Million of apples, apples for free

[sishir]

Hi, before i go drawing something, i was told i should learn shading, everyday i draw atleast one image, i should start life drawings soon, but for now i am making drawings of the woodenfigure thingy.

Recentley i started to draw apples, the first few are from real, the rest i tried to get it in my mind how it would look like. I was commented by a 3 year old who saw me draw this on the computer, he said he never knew a 16 year old could draw super duper good... well thats nice, but now i ask you people, what can i improve on, and what direction should i take?

thank you

first apple: on painter from life



from mind:


From mind, photoshop, no blend, liked the strokes so i decided to experiment:


painter, from mind, and i just took a quick glance at the apple, coloring is messed up



finally, i did a still life in charcoal a long time ago, so i wated to try again, digitally.



Anything reoccuring problem you find in my paintings? anything that should be fixed?

I also remembered somewhere that you guys discourage using digital if not good at real drawing with charcoal or pen/pencils, is this true? If so i will stop using digital, and first work on my skill more via paper and pencil.

thankyou

[PixelFarmer]

my take on traditonal v/s digital....
The importance of using traditional media is that you get to see how it reacts and works and this can translate to the digital realm. Plus, using traditional media you are not confined to your screen or tablet space, you can use much larger strokes..and most importantly, there is no undo or layers so you are forced to think about each mark you make.
I'm not saying using digital is bad for you, any type of drawing or painting is great because you are practicing. But you are missing out on alot by not using traditional media.
I think in "today's" world, working in both media's would help you, but in the beginning stages of learning I would strongly suggest doing more traditional media work, it can't hurt you and can only help you

Keep working with your sketches, do more studies...don't worry about the time it takes..who cares if took you 3 hours and it looks like something someone could do in 3 minutes. The speed will come with time but the practice and understanding must come first.

My favorite of your apples so far is the 3rd one..the red one..mainly because it's loose and has more possibilities for finishing up.
try converting your color images to grayscale and see where you made mistakes in contrast...once you see those mistakes...try reworking the image again, but this time, paint over the grayscale image with color.

I think it's great that you are experimenting with different techniques, at this stage I would suggest to continue experimenting but do it in a smart way, study your still life object, learn how to block in the shapes and color...shadows are not always gray or black...learn about reflective light and color..there are some great tutorials here on this site that discribe these things...try to incorporate those into your drawings.

Do not worry about impressing others with talent just yet...it's far more important that you learn "things" the correct way and make your mistakes and learn from them.
Now that I'm back in school, I see alot of students who are more concerned with impressing others than they are about learning and growing as an artist. Because of this, they continue to make the same mistakes over and over.
I'm not saying you are like this, just speaking in general, because sometimes, in order to learn from your mistakes, you may end up producing what you may concider horrible or crappy artwork..that's fine and good as long as you learn from it and do not look for short cuts or the easy way out.

Sorry, I got off subject there..sometimes i tend to blabber off on things...

[sishir]

its ok, what you told me was helpful, studies is something i sould work on the way you compared the advantages of traditonal media made me think, i never thought of it that way. so for life drawing and studies, should i just go and draw things that i see? what if its to much?, like a hundred leaves? or too much junk in front of me, its things like that that make me panic, or can i go and pick an image of google then draw it then move on?

Flickr has a lot of good photos, but its artists photos, but can i draw it for sake of studying? not commercial of course.

thank you

[Elwell]

the first few are from real, the rest i tried to get it in my mind how it would look like.

Patience. You're jumping the gun.
Try this: Get a bunch of apples, say six or eight, all the same variety. Randomly pick one out and draw it. Take your time. When you are finished, put the apple back with the rest and mix them up thoroughly. You should be able to pick the apple you drew out from the bunch.

[PixelFarmer]

sometimes when you are confronted with drawing something such as a tree with thousands of leaves on it, it helps to think of them as a mass and not as individual leaves. Look at multiple objects like that as a mass of color and shape, look at the possitive and negative spaces it creates. Adding in detail in the key areas of interest will help sell the idea that this is a large mass of leaves on a tree branch.

use everything you can find to study from. If you want to use photographs, that's fine, just be careful though because sometimes using photographs will be more of a crutch than an aid. Nothing can beat drawing from real life, but if what you are looking for isn't avialable in real life, then sure, grab the photo's.
You could also try looking at the "old masters" works and try to reproduce those. You can learn alot of by observing their works and trying to recreate them.
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthre...hreadid=405198
that link has a link to another site with a HUGE supply of master works, I gave the first link becuase it helps explain how to use the other site in good detail.

One thing I should have mentioned earlier..
You need to learn and master the basics before expecting to produce works of high quality. Some people can learn the basic quickly while others struggle for very long periods of time. It's really up to you and how much time and effort you put into it. You're going to hit low points in your learning, we all do/did. You gotta work through them, don't give up at the first sign of failure.
I think you're on a great start, so keep it up and continue to experiment.

I remember reading somewhere, where an artist said "it's important that you don't always look for the easy subjects.." or something along those lines lol...
What I took it to mean is, if you're really good in one area, branch out, don't stay in the same area of focus or media. If you're good at drawing and painting apples, that's great, but you need to move on. Don't keep adding in an apple when everything else in your image is bad.

[sishir]

again, thank you, the link you gave me helped, 100 percent chance i will use it for studys or to draw them for a bit of practice.

thankyou again.

[NightVision]

the first apple looks like an apple, the others ... more like other fruits and veggies.
My point: draw more from life than without ref (%) and fix the no refs by looking at the real thing again.

Also, that first apple is beautiful on the upper left side, and looses all shape on the lower right, why did you not finish it ? (my guess, rushing to the fun stuff ??? But ultimately that's the long way). The shadow goes up too high too, I think (perspective).