Lockenheim - Art School Journey

[xdarts]

For me, work with soft brushes like you seems to be doing is quite hard, and for now i use only hard brushes 90% of the time when i paint, because they're easier to deal with. I feel that having to use the smudge tool, make gradations manually and deciding if you should keep a hard edge or not teaches some valuable lessons.

And Sinix also says to let the Soft Brush to the cool kids, and i'm definitely not one

But take this with a grain of salt, because i'm not good at rendering yet. Maybe you are a cool kid, because your stuff are really nice!

[000_peanut]

Hi lock, this is unsolicited advice so, yeah.. but what I found out is you use too much air (soft) brush on most parts., which appears flat in my eyes for some reason.
Here's what you can do (I think)

1. Air brush is more appropriate when you want to soften the contour like skin while hard brush is use to add more depth (I think) which is mostly use in clothing and others

2. Try combining cell shading and air brush in your shading/coloring like in the fox spirit

3. Still needs improvement in anatomy like that rectus abdominis muscle. Uhmm, she's like she hasn't eaten anything and her stomach is eating everything inside (IMO).
   SoI think it's fine even if you don't define that muscle that much since she's a female

But I think you're getting there so keep it up.

[Lockenheim]

@xdarts @000_peanut Thank you so much for the suggestions! I agree. I definitely feel like this work flow is not working in a way that I enjoy and I need to try some different ways of doing things. I will definitely be trying out some different brushes and different work flows. I understand where you are coming from Peanut, I was much happier and had a much better time painting the fox spirit than the rest for sure. In regards to the anatomy I agree, part of the issue is that I have been unable to get the values how I wanted on the multiply layer so I will definitely be trying some different modes and part of it is familiarity with the anatomy. I appreciate the advice from both of you and it is always welcome!

[Lockenheim]

Hello, this is my practice for the week. Trying to sure up fundamentals. Been a very rough couple weeks and trying to get back into the groove. I felt like my gesture and heads and general quality had been slipping due to this so I wanted to get more practice in these areas. Also some anatomy. Trying to get more confident and up my speed and not focus so much time on correcting all errors for practice. Feedback always welcome.

Some quick character sketches tried to make notes on errors.

and a few value studies.

Thanks for checking this out, mostly just trying to improve fundamentals and speed. Have a good week.

[alwaysneedsleep]

You always impress with the amount of studies you do @Lockenheim, so hard working mate. Curious how many hours you putting in each day?

[Lockenheim]

I try to practice as much as I can and when my mind or body is giving me signals I slow down and spend more time on myself. In terms of practice I include physically drawing / watching educational videos / reading art content all in that category. So for the past month I have been going through some pretty rough things so my practice time has been widley varied. This week I probably practiced 8 hours per day. Last week probably 4 hours per day. But those arn't normal for me. When things are going well I practice 10 - 12 hours per day maybe more if you include farming social media. I take Saturday to rest / do chores / organize my work / prep for next week and probably only do 1-2 hours on Saturday. But I also watch the livestream each Saturday if that counts. So yeah, I know that isn't a super clear answer. I just try to listen to my body and when its telling me to slow down I chill and take time for myself.

[alwaysneedsleep]

@lockenheim holy moly that’s a lot of hours buddy, sounds like it’s your full time job haha. Your work definitely show mate, look forward to seeing what study you’ve done 😊. I’m assuming you want to get a job in the arts?

[playforwho89]

Sorry to hear that you had a rough couple of weeks. But the studies look great. When i had a tough time geting back to drawing i wrote down a weekly study scedual and kept to it like my life depended on it, helped my a great deal. Hope you get back to the groove soon.

[Lockenheim]

@alwaysneedsleep Yep thats right, I pretty much treat it as my full time job. Thank you for the kind words. I work very hard to get better. I am currently planning on grinding anatomy for the next few weeks for study. I am looking to turn this into a job. I originally wanted to make DnD maps but I think I will get bored of drawing just assets top down. I am switching my focus to character illustrator. I would like to eventually be good enough to do art for CCGs. @playforwho89 thank you for the kind words. I agree I really should write down my schedule. I usually have one mentally but I think writing it down will help a lot. I'm pretty much back in the groove its just life , happens to all of us. Thank you for the motivation.

[LesleyCarol]

I love these value studies! You captured the shadows really well.

For the portraits, one critique I have is to study the references more than doing style exercises. With the exaggerated portraits there are a few fundamental things that are off, like a mix up with the angle of the eyes versus the jaw or how far apart the eyes are. I think if you really study the photos and features of the face you can enhance you stylized drawings.

Sorry for the chicken scratch line art
With this one I think you did a nice job with the placement of the facial features. They eyes, nose and mouth have a good amount of space between them.

One main issue I found is the eye line and main line for the eye were straight, but your reference, the eyes you drew and the jaw are all tilted. This created a disconnect between the top and bottom halves of the face and made the jaw look really big.

Also, the skull/face shape weren't as defined as they could have been. For your stylized portraits you're doing detailed constructions and adding realistic elements to the shape of the nose and mouth, but the eyes, chin and skull are more simple.

I think if you do more realistic studies and bring what you discover into your stylized drawings you can push your work further.
Hope this helps!

[000_peanut]

You never fail to impress me Lock..
Waiting for your next art as always!!

[Lockenheim]

@LesleyCarol thank you so much for the advice! I think I see what you are saying! I really appreciate the portrait you drew that is very helpful and much appreciated! I will try to do this going forward! I am trying to do some quick constructions as part of my daily warmups. I will follow your advice! @000_peanut thank you so much! I appreciate the kind words. Just trying to continue grinding while keeping my life together. Im sure you all know how it goes lol!

This was a kind of light week for me, just did a bunch of anatomy. I know a bunch of this is wrong and I got some great feedback from Marc this week so should have a better understanding going forward but maybe some of the study material here may be useful to someone. Feedback always welcome.

need to find a recipe for this upnose angle, still working on it.

These are the notes I took during the arm anatomy video. I make no guarantee they are correct but maybe they are helpful to someone.

These are the references and notes I used for my assignments. The reference on the left is from cosmic spectrum. It says its from her patreon but she gives it away for free on her gumroad page if anyone is interested. Really awesome guide.

These are some trace overs, I know there are mistakes here. I feel like I have a better grasp on this now after this weeks feedback. I did these several times each.

Thanks for checking out my work. Pretty light week for me but hanging in there. Hope you are all doing well.

[alwaysneedsleep]

I love your muscle studies @Lockenheim, your getting so good now bud. The shading on the muscles look great!

[artistchemist]

Everytime I see your posts I'm impressed Locke!
I also love those charts and notes, if you don't mind I'll be saving those :3
Keep up the good work!

[Lockenheim]

@alwaysneedsleep Thank you for the kind words but I can't take credit for those! The muscles over the skeletons with the notes was from the video from Marc, so they are not mine =). @artchemist please do use them I hope they are useful!

[lia23798]

Wow Lock, I'm overly impressed with the high amount of work you post every time, keep it up !

[Lockenheim]

Hello its me again. Did a bunch more anatomy work this week. I tried to do more realistic faces @LesleyCarol but I don't know what happened it didn't turn out well. There is just something I am not getting about placing the eyes and shape of the eyes. When I place them this way I think it also has a ripple effect when placing the other features.

The face head constructions I am using as part of my warmup every day just to get more comfortable with them and quicker with them in general. I spend about 80% of my time on these placing the eyes and working on the eyes. That is really my main focus on improving for now. If anyone has suggestions on how to practice eyes or place eyes let me know! I do best when I have a process in my mind to follow and I havn't figured this one out yet. I'm sure I will with more practice.

These are some Arm Redos after last weeks feedback.

These are the notes I took over Marc's Video for the leg. I put them here if anyone wants them and can understand the scribblings of the ADHD mind lol.

This is my first try at leg muscle tracings.

And my second try, felt much better about these. but I know there are some mistakes.

Oh and here is this at a higher res if anyone wanted it.

and yeah! I know there are some mistakes on these that I can iron out after feedback but it feels pretty good to have a decent handle on all the main muscle groups after several weeks of study. Feedback always welcome and thank you for checking this work out.

[chonem]

Really putting in the work keep it up!

[wombatfooy]

Really awesome detailed studies!

[jasminerosepowell]

You’re working so hard 🤯 nicework