My sketchbook

[Dayle]

Okay. I've been on here for a few months, looking at lots of fantastic images, paintings and sketchbooks. Thought I'd wait for 2011 and start my own. I shall start with some life drawings, generic poses and studies that I have done over the past few months.

I hope to spend this year learning how to draw people, use digital mediums and produce something worthy of this place. Here we go!

[Dayle]

Here are a couple of images. Trying to get to grips with artrage and a tablet, colours are far too vivid but hopefully will get used to the paint tools and tones. Will try and produce something new shortly but the holidays are nearly over and back to work soon.

[Dayle]

Here is a picture I have just finished. Fairly happy with it, although it did not colour the way I wanted it to!

[Dayle]

I need to understand form and anatomy and learn how the human body is built before I can even think about being interesting! For now its basics (would say "back to", but was never there...) Thanks to Loomis for, figure drawing for all its worth. Soon I shall draw something with the correct proportions; watch this space. Here is tonights sketch, a look at proportions and structure, will practice more...

[Dayle]

Tonight I've been on posemaniacs.com - some 30 second sketches, then 4 x 5 minutes and then a 20 minute pose to finish off. Struggling with proportions but slight improvements, need to keep practising or I'll never get better. Enough for now...

[Dayle]

Here are a couple of pencil drawings I did over the past few months, been wanting to add them here but will stop posting old stuff now. From now on I will add only new sketches and drawings.

[Dayle]

This weekend I have been failing miserably... Reading a book my Bridget Woods on life drawing, observation and anatomy I came across a really good thumbnail sketch (see picture 1). I thought I would "quickly" copy using a biro without correcting any lines, to see how accurate I could be. After many attempts, each one being wrong in a completely different way, I failed! Ugh. Here they are anyway, I hope I never draw this badly again.

[Dayle]

Starting to look at the bones in detail. Sketches from Loomis and an X-ray found on the internet (Department of Health Western Australia). I often wonder what the great artists of the last 200 years would have produced if they had resources like computers and the internet...

[Dayle]

A couple of drawings from my life drawing class yesterday. Comments welcome!

[Dayle]

I am really glad I found this place... trying to work through various books and stuff, jumping around different topics so I don't get too frustrated or bored with any single aspect. Past couple of days I have been looking at Loomis again, Drawing the head and hands. Started off really bad (as usual required more effort than I thought) but got better, will keep trying, I know I need lots more practice.

Oh, and a little random sketch.

[Dayle]

Quick update, I enjoyed this one.

[Valen]

Nice studies, if you like pose maniacs you might like this drawing tool as well. http://www.pixelovely.com/tools/gesture.html

[Dayle]

Valen - thanks, just had a look, great quality images and just what I need to help with my life drawing classes. Much appreciated!

[Dayle]

This weeks studies, looking at the skull structure and muscles. Then the shoulder, I struggle to draw them correctly, too bulky and wide, hopefully this will help.

Then some 30 second poses, of actual people, much harder than the 3d models! 2 five minute poses that seemed longer, will time myself next time to be certain, don't want to cheat! Happy with them.

Finally 10 minute sketch of girls face, left eye is great, right eye isn't... half way there!!!

It was a good week, learning lots from everyones work and, getting a little more confident.

[NeonDuck]

you've got a great amount of work already in such a short time! if you can keep this up for a whole year you'll see a huge amount of improvement (I know cuz that's what I did all through last year)

I think you're taking on a bit too much at once tho, especially with shading and digital/colour. those are quite advanced techniques in that they are the result of fundamental concepts such as 3D volumes, perspective, and depth. those are things you should focus on.
it's good that you've stopped using photoshop too, pencils are the way to go if you want to learn. the idea is that you need to deal with your mistakes rather than just hit undo and forget about them. sounds mean, but anytime you hate a drawing afterwards because of some mistake you made is the most tangible kind of progress - you'll figure out what went wrong and won't make that mistake ever again.

I reckon pencil figure drawing is the way to go for now! don't worry too much about faces, they'll frustrate you like crazy at this early stage!
your figures are getting better, just some proportional issues keep popping up. mostly in the legs. that's perfectly normal at this point, everyone does it. as a guide, the crotch is about halfway up the length of the figure.
I reckon your main problem though is that you have trouble seeing things in 3 dimensions. have a look at loomis (and maybe hogarth or bridgman, altho they're harder to understand) and how he constructs things out of primitives. when you start seeing the figure as an assembly of 3D shapes (called "volumes") you'll have taken a very big step towards really being able to draw

well, that turned into a rather long post... your work so far is promising, keep at it!
send me a msg if you got any questions

[Dayle]

NeonDuck - Thank you for taking the time to look at my work. I have to agree with you about the digital stuff, its fun to do though, but... do I want to have fun or do I want to learn how to draw? Will concentrate on figure studies and the issues you highlighted about seeing the 3d form and volumes. I have been looking at Loomis but need to study them closer and understand the principles instead of just trying to copy the pictures! Really helpful thanks and I hope my next post reflects your comments!

[Catish]

NeonDuck said a lot of what i was going to say.

but also, try to find some interests and passions to draw. too many boring sketchbooks here that focus on generic things like warriors and elves.

also, try to leave anatomy for a while. focus on life drawing. anatomy from a book won't help until you're used to seeing a real person moving around and until you understand volume.

[Dayle]

So the weekend is over once again. Back to work tomorrow. All weekend I have been focusing on volumes, proportions and the 3d form. This week will look closer at foreshortening and practice getting the proportions correct.

3 hour pencil (HB) drawing of a Chellist, copied from concert on TV, trying to convey depth, proportion and scale.

2 sets of gestures / volumes, the left from imagination, the right from figure skating couple off TV.

Finally 2.5 hour pencil (HB) drawing of model from Pixelovely.com, I need to be more strategic with my shading for foreshortening and perspective.

[AztcFireFlower]

Hi Dayle,

In your drawings is your proportions are all different for a few reasons, Understanding AND remembering Loomis' proportion breakdowns of the head will help tremendously. This map will allow the features to stick to the right spot on the face. Few people fly without this map on paper or mentally. Apply to straight ons, 3/4's, side's in the beginning to solidify them in your mind.
1st thing I notice is the eyes - In Loomis you'll see in a straight on head there are a certain number of eye spaces across the face. In your 3/4 it would help to map this out, corner to corner, too.

Your efforts from this book are fantastic. Proportions first, then all other learning will fall right where it should. It is all about practice, but a little analysis will push you a lot further for the effort.

[Dayle]

A quick update, still working hard but becoming selective of what I'm uploading... trying to show progress and need to work on things people have pointed out still.

Tonights life drawing class, a selection of 10, 20 minute poses.

A sketch i did on Sunday of a woman in a magazine, was really enjoyable actually. By the way, sorry for all the poor quality images, using my mobile to take pictures and upload, will buy a scanner when I get a bit better and its worth it.

[Dayle]

Final pose from my life drawing session tonight. 40 minute pose. I was trying to be more accurate with my shading, hopefully my work is improving. Still seems like it can go good or bad depending on random factors.

[Dayle]

Its now been three months since I joined CA and thought it would be worth taking some time to reflect on what I have achieved so far. I already knew how to draw buildings, plans and perspectives but really wanted to learn how to draw people correctly. Nude, clothed, from reference and imagination.

So, heres where I am at right now;

I have been going to life drawing sessions for about 4 months, 2 hours per week. I have been sketching people, drawing every single day, visiting websites, like posemaniacs and pixelovely to try and get familar with the human form. Reading reference books by Loomis, Bridgeman and Hogarth, plus other stuff.

Thanks to those individuals who have taken the time to offer advice and crits, both here and my new favourite place (Character of the week land!). This site is amazing, without it I would be lost, I never had any formal training or studied art but I think with all the resources here anybody could become a very convincing artist, and so many sketchbooks are proof of this.

I have noticed that lots of time is wasted by figuring out what I need to do, getting distracted or doing something too complicated without any real purpose. So starting from next week I shall be trying a more structured approach, following a framework incorporating the following;

- Figure studies, Observation / Proportion / Anatomy
Reading theory / reference books & Life drawing.

- Film studies, Movement / Gestures / Light & Shadows
Genres and styles for reference and compositions.

- Art studies, Technique / Compositions / Colour
Looking at other artists works to learn from.


Not sure how long I can be deciplined for or if it'll work but hopefully the above will help improve my skills and give enough variation to still enjoy myself and be creative.

I am also nervously looking at the acrylic paints I have, shall be using them for the first time ever next week... new mediums and real colour... could go wrong!

So, here are some pictures.

Sheet of observation (magazine pictures and quick sketches whilst at lunch).

Sheet of life drawing images.

Sheet of non-referenced imagination (to see how much I can remember).

Then the struggle of drawing heads, same portrait redrawn twice... getting better but I still can't tell who she is! so no good yet., Loomis makes it look so easy - aarrggh!

Bye for now.

[Dayle]

Here are a couple of images to refresh my sketchbook... not been here in a while!

The first is (despite the ZERO votes in the poll) my best Character of the week entry so far, the character is not very interesting I know, but the image I was really pleased with.

The others are from my life drawing session last week, was the first time I used a ball point pen and it felt really good... more to come! Shame about the legs on the 30 minute pose, I didn't notice they were too short until I got home.

I am enjoying doing the chow entries a lot, great artists there to follow and see how they approach digital painting etc. Also helping me build up an expansive library, cos of the variety of topics and images needed for references and stuff.

[Dayle]

Some gesture / figure studies - 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 5 & 10 minute. Wanted to do more but ran out of time. I should spend much more time on these as its really helpful for my brain to learn to pick out the key shapes, lines and forms.

[Urötskidoji]

You have a great attitude towards your drawings, keep that up. It´s really fun to see your improvements aswell. Anatomy can be a real, real shithead sometimes, but if you want to get good at it it´s just a matter of practing and practicing. And you´re practicing very well from what I can see! Keep it going!

[Dayle]

Here are some some quick studies from the last couple of weeks, bones, muscles of the arm and a tutorial on how to set up portraits / heads. I did a quick sketch using a ball point pen following the steps and it seems like a good method, heads are just really hard to draw! I found the drawings of the arm really helpful at my life drawing class, when your brain understands what its looking at makes drawing a whole lot easier! Need more knowledge, more reference and more practice.

My main thoughts these days are, not enough time to draw, everyone is so much better than I am, I wish I learnt to draw years ago when I was younger... so for now I know that the most important thing is to use the time I have to practice and remain focused, or I'll never improve but still keep getting older!

[Ixallus]

Lot of studies coming from you man, making me feel lazy and inadequate. I'll need to pick up the pace on that also.

Where did you find the head study at? is that in Bridgman?

[Dayle]

Ixallus No. not Bridgman. From a book called "Life Drawing - a journey to self expression" by Briget Woods. It mainly looks at how to deal with subjects during life drawing classes, from an artist / model / organisers point of view. But has some useful basics on setting up drawings, proportions and measuring techniques. Bridgman, Hogarth and Loomis are the best for learning (in my opinion) but I like to look at alternative ideas too. She has a cool website you may want to check out - http://www.bridgetwoods.co.uk/Home.html
Oh, thanks for the comments by the way!

[Dayle]

Tomorrow I'm off to buy a new sketchbook, then, Friday I am taking it on holiday with me to Switzerland, will draw everything I can! I shall also be visiting the home town of my favourite artist, HR Giger... I hope to do a study of one of his pieces, If I get the time (will probably just stand their in awe instead).

Here's a quick update, hope I'm not posting too much, I treat it as a reward for my hard work (or an incentive to work hard!?!). Yesterdays and last weeks best sketches from life drawing. Finding pens cooler than pencil, will try and get some suitable paper though cos this is too rough and heavy.

I wish you all a happy easter (unless you don't do religion or holidays, then just have a nice week!)

[Pervy]

I can relate to your thoughts of wishing you drew earlier, lol since I'm going through the same process of having to make time for art with work/education/etc. Though like you said, what matters is to just keep on making time to do it because were not get any younger ahah.

Looking over your sketchbook, I'm definitely liking what I'm seeing! See your really working on those foundations like anatomy, construction, value, and gestures which are all just so helpful to get better. Definitly going to be checking back up on you to see what you'll be doodling in switzerland ^^.