ChaosForm's Sketchbook

[ChaosForm]

Hello,
I am hoping this is the first step in a journey that leads to a better life. The last time I took any serious art classes was in high school which was many years, drinks, etc etc. ago.

In the meantime I somehow ended up in a technical helpdesk profession where the most creative thing I can do is help someone set up their signature in Outlook. So one day at work while I was contemplating just how far I would have to jab my pencil into my head to find peace, it occurred to me that there might be a better use for my pencil and my life. That was about six months ago.

Finding time to draw has been difficult and progress as been slow on my own so I hope that some feedback from other artists can help nudge me along the right path. Sometimes this seems like a very solitary endeavor. I am slowly getting use to drawing on a Wacom, but it definitely takes some getting use to.

I have started out working on value sketches as I hope they will show where I am weak in knowledge. Please feel free to offer any critiques, hints or exercises. I am always so pumped up when I start a drawing with great ideas and grand visions in my head, but soon seem to flounder.

Below is an hour sketch, without reference, completed tonight.

Thanks in advance and best regards,
CF

[ChaosForm]

A bad scan of a couple quick sketches I did in a meeting today.

I have a question, when starting out and trying to do short sketches, especially of people, is it better to start with a stick figure to get the pose or should you try to chunk in more to get as much proportion and detail as you can in the limited time the subject may be available?

Thanks,
CF

[ChaosForm]

Not sure why the insert image isn't working for me but here is a quick light and value exercise

[kamikazel33t]

Hey buddy! you should try and dish out some more drawings, I can see the most probable circumstance or reason you give yourself is that work seems to bog you down and that you can't really find time to work on drawing. If you really want to progress with your drawing skills you have to really put in the time and pencil mileage, you would need to try and sacrifice TV, use your idle times to draw and many other things to try and cram in as many drawing hours as you can since they add up. Draw on the bus, metro, train whatever, draw during lunch breaks, draw whenever you can find the chance to.

I guess I'll try to give you an assignment and some resources to get you started. Try and find a copy of Nicolaides book, it will teach you to draw without using symbols and such and is really good for the absolute beginner. Get yourself all of the Loomis books, Bridgman's Complete Guide to Life Drawing, and Hampton's book also try and get perspective made easy by norling.

Now for your first assignment is something called gestures. Read the first couple of pages of Hampton's book "Figure Drawing Design and Invention" Do some studies from them and read carefully and get an understanding. Go to this site right here http://artists.pixelovely.com/practi...igure-drawing/ and do some 1-minute gestures for an hour. Keep up a routine for this and do other drawings ontop of that whenever you find the time. The reason why I am asking you to do this is so you can rack up the pencil mileage as quickly as possible and it trains your brain to see shapes patterns and such. If you get a chance to do more, take a bunch of objects from around your house and do a still life, try to take your time on it.

[ChaosForm]

Thank you for the direction kamikazel33t. Many times just getting started is the hard part, followed by figuring out what to try in the limited minutes each day. I accept the assignment!

[ChaosForm]

1 minute gesture drawing studies (http://artists.pixelovely.com/practi...igure-drawing/)

Here is a sample of the sketches. At first this was very hard as I would not have the complete pose close done by the time it switched (a minutes goes by pretty quick when drawing), so instead of trying to block in the form, I just started doing line drawing, indicating joints with circles. At least doing it this way I was able to get the pose, those very rough. I hope that is how it's done. Fun though, I could do that everyday.

Also a light, value, perspective from a few days ago.

[swigganicks]

Nice progress! I'd really recommend you head on over to Ctrl-Paint which is a series of video tutorials aimed at beginners. The teacher (Matt Kohr) does an awesome job of first getting you to know how to draw traditionally and then progress to digital if you so choose. The videos are short and concise and especially good if you're on a time crunch (which you seem to be) Definitely check that site out and see if you like it. Also, continue to post here! I'm a beginner too and I want to improve by teaching myself even though my main profession will never let me use these artistic skills.

[ChaosForm]

@swigganicks - Thanks for the website recommendation, I will go check it out. I appreciate the heads up.

Here are a couple of sketches from the website kamikazel33t recommended, it's pretty cool. There is definitely a huge disconnect between what I see in my mind and what gets rendered by my arm but every once in awhile things come out right-'ish' =/

[mustawd]

Hey man, cool sketchbook. For,figure drawing, I'd recommend grabbing a book and learning that way.

I'd suggest Loomis, Hogarth, Vilppu for a few. For gestures specifically, check this link out:

http://forums.conceptart.org/showthr...2#.UZWyu8u9KSP

Post #42 has a great explanation.

[swigganicks]

Like mustawd said, definitely look into some figure drawing books. From what I can tell of your figures so far, the proportions seem a little off (although I really do like that full figure woman one)