Alamed's SketchBook - Free criticism acceptance :P

[alamed]

Hello
I'm a 20-something guy from Saudi Arabia. Currently working as an IT project manager (since I majored in Software Engineering). I love drawing and I wish to make it my retirement job, if not before (less headache!).

With the absence of art schools here, everything I learned was online or from books. I'm still lost on what to focus my practice on. I know that I'll need a lot of practice, but which area should I develop first? and is there a recommended practice method?

Any critique or help is appreciated , or feel free to just look around.
__________________

Below is one of my latest sketches. I'm currently working on my digital lines.

[Randis]

good start, keep em coming!
Than Panda looks evil

[alamed]

@R a n d i s: Thanks

[alamed]

Here is something I tried tonight, coping the work of Mr. William Whitaker (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=152936)
I know its not finished, but I didn't dare to add anything to it because I loved it so much .
Things learned here: Using tracing paper over pre-sketch. Some shadowing.

[bubblesaw]

it"s beautifull, i like it a lot more than your animals study

her head is less inclined on your sketch but it still looks good, just pointing out

[alamed]

@bubblesaw , thanks! .. yeah, I think I messed up the tilt there.

--------------
Here is a drawing done on a napkin today ... it was suppose to be Ray Charles, but it didnt came out right.

[alamed]

Nothing much for today, time was lost watching Barcelona Vs. Real Madrid

Copies of Mr. Bill Presing work ...

[alamed]

Heads up!

First and 2nd image:
Random head, and two re-draws for drawings by
Chhuy-Ing IA http://ciiawhatsup.blogspot.com/

Third image are random redraws from drawings here and there. Sorry as I dont remember the artists.

[alamed]

1st image:
Some photo that was linked in the irc chat channel, cant remember the ref (it was some celebrity news).

2nd image is a redraw of a drawing by Lois van Baarle (aka loish) that was in the 5th issue of "Digital artist" magazine.

3rd image would a random car ref

[Benjy]

Your lines are looking really good. Really nice draftsmanship.

[alamed]

1st image:
a partial redraw for this piece
http://ceeceeluvins.deviantart.com/a...Girl-129639085
under it is a couple of redraws from "Drawing Dynamic Hands" - Hogarth

2nd image
Random redraws while attending the online lecture "The art of the female figure" by CA

3rd image
Something I draw today at work using a ref.

[Norris]

Some good stuff, keep it up, and draw draw draw!

Love the hands and the Panda!

Cheers
Norris

[alamed]

Thank you very much Benjy , Norris

Now, I was suppose to be continuing with Mr.Loomis Head book, in order to get back to the female 100 head assignment.
But an image was posted in the chat channel, and I couldn't resist >.>

[alamed]

I was told I need more value in my drawings.

So here I'm adding more value to my SB
Criticism, hints, links, tips and tricks are highly welcomed.

[alamed]

12345

[alamed]

I'm posting this WIP before I get the chance to ruin it!
Seems like a good progress than previous shade work, but ...still more work is need.
The hair, oh the hair will be a great mess, because I still haven't figured out it how it should be drawn.
I'm posting the ref below it. Ref is by http://nocturno.deviantart.com/

[alamed]

During the month of October I had an awesome vacation in Austin, TX. In the first week I went to OnlineGDC and in the following 3 weeks I did nothing but "almost" daily life drawing sessions.
There seems to be some good improvement by the end of the month, but alas, the road is still long long long *sigh*.
Here is the first group of drawings...

[alamed]

Next patch. This one for the days 11 & 12 Oct. Things clicked somewhere in my brain at that time and a good improvement was noticed.

[alamed]

Third patch 12 Oct to 17 Oct. I was still trying different processes and different pencils to see which one I liked best.

[tehmeh]

Good improvement bro, keep watching for negative space and compare proportions when life drawing, making sure proportions are perfect before jumping to values will benefit tremendously

[alamed]

@tehmeh: Hey bro, its been a while . Hopefully I'll see you in the chat soon, currently offloading from the vacation. I did *technically* during the vacation finished the 100 gestures and faces, since I went to 20+ sessions and most had a 10 guestures run at the beginning
Also thanks for the tip. You are right, I started doing that more toward the end of the trip, as the coming images do show (Or so I believe they do).

4th patch. During the session of the first image, a great friend *Paul* gave me a black All-Surface Pencil (I have no idea what that means). I loved that pencil immediately, as it gives a true black line and much smoother to move than charcoal. I began using that pencil and a white pencil to finish a drawing, after spending 80% of the time trying to get the proportion and the details right first in pencil.

[alamed]

5th patch: The girl in the first image did wear a dinosaur mask and gloves for this pose. It was fun

[tehmeh]

Yeah those last batch are definitely showing good improvement, did it cost an arm and a leg to get so many life drawing sessions?

edit: last two batches

[alamed]

Last patch: This is near the end of the trip. I'm very proud of the following two images. Every time I look at them I go "God damn, practice DOES work".

You see, I didn't do any book reading or anatomy practice like I planned for this vacation. It was just attending session after session (which can be rounded to about one session a day, 2-3 hours each). And near the end, I managed to make some of the best drawings I did to date, and I'm very motivated by that. Just keep drawing is something I can now rely on as a fast way to progress

[tehmeh]

Most of those figure drawing books (vilppu, bridgman, whatever) are intended to be supplementary to life drawing anyway, great to see hard work paying off

[alamed]

Thanks tehmeh
As for " did it cost an arm and a leg to get so many life drawing sessions? "
Lets see:
Plane trip to Austin, TX - $1064 and 60 hours of travel (both ways)
Condo rent for a month - $2000
Model fee in every session - $5 each session (x20+)
Bus pass to reach these sessions - $28
Personal satisfaction from end result - Priceless

(heh, I always wanted to do that XD)

[InCOUM]

nice work!
i just would recomends you to be careful with the position of your pen when you are shading.. there a lot of hard lines that may be avoided to give more realism to every illustration ! ..well... i just think so :B!

Anyway, i like a lot some of your illustrations with model..they are so much better than mine! :B

Keep it up!




- Claud

[alamed]

@InCOUM: Thanks Man. May I ask you to show me an example? like maybe pointing out one drawing from the top and telling what might be wrong? I would LOVE to improve my shading!

Here is something done yesterday. Ref used for both. For the record, the model in the first image was crossing her eye

[alamed]

Random sketching junk ...

[dave117]

These are some great life drawing studies! Looks like your trip paid off. I particularly enjoy how you draw the female head - I'm still having trouble with that lol. Just a question with the white highlights on your drawings, is that done digitally?