Hello! It's been quite a while since I posted... like nearly three years! Damn! Well, with a new year, I've decided I need to complete this course once and for all. Luckily, since I was last here Marc Brunet created an detailed and helpful schedule for the art course. I'll do my best to follow it diligently. My goal is to complete it by May 2026. I haven't checked the threads of any students yet, but I'm excited to do so!

In the past years I haven't drawn much digitally, so this will be challenge for me. Especially considering I'm using an Intuos pen tablet rather than one with a screen display now. Still, this course is designed with digital artists in mind, so I will do most of my assignments digitally! I want to get the most I can out of the course after all!

In January, I plan to complete the first four weeks of Term 1. I will also be doing a digital illustration as a benchmark for my skills.

Just to get a taste of where I'm at, here's a portrait sketch I did a few months ago:

I'm stoked to return to this journey!

Thank you! : )

Also, I realized I never shared what came of the thumbnail I shared. I didn't end up finishing it in time for the deadline of the DTIYS. The colors are fun, but I still need to work on environments.

Student Log 1: 01/08/2025

Hello! I have officially completed Week 1 of ART School. This week was rather uneventful since I decided to not redo most of the Photoshop for Digital Production 1 assignments. All I have to show for now is the pen control assignments! They're a bit rough... especially the circles! It's going to take me a while to get used to digital again 😅 I also decided each day would be dedicated to one specific exercise, then on the last day I do all four to test my progress. Well, I can't currently do that! My wrist was injured yesterday. It's feeling better, but I'm still taking the day off for it to heal.

Looking Ahead:
This upcoming week is very exciting as I get to start the figure drawing portion! I'm also making steady progress on what I call my "benchmark" illustration, but I'll share that once it's complete.

See you next week!

Student Log 2: 01/16/2025

I am back for Week 2, which introduces figure drawing into the curriculum. To be honest, I wasn't exactly prolific this week. The wrist injury delayed my start and then my return back to school this Monday ended it early. I've never been good at balancing school with anything else, once it starts everything else goes out the window! This time I'm really going to try keeping on the wagon.

Anyway, I still did some work! I continued with the pen control assignments. This time I tried to take a slower approach to work on my hand-eye coordination. Whether or not they actually look better, the exercises felt easier. The figure drawing assignments are the beginner level ones--practicing cylinders and tracing over photos with the simple skeletons. Again, each day got easier than the last. The first day took a lot of trial and error, but I started to breeze through by day three.

I still need to experiment with the presentation of the assignments. They were saved as .jpgs and boy are they crunchy! I deleted my original files from 2022, so I don't remember how I did it back then. However, what's going on now isn't working. Also, should I move the tracings of the image. It would make them more clear.

hello.png4000x2034 2.95 MB

NFD_As3_25_1.jpg3888x2592 502 KB

NFD_As3_25_3.jpg3888x2592 779 KB

NFD_As3_25_2.jpg3888x2592 545 KB

Looking Ahead:
The figure drawing continues, this time introducing gesture drawing! The pen control exercises are changing, and I will do five line art studies of my favorite artists! To be more sustainable, on weekdays I'm going to halve the assignment load (ex: do 5 figure tracings instead of 10) and do the full on weekends.

Until next time!

Also! I finished my "benchmark" illustration to show my skills before I progress through Marc Brunet's course.

The artist Steven Zapata has talked about the concept of the "Dream Picture" AKA drawing what you want even if your skill isn't to your liking (that's a simplication, but the gist of what he talks about). In my case, the dream picture includes ornamental design, character symbolism, and dramatic lighting. And this piece has exactly that. Is it particularly well executed? No, not currently, but I get satisfaction from it that I never had for much of my previous work.

I was supposed to finish this by the end of January, but it's done way early! My plan is to do one major illustration each month utilizing the skills I learn in the course. In February, it'll be a one-point perspective scene. I can't wait to redraw this next year and see my progress!

Critique is welcome and desired in terms of design, anatomy, and rendering, or anything else!! (I do know it's a bit messy with bleeding color and lineart strays)