The Anatomy Thread of ceruleanvii - 2D

#101

WOW!! beautiful work, Del!!:applause:

#102

Annette, Magdalena, Sycen, Anandpg, thank you!

Well, I hit a rough spot with that last painting so I’ve been taking a break from it. But I think I know how to proceed, so I’m going to pick it up again next week.

Here’s a few other things I’ve been working on in the meantime, a little more fantasy driven, in the working-out-ideas phase so pretty sketchy. Practicing nailing down skin tones, trying to balance lighting and color between background and figure…

First one is the month of October, bright blue sky, blazing gold leaves… I want the leaves to swirl around him and pass by his fingers and catch on fire - have to see if I can pull that one off :slight_smile: body/hand/background need fleshing out…

Second one is my storm prince, still need to work out the look for hair and storm bolt. Also need to think about some kind of clothing, maybe? He’s very… naked. Which I like, but perhaps it’s a bit much? Bleah, don’t really like painting clothed people - I much prefer nudes. LOL, husband is hassling me about painting naked males all the time :slight_smile:

as always, comments welcome -

#103

husband is hassling me about painting naked males all the time

Just tell him that if he would pose for you whenever you need a model (and until you don’t need a model anymore), you wouldn’t have to use other models as references :smiley:

Love the colors in your october piece. I think you could make his expression a bit more… euhm… intimidating. October can be a nasty time with lots of wind and rain. However, it can also be a very nice, warm and calm time of the year. I think you got the latter well, but the first feature could be more present. Perhaps squinting his eyes just a tad more could even do the trick.

#104

Johan, he actually is my model - my hand and arm model :slight_smile: most of the hands/arms in those last two paintings are his. Not the torso though, he makes me perform photoshop liposuction on him whenever I use that as a reference :slight_smile:

Hmm, I’ll have to try and toughen that october guy up, he is a bit of a pretty boy. Thanks for the feedback -

#105

October can also be spring - a very pretty time indeed :wink:
Love your paintings, there’s so much to look at and a true pleasure to see them evolve :slight_smile:
October’s hair is looking stunning, it’s true that he may have more umph in him ready to be found… The Storm prince; wonderful concept - would you see his hair as being more a part of the lightning show? I like the way you’ve worked the lightning through his hand and across his body… just thinking (and rambling sorry :D) about the symbolism of hair being a source of power and all that, if his hair was partly connected with, and part of the clouds and the sparks flying - his royalty as the prince of storms may be more evident?

cheers and take care :slight_smile:
a.

#106

Thanks for the feedback, Annette - I’m still working out the hair, but I do want it all to be dynamic, more so than my paintings usually are!

Just got back from a week at the beach, did lots of surfing, swimming, and surprisingly, sketching! Didn’t think I’d have time, but I did, and it was a great place for it. Nice to take a break from all digital, though I did very much miss my undo button, especially with my felt tip pens!

I also finally got to read my Bridgeman and Vilppu books and did a bunch of studies, here’s a few:

after Bridgeman:

Vilppu:

Love the way Bridgeman breaks things down into forms, love Vilppu’s lines… trying to be conscious of both in my own drawings.

I also did a bunch of sketching at the beach, beach houses:

some quick studies:

longer one, guy building a sandcastle:

surfer boy:

saw and did a lot of this, waiting for that Perfect Wave:

Much fun was had by all, thanks for looking!

#107

:slight_smile: Hi …Del…:slight_smile:

Great studies…:thumbsup:

The one with the kid with his hand in the bucket, turned out really nice…
They are all nice, but that one is my favorite…it just has a nice relaxed feeling to it…Would make a great painting…:slight_smile:
I also think the surfers on the water would make a great painting…maybe have the wave that they are waiting for showing up, in the form of a huge wave that overlappes and covers a big part of the distant horizon line, creating a diaginal with the curl of the wave, that leads into the surfers…it would break up the space more, and creat a great action…Just a passing thought on that one.
I used to sit for hours and watch the surfers surf, and wait for their wave while I was fishing off of a pier in Santa Monica CA…Always thought that there was a great painting to be had in that scene that I watched over and over again, but never got around to paintingg it.
Anyway, sounds like you had a great vacation, and looks like it also…:thumbsup: :slight_smile:
Always a pleasure visiting your thread…:slight_smile:
TAKE CARE, and HAVE A GREAT ONE.:thumbsup: :slight_smile:
Glenn

#108

Thanks for looking, Glenn, and thanks for the comments. I love the ocean, it was a great time!

Started up my anatomy/figure class again, this quarter should be a bit different - new model, more experimental - we may even try a 3 hour pose, which sounds both wonderful and terrifying at the same time! Next time we meet I’m going to try using a laptop to sketch/paint with (husband agreed to lend me his though it was akin to asking him to chop off his arm). Should be an interesting experiment, if nothing else, I’m getting so frustrated with pencil and charcoal. Well, we shall see!

#109

Hi Del :slight_smile:

Great updates - both from your holiday and from your anatomy/figure class :slight_smile:
Sounds fascinating to bring a laptop to a figure drawing class, I guess I’m so used to charcoal and other implements, I wouldn’t even think along the lines of digital in that environment. Would love to see though what you come up with
and hope the ‘cut off arm’ heals soon :wink:

cheers
a. :slight_smile:

#110

Thanks Annette! Had figure drawing again last night, lots of short poses. The model was set up on a high riser and we all sat on the floor to draw him, very interesting - kind of like drawing a giant statue up on a pedestal. Here are two 15 minute ones from that experiment - big legs!

We switched to more normal poses after that and I decided to try painting with the laptop, here’s my first attempt, a 20 minute pose, would have loved another half hour to work on it:

Everyone was quite fascinated by the process :slight_smile: Here’s what I found:

Pros of figure painting on a laptop:
the beloved undo key.
much easier to erase.
You’re painting, not drawing, which I seem to be better at.

The Cons:
The screen picks up glare and is small and hard to see!
You’re dependent on battery power - doh! I forgot to bring the power supply, and the laptop died about a third of the way through my next drawing.

I will probably give the laptop another try, maybe next week, for the longer poses. It’s definitely an interesting way of working once you get into the groove of it.

#111

? do you paint on a tablet then or do you actually use the laptop navpad to paint?

awesome work as usual btw

#112

Thanks Johan, I have a little 4x6 Wacom I use at home that I brought in to use with the laptop.

It was husband’s laptop, and a Mac too, which I am completely unfamiliar with - but I got my PS brushes and swatches loaded on it the night before, and it was pretty easy to use overall - I just missed my big LCD monitor, the laptop screen is terrible.

#113

Hi Del :slight_smile:

Exciting to see your digital life drawing (painting) - can well see
how everyone in the group would have found it fascinating to follow :slight_smile:
Pretty impressive what you came up with in 20 minutes!

Maybe using a bit of both - becoming familiar with a pose on paper
and then using the structure of a drawing as a ref for a digital painting?

Would you consider trying ink washes (or similar) in class?
Using large brushes to block in shapes in lighter washes, followed by
medium and darker washes with varied brushes - may
bring you closer to that painterly feeling? :slight_smile:

cheers and take care
a. :slight_smile:

#114

Thanks Annette - I actually do like doing ink washes, haven’t done one in years though… Maybe I’ll take a look through my old stuff and see if i still have the brushes!

I’ve been working on this painting over the past month, at times I’m happy with it, at times I’m incredibly frustrated. The figure has been easy, the overall composition difficult and has changed several times.

Still very much working on the ship and wave. I want it to be in the background, looking like it’s starting to sink, coming apart… I like the look of the figure, and the water on the light side, but feel they are not quite meshing yet. Overall scale of everything is still off - maybe I should move the boat and horizon back? Anyway, comments and suggestion most welcome! I want to finish this before I go out of town the end of the month, I need to move on, but I don’t want to give up.

#115

Hi Del

wanna say… AWESOME JOB on the water… I’m in awe :drool:

The ship is indeed a problem:
[ul]
[li]Perspective seems off somehow. The bow looks like the ship is sinking, but in that case, the angle of the posts (if that is the correct word) is off and they are too long. If the ship is not sinking, it should be higher above the water.[/li][li]Looks like you have painted the sails on top of the horizontal posts, but I think they usually hang underneath them when they are rolled up?see this image[/li][li]I think putting it more in the background would be a good idea, could become a nice triangular composition with the sun (or is it the moon? or…?) and the character.[/li][li]I have a problem with the lighting. The sky looks awefully dark to have such a strong light source. The water nor the character seem to be lit enough. I think I feel the mood you are after though… I understand you don’t want it too bright because it adds a lot to the drama.[/li][/ul]
Just thinking out loud and I hope I’m not confusing you now :slight_smile:

#116

Thanks a lot for the comments, Johan. Yes, you are quite right about the ship, it’s been a constant problem for me in terms of scale, perspective, composition. I’ve been through about 3 different versions of it. As much as I hate to, I think I’m going to have to just take it out. Maybe I’ll just have a ship on the horizon. I didn’t want the painting to be just a guy sitting on the beach, but I don’t think I can pull off what I want to do, grrr. Darn lack of perspective skills…

It’s supposed to be moonlight, so I’ll have to work on the lighting some more. Darker moon.

Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it!

#117

perhaps the light should be cooler coming from the moon?
then again, that would drastically change the mood of the scene, and I think you don’t want that :arteest:

I’m sure you’ll find a solution

#118

The water are amazing and great rendering on the skin too. :thumbsup:

#119

Thanks Sycen! and thanks for the suggestions Johan -

The boat is out. Sometimes a guy on the beach is just meant to be a guy on the beach. I’m going to finish the water, fix that moon, and call it done. Ready to move on…

Had my anatomy figure drawing class last night, decided to try something my teacher has been pushing me to try forever - but I’ve been too afraid :slight_smile: - drawing the figure with the muscles in the pose. Meaning, knowing where all the muscles are, what they look like, and what they are doing under the skin in that particular pose. This was a back view, fairly easy, though now I see I’m pretty weak on knowing the whole gluteal/tensor area.

Side view, much harder, lots of mistakes and didn’t finish the legs -

It was a very good exercise. My teacher claims it’s the best way to really learn this stuff, and I have to agree. I’ll have to do some more next time. Not as pretty as a figure drawing, but interesting nonetheless.

#120

Reminds me of Rey Bustos