Silent Messiah's Sketchbook

[Silent Messiah]

Ok, so I've been a member of here for a while now and have yet to submit any artwork. I have scanned some of my sketchbook but the scans have turned out 'orrible. Have recently started sketching again after a long dry spell on my work jotting pad (hence the random nonsense surrounding some of the pics =D ), also got me an iPhone recently and the pics of the sketches turned out pretty sweet, (except for the smudges on one of them), so the plan is to get 'em into my newly acquired version of PS and get them digitised and on to this here sketchbook so heres a few before sketches, got a few ideas for each of them until I gets down to grips at my home PC.

This should lead me into getting some of my older sketches posted, seeing as I now have the means of getting them on in better quality.

No holds barred with the crits folks by the way, the more constructive the better of course and the more the merrier!

Privileged to be amongst some truly inspiring minds on this forum! If it wasn't for some of you I would not be putting pencil to paper/nib to tablet!

\\//, Live long and prosper

Oh and here is a wee pic of our pet Esiotrot named Tiny






...Buzzinga


P.s Not passing off as great sketches, just little doodles and had to start somewhere with posting on here
Thanks for stopping by

[deadlyhamster]

your first image is very good. the other two are not so good in my opinion. I think it is because you wanna start with a difficult object, a human face... when I learned to draw I first made dozens of sketches from noses, ears, eyes,... seperated so I learn to understand the anatomy of it and then the next step is to put them all togheter to one head. If you do that you will see that you will improve verry fast.
But keep motivated and go on with the good work.

[Naidy]

I was just thinking the last picture was the best.
But Deadly-hamster has a point about studying the features of the face in isolation too, it can help you understand their form. Right now though, I'd say studying the whole head would be good too, since you seem to be cutting off the back of their heads a bit.

Here's some useful links if you don't know about Loomis allready-
http://www.scribd.com/doc/501782/And...Head-and-Hands
http://www.scribd.com/doc/255814/And...Figure-Drawing

Hope to see more from you soon!

[Silent Messiah]

DeadlyHamster - Appreciate the feedback, thats something I've been meaning to sit down and do, will defo be putting that into practice, and will hopefully post on here Like your Avatar, lets see some more of your stuff!

Naidy - You soond scottish! Really dig your SB, great style and feel to everything youve posted! Keep posting!
Ive got some Loomis books on PDF, and I have tried some of the figure drawing from one of them but I got way to critical at how they werent perfect first time and put myself off. Gradually letting myself flow more. Been working from pose maniacs recently and the tips they give seem to be helping alot (Plus the comments you were both kind enough to leave)

As for my sketches, I agree I shyed away from the back of the heads, first one was a reference quick skecth and the second I drew freestyle a few days later applying the same kind of style and again shyed from the back of the head. Guess maybe confidence made me stick with just the head, but the more I do the more I learn.

Thank you both for the tips

Shall be posting more soon

\m/,

[Silent Messiah]

Ok, so here are some more. Some from last year, havent been proper going for it this year yet, but it is planned to be more focussed and push myself now Ive started a SB.

I will be honest, I have loads of pages with unfinished stuff on it that I originally set out to do some good ones, but I am way to scared to put em on for them to get slated, but I think thats what I need to do to shine a light on the bad habits and get a more experienced POV on them.

So yeah, more of the same please

\m/,

[James Thomas]

crits welcome ey! GREAT :]
i just want to say that at least youve gotten back on the horse, its staying on is the hardest part though offlu (damn horses.. -.-)
Myself learnt alot by putting myself in situations where i had to draw, the train was definently my sketching desk XD- also if u visit a boring family member *yawn* bring a sketchbook! even if you draw random rubbish, omg it helps! and i hope i did too :]

[Valyavande]

It's good to see in the first drawing, that you used a sphere as a basic shape to draw the head. Go on with that! But try to change the other lines, because their positions are not the same if you draw heads from different angles. Only the fornt view of the head have such lines as you used them.
You can see that in the Loomis books =)

[Silent Messiah]

Thanks Prov I've thought about sketching on the train but I would be too shy and aware of people watching me. That would put me off my game. Would defo do it once I was a bit more confident with my sketches! would enjoy people sneaking a look over my shoulder im going to make a more concious effort to take my sketchbook with me as much as! You first pic reminds me of someone I know! would like to see more of your second sketch as I'm not sure where your going with it, but still good work!

Thanks Valy, like your work, inspired by your anatomy studies! Loving the fantasy characters too, is it inspired by Pans Labrinth per chance? going back to my loomis books and be a lot less critical with myself, will post up my attempts (scary thought) my problem is trying be perfect first try lol so i know if I can beat that thought pattern I can improve

Thanks again

\m/,

[Valyavande]

haha, you get me! Pans Labyrinth is really an inspiring movie for me. I think, it's the fault of it that I started to draw fantasy creatures more serious.

And really, just post everything you have and don't think it's bad. We all started like this. But we can help you better if we see, how you work. It's not the time for being perfect
Just think like Betty Edwards:
"Your drawing, is now awesomely horrendous. It's so bad, it's good! Godly. Epic."

"Now, with this backwards concept, bad drawings are amazing. It's all failsafe. They're the gifts of god to the lower man. I don't fear drawing Anything anymore, because I know, it's gonna be frickin' amazing. Whether it's going to be amazingly awful, amazingly mediocore, or surprisingly amazingly good, it's gonna be epic. No matter how it turns out, and no matter how many and how long you do it, it's still going to be amazing."

[ayoub66]

Great work keep it up

[Silent Messiah]

Well just a little update. Printed out some sheets from Mr Loomis's book, Fun with a pencil. A quick half hour to 3 quarters of an hour here, about half way through I realised I should keep some kind of progress log so I can look back (and share) and see how I built it up.

Had fun doing these, you should be able to tell at which point I switched the TV off and started focusing on what I was doing



\m/,

[Silent Messiah]

I know its not much of an update, but trying to post something at least twice a week!

This was a quick sketch from a tut vid on YouToob by a dude named Sycra, think he is the dude I used as ref for my first manga attempt I'm a watch-someone-do-it-then-I'll-have-a-bash kind of learner lol

So yeah quick 10-15 mins work here

Crits more than welcome, as I know the jaw and ears are out of line/proportion. I struggle with the eyes and eyebrows too, need to break each part down and learn the shape of them like I was advised earlier lol

Peace

\m/,

[Silent Messiah]

Some frustration with drawing in proportion and a bit of a study on noses. Just think they look crappy. My rendering quality is gash, any pointers? I said to myself about dealing with rendering laters on, studying it seperately, but found myself trying to render the noses to look more realistic but not turning out the way I'd like Please help ! lol

I'm sitting awkwardly on the floor and my bum is now sore! lol so off for food now

\m/,

[Peonso]

It's pratice man, keep the hard work.

"That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

[JohnBoy.3]

We all have to start somewhere, no one is born a great artist. Just keep at it and keep looking at references. "Every artist was first an amateur."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Silent Messiah]

Apologies that this emerges amongst some truly stunning work on here! haha I'll get there soon enough


Quick lunch time sketch, bout 25 mins work.

Will be focussing on rendering soon, but just a quick sketch to keep the fire going! Not enough hours in the day!!

Hope you all had a hangover free weekend

\m/,

[JohnBoy.3]

Looking good man, you should get a scanner so you don't have to take pictures of your thumb

[Silent Messiah]

Looking good man, you should get a scanner so you don't have to take pictures of your thumb

Haha cheers man! Ive scanned stuff before and it didnt turn out too good, but will try some more on my home scanner soon and see if its better than the works

\m/,

[Silent Messiah]

Couple of Shoddy sketches here, mainly quick ones as my patience was rather thin at that point in time lol

Couple of Greeks picture was a ref from a post I found in a discussion, took me 20 or so mins but this was on my lap (lame excuse ), been at the good ladies house while mine is getting refitted, would you believe she doesnt have a decent table to sit at!?......I know!

Hands where drawn using a little method I poached from someone on here I thinks. Started with a tall rectangle and triangle plopped to the side and used my hand for ref of finger length, skin creases, etc and tried drawing a couple of different positions (my fingers arent as abnormal as they look in the side on horns pic btw)

And a real quick sketch of me pulling a funny face is there too ....Dont ask lol

So yeah, practice practice practice! Seeing these on here make me cringe, but is really working in inspiring me to be better, so be prepared to cringe along with me!

\m/,


*Mental Note - Exercise more patience!!*

[TomDeVis]

cool to see you are spending time on the basics anatomy! Good luck with it and keep it up! IF you keep it up you'll be a beast!

[Silent Messiah]

Hello all,

Its been too long since I sat down and sketched! The handsome model in this pic is my good friend Xelby. He posed for around 40 mins and I done what I usually do when it comes to sketches.

All crits welcome, be as open and honest as you wish! Its all for a good cause!

Tried scanning but it turned out nasty so it was the cam phone again with the pic of the sketch. Oh! and I took the pic once I had finished. He moved about, so I asked him to pose again so I could add a pic for better crit purposes!

\m/,

[FightingSeraph]

Those studies are great, and I wouldn't mind you trying out light/dark values when available.

[Lord Dubu]

Good to see you've dedicated yourself to doing some studies for improvement. I've been learning more and more lately that simply by drawing more improvement happens.

I would like to caution you though... and this is just my humble opinion ( hopefully this won't invoke the ire of mangaphiles ) but avoid trying to duplicate someone else's style (i.e. manga). Let your own style develop organically and on its own. It will if you let it.

[Silent Messiah]

FightingSeraph - thanks for the encouragement! I would too! Lol it's on a list of things I make excuses not to do haha.

Flicked through your SB, big thumbs up to your Atari Lynx tribute! I've still got mine! Toki and awesome golf where my addictions when I played it most!

I envy your amount of posts! A habit I would love lol

Lord Dubu - love how you use the paper and ink! The Dogebi characters are amazing, your style really shines through there

Did I spot some WH40k characters? Awesome stuff too! Love the artwork style for the space marines.

I know what your saying. It's easy to get a "Let's draw Manga Porn" book and lose yourself to being a copy cat! How did you find your own style? Any pointers?

I am trying to get more studies done. Like setting up still lifes, and focussing on shape, form, values etc and just taking my time. Went to a class after work on Wednesdays for 8 weeks, and I was always last to finish and drew the least lol but at home there is no pressure and can use what I learned and go at my own pace

Have bookmarked your SB for future inspiration! If only sunday school back in the day had the artwork you do now, well, things would be different!

Cheers man \m/,

Bethany - Enjoying your value studies! Tis something I am learning from your right, just need to set up some simple still lifes and get cracking!

I enjoy seeing an improvement in every post, I am again admiring your value style! Elegant and realistic with the hair spread across the floor! What's your secret? :p tell me!

Thank you all for stopping by, appreciate the gentle nudging and extra awareness

[Silent Messiah]

Ok, so after fighting with myself to finally start a values study, I took the jump! Only after I was handed a book by Lee Hammond - Learn To Draw Real People. I skipped straight to the values bit and got over my intimidation!

Have to say, I am chuffed with this for a first try.

More to come!

Apologies for shady image (See what I did there???....sigh)

\m/,

[Naidy]

Ey feller, some nice stuff up since I last checked. I think you're starting to get more of an understand t'wards your subjects.

My crit- ...Well, I don't really have one. Just keep on studying and definitely seek as many opportunities to blackmail friends into sitting for portraits, they'll really help you along.

Keep up the good work!

[Silent Messiah]

A few more sketches here. I understand I need to devote more time to each study to get better results. Just trying to get in the habit of posting more So please bare with kind peeps.

Ok so the face, is a ref around 30 - 40 mins with my idea of values before looking into afore mentioned book (Lee Hammonds Draw Real People (as oppossed to fake uns))

Lady pic, was a quick gesture practice, best of a bad bunch

And another quick study from that book bout 20-30 mins worth with an HB. I warm up going thru my pencils, 12 piece set from WH Smith 6B - 4H, not posting as its pointless lol you all know a pencil vaue scale....dont you?

Crits on the value study would help alot, enjoy it and still not 100% on if I'm doing it right or if I can improve, so help a brother out




- Lights Out Asia & Isis in headphones at the time \m/,

[Silent Messiah]

A couple of other attempts out this book.

I have used cotton buds for the blending, hoping to purchase some tortillons soon. I had some a while back when I bought a small set of diff erasers, they came with it, instead of googling them I just binned them lol...doh.

Would using tortillons give me a smoother dynamic than the cotton buds and rolled up paper? Something doesnt quite feel right when using the buds.

Got frustrated with the lower right image. I seem to get frustrated that its not as smooth as the picture I was reffing. I like the highlight when I used my kneaded eraser, but that's it.

As for the top left, the nostril is hideous lol it looks like someone born with one nostril haha...Nom!

Tips and crits welcome

\m/,

[xelby]

Yo, your shading is coming along nicely since you started reading that book. You should try and use some of the knowledge and put it into real life situation (ie draw a mug or an egg or some shit)

Want you to make me pretty next time!

[Silent Messiah]

Couple of quick Brague sketches inspired by this guy FUSHANDCHUPS .