I Don't Just Draw Onions

[IDrawOnions]

Hello ConceptArt! After a fair bit of lurking I've decided to finally make a sketchbook.

I really enjoyed art in school, and drew a lot, but since dropping it 7 years ago in favour of maths (largely for job prospects), I finally resolved in December that I'd start to get serious with my drawing. So, I signed up for some life drawing at the beginning of January, bought myself some Loomis, and thought, "hey, why not start a CA sketchbook?" And so here I am.

I'm going to start by uploading my way through the fruits of my life drawing lessons so far. I do also have a bunch of anatomy studies, but have done a fair few over the last couple of months, so I'd be sitting by the scanner for a good portion of my day if I tried to upload those! Once I'm up to date, I'm aiming to post stuff as I do it. Updates may be sporadic, but I do try to do at least something every day.

Any critique is more than welcome, I'm always looking for hints and tips on how to improve, what areas I should work on etc. So, without further ado, I hereby declare this sketchbook... OPEN!

[IDrawOnions]

So, first up I'll update to where I am currently with my life drawing classes. Apologies in advance for the poor picture quality, my photography skills leave much to be desired.

This is my first week of life drawing. Turns out it's way trickier than drawing from a photo reference! A couple of 5 minute warm-up sketches, and then some charcoal work. Back in school I used to hate charcoal with a vengeance, so I'm determined to be able to produce something decent in the medium at some point. Anatomy is definitely a bit off on the charcoal piece. Also completely forgot to put her left arm in!

[IDrawOnions]

And on to week 2.

Warm-ups this time were annoying don't-take-your-pen-of-the-paper sketches. Main study was all going so well until... that head.

[IDrawOnions]

Week 3.

Main pose was an absolute pain for this one, but I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. Maybe I'm getting better? Although that head/face is definitely still off.

[IDrawOnions]

And week 4, which was the last one before I'm up to date with these.

Warm-up in black paint. It's really hard when you can't go over your lines hundreds of times to get them right!

Tried a portrait this week to attempt to tackle my horrendous facial massacres. Thought this was quite good until I got home, and noticed that those eyes are huge!

[IDrawOnions]

That's it for the life drawings at the moment.

I've also been playing around with some digital painting. So a couple of digital still lifes for the sketchbook. First one is from a couple of weeks ago, and I just did the chillis this afternoon.

That's all I've got on my computer for now. I plan on being fairly religious with my scanning, so will update once I've got more.

[Azsha]

Nice sketches. Keep posting.

[Ty Dawg]

Not enough onions.

The woman lying down in post 4 is really good, thats a hard pose to draw.
I feel weird critiquing people, but I guess my only critique would be to practice your line work. I know some of those are 5 minute warmups so maybe its not fair to judge but smoother lines can def go a long way.
Maybe try doodling lots of quick organic shapes/ clouds when youre bored at class/ work, I feel like that helped me improve my line work alot.

Great stuff though!

[IDrawOnions]

Azsha - Thanks

Ty Dawg - Definitely needs more onion. I'm sure I can arrange that... Thanks for the pointers, you're definitely right about the line work. It's a habit I've been trying to kick, just can't seem to do it. I've heard that gesture drawings help with that, so I've been trying that out. I'm sure I can incorporate some doodle time into work .

So, today's updates are a bunch of 30 second gestures (turns out 30 seconds is surprisingly quick, I need to get faster at getting the gesture down), and some Loomis mannikins, including one godawful attempt at foreshortening the torso . I wanted to try some work from imagination in photoshop today, but my imagination seems to be broken at the moment . Apologies for the lack of contrast on a couple of these.

[IDrawOnions]

And week 5 of life drawing. No warm-ups today, just one long pose, so not much to this update. On the plus side, it does mean I actually managed to mostly finish most of the basic toning for the piece (although I did that hand in about 30 seconds after we'd officially finished lol). Moderately pleased with how this one came out, think I'm getting the hang of this charcoal lark . Once again, apologies for poor photo. One day I'm getting myself one of those daylight bulbs so my late night photos don't turn out so yellow...

[LeaderOfZombies]

Hi! Nice start with your sketchbook, but I think you should take a step back from the figure drawing and practice drawing basic forms (sphere, cube, cone, cylinder) in different perspectives. When comfortable with them, try to find those same forms in the figure and build it up. At the moment your figures seem to lack some volume and depth. But don't get me wrong, you're doing pretty well already. Those digital still life paintings were awesome! Just keep practicing!

[Brink!]

Not enough onio-- Awww! Someone beat me to it D:

But seriously though, this is a nice start. I think you're on the right track with those 30 second poses. Try to find the energy in swooping, confident lines. You don't have to put down just one line and call it a day but don't scribble. I agree with LeaderOfZombies, you could draw some basic forms in perspective so you get more comfortable. Don't forget to draw some stuff from imagination as well. Just for fun. And for practice

[IDrawOnions]

LeaderOfZombies - Thanks for the suggestion, I can definitely see where you're coming from with that. I've only just started picking up a pencil again, so I really appreciate tips on what I should be practicing, as I'm still trying to figure out what sorts of drills/exercises I should be doing.

[IDrawOnions]

Brink! - Thanks, definitely right with the line confidence. I long for the day when I can put down a line, look at it, and say, "yep, that's in the right place!" Love your sketchbook by the way, some great figure studies in there!

[Girlwiththehat]

Hey man! Nice start to your sb.
I like your digital still life studies, but maybe when doing figure studies like loomis etc it's better to do it with just pencil and paper? I found it really helpfull. Give dem good ol' moleskine some looovee (:

[IDrawOnions]

@Girlwiththehat - Thanks, The Loomis studies and warm-up sketches are pretty much all pencil on sketchbook, apart from a couple pen/paint ones. The only digital stuff in here are my still lifes.

And, after some delay, an update. I've been busy packing up to move house, and sorting out all the admin that comes with it lately, which, as it turns out, can consume quite a lot of time, so drawing has been sparse. Anyway, enough with excuses. I liked LeaderOfZombies's perspective/shape ideas, so have 3 pages of shapes in perspective. Some of the perspective is a bit off, because it was all freehand and without actually plotting vanishing points anywhere, but I feel like it was a pretty valuable exercise anyway.

And some carrots. Which were really hard.

[IDrawOnions]

I've been woefully inactive the last week or two due to house moving shenanigans, but I'm finally in a position where I've got my desk computer and a chair set up, so I can get back to the drawing, even though I'm surrounded by the post-move debris. So, I'm hoping to get back to regular posting. And with that, here's a brief update of a bit of the stuff I've managed to get done over the last few weeks - some more life drawing and a couple of random arms. As always, criticism/advice encouraged!

[Mewball]

Damn impressive still lives. You're really able to get all the hard edges right. keep going !

[IDrawOnions]

@Mewball - Thanks! I do enjoy the still lifes, I haven't really painted digitally before these, but I'm loving the flexibility you get with digital painting.

A few quick gestures for Spartan Camp #257, which I'm planning on participating in regularly, if I get the time. 1-15/50.

[IDrawOnions]

And more gestures. 16-34/50.

[IDrawOnions]

CA is working again! So here's a bit of a dump of stuff that's been going on in my sketchbook lately.