Sharon's Sketchbook (2010 - 20??)

[Sharon J]

Hello! Long time lurker here. I'm confused about which path to take, so you'll find bits of gesture/figure drawing, still life, digital, traditional, cartoons, animation, comics and illustration here.. Your critique is very valuable to me and I'll work my best to improve!

Well. The old intro sounds cheesy. So I changed it.

2010 (Hi all, its me again, with a new sketchbook. But a new challenge too.. This is a race (probably a never ending one) between my buddy MiladThaha and me, to see who can keep up with the other and to constantly work on improving our art! I'm going to be working on my drawing, painting, traditional, digital, everything..

In the beginning, there was this :

MiladThaha: so here, shake me hand
how about this?
i'm gonna compete you
even though i'm wayy wayyy wayyy wayyyyy behind you, i'm gonna come running
~evil laff~

Sharon J: ooo, and i wont make it easy at all

MiladThaha: uh oh
and i dont want your sympathy
YEAH!

Sharon J: its a deal!

MiladThaha: lets roll!

Sharon J: hell yea! lets kick some art butt! xD

MiladThaha: duh
who am i kidding
no way, i wont let my doubts come through
WILL BEAT YOU
someday :o

Sharon J:

MiladThaha: i have a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way to go

Sharon J: so do i!! the journey never ends
and neither do i want it to

MiladThaha:
its like this
i'm on page 1 of mindcandy's page
and you're on 30 or 40

Sharon J:

MiladThaha: but im SOOO there x)
~snicker~

Sharon J: yea, but its not like i'm sitting around at page 30 or 40 either B-)
~eats snicker~

MiladThaha: hhahahhaa

Sharon J:

MiladThaha: i'll only know when i up my work though


Sharon J: make sure you dont bog yourself down with my awesomeness

MiladThaha: no way!

Sharon J: i'll b uploading a lot more now

MiladThaha: i may get blind, but that'll only be momentary

Sharon J: hehehe

MiladThaha: ouch
same here
wait till i get my scanner

Sharon J: bring it on!

MiladThaha: HELL YEAH!

Sharon J: xD i'm so off to draw!


And so it begins.

So, though I am a student of fine art, most of what I learn is self taught.. And with this thread, I'm going to stop slacking, set my butt on fire and use the rest of my 1.5 years in college to create some of the best work I've done. Coz my fate hangs entirely upon how I use this precious time O.o

More on that later.

Cheers to you MT, may the best artist make it!

[Sharon J]

I'd listened to a podcast on 'Escape from Illustration Island', it was episode no 47 & 48 with illustrator Marshall Arisman and found it very inspiring.. In it, he said

Make a list of things you have knowledge of, whether it’s bowling or drinking coffee or dogs, and make pictures from that list. Don’t tell yourself it’s a portfolio, but show it to people.

So though its not a list in the same sense (not for a portfolio or anything), I've got a list of stuff that I'd like to improve drawing.. Like these for starts.. I'm sure the list is bound to grow

1. Hands and feet
2. Faces
3. Vehicles
4. Portraits
5. Animals
6. Things in motion

Started off with some study from life today.. Hands are something I have trouble with often.. So here they are, my hand and some of mom's.. Off to college now, more later!


To see more of the talk with Marshall Arisman check out : http://willsherwood.com/?p=506

The podcast is at http://escapefromillustrationisland.com/

[MiladThaha]

Pretty solid sketches, but I can see heavy usage of an eraser (or are they smudges?). One way to improve is, DONT touch the eraser! If you make a mistake, do another drawing Atleast in the beginning stages!

Plus, lower the brightness of the scans, it brings up more details and emphasizes the linework.

[Naidy]

I see you're quite soft in your sketches, (it's a good thing, don't worry xD) when you're more sure of your form though, I'd do the lines a wee bit harder, just so it's easier to see for us lot.

Anyways! It's a good start, I really love drawings of hands and some of them are brilliant.
The ones from the sides though seem a little off, maybe practice them more. Most seem to be spot on though.
Keep up the good work! I wish you both good luck on your competition. xD

[Sharon J]

Haven't been drawing much, got a pretty bad cold methinks I'm en route to getting a fever..

On the art side, I love pen and ink! I've been wanting to create a finished character, so I thought why wait for later, I can start right away.. Scribbled some poses and faces today..

@ Milad: ahemhem.. you're not all that un-evil yourself you know did use the eraser a bit, yea! Thank ye for commentin!

@Naidy: Thank you so much for the feedback! Yep, I find the hands viewed from the side and foreshortened ones kinda hard, gotta draw more of those

[MiladThaha]

Everything anime See your obsessed with that! Keep it coming!

[Sharon J]

@Milad : Thank ye! I'm trying to deviate from anime though

Been having one too many bad hair days nowadays..

[Sharon J]

Feeling sketchy today.. Comments and critiques are welcome!

[krysjez]

hey Sharon, I like your line quality and those little figure doodles are very expressive and gestural. I'm the same as you, manga-influenced (initially anyway), so I know it's difficult to keep stylization from creeping into your work. But maybe try some things from life (other than hands) or try drawing some faces of real people too.

[MiladThaha]

I'm gonna say it again, your lines do not appeal to me I'm not being rude or something, but I always felt that way about your sketches. But I like your forms though, and your sense of stylized anatomy is great. Now if you could just deviate from manga for a moment... xD Just kidding! But still.

[JohnWRobot]

Thanks for the kind words, your stuff is looking good. I really like that owl in the scribbles.

[Naidy]

Hello again!
Interesting ideas you have doing on, I loved the owl doodles.
Hope to see more soon- and don't forget to study inbetween drawing what you like

[donthedragon]

Hey

Love the randomness of the scribbles. The owl is brilliant; looks so 'Oh I haven't got time for you, peasant' you can see your improvements already!

Keep up the good work, I'll be sure to check this thread out often.

-don

[Sharon J]

@ krysjez : Thank you! Yep, I'll get to work on figures and faces from life asap Need to start on some object drawing too..

@ MiladThaha : Yep, trying to deviate from anime :/ Going to stick with drawing from life more now.. Hmm the lines? I think that in a way, the lines kinda represent me and its hard to change the scribbly-ness.. You hear that some people can tell your character from how you draw right? I'm a scribbly hare-brained person and I guess that shows in my lines I'm switching to drawing with the pencil to work on them though.. Thank ye for ze feedback!

@ JohnWRobot : Thank you

@ Naidy : Thank you Naidy Yep, I'll remember to do that

@ donthedragon : haha Thank you Don! I'll be checking out your thread too, keep drawing!

Sorry for the late reply guys, I'm sticking with the no-reply-till-I-upload-new-sketch rule, so that I'll sketch more! Been stuck in an drawing block for quite some time, since I had work to do and didn't get much free time to draw..
I've been scribbling a few pages of poses from the posemaniacs website.. Very useful tool i say!

[MiladThaha]

Neat sketches there! Me too didn't get time to sketch much this week. My computer broke down too, so I'm totally helpless x'(

[Kristoff]

Nice sketches here ^_^
More anatomy studies! ^_^

[Naidy]

Good studies and doodles!
Keep up the good work, mate.

[Sharon J]

@ Milad : Thank ye ^_^ Hey, no need the comp (my comp screen's going blank at times O_o ).. As long as there's a pencil and paper, draw like there's no tomorrow Life drawing's always there!

@ Kristoff : Thank you! More sketches coming up!

@ Naidy : Thank you! ^_^ Your sketchbook's open on another tab, heading there after this post!

Drew some more in class today.. Scribbly as ever :/ Haven't captured their likeness yet.. Moar sketching tomorrow!! Bad quality scan.. my bad..

[MiladThaha]

Neat drawings, however, some of them, especially the first ones look kinda skewed. Even the faces Nice attempt anyway.

[Vipin_U]

Hey.. went through your sketchlog.. since i've seen the people in the last page you've uploaded, I must say the characters are really coming out.. but on the other hand the sketching quality is a bit lower than your super-duper doodles!! so continuing with your sketching practices..
Happy sketching!

[Sharon J]

@Milad : Yea :/ I see a long bumpy transition from manga to wherever.. Drawing from life isn't easy at all!

@ Vipin : True that Practice makes perfect's the saying, so here I go!

More random doodles of people in college (and my cats! ^_^ fun to draw them, going to draw more!), a badly scanned really-lightly-drawn-pencil-sketch and the charcoal WIP..

Finally getting around to starting work on some still life.. Its been ages since I've done any, and you can see that I'm not a fan of shading :/ Drew it in pencil and shading's done in charcoal.. Not happy with this one Got some more work to do on this, will finish it tomorrow.. Somehow all my recent drawings aren't turning out well.. Guess its coz I've been outta practice.. Gaaaaah!! Must draw more!

[Vipin_U]

Keeping aside the fact that the scans are poor, it's an amazing thing you took effort in studying your cute kitties.. so, from my side, bravo for that!
Kudos for the object study too. Good shading, the character of the material with which it's made of (esp glass) has come out really well..
So on the whole, impressive work..
Keep sketching.. Haapppy sketching..

[MiladThaha]

The last drapery study is really good The reflections are neat, and I can see myself in it . Sadly, I can't completely make out the drawings in the other scans.

I believe your sheets are moving when you're scanning them. Else you won't get that kind of a blur. Put some uniform weight on the paper/book next time (both your hands are enough). Plus make sure that the paper keeps surface contact on the scanner glass as much as possible, since most scanners don't really calculate depth of field properly.

[donthedragon]

Hey!

Loving the neat little drawings. Can really see your studies. And the poses are great!

Would love to see some environmental stuff from you too, just to see your take on perspective.

Keep up the good work.

-don

[Naidy]

You're making good progress as always, I love seeing life drawings of people from other countries- really interesting!

Good contrast of highlights and shade on your still life too, it's very good.

[Sharon J]

Vipin, Milad, Don_the_dragon & Naidy : Thank you guys! Your encouragement means a lot to me

Don the dragon : Yep, environments are something I haven't done much.. I always find them more tedious than drawing characters for some reason Will give those a shot soon

Milad : Thank ye! and tried that this time, the scans are a bit better i hope? atleast the sketches can be seen?

Ohkaye, so I've put an end to this particular still life drawing, added more depth, edited some parts I messed up last time and I like it! ^_^ I'll tackle some fruits and veggies next time..

The second upload is a page of scribbles of a bunch of characters I hope to use in a semi-autobiographical comic strip series.. Haven't found a name for it yet..

And two comic strips I made earlier, scanned the pencil work first and then vectorized them in Flash sorry for the big ugly watermark on the first one :/ The second strip contains work by my friends at Libera Artisti in the wall frames and ofcourse, Leonardo Da Vinci's MonaLisa..

P.S. Ignoring the risk of sounding pretty dumb, can anyone tell me how to insert text between the images?

[Vipin_U]

hey..

Conveying emotions with a few lines is indeed a remarkable talent.. especially in the last doodles you made next to the hand..
('Confessions of someone far from the maddening crowd', does this title sound good to you for your semi-autobiographical comic series, or did that sound too autobiographical-y?? Anyways just a thought.. )

love the character sketches btw.. couldn't recognize the lean character though which is next to yours (top right)

Haappy sketching

[MiladThaha]

Yep, better sketches! I sense more depth now, those folds and creases are really standing out. Neat work- MOAR! xD

[Sharon J]

Vipin : Thank ye! I might go for a shorter title, but yea, that pretty much summarizes what the comic's about Oh and the characters, I was trying out random people, other charcters to add in to the comic maybe

Milad : Thank ye! XD

I got a Wacom bamboo! The Intuos will have to wait.. Slow on updates for this week, I've got a truckload of assignments to push off in college Plus the monitor's dying on me.. Just as I got the graphic tablet. darn.

The first sketch's of my kid brother (who was busy concentrating on beating the terrorists in CounterStrike).. He's around till Sunday, so thought I'd practice some portrait drawing while he's gaming away.

Second one's a random guy, saying 'yo maan' (pronounced maahn in ze local English shtyle ) in Malayalam..

[MiladThaha]

Great drawings Sharon! I can't comment much on your bro's portrait Nice lines though, Flash? I simply loved the second one, the idea is awesome, but it would've been more awesome if he was wearing lungi xD His fingers are scary though; I guess you need to work more on your fingers.