the_jos shows that everyone can learn to draw

**willmunny** · May 11th, 2009, 07:53 PM

Hey Jos, I'm pretty much in the same position as you and have only wkends and evenings to draw -- if you are persistent enough, your efforts will pay off! You are gradually improving. I'd suggest focusing more on accuracy of line and less on shading for now, as this would really force you to pay attention to angles, length and negative space, plus accurate rendering is very difficult without accurate line (whether in your head or on your paper.) Also, when you are doing studies, really *study* what's in front of you, don't take shortcuts. If you see a certain shape, draw it exactly as you see it, not just an approximation.

**the_jos** · May 18th, 2009, 04:37 PM

I know, willmunny, I know

But sometimes my mind thinks otherwise or I just can't get the right shape out of my hands (for example the rounding from the sidewards viewed gastropod shell, I tried for at least 15-20 mins before giving up on it).

Anyway, a quick pastel study I did this evening.
Took 15 mins for the (light blue) outline and about 45 mins to get to this point.
It's WIP but I decided to scan and fix it before working further on it.
I might better have started with only the head of one of the figures though, things are getting a little small for me.

**the_jos** · June 4th, 2009, 04:56 AM

Entry for DSG1484. I made more drawings the last weeks but A3 is hard to scan. I'll figure that out one day.

**Leonor** · June 4th, 2009, 10:18 AM

That's a cool vehicle. What is the front part for? Is it the propulsion or does it have another function?

**the_jos** · June 4th, 2009, 04:40 PM

Thanks Leonor,

It's propulsion indeed.
It will pull the bike forward, the gravity unit (DSG 1484: Sci-Fi • RACER "BIKE" USES ADVANCED QUANTUM WAVE GRAVITY-RAZOR TECHNOLOGY) is below the bike. This isn't very obvious on this sketch since I didn't color it.
Coloring would take me out of the DSG time. I made this in about 30 mins, but I'm not experienced enough with photoshop to get the colors/values the way I want them in less than two hours. So I'm still working on that, I might post it later.

**Leonor** · July 7th, 2009, 07:20 AM

Art, please? I've seen you posting around, but I see no art here for over a month? Busy of late or did you quit on making it public? I was very interested in seeing you progress.

**the_jos** · July 10th, 2009, 08:57 AM

Hey Leonor,

I've been very busy at work the past month. We are upgrading one of our core systems this weekend (was scheduled for 3 weeks ago but because of an error of our vendor we rescheduled). So I've made some long days.
Besides this I'm the leader of a high-end guild in a MMO game (not WoW) which also consumes a couple of hours a week.
Gaming and drawing don't go together very well, specially with a busy working schedule.....

I did make some sketches for a couple of DSG's but didn't post them.
I still have to figure out how I can scan my A3 sketchbook on my A4 scanner.
From the top of my head I know I made one for the Skynet DSG, Snorkle-man DSG and one for the Slughead DSG that I didn't post.
Skynet and Slughead are on A3 and I didn't like the result of the Slughead one.
Snorkle-man is pastel and somehow I managed to smudge it bad

Well, that was a good lesson and reminder to be very careful with pastel drawings.

And my posting? I do have some quiet moments at work, like now. So I try to catch up on CA from time to time.

Besides this I make some other drawings I don't (can't) post.
I make new drawings on our whiteboard several times a week for fun.
I'm trying to get my department crazy enough to come up with ideas for new drawings

Besides this I have lots of doodles on meeting handouts lying around but those go through text and such.

I do hope that I have somewhat more time the next weeks to get some drawings done.
If the upgrade goes well this weekend it should free up an hour a day at least.

So much as update for now, I should get back to work to read the final testing schedule for tomorrow.

**the_jos** · July 13th, 2009, 02:28 PM

Some stuff I did a while ago but didn't scan yet (the A3 sketchbook).
Most recent is the random doodles which has part of a trial for my last DSG entry.

I can't scan full A3 and don't want to glue stuff together so some parts are missing.

**SteelCobra** · August 10th, 2009, 05:20 PM

The quantity of drawings in your studies is certainly impressive, and that will very much help your drawing a lot. My only suggestion at this point is to try slowing down some of your studies, avoid feathering the pencil so much (short quick lines) and try being more confident in your lines. It will not look as good at first, but it will give you more confidence as you practice. Keep it up!

**Leonor** · September 15th, 2009, 03:11 AM

You're not really showing everyone can draw by leaving your sketchbook abandoned like this. What's up?

**the_jos** · September 17th, 2009, 01:28 PM

New girlfriend is what's up, Leonor.
I still draw once in a while but I don't have much time to scan and upload.
I save the A3 pages I made the last couple of months for later and just put some charcoal drawings I made on A4 up.
And when I don't forget I will bring some pen-drawings from work back home (dull meetings ftw).

Anyway, these 3 drawings are from nearby my home, charcoal on A4 sketchbook. (dunno how to avoid the top-part messing up yet, I might figure that out someday)

BTW, smudging is mainly from the strong wind blowing the paper back and forward...

I might bring clips or something next time.

**Leonor** · September 18th, 2009, 10:07 AM

So it's a everyone can draw, except people with girlfriends, then?

Joking. Best wishes for your new relationship.

Nice to see some stuff from you anyway. Don't be a stranger.

**the_jos** · September 19th, 2009, 08:57 AM

Thanks.

I brought some doodles from work and made a compilation.
Most of the doodles end up in paper-recycling because I don't really safe them.
The paper is mainly filled with text and such, so it's not like I don't pay attention and don't make notes during those meetings

This is just to keep my head clear and focussed.

The second picture might not be too sharp, it's a thumb I drew on our whiteboard. Size is about 75-100 cm high.

**pantless_wanderer** · September 30th, 2009, 11:00 AM

This sketchbook is still young and there's already a noticeable improvement from the first posts to the latest ones. Nice! Keep doing studies from life because they're definitely helping. As for the figures, I would recommend you to focus a bit more on gesture Try to be a little looser with the pencil and work with long lines (as long as possible) to get the gesture and movement of the figures.

Keep going. You're doing great!

**Raoul Duke** · October 26th, 2009, 04:14 PM

Jos your pencils are too light, stick with charcoal or finish up with ink. I couldn't see 85% of your sketches.

You should work on under drawing and abstractions. I'll try to find some good tutorials on that subject.

**Raoul Duke** · October 26th, 2009, 04:51 PM

Head drawing
Structure
Gesture
If you can afford it get an Asaro head or a skull to study structure.

The Reilly abstraction method has taught me wonders.

**the_jos** · October 30th, 2009, 08:29 AM

Thanks Raoul and Pantless!

I didn't draw too much the past 2 months, sometimes life (those things you don't expect and don't want to happen) catches up with you. Only did a couple of some small and very personal drawings I'm not sharing (I gave them away, so can't anyway). Hurt my wrist today in a bike accident so I'm not sure if I can draw a lot the next weeks but I try to keep drawing.

**nauvice** · November 14th, 2009, 06:10 PM

great start with studies, but they seem without direction. If you dont mind, I took one of the faces you drew as an example.

Its great the way you applied the lines and circles to draw the face proportionally, but you should focus on the head first. Which is easy, just draw a circle, and the jaw right underneath it. This method is closer to the shape of the average human skull, yours is a bit too round.

The most important thing when drawing is use quick lines to suggest things, such as eyes, nose and mouth. Don't close the lines, if you do so, then you're drawing a symbol for an eye: When you draw from real life, draw things as they seem to you, not by what they are. [example, this >

, is a symbolic sun, if you look up at the sky, the sun does not look like it at all]