My journey into art

Figure drawings

2012-02-03T00:41:00.000-08:00

Gesture drawings (1-2 min) from life drawing class:

10-15 min sketches from life drawing class:

Study of a drawing by Luca Cambiaso:

Some sketchbook drawings:

Learning from the great masters: Rubens

2011-12-19T07:17:00.000-08:00

I finally began with the master studies, something I had in mind for a long while. My first try is a copy of Peter Paul Rubens "Two Satyrs". It's done in Photoshop, but I worked like I imagined an classical oil painter would do it. I started with a monochrome underpainting, added the basic colors and finally went into the details.

Caricature and a few sketchbook pages

2011-11-29T01:52:00.000-08:00

Something silly at first :)

Study after Nicolai Fechin, one of my favourite portrait artists:

A few quick figure sketches, some from photo ref, some from imagination:

Studies after Gottfried Bammes:

October sketchbook

2011-10-16T03:14:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
first of all I want to apologize that I've become a bit lazy with posting stuff here. I have worked a lot with my anatomy books during the last weeks and try to learn how to draw figures and portraits from imagination. But most of the stuff goes directly into the trash can, so there is not much to show yet :)

I've developed a keen interest in character design and hope to be able to invent figures from imagination until the end of this year.

My plans for the next months are:

- Learning constructive anatomy from the books of George Bridgman, Michael Hampton, Gottfried Bammes and David Rubins. I'm beginning with the skeleton framework and then study the muscles.

- Doing gesture drawings from life/photos and repeat it later from memory.

- Drawing simple figures from imagination and try to create a dynamic body-movement or a balanced stand.

- Copying masterworks form Michelangelo or Rubens and try to find important anatomical landmarks in them. Luckily there are a few works of both artists in the museums of my hometown.

- Developing a workflow to sketch a character directly in photoshop and render it (I've purchased a few educational videos from conceptart.org and gnomon for this).

- Learning the Reilly abstractions of the head and try to construct heads from imagination (different angles).

- Study Vanderpoels book "The human figure" and copy Masterworks from Sargent, Frans Hals and Velázquez.

- I also need to learn how to develope stuff from both: lines AND masses. Since I started drawing about 3 years ago, I mainly focused on drawing lines. I really need to learn how to paint with a big brush!

- And of course: go to life drawing class!

If you got any tipps and hints for me, please let me know. I attach a collage of a few sketchbook pages from october.

Some current sketches and paintings

2011-09-22T14:27:00.001-07:00

I try to get better at character design, digital painting and figure drawing from imagination... many experiments, but not much I would like to show right now.

Too bad the summer is over... I hope you all had an awesome time and spend your hollydays at the ocean :) I will try to make use of the last few sunny weeks and go out drawing.

Anyways... here is some of my current stuff. Enjoy!

The journey

2011-07-30T07:29:00.001-07:00

Some sketches in order to learn more about color/composition and to try out a few new brushes.

Sketches and watercolor experiments

2011-07-22T14:20:00.000-07:00

Homeless People

2011-06-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

A lazy monday... I'm still a bit tired from my weekend trip and started the day with a strong coffee and some sketches.

portrait studies

2011-06-08T09:11:00.001-07:00

Life drawings and a few master studies

2011-06-07T06:59:00.000-07:00

The following studies are from life drawing class. I mainly focused on gesture and lines because the models mostly change position every 5-10 minutes and there is no direct lighting. Sometimes I tried to draw shadows from imagination, but I have to learn more about muscles to do it correctly :)

...and some master studies from the museum of art history in vienna. It's an amazing place to be! There are gigantic rooms with paintings by Rubens, Dürer, Hohlbein... and also small rooms to explore with works of Rembrandt or Vermeer. I was very excited to draw in a public museum, but luckily it wasn't very crowded that day. There also were small movable benches, so I was able to sit right in front of the paintings.

The composition study is from Titian's "Diana and Callisto" and the Portrait study from Parmigianino.

new photoshop technique

2011-04-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

I wanted to try out a new technique for digital painting that I recently read about. The basic idea is to make a monochrome underpainting first. The major color is added on a new layer set to "color mode". On the next layers, minor colors are added in "hard light mode" and "soft light mode". The value information of the underpainting will be kept through all the new layers. The advantage of this method is that I can plan the whole composition in terms of value and don't have to worry too much about color.

EDIT: Dan Bradley requested a more detailed walkthrough. Here is how I did it:

1.) I did a simple line sketch

- hard round brush
- shape dynamics: size jitter set to pen pressure
- other dynamics: flow jitter set to pen pressure, opacity jitter set off
- smoothing

2.) I blocked in the values in black and white with a few brushstrokes. Then I used the smudge tool. The standard- settings are not too good, here is how I use it:

- airbrush
- scattering: scatter 38 %, count 10

3.) I made a new layer above the underpainting and set it to color mode. Then I took the airbrush and painted the skin color all over the face. (If you are not happy with the result, you can experiment with the "color/saturation" option. In the german version the shortcut is strg+u... its probably similar to the english version.)

Then I made a new layer on top set to hard light. I painted with a warmer skin color and also red and low saturated purple. Still using the airbrush.

4.) I merged all layers together and set a new layer on top to soft light. Here I worked on some details like a cold fill light to illuminate the shadows or the reds of the mouth.

Finally I merged it all together and switched back to normal painting with a hard round brush and airbrush.

5.) The last steps show the process of painting the hair. I can't say too much about it because I still suck at painting hair :) But here are some general hints:

I blocked in the big shapes first and worked from dark to light. Tried to paint groups of strands as large masses. Then I used the smudge tool with a speckled dot brush and 60-90 % opacity to define the flow of the hair. Next I set "soft light mode" to my airbrush and added the highlights and a secondary color. Finally I switched back to normal mode and a tripple dot brush and painted the details.

Hope is helped :)
cheers

on the beach

2011-04-08T16:58:00.001-07:00

gesture studies

2011-04-08T16:54:00.000-07:00

More gesture studies, because it's fun :)

gesture studies

2011-04-08T16:28:00.000-07:00

Reading much Glenn Vilppu, Michael Hampton and Walt Stanchfield lately... I try capturing the gesture by sketching from imagination, photo reference or at public places. I'm also testing out new tools like copic markers, ink and brush and colored pencils.

mixed media portraits

2011-04-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

I scanned in a few sketchbook pages and played a bit around with custom brushes and textures in photoshop.

silhouette sketches

2011-04-08T16:12:00.000-07:00

Some silhouette sketches in order to practice character design. Drawn from imagination.

the dark alley

2011-02-03T14:22:00.000-08:00

This is my first commissioned work, an environmental concept for a fantasy novel. For the first time I worked with an extremely limited palette and I also tried to use only a few brushes. Setting up some limitations from the beginning helps me focusing on the important stuff like composition and values.

gesture studies

2011-02-03T14:06:00.000-08:00

I'm still working on my gesture drawings and try to find a personal style. I'm probably still focused too much on the details, but it's real fun to do these speedy studies.

anatomy of the skull and planes of the head

2011-01-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

Some studies from Gottfried Bammes' "Die Gestalt des Menschen":

... and a study of the "planes of the head" after John Asaro's model. High polygon count on the left side, low count on the right. Studying the planes is very helpful to get a three-dimensional feeling for the head and understanding the shadows in different situations of illumination.

first oil sketch

2011-01-24T14:29:00.000-08:00

This is my first attempt in oil painting. Just a simple portrait study, but it was a real joy to bring the colors to the canvas.

gesture drawings

2011-01-24T14:16:00.001-08:00

These are some of the gesture studies I have done during the last 2 months. I tried to focus more on action lines and constructive anatomy than outline and shape. Most of these are drawn in short time (2 min), the last one was about 15 min .

portrait studies

2011-01-24T14:14:00.000-08:00

back to the basics: anatomy studies

2011-01-24T14:01:00.001-08:00

I decided to go back to the basics and study my anatomy books. I have made these drawings from Gottfried Bammes' "Die Gestalt des Menschen". Ribcage, spine and pelvis seem to be highly important for a dynamic figure drawing because they are responsible for balance and disposition of weight.

life drawings

2011-01-24T13:52:00.000-08:00

Some examples from a life drawing class at the university of applied arts in vienna. The model moved every 2-5 mintes, so I focused more on expression than details.

animals sketches

2011-01-24T13:47:00.000-08:00

portrait study

2010-10-22T00:40:00.000-07:00

Portrait study from reference. I found the photo on flickr a while ago and was amazed by the stunning lighting that is perfect for a chiaroscuro study.

I basicly used a hard round brush, airbrush and a tripple dot brush for the hair. I wanted to practice seeing tonal values correctly and put emphasis on the edges of the shadows. I probably will add color to this, but I haven't found a adequate technique yet.

nude drawing

2010-10-13T09:59:00.000-07:00

Nude drawing from photo reference. Done with 2b & 3b graphite pencils and white chalk.

nude study

2010-10-13T09:56:00.001-07:00

thoughts about light and shadow

2010-10-04T02:21:00.000-07:00

Why we see things

All objects are made visible to us by light. It travels in straight lines and is reflected by any existing object in all directions. Some of these reflected rays will pass through the viewers eyes and strike the retina. So technically, when we "see" an object, we see the light reflected by its surface.

Origin of color

White light is composed of all possible colors. Depending on it's color pigments, every object can absorb some rays of light while others will be reflected. A red object for example is reflecting red rays of light while absorbing the remaining.

Light and shadow

An object under a single direct light source like the sun or a light bulb is divided into light and shadow. Basically there are two kinds of shadows:

Form shadow: A form darkens when it turns away from the light. The shadow on that side is called "form shadow".

Cast shadow: When an object is blocking the light source, it casts a shadow on the space behind. This shadow is called "cast shadow".

The edge of the form shadow is the border between the light and the shadow. This part of the object has turned away most far from the light and is the darkest part of the light side and the form shadow.

The cast shadow is as dark as the darkest part of the form shadow. The surface around the object will reflect light. It acts as a minor light source and illuminates the form shadow. As a consequence, the form shadow will gradually lighten from the form shadow edge.

The edges of the form shadow are much softer than the cast shadow edges. But it depends much on the light situation (diffuse lightning like sunlight creates softer edges).

The light side gradually gets lighter from the form shadow edge. Highlights are the brightest parts, because they reflect the most incoming light. The intensity of the highlights depends on the physical quality the object's surface.

Matte and glossy surfaces

The physical characteristics of an surface affects how “shiny” the object is. On matte surfaces like sandstone, light is reflected randomly. On glossy surfaces like chrome, the angles of incomming light and reflected light are equal. In this case, we see more intensive highlights.

Reflected light as minor light source

Since every object reflects light in every direction, shadow sides can also be illumunated. Furthermore, every object will absorb some rays of the incoming light. Depending on the intensity of the light and the physical properties of the reflecting object, the minor light source can influence the color of another object.

sources:
Harold Speed: The Practice and Science of Drawing
Anthony Ryder: The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing

storyboard

2010-09-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

Digital sketches

2010-08-30T06:05:00.000-07:00

This is a new method of painting that I currently try to learn. I block in the colors or tonal values with a big brush and totally avoid lines. After painting the main shapes I continue adding details. Painting just "what I see" is so much fun, because it gives me the opportunity to explore form in a new way and also gives me the freedom to make changes whenever I want to.

I used photoshop and wacom intuos3. Here's a short step-by-step guide for those who are interested. Please click to enlarge...

sketches

2010-08-30T05:49:00.000-07:00

Quick studies from photo reference:

Sketches from mind for my painting "the explorer":

Sketches (from mind) and thumbnails for a painting I never finished. The idea was to establish a scene up on the roofs of a medieval city, where my previous created figure "harlequin" and his little sidekick will balance on a wire. I wanted to show the scene from an dramatic angle with strong foreshortening in perspective.

animal studies in the local zoo

2010-08-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to the zoo and made some animal studies. It was a warm and sunny day and most oft the pets where sleepy.

the explorer

2010-08-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

This is one of the illustrations I was doing during the last weeks. I still try to learn how to work from imagination and James Gurney's book "Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist" is a very great help.

I got the basic Idea for this illustration while listening to an audio-book by Jules Verne in the subway. When I came home, I made several thumbnail-sketches to figure out the basic composition. Then I made some sketches for the figures. After doing this, I took photographes of myself as reference to make detail-studies for the sitting pose and feet. Then I scanned the finished pencil-sketch to photoshop and started painting...

During the process of painting, I realized that I stick to much with lines. The good thing with that is, that it's giving me the possibility to plan out the whole illustration. But I miss the freedom to explore form during the painting process and do quick major changes. Next time I'll try to work different and start directly by painting with colors after doing the composition sketches.

Anyway... here's the finished picture. Hope you like it :)
Comments and critics are - like always - much appreciated

chiaroscuro studies

2010-07-21T04:59:00.000-07:00

I currently work on two illustrations that take a lot of time. The bad thing about doing such bigger projects is that I have less time for studies. This morning I felt like I should go back to the basics and practise more portrait-, figure- and gesture-drawing.

The portrait is drawn from a photo reference that I have found on deviant.art. For the hand studies I used my own hands as reference :)

the harlequin

2010-07-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

I´m planning to do a cartoon-style illustration about a harlequin in a medieval world. In this post i will show the basic character design for the protagonist and his sidekick.

portrait studies

2010-06-22T02:26:00.000-07:00

Rainy weekend... best time to do some drawings.

concept for a medieval houses

2010-06-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

Step one: pencil sketch from imagination
Step two: basic coloration in photoshop

animal studies

2010-06-10T02:49:00.000-07:00

Today I have read an article at Illustration Art about John James Audubon. He lived for years in the north american wilderness at the end of the 18th century. During this time he painted birds for his scientific and illustrated book "The Birds of America".

Now I´m really in the mood to draw animals :) Here are some quick pencil drawings from photo reference. At the weekend I will go to the zoo and try to make some watercolor and graphite studies.

Carl Spitzweg study

2010-06-10T02:14:00.000-07:00

Carl Spitzweg is one of my favourite german painters. He lived in a small town in bavaria in the 19th century and worked as an apothecary. His paintings are comic studies of the residents of Straubing (eccentrics, bookworms...) and customers of his apothecary (hypochondriacs). He illustrated the weaknesses and oddities of his characters, but never in a offending way... they are all still very lovable and charming. The backrounds are often idyllic scenes from his town or the forests and grasslands nearby.

I have read that the young Carl Spitzweg often used to go out in nature to study and sketch grasses, trees and flowers. When he became an apothecary, he used his knowledge of chemicals and nature to create his own colors. He also traveled around europe to visit art galleries, but actually never studied art at a academy.

I decieded to study some of his characters and maybe do some copies in gouache or watercolor later. This one is a study of the oil-painting"The Cactus Friend". I had to do some little changes to the face, because it was not easy for me to transform the details to a pencil drawing.

landscape studies

2010-06-08T06:09:00.000-07:00

After a little excursion into digital painting, I really want to start painting with traditional media. I decided to begin with watercolor and gouache. My plan is to mix these two paints, because I think they work greatly together... one is transparent, the other is opaque and both are water based. I found superb watercolor/gouache artworks in the web (like this: http://virtualgouacheland.blogspot.com)

study of a drawing by John Singer Sargent

2010-05-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

Today I have ordered a book about John Singer Sargent´s portrait drawings. He is one of my favourite painters and I can´t wait to start studying his works. I find it fascinating how he expressed the individual charme and instinctive beauty of each of his models. Looking at his portraits feels to me like seeing the real person, even though thats impossible.

The following picture is a study of a portrait drawing by Mr Sargent that I found at johnsingersargent.org. The original is done in charcoal, but I used a 2B and 4B graphite pencil. Currently I´m trying to add more tonal value to my drawings and hope, that master studies are a helpful exercise for that kind of subject. But even if I´m wrong, it was really fun doing it :D

portrait drawings

2010-05-30T11:00:00.001-07:00

Two more portraits I have done a while ago. Both are drawn from photo reference...

medieval village

2010-05-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed doing the last illustration, so I decided to do another digital painting. This one is some kind of cartoon-style medieval village. For the research I looked at several styles of framework houses and the architecture of old bavarian towns like Rothenburg. I also found a book with totally amazing and inspiring images of concept paintings for early disney movies.

I drawn the sketch with pencils... It was a little bit tricky, beacause it was the first time that I invented a architectural scene from mind. At this point, I realized that I badly have to learn more about perspective. I also noticed, that it´s important to watch out for perspectival mistakes in the early state of the sketch, because its difficult to adjust them later. For the final process - the painting - I used my beloved wacom intuos graphic tablet and photoshop (basic round brush with different opacity)

the sad bard

2010-05-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

After spending lots of time drawing figures and portraits in graphite, I really needed to do something different. The following picture was done with a wacom intuos graphic tablet and photoshop. Usually I start an illustration like this with a pencil sketch and scan it to photoshop. But this one is actually different from its basic sketch, because many little stories where floating through my head while I was painting.

figure drawings

2010-05-30T09:35:00.000-07:00

Two more figure drawings from photo reference...

portrait drawings

2010-05-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

While I was photographing the drawings that I have done so far, I realized that I have to add more tonal value. I think I will use softer pencils in the future (like 4B or higher) or maybe charcoal. Sometimes its nice to browse through older pictures after a while to get a fresh new look on it.

Hitchcock

2010-05-30T09:22:00.001-07:00

Sir Alfred Hitchcock, grandmaster of suspense...

figure drawing

2010-05-30T06:13:00.000-07:00

I wanted to practice more shadows and pencil rendering, so I did this from a photo I found on deviantART.

chiaroscuro study

2010-05-30T04:53:00.000-07:00

In preparation of start painting with oils soon, I did a Chiaroscuro drawing. Chiaroscuro means "light and dark" and is basicly drawn with two contrasting tones on a middle-toned background. That one is done with sanguine and white pastell pencils (CarbOthello).

anatomy: John H. Vanderpoel

2010-05-30T04:39:00.001-07:00

The following studies are from John H. Vanderpoel's wonderful book "The Human Figure". I think his book and Gottfried Bammes "Die Gestalt des Menschen" are complementing one another. While Bammes gives perfect instructions to constructive anatomy, Vanderpoel's book givs a translation of the human form and the anatomical parts that have direct visual effect to it.

anatomy: Gottfried Bammes

2010-05-30T04:19:00.000-07:00

"Die Gestalt des Menschen" by Gottfried Bammes is my favourite book about anatomy... or maybe my favourite book in general :) I bought it a short time after I startet to draw and studied many plates since then. Especially the diagrams about construction of the single body parts like hands or arms are great, but also those about human proportions. They are all self-explanatory.

Bammes Book lies on top of my drawing desk, everyday staring at me saying: "start reading me seriously!" I really should take the time and do so! Anyway... here I show two of the studies I did:

anatomy: George Bridgman

2010-05-30T04:13:00.000-07:00

This is a small study I did from Bridgman's "Complete Guide to Drawing from Life". The book seems to be a classic and was approved from many art communities like conceptart.org.

animal studies

2010-05-29T22:10:00.001-07:00

Two doodles of tired dogs...

portrait study

2010-05-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

I drew this portrait from an early 20th century photography, that I found at deviantART.

caricature

2010-05-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

A quick caricature drawing from the movie "What happened to Kerouac?". This guy gave a short interview, but I unfortunately forgot his name.

sportsmen

2010-05-29T21:48:00.001-07:00

Two characters in motion

Frazetta study

2010-05-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

This is a study of a sketch by Frank Frazetta, one of my favourite illustrators from the 20th century.

body parts and foreshortening

2010-05-29T21:32:00.000-07:00

I still rifle through the drawings I made during last year and photograph them. The next few are some studies of my own body parts to get a better understanding about anatomy and foreshortening. I should do this more often...

character design for a Eichendorff-novel

2010-05-29T19:25:00.000-07:00

I did this little character design after reading a novel by Joseph von Eichendorff. It was really fun, because I had so many images in my mind while I was reading.

portrait drawings

2010-05-29T19:17:00.000-07:00

More portraits I did from photo reference.

nude girl in watercolor

2010-05-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

Thats my first attempt in watercolor. The photo reference is from a stock on deviantART.

scooter

2010-05-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

A scooter in the streets of Vienna.

sketchy portrait

2010-05-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

This portrait is a study from a photo I found on Flickr. I tried to draw more loose and sketchy...

comic style sketch

2010-05-29T18:40:00.001-07:00

I did this quick sketch from a photo I found somewhere on deviantART.

master studies

2010-05-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

Two portraits I did during last year. The first one is a study of a drawing from Harold Speed's book "The practice and science of drawing"...

... and the second is a study of a painting by Hans Holbein showing Sir Thomas More.