DaShaMa's Sketchbook

[DaShaMa]

Hey everyone,

My name's Dan. Just graduated High School a couple of weeks back, so now I just want to spend my time improving my drawing skills before I head to Uni. My bro told me about CA awhile back, and it seems like a great place to learn some new stuff.

Comments and crits are very welcomed.

I'll be posting up some things soon.

[zelda_geek]

Hi Dan, welcome to CA, looking forward seeing some more stuff.

[DaShaMa]

Thanks zelda_geek

Might as well start posting up some recent artwork I did. I primarily use my Wacom tablet and Photoshop. Here are some of the last art pieces I made in my IB art class.

Right now, I've been trying to get back to the basics, so I've been sketching some some images I've been finding online. I find that that the face is really hard to get for me so I ended up giving up on finishing the boxer guy. I thought the ballerinas came out pretty nicely, though I tried shading one but got bored half way.

My scanner doesn't work with my Mac, so I had to the take a photo of the doodle of the little witch girl, so the quality is bad.

The hand was drawn from observing my own hand.

I'm not sure where to head to next besides sketching from images and life... any advice would be appreciated.

[Sylvain-Klein]

very good, specially the big eye, i very like it

[DaShaMa]

Sylvain-Klein: Thanks. I had trouble shading it in the beginning, but I guess it came out alright.

Tried my hand at a DSG.



Thought it turned out okay, but it's a tad simple, even though it took me around 2 hours to come up with it... Good practice, though. I haven't drawn anything robotic for a while, haha.

Here are my concept sketches:


Well it's late at night, I'm heading in...

[Té-Can]

Cool stuff, your off to a great start. Can't wait to see more. :]

[DaShaMa]

Té-Can: Thanks, I'll try to keep posting, haha.

I've never tried sketching everyday. Usually, I go through a period where I rarely draw, followed by an art piece, then another drawing drought. So it was kinda hard coming up with some to draw. I feel I have a lot to work on, so I'm unsure what to focus on first.

Anyways, early afternoon, I tried drawing poses from my head:


In the second set of poses, I looked at a couple reference pics, but I pretty much messed up the action type pose. All my poses seem kinda bland to me, and I'm not sure how to work on that. Probably sketch people in real life would help.

Throughout the rest of afternoon, I tried recreating a character I created during my second year of IB Art, just a couple of months ago. Here are some of the old sketches of him:

(I find it difficult to keep a consistent look for a character, especially when trying to make expressions. Any advice?)

Tried to do a more realistic approach to making him:

Turned out alright, though I didn't really finish it. I used a couple of references to flesh out some parts of the face, though I know I messed up a couple of parts. Guess I need to study anatomy of the face better, plus work on my tones. Gotta add some darker areas, I think.

I started working on the anatomy of the arm since I always try to guess how it looks. I used the references found in Drawing the Head & Figure by Jack Hamm. It's an alright book as it has helped me quite a bit.



In the second arm, I tried being a little looser, since the first arm took me a while to make. I'm also trying to identify each muscle, hence the numbers (Bad handwriting I know. I can never seem to write with my tablet, haha)

Anyways, I think I'll be focusing on anatomy throughout this week. I have had Andrew Loomis' books sitting in my harddrive for a while, though I haven't really worked through it since I had school going on. Now seems like a good opportunity now, haha. Plus, while digging around CA, I found this site (Forgot where I found it though...): Pose Maniacs which seems like a great place to sketch warm up poses. I hope by the end of the week, I could use everything I'll learn and make something more complete.

I wished I had more recent finished works to show, so I guess I'll just post up an oldie from my first year of IB Art.

Made in Blender

Any comments and advice will be greatly appreciated.

[fantasyartist]

Pretty good start. Be more carefull with your proportions. Always doublecheck if things are making sense. Like in those last loomis arm studies for example the proportions are off. You don't have to get it right the first time but you have to be able to see and correct your errors. Just keep practicing and it will be alright. I'm looking forward for more!

[DaShaMa]

fantasyartist: Nice, a critique! Yeah, I tend to start adding details before making sure everything's in proportion so by the time I realize something's off, I'm too far in to make drastic changes. Thanks, I'll keep in mind.

Couldn't post yesterday since my internet was slow, though there wasn't really anything too interesting to post.

Anyways, I did the following yesterday:

I tried out the 30 second per pose exercise found here for a while. I used my tablet in the beginning, though I found I just couldn't finish a pose because my tablet isn't responsive enough to follow my strokes (Though I've seen some of the artists on that page that use a tablet. I think I just lack control, haha). Here are some results of that:


I decided to use the ol' pencil and paper, which helped quite a bit. (Had to use camera, since scanner isn't working)


Some sketches of my hand:


And some doodles to get used to using the pencil again (I even tried changing the way I hold a pencil):


I decided to stick with the pencil when it comes to sketches and save the painting for my tablet. I can draw faster with a pencil and get more ideas down.

Stuff from today:

Again, nothing too interesting. I drew some ears and noses from Drawing the Head & Figure by Jack Hamm to work on some shading (and figured out an easier way to photograph my sketches):


And drew and shaded in my hand along with a couple of mouths from magazines (I should try a different hand position and that thing in the bottom right corner is just the shadow from my knee, haha):


Some doodles:


Hmm, I'm not the doodler I used to be. I would draw all over pages before, but now I feel like I can't get my ideas down on paper (though I kinda like the pose on the far left. I might developed that...). I guess more sketching would help...

I also recently acquired a digital copy of Constructive Anatomy by George Bridgman and so I was wondering whether I should start with that or the Loomis books. Any ideas?

[tarngerine]

You've got some nice stuff here, especially the digitally painted ones, faces are also nice.

I agree with the comments on your anatomy, and as for Bridgman or Loomis, I'd definitely read Loomis first as well as draw, but I guess it's really up to you what you want to get out of the books. Loomis's books provide a real solid foundation and has relaly good advice in the text. Not too sure about Brigman though.

I think if you could push the lines/values contrast in your pencil drawing,s they'd be livelier

There are some issues with the hands (placement of knuckles, foreshortening, thumb bending in an awkward way (second line drawing of hand)

Keep on pushing those anatomy studies

[DaShaMa]

Man... I wanted to post up something at least every week, but since I was out traveling most of the time, I didn't have Internet to post something. That doesn't mean I haven't been sketching, haha. Kept a sketchbook with me most of time, working of diagrams from books and stuff. Now that I'm back in front of my computer, I decided to work on a new digital painting, using a sketch I liked.



So far I like how this is turning out. There are a some issues I need to fix, such as the arm, but anatomy-wise, this is an improvement over my previous drawings. I still have problems with the limbs, especially the arm. There's so much going that I can't wrap my head around. Guess I need to make more studies, haha.

Anyways, I can't wait to add color and hopefully, I have some momentum to post some worthwhile stuff here.

[LostFayth]

That's really nice. I can see some anime influence in your drawings which makes it a lot more fun to look at for me. The portrait of the girl above the ballerina is my favourite by far. You made some nice studies. And by the way congrats on graduating~!

[DaShaMa]

Lostlimeturtle: Thanks. I'm definitely influenced by anime since I watch it almost all the time, though I try to stay away from the generic anime style. Haha, graduation seems so long ago. I'm heading for uni in two weeks!

Anyways, nothing big here. Just some progress on the last piece.



Feels like I haven't gotten very far. Reworking the legs and arms really slowed me down and I've been really frustrated by the hand. Well that's what I get for only working with the torso all this time, haha. I guess I just need to fix up the hand and smooth out the shading in some places. Then I can add some color...

I guess I should include the original sketch since I forgot to last time.

[DaShaMa]

Haven't been around for a while since I just moved into my new dorm, so I didn't have time to work.

Anyways, just a progress pic of the last drawing. It's taking a long time...

[Recurssion]

I like your stuff man. I am heavly inspired by anime as well but I don't like the generic look most artist would pass off. If you don't mind me asking how did you get the texture in your shading? I have tried a low brush at 50% opacity and It's still kinda dull.

[ArtZealot]

Nice work. i really like how you color these characters in, whatever method you are using it works. On the last one especially, that one looks like some of your better work definately. The only thing i might crit is that the legs look a bit small or out of proportion to her long torso. Other than that it's a great piece. cheers'

[gutss]

I really like the painterly look of your colouring. your studies are looking pretty nice too! ooh, and if you don't already know (though I would think you do) flipping your image while working is really helpful for picking out mistakes

it'd be cool to see some more fleshed out dynamic poses

[DaShaMa]

Wow, 3 comments, that's the most I've had now, haha.

Recurssion:Thanks for the comment!
ArtZealot:Thanks. I'm actually using a new method I haven't really used before. Problem is that it's pretty inefficient, and it's taking way too long. Yeah, I agree her legs look a little small, but I sorta like it that way.
gutss:Thanks. I actually flip my images often, but I always see mistakes. Fixing them is the hardest part, haha. I'd like to have more dynamic poses, but I still find it hard to deal with foreshortening and anatomy at the same time.


Alrighty, another update on my digital painting. Painted in the eyes, but I think something's off. I also refined the scarf, hair and face a bit more. Here's a close up.



I feel bad that the last couple of updates has only been this painting. I'm gonna try varying my sketchbook more, haha.

[DaShaMa]

Just doing some random sketches and such. Wish I could update more, but I've been pretty busy with school.

Tried redoing my character in the first post with the red armor. Though I ended up unsure how to draw the armor, haha.



Did a little drawing of some major muscles. Arms are still hard for me to do.



A little practice with a more dynamic pose. Kinda messed up with the legs...



Pencil sketch of previous pose.

[DaShaMa]

Developed the last sketch a little further.

[FightingSeraph]

Nice stuff. You seem to have a similar flaw that I have: having great design ideas, but have drawing skills that aren't up to par. However, you have improved a bit.

[Earendil]

Wow man, love what you have so far. It's good that you're combining studies of figure/anatomy and then applying it to manga style, and not the other way around.

Have you checked out Kevin Chen's figure stuff? This thread might give you more insight. Keep pushing it!

[DaShaMa]

FightingSeraph: Thanks. That's why I'm here to get better, haha. Glad to know someone thinks I'm improving.

Earendil: Haha, thanks. I want my style to have a good foundation in figure and anatomy. I just skimmed that thread and it seems to be a really good resource. Thanks a bunch.

Tried my hand at another DSG.

Final:


Draft:

[Dahami]

I like your spunky manga girls.

[thespianmonsalvo]

Lovely work here. You have a good sense of anatomy and color. And I like how you are influenced by anime/manga style, but aren't limiting yourself in it. Good job.

[dojiartwork0sac]

hey really cool stuuf i like this style *.*
your figures made i good action *favo*

[towy]

many good work here, work the anatomy more and i think be more really good soon

[DaShaMa]

Thanks for all the comments. I really appreciate it.

I actually have to get started on some school work, so I just wanted post up some sketches I made today.



Made this one yesterday:


Decided painting the second pose in a different style. It's not finished, but I'm liking where it's going.



Gotta get to work...

[TheWishfulOne]

hey great work so far =D, my only comment.. well more like encouragement is to keep drawing characters with structure (like what your doing in your sketchbook), that way it can look more solid =D

[a la bapsi]

absolutely in love with the way your paint.
your style's incredibly appealing. o____o
keep those studies up though, you need a solid foundation to stand on. ;D

OH GOD BRACE YOURSELVES FOR PAGE 2