Do you have access to a scanner? I know you're interested in digital painting, but it might actually be more beneficial to you at this stage to do the drawings with a pencil and paper. If a scanner is not something you have access to, I still have a few ideas on things you might want to work on.
Firstly, I'd suggest you don't worry about color at all right now (it is a HUGELY complex thing), but you should instead focus on just drawing things accurately. Don't worry about filling in the linework with anything. Don't even shade the objects. I think that if you're serious about improving, you need to take a few steps back and not try to tackle 10 different components (color, value, line, texture, etc) in a single image. It's a LOT to do, and at this stage in your development it seems like it would be beneficial to you to break these components down individually, and focus more on mastering them that way.
If you understand how to draw accurately, and you understand line weight control, and you understand basic color theory, and you understand composition, etc....you can mix all that knowledge together and create a piece that looks really nice. Right now you're trying to do drawings that focus on all of these things, but you're lacking the mastery of any of them. It's much too hard for anybody to master all of these at the same time - this is why people tend to start with a basic "drawing" course, and then they may have a separate figure drawing course, and then there's a color theory course, etc. These are all broken down individually because they're so vast, and so complex, that each one requires you to focus on it wholly if you're planning on really getting better without becoming overwhelmed.
Find some reference, nothing too complex (the drawings you were doing of the soda cans and the mug are actually great examples of simple reference)...and just focus on DRAWING. Don't shade anything - just focus on getting the linework accurate. Show us some drawings like that, and we'll go from there. There is so much that we could critique in your spaceship, for example, that it would almost be pointless to mention. There is a lot about that drawing that you would need to improve, and there's a lot of time and practice that would have to go into each of those components. Rather than overwhelm yourself with all of that, try to start simple (drawing from reference, not from your head) and work your way up. If you're serious about getting better, this is how it's done!
Thanks for the guidance nightdragon. I understand what you are saying about drawing more line work from still life. In my head I know I should be more disciplined and stick to basics. However, I get unmotivated so easily from "unfinished" stuff. I am for sure trying to hide behind color and shading. I definitely want to improve and I do feel that the ship painting helped me see progress I have made thus far. Hopefully it can help me get back to basics with more patience. Thanks again.
Posts
Firstly, I'd suggest you don't worry about color at all right now (it is a HUGELY complex thing), but you should instead focus on just drawing things accurately. Don't worry about filling in the linework with anything. Don't even shade the objects. I think that if you're serious about improving, you need to take a few steps back and not try to tackle 10 different components (color, value, line, texture, etc) in a single image. It's a LOT to do, and at this stage in your development it seems like it would be beneficial to you to break these components down individually, and focus more on mastering them that way.
If you understand how to draw accurately, and you understand line weight control, and you understand basic color theory, and you understand composition, etc....you can mix all that knowledge together and create a piece that looks really nice. Right now you're trying to do drawings that focus on all of these things, but you're lacking the mastery of any of them. It's much too hard for anybody to master all of these at the same time - this is why people tend to start with a basic "drawing" course, and then they may have a separate figure drawing course, and then there's a color theory course, etc. These are all broken down individually because they're so vast, and so complex, that each one requires you to focus on it wholly if you're planning on really getting better without becoming overwhelmed.
Find some reference, nothing too complex (the drawings you were doing of the soda cans and the mug are actually great examples of simple reference)...and just focus on DRAWING. Don't shade anything - just focus on getting the linework accurate. Show us some drawings like that, and we'll go from there. There is so much that we could critique in your spaceship, for example, that it would almost be pointless to mention. There is a lot about that drawing that you would need to improve, and there's a lot of time and practice that would have to go into each of those components. Rather than overwhelm yourself with all of that, try to start simple (drawing from reference, not from your head) and work your way up. If you're serious about getting better, this is how it's done!