Eenuh Posted January 14, 2010 Posted January 14, 2010 Grazza: I think I prefer the pencil lines as well, but that's because they're more dynamic. You lose some of that in the ink lines because they're more "stiff" and static. I don't really know how you can prevent this with inked lines though. Paj: I prefer your second life drawing. The body has a lot more contrast and seems fleshed out a bit more, it looks good. I don't think the legs are too big, it's just the head that is too small, from what I can tell. But yeah, it looks good. =) Ashley: I'd say keep up with the drawing classes. Charcoal is one of the better mediums to use for life drawings; it's easy to create contrast with it (whereas with pencils you'd have to use softer ones to get dark areas), plus it's a pretty quick medium to use. You can smudge areas in for shading, or remove some charcoal with one of those erasers you can kneed (no idea what it's called in English). It's not too different from using pencils really, except that it's a bit dirtier. I'm not a fan of charcoal, but it does work well with life drawings. That or ink and a brush, but then you'd have to learn that as well. But keep up with the classes I'd say, and ask for tips and pointers of the teacher there as he can show you how to do things. =) I made three lino cuts during the weekend for a presentation this week. I actually only like one of them though, so only gonna post that one. Thing is that the lino style is good, but the colouring isn't. It makes my drawings look too flat and makes it lose some "power" (teacher's words). So for the next ones I'll be looking into a more "modern" style of colouring, maybe using lino itself to colour (though that's gonna take me aaaages heh).
Grazza Posted January 14, 2010 Posted January 14, 2010 Well you should if you're doing a comic or something with them (I thought you were?). I'm not as keen on that as I used to be. Nowadays, I just prefer drawing for its own sake, especially as I need a lot of practice. Probably the best thing for me to do is: do a pencil drawing, scan it, then ink it (accepting to myself that I'm going to ruin it), then scan it again. The exception is if I do something in pencil that I don't expect to be able to match for a while. You can smudge areas in for shading, or remove some charcoal with one of those erasers you can kneed (no idea what it's called in English). A putty rubber. Lovely composition of yours. It's nice and "full", and colourful too.
Paj! Posted January 15, 2010 Posted January 15, 2010 Eenuh, how do you colour your lino prints at the moment? Digitally?
Eenuh Posted January 15, 2010 Posted January 15, 2010 Eenuh, how do you colour your lino prints at the moment? Digitally? Yeah I've had to colour them digitally so far, mostly because I didn't know how else to do it, but also because of time constraints heh. I know you can colour lino with watercolours, but then I'd have to go buy other ink first as this one doesn't like water. =P Or I can try printing in different colours, but then I'd have to figure out what technique to use for my lino, either reduction or using multiple prints, hmm...
Paj! Posted January 15, 2010 Posted January 15, 2010 Hmm. Yeah it's so annoying doing multi-colour lino "manually" or whatever. The last one I did we instead did an easy way, just playing with the surface of what we were printing onto, adding slabs of colour onto the sheet with paint/collage/whatever, then printing onto that. It worked well.
Eenuh Posted January 15, 2010 Posted January 15, 2010 That sounds like an interesting technique! Though you would kinda have to plan carefully where your colours go I guess. I'm not good with being careful haha. I'll have to figure out what to do soon, cause I'm running out of time and I need to make an entire book like this, eep! Haven't even figured out yet what colours I could use to make it look more modern, heh. Probably stick to the three primary colours and print over one another, maybe... Hmmm.
Ashley Posted January 15, 2010 Posted January 15, 2010 Ashley: I'd say keep up with the drawing classes. Charcoal is one of the better mediums to use for life drawings; it's easy to create contrast with it (whereas with pencils you'd have to use softer ones to get dark areas), plus it's a pretty quick medium to use. You can smudge areas in for shading, or remove some charcoal with one of those erasers you can kneed (no idea what it's called in English). It's not too different from using pencils really, except that it's a bit dirtier. I'm not a fan of charcoal, but it does work well with life drawings. That or ink and a brush, but then you'd have to learn that as well. But keep up with the classes I'd say, and ask for tips and pointers of the teacher there as he can show you how to do things. =) I may pick up some charcoal later and give it a try but in all honesty I don't think the classes are helping, rather they're wasting time I could be using for something more productive. It just doesn't feel right. And the teacher, while nice, is one of those spaced out hippy types we were talking about a while ago (I was talking about that with you yes...?) He never quite seems 'there'. Some more stuff; I'm not sure what to do now. I keep thinking I should do more of each but the human body doesn't do much I can't really find any new angles that are particularly different. So far I have; Feet: 3 Legs: 3 Arms: 5 Body: 2 Hands: 10 Self-Portraits: 4 Faces: 9 Full figure: 21 Animals: 6 May try and round feet, legs, body and self-portraits to 5. Think that should suffice. And I think I'll do some facial parts (eyes, noses etc). I really should do some other stuff (Maya, storyboarding etc).
Eenuh Posted January 15, 2010 Posted January 15, 2010 Yeah we talked about hippy art teachers heh. I think most art teachers are like that, or at least the ones I had were like that. =P Why don't you try doing some still life drawings as well? Or is that not required? But you could easily set up some pots and vases and fruit and whatever (anything works really), put a lamp right next to it and then focus on the light-dark contrast. So instead of drawing the outlines, focus on what is dark, what is light. You could do this with life drawing as well though. I don't have an example of myself, but a friend has one uploaded: http://www.redbubble.com/people/mimmam/art/3247618-2-model-in-black-and-white Focusing on shadows and light helps you envision the volume an object has. This exercise is easiest to do with charcoal in my opinion, as it's a fast medium to work with, meaning you could do a whole bunch of drawings in a short amount of time. Oh also, you could do small sketches in (black) pen. You won't be able to erase what you draw, but that's fine. It can create some interesting results. And seeing the lines you drew wrong helps you learn from your drawings as well. Here's another example by my friend: http://www.redbubble.com/people/mimmam/art/3243725-2-models-in-marker I'm just listing some different techniques we used in art class. Another thing we did was having to draw with our other hand (so if you're right handed, draw with your left hand), or attaching our charcoal/brush/pencil to a stick so we'd have less control over it. You can get some interesting results that way. =)
Ashley Posted January 15, 2010 Posted January 15, 2010 I recall having some more 'together' art teachers. I think its the younger ones. The elder ones were 60's flower children that never quite adapted :p I don't think its really required. Its about character animation and bowls have little character. I may try with the cats thought I suppose. Just stick a lamp next to them. But I agree. I'd like somewhere I could have more light. Its dreary outside which doesn't help and we have energy saving bulbs, which are not the brightest ^_^ I have some sharpies, may give it a try with that. I may also try my left hand, but can imagine the results would be quite disastrous :p I'm beginning to think that I may have enough drawings, and anything is a bonus now so exploring loads of techniques is not necessary, but obviously can be important. Thanks for your advice
Eenuh Posted January 15, 2010 Posted January 15, 2010 I think if you show you've tried different techniques, it can tell them you're willing to learn new things and explore options you hadn't tried before. Being versatile is always a plus! And don't worry about left hand drawings turning out weird, that's the point heh. When you draw with your normal hand you're usually focusing too much on trying to get all the details right, but with your left hand you automatically focus more on the overall shape of the figure. It's quite liberating really. Plus it can create some interesting and dynamic lines. =) I'd say just try out doing different things, trying different techniques and mediums. The more you practice, the better you'll get.
Ashley Posted January 15, 2010 Posted January 15, 2010 I just realised what I was trying to say; as the course doesn't need you to have done an art course prior to it I'm sure they'll be understanding if the majority of work is pencil. But I shall try out some work with sharpies and charcoal, as you say practice/versatility is good Oh and also some life drawings with clothes on because at the end of the day most of the stuff I'll be animating will have clothes on ^_^ Thanks again
Paj! Posted January 15, 2010 Posted January 15, 2010 You could also do stuff outdoors, or in a public place. While hard and stuff (I hate big spaces when drawing, give me a bit of a person to do in detail for ages anyday. :p) it can be nicely done in loose, expressive mark-making, and again, the characters you animate will have to be somewhere in space and time presumably. But it's probably not necessary for the course.
Ashley Posted January 15, 2010 Posted January 15, 2010 Yeah. Necessary for the self, but not the portfolio. If I find some time prior to the hand in date to people watch at a coffee shop I'll give it a go. That one overlooking Shibuya crossing would be nice...
Kirkatronics Posted January 16, 2010 Posted January 16, 2010 This is what I've long suspected, but I've tried to like ink for the contrast it gives. Plus, I'm more of a cartoonist, and I used to want to draw comics, so I was trying to train myself towards the "standard" look and something that could be reproduced easily. Do you think it would be an improvement if I used thinner pens? Also, should I use shading techniques to put more "grey" in the pictures (when I'm using ink pens, I mean)? Thanks, that's the kind of thing I think of a lot. Now that's a compliment! I drew it out of my head, and yet all the time I had a nagging feeling I was copying something from deep within my unconscious. I honestly have no idea what though. Maybe Thundercats with the hair, but it's more the pose I feel I've seen before. Oh yeah, I didn't expect people to like the arms, as I just drew silly "Popeye" forearms! Your life drawings are awesome. I'm not qualified to give a critique, as they're just beyond what I could do. I wouldn't say I massively prefer the 2nd one - they're both great. There's more contrast on the 2nd, but the 1st has really good pecs and abdomen. You've really captured the way these muscles sit over the bones. I think thinner pens, and greys would make an amazing difference. Just keep the roughness, thats what i like. i think things get too polished.
Retro_Link Posted January 16, 2010 Posted January 16, 2010 In my still life class we did a technique where you sit alongside/in line with the drawing board, so your hand is drawing to the side of you/slightly behind you, and so you can't directly see what you are drawing... it produces some very interesting results... well... more patterns unless you are extremely co-ordinated, as it's very difficult to keep the same scale and connect anything up!
Eenuh Posted January 16, 2010 Posted January 16, 2010 In my still life class we did a technique where you sit alongside/in line with the drawing board, so your hand is drawing to the side of you/slightly behind you, and so you can't directly see what you are drawing... it produces some very interesting results... well... more patterns unless you are extremely co-ordinated, as it's very difficult to keep the same scale and connect anything up! You mean blind drawing? Where you're not allowed to look at your drawing while drawing it. It's a pretty fun technique cause you get some interesting results. =) I find drawing with your other hand can create some similar results, at least in line quality. You get more... squiggly lines heh. I like them. =P
Paj! Posted January 16, 2010 Posted January 16, 2010 Yeah I've done lots of those "blind drawings", and similar. Except we did like 20 in short, 30 second periods. They were all shit. / I liked some of the lines that came out of them. But yeah.
Retro_Link Posted January 16, 2010 Posted January 16, 2010 You mean blind drawing? Where you're not allowed to look at your drawing while drawing it. It's a pretty fun technique cause you get some interesting results. =) I find drawing with your other hand can create some similar results, at least in line quality. You get more... squiggly lines heh. I like them. =P That's the one! And yeah, drawing with the other hand is also fun!
Ashley Posted January 22, 2010 Posted January 22, 2010 As suggested I picked up some charcoal and been giving it a try today. A mixed bag of results but hey ho; The arm one is...meh. And the cat's whiskers came out a bit unlike what I was thinking, but there's something comical about how they look (to me at least). Is it clear the woman is wearing clothes? The legs one is my favourite. Been meaning to draw that for ages. Every morning when I shower I think "hmm I should draw that". (lets not take that sentence out of context :p)
Grazza Posted January 22, 2010 Posted January 22, 2010 (edited) Is it clear the woman is wearing clothes? Yes, it looks like she's wearing a suit jacket, short skirt and stockings. Great forearm and feet. You're the forearm king! Oh, and by the way, the illusion of depth in these is amazing, especially on the feet and palm. Edited January 22, 2010 by Grazza additional info
Paj! Posted January 23, 2010 Posted January 23, 2010 ^ I somewhat disagree. I don't believe the leg one. I don't believe that's what it looks like . [/ evoking own art tutors] Not sure why. I want to say that the feet are too big, but I've never reallt drawn from that angle, so I won't advise.
Ashley Posted January 24, 2010 Posted January 24, 2010 I have big feet :p maybe it would look better upside down?
dan-likes-trees Posted January 24, 2010 Posted January 24, 2010 I started using Deviantart again http://danlikestrees.deviantart.com/ Check out my megre gallery and suchlike. Also, posted in the userimagegallery but yus. Gang Extra extra <3 The Wire
Grazza Posted January 26, 2010 Posted January 26, 2010 Great use of colour, dan-likes-trees. Great presentation and drawing in general. Who are the characters in the middle one? Anyway, like Ashley, I've also been censored by Photobucket. They said both my female archers violated their terms. Now, I can't understand why, as they are no more raunchy than the other figures I've put on there. I could understand it if they didn't like the depiction of weapons (I don't either - to me, it's just a prop), especially the one with the arrowhead, but they've left the male archer up, and he's got a bow. It's a funny feeling when some finds something of yours offensive and you meant it in an entirely wholesome way. Thankfully DeviantArt now allows hotlinking. Incidentally, their T&Cs are spot on - they've absolutely nailed what is offensive and pornographic (which I don't like either): This is a new version of "Bikini Archer" (names aren't my strong point). I literally stood like I was using a bow & arrow, and I realised I'd put the wrong foot forward last time. I think I need a raunch warning for this! No nipples, but still... It's based on my favourite glamour girl. And if I need to explain who this is, I haven't drawn him right. Sorry, it hasn't resized the one I put a spoiler on.
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