Thanqol Learns To Draw IV: NO EXCUSES

[Duck999]

Some of the corners kind of make it look like the people are made of something thin, like paper.

[TheAmishPirate]

Day 1151: Soul

I'm starting to see how all these pieces fit together.

I'm also coming to the very, very belated conclusion that the #1 thing stopping me from producing art for extended periods is my ancient, non-ergonomic desk bargained from some shifty-eyed antiquities dealer before I'd even been born. I'm going to replace it with some soulless piece of 21st century ergonomic trash even if it means risking the gypsy curse.

Links

Music: Soul

As somebody who just recently purchased a non-euclidian keyboard because his wrists and elbows hurt too much to type...it's worth at least a moderate gypsy curse.

[Madcrafter]

Oh man, having some sort of ergo desk various jobs would have saved me much pain. Risk the curse.

How do you know he was shifty-eyed if you weren't even born yet?

[Tiki Snakes]

Dunno if ergonomics come into it really, but a good workspace can only help. For digital art, you really just want space. A huge desk that lets you sit the proper distance from the screen (and so gives you plenty of space for tablet work) and for traditional art, you can't go far wrong with an easel really.

I'd love to see you give chalk and charcoal monochrome a seasonal go, really dig into your shading and stuff, kick linework to the curb for a bit.

[Thanqol]

Oh man, having some sort of ergo desk various jobs would have saved me much pain. Risk the curse.

How do you know he was shifty-eyed if you weren't even born yet?

Some things you just know.

Dunno if ergonomics come into it really, but a good workspace can only help. For digital art, you really just want space. A huge desk that lets you sit the proper distance from the screen (and so gives you plenty of space for tablet work) and for traditional art, you can't go far wrong with an easel really.

I'd love to see you give chalk and charcoal monochrome a seasonal go, really dig into your shading and stuff, kick linework to the curb for a bit.

Hmm. Maybe. Dunno the settings to do that in my current program suite yet.

Day 1152: Daylight Dancer

Just pointlessly iterated on a sketch.

New desk tomorrow.

Links

[Tiki Snakes]

Settings? You set some paper on a board and set some chalk and some charcoal nearby and then you rub it all together in vary quantities and patterns.

I'm talking non-digital, dirty finger media. Its fun. You'll want some unscented hairspray to fix it when you're done.

Or, you know. You could just try that with digital media if you prefer.

[Thanqol]

Later on the traditional media. I'm onto something right now.

Day 1153: Fasic construction

This new desk is so much better I literally have no idea how I survived using that old one for my entire life.

Got a huge amount of stuff that's been weighing on me cleared up today, too, so that's pretty cool.

Links

[Anarion]

Later on the traditional media. I'm onto something right now.

Day 1153: Fasic construction

This new desk is so much better I literally have no idea how I survived using that old one for my entire life.

Got a huge amount of stuff that's been weighing on me cleared up today, too, so that's pretty cool.

Links

Maybe the gypsy curse was being satisfied with the desk for years?

[Cuthalion]

I really like the top right one.

[Duck999]

Agreed. The top right one is amazing. If you tilted the head up a little it could be deep in thought, or it could be the I didn't do it/anything expression.
it wasn't me.

[Thanqol]

Day 1154: (4) Mild Undress

Didn't do much today, but watched a bunch of training videos. Some of the sketches are mildly undressed, fair warning.

Links

[Thanqol]

Day 1155: Sun's Gone

So I bought a mac.

Anyway, this. Another iterative sketch experiment and it turned out pretty rad. Took like 9 layers and about an hour but it was worthwhile.

Links

Music: Academy

[Anarion]

Day 1155: Sun's Gone

So I bought a mac.

Anyway, this. Another iterative sketch experiment and it turned out pretty rad. Took like 9 layers and about an hour but it was worthwhile.

Links

Music: Academy

To go into more detail than the other thread, I really like this drawing. You caught a very distinct mood with the eyes glancing sideways at the corners and her face turned away, and the curves of the body and face are really good.

Would love to see it colored at some point.

[Thanqol]

To go into more detail than the other thread, I really like this drawing. You caught a very distinct mood with the eyes glancing sideways at the corners and her face turned away, and the curves of the body and face are really good.

Would love to see it colored at some point.

Thanks, I should do that.

Day 1156: but not today

There's a game called The Last Federation. It's like a space 4x except instead of a planetary government you play the last survivor of the galaxy's master race who zips around, manipulating all the lesser races to his whim.

i'm not gonna get much done in the foreseeable future is what i'm saying

Links

[Tiki Snakes]

Day 1155: Sun's Gone

So I bought a mac.

Can't say I really understand why you'd do that, but hey, new toys are always cool.

Thanks, I should do that.

Day 1156: but not today

There's a game called The Last Federation. It's like a space 4x except instead of a planetary government you play the last survivor of the galaxy's master race who zips around, manipulating all the lesser races to his whim.

i'm not gonna get much done in the foreseeable future is what i'm saying

Links

That does sound pretty neat. More sandboxy somehow, perhaps.

[Thanqol]

Day 1157-1158: (5) War and Re-War

damn you last federation

Links
Two

[Thanqol]

Day 1159: Partial Iteration

Hmm, this looks all right but I'm not quite satisfied. I messed around a lot with outlines/visible layers and such and couldn't find anything I really liked. I think I'ma have to watch some more training videos.

Links

[Anarion]

Day 1159: Partial Iteration

Hmm, this looks all right but I'm not quite satisfied. I messed around a lot with outlines/visible layers and such and couldn't find anything I really liked. I think I'ma have to watch some more training videos.

Links

She looks pretty cool.

I do think that there might have been something lost though. The image feels a bit flat to me, somehow.

[Thanqol]

She looks pretty cool.

I do think that there might have been something lost though. The image feels a bit flat to me, somehow.

Yeah know what you mean.

Day 1160: Tricolour

Pretty in pink! Gonna need to do some more flags soon though.

Links

[Cuthalion]

Day 1159: Partial Iteration

Hmm, this looks all right but I'm not quite satisfied. I messed around a lot with outlines/visible layers and such and couldn't find anything I really liked. I think I'ma have to watch some more training videos.

Links

Her right elbow is a tad strange.

[Thanqol]

Day 1161: damn kids

Last Federation, Kelly-style.

One

[Thanqol]

Day 1162: (7) STOP LOOKING AT THE SKY

Today while staring at the clouds I came up with a great spin on the values game. Clouds are basically black-and-white with all kinds of interesting shades of grey so getting a photograph of the sky and trying to eyeball the values would be a great way to do that exercise, right?

It is! It just so happens that I suck at values. Need to do more like this. I did three cloud screenshots like this and they were all about as bad.

Links

[Thanqol]

Day 1163: (8) The Worst Colour

I hate the colour blue.

It's the worst colour by far. It either looks hideous or it looks like some other colour. The only time when it is halfway acceptable is when it's directly adjoining purples and greens. It's garish, and glaring, or it deepens into a pointless muddle of near-black or near-grey. It's this entire 20% of the colour wheel which all looks exactly the same. If someone tells you their favourite colour is blue they've just proven they have no taste.

Compare to brown, which is amazing. Brown has so much depth to it; change a value by 5 in any direction and we can tell the difference instantly. Brown has depth and character, brown has personality; brown covers everything between orange and gold and which one you're seeing depends on what's around it. Brown is awesome.

There's actually a scientific reason behind this too - our eyes aren't nearly as sensitive to blue as brown and green. The reason? Because the sky is such an intense blue it'd burn our eyes if we could see it in the same detail as we see brown! As a result of that little evolutionary quirk we're stuck with a bitch colour that has to be as much not-blue as possible to be palatable.

Only one of the swirls in this image is a 'proper' blue instead of very delicate fringe-blue. You can see it instantly because it's the ugly one.

Links

[Anarion]

Day 1163: (8) The Worst Colour

I hate the colour blue.

It's the worst colour by far. It either looks hideous or it looks like some other colour. The only time when it is halfway acceptable is when it's directly adjoining purples and greens. It's garish, and glaring, or it deepens into a pointless muddle of near-black or near-grey. It's this entire 20% of the colour wheel which all looks exactly the same. If someone tells you their favourite colour is blue they've just proven they have no taste.

Compare to brown, which is amazing. Brown has so much depth to it; change a value by 5 in any direction and we can tell the difference instantly. Brown has depth and character, brown has personality; brown covers everything between orange and gold and which one you're seeing depends on what's around it. Brown is awesome.

There's actually a scientific reason behind this too - our eyes aren't nearly as sensitive to blue as brown and green. The reason? Because the sky is such an intense blue it'd burn our eyes if we could see it in the same detail as we see brown! As a result of that little evolutionary quirk we're stuck with a bitch colour that has to be as much not-blue as possible to be palatable.

Only one of the swirls in this image is a 'proper' blue instead of very delicate fringe-blue. You can see it instantly because it's the ugly one.

Links

So how come purple and green are so kickass?

Also, while I make no claims on blue, I like that black color that people think is blue if you look at it in direct light (or is that the blue color that people think is black when it's too dark?).

[Thanqol]

So how come purple and green are so kickass?

Also, while I make no claims on blue, I like that black color that people think is blue if you look at it in direct light (or is that the blue color that people think is black when it's too dark?).

Green kicks ass because it's forests and we're REALLY good at seeing things in forests. Purple is amazing because it's got all the advantages of green and yet rarely appears in nature, which gives it a delicious depth and scent of exotic novelty. Dark blues do look more black than 0/0 black unless they're next to 0/0 black, it's a weird effect.

[Tiki Snakes]

Green kicks ass because it's forests and we're REALLY good at seeing things in forests. Purple is amazing because it's got all the advantages of green and yet rarely appears in nature, which gives it a delicious depth and scent of exotic novelty. Dark blues do look more black than 0/0 black unless they're next to 0/0 black, it's a weird effect.

I was taught that pure black is essentially a dead colour. Compositionally, or maybe specifically in painting and stuff like that, you should almost always avoid using it.

I must say, I dislike blue in general myself. Not for your reasons though. I'd say all of those shades are close enough to be called blue, really. Or, well, blue-ish? I've always preferred my blue's on the slightly-green end of the spectrum.

No, I dislike blue because it's the designated guy colour. It's part of the whole men-don't-have-fashion thing in modern life. You're a guy, you wear light blue and/or denim. You're allowed a pair of trousers and any number of shirts or t-shirts and anything else is a little weird or fruity. Screw that so screw blue, basically. [/ranty tangent]

[Madcrafter]

Aww so much blue hating. I like blue, even if it's a bit muddly and vampiric to other colours. And I think all would agree I have no taste, so no surprise there.

As for black, as the saying goes, you can't go back. Using it in a composition immediately caps your ability to use darker shades, and probably does some other fancy colour theory stuff I'm not too familiar with.

The guy thing I'm not fussed about. Give it another 70 years and it'll probably be pink again, or something stranger. People are fickle fashion fadsters.

[Anarion]

I was taught that pure black is essentially a dead colour. Compositionally, or maybe specifically in painting and stuff like that, you should almost always avoid using it.

I must say, I dislike blue in general myself. Not for your reasons though. I'd say all of those shades are close enough to be called blue, really. Or, well, blue-ish? I've always preferred my blue's on the slightly-green end of the spectrum.

No, I dislike blue because it's the designated guy colour. It's part of the whole men-don't-have-fashion thing in modern life. You're a guy, you wear light blue and/or denim. You're allowed a pair of trousers and any number of shirts or t-shirts and anything else is a little weird or fruity. Screw that so screw blue, basically. [/ranty tangent]

When I worked in Japan, acceptable fashion choices were: white shirt, light blue shirt, white shirt with a light blue stripe.

[Thanqol]

Also, let us not forget that Paradox games have taught me a psychopathic hatred towards any patch of blue of sufficient size.

Day 1164: Forget It, Man.

P&P, not uploading today. Someday I'm gonna batch upload these.

I was going to do any number of big, impressive things today. Make decisions, write chapters, put in significant art effort...

Instead I did one small thing that might well be better than all of the rest.

I dunno though.

We'll see how it goes. We'll see.

Anyway, watching some classic movies. Chinatown, right now. I think the biggest tell between an old movie and a new one is all in the fight choreography - no modern movie could handle the ineffective flaily grapples you see in this thing.

[Tiki Snakes]

I ate till I wanted to stop existing and watched Akira tonight. Haven't seen that film in ages. Old films, ho!