Matt Sloe
Edinburgh
Scottish illustrator and creative based in Edinburgh. Working with a variety of materials and surfaces. Teacher, Storyboard artist and freelancer.
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Matt Sloe
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3yr
added comment inChapter 1 Assignment
Hey @David Colman, regarding this assignment, is there an alternative that I could use for ref, other than going out to do observational. I currently work 6 day a week 9-6 and only have my evenings for drawings.
Eros Berner
3yr
There‘s also City Walk Videos on YouTube where somebody just walks or drives through a city
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3yr
Hey Matt,... maybe just watch TV but dont pause it. It can be baseball game, sitcom, reality TV. But just likein real life, you cant hit pause so make sure you work on those observational skills and act as if the subject is in front of you just walking by etc. Hope that helps
Loved these!!!
@tes_k_a
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3yr
Love the first one and the yellow beanie drawing, and about the PS to traditional thing - I have constantly heard pros say, start with the traditional then when you switch to PS, all that you need to know is the tools. but you are kind of right maybe, it might help ease into it, but I think there's also an argument that, since traditional painting doesn't multiple layers, its more challenging right?
Yeah there's less room for error in traditional materials, well harder to correct and adjust. That theory about writing traditionally then moving to digital, makes sense. I kind of Jump between the two. I should probably make more of a planned approach but i figure as long as I'm practicing and pushing i should then be developing.
Very nice work!
Thanks James. Relativity new to thre Proko community so aiming to be a regular poster hopefully.
Loving the chunky fella in profile. I tried to get back into traditional a while ago, found everything took much longer and didn't look the way I wanted it too - pretty much given up on colouring outside of photoshop for now, I like being able to quickly change things.
Cheers Joe. There's a really great Instagram account that i use for people ref sketching, called earthsworld. I love the freedom of digital, but i much prefer thre tactile finish of a traditional piece.
I tend to dip in and out of painting in PS, this probably hinders my progress a lot. I find myself drawing in sketchbooks more often than not, but I love working in PS as it gives me so much freedom to play with color. My thinking is, the more I play around in PS the better informed i'll be when it comes to working in traditional materials. The aim is to eventually progress to oils, but for now i'm dabbling with a range of acrylics and gouache and then good old pencil and paper. Here's a selection of studies in these materials.
Matt Sloe
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3yr
Id highly recommend looking at the Andrew Loomis 'Head and Hands' book.(you can get a pdf of it online) but would recommend getting the book. It had helped me so much in understanding the structure of the human head, he had such a clear way of explaining his method. Secondly id try to loosen up initially, lots of loose studies will mean you'll learn more in a shorter space of time rather than drawing meticulously at this stage. The 100 head challenge is a great way of developing your portrait drawing. Go for it. These are great.
Matt Sloe
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3yr
Ive been building up to eventually/ hopefully using oils. This is great. I used to live just along the road from Jackson art supplies in stoke newington. I still use them as my go to if my local art shop doesn't have what i need. I think i need to stop over thinking oils and just give them a go already. I told myself that i will get better at painting portraiture with acrylics first, but maybe i should just dive in with oils already. Great work.
Go for it! Maybe you can limit yourself in time like 2-4 hours and then move on to the next one, this way maybe you'll be more focused on getting used to the medium and not on creating a masterpiece which can be stressful. Just paint quick non accurate paintings until you feel comfortable enough to put in more time.
I think I needed to try oil, to work out what is so frustrating about watercolour and acrylic - and that is the drying speed thing - Oils just stay wet - I painted on Monday and then had to work until Thursday - when I came back to it I just dove straight back in - lovely - it was a bit dryer which helped the paint stick a bit on top, so it was easy to get going again - I simply can't work fast enough for acrylic and watercolour. All I bought was a few tubes of paint, some odourless solvent, a steel pot for brush cleaning and some boards to paint on - I must admit to making my own pallet with a lid to increase the chances of it all not drying out though...
