Desk Scratchings

[.desk]

I am compelled to start my own sketchbook after going through MindCandyMan's sketchbook. Like others have stated, that man is an absolute inspiration.
I'm 16 and uh been drawing on and off for about a year and a half... I never really paid any attention to the fundamentals, which is where this sketchbook is gonna come in handy. I'm gonna teach myself the basics, with your help of course.
But I want to first start off with some samples of what I've been drawing. I'm begging you all for any valuable critiques. I tend to have a heavy focus on digital painting, even though I do not really have a good hang of it.

This is the latest I've been doing. It's not quite finished. But I really only wanted to do the head anyways. It's a referenced picture. I wanted to see what I could do with it.


Trying out hair:



I actually posted this up for critique a while ago, but I'll throw it in here too.

[.desk]

sketch i just finished.

referenced.

[SkyTheArtist]

Wow! It's good you're starting at 16. You have some good stuff. Be sure to do some life and anatomy studies! I'd really love to see that first one finished, but I'll try not to pressure ya, since you just wanted to see the head done.

Keep up the good work!

[IanE]

Some advice given to me, now given to you:

Don't start out with a style first... it's good you've started and gone your own way trying to figure things out, but draw from life, draw intentionally, technically, seriously, and worry about style after you realize you've developed one of your own without noticing!

Your last piece brings up some more advice:

I see a lot of lines. You don't need that many, you'll see in time. It'll come down to much fewer as you progress, but start thinking about the importance of every line, and how it's either crucial or detrimental to whatever it is you're drawing. Make every line intentional and direct, even if you're just quick sketching. Be aware of its movements, its necessity to the whole, the way it moves and how it travels from start to finish. See it in your head before you lay it down on paper, and then once you know it's correct and a critical part of the whole, draw it as one line, once. Granted, this sounds like a lot but happens in just tiny fragments of a second. If the line you see on the paper isn't as good as the one you envisioned in your mind, erase it and do it again.

You've already gotten way a head of most people at 16, so good job on that one. But, the anime style you've got going on will take you a very short distance, really to where you are now, essentially, so start looking up some anatomy, sketch the world around you, practice realistic rendering and most importantly, welcome to CA!

[.desk]

SkyTheArtist: Thanks for the support! Looks like we're in the same boat on this forum.
Iane: Thanks for the advice. I realize I have a tendency to go over my lines a lot. I do it almost unconsciously. I'll get to fixing it.
And following your advice, I did some uh... shape drawings... lol (not quite sure what you call them), a little anatomy figure that really doesn't seem to help me, and the first skull I've ever drawn. Thought I'd give it a tonal sketch (is that what you call it?). Well, the results are less than impressive. I realized through the shapes that I really have no idea how the shadow of some of them would appear. Could anyone help on that?

[geckochan]

Great to see some tonal and anatomy studies happening - keep practicing and learning, that's the most important thing ^_^
Might help to take your sketchbook out with you and draw some quick sketches from people at school/bus/mall/wherever - as that'll help you get a feel for the whole, for the movement, etc - great to add to technical anatomy study - and will also perhaps help you loosen up a bit, as you mention that tendency to go over your lines a lot - having to draw fast as people move around may help.

Also, you mention in your tonal shape studies that you don't really know how the light would affect/hit them, so presumably you're doing them from your head - which may be kind of the wrong way around. Try finding some objects that have simple shapes - tin cans, apples, etc - and put them in different light situations and draw from life. That'll help you understand how the light is really interacting with them, and in turn when you do need to draw from your imagination, you'll be able to surmise more accurately what would occur.

Keep up the good work! ^_^

[.desk]

Thanks geckochan. You're totally right, I am figuring out the lighting in my head... So in the spirit of that I drew out a portrait I found on deviantART. It's pretty much completely copied. I wanted to know how the light bounced off her face. Took me... 35 minutes? I consciously tried to keep my lines to minimum. Uhm, I totally messed up the hair, when I got to it, I found myself thinking "how the hell do I even start".

[.desk]

take 2 of the girl from above, this one took me like 15 minutes. it was a lot easier the 2nd time around. and a new girl. this one like 20 minutes. doesnt look anything like the actual photo though.

links to the original
http://zemotion.deviantart.com/art/Luna-70945303
http://eliara.deviantart.com/art/jus...-love-80174438

[ROCKON]

Wow dude, I LOVE your coloring! Awesome stuff!
As mentioned before you should try posting some anatomy studies and life drawings.
But you have gotten off to great start with your SB, nice!

[.desk]

Thanks ROCKON!
Here's some anatomy, nothing below the waist yet though. With some failed attempts at shading them. I threw in a little 'step wise' of how I went about the first one. Just so if anyone saw an error in between steps, they could point them out to me.

[.desk]

Here's actual anatomy I copied off Posemaniacs, with some facial work of my own. It's quite hard to break away from the anime style.

[.desk]

A little help would be appreciated, I can't be doing everything right.

[DAVEZILLA]

It's really nice to see another 16 year old struggling through the art world.

I'm seeing alot of good things, and I'm seeing alot of things that you can work more on to improve even further.

First: Don't worry about instruction manuals and How-To books until you're comfortable with your instrument (may it be a pencil, a pen, a big fat marker, or paint). Make straight lines, circles, squares, triangles, any basic shape. The more you practice shapes in two and three dimensions, the better your drawing will get. That's how you draw the human figure, it's just a bunch of circles, squares and triangles. But you'll learn all of that later on.

Focus on drawing from life and figure drawing. Don't worry about anatomy studies just yet. It's fine if you continue to do that, because NOTHING HURTS YOU. But I think you might find yourself improving quicker and building more confidence if you drew what's right in front of you instead of from a book. It's not about succeeding or failing, it's just about doing it the best you can. I see alot of effort put into all of the sketches you've done so far, and it's really impressive.

Anyways, I'm unwinding from my adult-like talk and getting less serious now.

Someone told me this after I had gone through a really rough patch of time.

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.

Hope it helps, goodluck

[Radio24]

Keep up the anatomy studies. If you can find a figure drawing class, take it! Start drawing from a model as soon as possible. Just drawing anyone at anytime will help you understand how that person is put together.
One crit of your recent anatomy studies--
it looks like your getting the concepts correct in your head, but you should pay much more attention to what you are seeing and not what you think you're seeing. I use the teeth in the skull and the muscles of the abdomen as an example here. Try to break up your lines, and suggest as many as possible. Take a look at these abs, The shapes in there are complex and organic, and there isn't always value [lines] seperating each muscle. Doing any sort of still life study, or even photo study will be extremely beneficial, you'll learn about how light acts and what not.... anyway..

your sketchbook's coming along, and welcome to CA!
with patience, time, you'll be well on your way

[IanE]

Hey, man! Check out this tutorial for some really enlightening (pun intended) points on lighting and shadow in perspective! Read the whole thing, do those practices. It helps if you have a T-square and triangles, or a parallel bar if you're lucky enough, but a free-hand ruler will do the trick. The specific post for lighting is #9.

The skull study looks alright, the "tonal" study you did is what most of us would refer to as a value study.

Remember not to outline your lips! Lines don't exist in nature, only the blending of values and textures and the implication of the line!

Hope that helps! Thanks for running by my sketchbook too!

[Cohen]

thanks for stopping by my sketchbook. the post wasn't very critical but thank you, i'm going to miss him too.

i enjoy your photo reference portraits. you should definitely continue with those because they benefit you in two ways: (1) when you finish one you are proud of it and (2) it makes you more familiar with drawing faces. keep it up.

[.desk]

Davezilla: Thanks, it's nice to see a fellow student as well. It's not as overwhelming when you find out you're not alone in this. I certainly will try to do more still life.

Radio24: You bring up a good point in that I do draw more of what I THINK I see and not what I'm ACTUALLY seeing. Following that advice I did a sketch of the picture you provided me. I improvised on the head. It looks nothing like the original.


IanE: My lips will no longer be outlined, haha. Thanks.


Cohen: Thanks for the kind words. I will certainly keep doing portraits.

[.desk]

i have not posted in a while. schools starting and i got to do homework. :/

[.desk]

more stuff. please point out what im doing wrong. i dont know what kind of progress im making anymore. thanks.

[.desk]

...Thanks for the responses.


My friend who has taken "figure drawing lessons for 5 years" compared to mine. His is on the right.




And going back to what I've done before I started learning to draw.

[thespianmonsalvo]

Try not to keep reworking your lines. It draws the attention away from the actual sketch to see these harsh, dark outlines. But keep drawing and keep posting please.

[.desk]

what ive been up to:

[.desk]

oh come on NOTHING AT ALL?