Jackson H. - Art School Journey

Hey all, I'm Jack from Australia.
I've been studying illustration with varying levels of dedication since finishing a graphic design degree in 2016, by the end of which I realized I didn't like graphic design but do like drawing. Being a gamer nerd I got interested in concept art and the way visuals can influence game mechanics and story, and decide to explore this by taking up an extra Honours year of study to make a fantasy battle themed board game called Sun & Shroud.

Since then I've kept up a drawing habit and doing classes or exercises when I can with the goal of working in the entertainment industry as an artist. Currently most interested in concept art, ideally at Creative Assembly (creators of the Total War game series) or Atomhawk design studio, but am well aware I've got a looong path ahead and am mostly concentrated on gittin' gud first.

Although I draw most days and enjoy it, recently I've found it difficult to make real progress and have felt overwhelmed with the level of art STUFF out there. I've enjoyed Marc's insights for a while and figured the course would offer me the main things I've been missing in my studies, direction and community.

I post art on my Instagram sporadically. Here's some of the better stuff I've made over the last few years:

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I'm excited to join the ART School program and community and determined to make a real effort to learn and improve

Alrighty here's my first bunch of assignments.
Personally I found the Term 7 Enhanced Learning lecture that the Discord recommends we check out first to be just as useful. Took a whole bunch of notes and I think have already taken much of that info on board. If anyone else starting out reads this strongly encourage you also watch it and take notes before jumping into the exercises.
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I went about as I expected with the drawing exercises, not great not terrible.
Not much to say here I think.

Think I did okay with the adjustments, though I couldn't figure out how to further tweak the final image without washing out certain areas and losing details.

Photobashing isn't something I've tried much. Although the result is kinda goofy I enjoyed figuring out how to make the images sort-of fit once I'd gotten the hang of the various tools.

The apples were a tricky but interesting challenge and definitely the most time-consuming of the lot. Learned a bunch doing it and became more comfortable using the various tools, though my workflow was an utter mess of disorganized layers by the end .

Pretty unhappy with my attempt at Kiefer Donald Sutherland. Using only the tools shown I just couldn't figure out how to age his features by predominantly grabbing them from the img of S. Senior without simply having them take over S. Junior's face entirely.
Frankly I'd already spent a ton of time on the apples and had a idea for the final assignment I was excited to get to...

For the final image I had a go at an INCONCEIVABLE amalgamation of comedic actor Wallace Shawn with dark lord Voldemort. Aside from the slightly warped collar I think I did the best I could using the liquify tool alone, and I was laughing pretty hard for much of it too.

Thanks for pointing that out prinz! Though going forward I'm sure feedback from others will become more useful

Alrighty, figure drawing.
Figure drawing is something I've done with varying levels of regularity over the last few years, however I haven't been seeing the sort of steady linear improvement I'd like and late last year I somehow developed a major anxiety about developing anything I draw (typically figures/characters) beyond a detailed sketch.

Drawings from life drawing classes last few months:

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I haven't managed to adopt a particular way of drawing figures that Just Works in most situations. The way I draw figures currently is mostly a mish-mash of Reilly rhythms (identifying key points of the figure and using those to tie into others), some of Marc's more recent YT lessons (like constructing torso with various circles/ovals with points at 1/2s or 1/4s for different features) and various bits I've picked up practicing from resources such as Love Life Drawing.

I figured (hah) I'd still go through this lecture and exercises in full and see if I could pick something up. Although returning to the importance of the line of action was helpful (and the Gesture Drawing app) I don't think the lesson otherwise benefited as I've already internalized other ways of doing things, I think ultimately trying to apply these points like these types of connecting joints just confused me.
Here's my attempts at the lesson: