Alex Zoinks - Art School

[AlexZoinks]

1/23/2023 - Nude Figure Drawing Assignments

Notes:

1. No final figure study. Tired.
2. The 60s gestures look good though.

How do you know when you're ready for term 2?

[snakker]

Yo, great work as always!

As for your question... I think there is no objective answer! XD

Since the art school is open to interpretation and you can just go at your own pace, you can move through the terms as you wish, and go back and do things from previous terms whenever you want.

For me, that was a bit of a mental problem as getting in here was precisely because I wouldn't be able to structure stuff on my own so I arbitrarily decided to do things similar to how I did in med school because that's all I know, so I decided 4 months per term and one book per term (now 2 books)

In the end, I felt I really wanted to move on to some anatomy and as I got a pretty good grasp on what term 1 had to offer, decided it was time to move on to the next (having finished the assignments, felt comfortable with most of them - perspective still being my bane of existence) and made a little self imposed "final assignment" using what I learned.

So that's just my experience, in the end, I guess you make it what you want - that's the beauty of it - plus, you can always revisit past terms and definitely should keep doing those gestures!

Good luck and cheers!

[AlexZoinks]

1/25/2023 - Nude Figure Drawing Assignments

Notes:
1. Just one today - I finished the lines for one of yesterday's skeleton studies

[AlexZoinks]

Thanks for the advice - I should probably do more perspective practice before moving on to Term 2. I think I'm starting to hit a wall with the figure drawing - I need to learn more stuff to get better.

You made it through med school? How did those anatomy studies stack up against the artistic anatomy lessons?

And what did you do for your self-imposed final project for term 1?

[snakker]

Yes, I did med school and dermatology. Anatomy knowledge definitely helps my art but knowing it and drawing it are definitely two very different things. And well, comparing them, med school focuses more on very detailed knowledge of structures, identification (every little bony landmark,every little artery vein nerve etc), function and clinical relevance. Specialty training leads to more focused anatomy study, learning where every blood vessel, muscle nerve etc is on the face is essential in my practice to avoid complications in cancer surgery and in filler injection - not to mention muscle anatomy to understand the proper use of botullinum toxin injections for facial rejuvenation

As for my term 1 final project, I wanted to try my hand at painting a composition that included a figure and some perspective using different references to “tell a story”. I was inspired by a recent trip to honduras and decided on a fisherman bringing his fish at the end of the day, and wanted to include rendering clouds and the seascape (things I have no idea how to do really XD) because I had taken some pictures of the clouds there that I really liked and wanted to include them. In reality, I don’t know why I mixed in so much painting and rendering in term 1 but it was fun to push myself, it was all based on stuff I had seen a lot on youtube and wanted to finally experiment and try out for myself (just checked and the piece i did is somewhere around post 176 of my art school journey)

Cheers and good luck!

[AlexZoinks]

1/26/2023 - Nude Figure Drawing Assignments

Notes

1. I tried doing the final lines on a different layer for the figure drawing. It looks kind of mechanical. I don't know how line weight works yet.
2. I got partway through another Alex Ross Superman study before losing steam for the evening. I'll have to finish that tomorrow.

[AlexZoinks]

That's pretty neat that it's such a different perspective on anatomy, but obviously the same physical structure. Congrats on making it through med school and dermatology! (I imagine it's been a while, but still - impressive!)

I found your final project - right on. I like it, especially the sun reflected in the water.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement!

[snakker]

Always glad to help

@CYP2C19 shared this video to me a while back, it helped me a lot!

cheers

[AlexZoinks]

Thanks for the recommendation - I'll check that out.

Also - nice dog!

[AlexZoinks]

1/27/2023 - Nude Figure Drawing Assignments

Notes:
1. The figure sketch really came together tonight - I'm pretty proud of that.
2. I stopped the top/pelvis/bottom guides on the skeleton practices to make it a bit harder.
3. The Superman is by Alex Ross, from JLA: Liberty and Justice. (Which I haven't read.) He has such a sense of majesty about his Superman pieces. <3.

[AlexZoinks]

1/28/2023 - Nude Figure Drawing Assignments

Notes:
1. I took @snakker's advice and watched Brunet's line art mistakes video - informative and useful. Drawing longer single lines looks better, even if one take 5-6 tries to get it right.
2. I got one of the tablet drawing gloves because I was having issues with skin/tablet friction. That, plus getting my forearm off the desk (only connecting to the tablet with my wrist, now gliding easily) makes lines feel different, much easier to pull targeted lines.
3. The weight of my drawing arm resting just on my wrist makes applying pressure more natural, so the lines got thicker easier.

[snakker]

Looking good!

[AlexZoinks]

1/29/2023 - 2 Point Perspective Practice

1. The GameCube logo look positively cursed like that. Like the Crimson Chin of GameCube logos.
2. The SNES is complicated, man...
3. Good practice at pulling lines with the new tablet glove, particularly on the N64 and GC logos

[snakker]

Wow, these look amazing, great job!

[AlexZoinks]

2/2/2023 - Nude Figure Drawing assignments + Street Corner WIP

Notes:

1. Three days without posting anything felt discouraging. The rest of life is picking up. Good things, but busy things.
2. The perspective street corner assignment is exhausting. Am I being too perfectionist?
3. My practice with the glove and more confident lines seems to be paying off. That's neat.

[AlexZoinks]

2/2/2023 - Perspective I - Street Corner Assignment

Notes
1. Holy crap. This was really frustrating. So many details and odd-numbered, evenly-sized elements.
2. Nothing like trying something difficult and brand new to make me feel like giving up on art altogether. Ended up giving up after what you see below.

[snakker]

Nice work! Making the diagonals can be hard without enclosing them in their own cubes first to measure

Cheers

[Pattu_w]

man, perspective is a real stinker, i'm stuck in 3 point perspective right now and man, it really sucks to feel stuck at something, the overall shape of your street corner looks right to my eyes, but looking at the reference it does have a pretty strong distortion towards the top part (3 point perspective shenanigans), probably that's why it feels so hard to replicate it, and those dam windows, after i tried drawing a building i can't stand them no more XD

[snakker]

Interesting, it seems to curve as well so might also be due to the camera lens in addition to the slight upwards angle of the viewpoint (3rd vanishing point)

[AlexZoinks]

2/5/2023 - Nude Figure Drawing assignments

Notes:
1. I'm still getting used to the glove and drawing from the elbow/shoulder instead of the wrists. Gestures look off and the feet often run off the page
2. Started Term 2 today, watched Visual Communication 2.
3. Photoshop crashed on me at the end of the skeleton/cylinder exercise and I lost the file. I keep running out of RAM. I think I need more RAM.