Digital Painting Critique

Digital Painting Critique

by | Nov 6, 2019 | The Blog, Video Critiques | 3 comments

It does not matter what medium you work in, digital, traditional, watercolor or pencil, it’s super important to get feedback on your artwork. Sure watching high-quality video tutorials online is a must.

However, what will push you to a higher place of learning is getting feedback from a teacher you trust and like. Some teachers are highly skilled and competent, however, they might not be the right fit for you.

It’s also very important that just because the teacher says you should do a, b, and c, does not mean you have to do a, b, and c. Let your voice come through, cherry-pick what works best for you and use that.

There have been many times where I had two teachers contradict each other, it can get confusing as to who to listen to. Most teachers have very good intentions in mind. Just trust your gut and utilize techniques that feel right.

It’s also very important to tweak and modify what teachers offer up in the classroom and online. Think to yourself, how can I take what this teacher is teaching and make it my own.

In Arjun’s critique, I certainly do not expect him to listen to everything I say. If he takes one lesson from the critique, then I feel I did my job.

Be selective in which teachers you learn from. Anyone can grab their iPhone nowadays, film themselves drawing, and call it a tutorial. Do your homework, see how much classroom experience the teacher has. Do they teach in a kind way, or is it all ego-based. Are they good at communicating techniques to you in a way that makes sense?

It can be hard sometimes to put your work out there for a critique. That’s why I say learn from people that you feel comfortable with. Getting feedback is something you must strive for.

Thanks so much for checking out Arjun’s critique!

 

 

Check out Arjun’s Instagram. Thanks again Arjun for sharing your art.

 

Julia’s Sketchbook

Julia’s Sketchbook

by | Nov 2, 2019 | Sketchbook Videos, The Blog | 4 comments

Julia is first to represent her class this fall semester at the School Of Visual Arts. I really like Julia’s sketchbook.

I like all of Julia’s intricate little line drawings. The way she uses lines within her character design is awesome. I’m looking forward to seeing how that progresses in the months to come.

I also love how Julia draws facial expressions. Not an easy thing to do, Julia has that down pat.

After watching this sketchbook I noticed that Julia flipped through some pages a little too fast. No worries, I added a bunch of screenshots of her sketchbook below. Enjoy!

 

 

Check out Julia’s Instagram. Thanks again Julia for sharing your art. 

Seeing The Head As A Box

Seeing The Head As A Box

by | Oct 29, 2019 | The Blog, Video Critiques

Arjun consistently uploads his work for a critique every week. In this week’s critique, I help out Arjun with seeing how to fit a box to a head. You might ask, why even bother with this technique, what’s the point?

I think what Arjun is practicing is super important. He is trying to understand how to see and decipher the surface planes of the head. Placing a portrait within a box is the most primitive way to see the surface planes. It’s the most macro, front and side.

There is a multitude of surface planes on the head. With portraits, it’s important to know where the big surface plane shifts occur. They occur at the temple and cheekbone, otherwise known as the Zygomaticofacial foramen. I know, anatomical terms, ugh.

Understanding where to see and place the big surface planes will most certainly help you to improve the way you draw a three-dimensional portrait. It’s even better when you light the portrait whereas the front planes catch the light, and the side planes are in shadow.

Lastly, trying to place a perfectly geometric box around an organic head just does not compute for a lot of artists. That is why I suggest drawing curved edged, organic boxes instead of right-angled boxes.

The human body is not synthetic, it’s super curvy. In other words, round all of your corners.

 

 

Thank you so much for checking out Arjun’s critique. You can check out his Instagram page @AKTracer.

 

How To Draw Soft Hair

How To Draw Soft Hair

by | Sep 12, 2019 | Drawing Tutorials, The Blog | 11 comments

I just recently finished up a new portrait drawing course. I wanted to share with you a technique for drawing soft hair.

You want to work in layers. Your first layer in terms of drawing hair is to block in tone. Don’t try to put in your darkest dark all at one time. You’ll want to gradually lay in tone.

With the technique shown in the video, I put down tone, then pushed the tone into the paper with a stiff bristle brush. What this does in push the pencil into the texture of the illustration board.

You will want to do this process a few times. Blocking in tone, using the brush to push it into the board. In the final layers that is where you will refine the details with both an eraser and your pencil.

When working on the final layers you should use a more pliable brush. One that is more forgiving. You can then proceed to pull out the light with a thin eraser. With this drawing, I used a mono-zero cylindrical eraser.

When you use the bristle brush, not a blending stump, you can easily pull out lights with your eraser. Try it it’s a ton of fun.

 

 

Let me know what you thought about this technique. Leave a comment below.

 

How To Draw The Structure Of The Eye

How To Draw The Structure Of The Eye

by | Aug 20, 2019 | Drawing Tutorials, The Blog | 2 comments

I recently completed a portrait drawing course that focuses on how to draw the features of the face. In this particular drawing lesson, I share with you two different ways to think about drawing the eye.

The first way to think about the eye is basically drawing a ball in a socket. Do your best to visualize light hitting a sphere. That sphere is sitting in a socket, the eye socket of the skull. I love drawing with outlines, however, too many artists focus on the linear aspect of the eye’s lashes.

Instead, try drawing shapes of light and dark. Those shapes of light and dark with be dictated by which direction the light is hitting the ball in the socket.

Another way to think about the eye is with surface planes. The master of surface planes is certainly George Bridgeman. I never like my surface plane type drawings. However, they are a necessary evil when learning how to draw the eye. Try your hand at completing a surface plane drawing of the eye.

Lastly, in this short lesson, I also share with you what not to do when drawing the eye. You do not want to draw the eye in the form of an almond shape. You do not want to draw super sharp eyelashes, instead, think of grouping the lashes together in a soft shape.

Lastly do not draw the iris as a full-round circle. The round iris is usually covered up by both eyelids making it look more like a rounded rectangle.

This drawing lesson basically provides you with two exercises to complete. These exercises will help you to think about how to draw the structure of the eye.

Thank you so much for watching.

 

 

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