mchammer's sketchbook

[Norn]

awsome your on your way

 

[Kula Meenur]

You have an unbelievable talent for artistry that doesn't fail to represent the truth of what you paint.

Beaut mate.

 

[mchammer75040]

Wow thanks Norn and koola for the comments, I wasnt expecting so many people to reply.


Raziaar Its the joker! How could you miss that?

Crush, zombie, virus: I see what you are saying on the first portrait, the chin makes her look like a munster or something lol. But the other 2 are just Hogarth's style which is what Im studying from right now.
Crush, yea the shading on the two quick sketchs wasnt anything I really cared about at the moment but what do you think about the shading on the joker? Personally I think its my best, considering the time I put into it.

Virus, thanks for the link bro I'll get right on it.

Zombie, yes! update your sketchbook more often. I know I will start updating mine everyday, starting today..
A quick sketch from hogarth studies:

 

[iyfyoufhl]

wow YOU

ARE

:imu:AMAZING:imu:

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

Dude. That is so awesome, I wish I could draw. At all I mean.

 

[mchammer75040]

iyfyoufhl, Atomic_Piggy
Thanks you two! I appreciate all the comments you guys are giving me; yes drawing is time consuming and lots of hard hard work. Sometimes to the point that its unbelievably frustrating.
Anyways new update, like I promised:

My PS keeps crashing on me so sorry for this one being sideways, I dont know why but I couldnt get it to look decent without cutting off the arms.

More tomorrow.

 

[MJ12]

Hey, that looks great!

 

[mchammer75040]

Thanks! Well, I wasnt going to update today cause noone commented but since you liked those I guess I'll throw up some gesture sketches from this whole last week...excuse the bad scanner:

Just practicing female anatomy like virus suggested, tell me what you think. Do you like my bum?

 

[MJ12]

Those are some nice ones. You are good at drawing quickly from the looks of it, I cannot draw quickly at all.

 

[mchammer75040]

Alright so a small new update, Ive been focusing mostly on my graphic design portfolio but heres a few things Ive been working on:

And acouple of pieces from my portfolio:

 

[Kadayi]

Are you drawing from life here of drawing from other images?

 

[mchammer75040]

Mostly from other images, I do draw from life though but mostly just gesture sketches. Im thinking about putting some of them up in a few days when I have the time.

 

[CptStern]

some good work, try taking the classic approach and draw from life rather than memory (you're much better when drawing from a source ) however you do need to wortk on proportions and as someone mentioned; contrast ..need more gradiation from black to ligt ..you're working with conte, dont be afraid to use heavy black. BTW I recognise the frazetta painting ..it's a little off proportion wise but good effort considering he painted it in oils. And on the threat of repeating myself; take a life drawing course (a studio course) it would help you immensly

 

[mchammer75040]

Thanks stern! Im thinking of starting another bust study here soon to work more on my shading as you mentioned. Right now Im bogged down at school with graphic design so I wont be taking any courses for life drawing anytime soon but isnt doing gestures from life could enough? I go regularly to the mall..etc. and draw, most of what Ive gotten hasnt been worth it but I can see Im improving in speed/accuracy. What is it about taking a studio course that I cant get from doing as I mentioned?

 

[CptStern]

well for one you dont have a teacher to mediate your work, identify and help you work out areas you may need help on ..but working it on it alone still has it's advantages as you'll work some of the problems on your own ..it'll just take more time. Also try to work specifically on gesture drawings dont worry about how close to the subject you're drawing you are

it's more about getting the particular pose right than recreating what it is you're looking at

 

[Kadayi]

Thanks stern! Im thinking of starting another bust study here soon to work more on my shading as you mentioned. Right now Im bogged down at school with graphic design so I wont be taking any courses for life drawing anytime soon but isnt doing gestures from life could enough? I go regularly to the mall..etc. and draw, most of what Ive gotten hasnt been worth it but I can see Im improving in speed/accuracy. What is it about taking a studio course that I cant get from doing as I mentioned?

Always draw from life, you'll learn nothing from replicating photos/other peoples drawings except how to be a bad photocopier tbh. As regards taking a studio course, what you get is input from an instructor which is invaluable and far more beneficial than self assessment.

The thing I would concentrate on are being able to put across at this stage is form, to be able to convey the very solidity of an object on a piece of paper and it's proportions rather than worrying about things like shading at this stage. Great shading is pointless if the objects within a composition look misshapen or out of place.

If you haven't been taught the technique of measured drawing, you should look into it. It's a fairly simple technique but once you get into the swing of it you will find it second nature and it will rapidly improve your general accuracy and spatial perception. Set up simple compositions of everyday objects like a couple of mugs and an Apple and just practice making them look like the forms are sat there on the page, just as line elements alone. Also and most importantly put things in a context, no matter how vague. What makes something sit well in the eye is when it's placed in a reality, not floating on a page. We don't see things in isolation we seem then against something always:-

http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images_424702358_395962_alberto-giacometti.jpg

http://www***ffieux.com/images/giaco11.jpg

See how Giacometti, even in these simple sketches implies the room within which the subject sits, and that helps define the form, and beds the image down.

 

[mchammer75040]

Yes I was going to mention that, although I think sites like this or conceptart.org can substitute for that. The reason I mention this is I know there are quite a few badass artists in the concept art business that had very little formal training and just worked through everything themselves. As of last week I did probably about a thousand gestures in a two week period..once midterms are over I'll get back to trying to meet that weekly.

EDIT: thanks kadayi, (although I was responding to stern in this post) I'll definitely take everything you say to heart and focus more on making line drawings as you said.

EDIT again: Also you are absolutely right that life drawing helps more than anything, but it doesnt mean one doesnt learn from copying. Plenty of artists at CA for example who make a LIVING as an artist mention that they learn alot from copying masters, Or from photographs. Ever heard of kent bellows?
http://www.kentbellows.com/Site/Welcome .html

 

[CptStern]

ya but why work it out yourself if someone can teach you things that make take years for you to discover on your own ..I mean someone may have a talent for flying planes but he should have some formal education in it, no?

anyways art is not about slavish reproduction ..that's what photography is for (at it's most basic)

 

[mchammer75040]

Yes of course, like I said currently I cant really go into classes for life drawing..I need some other subsitute to figure my problems out and progress til I can.

 

[knut]

Yes of course, like I said currently I cant really go into classes for life drawing..I need some other subsitute to figure my problems out and progress til I can.

You can do life drawing without having to attend a studio based class - just grab a sketchbook and go sit outside and sketch the world as it goes by. I can't recommend Stern's advice enough about getting gesture and pose down without getting too nitty-gritty with the details. Just start mapping out how that guy over there is walking with his back turned, or how that woman cyclist is moving. Try drawing without letting your pencil leave the page, swap hands, be aggressive or light... just go for broke, basically.

Really nice drawings all the same, mind.

 

[mchammer75040]

^Well like I mentioned to stern I do do this, his main point is I dont have anyone to immediately point out the flaws. Anyways i do appreciate any criticism, and once I start posting alot more of my gestures and what not you guys can give me some critiques. I appreciate all of the criticism though, cause I definitely need it. Also Kadayi and TheAntipop you guys both sound like experienced artists, why not throw some stuff up for us sometime?
:thumbs:

 

[knut]

Heh, I'm nowhere near experienced, but thanks haha! Nah, I'm only just going through Fine Art Foundation at college, which is basically a year I need to do before any art universities will even look at me, so I'm still at the bottom rung, but it's a great experience. I'm keeping a Foundation blog (http://30milestosalvation.blogspot.com) that I slowly trickle work through so that I can keep myself organised, but I've done a little gesture work in the last five weeks even though it isn't part of our course until about March-ish. I'll post some stuff up here or the blog when I retrieve my sketchbook from college on Thursday.

Are you at school/college now? You may of already said, but even so.

 

[mchammer75040]

Dude nice stuff! Great photography, and prints. Yes Im in school right now, studying mostly graphic design..next semester I'll be a paid graphic design assistant so I'll be able to work on my drawing alot more and take some advanced drawing classes.

 

[knut]

Thanks. :cheers: We're doing taster sessions at the moment which is bits and bobs of everything, then we choose where we want to specialise. Our final week is next week and I believe that is graphic design, too. I'm quite looking forward to it, though as a wannabe illustrator I'll probably be more swayed towards fine art because of the theory and practices, even though graphic design and illustration often go hand in hand with one and other. But these days all sorts of art 'genres' flow into each other so much so who knows where I'll end up.

 

[Kadayi]

thanks kadayi, (although I was responding to stern in this post) I'll definitely take everything you say to heart and focus more on making line drawings as you said.

Pleasure. You'll find much joy in doing that.

Also you are absolutely right that life drawing helps more than anything, but it doesnt mean one doesnt learn from copying. Plenty of artists at CA for example who make a LIVING as an artist mention that they learn alot from copying masters, Or from photographs.

It depends how you define copying. If you are simply attempting to replicate a look then your not being yourself. If you copy in the sense of attempting to understand how or why an artist employed a certain method in order to achieve a particular look, then you will learn something. Certainly you can learn a lot from the guys at CA, but you should look to develop your own style and technique rather than ape others. If you start finding yourself making HE Giger aliens for example, it's time find some inspiration from elsewhere, if you catch my drift.

Also Kadayi and TheAntipop you guys both sound like experienced artists, why not throw some stuff up for us sometime?
:thumbs:

I studied at Art college back in the day, but it's rare I pick up a pencil now for more than doodling, however intensive life drawing I found to be the best way to really hone my technique, and Shippi suggestion about self portraits is very useful as well. One approach to drawing I particularly enjoyed was using graphite and an eraser rather than just a pencil. Cover the paper with a level film of graphite, then using the eraser as the pencil carve away at it so your figure is formed from the negative. Then work into it using the graphite and rinse repeat until you are happy you've gotten the form of the figure/object right.

 

[knut]

Yeah, postivie/negative effects are a great way of finding shape from different pieces of media. I like using a rubber for drawing but a particular technique I use a lot is to engrave the sketch into the paper with the other end of a pencil, or a pair of scissors or the blunt end of a craft knife, and then wash over the paper with ink so that it sweeps into the lines. Works really well if you brush over the paper in pastel, graphite or chalk too as again, it finds the lines on it's own accord.

I'm having way too much fun these days without even using the lead end of a pencil. Try experimenting a little in different media.

 

[Kadayi]

McHammer

Simply because you asked, and it's an opportunity to show what I mean in principal about form, here's something I knocked up earlier tonight in Painter which is a great application BTW, way better than photoshop for this sort of thing IMHO (and I'm a big Photoshop user generally). It's by no means finished, and it's likely I probably won't do more to it as I kind of prefer things to be vague, and leave a lot of it to the imagination of the viewer. Usual Sci-fi trope of bloke with gun against Urban sprawl/wasteland, but for half an hour you can't expect originality as well.



Thumbnail because it was made in big-o-vision.

Kadayi