Line & Weight

For the line and weight exercises I quickly set up a still life with some things I found through my room: a cup, a glass, my bottle of water and an apple, in front of the curtain so I could have a more interesting background for my objects.

 

Exercise 1: Speed Drawing

The first exercise proved a bit tricky at first, me being used with perfectly calculating and checking the placement of the object and adding details, so I had to force myself to leave my doubts behind and the details aside and focus on just getting the drawing down on paper. 

So I quickly sketched the objects: 

Added the curtain and the background:

And in the last few minutes made a few changes to the line and form of the objects and, since I couldn’t help myself, added a bit of shading:

 

And the other two drawings:

 

I think the biggest challenge of this first exercise was leaving my uncertainties and perfectionism behind. It helped me find the courage to just get something down, so I can work from there. It also improved my speed in getting the composition on paper. 

Exercise 2: Gestural Drawing 

To be honest, I liked the gestural drawing more, since it allowed me to add shading and a bit more detail through hatching, though the one made with my left hand (since I’m right-handed) was a bit frustrating. Also, I fell once again into the hole of perfectionism and made the drawings a bit too sharp and precise.

I started by quickly getting the forms down like in the first exercise, then started hatching, alternating between a 2B and 4B pencil (another fault of mine since I don’t use a variety of grades and am a bit reticent in using darker ones):

I finished hatching the objects, worked on the background and added a bit of detail:

The other drawings:

 

And the non-dominant hand one:

Exercise 3: Blind Contour Drawing

It was the exercise I disliked the most, but might have helped me even more than the others, forcing me to keep my eyes on the objects and observe the thing I’m drawing rather than what I’m putting down on paper. 

On the first one I must admit I didn’t manage to keep my eyes on the object at all times and glanced at the drawing from time to time:

With the next two, I did my best to keep my eyes on the object at all times and tried shading a bit:

 

Exercise 4: Bring it all together 

I aimed for a more detailed drawing, using all the skills I’ve practiced through the previous exercises. I also might have moved the still life a bit, since I did the last exercise in a different day than the others, so here is the new photo:

I made the sketch:

Hatched and gave the objects form and volume:

I polished it up a bit and this was the final product:

Conclusions:

Overall, I think my biggest enemies in these exercises were time and perfectionism. 

World of 3D

Since I am barely getting into 3Ds Max and Game Art, I didn’t know many 3D artists and artworks. So I decided to do my research and check out 3D works on sites like Artstation. After a bit of scrolling around through them, I chose to blog about this character model, since I like it the most of what I’ve seen. 

I’ve always been more interested in character art than anything else, so there is no surprise to me I chose a character to blog about. Even so, this wasn’t the only thing that prompted me to this. Since my current art style is a bit more on the cartoony side (more towards the Overwatch art style, rather than the Assassin’s Creed one, for example), it caught my attention before the other equally good, but more realistic artworks. I think this style fits the fantasy concept well, giving off a fun and lighthearted vibe.

I love how the lower part of the composition, more massive due to the cape, large boots and even pieces of armour on the knees that are slightly bigger than the ones on the upper part, contrast with the thinner, smaller torso. Despite this, the use of orange, complementary to the blue used on the rest of the character, and the overall warmer tones contrasting to the rest of the composition (which uses colder colours) points the viewer’s attention to the face and expression of the character. Even more, it uses only the metallic texture on the armour, suggesting the other materials (the clothes, the wood of the wand, etc.) through form rather than textures.

Overall, I find the composition beautiful through its simplicity and use of carefully placed details that create centers of interest.  

I also love the overall design of the cute little fairy companion ^^

Original Artist: Etienne Beschet

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/YawoGK