The Madness of Matthew

[Matthew Forte]

Page 2 now open for business!

Hey everyone, how's it going? My name is Matthew Forte, a 17 year old high school student from New Jersey. I found this site about a month ago, and after all the constant browsing of the forums, I decided it was time to get better. I've always had a good mind for art, but I never really practiced enough to get really good. Most of the stuff you will see posted below is just things I saw, studied, and then went into the other room and redrew, but what really inspired me to start getting better were the 60 second figures. I saw how much practice I really needed, and was truly amazed by the progression of the skill of the people on these forums, and I really wish to do the same. So my questions to you all are these: Where do I begin practicing? What kind of tools should I be using to draw these? What books or internet sites should I reference to learn the anatomy and scale of the human body? Any help would be appreciated, and please, criticize the hell out of these doodles

Oh, and I only have a digital camera to take pics of these with, so forgive the quality of the images

[Veneq]

Where do I begin practicing?: Wherever you can, whenever you can. Practice, practice, practice. And starting with figure drawing and learning proper proportions is one of the best places to start.

What kind of tools should I be using to draw these?: Pencil and paper are a great start, obviously. Are you into digital art at all? Do you have access to Photoshop or Corel Painter? Do you have a Wacom Tablet? Anyway, the best practice tools are pencil and paper... and other dry paper mediums (charcoal, colored pencil, etc.)

What books or internet sites should I reference to learn the anatomy and scale of the human body? http://www.scribd.com/doc/10338/Andr...essful-Drawing -- All of your basics are there.

There are also some good reference sites out there like www.characterdesign.com and check out the photo sets.

Good luck sir.

[pantless_wanderer]

Welcome to CA Matthew Forte!

I'm new to this site too, and still learning, but it seems to me like these could really help you:

You might start by watching this guy's videos (link). Sure he his really advanced and it wont be easy or quick to get at what he's teaching (I'm still far from there), but at least it will give you an ideia of how things are done and what stuff do you have to study to be good at figure drawing (which seems to be your "thing").

Also, do lots of drawings from life, either people around you (on the street, at home, you in the mirror) or just still objects... you will learn lots from drawing them.

Then, download these books and start drawing from them:
Constructive Anatomy - George Bridgman
Figure Drawing for All it's Worth - Andrew Loomis

Just have fun, keep practicing and you'll get good. Good luck!

[Xerotin]

Hey there and welcome im a bit like you only older, unfortunatley for me.. Im a beginner as well, and my friends and family always said you can draw so nice bla bla, (Not at all)... And about a month ago i tried to get serious with this and im making progress, but im not good. Something i feel has helped is, 1. This site Ca.org and the people here. 2. These two sites http://www.posemaniacs.com/blog/pose/ and http://fineart.sk/index.php?s=32&cat=14 Best of luck to you

[Matthew Forte]

pantless_wanderer: Thanks a lot for the links, they should come in handy. Great tips too!
Xerotin: I knew about posemaniacs, but that fineart site should help, thanks!
crazy pills:thank you so much for answering my questions! To answer some of yours, yes, I do have photoshop, but I really do need to get a digital tablet, as that is what I want to move up to using. Great tips!

As of right now, I'm working on hands, and I'll move on to faces and proportions. I'll post my hand work when I'm done.

[Matthew Forte]

Alright guys, just got finished doing some hand studies, Please beat the crap out of them with your words of wisdom.

Oh, and before I forget to ask, how do most of you color your images? I've seen people say they use photoshop, which I do have, but are there any tutorials on coloring sketches with photoshop? And do you use a tablet to do it?

[Matthew Forte]

Urgh....so much sketching. Today I've been doing a ton of body studies, muscles and bones and all that jazz. I've also found a pretty good tutorial on digital painting, so I'm looking forward to picking up a drawing tablet . Please critique my work.

[pantless_wanderer]

Thats the way to go Just keep doing those studies (but don't forget drawing from life) and soon you'll start doing things you've never dreamed possible.

[Sarxous]

Good to see a fellow New Jersenese member on the board.
Your figures from your first post definitely have anatomy issues.
Smash those pesky errors with anatomy study like in post #7
looks like some Loomis...yeah keep that up.

Looking forward to more.

[Helioth]

hey, that last scan looks like nice progress, try just being looser and not shading anything, or only very roughly.

I guess you have a lot of practice before you, but something to look forward to is being able to imagine the poses you want and drawing them without source / reference, from any angle
Then when you approach creatures you'll have the human skeleton, some basics to work from, to make it easier.

Seems that if you get anatomy and perspective down, design and concept ideation, industrial design, light + shadow and perhaps even color follow(it's separate really though, maybe a better example would be tones - grays).

3 practical tips; Use a light piece perhaps tracing piece of paper so that you don't sweat into what you're drawing on. Your hands are full of oils and things which hazard the interaction of your graphite with the paper.

Don't press so hard, I guess if you're reading Loomis you'll come across this anyway, but, "fear of failure" shouldn't get the better of you.
Try to remain conscious of the pressure you apply with your pen(cil), if you press so hard that you make dents/grooves in the paper you can't go back over it and you can't shade anything else any darker : /
Don't try to join the lines up together so tightly, like on the center left of the page #7, the eye.
Also mannequin is spelled mannequin.

As said, looks like you're advancing quite quickly, keep going !
Treat every difficulty in your way as a stepping stone; a challenge to leap to greater challenges.

[zelda_geek]

Hey, thanks for commenting in my sketchbook. Just want to say you are doing fine, just continue doing those studies and keep updating! The anatomy studies will help you alot.

[Matthew Forte]

To all of you who posted, thank you very much, I love to see people critique my work. Anyway, I have something new for you all, the SUPER MANNEQUIN! DAMN THE QUALITY OF THIS CAMERA! With the muscle cape and all that, as said by Loomis. Enjoy, and tear it apart with your words

It's still pretty early, and once I get back from church, I should be drawing more stuff, so look forward to another post later in the day.

[Matthew Forte]

pantless_wanderer:Thanks man, the words of encouragement really help. Thanks for those links, awesome stuff!
Sarxous:Ah, local . I've been doing a ton of anotomy stuff, so hopefully my proportions should look fine fairly soon
Helioth: Well, that's a lot of stuff Thanks, all take it all into advisement. As for pushing hard when I draw, it's also how I write, so I guess I gotta break that habit, huh?
zelda_geek: Thanks!

[Matthew Forte]

Back again, my friends, with some more work to share with you. Finally got to full muscle layers on the bodies, tell me what you think

[Brendan Draney]

You're doing ok. Just keep drawing !
I like the word baloon - I'm glad people aren't getting their cofee in Starbucks sans clothing.

You wrote a note to the effect "what's going on here?" What's going on there is you need to stop, take your time and really think around the form. it takes some concentration to really get that stuff. Think 3d. I see you doing it in spots here and there so keep at it !

[Matthew Forte]

Alright guys and gals, last one for today. It's about 7pm here, and I've been looking over things for sketching and for school all day, time to just sit in my chair and draw some fun stuff . Please, comment on this study, so I can have something to do in Independent Study in school tomorrow. I'll be sure to post whatever I come up with.

[Niva.]

Hey Matt, it's good to study like you're doing already, Loomis is a great source and I think that's what you must be looking at. Either way if you have a chance get into some figure drawing classes - when you draw from life you'll learn faster and be able to apply it when you're not referencing. I've been meaning to go back myself because I saw a rapid jump in my skill when I did it for a bit.

Also it looks as if you're photographing your stuff, try using a scanner if you can or propping the camera against something so it doesn't blur.

Anyways, thanks for dropping a line in my SB, much appreciated.

[algenpfleger]

hey man, good studies, about the hands, my advice is that once you learned about the bones and joints and muscles and tendons, you take a mirror and look at your own hands and identify all the shapes and by what they are formed. this way you're forced to go back if you don't understand something. tackling things this way sped my learning up quite a bit, try it, it's much better than copying

[Matthew Forte]

Ah, finally home. Didn't really get a chance to sketch anything in school, but I did some stuff last night that I'll post right now. Please comment

algenpfleger:Thanks a lot man, I'll be sure to do that I was just looking at how much my hands sucked, I really need to do that section of the Loomis book.
n1va: Always a pleasure to view yours and algen's sketchbook, I have them both bookmarked, I love the work you guys do. I've been doing a ton of studies, so hopefully they will really pay off in a future piece of work. In my newest stuff, I think the trenchcoat soldier benefited from correct proportions of body within his clothes, I'm somewhat happy with the results. As for my camera, unfortunately I don't have a scanner or a stand, but as you can tell from this new pic, I found a setting that compensates for motion blur, and I turned off the flash this time, and just got some surrounding lights. Thanks for stopping by!

[Matthew Forte]

Alright people, got another one for you all.
I just did this today for a friend. I referenced a character that was done kingdom hearts style (small waist, big shoes) and I'm really satisfied with the results. I'll do some original stuff, and post again when I'm finished.

[Niva.]

Yeah the setting with the motion blur is certainly obvious, also the lighting is better w/o the flash.

Last character is a step up, I would tighten the shoes around the ankles a bit, looks like they'll slip right off in big action. Also the hand in the pocket, I'm not sure if that pocket belongs to the outfit or if that's a coinpurse or something else, either way that's one of your best pieces thusfar.

On the previous post the guy with the helmet/gasmask indeed has decent proportions but the foreshortening on his right arm and the overall position of the arms and rifle is a bit weak.

Keep at it!

[Matthew Forte]

N1va: Thanks for the feedback. I'm just posting now because I'm still in the middle of a sketch, and it is a little too late to post more stuff before I'm able to actually finish them, and I hope to wake up to a few more posts. To clarify, yes, it's a pocket he has his hand resting in, and yeah, the shoes are kinda loose on his feet, I wasn't exactly sure how to make shoes so big yet still fit well The guy with the gas mask was a quickie, I was just trying to see how to fit clothes onto a form, and I really need some help with my hands. I think i'll reference the Loomis hand stuff tomorrow. Hopefully you will check back here, and you can answer me this: What do you use for your newest work? It looks digital, but I'm not sure.

[DAVEZILLA]

Post #7 and #16 are really great studies. Confident lines.

I'd like to see more drawings from life Anything from life is really good to draw from because if you can draw something that's right in front of you, you can draw anything

Keep it up man, and thanks for droppin' by my sketchbook earlier. And now that you say that about the thumb, it makes sense So thanks.

[The7Artist7]

Hey - thanks for commenting on my sketchbook

You got a good thing going here, progressing well - It looks like you are enjoying it too - keep it up!

What I really enjoy is the 'life' your art has - even in the anatomy sketches there is energy and humor!

study, copy, explore, exaggerate, normalize, experiment, utilize, post here

[Lyno]

Hi,

Cool to see you're doing a lot of studies but don't give up and do more,more,... .
The last one is cool to, so I hope to see some more characters soon. I'll try to check back later.

PS: I already have the loomis pdf's, but thanks for asking

Good luck and keep up the good work (and studies ).

[Cirrus]

nice studies, like someone said already there is a lot of energy and freshness for being just anathomy studies
=)

[Veneq]

Hey, nice progress here since the last time I stopped by. It looks like you are hitting the studies pretty hard - keep it up. The second image on post #7 looks really good. If you keep that same attitude and drive, you cannot be stopped. Good work sir!

[Matthew Forte]

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies, I'll be sure to take any criticism and apply it! Well, a good mid-day update is in order. I made this in about an hour. I was inspired by some of the inking I saw around the forums. Unfortunately, I seem to lack Adobe Illustrator to do it properly, but I was able to use the photoshop pen tool to get this done, and I love the results! The next step might be coloring, but I'm so tired of inking I think I might go back to sketching for a while. Tell be what you think, and any techniques for inking that you can muster.

[Matthew Forte]

Alright guys, after the inking, some school work, and the eating of the chocolate, I was finally able to get some studies done. Behold my parts of the face in all their majesty Please criticize.

[Cpt_Subtext]

I recognise lots of these, hurray for Andrew Loomis! I think a good thing for you to do, that i did alot of as well, is to get some photo references of different poses and trace the manikin over the top of them. Easy if you have a tablet, or else you can print some pics off or buy a sports magazine or something and use some good old tracing paper. It really helps to understand where things go and get some natural looking poses stuck in your head so you can start drawing them with no ref later. And also when you draw your quick figures, like in the first post, always try to get the entire figure done i think, just looks better and will help with proportions and stuff. Thanks for stopping by my sb, goodluck and happy drawing!