Sketchbook Thread of Johan Derycke

#481

True that! :slight_smile: I just seem to be more impatient than I recall from years back, when I last used to draw heaps. Maybe its just coz I didn’t know as much and had no idea how much there was to learn back then, lol.

I like you concept for OFDW! Real sorry to hear about your hand. If only you could save up all its energy just for drawing and didn’t have to move it for anything else. Hope its getting better, or that you can at least find a way to manage the pain so drawing doesn’t hurt.

Best wishes!
Tessa

#482

Hi Johan,

great to see you going on, but please be patient an perhaps work with less pressure. I want to see more work from you for a long, long time. :slight_smile:

And yes, Jack Nicholson is a crazy demon… lol you know the film where he is the devil and had a love affair with three witches? Don’t know the title.

Ciao,
Ellie

#483

Well the hand was getting better which is why I went to school last night.
We went to the school library where we picked ourselves a nice book to draw from and started working with bister a brush and a “rietpen”. don’t know the english word but it’s a pen made from a fine bamboostick.

Some studies from Rembrandt:

The head is awefully big in the first one but apart from that I’m quite pleased with it.
I had never used bister before, let alone a brush or one of those pens… great fun.

Unfortunately my arm wasn’t so happy about all this today so I’m not going to class tonight to let it rest. I read somewhere it usually takes around 9 months average to recover from tendonitis and it can take up to 2,3 years omg :eek:
Guess I will have to learn to live with it.:shrug:

Anyway, don’t want to be too negative about it…
Razz, Aviva, Ellie: thanks for the support peepz! Really appreciate it!

#484

Amber, 5 years old

#485

good portrait, its really ‘alive.’

few crits
-eyeballs look flat…maybe some shading could help.
-nose seems to bee assymetrical…cant really put my finger on it.
-maybe some extra highlights and dark shades to level up the contrast.

ah well…minor crits they are, good job.
don’t overwork your arm… :sad:

Cyanid

#486

Hi Johan,

beautiful studies with the “rietpen” and with the portrait of the cute girl I also see minor problems which you can debug.

Take care about your arm,
Ellie :slight_smile:

#487

well, there are few troubles, I agree, but her expression is SO intense and real… I love it !

#488

Been a while… trying to keep pc usage to a minimum so won’t update/comment too often.

Had a meeting with a specialized doctor today and she thinks the problems, which have taken very carpal tunnel syndrom-ish proportions by now, are caused by inflammations at the elbow. She gave me instructions for stretching exercises, a liniment and other treatment details. We agreed to give this method 3 weeks and if there is no improvement we’ll be taking further actions (x rays, maybe nerve tests etc).

I’m feeling more confident I will get better now and having good hopes. only thing is I’m a bit unpatient and would love to draw a lot. Other than school I’ve done nearly no drawing at all.

Here’s the school work:
done on 36 x 27 (cm) paper with a brush and bister. Trying to capture as much as possible with as few as possible strokes. Light is the main aspect to deal with during these exercises so if area’s seem uncomplete because they are all white, that was done on purpose and was part of the exercise :wink:

Small images because they are meant to be looked at from a distance…


#489

more of these…



#490

I’m a bit unpatient and would love to draw a lot.

I really appreciate your love and enthusiasm:DBUT TAKE CARE:)
The way we sit lost for hours in our drawings…i really fear that i ll go numb some day in the same pose…To fight this fear i have decided to take out time for exercise regularly…Please make sure you make some such routine:)
I wish speedy recovery to your left arm:)

#491

Great value studies Johan and they look good from a distance.:slight_smile: The little girl sketch is adorable. I’m sorry you are having problems with your arm. I hope the excercises help, just keep up with them.

#492

Johan - your tirless effort is paying off big time!!! Great work, Great progress :thumbsup:

Gord

#493

Hm, it didn’t take a half of that to me.

#494

Hi Johan, good updates. Nice experiments with bister; seems very difficult as you can probably hardly correct mistakes. The portrait of Amber looks very good. Very well drawn. There are some issues with the lighting though. The light comes from top right. So the areas under the nose, the upper lip, the upper eye lids should be shaded darker. That would make it look more natural (even though it might be different from your observation). The expression is very good!

#495

CgIcecube thanks! My arm doesn’t hurt from drawing anymore… sitting at a computer desk is hell but drawing is ok. I’m looking to buy a new chair to sit at my pc here at home. Ok they are very expensive (some chairs cost as much as a new pc) but I think it will make a huuuge difference.

Samanthie, Gord, Thank you for the kind words and the visit!

kljsadfhklj let’s hope it won’t take that long! Feeling less pain now so I’m optimistic.

batte812 Glad you like it. The drawing of Amber is one of the studies I’m doing of my kids before I’ll be making a grouped portrait on big colored paper. thanks for the advise on light usage. I’ll try to take it with me in my next drawings.
The bistre is indeed very challenging… has to be put on paper in only a few lines and strokes… these are not all the sketches I made with bistre to be honest… I left out the failures :wink:

Anyway,
I’ve made a tutorial on how to make your own cane pen and bistre so you can all try it as well if you are interested. Any feedback will be highly appreciated since making tutorials is a lot of fun but I’m not that experienced in it :wink:

Find the link in my sig

#496

I think that it’s beautiful and very inspiring to see all the passion you put in learning!

About the chair…I’m a software developer and I paint at pc so I spend a lot of hour in a bad position for shoulders, arms and of course, backbone. My experience told me to use 2 different kinds of chair in order to change the backbone position at least each 2 days.
I use a normal office-chair plus what here is called “ergonomic” one. >Here a photo<
I spent 75 € to buy this last one so I really suggest you to save your money for a new graphic card ^_^, use 2 chairs and of course have at least 1 hour of jogging/sport 3/4 times at week plus daily stretching.

Good work man ! :thumbsup:

#497

I definitely see progress here. keep it up! practice makes perfect :slight_smile:

#498

The portrait of Amber is lovely, and thank you for the Tutorial! Hope you are taking care of your wrist. :slight_smile:

#499

Serena thanks not sure which chair I’m buying yet there are so many of them and it’s easy to spend a lot of money on it… will carefully think about the pros and cons first :slight_smile:
The exercising… I normally go cycling and do a bit of fitness at home a couple of times a week but cannot start those again unless I feel no pain in my arm at any time… maybe in a few weeks :wink:

cok3 thanks, that’s the aim… will still be the aim in 30 years for sure…

Rebecca Thanks glad you like it. It’s just a study for a bigger project though. I’ll be drawing my 3 children on a 64 by 51 cm Sienna beige paper at some point and it will be framed…

Don’t worry I’m being careful with my arm. Drawing doesn’t hurt when I use a shelf to put against the edge of my desk/table. It’s mainly typing and driving the car which is the problem.
I do follow the treatment directions I got from my doctor precisely and during the last 5 days I’ve noticed remarkable improvement. It’s looking good :slight_smile:

Here’s another pooh-sheet lol

as you can see I’ll need to draw many more of these hehe

#500

nice clean poohs. why are you drawing poo’s if I may ask? hehe
good luck with your arm!