- Value Studies of Concept Art and Photography.
What: Focus on light and shadow by creating grayscale drawings of environments.
How: Choose a reference photo and focus on capturing the light source, shapes, shading, and contrast without worrying about color. Try to use only 3-4 values to keep it simple. (10-15 mins per study)
Good enough for now.
I definitely could’ve done better, especially with the one on the bottom left. I was limited on time, so I guess this was the best I could manage at the moment. Anyway. Everything could definitely be improved. I want to focus more on getting the shapes of the rock and being faster and efficient.
- Perspective Practice
What: Draw environments using basic perspective techniques to create a sense of depth.
How: Start with simple street scenes or interiors in 1-point perspective, then move on to 2-point perspective for more dynamic and realistic spaces, then 3 point, then mixed perspectives. (15-20 mins per perspective piece)
Perspective was okay; six-point confused me.
My perspective work was alright. Having prior experience was helpful. But I’d like to explore perspectives beyond three-point. For the last image, I thought I understood what I was looking at, but I actually had no idea. I think it was six-point.
- Lighting and Colour Studies
What: Explore how light and colour is used in a chosen artists work. studying the scene and its use of colour and light can help you understand your own colour and lighting choices.
How: Start with simple shapes and focus on how light interacts with the environment. For digital practice, use the color picker to define a simplified colour pallet. if possible, emulate brush strokes and mark making. (15-30 mins per study)
Explored color and mark-making, and the last piece was tough.
The colour work turned out nicely. I chose references with unique styles and mark-making because I wanted to study and emulate their brushwork. I had a lot of fun with the first two pieces since their styles were so distinct. For the last one, I went for something more traditional to focus purely on color. That piece was extremely challenging since it was all about light, so even slight colour inaccuracies threw everything off. I spent most of my time trying to get the colors right and fixing everything that I didn’t manage to even finish half of it, which I think speaks volumes about the original artwork.
- Speed Painting (Digital or Traditional)
What: Set a timer and create quick digital paintings or sketches of environments. these can be your own, or studies of other works. or even micro studies of a part of a piece.
How: Use references or draw from imagination, and try to complete a small scene in 30 minutes or less. This will help you develop a faster workflow and capture the essence of an environment quickly.
Still unfinished!
The first image, just simple rock formations along a footpath in 30 mins. (I don’t know I didn’t actually keep track but it didn’t feel long. I’m quite happy with that. Improving in speed!)
I started with a sketch but didn’t like the composition or aspect ratio. Looking at it right now though, I might explore that version later. Anyway, I made some changes and ended up with this on the bottom. It’s still unfinished. I know we were meant to spend about 30 minutes, but I saw potential and worked for about an hour total before stopping to upload my progress. I’ll continue refining it later. There’s currently no clear focal point still, and I’m midway adding something like a skull in the middle. Earlier versions had an empty center, which made the piece feel odd and directionless which is why.