Illustration Club

[SpagMasterSwift]

I don't have much time to draw, but I do really look forward to it. Should get am hour or so on Thursday or Friday. Doubt I'd feel the same if it was a job tho.

[Sidewaysbob]

I did this as a gift for my best mate. He's in a band and hates saxophones. I always send him a Saxophone related gift at Christmas. 

Technically i just traced out a Jamie Hernandez page from love and rockets and stuck ninja cow in there. But only because Jamie didn't do it first .. the fool

[SpagMasterSwift]

Shapes.

 

 

[MarkN]

Not better, just more, but I like it. (Edit: her left arm is quite wrong mind)

 

Absolutely could not find the way to get tension into the rope/bucket swing thing this time. I wanted her swinging it with the rope property taut. Next time, maybe...

 

Also, I have shied away from drawing faces, but it's just occured to me that I don't really know what she looks like yet. Makes that bit trickier. Will maybe work that out, and then start trying to draw it...

[Sidewaysbob]

faces are an absolute bastard. And trying to draw the same face consistently with various emotions and different angles.. Stick a helmet on her, it'll be easier in the long run.

[matt0]

It's not cheap and style wise it's very dated but I got a lot out of this:

 

 

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780857680976?gC=5a105e8b&gclid=Cj0KCQiAm5ycBhCXARIsAPldzoWYVpYY5CCqF5irlwcaEHdflMAUbBxLxxUc_yoL_DsqbbrG-jCrtFUaArTlEALw_wcB

[SpagMasterSwift]

 

 

[SpagMasterSwift]

I didn’t get enough free time to fill up the sketchbook this year, but it’s been fun and I feel like I’ve made some progress. Plenty of space left to carry on with this silly hobby anyway. Thanks for the likes, they’ve been very encouraging! Here’s my last doodle of 2022! 

 

 

Spoiler

 

[moosegrinder]

I've done precisely fuck all this year. I have loads of sketches but they never go anywhere. I haven't shared owt in forever so here's an Electric Callboy Hypa Hypa thing I never got round to finishing

 

[MarkN]

On 30/11/2022 at 10:40, matt0 said:

It's not cheap and style wise it's very dated but I got a lot out of this:

 

 

My copy arrived today. It's beautiful.

 

And looks super-useful, from a quick flick-through, and reading the first chapter. I've got loads of time off coming up, so hope to give it a good go (lots of other commitments, but this I really want to do). I'll hopefully post some progress pics in the weeks to come.

 

Many thanks for the recommendation. It should help enormously.

[SpagMasterSwift]

Messing about with the watercolour pad I got for Christmas.

 

I’ve ordered some tape so I can get super wet with it next.

 

[MarkN]

Haven't had time to do faces, but have scribbled a little more. Rather like this, despite it's many flaws, but it's given me inspiration for a belter of a pose. Itching to work on it now, it's a corker. Edit: stupidly cropped the shadow - she's airborne here - leaping off her right leg.

 

[MarkN]

That last pic inspired to make a new one. It's rushed as fuck, and still not half what it should be, but it's getting there (using a fucking awful scratchy pencil). Edit: I think I can bend her backwards at least 45 degrees more, and it will be better - so much more dynamic.

Edit 2: Actually it'll be snapping her in half more. Legs lower, torso lower still. It needs to be a Fosbury flop pose, just weaponised..

Continuing the 2nd edit: I can't think of anything else I do for fun that requires this much effort. The feet are missing because I had at least six goes at each and could not get anywhere near what they should look like. Maybe in the Fosbury flop pose I will find them...

[MarkN]

Oh, please point out what is wrong in my sketches. I absolutely want feedback. Be brutal. I want to get better. I know in the last pic her torso is wrong. It's a tricky pose, but I think it's too long on her right side, and the left armpit is fucked. Her hair should be streaming more to the left too, seeing as what she's doing. There's probably much more, but the big bits tend to pull focus.

 

Honestly though, I want critical feedback. Pull no punches. I just want to get better, and the only way to do that is to fix the stuff that is wrong.

 

Edit: I l aso think now that dropping her right hand below her body would be much more dynamic. It mirroring the left might work elsewhere, but not here. This wants to be a mess of limbs.

[Sidewaysbob]

 

First off., its clearly a figure in a dynamic pose and that is a win

 

I think her left arm needs to be flatter, so the hand is pointing in the direction she is traveling. 

And have the sword pointing forward in the same direction. So you get a nice swooping curve of the figure, it will make it look more dynamic ( i think, I'm no expert)

At the moment there isn't much movement in a particular direction, and sort of looks like she is falling upwards.

 

 

Use the hair to show the direction of travel. 

The skirt looks a bit static, is it made of just one piece on the right leg ?

finally, she appears to have lost her breasts. They are dynamic things and can help show movement. 

 

But the proportions are all there. it looks like a figure and that's half the battle.

[MarkN]

1 hour ago, Sidewaysbob said:

 

First off., its clearly a figure in a dynamic pose and that is a win

 

I think her left arm needs to be flatter, so the hand is pointing in the direction she is traveling. 

And have the sword pointing forward in the same direction. So you get a nice swooping curve of the figure, it will make it look more dynamic ( i think, I'm no expert)

At the moment there isn't much movement in a particular direction, and sort of looks like she is falling upwards.

 

 

Use the hair to show the direction of travel. 

The skirt looks a bit static, is it made of just one piece on the right leg ?

finally, she appears to have lost her breasts. They are dynamic things and can help show movement. 

 

But the proportions are all there. it looks like a figure and that's half the battle.

This is so useful, thank you. Agree on everything.

 

The lack of direction of travel was something I spotted immediately after. Almost went back and added an arrow (probably with the word "sproing" ). But I can definitely get that in the pose.

 

This was actually a tweak of a different idea for a pose. That's possibly where her tits got lost. Also, I just chuck details in later, and here the neckline of her shirt has bulldozed a suggestion of breasts. Maybe they'd still work without it. Maybe? Probably not, tbh.

 

Regardless, I have a much better idea for this. Might need to put her hair in a ponytaill for this. It's baking my noodle just trying to think about getting this on paper.

 

[SpagMasterSwift]

Some hand sketches.

 

[MarkN]

38 minutes ago, SpagMasterSwift said:

Some hand sketches.

 

Do you fancy having a crack at something? A tiny bit-part character from the book I'm trying to write. He just seems right up your street. I'm not offering payment - it is just a challenge, and I promise I won't use it without permission. I would just love to see what you can do with it). I've got enough on my plate trying to get halfway decent - trying to do this bastard justice is far beyond me.

 

Edit: No, is perfectly fine obviously. Please do not feel in any way obliged.

[SpagMasterSwift]

Appreciate you thinking of me, but I’m kinda focused on trying to learn to draw and I don’t really have the free time for that even. I think I’m still a good few years off where I’d like to be with it. Want to take it a bit more seriously, toying with the idea of doing a local Life Drawing class next month. Good luck with the project tho, sounds very ambitious but if you stick with it I’m sure you’ll end up with something you’re proud of.

[MarkN]

11 minutes ago, SpagMasterSwift said:

Appreciate you thinking of me, but I’m kinda focused on trying to learn to draw and I don’t really have the free time for that even. I think I’m still a good few years off where I’d like to be with it. Want to take it a bit more seriously, toying with the idea of doing a local Life Drawing class next month. Good luck with the project tho, sounds very ambitious but if you stick with it I’m sure you’ll end up with something your proud of.

Fair enough.  Good luck with your goal. You've got serious talent. 

[MarkN]

Quick scribble. I've decided to have a crack at a few different characters from the book I'm working on.

They're the Miss-Fits, a gang of female characters with quirks that make them unique.

Gail Storm (first pass, probably subject to massive changes, including her name). But I almost like it. Her upper half is just too far backward, and there isn't enough of a suggestion of movement in the pose (possibly due to thing one). I like her hair for once. I love her boots. I do good boots (apart from that heel). But as Gail Storm she needs to be bigger and chunkier. She's a tank in the book, she isn't here. She's a berserker - I think I got some of that though. Hmmm. Maybe she doesn't need to be a tank... I like her. Get it right and she works.

 

Edit: right arm a tad too long also (and she has a hammer rather than a club because I did not want to go near fingers just yet. (I could have a pop, but it wouldn't be pretty.)

[SpagMasterSwift]

12 hours ago, MarkN said:

Gail Storm (first pass, probably subject to massive changes, including her name). But I almost like it. Her upper half is just too far backward, and there isn't enough of a suggestion of movement in the pose (possibly due to thing one). I like her hair for once. I love her boots. I do good boots (apart from that heel). But as Gail Storm she needs to be bigger and chunkier. She's a tank in the book, she isn't here. She's a berserker - I think I got some of that though. Hmmm. Maybe she doesn't need to be a tank...

Just some random thoughts. The skirt feels like it’s made from very stiff material, which may cause you some problems when putting her in more dynamic and compromising poses. If it had some give/flow to it you could use it to show movement, the form of her legs beneath it. That stance with a short skirt may fit the character, but it may be more interesting to play a feminine/ladylike pose against her strength? Maybe one leg slightly in front of the other? It’s a bit of a superhero trope but for good reason.

 

Quick sketch to help explain what I mean.

 

Spoiler

 

[MarkN]

1 hour ago, SpagMasterSwift said:

Just some random thoughts. The skirt feels like it’s made from very stiff material, which may cause you some problems when putting her in more dynamic and compromising poses. If it had some give/flow to it you could use it to show movement, the form of her legs beneath it. That stance with a short skirt may fit the character, but it may be more interesting to play a feminine/ladylike pose against her strength? Maybe one leg slightly in front of the other? It’s a bit of a superhero trope but for good reason.

 

Quick sketch to help explain what I mean.

 

  Hide contents

 

 

That's great thanks. (Lovely sketch too - and many things I can learn from it).

 

Yeah - the skirt on my character originally did follow the shape of her legs, but somehow that fell out along the way. It's meant to be chainmail, but I now realise that would be really nasty against the skin, so she'd probably have an undergarment too. Will hopefully find time to do another tonight...

[SpagMasterSwift]

Chainmail could also be figure hugging and you can get some nice light reflections off it, if you also had an undergarment it would remove the potential up-skirt problem that you may get as she is leaping about the place. 

[SpagMasterSwift]

I’ve been drawing eyes.

 

 

Did a few more…

 

[Sidewaysbob]

Meanwhile, I've been drinking red wine and playing around with abstract landscapes 

 

 

[moosegrinder]

I really like them. I saw you beating yourself up on Instagram and I'm here to tell you to stop it.

 

Anyway I still haven't finished anything but wanted to share part of the reason I haven't: it's because I'm an idiot. I wanted to do a Cult Of The Lamb thing and these are where my brain goes. Unfortunately these things are not sketches a few minutes or hours apart but weeks. Because I'm an idiot and change my mind frequently.

 

 

I usually get to AT LEAST inking them in before I do a handbrake turn and start over. 

 

This is where I am currently because I hated the tentacles and needed to figure out how you actually draw them.

 

 

And it's changed again since I saved this jpeg.

[Melon_Bread]

Did this for the game I've been working on. Not really for any specific reason just fancied doing something like a Netflix cartoon poster...

[Sidewaysbob]

18 hours ago, moosegrinder said:

I really like them. I saw you beating yourself up on Instagram and I'm here to tell you to stop it.

 

 

[Sidewaysbob]

Fun with nuns!!!!