Term 1 - Magz

[cristaldotgema]

Hello, I'm Magnolia (or well, Magz) and I'm finally starting the art school assignments, I've had some serious problems with my personal laptop ( really slow, touchpad doesn't work, keyboard doesn't work) for really long and I bought this course some months ago, I'm starting anyways though after i got better peripherals.

Photoshop often lags really hard : (

After doing the pen control assignment I realized that "connect the dots" wasn't some kind of puzzle. I started while watching the digital production video before getting to the assignment instructions, so i actually made it harder for myself.

It just so happens I have problems with dexterity, i need to practice

[cristaldotgema]

I have perhaps been neglecting the image editing aspects of this, but I am trying at least

[cristaldotgema]

tried a few methods, ended up going the simple route for the apples, selection, layers, shadows.

[cristaldotgema]

liquify and clone stamp, it looks a bit uncanny, the middle one is the edit to make the girl on the right have a similar face to the one on the left

had to change the clone stamp skin color with layers but i got to add wrinkles wel enough i think?

[spyronite]

I suggest zooming out when doing the tracing exercises, or finding that optimum distance that works best with your hand movement. For me, I try to either zoom in or out (depending on the subject matter) to maintain a distance that allows me to move my elbow while I'm drawing, which is often the better way to sketch as it allows for more accurate movement. I also recommend trying to draw a little bit faster to compensate for shaky wrists. Undo is your best friend in digital art. Hope it helps.

[cristaldotgema]

oh yeah, i remembered some art videos and advice i'd hear a lot from others about that with "don't use your wrists so much because it'll strain your wrists" (I had a wrist injury for a long time and after it healed, a doctor suspected i might be showing signs of early rheumatoid arthritis, so i was feeling really cautious while doing this)

i tried those methods, zooming in and out a lot, and using my elbow and arm instead of my wrist so the result is actually better than what it originally looked like in the first hour of ctrl+z -ing so it does help

[cristaldotgema]

I'm somewhat getting used to editing photos, i'm pretty sure the perspective is off but i don't know enough about perspective to know what it is in the technical aspect. I spent a couple hours on this, my laptop couldn't handle editing this without lagging super hard for some reason?

(edit: i forgot one image)

[spyronite]

Then you're on the right path. As for your injury, I'd seriously advise on taking breaks. I don't know how serious your situation is but take breaks as often as you can. I recommend taking those break periods to either read/watch lessons. Good luck!

[cristaldotgema]

I really had a big hiatus there, but I'm back on track once again.
I'm in a much better place now, my injury doesn't hurt anymore for the most part and I have a much better computer that can handle photoshop. So let's begin:

The next section was "Nude Figure Drawing 1"

Find the line of action in 10 figures:

Here I'm practicing putting cylinders in different positions:

Here's putting "skeletons" above the same photo reference. I put red on "surfaces" of the skeleton facing the camera to distinguish what I was doing better. The next photo is practice from imagination:

Here I practiced proportion drawing a couple times to get it in my memory. Female and male proportions are pretty similar, just more or less curved depending on which. :

30 minutes of "30 second" gesture drawing:

I think I'm getting the "flow" of it but I lack "structure" and skill with it.

I ended up doing gesture drawing every day since then for a while:
These are day 2 to day 5 of gesture drawing afterwards

Below here are attempts at using what I learned to draw full figures, but something feels... off.

[cristaldotgema]

Next Section: "Perspective 1"

Firstly, here's some attempts at lining up the horizon line and vanishing points of some street photos:

Clearly I was having some trouble imagining it spatially, I always have trouble with perspective. But I was starting to finally understand the more I payed attention to the lesson!

While the video was still going I practiced some of the concepts in it. I practiced simple shapes and 1 to 2 point perspective like I was supposed to as well.

Photoshop kept glitching so the lines are wore than they should be. But hopefully it makes sense, it was all starting to "click" for me personally.

Here's the room and buildings in perspective! I was testing out a perspective brush as the line tool kept glitching and it was starting to irritate me. I kept trying to use "shift" and brush but it kept messing up? Anyways, my room is small and a lot more messy irl, but this is how I want my room to look like.

[cristaldotgema]

I have very little line confidence which ends up frustrating me and setting me back in my art so I have to practice this and my foundational skills with "structure".

[mau.wamp]

Heyho @cristaldotgema!
I think it's great that you know what the problem is, because you instantly know what to work on. I myself
I think Marc's Photoshop assignement 1 (digital pen control) might be a good way to practise this as well as making a conscious effort to draw your lines in one stroke instead of lots of small strokes one after the other... It will look bad at first, but you will see improvements if you work hard at it.
I hope that helps,
Cheers,
Mau

[cristaldotgema]

As per your suggestion, I went over the first assignment multiple times (the lines i redid them 4 separate complete times until I could make the lines without ctrl+Z-ing each line a bunch - this is the 4th iteration of it which is a lot less shaky!). The final pen pressure part i did with custom brushes I use, including Marc Brunet's beginner brushes.

[mau.wamp]

Nice! Keep the pracise up if you feel it could help you.
I personally do this assignement as a 10-15min warmup (depending on how long your session is in total). That helped me a lot.
Cheers,
Mau

[JP]

The progress looks okay so far. Your line confidence will build with practice and it's essential to power through it. There really aren't any short-cuts.

One of my favourite books on drawing (and line) is Andrew Loomis' 'Creative Illustration' (you can find PDF's of that easily online, but it's available in print too).

When I look at your line, I can see those tell-tale 'chicken-scratch' lines. That's a common thing that you see when people lack solid line confidence/ability. I would recommend getting around your house with a pencil and drawing plants or objects. Try simplifying them down into basic primitive shapes first. Get used to drawing very faint/light construction lines and then committing with a heavier stroke. Basically draw as much as you can.

The recommendation on the course for 'gesture' drawings is also a solid route. You won't have time to worry about getting things right. Yes that means you'll get a lot of goddawful drawings, but that is just part of the process of building up that hand-brain coordination. Good luck and stick with it