Back to Basics

Braaaaaaains!!!

My quest to become a master-artist-extraordinaire hit a rough spot last week. I was in that rut again; drawing the same thing over and over and not making any progress. After crying myself to sleep one night (kidding) it dawned on me that I had unreasonable expectations. Specifically I expected that I should be able to sit down and whip out a great looking drawing in 20-30 minutes from memory with no references. I don't know where I got this idea but man, I was setting myself up for disappointment.

I feel a little better now. Hey, the quickest way to meet your expectations is to lower them, right?

I had been fighting going back to the drawing board and starting over hoping to pick up where I left off after art school but I think the problem with this structure is in the foundation. I keep hoping, like I did in school, that with a little anatomy study and drawing from references that I could jump into drawing from memory and my imagination if I practiced that long enough. Problem is, even now, I still find myself second guessing and misremembering  little thing: How to draw and accurate knee or an elbow; The length of an arm or leg. No matter how many times I draw them from memory if I'm drawing them incorrectly I will never learn.

So here we go. Back to the basics. If you need me I will be up to my ears in anatomy books and gesture drawings for the next few weeks, or even longer.

Oh, I got a Wacom tablet. I love drawing digitally. I had the habit of drawing my guidelines too dark or heavy on paper then ending up with a mess of lines and not being able to decipher what was what. The ability to have different stages of whatever I'm drawing on separate layers is priceless.

Here is what I have been up to.

Testing out my new tablet

Figure studies. Tracing from a photo on the left and then drawing from the photo on the right

Same here

Drawing from a reference photo

Playing around with blocking in with a fat brush then "carving" out the detail. With a photo ref.

Quick gestures practicing poses from memory

Working on poses from memory with a simplified model

Same here

Feeling Sketchy

I took a long break from drawing after finishing art school in 2004. When I was in college I drew like a madman. After graduating, I looked for a job in 3d graphics and after six months of unsuccessful job hunting I moved on to other things.

I started drawing again in February (2012). I'm always looking for ways of releasing creative energy and I thought it would be fun. It was like riding a bike and I picked it up again quickly and in no time I got into the same rut I was in during college. I was drawing the same blank face over and over again and getting frustrated because it wasn't "good" enough. I couldn't move on to anything else because I was stuck and my brain wouldn't let me get to that next step.

I had been reading a few webcomics (Penny Arcade, VG Cats, Least I Could Do) and I started playing around with drawing my own cartoons. It was a good feeling to be able to draw and not obsess about getting all the anatomy perfect. It was nice to have a goal to shoot for too: Come up with some good characters and start my own web comic. I like writing too so this is a project I'm excited about.

Here are a some random pages from my current sketchbook. 

Some quick gesture drawings

Link

Dragonborn kid (Skyrim)

Playing around with different styles

Getting there

Working on expressions

Getting closer

I still have a few more sketchbooks to fill before I'm to where I would like to be. I have lots of ideas for characters and jokes for a web comic. At this point I'm working on developing a style that will fit. My goal is to develop a comic that I will post on this blog and will add new content once a week (at least).