Sketch Dump, Need Help

**light** · September 1st, 2004, 09:14 PM

Hello! This is my thiiiird image post on ConceptArt.org now. I am really loving this site as it inspires me daily. Well I decided I would get some C&C from the best and thats why im posting a large load of my images. Most of this is much older, and is more basic. Well give me your best crits, and please keep in mind, I started using photoshop a couple months ago and im merely 13 years of age

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#1: Really old pic, this was done for a small game (not anything special, just with a free engine, wasnt gonna sell). I dont particularly like the coloring. His tail is supposed to be hanging of a cliff.
#2: Mercedes McLaren car. I did this with a picture as a reference. Some of the shading is off and it doesnt look like metal, but I still rather like it.
#3: This is one of the newer ones, done on the first few days of my wacom. It was basicly just practice but I felt like making it a bit bigger. Did this on one layer

.
#4: A quick one during school. I felt like doing something religious but the scan messed up all the words.
#5: Quick Wacom practice.
#6: A hand I had to do for art class. I kinda liked it and I dont do much anatomy so I decided to post.
#7: A rather bad drawing and a bit sideways, I just wanted something to practice coloring on.
#8: Once of my really early ones, didnt spend much time on coloring but I liked the drawing.
#9: An all ink drawing that took up a full page. I really liked this one

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#10: Supposed to be a spirit in armor. I liked the drawing and it was my first time coloring it then removing lineart.
#11: A quick one I did for DSG recently.

**mcotie** · September 1st, 2004, 10:43 PM

Very good. my son is 11 and he loves to draw too. I'll tell you the same thing I tell him. Quit drawing what you think it looks like and draw what it really looks like. I know this sounds funny for a concept point of view but if you can get this down, your concepts will look 100x better. Does that make sense?

since you like drawing eyes; try drawing your eye using a mirror. Flush all of the symbolisms of eyes and draw what you see. Concentrate on the shadows and the shapes rather than lines. Try it and post it for us to take a look at it.

hope top hear from you soon.

Mitch

**SamBrown36** · September 1st, 2004, 10:59 PM

Using photoshop so young is awesome, I wish I would have messed with it at an eairler age. Most importantly though is to sketch as much as you can. Sketch everything you see. mcotie is right, draw with it really looks like not what you think it does, that's what I was told when I started sketching too. As for your sketches, try different kinds of lines. Sometimes sketchy lines look awesome and some times clean confident lines look nice too. Experiment with lines and find your style. Some things are drawn a certain way, for example, when drawing cars, clean confident lines usually work the best. Try it out. Thanks for posting and keep at it.

**light** · September 4th, 2004, 08:29 PM

Mcotie- Thanks man, yah it makes sense and I just got a sketchbook that I can carry around. I usualy draw fantasy stuff randomly but just now started getting interested in anatomy and stuff so im definatly gonna sketch that more.

SamBrown- Thanks for the advice. I havent really gotten good enough to experiment with line values yet but I hope that I can soon.

Anyway, this is one that I DIDNT draw, I repeat I did not draw! I only colored this one. It was drawn by Armel on wc3campaigns and I merely colored it. C&C more then welcome, negative or posotive

. I did however draw the tatooes =P.

**Dished** · September 5th, 2004, 12:55 AM

hey good stuff man! Im about your age too! 14 =D I suggest working on anatomy and figure drawing. Life drawing too of course. www.saveloomis.org has some good stuff. Figure drawing for all its worth. As well as www.tsofa.com. Keep it up!

**Steph** · September 5th, 2004, 12:03 PM

i agree continue drawing things you see. example: the car with a photo for reference that is good practice (and it looks nice, I cant draw a car that good!) if your that good so young, now imagine how much talented you will be after more of practice...

the coloring on the elf is nice, particularly the armor, you did a very good job for the metal, i think the lighting on the shoulder pads is great. you should do the whole picture with a similar lighting on her clothes and skin, dont be afraid to make the light and shadows really stand out.

**light** · September 5th, 2004, 02:33 PM

Dished- Hey cool, at least I know now that it isnt all older people here. Yah, I just recently started trying to do some anatomy and I will probably post some stuff if I can just find the time to do a good amount of anatomy sketches. Thanks for the links!

Steph- Thanks for the support, yeah I will definatly keep practicing as much as possible. And yah, alot of people tell me that I should make stronger highlights, but the thing is, sometimes I do some highlights and it only seems weird to me and everyone else likes it, so its a bit hard to decide

.

Ill try to get more stuff posted if not today, then probably tommorow.

**Eew** · September 5th, 2004, 03:15 PM

uhm 13 ??? wel i know people who are 20 and they draw more then you and they still suck .. so i recomend keep drawing and by age of 16 you'll be new prodigy kid !

edit : oh yeh when you dont like what you do and other like ... dont listen to them do it better and eventualy so good so you like it ! worse thing is crits or coments from wrong people ... or example : my mam : wel yeh you already can draw verry wel ... but i know and i apreciate that she supports me .. ya know ? but when i hear from someone who is drawing good already that im making progress then that feels much better

**light** · September 5th, 2004, 09:05 PM

Eew- Lol, yah I know exactly what you mean. And I checked out some of your stuff, and you got some pretty cool anatomy studies there, which is what I am going to have to start up real soon.

And I wanted to update with a couple drawings of my hands but its difficult to do right now because my finger is swollen like hell from it getting twisted, so I cant even make a fist and its freakisly large... Anywho, I will get some eye studies in here, but probably not that many because I have 2 other things im working on at the same time.

**light** · September 6th, 2004, 04:04 PM

Alrighty, lets get some anatomy up in here! The hands have a couple problems with the fingers, and im aware of dat, but anything else is fair game for crits so post em up!

Oh, and I just decided to make a lil scene with a fire elemental and I wanted to make his body seem streched. The hands are messed up but I plan on fixing it up.

**light** · September 11th, 2004, 02:13 AM

Okay, decided to update thread with a little picture I forgot to post earlier. Its quite old. This is exact size I worked on, and done in 1 layer... Took me bout 20 minutes. Well, C&C is always appreciated.

**light** · September 12th, 2004, 10:51 PM

Okay another picture I didnt draw (

) but I colored.
Took me about 10-15 min.

**inspector Lee** · September 13th, 2004, 12:33 PM

That last one is really nice. I like the way you colored the line work and layed the tone over the whole thing.

**light** · September 14th, 2004, 02:08 AM

I decided to fix the new one up a bit. Took me another while but it was real fun. Guys, please keep the crits coming, I reaaaally need help, as you can tell.
EDIT: Oh man, totaly forgot, the lineart credits go to SaneJack7! Sorry man

,

**light** · September 17th, 2004, 12:37 AM

Okay, I wont do any stupid post about how "no one cares about a noob" and stuff like that, but can someone please help me out with my stuff? Please?

**inspector Lee** · September 17th, 2004, 01:02 AM

To be honest, I liked the first version better. This isn't a real rendered, finished line drawing, so leaving more of the sketchy lines, going with the colored lines, and choosing the lighter colors on the gloves all seemed to work together better. I think trying to "render" (rather than spot color) what is basically a loose sketch, just ends up looking like overkill and diminishing the freshness of that "sketch" feeling.

**inspector Lee** · September 17th, 2004, 04:02 AM

BTW, you didn't really specify if you wanted crits on your drawing or the stuff you colored (two totally different things) So I just offered crits on the last one since I thought it was the best of the group. It'd be a good idea in future to post your drawings in one thread, and stuff you colored in another. That way they can be evaluated and critiqued seperately.

**light** · September 17th, 2004, 04:51 PM

I was thinking about making seperate threads but it just seemed that would be rather wasteful. And also, its hard enough to put enough stuff in one thread so people reply, but trying to fill up 2 would be crazy hard since im doing alot of other stuff right now. Oh and, I wouldnt mind crits for either

.

**light** · September 22nd, 2004, 11:24 PM

Another colorup, creds go to defcombeta for the lineart, looks real nice. It took me a while, a lilttle testing with shading. I like the way it turned out, and I ended up finishing it. C&C always appreciated.

**light** · October 1st, 2004, 11:43 PM

Alrighty, another post of coloring. I didnt draw this one either (

). Hopefully I can get around to coloring some of my crappy lines... But yah, credits go to JSDuret for this awesome pic!

**Calcaneus** · October 8th, 2004, 02:03 AM

-LightKirtar
Hmm, you're only 13 and you are playing around with photoshop already, hanging around this place, and drawing with ambitions to become an artist? That is fantastic! You are well on your way! Just draw a lot, study up, and don't get discouraged!

I really wish I had seriously considered becomming an artist when I was 13. I only started practicing to become one when I was 17 (thought it also sort of is a childhood dream). I know how quickly a person's skill can improve with the right effort. If I knew when I was 13 what I know now I would be drawing my tail off and laughing all the way knowing where I would be when I would turn 20!

As for drawing, learn to draw from the inside out; do the construction of almost anything you draw first. Learn the basic 3d shapes and volumes of things and learn anatomy. Gain knowledge about the skeleton and then the muscles.

When you draw people, or any standing creature (I am told by my lifedrawing teacher) draw from the feet up, or any point of ground contact, maybe starting the major weight bearing leg. Don't do detail or rendering immediately, build that stuff up slowly and only after the basic construction is done. Also, try to master perspective

You won't wake up 20 or anything. I only got serious about art at 17, and I think I will probably be fine if I work enough, so you still have lots of time. Oh, as others may have said, do have a backup plan, incase you are completely un-employable as an artist, or lose a hand or something. Sorry if you already knew all that

Cheers! Practice enough and you will be drawing those linearts you colour now much sooner than you think. I hope you stick around here at CA.

-Calcaneus

**Red_Rook** · October 10th, 2004, 02:24 PM

umm right, alota work needs to be done

but hey your only 13, i wish i was actuualy drawing at 13... anyways, i bet others have said it but, more anatomy studies, with a pencil, not photoshop. You need to learn to draw well with traditional media before you go full on digital. I mean yea sure do some digital stuff on the side, but dont forget to do the traditional

keep it up, draw what you see not what you think you see. (age old axiom i know) any ways yea you have alot aowrk to do, instead of just lines do alot more value stuf, take the individual face elements and piece them together now, with a real person or a photo as ref, and see how ya do. The hand is by far my favourite so far. Pencil is really subtle use it softly and you can pull great things outa it, look at wes9000s and lonos work. Good luck

**light** · October 11th, 2004, 02:50 AM

Hey guys, im being kinda slow but im trying to make stuff worthwhile to post. Well kinda worthwhile. Anyway here are a couple new things, and hopefuly ill have a few more through this week.

Flower drawn at request for someone from school. I colored it with colored pencils afterward but the scanner magnified the yellow highlights.

I got inspired by some of the motorcycle stuff on here to try and make one up, wasnt as succesful as the other artists but at least I tried. The thing in the background is supposed to be a car as well and the fron wheel of the motorcycle is supposed to be the front wheel of the car... my brother didnt get it so I thought I would explain.

And lastly for now, sketches for a challange. Doing a merfolk, and trying to figure out all the design stuff.

Thats it for now, keep the great crits coming guys and thanks. Hope to post more soon.

**Lauren Short** · October 11th, 2004, 04:39 AM

i like the fact that you're doing different concepts for the scales of that merfiolk design, only thing i'd sugggest is condense it a little so t doesn't take up too much of the page

cool colorings, lookin pretty good, just keep at it, maybe try to incorporate a bg, just don't forget to study up on color theory and the effects of lighting

when studying the eyes and the mouth, it's not just lines in the outlin of the particualr feature (nose, eye, mouth, etc.) you need to LOOK at the subject that you are studying and find a way to communicate it to paper. for example look at some of wes9000's stuff, look at marko's stuff, look at every pro's way of drawing an eye, mouth, nose (and don't forget that the way you dsraw each feature is affected by the lighting, color of skin, atmosphere the person is in,etc)

good job, keep it up

**nikia** · October 11th, 2004, 10:52 AM

Your coloring is pretty good for your age. Along with the human anatomy studies, I would suggest some real animal studies. Either from photo refs or artbooks. Learning the anatomy of real animals, such as Big cats, horses, bears etc. will help when you want to draw fantasy animals such as dragons, unicorns or even make up a completely new animal. If you have a zoo anywhere around you go draw the animals there. Also when doing life drawing, start training your memory by drawing as much as you can after one look before looking up at the subject again. This will help train your brain to pick out details at a glance and remember them. Looking forward to your progress.

**light** · October 17th, 2004, 02:24 AM

Thanks alot for the great crits guys, it means alot. I would have replied much earlier but I needed to make some presentable work so I wouldnt show up emptyhanded. C&C always appreciated.

**AvatarJimmy** · October 17th, 2004, 08:41 PM

Hey there LightKirar,
Wasn't that long ago that I was 13, don't think there was anything like this forum back then, but it sure would've helped. So, I thought I'd try to give you some advice. First off, try to draw strictly from some reference, be it photo or real life, right now is not the time to be doing too much from your head. If you have an idea of something you wanna do, have a friend pose for you and draw them first, and then put a costume on top of that. It looks like you've got a pretty natural eye when it comes to color, some of your color jobs are really good for your age (or any age for that matter). On the other hand, that means you should be working harder on the other aspects of drawing.
If you wanna be drawing stuff like the other artists works that you've colored, trust me you can do it in a few years, as long as you're practicing the right things. First off, you need to start to understand perspective and form. There are some simple perspective tutorials here: http://www2.evansville.edu/studiochalkboard/draw.html. I took the liberty of whipping up a 30 sec perspective grid for the last drawing you did. Its not beautiful or anything, but might give you an idea of where to start. At this stage in your drawing you should draw a perspective grid lightly on your paper before you do anything. This way you have a framework to work in. An exercise someone once gave me was to take photos from magazines and find the perspective in them, actually drawing the lines with a ruler. It helps to understand what you're seeing.

Anyway, if you want to improve your drawing, you're in the right place. If you have any questions, just ask. Good luck, and keep drawing.

**light** · October 18th, 2004, 12:34 AM

Thanks alot for your comments man, and for the link. Ill make sure to do some practices on perspective and hopefuly make something that will be worth posting, same with anatomy. Lately ive been doing alot of studies, but mostly its just basic work that isnt worth putting up.

**nikia** · October 18th, 2004, 11:29 AM

I think it would be helpful if you start putting up one drawing at a time. It's easier to crit that way. Then the other artists can concentrate on that one drawing. It gets a bit confusing when you have a lot posted in one thread. And it takes quite a while for all the drawings to load up. Most artists that come in here don't want to wait for a lot of pictures to load. I would forget the color for now and just work on improving your drawing skills. Even if you think the studies aren't worth posting, do so anyway. Someone will come and show you where you can improve on it.

**Jane Radstrom** · October 19th, 2004, 04:39 AM

OH FUCK! I typed this huge response for you and then I pressed something and the damn window closed. So, I am going to summarize and I apologize if this version is rushed with bad punctuation and typos.

1. Awsome you are getting so interested at 13, that gives you time to improve and work hard while you don't have many other obligations. This thread makes me feel fuzzy because it reminds me of me a few years ago. I wish I started as young as you.

2. People will tell you lots of things, and it is important to listen and try them - but also to evaluate them for yourself personally. Things like "only draw from ref or life" "learn to use traditional before you touch digital" and so on. Learning to draw is a really personal thing. Some advice works great for some people, and less great for you. For instance, I estimate 75% of my drawing has been from my head 15% from life and only 10% from some kind of reference. I painted digitally for a year before ever touching real paint, and when I started using real paint I had a MUCH easier time than my classmates because of the digital experience. But, if you are drawing/painting alot from your head it is important that your eye is telling you when something is wrong. Drawing from life and reference trains your eye so that it can do that. I had the good luck to have a figure drawing instructor about two years ago who really helped me with my eye and basic drawing principles. Then, I drew (and painted digitally) almost exclusively from my head for about a year. I then took his class again and WOA my figure drawings had improved like magic! I hadn't done any figure studies! After that, my imaginative drawings improved a whole bunch from the figure work. Just a personal example of how things worked out for me. Now I am splitting my time about 70/30 bewteen life or ref work/imagination - because I think I've reached a point where my eye is no longer telling me what's wrong enough of the time, when it does I don't have enough knowledge base to fix it well.

Ok, that was my main point. Now, three general suggestions.

1. I read the critiques given about lots of other people's work (stuff for all skill levels). I pick up lots of helpful insights and see things from a different view by doing that. Sometimes I get lucky and what somebody said to someone else is EXACTLY what I needed to hear and work on myself. Browsing and absorbing might help you alot, especially when you are starting out and may not get alot of crits on your work because people just dont know what to say/where to start.

2. I love to find images that really appeal to me in some aspect (color, line, form, proportion, shapes - whatever I am concentrating on that week) and set them as my desktop background. Then, I get to look them over often and like to sit and ponder them. I discover new things alot the 10th or 20th time I've seen the work. It helps me pick up techniques and develop. Saving images to an inspiration folder kinda serves the same purpose, but I rarely ever actually go through mine and take a good look at all the pics so I prefer the desktop thing.

3. Try to find a life drawing class in your area. I took my first 6-week life drawing class at 14, though at that time I didn't like it and didn't touch it again for a few years... later life drawing has really helped me and you aren't too young to start now. If the teacher turns out to be wishy-washy and teaches to draw what you feel or something rather than construction, planes, parts of a shadow, etc. then look through the life drawing section here on CA for better info and practice in class.

Well, that turned out just about as long as the first try! It didn't take half as long to type, though. I hope this helps you some. I started drawing seriously about 2 years ago, now I have just turned 18. If you are curious take a look at my site - in the digital section the oldest stuff is from when I JUST started painting digitally and getting serious about drawing.

Good luck - have fun!