there is always something to learn in art. today I'd like to share a couple of things that might sound obvious, but to me they pointed out some past mistakes in perspective drawing. hopefully, I won't forget to use this knowledge next time!
it's very funny to see sphynxes doing normal cat things. Like in the first one? He was trying to do that thing where cats arch their backs, puff out their fur, and hop-skip to try and play. But it just looks weird when he does it.
I'll try to get some better pics of these guys soon. Every time I post sphynxes, i get a lot of nice comments from artists talking about how much it helps them understand feline anatomy.
[id: x/twitter qrt from user styloshka that says "I read a forum post about art once, that it's a product of the dialectic between the effort of the artist and the friction of the medium. You push on the thing and the thing pushes back on you, it has its own voice. The weight of a piano key, the tension of a guitar string." original post from user colleen_daves says "Don't you want to skip over the mindless drudgery that is making art?" I do six stand embroidery and break like 10 needles a day, would I prefer that activity didn't hurt my hands and make me angry? Sure. But that's what makes having the finished piece after so worth it to me."]
This was my very first figure drawing book, and one of the very first instructional art books I ever owned. I received it for my birthday, along with The Sims. I had requested it specifically, although I'm not sure how it came to my attention. It's possible I discovered it on my own, while looking through the small art book section of my local book store. Remember when we used to do that? Go to a bookstore and skim through books?
I studied it thoroughly. I read the text and tried to take the advice to heart. Eventually I turned on it. I decided it was bad, actually, and got rid of it. Now that I'm much older and wiser, I've decided on a whim to download a pdf and give it a reevaluation.
The information isn't... bad. Actually, it's good, kinda. The problem is the presentation. For one, the art is dated and homely, and quite stylized. For two, it's not super clear what the pictures are trying to convey. But most importantly, the writing is arcane, and a little bizarre. Here are my favorite passages.
"Special note should be made of the drawing of female breasts on the rib cage. In general appearance, the young adult female breast has the look of an overturned teacup positioned at the lower angle of the chest."
"The diaphragm arch appears as a great, vaulting tunnel of bone at the base of the front of the chest. From this opening, like the hollow bottom of a brandy bottle, the long abdominal mass emerges and descends in three undulant stages, or tiers."
"In a rear view of the lower torso wedge, the pelvic region is seen as a compound form with a butterfly shape. The wide gluteus medius masses, under the arched hipbones, form the upper wings, and the thick gluteus maximus masses (the buttocks) form the close- set under wings."
"The figure to the left shows a schematized version of the bulging belly box mounted in the opening of the hip flanges."
"If the artist is not careful, a disconcerting, lump-like effect will prevail."
Quick little video tutorial! This is a method I use to block in shapes when I’m fighting the urge to polish my lineart at an early stage, especially in rough concept art that doesn’t actually need polished lineart.
I group two layers in photoshop—a rough sketch, and a flat color—and then carve out the negative space by painting into a mask on the group, instead of filling in the positive shapes. From there I can start painting and adding shading into that group, knowing that I’ve already locked down a good initial silhouette for the object/character:
It feels like oil painting, and I end up finding silhouettes/shapes in a way I wouldn’t if I was obsessively cleaning up the linework first. Digital art has a tendency to veer towards cleanliness/polish, so I love finding little opportunities for happy accidents and a bit of mess!
I used it on my unicorn piece last month, for instance, which I think would have lost a lot of its dynamism and charm if I had worried too much about doing a full ink pass:
Hope this is at all helpful! It’s not a method I use 100% of the time, but it really helps move my process along when I do need it 👍🏼
A quick process post for my Wright & Edgeworth piece since a couple folks were asking about it over on twitter! I think it’s actually deceptively simple, I just work like this when I really want to focus on bold silhouettes and color blocking:
rough sketch
group sketch with a flat grey color, add a mask to the group and mask out the silhouettes (you’ll see the silhouette cut in and out of the sketch as I’m making decisions at this point, like fixing Phoenix’s tiny feet)
block in flat colors under the sketch to get graphic shapes, good color blocking
ink over the flats (sketch is still slightly visible at a low opacity, but erased where it gets too busy), add skin variation and details like teeth/eyes/buttons, tweak both as needed
Shading is just a single color set to multiply, I’ll turns the flats on and off to keep track of the overall shading as I’m doing it
Final overlay color and a couple spec highlights, and YER DONE
good tutorials are few and far between ( a lot of artists seem to get caught up in the superficial trappings of portraiture rather than the nitty gritty fundamentals), but these breakdowns by Bryan Lee are just fantastic. Super applicable tips and tricks, no matter your personal technique/approach.
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