My first sketchbook. Trying to improve! :)

[Kambei Shimada]

Some lovely figure studies!

Good to see more fellow English posters on here.

Can see your working hard, keep it up.

Good stuff.

[SophieW]

Kambei Shimada– Thank you! I’m definitely going to keep going.

Ooh, second page!

Didn’t get round to updating for a couple of days. I’ve been doing some imagination doodles and such but nothing worth posting. So here are some figures with some 30 second sketches I did more but there isn’t really any point posting them. And I did a bunch of quick Photoshop studies, just trying to get into it. Nothing good but it’s all progress! Hopefully

[SophieW]

Hello! Have some of the not so good Photoshop stuff from today I did some colour blending stuff as well which helped a bit. I also did some anatomy studies but they’re not too interesting.

[I-Bomb]

you are doing well with your studies just work a little more on proportions I can't wait to see what else you post in your sketchbook

[SophieW]

Udonhead – Thanks Yeah, proportions something I’m struggling with quite a bit, hopefully it’ll come with more practice. I’m definitely going to look at it more

Some studies and imagination from today…

Does anybody know of any good websites for landscape references? Thanks

[SophieW]

Some of the things from today, tried to focus more on proportion but everything looked terrible. I’m hoping it’s just one of those days Also, started a Photoshop study that I’m going to really try and push in order to get a better understanding of skin tones. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[SophieW]

Quick post. Did a bit more of the study above and a quick screencap study. I’ve realised that I cannot properly paint shadows. So I’m definitely going to work on that… It’s all feeling a bit one step forward two steps back but at least I’m enjoying it. Haha. I also did a bunch of imagination sketches as well in an attempt to stop worrying so much about the final outcome but the scanner is playing up.

[black-swan]

Hey, thanks for commenting in my sketchbook. You've got some very good studies here, very clean lines.

If you want to improve your drawings from imagination, try doing some memory drawings. Go to a site like Quickposes.com, look at a pose for a minute or half a minute and then turn the monitor off and try to draw what you can remember about the pose.

Also, if you want to improve how you see values and how you paint, draw still lives or interiors from life. That's the only thing that is really lacking from your sketchbook. If you practice drawing from life a lot, it will improve your anatomy studies, your general approach, composition skills etc.

You're really promising, I hope you keep drawing, all the best

[nouge]

Hey, Sophie! Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook, I appreciate it.

I see you're doing solid work here, if I was doing half the anatomy studies you are I'd be very satisfied! Also, take black-swan up on her advice, especially the part about drawing from life, I think it's very helpful for everything.

Keep it up!

[SophieW]

black-swan – Thank you so much for the advice! I’m going to start doing the drawings from imagination straight away And you’re right about doing still-lives; I think I have a tendency to avoid them. Thanks again!

Nouge – Thanks I’m definitely going to try and draw more frequently from life.

Hello! I’ve been in Spain on a trip for a few days and spent a lot of my time focusing on drawing people So here are some of the things that I did, there’s a mixture of drawings from life and ones copied from photographs that I took. They’re all mainly very quick sketches. I have a lot more but they’re not too much different. It was nice to draw in a different environment and it’s helped me to feel a lot more motivated so I’m going to go draw!

[kevin_]

nice updates! still liking the pencils but your digital work seems to fall back a bit. i see a lot of unsaturated colors so try and play around with that as well as contrast.

[Colour Coded]

I agree with kevins post. I like what i see! More color though! Don't be afraid to turn up the contrast and saturation a bit.

[SophieW]

kevin_ - I totally agree, I really need to work on the digital side of things. Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it

Colour Coded– Thanks Yeah, I’m really trying to not be so afraid of using more colours; I have to stop worrying about things looking terrible because that’s the only way to learn.

I did some quick, pretty messy sketches today that I had to do for college. I also did some quick Photoshop studies trying to look at colour; I think they helped a bit. I tried one from imagination but it doesn’t look too great I’m hoping tomorrow I’ll have time to start a still-life that I can put some time into

[SophieW]

I did some of those imagination anatomy studies where you look at a figure and try to copy it form imagination. And I started a bust study but it looks so terrible so I may post it if it starts to look a bit more presentable. I’m feeling a bit lost art-wise at the moment so I think I’m just going to reassess my goals etc. all I know is that I’m still really passionate about it. I can see this becoming a recurring theme in my sketchbook, me constantly being confused about which direction to take. Maybe I’m just thinking too much into it?

[SophieW]

Hello! Just some quick 30 second sketches, I did a page from reference and a page from imagination there are more but I didn’t see much point in scanning them. Same poses drawn from memory and a page from imagination. I need to start tackling my major weaknesses some of which are hands and feet; I have a tendency to roughly sketch them in instead of actually thinking about them. So I did a couple studies but I’m going to try and look at them more later on today… Speaking of weaknesses, my necks are still looking pretty bad. I’m going to try and start focusing on colour a lot more as well.

[SophieW]

Did some pencil stuff today, not as much as I’d like but I’m feeling a tiny bit more confident drawing figures. I did a photo study but I’m still struggling with colours and tried a self-portrait, I wanted to focus on lighting but it didn’t really work and I don’t think there’s much likeness either. I did try some imagination stuff in Photoshop along with a couple more studies and as a result I’m thinking that for the rest of the week I’m going to try focusing solely on painting, looking at colours, light etc. and see where that goes because all of those things are such massive weaknesses.

[SophieW]

Not much so far today… Did some crappy studies trying to go right back to the basics, looking at things like light. I’m hopefully going to have time to start a little still-life later; I need to stop putting it off if I want to actually get better.

[Grey_Rift]

nice you really see that the construction studies for the head really paid off

[SophieW]

Grey_Rift– Thanks It’s nice to know that there’s some improvement, I thinks it’s easier sometimes to just focus on all that I need to improve so I don’t notice actual improvement. Haha. Thanks again

A study of a spoon, it’s pretty bad but already looking at it I can see what I should have done differently so I’m definitely going to attempt another one tomorrow to see if I’ve really learnt anything.

[Karl Schulschenk]

Very nice figure studies Really need to do more of this myself. Keep it up!

[SophieW]

Karl Schulschenk– Thank you!

Hello again! Not that good of an update. An unfinished, pretty embarrassing sketch and then a study that I started to try and work on skin tones since the sketch really showed me how bad I am at it. I’m hoping to do a bit more to it and hopefully bring it close to finish as it should help. And then a study I did of a knife I did some pencil stuff of clothing studies but I’m too lazy to scan. Very small steps but I’m looking forward to looking back on this when I’m hopefully better

[SophieW]

Some studies and stuff from today…

[Odd Berry Creations]

Thanks for stopping by my SB. Your work is really awesome. So detailed and seemingly effortless.

[JoeS]

Hey, thanks for the comment I see a lot of hard working and frequent posting, so definitely keep it up. The lines and skin tones are looking good too, but I would suggest looking more into some basic head construction and placement of features etc. I see you already studied some head structure from Loomis, but it pays to be consistently revisiting all that stuff. Good progress so far!

[SophieW]

Odd Berry Creations– Thank you

JoeS– Thanks. I completely know what you mean! My faces often end up a bit wonky etc. I need to remember to keep taking it back to the basics to try and make things a bit more solid. Thanks again

Couldn’t focus today… everything looked rather terrible. As mentioned above, basic construction is something I need to look at so much more…

[SophieW]

Hello! I currently have no access to a scanner so here are some quick, messy studies done before bed.

[Zauselbart]

keep up the studies - they looking very good
the spoon, knife and landscape are looking nice - you catch the colors
basic construction -> gottfried bammes

[SophieW]

Zauselbart – Thank you very much I’ll definitely check him out!

Here’s some of the stuff from today and yesterday, I’ve been primarily looking at the head at the moment. There’s more but the scanner takes too long

[SophieW]

Hello! Some of the stuff from today… Still looking at the head a bit as I’m currently looking at it for college. And some other things including really bad Photoshop studies. Sorry for the photos it’s just I’m too lazy to scan Thanks for looking

[SophieW]

Just a tiny update, no time to scan things unfortunately. I’m still really uncomfortable with Photoshop but hopefully that’ll change over time.