Oh hey, back so soon?
Hells to the yes. I can't get enough. I just can't quit you, Cubebursh. (Not that I would, this ain't an abusive relationship.)
To be honest I just love dumping my thoughts and consciousness into this little box. It really helps me get things in order and provides an outlet for the artistic shit I want to talk about with artist friends who don't exist... So I just talk to myself pretty much like a well-adjusted member of society. I considered taking a longer break to just knuckle down with my takeaways from last week, but I can't do it. I need to talk about this stuff and get it out of my head.
So I've mostly been doing lots of toros and pelvises (Pelves? Pelvi?), constant construction practice every evening after work (and during work - you're not paying me to work, hahahaha! ...Interspersed with some moments where I've spent time doing some projects for fun, revisiting some older things to box off and get that sense of closure... I'm between two minds at the moment where I'm concerned about the amount I need to be focusing on for my (hopeful) improvement, but also knowing that all work and no play makes Verr lose his bloody mind and forget he needs to draw from his elbow and shoulder, not his wrist! So yeah, been doing some stuff just for personal pleasure, even though I said I wasn't gonna. It's on odd thing to feel guilty about doing something fun which I enjoy and want to do. It's not like I'm not practicing and even then, the practice isn't going anywhere anyway. Why am I racing against myself all the time? Zen. Zen. Zen.
Alright, that's enough chicken and waffles, some visuals:
Construction - torsos and pelvises
So beyond trying to get my thick head around simple concepts and trying to be more considered with my lines, I've been setting my intention for most of my sessions as I was advised and sticking to time limits to try avoid perfectionism and overthinking. Then, reviewing afterwards (if I remember and am not crying in the corner) to try and identify exactly what's going on. For something that seems like such a simple exercise, I actually find this unreasonably difficult. Things have been getting easier, though, which I guess is the entire point so I do think it's working as intended.
Selection of some bits I've been doing:
So I've seen a few ways that people construct the pelvis in particular - the classic box carved up, the underwear method, proko's kinda "bucket" style (probably not actually his, but it's where I first saw it used... Loomis, maybe?) or Hamptons's sorta bowl with a segment cut out of the side. Not entirely sure which I'm more comfortable with, still trying to figure that out.
Longer study
This is a WIP attempt at a take-as-long-as-you-want full-form study. I debated not sharing it as is, due to it's current in-progress state, but screw it, right? It's all part of the process. This is low-stress and untimed, just kinda having some fun and taking things slow whilst chilling out and learning.
Reference:
So i'm wanting to apply a few things here:
- Slow and careful. Yeah, so... It's still a bit exploratory in the early stages, but a step up above stuff I've done before, I think? Still, the construction is there. Just not looking so hot yet.
- Proportions, proportions, proportions!
- Keep reference zoomed out / don't get bogged down in details
- Struggle with the above, bad habits are hard to break. Working on it.
- watch those empty spaces! (Allow the space of empty shapes to inform the structure)
- For lines: use a bursh that is not affected by pressure size (Amazing tip, seems so obvious, can't believe I needed it written out to me to even consider it...)
Stage 1:
Stage 2:
Stage 3 (current stage):
Not happy with her right leg (our left) - the bend of her knee and the twist of her foot is really throwing me off.
Like I said, this is intended to be a long study, so tomorrow I want to continue on with the linework, do values, colour, lighting, the whole shebang. And I've been having fun. :>
Pixel art, baby!
Oh hell yes. My first love. It's been a while. Thought I'd have some more fun.
Simple. Chill. Not finished, but I'm happy with how it's looking. There's one frame where the right-edges of some of the structures are lit - I'm considering adding some lightning and was just having a play about. Considering maybe adding a train whizzing by, too. There's something so wonderful relaxing about the methodical pixel-by-pixel nature of doing this stuff that will always hold a special place in my heart.
As a student of film and a lifelong hobbiest photographer, one of my primary inspirations has always been capturing that "moment in time" feel. For the personal pieces I do actually finish which I'm proudest of, this is always the kinda of thing I gravitate towards - no dialogue or anything, just a character or two doing a normal every day activity. Yeah it's nothing particularly special, loads of other artists do it and I make it sound boring but I can't get enough.
When I was younger, I was obsessed with the idea of cinemagraphs - Animated gifs, usually, with a looping motion to give the impression of a looping video. It's no secret that my ultimate goal in art is to do conceptual art/illustrations of "mundane" every-day life with science-fiction and/or urban fantasy themes, and I think whilst cinemgraphs are essentially cleverly edited videos saved as a gif and generally depict the real world we live in, they still have that sort of essence which just absolutely enthralls me. Does that make sense? I love the little things about the every day, the small, quiet normal of a small part of a huge world that's constantly in motion. Does that make me sound like a tosser? A bit too protentious? I dunno, maybe. Me no articulate thought good.
Cinemagraph examples:
Inspirations
Have I ever mentioned some of my favourite artists before? The kinda people who put out stuff that just gets me-a-goin''? Well here's two I particularly enjoy:
Foxixus
A furry artist who does a lot of art capturing the exact mood I spoke about above. This image is a particular favourite of mine. I love the scale, the painting style, the idea that these characters are just doing their jobs in some fantastical world of some sort. He puts up a lot of his speedpaints on his youtube channel, which is really cool. I've been watching them trying to figure out and copy parts of his workflow, which is getting easier as I'm getting more to grips with art myself.
This is the exact kind of thing I want to end up doing one day - and not even necessarily furry. Just stuff like this, for my own personal satisfaction. If I could do this, then I could die happy. Might be time to have a crack at some studies. I actually attempted one, once, a long time ago. Well, not even that long ago. Like, last year when I first picked up a pen thinking "Oh yeah, no problem. I can do this. Easy. Let's go."
It did not go well.
How unprepared and ignorant I was. I barely even began. I didn't know what I was doing. I was a fool.
If you fancy a laugh at the worst attempt of anything you've ever seen, here you go:
Original: (Protogens!!!)
wtf.png:
(genuinely, what was I even doing)
...A few other images of his I like in particular:
Oleg Vdovenko
[WARNING: VERY NSFW BLOOD/GORE/BODY HORROR CLICK THE LINK AT YOUR OWN RISK!]
This guy is the man, his art is sooooo good. It's painted with such awesome execution I can't even begin to comprehend how he manages to bash the images he makes together. (The answer is obviously years of practice.)
If you squint they look like photographs. The lighting and atmosphere is so thick you can feel the grime on your skin and practically taste the decay and rot that just oozes out of his art. I can't get enough of it. I've been following the development of a video game he's part of the team for called ILL ever since the initial reveal years ago, (and donated on the patreon to support the development!) it looks absolutely gnarly, I can't wait to play it whenever it finally comes out. He only has a few images in his gallery I'd be comfortable sharing here, but as a SFW example:
One of his short art series, "Stork" was even adapted into a segment of the anthology horror film V/H/S Beyond, and it was an absolute delight to see in motion having had knowledge of the original art before seeing the movie. Was it actually any good? Eh, debatable. But if you like horror, weird zombie-like creatures and aliens with resident-evil vibes and lots of filthy, gory action it's a fun time.
Now I'm not really interested in being a horror artist as much as I do love horror, but I find his work very inspiring nontheless and I'd hope one day to be able to make others feel with my art the same way I do when I see his.
Another example:
Other things
...I did do another piece of art, which I'm not ashamed or embarrased of or anything, but the subject matter is dubiously suggestive and I'm unsure if it would be okay to post here. Not the kind of thing I normally choose to draw and it's not hugely explicit, but it was a very personal piece for myself and my partner I'm proud of and I think it came out pretty good. You might just have to take my word for it.
I also got a new phone recently too in the black friday sales - one of the old Samsung ones with the little pen thingy. Finding it pretty tough to use because it['s so small, but it's been amazing so far for doing this sort of quick practice/construction/gesture just when I get a spare few minutes at work - really trying to push those reps in whenever I can. I can't stop thinking about art and drawing, it's tough to switch off and concentrate on anything else. I'm hoping this might help somewhat with that. Or make it worse. But practice is still practice when and wherever so I'm glad I'll always have something in my pocket to conveniently draw on whenever.
It was a rough few weeks following the end of October when I think I may have hit my lowest lows so far in terms of my relationship with my art, my learning process and my self-confidence. But - the last few days have been a lot better. I feel better mentally, like I'm able to breathe again and there's a path forward, so hopefully we'll be on the up and up, at least for a little while. It's good to be back to drawing with enjoyment and calm again.
Thanks for reading. Onwards. More drawing tomorrow.
Cheers! 
