Cielas - Art School Journey

[Cielas]

Week 6:

1 Min. Gesture Drawing :

Hair Drawing Practice:
Even though Marcs video on this topic was quite informative, I was missing something. I then came across a video by kuroshiro which helped me a lot to understand what I hadn't understood in Marc's video. This was the hardest exercise for me this week.

Perspective 2 Assignment 3:
This exercise was fun! I'm still a bit unsure when I construct the 4-point perspective grid, especially when it comes to which converging lines are curved and which are not.

Portrait Study:

[Cielas]

Week 7:
1 Min. Gesture Drawing:

Anime Eye Practice:
Since I want to do art in the anime artstyle in the future I decided to practice eyes in this style. I still have problems with getting the upper eyelid right but I can already see some improvements. If anyone knows better exercises for this I would be open to hearing about them.

Asaro Head Study:
After realizing that I had slight problems with the values in my last portrait, I thought it was time to study the Asaro head. Since the 3D model on ArtStation unfortunately didn't work for me I looked for references on Pinterest. Unfortunately they were a bit pixelated which made it a bit challenging to recognize the planes of the face correctly. I also made minor mistakes when it comes to the shape of the head but I'm happy with the results of this study.

Skull Study:
Last but not least I decided to do a study of the skull, having never done this before. I had so much fun with it that I decided to do several angles. I am very happy with the result.

[Cielas]

Week 8:

Another term comes to an end this week. I've learned a lot in the last few weeks.

The photoshop exercises have brought me closer to some of the tools in CSP. Among others the vector layer tool. But also how to create my own custom brushes. I also learned more about blending colors and values.

In visual communications I learned more about the elements of art, where they can be found in art and what effect they have on the artwork as a whole. I've also started to see more in shapes than just the outlines of the things I see which helps me improve my observation skills.

My first introduction to anatomy which is about the head was something new for me. Learning the Loomis method as a basis for constructing the head and placing all the facial features correctly took some practice. Learning the individual facial features and how they are constructed was also a very new experience for me. I think I will need more practice in this area but I am on the right track.

In perspective it was very interesting to learn 3 point, 4 point and 5 point perspective. I had the most fun learning 3 point perspective. 4 and 5 point perspective are interesting but something I probably won't use too often in the future.

Overall, I think I've made a lot of progress since the end of Term 1, but I think I'll be practicing portraits for a while until I feel ready to move on to Term 3. Especially in anime style I think I still have some practicing to do.

1 - 5 Min. Gesture Drawing:

Primitive Drawings:

Self Portrait (using a mirror & good lighting):
This time I decided not to tie my hair up for the portrait. When I compare it with my first self-portrait, I think I've made a lot of progress. However, my shading still needs improvement as well as painting realistic hair.

Creature/Monster Portrait from imagination:
I am very surprised how this portrait turned out. I had used several references for this. I had actually planned to give the engravings of the horns and the eyes a glowing effect, but unfortunately I was unsuccessful and left it as it is now.

[Cielas]

Week 9 (Extra):
As I mentioned last week, this week I have been concentrating on doing portrait studies. I did both realism and anime style studies. My main focus was to get better at placing the facial features correctly and having a correct head shape and hair.

1Min. Gesture Drawing:

Head Studies:

I had the most problems with this portrait this week. The head shape in combination with the glasses caused me the most problems. It also took some time to draw her right eye correctly. Apart from that, however, I am quite happy with the result.

This study took me by far the most time with 9 hours. It took me a lot of time to understand the hair structure correctly and to draw it correctly. Apart from that, I really enjoyed this study, especially with the necklace he has and the perspective you have to use, even if I didn't get it 100% right.

In this study I tried to keep Lineweight more in mind. I think there are some places in this study where I could have done a better job, but I can already see some improvements.

Overall, I'm very happy with how this week went. The main problem I noticed this week is that I have to learn how to correctly divide the hair into chunks in the realism studies, which is still quite difficult for me compared to the anime artstyle. The only other thing that would bother me is the time it currently takes me to do a study, but I think that will get faster as I get more practice. I think I'll spend another week doing head studies and then move on to Term 3.

[Cielas]

Week 10 (Extra):
1 Min. Gesture Drawing:

Portrait Studies:

I am very pleased with how this study turned out. The flowers and butterfly elements in the design were fun to draw. Her headpiece was a bit of a challenge but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

The hair in this study caused me some problems. It was difficult to divide the hair into chunks, especially as the model's hair is very messy.

In this study I only had minor problems with the angle of her head. Apart from that, it was a lot of fun to draw her hairstyle.

This was the most difficult study for me this week. I had some problems getting the wings on his head aligned correctly. The eyes also caused me some problems because of the shape. Otherwise I think I could have done a better job with his halo.

All in all, I am satisfied with how this week has gone. I've noticed that I'm slowly but surely getting faster when it comes to realism studies. I've also improved a lot when it comes to placing facial features and the shape of the head. I think my biggest weakness at the moment is drawing hair in realism. Apart from that, I think the last two weeks have achieved their goal for me. And with that I will now move on to Term 3 and am excited to learn about folds and the torso.

[Cielas]

Term 3

Week 1 (Part 1):
This week marked the start of Term 3 for me. I divided the first week into two parts due to the high workload scheduled for this week.

1 Min. Gesture Drawing:

Clothed Figure Drawing Assignment 1:
With the introduction to drawing folds, I sought out additional information and came across Bortek's video, which delves quite deeply into the subject matter. It was very interesting to learn about all the different types of folds and where they are usually found. I also used this video of theirs to understand the rendering of clothing a little better and found his method quite easy to follow. In general, I find that drawing folds has a lot in common with drawing hair. Since these are my first attempts at rendering, any feedback you may have is welcome.

Folds Study:

Daily Exercises:

Primitive Drawings:

[JimSt]

Those clothing studies are
So good!
Might want to watch out for the AI stuff that surfaces in searches for image references - sometimes they aren't really all that reliable in reflecting folds. i've been going to clothing store websites or Cubebrush sources to reduce the amount that pops up.

[Cielas]

@JimSt Ty for your kind words! Yes, I used some references from Pinterest for these studies and was a little unsure about two of them as to whether they were AI or not. I will use your advice for future studies, thank you!

[Nosnibor]

Amazing clothing studies! I especially like these trousers that you did:

[Cielas]

Thank you @Nosnibor ! That's also the study that I think turned out best.

[Cielas]

Week 1 (Part 2):

1 Min. Gesture Drawing:

Photo Reference Lineart Studies:
For this week's head studies, I deliberately tried to choose references that would challenge me a little. I had some trouble drawing the eyes in the second and fifth female head studies. I also think the head in the third female head study is a little too wide. In the male head studies, the third and fifth references were the most demanding for me. The glasses were particularly challenging in the fifth study.

Environment Studies:
This week was quite exhausting because of environment studies. Even though these aren't my favorite assignments, I'm happy with how they turned out.

Studie 1 (World of Warcraft - The War Within Concept Art by David Noren):
Original:

Copy:
In my opinion, this study taught me the most this week. In this study, I learned how important it is to work with line weight. This made it very easy to block out the scene, even though it is quite a busy artwork. I also found it very interesting that the linework is quite sketchy. But what I found most interesting about the linework was that it is frequently broken up with serpentine lines that often end in a blob. I believe the artist does this to make the linework more interesting and to break the symmetry in some places, which effectively represents the state of the architecture shown. This was by far the study that took me the most time, with 21 hours.

Study 2 (Cyberpunk 2077 Concept Art by Marek Brzezinski):
Original:

Copy:
In this study, I had the most trouble understanding the three boxes on the ceiling on the right side of the image. I also had difficulty depicting the props in the image correctly. The clothing items near the couch were particularly challenging. Otherwise, the scene was fairly easy to understand and not too difficult to block in.

Studie 3 (Cyberpunk 2077 Official Concept Art):

Original:

Copy:
The biggest hurdle in this study was by far getting the chair and couch correctly in perspective. Otherwise, I tried to use line opacity to make the areas of tinted glass fade slightly, as in the original.

[Nosnibor]

Your World of Warcraft environment study is so good and your line work is great : )

21 hours is impressive, I don't have the fortitude for that I usually start wrapping up all my individual studies very quickly

[JimSt]

I agree with @Nosnibor, that WoW study is WOW!
Your choice of CP2077 tells me you have great taste!
Feedback: I hope this helps and is welcome. If it isn't, let me know and I'll refrain from such comments in the future and apologize for it. In that case, please ignore the following.
There is a tendency in the head studies to draw the eyes a bit too big. Examples would be males 1, 3, maybe 4, and females 2, 4, and 5. Some of it might be placement on the skull too? To me, it looks like the inner shape of the eye on most of these should be the outer limit of the whole eye structure. I don't know if I'm saying that right. I also tend to do this, so I get it. When I talk to people I make eye contact and so that's the facial feature I pay attention to the most and so when I draw it, I draw it too big.

[Cielas]

Thank you @Nosnibor and @JimSt for your kind words!

21 hours is impressive, I don't have the fortitude for that I usually start wrapping up all my individual studies very quickly

For me, it always depends on whether I want to invest a lot of time in a study. In this case, I realized quite early on that I could learn a lot from this study, which is why I was willing to invest more time. But even in cases where I realize that I need more practice, such as with my portrait studies after term 2, I am willing to spend more time on them.

Your choice of CP2077 tells me you have great taste! Feedback: I hope this helps and is welcome. If it isn't, let me know and I'll refrain from such comments in the future and apologize for it. In that case, please ignore the following.There is a tendency in the head studies to draw the eyes a bit too big. Examples would be males 1, 3, maybe 4, and females 2, 4, and 5. Some of it might be placement on the skull too? To me, it looks like the inner shape of the eye on most of these should be the outer limit of the whole eye structure. I don't know if I'm saying that right. I also tend to do this, so I get it. When I talk to people I make eye contact and so that's the facial feature I pay attention to the most and so when I draw it, I draw it too big.

Yes, CP 2077 is one of my favorite games.
Ohhh, feedback is always welcome! And I understand what you mean and agree with you. I think I often only see the large shape that makes up the whole eye and therefore construct the eye larger than it actually is. I'll keep that in mind for the future, thank you!

[Cielas]

Week 2 (Part 1):
1 + 2 Min. Gesture Drawing:

Clothed Figure Drawing Assignment 2:
This task was a big increase in difficulty for me.

This pose was relatively tricky for me because the model crossed her arms in front of her stomach and she has a large bust. But I think it turned out okay, even though it's probably the one I like least out of the seven I did.

I'm relatively happy with this one. Here, I tried to use more folds than in my first attempt. I think the only thing I want to do better next time is to add more variation to the value transitions.

I think I could have made the values for the folds on the arms a little lighter here.

This is one of the attempts I like best. What I could have done a little better here is blend some of the soft edges a little better. I personally find some of them a little too harsh.

With this one I tried to challenge myself a little. After limiting myself almost exclusively to shirts in my other attempts I wanted to try my hand at a dress. I'm very happy with how it turned out. Especially in combination with the model's pose I think this was the most difficult attempt for me.

What made this attempt difficult was the dramatic lighting on the model. I had trouble choosing the right values for the shadows here. I also think the form shadows are still too bright here.

In the end I wanted to draw a complete outfit. I'm very unsure how it turned out, but I quite like it.

Clothed Figure Lineart Studies:

I think what I could have done better here is take more time to get the poses right. The proportions aren't correct in some of the poses. I didn't do a good job with the first, third, and fourth female references in particular.

[Cielas]

Week 2 (Part 2):
This week was quite exhausting for me. For the line art studies, I deliberately chose slightly more complicated designs to see how much I had improved. However, over the last two weeks, I realized that I need to reduce the amount of time I spend practicing art because I've been feeling burned out and my personal life is a bit stressful at the moment. Nevertheless, I'm very happy with this week's results.

1 Min. Gesture Drawing:

Fully Dressed Character Lineart Studie (2/5):

Character: Evernight - Honkai Star Rail

This study was very challenging for me. What caused me the most problems here was the upper part of her hair strands. Otherwise, I had great difficulty drawing her legs correctly. Apart from that, I must say that I really enjoyed this study.

Character: Phainon - Honkai Star Rail

In this study, I had the most trouble putting the golden star elements found in the upper torso area into the right perspective. What I enjoyed most about his design was drawing the right pauldron.

[Cielas]

Week 2 (Part 3):
I was finally able to wrap this week up. I'm quite happy with how my remaining line art studies turned out. I hope that the next few weeks won't take up as much time as this one did, but I think it's more important to do the exercises properly and not put myself under time pressure. In any case, I'm looking forward to learning more about anatomy!

1 Min. Gesture Drawing:

Fully Dressed Character Lineart Studies (5/5):

Character: Yixuan - Zenless Zone Zero

I really underestimated this study. Although ZZZ's character designs are much simpler than those of other Hoyoverse games, I had trouble recognizing where the line art was in some places because the artwork is quite conceptual. Otherwise, I am very happy with the result, especially with regard to the pose of the legs, where I noticed that Evernight's study helped me a lot.

Character: Welt Yang - Honkai Star Rail

I was very surprised at how easy I found this study. I had the most trouble with his left hand and his scarf. Apart from that, I had some minor problems with his legs, which took me a while to get right. However, I am very happy with the end result.

Character: Zhongli - Genshin Impact

This was the study I enjoyed the most this week. I had the most trouble getting the robe right where his spearhead is, which I didn't manage very well. Otherwise, I had minor problems with the curve of the tie because I had initially placed the head a little too far to his right, but that was easy to fix.

Overall, I am very happy with how these 5 line art studies turned out. I can see clear improvements when I compare them to my line art studies from Term 1.

[Cielas]

Week 3 (Part 1):
I was really looking forward to this week because of Anatomy 2, and I had a lot of fun learning about all the muscles of the torso and back and where they are located. The two muscles I found most difficult to see correctly were the serratus anterior and the rotator cuffs, with the latter causing me the most problems. Apart from that, I tried to incorporate some of the shapes of the simplified skeleton into the primitive drawings.

1 Min. Gesture Drawing:

Primitive Drawings:

Anatomy 2 Assignment 1:

Notes:

Day 1:
As with almost all attempts at this exercise, I was most uncertain about the rotator cuffs.

Day 2:
For the back, I think a different reference might have been better, as the model's hair covers a large part of the trapezius.

Day 3:
That's the attempt that I think turned out best. As always, if any of you see any mistakes or have any feedback, please don't hold back.

Day 4:
I was a little unsure about the serratus anterior here.

Day 5:
At this point, I slowly but surely ran out of references that I had from gesture photos. If anyone knows of any good websites for anatomy references, especially for back images, I would be open to suggestions. For the last few days, I have been using references from Pinterest and hopefully avoiding A.I. images. Other than that, the rotator cuffs were giving me trouble again. The shadows of the scapulars always irritate me a bit when I have to identify them.

Day 6:

Day 7:

[JimSt]

Great progress and studies!

The two muscles I found most difficult to see correctly were the serratus anterior and the rotator cuffs, with the latter causing me the most problems.

I have had the same problem. I'm still studying those, but one thing that has been helpful is to find a reference book that shows those muscles in isolation or at least in more detail. These are from "Essential Human Anatomy for Artists" by Ken Goldman. I've had it checked out from my local library for 3 months and it's probably time that I just buy my own copy... lol

[Cielas]

Thank you @JimSt I appreciate it.
I think that's a great idea. I'll get myself a copy of this book too. I like what it shows in your pictures and I think it will help me understand these muscles better.