Semester 2 week 9

A little late in the posting, I've been doing pretty well with the friday/saturday upload for this blog. Whats nice though is that I get to show all the things I did over the weekend.

Media class. Oh what a trip. I went into this project with such vigor but down the line I made quite a few mistakes that I wish I had changed. As you can see below, a bit was changed, but for the better of course. I really enjoyed inking the original drawing but I had to make some changes. That was not so fun. Inking is not pencils, you have to paint over it and reink or with the hands you can scrape it off. I'm not good with either, but I'm getting better. Also all those lines? I'm not sure if I like the look (especially with how long they took...). Never the less, its finished. I want to do more inking in the future especially if I want to draw comics.

Less than 8x11 on strathmore, sumi ink, pen nibs.

The piece can be taken literal or figuratively in my opinion with hints

of the pain of rape or the cornering during stressful times.

Light and formm.... I had to draw some blockheads. Those were cool. BUT oh my god... I feel like the perspective was some crap. I dont really like building up vanishing points... I want to free hand because it can be a hassle. Sadly, I dont practice enough to have it come out correct. So I rigged it up in sketchup, which was kind of fun. I got to try out some stuff, and I may play around with that program some more... yet I dont want to rely on it. So the best thing I can do? Draw more than just figures from life!

The cool thing was creating from a thumb than adjusting to find best

possible pose (no tangents is a big plus)

Figure drawing is now focusing on arms. The mapping of anatomy is staying in my mind pretty well. I just need to start applying this to what I do. Oh also! I must draw bigger. This is okay for some of the shorter poses but for the longer ones its harder to get those nice details. 

Each took about 10-20 minutes. Its nice to have notes while doing these.

Cast drawing is really taking some shape. It really is starting to look closer and closer like what I see. Its funny, I've never really tried to make things look accurate. I would always fake it till it looked about right. Doing this has really set a lot of guidelines. Plus I am pretty stoked, I want to try doing more of this over the summer. This type of work is really helping me with light and shadows, something I neglected for a lot of my artistic development.

Every week I seem to put in about 4+ hours. Seems like a good pace.

I'm finally starting to crackdown on color and composition. While doing these in pencil they would feel like values are semi close, but on closer inspection they are quite off. I think I have a hard time committing that its a dark value versus lighter. I will do lots more! Oh also, I feel like when I can distinguish what the object is it distorts my perception a little. They come out too big or in a weird angle. I might try blurring these before starting with the next one to see how well I can get the shapes down.

Thumbnails done in sketchbook. 

Semester 2 Week 8

Midterms have been hot in my mind this past week. I have gotten a chance to really push myself this semester and I feel like I'm starting to see some nice results.  It definitely is great to see the work I'm pushing out and how it could affect me later in my career. Obviously not just as a stepping stone, but more as a tool that I can go back to later. 

The few downsides I have with this week is that I REALLY need to start scanning stuff right away. I cannot just leave it to the last minute. I mean I had to spend about 6+ hours organizing, scanning, preparing on photoshop, and uploading the different assignments I had not gotten around to. I'll try my hardest to stay on top of that biz.

Now with Figure Drawing 2. I think I'm finding a great way to create clearer drawings. One thing that bugs me with most of my drawings is that I tend to be very heavy handed early on. This creates a messy look and its hard to tell the lines I put down early and the ones I put down later. So I just used a harder pencil first for some light lines, then went over with a softer one with more confident strokes. I really liked the feeling of how easy it was to glide with a 4B over some 2h. Oh also... we are learning backs.

Color coded. It makes the drawing even easier to follow.

The Media assignment is having us work on a personal piece now. I really like how the class is set up, first master copy then do something personal. I feel like I learn a lot and at the same time can expand my wings. A lot of what I got below was all thanks to sketchbook class. Doing lots of iterations then has me in the habit to be able to do a bunch till I get the image I want. Whats also nice, when I was finished with the iterations, the reference picture taking came out a lot easier. 

Light and Form egg drawing has come to an end. I am happy to say I learned a lot with this one. This is definitely an assignment where you can gain so much by doing it over just reading about it. For example, the proportions are a bit wonky. I think if I spent some extra time getting them just right, I would not have to spend time later with it at all. This is a bad habit of mine where I rush things and try to fix them as I go on. The other thing I learned was how to achieve a smoother look. I do not think I will ever want to do this because of the time it took. However, if I had to, I can. ALSO! I am improved with reflective lighting. It was the bane of my existence for the longest time. I still have trouble, but I'm getting there.

Small egg drawing done in graphite

Color and composition. Yea... I'm taking this class. I have not posted much because I have not gotten around to scanning them in. I feel like if there is any class I will fail at, this will be it. Somewhere along the lines, I am doing the work but I have not gotten around to much of it as I wanted. I'm definitely going to take the time to do a LOT LOT more every week from now on. 

Cast drawing is coming along nicely, and I'm starting to see a lot of results here. Seriously, it looks pretty impressive in person. Right now, I am putting in the 5 values since the proportions are looking nice. I just have to smooth out those tones then I can get to the next thing.

Charcoal. About 12-15+ hours put into it already

One more week to go

I'm on my second to last week here at TAD for foundations 1. I have to say its been a journey and I have only just cracked at the first part. 

The final version to my sketchbook project about impact. I did two different versions because I wanted to try different compositions, value structure, story. Originally I was going to push this further into maybe a comic but I think I will flop while I'm still ahead. Critique had a comment about unoriginality where humans try to use a resource created by an alien for their gain. I was looking more into the psychology of humans how they will abuse, be distrust worthy, and steal any friendly companionship making them the monsters. But eh whatever, I'll come up with something else.

Diggers looking for some bones to munch on.

Scientist hopes to use the crystal the diggers make and possibly

reverse death.

Details.

Tried a different approach, I want to get better with ink.

Photography had to do with depicting my studio. This was a tough one because I didn't want to just take a picture, I wanted to think about this a little bit. So I put the cup in there to kind of show the need to have it as if its a tool. I swear I cant get the energy needed sometimes to work without it. The second idea came from showing interesting lighting. I experimented and found a nice result. The picture looks like a warm glowing sun however its a 60 exposure at night. The light is from the streets outside.

I need to get back on track

Time for a bit of an overload. I think coming back from break has made me a little sluggish. Its also a bit of a hassle sometimes. Never the less, I have lots to show. On a side note though, I think starting this week I will do reviews of books/animation/objects I have that might be useful. Not to mention restart up my tumblr. While I think of those ideas, take a look at all the stuff i have in this post.

The first on the list is the photography assignment of missing. I had a lot to show but I think this is one of my favorite. Its funny, most of my staged photos looked not as good as just a random sign I found. Sometimes its hard to realize that trying really hard does not always mean good results.

You can't just stage this. Maybe thats why its successful.

Keep an eye out for everything. I must carry my camera everywhere.

The sketchbook assignment was to find something that was impacted. I have to tell you its hard when I seen so much over the summer and not much now. But what I did findwas ComEd's construction going on. There was a patch of ground dug up. The next part was imagining what did it. I found that a back hoe probably created the problem, but I could go into the realm of fantasy. So my story is an alien that searchs for bones to be absorbed so they can become more individualized and attract a mate.

I tried to improve upon the process from the last creature assignment. These were late sadly, so I can only go on by a personal critique.

Thumbnails to start out. 

This time I tried more iterations with details.

The first rendered iteration, good but not great.

I took the basic concepts from the image above and rework the silhouette.

This had a lot of cool rhythm.

Second rendered iteration. I'm getting there.

Over the weekend, I did some figure drawing past the assignment. I feel like doing this is definitely helping at my observational skills at least via a picture. I would definitely like to mix this with observational skills from real life. However while my measurements and details are getting better, I start to lose the basic light/shadow groupings. This is probably what i'm going to focus on for the rest of the semester. Its been brought up in critique for almost the past month. I'm trying but I think I need to just really focus on only that.

2 hours total using nu-pastel.

Breaks recharge the soul

I hope everyone who is reading this had a great break. This one was well needed for me because I fell behind in class and it gave me sometime for catch up. I also got to do a lot of personal sketches (i might upload if I find the time) and that was really refreshing.

This is my disaster project for sketchbook class. The process was due before break and I just didn't have time till now to do it. I choose the bridge that was close by because the desgin appealed to me in the beginning. The nice thing about this is that you get to see all my thoughts on how I make an image. Originally I was documenting every detail I thought might play a role. Only later did I realize I did not need them. 

This class mixed with linear perspective definitely helped me see angles that I could not photograph which gave for interesting compositions. As you can see, the disaster I choose was an earthquake. I did some studies to get the feel of what it would be like. Also while the first one is clearer the other two were more experimentations. I tried using different mediums I'm not used to. They definitely gave a different mood.

The first two are from before break. It was a calligraphy assignment working with line and I took this time to experiment. These were two of my favorite. However, I think its one of those things I need to keep practicing.

Both are about 15 minutes.

Trying to get better at focal.

Now these are what I did over break. I had a lot of time to do these and it feels like I'm applying certain things I worked on previously. There is still so much I could work on like values, focal and detail accuracy.

2 hours, trying to find accurate values with various edge work

about 20 minute.

20 minute, this was fun because my last one using this pose was

very different.

Figures and further than that

A good milestone was set forth with this recent set of figure drawings. While I didn't do the assignment quite how the teacher had planned, I still got some nice results. What I really should have done was focus on the lines and proportions. I will definitely do some of that later this weekend. However, I did these in ten minutes. There are a lot of things wrong if you put them up side by side with the reference but they still look better than ever. Confidence has been one of my key things to improve and with that came speed.

This time I tried to push focal point and render certain areas that only needed it. I don't think I achieved it. Maybe with more time, but for now I need to really just be all over the place. I also think color palette has a lot to do with the focal (obviously, but for figure drawings with such little time its really hard to plan so all I can do is experiment).

10 minute drawing with nu pastel and toned paper

The assignment had to do with foreshortening.

2 minute drawings, charcoal and newsprint.

15 minute drawing.

My finished creature design. I worked from the ground up like I said before. I had to first imagine the place that the creature resided which was tunnels and caves in a mountain high up in the sky. This type of creature digs and lives off certain rocks. The stuff it can't digest is put into a second stomach which is metal ore. This stomach melts the metal and they later use this ability to forge their city. The altitude they live up in is very high so little prey or predators. These creatures only have to worry about are the behemoths that float and try to snack on them. 

I've been coming up with names like a jackhammer dragon. These are not dragons, but earth explorers fantasize over things like this. Maybe in their tongue they are called Aih'skee, aih meaning one who breaks and skee meaning one who builds. Their civilization believes in a strong foundation and value the beginning to many problems.

Another multimedia attempt. 

Getting back into that sketchbook

Finished midterm week at TAD. To be honest, I am very happy with the choice I made going to this school. I say this a lot but people don't realize how annoying normal art colleges can be. I could rant about this, but I'll save that for another time. For now, I'm just happy to see my skills developing with teachers who are all very willing to push me. I hope to get even more quality work done this half (I plan to push myself much harder.)

Redone version of my sketchbook assignment, I used india ink washes and a black water soluble colored pencil. This technique was inspired by James Gurney, who does quite a bit of sketchbooking adventures that he shares online. I definitely like the results and hope to do more of this soon.

Old tea pot I got for like $5 at a yard sale.

I spent a good portion of my weekend working on my creature concept again. I went from the ground up by photographing new refrence to inspire me for a new location. This time I did not think of the place as what I photographed but instead an alien world. I'll post the finished sketches later. For now, here is some stuff I have on my computer.

Small ink silouettes, tried to push various ideas of a mountain cave digger.

My favorite silhouette given detail. 

Monsters and Mayhem

Sometimes its really hard to use a medium you have not used in a couple days. When I got to the pastels, it felt a little weird. Not to mention, I had to go from doing 2 hour+ drawings to 15 minute ones. Things like that take some adjusting. While I'm not completely satisfied with the results, I'm very happy to see the amount of improvement I got. I think even after this class is over, I will still do a bit of pastel studies because they are fun to do. It just sucks when using certain colors (some are really smooth easy to use, other are hard and you have to really draw with more force).

This current assignment was indiciation. So I had little time to add some details to one area allowing the viewer to be able to guess on the rest. Details and focal point... still much improvement needed there.  However, a good point my teacher made was that I am becoming more confident in my strokes. This is something I've been trying to work towards since the beginning. Its still hard when I have proportions to worry about, but this is definitely one step up.

15 minutes, i only have so much time.

Split decisions need to be made

Confident strokes create a powerful image thats easier to read.

My sketchbook assignment was really fun. I got to create creatures based on the "world" I created in the previous assignment. The only problem is that I thought my first ideas were the best, when I probably should have thumbnailed a bit to get the best results. For those probably unaware, thumbnails are just quick sketches that you can toss out in an instant. This gives the artist time to really go wild and explore ideas he/she may have not. 

But this was a cool assignment never the less. Definitely something I will do again and again to improve my concepting ability.

Granite Snapping Spider is a rock like creature that springs at its enemy from hiding

and injects venom.

Long Hair Faun is a killing machine in this rocky area, while the Night Pecker

is adapt in both day and night thanks to its large ears.

Ellipses are sure tough to do but I can see the more I draw them the better I get. Thats just a rule in life, but its fun to know while you are doing it. These were kind of tough and I don't quite grasp drawing longitude and latitude. Luckily, that's what we are covering in class. I'm just happy to see me learning all of this because it allows for me to draw so many cooler stuff from my imagination!