FourTonMantis' (USED to be BigZam's) Sketchbook Of Despair UPDATED WITH NEW JUNK!

[FourTonMantis]

Eh!

My name's Derek and I'm 16 years old. I've been prowling around here for some time and figured it's about time to start a sketchbook. I would love crits if you could spare some.

[FourTonMantis]

I'll start off with some anatomy studies.

This one was done in Conte crayon in my normal sketchbook.


The rest of these are done on newsprint with various mediums.






















This one was done in oil pastel.



These were drawn from stills from Pirates Of The Carribean.












And finally, some fun stuff.

This one's another oil pastel. I really like the vivid colors you can get from oil pastels.



Another Conte crayon piece.


Finally, an armored warrior, done in Prismacolor markers.


That's all I have for now, but I'll try and update as often as I can; I try to sketch out a few figures every night before I go to bed.

Thanks for looking!

[FourTonMantis]

Here's a watercolor painting of a tree I did a little while ago.

[FourTonMantis]

More anatomy studies.














Here's a gouache painting I started last night. Sorry for the poor quality. My mom wants to frame it when I'm done...



That's all for now. Thanks for looking! I love comments by the way.

[Springheels]

Hey! Thanks for commenting on my sketchbook, very insightful!
I like your figures, they have a loose ethreal quality to them that could definately be worked upon!
However, when drawing fingers, maybe you should consider the components that go into the finger and how they correspond. Just a thought. Thanks!

[FourTonMantis]

Hey! Thanks for commenting on my sketchbook, very insightful!
I like your figures, they have a loose ethreal quality to them that could definately be worked upon!
However, when drawing fingers, maybe you should consider the components that go into the finger and how they correspond. Just a thought. Thanks!

thanks for the crits. i definitely see what you mean about the fingers, but with these studies i was mainly going for speed. thanks though!

[amer-nazri]

Hey there! Lovin those anatomy studies, its great that you're churning them at a quick rate. I was struck by the watercolour painting of the tree though, the subtle colour changes and tones you've got going on in the tree trunk are awesome. Keep on going!

[Chance.]

Great start! Anatomy studies are something that every artist works on no matter what their skill level. It's good to see you using lots of reference for those. Get some more photo reference work in your figure studies. Hogarth is great for communicating concepts about figure construction, but his figures are very exaggerated. Try getting some good photos and applying the concepts he teaches to them. Looking for stuff like the "B" formation in the legs, or overlapping lines in photos of real will help you improve even faster! Drawing figures from direct reference is, of course, the best, however a lot of us young people don't have access to models unless we are actually in a class or something like it.

Keep experementing with your art, and make it fun and keep up the good work!

Post tons and you will improve greatly.

[FourTonMantis]

Thanks for all the crits guys, I appreciate it.

Kind of a small update, haven't had alot of time to draw due to school.







That's all I've got for now. Lame I know but I'll try to do some more drawing in the next couple of days.

[d00dle]

dude, you're only 16 and already this good! Great anatomy study by the way. Just keep drawing more and more.

[FourTonMantis]

dude, you're only 16 and already this good! Great anatomy study by the way. Just keep drawing more and more.

hey thanks! i've never had someone say something like that to me before, thanks for the encouragement!

[markey2d]

do u still post on this thread?

[rdsarna]

GREAT Hogarth studies....1 point I'd like to mention is that don't just blindly copy his work but do read what's in the text.....it will later help you draw from imagination.....I've been given this same advice a lot of times....
Its great that you're playing with different media.....
keep it up
Ratul

[Autumnal Dream]

Yeah man!! You've got a very interesting style o.o'.
Those studies are great, keep this up!
And.. well, I drew very fast and allways kept my hand above it ;D.
I'm the unbeknown horror of our cleaning ladies XD.

[Hellblaze123]

hey dude, you have a style that seems like a form of an older style of drawing.

cant quite remember the name of the style, but you see images of famous people drawn in it.

like some of the presidents, and some war people.

[Ashes75]

Hey thanks for posting in my sb thread and I will return the favor. Try not to cut off the figure when sketching them. I know these were very fast studies, but try to be aware of the space on your page and incorporate the whole figure. They are looking good! Keep it up!

[Darktwin]

yummy yumm yumm, love the anatomy studies, keep up the hard work, man, keep it coming please. Try to simplify your contour with straight lines, a technique used for blocking. Give it a try, think in terms of straight lines, keep those updates coming please.

[ajvenema]

yo mate, get soem new stuff in here, im curious about ur progress! just jkep doing this the way ur doing this and improvement will go on and eventually make a great artist out of you if u want that

[FourTonMantis]

Man this stuff is ANCIENT! The heck have I been up to lately?

Well, still drawing don't worry. Here's some new stuff. The majority of these are WIP, I'll post some finished stuff...when I finish some stuff.

[Darktwin]

great to see more drawings from ya, some cool imagination concepts, I like the rat creature with the helmet, cool idea, the mechanical thing is a very cool also, lots of detail going on in that piece (talking about the top left post). nice studies again, In photoshop you should use levels after scanning so we can see your line work more clearer. I want to see more drawings for the next update. Hand studies, would be good, leg studies also, try to isolate areas that are really challenging for you, do them 50 to 100 times, post then apply what you learned from your imagination, its a endless cycle, but it really does pay off. Keep it coming

[stoph]

woahh that soldier with the sniper rifle in the latest update has some seeerious issues with proportions and anatomy. biggest glarers to keep an eye out for:

1. his head is very tiny in relation to his body.
2. his torso is bloated and on the wrong angle
3. he has no distinction between his shoulder and his upper arm/bicep
4. the foreshortening on his right leg makes it look like he has a large growth on the back of his thigh. that, or he took a laxative and the recoil scared it out of him...

i can see what youre trying to do with all of these, but i think youre still in the clutches of drawing from the minds-eye more often than not. reference is your friend. use it. your studies are all well and good, but they need to have solid referencing, otherwise you'll further perpetuate flaws and mistakes in your practices.

keep it up mate, if i had the kind of drive you have when i was your age, i'd be much better off right now.

[otsopsanig]

Hey, man. Those anatomy studies are pretty spiffy. The demon-cow-thing with the helmet has a pretty cool design, too.

[FourTonMantis]

woahh that soldier with the sniper rifle in the latest update has some seeerious issues with proportions and anatomy. biggest glarers to keep an eye out for:

1. his head is very tiny in relation to his body.
2. his torso is bloated and on the wrong angle
3. he has no distinction between his shoulder and his upper arm/bicep
4. the foreshortening on his right leg makes it look like he has a large growth on the back of his thigh. that, or he took a laxative and the recoil scared it out of him...

i can see what youre trying to do with all of these, but i think youre still in the clutches of drawing from the minds-eye more often than not. reference is your friend. use it. your studies are all well and good, but they need to have solid referencing, otherwise you'll further perpetuate flaws and mistakes in your practices.

keep it up mate, if i had the kind of drive you have when i was your age, i'd be much better off right now.

Yeah I'm seriously dissatisfied with that one. I think I'll just leave it and move on to something else.

I'll get some studies done when I have some time.

[Hazart]

Nice studies. Keep working

[FourTonMantis]

Some new anatomy...8 pages; not nearly enough. I've been trying to get on Posemaniacs (I really like their figures) but my mom has been working like 5-6 hour shifts doing medical transcription...

Most of this is Bridgman. I'll post some more when I get some time.

[dadushin]

hey man good to see you are dedicated at a young age, something i regret not doing
piece of advice, don't ever stop drawing! haah keep going man and youll be rockin it in no time

[CecelyV]

Hey,

I like your stuff too. Keep at it. You've got some cool poses going, too. Another forum member, Seedling, once gave me the idea for creating costumes from my old life drawing sketches--is that where you get your characters from?

[BDxCrazyazian]

not bad...not bad at al...youve got a pretty good start going for u but your figures are a little to contour based...u should try building up your figures with simple shapes first like a box for the rib cage and a barrel for the hip area...still...keep it up

[FourTonMantis]

Hey,

I like your stuff too. Keep at it. You've got some cool poses going, too. Another forum member, Seedling, once gave me the idea for creating costumes from my old life drawing sketches--is that where you get your characters from?

Not really. That's a great idea though.

[Miffle]

I like that you're trying hands, one thing I would say is try using a fine charcoal pencil - its one of my favourite tihngs for the kind of figures you are doing.