A beginner needs help (NSFW)

Penguin-Factory

Gaze ye upon my mighty creations and tremble.

Anyway, I'm planning on including these in a sketchbook that will go into my portfolio for an animation course (they ask for lots of observational drawings so it will mostly be still life and portraits and stuff). Any thoughts?

I really don't know if this kind of thing is even close to portfolio standard..... I have about six months to improve before the deadline, so I'm wondering if I should aim lower and do a year-long drawing studies course to get my skills up to scratch. Any help would be greatly appreciated.






Comments:

1. I thought the flower would be a bitch to draw, but it was quite fun.

2. One of the photos in the big reference links thread.

3. The portfolio requirements ask for drawings that "show an interest in animation" whatever that means. I thought this might do.

4. I like this page because I drew it during a blackout by the light of my lap-top moniter, which was fun.


If anyone wants to see a really crappy first attempt at using watercolour paints, let me know.

hunterb

ditch page four. what school are you applying to?

Penguin-Factory

ditch page four

Yeah, I thought you'd say that

Here's the school's URL: www.iadt-dl.ie

There are only two animation courses offered in Ireland that I can find, and this one is the best. Problem is, the portfolio requirements are also pretty steep

hunterb

also, ditch page three. if they want an interest in animation, draw whole poses. not just a leg and some fake looking motion study chart thing whatevers.

page 1: put the lamp on a table, put the flower in a vase. they want serious drawings not doodles.

page 2: it looks like you spent more time on the hair than the figure. dont draw each individual hair, especially when you havent even defined any forms in the figure. this is your strongest piece so far, but draw in that hand.

if you leave out or hide hands/feet/faces, theyll just think you cant draw them and are avoiding them. do studies of hands/feet/faces/arms/whatever. throw them in along with still lifes and figure drawings. def have more drawings of people than still lifes.

dont use cartoons until youre actually good at it. right now, youre not.

Penguin-Factory

if you leave out or hide hands/feet/faces, theyll just think you cant draw them and are avoiding them

That's pretty much what I did

Although I've gotten better at hands and feet since I drew that one.

put the lamp on a table, put the flower in a vase. they want serious drawings not doodles.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. Is it a doodle if there's no background, or if there's only one object present?

Thanks for the help.

hunterb

well a drawing for a portfolio should have at least a little bit of composition, not just a plain drawing surrounded by white. if youre not going to give your drawings settings or backgrounds, at least compose them on the same page in an interesting way

edit: work on your values too. right now you have white and 50% grey. really study the lights and darks of whatever youre drawing. get a full value range.

Ape2001

What helps a lot is to get yourself a bigger variety of pencil and make sketch of an object every day/morning for 30minutes. Don't forget the shadow on the ground.
Most important: end the whole thing in the timeframe.

What you could do attached to this is to focus on certain things, like wood, metal, glass, for some days in a row. This'll sharpen your eye for that stuff.

Keep practicing ^^!

Fikus_Omongus

if your applying for an animation course, you really need to show that you know your basic shapes in addition to your still life studies. Animation breaks a lot of rules concerning anatomy and structure all the time, but thats because good animators not only have a solid foundation in anatomy, they also understand the basic shapes that compose an object or character.

Cubes cylinders and spheres, thats really all there is to it.

An arm is two tapered cylinders, an elbow is a sphere, a hand is a narrow tapered cube, fingers are little cylinders, knuckles are spheres...

You begin to see what i mean?

These underlying shapes are what convince a viewer that flat screen they look at is really full of depth and life. It doesnt matter what your drawing for your portfolio, hands, feet, lamps, whatever! Push the dimentionality and show them that you understand that object on a deeper level. Work hard on your anatomy, perspective and foreshortening. I cant stress that enough. That is, if your serious about becoming an animator.

Also, really begin to think about how people move, how anything moves in real time. Think about how, for example, when you bounce a rubber ball as it reaches the top of its arc it slows down, and as it approaches the ground again it speeds up. When it hits, you may not see it in the split second but it squashes and then it stretches. Squash and Stretch is one of the first things you will probably learn once you begin. Learn it well


Anyway keep at it and Draw every day.

DRAW EVERY DAY <----

Best advice anyone could give you

good luck!

Penguin-Factory

Okay, I've altered my plans slightly. Rather than put a huge amount of pressure on myself to get a good portfolio together, I'm applying for a year long pre-animation course designed to teach you how to draw first, which I figure should be easy to get into. Then I'll use the work I do in that class for my portfolio.

Thanks for the advice guys, it's really encouraging.

EDIT: Oh yeah, a question about practice (which I've heard makes perfect). I have no trouble motivating myself to draw, because I love doing it, but what's the best way to improve? Will drawing from life or photographs help with drawing from my head?

Penguin-Factory

View my glorious visage. This is a work-in-progress self portrait (not for my portfolio, just for fun).

I don't have a photo or anything to put up so you can compare it (if anyone is that way inclined) but I think it looks enough like me that a friend or family member could tell.

For some reason I've always found myself and my brother (identical twin) really hard to draw, so I'm pretty happy with this. At the moment I'm focusing on drawing heads from a front view, something I've always found difficult. I'm trying to do one large portrait a day, then I'll move onto other viewpoints when I have this one mastered. Just wanted to see what you thought of this one before I try adding some shading.

earthwormadam

The shape of the face is heavily skewed. Just look at the jawline and chin.

Also the lips are an insanely complex thing to draw realistically. You have rendered them here with what, two lines? Take some time with your art man!

Penguin-Factory

The shape of the face is heavily skewed. Just look at the jawline and chin.

I'm amazed I didn't see that before. And if you think that's skewed, you should see how I was drawing a few weeks ago >_<

'Twould burn the optic nerve to look at, so it would.

Also the lips are an insanely complex thing to draw realistically. You have rendered them here with what, two lines? Take some time with your art man!

See, that's the thing. I don't know how to draw them any other way. I could try adding some tones and values to them, but that usually results in a blocky mess.....

I'll give it a try, anyway. I have to learn to draw them sometime

Ape2001

I have to say it doesn't look bad, some more practice and you've got it.

If you got someone who's into drawing, too, try to draw each others face for like 30Minutes/1hour. This helps a lot if regularly done.
Another thing is to be really aware of what you're drawing, to know the bones under the flesh and skin, for example.
In my opinion self portraits are harder than drawing other people.

And the clothes look pretty promising, too.

Penguin-Factory

I have to say it doesn't look bad, some more practice and you've got it.

Thanks! I think I'm getting over my biggest obstical when it comes to faces, an inability to draw the eyes symmetrically. My own eyes are slightly different, but it's hard to get that without exeggerating it.

And the clothes look pretty promising, too.

Yeah, clothes are probably what I find easiest to draw from life (although reproducing it from my head is another matter, my characters always look as if they're wearing cardboard).

Thanks for all the help, now I feel super motivated 8)

Arfenhouse

The problem you have with the lips is the same problem 99% of beginners have. You don't draw what you see, you draw what you think you see. I assume you're looking into a mirror to draw that, right? Well if you look at your lips, you'll notice all the different shades and tones and shapes that involve making up those lips.

What you end up doing is thinking "hmm well lips are USUALLY shaped like this" *draws two lines* "so I'll draw them real quick and done!"

NO.

If you draw in everything that's there, and shade it like you see it, and it looks blocky, that means the rest of the face isn't shaded as well. So go back and shade that in like you see it.

But more importantly than all that, build up the shapes of the face before you ever put a single line down for detail. Make sure the shape of the head is proportional to the location of the eyes, nose, mouth, neck, etc. Once you have established WHERE everything will go, you should not have to deviate from that.

From what I see though, you show promise. I drew exactly how you do three years ago, and now, I look back on that time as a dark and weary existence. And I thought I was the SHIT. But yeah, you're doing good, keep practicing, ANATOMY AND SHAPES FIRST.

Penguin-Factory

The problem you have with the lips is the same problem 99% of beginners have. You don't draw what you see, you draw what you think you see. I assume you're looking into a mirror to draw that, right? Well if you look at your lips, you'll notice all the different shades and tones and shapes that involve making up those lips.

I tried to draw them like you said, but it's pretty hard. The shading on lips is very subtle, I'm not sure my skills are good enough yet to draw them properly. Still, I'm trying 8)

But more importantly than all that, build up the shapes of the face before you ever put a single line down for detail. Make sure the shape of the head is proportional to the location of the eyes, nose, mouth, neck, etc. Once you have established WHERE everything will go, you should not have to deviate from that.

I started re-drawing my portrait using this method (didn't get to finish it yet) and it works much better. Thanks.

From what I see though, you show promise. I drew exactly how you do three years ago, and now, I look back on that time as a dark and weary existence. And I thought I was the SHIT. But yeah, you're doing good, keep practicing

Thanks! That's really good to hear, very motivating.

Godfather

If I may: That life drawing that you did. The nose.

It's a bit too low for my liking. If you scooted it up just a bit it would work, but right now it looks as if it's falling off of your face.

Also, while it's alright to not draw the bridge of the nose for women, for guys it almost required.

Keep at it.

Greatnation

Its not that the nose is too low, its that the brow and eyes are too highe. The brow is the center of the coricle that is the skull (your head - jaw) and the eyes are the center of the whole head. Given the amount of space made by the hair, id say they are both too high.

Also, don't buy into the "never draw the bridge for a girl always for a guy" type rules. If you find they help then do, but many a drawing can suceed both ways. Also, those kinds of rules will fuck you up when trying out new things, like a three quarters view, or even a profile.




Godfather, I dont want to sound like a douche but you often seem full of comments and crits yet dont seem to apply them to your own work- I dont want to derail anything but you may want to start thinking about that.

Penguin-Factory

I figured it would be better to post these here rather than making a new thread. I wouldn't feel justified giving my drawings individual space ^^




The first one is Tom Hanks from the cover of The Green Mile by Stephen King, the second is a purty flower in my house. These aren't portfolio drawings, just for fun.

Ravenshadow

CONTRAST!

seriously. Don't be afraid to make your darks darker.

Godfather

Greatnation wrote:

Godfather, I dont want to sound like a douche but you often seem full of comments and crits yet dont seem to apply them to your own work- I dont want to derail anything but you may want to start thinking about that.

Nah man, it's fine. It's been a while since i've posted any artwork, and I know i've got these problems to fix. I have been studying life for a bit, so it definitely helps. I'm just training myself by reading what others have to say about certain elements of a picture. However, that doesn't mean that I can effectively do said things yet, but it's a work in progress.


But yeah, humble pie is exactly what I needed.

MaskedWallaby

Ravenshadow wrote:

CONTRAST!

seriously. Don't be afraid to make your darks darker.

I was about to say something about that. Little trick to making your drawings 'pop' out of the page: line variation. Thin to thick, dark to light. Focus your darks in congested areas, and on inward curves. Lights in convex curves. Try working on line quality too, if you have time. By that, I mean longer, fuller lines and less sketchy, unsure strokes. It's hard as hell to get used to, but it'll help, trust me.

Other than that, I think you have a very solid foundation; just keep working it, take the suggestions in this thread, and go. If you can get your school to send you any pictures of first year work, that might give you an idea of how thorough your entry portfolio needs to be. The farther along you are, the better.

NakedZergling

well bro, i would suggest getting some books on drawing and anatomy. it looks like you're not doing a lot of underdrawing. don't be afraid to sketch in your sketchbook. get messy. learn to "draw through" objects.