studies…
looking forward to more of your studies

#1465

Hi Johan, sad to hear about your job; and it’s not a good time to find something new. There are some signs that the economy is reliving so hopefully you will find another job. Keep going!

#1466

Johan,

already when I read the title "Sequentina, A Linear World" I was kinda resonating with these words. I liked the sound of them!

But that first frame looks oddly promising, oddly, because there’s hardly anything in there, lol! But I love it! It looks really peaceful and simple. Simple in a zen way.

…

And I just checked on your blog - I love the updates, too! Can you somehow piece them together?
Maybe there’s a flash application for seamless sidescrolling or something, that would be soo cool!

Also, you could introduce a little storytelling that way, reading from right to left and wandering through this world.

Maybe you can add a few more twigs and branches to the upper parts of your trees, but otherwise I am sold on this little thing.

A beauty.

#1467

Hi Johan, very nice ink and marker sketches, and that scarry creature is wonderfull, wouldn’t you like to develop it further in this week’s COW? :slight_smile:

#1468

Johan!

Like this thing here!
http://www.fightevilwithevil.com/

#1469

Mu,

glad you like it.
Serenity and a general peaceful atmosphere is what I am after with Sequentina.
I guess you can see it as an escape from today’s superhectic world.
It’s sequential, so yes, each page follows the previous one, from right to left for me personally. It’s a really nice effect to see these pages next to eachother. I imagine a big white room with loads of frames put next to eachother… a big linear world inside one room :slight_smile:

I’ve looked around on the net for some online solutions to stitch the frames together, but haven’t found a satisfying one yet to be honest, but the link you gave looks quite like what I had in mind!
People will get quite bored with it soon I think because I am actually not going for a story or anything, no action, just adding (at least) 1 frame per day. Improvisation is key within the given restrictions. This means that there will be stronger frames and weaker ones, technical issues etc… but I don’t mind because no world is perfect and this is just my daily escape route :smiley:

Thanks for the help Mu :slight_smile:

siiilon
I’m afraid the scary creature was not invented by me… it’s just reffed from an old ImagineFX copy…

Here’s frame 5 of Sequentina, today’s frame on my blog as well…

#1470

first of all, great pen drawings! i love pen as well (ballpoint).
Sequentina looks lovely, like an illustrated book for children, which I love :slight_smile:

What you wrote makes perfect sense and I cannot disagree with you. I think about it the same way, but I’m always finding excuses - or as I like to call them “problems”:

  1. I already am in school - but the wrong one :wink: I will hopefully finish it by this time next year. Not happy with it at all (I got to hate it by now actually), but I’m very close to being done and don’t want to quit now and lose my chance of having a degree in anything.

  2. In my country, all schools have lectures in the morning. Perhaps every day, but 4 out of 5 you have to be there from 8 AM to 2 PM. This means you can’t go to lectures and work at the same time.
    My ex went to study to Italy, and he had lectures in the evening. This makes work + school option plausible.
    So the only way is for me to become a freelancer and work in the evening :slight_smile: I will definitely try that, but it won’t happen in the next 5 years. Maybe I’ll enroll in an art school when I get pregnant :smiley:

How do you manage work and studying? :slight_smile:

#1471

Hi Nela,

yes, I understand.
I would love to get a master degree at painting, but there are only 2 schools in Flanders where you can do this, one in Brussels and one in Antwerp. They have only daytime programs as well as the schools in your area. That’s why I go to a local academy in the nearest town. There’s no real degree to it, but it’s possible to choose a program according to your freetime. I go every monday and tuesday evening, but other schedules are “wednesday and thursday (2x4hrs)” or saturday (8hrs).

Ofcourse the program is not as demanding or intense as the program I would really love to follow (t-Lucas Brussels or Royal Academy Antwerp, to get that master degree). But it’s quite cheap and it allows me to go to life drawing sessions twice a week, which sure beats drawing from photographs.

To manage it all, I have a lot of help from my lovely girlfriend, but it all comes down to efficient time management. No time to be bored :wink:

I would do the same in your case and get that degree you’re currently going for. Then you can go for it and have a nice degree as a backup. That’s always handy :slight_smile:

Here’s some of this week’s life drawings.

Compressed charcoal on A3

bistre on A3



The rest was even worse than these so I’m not even gonna bother showing them.

On a sidenote, my copy of Imaginative Realism by James Gourney finally arrived. It’s a beauty! Read more about it here
Get it now!

#1472

Your bistre paintings are very well done, I love it :wink:

#1473

great life drawing there Johan - heh I wanted to order that book, good to hear it’s worth it :slight_smile:

#1474

Hi Johan,

It’s so nice to see someone so passionate about art, love your life drawings…keep up the good work. :thumbsup:

#1475

Intervain I’ve read it through now… one of the better books I read this year :slight_smile:
siiilon Thanks!
cue-she Heh it’s like that one Radiohead song: “You got to feel it in your bonez…” :wink:

That being said, I’ve not been able to do much drawing the past 3 weeks.
My whole family has been seriously stalked by virusses… it’s getting really ennoying because we all get sick over and over again and according to the doctor we will just have to wait until our body conquers them. Let’s hope we’ll be victorious soon!

Here’s a prelim sketch for a halloween painting.
A steampunk witch.

I’m not happy with the broom. It looks more like a camera lens than steampunk.
So it will probably change in the final version.

#1476

A Witch!! A Witch! - lol sorry, Monty Python comes to mind :wink: Looking forward to where you take her!

#1477

wow, your drawings are awesome, I really can see your improvement. It´s so inspiring, I think I will do some exercises you´ve already done. great job!

I just think in some cases the smaller forms dont fit so well over the bigger ones, like the face of that witch. but its great overall

#1478

Heh Magda isn’t it 30 years or so now since Monty Python was broadcasted?
Awesome at the time but a bit outdated today imho :slight_smile:

borroriow I’m gonna have to fix the hat of that witch… it’s too big for her head I think and it should be put a bit more backward.

Thanks for the input people!
Here’s a 5 min tree study from life in Painter, in between household tasks :argh:

#1479

outdated? Are you serious? - OMG I love MP- they’re completely up to date IMHO hehehe…

#1480

something new happening here again :slight_smile:
nice tree study, and the witch - cant wait where you´ll take her :slight_smile:
a