DRAWING WORKSHOP 001: Copying the Work of Rubens

#41

May I get suggestions as to how to improve my pic before I go further? :slight_smile:

#42

paperclip,

I’m happy to offer some suggestions, but these are just mine, and anyone may and IS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to jump in here also and offer advice. :slight_smile:

 Here goes:
 
 [img]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a35/rebeccak4/FIGURE%20DRAWING%20WKSHP%20001/Paperclip_Review_1_small.jpg[/img]
 
 [left]Since you are approaching the piece from a painting vs. a drawing perpective, let me just say that I think it's always best to remember (and it's easy to forget) that [b]P[/b][b]ainting IS Drawing. [/b]I think people often get intimidated and overwhelmed by approaching a painting, when they are able draughtsmen, and don't realize that there is little difference to drawing and painting besides [b]color, [/b]which is pretty [b]unimportant[/b] compared to the key ingredient of a good painting, [b]VALUE.  [/b]It is important not to get caught up in trying to get COLORS right if the underlying drawing is "wrong" ~ so I think it's always best to get the [b]DRAWING[/b] to be as accurate as possible before "coloring", or what some people think of as "painting".

With the digital medium, the line between drawing and painting is somewhat blurred, but I think it’s best to consider this less an exercise in ‘painting’, and more an exercise in ‘shading’. It’s a semantic thing, but psychologically, what we call things can make a difference in terms of how we think about and approach our process.

I think you just need to keep going ~ the work on the face looks great! I think generally, you should approach the piece by finding the MOST GENERAL LIGHT AND DARK areas first, and then concentrate on the more minor details / smaller areas of Light and Dark. ALWAYS WORK FROM THE BIG PICTURE and then focus more narrowly.

Don’t get overwhelmed by the contortions of the body, if you just consider the body in terms of lighter and darker SHAPES, it becomes a much simpler problem.

I blurred the images and desaturated them both ~ I think it’s a good way to work, using only White, a Mid-Gray, and Black, to see the painting in terms of its VALUES only. Color can be thrown on with a Layer / Layers with the Blending Mode set to COLOR.

 I hope this helps, and good luck!!! :)
 
 ~Rebeccak
 [/left]
#43

:love: What a fantastic crit. Thanks so much for taking the time!

I will take all your tips on board and produce a revised version. Thanks once more!
theresa

#44

Theresa aka paperclip, :slight_smile:

You’re most welcome! And I know you’re extremely busy, so I appreciate your taking time to participate in the forum! :bounce:

~Rebeccak

#45

Here is tonights update. Got home and opened the drawing I did yesterday - hated it. Deleted it and begun again.:slight_smile:

Tried to physically make him more “Rubenesque” (If there is such a word!)

Crits (as usual) welcome. Will try to do more over the weekend.

#46

Hi people,

here is my attempt. Sad how many lines i need to get it done. :frowning:

BTW, it is drawn in opencanvas which i’m trying out for the first time. Pretty cool. :applause:

–kaspaxl

#47

default.rol,

Great to see you working hard, as ever, on this piece! Keep going, I’m sure it will be great!! :slight_smile:

kaspaxl,

Wow, awesome sense of balance and weight! :slight_smile: No worries about the number of lines it takes ~ if you get it right, you get it right! :slight_smile: Beautiful work, keep going! :slight_smile:

Great stuff, guys!! Very inspiring. :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#48

wow I go on vacation and this place explodes with all sorts of fun stuff!! Good job guys. I definitely will attempt this :slight_smile:

#49

I thought I’d join in on the fun. I worked this one up last night while watching CNN. It’s pencil about 8 inches high.


Made a few changes as you can tell. It was hard to see who was Goliath in Ruben’s version, I mean, ol’ Dave’s been working out. I slimmed him down a bit and changed his pose and expression some, and yes whimped out on the background.

-David

#50

Got really annoyed with the "pain"ting I began, so it has been confined to the darkest recesses of my HD.:sad:

          I decided, therefore, to go 'back to the drawing board' on this one - [b][u]NO[/u][/b] pun intended...  (well perhaps a little one.) :D
          
          [img]http://img324.imageshack.us/img324/6136/wip4dg0208053gv.jpg[/img]
        
        And I couldn't leave out goliath...
        
        [img]http://img280.imageshack.us/img280/7715/wip5dg0208058do.jpg[/img]
        
       EDIT:

I dont know if this is cheating slightly, (using a grid to work from,) but hey, the old masters themselves did it! I personally learned a lot from doing one this way - I found out that I was making his torso too thick for one.:thumbsup:

       [img]http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/808/wip96dg0708056ai.jpg[/img]
       
        Question:  My ancient mythology ain't what it used to be - but still, didn't David beat Goliath with a slingshot?:)  Did he have the sabre as "backup, just incase" do you think?:scream:
#51

Excellent thing you did Rebecca, dividing the body to its basic forms. This is how artists should look at anything…
And just to add, I have a suggestion for all of you… Just leave the wretched tablet for a while, take a sketch pad and try to eyeball the image not to trace it over in shotphop or painter.
the point of this exercise is to practice understanding what lies under what we see.
Just my twocents.
then scan it or take a picture for us to see.

#52

I don’t think nobody traced the image evanfotis :sad: Everybody came up with different versions of it, some thiner, some bigger, etc.

#53

I didn’t trace either! And I have done all the line art for this thread by hand with a 9B pencil. The closest I came to tracing was when I squared the paper off (see above) so you have smaller areas to “eyeball.” :scream:

Perhaps its a compliment to us all if some of these drawings look like tracings!

#54

@default.rol,& kaspaxl,
I definetely did not mean too insult anyone here, and those of you who worked traditionally have no reason feel bad. And even those who did use digital medium -besides, this is a cg site- can always have the original on a part of the screen and their canvas next to it and mimic the actual study,which in fact should be even more dificult since most of us are more efficient using real paper with a real pencil, than with virtual pens and tablets, when it comes to detail and precision.

#55

That’s the way i worked. Yep. And no insult was taken at any moment, simply stating.

default.rol, keep us updated in that painting study. Looking good.

Regards,
–kaspaxl

#56

Evanfotis - No offence taken either. I run two monitors at my station and do what you describe. Its all just for improving with and practice does make perfect as the saying goes. Above all it should be FUN! :smiley: (or else you are doing something wrong I think.)

Kaspaxl - Cheers man. Its my second digital painting in Photoshop and its taking me a while to get through it. Do you think RebeccaK’s $50 is safe though? :scream: … (:deal: -Just kidding RebeccaK.)

#57

Queensoul,

Can't wait to see your work! Please post when you get the chance. :)

dbclemons,

Nice work!! :thumbsup: It's great to see you try this ~ I hope it proved beneficial. We'll get a new one up shortly. :)

default.rol,
Ok, one word:[i][b] WOW!!! :bounce::bounce::bounce:[/b][/i]You are doing just a fantastic job, and I am just pleased as punch to see the [b]great [/b]results you are getting ~ [i][b]AWESOME [/b][/i]work!!! You should just be super pleased with yourself, and I hope that you continue to refine and finish this piece, as I think it shows amazing progress and a ton of hard work. Many thanks for posting this fantastic work!!! :thumbsup:

EDIT: evanfotis, Thank you! It’s great to hear comments and feedback ~ it lets me know if I am on the right track! So thanks for taking the time to post your comments! :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#58

Thx RebeccaK,

I think I am beginning to get the hang of this “painting in Photoshop” thing now. It took me a few false starts to get there though. This piece has pushed all of my painting skills with the program to the limit. I just hope I can improve on the foundation I now have, to take my skills further still - there is just SO much to learn. I also want to be able to get to grips with Corel painter now. THEN I WILL BE PLEASED WITH MYSELF!:scream:

MIKE

#59

default.rol / Mike,

You’ve definitely “gotten the Photoshop thing down” :thumbsup: ~ this is just incredible work!

I think that you as well as others will be thrilled to know that a good friend of mine from school with whom I recently reconnected has agreed to allow us to use his beautiful photographs of models for use in a new thread called “Open Figure Drawing Workshop”, in which my friend’s photo reference will be posted for us. His photos are truly beautiful and the models are superb.

Looking forward to seeing everyone’s post on the new thread, which should be posted soon! Stay tuned!! :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#60

Result! Well done 'beccaK! :applause: