Working From Photos...Mostly.

Still breaking that new sketchbook in. Working from a lot of photo references in some desperate attempt to improve my understanding of...

...

...actually, what I'm trying to achieve by doing this is beyond me, but with any luck, I'll see an improvement somewhere. Maybe. Possibly. With hope.

Images off of Flickr, for the most part. That would be my (disproportionate?) face down in the bottom-left.

More Flickr images. Horribly proportions and perspective on the girl on the right.

...and I won't even delve into the errors in the faces here. The figure on the left turned out fairly nicely, though.

So I took a shot at trying to draw stylistically, after a night of drawing from photos off of Flickr, and...I was severely disappointed while I struggled to consistently an accurately depict the face of one of my characters. EVERYTHING IS A FAILURE. EVERYTHIIIIINGGGGGG

So I awoke today, and decided to try drawing before doing anything else...which ended mostly in frustrated failure that emerged only after I stopped drawing the faces of Japanese people. Make of that what you will.

SO.

Five images in this update.
110 drawings total.
255 to go.
However, I should have...122 drawings by today.

I'm behind by 12, still.

Slowly working back to speed...Slowly.

Burst of Energy

Gotta keep drawing, gotta keep drawing!

So, between the last update and now, I broke in a new sketchbook.


This is from yesterday - just doodling a character...and realizing I seem to enjoy drawing people who are about six heads tall.

From my figure drawing class, some time earlier this month. I'll probably upload more from the class, depending on how much I like the work I've produced there...

From the new sketchbook, and probably the first of many misshapen faces with noses that are too long, that consequently stretch the face vertically and distort it.


THAT IS A VESPA. IT IS A SUPERIOR MODE OF TRANSPORTATION.
More faces...and I should probably stop using this rollerball pen for this kind of thing, and use my microns for it instead. Also, my current profile picture from facebook is in this one. Well, a drawing of it, anyway.

So, 5 drawings in this update.

That's 105 drawings total.
260 more to go for this year.
But I should have...119 drawings by today.

I'm behind by 14. Not as bad as 18, but, eh.
I'm working on it.

Overcoming A Block

The past few weeks have been unproductive and frustrating.

Or at least, the recent few weeks have been. As a result, I have sparse few drawings to share. However, since it's been a while since I last posted, I figure it would be a good idea to post what I have so far.


This is actually an older comic page I doodled up a long while back earlier this year, but didn't post for some reason or another. Might have to do with the horrendous, eye-gougingly-wrong proportions on the last panel.

Hand studies, and attempting to work with foreshortening. With poor results.

More hand studies.

A failed hand study, complete with self-depreciative remarks, and a drawing of a rabbit from a photograph.


Playing with watercolors while listening to the soundtrack of Fradile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon.


I actually struggled with this page until I drew up the girl...and quickly applied watercolor soon after.


In lieu of the last watercolor image, I tried it with two more of my characters.


And then another two.


And then I doodled up some other character designs...


Playing with inkwashes on a comic page. Mixed results...


And this page marks the beginning of my period of recent frustration. Something about faces, hands, and bodies became an incredible struggle for me, and nothing seemed to be working right.

Also, the "Dogs aren't primates" bit is clipped from my own life - from my psychology class.


I got this idea to try draw an action scene. So I tried...but then I realized that I don't have any idea about how to render action in a comic, let alone how to draw a scythe being used to attack someone.


...which brought me to try drawing-up the various ways a scythe COULD be used. I can't say that this was...particularly helpful, though. Or realistic.


Another attempt at an action scene, and I gave up before finishing, because everything just looks...well, horrible and wrong. I think the past two penciled comic pages and the scythe poses add together to maybe two images total.

...I won't acknowledge the comic pages alone as counting toward my image count.


So, a few days ago, I decided to try take another shot at drawing, despite my frustration with my abilities, and just drew faces. To my delight, everything seemed to be working out well.


And so I continued, the next day.


And then this was drawn up today. At the rate I'm going, I'll be back to speed in no time. :D

So...well, let's see how far behind I am.

16 images in this update.

That makes...100? Wow. o_o

So. 100 images total.
265 left.
But I should have 118 images by today.

I'M BEHIND BY 18 DAYS, GOOD GOD. ;_;

Lack of Productivity During Spring Break

Alright. I've fallen behind again. In the process, I reveal to the world the horrible, self-depreciative nature of my frustration when I reach wall in my work.

So, the first image. The bottom-left signifies the beginning of a challenge from a fellow artist to try drawing without relying so much on a rough outline or sketchwork of the final product.



It seemed like a good thing to try: Something that I've turned into a crutch is my need to sketch out a whole body and figure before adding any details to it. The figure often looks like a low-polygon computer model, staggered in some awkward position. As a result, my drawings tend to be static and lacking in flow.

Taking up the challenge would mean trying to draw with just a pen. Unerasable, permenant pen. For someone like me who has trouble transferring the images in my head onto the paper in nothing but properly-executed pen strokes, this...became a problem.

The majority of the pages where I attempted this are filled not with images, but self-hatred for my HORRIBLE, REPULSIVE FAAAAAAAILUUUUREEEEE.

FEEL FREE TO SKIP THE NEXT FIVE THUMBNAILS! :D

We now resume the normal flow of the world.

So, that's that. :D Those two pages probably add up to 2 actual images to my total count.

Eventually, I cooled off, and took another shot at it, and the results were pretty good. Maybe, during my five earlier attempts, I wasn't breathing, or hunched over in such a way that my brain was oxygen-deprived, causing me to become enveloped in ALL-CONSUMING RAGE.

Because I came out with some nice stuff for the next few attempts.

Also, Kubo Tite in the next image. The stuff in the upper-left was done without a reference photo of him, but Kupo Tite the cursed moogle spawn in the bottom-left was made with a reference photo. Ignore the child-stealing vampire with the disproportionate body.


Between the last image and this one, I started writing up material for a new story involving magical swords. So this was design brainstorming. When drawing, I tried blending the "no figure sketching" with my usual process. Pencilwork has thus been left in the drawings after they were inked.

And more brainstorming.

This was plain doodling. Played with drawing a hand grasping something, in a close-up.
What bothers me is how phallic the tube looks.

More design brainstorming for that story I mentioned.

Between that drawing and this one, I purchased a used copy of "The Art of Final Fantasy IX," and after staring at the cover for a while, wanted to take a shot at using watercolors to color my pictures.

I think I got some nice results.

Sure doesn't keep the paper from warping, though. Gotta do something to stop that...


SO YEAH. That's that, for now.

11 drawings in this update.
This brings me up to 84 drawings total. 282 more to go.

...Aaaaand I SHOULD have 88 drawings by now. I'm behind by 4 days.

Uuuuugh. ;_____;

Taking Advantage of Freedom

Long, long-overdue update. Lots of pictures, and many count for multiple days. My drawing time was broken up and rationed sparingly in lieu of assignments piling up.

That aside, we begin with a boy flying on top of a giant bird. (Or a tiny boy riding on a normal-sized bird's back?) I had a lot of fun with that upper-left corner. The kid kind of reminds me of Chuckie, from Rugrats.
The next drawing is a direct product of Jet Grind Radio's title screen music, "The Concept of Love." Both characters were drawn up on different days, so we have two drawings here. I sure do enjoy using ink washes for transparent visors.


And hand studies, even when, well, I should probably be focusing on more than just hands in the alarmingly-few studies I work on.


And we've got a monster that probably can't eat anything because of the placement of teeth in its mouth -


And robots, a Casshern ripoff, and the soundless musical uses of a broom.


Another two-day image...Top was one day, bottom was another. Pumpky and Straw Man's relationship feels familiar to me. Oddly familiar.


And a handful of faces. This...this is probably another way that I go about venting during bad days. KAWAII DESU DESU DERP DERP derp derp...


And another two-day split: Playing with bodies, expressions, and poses.


And another split: the Igor ripoff in the upper-right, and the seashell, were from one day, while the rest was on another.


Another split: All but the origami monster were drawn on one day, and then the origami monster followed on another.


And then one last day split: Monsters, possibly of the RPG variety. Everything but that serpent, the doll, and the little knight where drawn on one day. I'm pretty proud of the hourglass and candle monsters.


Well, let's total this all up... 17 drawings, in this batch. Brings me up to 72 total.

31 days in January, 28 in February...59 plus the 12 days gone by in March thus far...Equals 71.

Yeah, that should be about right, I think. o_O

So that puts me one day ahead, covered up through March 13th! Sweet.

So with 72 drawings total, I've got 293 more to go.

(...Even if my math is wrong, I'll still have a surplus of drawings, so it ain't all bad. Although, I really need to figure out a standard method to counting the drawings I do. Something's iffy about the way I'm doing it now.)