Quicktime video of Adam Hughs drawing a character....if you don't know who Adam Hughs is, then shame on you.
http://comicartfans.com/SubNewsDetails.asp?NID=43


Adrew Loomis tutorials on figure drawing from imagination and otherwise....
http://acidkick.noobgrinder.com/Loomis%20Books.zip

That Adam Hughes video was really cool. I've never had the chance to see him draw in person before.

And of course, the Loomis books should be read by every aspiring character artist. I actually have an old 1949 edition of "Figure Drawing for All It's Worth" I got off Ebay a while ago. Great stuff!

those videos are really nice, thanks NoSeRider

Cheers for links. I hadn't seen a couple of those Loomis books, I'm reading the painting one now. Useful stuff. Theory is definitely where I lack knowledge at the moment... hopefully not for too long!

amazing. i love watching a good artist sketch.

almost as if they can see the image on the paper before they draw it, and all they have to do is trace.

thanks for the link.

"almost as if they can see the image on the paper before they draw it, and all they have to do is trace."

I think its less a matter of "seeing" it on the paper and more of "feeling" I was watching the video and what stuck me, especially when he was re-drawing the hand in the first video, was the obvious certainty with which he re-constructed the forms of the fingers, each forshortened in a completely different way. To me this says that he KNOWS those forms, and not just in a quantitative way, like X finger is blah inches long and so forth...but that he has drawn and studied those forms so many times that it's like instinct, or muscle memory. This kind of knowlegde is a boone and a bane. With it you can draw with authority, banging out perfectly constructed hands, heads, boobs, whatever...however there is always the danger of artistic stagnation. When you learn something to the point of being able to recite/play/draw it without much effort, variation begins to diminish, and without alternative strategies your work will quickly become repedetive and stale. Although, commercially I suppose thats not really much of a concern. If your drawing is selling comic books than I doubt the publisher is going to be real excited about you changing your style to keep from "stagnating artistically." I suppose its really more the concern of developing artists rather than people with mature identifiable styles. I for one wouldn't really want to see Mike Mignola change how he draws Hellboy. This is always something that I've kind of wondered about "mature" artists with really obvious styles like that...does Mike Mignola ever have the urge to try and draw something realistically? or even take on a different style? It seems to me, as an artist he would...although I guess the Hellboy reading fans probably don't see much of that kidna stuff...Ok I realized I'm just rambling now..Anyway tanx Noserider for the link, I also love to watch great artists work (got 2 of the Ryan Church Gnomon DVDs for Xmas...woot) so its definatly appriciated.

peas, hope everyone had a happy holiday

jamesball

[ QUOTE ]
To me this says that he KNOWS those forms, and not just in a quantitative way, like X finger is blah inches long and so forth...but that he has drawn and studied those forms so many times that it's like instinct, or muscle memory.

[/ QUOTE ]

That hand is clearly a study of how Gil Kane drew hands, I can also see John Buscema/Neal Adams influence in face.

Alot of artists just study other artists. One time I visited a comic book artist at his studio and he was using John Byrne's X-men Comic Book as reference, he had it opened and looking at it as he drew....I didn't like his style of drawing, but he was get'n paid.

This was in the late 90's when any Jo Schmo got work for Comic Art.

http://www.comicsfun.com/gallery/index4.htm
http://www.lambiek.net/kane_gil.htm
Gil Kane died on Jan 31 2000 at age 73.

This kind of knowlegde is a boone and a bane. With it you can draw with authority, banging out perfectly constructed hands, heads, boobs, whatever...however there is always the danger of artistic stagnation. When you learn something to the point of being able to recite/play/draw it without much effort, variation begins to diminish, and without alternative strategies your work will quickly become repedetive and stale. Although, commercially I suppose thats not really much of a concern.

Well there are a number of ways of looking at art, and I tend to think of art as communication. As such I really tend to eschew a lot fo stylization, because I see that as a crutch, and as a cop out for not learning the forms. Now that being said, a lot of good draftsmen in comics and illustration do not have a lot past their facility and skill, besically having not a lot to say, communications wise. That's not a flaw due to their studying of art, but a flaw of NOT studying other forms of communication such as literature, and maybe plays. Commercially though, a person who draws well,and realistically, who can "Idealize, rather than stylize will never go hungry. (and that's a good thing).. If you believe that art is only self expression rather than communication, you will, of course think differently.

Scott

Scott: I absolutly agree that the main aim of most art, visual or otherwise, is communication. Even when done as a sort of cathartic release or therapy it's still about perhaps finding a way to communicate with yourself ( i know that sounds alittle touchy feely, but I'm of the opinion that theraputic stuff like diaries and cathartic paintings allow us to confront our feelings by externalizing them, and thus you are communicating with an externalized piece of yourself) However I would like to disagree with you about stylization being a crutch...although not completely. Yes, if used to avoid having to learn how to accuratly depict light and shadow then yeah, absolutly, stop drawing cartoon characters and study some real life. However stylization can be a way of taking well know forms and giving them life and imagination. Just because something is stylized doesn't mean it has to be any less detailed, just that the detail has personality, or perhaps has been replaced by some interesting pen marks or brush strokes. I think Arthur Rackham's trees are a perfect example of that. They're crawling with detail and personality.

On your second point, about some artists not having much to say because all they know how to do is draw comic book style characters in over-extended hero poses...AMEN The more you know about the world and cultures and nature and everything the richer your ideas are going to be...studying one thing to the exclusion of all else is a good way to overspecialize and become that famed "one trick poney". New and interesting ideas and innovation come best from the inclusion of otherwise disperate elements and ideas. We live in a time where the phrase "everything's already been done" has become disturbingly familiar, and to create new forms you have to go farther afield...although obsessing about what has and hasn't been done is a good way to make yourself crazy too. So what if someone created a creature/vehicle/building like yours before, you shouldn't let that worry kill imaginative out-flow...the best way to come up with good ideas is to come up alot of them...ok my ramble alarm just went off again, maybe I'll post more later

peas
jamesball

Neat vids!
Is there a way to download these to disk?
Thanks for the links Nose [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

QuickTime Pro player allows me to download a video, by clicking on the little flyout triangle at the lower right of the playback bar... but only once the file has finished downloading, and only if the creator didn't prohibit downloads. Not sure if this feature is present in the free player.

The Pro player is just $30, it offers a lot of editing features for the price, kind of essential for anyone working with QT.

You can also look on your HD for the temporary browser cache files, they're .MP4's.

Haha got it, it was just a matter of looking at the html source :

http://www.cafvids.com/ahnov-2004/hughes01.mp4

and so on...

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

http://video.search.yahoo.com/search...&p=Vilppu+
Glenn Vilppu drawing videos. Not the best quality, but offers some insight.

Thanks for the links, will have a good read through those Loomis books over the holidays.

http://www.digitalarttutorials.com/index.htm

Does anybody have those videos?

It's not free, but I'm considering it...buying it that is.

Actually, I take it back. If you click on 'View Full Info' you'll see sample clips of video tutorial.

OH FUCK'N AAAAA@#!! Those samples are great!....must see must watch must learn.

Well, it's concept art....if you click on it.

Well, it's concept design related.

http://www.g4tv.com/mediaplayer/inde...video_key=9034

More star wars stuff, by Feng Zhu.

http://dccomics.com/features/jimlee/video.html

Here's a video of how Jim Lee draws.

What's weird is I draw similiar to this, but slower.....what he did in 30 minutes would probably take me 4 hours.

For those who can't be bothered, right-click save these...

film 1
film 2
film 3
film 4
film 5