inertia, (old sketchbook)

[Asatira]

Hi. I'm rather nervous to be putting this up, but I figured it'd be the best time. I've been drawing off and on since junior high, but the biggest problem I've had is I've never been consistent when it came to practice. I've also, over time, developed a little fear when it comes to making art, and I feel like I've lost some of my creativity (or at least harder to get at it). In my mind, I'm a complete amateur. I need help with just about everything. I'm also a dabbler, trying everything from graphite to watercolors to digital media.

So, here's my sketchbook. I'm hoping to post here frequently, mostly exercises from this board and many other sources. Here's hoping for improvements.

To start off, here are some pics I drew, exercises from the How to Draw on the Right Side of the Brain Workbook. I'd like to think of them as a point of reference for comparison.

Feb. 18, 2008 Those of you who have been following along, and for those who are just dropping by, may notice that a number of my posts have been either edited or deleted. I recently moved to a new webhost, but I'd stupidly forgotten to backup some of my older drawings. Rather than have a bunch of broken links, I decided to edit them as needed. In the future, I may repost some of the older images if I find them. In the meantime, I plan to keep putting up the record of my progress. Thanks for dropping by.

May 6, 2009: I got a bit tired of this thread. I've never been particularly consistent with updating this sketchbook, so I'll be starting fresh with a new one. This sketchbook is now closed.

[Funny_Jedi]

It looks like your about my age, and your on the right track. I want to adress some things first

there is nothing wrong with being a "dabbler" this is actually a good thing, the best artist is a well rounded artist. Also the worste thing you can do is start and stop. Keep on going, always draw. Draw in class, draw while your waiting for your Mcdonalds order to come through, draw while on the can. This is a best thing that you can do is draw from the second minute you wake up to well into the night. A person that likes to create art draws an hour a day, a good artist draws for 2 hours a day, a great artist is the person that has an indent of a pencil in their hand.

Now to what your doing and posting. Its great
Keep going through that book, its a good one. It will help you see and not just draw. One thing that would help you out is to post some goals that you want to achieve, such as learning colour or being able to draw a figure from imagination.

BTW dont worry about lack of replies, if you start posting in other sketchbooks and update this thread regularly and they will be pouring in

Overall your on the right track. Also dont be afraid to just attack the paper, I know you have crazy imagination in there let it free man.

[Asatira]

Funny_JediThanks for the words. I think I've figured out my goals. Namely, I want to improve my tones and values so my objects can have more depth. I can't wait to get to that part of the workbook. I also want to build up my hand-learning by drawing a number of objects, building up my library so to speak.

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[@work]

Thanks for dropping by my SB !

Great start you got here. Keep practising I'd say, you certainly show a lot of talent. What I like is the fact that you use heavy lines and light lines in your sketches, wich is really good. Only... If you should place heavy and light at the right place, your drawings would be even better.

Use heavy lines where shadow falls.
Use light (hairlines) where light falls.

or/and

Use heavy lines at places near the viewer and hairlines for things further away. (like you did in this drawing) (the legs are to wide here, witch distorts the perspective, but you're on the right track there). Dare to exaggerate lines !

Keep it up man !!! Hope to see more of your work.

[Rebeccak]

Hi Asatira,

Keep working on these master studies / quick sketches, I can see that they are really helping you improve! Thanks for dropping by my Sketchbook, and it's good to have your participation in the Anatomy Forum. I really encourage you to participate in OFDW 021, it's a great learning experience, and everyone who participates improves / learns something I think, most definitely including myself.

One suggestion I have for the line work is to hold your pencil a bit more loosely and to draw with a more rhythmic and gestural stroke. The 15 minute sketchathon is a great gymnasium for this kind of exercise, it has really helped me to get more life into my drawings recently. Try doing at least one or two 15 minute gestural drawings a day - it will really make a difference!

Cheers,

-Rebeccak

[Monika Gruszka]

and i'm also rather nervous because my eng is really, really bad

nice work, esp #2... i dont like drawing hands:> but yours is good kisses!

[Asatira]

@work Thanks for coming by mine! And you have a point about the lines. Right now I'm working on accuracy, but I hope to be more flexible with the lineweights soon.

Rebeccak Thanks for dropping by. I agree, my lines do tend to be tight. Holding it the way you suggest will take some practice, but it should be worth it because all sorts of artists have suggested holding it that way.

monna-giovonna Thanks for coming by. I'm glad you like the hand. I plan to improve it in the near future.

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[Burak Geçgil]

nice..

[nilaffle]

Lookin' good Asatira, keep going with the studies. You've got some great ideas and a good idea for value and contrast. I like your sketches from the park lake, that's the sort of thing I'd love to see more of. Whenever you get the chance, do sketches and studies from life. It's tough sometimes, but well worth it.

Keep drawing and keep posting!

[Asatira]

nilaffle Thanks for the positive crits. I'm working on doing drawings whenever I can, just a bit hard on myself.

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[Zoroko]

I love the figures, very nice!! Moooree~! XD

[Asatira]

Zoroko: Thanks so much. Here's the latest from class last night: 1-min gestures and a long pose drawn over the course of 1 1/2 hours.

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[dmitri]

I bet you are feeling the power of life drawing!
The long pose looks really nice, some errors here and there, but I can get the feeling of that twist really well.
The gestures seem to have too many lines - try, as a change maybe, drawing a gesture with one continuous line. Remember it's not about getting the contour of the body correct, but the gesture!

[Asatira]

dmitri: Thanks for the crits. Yeah, I'm loving the figure drawings. I know there are errors, even if I can't point them out, but I'm glad you caught the main ... ummph of the image.

This is my last week of figure drawing classes, at least for now. I've got one more set of pics coming up tonight, but I thought I'd go ahead and post these.

[Master 25 Days]

Always nice to see figure drawings from life. I really like the ducks sketch too for some reason. Try to put more darker darks in your figures. Are you drawing through to construct the figures? Try to locate the lines for the spine, torso, and pelvic, and go from there. Most of the energy from a pose will come from the lower torso as it's the center of gravity.

[Asatira]

Master 25 Days: Thank you, I'm glad you like the geese. I need to do more animals. I'm not really constructing the figures from the hidden structures (like the spine you mentioned), but I know they're important. I'll probably try to do so more in the future, especially in regards to imaginative works.

Last long pose of the class (but not the last figure drawing I'll do. :p )

[RandAlThor]

Some excellent advice already in this thread, heed their words. Excellent start to a sketchbook, i can see the improvment already, keep at it andyou will really have something to offer... ;-)

[Sealegs]

Hey there! nice improvement with those life drawings!!! Keep at it!

[muleskinner]

Wow! Great progression shown in your figures. Some of your sketches in the beginning of your sketchbook aren't showing up for some reason, but the form and lighting on the latest postings you did are very nicely done.

[iceman478]

i really like the full body studies ...very nice

[Asatira]

RandAlThor, Sealegs, iceman478: Thank you for your kind words. I sort of slacked off these last couple weeks, but plan to fix that.

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Personal goal: work on building a visual dictionary so I can do more concept art and illustrations.

[Asatira]

Did some drawings during an outdoor ballet performance. Audience figures were about 30secs to 1min, stick/gesture figures of dancers were about 15secs or less (it was dark and they don't stay in a pose for very long).

[Asatira]

Ech! Been too long. I'm going to have, mixed in with hopefully a lot of other stuff, one hundred portraits. Here's the first.

[phoric]

Thanks for visiting my SB. Good job on the portrait, I need to be doing more of those. Keep up the good figure studies.

[javvie-pl]

Hey Asatira !

Lovely drawings! I like your style, and lines. But especially I like those 'sketchbooky' figure studies!
Sorry I don't know what to say more D: but hmm maybe more color sketches ? (meh loves color sketches XD)

See you!

[UriL]

I like your line and the way you show form in you figure studies. I like it very much lots of improvement.

[Asatira]

Javvie!! How's it going! Glad to see you. Maybe on the color sketches.

UriL: Thanks for stopping by. I'm glad you like the figure studies.

phoric: You're welcome. Thanks for stopping buy.

Wow. I really need to update this thing.

[jompen]

Cool improvements going on here! Keep it up!

[Asatira]

jompen: Thanks.

[nilaffle]

Nice stuff! Love the gestures from the ballet performance, what an awesome idea. I love drawings of dancers.

It'd be cool to see more studies of proportion and shape here. You've got some good poses here, a little more volume would really make them pop.

Keep posting!