Sketchbook: Ferg

[Ferg]

Welp, this is it I guess. Sketchbook thread for Ferg. Posting some stuff I didn't post in the sketch thread in P&P, stuff I didn't like as much, but I guess it's best to post that shit too if I want to get good crits.

Goals:
- Be able to draw male and female anatomy dynamically from memory
- Learn how to draw cloth
- Learn how to paint in photoshop with minimal linework and plenty of depth (always have to crank up the contrast on my stuff after a while because of how timid I am with pushing things very far)
- Learn how to paint with acrylics

I'll start posting some acrylic stuff once I have something worth posting. Shouldn't be too long. Till then, here's some stuff you've seen in the sketch thread, and some new things I just scanned. Koo-koo katchoo.

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/victro1.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/victro2.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/victro3.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/spacechick.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/robohug.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/cheeseman.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/newyears1.jpg

and some meh nude studies that I need to do more of...

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/redskynude.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/iceboobies.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/boobsandknives.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/nudeone.jpg

and suicidal frankenstein that could probably be taken further (as per slum's suggestion)... but I'm so noobish with ps that I dont really know how I'd do that.

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/frank.jpg

Narf. More to come. Crits very much appreciated, as always.

[Peris]

you are developing a really cool style =). More women!!

[JordanW]

Really cool stuff /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[MoP]

fun stuff /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[xysdf]

yee ferg your style is great!

[kary]

Very funny to see the treatment for the heads in the two middle figures /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Are you using any particular method to learn to draw anatomy from memory? I'm starting on that as well, and Bridgeman's book is pretty interesting and I think Vilppu's method looks promising.

Great sketches, lots of interesting ideas and engaging technique.

[BoBo_the_seal]

ha love that first one. very fun stuff here

- BoBo

[Ferg]

Thanks guys /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Kary: Right now, mostly just random practice and the occasional nude study. I'm thinking of enrolling in a local weekly figure drawing session to try and get some real practice in... and I really need to dive into an anatomy book. I have Anatomy for the Artist but so far have only actually drawing a few things out of it. I need to check out bridgeman.

My main focus lately has been with ball-point pen. My entire current sketchbook is drawn with it. I thought that my pencil work was too sloppy/busy, and I went over my lines way too many times trying to find the right one. I figured using a permanent quick medium like this would force me to get better with putting down the right lines at first... and I have to say it's been working. My sketches are way cleaner than they used to be, and I've been really taking advantage of the contrast the pen offers... I love it. I'm about 2/3 through my current moleskine and plan on at least using pen through the end of this sketchbook. Also, yesterday was a big day, I ran my first pen dry from plain over-use /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Anywho... don't have much to post tonight but eh, gotta stay in the habit of updating at least once a week. A WIP nude study and a page drawn at the coffee shop... caffeine is your friend.

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/igatow_nohands.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/decay.jpg

[Ferg]

finished the chick... really need to do more hand practice. I try out some new photoshop painting techniques that dont consist of me zoomed in noodling things back and forth for 30 mins to get the perfect look. And a sketchbook page.

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/igatowfin.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/dreampoker.jpg

[Emil Mujanovic]

I love your style, Ferg. So much character and form in a lot of your sketches.
Looking through a bunch of your goals, seem to be very similar to mine. Especially the part about having to up the contrast with all my digital paints.
Keep it up, mate.

-caseyjones

[EricElwell]

haha, I love that last one.

Your drawing style is so interesting and I find it appealing, but to be 100% honest with you, a lot of your subjects give me a feeling of ..... tension? .. haha ... just the big toothy grins and the zoned out looks.

when I see that you have made a post, I am enthusiastic to see something cool, but I know I will come away feeling dirty or creeped out or tense .. haha

[Ferg]

casey: thanks, will do /images/graemlins/smile.gif

eric: interesting. Perhaps my subconscious is trying to tell me something, eh? /images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Anywho... here's some more brain vomit

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/paintmurderindreamland.jpg

[Slum]

nice! you know you're one of my favorite artists on these boards. your sketches are awesome.

i love the color of moleskine books and bic pens. what size are you using?

[Ferg]

Thanks Slum /images/graemlins/smile.gif I'm using the "standard" moleskine size... think it's like 5 inches by 8 inches or so. Perfect size for me. You're right about the compliment of the bic pen on the yellow pages... it's like they were designed to be used together.

Here's some poop from the last couple nights... dunno if I'm gonna finish the panel on the left... starting to get wary of putting down too much ink on these pieces, lest they smear around on eachother when the book is closed and I end up with a big book of black clouds. Meh. If I do finish it, they'll be paisleys. I think that's what they're called.

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/braindump.jpg

[Keen]

Ferg I can't believe you drew all those wires in her head, you nuts...NUTS!!...looks good.

[Snowfly]

liking these a lot ferg! i used to be a ballpoint head as well, these sketches make me want to pick one up again. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Ferg]

mark it eight dude...

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/kickbackfinal.jpg

[killingpeople]

your sketches are looking great, you've been hard at work rubbing those pieces of wood together /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Ferg]

yeah kp... what else is there to do?

trying to get back to drawing things that I dont spend 4 hours on... heh...

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/gogol3.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/gogol2.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/gogol1.jpg

[Ferg]

need to draw more wimin-folk

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/grandfathersay.jpg

[EricElwell]

the madness continues!

I like how you project symmetric designs on your forms.. get's a little wonky in some areas, but I think it's a great practice. Cool stuff!

[Ferg]

MADNESS??!! THIS! IS! POLYCOUNT!


my epic battle against sanity continues with a creepy half-shaved goat dude and a very touchy karate square head guy...
http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/goatmilk.jpg

[RE3456]

great stuff, love your drawings, keep posting!!

[Ferg]

thx 3456... doin ma best... quickie nude before bed.... face turned out retarrrrrded. Super washed out, I know. That's how I roll. Washed out and retarded.

Any crits on these nudes would be very much appreciated :)

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/nude5b.jpg

[Ferg]

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/nude6b.jpg

[Ferg]

another batch for you enjoyment... sketchbook pages and a WIP nude quickie from tonight. And I will fix the foreshortening on the leg.


http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/nude7wip.jpg


http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/hohum1.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/hohum2.jpg

[systmh]

oh, ferg. your sketches always give me a rigid one.

i need to start doodling in pen and draw a bit more spontaneously, as you seem to do. i used to fill pages with all sorts of unrelated sketches, but i don't so much anymore.

awesome work. can't wait to see more.

[dooom]

cool stuff. free bump

[Ferg]

thanks guys :smokin:


latest poop... I wanted to fill in the background for mr heart-brain-bot here but decided against it. I seem to be on a tubes kick right now... we got any other tube fans in here?


http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/heartbrainbot.jpg



http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/chestymcmouth.jpg


http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/fuckinjesus.jpg

[xysdf]

haha - the last one is great!!

[audi100]

These are some nice pages, thx for sharing. :)

[Ferg]

thanks audi and xysdf :)

I've been slackin off on the sketchin and tryin out acrylics finally. Doing small experimental paintings to get used to the medium... unfortunately I forgot to buy medium when I got the rest of my supplies so evey stroke goes down at 100% opacity (hah photoshop terminology infecting acrylic painting)... I just got some medium yesterday though, so I'll be to able to actually do smooth shading a much more subtle coloring.

I really want to start branching out to more hard surfaces, random creatures, and environments. I think my characters are getting pretty stylized and generic... except maybe smokin' space chick.

Anywho... most are 5 or 6 inches on the longest side, some smaller... the widest one is like 8 inches. They're all on some nice thick paper. Canvas painting comes next.

I'd really appreciate any advice or crits from more experienced acrylic artists out there, right now I feel like I'm pretty much painting exactly how I sketch.


http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/paint1.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/paint2.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/paint3.jpg

[conte]

oh, that shit rox=)

[Ferg]

more little paints... 7 inches or so on a side at the largest. Finally upgraded to canvases... on my second one now. I'll post some next week or something when I think I have one worth showing.

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/robotpaint.jpg

[Jeremy Lindstrom]

Your stuff kinda reminds me off Chris Bishops stuff: http://www.chrisbishop.com/fineart/

but no idea why, cool stuff I need to grab some paints sometime soon

[Ferg]

been doin mostly painting... here's the most recent one. I took some pics of the other ones but the lighting was terrible so eh.

My only goal for this one was to paint a character with hair. Clearly, I failed.

edit: this is on a canvas btw... 12 inches on the longest side

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/paintface.jpg

[Ged]

nice lighting, his kneck could use a little bit of curvature.hair lol

[Japhir]

you failed with pride, that isn't as bad ;). very cool!

[Ferg]

heh thanks guys :)

here's some more random crap. Shitty shitty photo of some of my acrylic things, whiteboard randomness, and an album cover I did hastily for my brother's punk band

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/snowjobpaints.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/catdick.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/DWG_scaled.jpg

[Ged]

nice composition on this last painting, the guys hands look like hes been spending the last hour punching a ton of iceblocks. Maybe more subtle use of red would look more natural. the girl with the red stripe background is interesting, a few of the other pictures have similar heads at similar camera angles, big nose, small forehead, is this a character.

[Ferg]

Thanks ged, the album cover design was supposed to have hands that looked pretty gnarled. He was going to have tattoos and a couple scars but there didn't end up being enough time to add those. So I just exaggerated the reds a bit and gave him some longer fingernails and hoped that'd be enough.

As for the paintings, nah, its just me getting stagnant with my style :). Those are all almost a month old now, I have some newer ones done and in the works with more unique characters. Really gonna start trying to screw with poses, perspective and character design more in future pieces.

[Ferg]

got meself a .005 micron and tried some hatching. It's fun. And some other random ferg-business-as-usual sketches. More paintings to come later this week, I hope.

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/micron0051.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/micron0052.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/micron0053.jpg

[Slingshot]

Crazy Faces, Stuff looks nice. I always love the way paintings/ traditional art gives the work more character due to the texture on the paper/ canvas.

[Ferg]

oops, been slackin on the sketchbookin... acrylics are fun. Still trying to figure out a good way to digitize the ones that won't fit on my scanner... cant seem to get the right lighting for the camera. Ferg not wise in ways of photography.

here's some stuff I posted in the P&P sketchbook thread... and some other random heads...

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/poop.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/skullman.jpg

http://olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/graphitewhat.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/stickemup.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/fuckingmetal.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/beergarden.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/normal.jpg

[fattkid]

Lookin good holmes...... Looks like you're laying the foundation for future badassatude!

[Ferg]

thanks fattkid... and dammit, we need to play chess again.

some dudes with they arms crossed and too many appendages

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/dancedance.jpg

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/headnosestar.jpg

[Ferg]

haven't updated this thread in years... I've been spending most of my free art time painting and not 3d-ing... here's some of the crap I've made. They each took about one evening to make, however much time I had between getting home from work and going to sleep. And it's all acrylic. I just got a larger easel, so I'll be able to work on some larger paintings and dump a lot more time into them, so they look more refined and detailed. I think I'm about to swing back into doing 3d in my free time for a while so hopefully I can update this thread more often. Or not. <3

The colors on my camera are garbage... I tried adjusting levels in ps but I couldn't get them looking much better, or even close to what they look like in real life. Thanks for checkin it out polycount.

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/paint/001.JPG

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/paint/002.JPG

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/paint/006.JPG

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/paint/007.JPG

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/paint/010.JPG

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/paint/011.JPG

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/paint/013.JPG

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/paint/014.JPG

http://www.olypen.com/advent/Smiley/temp/sketches/paint/015.JPG