SO, I finally decided to get a bit serious about color (I was the weird guy always looking her way and not saying anything to her). I had no idea she'd be so receptive. Chris Legaspi on Youtube had a few interesting videos that helped initiate my first few studies this month:
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| The top left two (Puss in Boots and Mountains) were done using Nathan Fowkes' work as reference (as suggested by Mr. Legaspi). The other five were from different artists. Out of frustrated curiousity, I began sampling colors with the eyedropper tool AFTER I would complete a study. I did this to see just exactly which colors were used and to measure how close (or far off) I was in my attempts to match the originals. |
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| I systematized that color picking practice and created value scales based on different parts of the images (hair, parts of skin). Also, since my aim is to become a character artist I opted to use portraits as reference. From the third image on you'll notice a closer likeness to the sources (though likeness wasn't the aim here). This had to do with a video I saw of Jeff Watts (and one video a student of his posted) that recommended using the outline of your subject as a launching point for your drawing. I looked for basic, hard angles first and then refined the curves just a little bit. I was too dependent on the 'head construction' method, which suits creating a head from scratch much better (though you could still incorporate some of the latter's techniques into a portrait study, as you see fit). | | | | | |
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