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.



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



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!

[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:



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 ... ... 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:



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.



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.