Journey of a complete beginner. Follow me on my journey - I need you all!

[David.Mansaray]

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[mrwho25]

looks like how my drawings turn out lol, I have very little practice at drawing, which is why I've only posted digital stuff Keep it up, we'll get there eventually

[noobbb]

hello fellow beginner, i like your motivation. Your proportion studies aren't too bad. I would watch the shoulders--think clothes hanger, not shelf. also, when sketching, start lightly with straight lines so you can map out angles and eventually the entire figure. This will give you a perspective on how your image looks ( roughly) before you start going into detail.
good luck
-N

[PaintMyBrain]

Welcome sir. I see you are in a good start. I am also a beginner at drawing on my own quest of becoming better. Have you used any reference for this bodies? I think the look pretty good for someone being in this early stage. Try and use www.posemaniacs.com to try some other poses. Keep practicing and you'll see progress for sure.

Seeya / Brain

[zombifried]

Hello David, and welcome to CA,
Let me first say, I greatly admire your dedication, and devotion. You've got a long, hard road ahead of you. I suggest you make lots of studies. Look at all kind of "how to draw "tutorials. (even the basic ones are really good) Here is a link to some free art books. I really suggest the George Bridgman anatomy books, and the book by Loomis, but look at as many as you can.
I also suggest you learn how to eat, drink and sleep drawing...If there are art classes in your community, I would take advantage. I am being critical, but if you want to grow (and I've seen it happen) it's for the best. Look at this thread for inspiration.
Hope this helps.
Good luck!
~Zombifried
zombifried's sketchbook

[Connie Cane]

Hey there!
You're on the right track! Just keep practicing and draw from life.

[AnneBallaran]

hi david, good to see you're working hard i admire your determination loomis has you covered on most things you need when starting out, so do a lot of studies! one thing i would suggest you take note of is that the body is symmetrical, so if the wrist of the left hand ends at the level of the crotch, then so does the right. also, really take a close look at where loomis places the landmarks - the knees, the wrists, etc. study them in relation to the other parts, for example the wrist ends at the crotch, the elbows are level with the male belly button, etc. i also noticed on some drawings that you placed a mark for the beginning of the head but you start just right above it. try to stick to the head size you start a drawing out with. also i sketched out something for you, i'm not sure if it will help as i'm not a teacher, but i offer it with good intentions:


if there is no overlapping of lines, forms look like they are all at the same level resulting in flatness. try to take note of how form is described using overlapping lines. those that are in front cross over those that are behind, in this example the leg goes in front of the buttocks. this is something i didn't notice when i first started out studying loomis, it became apparent to me only when someone else pointed it out.

i hope that helps, my apologies if my explanation is unclear.. draw as much as you can and try to post regularly!

[PaintMyBrain]

Hey m8! thank you for dropping by my SB. I have allready been here I see and I have u subscribed as well. I am glad that you are studying different things. I think you are a bit harsch on your self, the hands are really a lot better than you think they are. Hands and feet are very, very hard, you are doing great, you will be great.

The skull looked very nice I see what you mean by using more lines and not focusing on shadows and so on, it seems like a good way to start, I will really take this in and try it more myself. Have u done any posestudies on posemaniacs yet?

As go for what you should focus on I am not really sure, I'm a beginner as well hehe as you know. I think your off to a very good start and you should keep doing this forawhile, try posemanics as well. You could maybe do some still life studies between all this, try draw off a flower, your pc screen, a chair or what not.

Just promiss me to upload it here I am here to learn off others and hopefully help another fellow to. So keep it up, don't give up and think better off your self, you have started off great. Keep that in mind!

Bye now / Braineeey

[PaintMyBrain]

hey great stuf, you really are getting better but you need to as you were saying yourself correct what you see is wrong. Even if you try to not do it again next time its better if you correct it right away I think. then you will probably remember it better
As for the first post there they are all very muscular, you seem to draw gladiators and oversized body builders. Try to make the muscles a bit smaller cause most ppl don't look like that

the head should fit on one of the shoulders in a normal case, with this in mind you can see that the shoulders are a bit to big.

the posemaniac studies are looking good, keep doing them and they will get better and better! Keep it up / Brain

[Zweit]

Good work dude, keep hammering away and this stuff will be second nature.

Don't forget to draw things that you like once and a while. Studies are good, but working from your mind will exercise a whole other set of skills that a book just can't do.

[PaintMyBrain]

wow you really are improving m8! Looking a lot better and not so gladiator-like hehe. I also want to draw digitally in timebut I think it's better to learn to draw by hand at first and then go for digital Keep it up you are getting better! / Brain

[David.Mansaray]

PaintMyBrain - hey thanks Yh I've been working hard. improvement is steady but evident. with regards to digital i was talking about painting not so much drawing that can wait. i gave drawing digitally a quick try and i don't like it. i would much prefer scanning in, ill give drawing in photoshop a try another time. lets hone the fundamentals first

[Naidy]

Wow, your recent posts are really starting to pick up. Keep up the anatomy studies lad, you can already tell they're paying off
I see you're not really wanting to draw hands, I don't blame you since you're focusing on the body for now right?
But I'd say when ever you have time or are bored just doodle your other hand in various poses, they're actually quite fun to draw.
Keep up the good work!

[David.Mansaray]

yes your right I have been focusing on the body, I will try to draw more hands there just so bloody hard lol

[SageTso]

Great stuff man! I'm a beginner myself, and its good to see your dedication. You keep aiming for your goal!

[PaintMyBrain]

looking better and better dude. Just keep studying and improvements will come faster and faster. Keep it up. /Brain

[m.j.]

Hi there!
Nice studies,just keep it up!
Thanks for visiting my sketchbook!
M.

[8bit]

Im drawing from Hogarth at the moment as well, its good stuff. But i would focus solely on him because he has quite a specific, mechanical style. Get what you can out of him but use other approaches to try and achieve a rounded style.

I think you could benefit from doing the whole 'seeing the body as a set of primitive shapes' thing. eg arms are cylinders, hips are a cube and so on. That helps to give you confidence when drawing the whole form.

try this guy's tutorial:
http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs10/f/2006/124/d/4/pose.jpg

keep going! perseverance beats raw talent!

[vaporz]

hey there... respect your dedication man. you seem to want it more than me when i started out. you'll get good, just keep drawing. i'm training in fine arts but i assume the basics in drawing would be pretty much the same... so i'll try compile a list of books/sites or whatever sources that have helped me so far. rooting for you man =D

[Sweron]

Good studies

[Sprech4]

Good for you starting with life studies, mate! You're doing yourself a great boon learning the ins and outs of anatomy before you even touch stylization - it'll help worlds when you get good enough to wander into that territory. Oh, the things I would have told myself when I started...

Don't put yourself down so much! You're just getting started, and you're not half bad for a beginner at that. You're gonna have sketches you're unhappy with. Leave them be! You don't learn by pumping out winners all the time. Your sketches from memory show that you are taking away from the life studies, which is a very good thing. Try moving on to drawing some skeletal studies. Understanding the underlying structure of the human body will help you better understand the figures you use for your studies - why and how they look/move as they do and that kind of thing.

[Diarum]

Hey dude, to bad you haven't posted in a while but when you come back that would be cool. There is a ton of tutorials that I have collected, It in my Signature down below, Hope they help

[vaporz]

hey, i'm back. here's a list of books that you might wanna check out:

1) How to draw what you see - rudy de reyna
2) charles bargue drawing course - gerald m ackerman
3) drawing on the right side of the brain - betty edwards (which you already have)
4) art of teaching art - deborah rockman
5) classical drawing atelier - juliette aristides (a bit on theory/appreciation etc)
6) keys to drawing - bert dodson (i think)
7) sketch book for the artist - sarah simblet (only some parts of it teach drawing)
8) artist guide to drawing the human head - william l maughan
9) drawing lessons from great masters - robert beverly hale
10) henry yan's figure drawing - henry yan

the first 6 are pretty good guides in basic drawing. hope they are of help to you. keep drawing and all the best =)