The sketchbook of a nooooooob

[Blenz]

Hey guys I've been drawing for a pretty long time, but I never was an avid artist. So what I was wondering if you guys could critique my artwork and kind of guide me in the right direction towards better techniques. Here are probably my best drawings within the past couple of months. thanks!
p.s I apologize for the picture quality, I do not own a scanner.

These are manga faces I've managed to draw, not something I'm truly interested in but I thought that I would give it a shot.

Here's a picture I drew of a family member, I couldn't draw a mouth at the angle she was at, so I drew tape Instead. I don't know why.

Here's a picture of a puppy I drew from a picture.

I drew this woman's face on my own, but with the help of video tutorials teaching me how to the eyes and the nose separately.

I drew this guy entirely on my own.

[Wingal]

Another Texan, Cool! Welcome to CA hope you stay a while. Thanks for visiting my sketchbook! If you havent gotten these yet get these books for free here http://alexhays.com/loomis/ and make sure you dont just look at the pretty pictures and study them, but also read the text because its just as valuable. Good luck!

[Samszym]

Thanks for the comment, and welcome to CA! Loomis is your new best friend, I;d start with "Fun With a Pencil" or Successful Drawing". And make sure you draw from life a lot! Photos are distorted, it's better to draw what you see.
You said your goal was "to be as good as I am". That's way too low a goal to have! There are so many better artists here, and besides that making your goal relative to another artist's skill level is just asking for disappointment.
Your goal should be to become the best you can be. Good luck!

EDIT
and here's another resource you might find helpful

[Jephyr X]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

You've got a great start...and regularly posting your work here and looking around at what others are doing (as you've done) will really help.

Snoop around this forum...there are many resources available here.

If you can draw something everyday...or as often as you can.

Wingal and Vertical are right about Loomis...I'm working through one of his books right now.

Sit somewhere like a mall and draw what you see...people, objects etc.

Take classes...or if their aren't any available try to find other firends who want to draw and meet with them to exchange ideas and inspire each other.

Go to art stores and ask them about classes, schools, materials etc.

Pick a favorite picture or artist and try to draw what you see.

Also develop your imagination by trying to draw from it. Let your mind and hand take you places.

Just scribble on a page...and try to make something out of it...turn some or all of it into what ever you see in that basic scribble.

And above all have fun...and don't be hard on yourself!! It can take a long time to develop your abilities (it has been true for me anyway)...so hang in there.

Congrats on starting your new sb!!

[Blenz]

I just wanna say thanks to Jephyr, Wingal, and Vertical! All of you have given me great ideas on where to begin and I am currently working on "Fun with a Pencil" by Andrew Loomis. Tomorrow I will try to upload the sketches I have made while reading the book to show my progress.

[Blenz]

Alright guys here's my progress with "Fun with a Pencil" by Andrew Loomis. So far I've been skimming the material and taking notes on what I could, and then quickly sketching the work. Don't worry though, I'm going to go back and practice the sketches some more I just like to see what it is I'm learning first.

[ji-li]

yea loomis books are great! Also recommend Bridgeman and Vilppu books! they are sooooo useful when studying anatomy and figures and such. Different techniques and approaches, just find out which is best one for you to learn with ^^

life drawing can also be free if you can't afford/have time for them. Going to the mall, store, etc. and just drawing people as they pass by is a good way to practice. Kinda matches how sometimes in life drawing classes they may force speed sessions at you.

Well good luck and keep on going

[Samszym]

Seems like you're suffering from a lack of knowledge of perspective here's a couple tutorials on the subject one two
Simply put, you can't imagine the direction features on your heads should be facing so you slant them the wrong way. The only way to figure out directions like that is to practice a ton of perspective.
Try to find some rounded forms from life you can draw, like a bottle cap or a sphere with some kind of rings going around it, or maybe something like a plaid cloth. Drawing things with contours over their surface should help you in identifying which direction things go.
Don't try to blast through Loomis until you've mastered the earlier principles in the book. If you don't have a good grasp of spheres in perspective yet drawing figures may be too much of a challenge. Keep up the good work!

[Blenz]

Thanks guys, I'll stop my work on the book for now and work on Perspective like Vertical recommended. Then I'll try something In the mean time that ji-li recommended. Hopefully I'll have something posted up today.

[GelrevOngbico]

Alright guys here's my progress with "Fun with a Pencil" by Andrew Loomis. So far I've been skimming the material and taking notes on what I could, and then quickly sketching the work. Don't worry though, I'm going to go back and practice the sketches some more I just like to see what it is I'm learning first.

Hi. I remember drawing those faces, i kinda started with "Fun with a Pencil" months ago also (and I still go back to it every now and then)

[Blenz]

Alright here's some quick sketches I did in school. I did some perspective drawings/studies today, but I don't really think they're worth posting. Hopefully I'll be able to apply the perspective studies to my human head anatomy drawings. For those who are checking out my SB thanks, and for the others who are critiquing my work it means a great deal!

[Ven S]

hey man, good start for your Sb! Yeah, my one critique would be to keep drawing from life. keep on going

[Zikes]

Great start! I would consider you to do some lifedrawing, it's alot of fun!
Here's a few links to some great lifedrawing sites: LoveCastle and Pixelovely

Keep it up!

[Black Spot]

Looks like you've already got some great advice. Just keep drawing and you will improve.

[Blenz]

Ok so here are some 5 minute sketches of some faces on lovecastle.org I made the timer for 5 minutes because i knew i would sit there for like an hour trying to get some features done. I switched to a mechanical pencil to help me draw lighter, any way I did this to hopefully get in some practice on positioning and perspective on the human head. Any progress?? Lol some of these I butchered.

[Blenz]

Here's another drawing.

[Teundeboer]

cool to see you get so motivated to get better. I think an important thing, as others have suggested, is to keep drawing from life and just keep drawing in general. Faces are good because you can easily spot when you have made proportional/positional errors and that makes it easier to train your eye.
Mostly, it's as simple as Black Spot puts it: "Just keep drawing and you will improve."
Good luck.

[BlightedArt]

Cool sketches But get a scanner / nice camera and get clearer images of your material online. The better we can see your imagery the better feedback we can give.

[Blenz]

Ok guys I'm probably not going to post any sketches today and Just do pure practice on drawing and hopefully by tomorrow I'll have something that can take better pictures as well
thank you everyone!!!

[Blenz]

Here's the update! Alright so I did get some practice in, and practiced on mostly of some poses of the head again haha but its still practice and I need it ! oh yeah I used my iPod Camera, so the quality should be nicer as well.

[Ven S]

Demon on unicycle .xD. Getting better. Heads are tricky, but just keep on studying them. You will get them down for sure.

[Chris Sanders]

Hey man, thanks for checkn out my sb nice start, would be nice to see some studies from say andrew loomis or burt hogath (im more a fan of loomis but there you go) hust to help your form out. apart from that just keep sketch'n and doing what your doing.

[rokushoxxx]

Hi, it would help you to have this one too http://www.artsyposes.com/drawing_tool if you need more variety.... XD.

What Jephyr X said is the absolute truth.. you have to enjoy doing this, it would take time and sometimes you just want to rush and know it all at once, but learning the basics well will help you see things different, and youll learn to find solutions to a the problems that you could encounter... Never stop drawing and thank you for stopping by my sb ^^

[anonanon]

I really like your positive attitude! You have some very creative concepts in some of your posts. You should revisit them once your technical skills develop more and perhaps turn them into more finished pieces. Keep up the great work.

[berniebakari]

Great start mate, just keep going I can't give you much input as many have already contributed enough so no need to confuse you even more.

One book I might recommend for you which has helped me at some point during my journey is called Drawing on the right side of the brain by Betty Edwards, its like £6 on the UK amazon and I guess it would be similar price in other places!

Its a good book with fun exercises for building your way of seeing things as an artist! Welcome to the awesomeness!

[prsnsweeney]

Hey good start to the sb. Some good advice from others too. Practice is what really helps you improve. No matter how talented someone is when they start, if they dont work hard and practice. they wont be as good as someone who studies and works hard and practices everyday

[Nihil_]

Welcome on CA, man. :) As others said, Loomis at this point will be the best starter's guide.

[Blenz]

Sorry guys no artwork today, I'm pretty tired. Don't worry I still did some sketches I may continue on the rest of that Loomis book now that I believe I can do it at a steady pace !
Thank you everyone who has viewed the thread and even more thanks to the ones who critiqued it It means a lot.