Einar's railroad pencilogue

[Einar]

Hello Everyone!

With the beginning of this year (2010) I took up drawing again and put more effort into it than ever before, although finding time for this hobby seems to be harder than in any former period of my life. And, however suprising it is, the most time I can put to practice drawing is the two hours weekend train travel back to my hometown from my workplace. So most of my current drawings started their life on a train and I also built up a habit of indicating their date of creation on somewhere in the pic, so (with some exaggeration:-) they are a weekend travelogue for me:-)

Most of the work I post in this thread is for practice reasons only, so I welcome any comment, tip and help, and would admire overdrawings if someone feels a move to do it.

Currently I am trying to get a grip on human anatomy and body stance, so I have gone through a fitness catalogue (somehow a women's accessories catalogue has come across my way:-)), copying all the figure(ine)s with an interesting stance.

First here is 'rabbit girl', running fast as only hares can do:-) (taken after a direct reference):

[Einar]

Some other drawings from the fitness side of the world

All of these are again after a direct reference from the catalogue and a fitness kind of magazine.

1. Taking a look on armpits and upper arms. These is an older pic, and I didn't really like the right arm of the girl (who is a javelline thrower in fact...), but I couldn't make it better then...


2. Jumpgirl: I know, I know, the head is too small... But this was the first pic where I put a little bit of effort to copy the head, not only the body, and the outcome is quite good, so I kept this somewhat little skull of hers.


3. Jumpgirl in a defensive stance - head proportions correct this time, only features missing :-) /which also means it is hard to recognise her:-)/


4. Another girl leading a fitful life, this time with some local fame.


5. Lastly, Skinjob (BSG uses this word in a different meaning, but I think in another sense it fits this gal:-), who chased the hell out of me on second look, when I realised how skinny she is. I kinda like this drawing, although she is a bit falling apart in my replica, even more, then in the original photo...

[Einar]

Some drawings without reference

Hello Again,

This picture marks my finishing the fitness catalogue (it had a lot of pics useless to me due to overemphasized photo-art creativity:-)) and my joining Penciljack.
During my last days lurking around and postponing registration I had come across Sadman's Swordsman Redux, which hit me with an awsome face (all the three variants of the face really rock, man!), and a great idea for a stance. So then I decided to go comic plus draw without any reference at all and see what happens. And I was the most surprised when this drawing started to take shape :-) It is way better then I though it would be. And I wanted to put some fun to it, so it displays one of my old time favourite characters: Dishevelled Pete (my loan translation of his name...). He is not the bald kick-ass, but the sparrow on his palm:-) That little guy is the creation of Czech illustrator Zdeněk Miler, who is mostly known for his Mole cartoons - also another favorite of my childhood.



This was the first time I considered applying light effects in the picture. So I decided to post it in the raw form, and some time later fix it up a bit according to refernces and take a deep breath and some reading and try to switch those lights on:-)

Second is just a mess of graphite I put to a battered sheet of paper last Sunday. Applying perspective is again a new thing for me, but it seems I hit it with the upper body... only legs are out of place... (and head is also a bit simple) I could use some help there, if someone would show me the correct positioning of the legs, I would be grateful.

[Einar]

nothin' new this week

So I post an older one I made during this summer's holiday we spent at the Croatian coast. So this was done at the beach, in the shade of a little tree, listening to seagulls and occassionnally catching the sight of the waves and such sentimental stuff:-)
(As opposed to the other part of the holiday we spent in the hills, where I didn't manage to get to drawing* and all the use for my sketchbook was the aid it gave in building a campfire:-))
Reference was a flyer I have found at a tourist office. And the guy's lower arm was really that long on the photo...




* which means that I was not bored as I had been at the coast...

[Einar]

First attempts on tone mode

My old time co-tenant (and even older time pal), who is a hobby pixel grapher guy, has always criticised me because I draw faces and hands with far too strong lines as compared to other parts of the same pic. And sourly know the reason: my skills with heads and hands are weak to say the least.

So was the first stroke. Second came with our new co-tenant, who happens to be a drawing teacher by qualification (although he does not practice drawing since college). He moved in with the beginning of october, and when he saw me drawing for the first time he instantly criticised my lines not because they were too harsh, but beacuse they were lines. So he instructed me not to draw contours at all, but go for toning and gradually build up something in place of contours. Then here are my first clumsy attempts on this approach from mid-Novembre, all of them are after magazine photos, and are rather contour-tone hybrids then tone images.




It was terryfing and they don't look too good, but there are good parts in each of them. I like the stomach of the bikini girl, the "foreleg" and the breast area of the dark girl (she was always for light/shadow practice, but now I think it would be better to take a simple object than a photo) and Mr Switaj doesn't look bad also.

[MrMikey]

these are fantastic!!! I wish you had more time to draw so i could see more of your art!!!

[Einar]

Thank you for the nice comment, Mikey! (a bit of exaggaration:-)) I am on it. And also will follow your Skaar in WSG if I can come to it during the weekend:-)

Here is a bit better attempt on toning from Monday. Still contours are present and I still suck at hands, but I reached something with the face-neck connection I had been unable to produce before. .. and I still cannot bring myself to reach for real dark tones. (anything looks really dark is created only by the contrast/brightess adjustment I applied after scanning) I also have to change my sketchbook because those fluffy clouds appearing after scanning are just growing on my nerves. The sheets seems too thin or something.

[Einar]

Up against lips

As I commented before: the mouths and hands I draw suck. Of course not literally :-) So I pledged myself against lips on Tuesday and took one of the art books of portrait drawing I had collected and gone through the lips session. This also brought me onward in toning: this time I felt real freedom in drawing those splashies and "search-lines" or whatever up to such a level that dark colours come easily. It was real fun. (And my drawing teacher pal praised the upper right mouth)

I have also got some better sight on the structure of the lips.

So:

[Einar]

Just collecting my PJ stuff from other threads

Ororo as Frankenstein's wife (and F' monsta) in WSG #183 (bad spatial construction, and other troubles..)

Green gobbo (mistaking Jack o Lantern for a standard issue pumpkinbomb) in WSG #184

Sarah from Bewitched (I really got angry cause I couldn't make her head right) in WSG #184

Skaar figting a native guy (I just couldn't bring myself to draw a girl at his feet...) in WSG #185

Saturn Girl (number of problems: right leg, buttock-calf connection and feet, ..) in WSG #186


'Figures with nearly the same stance' challenge (posted for myself)
(I) Stripgirl

(II) WH40k Space Marine (chapter not clarified yet, but I think I will add insignia and he will join my own chapter, the Frost Angels). I think the gun arm must be moved as a whole a bit upward to fit the trunk better...

[Einar]

bus this time

It was the bus I took not the train when I visited my hometown two weeks ago. But the conditions were more or less fitting for a little drawing. So the first two pics were made 80% on the bus with magazine photos as ref. I was still a bit too afraid to get dark tones thus I again used only a smaller section of the possible scale... Fuhhh...
For the positive part I managed to amend my scan process, so no more clouds lingering around (hopefully). There is a new scan of the last magazine gal again, clear and shiny.

[Einar]

A week in Bavaria

The last week I spent on business trip in a small town in Bavaria. It is a nice place with a bunch of great pals and a beer first brewed more than 740 years ago. And it's a fine brew so it's not a real suprise that I got a lil drunk when we visited a 'Bierstube' with the guys on Thursday :-) This beer hall was a very fine place with great wooden furniture, iron chandeliers, a large barrel as entrance - and 1 liter mugs. Fortunately I did not try to finish the drawing I started the day before.

I copied lips from the Loomis book, but I did not feel them correctly this time... And I walked through the first step by step face guide from another arts book and managed to suprise myself. I have never done such a drawing and I felt proud:-). Of course it is after a drawing guide not a photo or a real person, and unfortunately I got it elongated vertically and hair is crap (and scan sucks because it's more fine on paper), etc, but it still urges me on.

[Einar]

Being Late

I had a lot of trouble in the week of Christmas. The former week I was in Bavaria with no public internet connection and then had to arrange a lot of things, because I quitted work and will move to the UK (in 3 days now). It would be a great new start but needs a lot of arrangements. So before Chrsitmas I spent all the daytime running after form sheets amd transfer them from one office to another and do this and that. And with the closing our of the offiices in the afternoon no release came because someone always commenced me to a drinking party on a Happy Christmas and/or Saying Good Bye basis. It is pretty tiring:-) And then I could not get to a scanner because usually I use the office scanner. But this again solved yesterday by my one of my uncles. So here area few things I missed: a rescan of the woman head with more detail and a bit more noise and 2 PJ weekly regulars.

Thor in WSG #187

Holly Daye in WSG #188

Sofa-Girl in SPD #57

[Einar]

A Swimsuit XMas

After Noel came a soft release in to dos, so I finally got to drawing. And I decided to move on downwards with anatomy and take the hip and pelvis area, for which project the magical google keyword 'bikini' seemed the most appropriate. In addition I also decided to attempt speed drawing with this theme, thinking it might help detecting the most important characteristic features of the stance and the body. So I pledged myself to speedy bikini drawing... And besides the keyword bikini came that of 'volleyball', since my late drawing teacher always claimed the volleyball girls the best subject for anatomical practice saying that 'they have [email protected] good body and even better movement.'
Firstly I could not get myself to hold on to the speed approach and usually got enticed for more details and toning, so there are a few pics that took over 1 hour, but I feel a bit strengthened in toning at least.
All of these are after photos (net and magazine) and where I could I post the ref, since a speed drawing pic has not much meaning without the reference.

















And these are the ones escalated to a detailed level:



She just came to be my best toning so far. (She looks a bit like Jessica Alba, maybe that's why did I spent so much time on her)

[Morganza]

Excellent way to practice, I do this too, keep up the great work!

[Einar]

Thanx, Morg! It's good to know that others use similar ways, especially someone with your level. I am on it!