What a year. Spent a little over an hour answering year-end questions about productivity/self-improvement. I went from trying to improve portrait drawings to focusing on the anatomy of the body; from Photoshop to traditional pencil and paper so I could focus on technique without technology; from anatomy specifics to learning how to simplify the body into basic shapes. A lot of backtracking, but I still managed to get ahead.
 | |
| Still have 3 more pictures of her I want to draw. |
|
In the spring I initially set out to have two characters modeled and textured by the end of the year. A video by Ryan Kingslien inspired me to learn anatomy. "Can't paint a house until it's built" and all that. Below are a few samples of my December efforts - legs, pelvis, feet:
 |
| FunkyMonkey1945's page on Deviant Art was instrumental in the way I now look at constructing the human body. |
|
 |
| Kyle Kane's style is super clean. I'd love to see his illustrations in an anatomy book. |
I've built the necessary momentum to forge ahead and if there's one word I'd use to describe my 2013 it would be, 'capable'. It's important to believe that about ourselves as close to 100% of the time as possible. For years after I didn't finish school I was confused as to how to proceed, thinking I needed some external catalyst to trigger growth. After the 'incompletes' I experienced with school, the military and a relationship I've discovered over the past two years that I had everything I needed to succeed the entire time. I didn't realize it on my own, though. The books on my Facebook page played a large role, also.
I'm currently doing gesture drawings and will probably spend January doing a 'review' of the body. I've been itching to do some life drawing so that's next. That is to be followed by cloth/drapery studies and light and shadow with color being last. I'm leaning a bit towards character design (conceptualization) as I think there's more freedom in that than just sculpting a creation someone else thought up, but we'll see. I'd prefer to do it all as far as characters (concept, sculpting and texturing - even backstory), but I can't get ahead of myself. One area at a time ...
