Yes. I'm so excited to be getting back into Patreon. Why I stopped for so long, who knows? Maybe the burnout I experienced scarred me!
Over the past 6-7 years I've evolved my style, focussed mostly on traditional figurative art, had some adventures and learned a ton of stuff.
For a quick glance, check out my Instagram: 2023-01-20 09:40:28 +0000 UTC View Post
Thought I'd share the occasional action shot with you guys. This is a commission I worked on a few years back for an awesome Patron.
Clearly, you don't need a full studio or an easel or even the right lighting, clearly! ;)
I think I just taped the paper to a piece of MDF and went ahead with a piece of charcoal, a cloth for smoothing edges, and an erasure.
I kept the reference pic nearby but didn't do any kind of grid transfer technique to keep the likeness, w...
2016-07-26 23:17:26 +0000 UTC View Post
"Squash and stretch" is the first of twelve basic principles of animation developed by Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas. The principles can be used to achieve a greater sense of realism in realistic animation and convey a more exaggerated feeling for drawn cartoons.
Understanding these principles can benefit the artist in both understanding and design of action scenes, movement and character expressions, especially.
"Squash and ...
2016-07-19 05:05:36 +0000 UTC View Post
This tutorial illustrates the few steps we can take to work out shadows in perspective. This will help us to create more convincing images in terms of creating the illusion of depth.
1) Starting with an object we want to plot the shadow of, first we locate the light source.
2) Draw a vertical line from the light source to the horizon. The shadow vanishing point (Shadow VP) is where the vertical line meets the horizon line.
3) Draw straight lines from th...
2016-07-01 05:11:28 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's a visual explanation of how varying sizes of light will produce different shadows. Up to three shadow regions can be distinguished.
A point light is a single point in space. Light coming from a point light creates an umbra shadow region only.
A non-point light which has a measurable size will always create at least two regions of shadow. The umbra (darkest region) and the penumbra, a lighter shadow region.
The penumbra region is present when the light source is...
2016-06-29 19:51:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's a demonstration of a typical lighting setup, a single light source and ball resting on a surface.
The elements of light:
Center light
The center light, also know as direct light, is the plane (or planes) of the form facing directly towards the light source.
Highlight
The highlight is actually a reflection of the light source. Generally, the brightest part of the form, the highlight will move to another location ...
2016-06-27 22:50:17 +0000 UTC View Post
This tutorial explores the types of light sources and shadows that we need to concern ourselves with as artists.
Most light sources can be considered one of the following:
Directional light
A directional light source emits parallel light beams, and doesn't fade over distance, unlike other types of light sources. Directional light mimics day light, light emitted from a very strong and very distant source.
Point light<...
2016-06-27 03:24:36 +0000 UTC View Post
Light is key to making an image convincing and one of the most powerful ways to evoke mood.
Exploring a variety of lighting arrangements is a simple practice to adopt in your working process, with great benefit.
Working traditionally, the options are limited but here is an opportunity to use photoshop as it was intended, as a tool.
By scanning or photographing a piece of work in progress, importing the image into a digital painting program, and then exploring...
2016-06-25 09:27:49 +0000 UTC View Post
This tutorial focuses on the Mix slider and how these values effect the paint strokes applied to our canvas.
The Mix slider changes the ratio of Wet (the canvas paint) to Load (the reservoir paint). To find out more about Wet and Load read through this tutorial: https://www.patreon.com/posts/tutorial-157-5767687
This tutorial explains photoshop's concepts of the reservoir and the pickup well. We only need to keep these concepts in mind when using the mixer brush.
The reservoir
The reservoir is simply the idea of a container holding the color that has been selected to paint with. When using the normal brush, our active color is displayed in the tools panel as a swatch (the foreground color) but for the mixer brush we need to look at the swatch displayed in the mixer brush...
2016-06-15 20:15:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Here are four visual descriptions of photoshop's "load" and "clean" functions when used with the Wet combination preset.
The effect is similar to traditional blending on a wet canvas.
In this example, the mixer brush is set to Wet, which means Wet, Load, and Mix are set to 50% and Flow is set to 100%.
We are using a default Brush Tip Shape with Pen Pressure controlling the Flow Jitter only. To setup the mixer brush with Flow Jitter:
This tutorial introduces Photoshop's mixer brush.
To fully understand this tool we should know a little bit about traditional media.
If you've played with paint as a child then that's enough to start, but we'll see in upcoming tutorials how this tool can simulate many types of traditional media, wet and dry.
Despite being around since CS5, the mixer brush has most digital artist's stumped. Brief experiments leave us confused and not quite achieving...
2016-06-13 08:48:33 +0000 UTC View Post
The appendicular skeleton are the bones that are appended to the axial portion of the skeleton.
The pelvis, skapula, clavicle, the bone of the limbs, feet and hands are all parts of the appendicular skeleton.
Learning the names and location of these bones will help us when constructing the human form from imagination. Use this image and the previous tutorial as reference diagrams.
2016-06-12 08:30:45 +0000 UTC View Post
The skeleton is divided into two parts. The axial skeleton and the appendicular skeleton.
The axial skeleton is the core group of bones forming the central axis of the whole body. The axial skeleton includes the skull, vertebral column (all vertebrae, sacrum and coccyx), and the rib cage.
We should try to learn the names and placement of these bones to help us locate bony landmarks when constructing a drawing.
2016-06-11 08:44:57 +0000 UTC View Post
The Apollo's Belt (or iliac furrow) is a colloquial term describing the groove that sits between the thigh and the abdomen.
In the illustration, note the pink dashed line indicates the location of the grooves. The grooves emerge from the hipbone, just above the iliac crest, indicated in green. The green dashed line indicates the inguinal ligament, a band running from the pubic tubercle to the anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS).
Therefore, The Apollo's Belt is a great visu...
2016-06-10 15:41:35 +0000 UTC View Post
The most notable difference between the male and female pelvis is the height and width. The female pelvis is wider and shorter (by an inch or so) than the male.
The pelvic inlet
The pelvic inlet (and outlet) is the gap in the middle of the pelvis. In females, it is larger and rounder to allow for childbirth.
The iliac crest
For women, the iliac crest tends to be a little smoother, more rounded and set a little lower ...
2016-06-10 04:16:37 +0000 UTC View Post
Unlike muscle groups and bones, these simple boxes and their placements can be easily memorised. Doing so will provide you with a good starting point to begin your figure drawing and will also make it easier to learn more complex anatomical forms.
Remember to start simple.
2016-06-08 09:28:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's a simple visual showing a few basic relationships between the simplified masses of the pelvis and torso.
From profile, we can see that if simplified into cuboids, the pelvis tilts forwards and the torso tilts backwards. These angles vary from person to person, sometimes drastically.
From the front, starting at the space between the two masses, the moving vertically up the torso, the shape tapers out to the maximum width and then tapers in to the top ...
2016-06-07 08:13:18 +0000 UTC View Post
The pelvis is a very complex shape to conceive of but we need to get to know it at a basic level if we want to understand the human form.
We will break it down into a simple shape to make it easier for us to visualize.
From the front, the silhouette might resemble a butterfly.
From profile, the silhouette is a little harder to relate to, perhaps an unusual looking claw or hornbill.
Next we're thinking in 3D, try to see the pelvis as a bucket or cor...
2016-06-06 08:49:47 +0000 UTC View Post
These illustrations show how a simplified 3D shape represents the complexity of the rib cage fairly accurately.
When conceiving of the rib cage as a basic shape, we should focus on the size and placement in the torso, and where the plane changes occur. This will help greatly when constructing a drawing of the torso.
Observing the costal cartilage and sternum, these areas should be considering as one basic plane, forward facing. As we move out to meet the ribs ther...
2016-06-05 05:55:53 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's a rough representation of the rib cage as a solid shape with visible plane changes. It's worth memorizing this fairly complex form by drawing it from as many angles as you can.
Start by drawing an egg shape, broad at the base, narrow at the top. For the top, we remove a chunk, at a 45 degree angle, sloping forwards. This is roughly the base of the neck.
Now we need to remove a scooped shape from the bottom, making a kind of saddle shape. This gives us the general ...
2016-06-03 10:47:45 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's a simple visual on the bony landmarks of the torso. We can observe these areas on most model sizes and they will provide us with good anchor points to construct our drawing.
We'll discuss what's going on under the surface in an upcoming tutorial but for now, try to observe these landmarks on the life model. If drawing from imagination, place these areas early on to help plot the proportions and angles of your figure.
2016-06-01 18:24:35 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's a fairly basic diagram of the areas to consider when drawing the female torso, showing where these areas are placed in relation to each other.
Generally, when drawing both from life and from imagination we might want to begin with a basic gesture line, moving to the oval forms of the rib cage and pelvis areas. Then on to suggest the chest and abdomen and finally adding more anatomically correct details.
It will be difficult to do this as a beginner without know...
2016-05-31 08:03:59 +0000 UTC View Post
This technique of measured drawing is closely linked with another tutorial on angles found here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/144-drawing-with-5553528
The envelope method gives us another way of creating a framework for our contour sketch by fixing a container of angled lines around the form. It allows us to see the negative space as distinct abstract shapes. If we can draw the negative sha...
2016-05-30 07:49:49 +0000 UTC View Post
This is a very analytical approach to drawing the figure and is more suitable for longer poses, usually starting from 90 minutes.
We can get as analytical as we like, using just a pencil or a ruler to measure our subject, though some artists like to use a plumb-line. A plumb-line is simply a piece of thin string with a weight attached to the bottom providing a horizontal standard for us to compare the figure to.
We'll talk more about the plumb-line in a future tutorial.
Here's a simple approach to the female torso beginning with gesture and simple masses, leading us to a finished study.
The first steps are sketching the gesture and oval masses. These elements are to be considered very flexible, and not at all fixed. They are a simple base to apply the framework of the simplified landmarks.
Landmarks are areas on the figure that act like points of reference. Landmarks should be as accurately placed as possible but do not need to be anatomical...
2016-05-28 10:37:57 +0000 UTC View Post
This is a follow up to Head in Profile: Female Variations found here:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/tutorial-139-in-5521117
In both these tutorials we're simply exploring some of the slight variations that will occur from person to person. When inspected and compared we can see these slight variations aren't quite so slight. Some faces may have eyes set a little f...
2016-05-27 06:41:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Drawing the figure in perspective can be challenging, especially when starting out, an drawing from imagination.
It is difficult to know how much larger or smaller to make areas of the body that are in perspective.
A fairly simple way to check your drawing is to use perspective lines to make estimations.
In my example image I've drawn a boy kicking his foot into the air towards the camera, making his kicking foot appear larger in frame.
This is a basic method of creating a guide to represent the figure in perspective. Though it looks like there are a fair amount of complex lines don't be dissuaded. Understanding a few simple steps will help:
The proportions, angles and contours of the head and face vary so much, it's fascinating to observe from an artistic perspective.
It would be almost trivial for us to talk about the differences in race, age and sex as there really is no standard. In general, older people have longer ears and noses, thinner lips, etc, but not always. The same goes for differences in race and sex, though a broad enough study will prove these differences can be observed from person to person, regar...
2016-05-24 05:20:24 +0000 UTC View Post