my... sketchbook (SMALL Update~ 6/30/09)

[astroluc]

A bit about me:

I was once an art student, went to college for illustration, had to leave for financial reasons, spent many years doing nothing artistic (and my skills degraded) and now over the past 1.5-2 years I have been slowly trying (trying being the operative word) to re-learn and hopefully GROW as an artist.

Here are a few quick studies from my last trip to the MFA, a quick study of the taps at my local watering hole, and the LAST one being a quick sketch I did today!

I would love some thoughts, crits, opinions, input ... and thank you!

(((UPDATES AT THE BOTTOM OF THREAD)))

[astroluc]

here's a couple more recent sketches; any and all crits/comments appreciated!

more to come

[astroluc]

a few of my older sketches to put some perspective into my progress... these are in descending order from newest (top) to oldest (bottom) with the most recent being about 6 mo. old and the oldest being about 12 YEARS old... with a large gap somewhere in the late 90s to the early-mid 00s

(don't mind the watermarks... I yanked these from my another online gallery of mine to save time in resizing! )

[astroluc]

one more recent sketch

[Lyno]

nice pencils astroluc, I'll try to find some crits after posting some more work .
Now I can only suggest to keep drawing .

[astroluc]

nice pencils astroluc, I'll try to find some crits after posting some more work .
Now I can only suggest to keep drawing .

hah! will do, thanks

[astroluc]

one relatively recent one and one older on (about 4 years old! yikes)

[astroluc]

**7/16/08

The first one is a bit silly, but recent...

the second is still "in progress"

The rest are just simple sketches.

[astroluc]

a quick study of George Carlin done during he last HBO special, a couple months before he died, and a few more from the past 2 months

[astroluc]

just looking for a few thoughts?! pros, cons, advice, etc..?

[astroluc]

seriously... 150+ views and only one reply other than me?!

[ccsears]

piece of advice... the hatching you're doing for tone is distracting sometimes. when your hatching or parallel line strokes leave spaces between them that are close to the same size as the features you're actually trying to draw, it confuses the eye.

in other words: ||||||||i||||||||||||||||||||||
from a distance it's messy to see that you were trying to include the "i" detail.

hatching is difficult.

you probably need to change whatever medium you're using or use it differently to make some progress easier. right now, it looks like you're trying to do some quick shading with a small tool over a large area. you get impatient or bored and hatch it quickly just to fill it in and get back to the good stuff, but it looks a little distracting.

for now, if i were you, i would focus on drawing cleanly and accurately with confidence. lame as it might sound, the best way for some people to do that is by tracing photographs. since the tracing paper blurs what you can see of the photograph and since there are no real "lines" in nature, this teaches you to make a decision about where to put a line, for what reason, how to separate light from shadow, how to organize interesting shapes, and where to put soft and hard edges. what it also helps with is avoiding the nervousness when trying to capture a likeness and avoiding proportion mistakes.

in other words, it reduces drawing to a decision-making process that trains your eye. without a good eye, you can't tell whether your hand is behaving itself or not.

hope that helps. good luck.

[astroluc]

piece of advice... the hatching you're doing for tone is distracting sometimes. when your hatching or parallel line strokes leave spaces between them that are close to the same size as the features you're actually trying to draw, it confuses the eye.

in other words: ||||||||i||||||||||||||||||||||
from a distance it's messy to see that you were trying to include the "i" detail.

hatching is difficult.

you probably need to change whatever medium you're using or use it differently to make some progress easier. right now, it looks like you're trying to do some quick shading with a small tool over a large area. you get impatient or bored and hatch it quickly just to fill it in and get back to the good stuff, but it looks a little distracting.

for now, if i were you, i would focus on drawing cleanly and accurately with confidence. lame as it might sound, the best way for some people to do that is by tracing photographs. since the tracing paper blurs what you can see of the photograph and since there are no real "lines" in nature, this teaches you to make a decision about where to put a line, for what reason, how to separate light from shadow, how to organize interesting shapes, and where to put soft and hard edges. what it also helps with is avoiding the nervousness when trying to capture a likeness and avoiding proportion mistakes.

in other words, it reduces drawing to a decision-making process that trains your eye. without a good eye, you can't tell whether your hand is behaving itself or not.

hope that helps. good luck.

a lot of it is the medium (and the media!) as I use a .7mm HB lead on a heavilly toothed paper for my sketch-books but I certainly won't argue with the rushing part!! I always rush my sketches... always have. I also seem to like the idea of my sketchbook looking rough and almost aggressive!! I don't like to spend too much time on idea sketches, but I do like to spend a little more time on studies... but never as much as a refined piece, though I think that can go without saying (he says after he says it).

There is an example of some of my more refined work HERE just to give you a bit more insight into my work.

I hear you on the photograph thing, though... in my effort to re-learn a lot of the old skills I should re-do the old excersises, and I can honestly say I can't recall much of my earlier training so any suggestion is welcome!

Thank you very much for your thoughts, do you have any other thoughts or critiques on the anatomy or any other of the technincal aspects of my work?

[Wes Mordine]

Very good sketchbook so far. Your understanding of lighting and shading is good. But I'd say your biggest skill is creativity. Keep working it and don't get sloppy on your anatomy, and you will see some great progress.

[safesheep]

You have some nice sketches in here, and I understand that aggressive look you are going for, I kinda like that too, it shows a lot of energy. I think you can keep doing that but definitely strive to do some longer and even more thoughtful studies. Developing patience has helped me immensely, so maybe give it a go. Most of all keep on drawing! The comments and critiques will come with time (All this advice should be copied and pasted right into my sketchbook too!)

[Peter Berkovski]

good stuff in here mate, like your sketches a lot, keep em koming
*nice understand of shadow and light!

[astroluc]

Very good sketchbook so far. Your understanding of lighting and shading is good. But I'd say your biggest skill is creativity. Keep working it and don't get sloppy on your anatomy, and you will see some great progress.

yeah... like I mentioned before, I feel my biggest problem seems to be patience; I do have a bad habit of rushing sometimes and I am s-l-o-w-l-y working on that!

[DaStreets]

Oh my damn, ur understanding of the female figure is awsome. I wanna reach your level of sketching, look's great. I also like the ATHF twisted drawing, LOL Keep posting, Ill subscribe. (Comment my page if u want)

[astroluc]

updated

[Stevan]

Hez m8 your drawings are reallz good, keep working Too bad you had to leave art school

[astroluc]

Hez m8 your drawings are reallz good, keep working Too bad you had to leave art school

hey thank you; I plan on finishing someday, though... someday!

[astroluc]

HUGE UPDATE
I have been trying to be more patient with my drawing; also, I have abandonned my earlier narrow minded techniques in favor of "building" an image using varying styles and varying lead softness/hardness... etc... hope you like the update, all done in the past few months.

[all_winter_hopes]

your stuff is reall good. but it seems to me that in alot of these peices you werent really thinking about the overall composition...of design if you will.
as i read through this thread i did notice a huge leap in your production. switching up your pencils was a good idea...i always catch myself using more than one pencil...
-2h- i use this to do the first real rough sketches..
-hb- lots of detail...lighter hatching.
-2b- all other darker areas...line weight.
im not saying this is a formula for perfection..its just what i use...


everyone else has already mentioned it..but patience is important..it took me a very long time...and multiple unfinished peices to realize i needed to just slow down.

dont let yourself get distracted by a messy page..(one of my biggest problems) focus on the image in your head.

great job tho!!!

[astroluc]

your stuff is reall good. but it seems to me that in alot of these peices you werent really thinking about the overall composition...of design if you will.
as i read through this thread i did notice a huge leap in your production. switching up your pencils was a good idea...i always catch myself using more than one pencil...
-2h- i use this to do the first real rough sketches..
-hb- lots of detail...lighter hatching.
-2b- all other darker areas...line weight.
im not saying this is a formula for perfection..its just what i use...
everyone else has already mentioned it..but patience is important..it took me a very long time...and multiple unfinished peices to realize i needed to just slow down.

great job tho!!!

Thank you! I certainly understand the composition issue, especially in the older sketches (pre 09). I am liking my mre recent work a lot more... the hard to soft lead formula I have been employing, and though I still wrestle with impatience, I have certainly gotten better.

Thanks again!

[jhofferle]

The extra time spent on shading makes your recent stuff look more refined than the earlier sketches. I think it's time to try another full rendering (with background).

Post more often! Don't fall back into a non-drawing rut.

EDIT: I like the Hope & Olivia piece a lot.

[astroluc]

The extra time spent on shading makes your recent stuff look more refined than the earlier sketches. I think it's time to try another full rendering (with background).

Post more often! Don't fall back into a non-drawing rut.

EDIT: I like the Hope & Olivia piece a lot.

It's definitely been a struggle, but I have been drawing a lot more over the past few months than I have in the past few years... I have also been trying to check my ego at the door, so to speak, and try to be more receptive to critique (something I admit I have struggled with)... and a more refined piece is on the horizon. Thank you!

[astroluc]

Updated, June 29, 09