My rookie sketchbook (aiming for daily update)

[iQew]

Hello,

I'm 18 years old (turning 19 in september) and I started drawing about 6 months ago. I saw a sketch by Feng Zhu and was so totally blown away that I started creating art myself. I've always looked for tutorials and people who can help me improve on my way. I didn't draw too much until today (I wish it was a lot more), but I can already say that I made some progress which is really motivating me.
Since I started, I also joined on an art forum, but it's nearly dead and most of the artists are about 15 and mostly not able to give good critism. I already wanted to join CA a long time ago, but back then, I couldn't register.

Now, I am hoping to get some constructive critism and good support in the future. I was also scared in the past to start a thread here, as like everybody is really really great at creating art and you all blow me away.

Today, I found out about a thread which was so inspiring that I now want to start my own daily sketchbook. However, I don't travel much and don't need to wait for busses or something like that, so I don't really have doodled much yet. It all turns out into drawings on which I spend quite a lot of time, didn't worry so much about it though.

Mainly, I want to become a concept artist (environment/character), so I really want to learn the digital way of drawing/painting. But people told me to start traditional and learn drawing first. That's how I started, here are some of my old works:

Zeichnungen:

• 2009:
  • Übungen:
    • Februar:
      
      
      März:
      
      
      April:
      
      
      Mai:
      
      
      Juni:
      
      
      Juli:
      
      
      August:
      
      
      November:
      
    
    
    Skizzen:
    • März:
      
      
      April:
      
      
      Mai:
      
      
      Juni:
      
      
      Juli:
      
      
      August:
      
      
      November:
      

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Paintings:

• 2009:
  • Traditional:
    • März:
      
      
      September:
      
      
      Oktober:
      
    
    
    Digital:
    • Juli:
      
      
      September:
      
      
      Oktober:
      
      
      November:
      
      
      Dezember:
      

--------

Digital Art:

• 2008:
  • Oktober:
  • 
  2009:
  • Januar:
    
    
    März:
    
    
    April:
    
    
    Mai:
    
    
    Juli:
    
    
    August:
    
    
    November:
    
    
    Dezember:
    

--------

Concept Art:

• 2009:
  • Traditional:
    • Januar:
      
      
      Februar:
      
      
      März:
      
      
      Mai:
      
      
      August:
      
      
      Oktober:
      
    
    
    Digital:
    • Januar:
      
      
      Februar:
      
      
      Mai:
      
      
      Dezember:
      

I hope it wasn't too much scrolling for you guys My mind is pretty blank at the moment, if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.


Cheers.

[Dr.Blindsy]

Hmm, there are some pretty good starts there.
Best bet is to slow down. Don't rush into shading and value before really getting some practice in on Anatomy and figure drawing.
Like I told someone earlier, the pretty top stuff (shading, colouring blah blah blah) comes AFTER you get making solid, and consistent lines. Because without lines, the piece loses some (or almost all in some cases) of its impact.

First learn the basics, THEN the bells and whistles.

C: Cheers and keep posting!

[NicG]

Nice start! I really like the city-scape and the lips and a few of the eyes are good. At this point just keep practicing!

[iQew]

@Dr.Blindsy: Thanks. Yes, I noticed that too and that's why I kept on doing more practices. But I still have got trouble to get the lines done exactly like I see them.
What exercises should I start with now? So, I will then pick that up into my daily sketches and practice that now, as it's very important.

@NicG: Thanks, I was so proud that I got the water look like water, I only used pure imagination and tried things out, hehe I will keep practicing!!

Thanks for commenting! I'm living in Germany and there is a time difference about 7 hours to the time in the forums, that sucks a bit



cheers.

[iQew]

Here are today's sketches:


I started with a drawing of a marker (it's on the other side of the paper) and was already frustrated. Then I just thought "don't try to be 100% accurate" because I was frustrated about that I see a lot of details, but I can't get them on the paper because my technical skill is too low and my linework sucks, I'm not accurate. The following sketches I just drew and didn't think about something and I think they turned out pretty good.
When I started with the peg I was amazed by the perspective, it looked so good, but I realized that I wasn't accurate enough and started the next one, as things didn't fit. And I like it

I just drew with HB, so things don't have so much of a contrast. I'm not sure whether I should use multiple pencils to create higher contrasts, because it slow things down and aren't sketches something about just draw without thinking too much about them?


cheers.

[dierat]

Nice studies so far! Keep working on faces, hands, and feet, and try to spend some time working on full figure studies as well to develop your sense of proportions. Keep up the good work!

[iQew]

@dierat: Thanks, I will try some full figure drawings next then.

Just having a break right now, I worked on an accurate drawing for a hospital I am currently working on. It's for a modteam on ModDB, here is the first sketch of it. I was just trying to get some ideas down and I liked the concept. However, a few little things I've already changed (the hospital will have more width instead of hight).



I will post the complete groundplane and the other views of the hospital when they're finished.


cheers.
ps: (that dark thing on the left was an idea for a spidercreature's leg, don't mind that )

[iQew]

So, I also did some figure drawings, the first one is pretty off and the last one is the best (the face is pretty ugly though, hard to set the lines correct at that size - paper was A4).

The very last 2 were really a lot of fun, I want to do more of those, any good sites for real life pin up models or something like that? Or generally a good website for reference photos (I can't afford a model and real life drawing classes were all full ).

Enjoy:




cheers.

[iQew]

I actually did a colorization of the last one. I'm not very experienced with it, but I like how it turned out The face is still weird (I should draw some more noses to get the idea ), but the whole style reminds me of team fortress 2, don't really know why.



I'm proud of myself, I've been very studious today


cheers.

[iQew]

Today's sketches:



I don't get why people keep saying "start with something easy - a cup for example" to beginners. It's a round object and therefore pretty hard, I failed terribly at that one, I think it's really hard to define form only with reflections and shadows, how can that be a beginners thing?

I will now start with some figure drawings.



cheers.