Aila's sketchbook of whatever she feels like at the time.

**Aila** · July 7th, 2007, 04:08 AM

April 2010: This sketchbook goes a little on and off, I don't post everything I do. At the moment I don't have a particular direction I'm headed for, I draw or paint what I feel like at the time. I particularly like landscape painting, maybe I have a little bit of the landscape artist gene of the British However when I'm up for it, I do studies of other things as you see around here on CA, and I read through other threads to grab information and inspiration. I try out anything I can get my hands on.. I tried digital art too, but I've since swayed away from it again, so this thread will be mainly traditional art. It's just the feel of paint on canvas or charcoal on paper that I miss when I'm using my tablet. Not that I don't like it.. it's fun to mess around with every once in a while.
My learning methods? Observation and trial and error.

P.S. This sketchbook is nearly 3 years old! I cringe everytime I browse through the first pages. The good stuff is near the end. Errr.. I hope.

Hi all and welcome to my new sketchbook.

I'll start off by posting some fairly recent stuff, and hopefully I shall improve over the course of this thread. Hope you enjoy it and of course, help and tips are very welcome.

**Jason Rainville** · July 7th, 2007, 01:19 PM

Woooo! You're here, good to see you

I see you've been doing more studies lately, but maybe some on humans/animals? It would really help with your people and dragon drawings. Anyways glad to see you here and hope you update often

**Aila** · July 7th, 2007, 01:26 PM

thanks for dropping by!

yes, more human anatomy practice is the plan, but lately haven't found enough quiet time for myself to get on with it. But it'll come, and now I'm here I'll be looking around gathering more motivation etc ^_^

**FleetingShadow** · July 7th, 2007, 08:11 PM

Hi Aila!
Glad to see you've started a sketchbook here, they seem to be very useful in improving

I'd like very much to see it fill up with pictures of dragons and studies and loads of progress.
And theres plenty of motivation to be found here, I've lurked at CA for a while and have been inspired by the potential and skill of many of the artists.
Best wishes, lets see some more artwork soon

**Aila** · July 8th, 2007, 01:22 PM

@FleetingShadow
thanks for commenting

yes, there are many great talents around here!

Well this weekend I started off with anatomy studies. I downloaded one of Loomis' books, the head and hands, and tried out his method with the balls and lines making up the human heads. Here are my first tries (with and without ref), nothing too good yet but I'll just keep on practicing. For now I realized I'm not always putting the lines in the right places making the features come out 'wonky'. Also I discovered a dragon tutorial on DA using the same method for dragons' heads so I tried out some of them, one can be seen on this page too.

**Morthrong Eterech** · July 9th, 2007, 07:01 AM

Well, the last ones actually look good, Aila ^^ If you keep on practicing this, you may eventually get better. I have to practice this also, methinks. I hope that your dragon studying also pays off well, so you can learn the basic dragon anatomy fully, and create your own dragons ^^

**Aila** · July 28th, 2007, 05:45 AM

@Morthrong, thanks

Anyway long time no post thanks to college and natural disasters.. but now I have time to concentrate a bit more on my art practice.
The first is a quick referenced sketch (that is, the body is referenced, i added the wings for the fun of it). The second is first drawing practice (no ref) with a tablet but of course I need to practice more with a real pencil

sorry about the quality, I was too lazy to scan

**Jason Rainville** · July 28th, 2007, 10:41 AM

Natural disasters?

hope everything's ok.

Looks pretty good, glad you're getting reference for figures, keep that up and you'll notive the difference. Tablets and colour are quite different beasts. My advice is to keep using it, but make sure to practice with pencils also. Differnt mediums seem to help one learn faster

**Aila** · July 29th, 2007, 05:16 AM

Originally Posted by Rhineville

Natural disasters?

hope everything's ok.
Looks pretty good, glad you're getting reference for figures, keep that up and you'll notive the difference. Tablets and colour are quite different beasts. My advice is to keep using it, but make sure to practice with pencils also. Differnt mediums seem to help one learn faster

yeh we had floods last weekend. That made me realize, when I have my own place, I'll NEVER keep any important stuff in the basement

Thanks anyway, and I'll always stick to pencil and keep up traditional work, thats my favourite kind

@StarbonesCoffin
yeh I love dragons

**Aila** · July 29th, 2007, 01:51 PM

Ok, here is a WIP I started on today. Reference is a photo of a dancer. I love drawing them because you can see the muscles

I may edit him and give him some fantasy features

yeh I know. But I think keeping up imagination practice is important alongside the basic studies. Well let's see how he turns out.

**StarbonesCoffin** · July 28th, 2007, 10:59 AM

Cool, you like dragons too huh ?

**FleetingShadow** · July 29th, 2007, 06:07 PM

Aila, your dancer looks really good

Its kind of hard to tell that he's wearing a leotard, though, especially on his shoulders/arms. Are you planning on adding color?

**Aila** · July 30th, 2007, 08:44 AM

@FleetingShadow, thankies

The dancer himself isn't wearing a full leotard, which is why I didn't draw one, and I'm still wondering what to draw on the elf. I wasn't planning on colouring him, just going to make him a full pencil drawing.

Today - more experimenting with digital. (hehe, its fun!)
One: a moonlight picture, WIP
Two: a sketch of a dragons head. May add colour.

**Aila** · July 30th, 2007, 05:17 PM

Update on that dragon (still WIP). I also drew a pencil dragon this evening but the anatomy went down the drain. Maybe I'll post it if I can sort it out.

**Aila** · July 31st, 2007, 03:19 PM

Evening all!
So you know, browsing sites like this one, or DA, I find many very talented artists. This can have two effects on me - a). I get very inspired and motivated to get better. b). I get depressed cos I'm so far behind what I'd like to be like..
Anyway, yesterday I had a b) phase. Luckily I don't have those very often, they can really get me down. No fear! Over today! I've been doing some more pencil drawing since i haven't had time to do more tablet stuff.

So on this one you see a torso study. The left half is referenced, and I tried to add the right half myself. Now I have noticed I seem to have trouble drawing symmetrically. Is this bad?
Next to it is a quick unreferenced wing sketch.

**Aila** · August 1st, 2007, 04:55 AM

Drawing frenzy!! I'm gonna draw all day today

Did some digital stuff just now.
1) Update on the dragons head
2) a pose practice, this time using a wooden doll thing as reference. Leg too thin and foot too small there.
3) WIP on a dark angel, pose referenced, rest mine ^_^

Crits welcome of course!

**StarbonesCoffin** · August 1st, 2007, 04:59 AM

Cool wings, i'm going to update now, scanning, i made few so i will post it day by day.Anyways, can i see more dragons

Nice wings for angel btw.C'ya and take care.

**Aila** · August 1st, 2007, 05:07 AM

thanks

yeh I'll be drawing plenty of dragons over the summer

I've bookmarked your sketchbook so I'll drop by every now and again ^_^

**Aila** · August 1st, 2007, 08:07 AM

Some pencil sketches of poses. The three ones marked with the arrows I drew using the wooden doll, the other two are free and unreferenced.

**Jason Rainville** · August 1st, 2007, 09:18 AM

Good on you for getting into anatomy and poses. Like I said you're dancer elf shows a marked improvement.

You might also benefit from some basic (but in depth) studies. There's a peer project that I plan to go through one of these days, it might help

**Morthrong Eterech** · August 1st, 2007, 09:26 AM

The basic proportions of the last angel you have drawn look good! Arms may be a tiny bit too long, and too thick at the beginning, but I think it could become a nice one when fully completed. Good that you're doing poses!

**Aila** · August 1st, 2007, 12:13 PM

@Rhineville, thanks

although the pose of the dancer was taken from a photo. But at least that's a start ^^ I might change his right arm (viewers left), for some reason its bothering me.
I just had a quick look at that thread, it looks fun, I'm going to have a closer look now

@Morthrong, thank you too

I've tried to modify the arms a little already and I'll go over them again next time. ^^

So, my newest.
1) a dragon! He is a punk. -note the nose ring

2) update on the dancer - change of clothes and hair.
3) update on the dark angel.

**Aila** · August 2nd, 2007, 11:09 AM

Update.

**FleetingShadow** · August 2nd, 2007, 11:53 AM

Aila, I love the color scheme on your dark angel, specifically the blue-green of the skirt. Very darkish.

Agreeing with Morthrong , though , youre probably going to want to shorten the arms a little bit before its finished.. I can't really discern where the elbow is, but it seems as though its mostly the forearm and is more obvious on the left arm. Basic rules are that the wrists should fall to the crotch, fingers halfway down the thigh.
The wings look really good. Can't wait to see how it looks when its done

**Aila** · August 3rd, 2007, 05:14 AM

@FleetingShadow, thanks for the comments

I tried to modify the arms (mostly the left one, the right one nearly all behind her body anyway), I think it looks a little better now though its far from perfect

I may just leave it at that and get practicing arms (and legs) the next time I do anatomy studies.
Bah.. now I'll do some more pencil work ^_^

**Aila** · August 3rd, 2007, 12:13 PM

Just over three hours of work and what do I do? Lay my sleeve on it and it smudges >.<

Ah yeh, anatomy issues

But I liked how the dragons head came out. ^_^

**FleetingShadow** · August 3rd, 2007, 01:38 PM

Aila, your Dark Angel does look better

The angel wings in your latest are awesome as usual. As for the dragon, the only things I might change; the left foreleg looks like its bent strangely (maybe its just me..), and I'd like to see the same scaly texture that covers its body on its face too.

**StarbonesCoffin** · August 3rd, 2007, 07:11 PM

Whoa, you really did drew it, she looks so small ;P Looking forth for more drawings from the list you wrote ;3

**Aila** · August 5th, 2007, 12:34 PM

@Fleeting Shadow, thanks again for your comments and crits

For some reason I didnt want the dragon to have scales on his face but I'm not sure why *g* But I'll draw some with scaly heads too.
@StarbonesCoffin

actually she is very tall, like 6 foot, but the dragon, he is enormous which makes her look very small *lol*
anyway here's another dragon for you ^^

1) above mentioned dragon
2) my dark angel, I call her now finished. I realize she's not perfect but I'll just practice ^^
3) A leaf study, quick sketch. And with quick I don't mean drawn in short time, but rather drawn without going into to much detail.
4) Another sketch. Our neighbour moved his car before I got to finish, hehe

**Jason Rainville** · August 12th, 2007, 12:35 AM

Hehe, for some silly reason I can hear that little guy riding the dragon say "weeeeeeeeee!"

Good to see your still having fun and doing some reference stuff in between. I know you plan on being a hobbyist, but there's no harm in mixing in some more studies if you're low on inspiration etc. Studies are what I do when I .... can't think of what to do