Although I have not taken any photos of the first stages, here is the final result. This drawing made me remember a few previous assignments. My attempt to have a nice range of mid-tones and other values was decently successful, in my opinion. I tried to introduce the plaster head as a focal point in this composition, therefore I made the background as dark as I could. The head is much brighter and attentive-seeking because of this contrast of values.
In conclusion, I definitely see the difference and improvement in my drawing skills comparison with the previous year. It is much easier and fun to shade objects for me. Also, I understand perspective better and do not hesitate to use it when I am not sure. Now, I try to convey the real material of objects I'm drawing and exaggerating what you see.
Week 8 - Human Head Construction. Part 2 – Plaster Head
This week I was drawing a human plaster head. As usually start with small thumbnails. I drew a small version of the head but then I realize that tI can not get the shape of the eyes, so I tried to draw them first. After that, I started drawing the full head.
I started with proportions and drew the symmetrical lines over the eyes' corners and the vertical line between them. Then I drew the eyes themselves. I checked the eyes with the same size of the eye in between. The nose length approximately had the forehead length. The corners of the lips show where the jaw starts. The ears have to be approximately at the same level as the eyes and they have to end where the nose ends.
Although my proportions were almost correct, I somehow got a flat poster look. I drew this head too big and due to I cut the bust off and I drew only the face. So, I decided to redraw it again in a bit different approach.
I also had some issues with mid-tones as I got this appearance that you can't see much of difference between tones.
I started getting the details more refined and implemented facial features.
Week 7 - Human Head Construction. Part 1 - The Human Skull
Today's week task was to produce a drawing of a skull. I had to understand the construction of the head and the whole structure (how it is connected and why it is for). I find the video on Human head construction very useful. After watching it, I got some knowledge, so started drawing.
Firstly, I was drawing in a studio while referencing a skull model. It is a bit hard for me to draw such a complicated shape and don't have an opportunity to check the proportions. I mostly was checking and eyeballing the proportions and shapes. After that, by recommendations of my teacher, I decided to start shading the eye sockets so I can see their true shape. Because the eye sockets don't have a particular outline it was hard to guess where are the borders of them.
In the beginning, I had a few problems that instantly appeared. The eye sockets were too small and the nose and the jaw were to big. I fixed it easily when I compared them with each other.
To be more accurate with the shape you can just imagine every part of the head as a simple figure. For instance, the jaw and the mouth part would be like a cylindrical block. Because I was d.rawing the skull from the side I supposed to just image the remaining part and outline where the symmetrical lines lead to
Another problem I faced was the mid-tones and light parts of the values. It was difficult to comprehend where is the light part as for me it this skull was basically one colour with a core shadow on the side.
I fixed values a little, make mid-tones more visible and lightened the outer side of the eye sockets because they looked a bit too dark in comparison to other parts.
After I little break I was able to see what my skull needs. I made the overall tone for it, again adjusted the contrast, added the cast shadow underneath and also tried to implement the skull texture.
Here is the final result
To sum up, I need to spend more time on observations as long as I'm too simplifying shapes. Also, what helped me a lot is seeing a lot of different photos of different skills in order to have a common knowledge of the shape and the recognizable features of the human skull.
[Update] I erased some parts that are the brightest ones and edited a bit in Photoshop. I tweaked the exposure and levels and removed any unnecessary dot in the background.
This assignment was quite fun and unusual because of the colouring. Every time when I draw something using colour/pastel pencils I leave my comfort zone. It is also fun because you can use a lot of different colours that would be representative of the way you see these objects/the scene. Firstly, I chose an interesting composition from a virtual tour in Chernobyl. I wanted to draw something with a lot of foliage but at the same time it would have an abandoned the atmosphere. I had different screenshots of different places.
Here are my references.
I I drew a sketch, just a simple outline for the building.
Most of the time, I used brown, dark red, black and green colours. I used a mix of black and red to create dark tones and shadows.
I ended up with warm colours, although I wanted the opposite, so I decided to add more cold colours.
I utilized dark blue, violet, dark brown, dark green and more other colours from the cold colour scheme. Also, in order to make the drawing more reliable to the environment, I made up this little part of the fence in the left bottom corner. I wanted to have an object in front of the view angle but at the same time keep all attention on the abandoned buildings. I was told to make the plant shapes more accurate as they initially looked pretty much like silhouettes. Although, I could not make their shapes more precise because I had too many layers of pastel pencils and it would be difficult to erase them. My solution to that would be to create core shadows on each of the plants with dark green and blue colours. In addition, I added yellow colour to the side where the highlights from the sun would be.
Today's week agenda was to produce environment thumbnails while looking to the destination in real life. and then draw the final piece.
I chose the most attractive composition and started reproducing in the bigger format. I had a bit of empty space in the right corner, so I placed an object which I found on google.
After I've received feedback for my work, I started fixing and adjusting values. I made cast shadows more visible by making them darker. I also erased some areas where should be highlighted. By looking into a black and white photo, I easily could understand where is a shortage of values.
A few changes have happened. I made all dark areas much darker and made sure that it has values range as well. I made the wall almost black and smoothed it with a piece of tissue. The same action I did for the shadow underneath the table and chair. Overall, I exaggerated already existing values. I have noticed that it is hard to review your completed piece. There has to be a moment of reflection such as a day or two. After that time you can see what could be done better. It is still tricky to spot a lack of values while drawing something for a while. I always try to ask somebody for an honest opinion, when I can't ask a teacher.
As with every assignment, we start by drawing preparatory sketches. I drew a few thumbnails and decided which one I want to have as a final piece. I chose the second one because you can see how objects are placed on different levels. The composition is more interesting as the negative and positive spaces are equal here. Also, we have everything pointing to the top because of the different lengths and sizes of objects.
After that, I started sketching some general shapes. Here you can see a lot of ellipses, spheres and one box. In the studio, I could not really see the top of the objects, however, I drew them manually and was relying on my knowledge about ellipses. If you divide the ellipse you will have two different parts. One of them is further from us and one of them is closer. The one that is closer to us has the biggest part and is 1.5/2 of the ellipse. That helped me so much. I also have been practising the ellipse shape in this exercise.
As these objects were either metal or glass they must have strong shadows and highlights. Initially, I shaded the darkest object in the composition, which is the metal little jug in front of us. Secondly, I shaded the glass jug and the bottle at the back. I bared in mind that I have objects with strong materials and started depicting details. I made the overall tone for the jug by hatching. After that, I erased some parts where is highlights going to be. Then I add more tone by cross-hatching it but not stepping into the highlights. The glass reflects outside objects and creates nice reflections. I drew the back of the jug's handle to the place where it has to be., even though we can't see it outside.
I did the same for the glass bottle. I tried to see the lightest and the darkest tones. Then I drew some basic background to make a contrast between the items. This basic decision is very useful if you need to attract some attention to the highlights and strong shadows. I drew the cylindrical jar by creating long accurate shadows and highlights. Metallic objects reflect almost nothing, therefore the shadows and highlights resemble the shape of the objects. You have to just decide where the lighting is coming from.
I added some cast shadows. I did a little tone variation in it by creating the darkest tone exactly underneath the objects. I used putty rubber to have extra highlights on the objects as well. In addition, After hatching everything out, I saw some sharp lines from a pencil. I smoothed it with a tissue.
To sum up, I feel more confident about my knowledge of the materials and also have reminded myself about ellipse shapes. Glass and metal must have distinguished and well-built shadows& highlights. There has to be a great contrast between them too.
This week task is about shapes and patterns. Firstly I drew a couple of thumbnails. I was actually erasing and changing it a lot because I couldn.t find the best composition. I was suggested to place my objects, not at the same level in order no create a good view. I also was making sure that I have a nice distance between or made them overlap each other. I liked the first one and considered it to draw as a final piece. I liked the first one because the objects are placed on different levels and everything leads to the focal point, to the vase on top.
The final piece.
The problem I faced was with the glass. The one thing I fixed easily was the symmetry. Although it was hard for me to create an illusion of the real glass. The glass overall has very strong shadows and highlights. It also has reflections and transparency. Looking at the composition I saw that the vase has the darkest tone and after it goes the glass. Also, the shells are the lightest ones here. I tried to have the dark shadows but at the same time to not take the attention from the vase as it is a focal point.
The vase has a pattern and it is fairly repetitive, so it was not hard to draw it. However, after feedback, I realized that I need to fix some problems. I needed to redraw the pattern to make it more rounded and almost repeat the ellipse shape. Also, I had to make the vase darker and add a cast shadow. I also added more value to the glass to make the flowers be more attractive and readable.
Also, I drew the flowers with just outlines and little shadows on some of the petals.
Aesthetic in-game art is significantly important in terms to make an impact on viewers/players. It is not a surprise to game artists that colours, shapes of objects, composition, symbolism, has the biggest influence on the whole picture of their game design. It could be a really good level design but what it is without pointing out to players where to go and where to look at. It can be hard to see an object that the player has to find if you put it behind the focal point. Although it should not be a true point-out to the object, it could be just a hint with light, symbols or colours.
The colours can indicate the atmosphere itself. It shows us if it's a friendly or enemy environment. Black and cold tones are an indicator of scariness, creepiness and sadness. You can see an example of dark colours in the first picture where the focal point is the character carrying a weapon and looking at some sort of a creature. The colours of the whole picture (black, ochre, brown, dark blue and green) create tension and a feeling of chaos. We can not see all the details in this picture but we can definitely say that it has an apocalyptic and dark atmosphere here.
[Art of Metro:Exodus by Seung Ho Henrik Holmberg]
The colours mark the progression of the story and the character. as well. In the second picture, you can observe the opposite. Everything is lightened up and has bright vibrant colours: pink, light blue, white. All objects in this picture are leading to the highest point - the sun. It is also symbolic. This picture I can express as peace overall, freedom (hight, clouds), beauty (flower, its open petals). The whole composition says about the character's state of mind.
[Screenshot of Gris]
In the third picture, there is composition and shapes are working on. If you imagine dividing this picture into 9 blocks you would see that it is the rule of thirds. Also, most of the shapes are stable and still, the lines on the road help lead the player in the right direction. Even lights that hanging up have accurate vertical lines.
[Screenshot from Dead space]
I very like the last art. It is well-compositioned, all pointing to the character in the middle. There is no detail that would take your eye out of character, although you can still notice a lot of objects flying around, like swords and the dragon in the background. It is fair to say that the artist thought about the whole composition and the colours. You see the contrast between the background and the front side of the view. There is working the rule - the closer to the composition centre, the stronger and better-drawn details are; the further from the compositional centre, the weaker the details are. The character has bright white and decently saturated green colours on the dress. She also got a yellow gold accessory on her head that encourages her to see the face of the character more. Behind you can see a bright dragon that does not take all the attention despite that it's brighter than the character. We first notice the girl, the dragon and after the swords.
[Art by Bo Chen ]
Week 1 - Composition
Today I was supposed to draw a still life drawing with beautiful flowers in a vase and a few fruits&vegetables on a plate along. I started with a small thumbnail that would help me find the right dimensions of objects. Then I also got to know where all objects are placed. The first mistake that I made was drawing a pineapple too close to the plate that caused a not really good view of the whole composition. By the advice of the teacher, I changed it and placed it higher.
I drew a plate with fruits and vegetables. It took several attempts to recognize what object is bigger and which is smaller. I compared objects between each other. The orange was bigger than the apple; Lime is even smaller than those two; the yellow pepper was 1/3 of the whole plate, and the aubergine took 2/3 of the plate. However, it was difficult to say what the size of the aubergine is as it was laying behind the orange The garlic gloves are spot on, I think.
Although the flowers were beautiful, I had some struggled drawing them. I made another mistake drawing the white flower on the right with straight petals as I did not realize that they are like falling down. Also, I forgot that moment that petals have their own perspective too. Observing one single petal and the flower closely really helped me with comprehension of why is this specific flower look like this.
I finished this drawing piece. enhanced the outline and tried to experiment with line weight more. I made darker objects' sides that are closer to me and thinner lines for objects further back from me. Besides, I added more hatching into shading according to the shape of objects. That helped to define the lighting and introduce dimension. Furthermore, I simply hatched the background and added some cast shadows resembling their shapes.