ARTacademy: Report Card

 So continuing my self education through my new ARTacademy : School for the ungifted! (the things we do to entertain ourselves :P)

Here's a placeholder report card (an ugly looking one) of my progress :P 

Remember every page of a sketchbook filled = 10XP and 100XP to level up. 

A skill badge is earned once you reach level 5 of any subject.

=

Artist Study : Buscema

So the reason I am doing my ArtAcademy Level Up system (Need to find a better name for it :P), is 

A) To motivate myself to stick at studies for longer than just 3 pages, and 

B) to let myself know it's ok to suck when you're studying something new. 

For example, when you study an artist that isn't your natural style, it just takes a while to get how they draw. So in this case I did 5 pages of sketch studies so I'm at LVL1 EXP 50. 

And what do you expect at LVL 1 of anything? Exactly, you're a n00b (if people still use that word :P). 

Let's see if I am better at copying his style at LVL5, my guess is that I should be quite ok by then (meaning between 40-50 pages of copies).

(LVL 1 EXP 40)

(LVL 1 EXP 50)

BOX HEAD

 I had forgotten that at some point I started drawing heads from a box instead of a circle. So I wanted to do a page with some heads drawn from a box.. I think it helps a lot more than a circle for perspective. The only problem is that your drawings can come out stiff, but personally I don't use construction when I draw characters, only when I am practicing. 

(LVL2 EXP 60)

While I think it's important to practice drawing from your imagination without reference, you won't get any better unless you also study from life (or other artists), so on that note I should do some head studies soon again, because some of these are pretty wonky 😅

Friday!

 Workdoodle

Two-in-One

 Ever had trouble deciding if you should have a shower or a coffee first? Why not both?

Young girl

 

(LVL2 EXP 50)

Vampire Slayer Head

 Can't stop drawing heads, also I'm counting ever page as 10EXP each. Maybe it helps :P

(LVL2 EXP 40)

Kid Heads

 More doodles!

(LVL2 EXP 30)

More random heads

 ( LVL2 20EXP)

Generic Heads

Some more head doodles in storyboard pro. 

 

( LVL2 10EXP)

Head sketches

( LVL1 100EXP) ->LVL UP!

As I'm still doing my own level up system started here. I wanted to a victory sketch every time I level up a skill. So this week reached level 2 in "Heads" (meaning I did 10 pages of heads in my sketchbook). 

More head doodles

3-eyed character (doesn't really work but I kind of like it)

I like the spiral from the back view, just looks a bit weird from the front.

 

Head doodles

Terrible drawings , but all good practice :D 

Head Doodles

 Have not figured out this character yet, only one way to do so and that is by doodling :D

ARTacademy: Level Up

So I've been playing with this idea of coming up with a system to track and motivate my drawing progress. 

In short,  I've broken down certain areas into skills to practice like : Loomis Mannikin, Hands, Heads, Composition, etc... So for every skill if you fill a page of study or practice in your sketchbook , it earns 10 EXP, and you level up that skill after 10 pages (100 EXP).  You get a proficiency badge in a skill at level 5 (meaning you would've drawn 50 pages for that skill. 

Then you also can earn artist badges by studying (copying) an artist you admire, currently I am studying John Buscema.

Silly I know, but gotta keep things fun :D

So far I have tracked the following ones (I post these studies on my life drawing blog ) :

Loomis Mannikin : LVL3 / 0 EXP

Heads : LVL1 / 40 EXP

Hands : LVL 4 / 10 EXP

Buscema : LVL1/ 20 EXP

When I beat a level, I'll try and draw a victory sketch. This is beating the Loomis Mannikin LVL 2 :P

Head Sketches

Playing around still with this character through some sketches. 

Loud House 2

 Another morning study of a loud house panel before starting work.  It'a always good practice to draw from different artists, even ones you don't draw anything like. From working on more realistic shows, I realise how over elaborate my drawings are these days, I really love this stripped down style, really suits comedy so well. 

Loud House Study

 So whenever I feel like I am in a drawing slump, where I over draw and take too much time to go through panels (for work), it's time to look at board artists whose work you admire. One of those people is Kyle Marshall! 

So I copied a couple of his panels (badly) :D from a sequence of Loud House. I was interested in his line weight and how he simplifies his gestures. As always to really get a benefit from doing this, would need to do this daily for a while.