Zaulta's Sketchbook

[Zaulta]

Happy new years : P, family was doing stuff today so I was a bit busy. Did a few back studies from my phone, but got tired after a bit. Tomorrow gonna go in and do more back studies and some back poses from imagination.

Oh yeah and thanks to whoever featured me <3, kinda an honor that the stuff on this sketchbook is good enough to be showcased on the front page.

[Zaulta]

I started playing stardew valley and I got addicted to it and played it almost all day lol ;;. I at least got myself to draw, but felt very demotivated.

I already know mostly all of the back muscle and insertions. I just need to start drawing them from imagination more.

[Zaulta]

Had more discipline today : ^). Did a lot of studies and did a little stuff from imagination. For some reason made myself really nervous when drawing from imagination. Gonna do more from my head tomorrow and the digital book should be coming tomorrow also.

20 min timed studies

This one's from imagination, don't know if it's good or now : ^))

[cedricgo]

Nice studies!

[Zaulta]

@cedricgo thanks lol

Yesterday the digital art book came in and the first chapter was all about different ways people can make their own custom brushes. I only used default and downloaded brushes cause when I tried to make them in Krita my computer broke. I got really frustrated trying to learn how to make brushes in clip studio, but I was proud of myself when I figured it out : p .

I was also really unmotivated to draw backs again for the 3rd day in a row. Not my best from imagination, but I can at least say I'm more comfy with drawing them.

Hung out with a friend for most of my day. After I made new brushes. You guys probably don't care but here's me playing with them and the settings. Might just use the texture part very lightly.

[Zaulta]

I read chapter 2 of the digital art book today and it was about speed painting. A bunch of professional artist explained their own process of making their speed paint. They said their speed paint environments were required to be only a few hours and it all looked really good : ^). As a whole they said to figure out values, composition, ideas/mood, and shapes first before adding more details.

I was trying to follow their processes but quit . I did not know what I was doing the whole time, I don't have that much experience with environments, I think the prompt I gave myself suckeed. I tried again but still got nowhere. I think I should stay with humans and simple object stuff for now since I'm still new to digital.

[cedricgo]

I think it's better for you to stay away from speedpaintings right now. You're trying to do what professional artists with probably years of experience and who are comfortable with digital do. So if you're new to digital or try to tackle a subject you're not as familiar with, like environments, then you're likely to be disappointed with the result.

I think it's better to built your skills by making the best work you can, however long it may take you. Over time you'll build a good visual library, have more experience and confidence and speed will come naturally.

I don't know if you seen the FEng Zhu youtube channel, but perhaps this video might help you. Honestly, his youtube channel is one of my favorite, so I'd recommend checking some of his other videos too if you have time.

[Zaulta]

@cedricgo Yeah I completely agree with you lol. I think I'm trying to rush myself cause I'm thinking about applying to art school next year and I don't think I'm good enough to get in. But yeah thanks though for the advice < 3, I'll stay with humans and single objects for now until I get more comfy. And I've heard of them fzd school though never watched their videos cause it's too long, but I'll the one you suggested when I can.

Forgot to mention that winter break ended today and tired. Tomorrow gonna read some portions of the humans sections of the digital book. Also tried not to us th color picker unless I really needed help.
Took a little over an hour to do.

Started this, but tired. I'll finish it tomorrow.

[Zaulta]

Didn't spend that much time drawing today. I read a section on painting humans in the digital art book and I've been approaching portrait photo studies in a way that won't help as much. Like what I usually do is try to copy the silhouette first and not really think about the basic form of the face first which is an eggish shape, so I'll probably redo the study from yesterday tomorrow and I still need to watch the fzd video.

Art class is starting a new long term project and the topic is inside outside which is really weird and really general @-@. Spent some time at school and at home coming up with ideas. I ended with a spell thief starting to steal something from a guarded magic library.

[Zaulta]

I watched the fzd video last night and took notes on it. It mainly talked about lighting and composition, but I learned a lot from it. Also watched the Just Draw video and it made me do a lot of studies today : p. Tomorrow might dedicate all my art time for that day to painting one thing and aim more for quality.

45 min studies
Shouldn't have done a sketch first, causes it to look weirder after the sketch is gone.

wish i could work more on this one, but oh well

Sketches from school. I think instead of doing things from imagination I'm gonna focus more on studies at school cause I have a lot of free time. I'm gonna try getting images to draw people in clothes, but draw them naked then add the clothes. Also more observation of object and maybe other students (they move too much)

[Zaulta]

Was suprized that I was able to do this lol, first real environment study. Only used one layer, one brush, and had to get the reference image onto my school computer cause if it was on the canvas it would be awkward, so no color pick : ^). Now I know forests are actually pretty easy to paint. Should paid more attention in the beginning, the back is a little too light

stuff from school today, the lady was right after the forest study

[Zaulta]

Went figure drawing for the second time ever yesterday. Walked in late and had to be picked up a little early. Not really happy with them in general and haven't been happy with my drawings lately lol..

sketches from school, im hiding one cause i really don't like that page : ^). Gonna start using my free time in school to start trying to research and learning about samurais and knights, so I can eventually design them from my head.

Today wasn't a great day. I was stressed earlier before doing this and for some reason I made myself even more stressed working on this cause it looked real bad, so I quit it after an hour or two.

Did another study later tonight and it turned out a little better, but I made the face too wide and the center line is a little tilted..

I think I need to figure out how to do studies a little faster since I think I should focus more on the number of studies I should be doing and not the quality really and try to paint something other than faces, maybe the way I paint is too time consuming. Also should try to set weekly, monthly, and yearly goals for myself, but I'll think about it tomorrow.

[Zaulta]

Had a much better time today, just had to remind myself to be patient and not be too harsh on myself. Just did some 1 hour studies tonight.

Might do one of these a few times a week, never really looked into reflective/bounce light so I think these will help me a bit. Tried not to use the straight line tool, but only used it with the square in the middle cause I was having trouble with it.

This was pretty hard cause the orange light from the left confused me a bit and had to cheat with the color picker with this a lot

Easier one compared to the one above

Was busy in the afternoon but while I waited to leave did a short life study of my shaver

[Zaulta]

Didn't have a lot of discipline yesterday @-@. I think something that's lacking in my paintings is shapes, so I'm gonna focus on them for a week or two maybe.

Gave myself an hour time limit and finished about 15 minutes early which was way quicker than last time : p

focused too much on the shapes yesterday and then made the picture inaccurate lol or that's just my excuse : ^). I had about an hour to at least start over, but I didn't eat dinner. Gonna redo it when I can

Today didn't draw that much cause for the next three days I'm gonna be taking my drivers license test and I had a ton of homework today : ^). I wanna be more rested for driving next few days, so gonna cut my art time for sleep by an hour or might just start painting earlier.

Had to paint something for my digital design class, so did this quickly from imagination in class : ^). The school computer uses photoshop and the software was acting all wonky and laggy the whole time, pretty annoying. Did this from my head cause I've been listening to a lot of fzd school while painting, one of the things he said was to do something from imagination after painting from a bunch of refs so here's something. I'll do something later more finished from my head this weekend

stuff I did at school

[Zaulta]

Got home pretty late today, but painting for like an hour or two.

Did a sketch to help me out when shaping/block in unlike last time. Had trouble the first time then tried again. Might render it out tomorrow.

Started the art project in art class, I get about 50ish minutes in class everyday to work plus an extra 30 if I come in for the free period. I need to fix the lower torso/pelvis area for balance.

Thought this was pretty good after I finished but now that I look at it, it's eh. Also, been listening to a lot of fzd : ). If I don't feel like drawing during class I'll read a book that I said I'll read but never did and I'll start using a non gel pen and not pencil with my doodles so I can't erase. Might start studying animals too instead to just people.

[Zaulta]

Got home really late today and yesterday so just took a break but I got good news. Passed my drivers test and schoolastic contest : ). Got 3 awards, two honorable mentions and 1 silver key; the one with the clocktower and tree got a honorable mention, sad that it didn't get higher but that's ok.

Didn't do anything at home but a little at school and there's a 3 day weekend so lots of art time. Gonna try to just finish that photo study render tomorrow and then do stuff from imagination.

Yesterday was waiting to be picked up at school then needed to practice driving more but had to stay at my aunt's house for that so drew her cat's and my cousin. First time drawing cats

Went to ted talks at my school and sketched some stuff while listening. Photo on the right was from imagination, basic ideas to just practice bodies I guess.

Update on the art class project. Don't know how I'm gonna fill the building and the surrounding area. Also don't know if the perspective of the building is right.

[Zaulta]

Was kinda unmotivated today so it was pretty hard to get started though finished that photo study.

Started the thing from imagination I was gonna render, just did the sketch. Will fix stuff tomorrow. Prob gonna move on to bodies after this only for a little bit and then move on to environments and objects : ).

[Zaulta]

Sorry for no update : ^), two days ago lost morale after starting to render and it went downhill from there. The idea was pretty bad and generic anyways so guess I'm glad tossing it

Later I just doodled with the focus of doing concepts for the thing above^ until I got really tired and it shows. It was fun just doodling though.

Yesterday didn't feel like doing the painting, so tried to sketch some stuff and felt like ass the whole time. Should've just not have done anything art related cause it made me feel more tired and worse. You can see that I wasn't feeling my best through the drawings : ^)

Today for some reason I felt better, but decided to relax today. I'll get back into schedule tomorrow; must've just been a short motivation slump.

Doing this draw in your own style thing, I'll try to add more things to make it more distinct and finish this by a few days or so. Also advice from fzd is to change things from your reference and I think this is a good starting point.

art project from school progress, need to finish detail sketching of stone walls and inside library

doodles from school

Another thing from fzd is that I need to spend more time reading books cause little break periods at school isn't enough to finish one.

[Zaulta]

Pretty happy with what I got so far. Gonna try to finish this by Friday or during the weekend cause I need to work on a project tomorrow. I really need to experiment with new brushes with texture and need to stop zooming in too much too. After I'm done with the the figure, I wanna try to painting in very dark clouds on the edge. Having the light, darkest, and then focal point mid tone is something learned from fzd.

Also started reading Pachinko and had a great time : ), so instead of being lazy before my drawing time I'll read before.

Redid the thing from yesterday. Don't know if th perspective is right.

[cedricgo]

It's nice to see you working hard. It's inspiring

Don't know if th perspective is right

I'm not completely sure, but I think it is slightly off in some place. I made this quickly, but I think something like this would give a better sense of the angle you were going for. Hopefully it makes sense. I think the main issues are just the right arm and legs which seem a bit too long for the perspective you have. But I think it's a tricky angle, so I'd say it's a good try