Sketches

shandromand

These are just some of what I've been doing lately. Please rate/crit?



I like how it this one turned out. Her lips are a little overdone, but my color-artist will fix that soon enough. I'll edit-repost when they've been properly finished - feel free to color them yourself if you would like!




I thought I might try my hand with the dodge and blur tools on this one. I was shooting for a softer look.




I left this one unedited for comparison with #2. To dodge, or not to dodge?

tynic

I give it a 2.

shandromand

On a scale of...? Can you elaborate any?

Aneurhythmia

shandromand wrote:

On a scale of...? Can you elaborate any?

phi to e

Scosglen

shandromand wrote:

On a scale of...? Can you elaborate any?

I'm not psychic, but I'm guessing 1 isn't "Jawsome".

Not sure what to make of the first one, the expression is very awkward and the lines are really jagged.

As for the other two, well. My advice is to forget photoshop entirely. You really need to pick up a pencil and develop your sense of line and form quite a bit more before you start digital endeavours. The anatomy and the cloth mainly need some big work.

Draw from life, draw draw draw. Don't fuss around with dodge and blur at this point.

Tweaked_Bat_

Aw damn flame week is over, right?

but my color-artist will fix that soon enough.

Uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but just because your "colour artist" will "fix" it, doesn't mean that you shouldn't be able to render stuff properly yourself... right?

To dodge, or not to dodge?

:roll:

But yeah, I'll say what is usually said. Start drawing from life. Don't start out by drawing cartoon-anime-ish stuff. Just start learning to draw shapes and forms, with the aid of several great books by artists such as Andrew Loomis and Burne Hogarth. Once you've gotten the hang of that, you can work on building upon these fundamentals, ie: shading, colouring, perspective etc etc... and uh, practice... heaps.

And try to work with traditional mediums when starting. Pencil and paper etc.

shandromand

Scosglen wrote:

shandromand wrote:

On a scale of...? Can you elaborate any?

I'm not psychic, but I'm guessing 1 isn't "Jawsome".

Not sure what to make of the first one, the expression is very awkward and the lines are really jagged.

As for the other two, well. My advice is to forget photoshop entirely. You really need to pick up a pencil and develop your sense of line and form quite a bit more before you start digital endeavours. The anatomy and the cloth mainly need some big work.

Draw from life, draw draw draw. Don't fuss around with dodge and blur at this point.

That's kinda what I figured. I suppose I'm hoping for 1-5 instead of 1-10. :P

I'm just getting back into drawing again, so I expect it to suck for a while. Anatomy and cloth were never my strong points, so practice, practice, practice I will! Thanks Scos!

Tweaked_Bat_

Well ya gonna need to work on anatomy, it's a major part of drawing almost anything.

shandromand

Oh! When I say photoshop, its not exclusively done there - I'll fess up to some digital eraser use and darkening of lines and such, but mostly this is from pencil and paper, and my own two hands. I also don't expect the color artist to fix everything. Still, I hear what you're saying, and I have seen those books. Alas, the choice this paycheck was art supplies or books, and I needed the former. Maybe I can afford a couple of books next time around. I already feel better that Loomis caught my eye and not some other crap.

Thanks!

Lly

Erm ... art supplies = some paper and some pencils. How shit is your paycheck? O.o

But yeah, anatomy and drawing from life. Check out the downloadable Loomis book on page 1 of the questions thread if you really can't afford a decent book. It's excellent. Welcome to the forums :P

Tweaked_Bat_

Erm ... art supplies = some paper and some pencils and some Photoshop CS2, which was paid for legally, right, right?

Fix'd

multimoog

shandromand wrote:

Alas, the choice this paycheck was art supplies or books, and I needed the former.

Actually, what you needed was the latter, and then when you've absorbed enough from them you can more effectively use the former.

Also, don't be forgetting about the many books on art technique and figure drawing available - for free - at your local library. Or spend a quiet evening browsing at a Barnes & Noble, taking notes, sketching and sipping a hot drink - not a bad way to start, because then not only do you have the books to crib from, but you have an endless supply of subjects for quick practice sketching.

shandromand

Tweaked_Bat_ wrote:

Erm ... art supplies = some paper and some pencils and some Photoshop CS2, which was paid for legally, right, right?

Fix'd

*snicker* Yes, of course it's paid for legally. Student Edition of CS, upgraded when it expired. As for how bad my paycheck is, its not that so much as it is my student loans. On the bright side, I might actually have them paid off before I'm 40. :P

Thanks for all your suggestions (yes, even the sarcastic ones).

multimoog

I don't think anyone here was being sarcastic. I know I wasn't - lack of funds isn't really an excuse for poor drawing skills.

shandromand

No moog, I didn't think you were being sarcastic. Lly on the other hand.. I happen to like sarcasm. I won't be offended if you won't. Like I said before, its been a while since I've done any serious drawing, and even then it wasn't much better. I need the criticism no matter how it comes to me. Unless, of course all someone has to say is omgz ur teh suck diafkthxbye. I haven't seen much of that here though, so I'm not really expecting any.

Tweaked_Bat_

I haven't seen much of that here though, so I'm not really expecting any.

Just 'cause you ain't seein' it doesn't mean it's not here :P

You just missed flame week by like this much ----> | |.

It would've been a different story then

vrempire

Hi shandromand,
the first one is better than the second and the third.
Still need a lot of improvement on the drawing especially the anatomy part especially the hand.
I believe you can do a lot better than this...
Good luck buddy..

Oh, before I forget, those advice goes to me as well

shandromand

Tweaked_Bat_ wrote:

You just missed flame week by like this much ----> | |.

Damnation! :P

Thanks Vre! I'll keep working at it. Looking forward to seeing you improve as well.

Etch

I'm not much of an artist, but I will agree with tweaked bat about needing the art books before the art supplies

shandromand

Believe it or not, I didn't have single pencil anywhere. No worries, I've found the freebie stuff and done some hunting on the web. I did pay attention to what everyone said.

http://www.innerbody.com/image/musfov.html Good anatomy reference. If you don't mind a front/back-facing perspective.

shandromand

Sorry for the double-post! I promise not to do it after this.

I'm not as happy with this one. I suck at feet, but I feel like I've improved at the figure some. Source: photograph and a little imagination.




I am TOTALLY stoked about this next one. No photos, no looking at people for examples, just BAM! right out of my head. Its a little rough, but I have serious conviction that I can reproduce/improve this one without a lot of effort. Yes, I still suck at feet. :P



Please! Tell me what you think!

Ape2001

In relation to the first pics I'd say it's an improvement. But still extremly stiff. Don't rest on the good feeling you got after this.

World as Myth

shandromand wrote:

I am TOTALLY stoked about this next one. No photos, no looking at people for examples, just BAM! right out of my head.

That's not anything to be proud of at this point. It would serve you better to draw from life, for a long while.

Scosglen

It may not be what you want to hear, but If you're serious on improving you really need to let your imagination take a back seat for a while.

While you apparently referenced the first image from a photograph, it is still riddled with anatomy, line, and perspective issues. Your absolute first concern as an artist trying to get a solid fundamental skill set is to hone your ability to accurately OBSERVE objects. When you use a photo reference and the end result is so apparently wrong, we're left with the obvious conclusion that you aren't really seeing the photo.

What I mean by that is you're looking at the photo and letting your brain simplify it into simple representations of shapes rather than how things actually are, e.g. football shaped eyeballs, tube shaped arms. You need to train yourself to "cut out the middleman" so to speak and see exact detail and reproduce it exactly how it appears; otherwise nothing you ever draw will look right. The book "Drawing on the right side of the brain" goes into this idea in great detail and may be a good place for you to look if you can't wrap your head around this.

Grunt work now pays off big dividends in the future if you are truly dedicated to improving yourself.

Orikaeshigitae

A good idea is to never draw from photographs if you can help it.

Like all rules, it's meant to be broken; but don't do it until you're tons better, because photos flatten out the image to the point that it's very confusing to figure out what bits relate to other bits in what way.

Makes it hard to create volume.

Lly

Orikaeshigitae wrote:

A good idea is to never draw from photographs if you can help it.

Like all rules, it's meant to be broken; but don't do it until you're tons better, because photos flatten out the image to the point that it's very confusing to figure out what bits relate to other bits in what way.

Makes it hard to create volume.

That isn't a rule i've ever heard of. Sure, drawing from life is much better for practice, but photos have their uses.

Fibretip

no offence meant but are you drawing with one of these?



sharpen your pencil! or be more gentle, one of the two... or both

on a more helpful note...

it doesn't look like you're drawing any kind of framework before you start going for the final lines... thus giving you that very sketchy unconfident look. any book worth it's whatever will start you off drawing the frame before any other form comes in...this can even just mean drawing an action line and a few balls on it to get your proportions going (though i wouldn't advocate that... it leads to cartoony crap looking people!) deffinately look up loomis...his work helped me incredibly...almost an overnight improvement. once you have a sturdy model going on paper you can start to put in the darker lines with confidence meaning everything is cleaner and more professional

if you're just drawing for your own amusement then i suggest studying as many different anime artists as you can, see what makes their styles work...see why none of them actually draw hair the way you have (zigzagzigzag) and how some of them even have noses sometimes :shock: however, if you're serious about improving... head for the books my good man... it's surprising how quickly you can make like a 200% improvement with some hard work and patience.... oh yeah, and a sharp pencil

oh and don't even look at those "how to draw...anime fantasy lesbian battles" or whatever books.... they don't actually teach anything at all, they're just like a shitty artist showcase... they just spend 100 pages saying "look at the anime hair, draw it like that" but that's another topic as everyone knows lol.

Lly

Fibretip wrote:

oh and don't even look at those "how to draw...anime fantasy lesbian battles"

Now THERE is a book I would buy!

MagicToaster

There is nothing wrong with looking at photographs for reference, it's not cheating.

Mayday

Drawing from life is better because it helps you grasp the 3d form more easily. When noobs start drawing from photos they tend to draw flat from imagination later on.

That's why one should mostly start with drawing from life.

Godfather

Now drawing from photos can't be THAT bad.........I know i've had to resort to that loads of times whenever I needed a specific pose for reference that I know full well that the person couldn't hold for very long in real life.

As for faces, it's really depends; If you're going to borderline-trace the thing, whether you actually set the paper on top of the photo or match it up side-by-side, then that's where you need to hold off on; it's one step better than trying to duplicate somebody else's drawing, which is what I started doing, and that didn't teach me anything.

If you are going to use a photo and try to draw the exact picture like mentioned above, i'd reccomend doing a little contour line practice with the shadows. It'll help you grasp the depth of the character, but this technique works far better in real life.

Mayday

I'm not saying it's bad, I'm saying it's worse.

There is a reason why you draw almost exclusively from life on drawing lessons.

shandromand

Fibretip wrote:

sharpen your pencil! or be more gentle, one of the two... or both

You know, this is the single worst bad habit I have. I tend to start off light, and then get harder as I go.

Oh, and no offense taken - to any of you. Thanks for the reviews.

Tweaked_Bat_

Lly wrote:

Fibretip wrote:

oh and don't even look at those "how to draw...anime fantasy lesbian battles"

Now THERE is a book I would buy!

Those "how to draw naked anime chicks" books are pretty lame. I reckon Wakkawa should release his own version, "How to Draw Naked Chicks and Demons". I would buy it in an instant! His naked ladies have claaaasssss

Fibretip

His naked ladies have aaaasssss

fixed