Caution, boobies! Look out, a butt!!

**Longxiang** · January 29th, 2007, 06:08 PM

[redacted]

[I'm not ashamed of these, I'm just really tired of looking at them]

Nothing here.

**Diego** · January 29th, 2007, 08:05 PM

hi there, you could start being more positive about this, don't get yourself down because you're 34, put all your energy on your drawing skills, draw every day and make it your way of life, draw wherever you go, stay focus, be happy and don't think too much about your age or whatever.
You have a nice start, keep practicing the figure, go to life drawing classes, draw people around, draw everything you see, objects, animals, architecture, whatever, just stay focus and serious about it.
Make sure you check loomis' books, its a great source for everything related to drawing.
Anyways, keep posting here, show us more of your art, get involved with CA, you'll get amazing feedback.
Cheers man

**Longxiang** · January 29th, 2007, 08:14 PM

Originally Posted by Diego

hi there, you could start being more positive about this, don't get yourself down because you're 34, put all your energy on your drawing skills, draw every day and make it your way of life, draw wherever you go, stay focus, be happy and don't think too much about your age or whatever.
You have a nice start, keep practicing the figure, go to life drawing classes, draw people around, draw everything you see, objects, animals, architecture, whatever, just stay focus and serious about it.
Make sure you check loomis' books, its a great source for everything related to drawing.
Anyways, keep posting here, show us more of your art, get involved with CA, you'll get amazing feedback.
Cheers man

Thanks!

I'm not trying to be negative, I'm just very... intimidated.

I have most of Loomis' books, I use them for anatomy reference.
Are people really 8 heads tall though? I tried applying his proportions and my figures came out inhumanly long.

My next stuff will be more polished, I promise.

**Diego** · January 29th, 2007, 09:11 PM

I use the 7 1/2 heads the most, it what i feel more confortable with and i feel it the more accurate

**4rt-r41d** · January 29th, 2007, 09:25 PM

Dude, this is good stuff!
so i dont feel any better about mine 0.0
great sketches, i want to see more

**Lee W** · January 29th, 2007, 09:46 PM

good start

in reality, humans are about 6.5 heads but for illustration, they are portrayed as 7.5 heads, 8 heads and sometimes even 9 heads.

but as far as being over dramatic about starting again, I got you beat

**YinYangi** · January 29th, 2007, 09:57 PM

keep at it, I doubt myself a lot but I have to stop that because it won't help me get better. Just go at your own pace and keep practicing.

**Longxiang** · January 30th, 2007, 03:31 AM

Originally Posted by OldNoobie

good start

in reality, humans are about 6.5 heads but for illustration, they are portrayed as 7.5 heads, 8 heads and sometimes even 9 heads.

But... isn't that immoral? How does that make short people feel?

but as far as being over dramatic about starting again, I got you beat

Hehehe

We'll show these young whippersnappers whats what, eh? Now that I got this here copper bracelet and can unclench my knuckles enough to hold a pencil.

...

Ok this isn't a garbage post, I have a whole days worth of stuff to upload when I get home that I will put

[[ HERE ]]

**Longxiang** · January 30th, 2007, 05:32 AM

[oh no these ugly sketches got lost too!]

**Don-key** · January 30th, 2007, 06:05 AM

man dont let the age thing get to ya, its great that your getting into it!
i can see loomis coming through in those latest ones, this is great!

self doubt is a pain in the ass and EVERYONE gets it at one time or another.
just be glad your here with a community of awesome artists who love to share and help

and dont stop, just have fun. keep em coming. i really respect
you getting back into it.

**bhanu** · January 30th, 2007, 07:30 AM

the name is just too funny man, you sound a lot like me Its ok to have self doubt.but keep practicing. keep with it and you will definitely see a hwhole lotts improvement. Actually you are showing improved even now. just keep with it. and can you please resize the photos to a smaller size.
take care.

**Longxiang** · January 31st, 2007, 06:12 AM

Ok, third update in as many days.

I figure if you're going to study the human form, why not cut through the bullshit and get an anatomy textbook? So that's what I did.

Anatomy textbooks also have nifty creepy shit like toothless baby skulls.

Here's what I did different today.

- For one I slowed WAY the hell down, forced myself to take my time and concentrate. No sloppy strokes, no scribbling. This is hard for poor little ADD me, but seriously looking at other people's sketchbooks I know it's important.

- I paid more attention to my line widths. Again, no scribbling this time.

By the time I got to the tarsles I was pretty tired of this leg.

That 6th tendon is freaking me out. Where does it go? What does it do? You know all those ghost stories stories that end with the line "the call was coming from inside the house?" I always imagined this extra phone line running into the basement and the ghost of grandma could just talk into the end of it because ghosts are cool like that.

Now I know I have this extra tendon leading nowhere that ANY GHOST WHO WANTS TO can talk into. Think about it. You have them too, one in each leg.

I can't believe this turned out. At one point I had actually drawn six fingers on the right hand. Durr durr durr.

Oh one more thing I learned today. I always assumed that a good drawing/painting looks good from beginning to end. I really hadn't thought about it.
Haha, not so! When I started adding the muscle shading to the fingers I was sure I had ruined it and almost threw it away. But I didn't, and hey! I'm pleased with how that turned out, especially on the arm there to the right. (your right, his left.)

Edit:
Also I'm going to get my first tiny 6x4 Wacom pad (those are expensive on a Chinese salary ok) next week. Yay yay yay. Then there will be no excuse for me not to turn out something presentable.

**Longxiang** · January 31st, 2007, 08:43 PM

I loaded my drawings from yesterday into photoshop and did some stuff with the multiply brush like I saw in other people's sketchbooks and OH MY GOD I have never had so much fun in my life!!

**Longxiang** · February 1st, 2007, 06:24 AM

It's ironic. I hated coloring in grade school.

More anatomy studies.

Notice how I'm avoiding doing figures and faces? Yeah.

Eh, I guess the skull sort of counts. Maybe.

Edit:
Also some other sketches I didn't think were good/interesting enough to develop.

Edit2:
I should mention that I learned how to do this from Idiot Apathy's thread.

**AztcFireFlower** · February 2nd, 2007, 02:51 AM

Hi Longxiang,
Your post in my SB made me chuckle. Thank you for coming by. Now I'm curious to know what was in that moment.

It's good that you started up a SB. So far I've seen good studies, here.
Being part of a real community helps alot when you feel the gremlins of doubt kicking up, believe me. As Don-key wrote there are many generous folks here that want to see hard work succeed. Keep working, keep asking. I signed on here because I needed motivation in a big way. It's been a life line for me at CAorg because of the people I've met online. After 3 months of posting, I am now building a momentum for my skills and imagination with the support of friends I've made in this community. So will you. What do you have inside; fire, determination, passion? That's what counts and that's what will make you become the artist you want to be.

Good anatomy studies, good sense of humor. Keep working it.

**Longxiang** · February 2nd, 2007, 06:42 AM

Originally Posted by AztcFireFlower

Hi Longxiang,
Your post in my SB made me chuckle. Thank you for coming by. Now I'm curious to know what was in that moment.

For one I've never had any formal art training, also I'm stubborn and like to do things my own way. So when everyone told me "work on your anatomy, study Loomis!" I said to myself "yeah, yeah..." and then didn't do it, because I didn't see the relevance.

After all, you draw what you see, not what you think you know, right? If I memorize anatomy, won't that mean that every person I draw will be the same 8 1/2 head high amazon but with slightly different features? Face it, isn't a lot of fantasy illustration like that? Isn't comic book art like that? Is that not what Loomis teaches you how to draw? Comic book art? Doesn't that mean that if you want to draw realism it would mostly hinder you instead of help you?

There's also the question as to whether you enjoy drawing naked musclemen makes you... you know. Men sure, but naked musclemen? A lot? More than any other kind of man? I suspect that there are things some comic book artists need to admit to themselves.

So heeded not the advice of my superiors and I avoided Loomis.

Then today I was studying your figure studies reeeeally closely, and I noticed that your studies show all the muscle reference points, but your finished drawings don't. Not always.
Then it hit me. You don't practice drawing naked musclemen in order to draw naked musclemen. You learn the muscles so that in the future, even if you don't draw them, You Know That They Are There. Mentally. And it grounds you and keeps you from getting lost. Mentally.

So I did go back and actually study my Loomis. It was humbling, but once I understood the purpose I got a ot out of it.

The revelation was so sudden and so overwelming I just had to tell you about it.

It's good that you started up a SB. So far I've seen good studies, here.
Being part of a real community helps alot when you feel the gremlins of doubt kicking up, believe me. As Don-key wrote there are many generous folks here that want to see hard work succeed. Keep working, keep asking. I signed on here because I needed motivation in a big way. It's been a life line for me at CAorg because of the people I've met online. After 3 months of posting, I am now building a momentum for my skills and imagination with the support of friends I've made in this community. So will you.

I feel like like a dam that has burst. I can't stop! I've learned so much in just this last week I think my head is going to pop.

What do you have inside; fire, determination, passion? That's what counts and that's what will make you become the artist you want to be.

I have the fire! I have the passion!
My reason for putting it off doing someting about it for so long is that I was raised in the midwestern "people in Hell want icewater" tradition. That is, whatever you want most you can't have. This somehow makes you a better person, though I not sure at the moment how.

Good anatomy studies, good sense of humor. Keep working it.

I will! I learned too much today, so it may be a couple days before I post anything again.

...Actually what the hell.

**rodrigo!** · February 2nd, 2007, 07:00 AM

good stuff man, keep doing the loomis studies. ive finally kinda come to the realisation that when youre studying it doesnt matter if you draw from photos, life or other art as long as youre learning something you can apply later and improve. one thing i might suggest is maybe spending more time on a figure study, eg instead of copying the same one 20 times maybe do it once, but for a really long time and really look at it in depth.
dont forget to always use cylinders, etc.!

**Longxiang** · February 2nd, 2007, 07:17 AM

Originally Posted by rodrigo!

good stuff man, keep doing the loomis studies. ive finally kinda come to the realisation that when youre studying it doesnt matter if you draw from photos, life or other art as long as youre learning something you can apply later and improve. one thing i might suggest is maybe spending more time on a figure study, eg instead of copying the same one 20 times maybe do it once, but for a really long time and really look at it in depth.
dont forget to always use cylinders, etc.!

Yes yes. I've avoided actually learning figures for too long (I just always blocked in the shapes.) Time to swallow my pride and just get it done.

Thanks for the good advice.

**Longxiang** · February 3rd, 2007, 01:45 AM

I promise I'll get to my figure studies in a minute.

Can someone tell me why my sketches look so damn... muddy?

**AztcFireFlower** · February 3rd, 2007, 02:17 AM

Perhaps if you don't gradate out from your shadow, like under the nose or hat. Keep those sharper. For the most part, cast shadows have a harder edge than a form shadow- or one that describes a curve. This means really studying reference and especially from life to begn to see all the differences in edges. I'm still working on that, too.

**DIMAGYAN** · February 3rd, 2007, 02:27 AM

your last update is a nice sketche...
i agree with, you somehow iconic measure is useful but indeed cruelty...and some times a double side sword...
keep it up...

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=87259

**Longxiang** · February 3rd, 2007, 06:04 AM

Is that better?

Harder lead this time, and I barely touched the paper (except when doing the hair.)

**DIMAGYAN** · February 3rd, 2007, 03:07 PM

sorry, its supose that my last reply was in this way: "i agree with you, somehow iconic measure is useful but indeed cruelty...and some times a double side sword...
keep it up...", i put the come in a wrong place before, so i apologize for the misapprehension...

i like your last drawing... you don't touch the paper?...very good indeed, i like the line quality, if you do the draw in that way i can only imagine what come from your inking...
good work...

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=87259

**Longxiang** · February 3rd, 2007, 10:08 PM

whee. I have to type something here so here it is.

Edit:

- "Honey?"

- "Hm?"

- "what color is your skin?"

- "Yellow."

- "Like the Simpsons?"

- "Yeah."

- "Ok."

**Longxiang** · February 4th, 2007, 04:32 AM

Finally, a life drawing.

I think I really captured er interest in "Herbie: Fully Loaded"

Can anyone tell me why my rendering looks like ass? Too fast? Overworked? Did I draw too small? All of the above?
I just can't seem to control the value I'm laying down.

**Longxiang** · February 7th, 2007, 12:47 AM

Just want to let my new friends here know I'm alive and working on stuff.

I'm very nearly bored with this one, the only thing left is the cloth. Yech.

**bhanu** · February 7th, 2007, 01:01 AM

cool update.loving the nose. I love them pink.the tones look good but a bit muddy and try to tighten the anatomyand I can se you doing those studies so I know you ll be doing great in no time..the second last update..hmm looks good but I cant see the underlying structure. try working firstly on basic structure.do longer studies(hehe though I dont practice what I preach).dont just do contours without knowing the shapes they depict.
I hope the crit helped.
Keep the lead burning.

**Longxiang** · February 7th, 2007, 04:13 AM

@bhanu: My tones are muddy? Damn, I thought I was improving.
I see what you mean around the shoulders though, those are crap.

Thanks.

**Longxiang** · February 8th, 2007, 02:42 AM

Did some more on my red-nosed chick. Critiques are of course welcome.

**Anid Maro** · February 8th, 2007, 02:50 AM

Looks good, just work on defining her dress more at the bottom.

And what's with deleting your older sketches? Part of the fun of having old and crappy sketches is being able to look back at them months later and say "Wow! That sucked ass, I've learnt so much since I did that!"

For that reason alone I make myself post all of my sketches, no matter how awful they turn out.