the broken mirror // AUG9 [+MUCH]

[DAVEZILLA]

!!DAVEY!!
My name's David, and I'm 16years old! I've narrowed my interests for college down to art and music, good enough for now.

I'll update this thread any day that I've been busy drawing.
Critiques would be lovely : Be as rough as you can, that's the way I like it.

[AldoKatayanagi]

be forewarned, I am currently inebriated. that said: It's great you're putting in effort at a young age. I'm not sure what's in Drawing on the Right Side, but you should spend time doing anatomy studies, drawing the skeleton and then placing muscles on top of that framework. It would greatly benefit your portraits. RIght now you're kind of drawing symbols of the facial features and putting them on a rather shaky foundation. If you knew the basics of the skull's construction and the layout of the facial muscles, it would be a lot easier to draw a convincing face. Andrew Loomis' books are great for simple head construction. Check out Bridgman too.

also, I like this guy's method of construction. http://nathanfowkes.blogspot.com/ http://bp1.blogger.com/_pbZw476tEsE/...value_page.jpg

[DAVEZILLA]

Lol~ inebriated as in wasted? any comment is a good comment!
I'll definitely look into anatomy studies, thanks for making me aware.
Andrew Loomus is on my checklist now. I'll check out a book from the library if I can.

[OldJake666]

Your stuff isn't bad man. It's certainly better than the "top" artists at my high school. I am 15 as well. Check out the friend links at the bottom of my sig. All but Mista Delish are 16 or under. There's actually a lot of young and talented people on this site. Most of us sort of connect together well.

[Nibras]

Hey there nice stuff .
Another young artist am 13 lawl so same age kind of thing.
Theres already some improvment from the first portrait to the last very good you seemed to really understand it after the 5th portrait.
Keep it up and keep posting would love to see more

[DAVEZILLA]

It's nice to know that the younger artists form a connection. It'll be nice to have some artists at my same level to collab. with! I'll check out the sketchbooks in your sig.

Thanks for your comments Jake and nebo.

EDIT// How do I change the little picture to the left of the topic title? I definitely don't want that self portrait as my avatar.

[HAJiME]

God I could have never drawn people like that at 15... I still can't. Hahaha.

Get a grip on what tools do the job best. Try some more detailed, smaller, precise drawings if you're going to use pencil. Right now you have these HUUUGE free flowing scrawlings across the page!

Move away from bloody pencils is all I say. Bloody horrible things, they are.

Try your hand at some bulky, messy materials. Right now you're being very "scribbly" with a precise drawing tool. That's no good! You need something which will work with your scribbly lines by being uncontrollable and less specific.

People telling you to draw more anatomy is all very well, but I didn't get to try life drawing in education till I was 17. That said, observe and draw how things move. Maybe focus on your hands or something, as you're drawing..? It would be a start. Hands are great because you can see everything going to work under them. All the bones, tendons and the skin over the top.

Thanks for the comment on my doodlebook.

[DAVEZILLA]

Thanks for the feedback. I totally agree, after all of what you said.
I LOVE watercolor and acrylics, so Ill start to add a little more life to my drawings.

I can never give up my delicious smelling wooden pencil though

[HAJiME]

Did you work out how to change the avatar for your sketchbook...? I can't find details on how to anywhere.

[DAVEZILLA]

Nope. A minute ago I just went through and added a picture, then re-uploaded all of my drawings so they'd come after it. It didn't work though.

I'll just wait until I have more sketches, so I can edit out the first post.

[Grafguy]

awesome uve decided "work really hard in art for a really super long time."
I can only encourrage it
drawn alot from real life, make studys, download anatomy books,..

[DAVEZILLA]

Ya know, I've been told to get anatomy books and to do studies by so many people, so I'll just have to start doing them alongside my regular drawings.

[Azalin]

Hi there, nice to hear you want to dedicate so much energy into doing art. I think to start working with anatomy its very good to get a hold of the "structure of man DVD" its really simplifies anatomy and makes it fun to learn. it best thing to do ist work in parallel with the anatomy books also, youll learn tons.
just never give up and you´ll get where you want to.

[DAVEZILLA]

Thanks, arky. They don't have that DVD at my library, and I'm not prepared to pay 40 bucks for it.
I'll try to find a cheapo copy on ebay or something. If you had to suggest an anatomy book that was friendly to the person who's never studied anatomy or figure drawing before, what book would you get?

[DAVEZILLA]

Mm'kay. I wanted to draw INCREDIBLY much this weekend, but something about actually drawing just didn't work out for me. I felt like, holy crap, if I don't produce something atleast okay, then I'm going to be really frustrated.

As you can tell, I drew shit today.

Any advice on how to be able to "see" again? I could do it fine a week ago!
I've tried blind contour drawing, drawing upside down... Nothing seems to work.

P.S.: both are me trying to draw my left hand. The first one turned out allright, and I got super frustrated so I just... took it out on the paper. The second one: I tried drawing my thumb, and it was so frustrating! so i just colored over it with some random scrawny super hero.

[pantless_wanderer]

Any advice on how to be able to "see" again? I could do it fine a week ago!

If you could do it before, rest assured that you'll be able to do it again. Thats just a bad phase

I've gone through several of those 'WTF-I-just-can't-draw-shit-today' phases myself, sometimes lasting more than a week, and I know how frustrating they can be; but they all come and go... and the best of all is that most often than not, you'll come out of those bad phases better than you where before. I can't explain why, but thats usually how it goes with me. Maybe it has something to do with the unusual struggle you have to go through during those bad phases to produce good results that helps to consolidate that information on your head. Or maybe I'm just pulling stuff out of my ass... honestly don't know.

The most important thing during a bad phase is to control frustration, or else it will hurt your concentration, thus making an already bad situation even worse. Focus is the key... or at least part of it... sometimes we just need some inspiration. Other times, like in the last bad phase I've gone through, it's just lack of sleep

[DAVEZILLA]

You have no idea how reasurring your words have been! Omgoodness... maybe I just need to de-stress. Drawing is such a mental thing, so maybe stress has something to do with it!

anyways, thank you so much for the words of wisdom.

[Lair Radical]

Hey, thanks for the super-duper compliment!

Ahhh don't worry, everyone goes through that! It can be pretty discouraging, but it sounds like you have the dedication to pull through. I try to find a balance between not slacking off but also not expecting too much from myself

I've heard good things about How to Draw on the Right Side of the Brain but never looked into it myself. You're work is looking quite good - two years ago I was drawing complete crap. Definitely check out Bridgeman, Hogarth and Loomis.

[Jason Scanlon]

Yeah, don't sweat it. You are doing great so far. These "blocks" are no fun, i guess my advice would be to either work through it or take a break. Either way, you can relax; you'll be okay. I like the Bridgman take on anatomy and i'll always second a Loomis recommendation. I dont think the Loomis books are in print, but you can download them in a .zip here. You're ahead of the game, so to speak. Now its only a matter of not letting it catch up to you. Thanks for checking out my book.

[DAVEZILLA]

Thanks, both of you.
Arkos just sent me a link to the Pose Maniacs site. I don't know if either of you have ever heard of it, but it seems like it'd go great paralleled with anatomy/figure drawing studies.

Anyways, I'm going to be drawing a bit today. Me and my friend are doing a little experiment with drawing hands. Today will be my last hand for awhile

[DAVEZILLA]

Here's a work in progress. I did this is an hour. I'll finish it tomorrow (the shading and coloring).

Thank you gods on mount Olympus for giving me the ability to draw again!

Oh, and do the index finger and ring finger look right?

[each image is the same sketch, I just can't tell which is better quality]

[Matthew Forte]

Your index finger and ring finger look fine, my problem is with the thumb, it looks strange, possibly too thin at the bottom? You're coming along nicely, keep it up.

[Retronym]

Hey man, cool to see a fellow 15 year old. I really am digging the linework in this latest hand, and you're establishing the planes nicely. Keep studying!

[DAVEZILLA]

Matt: thanks man! I see what you're talking about with the thumb. i thought the thumb actually looked like a big toe, but when relating it with the other fingers, the proportions are correct, which is super weird.

Retro: thanks dude. nice to meet another 15 year old. we'll have to keep in touch.

[The7Artist7]

Hey - firstly, Thanks for commenting on my sketchbook

Nice stuff - as I've said elsewhere 'life' in art is what I regard as the most important thing - and you got it - nice one

Although 'artist's block' is horrible to experience (especially when you're dying to draw something!) it's totally normal and your best bet is to stop what ever is being difficult to draw and either draw something that you always find super fun or if it's a bad case of 'block' just walk away - do something else. I once had artist's block for about 10 tens straight during a really big important commission - I just had to put the work on hold as what I was drawing just wasn't matching with what I'd already done - nightmare!

Anyways lol - I hope you don't mind but I took the liberty of showing a few changes I would recommend to your hand pic - I'm no uber-pro but hope it helps!

[DAVEZILLA]

You've helped so much! It's funny, because today I had art class and asked for some help on the hand that you scribbled all over (which I truly appreciate). And we found out basically the same stuff you have on there!
I show the finished product tonight after I'm done shading! Thanks a ton dude- I especially appreciate the advice about walking away during an artist block. It's nice to know that this happens to everyone else

[Slechtvalk]

Hay Dave,

I see you already know which textbooks you need, so what I have to add is this:

Learn different ways of drawing. Dont go by just what one person says. If its too hard to draw a certian way then thats not the right way for you. Theres tons of approaches so just keep learning. The more techniques you learn the more you can combine to make your own or come up with your own. Basically take different approaches and find what suits you best. Practice and refine. You already are off to a great start.

Don't try to eliminate your mistakes... work on making them work for you.

Don't Fight Line... Use It

A bad drawing is evidence that you are trying something new.
Whether you try to get better or not is up to you.

Getting better is not in the end result its in the trying.
When your looking at a bad drawing and still have the
will to get better at that moment you are overcoming defeat;
a stumbling block which most would giveup.
The will to contine is getting better, and you not only
passed that stumbling block but passed a mediocre artist.

Also this little video helps out too:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QhF4fBetN4Y

Thanks for the sketchup visit

[The7Artist7]

You're more than welcome I look forward to seeing more of your stuff dude

[Muzz 2k7]

Some very interesting stuff here, Love the facial expressions, By the way I'll look into the nose and eye alterations; Maybe if you could explain where the eye's should be a little more. Please xD

[fragmentedchimp]

Very good start man, mirrors do wonders to your artsy skills, theyre brilliant. reflections teach you soooo much. more more !