Mosen's Journey

[Mosen]

Hello everyone!

I know there are a million and 1 same stories out there so I wont say mine again to you. Just thought I'd upload stuff most days as I really want to improve. I enjoy drawing, dont have much experience so I decided to look around online. I found drawingtutorialsonline.com and started studying since dec 2012, im running low on money and the only way to keep a forum sketchbook there is to pay so gonna switch to here, plus i really want to get into conceptual art.

My end goal is to be a great concept/design artist, creating/re-designing, characters, landscapes, and whatever really. Thats as far as I can narrow down my desire at the moment! So for me getting into drawing has been a fairly new decision... since 2011 but I only REALLY decided I wanna do it as a career one day late 2012 so started really drawing more often in december Hope thats not too boring and enough for you to understand me for now!


Anyway, Im a beginner and would LOVE anyones help and guidance to get better. Here are a few things I have been posting this month on drawingtutorialsonline.com and today I decided I'm terrible at perspective and I have read constantly on here that foundations are essential so I wanna try to get them right from the beginning!

[Mosen]

so I'm gonna try and post every day but if I don't actually post I will still be drawing something at least

did some more perspective... I will be on this for a WHILE, wanna really grasp it before I even bother doing anything else... dunno but something tells me perspective comes first, and I dont really understand it. Plus it takes me AGES (like an hour and a half) just to do 4 little sketches of cubes! is that normal?? maybe its coz I dont use a ruler or making some kind of grid takes a while... anyway

[Lucarky]

I mate and welcome! Thank you for check out my SB. Like I see your "initial" studies are relevant! Lovely lines and subjects.
Perspective is at the basics like studies on forms and values. It's normal at the biginning to take some time to understand what you're doing, particularly with the study of perspective and forms, even values. If you understand gradually how light and shadows works on the simple surfaces, the rest is about to apply this method on more complex forms. The brain and the repetition should do the tricks! Really not bad for the beginning! Keep on going!

[Mosen]

ah thanks for that Lucarky. I will keep going, I have the drive I think... I just cant really draw yet but I will get there Oh, I just realsied we joined the site in the same month! snap!

Today I did some more perspective stuff... still takes me ages but my head seems to understand a little more.


I also thought I should do something from imagination. Im TERRIBLE at it and am quite shy to post it up but here we go, I must get over it and push forward regardless of what it turns out to be...

dunno what I was drawing but it was some kinda dog seal thing...


and I did a few gesture drawings and chose 1 to draw a random figure from my mind using it as a kinda skeleton or inspiration.

[Ruschkala]

hiya, Mosen!
my favorite ones are the rhino dude because of the form lines. At the beginning at FZD school you seem to draw them all the time to get into the form of an object.
Try them out more often, it's easier to apply light on an object when one fully understands its form.
Also, the seal is pretty nice, just keeping perspective in mind it looks a lot more 3-dimensional and real. If you aimed for parallel hind legs, its right one looks too far behind. But there's a nice flow i its body.

what about drawing on grey paper and using a neutral tone, highlighter and a darker pencil? It's a lot easier to get objects read better because it's completely up to you where to put highlights in what extent.

Keep up being a hard worker

[Mosen]

thanks for the comments! I bought some toned paper, its light brown... I will have a go and see how I like it at some point!

I did a good warm up and line practice today. Got it from a guy called Peter Han, he does a dynamic sketching course Which i REALLY wanna do. The first lesson is on youtube for free and I thought its a great way to practice confident lines and those damn elipses and circles!



I thought I would give perspective a day off and do something else I feel will be very important, my first anatomy try! the skull, I will do more and learn some names I think along the way

[Mosen]

bit more bad perspective... I will just keep doing it till I nail it.


A little 10 min sketch form my imagination (which I did not realise was this strange, but it does excite me for what could be)


and some more of my skull anatomy


please feel free to guide me, I realise its a slow process and I'm just trying hard, every bit of tips or information I can get from you guys is so appreciated

[Mosen]

did yet more perspective study... really wanna get this, sorry if its boring for you to look at, this is good for me!



random question. I know I should draw a bit more from life. So I was thinking about doing self portraits from time to time... but does the mirror flatten the image like a photo or is it a valid life drawing?
maybe I should stick to drawing others?

[Mosen]

Realised I haven't done any kind of drawing from life in about 2 weeks! Thought "ok, I'll draw my hand".... horrible... tried loads and none of them came out how I hoped but as the day went on I did get a little better... I'm too impatient sometimes! anyway, here they are... I'll have to draw a little something from life each day to keep improving observation and form.

[Mosen]

I didn't get much time to draw yesterday but I did do a little gesture sketches from the internet. Had to work today but when I was done started on Loomis, figure drawing for all its worth (for some reason the line drawings are hard to copy) but informative


I work as a dancer so when I am not dancing sometimes I get to watch the others dance around and so I tried my best to follow one of them dancing and sketching as she went. Was really hard coz she was never still of course but fun none the less!


I set myself a little task each week starting today, to draw 10 random animals from the internet in thier most basic forms in an attempt to better understand form and 3d space. Not good at it so I'm gonna practice!


and then this was to push the little figure drawing I have done into muy imagination and see what I can do. Just line but at least I'm retaining something of the body

[Mosen]

Had some fun... keep getting hung up on comparing myself to others who are amazing artists already. So I decided to just stop judging myself and draw for fun and to simply improve my own personal level... tried a fun game to draw a beetle from photo reference then try to draw it from a different angle... i think I failed coz it doesnt look right but it was fun

then a friend of mine said, "draw a cube and add to it, take away from it and shade it". so I did something... (took about an hour and a half!!) but I learned through the process...


well those are my offerings for today... oh and one question...

I imagine drawing with something permanent (not a pencil) sometimes can be a lesson in learning to see/think about the lines before putting them down? Is it a good idea to try drawing with a pen/ink?

[Mosen]

for some reason I find it crazy hard to copy Loomis' drawings but maybe thats part of the journey... and a little life sketch I didn't quite have time to finish in my lunch break. The proportions are a little off but at least I know. Does anyone know maybe a good exercise to practice proportion? If not I will just draw much more from life and do the classic "hold your pencil out" trick

[Jkilla]

for some reason I find it crazy hard to copy Loomis' drawings but maybe thats part of the journey... and a little life sketch I didn't quite have time to finish in my lunch break. The proportions are a little off but at least I know. Does anyone know maybe a good exercise to practice proportion? If not I will just draw much more from life and do the classic "hold your pencil out" trick

Just wanted to say thanks for opening your sketchbook its a journey to somewhere awesome.

[herionz]

Some of your perspective exercises are looking better than others, maybe you used a ruler (which is fine of course), but also try to do perspective freehand, you will train more your hand coordination that way (but it's hard).

Copying Loomis drawings is hard, I know it myself xD. Something that might help you is instead of drawing some of them very accurate, just don't look at your hand and do "blind drawings", moderately quickly, a bunch of times, then try to draw it as usual again, you might see some improvement in accuracy. Also try looking at them from other points of view, but you shouldn't be aiming to copy exactly other people drawings , just try to understand them and get certain things from them that you like (for instance I love female Loomis heads and eyes, beautiful).

To practice proportion just try to use guidelines, perfect proportion is something really hard to achieve but it will improve as you draw, you can try to draw cubes and try to duplicate them exactly, or draw lines and cut them at equal points by eye, then check with a ruler how accurate it is. But don't bother, just try to get some proportion with the pencil or measuring by eye, and do a quick drawing, then check if it fits or not, remember that you don't need to place always the lines exactly at the right points, you can always correct them as you go. Cheers!

[Deceptive]

Keep them drawings coming! It's nice to see the progress of your hand studies but the palm needs to be bigger or the finger should be smaller, but with enough practice you'll get there!

Best of luck and keep us updated!

[Mosen]

heres a bit of what I did in the last 2 days... I only get 1 hour to draw every day but I guess it is still something! Wish I had more time to be honest!

[Mosen]

went to the aquarium here in Barcelona today to see if I can discover some strange creatures and draw a little. took a lot of photos and drew a little. was very tough as the creatures move constantly apart from the sleeping rays

then I came home and drew a little from my mind. Maybe I should draw something with a little more substance soon see what it teaches me. anyway, my humble sketchings for now!

[DreamArt]

Nice stuff so far.
Don't worry about timing. It is normal for everything to take a long time when you are starting out. You shouldn't worry about speed until you are
becoming a professional, and need to create art quickly for projects. Now you are learning, and most people start out slowly.

[Mosen]

Thank you so much everyone for your input... it is so encourging and valuable to me! I will work very hard to do this drawing thing... I'm so grateful to be surrounded by other artists and SO much information! Keep up all your good work

heres today's studies... bent my head learning this stuff... proportion and perspective are BY FAR my weakest points... I will keep going.

[MadGrav]

Nice studies out there. I'm beginner too so can't help much but will follow your thread.

[Mosen]

thanks Madgrav, I will keep working, I know my proportions are all off and the figures just dont seem right but I'll get there. I find my understanding is improving more than my actual drawing right now. I think thats ok sometimes

today a couple pen life drawings (I'm trying to work on my line and observation skills) and some more Loomis.

[Mosen]

My wife got injured today and we had to make a trip to the hospital... only time i really had to draw today, started with some random shapes then decided to stop....

THEN, i decided, "no, things are more interesting then we think they are" I spent a long time staring at an elevator door so drew it with pen (still trying to improve my line and observation.

[MadGrav]

I know you probably drew that leg and elevator separately, but i can't stop imagining it as you chilling out there with that leg high. Nice job on drawing in public though, this is still kinda scary idea for me.

[Mosen]

Thanks MdGrav... Yes Im terrified by drawing in public... numerous people coming even just to have a look to see what your drawing! However, getting on with it and just choosing not to really care is making drawing more fun for me... go for it dude... let yourself be a little embarrassed, the fun outweighs the fright

So I didnt get time to draw yesterday and only drew a little the day before... felt really bad that I didnt get to so I studied some Loomis, reading his concepts and drawing his ideas take me time but I got through some interesting stuff.... need to practice more!oh and a little pipe life drawing at the airport...

[Mosen]

was blessed with a bit more time than I usually get to draw today so did a little still life of my pencil sharpener... I know, EXCITING! hehe but I had fun. think I will not do that particular still life unless I have another sharpener handy (went a bit blunt)!

then decided I wanna know more about bodies, so had a look at feet

[Mosen]

Really fought the Loomis study today but finished an hour of drawing... dunno why but I just found it so hard to be motivated to draw these manikins. Did not enjoy it.

here they are, SLOWLY getting better at proportions but still off... I'll keep going, refuse to give up as I know that one day I'll understand the figure... its hard, I know.

[herionz]

Hi Mosen! Thanks for stepping at my SB. Damn I already said that but your perspective studies look so great, and your construction also! I see that maybe you might want to focus on some gesture pose exercises, those that you do X amount of quick figures under 90sec or so, I can help you with flow, weight and such. Also if you can start trying to paint digitally or traditionally right away! It will make you improve faster. If not you can also try doing mass drawings with pencil, not lines, just painting shapes with the pencil. Or get toned paper and use charcoal + white chalk to do value studies, much faster!. But the earlier you start to think in value, the faster you will improve, even with your constructions!. Cheers and keep pushing forward!

Oh, I also replied this to you but, answering your question, I draw for 6h everyday on average, but I try to do more if possible. Time it's not so relevant is more important how you spend it and the amount of work you can do, sometimes is better to spend 3hrs doing fast studies about the same subject rather than a long one, others is better the opposite to be more polished and raising your quality, it depends on what you want to improve, but at first, focus on getting as much knowledge as you can, and that is by doing repetitive exercises usually.v (On a side note, I should be applying this same advice to myself XD).

[Mosen]

Thank you for your time herionz, I will get onto doing these things! I don't have any digital formats yet, I was gonna wait till I could draw a bit before spending money on that. But I'll do some value studies with charcoal or graphite maybe until then. Thank you so much for ur time on my SB. I'm glad u get time for your art so much each day, I only get 1 hour each day (I'm a bit jealous!). My job is busy! Keep it up and I'll keep checking on ur progress!

[Mosen]

following the advice of Herionz I tried a few gesture poses... I hate them. I get so stressed doing them... I also tried 2 value studies with a graphite pencil. Was also very bad, (guess thats why you told me to do them ey... HOW DID YOU KNOW?!) one I enjoyed more than the other... try and guess which hahaha! all in all I feel I completely FAILED today... I'm pretty pissed off with myself. I feel totally ashamed to even post these horrible sketches on here.This is definatley a moment that I feel I will never learn to draw.

BUT, I will not quit. I ordered the cheapest wacom bamboo today and Im gonna use it with some free software before I spend money I need to learn what Im doing! Sorry if this is depressing and your welcome if it makes you realise your far better than me

[Mosen]

So I was quite upset with myself yesterday so I decided to work on my gesture stuff. Did more basically... I realise I dunno what I'm lloking for with gesture drawings so I looked on youtube and found Sycra's video on gesture drawing...
Finding a strong "line of action" was incredibly helpful so I started to do that and also find or at least imagine the ribcage and pelvis so I could understand a better sense of where the weight is. I then went onto look at some Loomis and had so much fun with his mannikin dudes! I will be drawing more when I can...

I think I just need to try stuff, fail and then look at what the figure really looks like... then try again, and so on till... i die really