Some Improvement and A lot of Procrastination. (BIG Update Jan. 13!!)

[Saraiva]

New, better stuff in the last page I got a bit better, I promise.

Hi all! I would like to re-introduce myself to CA (I havent posted in over a year.)
My name is Alberto, I am 16 years old and from Brazil. I started to get into art a long time ago and I really love it.

I have no high expectations, but all I want is to get better and have fun. Please help me in this quest! If something sucks please tell me. I dont get offended easily, so no worries.


I had an old sketchbook, so these are the OLDD stuff from it.

SORRY FOR THE LOW QUALITY SCANNING!

From oldest to newest.




























Next post... My new sketchbook.

[Saraiva]

These are from my new sketchbook. I started it not so long ago. Critique and comments are greatly appreaciated!!!

[conti]

Hey Alternative, I like your use of reference, that's always a great tool to use when you're starting off. One thing I would suggest with your poses is breaking them down into simple shapes. It'll bring more form to your poses. Keep it up!

[Dono]

I really enjoyed your later poses and hang gestures. It seems that you're doing well with shading as well. I wish I could give to some critique, but you're far beyond my skill. I'll have to keep a watch out for this thread, as I enjoy your work.

[Saraiva]

Thanks everyone for the first comments. I really apreciate it!

Conti - Thankss! I will try to do that. But what do you mean exactly by simple shapes?

Dono - All that matters is that you took your time to leave me a little message. Thanks a lot! Come back whenever you want

[danlambert]

First of all there's a very obvious improvement from the stuff from your old sketchbook and the newer stuff. I noticed your line confidence in particular seems to have improved dramatically.
Other than that I'd just say keep it up, I think I saw some posemaniacs studies in there, so keep at those, and those drawing without looking at the page exercises are equally invaluable and will improve your hand eye co-ordination with time.
You seem to pretty to have all the boxes checked, maybe try a few drawings from imagination? More from life (so important!!) Also maybe try doing a few longer drawings, and take the time to really push the values and the forms (and possibly your patience) as far as you can. Some of your images don't seem to have the depth they could have if you spent the time to render out the forms properly as oppose to just washing some soft pencil over them. I would suggest maybe ditching the soft pencils all together and just sticking with an HB or 2B for a while. This will encourage you to spend time on your rendering as you will have to work an area more thoroughly to achieve darker values.
But anyway I'm just rambling now, keep up the good work your doing, maybe try not to take a year off again and keep posting up your stuff. If for no other reason than it will allow you to track your progression.
Peace!

[Saraiva]

Thank you for your thoughful comment Danlambert. I will try to use harder pencils and see if that helps me. I thought that I had to use softer pencils to so I could go darker, I never thought about what you just said. Thanks a lot for that, I will definately try it.
I also need to draw more from imagination, I know, but I am just terrible at it. I need to study more, I guess.

Haha. I won't take another year off

[conti]

Sorry I don't articulate words too well, but by Simple shapes I mean breaking the form down into shapes. Meaning for the head use like an oval, and for the torso use an upside-down triangle and things like that.

[rolandb]

About the pencils: Your best bet is to try everything! One thing that might be especially helpful for you is to try using charcoal sticks. They make a really smooth, big mark, but it's very difficult to get a sharp, clean line with them. You should try some experimental drawings where you only draw the light and shadow, without any outlines at all. That will really help you see volume instead of contour. You have a tendency to outline everything, which can often make a drawing look flat. But that's getting better in your later sketches.
In your drawings from the live model, always draw the hands and face. Never leave a blob there. It doesn't matter if the hands and face look like crap every time. It's important to see the figure as a whole entity.
You are definitely going about things the right way. Study lots of anatomy, and draw from life all the time. Drawing from nature will always be your best teacher.

[Saraiva]

Conti - Ohh okay. Thanks, I will try to do that later today if I dont fall asleep. It's like 2 in the morning here
rolandb - Thank you very much. I will try to do so. Thanks for leaving such great advice. I usually have a lot of trouble with hands. I need to get better.


So I've always wanted to experiment with two first. Digital Painting and Watercolor.

First I tried to digipaint. I haven't attempted to do it in a while, because last time I did it was total failure. The first sketch is supposed to be a sailor kissing a zombie lady. I really wanna be able to color it.

Then I tried watercolor for the first time (Without counting art class in like 4th grade)
I loved it! I am having so much fun. I only started, so I just played around and tried different things out.

[SaiVix]

Hey great studies so far. I have that same Andy Loomis book. Its awesome. I have only recently digested all of it and started to sketch out some works.

Keep doing this. You are definitely on your way to greatness. How often are you drawing lately? It looks like you are improving pretty drastically. I can tell with your tone study.

I would love to see more anatomy though.

[monstertree]

Thanks for stopping by my SB! Looks like you're hitting the studies hard, the best (possibly only) way to improve! Keep going and going, drawing from life and the anatomy books and adding to your mental library - can't go wrong that way in my opinion

[Leo Snow]

nice begining, mate you can improve your own skills very simple: paint more from nature, live sketches, studies, etc. just wish you luck with that

[Saraiva]

Hey all, I am back. I didn't post for a while cause I was busy with some personal stuff. But now I got exactly 30 days until I travel again. My goal is to post at least 1 page everyday. Let's see how that goes



SaiVix - Thanks alot for those kind words. I haven't been drawing as much as I wished I did. I know i've improved, but I feel like I could be much better. I need to get that pencil and start working. And YES. Anatomy is on it's way. This is the first anatomy study I've done in a while.

Monstertree- Anytime mate. Thanks for stopping by too!

Leo Snow - Thank you, Sir! I will do these things ( I am hungry )



So these are the ones I did last night. I did some timed posemaniacs but it was so bad. For some reason I felt like I couldn't draw. I just scribbled some poses.
I just started studying from Bridgman. I am going to enter the Realm of Loomis soon too

[danlambert]

Looking good man, keep it up!

[Saraiva]

Why thank you, mister


So I missed drawing from imagination just for the pure fun it is. Not to get better or with any worries.
Here is what I did today so far.

[Masayasu]

Hey Alternative. Thank you for stopping by my SB. Well, after looking at what you have done so far, I really don't want to offer any advice that might corrupt what you are currently working on. I think that anatomy studies are looking like they are coming along well, and if there is any one piece of advice that anyone could give, it would be to continue what you started.

However, some important keys to a good character, in my book, are in the characters facial expresion (especially the eyes), and then the pose and especially the props. Nothing beats a character with good props. Well, I hope that helps a little. I am sure that a lot of these guys will load you up with good advice to keep you on the right path. I am trying to head there my self. Take care.

[SaintLConcept]

say again ...ur 16? umm,, do u draw directly the pose or do u use help lines like the simple skel thing,. if u draw directly, i suggest u to use help lines first because for me it helps alot to get the right pose, although i still sometimes get it wrong even with the help lines..but got to say u draw better than me when i was 16 *darn suddenly feels old* , keep posting! u got all the masters of all kinds here^^

[SaintLConcept]

confused where to reply u lol, i'm 24 =='

[nurraymjo]

Excellent looking studies. Hands are some of the toughest things in the world to draw for me and you seem to have those down very well. Your SB is looking great. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing some of your finished work posted. I'll be checkin' back.

[Artalus]

Hands are one of the hardest things to do ,but your hand studies are really amazing much better then a lot of other people includeing myself. Anyways I like the design of the barbarian dude but his lower left arm the part with the shield straps around it looks the same size of the his upper arm which makes it look kinda weird.

By the way thank you so much for checking out my sketchbook and being the first one to post a comment

[danlambert]

I remember the good ol' days when you could draw from imagination and not worry about it, good times, good times......
That last guy is looking great, are you going to finish him? It would be awesome to see him shaded or painted

[Rotor]

Hey man, thanks for stopping by my SB!
Looking good here, lots of studies and stuff, never forget to draw from imagination and simply have fun with something you enjoy.
On the last guy and a tip in general, always try to have the 3D shape and form of things you draw in your mind, it is easier to render stuff then.
The last guy looks good and the idea is there, it's just that it looks rather flat now. Think how the clothes and gear will contort with the shapes of his body to add depth and form to the piece. I'd say, for 16 years old, you are doing great. Keep the stuff coming. And study!

[papervampire]

hey awesome work! you're doing exactly the right thing... getting better and having fun! hehe I should try that. keep it up!

[zou]

nice improvement !

you should do selfportraits.
Jason manley also told me to have one year drawing from nature THEN from imagination.
You should concentrate on drawing from nature (models,still life, photos ...)

keep it, you're on the right track

[Billy Wimblett]

Hey thanks for stopping by my sketchbook!

From what I can see here it's clear that you are improving; those hand studies are great in particular. I would say continue with the studies, and try to think about the forms in 3D in your head as you do them just to build your understanding of WHAT you're actually drawing. If you want to draw from imagination I would recomend trying to understand what is actually going on in front of you, so that when there is nothing to draw from you can still put pencil to paper confidently.

For example, someone could do an awesome drawing of a person in some crazy position, but if they don't understand anatomy, foreshortening, lighting etc they wont be able to draw their own characters. If that person then went and did another great drawing of a complex building, they would have problems doing their own building design because they don't know perspective.

Its important that you continue to focus on the studies and life drawings at this stage, but in addition I would highly recommend digging deeper into your subject matter; learn about anatomy, lighting, perspective etc and it will help you greatly.

Good luck!

[Saraiva]

nurraymjo - Thanks a lot!

Artalus - No problem. Thank YOU for droping by mine

danlambert - Ugh I am not sure If I will.. I dont have the skills to paint it. And I really don't have the guts to shade it hah. Maybe some other time. Thanks for droping by again Always love hearing what you have to say.

Rotor - Thanks mate! I am trying to work with values now. You can see this in some of my next studies. I am not saying they are any good, but I am trying!

papervampire - Thanks!!

zou - thanks for the advice, mate. I will start doing portraits soon! And about imagination.. I know, i know, but imagination is fun when I am bored hah

Billy Wimblett - Thanks a lot for the advice. Very insightful. It helped me a lot on these next few studies. I am trying to UNDERSTAND things better now! Thank you very much sir! =)


I have a friend visiting from another country and I am housing him for a month. So I haven't had much time to draw. Plus, I was working on a drawing for my girlfriend. Unfortunately, I didn't have the brains to scan it for some CC. =( I need to catch up on these last 2 weeks!

Anyways, I am focusing more on form and values, rather than simply leaving my stuff at line work. My rendering seems to be improving somewhat, but I am not too sure!! I've been working on watercolor, such a tricky medium =(

Let me know what you guys think! Thanks in advanced!!

[danlambert]

More good stuff man, those heads are looking expressive, and I really like that eagle; watercolour is such a bitch work with but you seem to be picking it up no problem!
With the heads try to think of them in terms of planes, blocking in the tones first. Another thing you can do although it takes more time is to cover the whole area with value, as nothing on the face will usually ever be paper white.
I really like the drawing of the guy playing the flute, although I think you could focus on getting the darkest darks darker (ha!) to really make it pop.
Those quick drapery studies are a great exercise and will really help you when you come to draw clothes and things. I think you could try to concentrate more on your strokes and angles though. (I realise that my strokes suck but I can be a hipocrite if I want!) Try to make longer and more confident strokes as oppose to little short ones.
But another great update man, keep up the good work. I'd like to see that drawing for your gf, is it a portrait?

Peace

[Saraiva]

Danlambert, you are the man. You have no idea how grateful I am for your many critiques =) I really apreciate it.
I am definately going to try the things you have said. I will try to cover the whole are with a tone, but usually when I do that it looks like crap. I don't know why, but it does. I guess I will try harder

Thank you!


I feel bad posting without something. So a quick landscape sketch. Critique is welcomed =)

[kyurai]

hey

on the landscape right now we are seing a lot of details in the background area, more detail than we see in the foreground.it s a very nice landspace if it really exists somewhere imho, the drawing needs something in foreground, to direct our eyes to where you want... perhaps some algae(is this how you write it ?) or some branches