Josh Fiddler
Montreal
Recovering mathematician, computer scientist, and pro chef. Professional Artist in Training.
GenAI is theft.
Art is NOT "content".
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Josh Fiddler
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2d
added comment inPractical Guide to Realistic Shading
Wow, where are all the people?
Anyway, great breakdown. And I'm glad you named the mathematical analysis that gives us an analytical description of the fall off in light as we approach the terminator. . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambert%27s_cosine_law
Fantastic stuff! It's really great to start to see more complete picture of where this sort of thinking is meant to take us. I especially enjoyed the leg breakdown into anatomy-by-overlap-wrap. Having started with the figure construction class before this one was released, it really helps cement the lessons from there.
Another comment, I notice some Force Drawing acolytes in the mix of this critique/preview lesson. That last one was definitely using the Force Gesture brush if I'm not mistaken. Mike also really emphasizes that shape comes AFTER understanding what you're looking at from a structural and force-rhythm point of view because it tends to push towards contours rather than the function and structure of what you're looking at. I try my best to incorporate forceful lines to define the gestures here, as it helps push the references from what is given and helps ensure story really comes across strong. With the little rubric for self-critique, I think I can see where I'm successful and where I'm not.
I too started in the figure drawing course and got stuck on gesture. Jumped on this class when it became available and I can now go back to the other class and move forward. Perfect timing.
Great explanation of your process after the gesture drawing @Michael Hampton. I found it extremely enlightening. I really enjoy your analytical approach.
I can't wait to learn more from your figure construction course which I will be taking after this one.
I started it before this and you get the added bonus of having the gesture already. He does dive into it in more depth in a later set of lessons, but not as clearly or as in depth as he does here. Solid course. Almost done myself.
Josh Fiddler
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17d
I used your initial construction just to get to the meat and potatoes of the drawing and then realized I forgot how to do the lips. :-8 Time to go back and review before doing the project...
Juice
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22d
Good lesson. Ive watched this many times now. The parts when you talk about wich values you use where on the sphere Are the hardest parts to Grasp. But I did screen dumps of those pictures so i can study it
Dorien Iten has some free lessons on this here on Proko and they are excellent. Might add some missing bits for you. But I hear you. breaking things down into distinct value groups in this very specific way was and still is a tad confusing. You've got the highlight version above, but Stan also talked about matte surfaces, that generally don't have a highlight due to the surface scattering the light that hits it. If you recall, a highlight is the reflection of the light source. The matte version might also help simplify the problem.
Josh Fiddler
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20d
Asked for help
Was away for a week, and managed to get back to this yesterday and today.
Yeah, after doing most of these in the last couple hours, my brain feels a little mushy.
Had a tough times with the two in the third image on the left 2nd and 3rd rows. Will definitely redo those a few times.
Ron Kempke
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1mo
As interesting as this approach is in itself, can you elaborate how it would be used for finishing an illustration?
If I may offer something, I take this as the "okay, what do we have here?" part of my process. It lets me make sense of what I'm looking at in terms of what the model or reference is maybe just hinting at, and allows me to build up my own intuition, and trust that my eyes are seeing what they are seeing. From there, I can push the hints in the direction of what I want to say. I've only been doing this for a few months now, and feel confident in what I've learned so that when I sit down to look at things I like, understand how to make those myself.
Now, if you're someone who already sees well or has an intuition already built up, it may not serve you to go to this level. Some folks can just get right to business in their own way and create something magical. What Michael is giving us, from my point of view, is a structured way to analyze what we see in terms of an idea which we eventually get to translate to the illustration once we are confident that we have what we're looking for to say what we want to say.
Josh Fiddler
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24d
I took this on Marco's personal site and it was an amazing experience to learn some really essential things about colour movement. Highly recommend.