Bobby's Art Blog 2.0

[Bobby Day]

This will be a place where you can view my study's, thumbnails, full page sketches, WIP's, and some finished work.

I decided to create another art blog because I am trying to get away from doing those small sketches on an 8 and a half by 11 piece of typing paper (except for thumbnails) that I used to do. I wasn't learning much by doing them. My other sketch blog is full of those sketches.

If you would like to take a look at my old blog you can view it here:
http://www.penciljack.com/forum/showthread.php?t=75020

First up is my original Conan drawing, I finished this on Tuesday. It's probably my best drawing where anatomy, shading, and detail are concerned, but I don't think the pose is dynamic enough to enter into the draw-off. It is boring.

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/449/conan1ng8.jpg

After I decided to re-draw the image I drew this thumbnail, and plan to use it.

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/8283/conanthumbtp6.jpg

Hopefully I will be able to pull it off. Expect updates as the day progresses.

Thanks for looking, and feel free to crituqe my work! :D

[spidey976]

Hey Bobby

This is nice work ... and I am liking that you decided to change up your entry in favour of something more dynamic. I really can see your progress in the first pic but I do have a couple of things to add. Bobby ... your anatomy has come a long way ... but ... I have noticed that sometimes you make your figures more angular then you might want to. His left leg (our right) is a prime example of this, you have his knee cap at about a 90 degree angle, and you have the calf just joining up with his leg. It looks like you wanted to make your leg more curved, but then backed out. I have to say the torso and the shoulders and biceps are a great improvement ... but your forearms and hands need a little more work. This may sound odd ... but I would try standing in front of a mirror so you can see how your arms look in this posse (notice that if you do that you can't see your thumb as you have it on this left hand).

I am looking forward to seeing your new version ... and I am loving the improvement here Bobby ... keep up the good work.

Shawn

P.S. Oh one more thing m8 ... I might bring Conan up a bit in your new piece so that he isn't to far off in the back ground ... he might not pop as much if he is to far back ... but that is just my oppinon.

[Bobby Day]

I talked to JimLeeforGod on the phone, he gave me a one hour Batman challange (I had to draw Batman in one hour), this is what I came up with:

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/3322/batmanjz4.jpg

Garf was right, I really need to start using a ruler.

After looking at my Conan drawing again, I realized that the anatomy is all kinds of messed up. Thanks for the Crituqe Shawn! I agree with your point on anatomy, especially regarding hands. I also have a hard time with leg anatomy. He also looks very angular, I am trying to get rid of the angular look of my figures, as that's not what I am shooting for.

After all it's falts, I still decided to use the first Conan drawing for the draw-off, I should focus on my next drawing, rather than re-draw this one.

[spidey976]

Nice Batman m8 ... okay ... well this is a one hour piece ... and it has a great energy ... and it is nice piece overall. If you are interested in working on the angular nature of some of your pieces ... just go back ... and round any of the sharper corners. Jim Lee ... not JLFG ... though he is amazingly knowledgable ... :D ... has said that if you make it round ... you make it believable.

Keep it up m8

Shawn

P.S. Tell JimLeeForGod that he needs to get his butt back here ... how is he anyway???

[Bobby Day]

Hey thanks man, I need to make sure to round things out next time. I tried to make my work less angular for the Star Wars drawing I did for my last draw off. Speaking of the Star Wars drawing, here it is:

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/8476/starwarscs1.jpg

I need to start spending more time on my work ASAP. Nothing has made me realize that more than going up against Dr. Baltar.

[spidey976]

Well ... you are taking me on next ... ;).

Firstly ... this is one of your best pieces to date ... and it shows a lot of growth ... bu there are a few areas that I think will help your work a fair bit.

Firstly ... now I know this is going to soung odd ... but I have a question. What type of pencils do you use for the different stages of your work. I can see your construction lines clear as day in this final piece ... and they should have been easily cleaned up. I personally like using a H or 2H pencil for the roughs. Then seriously darkening the lines using an HB or 2B, but only the lines I want to keep. I then clean up the rough lines I don't want.

Also, I notice that you have a lot of ... well ....hesitant lines ... it is almos like you weren't sure which lines you wanted to keep. There is nothing wrong with that in a sketch ... but if you are finishing a piece those lines should probably be laid down with more confidence.

Finally, you should probably make further use of references prior to doing the finish. It will help. Oh ... I do have to say that you did manage to fix some of the angularness of your work on this one m8.

Good going Bobby ... can't wait to see what you are working on for our challenge.

Later

Shawn

[Bobby Day]

Thanks again Spidey! I usually just use a HB 5mm michanical pencil to draw with. I have never swiched up lead types before. I have always had a problem with pressing down too hard on the page, and it makes clean up a problem, it may be why you can still see construction lines on the page.

I also just used to sketch (as you can see in my old blog), and not do finished drawings. I am not really used to doing finished drawings. It's a learning prossess, hopefully my next drawing will turn out a bit cleaner, and clearer (I realized it my be hard to tell what's happining in the Star Wars drawing). Thanks again for the C&C, any more advice would be helpful!

[Bobby Day]

Here is my drawing for the create a Jedi from Marvel or DC Draw-Off.

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/8789/cyclopsjedium6.jpg

Thanks!

[spidey976]

Hey Bobby

Nicely done ... I like this piee ... it looks cleaner and the shading is taking a step towards Dr. B's book. Oh ... by the way there is a good thread in the Tips and Tech about Shading the Kris put up and Dr. B answered it really well.

One thing I notice is that the anatomy of his saber arm is ... well it is right off. double check the intersections of the shoulder bicep and tricep ... and check out the muscle sketch group if you need to. I would recommend standing in front of the mirror in this pose ... and just look at how our arm bends ... and then check out Loomis. Also, watch the leg ... it loks a bit bloppy at the top end.

Bobby ... his is real improvement m8 ... just get a ruler on those backgrounds and a few curves (S curves or even a CD) on the round corners ... and this will be sweet.

Later m8

Shawn

[Dri]

Bobby, if you really want to improve you may need to reference rather than drawing from your head. What I see is that you will use the same pose over and over again.

Granted we all draw similar poses all the time but you need to break from the figure facing the viewer head on. Try the musclesketchgroups to get you into a habit of knowing/seeing muscles because no amount of detail (and shading) can hide 'made up' muscles.

Exaggeration and stylization is cool but there has to be an understanding of how things actually work. You'll absorb it in the long run. Just break out of the routine of going for the same approach and check out how guys like justice build figures and construct a scene.

I know these are really general suggestions but the examples can be learned if you can follow a good process. Keep drawing.

[Bobby Day]

spidey 976: My anatomy is horible right now. I think my main goal should be to study anatomy, because at this point I am just guessing where thing's should go, and my work is suffering for it. I may take both your and Dri's suggestion to join the muscle sketch group. I think it would help. I plan to re-draw this and use a ruler (one of the advantages of getting a drawing in early!). I don't have an S curve, but it's something I will look into getting. Thanks!

Dri (greendri? :)): Thanks for the advice, and I agree with you 100%. After I posted this drawing I realized that I do tend to use the same poses over and over. I think some of that has to do with the fact that I am just guessing when it comes to anatomy, and even perspective, which leaves me able to only do a certian amount of poses. The only things I am ok with are proportion, and understructure, even those still need some work. Hopefully I will get another version of this done today before I work, feel free to C&C it :). Thanks!

[Bobby Day]

Here is my Batman vs Wolverine entry, feel free to crituqe it :).

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/8360/batvswolvxj2.jpg

[Bobby Day]

Here is my final Batman vs Wolverine entry:

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/408/batvswolvfinalmo1.jpg

C&C is welcome!

[Bongo]

i totaly agree with spidey and dri.
you need to work on your anatomy so join the muscle sketch group. also your drawings are looking abit sharp at the moment try rounding them off

[spidey976]

Hey there Bobby

Okay so I decided to do a drawover for your Bats vs Wolvy pic to show you some of the things I was talking about in terms of getting the intersections right.

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h200/spidey976/Bobby.jpg

Now this is rough .. .but I have circled (in light blue) some of the muscle intersections that I consider to be the most important for the shoulder bicept and chest, and some in the neck. I have also added a yellow line to indicate where I place the muscles that overlay the ribs (to lazy to go and find the real name for them right now ... lol), and how I place them.

Bobby I hope this helps a bit... also ... I was wondering what books you have handy that you can use for references? If you haven't picked it up yet I would highly recommend Tom Nugyen's Incredible Comics .... it is a great book. Also, if you have the funds available ... I would pic up a light box (so that you can trace your roughs on to good board to clean them up), and a set of french curves to make great curves. I managed to pick all of that up for less then $60 a while back.

Keep on keeping on.

P.S. m8 for your second take on the Bats Wolvy pic ... well JLFG did something similar ...so check out how he handled a few things.

[Bobby Day]

Bongo: Thanks! I will join the muscle sketch group, I think it will help me out big time. I also agree that my drawings are too sharp, I will try rounding them out more next time. Thanks again!

Spidey976: That overlay helps a lot, thanks! I need to make the muscles more pronounced, and work on paportion still. I also just need to learn anatomy all around.

For reference, I have Figure Drawing For All It's Worth: By Andrew Loomis, and a book called Cyclopedia Anatomicae: By Gyorgy Feher, and Andras Szunyoghy. It's the most comprehensive book on anatomy I have found. I need to start using them now.

I tried using a lightbox before, and I didn't like it. I will try it again, because I know how benificial it can be.

Thanks!

[spidey976]

Well I find my lightbox to be one of my best tools ... I scribble out my roughs ... and then I darken up the lines I want keep ... and then I lay them out on the good board. I will post the rough I did up for the Batman/Wolvy DO along with the new piece .... that way you can see how I do it.

As for the references ... does Feher's encyclopedia have the muscles done in dynamic posses ... if not you might waht to pic up something like Hogarth's dynamic anatomy.

I am hoping to see some of your roughs for our new drawoff ... which I am going to post up in a few minutes.

[Archerion]

Hey Bobby, What you need i think is go buy some body building, some mens fitness magazines. Use those for refrences, Even tho comic tends to exaggerates , but you will be get some fundamentals from them.

There great because the body builders tend to pose alot so it will give you alot of refrences.

[Bobby Day]

Spiedy 976: The book does not have dynamic posses, I may check out the Hogarth book. Thanks!

Acherion: Thanks! I am actually going to study anatomy tomorrow, I know it will take time, but I hope there will be some improvement in my work.

Here is my Batman vs Wolverine entry:

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/9608/batvswolv2hc0.jpg

I really need to start taking peoples suggestions, and spend more time on my work.

[Bobby Day]

I decided to re-do my Marvel/D.C. character, as a Jedi, or Sith, draw-off drawing. Too bad I missed the deadline. Here it is, feel free to crituqe it. I call him Darth Magnus :).

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/5281/darthmagnusfinalik1.jpg

I didn't get a chance to study antatomy today because I drew this, but I will soon :).

[Bongo]

hi bobby
i like your poses, on the star wars pic he has 6 fingers all together 5 fingers and a thumb. last time i checked i had 4 fingers and a thumb. but overall good job i can see your trying to round your drawings off it looks much better.

[spidey976]

Nice Magneto m8 ... liking it a lot. Though I have to say the 12 finger thing ... 6 on each hand ... you should just shade over the extras.

Your Bats Wolvy pic is more dynamic then your original ... but I would probably tweak Wolverine's face a bit. Actually, Bobby I would love to se you do some facial studies. You might want to try to use the method outlined by Tom Nugyen in his book ... this is the link http://www.tomnguyenart.com/Media%20&%20Hype_files/FCBD2007001%20copy.jpg ... there are other pages from his book at the bottom of this page http://www.tomnguyenart.com/Media%20%26%20Hype.html . I can't wait to see your studies.

P.S. I put up a new thread for that Jedi thread ... so get posting.

[Bruce Lee]

Nice to see you posting a thread like this, Bobby. A great book I wanted to recommend to you is THE HUMAN FIGURE, AN ANATOMY FOR ARTISTS, by David K. Rubins. Read that book cover to cover, and try to crack it open for reference when you draw the human form. I guarantee that it'll be a big help to you, man.

Keep up the good work!

Loston

[Chico Blue]

Don't forget to study perspective as well.

Perspective ain't just for buildings. It's gonna help with foreshortening and keeping your characters believable at different angles.

[spidey976]

Nice to see you posting a thread like this, Bobby. A great book I wanted to recommend to you is THE HUMAN FIGURE, AN ANATOMY FOR ARTISTS, by David K. Rubins. Read that book cover to cover, and try to crack it open for reference when you draw the human form. I guarantee that it'll be a big help to you, man.

Keep up the good work!

Loston

OH OH OH ... I forgot that one ... I highly recommend that book Bobby .. it helped me a lot.

[Bobby Day]

Bongo: I can't belive I missed that! I will definentily fix it.

Spidey976: I am glad you also pointed out the fingers. I spent a lot of time on the drawing, but some how over looked his fingers. I really do need to work on faces, they have always been hard for me to do. I am glad you started an extended due date thread for the draw-off. I may keep working on this drawing, or do another.

Bruce Lee: Spidey976 has talked about Rubins, I will check it out.

Chico Blue: I do need to study perspective as well, my work looks very 2D. I really just need to study all of the basics of drawing again.

I really do appreciate everyone's crituqes. Thanks!

[Archerion]

You know what also helps. .. god i love the internet. Google Muscle Anatomy and do Images. Always helps when i get stuck with something that doesn't look right.
http://69.90.174.247/photos/display_pic_with_logo/5774/5774,1180803689,1.jpg

[Bobby Day]

Archerion: Great suggestion, just looking at that image helps me a bit. Thanks!

[Bobby Day]

Here is my fixed up Darth Magneto drawing. I mainly changed the 6 fingered hands, but I also made his torso a little wider. Thanks for the crituqes!

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/4183/darthmagnetoxb2.jpg

[Bobby Day]

I decided to dust this old blog off, and post some new stuff I am working on. Here is my entry for the Captain America vs Batman draw-off. I hope you like it, and I would love some crituqes. Thanks!

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/79/capvsbatej6.jpg

[Bobby Day]

Hey guys, I decided to post some Loomis studies I did not to long ago. These are just a very small sample of what I did. I think the main problem with them is that they are rushed, just like all my art. I am going to go back, and take my time to really learn Andrew Loomis's books. Any feedback would be welcome.

Proportion & Construction:

http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/950/paportionconstructionjx6.jpg

Anatomy:

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/4846/anatomyoj8.jpg

Heads:

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/7761/headsbv0.jpg

[Bobby Day]

Perspective :

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/3648/perspectivega5.jpg

http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/9199/perspective2pg0.jpg