3dementia's Sketches-Art-Update-Sep 29 '11

Go to www.scribd.com make an account and read Fun with a pencil by Andrew Loomis.

You need that , it is for 0 level beginers to advanced.

Thanks Numarul, I really enjoyed that book!

Here is my first drawing from life, my brother Adam. It is a suprisingly good likeness.

I did it with pencil on graph paper, then tried to clean it up with gimp.

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Allright I’m back to the tablet. I picked up an Ikari Studio book at the library, The Monster Book of More Manga. I have decided that I too love manga style, and I want to learn from the masters.

I am currently constructing the character, her name is Cassia. I thought it interesting to post this in WIP form, so others could see the construction lines.

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Slowly sketching in the volume. I am really hoping to have a beautiful finished piece this time. :wink:

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I am learning sooooo much. My head hurts.

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You’ve definitely grown leaps and bounds from your first few sketches. Looking much better.

This is just a comment, not a crit or anything. The sticks and circles are good for figuring out where things end and start. When I used to sketch though I preferred “solid” shapes (pill shaped cylinder for the thigh for example). Looks as though you may have done some of that but it may work better to “close the shapes” rather then continue them into the next. This is somewhat analogous with how we draw with Blender… in volume. Look at it as roughing the volume in and then re-topo-ing the mesh. Not sure if that makes sense, and also not saying that’s what you should do or even if it would work for you. Just an idea that might help some.

I do like how the sticks placed some key points though, that worked well.

Thanks Q. I smile everytime I see your new avatar. I think I know who is going to win the challenge this week…;).

I will definitely take your advice into consideration, I am learning from so many sources right now it is hard to incorporate them all. This method of construction I have used is a combination of techniques from different artists, and I find it to be very straightforward. My goal with all of this is to be able to produce better concept art and modeling reference. If I can sketch out a new character, add clothes and accessories and take a stab at color before ever cracking open blender, I am convinced that my end result will be way better.

The line-art and base colors are finished. I ditched her long hair because I liked the shorter look.

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Elijah likes the hair much better.

I say this in jest, but it’s Sintel. I say this seriously, it’s quite well done. I would smooth the curve defining her butt into her thigh (and a touch of volume on the lower 3/4ths of it), it’s one of the most beautiful and defining curves on the female form imo.

EDIT: look at the long hair sketch you had previously though pull it in at the knee a little more.

Thanks for the kind words!
I didn’t realize how much like Sintel she was until you pointed it out. Oh well, I’ve been watching Chaos and Evolutions and I guess David Revoy just rubbed off on me.

I agree with you about the curves, they are most important. I am a little too far along to fix the lines at this point though, I will file away your crits for next time! Thanks again.

I have given her some basic cell-shading, and am now pronouncing her finished! :yes:

Here is a link to an un-pixelated desktop size.

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Whoa! Huge improvement over the first page. Keep it up!

@ Ben as I’ve said before you are a huge source of inspiration for me (so coming from you, that means a lot). Thank you. :slight_smile:

@ All I have learned that if I take the proper construction and planning I can produce a decent end-product. The resulting elation I feel from that observation, is tempered by the depressing thought of the time it will take me to produce a truly detailed character in 2d. I had wanted to use this medium as a quicker way to design a concept. Right now it feels slower than 3d! The main problem is my being a perfectionist, but with limited skills, which makes even simple tasks quite tedious.

However I am realizing that (for me at least) time invested + technique + layers = quality. When I say layers, I apply that to each step taken in producing a final product. So I think that the further I push my designs in 2d, forcing myself to think of each little piece and detail, the more rich and detailed they will turn out in Blender.

The biggest obstacles I see are these 3: Discipline, Patience, and Taste.

SO now I am going to attempt to exercise these three weaknesses. I am enjoying this thread so I will post this here, even though it really belongs in WIP.
Character Design: Eva (working name)
Eva is a teenage daughter of a brilliant, but mad, scientist. She lives with him cut off from normal society, aboard their salvage vessel, which is currently in deep space investigating an abandoned fleet of drifting hulks, leftovers from an ancient unknown civilization. Her daily work involves sifting through bits of junk, and strange devices that her father retrieves during his dissection of the alien spacecraft. She does not share his passion for their work, but is a dutiful daughter and quite skilled at all things mechanical. Her only companion is her scruffy dog Flick. She is good at her job, but misses the interaction of friends, and longs for the days when her family was complete, the time before the unfortunate accident…

Basic Design Concept: Medium-length dark hair, pulled back, flipped and clipped in place. Brown leather half- jacket topping a cream colored, patterned corset with brown laces. Baggy, hip-hugging cargo pants tightened by a utilitarian belt that holds a thin rectangular pouch on her left side. Behind her right thigh, hangs a holster for her ever-present multi-tool. Perched on her head like a headband are a pair of goggles that offer a lot more than eye protection. Her pants are tucked into black heeled boots with straps and buckles in a swashbuckling style. On her neck is her single piece of jewelry, a locket given to her by her father. A curvaceous girl with larger hips than bosom.

Word Association: youth, smudged, pretty, grit, spunk, determination, fun, adventurous, tinker, perky, tomboy.

Mood Board:

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Doing some warm ups, before I draw my character, a quick sketch from photo reference.
I am thinking of taking this one all the way, I am going to try and paint her in Gimp.
Photographer is Dee’Lite on Flickr. License | Photo

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Update on the beauty, starting to get some colors down, I am really struggling with smoothing things out. I am using Photoshop at the moment, and I am having problems mixing the colors. I tried also in Gimp, and I just can’t seem to blend the colors at all… Any tips?

I think I might need to use a better painting application, being new at this, I need all the help I can get!

Edit: I’ve realized my mistake, I went with too many colors, I took too small a brush too soon, and I dived into the details before I should have. I also needed to learn some basic techniques for blending, which is apparently where all the magic happens. I think I now know why this is hard…

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If you’re finding blending difficult you could try mypaint, it has more traditional-style brushes that blend quite easily. Take a look at this tutorial too, it has some nice tips for blending skin tones, applicable to pretty much any app.

Thanks man, I am reading the tut now, it looks great. I have been playing with mypaint, I am going to try and tough this one out in photoshop. I need to practice doing it the hard way. It is coming together, slowly and painfully.

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Wow! Rate you’re going 2 more weeks and I’ll have to go to a museum to see your work. Impressive how much you’ve improved!

Hah! Thanks Quandtum. Dude, you will get the private island tour of the hidden works never before seen by the public! :yes:

Seriously though, I have given myself a splitting headache, trying to fit more knowledge than my puny brain can comprehend. I am pretty determined in this endeavor.

One thing that is super cool, is my 8 year old daughter has been seriously inspired, she now has the gimp installed on her pc and is going to town with it. I know what her gift will be this year…a wacom!

I did the right eye, I like posting each little step, because it spurs me on, and I hope it might help someone that is on the the same path that I am. I should never have gone so far with just one eye, I am scared that I won’t be able to match it on the other side. Right now it looks like concept art for a reality-horror show about plastic surgery gone horribly wrong.

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Nice! There’s no better feeling then your kid drawing with you (or inspiring them to draw)! Be sure to share her art with us =D (seriously please, only if she wants to tho!)