MUST improve

[kamikazel33t]

last stuff for today

[dimi]

Nice start m8 kinda reminds me, my starting point throught art.Now several people have given good tips and directions.At this level its important to work through the linework try to make it clean and look like a line that inspires certainty about the hand that designs it.Blind contours might help and close observation.Forms are what give dimension the geometrick solids ,cubes and spheres and cones etc, is what we must grasp in order to combine them and create our own designs as well as seeing them in real life or photo-studies.So study the solids draw them over and over again apply them like you do in the figures,after all they are the basis.In figures a nice add on is to show where these forms (solids) go ,their direction and mark them as wrapping lines stick to hamptons book its super nice and covers lots of stuff.Take care and continue your studies , you will improve cheers.

[UniversalDDBB]

great stuff, i've heard that the sheridan expectation level is quite high i recall viewing some portfolios of current sheridan animation students that got accepted. one had a few hand drawings that looked rather comic booky and some cutesy character designs. the person showing us the pictures was a friend of a few of them (this was not in sheridan) and mentioned that they like to see the process in which you went to achieve your final drawing. like the hands and character designs had drawings inside showing geometric proportions that they went through and left some of the inner lines and what not. so make sure you don't erase some vital points that you went through to create them. also if you haven't already i recommend checking The Animator's Survival Kit out

[qlotzan]

nice drawing

[LtPlissken]

I like the idea that the desire to draw burns inside of you, and
I like the fact that all these studies come naturally to you. I think
that your hand drawings are starting to skyrocket slowly. Nice and
easy you are building up a strong and indestructible battle ship.

[Evxyza92]

The intensity with which you go at anatomy is inspirational. I've seen improvement in line quality. The better your line quality the more these anatomy studies will pay off. The feathery, loose, and wide lines can mess up what would otherwise be good sketches. Try just going on a page with a pencil and draw circles and shapes. If you really want to get better with it, use a pen, or indian ink pen. You will notice how much pressure you put down on the page will effect the size and density of the line. You can use this to your advantage when you really grasp it.

[Johnscj]

Those last figure drawings you did look really cool and you're working hard! keep it going!

[kamikazel33t]

@Dimi Thanks for the encouragement and advice, I am not sure what you mean by applying three dimensional shapes and is there any way to practice them?

@UniversalDDBB Thanks for the book suggestion, I find that it might be very useful if I get acepted into the university of my choice as it might give me an edge over the other students. I personally already do tons of research on animation portfolios and I've seen what they do the problem is I've seen many of those really well done portfolios and it seems like they show tons of those constructive lines which also relate to the constructive anatomy of the hand and not just what you see.

@qlotzan Shookran

@LtPlissken Thanks man! I hope it is an indestructible battleship, with NUKES ! You are also not doing to bad yourself building your indestructible laser tanks and what not!

@Evxyza92 Thanks m8! Yeah I was thinking of trying to push my drawings to be done in pen but the issue I am having is that I am not sure whether to use those pens where the ballpoint tip is pretty inky and can't really vary tones with pressure or should I use the ones which are not so inky yet can have its tones varied with pressure?

@Johnscj Thanks, keep going as well!

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I feel so guilty for not posting for more than a week, I am still drawing as much as I am normally but there is one issue where I ran out of paper on my sketchpad(now I am using my empty or used school notebooks >_<) and missed one weekend to go the art store and the other weekend it was closed.

Just to keep the ball rolling, for today I will just post what I worked on with my sheridan portfolio although they are a sort of practice I am thinking of keeping my character. I also have to say that the 3rd revision of my character is dated and that I made another drawing with the help of an animation student at the college I am going to(she helped out with fixing the structure of my characters arms and legs as well as clothes by doing a draw over so I am learning from that.)

Funny thing I also have to mention! for the past two days I have been drawing parallel lines, circles and ellipses along with the three dimensional shapes at different angles since I have been doing hours on end with a pen the skin on my pinky finger had this sort of shiny texture to it as well as my skin looking pretty worn around the knuckles. I guess I really am going to draw until my fingers bleed!

I am also thinking of scanning the other drawings I did in the week but I am still not to sure as I will probably have a hell lot of drawings during the next coming days.

There is also this one important question I need to ask! Should I move to using a graphics tablet(bamboo pen and touch)?
I've had one but was always intimidated by it especially how I never really used paints, I also tried to use it like how I'd would use a pencil and the lines end up pretty messy.

[Ryan Provenzano]

Great work man, some of those studies are pretty sweet! Makes me want to work just seeing everything.
Proportions are pretty awkward on the last 3 ones, make sure you watch them.

[twilightmoon777]

Love your dedication and enthusiasm! I can certainly see the improvement already. Keep at it! Don't worry about getting a "proper" sketchbook, just keep drawing like a machine! Would like to see some more life drawings in here though! Nice start on the cartoon character you're doing. Proportions are a bit awkward but exaggerations are to be expected. I'd recommend you start doing a few more head studies too! Keep at it and don't give up on your dream.

[HarbingerofIllRepute]

I like your dedication! POST MORE!

[kamikazel33t]

@nexuun Thanks man, keep on working that sketchbook out! I've revised the awkward proportions on my character hope you like it!
@twilightmoon777 I am going to keep on drawing like a machine, I should not let running out of paper me!
@HarbingerofIllRepute Posting stuff now!
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I've been reviewing over my character to tighten it up for my portfolio AND YES THAT IS A CHEESEBURGER HE IS HIDING AT THE BACK OF HIS PANTS. I also changed out his hat for a beret as it reads more that he is a military fanatic. I also have posted the older drawings of him where I was doodling action pose and varying him a bit.

I have a couple of gestures in here as well, including animal gestures which I've never really done before. I drew my hand a couple of times( I have more drawings especially those blind contour hand drawings), doing finger constructive studies as well. I also wanted to show those 3d figure rotations as I am not sure if I am doing right?

I also tried my hand at some more imagination drawings and they came out terrible.

[kamikazel33t]

My second upload set.

[LtPlissken]

Those drawings are looking sweet, and I can tell that
you improved a bit once again. Every time you touch a pencil
you improve a step. You were feeling bad for not updating for a week,
but you shouldn’t have to feel that way. Updates should come natural
don’t force yourself. And you also asked about your digital painting
approach start? Well, I think that you shouldn’t force that either,
if you feel uncomfortable, then wait a bit more till the right time
shines up. Build up more your pencil base, and then try to color
it digitally somewhere in the near future. You might surprise yourself
with your big success. Happy time and happy drawings is what we
are all expecting from you, and till now you overdid our expectations.
Wonderful job overall.

[Umbravita]

There's often a huge gap for artists between their ability to draw things from reference, and their ability to draw things from imagination. Personally I never draw completely from imagination anymore -- I always have a few references open on other tabs to refer to as I draw. Whether that's poses, clothing refs, anatomy -- whichever. It really helped boost the quality of my imagination stuff.

Hope you're not running out of steam, keep it up!

[Freshfool]

Hey, awesome stuff im glad to see all this hard work your putting in, i see improvement already! keep studying and drawing man never give up

[eclip-se]

Hey Danny, thanks for stopping by.. I see you'r just 17, sooooo: Checking your stuff, there's is some progression and if you wont stop, another will soon arrive, just keep doing what you'r doing and you will see.. Main thing i should say, dont ever stop, the begennings are boring beacuse you dont enjoy the process and it main be pain in the butt, but always stay calm, enjoy what you'r do, dont take much pressure and keep drawing everyday, even if it's just 30min.

Cheers

[kamikazel33t]

@LtPlissken Your comments always make my day! Sometimes I do feel like I have to push it because if I am not other people are doing that for the college portfolio
@Umbravita Yeah I know about that, but I try to stay away from reference unless I am using it to build my visual library so that I don't build up dependence. I still ain't out of steam although this week was quite unproductive yet I will come out stronger the next week because of what I planned.
@Freshfool thanks for the encouragement, I won't give up! not even over my dead body!
@eclip-sethanks man! It's true that I am just 17 but I still have to compete with people who are in their twenties and have been out of high school still trying to get into the program so I have to pick up the pace to about 3-4 hours(actual even more >_<).

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This week was not very productive as I found myself a bit distracted. I find myself always in the mood to draw(I actually like the actual action of drawing) but the issue is that I am pretty disorganized with keeping track of time so I end up spend too much time internet surfing >_<. To solve this problem during the last two days of the week I made objectives to complete each day so far this is what I've got down:

- Fill a pages of elipses, circles, cubes, cylinders, straight lines and curves
- Exercise of bend and attaching three dimensional primitives(Vilppu)
-An hour of thirty second gestures(although I am thinking of changing it to a minute because I think I might cause a paper shortage crisis as I already have no sketch paper to draw with)
-Four hand sketches
-Draw my character at least once a day

I still have a lot more stuff I plan on gradually adding as I get accustomed to the schedule.

Now for the drawing I did this week, I was practicing Vilppu's exercises and was just playing around with attaching forms as well as doodling a couple of shapes at different angles(I do this regularly during school as it does not require as much mental effort). I did an hour of thirty second gestures for the past two days yet I discovered I am running out of paper really fast by doing this. I was also experimenting with the hand observational drawing by trying to simplify it into simple shapes and trying to add an edge to the cylinder I use to see what happens.

Although this week was unproductive I feel that I might come out stronger the next week with what I planned so far. If you guys have any suggestions it will mean a lot.

[Umbravita]

At the stage you're at, you need a lot of reference. Choose something to study, get lots of references, draw them all, then draw from imagination to see if you've understood your subject matter. Then go back and study from reference again, cover the weak spots you spotted, rinse and repeat. Learning from imagination is more than ten times slower.

Also, don't worry about "depending" on references -- from what I've seen, a lot of professional artists rely heavily on reference. In the end, people are only going to care about how well you can draw, not how you got there as long as you produce the pieces they want.

[kamikazel33t]

@umbravita That is what I meant by building visual library , I actually mistook your advice as simple copying the pose directly from reference then trying to mix them by just copying the references without even thinking about the subject matter.

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I decided that I need to step it up a notch as I discovered that I only have one shot at getting accepted into this college >_<. I am going to update as frequently as possible and keeping drawing for as many hours as I can, it is the only fastest way to improve and me not getting accepted into college will leave me with a circumstance that will hinder my progress. Even if this journey comes to a hindrance I guarantee that I still won't give up and I really will continue to battle and fight for my dream!

So far these are the drawings I did today, I totally butchered the female figure(I don't think LtPlissken will be to happy ) with the nude references I used. At least in the end I learned that if I don't complete the gesture or if I don't get it down right everything just messes up. Now it all makes sense and I figured out why practicing gesture are so important. I also have this fail attempt of freehand perspective, I am not sure whether to start out with a ruler or not because I know that my portfolio room drawings have to be done in freehand.

I also did the usual box and cylinder studies and I realized that if I draw the cylinders in the boxes it appears a lot better and different to drawing the two circular faces separately and then make the cylinder. I also feel that I am somewhat learning perspective really slowly without drawing lines to a vanishing point, for example I learnt that I can draw a box in perspective without drawing to a vanishing point by making sure the lines are parallel except for the lines which recede into the vanishing point(unless the vanishing point is very far because then the lines become almost parallel).

I am also going to update the next day, most probably with a couple of hand sketches and I also might throw in some gesture drawings here and there.

[kamikazel33t]

Here is some stuff for today, I tried to do some Bridgman studies and doing them now I feel that I understand it better compared to before. I realize now that it is not really anatomy book in itself but instead how to construct a figure by breaking down anatomical organ into basic shapes. I also did some gestures while I was on my school bus I was drawing gestures of some kids and a person in my grade. I think that the best one I did was with a kid who was sitting on his bag which was on the chair and he was leaning his arm against the window. I also have a fail study of a hand and I have a couple more which I did not bother scanning because they are even more of scribbles than the one I just did. I am trying to get used to the pen but normally my construction lines are very messy compared to other people's lines so it really makes it hard to sketch. I am also trying to ease into practicing perspective and I think gradually I will fall into a liking to do them. I feel like I really need to work on room line drawing as well as animal sketching and storyboarding more than I currently am because I think they will be my weakest points in my portfolio.

[LtPlissken]

Noticed your wooden shoes infront of the main door, realized
that you are getting ready to conquer new grounds, and to slave
new minds. Fantastic outcomes, after doing so much studies and
lots of effort implemented in the achievement of your second art
state. I have to admit that you are doing things successfully, try
to focus more on line quality and on the flow overall. Don’t rush,
be patient and think deep while you do your sketches. There is
always someone who is watching you, even if you don’t know.
Someone could be stuck on your bedroom window, with his greedy
lovely eyes, observing your hands, as you draw your strokes. I see
that your mood to draw has risen just like a sewer flood, like sunrise
over a snowy mountain. Vilppu has started to do miracles for you,
he ignited the second and the third turbine just like that. As a matter
of fact, I do like how you butchered that female model. She could have
larger breasts, but it’s just my opinion, you did an outstanding job on her,
and whatever happens, the most important thing is that she be naked.
Everything hanging around. Good luck with getting into college and be
persistent with everything, with your studies and with your drawings.
A meadow full of flowers and magical sprites are smiling on you now.

[lionheartGFX]

your linework keeps on getting better and better, theres more confidence in them, keep on doing those hands, they are getting so good keep up this pace man you are KILLING it!

[kamikazel33t]

@LtPlissken Thanks man! I could not really tell if I was improving or not, and I was sort of working through this "Artist Block" crap so I felt(and still feel) that everything I draw is crap. Well for the college thing, it's actually tied to drawing(animation actually) and I need to draw even more if I want to get in because the standards are way high for the portfolio. For the line quality I feel as though I might be really heavy handed and it is hindering me in that department as well as how I tend to get through each drawing real fast. I will try my best to improve this aspect as much as I can. I really thank you for the critique!

lionheartGFX Thanks man! I feel that I can push it further though!

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Well so far this is what I did for the past two days, so far I feel as all I do is mostly just scribbles in comparison to other people. I feel that the issue may be that I don't feel like I am in the right circumstance to finish an actual piece since I still have not actually gotten a proper sketchbook yet. Most of what I posted so far is from imagination except for the hand studies and Bridgman studies although some of them I tried to replicate from imagination in my own application. I am pretty sure you guys can tell which is which. I do feel that I am having a better understanding of Bridgman's book compared to before so I can tackle situations in the book better although I don't bother to perfectly copy his diagrams.

[kamikazel33t]

Some extra bits.

[Elias Leonard]

awesome studies !

[Christoffer]

Holy crappers! That is an absolutey massive amount of studies. How are you still sane from all that anatomy?

- seriously, though. Very nice work. You'll be making major progress soon.
Keep pushing forward and thanks for visiting my sb.

PS.
Get a real sketchbook.

[Xcarbon]

i really like the pace your going at keep up the good work!!

[Ryan Provenzano]

There's definitely a great deal of improvement here. With clean lines and drawing too fast, I also have a problem with. I think it has to do with the fact that we are drawing lines while simultaneously thinking about what lines we want. Rather, we should think about the line we want to draw and visualize the line on the paper before putting it down on the paper. Anyways, good luck.

[Umbravita]

Wow, your figures are looking much better already. Keep it up! You can do this man. You're working so hard, I know it must be difficult for you to keep going sometimes, but look at this progress, man! And in such a short time too.