R3TR0 (Joshua) - Art/Art School Journey

[Kosmonaut]

so you mean like have a skeleton sketch that breaks down the limbs into lines and then try to base the thickness off comparing the ref to the skeleton?

[yaigrie]

yes! Maybe more like a stickfigure than a skeleton (skeleton sounds too detailed ), but yes that was I tried to describe

[Kosmonaut]

Ok, thanks for the feedback I will try that next time I do figure studies.

[Kosmonaut]

I decided to take a break from focusing on gesture and figure this week to do the One Week Portrait Challenge, so this is the sketch that I finished today. I do still plan on doing gesture throughout the week just not as much as I usually would.

And here is the ref that it is based on

[yaigrie]

That's a nice reference! Glasses are hard tho (for me )
Good luck with that challenge

[Kosmonaut]

Thanks, I mainly struggle with color and rendering so I hope that this course can help me understand how to show the soft transitions of color on the face.

[Kosmonaut]

Today, I did the color part of the challenge and and I managed to fit in some one minute gesture as well. I tried to fit in some figure studies but that takes me too long to do to consider doing it now as well as working on personal pieces. I feel like the gesture went well and I tried to take Marc's advice to focus more on proportions but I still struggle to find time to place the feet. The color part went well also I hope tomorrow I learn how to render the skin and make it look believable.

[Kosmonaut]

Today I was able to do a figure study as well as render my portrait for the challenge I have been doing this week. The finished result took a lot of trusting the process and seeing what works since this is my first time painting skin and applying my knowledge of the planes of the head. I hated it but as I started to like it more once I got the shirt done. The skin I feel looks ok but I am very proud of how the shirt came out and how the folds look. The figure study went well also and this time it took me only 45 minutes to gets it done so I'm getting faster the more I do it.

[Kosmonaut]

Today, I got further on my portrait and rendered the hair so it finally looks finished but I have one more day to go. I was really proud of how the hair turned out and from this challenge, I learned to despise clothing folds and hair a lot less than I did before. I tried to do both a gesture and figure study but my brain just didn't feel like it. I ended up doing neither of them today. I'm not sure why maybe I'm burned out on gesture and figure or it could be that I put too much on my plate this week practice-wise. I will see how I feel next week since I said I would focus on those for a full month, but we'll see. It also could be a sign that I need to move on to the next topic in term 1.
If anyone reading this has dealt with this before can you offer any insight as to something that I am missing or how you dealt with it?

[LesleyCarol]

I used to be wishy washy with practice a few years a go until I learned how to be consistent.

Here are the things I feel helped me:

1. Listen to motivational podcasts and interviews from Bobby Chiu, Stephen Silver, Impact Theory, etc.
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2. Start with a small thing to do everyday. I studied draw a box and committed to doing a page of homework a day or something. When I did the 150 box challenge for it, I did ten boxes a day. That was all I drew for the day or at least expected myself to draw. This helped me build momentum and get into the habit of drawing everyday.
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3. Join repetitive challenges (like the box challenge) and find ways to break them up. I've done a 50 head construction challenge, Inktober, a 7 day portrait painting challenge, and a 100 portrait challenge to help build up consistency. This helped me learn how to break down big tasks over a span of time to get them done.
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4. Make a calendar or schedule that you can follow to keep you on track. Every time I feel lost or don't know what to do next I look at my calendar.
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5. Write out or think about what you want to do in the future. I want to be a freelancer and be able to make my own schedule etc. So this keeps me motivated to practice and get better so I can reach that goal.
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   I do get tired every now and again and that usually happens when I write too much on my calendar. Now I'm learning how to be more realistic about what I can do. However, this rarely happens and I hardly think twice about sitting down to draw. I just automatically sit down and work on projects or studies whenever I have time.

Hope this helps!

[Kosmonaut]

Thanks for the response! this does help me better understand my situation I am currently doing a five-day portrait challenge this week on top of gesture and figure and I also want to do freelance or comics. The fire is still there to practice and I am a very structured person so I don't really feel lost in what to practice its more a so a question for me is it burnout on this particular subject or is it my work/personal work balance? I also do a very repetitive practice as well this whole challenge on top of my usual practice may be throwing me off but idk. I definitely need to get back to listening to art podcasts because I am in a no youtube for a month challenge to help me deal with it better unless there is a specific art video I need to watch. I do think that breaking it up and trying new ways to approach the same practice maybe what I am missing or it could've been that I was tired. I appreciate the long response and the advice helped me figure some things out.

[Kosmonaut]

Today I finally finished my portrait for the one-week portrait challenge hosted by paintable and I will say that this is the best portrait I have ever made/painted and I learned a lot from doing this challenge like how to better handle clothing folds and hair, and a better way to paint skin. I'm glad I did this and hope to do more challenges like this in the future.

[Kosmonaut]

I tried to do some gesture today and I ended up doing less of it but tried to go back and revise the proportions of the pose. I also tried to do a figure study where this time I don't have a bounding box to rely on so that I can improve my observation and measurement skills. I would have finished it today but I have to stop for today since my wrist is bothering me again and same goes for yesterday. Currently hating life at the moment.

[Kosmonaut]

Today I did some more gesture and I finished my figure study from yesterday. The new measurement challenge I set for myself is a lot more simple and it helps me measure things a lot more because I take things slower and try to match the angle of the center of the limbs. I just need to do it more and remember to flip my canvas to see mistakes and improve on my accuracy.

[Kosmonaut]

Today I decided to do only gesture and spent 2 hours only doing gesture to see how much I can improve. This week marks the last week of me focusing on gesture and figure drawing for a month straight and I feel like my Gesture drawing proportion-wise has gotten better with this 2-hour session of continual gesture practice. I also feel like I can better check the proportions of the body as I quickly look back and forth measuring the distance and shapes between limbs. I also finished my sketch for the Vivi Fanart challenge today as well so now it is time to flat in colors and start rendering. The portion of the poses that are in the box are ones that I revised.

[Kosmonaut]

I moved on to Perspective now and I feel like I had a pretty good understanding of Perspective before so these assignments feel pretty easy to understand. I feel like I might spend a week on this before I move on to term 2 but we'll see how the week goes, and if that room assignment gives me a lot of trouble. I did the convergence lines and practiced some 1-point and 2-point today. If anything looks off lmk any feedback is welcome.
`

[yaigrie]

looking good!
The only thing looking off to me are the two boxes in the middle row. On the right one I'm not sure about the topright border of the cutout piece, it seems too unparallel to the outer line of the main box (I hope you understand what I mean :D)

On the left one, there are those two parallel lines on the right side, I guess it's again sth cut out? But that doesnt appear that clear.
But other than that the cut out pieces look fine to me! And the outer boxes are nice as well.

How are you liking perspective?

[afoster1138]

Lots of great practice here! Make sure when you're tracing the perspective lines all to the same vanishing point. If they aren't lining up, i'd reccomend hiding the layer and trying again since these are pretty quick exercises. I'd also like to mention in at least one of these the path / road / street is a descending elevation as it moves away which feels (to me) like a more challenging idea to tackle, and could be an easy observation to miss.

It feels like by the time you got to the last one, you were really able to nail it. Keep up the great work!

[Kosmonaut]

Thanks, I think the last picture is the one you are talking about? I didn't even think about it or notice it until you pointed it out, but Marc also said that not all convergence points will reach the vanishing point( I think? ) so is that not the case with the images I picked? thanks for the feedback and I'll try those images again to see if I can do better.

[Kosmonaut]

Thanks, you mean the 2 point perspective one right? The box with the two parallel lines was something that I did in a hurry because I didn't feel like enough boxes were changed, but it was meant to be like a piece of the corner was sliced off. The borderline one was me using freehand instead of actually measuring it out so that makes sense. I like perspective so far I plan on starting my room today which may turn into a futuristic kitchen but not sure yet. I have had some experience with 1.2, & 3 point perspectives before the course, but I think I might move on to term 2 next week if it doesn't feel that difficult. Thanks for pointing those out I was being semi lazy about doing the measuring on those!