Henrique's Sketchbook - Live model class update.

**Henrique Ventura** · June 14th, 2011, 01:22 PM

Hi everyone! My name is Henrique Ventura, and i'm from Brazil.

This week i was looking at some sketchbooks around here, trying to find some inspiration to carry on drawing and trying to evolute. Then there was that sketchbook, i cant remember from who's but it gave me a light. It was a 4 years old sketchbook, and seeing from the first page to the last it made my jaw drop.

The evolution noticed there was impressive and beautiful, a huge improving. From the simple doodles to digital colored drawings, photo realistic and stuff.

That's what i want. A long way, no shortcuts, no tricks. I want to evolute in drawing, lighting and colouring. I need to create new drawings styles, get some nice references, expand my horizons. That's what is important.

So here i am. And i really hope you guys enjoy and criticise hard. : )

**Henrique Ventura** · June 14th, 2011, 01:25 PM

My first drawing here, a quick doodle in ps, only lines.

**Valyavande** · June 14th, 2011, 01:34 PM

You know how to do some nice lines, but I see that you lack knowledge about the shapes. So, if you are going to learn hard, go and get anatomy books. You will find Andrew Loomis and Bridgman for free if you use Google. Many people around here are using them. If you want draw and paint the human figure, you will need at least some basic knowledge about the structure of the body.
For some quick sketches and studies, you can use posemaniacs.com or http://www.pixelovely.com/gesture/index.php
I hope we will see a lot of stuff from you in the future!

**Henrique Ventura** · June 15th, 2011, 01:36 PM

Valya Vande - Thank you! Great advices and a really nice site you recommended! I gave it a try, it's really challenging

here are my first steps in this journey. More soon.

**Phratello** · June 15th, 2011, 01:54 PM

I see a lot of "artifacts" in the last Photoshop sketch. Are you making your lines with one complete stroke or using a sketchier approach?

**Henrique Ventura** · June 15th, 2011, 02:07 PM

Phratello - in the last one, photoshop suddenly began to ignore my pen pressure...then i tried to do the lines and quickly clean then, erasing..which resulted in this mess.. haha

My poor genius tablet give this issues sometimes... but this can be fixed just by restarting ps...

**Henrique Ventura** · June 16th, 2011, 12:59 PM

More studies from observation.

I'm now using Corel Painter, which has pen calibration and allows me to do a lot less pressure with the pen...Ps dont work well with my tablet, and every single drawing in that makes my hand hurt .

**Henrique Ventura** · June 17th, 2011, 06:55 PM

Hi everyone, i'm trying to keep this sketchbook daily as much as i can, so here's some quick drawings from today. I tried to do a basic lighting on the female.
Please say me some critics and things to change.

**S Ciaffaglione** · June 17th, 2011, 10:50 PM

Keep up those figure studies =) When I was trying to learn anatomy I found it helpful to draw from Body building magazines. Even though the muscles are massively inflated, you can clearly see every sinew and how all the muscles work together.

**ChisLu** · June 17th, 2011, 11:24 PM

Hey there Henrique, it's just great to find other brazilian trying to improve here on CA

For anatomy studies, face structure I suggest Andrew Loomis anatomy books, they are really fun and dynamic.

**fairypek** · June 18th, 2011, 03:38 AM

I am trying to learn anatomy too and copying from anatomy books and observing helps a lot.

**Henrique Ventura** · June 18th, 2011, 10:17 PM

S Ciaffaglione - i'll try to do some muscles any time soon : ) ty

ChisLu - Hi!! Brazilians are everywhere ; D! I'll search for some Andrew loomis books for sure. ty

fairypek - Observing is very important, just like the books : ) ty

Here are the quickies from today:

**Valyavande** · June 19th, 2011, 04:59 AM

Go and get the books!

It's very important that you are not just repeating what you can do already.

**Henrique Ventura** · June 19th, 2011, 09:41 PM

Valyavande - I will i will : D

I really suck at drawing by photo reference, but im trying to improve, always.
Today's color study:

**Henrique Ventura** · June 20th, 2011, 02:51 PM

Finally, i got two books from Andrew Loomis, "Figure Drawing for all it's Worth" and "Fun with a Pencil".

I will do some exercises with it soon.

Today, i did a quick color study based on a photo of Usain bolt, with digital watercolor from Painter 12, which gave it a rough look, the brush strokes and all... I'm testing it, since it's pretty different from PS brushes

**Henrique Ventura** · June 20th, 2011, 09:28 PM

Another drawing i did today, from imagination, don't know if i'll be coloring this one.

Pleeeeeeease, critics!

**yogeshj25** · June 20th, 2011, 09:33 PM

congrats on the new sketch book! great studies you have going on man! love to see that your doing figure studies! For your paintings they look a little smudgy. As people have suggested for me, do value paintings in black and white. This way you will truly understand how to correctly portray value. Or try to do paintings mono chromatically. Keep it up!

**Henrique Ventura** · June 21st, 2011, 11:50 AM

yogeshj25 - Thank you!! Great advice, i'll try something BW anytime soon, just like at photography, bw its easier to compose and all for sure.

here are my last studies, i really suck at anatomy and, specially males anatomy, so here's my tries (female and male from top to bottom):

**Henrique Ventura** · June 21st, 2011, 10:31 PM

A drawing i was doing yesterday, and finished the lines today to start paiting...Painter is totally different from PS, i'm kinda suffering with the brushes.

Here it is, please, criticize!

**Henrique Ventura** · June 22nd, 2011, 07:31 PM

Hi everyone!

Today i did a really quick drawing from observation. This time i've tried to get the shapes quickly, without cleaning the lines, cause i got a addiction to be cleaning the lines over and over and this consumes a lot of time.

I've selected this picture because i think the pose is very dynamic, and the model which is Shawn Johnson, has her muscles really well worked and you can see then very clearly.
Please guys, comments and critics. I Really need them.

**FraserMcT** · June 22nd, 2011, 07:52 PM

Lines are getting better. Do some face studies as they seem to be letting you down a bit right now. You're on the right track though.

**Henrique Ventura** · June 23rd, 2011, 04:50 PM

FraserMcT - Thank you! I should really work on the faces. The fact is, i never had an personal style to the faces, and they all unfortunately end up random =/

I really like anime style, but not that anime simply big eyed crazy heads and hair, something between real life and japanese anime. I can mention Shunya Yamashita, and Junny which i don't know the real name cause i cant read japanese. And of course, Hyung tae kim, who was my biggest influence when i was younger.

I also like european style, and some guys over CA influenced me too. Right now is the time to search for my own style.

I've done this drawing today, and i'll be testing different approaches every time, to finally reach something that makes me satisfied:

**Henrique Ventura** · June 24th, 2011, 12:34 PM

Hi everyone.

Some quick drawings;
The first one was done by observation of a photo. The others are from imagination.

**in2eternity** · June 24th, 2011, 12:45 PM

I really like your lines, I never can get such nice flow in Photoshop ) But what I'd like to see as well are anatomy studies. It's very important if you can uderstand human body.
Good luck )

**Henrique Ventura** · June 25th, 2011, 04:50 PM

in2eternity - Thank you! But I'm not using Photoshop anymore.

I was using PS cause it was easier to modify brushes to get simple lines, you know what i mean, flat brushes without all that color variation and different kinds of layer that Painter have, which always made my brain hurt.

But Ps was not working well with my tablet, the lack of brush cablibration was making my shoulders getting hurt at the end of the day, by applying to much force with the pen.

Then weeks ago i decided to use Painter, again.

Painter allows me to do quick calibrations, and this helps a lot. Also, i finally learned to tweak some brushes, and today i reached a customization for a digital watercolor that made me really happy. Painter also simulate what brushes do in real life, crayons, markers, etc.

Well, with that digital watercolor i mentioned before, i did this.. what you guys think? I've tried a different face style. Drawing from imagination.

**Henrique Ventura** · June 26th, 2011, 08:15 PM

Hello everybody!
Today's post: I finally had the courage to go through Andrew Loomis's book, from the beginning to the end, every single step. It's a slow start, and now i can see the difficulties of trying to be realistic, it's a whole different thing.

And I changed to pencils and papers, the scanning thing is boring, but better for drawing from observation.

Now i realize that i was really stuck in a place, where my drawing style could not move forward, just because i didn't had the basics. The proportions are completely strange to me, and when i drew the 8 heads proportion i started thinking how tall was those persons!

Well, since this sketchbook is intended to be daily, today i did the first proportions of Figures drawing book, lots of mistakes here but it will get better!

**Henrique Ventura** · June 27th, 2011, 01:15 PM

Arms and legs today. Any critics?

**Henrique Ventura** · June 28th, 2011, 12:57 PM

Drawings from observation from Andrew loomis's book.
Comments?

**Kasei** · June 28th, 2011, 01:16 PM

You are good at seeing the shape of a person in line, but I'd love to see some more value studies from you. It seems like you draw from pictures a lot--try drawing from life. Just grab a sketchbook, go to a park or a mall and draw some of the things and people around you. You might surprise yourself with some of the results you get.

**Henrique Ventura** · June 29th, 2011, 11:22 AM

Kasei - thanks! When you say value you mean light and shadow? Sorry i didn't get it, i have a lack of vocabulary =/. I'm planning some drawings from observation, on parks and other locations too, thanks for the incentive.

Today i did some drawings from observation, and i tried to do the lighting as well.

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