Starting from Scratch [slight nudity]

[ValUST]

Hello,
My name is Val, I'm 21, and I've been drawing since I was very young, but I never really had the motivation or drive to follow it as a career path. Not until I saw this website, I think I ran across it in highschool, 3 years ago, but never looked at it as much as I do now. Really been an inspiration, so I found an old sketchbook, and went to the library to get a used drawing manual. Found one by Victor Perard, seemed like a good one to get me started.

I started working for GM right out of highschool (at a metal fabrication plant), and now I'm probably going to get laid off. So I'm going to my local community college for their art program, while I'm on layoff.

Now before I go on rambling, I'll post some some old drawings and paintings & sculptures to show you where I was and how far I've fallen. And then I'll add some of the sketches I did today & yesterday.

[ValUST]

SO I sat down yesterday and did a few drawings from observation, turned out OK i think, and then I did one of a female body from memory, my anatomy is really horrid, but shading is still OK. So here they are, with some studies for body emotions, starting on the muscles today

As always, any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Ravendell]

Its nice to hear you decided to start to draw, the more people the more we can learn. And by the looks of it you have a better start then. Shading looks just fine to me.

The only advice i can give is, take your time. Patience and careful observation seem to help the most. ( in my case)

So, keep 'em coming!

[ValUST]

I'm tired, so am going to put one scan before I fall asleep, I'll get up early and upload the rest, all I did was practice muscles, and thank you Ravendell I did fast sketches and then took my time on the last ones, and they turned out a lot better.

[hunchback]

hello sir pretty ballsy studies you got going on.
The improvement on the last one is wild in terms of the difference of fast and slow.
Maybe do some warmups like hands or still lifes to get your eye in, and look at your subject a lot, even more than your paper.

[ValUST]

OK, things didn't go as planned, but I did get to draw today. Did more anatomy studies, and then wanted to do something fun so went out and found a dragon drawing tutorial, kinda cool, I think they turned out colorful. Haven't tried making my own dragon designs yet. (just put my own spin on them hair and different horns, just basic add-ons)

Don't know if I should post all of my sketches, since there are alot, just drawing same thing over and over, just building up speed and memory, so here is the basic 2 figures I've been drawing, back muscles are fun (and yes my hands and feet are wierd looking, going to practice that in the future)

@hunchback - thanks man, figured I'll just jump right in, i'll try hands soon, and still lifes are a little intimidating, want to learn the anatomy before doing the whole observation thing, or is that wrong way to go about it? should I mix it up?

[DStraX]

good stuff try to work more on your lines, line weight and controll

Tim

[Philipp Scherer]

dragons turn out well.
try to read andrew loomis (fun with the pencil ist teh best, to start)
it´s very helpful for drawing heads.
keep it up, good to hear, that you decided to draw

[hunchback]

in order to properly be able to study and understand anatomy and the human form, you need to be able to draw what you see accurately. This is where i am right now. Ive learned to draw what i see and put it where i want it. Now im working on building my visual library.

So yeah still lifes are pretty important, not to mention those old people all that while ago. Im not taking about copying there work yet or anything. just taking a group of household objects or fruit, figuring out how far apart they are and there difference in size and tonal value.

[spongebob]

Nice work... keep on going..
love the dragons... the colors' re relay appealing..
keep drawing...

[Jeremy Swan]

Great start, really try and spend more time on your anatomy sketches, like 30min per one, focus on making them as accurate as possible. You have done a good amount of figure, pose, and a little of muscular systems. Next thing for you would be to start looking at bones! Focus of one set of bones per sketch, very important, then your off to a flipping awesome start.

[ValUST]

Hello ladies and gents, Didn't do much anatomy but did a lot of observational drawings. And some fun cartoonish things , rabbit beat the turtle in the end.

[ValUST]

Haven't had much time to do anything, but the linework for the full body muscles took forever, going to shade it later today, got 4 days off work so going to work my ass off . Still have to work on hands and feet, oh and skulls, my first try didn't turn out too well.

[ValUST]

The dark points seem to get much lighter after I scan, so I burned it a little to show more highlights.

[ValUST]

Had a big break between posts, just been doing anatomy studies, found some books online, One by Andrew Loomis (thanks HerrleerzeichenS). Some really cool stuff in there. Also found some cool perspective tutorials, it said to draw boxes and shapes, but they got boring so I started making more complicated boxes . Also found a book by a guy named Vilppu. I've been sketching at work when I get a chance, so haven't had much time to sit down and draw for long periods of time, these are my better sketches. Having trouble with my lines still, lay down a lot of small lines to make every large line, thinking maybe I should start using a pen to train myself to stick to one good line instead of a hundred bad ones to make one good one.

[ValUST]

Well it's been 5 months and I haven't even picked up a pencil. Seems like when life sped up my ambition for art died on the vine. Well here is another attempt, just have to stick with it this time around. Went to my moms house today, did some sketches of her living room. Then did some studies to refresh my memory. Drawing hands, from bone to muscle.

P.S. my scanner died

[ValUST]

Camera Still Works

[ValUST]

Ligaments of hand & forearm, and then muscles of palm side of hand. Next will put all of them together, wish me luck.

[Leonor]

Hello. Nice to see you're back to your studies. You're not the only one abandoning your sketchbook for months...

[ValUST]

Leonor : True, but this time around I'm not going to stop, might go as far as branding "Don't Stop Drawing" on my hand.

[DStraX]

hey man thanks for stopping by my sketchbook again (: realy apreciate it!
your studies look great, but try sharpening your pencil. youll get a much cleaner look if you do that, and try to stick to usink longer simpler lines (like http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...81#post2266081)

[ValUST]

DStraX : Yeah I can't find a pencil sharpener in the whole house, need to go buy one, been using a knife .

Didn't have too much time today, but finished up the muscles of the hand. Tried to make long simple lines, seems a little cleaner, thanks DStraX. Something seems off, might be the little finger, I'll do this again later see if I can fix it on the second try.

Working 12 hours on both weekends sucks.

[Tatsu]

Hey ValUST,
Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook; you have some good stuff here. I can see a visual improvement from your first posts and you've got a lot of very intensive anatomy studies. I especially like your two colorful dragons halfway up!

How much practice do you have with digital drawings?

Keep up the work, and good luck with studying art!

[Frittzell(Image)]

Your hands are looking great man! But you should do alot more figure drawings before you concern yourself with learning individual parts of the body.
Keep posting!

[ValUST]

Tatsu : Hey man thanks, I actually have never done any digital drawings, I'll try some in the upcoming week, just need to get a tablet.
Frittzell : Hey I read the forums for a little while at work, and took your advice to heart, did this on my lunch break (is it lunch if you work at night?). Thanks for the advice.

Ok I had trouble getting the foreshortening down, kept erasing the left hand, and still can't get the right leg and foot down, any advice?

[Elophant]

nice improvement from the first post on

[ValUST]

Elophant : Thanks! I plan on improving even more with time!

Ok, I've been using an anatomy book by Victor Perard, love his detail, I plan on learning all I can from him and hopefully applying it to my own drawings. Also as you can see I finally got that leg/foot to look the way I want it to look.

I tried drawing a portrait of my friend, but she had to go because I was taking so long, will finish next time she lets me draw her. Need to learn how to capture images quicker I think.

Also got my Bamboo drawing pad today, fast shipping and didn't break my bank account.

[Clockwork Bunny]

Thanks for popping by.

Loving the progress in the sketchbook. The studies of the body seem to have more clarity than your studies of still life objects. You seem heavier with the pencil on those still life, have you tried fine cross hatching and other ways of shading?

look forward to seeing more and how it all develops

[ValUST]

Clockwork Bunny: I've tried cross hatching but it always turns out horrid, so I've been staying away, can't seem to figure out how exactly it works, value-wise.

Been playing around with my tablet in photshop, this morning I started an actual image. I have a cool picture of a firebreather so am trying that first. I took images step by step from how I'm working on the image, please give me any tips. Going to tackle the fire next, and then add color.

This is still a WIP, and may remain so if I don't finish before the Massive Black video downloads are finished Thanksgiving sales rule!

[JoeS]

The anatomy and observational stuff looks really good! i like the eyes on that portrait aswell. Thanks for the comment on my sketchbook, i know what you mean with the boxy dragons, pointy knees! lol