Game Programmer with Artistic Desires! Drawing EVERYDAY!!

[ji-li]

Hey everyone =) According to my school, I'm just a beginner when it comes to art.
I'm primarily a game programmer, but I study game programming in art school and aspire to be good at both programming and 2d drawing someday.
Please help me towards this dream by critiquing me so I can improve ^^
One of my first ever drawings (1999 or 2000, was 9-10 years old)

[ji-li]

using reference of people and drawing different characters using their poses and such. Attempting shading more...

[ji-li]

gesture practices done in pencil, cept the last one done in photoshop.
My sketchbook doesn't fit in my scanner so I just scanned what I could from each page.

[ji-li]

Using loomis books and using thegnomonworkshop tutorials
had to use bad webcam to take pics cause sketchbook is bigger than my scanner... and my scanner is too loud for scanning at night, but I have work and class in the day... so night is my only drawing time.

[TheGeek]

Good work, I think the best advice a can give you is to keep practicing while studying loomis book.

[jouzinka]

Hi, ji-li, welcome to Conceptart. I'll second TheGeek - find yourself a routine and keep practicing and keep posting.

You're up for a great start. I absolutely love the drapery study.

[ji-li]

TheGeek: thank you thats what I plan on doing for a while.

Jouzinka: Thank you ^^
The drapery study was done a while back in school. I don't really have art classes anymore, but since it is an art school and those teachers liked me they let me come in sometimes to practice unfortunately I can't have time for the free life drawing sessions or can sit in the classes anymore cause I work all week along with being full time student x.x
But I'm gonna try to do some more cloth studies once I get better with the form

not much today... sick, long day of classes, and tomorrow have to wake up early so can't stay up all night drawing like I do on some days. =p
From Loomis Book (fun with a pencil):

[jouzinka]

Looks like you'll have some interesting style.

[tronrobot]

hello welcome to ca! keep the posting, i think you should focus on anatomy, like someone said, maybe stick with loomis. or check out "constructive anatomy" by bridgeman. good luck!
- hey if u get the chance come by my sketchbook and say hi!

- age

[ji-li]

Jouzinka: thanks hopefully I will
tronrobot: Thanks I'll continue working with loomis and I'll take a look at Bridgeman ^^ ...soon as I finish these programming projects ^^;;;; lol

been busy with work and class.... lol so here's a VERY quick cartoon doodle I did in photoshop while drawing out my hmwk for interface class. I'd post that if I had actually spent the time to draw everything out for it but I rushed so it's just simple interface sketches >.>;

[Forrest_I]

Welcome to CA!

I wouldn't worry too much about doing any sort of digital artwork yet. Try and get a good grip on anatomy, shading, perspective, and all those general shinanigans before you delve into digital. Do you happen to be using a or have a tablet?

[ji-li]

forrest_I: yea I have a tablet. I have to do digital stuff for class all the time, regardless of its quality cause of my major in game programming. They want everything in digital format for both my art and programming classes so can be used in game situations or such. But I definitely am still studying traditionally when I can

and just remembered I practiced some from art books at school library and such during work so I do have some stuff to show
1 loomis study and the others are just shape studies.

[Eraiasu]

Hey, nice studies!

What i would suggest you practice is your line quality. Dont rush things, I find things get better once you just sit down and concentrate.

Do more of the stuff you did in the post above. Drawing basic shapes and such is good training. Draw things you have in your house like: lamps, chairs, cups, clothing/drapery etc etc...

And as for anatomy, just keep working on the loomis stuff. Draw people from life, if you can and so on.

Eventually when you get better at the basics, it will be easier to draw humans and what ever else you want.


Keep doing the good work!

[ThabisoMhlaba]

Hey Ji Li, Welcome!

There's been a lot of good advice in here already.

Drawing is probably the most useful skill anyone can have no matter what you do. =D
Definitely liking that you are taking the time out to practice basic shapes. Make sure you check the tutorial section there are some great tutorials there by loads of people. Specifically Ron Lemen's (Aka Fred Flickstone) Tutorials on the figure. Over Here

I'm curious if you're currently holding the pencil, the same way you hold it when writing? If so, then check this out Pencil Grips
People often overlook how they hold the pencil as they're drawing. Its actually very important in developing control. I suggest using the Violin Bow Grip or Gesture Grip. It allows you to work quick and use your entire arm instead of just your wrist and/or elbow. Ofcourse it's easier if you have an easel or have the surface tilted up. towards you so you have room to move your arm.

Remember stay loose early on in a drawing, take a breath, don't be too tense. Drawing is as much about feeling as it is seeing. I'd suggest if possible that you take figure drawing and do fast gestures. People will tell you to basic shapes before doing the human figure. There's no CORRECT way to do it, IMO learning the human figure through basic shapes allows you to draw anything else. Simply because the human body has every shape you could imagine. Its also arguably the hardest thing to draw (and have it look right) because of all sorts of psychological hurdles, but I've said too much. Keep Drawing! More Chi! Train Harder!

[ji-li]

Eraisu: Thank you Yea line quality is definitely one of my weak points. I remember in my first drawing class in art school here, my teacher gave me bad grades on my line drawings, but I did much better with the shading still life. >.>; though I haven't really attempted still life or any detailed shading as much since then (2009 January - March)

ThabisoMhlaba: yea it's been like two years since I did figure drawing with an instructor, it's free in our school, but cause of my work schedule I don't get to go to the free life drawing sessions anymore ;-; But I think at the time I did it, I remember the teacher showing me how to draw lightly then.
But I try to practice off posemaniacs and other gesture practice sites when I can.
I think also I been thrown off track cause last year got into an incident where both my hands were injured so I stopped drawing all year for recovery and had to get used to using my hands in general again starting last December.
As for how I hold my pencil, I think I change around with it at times, I use the violin bow grip sometimes (also I was an actual violinist for 8 yrs so I kinda feel that isn't exactly a violin bow grip lol. )
thank you for all your advice and thanks for welcoming me here and coming to my sketchbook

btw thanks to everyone else as well who came and visited my sketchbook and gave critiques/advice

Stayed up last night to do hmwk cause I got out of work/class late... so I didn't get to do any drawings yesterday as I said before, (last post from day before during geometry class I tutor)
So here is my hmwk lol cause it's colored it may be more appealing than it was before >.>;;; kinda...
Assignment was to do Game Interfaces in Photoshop of 5 games you played
can you guess which games these are?
none were traced (obviously lol) just looked at the screenshots of these games and drew their interface and colored somewhat close to theirs.

[ThabisoMhlaba]

ThabisoMhlaba: yea it's been like two years since I did figure drawing with an instructor, it's free in our school, but cause of my work schedule I don't get to go to the free life drawing sessions anymore ;-; But I think at the time I did it, I remember the teacher showing me how to draw lightly then.
But I try to practice off posemaniacs and other gesture practice sites when I can.
I think also I been thrown off track cause last year got into an incident where both my hands were injured so I stopped drawing all year for recovery and had to get used to using my hands in general again starting last December.
As for how I hold my pencil, I think I change around with it at times, I use the violin bow grip sometimes (also I was an actual violinist for 8 yrs so I kinda feel that isn't exactly a violin bow grip lol. )
thank you for all your advice and thanks for welcoming me here and coming to my sketchbook

Yeah no problem. I've never played violin so I'll trust you on that. I always call it the underhand grip. =D.

A good way to help that line control also is to draw with things that don't let you erase. or that look terrible if you erase. Charcoal and Pen. You'll feel bad for a while when you're drawing things and you mess up a line and have to live with it.

[MartinC]

Draw fast, a lot and dont look at details at the start. Good luck.

[ji-li]

oh haha ew I don't like pens x.x for either drawing or writing, but I'll try to do some of that next time.

Here some anatomy studies, today, I work on the arm some.

[BGrizzMayne]

Good stuff! I am a beginner so i can relate. What i will say (not that i have room to talk, but i'm another pair of eyes) is that many proportions are wrong. Feet and heads too big, and legs too short. Even in this drawing above, the below muscular drawing looks good. But above, the forearm and even upper arm are much to short. The hand should start at the end of the below drawing.

It's a long, long process so I understand what you're going through!

[ji-li]

haha yea my proportions are horrible x.x;;
I'm gonna try to get better at that soon as I can though.

loomis studies, attempt at drawing my bf and me using photo ref...., and random reffed poses in 30 seconds, 1 min, 2 min, and 5 min time limits.
Sorry for horrible quality... but if I do some serious shading studies I'll try to scan it either partially with my scanner on a weekend when I see daylight at home or find a way to get in the scan lab at school... so it can be seen in better quality then the studies I'm doing now.

[ji-li]

anatomy study and shading practice.
Sorry for weird stuff showing from back of the page, I draw during work = using scrap paper to draw on LOL (I am a math tutor so I always carry around scrap paper that I get from work)

[ji-li]

gesture studies before bed.
Used photoshop and tablet cause it's easier for me then trying to hold my sketchbook to the camera for each page if I did it by hand >.>
besides easier to see

[TheGeek]

Nice studies. Just remember : you need to practice allot each subject you study, for example, you draw the arm but believe me in one week you would not remember most of what you learned. Choose one subject, practice it allot for at least 2 weeks (you can also draw other things), an after that keep practicing it regularly.

Also when you copy a study from a book, try drawing it a second time without the reference, it will help you to see and understand things you didn't remark.

I'm also NOT with the quick studies, when your learn any discipline that requires precision, you begin in slow motion, step by step,learning the basics to build on it, like for dance. Don't be obsessed with the speed, take your time, it's one of the things that gave me a huge boost when I understood it.

Keep practicing, you'll surly progress.

[jouzinka]

Great advice, Geek, thanks, that will help me too.

And great studies, Ji-li. Keep rockin'.

[ji-li]

alright will try to do that

might not be drawing much for a while though >< programming classes getting difficult cause we're past middle of the term.
:p so here are drawings I do during work, the only time if I am not stuck with tutoring, that I draw. My students took a test today so I drew while they were testing ^^

[ji-li]

I been a bit busy with school but I do still draw when I can
here are some studies I did during the math classese I sit in as a tutor (cause I can't do anything when they take tests >.> lol )

I been drawing out of the book:
"ANATOMY: A Complete Guide for Artists" by Joseph Sheppard

[ji-li]

Not much today, programming projects getting heavy on me. Teachers are rushing and it's just not cool D:
But I always get to draw during math tutoring classes some

anyways studies, um...trying to draw my cup, and a cookie partially reffed, and partially imagination. (Cookie + Pi represents me and my bf's love)

[ji-li]

I drew yesterday but passed out last night, also leading to me actually waking up early today so I'm scanning now yesterday's stuff

studies again and I drew flowers from refs and drew the necklace my bf modeled for me in soft image/ zbrush

[ji-li]

Studies from yesterday and today
started looking at vilppu too

sorry for cut drawings, sketchbook doesn't fit in scanner x.x
x.x my proportions and anatomy always so off, I need to get better!

[JakehC]

you are getting better, i can defenitely see it! just keep doing what you are doing