sketchy sketch - UPDATED 5/5

[KONM]

Hello. I'm not exactly new here. I've been floating around for a while, but it wasn't until now that I decided to make a sketchbook.

I come in peace. I am 15 years old and I was born and raised in New York. I started drawing 2 to 3 years ago after being inspired by the amazing artists I saw online. I am hoping to improve and get advice/critique. I will post my studies here.

update: 2/25
I emptied out the first post to start fresh. If you want to see what was originally there, click here.

[JesseM]

You have some beautiful mark-making going on with those Bridgman studies... o: very nice. Looking forward to seeing more of it!

I realize you've only made one post, but I'd like to throw out a request for some work from imagination! Though I'd settle for some stuff from life, like that candle study (but more finished). ;D
It's just hard to judge your abilities, and thus see where you need to study and write a good crit, with only copy practice and half-done still lives. But as of now you're looking pretty good - welcome to cA and keep posting!

[BenjaminJL92]

From what I can see in your first post it seems like you have the potential to be a very good artist.
I really like the Bridgman studies, and that first digital painting is well done so far, it would be great to see you finish it, keep going man!

[KONM]

Hey. Thanks guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while. I almost forgot about my sketchbook. Old and new stuff. Mostly poop.

Most of this is imagination, for you Jesse.
I also have a couple of studies, not many though. I've been slacking.

I have a lot of practice to do. I cropped two of the pages at the bottom because the other sketches on the page were so disastrously messy, I was ashamed.

[KONM]

Some pathetic figure drawings before bed.

[KONM]

Some more today.

[Creusa]

Ok, those lines are sick

[KONM]

Creusa - Hope you mean that in the good way.

I was trying to focus on color, but I think I should of paid more attention to the face in the first one. Its a screencap from this Mexican movie called Biutiful. Last image is from imagination, probably gonna make it my thumbnail + icon. I was trying out new brushes, thanks to conte. I made the eyes too far apart, didn't I? I think I really will fix it. Its bothering me now. The girl is based off of one of the sketches in my old post.

The rest is studies from photos and some from posemaniacs. I might color some of them later. I have to draw more men. I realized pretty much all my studies are women, lol. But I am supposed to be taking a figure drawing class in March, so hopefully I'll have a good mix of both.

The hands are drawings of a drawing from the practice section of this daily theme site. The little flower print on it is just apart of the paper.

Advice, critique, and suggestions are very much appreciated. You can tear me to shreds if you want. I'm really trying to figure out how to make my sketches look less scratchy.

[KONM]

Nothing much as of recently, I just feel like poop. I don't know what direction I'm taking with my artwork.
On a lighter note, I've been reading this awesome comic book called Xombi. I reccomend it.

Anyway, I have a ref'd pose from a picture that I thought was interesting. In the second one I tried to draw 2 characters from Xombi. The last page is some Hogarth studies.

[pupuska]

Wow, really liking the bold straight lines you've used in your sketches. They seem confident. You're really young too, so way to go. Keep practising.

[Wassim]

that's really awesome , you're 15 and good skills
keep working hard , and never give up , and i'd suggest to work more on your imagination and study from ( Andrew Loomis Books ) there are free pdfs on the net
by the way i'm 16.5 yrs old
Good Luck

[KONM]

pupuska: Thanks.
Though its funny because I don't feel confident about my lines. Lol.

Wassim: Thanks, and thanks for the advice. I will definitely do that. I actually have the old pdf copies and I plan to buy the books that are back in print, I just have to get to it. And nice to see another young artist.

I'm trying to make my sketches tighter. Not successful.... yet! I also have some men and feet, but it came out terrible. Still have practice to do. The feet were my own.

Forgot to upload the feet.

[Samszym]

Oh darn it another one. I wish I had been working as hard as you at 15 (18 here). Don't stop! You're gonna be amazing. Your lines already really clean.

Like everyone says, do more stuff from imagination! It's the best way to really learn. I'd also suggest you start working some more on painting, it seems to be your weakness. Your figure drawings from observation in pencil are pretty nice, and it doesn't look like they're too hard for you to do anymore, so start working on harder things. I did hundreds of gestures in ink for months and it got really easy and eventually I just wasn't learning anything from them; they were just a waste of time I did so I could tell myself I was drawing. I wound up stuck in a rut, my imagination died and I barely improved over a long time. I should have moved on to longer figure drawings or finished pieces or something. If these are getting easy for you mix them up to make them harder somehow or work on new exercises.
Also remember anatomy is important, but it's secondary to composition and perspective and volume and shape and value and all those other wonderful boring basics. If you haven't mastered those yet pay more attention to them than you are to anatomy.

What field are you hoping to go into? You might want to start doing some more specific work that will get you closer to getting into the industry you've chosen.

[NickyBeats]

hey man, thanks for dropping by my book! i appreciate it! youve got some really nice work in here! i love your pencil work, and your lines especially. keep posting man!

[Monsieur-Beefy]

Nice! real solid figure drawing. The proportions of the heads are getting a bit off on some (mostly the females) but your lines are real smooth. keep studying bro!

[KONM]

Vertical: Thanks! I use to practice painting a lot about a year ago, but I stopped. I don't know why. I could of been better by now.

I am actually looking into purchasing this. It has good reviews and I'm hoping that it can help me to learn perspective, because I could never wrap my head around it. Any sites or book suggestions for perspective would be great. I'm also going to get this for composition.

I think I'll try doing longer poses or maybe get into painting them. I don't know. I'll find some way to switch it up.

I'm not sure what I want to do. I've thought a lot about this, but there are so many different fields I'm not sure which one to pick. All I've ever known is that I want to do something with art.

Thanks for the great advice, btw!

Nickybeats: Thanks! Expect to see me at your sketchbook more often.

Monsieur-Beefy: Yeah. I have to study proportion. I keep putting that off and that is one of the most important and basic things to learn.

Anyway I have some studies today. You might wanna ignore this update lol. I was trying to understand knees/legs. The first one is just .... experimenting after doing some studies.

I will try to post more things from imagination in my next update and to take more of your advice into consideration, Vertical.

The attachment manager wasn't working and CA is being real slow for me. So I had to host these at image shack.

[Samszym]

Glad I could help
I haven't been bothering with the attachment manager, using photobucket or another site is so much easier. I've read both those books, they rule! You'll definitely learn a lot from the perspective book. I haven't really done my studies from Framed Ink, but all the concepts are there. Composition's easier to learn from practice than from books. Well that's how you learn everything, but especially composition. I've heard tracing images with good compositions and analyzing them to see what they did is a good way to learn.
I'd check these tutorials.

No reason to pick any one field I suppose, just challenge yourself and do what's fun/whatever will make you money. Maybe try to emulate the style of your favorite artists :/

Thanks for the link to that Calarts person! I was running out of people to be jealous of/inspired by -_-

[Monsieur-Beefy]

Hey bro. If you haven't seen [this] there is lots of great information on basically everything. Don't worry too much about what you want to do. If you get amazing, you can do whatever you want! keep up the studies

[JFierce]

For the paintings try to stay away from opacity until you first establish the values. Try blocking those in getting the general shape then working up. Use low opacity strokes to blend the values. There's good tutorials on blending in the tutorial section here.

Besides that looks good.

[KONM]

Er, sorry guys. I attempted a painting but it came out so bad I am too ashamed to share it. Maybe a painting next time?

Also, I don't have much from imagination, but the last three images are imagination. Sorry. I just can't really think of anything to draw. Its kind of been this way for the past year. I think most of it has to do with the fact that I hate my drawings so much, I don't like drawing from imagination. Everything comes out wonky. Look at the very last image to see what I mean. I've been trying to doodle with pen/markers.

Most of these are reffed hands, feet, and figures on printer paper. Hands and feet are from life. I did try to slow down on the figures but I was still pretty fast.
In the 3rd image I started to move my hand faster, so it was a bit sloppy.

I noticed I'm becoming very confused. Its like I don't know what to study or even what I'm studying. I think I am going to try to concentrate on ONE thing at a time. Any suggestions on what I should start with? I'm contemplating whether or not I should start on perspective first, because I got that book I mentioned. Or..?

I'm so lost

I'll put these in the attachment management later incase they disappear from imgshack.

-EDIT-

Anyone know where I can find some good references for faces?

















(might color this)

[sharks]

Wow I love your colors ;0;

[Samszym]

I tend to just do fanart of games or shows I like when I get like that. No one said need to come up with something absolutely original to work from imagination.
someone linked me this, it's apparently another really good resource for perspective. Maybe try studying composition too, and since you say painting's a challenge do some more of that.

[Juho]

Dont worrry about what to do just keep drawing! You have a good thing going on there with the lines and the bold and simple colors mix very well with the lines like on the last picture. Do more of those color experiments please

[ANtY93]

Hey, thanks for that motivating comment on my sketchbook

I see that you're practicing hands and feet, impressive since they're the hardest parts of the body to draw. Great studies, keep up the good work

[Monsieur-Beefy]

Hey dude ~
nice hands, feet. When you do studies from reference, follow them up with the same amount of the same thing from imagination. If you do 10 feet from life, put away that paper, put away your ref, and draw 10 more feet from your mind. It's the fastest way to improve. Just make sure you pay special attention to the things you learned and apply them as much as can right away.

This leads into my next point, which is that whenever you are having trouble figuring out what to draw from imagination you should just draw studies. mundane things like anatomy and perspective are great things to draw from imagination when your creativity isn't showing up. It'll help you learn the subjects even quicker and it still fulfills the "from imagination" requirement.

Cheers!

[KONM]

sharks: Thanks!
Vertical: I might try that next time and thanks for that link! I'll check it out. I've heard of that book before.
ANtY93: No problem, and thanks!
Juho: Thanks. Will do!
Monsieur-Beefy: I'll definitely do that! I think I recall Samc doing something like that. If it works for him, it should work for me.

Finally something more from imagination, some doodles. I hooked up my tablet to my laptop and had a little fun. Didn't get to save this, but I had a screenshot. I think my style is starting to morph or something or maybe its because I don't get to shade the way I want to digitally. I like working traditionally more, but if it is morphing I don't like the way its going.

Also I'm getting the impression some of you think I'm a guy, lol. Its not really relevant, but I am a girl.

[zathraya]

Wow only 15. I Love how your studies are progressing. And I absolutely adore your faces they are so unique and playful but appealing. Man I wish I was working hard like this at that age. Your determination is awe-inspiring. Defiantly keep it up with your studies!

[JoFi]

Hi!

Thanks for dropping a comment in my sketchbook!

I really dig your lines. They have so much life, and you obviously see so much! If you're looking for resources on anatomy I highly recommend a book by Gottfried Bammes - "Die Gestalt des Menchen". It in German, though, but the drawings really speak for them selves!

Keep it up!

- J

[Immortal Cintiq]

Hey, Thanks very much for visiting my SB. I actually like your figures. They have a lot of potential in them. And your only 15, so by the time ur my age, your gonna be a pro.

As for the dont know what to study dilemma... yeah I've been there. My school didn't teach me much, and I was always confused on how to improve.

At the moment, Im a little less confused. I dont know if this'll help but this is how I structure my studies. For 45 mins, I do anatomy, for the next 45 mins, I do figure drawing or painting. Then for the final 45 mins, I draw the figure from imagination. So that 2hrs 15mins total. I do this every day as a constant.

After my 2hrs 15mins, I do 3 hrs of either Figure studies or Environment Studies. So figure studies could entail a self portrait, a figure painting, copying vilppus manual etc. And the same applies to Environment. I could study a perspective book or copy a photo of a snowy mountain, etc.

Sometimes I just throw my scheduled out and study whatever I want. Idk, this has worked for me so far. And I hope it helps.

[theUNKNOWNsketcher]

Also I'm getting the impression some of you think I'm a guy, lol. Its not really relevant, but I am a girl.

OMG LOL

keep up the good work!