Shannon's sketchbook

[anubis713]

Okay, this is my first attempt at making this thing.

I am a student at the Art Institute in Minnesota. I am going for animation.
I sketch damn near everyday for atleast 30 minutes. Lately it has been ten times that since I'm in school and all...

I would really like to know what you guys think... so here we go people!

!st: 1st finished pen drawing (My favorite!)

2nd: A lion drawn from the Como Zoo.

3rd: A monochromatic semi-abstract tiger painting assignment

4th: A drawing from a while ago

And the rest I did for a practice portfolio in a portfolio foundations class.
Enjoy!

[MUNIZ]

Good start on the sketchbook. I've fill mine mostly inthe last week in a half so I know the feeling of just starting. I like the leather feel to the pants on the figure drawing.

[anubis713]

I like cream.Your drawings are cream!

Oh come on people!
I need more input than this!

I mean... cream? Really?

[Dan_Grr]

Really nice tiger, I like it, tigers are definitely not easy to draw.

[Miro]

sweet kittens
really great opening for a sketchbook
*click subscribe*
i'm going to keep an eye on this thread

and for feedback: i like your lion, but his back-paws seem a little short don't they?

keep sketchin' =)
cheers

[anubis713]

Yeah, I noticed that right away. My friend said he looked like he had an anemic leg.
Also, on the figure with leather, his chest looks a little squished and the arms look goofy...

[Miro]

maybe, somewhere on this world there must be a lion with an anemic leg?
but still, i like the way you did its head and the manes
how long did you work on the two last ones? they're wicked

[anubis713]

Well the pen one was worked on while I have a 4 hour break between classes on Mondays and Wednesdays... it took a couple weeks or so. But I only worked on it during my break on those days.
The other one was done in a weekend. I started on it kind of late, so I was a little rushed. It was done with acrylic, and I am not a huge fan of acrylic. But it turned out okay I think.
I will try to put up a better pic of it soon.

[Miro]

okay, thanks

i prefer to compare drawings to icecream
1) sometimes it looks beautiful (like the children-icecreams that look like clowns )
2) icecream is so good that i can never get enough, same with looking at drawings
3) icecream = sweet, drawings = sweetness

don't know what i'm blabbing about here
point being: your drawings are neat

i'm not that patient, i'm afraid to work on a drawing for a week
the longest i ever worked on a drawing was on that dragon and that took me about an hour or so
*bows* so i verymuch respect your work

[asoir]

How 'bout some updates? =]

[Brun]

you are defently advansing to somewhere, keep this up and you'll get the skills u want (ps: i love the tiger )

[Fishhead]

Shannon,
You got some wonderful sketches. I really like your imagination and the details. Your sense of shape works very well on your creatures/animals but lose some life on your figures. Figure drawing is more of a challenge to see the shapes. ONe thing that helped me grow faster was to draw sketch shapes in my sketchbook without thinking then look into the shape even if you have to turn your sketchbook upside down to see something then pull it out. Draw the detail into it. You will be amazed at what you will draw with little effort. It's a process I call reacting to the shapes which is different then starting a drawing with something in mind. Just thoughts. Keep up the good work.
Thank you again for you comments on my work.

Fishhead sketchbook. New postings. http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=84382

[kuroart]

hey, nice start.
The kittens look nice and the tiger painting looks cool.
The figures are looking good, just keep working at proportions.
keep it up.

[anubis713]

Thanks guys!

Fishhead- I will def try that out. Makes a lot of sense, and sounds like it would help.
Thanks again!

[anubis713]

Finally got some more drawings scanned in.
The first two are sketches.
The next is some expressions and different noses and lips.
The next is a work in progress.
And the final, I used a picture from somewhere (I don't remember) as a reference and changed some things. Also a work in progress.
Tell me what you think!

[Fishhead]

Great to see new drawings. Keep it up!
I hope your teachers are teaching you good principles and approach.

Here is some more info about some of the methods that have helped me.

Here is some of the basic ideas I use in my work. These are a few screen I use when I have taught art in college and workshops. As I have focused on learning these principles more, drawing and painting has become easier. One of the artist I study is Andrew Loomis. In his "creative Illustration and fiqure drawing for all it's worth" books he goes into detail about these principles. In art school I heard these ideas but never had a mentor show me how to apply them until I met some professional artists and started bugging them to teach me. I hope these ideas can help others on this forum to reach higher in growing as an artist.
Two of the principles(just to cover a few of the principles) I use are line and shape. If you can make your eye move through the drawing it will appear to have more life. If your eye stops or gets pulled too many directions your brain says bad drawing. The shape and silhouette is so important! Man this one opens up some many doors especially shapes within shapes. One exercise that I do to develop my eye to see better shape is to move my pencil around and create interesting shapes on the page. Then I look into it and find something to respond to and pull out the details and develop it. So many wild drawing come out sometimes scary, sometime just wacky and sometimes dynamic. When I was an art director I would have all of my animators render their character as a black silhouette so we could talk about what the shape says to the eye.

This stuff has become a daily thought process everytime I draw. It's the desire to breathe life into a drawing. My journey is on going. I have some visual examples on my sketchbook thread. Hope this helps.
Fishhead

[Miro]

wow, great job :o
i like the work in progress a lot, i'm looking forward on the finished version of that
and your finished work looks great too your shades on the hair and the flower are well done

oh and thanks Fishhead for the great tip, i'll keep it in mind for my sketches to come

cheers,

[Darvon]

I like the fairies and the eye study. I need to more of those.

[anubis713]

Thanks guys.
Fishead - you always give the best tips. I am very grateful for that.
Thank you very much.
Miro - That last work in progress is my favorite that I have done in awhile.
Thanks.
Darvon - The faries were really quick sketches, and I'm glad you like them.
The eye study was really fun. I will have many more of those, seeing how I love eyes and draw them everywhere. Best feature on the humans and animals alike. (That is what I believe anyway.)

[Stark]

Nice stuff so far Shannon/Anubis713. I like the Animal gestures you hae in the first page...looks spiffy.

[anubis713]

Thanks man! That was my first attempt at animal gestures, so it is good to here somebody likes them.
They aren't completely accurate or anything, but it was fun.

[Deverion]

I noticed you like cats.

I love animal gestures, you should definetely work on those whenever you can. I'll take a wild guess that you might have a cat or two, so I would suggest studying them closely; the way their weight shifts and the muscles act while they are walking or resting.

Those eye studies are nice as well. I would follow Fishhead's advice and check out some of Andrew Loomis' books. Of course, it will never be able to replace being in a studio with a model, but it's a good start. I'm trying to study from Loomis myself whenever I have the time. I think the key is to capture the essence of the figure as quickly as possible, and then go back and start really looking carefully at the intricacies of the outline and individual shapes in the body. Anyways, keep posting.

[anubis713]

Yeah, you are right. I have four cats. I just can't have enough of them. I probably will end up as a crazy old cat lady someday.

I did have a 6 hour long class where we sat and drew a model. It was pretty fun. I probably won't post those until after Christmas though.

Thank you.

[FactorZero]

thanks for checking out my SB...i had to return the favor! i really like the pic of the guy with all the swirling patterns in the background, and the tattoos on the other character are cool. great designs!

Edit: *suscribed*

i love drawing during school time and class...somehow i get my best ideas there

[lefran]

hey, the top sketches of cats are really great, id say perhaps do a few anatomy studies, it would really help with your figures. perhaps get some fashion magazines and do a few studies or something? your imaginative work is nice, nice ideas, but anatomy could be improved on a little bit ( i suck at anatomy myself btw but i need to learn more too ^__^ )
Updates please =]
Fran

[anubis713]

Thanks guys!

Lefran - I will definately try doing that. Thanks!
Yeah I agree totally. I need to work on my anatomy skills!

[JustinBeckett]

hey, nice book, good start, keep studying, drawing and posting! Nice pics in the SP thread too by the way

[anubis713]

SP thread?
What is that?!?

[JERI]

Hey anubis713 . I guess what I might suggest is to do more of those simple shape break-downs for your figure drawings like you did with your cat sketches (which looks the most confident out of your sketchbook btw). I reckon you'll really benefit from it.

Oh yeah, I think what you did with those lips/eyes practice is on the right track too.

[bunny]

Hey anubis.
I see you've been getting a lot of good critique here..hmmmm... what hasn't been mentioned?
I really like your crumbling girl... I think if you coloured it and polished it up a bit it'd make quite a nice piece!
I really think you could benefit from looking at a few girly magazines and studying the dynamics of hair. Having ever hair 'clump' or strand end in some curley-cue just doesn't look right.

Anyway, that's all I can contribute right now Keep postin~