It's been a while, but here's some daily pen sketching:

Very very nice, Artloader.

Thank you Dinasset .

I don't often login to GC these days but I just had to today, just to say awesome work Artloader!

Hey Erisian my friend hope things are well with you .

Thank you for the kind words .

Long time no see folks, hope you are all well. Here's a black and white painting of a rhino in traditional acrylic paint, critiques most welcome.

artloader: that's excellent! you seem to have the lighting perfectly under control there. wish there were more gimp painters around here to give you proper feedback, maybe i can persuade my husband to give his opinion. all i can see is a very good painting. btw have you seen albrecht dürer's rhino?

Awesome work Artloader. I love the way you have realistically captured the rhino with a minimum of values and brushstrokes. Even in black and white there is a lot of atmosphere and mood here.

@artloader I like the penwork on the Winder Soldier. Nice use of a slightly "looser" style without losing expression.
.
Griatch

@AnMal: Thank you and no I had not seen Albrecht Dürer's rhino before but I Googled it and was blown away by how good a job he did without even having seen a rhino!

@Erisian: Thank you, I think there are only about 4 or 5 values in there and I also limited myself to using just one brush - a wide flat one.

@Griatch: Thank you, I really enjoyed drawing that guy - such a moody look about him.

Here's another black and white painting in acrylics, critiques most welcome, thank you:

Looks really nice to me. Sorry I cannot give a good critique as I cannot draw at all. I really like what you have done.

Nice to see how strong your values are these days compared to when you first started posting here. I cannot critique this because I cannot see a thing I would improve. It's a beautiful study. Of course if you wanted to, you could now add overlay or colour layers in Gimp and add some colour but it is really not essential. This works!

@Pat625: Thank you for the kind words Pat, much appreciated .

@Erisian: Thank you my friend. Yes I was working in black and white to practice values. I'm hoping to move onto colour more in 2018.

Here's some sketching in Gimp, a new start for a baby turtle for the start of a new year (critiques welcome as always):

Nice detail. Keep them coming!

artloader: I think you did a really good job of lifting out the important parts of the motif. That's something else that you've improved quickly on since the first things you posted on here - I'm actually a bit jealous of how well you're getting on .

@Erisian: Thanks mate, I almost chickened out of putting in the texture detail but I'm glad I didn't. It's always worth putting in the hard work I guess.

@AnMal: Thank you, I hadn't noticed my improvement but now that you mention it, nowadays I do pay more attention to focal points and where I want to draw attention to. Also, you needn't be jealous, your art is lovely and I hope you keep going with it .

Feel the fear and do it anyway!

@Artloader Thanks for sharing your sketchbook. The candle lit barn and princess woman in red mech suit were my favorites. You did a good job with that bunny as well.

Keep sharing...

Vezun
https://www.twitch.tv/vezunvezun

Hi everyone, long time no see . I've been busy illustrating a book with for an author friend of mine.

@Erisian: You are right my friend - feel the fear and do it anyway .

@Vezun: Thanks for the kind words yeah the princess was good fun to paint . I love your Gimp Sketches art by the way, it has an other-worldly feel to it.

Here's a more recent one - an acrylic painting study of a character called The Crow, crits are most welcome - thanks in advance: