alizak - a newbie on a mission

[alizak]

Hi all,

I think the title of my sketchbook says it all. I am pretty much a complete newbie - I used to love drawing when I was in high school, then in university I only doodled during lectures, then in my first year of my PhD (which I subsequently quit) I did some life drawing classes and I haven't drawn since then - so no drawing since 2005!!!

Since my ex-husband dumped my pregnant ass I have been trying to bring my creative side back - so I am dusting off my pencils and getting into it one again. With two little ones to chase around every day I don't have much time for art - but I am going to try my hardest to draw at least one thing a day. I'm hoping one day to write and illustrate books for children within the fantasy genre - so this is the start of my journey! I'm currently reading "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards, so a lot of my sketchbook entries will be exercises from that book.

Thanks for reading if you got this far and please leave a comment if you want me to come check out your sketchbook - I would also love any critiques - I'm here to learn!

Thanks all - alizak.

[alizak]

These are some of the initial (pre-instruction) exercises from Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain - my hand, a chair and a corner of a room.

I am hoping that by the time I finish this book that I can improve upon all of these drawings.

[alizak]

Some more sketches from the last week. Tried to sketch some onions while my three year old had some art time - I think it looks semi-decent, but I think I am still not really looking at what I am drawing as much as I should be.

The poses are from posemaniacs - and were very quick - a bit too rigid I think - but I will definitely be practicing more using posemaniacs - it is a very useful tool for someone like myself who can't get out to a life drawing class.

As a side note - should I be making my attachments smaller?? They seem a bit on the large side.

[Jaik]

Thanks for dropping by my sketchbook.
Something I can see that you may benefit from greatly is a warm up exercise to improve line quality. basically you draw two points, then try and draw a free hand straight line between them. After that, do 3 and then try a free hand curved line through all 3 points.
I've only just started this sort of warm up myself, but I really want to improve my line quality. Its all about drawing with your arm in this exercise though.
Anyway, great start, very admirable trying to get art together while dealing with two yunguns. Thanks again for the sb post, always welcomed. Ill check back here regularly :3

[alizak]

Jaik - thanks for visiting my sketchbook and for the advice - line quality is definitely something I need to work on so I will definitely be trying out your warm up.

[alizak]

Working through Drawing the Right Side of the Brain - did the upside down drawing exercise. First drawing is a copy of Picasso, second is by a unknown artist and the third is Egon Schiele.

[Hunin]

Good start, I've gone through 'drawing on the right side of the brain' too and it is a good primer for drawing from life. It isn't a useful book with concerns to drawing from the mind, but it is a good starting point and I commend you for working through it.

Keep posting and keep up the good work, thanks for visiting my sb

[silarvalla]

nice work so far!
you seem to have a good grasp of basic anatomy and form
and i agree with Jaik about warm up sketches to improve the fluidity and accuracy of your linework,
another way to warm up that i've always found to be really useful especially in drawing from life, is one minute gesture drawings.
limiting your time forces you to focus on the larger movement and overall shapes of what you're trying to study, you can always go back into these drawings later and add detail if you want.
When doing these or other gesture work i'd try using larger media a brush or wide marker, for the same reason as restricting your time, it will force you to focus on larger shapes and gestures!
helped me a ton in art school to get fluidity into my linework!
cheers, and keep posting
t

[Urötskidoji]

A good start in here, I really like the "upside down sketches", I can imagine they are a really great warm-up technique.
Another great thing is to try this out: http://www.pixelovely.com/gesture/figuredrawing.php
Try making lots of stuff in the shortest possible time, like 30 sec. It really gets you into the correct mindset for painting! Keep up the good work!

[alizak]

Hunin Thanks for visiting my SB

silarvalla Thanks for your kind words - I will definitely get in some gesture drawings - thanks for the tip!

Urötskidoji I've bookmarked that site and I'm looking forward to having a go with it tonight after the girls have gone to bed - thanks a heap

[alizak]

Some sketching from my imagination last night that I did while at a friend's house. Obviously I was avoiding hands and bodies in general - I definitely need to use refs to be able to draw an anatomically correct female. But hey it was fun just to sketch away without any consequences.

[Jaik]

Good job on the imaginative drawings. Love the mushroom, your eyes are well done on that piece too. Dont be scared of legs though! Practice makes perfect, or something motivational along those lines.. feel free to paraphrase.

[alizak]

Thanks Jaik - yep I just need to jump in and give it a go - no more avoiding!

[MyOrangeHat]

Nice start. Get some more studies in from reference though. At this point drawing from imagination is fun and can develop creativity, but won't do much to teach you about form and anatomy.

Keep drawing!

[alizak]

Thanks MyOrangeHat - I am trying to keep a bit of balance with imagination/reference work just because I find it fun to just to mess around. That being said I want to do a lot more studies in the next few weeks. Thanks for visiting my SB!

[Topcross]

Nice start. You have rather clean lines in general, try adding some line weight to them and I can see everything coming along nicely for illustrations.

I noticed a perspective mistake in your drawing of the room. The red lines are the perspective lines to find the vanishing point, and the green ones are as it should be for the desk. (Black is the horizon).
Let me know if you want me to remove the image again, I don't want to post images in other peoples sketchbook unless they are fine with it.

[alizak]

Topcross thanks for the help with perspective - that is definitely something I have work on, so please don't remove your image I have found it extremely useful.

Here are the last couple of sketchbook pages, first is filled with a few warm up activities and then I sketched my hand and a photo of a baby. The second page is quick sketches of my 2 daughters - but goodness they move way too fast! At least every 10 seconds - wriggle worms!

[Rhubix]

Some sketching from my imagination last night that I did while at a friend's house. Obviously I was avoiding hands and bodies in general - I definitely need to use refs to be able to draw an anatomically correct female. But hey it was fun just to sketch away without any consequences.

One of the things I regret the most is avoiding things over the years. I love drawing faces, and everything else is extra lol. consequently It took droves of work to try and drag the rest of it up to speed.
Definitely approach the hardest things with the most vigor. I'd even go as far as making a list- (I'm a chronic lister )
Hands are great practice for a lot of things - they're complex and flexible - have all manner of gesture- require perspective, anatomy, You can work on line work or tonal work - and you have one free model attached to your body . What more can you ask for?

as for the imagination stuff- My vote is for balance. You can only beat in so many studies before you start getting frustrated and forget why your doing it in the first place. Throwing in a scattered fairy princess or mechano-junk is refreshing and fun.
It kind of seems pointless to turn art into work! (And yes art is my job- but it's not work lol.)

Keep chugging through the book - and happy sketching

[alizak]

Rhubix - thanks for the tip on not continuing to avoid certain areas of the body, I think that I just have to bite the bullet and get into it. Making a list also sounds like a good idea - but it would be a scary long list!

[Hunin]

I like the sketches of your kids, drawing moving people is pretty difficult but sets you up for quicker studies and gives you a sense of movement and how the body works.

How are you doing with 'The right side of the brain'?

[alizak]

Hunin I did one more upside down study last night and the blind contour of my hand. Hopefully I can get quite a bit more reading/sketching in tonight.

[WRappiii]

very cool to see you progress. drawing your daughters could provide a way to improve your observational skills. Keep at it!

[alizak]

Thanks WRappiii - they are definitely a challenge to draw, but I agree with you, they are going to be great for my observational skills.

[Adrianor]

Well, I'll just repeat what's been said: just keep practicing and have fun (drawing/art is not meant to be a chore).
Here's a site I find useful, hope it helps: http://www.posespace.com/default.aspx

[Cyberman]

It's great that your going for it. Have you seen Clochettes download? I believe it's on sale for 7 bucks right now. Besides that I say don't stress yourself out and get as much drawing as possible. draw in the car, draw in bed, draw while you eat draw draw draw lol. Good luck to you

[alizak]

Adrianor thanks and thank you for the link, I will check it out.

Sean McClain What is Clochettes download? And yep I am trying to draw as much as possible - but with a 3 year old and a 15 month old there isn't much free time :/

Here are my latest sketches - more upside down drawing, pure contour drawings and lastly a modified contour drawing of my hand.

[Hunin]

Seems like you're getting a lot out of those exercises,

keep up the good work

[Adrianor]

I like how the knight turned out, but the horse looks a bit too small. People tend to make this mistake (and I'm no exception ). Look up "horse riding" on Google images and you'll see what I mean. Keep it up!

[MPaar]

You've got a really good start here for not having drawn for several years. I'm liking the studies from other artists that your doing. Keep it up.

[alizak]

Thanks for the kind words everyone - I'm really enjoying getting back into it! My ex has my 3 year old today so when the bubba goes down for a nap I am going to do some more contour drawings - looking forward to it!

Adrianor The whole drawing of the knight is pretty off, but yes the horse does look far too small - I will look up some images on Google - thanks