The Nerdmudgeon Podcast
Three middle-aged nerds (including yours truly!) review all of the MCU movies in chronological order. Short, funny, and full of good vibes, check it out and let us know what you think!
Nerdmudgeon.com
Create your own super-hero, sci-fi, or fantasy character sketch
Sponsored Links (which Premium Members will never see):
Very nice, Jeffrey. But you should totally draw her fighting cowboy ninjas and robot pirates.
Is there a name for this one? Or is she just a version of Red Riding Hood?
She reminds me of a White Mage from the early Final Fantasy games.
Hmmmf… and here I thought it was a character update for ‘Black Canary’… 😉
I like it. Very nice draping of the cloth and and I like the soft facial expression. Great job!
Thanks for the kind words, fellahs.
No name for this, just a hooded woman study. I think the reason I stopped doing the SOD before was that I felt too much pressure to produce a “finished”, complete illustration. That’s not what I wanted to do when I started, I just wanted to do quick sketches to try out various approaches. It was the whole “Ewok” series that finished me off, I think … they just got too involved and took too long.
So while a ninja cowboy versus robot pirate would be neat, it’s just too complicated for me to want to get into for what’s supposed to be a fun and quick daily exercise. At least for now.
are these by hand, computer, hand on computer(tablet),or what?
i love them i just want to now how you do them.
know
Maybe the next contest could be….let me think…..Ninja Cowboy vs. Robot Pirate.
These are beautiful. No need to go beyond your original intent of a quick study. I know the dangers of burnout.
ajw (7): As I recall, Jeff draws these in Flash on a tablet, same as he does for the HM3 items.
Jeff (6): I’m cool with that. I’m trying (emphasis on the word “trying”) to get my hand back into doing sketch work, but it would be nice if I could maintain the discipline to do it every day or even every other day. And I’m still only comfortable with pencil and paper thus far. But I get the idea of just drawing something for the day to keep your hand in it. Truth be told, if SOD one day was just a few sketches of hands in various positions, or whatever, because that’s what you felt like working on that day, I’m behind you on that. It’s just cool that you’re willing to share your work with us.
thanks myro, my brother thinks i should buy a tablet, but im nowhere near jeff’s level
ajw (12): Depending on what model you look into, they can get a little pricey. I shelled out a small fortune on an Wacom Intuos 3 that I’m still trying to get the hang of, and I’m worried that might not have been the best use of my money now. Still, I do try to mess around with it every day or so, to help get the feel of it, and I’ll likely bring it with me on vacation next week to use it more often in my spare time. But I’m just not getting the same feel for it that I get with pencils.
My advice would be to think about how much you plan on using it, and a lot of that depends on how much you draw right now. It’s not fair to compare yourself to Jeff; he went to school to study art, he draws every day or nearly every day, and his tablet must be indispensable to his work here. But, if you think you’d end up using it a lot, then maybe you could start looking into it. Otherwise, I’d say no.
An unsolicited two cents from a fellow creative professional and instructor:
If you’re just starting to learn how to draw, if you’re learning how to put marks on paper and create something that actually looks like something other than a page full of chicken scratch, then the best, best, best device you can use is…a pencil and a sketchbook.
A tablet is a tool. Nothing more, nothing less. It will not “make” you draw gooder. It will not “make” you magically understand proportion and shape and composition. It will not teach one single thing about the fundamentals of “good art.” All it will do is accept your input and translate it to the screen.
The problem (in my opinion) with learning on a tablet is that beginners get hung up on the technical aspects of the functionality. How do you use the pressure point sensitivity? How do you get it to track correctly? Why won’t it do blah blah blah? None of that should matter. And besides, all of those functions are just trying to imitate a skill that is best learned by hand in the first place.
Trust me on this: if you’re learning, don’t get a tablet. Don’t waste your money on something you’re not prepared to use correctly. Get a pencil, an eraser and a sketchbook. And draw as much as can whenever you can, drawing whatever is in front of you.
In general I think John is right, a tablet is not something you should invest in unless you already know how to draw and need it specifically for digital rendering. My only quibble would be that a pencil is ALSO “just a tool”, but the advantage for a beginner is that you’re looking at your hand while you’re drawing, versus a tablet where you’re looking at a screen in front of you while your hand is off to the side making the marks. Being able to watch the hand draw the line is a very key bit of visual connection I think you need when you’re learning how to draw, it makes an immediate and visceral pathway in the brain that cements in the learning.
k thanks guys, yeah I guess i’m a beginner but I definitely am not taking lessons, maybe I should, but that’s for another day!
Very Cool