Riccodecor's Sketchbook

[riccodecor]

Hey guys,

I'm probably a bit of a late starter but it's always been my dream to draw and to do so well. I've spent the past few years studying Civil Engineering but if you asked me now, "If you could go back 7 years and choose your career path again, what would you do?" I'd probably say Art. It'd be a big mistake though because, although I'd be way ahead in my art than I am today but I wouldn't have learn the lessons I did in bringing my to sites like this and sharing my journey.

I'll warn you, I'm far from good in my art and I have a lot to work on. First off though, I'm focusing on my drawing and copying. Trying different techniques to see what I lean towards most when drawing from still life, photos, or other works.

Here's my latest WIP. The original is on page 51 of Color and Light from James Gurney.

[Kishire]

Welcome! Keep on drawing and good luck finding your forte soon

[Heyriel]

Don't copy. Understand.
You won't get good at drawing from mind if you don't have any idea why you should draw stuff as it is -learn anatomy (skeleton structure!!!) and use that knowledge to build the figures you draw from life.

[Kambei Shimada]

Wecome to CA.

I would say just start of drawing from life. (copying is good for refining skills but its a secondry thing) Just breaking stuff down to understand their proportions. Being good at drawing is really just being good at 'looking'. If you want to prgress quickley just take a sketchbook/moleskin around with you and draw whenever you have the time.

[riccodecor]

Wow, thanks a lot!

@Kishire, thank you =)

@Heyriel and Kambei Shimada, thank you for your advice! Once my exams are over I really want to spend a lot of my time just drawing. Thank you!

[riccodecor]

Here are some more sketches from my art diary. They were all done around the period of time; they range from 4-7 weeks ago. Been busy with my exams for Civil Eng =P
I'll explain where each is from

This is from Andrew Loomis' "Figure Drawing for All It's Worth"


This is from Andrew Loomis' "Successful Drawing"


This is just a trial at an assignment given to me, along with some others, by Robert Chang from CGSociety at the Better Artist Lounge after taking his workshop. He wanted us to do it using a tablet but I really enjoy drawing on paper so I'm settling for that for now. Plus, my desk arrangement is shocking at the moment. This is a WIP of course. It's no where near what it's meant to be but I was trying it out.


Here's the original of the above drawing

[Heyriel]

A good thing to do is using simple circles/lines to map out your figure before going into detail -for a face draw a circle with a cross, that will give you an idea of where the eyes are. (Loomis explains that in his books as well!)

[riccodecor]

A good thing to do is using simple circles/lines to map out your figure before going into detail -for a face draw a circle with a cross, that will give you an idea of where the eyes are. (Loomis explains that in his books as well!)

I can't wait to finish my exams (last one this Thursday 08 November) and I can focus on art. I'm drained =P
Thanks for the tip though. I'll, hopefully, juice out Loomis' books as much as I can. Planning on reading it through once and sketching roughly but then going through each book again and focusing on drawing everything he explains over and over.

[Valyavande]

I don't think that you will get the most out of Loomis, if you're reading it through at the beginning - because you will encounter stuff, that you can't understand if you haven't done all the things before. Just start with the beginning and draw, draw, draw. Get your fundamentals down, even if it will took forever. You can spend years on Loomis books, to get everything out of them. So, just take one step after another. That's absolutly ok =) Combine the studies with everything that is fun for you to draw. That'll be the best

[riccodecor]

I don't think that you will get the most out of Loomis, if you're reading it through at the beginning - because you will encounter stuff, that you can't understand if you haven't done all the things before. Just start with the beginning and draw, draw, draw. Get your fundamentals down, even if it will took forever. You can spend years on Loomis books, to get everything out of them. So, just take one step after another. That's absolutly ok =) Combine the studies with everything that is fun for you to draw. That'll be the best

Oh okay, wow. Thanks.
I didn't expect to finish with Loomis any time soon but I did get the impression that it was better to just read through, drawing roughly on the way, to understand where he's headed and then go back and focus more on drawing. Is it just an opinion thing? hehe.

I really appreciate your help. I will do what you said though. I have a couple of books for different purposes and I just keep drawing so yeah I'll definitely take your advice into account. Thanks!

[riccodecor]

First quick attempt at the profile

Attachment 1627437

[riccodecor]

Here's my second take on the same picture above. It's a bit better than the first try but I'm still not completely satisfied. Should keep working on it.

[riccodecor]

Another WIP
Not happy with it at all but it's a try nonetheless =)

Attachment 1629902

[riccodecor]

I tried out the little girl drawing using my graphics tablet. I used a grid for guidance so I can't take much credit there. I was advised by a friend to do that and take advantage of all the help and guides I can get; in time, I can take off the training wheels

Original: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md...yjmuo1_500.jpg

[riccodecor]

First attempt at drawing the eyes digitally. Obviously, I haven't mastered the eyes but I'm wanting to work more digitally so I'm drawing and painting what I can for practice.

[riccodecor]

Study of the head from George Bridgman

[riccodecor]

Some practice I did =)

[riccodecor]

Original


Colour Study