CEB’s drawing & painting thread - contains nudity!

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

Why did you click on a thread that says “contains nudity” if you don’t want to see nudity?

The only way to see the nudity is by clicking on the thread that says “contains nudity”, so what you’ve done is chosen to see nudity, and then chosen to complain about it.

Very strange logic this. So if someone writes a racist post and puts “CONTAINS RACISM” in the thread title the racism within the thread itself is magically fine?

I guess that’d depend on whether the person put up a thread checking with the mods whether racism is OK, then got the nod that it is OK, before posting

[Sid Bishop]

Why did you click on a thread that says “contains nudity” if you don’t want to see nudity?

The only way to see the nudity is by clicking on the thread that says “contains nudity”, so what you’ve done is chosen to see nudity, and then chosen to complain about it.

Very strange logic this. So if someone writes a racist post and puts “CONTAINS RACISM” in the thread title the racism within the thread itself is magically fine?

I guess that’d depend on whether the person put up a thread checking with the mods whether racism is OK, then got the nod that it is OK, before posting

Other than computer aided art, do you or can you do normal freehand artwork as in water colours, pencil sketches or oil paintings ?

[Chicken Dhansak]

Don't rise to their bait CEB. I think you are a very talented artist in what ever method you use.

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

Very strange logic this. So if someone writes a racist post and puts “CONTAINS RACISM” in the thread title the racism within the thread itself is magically fine?

I guess that’d depend on whether the person put up a thread checking with the mods whether racism is OK, then got the nod that it is OK, before posting

Other than computer aided art, do you or can you do normal freehand artwork as in water colours, pencil sketches or oil paintings ?

It’s not “computer aided”, but here’s a drawing on A4 paper that I spent two hours on (the digital painting was 40 hours)

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

Ah, and this is a pencil drawing of the same model from
The first post

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

(Personally, I prefer the pencil drawings on paper as they have a physical quality that I really like, and they sell better)

[Constanza]

36 hours is some effort. How do you think you woukd fare on Sky Arts Portrait Artist, where they have 4 hours.

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

36 hours is some effort. How do you think you woukd fare on Sky Arts Portrait Artist, where they have 4 hours.

I’d be terrified to be honest.
I can draw from life pretty well, but painting directly from life, without any under drawing, is way out of my comfort zone.

Having said that, I nearly put my foot through the telly and sent Sky the bill when I see some contestants who take a photo of the model and then draw based on the flat reference
(because drawing from life and drawing from a photo are totally different - from life you’re translating a 3D form into a 2D form, while a photo is already 2D)

[The Reverend]

Why did you click on a thread that says “contains nudity” if you don’t want to see nudity?

The only way to see the nudity is by clicking on the thread that says “contains nudity”, so what you’ve done is chosen to see nudity, and then chosen to complain about it.

Very strange logic this. So if someone writes a racist post and puts “CONTAINS RACISM” in the thread title the racism within the thread itself is magically fine?

I guess that’d depend on whether the person put up a thread checking with the mods whether racism is OK, then got the nod that it is OK, before posting

That’s fair enough.

Does raise the question, would a photo of nudity be acceptable? If not, why is a photo not permissible but a drawing/illustration is?

Not really a question for you, one for the mods.

[Constanza]

36 hours is some effort. How do you think you woukd fare on Sky Arts Portrait Artist, where they have 4 hours.

I’d be terrified to be honest.
I can draw from life pretty well, but painting directly from life, without any under drawing, is way out of my comfort zone.

Having said that, I nearly put my foot through the telly and sent Sky the bill when I see some contestants who take a photo of the model and then draw based on the flat reference
(because drawing from life and drawing from a photo are totally different - from life you’re translating a 3D form into a 2D form, while a photo is already 2D)

Yes, that always surprises me on the show. Some of the artists just take photos and then divide it up like a grid, then copy from that. They hardly look at the model. Although it's still art, it seems to be cheating a bit compared to the traditional free style contestants.

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

I don’t think there’s any such thing as “cheating”, aside from in misrepresenting how someone created a work.

Personally I work free hand with no tracing, check my proportions by eye as far as possible, and try to resolve problems as I go, but then sometimes (especially with digital) will overlay a grid (on this one, it’d be maybe ten “boxes” across) to check proportion.

When drawing from life, I do the pencil trick (in which you extend your arm and close one eye, and measure proportions from the tip of the pencil to the tip of your thumb) - working that way you can plot out every important point and have a “scaffold” for the drawing.

I think that’s one of the biggest misconceptions - there are very few people (if any) who just “get a likeness” by sheer talent (often when you see such a thing, there’s a level of trickery going on) - it’s actually all about measuring carefully

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

Am about to start another drawing, I might bore you all by posting updates and talking you through the steps

[Long slender neck]

What is the point though if you are just copying reality? May as well just take a photo.

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

Good point, I’ll prepare a catch up post for the trans debate thread instead

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

Next up, gonna post the stages of work of this. It’ll be another nude, though only with a hint of nipple and a bit of bottom.

A lot of people who like the idea of drawing but don’t think they’re any good at it say “I can only straw a stick person!”, but the interesting thing is that a “stick person” is a great starting point for a drawing, it can be the scaffold of a finished drawing, whether it ends up being a cartoon, a realistic portrait or whatever.

On the top left, I’ve chosen a value scale (I stuck to it for a lot of the drawing, then decided to go a bit darker in places)

The idea of that is that a drawing doesn’t need the shadows to be really dark and the highlights to be white - the darkest tone on the page will read as “black” even if it isn’t. Similarly a bright colour doesn’t have to be bright at all to be a highlight - just has to be brighter than your mid tones. I made the background this tan/cardboard colour so I can get shadows and highlights as I go

[StillSpike]

Is this one on paper or procreate ?

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

This one’s on procreate too

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

(Easier to share/screenshot)

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

Next pass on it, making the lines slightly more fluid looking, and beginning to think about which areas will be in shadow

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

Beginning to block in areas of shadow, which starts to create the illusion of three dimensions rather than a line drawing

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

Cos I know you all can’t wait, here’s the next stage
images upload

[StillSpike]

I note the light "source" is top left in all these. Is that just the set up of your studio, a style choice, (or coincidence)?

[Long slender neck]

Whats in this for the women?

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

I note the light "source" is top left in all these. Is that just the set up of your studio, a style choice, (or coincidence)?

Coincidence in these specific images (it’s not something I look to use generally, and I like different lighting set ups) but light from the top left (you might be aware already) is a convention as a “default” as it works well with how the eye tends to “read” images. I’d be interested to know whether cultures where people read written words from right to left tend to light models the same way though.

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

Added more detail and softened the blending between shadows and areas of light. At this point the form is pretty much where I want it to be and it’s just a case of deciding how far to push it