LifeWontWait's Life Long Journey

[LifeWontWait]

SKIP TO THE NEW STUFF!!! ... or not, whatever...

Hi all!

First let me say there is just some amazing artwork on these forums and it is SO inspiring browsing through everyones artwork.

This thread is a bit different from the other threads in that most of what I am submitting are exercises (EDIT: this statement is no longer true!). And alot of it simply isn't good. I know that I am still at the very early stages of my artistic ability and have not yet learned how to see properly... hopefully that will change throughout the course of this sketchbook.

I got very frustrated the other day with how much practice I have been putting into drawing and seeming not to get anywhere. I went to the library and picked up "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" and am going through the whole book and doing all of the exercises.

This thread will help me track my progress from my level of artistic ability right now to after I finish the book and on. I hope some people can find some interest in following along and I hope I can get some critiques.

The start of seeing as an artist....

This first page is the level I am at now. They are fairly quick sketches from about 10-20 minutes each. This will be what I will compare my sketches to when I finish all of the exercises. (TL - from imagination, TM - mirror, TR - life, bottom images - life)



The exercise was to draw the profile of a face and name each feature, then draw a mirror of it copying the contours.



These images were drawn upside down (all about shutting out the left brain and having the right brain take over).




Pure Contours: HAHA, funny stuff.... looking at the contours of different objects and not looking at the pad of paper.



Newer Stuff on later pages:

[Senira]

Hey, nice stuff! Your faces are actually pretty proportioned, but you need to work on facial planes to really get the roundness you're looking for. Try googling Drawing the Head and Hands by Andrew Loomis; there's PDFs of it floating around all over the net, and it's a GREAT book when it comes to studying facial structure for different genders and ages.

Definitely keep doing the Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain exercises, and try and mix in some life drawing, or work from photo references (www.characterdesigns.com is a good site for nude model refs) with your studies. Keep it up!

[LifeWontWait]

Thanks again Senira!

These are sort of like the pure contour drawing only they are modified... I look at the page a little bit but still try to keep my eye on what I am drawing.




These next ones are all drawing space. Since I can't name the space my right hemisphere takes over for me and I stop drawing the symbolic image that is in my head.

A stool - from life

A plant and a wine opener - from life

A photograph of a nude woman and a copy of a Winslow Homer painting.

[ChaoticKnight]

Hey good studies!!
Haha you're starting out the exact same way I did, with drawing the dude in the chair. My mentor had me draw that upside down the first day I had class with her, and the contours I did in high school.
Definitely good exercises, your on the right track, so good luck and keep going!

[LifeWontWait]

Hey, thanks ChaoticKnight! I am glad that I am on the right track.

Didn't have TOO much time to draw today. These photos came out really bad... you can barely even see what some of this is but I will post anyways.

The first image (TL) is a copy of part of a painting by Peter Paul Ruben. I did it looking at it upsidedown and drawing the negative space. The image on the right is just a corner of my room (an exercise in getting angles and perspective correct). The image on the bottom sucks and is supposed to be my hand.

(Left) An exercise in relative size, drawn from life. (Right) A charles white study... I got a little carried away, it was supposed to just be the basic forms but I started shading away.

[Jason Rainville]

Jesus, did we all go to the same school or something? This is 'Foundations I' all over again.

Anyways, not much to crit on now, but make sure to do your best in your studies. When given a choice of subject, pick something you SUCK at to draw... feet, hands, cats, whatever. Just don't pick something that doesn't interest you - sure fire way to get bored and do a rush job

[Zaxser]

Nice. Your on the right track, but I'd love to see how all this is affecting the work you produce that comes directly from your head. I realize you're focusing on observation right now, but if you could spend an hour or so every week, working on mental drawings. In my opinion, it would show a truer scale of your progress. Some artist draw at amazing levels through observation, but are very, very weak when draw from imagination. Don't let this happen to you.

You might be doing this already, or drew primarily from imagination in the not-so-distant past, but if you're not, start now.

Anyway, if you come by my sketchbook, I'll make a point to keep track of yours.

[LifeWontWait]

Rhineville: Thanks for the comment man... right now I pretty much suck at everything so anything that I do is hard for me. I will definetely consider your advice in the future though and try not to avoid things that I have trouble with.

Zaxser: Thanks man... glad to know I am on the right track. Right now I just want to focus on observation because of how new I am. Once I get a decent foundation I will be happy (SO happy in fact) to start doing some stuff from imagination. I have actually tried stuff from imagination and it doesn't turn out how I imagine it... I think it is because I need a strong foundation first.

Here are a few more drawings. I am working on face proportions and so far have just got into the profile section. So right now they will all be profiles (other than the pic on the left obv) and then I will get into 3/4 and full view.

These are all from photo refs:

The image on the left is from life (doesn't quite look like her...) and the other two are Master studies.

[LifeWontWait]

This first page is all 3/4 view with photo refs... some of them look off but I couldn't figure out what it was about them that made them look so funny.



These are two master studies of three quarter vew. I don't know about these either...

[Zaxser]

It is very, very rare for even the best artist to create work exactly as he imagines it. But try. It's good to focus on this, but you need to strengthen other skills alongside the observation.


Anyway, your faces appear too long and noses don't look that way, but I doubt that helped you.

Since your starting to draw from photographs (some people recommend against this, for a variety of good reasons) I'll see if I can posts some links to help you out.
This Thread She paints, but pay close attention to pantmonger's posts.

Also this one. There a lot of threads in this forum worth paying attention, particularly any posts by Merekat. Kristen Perry's a professional artist with a good balance of observation and structured imaginative drawing. Not to mention that she's one of the nicest people I've ever met, online or otherwise. I'm trying to find her find her portraits where she used poster studies to create an exact copy of a photograph while only looking at the photograph once. She stole the idea from Anthony Ryder (google him for awesome portraits) but shes still an amazing talent.

And then there's mentler, whose posts are linked in my sig. I don't need to tell you how good he is.

EDIT: Here's another merekat link:http://www.merekatcreations.com/mere...opic.php?t=100

[LifeWontWait]

Wow, I can't even begin to tell you how appreciative I am that you take the time to help me out like this. Thank you so much! I haven't looked at those links yet but I will as soon as I make this update.

Here are some more portraits... I finished the book and now am going to start on some anatomy studies and as Zaxser suggests I will try and work on some stuff from imagination (gulp).

Today I did the one on the bottom left and the two on the far right. I think they are getting a little better. Are the faces still too long? Do the noses still look off?


And this is just a picture I took on my front porch the other day... thought that it would be fun to share.

[LifeWontWait]

Update.... like always critiques are appreciated.

A couple more faces:


And starting on some figure studies, these are all from Sarah Simblet's Anatomy for the Artist book. All from photographs.

[N1ck]

wooow, great improvement. You have a nice clean line, especially the hatching in the last pic is excellent. You seem to have much fun doing this, stay at it and you will achieve a lot if you want.

[LifeWontWait]

Hey thanks Nick! I really appreciate the encouragement!

These page is for Zaxser... he told me that I should do some stuff from imagination and I finally bit the bullet and did so. I had fun drawing these even if they do suck. I have never really drawn from my imagination before.

BTW: I really don't mind if people are super harsh with criticism. Just wanted to make sure everyone knows that because I need all the help I can get.

[LifeWontWait]

Sorry for the horrible scans (girl took the camera and my scanner sucks).

Am I teaching myself bad habits doing line drawings like these?? (all from photo refs)



Here are some gesture drawings (and a few contour ones)... I have a few pages but I will spare you.


All but the bottom right are from photo reference... the bottom right one is just a copy of an anatomy figure.


Nothing good but no reference:


Please be mean to me.

[alesoun]

I see some really nice stuff here. Howabout doing a finished piece, just for fun?

[N1ck]

Nice, really. You seem to get the shapes you see with your eyes correctly on paper. And you are learning fast.
How long have you been drawing before you got "Drawing on the right side of the Brain"? As said, your lines are clean and thats very good when learning (if you were scribbling like me, you wouldnt have seen your mistakes that easy).

Keep us updated

PS: I also just got "Drawing on the right…" and hope that I will SEE in some time like you

[LifeWontWait]

Alesoun: Thanks! You mean a finished rendered out sketch? Heh... that sounds scary to me. I'll see what I can do though.

N1ck: Thanks again man. I used to draw quite a bit when I was really young like 7-8 years old and then in highschool I was into it at school but never had my own sketchbook or anything. Then I took a drawing fundamentals class in college but that is about as far as it went. I haven't drawn anything for the last 3 years until I got this book. It really is a great book and really helps to show you how to look at what you are drawing and draw what you are seeing. I am sure it will help you tremendously... just do all the exercises that it tells you to.

Thanks again for commenting you two.

[Inkjexion]

i like your anatomy studies, what book are you using?

[LifeWontWait]

Thanks for the compliment!

Some of it is "Anatomy for the Artist" by Sarah Simblet. Some is just photo references from some sites on the internet (www.characterdesigns.com, www.aremorgue.com, etc).

[LifeWontWait]

Lack of updates... I haven't stopped drawing though! Lots of relatives in town and lots of work = not much time to draw. Finally they have left and I am at it again. Here is some more stuff.

Hands from life:

Skull photo reffed:

Strange guy from imagination:

The rest are Hogarth studies... I have already learned alot about proportion and the human eye.

[LifeWontWait]

A value study in photoshop. Done from life. It really isn't complete but it is as far as I needed (and wanted) to take it. Here is the breakdown.

[LifeWontWait]

I must be mentally challenged.... could someone please tell me how to get a picture next to this thread. Everyone else seems to have one but I am looking all over the FAQ and everything and can't find crap. I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

[LifeWontWait]

One more update for tonight. Some more Hogarth studies. Sorry once again for the crappy photograph... i don't know what is worse, bad lighting in a photo of my art or a bad scan.

Thanks again for the help Nick!

[LifeWontWait]

Seriously, what do you guys think about these sketches?

I just got this gnomon dvd "drawing the adult male head" and I am just messing around with some of the techniques. I would really like to know what you guys think. BTW, I know this scan lost alot of the contrast but these are pretty close to how it looks.

[smuli]

Nice start of a sketchbook here! It's fun to be able to see such a clear journey from the basic contour sketches towards shadings and increasingly solid impression. The Photoshop value study looks great as well as the Hogarth studies.

About the newest male heads on which you asked for opinions, I think that before moving to that extreme charicatures you should really learn to use the underlying anatomy with realistic faces, both from reference photos and your mind. That'll give you a better sense of what things can be exaggerated and which way they grow. I fail to see real character in the heads you draw because they just scream to me that the cartilages of the nose are deformed and the surroundings of the mouth don't fit with its size. That said, the features seem well placed though and you clearly have a good sense of the basic construction.

I'd do some photo studies at this point, or if you insist on caricatures, start from thinking up their character and try to get as near to it as possible with the features.

Or do whatever you fancy, just have fun with it.

[LifeWontWait]

Thanks smuli!

Heh... i thought that I was doing too much stuff from photos and such so I tried to do some stuff from imagination. I guess next I will do some more stuff from photo refs and some more reaslistic looking people from imagination rather than the extreme charicatures.

Thanks again for the comment and I am heading over to your SB now to take a look!

[LifeWontWait]

Some more anatomy studies from Hogarth and couple of life drawings. Also the one profile is from a gnomon dvd that have been working with... that is pretty much the only thing that I am willing to show! And again I apologize for the crappy photos!








Woot!

[LifeWontWait]

What can I do to get some more comments? I would love some advice on getting better or just simply some encouragement if you don't feel up for giving some crits.

Here are some more studies, a few things from life, some from photo, and one page of torsos using no reference (trying to see what I am retaining).

I actually filled up a whole sketchbook!! First time ever... it is kind of a nice feeling!

I tried to adjust the brightness/contrast etc on photoshop... I hope these photos look a little better than the dark ones.

[N1ck]

You are doing really good. Just move on and you will improve. I know its bad to get that little comments and critique but try to update more often so your thread gets some more pushups.

I dont know why so little people write in here because you have a really good start and even improved in that short time.

I cant critic on your anatomy studies yet because i dont know much about anatomy yet, but its good that you have clean lines when studying.

The heads on this page are looking good, just the eyes are off on some, but I think you know that?

Keep posting, replies will come soon