Thumbnailing!!
4yr
Rubén Frutos
Hey guys!
1 month ago I started doing daily thumbnail landscape sketches (1 per day) and I wanted to share with you the result and progress. First, I look up and gather a bunch of references of what I want to paint and look at them for like 5 or 10 mins, then I put them away and set the timer to 20 mins and start sketching!- this way I'm making sure that I spend the same amount of time everyday - This is great for seeing the progress, and also prevents me from overworking the thumbnails.
As always, any critique is welcome!
I also want to let you know that I'm going to keep doing this in case anyone wants to join me and share their progress aswell!
This is an awesome idea! How do you not get stuck on gathering references though? Feels like the most obvious trap.. You can really see the progress you've made though, keep up the good job
Thanks Sandy!
I'd say if you don't want to fall into that trap, when looking at references, try to visualize what you want to paint. Sometimes all I need is one good reference to inspire an idea, some other times I try to combine two different ones. There's also times when I try to replicate a reference from memory and since that is almost impossible I always end up with a whole new image!
You could also set a timer for your reference gathering, just like you do when you start to sketch.
I hope this can help you out and if you decide to give it a try I'd love to see what you come up with! Good luck!
Great work @Rubén Frutos. If I were to make one suggestion to help push your studies, it would be to experiment with different lighting keys. Here is an example of some thumbnails by Eytan Zana: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/yD3NR
His thumbnails have a nice variety in their value ranges. For example, the image in the top left has a low key value range, most of the image contains dark values, and doesn't go to pure white. The image on the bottom left is a good example of a full range value thumbnail: the darks go relatively dark, and the brightest parts get pretty light as well. The image in the top right is a nice example of a low key image with a high contrast light pop. It's different from the image on the top left because the lightest values get pretty close to white. Finally, the image on the bottom right is more like a high key image. Most of the values are either 50% grey or lighter, and the darkest parts take up such a tiny portion of the image.
Most of your studies feel like they're mostly in that middle grey range, with some areas that get pretty dark. I see a few images where you get a nice punch of bright whites and dark blacks, so you can experiment with that more. I think I see one image where it feels like it falls under that 'high key' range, so you can definitely try doing more experiments in that value range as well.
You could also try some exercises where you intentionally pick a design motif, and try to push that motif in your image. Then, you'd be able to create contrast with an opposing design motif. Shape design is a powerful tool that can sometimes get overlooked in composing, but people who use it well have some really great illustrations.
Love your consistency, I'm probably gonna have to start doing this exercise alongside you because it seems great. Let me know if there's anything about my critique that I can clear up. Hope it helps!
Thank you very much, @Luigi Manese . I appreciate the time you put in analysing what's wrong with these thumbnails and telling me how I can improve them. Eytan Zana is for sure someone I need to study, and I'll probably grab a few of his gumroad demos so I can have a better understanding behind his process and workflow.
I can clearly see what you mean about the middle grey range, and it's a trap that I usually fall into which prevents my thumbnails from catching attention to the eye. I'm not really sure what you mean about creating contrast with the opposing design motif tho. It'd be helpful if you could point it out in an example, if not, that's totally ok. I already feel like you're helping me out a lot.
It's all about consistency. Motivation is a great fuel but being consistent is what will get you to your goals. If you finally decide to start doing this little challenge it'd be great if you shared them in the platform!!
Thanks again, Luigi!
I see good ideas, although I think that 20 minutes is too long for doing a thumbnail. I suggest you use thumbnails to generate ideas without being attached to them, pick one to work out in a little more detail, at the level shown here.
Thanks, Izak. You're totally right, the point is that I just do 1 per day as a warmup. If I had to do iterations for a more detailed scene, I would do as you say.
Wow, definitely some impressive variety you have here! I’m curious, do you plan on continuing on the path of new environments or will you be focusing in on one or two types that you enjoy the most?
Thanks, Terence! I'll continue doing new environments. I don't do these as a prior work for a more detailed painting, they are just warmups.
@Rubén Frutos Great work with keeping the values simple and strong shapes. Also great variety in landscapes. Nothing but praise for these
