Photography and other creative stuff.

[Carlwashere]

Thanks Dezi!
Joy, These art tools are amazing!!!!! It's definitely worth it! I'll edit in a pic as soon as it's done scanning!
I'm amazed.  
EDIT:
Here we go! I'm just trying these pencils out, trying to get used to multiple grades. I tried using my whole Prismacolor set that I bought (9B - H), but I'm focusing on HB, F, 2B and 3B.I'm using some drawing paper from Strathmore, along with 2 different erasers. A kneedable one (Amazing! I use it a ton!), and a Plastic one(pretty good, I have a plastic eraser on the last drawing but this one is better) I also got some blending tortillons, much better than my fingers. Much less messing up! I'm starting from the right eye and moving details out! 

[caffeinated.joy]

I can already see a big difference, Carl. This definitely has more depth. When I do shade work, I usually start with the lightest tone and gradually go to the darkest one I use. Don't be afraid to leave some parts white and devoid of pencil. Just as a small tip, you really won't use the really dark leads alot. I use them sparingly (in the darkest parts of the eyes and in the the corners of the mouth (in the line separating the upper and lower lips) and not much more. It really makes things pop, though.

[Zombie Cakes]

Well I don't do photography for a hobby as such, since Im studying it at college.
Alas almost 90% of my work are hand printed black and white photographs and I dont have a scanner handy xD
I might go have a sneaeky look around for some digital though sometime.

@Zombiecakes... firstly: LOLCAKES! at your name =P and secondly I love the vibrancy of your photographs! If you wouldnt mind could I use one or more of your photographs as research material for my project? FULL credit will be given. =) And also if you could tell me when and/or where they were taken?

*getsexcited*

Thank you xD Lol
And sure, you can use them for your project..I don't mind
For the locations of the photos: The first picture was taken at the local YMCA, maybe around October or November...the others in an abandoned military bunker at a campground during the summer (It was very wet in there ._.) and the last one in a graveyard >_> I had to take a reflection image thing for class, so I used my gasmask to do so.


BTW: Your photos are amazingly awesome ._.;
----
And Carl your drawings are ridiculously good! How long does one usually take you to finish one?

[Carlwashere]

Finish? To be honest, I never get satisfied. So forever... 
But to get to that point, not long at all. Maybe a couple mornings, a few hours in a boring afternoon.
Maybe like 25% of my freetime for half a week... if that makes sense.

[Katie]

Carl, that is amazing!

And before when Poppieskat said that about focusing the cameras, no worries, I'll deal with that in three and a half more years

[Carlwashere]

For my next portraiture, hopefully I'll devote a decent amount of time on it. That's what I'm telling myself right now, telling my impatient self to take it slow and don't expect instant results. So, since I'm revising the way I shade and the way I focus on individual sections, hopefully I'll get something amazing.
As for now, HW has me really bogged down. But I got a day where it took me only 30 minutes to finish HW, since I had a test in one of my homework-heavy subjects and just finished a project in my other homework-loving class, I had a nice light HW day. Needless to day I'm posting here for a reason.  
I got quite far on a drawing of mine, I've moved away from faces until I feel like I could really focus, and feel particularly inspired to draw.
To update here, I felt like drawing a rose, because roses are beautiful, and make for great shading practice. I also want to try my hands out at actually using color in my drawings, but I only have 12 high quality colored pencils, so I have to wait until the weekend to get the colors I want for this particular drawing. So right now, I've only got the outline done... pretty much.

This particular drawing took me, let's see...

Finished HW at about 4:45... worked on it till about 7:00.

Took a Call of Duty break for about an hour.(killing enemies and drawing roses, hmm. Interesting combo)
And worked on it until about 9:00 until I got distracted by doing stuff on the computer.

So I put it away, and worked on it one more hour this morning before leaving for school, mainly just finishing the outline and making the grid go POOF. Then I noticed I can't blend the colors I want for this little drawing and my mom doesn't feel like driving me to Michael's until the weekend when we're going to pick up my little bro's rental tux. For a wedding. Now that I think about it, this would make a great wedding present. Of course, that's if I color it right. I'd be a good gift for any occasion. Eh. I'll figure something out. Maybe I'll give it away at school, who knows.  

EDIT:
I just finished coloring it, Well not really. I was a little scared to touch the original. And I'm still pretty new to colored pencils. So, to minimize possible damage, I photocopied it and colored that one, for practice. I think it ended rather nicely. Even if the background was a bit rushed... Stupid attention span.


Here's before any attempt at blending, I just finished coloring the rose at this point.

Here's after blending, and I think it looks really good at this point.

And then, running out of patience, I quickly dropped a background on it. It looks alright. But It could've been so much better. At least the original isn't damaged. XD

[PoppieSkat]

Thats really good Carlwashere =)
I like your little grid technique, even though I can't draw using one.  The background is good, next time you could try to make it a bit lighter and stick to one colour, kind of like making it a pastely colour. =)

[Katie]

I love your flower! )

[caffeinated.joy]

Good job, Carl! I like the richness you achieved with the second one. I have to say I like it without the background best, though. Here's a tip, if you don't mind me putting my two cents in here. Go take a look a some roses and you'll see a red rose (or a pink rose or any colour rose) isn't all red (or pink, or yellow, or whatever). If you look, you'll see shades of blue, green or other colours in the petals. If you incorporate those into your colour pieces it will add a huge amount of dimension. That principle can be applied to anything you apply colour to. Look at a field of white snow and you won't just see white. Depending on the light and time of day, you'll see shades of blue, grey and even red/yellow hues.

And since we're sharing, I'll show you some of the linework I've done. This is one of the two pieces of my artwork I have scanned and uploaded. This is a character of mine;a demon named Caius in his human guise. His hair bugs me (I messed up the hairline), but that's my only big complaint with it. I've been thinking of doing a colour version of it, but I haven't gotten around to it.

[Katie]

Joy, your amazing. And that demon is hawt! Haha

Edit: and is that a heart I see in the smoke, or just a coincidence?

[Carlwashere]

Of course, I don't mind, Can't get better if you don't know how to improve right? I was stuck with Just Crimson Red for all of the rose, mixed with white to make it a little pink-ish. I was too impatient to wait for my new set colored pencils to arrive, so I used the ones I had, my small 12 prismacolor set. (Best colored pencils ever, my personal favorite!) I just got my 72 set (a lot cheaper buying at Dick Blick's  ) for $45, and have now started coloring the original. (with 4 various shades of red, but with my partial colorblindness I doubt I'd make it a nice match, but hey, it's the way I see it.)
I just looked at some picture I took of the snow earlier this year, and you're right, there is a bunch of colors just thrown in there.

That's extremely good! Your way better at proportion than I am. 
I can't see where you messed up the hairline, to be honest.
If you want to, you could layout the colors digitally before working on the original. I'm pretty scared of touching originals, So I tend to practice on a photocopy or practice blending on a separate sheet of paper. I've seen some people who scan their linework and color it digitally, with GIMP or Photoshop. I think that's what I would personally do. 

Does he have a backstory? I have a feeling it's interesting. 

[caffeinated.joy]

Edit: and is that a heart I see in the smoke, or just a coincidence?

*armflail* OMG you are seriously the first person who has noticed there's something hidden in the cigarette smoke! It's not a heart, no, but I can see where you get that. It's a very simplified/stylized demon head. Kind of a reference to his true identity.

Carl, yes, he does have a back story but it is HUGELY long. LOL. When/if I do the colour version it'll be done via tracing paper and tranfser it to a clean page, the old-fashioned way. I'm not much of a digital artist. This picture was done with pencils and my Copic pens. *pets pens*. The only digital work I did on this was to just touch up a few spot on the black tattoo where the scan made it look uneven.

And thanks, you two. I've been scribbling out artwork for years (many, many years). My dad was an artist, which helped, but I got started when I was five. I had surgery on my left eye to try and fix it and had a patch on my right eye in an attempt to force my left one to work. My mother would sit me at the table with pencil and paper and tell me to draw, hoping it would give my eye a further nudge and make it work. I'm still blind in that eye, but I'm also still drawing.

[Katie]

Oh my gosh, now that you say it I see it!

[Carlwashere]

*turns head upside down, sideways, and at an angle*
Ah ha! Now I see it! I saw the heart first, after Katie mentioned it, then I saw the little demon head. His horns look like the side of the heart in a way right? That's ingenious. 

[caffeinated.joy]

You got it right, Carl. LOL. Thanks.