Gordon - Art School Journey (Term 3)

[Gordon003]

Thx for the kind word @CYP2C19 ! Yeah, this year will definitely see how far I can gain in art thx to past art experience last year.

[Gordon003]

Oh definitely! FORCE has helped me a lot in finding the flow I wanted in my gesture drawing. I have way too much flow in my current gesture drawing LMAO. But i rather have flow problem thatn straight problem as at least I can add some straight into my drawing which is fairly easy.

[yatogamy]

Yooooo, wtf your cartoons are amazing I legit tought you were an artist for this show??????

(Also, your progress in a year is insane dude, I hope I can keep up with y'all :D)

[Gordon003]

if you were focusing on a single show style for around 5-6 years, you bound to very accurate LMAO. But yeah thx for that compliment but like I mentioned before, I aimed to be more rounded out by looking at other medium.

And thx for your kind work on my art progress @yatogamy . Not as much as I hope but pretty happy about it.

[Gordon003]

Sprint Review #1 (1/1/23 - 15/1/23)

Back again for the new year... hopefully better than last year.

This is also the year where I planned to use SCRUM principle to control my art progress and avoid going back again. There's not much sticky note on Backlog but given some time, there will be a lot to add!

Update

FORCE

After I made a page on FORCE Torso design, I then made another page on FORCE Leg.

Next up will be looking FORCE Foot design.

Gesture Drawing

Haven't done much gesture drawing as I hope but nevertheless, hope to continue both 1 mins and 2 mins gesture drawing (done on different days)

Facial Anatomy

So this time, I decide to take this step again. Because I was on holiday, I decided to do facial practice on paper instead which helps me focus on the anatomy rather than worrying about drawing quality issue done digitally.

Looking from those drawing, I can tell that face plane is something I need to go through as the shading is pretty bland and constant which doesn't show depth. Another part is the eye and mouth anatomy which is something I can tackle individually.

I will eventually do this digitally but for now, paper helps me focus on anatomy more.

Shading

Still continuing to shade on multiple forms. Haven't practiced as much as I wanted but still progress.

Cartoon Work

Also trying out other cartoony style aside from TD.

Preston Blair Book

Sprint Goals towards the next 2 weeks

1. Eye Anatomy
2. Continue practice on Shading
3. Complete at least 1 cartoon commission
4. Continue facial anatomy practice and improvement

Thx for reading and here to a new year! And of course, I'm open to any feedback!

[snakker]

Man great stuff. Your gestures are beautiful, the cartoon work is awesome and you’re really nailing that facial anatomy construction, especially the noses. Just be careful with eye placement, something I struggle with a lot

As for the cartoon, which is lovely, Now I don’t know much about cartoon shape language and design at this point, but I’m not sure if the cheek being angled vs rounded is better or more aesthetically pleasing?

Cheers and keep it up!

[Lockenheim]

Dang I really love these sketches, looking great You can really feel the form!

[Gordon003]

Much appreciated. Yeah, the eye anatomy is definitely the next step as I have little to no ideas on how to draw this step by step. So yeah, thx for the head up.

Cheek being angled vs rounded, I think it depends on the character personality and age. If very young or have a positive outlook, then maybe rounded cheek makes more sense. But if the character is a very dark soul or old, then maybe angled cheek. That's how I view it.

[Sthingz]

The Preston Blair studies are awesome! I struggle with drawing expressive faces, so your notes are like eye candy for me. That being said, I find your TD artwork already expressive, so I can only imagine that your drawings will pop more after you have finished going through Preston Blair's book.

[Gordon003]

Thx, that's main selling point of my current and future artwork. My work may not be the most accurate but it will be very expressive with aim to push it further but no further than caricature. FORCE slightly helps me with that lmao. Thx for the kind word, @Sthingz!

[Gordon003]

Sprint Review #2 (16/1/23 - 29/1/23)

Already the end of January this year... my god, time has passed when you continued to practice and not realised the time!

I only had 1 week of work since I was on a slight work holiday. On that holiday, I meet another art friend @kaobara as we mainly chat not just on art and our interest but the challenges and mentality of doing and progressing in art. Even though we chat on Discord, it was noice to chat face-to-face; a thing highly valued due to COVID past.

Anyway, Here are the following update.

Update

Gesture Drawing

After looking over my numerous amount of gesture drawing, I feel that even I got the flow, my line economy is... not good to say the least. I draw way too many strokes to represent the same line which results in a very messy sketches. I still consider it expressive but I knew I'm not thinking before drawing.

I had a look on Proko video on gesture and understood I should keep it simple and avoid using too much line (KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid). I took note and draw along with Proko and instantly noticed how his style is more relaxing and more thinking than just raw power and repetitive drawing.

So yeah, my main focus will be focusing on my line economy by forcing myself to draw max 2 line to represent the same line.

Proko Gesture Study

Facial Anatomy

Studied more on eye and other features. It has been some long time but I really feel I have past facial anatomy in term 2. Yes, my shading needs a lot of work but that's a different medium I can worry about in another time.

Just one more sprint and I can finally look at Perspective (II) in Term 2 without worrying about my facial anatomy.

Shading

Didn't do much practice on shading but I'm currently reading Scott Robertson's book "How to Render" which I bought last year. Very interested in how sunlight works and cast shadow. Will continue to read more on his book.

Cartoon Work

Currently working on car commission where I was asked to joined in my friend's commission as she has trouble drawing cars in cartoon style. So far so good.

Sprint Goals towards the next 2 weeks

1. Study and take note on Mouth Anatomy (Once and for all)
2. Continue practice on Shading by reading Scott Robertson's book "How to Render"
3. Continue to do 3 facial whole piece (without shading) per week
4. Work on line economy for my gesture drawing

Thx for reading and here to a new year! And of course, I'm open to any feedback!

[AlexZoinks]

Breaking art down into sprints (Agile, I'm assuming) is interesting - what made you think of that?

[Gordon003]

I work in the technology sector and one of the main team challenge is to know who's working where and what in both short term (e.g. 2 weeks) and long term (e.g. 3 months). Using Agile allows us to do this efficiently.

For individual, you don't need to use all of the concept of agile. For me, I only use Sprint Backlog (List of stuff I want to do), Sprint Retrospective (how do I go and what to improve) and the points (How much work is there).

Now, it's important to note that I don't think it works for most people. I had experience working in this methodology in the team; beginners may be confused on some concept usefulness (e.g. points allocated). It may not work for me too but I aim to experiment and this is one approach I'm trying compared to a normal weekly schedule I did last year... which didn't went well.

Here's there for more info on sprints and agile if you are interested. HMU here or Discord if more question. Thx!
https://www.amazon.com.au/Scrum-Jeff-Sutherland/dp/038534645X

[Gordon003]

Sprint Retrospective #3 (30/1/23 - 12/2/23)

Another sprint down and another review required to see what went well and what didn't.

I enforced more Sprint methodologies as I implement Sprint Retrospective where:

• What went well?
• What could be better?
• Improvement to consider?

Past Sprint's Goal & Other Work

Mouth Anatomy

The last part of facial anatomy in Term 2. But this time, I have finally understood and confident enough to progress without the need to keep going back due to lack of understanding.

Shading via Scott Robertson's book

I have finished reading and taking note of Chapter 2 of his book which covers Light Types and Casting Shadows from both Sunlight and Local Light Source.

Next Chapter is Rendering Geo Form but I want to practice on Chapter 2 concept for the time being.

Facial Anatomy Practice

Now I have adequate understanding of key facial anatomy, I'm more focused on practice overall face. Still not doing shading and rather more focused on face plane atm.

Got feedbacks regarding about some facial placement which is expected.

Line Economy in Gesture Drawing

Although I haven't done much gesture drawing, I did put more emphasis on my line economy in my work as I noticed that I keep putting line down before I thought about it. You can see less messiness in my facial anatomy practice up above.

Latest 1 min gesture drawing

Other

Did 1 comm and nearly finish another car comm

Enrolled into Marco Bucci Course on Facial plane. So far has covered brow and cheek.

What could have gone better?

1. Perhaps more focus into practice than just keep consuming concept
2. Lack of improvement/adjustment to cartoon works

Improvement to make in next sprint

1. Practice more on non-TD style (from other artist?)

Sprint Goals towards the next 2 weeks

1. Facial Anatomy Practice (3 Heads per week)
2. Complete 1 Cartoon Comm and other arts
3. Bucci Face Course - Jaw & Chin
4. Watch Brunet Video on Perspective 2

Thx for reading! And of course, I'm open to any feedback!

[Lockenheim]

I really like the construction on these facial features especially the eyes! Keep up the good work!

[Gordon003]

Work Done This Week (13/2/23 - 19/2/23)

Some of them are in work collaboration with @Sthingz

[Gordon003]

Sprint Retrospective #4 (13/2/23 - 26/2/23)

Another productive 2 weeks! Here we go into it...

Past Sprint's Goal & Other Work

Facial Anatomy

I was mainly working with @Sthingz as we are looking to practice and challenge ourselves on facial practice.

In the near future, I may look into doing the hair but atm, I still working on facial anatomy and key plane.

Also made a physical Loomis Head to help myself learn more on side.

Cartoon Comm

After some discussion, my first cartoon car commission has finally been done!

Next car is already started as I already sent my shape draft to the commissioner.

Facial Anatomy

Bucci Video on Jaw and Chin

Next Part - Underside and Nose

Brunet's Perspective

Haven't really practiced on perspective but made some notes on 3,4 and 5 point perspective. Next up is environmental perspective.

Other

Did a random TD personal art. Mixing TD and NFL.

What could have gone better?

1. Perhaps more practice on perspective via cartoon
2. More digital line art confidence

Improvement to make in next sprint

1. Work on digital line confidence (avoid chicken scratch)

Sprint Goals towards the next 2 weeks

1. Facial Anatomy Practice (3 Heads per week)
2. Complete 1 Cartoon Comm
3. Bucci Face Course - Underside & Nose
4. Watch Brunet Video on Perspective 2 - Environmental Perspective

Thx for reading! And of course, I'm open to any feedback!

[snakker]

Great stuff, always love your cartoon work - the character has a lot of character XD

Bucci notes seem very practical. Do note on your constructions, the first one has the dorsal nose plane facing us and is off perspective and in the second one, be placing the nostril off the nostril line it seems the nose is tilted to the side of the figure’s midline contour

Keep up the good work!

Cheers

[Gordon003]

noted. recent facial drawing shows the lack of focus on construction phase before adding particular details. Will be focusing more on construction phase. Thx for your word on the nose!

[alwaysneedsleep]

Love the flow and energy of your sketches @gordon003, doesn’t look stiff at all. Good stuff!