My journey to becoming a better artist

**ja1307** · March 8th, 2012, 06:42 AM

Thought I should finally be brave and start a sketch book instead of just browsing through old posts.

Used to draw a lot when I was younger and had not picked up a pencil until recently for over ten years. I used to be quite decent and it is very frustrating now not being able to draw as good as I used to. I just really want to dedicate myself to this again and see how far I can push myself. I have always had a pretty vivid imagination but never the technical skill to execute what was in my mind.

In a lot of ways this is a very exciting journey as I will be consciously making the effort to develop and hone my skills. I am really inspired by all the amazing work on this site but also by so much of what I see on the net. If I can produce one image that looks as stunning as the work of someone like Jason Chan by the time my fingers stop working then it will have been a life well spent. I know that’s a pretty high standard to set but even he had to start from some where so I like to believe anything is possible.

Looking forward to getting peoples feedback and being able to learn from it and get better as that what this is all about. I work full time so I can’t go back to art school as I would love to, but hope I can make decent progress at home working on my art in my spare time. I have already wasted ten years of potential progress and don’t want to waste anymore time.

Anyway enough talking looking forward to all the feedback Ill get and learning from and with you guys out there

**CarstenJ** · March 8th, 2012, 07:26 AM

Hi,

please try to upload smaller pictures in the right direction.

**CarstenJ** · March 8th, 2012, 07:39 AM

Hi,

a rule of thumb should be, that the picture should fit on your screen without scrolling. To the pictures: They are promising.

**ja1307** · March 8th, 2012, 08:50 AM

Ok so here is some old stuff from my sketchbook, done within the last three months when I started to draw again

**ja1307** · March 8th, 2012, 08:55 AM

this is a copy from a Boris Vallejo painting

**ja1307** · March 8th, 2012, 12:21 PM

And another. I have just picked up a copy of the Loomis figure drawing book and have started doing some studies from there, whilst also trying to do some of my own imaginative figure stuff so will also post that up too

**ja1307** · March 9th, 2012, 06:59 PM

Some more old stuff from my sketchbook

**ja1307** · March 9th, 2012, 07:02 PM

some copies of Lord Of The Ring concept art

**bobtail** · March 9th, 2012, 07:06 PM

Your sketches look quite nice so far

. I'd really work on getting good quality images of your work - just make sure your camera's straight and if I were you I'd crop them so it's just the sketch showing.

Lots of potential - can't wait to see more! Keep it up and don't lose confidence!

**ja1307** · March 9th, 2012, 07:12 PM

Decided to try and do some stuff from my imagination:

**ja1307** · March 9th, 2012, 07:23 PM

Originally Posted by bobtail

Your sketches look quite nice so far

. I'd really work on getting good quality images of your work - just make sure your camera's straight and if I were you I'd crop them so it's just the sketch showing.

Lots of potential - can't wait to see more! Keep it up and don't lose confidence!

Thanks for the feedback and on reflection I agree I should have cropped the images. Just had a look through your sketchbook, you have some interesting looking stuff going on and the starting point for some interesting looking character design. Be great to see you develop some of your characters a bit more into final pieces in colour.

**ja1307** · March 10th, 2012, 07:02 AM

Some stuff i have been working on over the last two days

**ja1307** · March 10th, 2012, 07:03 AM

Copy of Loomis twisting male

**ja1307** · March 12th, 2012, 09:48 AM

A copy of a painting of red sonja. Need to get used to drawing more female characters thought this would be an interesting way to start, plus really like the film.

**ja1307** · March 12th, 2012, 09:51 AM

Tried to produce a imaginative character based upon a greek warrior. Not really pleased with the outcome but posted to give me the motivation to do better. Probably should have used more photo referencing for the armour and the word arm looks very off but at least its warming up m creative brain a little

**ja1307** · March 12th, 2012, 09:54 AM

Need more practice drawing faces so decided to do so photo reference studies. These are my first two one of a random Japanese man and another of Daniel Craig. Will be doing more this week.

**ja1307** · March 14th, 2012, 04:47 PM

Attempted to come up with a character design today once again not overly impressed by the results need to work harder.

**ja1307** · March 14th, 2012, 04:51 PM

Been working on more faces from photo references over the last few days, these are slowly getting better and more fun

**ja1307** · May 14th, 2012, 12:55 PM

Just some doodley stuff from my sketchbook

**ja1307** · May 14th, 2012, 01:00 PM

Been doing some 45 second sketches from Posemaniacs

**ja1307** · May 14th, 2012, 01:10 PM

Wanted to wok on rendering the human figure so did some photo reference studies from Quickposes

**ja1307** · May 14th, 2012, 01:20 PM

Some more studies from photos and a still life really been trying to work on my values and rendering technique not great so far

**ja1307** · May 14th, 2012, 01:30 PM

Some hands studies trying to break the hands down into shapes and build from there. Used my own hands and photo references for these

**ja1307** · May 14th, 2012, 01:39 PM

Been trying to draw from my imagination and not really enjoying the results, really need too desperately improve in this area. Even my designs are so basic and generic need to feed my brain to feed my creativity

**MonoOrder** · May 22nd, 2012, 08:03 PM

Really loving the shading on your drawings. The cat and the fruit really stand out.

Also I know how you feel about drawing from imagination! I'm 100x worse than you at that stage and I would be ashamed to post the drawings I've done from my own imagination.

**ja1307** · May 23rd, 2012, 03:12 AM

PerfectGet Thanks for stopping by and having a look, glad you have seen something you like. I sort of like the Lion too although I did not really establish the proportions properly before diving in with the shading. I am really trying to work on improving my technique and ability to blend. As far as my imaginative drawings go they suck so badly, look like a 10 year old done them. But posting crap motivates me to do better also want to be able to look back on my old stuff and see the progress. So dont be shy and post away. I think people seeing your imaginative stuff is just as important and interesting as seeing all those studies.

**ja1307** · May 23rd, 2012, 01:55 PM

Feel a bit all over the place at the moment almost too much to cover to know what to focus on seem to keep moving from subject to suject, dont feel this is going to ber gtreat in the long term

Have a been drawing a lot and most of it has been utter crap and not worth posting so I think.

Any way been trying to takle stuff with a fair bit of detail to work on proprtions and just increase my confidence in producing dtailed pics with a lot of differenet forms and shapes ect

The first couple of pics are some armour photo ref studies, trying to train myself to see things in basic shapes first then add in the detail seems to be working although Ive notice one side of my pic is alwasys slighly bigger then the other

**ja1307** · May 23rd, 2012, 02:01 PM

Trying to make sure I keep drawing from life as much as possible, well i really need to focus more on this. So decided to draw my converse which actually is pretty tricky for me given the complexity of keep track of the laces proportions and detail so was quite pleased with who this turned out.

Then did an apPle study lit by single light source, tried to work on my values think I rushed my rendering and got a bit confused towards then end. I need to really work on blending, plus experiment with different grade leads rather then just sticking to my traditional safe HB.

**ja1307** · May 23rd, 2012, 02:04 PM

Given how badly I draw clothing and folds decided to do some photo ref studies threw in a refd face and a pic of a lizard one day ill draw convincing looking dragons.

**ja1307** · May 23rd, 2012, 02:13 PM

This is my one solitary character concept, meant to be some kind of assassin or loan ranger like character, wanted to work on a dynamic pose of sorts. Everything about it sucks but it all reminds me how much I have to learn and where I want to get to

Decided to do a copy of a Daarken character Dwarf Slayer, really wanted to work on my process in tackling detailed complex forms and shapes again, started with basic shapes. Trying to take a construction approach to my drawing rather then diving in head first with all the detail. Overall I am quite please a month ago this would have turned out awful as I would have started detailing a particular area and not payed enough attention to the overall image. I am beginning to think in terms of shapes and this is making things much easier to tackle but still a LONG way to go.