The inks don't add much, but the construction is better if still kind of stiff. But that's not too big a deal since you just need practice.
Keep in mind that figures tend to have a certain flow about them. Look at Smith's original and notice how Smiley's body is kind of curved. In yours he's just standing up straight.
So I recommend a lot of practice. Keep construction in mind. This attempt is better, but it's still just a collection of parts. There's not that much cohesion yet. You have to keep in mind where all of the parts attach in 3D space and how each part affects the other parts. Look at how in Smith's original you can break down Smiley's pose into a kind of cross shape. There's the slightly curved line that represents his torso and head, and his arms cross that line diagonally. Notice how the line of his left arm extends directly down to his other arm.
So you can think about things three-dimensionally, which is good, but you have to make a habit of applying that knowledge. And you need to work on putting those shapes together into a single whole. To go back to ym model airplane versus jigsaw puzzle thing, you're out of the jigsaw stage because each part is recognizably its own thing, but you haven't really fit them together probably. It's like you're holding the plane's wings up to its sides by hand and they're not quite in the right position, and as a result they don't really seem fixed, either. There is no cohesion.
So work on that, too. I'm very glad that you're making an effort, though, and I definitely hope that you keep this up.
That's a pretty good effort! Yours communicates a different thing because yours is a bit more stretched, so it looks like he's running whereas Smith's version is more hunched over like he's just tired of it all, but that's nothing a little practice can't fix.
This is very encouraging, so just make sure to keep it up and keep practising.
Again, you're focusing on the outline more than the underlying structure. I think the fact that you're trying to do all of these finished ink things is getting in the way of you experimenting and practising as much as you should. By all means keep doing them, but don't just do these. You'll probably still improve, eventually, but it'll take a lot longer.
Do more pencil sketches. Loosen up and don't worry about the final result as much, just keep sketching again and again and again and keep the underlying structure in mind.
For instance, in that picture you've made a big mess of her torso because you were too focused on her hair of all things, as though it's a solid mass that doesn't conform to whatever it's draped over and so on. Unless you're drawing Medusa, Queen of the Inhumans, don't worry about the hair so much.
Take care of the underlying structure, then of whatever comes on top of that, like hair, clothing etcetera.
You've attached her forearms directly to her shoulders, too.
So yeah. Sketch. A lot. Do a bunch of sketches, analyze a reference, think about it, underlying structure and 3D space blah blah, then apply what you've learned to one of your ink drawings. You're supposed to be learning right now, so don't focus on what you want the final product to look like too much, because that'll distract you from what you should be focusing on, which is the drawing in the present.
You're 100% right, just trying to get two birds stoned at the same time I guess. Though I wasn't really looking at outline one that one. I'll up my sketching, most definitely. I know there are some errors on this new one as well. I'll try to keep the frequency of these ones down.
When you ink, are you inking slowly? Are you trying to match the curves of the pen exactly? I think you're losing a lot of fluidity and dynamism in the linework because of this - the curves aren't smooth...they seem disjointed, like you've stopped along the edges, or tried to drag the pen across the paper and it's resisted you, leaving jagged widths. Try just doing a throw-away page of "swoops" and curves, paying close attention to keeping the curves and lines fluid, as well as varying the width in ways that make sense...you might even want to try drawing much bigger, so you're not just using your wrist (just to get a feel for drawing smooth curves).
He also goes into detail about where and why you're putting certain line-widths down. You can learn this over time from copying other artists of course, but it helps to have some explanation behind the process, too.
Thanks for the comments ND, I usually ink fairly slowly, as far as curves go, I could see starting and stopping being an issue for some of them. Some of the width differences are also from my inexperience as well as going over a section twice trying to thicken it a bit. I'm familiar with John K's site and check it regularly as of recently. Thanks for the link though, I'll have to try those drawings on a tablet I guess just for the sake of learning line width. I did a random page of lines and what nots using a quicker method this time and I then I ink this one using the same principal. It's still pretty rough and I'll admit there's no real line of action with either. I tried to incorporate it into the one on the bottom but I'll try it again on one that's a full page. Oh for everything I've done for inktober i've used a brush, well minus the first day.
Yes, with a quick verbal "boom." You take a man's peko, you deny him his dab, all that is left is to rise up and tear down the walls of Jericho with a ".....not!" -TexiKen
For your photos you reference, I feel like some of those visual problems have no solutions. For example: the baseball player in the photo, in real life, looks incredibly awkward. If you drew the face perfectly it would still look pretty dumb. Be wary of your photo references, or you could end up frustrating yourself unnecessarily!
Good point wahay and thanks for the comments, I think that would be a recurring problem with sports photos. A lot of the photos on the site I've been using have been looping fairly regularly I've noticed.
Well that was a whirlwind couple of months. Got a new job, christmas, moving, got another new job. I've finally got some stability going and just moved into a new place. I've got this big wall here in my room that I'm to mosaic I think with some 15''x15'' pizza box paintings. Here's the first one, I'm not too sure how often I'll do these.
Posts
Keep in mind that figures tend to have a certain flow about them. Look at Smith's original and notice how Smiley's body is kind of curved. In yours he's just standing up straight.
So I recommend a lot of practice. Keep construction in mind. This attempt is better, but it's still just a collection of parts. There's not that much cohesion yet. You have to keep in mind where all of the parts attach in 3D space and how each part affects the other parts. Look at how in Smith's original you can break down Smiley's pose into a kind of cross shape. There's the slightly curved line that represents his torso and head, and his arms cross that line diagonally. Notice how the line of his left arm extends directly down to his other arm.
So you can think about things three-dimensionally, which is good, but you have to make a habit of applying that knowledge. And you need to work on putting those shapes together into a single whole. To go back to ym model airplane versus jigsaw puzzle thing, you're out of the jigsaw stage because each part is recognizably its own thing, but you haven't really fit them together probably. It's like you're holding the plane's wings up to its sides by hand and they're not quite in the right position, and as a result they don't really seem fixed, either. There is no cohesion.
So work on that, too. I'm very glad that you're making an effort, though, and I definitely hope that you keep this up.
This is very encouraging, so just make sure to keep it up and keep practising.
I made the guy too small and I ended up referencing other panels to complete the difference.
Do more pencil sketches. Loosen up and don't worry about the final result as much, just keep sketching again and again and again and keep the underlying structure in mind.
For instance, in that picture you've made a big mess of her torso because you were too focused on her hair of all things, as though it's a solid mass that doesn't conform to whatever it's draped over and so on. Unless you're drawing Medusa, Queen of the Inhumans, don't worry about the hair so much.
Take care of the underlying structure, then of whatever comes on top of that, like hair, clothing etcetera.
You've attached her forearms directly to her shoulders, too.
So yeah. Sketch. A lot. Do a bunch of sketches, analyze a reference, think about it, underlying structure and 3D space blah blah, then apply what you've learned to one of your ink drawings. You're supposed to be learning right now, so don't focus on what you want the final product to look like too much, because that'll distract you from what you should be focusing on, which is the drawing in the present.
John K. (of Ren & Stimpy fame) has a great blog that has a lot of general inking tips. You might want to check it out: http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2012/09/drawings-to-practice-inking.html
He also goes into detail about where and why you're putting certain line-widths down. You can learn this over time from copying other artists of course, but it helps to have some explanation behind the process, too.
For your photos you reference, I feel like some of those visual problems have no solutions. For example: the baseball player in the photo, in real life, looks incredibly awkward. If you drew the face perfectly it would still look pretty dumb. Be wary of your photo references, or you could end up frustrating yourself unnecessarily!
My Artist Corner Thread • Everywhere I Post