Hello C:

I am a newbee that started like.. 2,3 months ago

So far I did couple of paintings that I kinda like.. but mostly I just do experiments in Photoshop.
I try to do at least a painting a day, no matter what it is [ Sometimes.. it's really some kind of nonsense ]

Beside that I also draw traditionally because I think it will help me with digital work

Currently I am trying to study values and generally.. visual measurement/forms

Anyways.. here are few recent works [ You can see some older ones on the deviant art page ]

Traditionally [ Mostly perspective, visual measurement.. line weight ]
Sorry for the captions.. wrote those to myself.. what I did wrong, at least what I think I did wrong xD

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Digitally [ Values, form, experiments haha ]
ps: mind the watermark as I won't post these pictures on deviantArt or smth.. just here.. kinda keeping it for myself :p

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A question for you is kinda classical.. how should I continue my developing of art skills

For example, I am now trying to draw a portrait of some game character.. but it's going slowly as I, of course, suck at anatomy xD
I did that eye study traditionally because of it, but still it's not going quite well haha

Should I just focus my attention on one thing [ i.e. Anatomy ] or is it okay if I switch my focus every here and there.. what do you think?

Hi there Shifter, welcome to the forum. Sounds like with all the art you've been doing lately you'll definitely keep improving. I like that perspective practice, I need to do more of it myself. And the value studies are going well, my favorite's the owl. Just a heads up, the dogs right eye is a little low in the second one ( I guess it's technically his left eye ). Some pretty cool stuff on that deviant art page too dude. As for what to practice, I don't think it hurts too badly too jump around, what might be fun is to study anatomy until you're bored with it and then mess with making your own characters, like sketch a guy in lightly and then use anatomy reference to refine him and make the details accurate. Oh and I think it's a great idea to do a painting a day.

Thanks for the welcome

My plan is to push myself even more and make a tight schedule in order to keep progressing even more
Currently I do something like [A must] 2h traditionally, 2h digitally and [Preferably] 2h to watch any stream, more digital/traditional work or anything art related :p

That perspective practice helped me a lot with observational drawing.. to be at least closer than earlier on [Still missing a lot.. like you can see on that dog haha]
Saw it originally on Ctrl+Paint website, this one - Pencils and erasers. So help yourself out if needed

I definitely need to start practicing anatomy a lot more as I tried to paint one game character.. and it's not really working as there is so many stuff to look at that I don't even know what to do next xD

Anyways, check here what can that painting a day produce - Not safe for work [Not safe.. basically just because of that one little retarded thing.. you'll know when you see it xD]

Thanks for the comment!

Here is a value study from today

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Thanks for the welcome

My plan is to push myself even more and make a tight schedule in order to keep progressing even more
Currently I do something like [A must] 2h traditionally, 2h digitally and [Preferably] 2h to watch any stream, more digital/traditional work or anything art related :p

That perspective practice helped me a lot with observational drawing.. to be at least closer than earlier on [Still missing a lot.. like you can see on that dog haha]
Saw it originally on Ctrl+Paint website, this one - Pencils and erasers. So help yourself out if needed

I definitely need to start practicing anatomy a lot more as I tried to paint one game character.. and it's not really working as there is so many stuff to look at that I don't even know what to do next xD

Anyways, check here what can that painting a day produce - Not safe for work [Not safe.. basically just because of that one little retarded thing.. you'll know when you see it xD]

Thanks for the comment!

Here is a value study from today

Spoiler: show

Haha nice pug, your accuracy is really improving quickly from what I can see. I was looking through that folder, you have some really neat stuff in there dude, those elemental stone/ice shard type things look awesome. I'd say just keep going, maybe throw some anatomy studies into the routine and you'll get more comfortable with it in no time.

Haha nice pug, your accuracy is really improving quickly from what I can see.

Sorry to disappoint you but that isn't entirely true

You see, digitally I mostly focus on study of values as it's easier for me to do it like that than traditionally
Of course I do try out my visual measurement skills, but I'm not really strict about it ^^

The progress is something like this

- First thing first.. draw a sketch of the animal
- After finishing sketch, I look on it a bit more carefully to correct anything before the next step
- If I am happy enough with my first try of the sketch, I overlap it on the picture to see my mistakes
- Then, if needed, I correct the basic outline of the body [Kinda of a gesture outline I think] that will make me realize why is the line behaving like that
- Next step is to try and correct the sketch on a separate layer by looking onto the sketch that has mistakes
- After I think I've corrected the mistakes, then I overlap it again and see what's not matching
- Then I also compare my final sketch with a complete tracing sketch of the picture
- At the end I use the tracing sketch as I just want to think about the values and not form ;p

That is one of the things I am still kinda exploring and wanted to ask someone later on about it if I can't sort it out by myself.
But! Now when you mentioned it.. guess I could do that right now as I just recently started doing this type of study [ Pug and that duck were done that way ]

I know that only tracing ain't good at all, but I really think that doing it this way is helping me realize a bit more than just outline sketch.. kinda of a trial and error technique?
Am I wrong, what do you think? Should I start using my final sketch of the animal for the values study or..

Here is an example of a sketch, the tracing and gesture outline

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Now for example I can see that because I've placed mouth too low, the whole side line is a bit lower than it should be.
And that body of the shark is a bit more thicker/wider at the rear end, rest is mostly on spot

I think it's totally fine especially since you're doing conventional work as well, which doesn't have nearly as many tricks. I can't say exactly how helpful it is because I've never done it but I'm sure you're still training your eye, the only thing I would say is it might discourage you at first if you decide to just start drawing from imagination, I feel like hell sometimes after I've just been doing reference studies and try to jump into my own thing. But yeah it's a neat process dude, I say keep it up.

Yeah, drawing from imagination can be such a problem at the beginning.. at least that's what I also heard
Anyways, I still don't think about that much as I still need to focus my attention just on studies

Today I've used that sheet of paper [That's meant for the perspective/visual measurement practice] and filled it with thumbnails.. and I kinda like it
Doing this on a paper feels strange xD

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sorry for relatively blurry image, took a picture with a camera because I don't have a scanner yet

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Edit:
The shark values study left out for today hehehe

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And a bonus.. because I am lazy to do the background which kinda reminds me of..

[Ambiguity]

Not bad, but it kinda looks like you're trying to paint light and shadow at the same time(forgive me if I'm wrong about that) which leads to a weird "spotty" look. I think it'd be better if you you focused on one at a time to have better value structure, focusing on big areas of tone first. For instance the caustics look like random highs and lows on the skin the way you painted them, if you had lit it like they weren't there and then added them on top(following the form) I think it would have looked better.

Good eye!

Yes, I do kinda paint them simultaneously from around mid-phase
Lets say that at first I just fill up the shape with mid tone and then I start adding on top of it.. first larger masses of shadows and then same for the highlights
After that I start doing them at the same time :p

Now lemme see if I got you right
You suggest me that after establishing the shape and the primary color tone.. I should then first start painting shadows and darker color variations
After that is finished, I should proceed with the highlights?

Seems reasonable enough, I will try that tomorrow ^^

Really like the contrast in those value studies, lovely painting style. The shark's really cute too with its space helmet XD
Looking forward to seeing you post some more owo

[Ambiguity]

Now lemme see if I got you right
You suggest me that after establishing the shape and the primary color tone.. I should then first start painting shadows and darker color variations
After that is finished, I should proceed with the highlights?

Seems reasonable enough, I will try that tomorrow ^^

You got it, hope it helps .

Someone got a bit lazy haha

During the weekend I did some research on anatomy and decided to dedicate quite a bit of time to it.
The master plan is to constantly practice anatomy traditionally [ And digitally a bit ] up to around New Year

I found one good book from George Bridgman called Constructive Anatomy. And one more just for hands called Drawing Dynamic Hands.. this one looks pretty damn good!

Anyways for now.. I can just show 2 things that look kinda okay for me.. at least atm lol

I've spent whole morning laughing while drawing these stick men.. and from all of them only this one was kinda okay [Rest is pretty ridiculous xD]
And that hand.. dunno, had to try it out

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Today or maybe tomorrow I plan to finish the portrait of Serana.. to correct the things guys have pointed out to me and to end this struggle already ;p
If some of you don't visit the critique sub-forum often.. check out the topic here - Portrait study of Serana from Skyrim or just leave a comment here

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Soooooooooooooo... gotta bump this

Lately I am drawing more on paper than on tablet
And all the drawings are anatomy.. currently just hand, fingers, thumb..
Here are some of them

The one in the middle looks... ooooookay

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I like the one in top-middle [ Don't pay attention to the broccoli thing ]

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I don't get some of the examples from the book.. like, what the heck is author telling me haha
Top row should explain the movement of the wrist and hand, but that doesn't make sense.. at least for me

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More loose drawings..

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I don't know how exactly should I go over these anatomy books.
Like.. should I first pass few sections and then try to do some drawings from the imagination or... just try to match the drawings perfectly to understand the structure better?

Anyways.. to practice the hands, I've downloaded some "50 hand challenge pack" from dA! I will most likely start that tomorrow and post all the lovely scraps here later on ;p

In the meantime, while working digitally I've spent whole time experimenting on this portrait from the post above

warning - huge image D:

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I've reworked the nose and mouth, now they kinda fit.. at least more than before
Skin values and color tones are now completely different, lots of experimenting there. The result still isn't what I want.. but at least I like the way nose is painted XD
The top of the head has more highlights now but some parts of it now look like clay lol
She has a refined necklace now!

Any comments/suggestions/tips are appreciated! C:

Good to see all the practices! With this much you're doing, you're sure to get some mileage up. Also with the painting, I'd recommend suggesting more contours in the face (where bone and muscle lie most prominently) to give the face some depth. Check out Loomis's head studies on Google, there are good references for contouring of the face.

Thanks for the words of encouragement!

As for the portrait, I can't manage to do that atm as it's basically all because of shadows which I don't know how to fix xD
I will call it done for now.. and hopefully, once I pass enough anatomy exercises [ Including Loomis ].. then.. I will get back to her and try again ^^

Anyways, today I've tried to go slowly over all the drawings explaining the anatomy of fingers and this is the result



Not perfect, but I am quite happy with it.. although its going a bit slow because mah hand is sooo insecure
The good thing is that this way I can train both, visual measurement and anatomy so I guess I will stick to this path for now

Edit: Cropped it a bit, did some effects on fading edges aaaand.. done. Next time it will be better ^^

Crazy value stuff bro. I'm still scared of painting.

Thanks Boris, I hope the next time I paint her she will prove to be even more kinda.. dangerous and mystic but also lovely in some kind of a way

Anyways, here are 3 first hands I did from the 50 hands challenge [ Even dough there are friggin' 244 photos in the folder O.O ]

I took some time to go over them precisely. First I wanted just to draw outline of the shape, then I wanted to add some contour lines.. and finally I've ended up doing even a bit shading and smudging.. fun stuff
First I did a bit of shading and then exponentially increased the level of it on the next two drawings haha

The 3rd one, lower left..
Even dough I thought it will be completely messed up.. it is the closest one to the original photo, just that the arm is a bit thinner [ Strange? ] and that little finger position is a bit more up than what I drew



Any kind of comments, suggestions etc are appreciated ^^

Welcome to the forum Shifter. You have skill. Keep it up.

nice portrait of Serena,yet she looks kinda uncanny (nice to see another skyrim fan )
your work is great,how did you learn to paint,it so difficult

Hand studies are coming along nicely dude.

Welcome to the forum Shifter. You have skill. Keep it up.

Thanks! I still have a lot to learn so I can't really call myself that I have skill

nice portrait of Serena,yet she looks kinda uncanny (nice to see another skyrim fan )
your work is great,how did you learn to paint,it so difficult

Yeaaah.. not really cute looking anymore XD
I love Skyrim, so you can definitely expect more fan art of that sort

I can post later an animation progress of Serana's portrait.. after the forum gets fixed :p

Hand studies are coming along nicely dude.

Thanks man. I just wonder how it will look like when I try to draw from my imagination haha

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Here are the recent drawings. I've went back to the ones I passed earlier.. to do them "properly" xD
I think I am slowly begging to understand that saying.. to think why is the line acting the way that is shown and things
But still.. all of that understanding is hidden behind those insecure lines xD

I draw them by first constructing "envelope" all around the shape of the arm and then slowly going over the rest
Currently I can spot the "angles" quite easily.. but my proportion is going off all the time xD

I still don't know how to start drawing construction properly

I am not dead! HA!

After watching the video from Anthony Jones - HOW TO STUDY (Sorry for capitals haha) which I recommend to all
I've changed the "studies" from copying line-to-line to something like this.. and it makes me happy enough to continue pushing ^^

I am still slacking off a bit.. but slowly.. I am getting more organized and that is what I like

Anyways, now to continue to whole arm.. hand is passed over like almost 2 times, kinda enough for now lol

Edit: Had to rotate them

Something new for a difference.. besides that anatomy I still keep studying

I've begun with the top left and well, just started imagining what would be beyond.. if I would just move a bit around in that area
Not maybe the best scale, perspective thing.. but it was fun to make up a story that way ^^

Now, I also do spitpaints everyday.. and they are terrible :3

I will leave just one.. the one which I kinda like the most, although I missed the topic a bit xD

If anyone has any tips on speedpainting or has any tutorials, please do share O.O

Edit: Added one more "successful" from today.. and one more which I like, but it ain't good even for my standard

Nice paintings
Do you learn from Bridgman's books?

Yeah, the Constructive Anatomy

Although everyone were recommending me books from Loomis, because they say that's easier to learn with him while the Bridgman will just help you understand it better