Training montage- Updated January 20th 2013

[SamC]

New Stuff On Latest Page

I'm Sam Carr. I'm 19 years old (I started this sketchbook when I was 14) and I have a strong interest in a career in illustration and concept art. Had just been drawing shit before now, now I'm seriously trying to get good. Please crit.

[SamC]

And here's some of my studies as of yet. I'm kinda embarrassed to post the self-portrait, as anyone who had actually seen me would laugh at how distorted it is. I have the features, I just can't seem to get them in the right places.

[SamC]

Just drew these. Really pleased with how the new self-portrait came out, my art teacher taught me how pick out tones properly. I was feeling a bit down after the last self-portrait, so I'm really glad I've come a bit closer to nailing it. The rest are studies of anatomy.

[sinneart]

Great start! Good to see you're already working from life and studying anatomy... keep that up! First thing I would at least start to notice/work on is your quality of lines. I see that you have the signature "chicken peck/scratch/scribble" method of putting down lines... try to make every line count when you're drawing... dont worry so much about getting it "right" straight away - but try to make your lines as long as possible - over time they will become more and more accurate and you'll gain confidence much faster than if you continue with the scribble method. Eventually you can then start playing with line weight and shading to show form as well.

Keep it up!

[Miles_]

Hey Sam,

yeah the guy above me is right on with the thing about having confidence in your lines, really try to work on long flowing confident lines, it can add so much to the piece. I sent a ton of info in a PM, cya in school sometime,

Miles

Oh and of course, keep it up! your work shows lots of potential

[SamC]

Hm I'm not exactly sure which lines you mean. The shading or the outline? Could you explain it a bit more? Thanks.

-Sam

[SamC]

Sorry for not posting yesterday, drew all day but never got around to posting any. Finally understood the line thing, the difference is very clear, although I kept accidentally reverting back to scribble. Also, could anyone tell me how I can add text in between my attachments?

-Sam

[Miles_]

Ah yes, sorry for not making it clearer, I meant as in outlines ect. One way to think of it, is that a line is simply a simple way to mark a sharp edge where there is a value shift. I hope that makes sense because I can't really think how else to explain it at the moment Basically on things like the eyes and lips, you don't need to add lines all the way round, just in the most obvious value shifts. Try looking at some other artists line drawings to get a better idea of what I mean and how they use line, especially on the face. Anyway, looking good, just keep on giving it time

[The Sceptical Saint]

Nice start, you tackled a couple of difficult poses there.

I'm kinda embarrassed to post the self-portrait, as anyone who had actually seen me would laugh at how distorted it is. I have the features, I just can't seem to get them in the right places.

Do some proportion studies; Go find some books, websites, whatever that break down every parts relative size. Or grab a photo and grid it up, draw a centre line, lines across the brow, end of the nose, edges of the eyes etc and see what lines up with what. It'll click, just keep hammering away at it

[SamC]

Thanks for the support and advice guys, it keeps me going . This is today's batch so far, I'm creating a list of my weaknesses and hands are definitely on it. I did some Bridgeman study but I'm having trouble applying it. I did another self-portrait, which I think is better than the last. With the apple drawing, I need help making the difference between tone and actual color clearer, any advice? Also, I'll ask again, could anyone tell me how I can add text in between my attachments? Sorry for the essay

[Adrian Wilkins]

ah man i think you're going just the right way, keep on studying
that's what i should have done when i was 14

those last hand studies are great!

I'll keep on stopping by
to give some advices if you like

and thanks fore posting in my SB


cheers!

[Miles_]

Yeah thats what I'm talking about with the lines! If you are having trouble with faces I always love to do photo studies and look at other artists work.

Already the selfportait looks better, keep doing them when you feel like it.

Okay, with regards to values. Everything you see through your eyes, or in photos ect, is all varying degress of values, hue and saturation. If you imagine value is how dark a shade is, ranging from black to white. Hue is the actual colour of the object, and saturation is how intense the colour is. I.e a light, greyish red, is high value, red hue, and low saturation. Hue and saturation are basically affected by the lighting temperature and colour, and the base colour of an object. trying to take in all the information about colour at first can be a bit overwhelming, and I still struggle with it, so its easiest to start just thinking of value. So when you are drawing something from life, just in your head think of all your different values on a scale of 0-1, 1 being black, and 0 being white, and everything else a shade of grey inbetween. when you are drawing it think to yourself, what shade on my value range is that tone. then shade it in as close to the tone as you can.

Just keep on enjoying yourself and it will all come eventually. Keep it up friend, cya sometime.

[SamC]

Hygami: Thanks man. Yeah it'd be great if you could keep popping in

Miles: Yeah it is difficult to get my head around Thanks for explaining, it's making more sense now.

Today's batch is mainly study from yesterday. I spent most of today starting doing a life drawing of this huge flowerpot, looks good so far . Tried my first proper digital work with no lines, looks like turd because it's a weird pose and I didn't use an outline. And the grass should SO not have been green. Anyway, enjoy .

-Sam

[Man Made God]

Nice start, good to see you're hitting the books.

You could push the values more in your pencil drawings. Notice how you have pure white but hardly any pure black? Almost all of your rendering is gray, use some softer leads to give things more contrast and volume, your darkest darks should be black.

Your figures lack structural rhythms, or gesture. Be sure to focus on perspective, basic proportions and gesture, anatomy goes on top of all of that. Bridgman will help. Also check out Vilppu. And posemaniacs (Google it).

Keep the studies frequent and varied, but don't forget to have fun

[NothingReallyExists]

Your most recent sketches are already starting to look WAY better than those originals you posted from your firsts you up'd. The Bridgman book REALLY, REALLY REALLY REALLY helped you! CONTINUE to pick up every book you come in contact with! Read the text on techniques... try to copy their work (DONT trace).

Most important thing you can do is keep everything blocky and rounding/smoothing should be the last thing you do. The blockeyness will help your structure and make your images seem more believable. In humans or other organic forms, when we view the images, it is it's blockyness that gives it it's "form" or "boney" appearance.

Do not worry so much about texture.

Focus on line-weight and varying it (sometimes you dont need to outline everything, rather imply where the line should be)

Go find a stick out in your backyard... something thats more blocky than more rounded, and turn it in to blockyness and build it up to being something more... then bring in shading only when you feel its absolutely necessary. Heres an example of my work:




One of the best rules you can live by is that the big picture needs to be completed before you can add all of the pretty details that we all love to see (toes, fingers, hair, holes, ect.)

[SamC]

Man Made God: Thanks for the advice with the values, I really hadn't thought of that. It really helped with the flower pot picture. I spent today trying to do some work on figures, but I'm not really sure how to achieve gesture. I attempted a figure in perspective, but I don't understand how to put a person in perspective without having them look slanted.

NothingReallyExists: Thanks for the praise, it really helps. I'll bear your advice in mind, but I'm not really sure about the blockyness. I just tend to see organic images as round objects from the start. Anyway, I will try.

I'd just like to say first off that I'm starting to feel frustrated with myself, I feel like I have no clue where I'm heading with any of this, and I have no clue where to start with things like : environments, digital, female anatomy, hands (still!) drawing decent figures, let alone how to apply any of this into my own creative work.

This is today and some of yesterdays work. I'm kinda scared to touch the flowerpot again, I don't want to ruin it. The rest is proportions mainly, which I failed on most of.

-Sam

[Man Made God]

Gesture is just the underlying action or pose of a drawing. It's an incredibly important concept for figure drawing, but its relatively easy to practice. Even a 30 second sketch can express gesture, thats why I recommended posemaniacs to you. Its covered in a lot of books, Vilppu drawing manual was the best I've read so far for explaining it, but the book is fairly rare. Check out this tutorial, specifically the sections on line art and perspective: http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=37474

You say that you have problems drawing people in perspective, but people are always drawn in perspective, even in profile. It sounds more like you have problems handling perspective in a freehand kind of way, it helps to imagine simplified 3d forms when building the figure, like in the Hogarth and Loomis books.

[SamC]

Man Made God: Did 3 posemaniac sketches today, Gotta say, the legs all seem too short, I spent about 20 minutes on them each (is that too long?) Reading through that tutorial has really given me a lot to think about and apply to my work. I will search around for this Vilppu book, but I think it's just gonna take practice. Thanks, you're giving good critique

Finally have some good digitals going down I only really understood Hue, Saturation and Value once I had the bars in front of me and played about with how a texture looks. Feedback please!

-Sam P.S I've filled my study folder with 40 drawings in about 5 days

[Man Made God]

You can take as long as want, don't worry about that. You should do quicker sketches too though, with an emphasis on quick construction. They don't need to be anything more than a few lines. Look at other peoples' quick figure drawings to see how they handle the gesture phase. There are a lot of different styles, its a pretty abstract part of the drawing, but its essential for conveying force.

Your digital paintings are looking good, the blending(edges) seems like the weak point, but the colours look right. Did you use the eyedropper or did you work them out manually? Either way, they look good. In July I couldn't get those kind of results even with whoring the eyedropper.

[SamC]

Man Made God: I notice in a lot of Bridgeman's work that he uses a lot less lines, but they show so much more. I'm gonna look more into gesture, it's a bit of a black hole for me, it comes in so many forms that I'm still not certain how to express it. As for the coloring, would I solve the blending issue by occasionally using a softer brush, or using more values to achieve a softer look? I only used the eyedropper once to lay down a base color, and the rest was just guesswork. And thanks, that means a lot coming from you

Most detailed self-portrait so far I think, thanks to using more contrast. I've sorted the issue of the eyes being huge, but now the face is too long D: I'll get there soon

[Man Made God]

Like I said, gesture is the most basic form of the drawing. Quick sketches are great for getting a feel for it.

Softer brushes tend to make a lot of blur, they can be useful but I think they're better for atmospheric effects than rendering solid objects. Stick to hard brushes with variable opacity and/or flow, at least for now. When blending, continually overlap the two colours and use the eyedropper to choose the in between colour, like mixing paint.

For choosing initial/base colours, its okay to use the eyedropper initially, but it is a crutch so make sure you learn to do it manually. Remember that you can paint on your reference image if you open it in photoshop, that way you can find a colour through trial and error.

Your values are better, but be patient with your shading. You don't need photorealistic rendering, but avoid scribbling at all costs and do your best to "follow" the forms.

[SamC]

Man Made God:It may be the most basic form of drawing, but it's literally destroyed me :| Whenever I try and draw anything it just comes out completely distorted and, well, shit, as you can see from todays work. Thanks for the tips on digital, sound really helpful.

Whenever I draw something good, it feels great, but when I'm not I feel crap. I don't really want to stop because I want to get good so badly, but I'm not really having fun anymore.. Today's work got me down because everything I drew was rubbish, it was as if everything I'd learnt counted for nothing. I'll stick with it, but it's not good

EDIT: MAN UP

-Sam

[kikindaface]

Hey man, I see that you're working hard, and it's a really good thing ! Try to draw more from life, it's the best way to improve your drawing skills ( values, proportions, forms ) and keep studying color, Your strawbery and apple's paintings are really good. Maybe you can take more time on those, to have a more finished painting. Keep it up man, and have fun !!

[SamC]

Walid D: Do you mean draw people from life? Thanks for the encouragement.

Environment I made last night, is fairly poop but I'd never tried before and didn't really know how to.

-Sam

[Man Made God]

Well, you can't expect great results on your first try. Do some environments from reference or books. And don't worry so much, you're 14 and you already use CA. I started drawing seriously when I was 15 and it took me a year to find some good books, you already have inspiration, feedback and access to good learning materials. Have fun. Practice and absorb information. Feed your imagination and have fun with it. By the time you hit 10 pages you'll be completely different. Which won't be long at this rate.

I see that you're already using Bridgman, but make sure you have all of Loomis' books, you can download them for free.

And I found a thread on Vilppu, so check him out.

[SamC]

Man Made God: Thanks, I realized how rubbish my attitude was and got on with it. Thanks for the Vilppu material, I feel it gave me quite a boost on gesture. The pose maniac blobs are starting to take form

Today and some of yesterdays stuff, sorry to keep overlapping days but I work way into the night. Just about to get started on my next digital environment

[Miles_]

Nice, you may not see it but you are improving fast. Try to keep it fun, drawing can be extremely frustrating at time, trust me I know, you just gotta preceveire. Keep it up friend.

[Porg]

I think you improved a lot when you went from your scratchy lines to the nice, smooth ones you're creating now. I wish I'd had the internet at your age, it would've helped immensly.

Your confidence will grow the more you draw as you'll understand what good and what's bad. I'm sure even professionals draw a lot of what they consider crap images. The only way you'll improve is by making mistakes.

You're anatomy and general human form is really coming on well though.
I would also heavily agree on the advice of drawing from life. Just draw people, wether they're stickmen or whatever, it'll all help you understand.

[SamC]

Miles: Thanks man, I realized you just have to stop whining and work

Porg: Yeah, I think it'll take a few pages before I notice an improvement, but I do sit back sometimes after finishing something and think "I couldn't do that a week ago ." I keep pestering my family to let me draw them whilst they do whatever they do around the house but they seem a bit intimidated. I'll just draw them regardless Thanks for the encouragement.

Environment from reference, I am proud of this because I didn't use the eyedropper once. That's all for tonight.

-Sam

[SamC]

More posemaniacs and some poses from Pulp Fiction.

-Sam