Striving to get better!

[Andrew Marks]

Well I told myself that when the semster is over ill start a sketchbook and here it is now. I live in Houston, TX and so far I only know a handful of artist and even so they dont have same goals I do as an artist, dont draw together frequently, give critiques about my work, etc.... But I found this site and there are so many amazing artist on this site its uncanny. So I plan to update frequently, so advice and such on how I can become a better artist is gladly welcomed. I got Bridgeman's anatomy book along with some Hogarth books. I draw from my imagination most of the time and the only time I really draw from life is at the mall, but its like quick 30 seconds skeches, rest of the time is photographs which I hear is bad.

Well let the journey begin ...Here are sketches from the last month or so.

[Andrew Marks]

More Sketches Galore.

[Andrew Marks]

Been in a slump these past few days, dont know what it is, juat cant seem to draw shit. Perhaps it's because I really dont know alot of artist where I live with the same passion and goals I have for art. But o well, gotta work with what ive got. I was looking at Android's (who is fucking amazing) art and his background, which like blew my socks off and got me out of my slump. Guess its just the thought that if I can bust my ass hard enuff that in time, I can reach that level that hes on. But o well, enuff of my babblings, any crits or comments about my stuff would be mighty helpful.

[Arthe Xavier]

Nice start, Andrew. I especially like the outdoor-piece - it has something in it that I can't put into words. It just caught my eye and I had to stare at it for a while.

I also like the latest 'mug-shot' that you have sketched.

Your line-art is a bit 'fuzzy' in some of your sketches, though, but if that is your intention then it is a-ok. In quick sketches the lines tend to be more unfocused in general anyhow.

I'd love to hear what you think about my SB too, so come and take a look.

[archipelago]

keep it up man, you are heading in the right direction if you keep doing stuff like this

[Andrew Marks]

Need to update more, have no reason for slacking updating this more often.

Arthe: Yeah I know my lines are messy, I was looking through the loomis book and he said one of the most common problem of the artist he taught were "petting the lines" which is something I do often. Think its due to my lack of confidence whenever I decide to draw something, need to get that out of my head and enjoy art for what it is.

Arch: Thanks, I hope im going down the right direction cause it sure doesnt feel like it

Random sketches over the last couple of days. Need to really get through these anatomy books and videos.

[Andrew Marks]

Drawing alot of self portraits since its hard to find a place and time for me to draw people form life. Starting to see alot of mistakes in my artwork, all I have to do is correct them...which is easier said than done.

[Andrew Marks]

Any constructive crits or comments would really be appreciated, I really do want to get better.

[Peter Berkovski]

Any constructive crits or comments would really be appreciated, I really do want to get better.

ok,well you have motivation and wish to draw hard - that's good and important, for a constructive crits is early, if you want crit stay away from these sketches you doing right now,just for a moment,or when you sketchy regular with that try to do some anatomy practice, don't understand me wrong - just you have to understand the human form,constructions and proportions well,just start to scribbling gestures,take a loomis book or other anatomy book,take some magazines or photos for ref. and start drawing and drawing,if you really want to get better practice is your decision,make some of these practice that I've already told and post them here and you will take some constructive crits for sure
Draw more and have fun !!!
I hope my post didn't hurt you,just you have to push yourself hard and improvement gone find you
Best wishes

[Andrew Marks]

Atlantik: Hope I dont misunderstand you, but I do anatomy studies and such but I suppose they arent straight up textbook style from like from Bridgeman or Loomis. But im gonna start studying it alot more now. Im also not mad at your post, if anything im thankful that you even decided to give me some advice. In general if its something negative or postive comment, it will fuel more to draw even harder than before. So with that said, thanks.

Came across that site posemaniacs and havent had that much fun drawing in awhile. Its an exciting feeling when you have to like race against the clock . But I think this may be my new drawing outlet...But here goes some artwork from today.

[Andrew Marks]

Art Art Art. Really started studying Bridgeman today, im starting to see the shapes of the body.

[Andrew Marks]

Would REALLY like some C&C or suggestions from people.

[Andrew Marks]

Not that productive today, just had a chill day. The first one is a SP, and the rest are imagination.

[Andrew Marks]

Another non-productive day, but it shall change soon....Both are sp's. Need to really do more research on shading, values, etc... Any tips would be nice.

[Carbono]

Hey man, we can already see some improvement from the first pieces to here. Nice to see that you're studying anatomy, you got some pretty nice studies there.

My only advice would be: try to focus yourself more, chose something and practice it till it looks good, not that you should draw the same thing for a week waiting till it turns ok, but i see that you try to learn too much things at the same time, faces, hands, poses, fullbody, etc... So, try to focus a little more, you'll see improvement faster!

Keep it up!

[Andrew Marks]

Carbono: Thanks alot for the advice, im gonna start doing that.

Since ive started doin SP's and such, ive come to see lots of mistakes in my drawings that I never noticed before. Now all I have to do is correct them which is easier said than done because I still tend to make mistakes. But o well, practice makes perfect right?
First ones a Sp. Second is some Arm studies, and rest is stuff from imagination.
Need to draw more.

[Andrew Marks]

School just started and im taking some art classes (finally) so hopefully I will learn alot and make progress becoming a better artist.
First 2 are sp's (which were done kinda in a hurry due to my poor time management, but o well, every artist is as good as their worst piece of work), then I started doin 3 poses a day, and finally some arm studies.
Need to make out a schedule so I can get back to drawing alot more.

[Andrew Marks]

Few sketches from today.

[Andrew Marks]

Drawings from today. Starting to see the likeness in my SP's, quite pleased with that, but still need alot of work on pretty much everything. As always any comments and such are appreciated.

Starting to see some sort of likeness


Meh



A quick drawing session with a friend where you draw anything you want

Then I had to redraw the same guy with a Japanese culture feeling, I tried to go with some J_Rock singer or something...fail.

daily poses

[Andrew Marks]

The painting class im in is really a eye opener, I never realized that painting is so fun...like more than drawing But anyways, I realized I do to more finished pieces and plan to start on that real soon, but here is just a few sketches from today.

[Andrew Marks]

Havent updated in a hot minute...ever since ive enrolled in the painting class my time managemnt skills have been horrible, such as all I have been doin is staying at the painting studio working on that instead of my studies and drawings. But I have now come up with schedule that has designated days for paintings and my studies.Hopefully this works out well and I can get back to updating on a regular basis. GOTTA IMRPOVE!




And a blind contour drawing (which I peeked at a few times, -_-)

[Andrew Marks]

It surely has been awhile since ive posted anything, need to get back into the habit of doing it, it felt as though as was making progess when I updated frequently.Not even sure if people look at this, but none the less, it makes me feel im progressing with my artwork. I Enrolled at a painting class in school and all I can say is wow....like its cool and all, but the instructor hasnt taught me anything yet. Our first painting he was like you all have the paints so now paint and then he leaves the room and when he comes back he just looks around and leaves again. When I or anyone else asked him for help he just sayskeep working on it and went on about his day. But yeh, no teaching how to blend or anything of the sort. But luckily there is someone in the class who is really good and he told me he doesnt mind if I come to him whenever I need help with something. As always, crits and comments are always welcome.

But this my first painting...ever really. We had to use 2 colors plus black and white. But he didnt teach us how to how to blend or talk about color values before hand, just said start painting. I know they are not good, but yet I post them because I want to improve.

This is my second painting that is still in progress. But I got a feeling for the brushes and paints from the 1st one, so I just did this one to see how much I really learned. Did a crappy monochrome underpainting first and now trying to go over it. Its not for a grade or anything but just trying to understand how to paint.

There is this insturctor that has taken intrest in me because Im constantly trying to get better and whenever he sees me im always drawing so he gave me permission to join his life drawing classes for free. I mean...who would be foolish enough to turn down free life drawing? So these are from the first day, 15 min each using colored pencil....that wouldnt let me erase. But need to build up accuracy anyways, my lines are too scratchy.

[Andrew Marks]

couple of drawings from the past couple of days

[hmanafi]

i like your figure drawing very much,it's a fast way to learn.don't rush at shading stage,it needs patience and practice and of course,a good knowledge from the form that you are shading.I'm sure you will improve very fast,just draw everyday.
keep it up man

[Andrew Marks]

Hmanafi:thx, and yeah I need alot of work on my shading and forms, just need to draw more. Also patience isnt one of my strongest traits, gotta learn to chill out and go with the flow

School has been kinda punishing me lately but I just need to make out a schedule and manage my time better. But here are some pictures from yesterday

Couple of life drawings

I know his leg is like wtf, but he kept on moving and I didnt know how to correct it and the pencil I use doesnt really let me erase, so live and let learn.

random sketches

WIP Velázquez master copy im currently workin on for our next painting in class. Just trying to lay down all the values in greyscale then glaze it when im through. Im aware that the eye is off and his hand, but ill fix that before the glaze. Bad picture cause my camera isnt all that great but o well, and its acrylic because oil paints are banned at my college

[Andrew Marks]

SPRING BREAK!!!

finally, a break from school can only mean one thing.......ART ART ART

These are from drawing sessions with a friend where someone gives a topic and you just draw it for a given amount of time. These were 30min to and hour. Havent drawn much cause school was kicking my ass for a sec and tryin to work on my rendering skills.



When I started this one I was looki at the cover to my metroid prime case then I got frustrated cause I didnt kno where everything was such as the cracks and crevices, so about 30 mins in I found the Metroid Hunters cover picture online and used that.


But need to work on my speed, im really too slow.

[Andrew Marks]

Wasnt really churning out spectacular stuff today, was just looking around CA and saw Mindcandyman's sketchbook which was more than inspiration than anyone could of asked for. But here is some stuff that I salvaged that looks somewhat presentable.

Current Sp that was just started for the hell of it but gonna work on it more to see how far I can push it.

This was done for another jam but I had to do mine when I was out at the autoshop and sadly lost intrest in it soon after.

[CecelyV]

Hey Andrew,

I started on page one of your sketchbook and I could see a lot of improvement by the time I got to the top page. Everyone's right, studying anatomy is the way to go, especially if you're interested in character/creature design--and it looks like you are. What are your goals in art? Once you know that, it helps you figure out the best way to go about achieving them. My goal is to be a kick ass concept artist. I've got a fine arts degree, and I'm glad--but it turns out that doesn't really prepare you to be a concept artist. So, I'm teaching myself to be one.
When you're ready, there's a few threads on this forum by Seedling; she's in the game design industry and she's posted a lot of awesome tutorial threads:
Concept Art 101
Perspective 101
etc...
You can copy and paste all the lessons and save them on your computer--that's what I did. Check out my sketchbook sometime and let me know what you think, ok? I'm studying anatomy myself. I've taken a couple of years worth of life drawing, so I have a decent grasp of it. I'm studying each individual building block, and then the parts in relation to the whole right now. I just finished studying the spinal cord--so complicated, but so awesome to draw--and now I'm working on finishing up a character/SP inspired by my studies.

Let me know what you think. I've got a bunch of ideas for practicing drawing the figure that I've come up with if you ever need some help.
Oh, and who told you drawing from pictures is bad? It's not. It does make a difference what type of pictures you're using. For example, drawing from sports illustrated--which I do--is good practice for gestures/action poses; and things like vogue are good for practice with the figure in general but it's a certain "type" of figure...very polished and not like everyday, "real" people. It is best to draw from life, but in the interim--which is most of the time when you're busy (I work a day job 40 hrs a week and only have an hour or two a night to work on my stuff, for instance) you can use pictures you've taken yourself of real people out in daily life to use as reference. The only time I believe drawing from pictures is bad is if you're using the image exactly as you find it without any creative twist/change--otherwise known as copying/plagarism.

I have what I call a "field day" once a month. I go out to a public place--downtown streets, tourist sites, malls, etc..--and take pictures of people without them being aware...I have a 12X Optical zoom digital camera, so that allows me to photograph people without them being uncomfortable. That was a lil birthday present to myself this year. I'll be using those pictures for reference when I finish up with my book study of the bone structure.

Keep drawing, you're doing great ^_^ Work on having more confidence in your lines. It doesn't matter what it looks like, it just matters that you're drawing, you're loving it, and you're giving it all you've got.

[Andrew Marks]

Cecely: Wow, thanks for all the kind words and information. Ill check out your stuff and see if I have anything to offer

Been kinda hectic for me these past days for me but still here are some drawings that I salvaged out of the bunch.
I swear learning to portray the figure with all the anatomys and proportions seems almost impossible, I ponder if I will even fully understand it one day....

but enuff babble.

Been doin some stuff in pen to work on confidence and such.


random studies

and a Self Portrait from memory...just kinda felt like doin one without looking to see how far I have really come, the result is as follows

[Andrew Marks]

Been a little while.
School has been keeping me busy as always.
But I have been occupied with traditional painting trying to get a good grasp on it.

Current painting im working on for our assignement. No better way to grasp the way of painting then still lifes eh?

Also been trying to get into digital lately and recently got Colors, which is truly an amazing program, now to just figure out how to blend in digital...hummm.