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Tsotne Shonia
added comment inHow to Draw Biceps – Anatomy for Artists
8mo
Asked for help
I'm still experimenting with the shading, there's still a lot to do.
I think I'm not varying my core shadows enough and need to be more willing to "erase" my lines, but I'm making slow progress 😊
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8mo
Hey, everyone! I hope you've all had a fantastic start to the new year and are excited to dig into the next segment of this course. I wanted to give a quick update on our plans for this year as there's been a slight change to our production schedule. I've accepted a new job on Hearthstone which is very exciting but also means I have to move across the entire country, which has been consuming every waking moment of the past month or so. As such, there will be a bit of a delay in the release of the next episodes until I can get settled into my new place and re-establish my recording setup.
We have a LOT of great content coming for the course this year that I'm super excited to share, and I want to be sure I give it 110% effort rather than squeezing it in between a million other things. I do apologize for the delay, but I can promise the next section is gonna be awesome and well worth the wait. Thank you so much for your patience, and I can't wait to continue painting with you in 2023! <3
Tsotne Shonia
8mo
Oooh so that's what you teased when you announced that you were leaving HiRez, I was quite curious 👀
That's awesome 😊 wish you the best at your new job
And I second what Nicole Drews said, pretty much sums up my thoughts
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Asked for help
Alright so this time I tried to shade in a similar style to Stan, and I had a lot more fun than I thought :D
Some simplifications could've been done better but I think that a lot will come with experimentation. I think I might keep this style (and refine it) for the rest of the anatomy course.
I am particularly pleased with number 3 👀
8mo
I got enlightened by the explanations you gave between 36:30 and 42:30 🤯
Asked for help
This was by far the toughest lesson I've done so far
I couldn't even progress on it without watching Stan's demos and applying his solutions 😅
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Asked for help
This is quite tough, there's A LOT to think about at the same time, even if we break it down in small steps.
But anyways, here's my attempt.
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Asked for help
My attempt for this assignment :
Asked for help
I wonder if I should've used values to show form🤔
Doing it with lines is incredibely difficult
Asked for help
Here's my submission. I didn't include the traps or lat, so I show the supraspinatus and serratus even when they should be hidden.
9mo
Asked for help
And here's my submission for these obliques assignments
I colored the obliques in the first part, and omitted shading in the second part
Asked for help
Here's my submission for this assignment.
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Asked for help
I had some fun but at some point but I just hate painting backgrounds, man.
Well, to be more precise, I feel so clueless as to how to make a "nice" background (and/or props) that I get demoralised to the extent that eventually I felt like I was "rolling through punches" to move forward and "finish" the piece.
I don't want to "not do it" because I know that I want my finished artwork to have (even simple) clean backgrounds, but I clearly feel like I lack some knowledge or something.
Anyways 'nuff whining (for now)
Thanks for the lesson 🙂
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10mo
Asked for help
Alright, a little late but here's my assignment.
Not really sure how I feel about this process. In theory I like the step by step and organisation, but having a bunch of layers with a bunch of different blending modes got confusing and overwhelming for my lil add brain. Probably I just need more practice with this kinda workflow though.
Also I kinda got confused with the term Ambient Occlusion, I thought it was the darkest part of shadows where no light or reflected light could reach? But it didn't seem to be used like that in the demo. So my AO and Core Shadows kinda got mixed and messy. Maybe I'm just overthinking it though. I think next time I'd just combine the two into one layer.
That being said, I'm really glad we're going through all these different workflows. It's nice learning different processes and figuring out what you like and don't like as well as having different options/solutions for different pieces. So thank youu, I'd probably never learn these or think to try them without this course
10mo
Hey @Nicole Drews ! I'm still an apprentice so don't take my word as gospel but I wanted to sprout my opinion here.
The first time going through a process like this is always confusing, but I've tried it on a few more paintings by now and it definitely gets easier.
Also, over time, you will naturally think of ways to simplify / change some steps and make it more intuitive to you.
On Ambient Occlusion.
I was also taught that at first, but no, AO doesn't only affect crevasses. A lot of artists just simplify it that way.
AO is a trick used by 3d softwares. Whenever two objects are close to each other, it gradually darkens both and often (faintly) affects a large part of an object.
The darkening is not linear, but accelerates with proximity. Along with ambient light, it is what gives the illusion of form "in the shadow side".
When rendering an image, a 3D software will do an "ambient occlusion pass", rendering all the AO on its own, to later add it in the final render.
Checkout "3d ambient occlusion rendering" on an image search engine to see some examples
It is mostly visible on forms illuminated exclusively with ambient light, hence its name. It is negligible / "invisible" on forms lit by a direct light source.
Marco Bucci has 2 excellent youtube videos on ambient occlusion/light for painters. If you're interested, he will explain it far better than I did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fLV5ezO64w and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwLQ0cDb4cE
Anyways. We're not 3d softwares and there's no need to do an actual AO pass.
The goal of this layer is to create the illusion of 3d form to trick YOU to help you make better decisions in the following steps.
Also, stylisation plays a big role in how dark and how much shadow you want to put.
So, keep in mind the theory. But cheat, have fun and experiment.
Even Jon mixed some form shadows with AO. And he put AO in places that would be lit by the light source, as if they were halftones.
Finally, I wanted to give some feedback on your assignment.
On the positives :
Overall I think you placed the shadows pretty well.
I like your work on details.
I also like your balance of soft and hard edges.
On things to improve :
The figure in your painting feels quite stiff. I know, the reference is just as stiff.
In similar situations, here's a few ideas of things you can exaggerate in the future :
curve the skirt (I overdid it in my assignment, you don't have to go that far)
curve the folds on the skirt
rearrange the folds so that they give a feeling of "pointing towards the face (focal point) from different angles" (don't make it too obvious either)
spread the feet (I just copied Jon for this lol)
Also, to me (personal taste), I think you are overusing "black".
In most lighting setup, the "shadow side" is illuminated by ambient light. I suggest you give it a color and pull your shadows towards that color instead of pulling them towards black.
If this is confusing, checkout the 2 videos from Marco Bucci I mentioned earlier.
Hope this helped :-)
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10mo
Asked for help
Interesting process. I've seen similar ones float around on the web, and I enjoyed having your take on it.
I'm eager for what will come next >:D
Here's my submission. I followed the process fairly closely but didn't spend too much time on the final painting pass, except maybe on the face. In fact I'm surprised how far this got, considering it took me only about 3 hours
11mo
Yo!
I tried my best, but I know very little about environments. I'm looking forward to the feedback to know what can I do to improve.
I willingly deviated quite a lot from the reference by pushing the colors to something that looks more pleasing to me and simplifying shapes (and changed the ratio of the image).
I'm happy with the overall composition and colors, but I feel like the textures and details are lacking.
Also, I didn't really understand the lighting setup from the reference, and I think it shows. It doesn't seem to bother me that much, or at least, nowhere near the texture / details thing.
The original reference is a photo I found on Pexels from Quang Nguyen Vinh.
Along with crediting him I wanted to add a link to his photo :
https://www.pexels.com/photo/fast-waterfall-on-mountain-with-lush-trees-6136307/
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11mo
Asked for help
I wanted to specifically practice *painting* abs because I used to struggle a lot with this, so I went quite heavy on the "shading".
Here's my submission for this assignment :
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1yr
Asked for help
I know they're meant to be anatomy studies but I couldn't help myself, I had to try and make them pretty line drawings
Boobs are too sacred
Still learned a lot and had a ton of fun so it's all good I guess :-D
Holy crap I am in awe!!
I've been wondering forever how illustrators make those painting look so "professional" and nice, and these are like the golden nuggets of knowledge explained in a nice and clear way.
I'm getting excited, Imma try all these things as soon as I can.
Thanks Jon! :D
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1yr
Asked for help
Hi all. Like most, I struggled a lot with understanding the twisting and the arm attachment of the pecs. Looking for more info on it, I found a biomedical research paper from 2019 that was studying variations in the muscle. It has photos of pecs from real, cleaned cadavers, and a lot of photos of the attachment itself from different views.
I will post a link to it here. If this causes an issue, I understand if we have to remove it :
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31061824/
And yes, according to that research paper, it's a little different from what Stan teaches us in the video. From my understanding : (without looking at the photos, this will make no sense)
1. The attachment has 3 layers of roughly the same length overlapping each other.
- The clavicular section occupies an entire layer on its own and is separate from the rest.
- The rest occupy the other 2 layers, connected by a U-turn at the most distal part of the attachment.
2. There's no difference between the sternal and abdominal sections at the attachment. The "U" turn is formed roughly at 2/3rds of the sternal section, and this is where all the muscle fibers twist.
3. Because of that U turn design and the fact that the clavicular portion is on a layer of its own :
- The top of the sternal portion is at the most medial point of the attachment, and the fibers attach in a more and more distal point, until the 2/3rds split.
- That "2/3rds" part of the sternal portion is at the bottom of the attachment, starting to form the turn.
- From that point, the rest of the fibers go in the opposite direction, from distal to medial, blending the sternal and abdominal portion as if they were the same thing.
- The "last fibers" of the abdominal portion thus attach at the most medial spot too, just next to the "first fibers" of the sternal section.
4. On the photo of the 5th assignment exercise, we can see a huge dimple. I think it is not caused by what Stan explains but by tendons. One of the photos showed a muscle that had a tendonous area right at that spot. Which also explains why it only occurs on some people.
Anyways, because I had conflicting information, I was confused as to whether I should follow Stan's instructions, or the information I found on the research paper. I ended up doing a mix of both, and so I got a pretty weird result. I'm not pleased with it, but I was worried I'd be thought of as "wrong" if I weren't following Stan's instructions.
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