- The Slacker's Sketchbook -

[fenixx]

Hello there,

I have been lurking here for a long time. The quality of artwork is truly amazing and inspiring. I hope to attain that level someday.

I am a complete beginner. Just have been drawing here and there sometimes. But I really like Concept art and hope to be an artist. I know PRACTICE is the right way, and I hope this sketchbook thread will somehow motivate me to just draw and post. I hope to see some progress. I would be grateful if you guys would comment on my work and give me advice... I NEED IT

Anyways... here goes.

Visit last page for new updates !!

[fenixx]

So here is my first post. A few pages from my sketchbook. I sketched these a few days back...

I know that my lines are a little(?) too sketchy. Hope to improve my line quality. They are just simple figure study, using references. I hope to attain more detail after I learn more of anatomy and values as time goes.

[fenixx]

more...

The silhouette was done when I was bored in class and had nothing else to do. The sad reason for it being a silhouette is that I didn't have the confidence to add details... just had a good pose. :|

[fenixx]

Just a simple character sketch that I tried out. A female assassin's face. I took me a lot of time to draw this, and sadly everything is wrong with it. Proportions, detailing... Have to learn more of head anatomy.

[.desk]

Hey, those figures are looking pretty good.
For the portrait you did though, you should move all your details like the eyes, nose, and mouth down the face. Right now they are way too high, especially the eyes so it seems like she has no forehead. The chin is not aligned to the mouth, and I don't know about this one, but the jawlines too long, making the cheekbone unusually high up the face.
Try drawing a vertical line and horizontal line on your portraits before you draw any details so that you'll have a good sense of where the eyes and nose will be. Hope it helps, I'm not entirely qualified to be helping others though, lol.

[Carbono]

Your figure drawings really got a nice sense of movement to them, they look slick... Cool stuff! And good luck with the heads, nothing that some practice could help!

Keep it up bro!
Cheers.

[fenixx]

@ .desk
Thanks for replying Right on the money. All the features got mixed up a little here and there. Will focus more on it next time

@ carbono
Thanks for commenting. Yeah, Figure drawing or at least gesture drawing is the one with which I have practiced the most. I guess it shows Will practice on the heads

[fenixx]

Couldn't upload yesterday. Had some net problems. Here are some more from my sketchbook. More figure drawing. Will start anatomy study soon. Need it

[fenixx]

Guess I'm back after a very long time. Been busy with shifting houses and then moving into a hostel. I joined a college for a degree course in animation. So had been busy adjusting to the hostel life. Although i did draw, I haven't draw as much as i felt I should have. I will post those works later on. Now that I am on a break, I was able to give myself time to set things straight and get to drawing a few sketches.

Interested in car design. Need lot of work I know. But thought I would just follow some tutorials... use some references and just draw what I can to warm up and get the feel of car shapes. Here are some sketches.

[fenixx]

a few figure drawing sketches.

Few are from using Hogarth's Dynamic Figure Drawing BOok as reference and 1 was done using a reference image.

Please comment

[fenixx]

Since i am finding it really hard to draw the human head from different angles, I thought i would make some efforts to sketch some skulls from random angles using references (I downloaded a series of images of skulls in different angles)

I love to draw faces.. but I am not that good at it. So had to start the study. hope this will help me. Please comment and give me guidance on how to improve on the whole getting the form thing straight.

Thank you.

[SamC]

This work shows promise You seem to be scratching or 'chicken pecking' your lines, try and use one long swooping line, it's feels uncomfortable at first, but as you grow confident it will take you further than the scratching method. Keep it up

[fenixx]

SamC : Thanks for commenting. I will try that. Been through your sketchbook, and only makes me want to sketch more. So here i go


Did two unfinished portraits. Since I felt I should at least see how I go at it. Came fairly nice. Compared to the one i had made last time. Please comment on it and tell me if there is any mistake, and what I should work on.








More car sketches... it looks kiddish. But some I like.




Was so bored that I would just make simple forms and then got on to experimenting some combination. They are pretty small... next time I will make more effort, since they can help me draw better figures as well as technical stuff.



Advices and comments.... please

[derbz]

your selection of skull sketches are good, I've always struggled with depicting heads at the angles you have drawn them at, well done.

[mike_rorschach_]

youve got a really good start here, in terms of getting into drawing faces more, its really just a case of drawing them over and over and over again, start with some images out magazines or the net, and just sketch em out, dont finish them, just keep em loose and gestural, just get comfortable with different eye shapes, noses, lips, chin sizes, cheek bones etc etc, once you get the construction down, everything comes easier. well that method worked for me.

good luck and keep drawing

[fenixx]

Derbz : Thanks. It took me a while, lot of practice, even though i haven't posted those sketches. But I am nowhere close to achieving that confidence in drawing heads. More practice I guess.


Got a little technical design going on. Was just drawing something random and this came out. I used CONTOURS to help me see the form so that I can attempt shading, and I must say I was surprised that I came up with this. Coz I rarely shade. Now a friend suggested that I should redesign with more practicality.



So I'll get onto drawing it more and more. Will update tomorrow

[arsanik]

You're doing awesome sketches for a beginner. And I'm already seeing a lot of improvement.

Seriously, keep up the good work.

[fenixx]

mike_rorschach_ : Yea, thanks. I really need to do that, because I am not able to get characteristics into the faces I make, they are just faces. I need to practice each element. Need to get some WOMENS MAGAZINE haha

arsanik : Thank you. I hope it continues to go like this.



So I worked overnight on the design for the turret thingy. Was a little frustrating because I am not good at this... this is first time I am making an effort to make something. Wasn't really satisfied with the result either, but hey its still good enough for first try

At first I tried to experiment with basic shapes for the ship. I then decided that its better to make a spaceship fighter than an attached turret.




Also was experimenting with certain shapes for the cannon and guns on the ship. Took me a while. Need some help on some cannon designs really.




Then got into sketching the whole thing.




Final Result. Rendering could have been better.



Please comment and advice me on how i can improve on making better forms for ships and generally.

[fenixx]

I tried sketching this face referring to a magazine. Came out pretty crappy. But I decided that I would post it even if it sucks because I need to see how I am improving. So here it is:



Would you believe it that i was trying to draw Nicole Kidman

[phoenicorn]

Loving your anatomy studies. with the last piece try using a grid. your defo improving so keep it up

[SamC]

The eyes on the latest one are at too much of slant, but don't worry about it, you'll look back pretty soon and be like D: Try doing a lot more studies of everything. I mean you said you cars looks pretty kid like, but thats because our minds simplify everything when we don't know what to do. So if you wanna draw cars, draw tons of cars from reference. Urm for figures try this site http://www.posemaniacs.com/?pagename=thirtysecond i used to do lots of those, and it gave me a basic idea of the human form. Keep it up and keep it fun.

[hunchback]

you got drive man!
i admire your ability to post work your not happy with, it will help you.
Your last portrait isnt bad.

you want to find shapes in what you see.
its not as easy as just drawing a circle a couple of times and then adding eyes, you really want to take a step back some time when your working to check your progress. exam the subject before you start to draw. work light and keep your pencil sharp.

the stepping back thing really helps

have fun and thanks for dropping by the book.

[dchung]

good effort here...keep it up..
next time when you try drawing faces from references,study how the planes form on the face..that will help you with the shadows and lighting..hopefully that way you will get a good likeness..
also check the alignment of the features on the face when you draw it from a front view...use a straight line to align the eyes and chin...etc...
hope this helps...

[_vikramR]

those sketches of ship is really nice..

[fenixx]

Its been quite some time since I updated anything in my sketchbook. And I am so not proud of myself for not doing so after deciding to maintain it. Classes and life in general has been so frustrating that I never got to it. But I have been sketching... so here are some of my works through some months.

I WOULD REALLY appreciate if you guys would comment on my sketches and tell me what I should be working on. The only thing that really bothers be every single minute is the fear of not learning anything properly. I am sometimes scared that what I am drawing might not really help me in the long run to understand forms or values. All I need is guidance... I have given up on my college to provide me the guidance that I wanted.

Thank you.

Below are some sketches I did referring to some pictures. I know I suck at drawing faces... so need to practice more.

[fenixx]

I hate the fact that most of my characters don't have proper hands poses with distinguishable fingers. I thought I should practice drawing some hands. Damn its tough....

First few sketches are just refering to my own hands and some pictures of hands. The last two are referring to BURNE HOGARTH's Drawing Dynamic Hands.... that really helped me figure out the form. But still am not able to draw it completely by imagination... need to draw them more.

[Sour Junkie]

I like some of your drawings, dude! Just keeping working on the eye positions. I like your car drawings. I always sucked at drawing cars and yours are an inspiration. Keep up the drawing!

[fenixx]

Here are some figure drawings.... I hope some day I will be able to draw characters accurately without reference...


Most of the sketches below ARE without reference... but very loose. Comment please


Thank you.

[fenixx]

I got my Wacom Intous 4. But I still have to figure out how to paint properly in photoshop. Its kinda irritating to figure out the correct brush settings and the technique... everywhere there are just vague hints... and i am clueless when I apply it. I guess I have to try it out myself to figure it out. If anyone could help me out with it... please do.

These are just (not so..)"quick" sketches in photoshop using reference. I just want to figure out simple grayscale painting... and that seems hard enough.

The last figure took me too long.... but i did end up learning quite a number of things from it. The abs just got screwed. :|

The image of boxes was done as a practice in PS to figure out realistic rendering... and the apple was done long time back, it was my very first attempt at digital painting.

[fenixx]

Went crazy with some spaceship concepts....


Pencil + Photoshop

Last two are my own concepts... the last one being a cruise ship for sightseeing