getting my arse in gear and starting a Sb

[ImaginaryMonkey]

mmmm bit of a n00b here, ive been lurking in the shadows and watching other artists sketchbook, and it blew me away how they improved!!
so i decided that if i want art to be a main point in my life, maybe even as a career choice then i need to start now and do some heavy learning.

ive migrated here from DA, i like it there but i really want to learn the basics as anime is doing absolutely nothing for me and im getting tired of it.

heres some background info if anyone's interested.
im a 14 year old lass living in Australia. like a lot of artists here, Ive been doodling for ages but only recently started to try and improve seriously, cuz im thinking that art is going to be a big part of my life. So i figure i have around 4 or so years to get really good and confident with my art and see what i can do from there.

so heres my first post
i found loomis's book online and ive been studying that for a little while, maybe 2 or 3 weeks, how am i going for a beginner?

[lemming-clone-]

Hey. To make the best of these studies, I think you should really focus on how to present basic shapes in space and proportion. I think Loomis mentioned learning proportion before anatomy in the begining of Figure Drawing For All Its Worth. I also mention the basic shapes in space because it looks like you're avoiding it in some places like the ribs, particularly on the second page. They end up looking flat and skewed a bit without that. [For the ribs, cylinders or modified egg shapes are useful!] It will rreeallly help your brain process shapes the more you do it. Keep 'em coming!

[xobgob]

nice work good start keep we want to see more more more

[damdischink]

keep them coming

[Monkeydominator]

Hello, fellow monkey! 8D
Keep going at it, and I listen to lemming-clone-.

[ImaginaryMonkey]

lemming-clone- - thanks for the advice! i tried to get some proportion down today, but i think it ran away from me. and i definitely need more practice to get basic shapes down!

xobgob- Thank you!

damdischink - Thank you! i will!!

Monkeydominator - hello to you to!!

raarrr why do they look so, i dunno, ungainly? must practice more!!! but practice what? everything!!

[_Forrest]

Lookin good so far man and thanks for stoppin by my SB. I'll be sure to look up on you later to see how you progress.

[Bill]

Hi, nice effort here so far. It looks like you are being VERY careful as you lay down your lines. My suggestion, for whatever it may be worth, would be to loosen up and draw with a lighter, looser line. Also, I would do some sketches from life, either getting someone to model, finding a statue, an action figure, a mirror, whatever. Loosen up at the beginning, and give yourself time to observe the shapes in the work that you want to develop.... again, for whatever my advice might be worth. Nice effort, keep going.

[jeremygordon89]

It's good to see that you're studying anatomy, since that's crucial. Your figures are a bit stiff though; try being a bit more loose and suggestive with your lines and see how it works out.

[ImaginaryMonkey]

magezhilo - Your very welcome and thank you!!!

Bill - Yeah i agree with you on that one, but could you please explain what you meant on laying down a looser line? do you mean i should try not to press down so much? that makes alot of sence though. Thank you!

jeremyg0rd0n - Yeah im gonna try to be more loose in my work. thank you!!

aahh today i had a hack at posemaniacs, i love that place, i didnt set a time limit for these but i didnt make them fleshed out and detailed, i just wanted to see if i could grasp it.
oh and the lass on the first page down left hand corner would be my sister unknowingly being a model for me. im pretty happy with it.
not so happy with my foot though XD
the pencil doodles on the second page is from my head

[mogri]

Thx for dropping by on my SB, i guess we're on the same path here lol(the anime and DA part).
Nice loomis study, keep it coming dude.

[ImaginaryMonkey]

mogri - lol yeah, no problem and thanks!!

raawrr i havent been able to draw very much for the last two days, got into an argument with my dad about drawing, he can be supportive of it but doesn't think it needs to studied so after that i just wasnt in the mood and didnt want him to see me drawing............
but i did get some done, even if its a little amount
i think i need to get more proportion drilled into my brain

[SamC]

Hey, so you're 14. Well as I turned 15 a weeks ago, I know that you have spare time on your hands. All I can say is do more of what you're doing and you'll get better, I've seen other people this age upload twice and then the enormity of learning art kicks in and they disappear forever..don't let it happen to you . For crit I would say be confident with your line, try and go for a long swooping line instead of 'chicken pecking', it may seem shaking and unnerving at first, but it takes you further than the scratching will. Keep it up.

[alicelefay]

My suggestion is to make some exercises to help loosen your line; for example, quick gesture sketches from posemaniacs.com, or to draw some blind contours. Obviously they will sound pretty odd at the start, but don't focus too much on the result; just train your hand and eye to have a flowing line.
Then maybe you could make some mannequins from Loomis, as you already did, in order to understand the movements of the human body.
Maybe start with a light construction line in your drawings, building the figure on them.

Btw, good start, now don't give up and continue to practice!

[ImaginaryMonkey]

Samc - happy birthday for turning 15 and thank you!!! no i wont stop uploading but it wont probably be as regular as i want. yeah i try the long swooping line thing everynow and then but i get to jittery with my movement and it all goes south. but thank you for the crit! i really need it.

Alicelefay - i try to do quick gestures but i get all nitpicky about it and start to scrtach at it, clearly i need to try harder. ive been doing a few small blind contours and they are really hard when i first start out but i think im a little more comfortable with them. Thank you!!


aahhh i feel really odd, cuz i dont have any updates D:
ive been drawing like mad, ive borrowed a few anatomy books from the library but my scanner decideds to bust out on me......
i probally wont get anything uploaded till maybe 2 weeks from now, were going on a holiday. ill do some drawing then and maybe ill find some awesome stuff to life draw with! but till then, no uploads, so sorry bout that.......

[alicelefay]

don't worry too much about the final rendering of the quick gesture sketches.
They always turn out pretty odd, at least at the first try.
But they help

[ImaginaryMonkey]

alicelefay - thank you again


holy jizballs i cant believe i haven't uploaded for a month!!! im really sorry, but my life kinda decided to distract me, which is a pretty poor excuse. i have been drawing and studying but not as much as i would have liked. after the week of holiday i had several days worth of holiday homework to get rid of and i only had a small window to draw. i know myself i could have tried harder and i just feel ashamed. but ill stop beating myself up about and keep drawing as much as i can!!

for now, while ive no money to get hard copies of anatomy books, there are a few i can find on the internet that i can download. i really look foreward to studying bridgeman and the several hundered forums that are up here!!

these are just a few poses from posemaniacs and a few imagination sketches. ive started school 2-3 weeks back and im taking studio arts so when i get my sketchbook home i can show you the work we've started to do.

[RBeek]

hey! You are doing great, keep your eyes open with every line you want to draw and you will improve fast! Im sure

Keep it up mate!

[ImaginaryMonkey]

Rogerb: thanks for the kind words

aaahhh jesus i suck at updating to some sort of regular schedule XD
i need to up my practices, but for now heres some stuff we've been doing at art at school. im entering a contest where we have 24 hours to create a work or art to a particular theme so ill post that up just before i submit it

first we are doing a stippling activity, we have to replicate or complete the other side of the picture,the dots are driving me insane i swear!!! ill update it when ever there is substantial progress

then we have two mannequin drawings, we do one for a half hour every week, the second one looks a little off though, the legs are wonky

ive been reading through some bridgman, but i am unsure of his process? im not sure if thats clear, but i shall try learning from him, it confuses me a little, but just reading has helped me a bit, i hope so anyways.

ooh and i have a question, i have to do work experience this year, and i want to do something art related but im having some trouble comming up with some realistic ideas. can anyone help? ice considered working in a gallery and an artist supply shop, but i need some more ideas

[Monkeydominator]

Great work here! Your lines are a little fuzzy still, and remember to measure what you're drawing properly: look more at the thing you're drawing than the actual drawing itself! (haha, I'm one to talk...)

Keep it up! Go go go!

[ImaginaryMonkey]

Monkeydominator - yeah i often have trouble with measuring what im drawing

crap i need to work out some sort of posting schedule. i was retardly sick for a week, but aside from that ive still been drawing. we had a motivational speaker come to our school today and talk to the whole of year 10 about our talents and passions and turn that into a career option. art and making people laugh was a re-occurring theme, so im glad with that. but i think i need to decide what sort of art area id like to go into, i dont mind i really just want to tell stories with my art, weather that be comics or animation or illustrating, but i still need to make a decision. its hard i think for me, because i havnt had much or any experience in really, any area of art. he also helped me to see past my confidence issues and help visualise where i want to be in the future. i had been feeling a little unconfident with how crappy my art was, and i saw the compliments that my friends gave me as empty, which is just low, but i feel revitaziled in a happy way, and that my art could always improve i could rise to be awesome after all that i was all like I JUST WAAANAA DRAAWWW which was amazing for me.
im halfway typing up a letter to the local arts centre/gallery to ask for a position for work experience.
but for now im really need to get my mind in order and study my art, learn and understand anatomy, 3d forms, tonal ranges and try harder to get my imagining onto paper!!!

so for the update today, which is really just a selection of art from like 10 days ago to yesterday. the first two head studies we did in school, the first with a pencil and the second with a stick of compressed charcoal which was lots of fun to use XD. after that there is 2 face studies, but i think i might revisit those a little bit down the track, then we have some posemaniacs, and i have recently tried to teach myself 2 point perspective and im liking it a lot, im just doing basic shapes and just adding,removing and modifying them, but i would like to tackle something harder, then we have some mind vomit where i just drew whatever crap came to my mind,


i really need to work on my line confidence and gesture work, is there excersises/tips you guys can give me? ive been a few more blind gestures, but doing 30 second or even minute poses from posemaniacs just scares the bejesus out of me. i realy neeed to get out of my comfort zone of chicken scratching and for me, getting out of my comfort zone is usually no problem, but in art it seems like a different barrier to break.
hot damn ive typed a crapload, sorry for that.

[strings]

Great figure studies up there, and I like the creature design spread. Keep it up, you're off to a EXCELLENT start. (given your age and art skills)

[ImaginaryMonkey]

Strings - aahhh thank you very much!! you just made me grin like a fool

mmm unfortunately i havnt been drawing as much as i should have in the last month, i was stressing out about schoolwork (wich is unusual for me) and when holidays came about, i just felt drained and didnt feel like picking up my book n pencil. ive been easing my self back in, but dad got rid of out scanner printer and got these huge industrial laser printers, cuz he runs his buisness from home, and now i am left without a scanner
ill try to get photos up but i may not update very frequently

buuuuuttt my friends have somehow induced mosters and plushies into my dreams, and i made a small few a while back so here we go for now
the first one is a jellyfish toy, then when have a splatter creature, and then just a series of little things i made maybe 2 months or so ago
and then we have some shoes i painted for my friends birthday

[Zenobia]

I love the stippling piece you did! I remember doing those, and hating them so much, lol.
Great work on the figure studies though, Im definitely seeing an improvement in those. Keep practicing!
The plushies are absolutely adorable.
Keep up the posting!

[Glebz]

great stuff! practice more!