Sketchbook Thread of Margie

#18

Margie,

That is just the sweetest and most touching story...thank you for sharing it with all of us! :)
It sounds as though with your lovely family, you have a really charmed life, and it is fantastic to hear a bit about it! :) I seriously have a little water in my eye after reading this for the second time...

My daughters have of course noticed I spend a great deal of time on the anatomy forum, heard me rant that I’m no good at all with bones and muscles and also heard me mumble something about wanting to do an oilpainting of one of the reference photo’s.

This made me lol! :)

You also have a great start on your drawing ~ and I really look forward to seeing what your next update will be. :)

Happy Sinterklaas! :)

Here is some yummy pepernoten! :slight_smile:

Cheers, 

~Rebeccak
#19

:applause:
Is this the same margie from the Laborganika forums?

Nice work!
Keep it up.

#20

Aww…thanks for the pepernoten! :slight_smile: They are my most favorite “Sinterklaas” treat.
I didn’t mention them, because I’m not sure if these Dutch treats are known in the rest of the world. But then again, if the Dutch emigrate, it’s guaranteed they bring along the pepernoten, oliebollen (doughnutty things eaten at new years’ eve) and erwtensoep (peasoup).

#21

Yup!

Nice work!
Keep it up.

Thanks! Well, I’ll have to, don’t I? Can’t disappoint my girls. :slight_smile:

#22

Margie,

If it weren’t for CGTalk, pepernoten would have remained forever unknown to me. :slight_smile: However, since joining up, I’ve been fortunate enough to have corresponded with cool people from nearly everywhere on the planet, including this wacky guy named Marlon/Art2 who is responsible for my hilarious avatar which you see at left. :slight_smile: He introduced us to pepernoten, so he deserves credit for expanding my knowledge of international treats and holidays. :slight_smile:

Speaking of shopping, I need to get my buns in gear for Christmas, which is fast approaching…I’m horrid at shopping, I always wait until the day before Christmas Eve, so this year I vow to be better! :smiley:

Have a great one! :slight_smile:

Cheers,

~Rebeccak

#23

Update: Well, I got my canvas for Sinterklaas, after the “empty box” surprise. Explanation:

[b]  The empty box surprise[/b]:

The empty box surprise is… an empty box, with a note sending the receiver to some place in the house (usually something obnoxious like the gardenshed), to find the REAL present. Of course, once there, you find… an empty box containing a note, sending you off to the closet under the stairs, only to find…an empty box sending you to the attic…only to find…etc.
The final note leads back to the living room. Your family tells you that while you were gone chasing presents, Sinterklaas has come and gone and left the present…in the place were you were previously sitting, together with some pepernoten strewn all over the place.

The real surprise was a present I didn’t find out about beforehand. I got a lovely sketchbook with a heavy grade Ingres paper from Marijke (pronounced Ma-ray-kuh), my youngest daughter and a splendid set of Rembrandt oilpaints from the man of the house.

I’m much better with traditional media (more and longer practise) and made two pencil drawings in my new sketchbook, but I can’t show them because we haven’t got a scanner at this monent. I was going to get one, but everytime I try, someone is doing his or her best to stop me. Think they’re up to something for Christmas?

#24

Copy of a study for Hylas and the Nymphs by J.W. Waterhouse.

Original:

http://www.jwwaterhouse.com/view.cfm?recordid=17

#25

Margie,

I really, really like this copy! :applause: What medium did you use? :slight_smile:

Cheers,

~Rebeccak

#26

Rebecca, thanks! It’s digital. I don’t know if photoshop has this, but Paintshop Pro also has a paint engine immitating traditional media. The oils are lousy, but the chalks and pencils are pretty good.

  What I do is start a sketch on a traditional media layer with coloured pencils/chalks/pastels.

Then I add a raster(bitmap) layer, which gives me the standard digital tools and block in the values at low opacity with airbrush and a custom brush I made with a lot of grey values (very transparent).

   Then I add another traditional media layer and work out the details and textures.

I’m really pleased to hear you like it. This copy was sparked by something I read about Picasso. As you undoubtely know, the man could draw like a god. He said he could draw like Raphael when he was 8 (!) and said that it is a very good idea to do as many copies as you can of an artist one likes best, because that will teach you the visual language of that artist and once understood, becomes part of your own style.

I admire many, many artists, but for myself, I would like to have a style which is close (but not quite the same) to a mix of Waterhouse, Bougereau, Degas, Alan Lee and a Dutch painter and graphic artist Anton Pieck
Ermm…yes, very romantic and mythical.
I’m not going to argue with Picasso and took his advice. I noticed I’m very much more motivated and concentrated when I copy one of these favourites of mine.

   Working on Waterhous' "Mermaid" right now. :)
#27

Margie,

Sounds like a great approach! I checked out the artist you linked, and his work is quite beautiful ~ I can see why you admire him. :slight_smile: Thanks also for describing your process, that’s very helpful! Looking forward to seeing your next study. :slight_smile:

Cheers,

~Rebeccak

#28

Some anatomical studies from Louise Gordon’s book

#29

Oh, really nice! That’s definitely her style! Good to see these! :wip:

Cheers, :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#30

Thought I’d show the halfway-stage :wip: I described above. Before I begin the shading with black/white and 3 greys, I greyscale the reference and then reduce the levels to 5.

Copy from A Mermaid by J.W. Waterhouse.

Original:
http://www.johnwilliamwaterhouse.com/paintings/painting1391.aspx

#31

Margie,

Great to see the process! The more WIP, the better! :thumbsup:

Cheers, :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#32

I don’t know what I was doing yesterday, but when I came back to the sketch today, it seemed all wrong to me.
It’s difficult for me to get even the tilt and size of the head right on such a small scale and I often have this problem that the figure itself is OK, but the size of the head and the tilt is wrong.

So I started again, this time with a close crop of the head only. This looks better, but it’s also 600 x 800 original size. Add the figure to that and I end up with something ridiculously large and that makes the program hopelessly sluggish. :cry: Arrrgghhh… anyone any ideas how to solve this?

#33

Originally posted by Margie: This looks better, but it’s also 600 x 800 original size. Add the figure to that and I end up with something ridiculously large and that makes the program hopelessly sluggish. :cry: Arrrgghhh… anyone any ideas how to solve this?

Margie, it depends on how much RAM you have and what program you are using ~ I’m sorry, are you using Painter? Unfortunately, Painter really chugs on large image files unless you have enough RAM. Spirit Dreamer has more experience with Painter than I, you might want to PM him, or pose the same question on the OFDW 008 and / or 009, where he’s most likely to see it. :slight_smile: I think PM’ing might be the route to go, though. :wink:

Also, you may want to work at a small resolution initially, and then blow the image up, and refine from there. Frequently digital artists work at 25% zoomed out size anyway, the better to see the picture as a whole. I guess start small, scale up, then work in sections if it’s not possible to add RAM?

EDIT: By the way, you’re doing a fantastic job with the Beginner’s Workshop! :applause:

Cheers, :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#34

Rebecca I use Paintshop Pro, but I reckon it’s hogging memory just as much as Painter. Adding more RAM makes perfect sense. I have 512 Mb (don’t laugh, guys, don’t laugh) , but when I see the file size, that’s not nearly enough.

Upgrading is no problem, I can go to 2 Gb.

Thanks for the help! :slight_smile:

#35

Margie,

Sounds good! No prob. :slight_smile:

#36

Plugged in another 512 Mb this morning. Major difference! Did a quick oil sketch of another
great pose from Ben Miller (from D.A.) original size 1200 x 1600 with no noticable delay.

#37

Great to see that you made use of that image, Margie! Thanks!!