Sketchbook Thread of Johan Derycke

#1441

Cool studies there, I envy you T-T I had to go outside my school to actually be able to even make it to a life-drawing class.

#1442

Eklectique
Thanks. I need the life drawings so badly so yes, I’m fortunate to be able to follow these classes.

A 50 min speedpaint of Amber
Wanted to see if I could quickly establish likeness. Failed miserably LOL

ii spent the last 2 days painting a supersonic pizza scooter for the IDW challenge at conceptart… oh boyz… I need some serious practice…
check it out here…

#1443

Hey Johan, sweet sketchbook you have here :slight_smile: I am really ashamed seeing how much work you did here, great progress! Your colors looks great, especially in the last speedpaint. If you don’t achieve likeliness it’s not bad thing, it’s fact I face as well, it’s just how close you can get. For this purpose it’s better to take your pencil. For example I can’t concentrate enough to catch the form if I go to colors directly.
I see you started doing more industry design and perspective practice - That’s GREAT! It’s something that looks boring, but if you don’t give up it will be a gold in the near future. I saw your IDW, it’s very neat and readable, it deserved more votes than it got - but you know, the last time I did IDW I had no vote at all xD
This week it’s the topic : Anti-Orbit Self Propelled Artillery ; so we could take part in this together, what do you say? :slight_smile:

Keep up buddy :wink:

#1444

Really superb work man…
I’m excited looking at all this pages.
very inspiring.

Keep it up!

#1445

Hi Michal

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement!

If you don’t achieve likeliness it’s not bad thing
Yeah I don’t mind not achieving my goal for a certain exercise at all anymore. It just means I need more practice :wink:

For example I can’t concentrate enough to catch the form if I go to colors directly.

That’s exactly the reason why I did this exercise. It’s obvious that I need plenty more practice :smiley:

Anti-Orbit Self Propelled Artillery

I can’t visit the CA website here at the office (it’s blocked by IT security dept). I’ll check it out tonight at home and think about something during the day. Maybe come up with some quick sketches (got a boring day ahead here at work anyway). Thanks for letting me know about IDW (so many communities, such limited free time).
No idea what they mean wth an Anti-Orbit Self Propelled Artillery is supposed to be though lol

longhi
Thanks mate.
I’ve got a bunch of stuff piling up to post, but there’s just not much time to do all I want. So I’m trying to cut my time on surfing, downloading reference and uploading sketches.
Will upload a selection soon though!

#1446

Here’s a couple of fashion mag studies

And a quick sketch from at the office today.
I guess even superheroes need a break every now and then. This one is getting quite plastered though…

#1447

Great studies…In the first image, is the first girl pinching the second girl in the rear??

#1448

Hey, Johan! School started yet? Really looking forward to seeing stuff you’ll be doing there. I like it how little line you’re using in these latest studies of yours. Simplicity is a good thing. I’d suggest learning a few things from Marko Djurdjevic, who has posted a nice load of his work recently, which you might have seen already, but it’s still worth mentioning. May not be the stuff you’re after in your art but damn, the way he draws figures…
Cheers!

#1449

vikramvr heh you bet ya! (they were both on a separate page though in the fashion mag, but since her hand wasn’t there in the first place, I thought it was a funny way to avoid having to invent a hand, ok I was lazy I admit it)

razz Yep, sure has. 4th year now. 2 more to go before starting painting classes!

Some quickies with charcoal. Still losing sharpness with these soft media… need more practice!





#1450

And some more with the same issues





I’m gonna play with bistre tonight!

#1451

More life drawing


Bistre on A3

Assignment was to use only straight lines with this one:



#1452

good to see your school has already begun :slight_smile:

what is the size of your charcoal studies?
and - is there any time limit too?
and - how do you feel about painting bistre? do you feel comfortable with this medium?
(sorry, cant help, browsing your sketchbook always triggers many questions :slight_smile: )
cheers, a.

#1453

Thanks for popping in Alena! Always nice to see you here :smiley:
They’re all A3 sized for now, I plan to go a bit bigger soon as it will allow me to work from the shoulder and loosen up even more.

The charcoals were a couple mins max, the bistre stuff a bit longer (about 10-15min apart from the portrait and the reclined figure at the bottom, those were probably a good 20min each).

EDIT: forgot to answer your last question Alena. I love bistre! it’s so much fun to do!

Concerning my “academic career”, I’ve some news as well… I had a good talk with my teacher this week and he advised me to start painting next year already and then alternate classes each year between drawing and painting class. This way I will not have to leave life drawing class for longer than a year. Normally, each class is structured as 5 years + 2 years specialization.

So I’m seriously thinking about doing this as follows now:
2009-2010: year 4 - life drawing (currently doing this)
2010-2011: year 1 - painting
2011-2012: year 5 - life drawing
2012-2013: year 2 - painting
2013-2014: year 6 - life drawing (1st year of a 2 year “specialization”)
2014-2015: year 3 - painting
2015-2016: year 7 - life drawing (2nd year of a 2 year “specialization”)
2016-2017: year 4 - painting
2017-2018: year 5 - painting
2018-2019: year 6 - painting (1/2 specialization)
2019-2020: year 7 - painting (2/2 specialization)

I’m not sure though, since from the 3rd year on in painting class, you can choose a certain direction: figure painting or go for a more abstract direction.
Any ideas or suggestions or thoughts on this are very welcome!

#1454

thanks, Johan :slight_smile:

concerning your plans for the next 10 years - wow!
personally I do not feel like giving any advice in this, all I can say is just - yes - wow, sounds great, whatever you´ll decide for :slight_smile:
but seriously - hard to say, I think you´ll better know after your first year of painting will be over, maybe then you´ll be able to compare and you´ll better know how to decide then for the next years (?) … (in case you needn´t make a decision in advance right now)
sounds like a dream to me anyway :slight_smile:

p.s. may I ask you one more question about the bistre?
do you tilt your paper while painting? (not sure about my English here)
what I mean is - do you paint with your paper laying down horizontally, or vertically (or kind of “semi-vertically”) ?
in watercolor - using the gravity for the pigment spreading while the paper position is not horizontal - gives very different results,
your bistre studies look fine to me,
I am just curious, as I do not know bistre behavior very much :slight_smile:

#1455

Yep, it will run off your paper if you tilt it too much.
It’s like with watercolors, viscosity is very low, similar to water.
I don’t always have the chance to work on a table in class, so if I can’t I use a trestle (had to look that up hehe), and hold my paper at an angle of maximum 10°, estimatly.

Bistre is more demanding than a pencil etc for me because it requires technical skills, something I am always aiming to improve.

But above all, I have to admit that I really had a lot of fun using it. I’m guessing it’s the brushwork that does it for me :slight_smile:

It’s quite cheap too btw, you can buy bistre powder that will last you for months if not years for less than 1€

If you want to see what can be done with bistre, check out Rembrandt and Rubens… both have made amazing sketches with this medium.

#1456

… looking forward to more of your studies :slight_smile:
a.

#1457

Long time no see :slight_smile:

your sketchbook is looking great, I especially like the ink drawings :slight_smile:

and seeing your 10 year plan I feel so bad about me being so impatient about everything and not having guts to attend art school myself :confused:
keep it up :beer:

#1458

future master,:thumbsup:
Rembrandt is my idol
looking forward to more of your studies

#1459

nelchee
You know, I am really quite anti-social myself. I simply don’t have much faith in human beings. Just read the newspaper or watch the news on tv and it’s plain obvious that humans are quite selfish and egocentric creatures. I find that extremely repulsive.
The fact that I experience similar things almost every day (at work, for example), makes me want to hide from everyone in my own little world. I’ve recently started a project I called "Sequentina, A Linear World" that has a lot to do with my feelings towards our current situation. But more on that soon!
What I wanted to say is that even though I dislike our western ways of living, it is something we cannot avoid. I see it as a game we all must play along to assure our happiness on a long term. So I started going to school after having thought about it.
My advise would be to solve your problem by letting your hunger for knowledge and improvement decide for you. You will see that it is not that bad in school, because you will be surrounded by people with similar interests (namely art). A creative environment also works very inspiring and motivating. So I hope you will enrole in some sort of art education program soon! :slight_smile:

xsiyou
LOL you’re funny!
Maybe in 2040 :smiley:

I’ve been drawing a lot with those fine tip pens you can find everywhere. They are not erasable and force me to think about my linework. Something I still consider a weak point.

Here is a fraction of what I did during the last month or so. Most sketches I won’t even post because they are even worse than these… but posting some will remind me to keep thinking about my lines (I hope)…

A lot of stuff after various artists (from life, internet sources and old IFX issues), mixed with stuff from imagination.







#1460

And some more from ref and imagination