Woof

[WoofCreature]

Well, I've been lurking for over a year now and I think it's time I actually post something.

I'm in high school trying to decide if I want to make art my life and career. I just finished two art classes in school and I learned a lot of what I don't know.
I've been drawing a lot of animals from photos lately, but I'm quickly realizing how little I'm understanding the 3d form, so I'm going to try and do a lot more studies from life.

Here's some stuff I've done in the past month. I'd really appreciate any feedback. Sorry for the bad scans.

[B_h_bloomer]

Hehe, it's nice to see a fellow dog lover on CA. Your pencil work is lovely. You have a strong grasp of form and proportion. My only crit would be that perhaps you could push the values a bit more to make your drawings really pop.

Great work, Keep it up! And perhaps some human figures, as well?

[JaneMag]

Nice studies! I see you're working with getting the shapes down, rather than the details. Good choice. That will help a lot when you study from life, working on 3d understadning. Seems like you're well on your way! Keep us updated, ok?

[WoofCreature]

Thanks for the comments! I really appreciate any feedback.

@B_h_bloomer: You're absolutely right about needing to push the values. I'm definitely going to really push them on the next study I do. People drawing is a problem I slowly hack at every once in awhile. Definitely something I want to work on, but for now I want to focus on drawing from life.

@JaneMag: It's funny you mention details. Focusing too much on the details was something I was often accused of in class. Thanks for reminding me to focus on the big shapes, I was starting to forget about that.

Here's some studies from Loomis and Bridgeman and some gestures from pixelovely and videos. The reason they're in red pen is because I put less pressure on myself when I draw in pen, and it helps me stay focused on contour. I'll be drawing a still life tonight and I'll post it later.

[WRappiii]

Looks like you'll quickly master drawing canine figures
The hands are looking great!

[WoofCreature]

@WRappiii: Thanks!

Here's some dog skulls from photos that I did awhile ago and a still life of a bowl I did today.

[Alex Eh]

Hey woof, I think your on the right track. Just draw what you like and feel things around a bit. No rush to decided if this is what you want to make a living out of or not.

I can see your already doing this but I think working on seeing shapes correctly, and thinking about things as 3D forms will take you pretty far. Squinting can help separate the darks and lights.

If you have a tablet it wouldn't hurt to just jump right into some color stuff. Keep it simple and just try to block in the shapes of color really.

Keep it up!

[WoofCreature]

@Alex Eh: Thanks. Often I only draw animals or other fun things, but for now I'm taking advantage of the motivation I got from starting this sketchbook to focus on the boring stuff.
Seeing things as 3d forms is something I seem to be having trouble with. I think I might try sculpting soon. I keep forgetting to squint to see the values. Though for me all I have to do is close one eye. Instant value separation.
I actually do have a tablet. I've had it for a few years now and have tried using it, but I think it's better if I stick with traditional for now.

The first three are gestures of my cat, the still life is of a paper crane, and the last is a self portrait. It turned out a lot better than I expected, it actually sort of looks like me.

[Alex Eh]

Having a lazy eye has it's uses! Maybe study some animal anatomy if animals are that's the most fun for you?

[WoofCreature]

@Alex Eh: Right now I'm just trying to take advantage of the motivation I've gotten from posting here. Something about uploading your art to a site full of pros sure humbles you. Sooner or later I'm sure I'll get tired of drawing from life and then I'll probably start on animal anatomy. I've got some books coming for when that happens.

I decided to pull out my tablet today. I drew the orange in pencil before I tried it in colour. I tried using Corel painter first, but after quite a few failed attempts I decided to try Gimp. It was a lot harder than I expected. I really love working with colour though. Really makes me want to improve my drawing to a level that I can justify buying paints.

[Alex Eh]

Wow! You did a really great job with the painting woof! The values and colors are pretty good, you have a nice range of values and the colors have a nice range of saturation and hues.

Nice sketches of your cat too. I think the more you draw from life the more fun it gets. You realize there's just always more information then you can deal with

[tronrobot]

i dig the hand studies!

[WoofCreature]

Alex Eh: Thanks, I'm glad you suggested trying colour. Working from life can be pretty fun, it's kind of relaxing. It is difficult though trying to sort through all that information.
tronrobot: Thanks. I might do more of those soon. The last time I tried to draw hands from life didn't work too well and those Bridgman hands certainly wouldn't hurt.

The past few days have just been off. I didn't get much done and I got really lazy doing those still lives. The drawings in red pen were an attempt at getting rid of my messy "sketchy" lines. They're so horrible I almost didn't post them, but I don't have much else to show for the past few days.

[Alex Eh]

Keep going woof, just don't forget to have fun too, studies are important but keeping art fun is just as important. It's much easier to keep going if you keep it enjoyable. I think most people that quit, quit because they forgot to keep art fun and it just became a chore.

I think the pen lines are a good exercise to do, your lines will improve. Looking forward to more work.

[WoofCreature]

Alex Eh: That's true, though I'm still not quite sure what makes it truly enjoyable for me. I've never really quit art, but I've definitely gone too long without drawing sometimes. I'll try my best to stop that from happening again.

More sketches from life trying to use less lines and experimenting with cross-hatching. I was trying to think back to some exercises I'd read here for developing more confident lines, that's what all the random stuff is. I was going to do a longer study after that, but somehow I got watching a dog training video and wanted to draw the dog. I really need to find some dogs to draw from life.

[Alex Eh]

Hmmm, a pet shop? That or a park I guess.

For awhile I was thinking I wasn't really into drawing afterall, but eventually decided I wanted to keep going and if you like it I hope you keep at it too.

Maybe try a longer study of a dog from a photo?

[Ghast]

Even though you're working from photos, you have some great gesture and rhythm in your line work especially the red sketches! Hold on to that! happy posting

[WoofCreature]

Alex Eh: Hmm, didn't think of the pet store. I'm actually going to start volunteering at my local SPCA soon, so maybe I'll have time to draw after that. Or I could take a stab at drawing people. I'm definitely still into drawing, just been really tired the past week. I'll get back into the swing of things sooner or later.
Ghast: Thanks, that's something I've really tried to be aware of, especially when not drawing from life. I'll do my best to keep it up.

Haven't done much lately. I was looking at some of my pieces from last term's art classes and one exercise we did was cross-contour lines of an apple. It really made me realize how little I understood form. I tried doing some today but it didn't seem to work as well. I'm going to try it with an apple tomorrow.

[Alex Eh]

Nothing wrong with taking it slow, doing a bit is infinitely better then doing nothing. Keep it up!

[WoofCreature]

Alex Eh: Yep. If I can just get into the habit of drawing everyday, I'll have a lot more to show.

Well today was depressing. Oh well though, I still have art. Been doing more cross-contour drawings, this time with an apple. I was getting bored of that so I did "gestures" from the pixelovely gesture drawing tool. I don't know if they really count as gestures though, I spent at least three minutes on each.

On the bright side, it's getting a lot easier to refrain from my old "sketchy" marks. More habit building.

[Featheredface]

Very nice anatomy and hand studies! I like that you're progressing from the scratchy, hairy lines to more cleaner ones. Keep going.

[WoofCreature]

Featheredface: Thanks! I'm glad I'm finally moving past the hairy lines. I've been aware of the problem for quite awhile now, but I always hated the results when I tried to change and went back to my old habits. Hopefully doing lots of contour drawings will get me out of the habit.

It was fairly nice out today so I took the opportunity to draw outside for a bit. That mess at the bottom of the first page is supposed to be my backyard. Then I spent awhile going through this book. It's in wax crayon because I recently found my old box of Crayola crayons and felt like drawing with them.

[Alex Eh]

That's a really awesome book for learning to draw the model from life. Humm not much to say, keep it up!

[WoofCreature]

Alex Eh: Thanks. I'm really liking this book so far, though it might be awhile before I can draw the model from life.

The first page is more contour exercises. I finally did another still life, haven't done one in awhile. Then the last two pages are more from the Mike Mattesi book. Nothing really came out right and I had a really short attention span today, but at least I got stuff done.