Daniel K Sketchbook

[Daniel_K]

I had always been one to doodle but I only started taking art seriously at the beginning of this year. I haven't had any formal instruction in art but I try. My biggest inspiration on this site is MindCandyMan's thread.

Some of my recent stuff:

[Daniel_K]

Something I am doing is a project in which I try to get a self-portrait done every couple of days. I've done 16 and these are the first 3 and last 3 so far:

[keeptime]

A self-portrait a day is a cool idea and there's a pretty obvious leap from your first few to your last few. I really like the one from October 18th. I think studying proportions a little bit would help you a lot. It seems to me like you have a tendency to draw eyes a little bit too big, but I could be wrong because I'm still a beginner too. Keep drawing!

[kamikazel33t]

Hi, I just wanted to say that it is a good start for your sketch book. Just keep drawing from life also I think I might know a few videos which might help you out although I am not too sure whether it would be good for you to start them now.



There are more videos on the website at www.proko.com and if you want more insight on it you should read the book the videos were based off of, Andrew Loomis-"Drawing Heads and Hands".

[Matthias Kinnigkeit]

Hey Daniel! You should spend some time on your drawing technique. Try to make more fluent and straight strokes with the pencil. Then you should not shade with the side plane of your pencil flat on the sheet! Try to use cross hatching, its much cleaner and lets the paper "breathe". When you do single lines (that is also very important for cross hatching), do streight that always go in the same direction because this also makes your drawing look much more clean then it becomes by using zigzag lines. You can achieve streighter lines if you draw from one joint only. For more detailed information check out this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3lApsNmdwM Just one more advice. Particulary as a beginner you should check out the whole internet for advice. There are really many good Youtube channels and other webside that cover many typical mistakes and give great advices. Good Luck!

[Daniel_K]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I put studying proportions of the head and such on my to-do list, and I'll give the cross-hatch shading a go.

Today I knocked out another self-portrait but it's so embarrasing, I ruined the eyes because I was too focused on the details instead of measuring out the big picture, which is a problem I commonly have. The head is too short and wide for the same reason.

[Daniel_K]

Firstly, the most recent self portrait. I tried crosshatching and was surprised by the way it was just that little bit easier to control the value. On the same picture I attempted to measure out my approximate proportions using a ruler held against the mirror. I think it helped a bit but my eyes are still a bit off, they look too small here.



Secondly, some sketches while I was at the bus stop travelling to/from school.



















Thanks to everyone who has encouraged me here. I have Andrew Loomis' books so I know I will be looking into the Loomis head drawing method in greater detail.

[Daniel_K]

Got much less done than I was hoping to this weekend due to some personal bullshit to deal with so that made me feel even worse and get even less done. But I have some stuff nonetheless:



Beginning to work through Loomis' Figure Drawing.



Knocked out another self-portrait. It's funny, the previous one was carefully measured before beginning to draw, while this one's undersketch was made by me waving my elbow and shoulder in circles to try and get a feel for rhythm and look at which one's better. I decided to try that after reading about it in the Drawing Heads and Hands book.

[Daniel_K]

I had a realisation that made me change the way I mentally approached construction and gesture. Previously I would painstakingly put lots of effort into getting a figure's construction perfect, but now I think of it as something that's supposed to be internalised and done subconsciously while you have other things like gesture, expression etc. in the front of the mind.

[Daniel_K]

If it wasn't for that ridiculous eye placement screwup this would have been my best one, I think.

[Daniel_K]

I need to kick the habit of doing the linework with multiple soft strokes instead of one steady, long line. Maybe I'll try pen drawings at some point.

[Daniel_K]

[Daniel_K]

[Daniel_K]

Many different mistakes made on the self-portrait, again caused by focusing too much on each small detail instead of the big picture. There is no clear light/shadow division and the anatomy is shot to hell. Just look at the eye spacing.

What are the most common mistakes I make throughout all of this, and how do I train myself out of these habits?

[Ambiguity]

Keep drawing at this rate and you're sure to improve quickly

What are the most common mistakes I make throughout all of this, and how do I train myself out of these habits?

Proportions and lighting, but I'd work on the former first. Train yourself to "see critically", then you'll be able to find and fix these problems. Since you're trying to copy your references exactly right now, measuring carefully is going to be major for you.

This video explains measuring angles pretty well:
http://www.ctrlpaint.com/visual-measuring/
You can use you're pencil and thumb to measure height and width too. You can also put a mirror(or anything reflective really) up to your drawing to see it backwards, this helps make proportional mistakes stick out when you've been working on something for a long time.

[Daniel_K]

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement.







I think I'm slowly starting to draw outlines as one continuous stroke rather than scribbling it out with 1-2 cm long scratches.



This portrait took almost 3 hours as opposed to 1 hour for the previous one and I think it really shows. This is probably the best one yet.

[nouge]

Hand drawings and today's portrait are really nice. Your lines are improving too! Keep it up!

[Daniel_K]

[Ambiguity]

Oh, on the subject of rendering with cross-hatching, I recommend doing it "with the form" as shown here:
http://www.ctrlpaint.com/crosshatching/

[PaperDragon]

You are productiv that's good, keep at it

[Daniel_K]

Had a massive motivation slump all of a sudden because of lack of sleep/depression and also trying to work on other things. But I got this done.



I really need to finish the self portrait series, I have only 5ish to go.

[Daniel_K]

[Daniel_K]

[Daniel_K]

Do I 'get' value? I think not.

[Daniel_K]

Correcting my hard shadow mistakes. Now I have a better idea of what not to do.

[Daniel_K]

First self portrait without a mirror.

[Daniel_K]

[Daniel_K]

[Daniel_K]

The end of my 30 self portrait series. I hope I learned something from it.

[MrFrenik]

I had a realisation that made me change the way I mentally approached construction and gesture. Previously I would painstakingly put lots of effort into getting a figure's construction perfect, but now I think of it as something that's supposed to be internalised and done subconsciously while you have other things like gesture, expression etc. in the front of the mind.

You're on the right track to thinking about this, but I would suggest refining this statement a little further to say that construction is to be done METICULOUSLY while studying so that when trying to draw with expression it doesn't need to be thought about anymore because it is so internalized in you that you can't help but use it. The time it takes to set up your constructions might seem laborious and just downright frustrating at times, but sticking with it will only make you better. I'd suggest a few readings for your figure drawing. The first would be a book on perspective. There are several to choose, one I strongly suggest being David Chelsea's Perspective For Comic Book Artists (which I huffed at when I heard the title, stupid me! It's a great, in depth read for beginning students of perspective). There are also great DVD's out there, especially Scott Robertson's. For something more geared specifically at figure drawing I would go with Michael Hampton's Figure Drawing : Design and Invention. He takes the construction concept to a very in depth level and applies it to every bit of the human body. However, I do warn you that even the most basic perspective knowledge should be acquired first or else some of the examples might not make the most sense. Hopefully some of this helps and wasn't just a lot of babble. Keep up the good work.

P.S. I used to work with a Daniel K. But he didn't draw, so fuck that guy.