Going slow but steadily....//Contains some nudity

[Cyprinus]

Hello Conceptart!

First of all, this is an awesome place with so many talented and inspiring people!

My name is Caroline and I'm from Germany =D I've known this place for quite a while now, but hesitated to join. But since I really want to improve, I thought I could as well give it a try!

Most of the time, I draw some kind of manga-style, uhm... I love drawing androgynous guys and stylized stuff...but well. There are times, I want to draw in a realistic style as well - and then I fail. Also, I think it's important to know all the basics for the freedom for stylisation...!!

So, I scanned some stuff from my sketchbook to get started. I think there are some mistakes I'm doing over and over again. Hopefully I can get rid of them...

[TASmith]

Good start! So long as you're drawing pretty women in states of undress, I'd suggest playing off the textural differences of cloth vs. skin. Take a different drawing approach to that woman - emphasizing the form of her ribcage/sternum and collar bones. It'll make the whole image more interesting.

[Cyprinus]

Thank you TASmith !

It's good you mentioned the cloth vs. skin thingy ... it's definitely something I need to work on! I will pay attention with the next sketch.

[Cyprinus]

Some new stuff
Hadn't much time for sketching or better; totally lacked motivation. Maybe it's the weather....it's raining too much...




First some anatomy practise....the torso has been done long ago, the pelvis is an exercise from last week. I always have troubles with the neck and pelvis, I want to work on that more. I mostly work with Bammes' book about anatomy...



Heads exercise. I'm not too happy with it...must practise more.
Some angles I find really hard to draw. I can't locate the nose and stuff. Also the eyes...very difficult.



Here are some sketches of a new character I'm designing for a rpg. I'm not sure about everything yet. When I scanned it, I noticed his thumb is too short....I definetely have to pay attention on small things like that...

[Cyprinus]

I can't sleep and so I thought I could write a little update.
Didn't do many studies lately *slaps self* but sketched a lot other stuff ..here's some of it:



I developed the design of the character further...
I think it still lacks 3-dimensionality ;_;"



First time I tried a character like that o__o"



Something I'm coloring at the moment I'm not progressing at all, can't find the mental state to go on coloring XD; Even the sketch is super-old from may or something like that...

C&C welcome

[algenpfleger]

Cool character designs! \°O°/

[Cyprinus]

Update-time

Did draw much last weeks, though I had a bunch of other stuff to do but drawing is so relaxing and always a good reason to procrastinate other work

@ Algenpfleger

Thank you (again xD) I love designing characters. I do it too often I think...

Well, on to the new stuff.

Ever since I became aware that I can't draw full bodies (and I realized that long ago XD), I didn't draw full bodies. Which results in...that I can't draw full bodies even today
I want to work on that as well... but still, I practised some more heads...



From Loomis and then two characters from Inoue Takehiko's Manga Vagabond. I wanted to try using a brush pen for outlines like him. Was difficult, but a lot of fun!



Some studies I copied from a book with photos of angel statues at a cemetery. I noticed since I haven't done any studies from photos or such in a long time, it has become really hard for me Have to do it more often.



Quick sketch after the studies. I guess I felt inspired... I wanted it to look like he comes out of a stone but I failed. Have to try again...



Fanart of Shishido Baiken from Vagabond... I think the head is too big, but I'm not sure. It's not completed yet for I wanted to add a tree and stuff like that in the background. Critique welcome!



Another Fanart. Mitsunari Ishida from the game Sengoku Musou 2. Attempt at drawing a full body shoot. Did this after Midnight and was probably too tired to manage to get it right. I think that his legs are wrong. But I can't really tell the mistake. Have to practise more, next one will be better (hopefully)



Okay. Drew this since I wanted to practise emotions and drawing an open mouth. Damn hard...I should have used a reference for the mic



Last but not least: finished the pic from my other post. FINALLY...it takes me too long to finish something, srsly....I get to get my ass working.

Like always, C&C most welcome!

[geoxen]

Pretty good work here, I'm liking what I'm seeing. What you should do to make you work better though, is to practice drawing poses.

For you to do this I'd suggest you do some gesture drawing, draw for 30 seconds of the people you see. It'll be good practice, and help you draw with speed and efficiency. Plus it'll help give a sense of attitude, and weight to your drawings. Which a few of your pieces I see are missing, but otherwise keep it up

[Viking Raider]

Love your linework. It looks really clean. Crisp. I think your eyes and faces are pretty darn good (better than mine!) but like geoxen said, practice poses. I'm just getting into the whole idea that the human body is much more flexible than I've been portraying it. My characters look too stiff. Loosen things up, it's a little weird at first but I think I'm starting to get the idea.

Anyway, great sketchbook, I'll be back!

[Cyprinus]

Woah, I can't believe it's been such a long time I did post here. I've been so unmotivated =( I didn't do much, so I didn't improve at all. This s**** big time, so I'm gonna kick my lazy ass now! Thank you Viking Raider and Geoxen for your encouring words =)

I've made some loomis studies lately. Heads. If I think of my main problem, which is anatomy and poses, I think it's quite silly going on practising heads, but hey, what would a figure be without a head. I'll go trying some poses after I finished this post =) I also thought I could post some of my sketchbook pages and manga drawings















Yeah, so I hope I can get some motivation again and post more often...

Btw, I'm sorry for the quality of the scans =( for some weeks I have a new scanner, I have yet to set it up right

[tja88]

hey caroline! That last piece is great, great linework and composition I would say. thanks for dropping by my sketchbook : )

[foreverartfan]

I admire your work, I am in a serious drawing funk , so just check out some of your stuff inspiires me.

[VirgL]

hello Caroline,
i like the flow if your lines, you got a clean, confident line... i think you got all the tool you needs to start doing more varied studies like you are doing for those heads.. try to draw full bodies from life or reference, do it non stop and it will surely help your work from imagination. The 10 seconds pose things from posemaniacs.com is a good exercice to do as well.. Same for the mannekin approach of Loomis. \Keep it up

[Cyprinus]

@ tja88: Thanks a lot! And you're welcome, I really liked it =)
@ foreverartfan: Thank you, glad to hear it's inspiring.
@ WhiteC: Wow, thank you! Hearing that is really a motivation I'll do my best!

Okay, so unfortunately I don't have the whole day to draw (I blame it on my studies....) and so I don't have too much to show. I try to make some studies at least for one hour a day or so, if I manage, the rest I spend on progress with my personal projects.

So here's what I did this week, some posemaniacs, it's actually quite hard for me, I never manage to finish them within the time. I have to give up detail in favour for the gesture and overall expression. I try to remind me every time but it's quite hard stopping old habits...

Then I got some Hogarth Studies, a study of a woman based on a photo and a photoshop study. My awesome friend Jana explained me a bit about photoshop and painting. Actually it's quite old but I forgot to post here. I have a hard time getting the colors right...very difficult T_T"






I still don't know what's up with my scanner, though D:

[theUNKNOWNsketcher]

nice update!

[SaintAsh]

Nice sketchbook! I'm really enjoying your graceful linework. I'd suggest varying the line thickness more often like you did for the fourth piece in post #10. Otherwise the intricate linework can become confusing, like in the last piece of the same post. There's a lot of pretty there, but I don't know what to focus on.

[lowkey]

hey, your lines and stylized work is extremely strong! sorry to hear you dont have much time for drawing. whatever time you can make for studies will pay off big though. still lifes are really helpful for learning to pick colours in photoshop.

[Hanny Honeymoon]

wuh ich mag deinen stil
ich kann voll mit dir mitfühlen wenn man immer nur mangamäßig gemalt hat ist es schwer wenn man zwischendrin mit normalen proportionen und realistischen stilen arbeitet. vielleicht magst du dich ja mal austauschen ^^ gegenseitig motiviert man sich immer am meisten
and now go for more studies

greetz
hanny

[erdbeerfeldheld]

Very nice study yo!! I'm impressed. Keep going like that and you'll kick butt in no time! Do some studies from life next!

[Cyprinus]

Wow, thanks for all your motivating comments ;_; Sometimes it really helps me to sit down and get some work done.

@ theUNKNOWNsketcher: Thank you
@ SaintAsh: Thank you! I'll pay more attention next time. Normally I vary a bit more since I use ballpoint pen or fineliner. The image above was done with a pen...I think it's really hard to add lineweight with a pen. Have to practise more!
@ lowkey: Thank you so much Although I like looking at both realistic and stylized artwork, when it comes to drawing I like stylized drawing more...however, I can't get anything right without the basics. When I'm on vacation I'll try to try a still life
@ Hanny: Ja, das ist furchtbar oder? Ich will immer alles laaaaaaaang und dünn zeichnen....>__< freut mich dass dir mein Stil gefällt, Danke!
@ erdbeerfeldheld: Thank you! I'll keep working!


However, I begin hating christmas season because I'm just so busy I get nothing done This is also the reason I only have so few stuff this week....I want to have vacation without homework, so that I can draw all day

Anyway, did some studies from photorefs...I don't like them too much. In the end I tried to draw them a bit more faster to get a general impression of the pose, but well....fail D: The other thing is a characterdesign I did last week and some kind of illustration of one of my OCs (it's not his hand, I have a weakness for limbs coming out of nowhere into the picture....) Normally I just wanted to test out some colors, but in the end I continued and continued and continued....

Argh, I have to do some Hogarth-Studies again....

[FightingSeraph]

You have some nice studies, and your style is a mix between Y. Amano (Final Fantasy 6) and Kaori Yuki (Angel Sanctuary). However, I think that you should look into drawing
landscapes and perspective whenever possible.

[lowkey]

cool, I like the character design a lot . do you look at costumes for those or just draw what comes to your head? and getting a pose down quickly is really hard D:. practice whenever you can!

[Cyprinus]

FightingSeraph Thank you! I acutally like those two XD! Kaori Yuuki not so much anymore, but I used to read a lot of her works! Ah, and yes...landscapes and perspective, two things I've been avoiding because I'm so utterly scared of them XD But it's time to get courageous and take on the challenge!

lowkey Thank you! It was really fun to do, and usually I struggle a lot with full body stuff (thanks to anatomy...) but this time it's quite okay I think if you don't pay attention to the horrible feet XD It depends what I do for my costumes...mostly if it's for my OCs I draw from my imagination since it's a fantasy setting...however, I tend to look at costume refs when I'm unsure about some parts. Since the above one should really look japan-historical, I had a look at some material while I drew it

[Hanny Honeymoon]

ja da hast du recht! und ich glaube ein paar jahre studien brauch man schon bis man was vernünftiges aus dem kopf zeichnen kann ^^ ich haue manchmal noch fehler rein die ich erst bemerke wenn es fertig ist.. sehr ärgerlich *lol* hast du schon von der team chow gelesen? vielleicht hast du ja interesse? ich schick dir mal den link

[C-CLANCY]

great sketches

[dan liimatta]

Cool studies, and some of the stylized manga works really well & my favourite is the portrait in #14

keep it up, and happy new year!

[Abrodos]

These works are not bad at all! The biggest thing I can see is in your 3/4 faces. The outer cheek line often comes up too straight, or not respecting the cheek/jaw anatomy.
Anyway, here's some quality work, your lines are strong. Keep at it!

[Phurtura Brazier]

you invoke emotion really well with your characters! i envy that...beautiful work!

[Cyprinus]

Woah, first post in the new year! Although it's a bit late, I wish you all a happy new year!

@Hanny Honeymoon Das kenne ich, passiert mir auch ständig dass ich Fehler erst bemerke, wenn ich das Bild fertig habe D: Schlimmer finde ich es eigentlich, wenn man die Skizze irgendwo postet, keiner was sagt, aber alle meckern wenn es fertig ist....na ja. Danke für den Link, aber ich glaube im Moment hab ich nicht die Ruhe/Muse mich auf so etwas zu konzentrieren, sorry ;_;"

@C-CLANCY Thank you!

@dan liimatta Thanks a lot! I'm glad you also like my Manga stuff! I'll try my best to keep on working

@Abrodos Thank you! Yes, you're right about the faces! Although I'm already drawing faces for a long time, I still have problems with it....I probably should do some more studies. Next time I'll do some I'll pay extra attention for the 3/4 faces.

@ Phurtura Brazier I'm glad you say this. Thank you!


Okay...so here is some new stuff - didn't scan everything though, due to time problems. Unfortunately I still don't have much time and I'm often tired, so studies make no sense at all - I have the feeling I'm only copying without learning anything...if that is even possible...

[Kambei Shimada]

Nice artwork, good to see more stylised stuff here on CA.

Keep up the good work.

***************

I have started a sketchbook for 2010, crits would be very helpful. Thanks. Kambei