Annika's sketchbook

[Hexdust2970]

So I've been wanting to start this up for a while now. Hopefully it will help motivate me to draw/post more often. I've actually been pretty busy and art-blocked lately. I usually fill a sketchbook a month, but I'm not even finished with the one I started at the end of December.
I certainly wont post everything I do here. In fact, I probably wont even post 50% of it. xP The main things I'm trying to focus on atm is anatomy/poses and clothing. I seem to have a bit of a problem with making heads too big. Or legs too short. It's one thing or the other. :P
I have been doing digital here and there for the past 3 years, but I'm still not really skilled with it much. I'm no good at colouring/any sort of painting, either.
So those are the things I hope to focus on o.o;;;
Also the only scanner I have available sucks royally so I have to use my camera for traditional stuff.
I don't have much to post atm, but anyway... enough of that! All critique welcome!




The last three are quick digital doodles I did a while back.

edit: k I forgot how huge those images are gimme a min ><;;;

[johnway]

some nice stuff here. Whenever i do pencil work its simply full of lines for measuring and roughs.

The digital stuff i like as well - shading looks solid.

[srilyk]

Love it, ypu should definitely post more - especially the pieces we struggle with. If you pick those, our critiques will help you level up those pain points!

[Hexdust2970]

Ahh, thank you!!
And sorry for not actually posting any more for so long! I've been so distracted all year. Haven't done nearly as much art as I thought I'd be doing.

I haven't been able to do ANY digital lately because something went wrong with the program I was using. Long story short my sister reinstalled windows on my tablet pc and ever since then pressure sensitivity stopped working on Paint Tool Sai. Settings are as they should be, and I don't think it's the device or the drivers themselves because pressure sensitivity does work in Windows Journal. I even tried using other programs but I don't know if I'm just not familiar with them enough and settings weren't right or something idk but it didn't work there either. Haven't been able to try anything with it since because then the power cord to the device stopped working and I've yet to get around to getting it replaced.

So needless to say, I've only got traditional stuff to show for now. Most of this is just really rough sketches. I rarely finish anything. I've been on and off about art all year. Frustrated a lot, I think. Some of this is a few months old already.
And if there's one thing I've noticed about my art, it's that it is VERY raw. It's hard to loosen up sometimes, y'know? And I haven't completely lost the terrible habit of making chicken scratch sort of lines, so anyway...







Random deer! xD Copied this from other art, I believe. I really like deer haha One day I'll figure them out.
I was doing a bunch of quick sketches using the same photo for reference. I found it interesting to see how each one was better than the last as I became more familiar with the subject. The above was one of them :P
<-- Just a bunch of faces! I was playing around with the features, trying to get different personalities.

And what happened to those all-important figures and full body pieces I should be doing? They mostly remain in this state:


I currently own watercolour and charcoal and even a little bit of oil paint but uhh... I have no idea how to use them xD
Maybe I'll figure them out at some point but in the meantime, it's mostly just going to be pencil work.
Tell me what you think!!

((Also! Just before the pressure sensitivity got all messed up I was working on painting a self-portrait sort of thing. It just happened, really. I had a mirror nearby and I was using myself for reference but I ended up making it more and more accurate. At the time I was happy with how it was turning out, but looking back on it I definitely see a LOT I still needed to do. Never finished it, not sure if I ever will at this point. I'll probably start all over later. :P

[johnway]

What i like about the work is the clean pencil artwork. Whenever i do pencil work its filled with pencil lines all over the place. namely i don't rub them out (i try to avoid doing that tbh).

Some promising stuff that could certainly be elevated to another level. If you must know, i never took art as a subject in school when it became optional. So the last time i ever picked up a brush or use water colors was back in year 9 ( i think when i was 15 years old?).

[Hexdust2970]

I wouldn't really call it clean, haha. I can be clean if I try, but more often then not its scratchy. I guess it comes down to thumbnailing and being very light with the guidelines. Using a kneadable eraser is great, too, because you can get really detailed.

I've never taken art in school, either! But to me, it doesn't seem to be worth it much. I don't think schools care too much about it, to be honest. Everyone is focused on what makes you a ton of money, so the educational system probably thinks it's a bit of a joke. Of course I'm talking about art as a side elective in general schools, I'm sure actual art schools is a different case entirely.
Traditional paints are definitely something I want to work with eventually, but it's intimidating! :p

[djizomdjinn]

Well, it probably depends on your teacher. But yes, I would say, at least in my high school, art was a joke, with a lot of coddled feelings and "everyone's art is perfect" covering up mistakes.

Traditional paints are good to learn, if only because you learn to work with colors more than in digital art. In digital art, it's very easy to say "Oh, this needs to be a bit lighter or darker, and add light or black." And that leads to muddy pieces. Traditional painting doesn't have literally glowing medium, so white isn't nearly as powerful and learning to use color theory and saturation contrast helps a lot more.

That being said, your pieces, both digital and traditional, are very clean and lovely. I especially like your self-portrait. Keep up the good work!

[johnway]

My experiences of Art at high school disappointing. We spent more time learning about cultural art or certain artists. Where the hell were the advice or teaching how to draw people? Where the hell were the lessons basic lessons about proportion, anatomy, tonal shading, the planes of the face, body etc? If i learnt that at school and not think it was some sort of dark art i would have gone into a career in art rather than, say, IT.

I learnt more myself, staring at books, going on the internet and asking my brother who was a much better artist than me at the time.

[Lamb]

that self portrait is the shiz!

[Nmn]

These are so lovely, you capture subtle emotions well.

[Hexdust2970]

Yeah, there's certainly a lot you need to know about colour to get digital paintings right, but it definitely becomes much more of a focus in traditional paints. The last few times I tried it I was like, "I don't know colour as well as I thought I did..." xD

Every time I've attempted digital painting, including that portrait, I've realized how much I need to work on values. I ought to do a bunch of value studies sometime. Because I always find myself thinking they could always use more contrast.

It's pretty amazing how many resources are out there at our fingertips. I think we take that for granted. You can pretty much learn anything on your own these days, so long as you have the self-discipline for it.

Thank you so much you guys! :'D It's not really something I do very deliberately, but I think I've always paid special attention to expressions. I guess I'm just rather interested in the intricate details of it all.

Now most attempts I make at drawing hands are just complete failures. I just don't do it enough. But recently I actually did something I was surprisingly satisfied with. It's rather messy. I was just playing around with my brush pen. ^^



And a little thing I did earlier today using reference from some photography from dA:

[Markus Creation]

Hey, you are really good in drawing faces. Really nice pictures.

[Hexdust2970]

d(So much for keeping up with this thing xD)

I feel like I should have more to show for than I do. But for the past few months there have been many days that have past without me doing anything. :/
And I am still horrible at finishing anything.



Got a nice Huion 610! I love it Still figuring out digital art, playing around with different methods, etc/
Scribbly unfinished mess, anyone?

My unfinished witchsona:

random deer scribble from reference




I think I fixed it up a bit since, but the scarf on this one looks like roll fondant, doesn't it? lol

http://emilysoto.deviantart.com/art/Farhiya-533273069?q=favby%3AAnnikaLeigh16%2F64716193&qo=12 0



And some more recent photo studies--

(that bottom left is super low-contrast, I know. The image I was referencing was dark, and my eyes got so used to it, but it definitely could have been done better haha)

Definitely could have cleaned up this one more if I wanted to but I just.. didn't want to. haha

I was seriously not going to post this next one (cause I'm not done with it and I intend to continue working on it... someday) but ehh whatever. It's been sitting around for a while and if I'm honest, I'm not sure I'll ever get back to it.
Photo study of Luca Hollestelle:

And another WIP study of Sulli:


Tell me what you think!

[Nmn]

I think it's awesome!

[littleyuri]

Amazing works...

[Hexdust2970]

Thank you!

Photo study of Zion T. that I won't be finishing :P

[X Chris]

Originally Posted by Hexdust2970

It's great how much character your faces have—even among the neutral expressions.

[Hexdust2970]

Hey guys, thanks for all the comments!

No more art yet, but I wanted to ask a quick question.
What do you think is the best way to host images here? I've been using TinyPic but I don't think there is any privacy settings there and I'd rather not have my art flloating around another site just because I'm linking to it on the forums, y'know?

[djizomdjinn]

I use Imgur. I believe images are private unless you submit them to the public gallery. Otherwise people only have access to images you give them the links too.

Basic account allows the last 250? images you uploaded, but I think moving them to an album sidesteps that limit.

[Hexdust2970]

Originally Posted by djizomdjinn I use Imgur. I believe images are private unless you submit them to the public gallery. Otherwise people only have access to images you give them the links too. Basic account allows the last 250? images you uploaded, but I think moving them to an album sidesteps that limit.

Ah, thank you! I'll try that out.

((By the by, is there any rule against double posting on this forum?)