for anybody who wants to now moer about this:
http://www.learning-to-see.co.uk/bargue-drawings

and another one called Colour in Storytelling

http://www.firstshowing.net/2015/watch-lewis-bonds-exceptional-video-essay-on-color-in-storytelling/

I forgot to say that, even having had good experiences at some of these sites, I have had much better experiences from direct marketing.

Believe it or not it comes from subbing already to this amazing site, having will terry and jake parker's you tube and facebook on my feeds.

Will Terry on You Tube and Jake Parker on You Tube

And being here for 2 months watching courses, participating in the 3rd Thursday challenges, which I highly recommend. And of course this wonderful community of inspiring people. Their work could speak for themselves, you add in this forum where they are so generous to help anyone asking, and you sponge a great deal of knowledge. I think of this place like graduate work, 0nly way more fun.

Be well Joanna.

@Damien-Rambacher It was a real quickie but I was thinking I could use it for Third Thursday maybe. Should I? I don't have anything else to send in. I guess I might as well, right? It's after my grandson and I. We dance in teh hallway next to my son playing the piano. So much fun.

It looks great! However I think the left eye is still a little too big..

Wow - huge improvements, everyone! I'm just starting here, so I'm so excited to see my progress...I think having a before & after thread was a great idea!

@Chris-Perry Hi Chris - I really like the texture of the medium you are using here - and also the blend of some of the colors really adds a nice depth and interest to the characters.

Having the music mixed into that semi-heart shape in the background is also a really nice touch as well. It gives it a neat decoupage feel.

The one thing I might suggest - is to do a little clean up of the smudges that are in the off white area around the piece. I feel like they distract from the piece overall and would be a quick fix in Photoshop for example to just take them out.

The other thing I might consider doing in a Photoshop clean-up is removing the paper edge ridge that goes through the dogs nose area. While it may be true to placement of that paper during your creative process it does take away a bit from the dog. So I think it would be interesting to see what it would look like if you smudged it out a little bit digitally.

@seanwelty Thanks. I had the biggest value contrast by far in the face to draw attention there. There's not much value difference within the hair - that's why I kept the background value a similar value to the hair so it didn't stand out as much. The black shadows in the reference were actually darker than I went and I wanted to draw the attention to the mouth/nose as they are what Ronnie is to me. I stayed more painterly away from those areas intentionally. Thank you for the input though, I really appreciate it.

Cheers everyone! On to the next one now.

Ace

Yeah good sentiment there..for life in general too. A curated portfolio is great, but not a false one...flawed can be interesting too.

@Shannon-Perkins I think colour is important, I just don't think I explained myself as well as I could. I meant more that if your values are correct, most colour schemes will work if they are mixed from a limited palette. I do feel that most people's colour problems stem from their lack of proper value study. Colour is important though, it's great.

@mattramsey I know that it's not copyrighted, but I feel that people's colouring would be far better if they fully studied it and understood colour and value rather than using someone else's understanding. I take quite an old fashioned traditional approach to my digital art though so it might be influenced by that.

Ace

meet_n_greet.jpg

I've been working since I last posted, I actually started with the schoolism class (thanks), and I'm finding the work really fun.

I do like the muted, soft colors. However, Papa mouse's shirt colors are very similar to the floor. Perhaps, using a pink for the floor (like the inside of the mouses' ears) would be good. This would help Papa mouse stand out and wouldn't add a new color to your work. A bit of gradiation should help give the flooring depth. Also, it's hard to read Papa mouse's right hand as it has lost the finger definition from your sketch. I love the clock (super cute idea to show the time progression through book plus Hickory Dickory Dock!) but one hand is pointing at 12 but the other hand is just off 7 - it should be pointed directly at 7 since the other hand is at 12.

@Lynn-Larson Thank you Lynn. That's sweet of you to say.

Thank you Rich, that means a lot coming from you, and it's so nice to know I am not the only one struggling between the technical side and the intuitive one... I guess we need to do the iterative work and free our minds. I'm glad Lee White said it so well, the exact opposite is true of almost every other art field, where technical skill trumps intuition, well not overwhelmingly, in a world flooded by talent, sometimes all that is left is intuition. 😉 Hang in there, we're gonna figure this out, I just know it...

Thank you all for such helpful feedback! There was some great input on the squirrel that inspired me to explore the character a bit more.

squirrel_alarm.jpg

I will work on adding him to the composition tomorrow. Happy drawing!

So excited for you! Can't wait to see it up, please share when it is!

Peter: I am in the same boat as you. Except you're farther along in your second style or children's book illustration style. I came to SVS to help develop that, and while many of the courses help with the thinking behind creating this type of work... not as many cover how to get there physically. Yes they talk about shape work, but if you're kind of alien to drawing that way in the first place, it's a leap.

It's the same leap if I were to ask someone whose only drawn in a cartoony, child like manner to suddenly do my kind of exaggerated realism. I'm a portrait artist first, and I have a tendency to think in terms of likenesses and how to achieve that. Translating that to a much more simplistic style, even one based in a lot of forethought is hard for me. I know art is universal and what applies in one style can also be used in another, that is to say the laws of light, perspective, emotion, etc...

I am not struggling in that respect.

For me it's choosing which style to spend more time in, as we know practice makes perfect. If I stop doing one style over another, I know the other style suffers. I think in the end I have to commit to one style for a period of time, and then return to the style I prefer for more personal reasons. While I enjoy children's book illustration greatly. I don't have delusions of it being so natural to me as the style I prefer to do when I pick up a pencil to draw. But that doesn't mean I don't intend to sponge as much from my SVS subscription as I can.

I love this place and the people, and it's very inspiring and full of creativity. The nuggets are here for anyone to find, and you don't have to dig very far... good luck with your work.

Thank you to those who responded by other means. It is nice to meet some of my fellow students!