Hey hey!
This week is a mixed bag with environments, head construction, imposter syndrome, reflected light and colouring grayscale so let's get straight into my resources, thoughts, 'aha moments' and announcements from this past week.
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- Resources
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Video - Tracing and Imposter Syndromeā
This was a great little podcast by Stan Prokopenko and Marshall Vandruff on their Draftsmen podcast.
This one tackled imposter syndrome and is one that hits home for me as I'm sure it has for many of you as well.
Great little podcast to throw on in the background for a little reminder that a lot of the doubt is all in your head!
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Video - [Head construction](
&list=WL&index=49)āMichael Hampton (for those of you who haven't gathered already) is a big inspiration of mine, so here's another great video of his.
You can see his references while he's breaking down the forms of the head which is really insightful as well.
He also critiques a few students which is really helpful as well.
Love his stuff.
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Video - Stylised environment live paintingā
This was a nice little video by Mariana Noronha that I initially saw announced on Twitter.
I've been getting more and more fascinated with environments (specifically stylised environments) that have a sense of realism and life.
Pretty much since I first read Graphic LA by Robh Ruppel I've fallen in love with this style.
And this recently posted live stream was a great watch as I find Mariana's style super appealing!
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Video - Great example of reflected lightā
Apart from being a very entertaining video, this demonstrates how much 'reflected light' plays a part in illuminating objects in the real world.
This guy paints a room using the blackest paint available (Muso black) that absorbs something like 98% of light.
He then turns on a light bulb inside the darkest room, and the results are fascinating and really shows the power of reflected light.
10/10 - for entertainment value
10/10 - for art, light and rendering education
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Video - Painting hairā
I came across this video randomly on youtube.
It's a short and is only 1 min long but incorporated one of my favourite artists J.C. Leyendecker and a breakdown of how he simplifies hair into basic shapes but still has it looking so appealing.
There's basically no individual hairs, just beautifully placed shapes and careful rendering.
Great explanation and one to save for sure.
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Video - Grayscale to colourā
This time-lapse of a live stream from Max Grecke is a great demonstration of how he goes about creating that really appealing render to his characters.
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From what I've seen, he mostly starts in grayscale then adds colour after. A technique I'm looking to get better at myself.
A huge fan of Max's work, and if you haven't already, you should be following him on all his socials.
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Weekly thoughts
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Upping my stylisation game
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I'm getting a bit restless with my stylisation 'style' lately and I think it's time for a bit of a shake up. I want to continue to push the shapes in different and interesting ways, so a stint of focussed practise is in order.
This was mentioned in my latest posts caption, but I'll throw it here as well...
My loose stylisation study plan:
1. Use reference and look at it often... even when not drawing
2. Ask a lot of 'whys' to myself when studying the reference (instead of just blinding using shapes willy nilly) e.g. Why are their eyes so appealing? Is it the shape? How deep are the eyes inset in the eye sockets?
3. Take note of proportions and exaggerations of other artists I look up to and see if there's any patterns that emerge e.g....The eyebrows are often higher up on the head and they have deep set eye sockets with smaller eyes that are closer together
4. Try and draw the characters from different angles from 'imagination' to really digest 'why' things are placed in certain areas. Tricky, but ads another level of understanding.
5. Drill my problem areas... I often have issues with the eye sockets, especially on the far eye/cheek bone on a 3/4 view. Sometimes I can nail it, and other times it's struggle city. So just like with anything else, it's time to break the problem down and get the reps in.
6. Be prepared to be frustrated, it's inevitable.
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āAnnouncements/updates...
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The Blog
She's getting closer! Still populating the content for launch... stay tuned
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The secret project - The first written drafts are complete, now for the illustrations, polish and recordings... cryptic, I know. But the pre-sale will be dropping soon!
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I haven't forgotten you! - I haven't forgotten about you if you've reached out via email or DM. I've just got quite a back log and often times the questions are pretty involved and I want to take the time to reply properly. I will reply I promise!
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That's all for this week!
And as always... stay consistent, use reference, have fun with it and remember, it's only pixels baybee!
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Cheers,
Ben
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Have any questions or just want to say "hey"?
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