More Face sketches

Here’s two quick sketch paintings of faces I did yesterday. I really love painting faces I do!

The first one is a product of reading “The strange case Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”. He’s no particular character, I just wanted to paint a stern looking victorian.a portrait of a victorian

 

The second is just because I realised I paint men more often than women, so here’s one to balance that out.a portrait of a girl

Face training 3: Keith & Sue 4 Eva!!

This is Keith & and his girlfriend Sue. As you can see they’re very much in love.

Kieth & Sue 4 eva!!!
Some might consider this a one-sided relationship.

It’s Ok, she’s not real. These two are fictional characters I came up with for the fun of painting them. After the last portrait I did to practice and entertain myself I wondered how I could keep things fresh and increase the challenge a bit? The answer: two heads are better than one!

The real fun of doing a multi-person portrait is that you don’t just seek to convey the details of the faces, but to convey the relationship between the subjects too. I’ve got a brilliant idea for what I’m going to do next…

Yeah, thats right 3 people. It’s the logical progression isn’t it?

Wacom Art Pen Review

I’d been toying with the idea for some time of getting an art pen for my intuos 5. If you don’t know what an art pen is then you’re probably in the majority, but my intention with this post is to provide a little info for those like me- who a couple of weeks ago who was considering buying one and couldn’t seem to find enough information. For the benefit of those who don’t know what one is: it’s like a normal graphics tablet pen- but as well as sensing the usual pressure and tilt it also senses rotation.

The art pen for intuos 4 & 5
Wacom art pen for intuos 4 & 5 – Like the old grip pen but fatter, and with rotation.

You may notice after a quick google search that this seemingly small feature comes with a pretty weighty price tag (£85 on amazon at the time of writing) and that you’d have to really want that fancy rotation sensing to buy one. Well I really wanted that rotation sensing, and I’ll explain why:

It’s always been my goal with my digital artwork to make it as natural as possible both in how it looks and also how it feels to create. One of the present drawbacks of digital art that we have to overcome is the limited input we have as artists and the limited processing power we can apply to making a computer rendered brush stroke look as nuanced and elegant as real brush stroke. The technology is getting there, but we’re not there yet. It’s true that once you’ve been around a piece of software for a while you start to notice it’s handiwork everywhere you look. Not just layer styles, filters and tacky effects, but even the brush marks you see in other artist’s work. When everyone uses the same tool with the same settings you get some depressingly similar results.

Art pen and the nib holder and nibs it comes with
The nib holder and nibs it comes with

At it’s simplest a digital brush is a series of shapes stamped in a successive line and trying with varying degrees of success to look like something more natural. Thus the desire for rotation sensing- it’s one step further away from the binary on/off state of computer code and one step closer to the intuitive natural feel of a real brush on canvas. Having the rotation sensitivity means you can start to emulate flat brushes and calligraphy pens in a way that isn’t possible without.

So obviously I eventually decided to get one. I’m always filled with trepidation at the idea of forking out lots of money on new kit when I have no idea how useful or reliable it will be, but in the end my curiosity got the better of me. So enough rambling, what’s it like eh? Well, If you’re anything  like me you’ll always want to hear the bad bits first- that’s what anyone who’s considering buying one really wants to know about right?

My main issue with the art pen is that it can quickly become quite laggy- not great for realism and natural feeling brush strokes. According to wacom the art pen sends a lot more data to the tablet than the default “grip” pen- which therefore means the delay before the data gets to your computer is greater. We’re talking fractions of a second here, but the effect remains noticeable when you make fast brush strokes. Annoying really. You can see the effect of a fast brush stroke in the image below:

Demonstration of art pen brush strokes
A fast stroke in photoshop vs a slow one. Both are made from right to left. Notice the taper on the top stroke where the rotation angle has changed.

Moving the art pen too quickly means the tablet simply doesn’t seem to have time to process the rotation data before photoshop wants to render its position data and so the brush rotation appears to veer wildly off towards its opposing axis. I made a post in the wacom support forum to see if there was any solution- apparently not- I was advised to paint slower. Hm.

One other lesser thing to be aware of is that the photoshop brush ghosting seems to lag a little. Basically, as you rotate the brush around the brush cursor doesn’t keep up with it very well, but when you’re painting you don’t really notice, since you quickly develop an intuitive feel for where it should be anyway. The only problem the software has with actually rendering the strokes correctly is the aforementioned speed issue.

So what about the good points? Well besides from the above I’ve found it to be quite good. It does what I wanted and it’s a pleasure to use. All but the fastest brush strokes work well. If you’re used to the grip pen it’ll take some getting used to as it’s a bit fatter and heavier, but it soon feels natural.  My art pen now functions as my brush, and my old grip pen with a high friction nib in it works as a pencil or a pen for linework.

So overall, I’d say it’s a worthwhile investment for digital artists looking for that little bit extra control and variation in their brushwork. Be aware that the extra data the tablet sends requires extra processing- so if your computer struggles much with normal strokes you may wish to give this a miss for now. Like I wrote earlier- digital art has a long way to go before it rivals the intuitive and chaotic pleasure of traditional media, but for me this is one step in the right direction.

Update (November 2014): After using the Art Pen for a year or so, I’ve found it to be very useful, but only for drawing with rotation brushes.

The stroke it makes is not as elegant as the grip pen at all- possibly I received a dodgy one, but it never seems to register the lowest levels of pressure. Even pressing at it’s lightest it makes a sudden splodge on the screen, rather than an elegant transition from thin to thick- so it’s really no use at all for delicate strokes. All in all my advice is to stick to the grip pen unless you really really want rotation.

For anyone who does own/decide to get one- I’ve uploaded some rotation brushes for photoshop which you can download for free here: http://spikedmcgrath.com/download/Toms%20Rotation%20Brushes.zip

Face training 2: Dimitri

Bored Clownv6

Here we see the delightful Dimitri the clown on a quick coffee break behind the big top. lovely chap, great sense of humour.

This picture is a another attempt by me to further practice my grasp of facial anatomy.
No refs were used for the face- but I did use a few to help me understand the lighting for the hair. I also checked the lighting for the nose made sense using a quick 3d render in Blender. Honestly, Blender is such a good tool for artists. And it’s free!

I had such good fun painting this, I’m planning the next one already. Hopefully in the end I’ll have a gallery of fictional faces getting progressively better. We shall see.

ClownAnimation

Above you can see the process this picture took from start to finish.

As you can see- I’m quite indecisive about this one- it takes a few major twists and turns. I like the painterly look of the second image, but I decided to really push myself to do something different that would really test my understanding of light and form- so I went for a more mock photographic look instead. I also changed the composition so it less resembled a passport photo.

Face training

I’ve been studying facial anatomy lately- more so than usual since I’m always drawing faces. Here’s two little studies done to help me practice creating realistic faces from imagination.Though I admit did use several reference pics to check certain features against. The first is from last week, the second is from this week.

Melwen

girl1

I feel like I’ve learned a lot in a very short time! No doubt a lot of what I’ve learned is down to the amazing Stan Prokopenko who probably does the best facial anatomy drawing videos on youtube. It’s quite refreshing to learn exactly what I’ve been getting repeatedly wrong for years!

Miserable Cow

Miserable Cow small

A little something I did for a friend who’s been under the weather lately- I wanted to do something sensitive and understanding.

She hasn’t seen it yet (I’m going to give it to her as a print tomorrow so she can put it on her wall and whenever she feels down she can look at it and wonder why she even talks to me) but I’m sure it won’t spoil the surprise if I post it here as there’s noooo danger at all of it being seen.

General Wisdom for artists No. 7

7. Get away from the computer!

I can haz things I should be doing

I’m typing this up on a computer. I ought to admit that straight away, you’re reading this on a computer too, unless you printed it out, which I know you didn’t!

Computers are great, everyone knows that. If it wasn’t for the digital age I wouldn’t be the artist I am today. I’d probably be doing some menial job I hate because I lacked the knowledge and the drive to follow my self-indulgent dreams. The internet told me how to be an illustrator and Photoshop allowed me to undo my mistakes, posting my work online has allowed me to work for people who value what I do.

Our lives would be considerably worse without computers. Obviously there’s the helicopter game, that’s good, there’s twitter supposedly causing the Arab spring uprising and Google maps helping Al Qaeda militants coordinate attacks and there’s lolcats and solitaire and all the other things making everyone’s lives immeasurably better.

So I don’t want to appear hysterical with this- but if you want to get things done you need to get away from the computer.

At least for the planning stages. Anything you can do just fine without a computer, you should. A good old pencil and sketchbook is perfect for getting down and refining ideas before you ever need to do any digital work.

You’ve probably heard this before, it’s not revolutionary information, but I thought I could say the same thing everyone else has been saying and once you’ve read it enough it may just sink it.

It’s precisely the same reasons that computers make us happy that they also hinder our plans and consequently make us unhappy in the long term. There’s just too many possibilities, too many directions we can inadvertently move away from what we started off doing. Because we rely on our computers to do everything from playing music, watching films and chatting with friends it becomes extremely difficult to maintain focus on our work- which is is vital for artist and especially for freelancers.

Facebook is the obvious example of contemporary digital time wasting. It’s a site full of tripe with links to more tripe. You can go on there for just a second with the aim of checking to see if someone has replied to a message and find yourself spirited away to some faraway website you don’t really care about.

In much the same way that if you click on any of the links I included above then you won’t ever finish reading this I imagine, you’ll be too busy giggling at cats. In fact, I expect the majority of people who see this post will never reach the bottom, they might mean to “read it later” but they wont. I wouldn’t.

But Facebook is only the most commonly vilified of time-wasting methods. Facebook is designed to distract so it can generate ad revenue, and conveniently enough we humans actively seek distraction! We don’t even need social media sites to do that.

Just think of all the things your fancy modern computer can do. How many of them are what you actually want to get done today? 

Just be aware that when you’ve been working on something a while, something meaningful and valuable perhaps- your brain will start seeking distraction, just a little break, and all the shiny icons on your screen will start to look oh so tempting!

Maybe not facebook, or twitter or even tumblr this time- maybe you’ll just check the news, that won’t take long right? But just think how even clicking the internet browser opens up all the different possibilities to be distracted. Supposing like mine your browser is covered with links to all your favourite pages- which you can see instantly with a single click- but you ignore them all to just quickly glance at BBC news? You spend ten minutes reading articles you’ll have forgotten about in a day or two, and then you wonder whether people are talking about this news article on facebook? Or maybe you could load up your instant messenger program and talk to a friend instead? Or maybe since you’re having a break and you’ve lost your focus you may as well play a video game?

I could go, but I’m just wasting your time as well really. if you’ve read this far, congratulations! Such focus! You must be over 30 at least.

The long and short of it all is this: use your computer when you need to use it for working, or when you allow yourself dedicated time to relax, but always be aware that because it’s so easy to NOT work- your brain will probably manage it.

Because we can’t afford a computer and a room for every task, here’s a few tips to get the most productivity out of your multi-task distraction-box.

  1. Have web browsers closed whenever possible.
  2. Consider making a new account on that doesn’t have access to games or things you don’t need.
  3. Unplug/disconnect from the internet so it becomes more effort to use it.
  4. Be aware that not all time is equal- If you play first you’ll not have then energy to work later- playing is easier than working.
  5. Get as far as you can with your work using analogue means- trust me, sketch books are the future!

Dead Artwork.

It’s a long and winding road that a piece of art takes from concept to completion. There are countless perils, obstacles and pitfalls, and not every piece makes it. There are many reasons I choose not to continue with a picture:

  • Boredom .
  • Change of opinion in some idea central to the artwork.
  • Having a better idea!
  • Forgetting about it.
  • lack of satisfaction with the progress of the work
  • Leaving a piece un-worked on for so long that by the time I return to it I’ve improved so much that the work is obsolete and it would be preferable to start again.

For the above reasons I’ve found that a quick look through my hard-drive reveals a number of forgotten and discontinued pieces suitable for little more than nostalgia…

…or putting on my blog for the amusement of all!

So here, in vaguely chronological order is my select collection of old dead art.

Disclaimer: To any potential commissioners – Artwork shown here does not reflect the current skill level, (including but not limited to knowledge of perspective, anatomy, lighting foreshortening etc…) taste or even opinions of Tom McGrath. Thank you.

Crusader

My old drawings all involved a sword or two. Always.Maguma rooftops…And preferably some flowing apparel such as a cloak or little samurai style sash belt that was always blowing in the wind.Monsoon

This airship is actually the precursor to another airship in the foreground of my airship battle piece.NinjaAnother bloke with a sword. I think it was a bloke anyway. Though he does appear to have enormous breasts.princess brat

My sister insisted that we end the portrait session as she didn’t think I’d captured her likeness.SexbyI didn’t capture this guy’s likeness well either.wickerman 2

Or this guy.zombieThis one was from a tutorial in Imaginefx magazine. I decided I was better doing my own stuff rather than following steps to replicate someone else’s work. though I did capture his likeness rather well.sketchStranger 1This old man is sad that his proportions are not correct.

Wisdom and Willpower

This one isn’t exactly dead in concept. I’m working on version 3 currently. I would show version 2 here but I may yet reuse part of it.Assassin_bakAnother chap keeping the fictional sword economy afloat. Note the flowing garments.
blue wyrm

I find that dragons are less imposing when they have no limbs.
gray lady

“Please finish this painting” she screamed.Hot water balloonA Hot water balloon. I like the idea so I think I’m going to redo this soon.Strangercomp1That old man still hasn’t got over his dodgy proportions. Alas.