Mdog's paw prints (NSFW for some nudity)

[mdog]

I'd like to get better so I can try making some of my stories into graphic novels.

I'll try to post more soon, but I am participating in nanowrimo this month, so it may be December before I get back to my regular drawing pace.

[mdog]

Some more gestures and sketches. Also, I tried to do some sketches of a figure interacting with its environment in interesting ways... but I couldn't think of very many interesting ways:/.

[mdog]

Forgot to add this one!

[mdog]

Some referenced poses and some imagined poses.

[mdog]

Tried to do a study from a landscape photo because I have a hard time with organic backgrounds.

[mdog]

More gestures, some landscape thumbnails, and an imagined pose from three different angles.

[RustyPulley]

I think it'll be good to keep doing those gesture exercises to further solidify and improve your pose making. A daily 30 min session of 30sec/1 min practices on this website might help you out. Also, you might want to do some muscle studies. Right now your figures have little muscle definition--lean people will still have muscles.

Keep drawing, and keep it up!

[Lucarky]

Hi mate and welcome aboard! It seems your lines are secure from the beginning and good point to start. Make some more drawing like perspective construction and hatching studies so we can see your level. Keep the good works!

[walnut]

Good expression in the figure studies, and good energy in the linework too. I'd advise working from observation a lot and, as pointed out before, read up on anatomical construction as well. That should get you rolling.

[mdog]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the advice! About the muscle studies, where is the best place to start/best resource to reference for those? Something like Grey's Anatomy? Also, what would hatching studies be? Just using hatching to portray values? I don't have any formal education, so I don't know a lot of art language beyond the basics.

[RustyPulley]

For plain anatomy (with all the most minute details) I would recommend Stephen Roger Peck's "Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist". Grey's Anatomy will work, but since its meant for doctors and medical students I'd imagine there to be a lot of subjects like internal blood vessels or the respiratory system that doesn't really concern the artist. There are also books by Burne Hogarth, Andrew Loomis,George Bridgman and Michael Hampton that are fully on human anatomical construction. These will really help you out, and a good bookstore or the internet will help you in procuring them.

yes, hatching will be the shading technique, how to vary the lines to create the illusion of form, etc

[mdog]

Awesome! I found an online copy of Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist and of one of Loomis's books, so I'll get right to those new studies. Thanks for the suggestions.

[mdog]

I'm definitely going to have to incorporate this kind of study into my regular practice. Thanks again for the suggestion. I'm referecing Peck's book, and I think I'd really like to have a physical copy of it. Maybe if I get an Amazon gift card for Christmas, I can get a copy.

[mdog]

Another muscle study, a turnaround of an imagined pose, and an attempt at hatching a sphere (mimicking plastic).

[mdog]

Sorry I haven't posted in very long... I've been working on many finished illustrations and comic pages, and I haven't had much time to practise lately.

Some painting practice I did with no kind of lineart based on stock from senshi stock's gallery (senshistock.deviantart.com).

This is the first time I've tried an exercise like this!

[mdog]

I did some poses and hands today.

[mdog]

I ordered a hard copy of Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist today, and that'll be arriving in a few days along with a new sketchbook. I filled my current one today!

Here are some imagined poses for a commission I am doing along with some referenced human and dog gestures and some feet.

[mdog]

Finished the drawing that the above sketch was for. It's a request that I did for a friend. I'm not really loving the way I colour yet, so I'm hoping to do more colour studies. This weekend, I'll be staying at my brother's with no access to a tablet or scanner, but I hope to post a lot of work from my physical sketchbook on Sunday night.

[mdog]

The first one is an idea I was playing around with for an illustration, then I have some short poses, some skull and head studies, and a sketch for an illustration I'm having a hard time with. It's going to be from a high angle looking down on two people interacting. High and low angles are one of my weak spots, so I wanted to try to push myself to work on a piece that included something like that.

[mdog]

Some poses and stuff today.

[mdog]

A little colour sketch I did of my character in paint tool SAI. I was trying to do a 'chibi' style, but I suck at itXD. Oh well. Back to practising for me now!

[mdog]

Just did a twenty-minute speedpaint. I think I'll do another one in a few minutes!

[mdog]

Two more twenty-minute speedpaints. I'm really not liking the first one, but I had a much better time doing the second one!

[mdog]

It's been too long since I've updated><. But I painted a sketch based on dA user beinspyred's stock.

[ebi]

Hey thanks for visiting my SB~

I can't give you much advice as I'm a beginner but I really like your gestures/figure studies.
And I think I should follow your example and, besides doing more studies, actually start painting too (albeit, traditional).

Keep it up! I hope you can make your graphic novels come true!

[mdog]

Thanks! I'm glad you visited my SB as well. I've only been doing so many painting studies more recently. I really need to do it more frequently. I spend most of my drawing time working on fancomic pages, but I figure I shouldn't post those in my SB :/... I don't know how people feel about people posting fanart and manga style comics, hehe.

[mdog]

Taking a break from comic pages to work on some digital painting. This is the first time I've tried to do stylised characters sans lineart. I'm having fun experimenting with it, but as always, I'm having trouble keeping my tablet installed. Because it keeps uninstalling itself, the work gets to be pretty tedious. I'm constantly having to reinstall the drivers.

[mdog]

I didn't get much done on this today because I had work, but I worked a little on the other character's face and skintone. I think facial features are one of the more challenging parts of this no-lines painting style.

[Skymilk]

Hello! Thank you for your support with my sketchbook, I thought I'd return the favor. I've actually been here a few times, browsing as I went, but I never made a comment.(Until now)

So I see that quite a few people are saying to work on your anatomy studies, which is very very important. I noticed that at the beginning of your sketchbook you had been doing colour pencil sketches. I've found that this works on the go or travel, and in addition to the coloured pencils sketches, I've found drawing over top of the light sketch with dark pen works even better! This way you can have the base that you drew with what you saw at first, and then get to work on finalizing the drawing with the pen, to fix any errors you didn't catch in the beginning. Double the experience points. This might have been obvious to you, I don't really know... But it is important to take time before drawing to study what sorts of geometric shapes your subject is made out of. It helps your eyes digest what's in front of you.

Onto your colouring. I enjoy your environments quite alot. They have nice perspective, which I see a bit in your sketches. I'm hoping you'll continue to do this with your characters to help bring them to life and make your graphic novel dream come true! I can't say much about getting better because I am still experimenting and am a beginner, but I hope what I have said will be of some aid to you! Good luck and keep up the anatomical works, but don't forget to have fun with other types of art to keep it from getting stale. I'll be watching you for the future

[ji-li]

Great gesture studies! Keep going I'm sure you'll be able to draw those graphic novels if you practice everyday!