laurenhiya21's Sketchbook - Trying to improve!

**laurenhiya21** · July 9th, 2012, 08:02 PM

I'm really a manga artist at heart, but I'll try and avoid posting those sort of drawings as much as I can (sometimes I put little doodles here and there... so sorry about those >-<)

I'm trying to improve my art in general, but I'm not really sure what to start with, nor do I have any sort of goals atm, so my drawings seem kind random here... (aka my ability to focus is awful DX)

Oh and sorry about the quality, this is the best I can do without a scanner ><

**Pete Hidalgo** · July 9th, 2012, 08:54 PM

Hey Welcome to CA. My advice is to start with studies, studies, studies. Even a Manga/Anime artist knows how to draw from life. All Manga and Anime really is, is the artist ability to Simplify reality into a very convincing 2 dimensional art work.

Love the hand studies. Keep those up. I would suggest picking up some art books about figure drawing and anatomy. Andrew loomis is a great start. If you are tight on money here is a great link. http://escapefromillustrationisland....ion-downloads/ However if you can cough up the money at any point having access to the physical book is better than using the online Ebook.

See you around man.

**autumncoloredmelodie** · July 9th, 2012, 09:45 PM

Definitely keep up the hand studies! Try to do some for faces and bodies too. Gesture drawings are hugely helpful (quick drawings of the body) to get an understanding of weight and movement. For faces, definitely look at Loomis. Also, from someone who did a lot of anime in my early teens, LEARN TO DRAW WELL NOW. It's easy to add the anime stuff to your repertoire, but practicing bad form/anatomy/etc. for 7-10 years is hard to beat out of you (says the 20 year old trying to do just that). Also definitely try to draw from nudes for your body. I know parents are weird about this sometimes, but there is no substitute. Get a pose book (amazon or an art store) or use a service like deviantart and look for their nude stock photography. Good luck!

**laurenhiya21** · July 11th, 2012, 12:37 AM

Pete Mhm! The whole reason of me coming over here was to try and improve my anatomy and such... While deviantart is an alright site, it's a terrible place to get feedback or any sort of help >< And thanks for the link! I'll make sure to check him out and continue doing some more studies

autumn Thanks! I did try drawing faces and bodies in the first 2 (from references) but obviously they are very, very, very far from perfect haha I'll definitely try out some gestures though. And haha, I don't have to worry about parents actually, since I moved out a while ago

So trying to do more nudes is definitely something I plan to do

Anyways, I started doing a sketch for the Teen Challenge today. The theme this week is Wurm, and it was interesting thinking of ideas since I've never really drawn a monsterish creature before XD
Anyways, sort of based on a moray eel, and it's supposed to be underwater by a coral reef (the squiggles on the bottom right XD). I would of made it less sketchy, but I'm not really sure how it is...
Any feedback/suggestions would be really nice :>

**GailBlitzy** · July 11th, 2012, 07:57 AM

Your eel drawing is a bit too sketchy tbh ^^;;

I know worms/eels are difficult to get a lot of detail out of, but maybe have a crack at giving it a bit more colour or tonal value - I'm not talking about much, only 1hours work or something, just to get a better idea of what you want your picture to look like

**laurenhiya21** · July 11th, 2012, 10:34 PM

GailBlitzy Hmm.. Ok, I'll try giving it some colours/tones later... It's much too hot to do anything right now T^T

Anyways... Last night I did a few gesture drawings.
Wasn't sure how long to do them for, so I didn't really pay attention to how long I took on them... probably less than a minute or two.
Plus I wasn't sure how big to draw them on the page, or spacing them out properly >< Oh well... (plus some space filler hands!)

**Psychobuddy** · July 11th, 2012, 10:44 PM

I think you should try out studying from some Loomis or Bridgman, try and look into some actual anatomy books and draw from those...You'll improve by leaps and bounds...after all the only way to learn something is to do it right

**laurenhiya21** · July 12th, 2012, 02:22 AM

PsychobuddyThanks! I was already planning on going through some of Loomis' stuff since his books look pretty good, hopefully I can get a copy through the library...
(especially since the pdfs are super hard to read without eyes bleeding ><) I haven't heard of Bridgeman though so I'll check him out

Anyways, I've roughly coloured up the eel thing which really is supposed to be a wurm... I'm still not really not sure about it though... :/
Obviously it still has a lot of work to be done on it... but I guess I'm unsure because I've never done this sort of thing before ><
(not to mention that I'm not used to colouring like this in Photoshop ><)

**Gijex** · July 12th, 2012, 04:38 AM

You are doing well! Keep practicing!! Take a chance to play more with some vibrant colors!

**catukas** · July 12th, 2012, 05:00 AM

There are so many sites for practising, I have all of them in my favourites. http://www.lovecastle.org/draw/
http://www.quickposes.com/
http://www.pixelovely.com/gesture/index.php
http://www.posemaniacs.com/
http://www.characterdesigns.com/inde...page=photosets
www.deviantart.com

Also You can find on the net bridgman and loomis ebooks

**laurenhiya21** · July 16th, 2012, 06:13 PM

I was looking through Loomis' book "Figure Drawing for All it's Worth", and wasn't really sure how to go about studying it, but as I started to read it, he did mention to copy the figures he drew...
So I did haha
Still not really sure how to continue with it, but at least I DID learn something from these... (like how I don't seem able to draw straight lines ><; )

Oh and I did do the man first, but... this stupid attachment system... ><;