Just Started Drawing (Crits Pls)

GirlPants

I've been doing sketches all my life but I recently decided to actually make some finished drawings. These are the first drawings I've ever sketched and colored. They are both done with cheap-o Crayola colored pencils. I'll be getting some better drawing gear soon.

This one was done by pretty much free-handing a photo graph. I added blue flames around the eyes and the background.

This one I used a reference photo for the body outline, which was free-handed, but I added everything else.

Here are the reference images I used:






I would love for you guys to tell me what I'm doing right and wrong and some ways I could improve. I recently rented some drawing books so I'll be learning how to draw 'properly' soon. This was more of an experiment to see where I was at artisticly. Also I would love suggestions for a background of the warrior girl, I am clueless on that idea.

Some things I know are wrong/would change:

The coloring job on the first one is bad. I don't like the shading and lines on her face. They pencil drawing looked much more feminine and correctly weighted than the color version. I think the flames also look out of place.

On the second one I don't like her face very much, I wish I had of put a bit more thought into her expression and her eyes are too.. anime. The swords look wierd to me. Also her right hand is a bit small compared to the other.

This is the pencil drawing of the warrior girl:

I'll scan the other pencil drawing if someone wants to see it.

Edit: The images should look normal now.

bombardier

Are these actually as narrow as they look or did you resize them improperly? Because they're really narrow in every regard.

GirlPants

bombardier wrote: »

Are these actually as narrow as they look or did you resize them improperly? Because they're really narrow in every regard.

Ya well my scanner seems to make things look squished, so i resized them to as close to normal as I could. I didn't think they looked that bad....

Edit. I just realized that this may be a result of me using the TV as monitor.. They look normal on mine but maybe not everyone else's. Uh oh I will fix this.

Mustang

You have some nice bits in your drawings but ultimately they're let down because they're flat and narrow.
Stuff for you to concentrate on now are structure and proportion.
Stuff to wait until later are rendering and colour.

Try downloading the Andrew Loomis Books for free, they're daunting, but just bite off bits and pieces and you'll start to see improvements in your work. It's a 152Mb download all up.

earthwormadam

I'm no expert on anatomy, but drawing from life will always beat drawing from a photograph.

winter_combat_knight

It's a pretty hard transition going from just drawing for 'fun' to actually drawing some decent finished pieces. I agree with Mustang. If you want to improve, try working on your proportion and structures (i have this problem!!!). Just make sure you balance the technical stuff with stuff you enjoy doing like colouring. Theres nothing wrong with developing multiple skills at the same time.

desperaterobots

Holy shit the leg on the right of that second image! Her leg is hyper-extending as though the knee doesnt even exist! And it looks like she's broken her ankle trying to get in to those shoes. Ouch.

Every element you add to your work is something that you can get wrong, and requires lots of time to get right, so maybe do what winter_combat_knight said and work on some dead simple figures before you go adding lots of crazy crap like makeup and heels and clothes and swords and bangles?

NibCrom

My advice at this point is to practice, practice, practice and keep a good attitude over the years. Have fun too!

GirlPants

desperaterobots wrote: »

Holy shit the leg on the right of that second image! Her leg is hyper-extending as though the knee doesnt even exist! And it looks like she's broken her ankle trying to get in to those shoes. Ouch.

Every element you add to your work is something that you can get wrong, and requires lots of time to get right, so maybe do what winter_combat_knight said and work on some dead simple figures before you go adding lots of crazy crap like makeup and heels and clothes and swords and bangles?

I had a lot of trouble with her legs, I actually redrew them about 10 times. Did you look at the reference picture though? She is standing in a very strange position where he leg is actually sideways but the foot is bending forwards. It looks painful. I think I could have done some shadow that would have made the position a bit more apparent.

Thanks for the positive advice though. Like I've said, I'm new to drawing but very excited. I plan on going to school for digital media so I really want to get a head start.

If anyone has some ideas for a neat background to the warrior, please let me know. Also any specific crits would be good, such as how the hell do I make a sword look cool cause that one isn't really satisfactory.

MagicToaster

Hey, welcome to the Art Corner! These are pretty cool, remember to draw a lot and experiment!

desperaterobots

I didn't check the reference, my work blocks myspace stuff. It takes guts to post in here and ask for crits. Keep posting your work and we'll keep ragging on you until you're up to snuff!

I lurked for like a year while other people get their asses kicked, taking careful notes the whole time. :P

prismeclipser

If you're going to colour, make sure to leave no white space at all in the coloured sections. That really makes what could be an okay picture into a lower quality picture.

But you should not be working on colouring. You should be working on the figure and making it look correct, and working on backgrounds, and shading in general. Colouring is the more advance stage of artwork.

JohnTWM

desperaterobots wrote: »

I didn't check the reference, my work blocks myspace stuff

In this case it's a good call on your work's part; the reference for the first one is a porn star

(but she is actually really beautiful... just smutty :winky:)

beavotron

this is a really great start for your first attempt, you show a lot of promise

if you really wanna get serious about it, read some of the book like mustang suggested, andrew loomis' free series or the drawing on the right side of the brain book (really good book):
http://www.amazon.com/New-Drawing-Right-Side-Brain/dp/0874774241

welcome to the ac!

GirlPants

JohnTWM wrote: »

desperaterobots wrote: »

I didn't check the reference, my work blocks myspace stuff

In this case it's a good call on your work's part; the reference for the first one is a porn star

(but she is actually really beautiful... just smutty :winky:)

They are both porn stars actually... I wanted to draw some girls so I figured it was a good place to start.

ilmmad

Sorry man but something is being lost in translation face-wise.

Work on faces a lot more.

melting_doll

Welcome to the PA:AC and don't stop posting! Everyone here gives very good tips and constructive criticism; you can only get better if you hang around here (: