Ninsei's Sketchbook - 'Draw Better' challenge accepted

[Ninsei]

Proper drawing session today, with Loomis and his 'Figure Drawing for All It's Worth'.
I even got up earlier today which is good! My self-discipline mechanism is starting to work.

Sorry for uncleanliness.
I need to work on efficient use of paper.
Does anyone know where to buy a good quality sketchbook in B5 format (between A4 and A5)?

[Lulie]

Regarding "How do I know how wide it should be?"

Good question. I was wondering about this for several months (my question was "how do you do a perfect square in perspective?") until I stumbled upon the answer.

And it's, um, not straightforward. The simple answer is, of course, 'eye it'. But if you want to construct it yourself, making sure of accuracy, you have to do this thing where you plan out the angle of view for your picture, use measuring points... I don't understand it too well myself yet, but Carl Dobsky in this tutorial (the first video) explains it step-by-step. (And, despite what it claims on that page, it is currently on sale for $6.99. Note in the video sometimes he says 4 feet when he means 3 or something like that. Should be plenty follow-able though.)

[Greenhouse]

Good work on the perspectives and the movements!
It’s looking gooooood!

[JaneMag]

Very nice fluid movement in the pose sketches!

[Peonso]

Yoitisi Island (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=146) helped me a lot with perspective, go check it. Really worth the time spent (and don't take much time at all).

[Ninsei]

Lulie, Greenhouse, JaneMag, Peonso - Thanks a lot!

I'm in a bit of a stagnation again. I was thinking about it before falling asleep yesterday, and I figured out how I can use my calendar-diary to help myself. Every evening I will be writing down everything I did for whole day, hour after hour, and at the end I will ask myself 'what did I do today to make a difference? did I do anything to help me achieve my goals or just wasted my time?'. Looking at sad two words 'wasting time' written for almost each hour in a day should keep me going! I call it 'Motivation and Self-discipline Therapy'. I feel kind of embarrassed given the fact I can't make myself work every day. I got used to laziness. I was thinking maybe I prefer to work a lot one day and then do nothing for the next few days? That's what I do lately. I don't think it's good because I would never be able to do as much as I would like to when I work just once in a while.

Anyway, I bought a sketchbook from Amazon, I'm really happy with it! It has 176 pages (88 sheets), white, smooth and quite thick paper (a bit like construction paper but less stiff) - perfect paper for my liking, it's simple black hardbound and it even has bound ribbon bookmark. I've read many positive reviews for sketchbooks of this brand (Sterling Publishing, Barnes & Noble) and apparently people are not wrong. And it's cheap too, at least for UK and USA buyers. Oh, and it fits perfectly in my satchel bag, being a bit dwarfed A4 format!
I hope to start some doodling soon! (when I'll finally get over this well-known 'oh look how beautiful this sketchbook is, it's full of beautiful clear perfectly white pages' phase haha!).
Keep visiting

[Greenhouse]

Whoa, don’t get too hard on yourself friend! I know the feeling, too well. Sometimes it’s hard to get it all together. You start out the day wanting to achieve plenty of things and ends up doing nothing ^^ I have also started writing down studies for the next day. In fact it’s a great way to get a good structure and pushing yourself towards the progress. But you have to let your mind have some rest once in a while. That’ll also keep your creativity going and it will be more joyful. I just realized

Looking forward to seeing those white sheets getting dirty!
Keep rocking!

[Ninsei]

Greenhouse - Nice to read that I'm not alone with this problem But really, I'm the worst case! I have no uni nor work right now, I just sit at home, sometimes cook some meal, do some shopping or laundry but other than that, I have crazy amounts of free time. I should take advantage of this opportunity since it's not going to last forever... And yet still, I procrastinate, I do useless things, I plan what I need to do and collect tutorials, reference photos and stuff, great, but at this pace I will never have a chance to use it all!
It's not that I want to work everyday for 6 hours or something, but why can't I find just 1 hour for some doodling, given I'm not the most busy person in the world? I would feel so much better if I did something, I know it, yet still I don't do.
I will try to deal with that, taking little steps I need to build some structure as you did.
Maybe I put too much thought into all that? Maybe I'm overwhelmed by the amount of things I know I still need to learn? Then it's time to stop thinking and whining.
Ughh sorry for another long boring post!

[Greenhouse]

Good thinking, “Maybe I put too much thought into all that? Maybe I'm overwhelmed by the amount of things I know I still need to learn? Then it's time to stop thinking and whining.” You know, it’s good wanting much, I’m just the same. But sometimes all this blocks the creativity and the mind gets overloaded. My suggestion is that you also draw/paint things that you like, things that come without effort. This will make you free for a moment and also happy. Then you can do some hard trucking studies again.
Keep up the good work!

[Naidy]

Hey, mate. So nice seeing you propperly tuck into Loomis after my comments.
Interesting dilemma you have too, I know I get like that too.

The main thing is, don't think about the WHOLE picture of what you have to learn. Get up, pick a subject, e.g Heads and give yourself a few exercises.
I spent the summer doing that. I usually would pick, say, arms and draw 50 from Bridgeman's examples, 50 studies of my own, and 50 from imagination. Through-out the day slowly add pairs of arms as I went about my usual stuff. The main thing is, it helped me take things in steps rather than feel I had to know how to draw everything perfectly in one day.
Course, 150 studies a day can be a bit exesive, something like 10-10-10 could easily suffice.

Anyway, hope you're feeling better soon. Those sort of feelings are strong when you get them but are possible to work through. Keep up the good work!

[Ninsei]

Thanks again Greenouse!
Naidy - 10-10-10 system is pretty great idea! I've adjusted it to my needs and ability. Thanks for another good advice!

Back on track.
First two pages - most of these are copies of torsos drawn by artists I like (I hope they don't mind I study them!), next pages - Loomis of course.
I'm aware these scans are far from perfect, but believe me, scanning from 2cm thick hardcover sketchbook is not that easy!

[sin eater]

Hey , You are definitely in the right path. I see improvements from the first to the second page, Especially the line quality and studies. I guess you already know but i ll say it , more anatomy studies! You have to understand the forms to be able to draw or shade properly. For that you need to understand the underlying muscles and bones underneath which gives the form itself. Learn how the muscles flow and learn about there origins and insertions. This wil help you when you draw a character in pose. You dont have to necessarily learn the names of all the muscles but it helps a lot.
You are doing good, just keep doing more. The number of drawings you make is directly proportional to your improvement. XD
And about your weakness, it is really fine to fail cause that is the only way to learn. So try everything you can think of. Dont just draw one thing cause its easy. (although i have to do that myself XD) and enjoy what you draw! keep them coming

[Ninsei]

sin eater - Thanks, I'm very happy to read that you see some progress already! I wouldn't expect that after only 2 pages of CA sketchbook but I feel I've learnt quite a lot I've just now got to anatomy in Loomis' 'Figure Drawing...', so I will be studying it religiously for next few days! I hope that's going to help me, as you say, especially to be able to shade correctly.
Thanks for stopping by


9 pages need to be scanned, not a lot for half a month but I'm dealing with my self-discipline issues. April is the month of not being lazy!

I realised my imaginative drawing is blocked. I can't draw just 'something', nothing comes to mind even if I try to. I'm afraid it's like with me reading books - I never start reading new book before I finish the one I started before. Weeeirdo. The fact that I study Loomis stops me from drawing anything else. Even from my own imagination. Need to deal with it somehow, it really annoys me.

[Ninsei]

More studies.
Boring, I know. I'm trying to turn on my creative mode though. Hopefully it will work soon, I really feel like creating something epic!

[jdem]

I can absolutely see improvement through your SB so far, best thing you can do is just keep it up and do more and more of the same - you seem to be great at getting fluidity in your lines and figures! Just keep working on it and you'll just get better and better!

[bobtail]

This is going to sound really silly, but your sketchbook really makes me smile. You're improving so much in each study you do it's really great to see. It's inspiring me to stop being so lazy and do studies myself!! DEFINITELY keep it up - I can't wait to see where this goes .

Also, thank you for dropping by my sketchbook . It's really really appreciated!

[Ninsei]

jdem - Thanks, I'm really really happy you see some improvement and I'll definitely keep working on it!
bobtail - You're far too nice! Especially as I didn't post anything since April which fortunately doesn't mean I did nothing all that time It's still just studies though... anyway, will scan some soon!

I'm currently doing quite thorough human anatomy studies with Goldfinger's book (which is awesome by the way!) But I have to make myself do a lot of life studies (not feeling comfortable with rendering at all) and AT LAST I have to start doodling from imagination. Plenty of ideas but I'm still certain I just can't make them come true... why don't I even try?

[Ninsei]

Loomis, Goldfinger & some hatching.
I thought there's more to show, oh well, that kind of means I was lazy as f**k.
Work MOARRR. I will. You'll see.

[Ninsei]

Just started my sfx/vfx degree at uni, so far it's awesome. ;}
As hectic weeks of moving from one place to another and getting to know my new town and uni are more or less over, I can restart my drawing practice! I've got quite a lot to scan anyway.
See you in a bit!

[Ninsei]

Uni concept art assignment More stuff soon!

[Lulie]

I'm not super experienced with drawing light, but my photographer brain says the shadows you did in the colour version of the dragon don't match the light source from the sketch. The light source is too low for the wings to shade that much of its body, and the rear leg looks almost as if it's being lit from below. Also, isn't the arrow of the light source indicating that the light is closer to us, so should be lighting more of our side of the dragon?

How did you determine the shadows? Did you make lines going out from the light source and seeing which parts of its body are touched and which parts are blocked? Or was it guesswork? Or..? You might find this tutorial by Arenhaus useful. It does take longer than drawing with a ref, but in the case of dragons it can be tricky to get a ref that's close enough, and it's more accurate than estimating by eye.

For what it's worth, picking up photography (especially learning the bits about lighting, and physically playing with a lightsource yourself) can help intuitions enormously. I suppose practicing drawing it can too, but photography has the advantage that you can shoot your own references, and encourages you to make your own attractive lighting instead of just going with what's already there, or relying on other people to make refs with good lighting.

[Ninsei]

Thanks Lulie!
To be fair the light source on the sketch was just a rough indication, I managed to forget about it when it came to rendering in PS... Which I suppose was a major mistake because I ended up just guessing and accentuating the parts of the dragon not giving enough attention to if it's actually how the light works.
I totally agree with your points. I should have spent more time on it but instead I just quickly moved to colours, details, etc. (usual student mistake - struggling with time because you've started your work just before the deadline...).
I definitely need to do some light/shade tutorials because I can see myself that I've got a LOT to learn in that matter.
Thanks for all your suggestions!

[Lulie]

Did somebody say tutorials?


The Basic Basics - *Shattered-Earth

Light & Dark - Ron Lemen

Light & Shadow - `fox-orian (explains types of light, some about how it works and mapping shadows)

Basics of Light and Shadow - David Briggs (fun technical stuff)

The Anatomy of Light - Douglas Flynt (more fun technical stuff)

A crit I did on DA - Lulie (me explaining what I think is the most important fun technical stuff about shadows in a simplified way)

Edges - Elwell (edges are important! Yours seem mostly soft, but it's easier to conceptualise shadows by making them hard)


Hmm, it seems most of these are more articles explaining how light works than tutorial-tutorials. Dig around on CA for more 'how to' and exercises -- I seem to remember at least a few threads on the subject.

[Lulie]

Double post - ignore.

[Ninsei]

Haha awesome, thanks, seems to me that you're serious drawing techniques geek good to have people like you here on ca.org forums!