Alice's sketchbook of DOOM

**Candimente** · April 9th, 2009, 02:20 AM

Okay - my name is Alice and I'm 16 years old. This is my "sketchbook". I'm a cartoonist, but I want to make sure my cartoons are believable too! (Like have realistic properties as well as exaggerated or unnatural ones.) 'cause right now, my drawings... just aren't looking good. At all. Seriously, I went the wrong way about learning to draw when I was younger and now I want to do it the RIGHT way.

I'll start off with some of my past drawings. All of them are done without references, except for little bits where I've had to look at my own hand in real life or whatever.

By the way, the ones that say "midnightgem.deviantart.com" on them are NOT ripped. Midnightgem is my DeviantArt name. ;]

More coming soon, including real life stuff!

**Candimente** · April 9th, 2009, 05:36 AM

Here are some real-life drawings from my "observation/inspiration book" (a thing I just recently decided to carry around with me). Some of them are a bit stuffed up because the drawings on the opposite pages leave pencil imprints on 'em... oh well. XD

The last two are copied directly from an existing photograph, and a film screenshot - just because it's good to record interesting angles.

**Genome** · April 9th, 2009, 11:36 AM

Alright

this is much better than ALOT of 16 year olds, heck better than a lot of people in general. In fact you draw very well.

So first off you need to work on your line quality, you seem to pet your lines (meaning you don't use one stroke you stop and make it look scratchy) This aspect is normally very important because Nice lines are the poetry of drawing. But because you wish to be a cartoonist it is extremely important. So ways to improve this are to challenge yourself. give yourself a certain amount of lines you can use on a drawing, Ie 20 or W/e you think will be very hard. You'll be surprised how fast you're use of lines shrinks

Second critique, Hands are SUPPER important for cartoons they can be the most expressive things if used right. Anime/cartoons get away with not proper looking faces because they nail how a hand feels and acts (I say feel cause some of them IE Disney characters sometimes have 4 fingers) So grab a mirror and do a bunch of hand drawings whenever you can. Theres an old saying that goes like this, " If you can pull off the hands, you'll be forgiven for almost everything else."

Also this is just a side comment, that ALWAYS comes from conceptart.org. You need to learn anatomy. I hate when people just mindlessly leave that comment so I'll explain in a way which directly relates to you. The best cartoonist are the ones that have mastered real life in a drawing sense and then picked and chose which aspects they want to reflect within their stylized drawings. So since you like depicting human figures, start with doing some drawings from other artist and good references, then look for some Figure drawing classes ASAP. If you seriously put forth some effort into understanding the human body and apply it to your already awesome drawings, you will be the envy of this website.

So heres some links to some Anatomy stuff.
PoseManiacs
Andrew Loomis' "Figure drawing for all its worth"
A Bunch of Kevin Chen's Figure drawing, drawings
More Kevin Chen, but better quality photos

Here are some artists on here I think you should check out:
Clochette
Cheeks-74
Steph Laberis

All in, I think if you keep a good work ethic and ALWAYS challenge yourself, you'll be better than you can imagine

How come i always pick out the really good ones and say "oh ill crit you

"

**Interceptor** · April 9th, 2009, 02:55 PM

I have to say I'm super impressed by your dedication. Being so young and so eager to get good crits, you should have some great things ahead of you!
(And checking the crit center first thing you come to the site, if you were 5 years older I'd ask you to marry me!)

As for the work. Looking like to have a nice balance of imaginative work and life drawing, that's great! What you might want to start doing though is trying to get smoother lines. I can tell that you're kind of pecking away at parts of you're image with a pencil rather than just trying to get long, smoother lines. Give it a try. try drawing something without drawing over the same part so often, cause this is giving you what I call a 'chicken scratch effect'. So try for smoother lines. I think it will help your work read alot better, and give you more confidence as well.

Keep at it! I really hope you post more

I'll be checking back often!

Cheers!
-Loren

**ArtZealot** · April 9th, 2009, 03:16 PM

Hey, just wanted to stop by and say welcome aboard. I saw your thread in the lounge, it's awesome you made a sketchbook. I'd offer a crit but i usually wait until i see more stuff before i crit, but yeah thats great that you found this site. If you are looking to improve, it will definitely help. cheers'

**Candimente** · April 9th, 2009, 06:38 PM

Genome - thank you for all the pointers you've given me. You're right about the lines - I do tend to get a bit, er, messy when it comes to sketching! Hand drawings sounds good, too. I know just what you mean when you say that anime/cartoons nail the hands, and it looks so simple but it really isn't, huh? Or at least for someone who didn't practice much, like me... ANYWAY. Anatomy is my main problem and I'm glad you've given me some links to anatomy stuff, thank you very much for that! ;D

Interceptor - haha, 'course I'll marry you ;P Lol. Anyways, okay, I'll give that a go. Thanks!

ArtZealot - thank you very much. ^^ I'll be updating regularly, 'cause like Interceptor said, I'm dedicated! (Or in the case of this site, I plan to be!)

**JailHouseRock2** · April 9th, 2009, 06:49 PM

Hay there Alice,
Great to see you've started a sketchbook!

All the cartoons look quite solid, great too see your already into colour, but I'm really pleased to see the life drawings! Damn those help out sooo much, so try to keep with them.
And I saw Genome gave you some good links on anatomy, those loomis ones are really good. Anyway heres some more. - http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=131117

No crits today, but post some more and I'll be back!")
Keep up those studies, I'm looking forward to seeing what you can come up with.

cheers,
matt

**Candimente** · April 9th, 2009, 06:56 PM

Hey Matt, thank you very much! I sure will be keeping it up!

**My57** · April 9th, 2009, 10:53 PM

MORE ANATOMY STUDIES OM NOM NOM NOM NOM!!!!

lol...

but anyways thats all you gotta do and you will have improvement. I would recommend anatomy books then when you get the basic grasp of it all draw from life/photos. All will be well!

im sure i dont have to give any links since Matt gave you some and apparently someone else. So good luck and keep practicing ^_^

And it is nice to see your into colour, i my self am pretty bad at colour from my head, everything looks...eh.

**Genome** · April 9th, 2009, 10:57 PM

All right! Super popular already

**Candimente** · April 10th, 2009, 05:54 AM

10/4/09

Didn't really get round to much drawing today, as 1) I was busy with other things and 2) I just find it so hard to get started with anything! But anyways, tonight I draped a piece of very loose silky cloth over a corner of my computer screen and painted it in Photoshop. I got a bit messy and carried away at some parts though. (Am I right in saying that I should really use lower opacity first and then put in details later?)

**Candimente** · April 11th, 2009, 06:16 AM

11/4/09

I need to get off my butt and draw more... for now, here's a quick little thing I did using a ref from PoseManiacs.

**Candimente** · April 12th, 2009, 06:07 AM

12/4/09

People-sketching in a cafe today. It's quite tricky to capture people who move around a lot. XD

**JailHouseRock2** · April 12th, 2009, 11:23 PM

Yeah it can be hard to draw ppl who move around a bit, but doing more of these life sketches really will help! In fact it mite be a good thing that they more around, as it will make you draw faster and maybe abit looser too.

so keep em' coming!

**Candimente** · April 14th, 2009, 06:12 AM

14/4/09

Almost didn't draw at all today 'cause I was feeling so crappy, but then I discovered the 30-second drawing thing on PoseManiacs and once I got started, I just couldn't stop til I'd filled up the whole canvas! I've just found a great new pasttime, then! Thanks to Genome for the link. ;]

**Candimente** · May 2nd, 2009, 08:44 PM

3/5/09

I apologize for the lack of drawings. Ever since the new school term started, I've been busy. And glandular fever can really get you down!

I just made this to practice digital painting, because that's another skill that I seriously need to get down.

**JailHouseRock2** · May 2nd, 2009, 09:13 PM

Mmm, school can be one hell of a bitch, but you've still gotta' keep drawing if you want to improve, I found it really hard a first to find time for it but you just got to put the time a side for art study

Maybe while watching TV or something, try to do some quick poses or even pause the sreen every once in a while just to sketch something

Your doing great Alice, lovin the PoseManiacs sketches up there too, keep at it!
matt
Great work on the digi studie up there, digital painting can take a lot of practice foe some. I know I still really struggle with it, but some ppl rock it hard out, but the more you put into it the more you'll get out!

**Candimente** · May 5th, 2009, 06:08 AM

JailHouseRock2 - heh yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks

5/5/09

Used my Music period to draw some clothing folds on my friend's skirt. Yes, we wear uniform at my school. Blah.

**Candimente** · May 27th, 2009, 05:54 AM

27/5/09

A compilation of observational stuff that I've done in the past month, mainly hands.

**Candimente** · May 29th, 2009, 06:13 AM

29/5/09

Had some extra time during Interval at school today, so I drew what was in front of me

**Draco Dralion** · May 29th, 2009, 06:33 AM

I'm not sure if I can add more than keep up the good, no.. great work. Darn, I've been scrolling up and down and really can't think of anything. I am very curious to see some if you can put your observations into practice already. Perhaps a bit soon, but it won't hurt I guess.

Keep it up!

**Candimente** · May 29th, 2009, 09:14 PM

Aaw, thank you, Draco Dralion.

My art is constantly undergoing development and one of the ways I intend to develop is by incorporating my observations into my "usual" work. To me, life drawing is about gaining knowledge! But for now, I have to catch up on my work for Art at school...

**Candimente** · August 14th, 2009, 07:39 PM

15/8/09

Yes, I've been very inactive... VERY inactive. The reason is that I lost my sketchbook some time ago and never found it again

And then I kind of lost enthusiam in life drawing for a bit... plus my mock exams are coming up soon...

But anyway, a few nights ago I drew my violin, partially for my school art folio and partially for fun

**Dr.Blindsy** · August 14th, 2009, 08:26 PM

I don't think I can add much more then has already been said. Your stuff is good and the most I can say is keep at it ^^
Also, your hand studies turned out much better then mine usually do haha.

**corza334** · August 14th, 2009, 08:46 PM

Wow, you're line quality improved incredibly quick!
The violin looks slightly warped too me, but maybe that's how they are? I've never really seen one up close >.<

Keep it up

**Candimente** · August 16th, 2009, 02:18 AM

Dr.Blindsy - thanks very much!

corza334 - thanks! Lately I've been trying hard not to be too "scratchy" in my lines. And heh, I know the violin isn't perfect... still life is tricky. O.o

**Candimente** · November 24th, 2009, 08:48 PM

Big update! About time. Now that my exams are (almost) over, I have the whole summer holidays to draw, draw, draw!

**Candimente** · November 24th, 2009, 08:51 PM

More...

**Candimente** · November 24th, 2009, 09:01 PM

...and even more... the first time I tried to put ALL my drawings in one post, I found that the uploader had automatically deleted some of the files, and I'm unsure about this "quota limit" that seems to exist so... that's why I'm doing this in separate posts.

**Candimente** · November 24th, 2009, 09:04 PM

Last batch!

Yes, that is Beethoven down the bottom. Just for fun, my dad gave me the task of drawing him from our little bust statue that we have next to the piano. I was lazy and didn't finish... eheheh... heh.