Art Minded's Sketchbook

[Art Minded]

Hey guys,

I'm new to the site, but I've been viewing for a couple of months. This has quickly become where I go to when I need inspiration and motivation. Here's a bit about me:

I'm 22. I've always spent my idle time drawing (and every now and then my not-so-idle time) but I've never really stopped to study the art of drawing until now. I recently bought Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing, which compiles many different studies from his books into a single volume. I am loving his stuff and I'm already seeing improvement in my work after only studying a few pages of the book.

EDIT: Changed the cover of the SB to a thumbnail of Shaedn. Mars Story is looking promising!

[Art Minded]

So glad to see this finally went through. Of course, it had to be when I was away for the week. Will post my more recent stuff when I get home on Saturday.

I'm so happy I can finally start contributing to the site

EDIT: I remembered that I had put some drawings up on my Facebook. These are all about a week old and were done with references. In order, they are: Walter (Big Lebowski), the Connor (Assasin's Creed 3) and Ryu and Chun-Li from Street Fighter. My wacom tablet skills are sub par at the moment, but I figured I would touch the Ryu and Walter images up because they didn't scan well.

Critiques are the whole reason I joined this site, so please feel free to share any ideas you might have on how anything in this SB can be improved.

EDIT 03/25/2012: Moved the original studies from the first post down to this post so that I could change the cover of my SB

[Clur]

Hey! Thanks so much for your kind comment.

So your Bridgman studies are off to a flying start, I think. You're already starting to get a sense of volume in your figures. However, they seem a little bit, well, boneless. It might be good for you to start your studies from the skeleton, and then add muscle over top.

I can't wait to see you apply your studies to your more stylized stuff. I'll definitely be checking back!

[Art Minded]

Thanks so much for all the kind words and you are totally right about the whole boneless thing! I wasn't sure what it was that was missing from my figures that made them seem so limp and fluid, but you hit the nail on the head. I will have to dig up some skeletal studies.

Thanks a lot!

[Art Minded]

Here are some doodles from imagination (can you tell I was looking at a lot of Dan Hipp's stuff before drawing the first one? ) as well as a drawing of Exar Kun done from imagination, but with refs for costume.

And yes, the second image is a cartoon of me fighting Daniel Craig...It was born from a curiosity of how I would draw Daniel Craig as a cartoon and became something else entirely. The placement might look a little weird because it was originally two pages:

[Art Minded]

Finally back home and ready to draw like crazy.

Here are some studies and a drawing done from a still of an episode of The Walking Dead Season 2. I haven't seen the second season yet, but I just had to draw this because it was such a sweet image. I'm really happy with the way it turned out

Should probably do more drawings from imagination before I forget how, haha!

Is there a way to display images attached to a post other than in a list at the bottom? Is it possible to break them up with bodies of text?

[Art Minded]

Did some sketches this morning. Bridgman torso studies, rhythm studies, and some doodles.

The faces are an angel from Darksiders (left) and a very unflattering drawing of myself (right). All of the little poses and lips and stuff around them are from imagination.

The archery pose was done from imagination.

[Whirly]

Hey Art Minded thanks for the my SB comments. Your Bridgmans are looking good. I struggle to understand his drawings still!

A quick tip I guess is to try not to always concern yourself too much with contour. Its more important to get the 'flow'. Check out Vilppu for this!

Keep going!

[Whirly]

Glad you found the link useful. The other two worth checking are http://artsyposes.com/drawing_tool and http://www.pixelovely.com/gesture/figuredrawing.php

[twilightmoon777]

Looking good so far. Just keep working through Bridgman (I really need to get that book!) and try set up a few still lives too. Look forward to seeing more.

[ezekrialase]

I got that Bridgman book a couple of years ago and love it! Great work so far, and your figure studies are looking good. Keep up the work.

[bharat]

good study one....!

[MinkoOlena]

Hi! Nice works, really I think you're doing good, just don't give up
What I want to add - try to start learning anatomy. It helped me a lot.
Btw, Vilplu has a lot of video tutorials about drawing and they are great!

[SashaMichelson]

Good from an inspirational POV. I'm waiting see your finished sketches with flying colors next.

[Kapri]

Hey mate, good stuff so far. The figure is a great subject to study.

Like Whirly, I also strongly recommend you check out Vilppu. Particularly his video about the gesture of the pose. I also highly recommend that you read Michael Hamptons "Figure drawing: design and invention". It covers gesture, figure construction through the use of simple shapes and anatomy in the (for me) best way I've seen yet. The fact that he uses simple shapes to construct the figure means you can more easily get the pespective of the individual parts right, which helped / helps me out allot. A very good companion to your Bridgeman book.

Keep the updates coming. I want to see more drawings from life!

[Art Minded]

Thanks so much for all the wonderful comments everyone!

I am really trying to get through this Bridgman book before moving on to other things (its difficult for me to move away from things until I feel I've finished them ), but I will consider setting up some still lifes to study. I need loads of practice with color and shading (as in...I've never done either to any real extent, haha)

Do any of you have any links to Vilppu studies to try out? I went to vilppuacademy.com, but only found one video demonstration and it was in regard to drawing from imagination (which is something I need to get better at as well)

Whirly: Thanks for the slew of links man! Those are going to come in handy for sure. I can't wait to try them out

MinkoOlena: I am getting to the part in my Bridgman book where he breaks down each part of the body from bone to muscle to skin, so that should help with my anatomy. Are there any specific references for anatomy you would recommend? Thanks!

Kapri: That book sounds really interesting. As much as I am liking Bridgman, a more constructive process would be ideal, I think. I'll definitely grab that book as soon as I have the money.

Here are two small pages of study from this morning (I was in the groove to draw all day, but the cable guy showed up and threw me off, haha! More tomorrow!):

[Clur]

Hi again.

Wow. Yeah, your figures are looking a lot more solid now. Great work!

I think though that you ought to try adding shadow and light to your studies. Nothing helps you understand form like values! Also, it'd be great if you could load slightly larger views of your drawings. They're a little bit hard to enjoy or critique accurately when they're that little.

[Egg0]

Nice mate! Your studies are coming along nicely, just keep practicing and eventually you are going to see what you want to see

[Art Minded]

Clur: Thanks so much. I am enjoying a healthier relationship with drawing since I started doing my Bridgman studies. I dare say I'm getting addicted. The CA community has been a big help and an even bigger inspiration! I will definitely upload my next images at a larger resolution. Are there any specific artists/books you would recommend for lighting/shading? My Bridgman book has maybe one page about it! ><

Egg0: Thanks man! The progress in your SB is an inspiration. I hope to match it with time

[tronrobot]

good work keep it up

[yochanan]

Very nice figure studies, looks like you are heading in the right direction. Never give up, never surrender!

[MinkoOlena]

So, about references to anatomy. I also just started to study anatomy, so I'll tell you what literature I use. First off all I love Loomis "Figure Drawing for All its Worth". I think that this book is the best to start and also I strongly recomended you to wath Vilplu video about anatomy. He is goregeous!
But again, it's my own expirience. I heard from a lot of people them maybe the best autor for anatomy is Bammes

[Art Minded]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

Minko: I think Bammes looks like exactly what I need, thanks for the ref! As for Loomis, I have most of his books on my computer and will flip through Figure Drawing For All It's Worth. I had browsed it when I first downloaded the set and it didn't really grab me, but I'm willing to give it a more thorough look

So I woke up this morning and just started drawing right away. I didn't even shower. The result? I hated everything I drew and am in a bummer mood now. I don't think drawing with so little energy is a good idea in the future, haha. Totally threw off my day!

Anyway, below is the result of my morning. Some refs from observation (Bridgman stuff and the viking and the guy in the coat) and some stuff from imagination (two OCs and the Insanity doodle). Only the Bridgman stuff and the viking are from this morning, the rest is a week old and I just forgot to upload it.

I had no idea drawing individual parts would be so much more difficult than drawing full figures! Geez!

Sorry for poor scan quality, it's apparently not the scanner's best day either.

[rinnikirun]

Hello, Things are looking nice, like the cartoons.
I suggest reading through Andrew Loomis: Heads. Learn the ball and shape and the proportions of the face first before learning the construction of the facial parts.
Good luck!

[Hecatic]

Wow. Nice Figure studies!

[Art Minded]

Thanks Hecatic

Ven-: I flipped through that Loomis book on heads and will definitely have to give it a go Thanks for the link!

So I decided to say "Eff you" to my artist's block and draw something for fun. I've been doing too many studies. This was super great and relaxing to draw. On another note, I made a lot of dragon sounds while drawing this...not sure if that's normal. Well, normal for other people. I tend to make a lot of sounds when drawing if I don't have music playing, haha.

[Koh]

Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook.

Keep up the studies man and don't be afraid to use more value in your pencil stuff, better to experiment and improve than end up stagnating.

I like your dragon by the way =)

[Art Minded]

Hey guys! I've got a fresh batch of studies for ya.

Starting next month I am going to be taking on two new projects in my life. One is to ride my bike every day with the hopes of building up enough endurance to ride my bike to work come May. The second is a little more relevant to this thread:

Starting tomorrow I am going to draw one scene a day from a story that I have been thinking of. It will follow a Martian who is struck by a crystal from space which speeds up his evolution into a super-being, the power being his key to conquer the tribes of Mars and become the ruler of the world. So you know...real scientifically accurate stuff

Hopefully this project will provide me with a wide array of challenges, such as environments (which I've never done), a solid character to have to redraw over and over (which I've never done), some space scenes (you guessed, that would be new too), some group scenes (yup), and more! Hell, I might even color some of them.

Anyway the studies below are some more Bridgman and a set of eyes from this tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EsT-9crriY which I recommend for anyone looking to learn a little about drawing eyes. Mine turned out kind of lifeless and dull, but no practice is a waste of time.

The actually shaded study was done from a pose at pixelovely.com. Another site I recommend you all check out if you are looking for some fun figures to draw. I'm really happy with how the face turned out, and the pose, but I think it shows that this is pretty much the first piece I've ever shaded Ah well, more to come and nowhere to go but up! Enjoy!

[Mangix]

Really nice initiative, I'm looking forward to the martian project. Great studies, and its always nice to take a breather from a bunch of bridgemans and just draw as your mind wanders.

If I had a suggestion it would be to not be afraid of drawing inside the contours to gain a better sense of proportion and shape.

[QPK]

Great start! you cant tell the work you are putting in is paying off. It seems the pencil your using is pretty light so dont be afraid to get messy with it, and come back into the piece with a darker pencil like a 4b or 6b and find the the lines that make the piece flow, but again great start.
Gotta give props for the RYU and CHUN LI drawings, SF is the greatest