Blog Formatting

First let me vent about how incredibly, spectacularly, inconceivably counterintuitive html is. When I press enter it goes down *two* lines. I have to attach all these silly tags to everything and look through a heap of ugly code just to get a page up and running and even then I can’t really find out what the page is going to look like until I copy and paste the code into my post and click preview. HTML is silly…

Seona’s Drawing

I got your painting in my e-mail just before (Sorry, I’m just trying to pad out this post with alot of fluff so it almost resembles a real post) It’s a WIP I know, but I thought I would offer some feedback, while at the same time testing out my ability to compose in HTML.

In this example, the fingers have been moved into a more natural position. Infact, the tip of the index is barely visible - Click to view the original

Abolishing Linearity

The hands are fantastic. Your brush control is excellent, as are your textures and shading. Your drawings are often held back by a lack of reference, but this can be overcome by keeping in mind certain things.

For a quick way to address issues of linearity, pay attention to the way cloth is falling, the way fingers flow (and the way they sometimes don’t), the angle of feet, faces etc. Try to avoid repetition. For example, the Mafia Boss in the middle has two feet which aside from the kickass shading, could have been mirrored. It tends to detract from the illusion of reality because the mind is trained to pick up patterns & repetition.

In the example to the right the fingers are sitting in a more natural position. Infact, the tip of the index finger is barely visible. Which brings me to my next point.

The original elf. Full of character, but let down a little by a reluctance to lose any of the defining details.

Accept it: Every Drawing is already Perfect

IMHO, the more information you can express using as few strokes as possibe, the better. If you can immediately convince people that they are looking at something real and not an illustration, you won’t need to hang on to unneccesary details. The viewers mind will think “This is reality, fill in the blanks”.

To that end, you can begin a drawing in the same way, with you as the viewer already viewing a perfect artwork and thinking “this is great, but DaVinci would have had it more light and dark over here etc etc”. The fact that you would know how DaVinci would have expressed something means that you too know this stuff.

For example, I used to have a bad habit of drawing with “lines” and defining my shape too early on. This led to rigid characters and a tendency to fall back on techniques and strategies I was familiar with, rather than allowing the drawing to take its own shape and life.

If you place down a few faint lines here and there your mind will “fill in the blanks” and from there you can basically just define an already existing image. This is very similar to the way that you can glance up and clouds and see fantastic anatomically correct scenes or creatures, even without any prior knowledge (just exposure). Once you accept a cloud as a figure and not a cloud, suddenly your mind is searching for ways to verify this. Theres a puff of cloud over there, thats maybe a nose. Then before you can think about it, your mind is already putting in eyes, mouth, shoulders and body. Use this exact approach with your drawing (or anything) and suddenly you’ll find yourself putting in details you would never even consider (a pock mark for example, just because your mind manifests a character with a pock mark. Consciously however, I would never consider a pock mark in a drawing - I don’t think I’ve ever even considered pock marks since Amber whatsername got chicken pox in grade 3)

If you follow the above point, and keep practicing, knowing that you’re just helping to manifest an already existing perfect image, rather than “painting” you won’t need to know these (or any other) specific techniques. Infact, I believe technique can hinder an intuitive artistic expression, where for example, while your intuitive mind sees a figure in a cloud, your technique loving analytical side shuts it down and proves to your intuitive mind that its just a cloud. Its just a matter of knowing where to apply each.

If, for example, you know the shape of an eye (technique) this is the knowledge the brain draws upon to create a drawing of an eye. The truth, however, involves a semi translucent fluid filled sphere wrapped in dynamically changing flaps of skin, reflecting light coming from a million different directions at once. Your mind knows this, but a minds laziness draws instead from the “conceptualisation” of an eye (two arcs and a circle or whatever level of complexity this conceptualisation reaches) to build its recreation.

A modified example incorporating a more dynamic light source.

Lighting Issues

So anyway, enough philosophising. Here are a couple of things specifically relating to this image. I noticed there were two flames in the background, but your lighting doesn’t match this (WIP?) The lighting in this isn’t correct - I’ve used my artistic licence (i’m only on my P’s) to show how you could use harsh shadows etc to make the image more dynamic. There is information lost in putting in the shadows, but the detail thats lost in the right ear is shown in the left ear, leaving the viewer to fill in the information. (this doesn’t mean you can get lazy and not paint the detail at all tho - you still have to convince yourself its real)

I’ve added a few speckles and other imperfections in the face. A bit of a subtle skin indent thing under the left cheek. Some parts of the face are greasier/shiner/redder/whiter than others.

Finally, I’ve reddenned up the shadows on the skin, which gives a slight translucency to the ears where neccessary, but this also very important for other areas because of the unique way skin and light react.

Assuming a single light source on skin, if there is any light visible on the dark side of the skin (anywhere thats not directly lit) it is there because the light has travelled through the skin illuminating it from the inside. Therefore this “Sub-Surface-Scattering” of light is reddenned quite significantly, most prominently in thinner areas such as the nose and the ears, but also noticably so in other areas of the skin.

Finally, when painting in the lighting, be aware of all your light sources and their colours. Keep in mind that everything is a light source. If there is an arm resting on a red cloth, the underside of the arm will slightly reflect this colour on the underside. Pretty soon this will become second nature (its still a struggle for me, but I’m only on my provisional artistic licence

Conclusion

Shit… I always got in trouble at school for starting my conclusions with “In conclusion” but what the hell. I used to start every sentence with “I” or “The”, so i’ve improved slightly since grade four (but not much). If you have any blogging, writing, composing (HTML layout) tips, I’d greatly appreciate them! But ah, In conclusion, I haven’t checked this at all, I just wrote it so expect mistakes and rambling. (Maybe I’ll do an unabridged ramble filled version and make it into a book one day when I get fired for spending too much time blogging and have to huddle around a fire in a garbage bin just to keep my typing fingers warm while I steal WiFi from whatever building is next to the alley I now call home.)

Cheers
Lachlan

Shit yeah… got the expand comments things going on. Got the sketch dump working… its all getting pretty right up here on the good ship RGH.

I was never a programmer. I heard about this great hip new “one button publishing” thing and I had to get on board. ONE BUTTON? I’ve pressed more buttons than all the fucking Interpol fanboy emo kids in galaxy. I haven’t done a real drawing in months, my palette is dryed up and cracking with age, I haven’t even practiced with my band since our last gig & now six months into my bloghood and I woke up this morning, cracked into the PHP and thought “Holy shit… i’m a freakin programmer”. I try to deny it, but my skin colour’s moving towards #FFFFFF, I’m dreaming in PHP and my stock standard work banter style is documented for easy referal inside a css file lodged in my cerebrum.

My sister did this really great portrait which i’m now using as my avatar so check out her site! Rembrandt had to paint his own (he was a prolific blog commenter, which is why there are so many self portraits)

So I guess now the site is almost up to some level of usability, I can go back to getting some more works up. Oh and also, Bush is a liar and a war criminal. Don’t forget it!