Monday, June 06, 2016

More Reddit prodded art

I've been too busy to do much drawing or painting recently, putting most of my time into projects that could be thought of as being 'work'. I did have time to do a few pieces. All three pieces here were done with Joshua next to me, him frantically stabbing my watercolours with the brushes and complaining that he wanted to use the colours I had mixed up instead of the dirty smudges he was creating. My poor brushes.

Daily sketch 363 - Swans

I am actually very happy with this! I really think it came out well,  though I should have added more contrast in the water.

Daily sketch 367 - Neptune

I like this one too, though Neptune's arm is definitely a bit weird. Unlike so much of my stuff it looks like I mostly intended it to look this way!

Reddit gets drawn - sir_megatron

I am not so sure about this one. It's a bit of a mess, like I couldn't decide whether to do a cartoon picture or try for something more realistic. Which is of course exactly what happened.

Wednesday, May 04, 2016

Daily sketches - Prince and Meerkats

I've been a bit slack with art recently, mostly because I've been spending most of my free time working on javascript projects to get my skills up to a point where someone will ay me to do stuff.
I still managed to do two daily sketches.

335 - Prince
I was looking after the kids on bank holiday Monday morning so I broke out the crayolas and watercolours and made this version of Price as the Little Prince. I actually really like it, enough that I wish I had had more time to do it properly. Instead it has indistinct lines and because I didn't use watercolour paper or take enough care the background colours are a bit of a mess. Joshua enjoyed stabbing my paints (which are all now a dirty green brown) and I like the feel of doing an activity with the kids.


333 - Meerkats
A pen and watercolour picture of the meerkats. I went for a group composition but found it quite hard to get it right, so I cheated. I opened my source picture in an artists grid app and drew a grid on the paper and the drawing worked out quite well. I am still not sure how I feel about doing this. Drawing a grid definitely helps with the result, but I am doing these mostly as a learning exercise in order to get better, and do I really want to get better drawing from a grid?

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Daily sketches + Reddit gets drawns

We went away for the weekend and took the kids to Centre Parcs. They had great fun and I got a bit of time in the evenings to do some drawing + painting. I did 2 daily sketches and 2 rgds.

Daily sketch 328 - Pizza
Our elder hd begged for pizza then refused to eat it when it came so we took it back with us and I did this watercolour from (still) life. I really like it, though it suffers from my usual washed out thing.

Daily sketch 331 - Bob's Burgers
This was supposed to be something in the style of or about the cartton show Bob's Burgers. I've never watched the show so I think my picture came out more 'generic cartoony' than anything else. I'd like to say it was a decision to do it in ball point pen but really I had one to hand and couldn't be bothered to get up. It's a picture of Theo Walcott eating his own foot while Alexi Sanchez phones his agent and Mezut Ozil regrets his life choices.

Reddit gets drawn - Bitterljuvast
I tried for a watercolour, but after I messed up the initial skin colour I decided to just go with it and make it a bit creepy. I quite like it, though as always it's too mono-toned.

Reddit gets drawn - Innersoulkitten
A marker comic style picture of some girl. I like this and did intend to colour it, but it got late and I went to bed.


Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Journey into Bargue drawing

I'd really like to start abstracting my drawings and to try to develop something close to a style but I've always been painfully aware how poor my fundamentals are - basic things like anatomy, perspective and actual drawing/painting technique. I feel I need to get a good handle on all this before I can really try to experiment more. Or maybe I'm just putting it off and making excuses...

Anyway I had read about an old drawing course create by Charles Bargue that involved learning to draw by repetition and copying works by old masters. This is something I would never have had the patience for when I was younger but I like to think that I'm more measured these days so I thought I would give it a go. Thanks to my wife for buying me the book for our anniversary.

My copy of the first plate:

I probably should compliment this with trying to draw from life, or at least photos in a similar style. When I have time.

Saturday, April 09, 2016

Lots of daily sketches

I haven't updated in a while, so I'll just splurge the daily sketches I've done. I haven't felt like doing any rgds.

309 - Southpark
A watercolour of the Southpark characters doing the Reservoir Dogs pose. I was initially going to do it black+white but then after I had drawn them out I decided to colour them.


310 - Sushi
Just a little watercolour of some sushi, shown in the best way to eat.

317 - Paws
A line drawing of a cat's paws.

318 - Fjords
A little watercolour of some Fjords.
'But! Norway! My soul resides in your watery fiords fyords fiiords Inlets.'

319 - Tibetan Sand Fox
A digital painting of a cute san fox

320 - Mucha
The start of watercolour that is supposed to be in the style of Mucha. I was trying to do a picture of my wife, but it looks nothing like her. I just can't crack likenesses. I may finish this one day...

322 - A Lobster riding a Narwhal through space
Yes really. I tried using the kids' wax crayons with watercolours and I actually quite like the result - I will have to give it a go again.





Sunday, March 27, 2016

Reddit gets drawn - BuffHagen + Daily sketch 309 - Southpark

I am really enjoying getting back into silly watercolour cartoons. I did a Reddit gets drawn picture of BuffHagen's dad and nephew. I really like the overall feel, though the nephew looks like some dwarf or something. I'd like to blame the size constraint making his features hard to draw but I do find myself having trouble drawing children.

I also did a daily sketch, the subject of which was Southpark. I decided to try for a half way realistic monochrome Reservoir Dogs pastiche, but when I had pencilled it it became clear to me it wouldn't work so I just did a straightforward watercolour. I kind of like it but I still have massive shortcomings when using watercolour, not helped by the paper being to thin to properly take it. Maybe if I had spent another hour on it I could have improved on it but I am not sure.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

More Reddit daily sketches

I haven't posted much recently, so several daily sketches in one post.

299 - Pokemon
I'm too old to have been into Pokemon when they came out and I didn't want to just copy some anime, so I did a cartoon or Ash charging his phone on Pikachu. Not a great drawing.

300 - Pre Raphaelites
I've always kind of liked the pre Raphaelites. On the one hand they produced moody, atmospheric paintings but on the other side they were fairly boring usually. I went for a coloured pencil version of 'Angel playing a flageolet' by Edward Burne Jones. It's not awful but my unfamiliarity with coloured pencils and gutlessness with strong colours show though.

301 - Teeth
I suppose I could have tried to do something clever or interesting but instead I just did some pencil studies of teeth.


302 - Mermaids
I actually like this drawing. I was planning on colouring it in with watercolour but it turns out that the pens I used for the outlines aren't waterproof so when I tried the colours leaked and ran. Luck I took a picture first. Also I need practise drawing hands.


303 - Gerenuk
Gerenuks are a funky looking type of gazelle. I did a nice little drawing and coloured it in with watercolour. I quite like it, though I could have maybe used stronger colours.



Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Reddit gets drawn - Thurgebroketoe & Donavarion

Another two rgd pictures.

Thurgebroketoe was from r/redditgetsdrawnbadly, so I didn't feel the need to go all out for a likeness. I intended to squash his features into the middle of his face but instead it turned into a chinny superhero picture. If I had intended it to look like this I would be really happy as it's quite a nice drawing. I just wish I could have more control on how my art ends out.

Donavarion posted a moody and cool black and white photo. I thought I would try to do a colour version, and while I think my little watercolour is nice it looks nothing like him. I could try to pretend it's a result of using a tiny drawing pad but if I'm honest it wouldn't have been better if I done it bigger. Still, practise, right?


Daily sketch 293 - Don Quixote & 294 Android vs iphone

Two daily sketches in a row!
The first was Don Quixote, he of windmills and stuff. I should really read it some time. I did a nice little watercolour sketch. I really wish I had more time because the idea is cool but the execution is just a little lacking. It actually got featured on the daily sketch instagram, which is nice!

The second was Android Vs Iphone. I was initially going to go full rule 34 but I was drawing it while looking after the kids so I decided to dial it back. I did a version of the iconic VJ kiss photo. I of course knew of the photo but I hadn't really looked at it closely before and while I can see why it is so well known there is definitely something wrong about it to me. The tension in the hand, the leering crowd and the way he almost has her in a chokehold. I posted about this on Reddit and apparently the sailor grabbed her roughly and she wasn't willing, then was traumatised by seeing the image posted everywhere.
Even though I actually really like my drawing and I wish I had had more time to flesh it out and add some colour.

Wednesday, March 09, 2016

RGD - Hugz-are-fun + Alistairs

I did two Reddit portraits.
The first was a small watercolour sketch of Hugz-are-fun, which I think came out nicely, though I could probably have been more decisive with the colouring. To be honest I should have just done a larger image, I was planning on trying to do something a lot more simplified and stylised but could pull it off and found it was too small to add more detail.

The second wasn't actually from r/redditgetsdrawn. It was from a similar sub r/redditgetsdrawnbadly. It has the same idea (you post your picture, people draw or paint them) as r/redditgetsdrawn except the quality is more uneven and there are no expectations. There are still people who are amazing doing stuff in r/redditgetsdrawnbadly, but in r/redditgetsdrawn, everyone is amazing. Except me when I post, or at least that's how I feel. It means I don't feel quite so insecure which is nice, and I am hoping it will make it easier for me to experiment instead of just producing bad attempts at likenesses.
I drew Alistairs, and I didn't have much time so I just did a quick pencil sketch without trying too hard. It came out ok, though it doesn't look like her and I didn't abstract it at all. Still if it were r/redditgetsdrawn I am not sure I would have had the courage to post it but I had not problem here and I actually got replies to my post saying how good it is.

Daily sketch 288 - Samarkand and 290 - International women's day

I been spending all my free time working on my game so I haven't had time to do much drawing recently. I promised myself I would get some done this week, and managed to do something, helped in no lage part by having house guests sleeping in my study so  I couldn't use my computer in the evenings.

I did 2 daily sketches, both of them quite difficult subjects.

The first was day 288 - Samarkand, which is a beautiful and inspiring city in Uzbekistan. Unfortunately it's known for very precise and intricate tiles and architecture so it was extremely hard to draw. I opted for watercolour, but as usual the painting was ruined by my inability to take risks and use bright, strong colours. Also it would have probably helped if I had used a ruler.

The second was 290- International women's day. I was stumped as to what to draw so I started drawing a Lady Justice image. Half way through I realised how boring it was so I switched the scales and sword for a large severed set of testicles and some garden shears. Very silly but I am actually quite happy with it, though it might say something bad about my psyche, 


Thursday, February 04, 2016

Reddit Daily sketch 261 - Lips + 267 - Torsion poses

I quite liked doing these two. It's always good to just practise individual elements in isolation so doing the lips was worth doing on it's own.

Torsion poses is twisting the body and it's good for forcing you to really look at the physique as it won't look as you expect.


Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Reddit daily sketch 259 - Soccer players

Two days in a row, wooooh!
Today's was football players so I broke out the watercolours I got for Christmas and tried to do Mezut Ozil. It was way beyond my technical skill level so it's come out pretty shonky, but I do like bits of it and hey, it's practise.
To be honest though, even if I had done it perfectly, would I have liked the result? Cheesy earnest watercolour can be so dull. I should have planned it for some kind of abstraction, but I've always been terrible at visualising what I want to achieve with a picture before making it.

Reddit daily sketch 251 (Gesture drawing) and 258 (Wedding cakes) + Reddit gets drawn - zerolinks2014

I've been trying (and failing) to get stuff done on my game so I haven't had time to do very much artwork recently. I did manage to do two daily sketches and a rgd.

Daily sketch 251 was gesture drawing. This is supposed to mean quick, 30 second drawings which try to capture the flow of the subject with flowing gestures. I used this site which lets you customize the source images and time. I enjoyed it and it's definitely something I intend to try to do more whenever I have free time. Whether I can do this or wasting time on Reddit/my phone will win I'm not sure.

Daily sketch 258 was wedding cakes. I intended to either do one of those intricate pen drawings or do something I could colour in, but I lost interest towards the end of the main outline when it became clear how boring my picture was, so I just finished off the inking and left it at that.

I then did a drawing for Reddit gets drawn of user zerolinks2014 and I like it as a picture but it looks nothing like him, sadly. I really need to practise on getting likenesses, because at the moments it's just hit and miss. I think I also need a better idea of what I'm trying to do - a realistic picture or a cartoony caricature. At the moment I'm getting neither one nor the other and I'm ending with lots of disappointing results.



Friday, January 08, 2016

Reddit daily sketch 240 - Archery

Today's daily sketch was archery. I used to be a huge anime nerd so I decided to try to draw a Japanese archer. I only had time for a very quick pencil sketch so it's rushed and messy but still has something. I still think that whenever I try to scan or photo my pencil work it loses a lot, something I will have to do something about.

Wednesday, January 06, 2016

Reddit daily sketch 237 - Picnics and 238 - Lizards

There is a great subreddit, r/dailysketch where every day a subject is posted and you try to do a piece based on it. As well a encouraging you to do something every day it also gets you to draw lots of things which you otherwise wouldn't think about, which is awesome. Oh, and you get a cool flair counting how many times you submit a piece!

I know I'm not going to be able to do one every day but I've set myself the goal of getting the red sketch x100 fliar by the end of the year. That seems achievable. These are the latest two:

Day 237 - Picnics:

I missed the anthromopomorphic animals day a week earlier so I chose to do some animals having a picnic. I tried to do another digital piece with the tablet and Krita but I really don't like the result. I just didn't have enough time to put into it and I'm still too inexperienced with blending, the brushes and using the tablet.

Day 238 - Lizards

I'm much more please with this, and it took a fraction of the time. A simple ink and watercolour image in the mini watercolour book I got from my reddit secret santa.

Tuesday, January 05, 2016

Reddit gets drawn - MjrMuffCabbage

Another Krita piece for Reddit gets drawn. Not as successful as my last one - it's more apparent that I'm trying for a painterly style and failing. I think I will try more abstracting in the future.


Monday, January 04, 2016

New graphics tablet! Reddit gets drawn - Flatishsassy

I was lucky enough to be given a graphics tablet for Christmas by my brother. I haven't really had that much time to play with it but so far it's amazing and I feel it could be giving my art a big kickstart.

I think my two major issues with painting, even back in my uni days were a lack of technique and a crippling fear of making mistakes that could ruin a half decent piece. This meant I found it very difficult to make myself take risk with strong colours and tone and frequently came out with bland, washed out works. Being able to try something then if it doesn't work undo and try something else is amazingly liberating and the ability to split things apart and work on different layers also makes thing much easier. It really gives me hope that if I persevere I'll be able to get myself up to a fairly decent standard, given a bit of time.

I downloaded and have been using Krita, an open source free photoshop clone and so far I'm finding it to be great. It's all a bit different form photoshop, particularly the shortcuts and keyboard commands, and there is definitely a learning curve, but it's still very good. And free!

This is the second nearly complete piece I've done using the tablet. It's a piece for the Reddit 'Reddit gets drawn' subreddit based on this photo of Reddit user Flattishsassy. While not overjoyed by the result it's definitely progress and does gives me some ideas of what direction I want to go in. Also practise is always good.


Third attempt at actually blogging!

So I gave up on this blog again. I am now going to try again. I will probably fail again but I want to give it another go, for two reasons:

After also giving up on the game I spoke about in this blog earlier I've come back to it and nearly have a version playable. I want to be able to write about it and this could be a good place.

I've started drawing again and I want to put my stuff up and talk about it somewhere better than imgur.

It may come to pass that I find that it's better seperating things and using something like itch.io for the game and something like deviantart for the art stuff. I will see. I can always just mirror stuff I guess.

Oh, I am resisting the temptation to delete the old stuff I wrote about the roguelike even though it makes me look like a gibbering idiot. I suspect I will fill the same about this in a few years time anyway.