Charlie Odow - Art School Journey: First Steps

¡Hi! I’m Humberto (Charlie). I’m a Graphic Designer, Digital artist and Gamer from Costa Rica. I’m very passionate about digital and traditional art, video editing, board games, animation and literature.

To be completely honest I have struggled for years to convince myself that I should dive fully into art. Part of it is the fear of failure and probably that I can’t find a good structured method to learn. I have taken several courses, clases and most of my work is self taught. But this is the year for self improvement, mental health and leveling up my skills. I consider myself Level 0 for this new start.

I’m not 100% secure when it comes to interacting with communities, but finally decided it was time to do it. I believe in the power of knowledge, kindness, friendship and sharing. Please feel free to contact me for anything, even if it’s just to talk a little about Costa Rica, hobbies and life in general. And of course feel free to critique my assignments.

See you in school!

Note: just to let everyone know the image in my profile represents my growth. It is, of course, from the 1999 Tarzan animated film. Directed by Chris Buck & Kevin Lima. Young Tarzan key animator: Jeff Johnson.

"n learning you will teach
And in teaching you will learn"

Pen control assignment: Week 1 - Term 1
Had a lot of fun, nice warm up exercises. Need a lot more practice until I feel more comfortable.

Any questions or advices are welcome. Still I’m going to be doing the exercises daily. Best regards from Costa Rica! Pura Vida.

Hi Liam! Thanks for the kind words, I really appreciate them. And you can call me Charlie.

Let me be honest, I have had drawing tablets for quite a while now, and have been drawing since I was a kid, but never took it quite seriously. You know, life gets in the way and stuff. . I took drawing seriously about four years ago when I jumped into Graphic Design, but did not stick to a structured routine for digital art specifically.

Thanks for the comment about my circles, still I find I could improve a lot, lot, lot more.

Let me see if I can help a little. I posted this on your thread as well, but maybe someone else might find it useful.

If your using Photoshop a tip I like to use is to rotate the Canvas to find the right angle for my strokes. You can rotate the Canvas with R, draw, and then hit Escape to go back to the default. Try finding the angles you feel more comfortable, just like you would in a sheet of paper. It takes a little practice but is very rewarding. Also, I use shoulder and arm movements. I try to restrict wrist movements for when I'm detailing.

For straighter lines and circles I like to use 'ghosted lines' combined with rotating the canvas. From what I’ve gathered about 'ghosted lines' is to try to find the starting and ending points, practice the stroke without marking the line and then, when you feel confident, draw the line in a single and fast move to avoid scratching or wobbly lines. Again it takes a bit of practice and I’m by no means an expert. I’m just starting

Some people find the Drawabox exercises very useful, but you should know that his method applies on traditional media. I’m sure you can translate some of the exercises to digital media as well. Here’s a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9708PBUvCQ0&list=PLA7yj0dxiUGv7k8ohEt15EtMz9PTckNXw

Sorry about the long answer. I hope this helps, let me know if I can help you even further.

Have a great weekend Liam. ¡Pura Vida!

@Lockenheim thanks for the warm welcome and your kind kind words! Means a lot coming from you.

Well, my first study after line control. Week one of journey: Nude drawing.

Happy (but kind of terrified ) to share my study with you all. And on the right side of the image I share some notes I found interesting and worth remembering from the video [inspired by the notes taken by @aphamfx, he shares his thoughts on the process in his posts].

I will definitely keep practicing. Any replies to improve are more than welcome. I know there are lots of things off so I’ll gladly take advice and criticism.

Have a wonderful weekend. ¡Pura Vida!

Reference: www.characterdesigns.com

Thanks @aphamfx, really appreciate your kind words. I want to keep sharing notes and thoughts. And your posts inspired me. Just a little something for the community.

Thanks @Lockenheim! Thanks for the advice, very much appreciated. You’re right. I’m gonna make sure to pay more attention and practice contours. Any advice on how to study and get better at perspective and shapes?

Thanks @alwaysneedsleep! This are the kind words that make my day. I’ll be around for any feedback and sharing tips. Have a great one!

¡Pura vida!

Quick practice of my room for one One Point Perspective. Just getting the hang of things, perspective kind of wears me down a bit. But perfect practice makes perfect so on to the next study.

Again, any advice would be fantastic and warmly received.

Allons-y!

Thank you @artistchemist! It makes total sense, and I will consider more and more references in future studies. Thanks again for the kind words and please keep helping us grow.

A little study and my version of "male proportions”, as presented in Nude Drawing - Term 1. Again, you can find some notes and interesting facts on the right of the image taken from the lecture.

Any advice on how to improve is always more than welcome.
¡Pura vida!