Eugene - My Artistic Journey

[Sthingz]

Hello everyone. I'll make this post brief. I just finished training at my new job on Thursday which took up a lot of my time during the past two weeks. That being said, I should have begun drawing last weekend, but I got sick on the very first day without any formal training, that is Friday. I thought it was just a cold but it turns out I have covid (for the second time). Once I am fully recovered, I'll resume my drawing. I don't know how long this will last considering that today, Tuesday 9, is the worst I have felt. Stay healthy and see you next time.

[olashamala]

I'm so sorry to hear that. Take care of yourself! I hope you feel better real soon.

[mitsuki-youko]

oh noes! hope you feel better soon!!

[Sthingz]

@Gordon003 Point taken - I will try to be more detailed in my gesture head drawings. Also, thank you for your kind words of encouragement.
@mitsuki-youko Wow, you took Japanese as a high school course!?! That's incredible! I wish they had offered that option at mine. Although it sounds like you retained some of the material you were taught, I am interested to know if you found this course worthwhile and, most important of all, if you had fun. As for coding, I wish you the best in getting that skill under your belt. I tried learning HTML in Khan Academy during my off time at school, but I dropped it as I did not enjoy it. Hopefully, the opposite is true in your case. And, finally, congrats on the movie! Your video-making skills are incredible, from the shorts you post to the music videos.
@olashamala Thank you very much for your concern - I am feeling much better now and I think I will post my art progress next week.

[mitsuki-youko]

Wow, you took Japanese as a high school course!?!

はい！そうです！楽しかった！

I always watched anime and when I told my teacher i was afraid of forgetting Japanese she said if you watch anime you won't forget it

and somehow thats still true lol

While i dont remember all of it, i remember enough to know when a sentence looks wrong when using google translate and kind of know how to find the right word to fix it though i'm still very much a beginner. my trailers will be in Japanese with subtitles, just like an anime trailer would be - using synthesizer V - though that requires a lot of time to tune the voice to make it sound good esp since its more like a vocaloid so it tends to "sing" but you can make it speak too if u do it right.

Example of my super meh tuning: https://youtu.be/LQzmPPaVYK8

, I am interested to know if you found this course worthwhile and, most important of all, if you had fun.

Oh yes!! I love this course so much!! I love participating in the forums too and meeting people like you, snakker, pattu, and many others! It's so fun and has def helped and is still helping me improve my art!

As for coding, I wish you the best in getting that skill under your belt. I tried learning HTML in Khan Academy during my off time at school, but I dropped it as I did not enjoy it. Hopefully, the opposite is true in your case.

Ahh thank you!! It is kind of fun but i would still much rather be working on my story/project.. though i feel like i should still give coding my best shot since this potential opportunity was something that i was interested in.

And, finally, congrats on the movie! Your video-making skills are incredible, from the shorts you post to the music videos.

Ohh you mean the music video? thanks so much! the music was meh but the art was imo pretty good for what i can draw, especially the animations. I had a lot of fun learning to composite too! and it looks so much better after its composited

hehe tho im kinda busy recently i'm going to try to draw at least 30 mins a day. i am the type that freezes up when i dont have enough time in one sitting to finish a whole piece and end up not doing anything XD i am sure i can be so much more productive if i use these "spare pieces" of time wisely

and glad you are feeling better btw!!

[Sthingz]

Hello artists. After a long time, I am back. COVID, work, and a bunch of other stuff have held me back from posting my art progress. The good news is that although I have not replied to this topic recently, I have continued to draw (of course, with the exception of that 1 week I got sick with COVID - I didn't want to do anything back then). Thus far, my studies have centered around the mouth/lips/jaw. While there's still a lot for me to learn, I will now move on to studying other facial features, namely, the eyes. I am excited about this shift in focus and what new knowledge I will gain from these studies. Now, here's my work:

Gesture drawings (2-4 mins):

Head, copying studies:

Head, tracing studies:

Head, imagination studies:

Mouth-only studies:

Key Takeaways:

• The teeth wrap around a ball. After the canine, the teeth continue straight forming a horseshoe shape.
• The eyebrow line protrudes from the skull and it flares outward as it reaches the bottom of the eye sockets.
• It's always easier to draw the mouth opening first, then the lips.
• When the mouth opens, it's the bottom teeth that move since these are attached to the jaw. The front teeth don't move at all and they become visible only as a result of the skin and, therefore, the lips stretching.

Next Weeks' Commitments:

• Read Loomis' chapter/section on how to draw eyes
• Combine tracing and copying studies on the same day using the same image
• Resume reading Dong Hon's perspective book and put it to practice (i.e., conduct perspective studies with simple shapes)
• Continue to gesture draw, but reduce the time interval to two minutes ONLY. Conduct @Pattu_w studies

P.S. @mitsuki-youko いいね！漢字を少しします。「楽しい」のいみがわかりません、でも「たのし」のいみがわかります

[mitsuki-youko]

eyy welcome back!! Glad you are feeling better!

漢字を少しします

Had to google translate that but あたしもです！I could read the rest of that sentence whole sentence

great studies you've got there keep up the good work and can't wait to see more when you post next

always love reading your key takeaways and commitments

[Gordon003]

Your art studies look so good man! I notice that you are focusing on facial expression (e.g. the mouth) so you may want to show how some facial expression (e.g. sneer) creates certain wrinkle in particular area (e.g. the cheek). Hope that helps and have fun!

[Sthingz]

Howdy! I am back from practicing my eye-drawing skills and a bunch of other stuff. As always, I have kept myself busy with non-art-related matters such as signing up for a soccer team as well as developing a new habit of walking for an hour or so each day. Anyhow, I was able to cover all of my commitments with the exception of practicing perspective with simple shapes (I found drawing the head itself to be a good "perspective" practice). Here are the results from these 2 -3 weeks of practice.

Gesture Drawings:

@Pattu_w studies:

Doodle from imagination (while at work):

Eye studies:

Portrait sketches from reference:

Detailed/developed portrait:

Key Takeaways:

• The tear duct sits against the side wall of the eye cavity
• When viewing the eye from an angle (not face on), the corner (i.e., where the top and bottom lid intersect) farthest away from the viewer will sit on the edge of the eyeball and wrap around it
• The eyeball slightly bulges out of the eye socket
• The eye and eyebrow are closer to one another than one would think, and the eyebrow sits ON TOP of the eye cavity

Next Weeks' Commitments:

• At this point, I have practiced drawing all the facial features; nevertheless, I want to dedicate 1 week to studying the ears and nose before I dive into the long-awaited topic of shading
• Continue gesture drawing with 2-min intervals, but limit myself to 5 poses per day
• Finish reading Andrew Loomis' "Men's Heads" chapter
• Conduct master studies (focus only on head drawings atm)

Some important notes:

1. I bought a skull and head model from Amazon to get a better idea of how the skull and, therefore, the head look from different angles.
2. I added a new matte screen protector to my iPad - Elecom screen protector (I messed up the installation of the first, so I ended up using the whole pack which comes with two screen protectors, RIP).
3. I bought Bridgeman's head construction book. Considering that Bridgeman's aimed toward more advanced artists, I will leave this book for last, that is, after I have finished reading the entirety of Andrew Loomis's book, not just the first chapter.

[Pattu_w]

Hell yeah, That's a nice analytical take on study, always good to be self critical to push yourself further. Good stuff.

@Pattu_w studies:

I see so many mistakes on my gestures lol

[Sthingz]

I see more in mine lol

[Sthingz]

Just finished my first EVER shading studies and, actually, I enjoyed them. My negative preconceived notions were shattered. I went in thinking that shading would be the most tedious and difficult thing in drawing, and boy was I wrong. It is still difficult; in fact, this is the hardest concept to grasp yet, but I had fun. I should point out that I did skip over two things: nose and ear studies as well as master studies. I decided to not further study the facial features because I felt pretty comfortable drawing them by themselves. As for the master studies, I just didn't have time to get to them, so I will tackle this matter in the upcoming weeks. Tonight, I will finish reading Andrew Loomis' "Men's Heads" chapter. Until the next time I post, enjoy the work I procured these last couple of weeks. Thanks for y'all's attention.

Gesture drawings (2-3 minutes, 5 per day):

Shading studies on Procreate:

Unrendered Portraits (+ Doodles):

Rendered Portraits:
W/out a sketch:

W/ a sketch

Key Takeaways:

• The smudging tool on Procreate is far from perfect. The direction in which you smudge as well as the brush you choose will drastically alter the results.
• "The lightest dark is darker than the darkest light." I just learned this yesterday so I didn't get to apply this concept in any of my drawings except for one.
• Don't be afraid of the dark. When shading the shadow side of an object, I must not fret to shade with the darkest shade of grey, that is, black.

Next Weeks' Commitments:

• Conduct master studies
• Shade with pencil and paper (i.e., sketchbook)
• Draw more objects or, even, landscapes
• Try shading with one color, not using pressure sensitivity

[mitsuki-youko]

eyy nice job with the shading!

The smudging tool on Procreate is far from perfect. The direction in which you smudge as well as the brush you choose will drastically alter the results.

its the same for all programs imo i usually do a darker color, and a lighter color next to each other then either use the blend brush or color pick and blend the colors together with a soft brush.

Keep up the good work

[Sthingz]

Yo why you gotta break my heart like that lol. I am used to smudging irl that doing so digitally feels awkward. I'll keep working hard and referencing your work as well as that of others like snakker, lockenheim, pattu, etc. (you guys seem to have a way better grasp of shading than I do)

[mitsuki-youko]

Awe haha you can keep smudging if you want but imo its harder to use XD

(you guys seem to have a way better grasp of shading than I do)

I think your shadings are pretty good as well

[battledragon78]

Keep going you are doing great !

One thing I learned and I can suggest you about shadow, is to observe real situation. Shadow I think is t easiest to study since you can easily find it anywhere standing still object projecting shadow and you can take your time to observe any detail (like weather condition, source of light distance and intensity etc) .

[Sthingz]

I will definitely try this. Thank you!

[Sthingz]

Hello fellow artists! It has been a while, about a month, since I last posted. I have been solely practicing shading. What a journey! Fun albeit hard. I have watched lots of videos and compiled them into a single playlist (linked at the bottom of this post - I hope y'all enjoy it). I think I understand the concept, but its application is something else. Gotta keep practicing!

Gesture Drawing:

Shaded Fruit:

Digitally Rendered Portraits:

Shading on Paper: (please excuse the smudging from when I close my sketchbook)

Key Takeaways:

• Every object has its own local value, that is, not everything abides by the same "shading" pallet.
• Form shadow equals smooth gradation whereas cast shadow equals sharp gradation.
• Always start by separating the shadow family from the light family, then work on the details.
• Structure comes first, then depth and form.
• Shading "lines" should either wrap around the form or follow the light.

Next Weeks' Commitments:

• Conduct master studies (postponed from last time).
• Shade using the top of the pencil more.
• Take a break from ONLY shading portraits to shading the facial features separately as well as objects.
• Read George Bridgman's book on drawing heads.

YT "How to Shade" Playlist Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh33PBNTMQJd6NcJuwhJFSK5i-J32zFM9

[matthewwemes]

You've been super productive since you last posted, great work!

[mitsuki-youko]

heyoooo

nice work!! glad to see another post from u