Questing for improvement

Penguin-Factory

I posted here awhile back. Since then I've been practising as often as I can, which for the next two weeks will be a whole lot more often.

So, I bought a little notebook thing and I've resolved to do at least two drawings from life a day in it (one portrait and one full body). This may go in my portfolio, since the guidelines allow for a "visual diary".

Here's the first one that I deemed good enough to post:




One criticism of my earlier drawings was the lips, so I tried to work on that. The nose is still giving me problems.

EDIT: Okay, that was supposed to be smaller..... photobucket's resize can be a bit unreliable, I've noticed.

paulwind

The eyes bug me.

I think it's the fact that since the rest of the portrait is built using shapes of shade (for instance, the dark chunks designating shadow on the left cheek), but the eyelashes don't use that method, and are instead just lines. I can almost guarantee no one has eye lashes like that either. The shape of the eyes themselves are a little iffy. People tend to draw eyes the way they think they are, which is almond-shaped, when instead you have to think about them as round objects, with a slotted window (the eyelids) opening and closing to reveal them. Check out a picture, or look at a friends eyes.

Also, her nose is massive.

Penguin-Factory

Eyes and eyelashes give me a lot of problems, they're always the least realistic elements of my drawings. I'll do some practise on them today.

Also, her nose is massive.

It is.... I don't know how I missed that :oops:

Back to work I go

Ape2001

I think this could help you with heads. Also better draw the whole thing.

And don't stop after #1, go on and on

Liquid Blue

Nose seems to large and flat, it's disproportionate in regards to the rest of the face.

Eyes aren't too horrible from the start, although yes less detail in concerns to the eyelashes would help, especially if the nose was smaller and showed more dimension, more depth.

vrempire

Well, the nose looks too big and the distance
between the eye level to the nose level looks slightly off.
do you have the real picture of it?
maybe it will us a better judgement to compare between your art and the photo.

Penguin-Factory

I think this could help you with heads.

That looks very useful, thanks

Eyes aren't too horrible from the start, although yes less detail in concerns to the eyelashes would help

Less detail? I thought they weren't detailed enough :?

do you have the real picture of it?
maybe it will us a better judgement to compare between your art and the photo.

No, I didn't save it. From what I can remember, you're definetely all right about the nose being too big.

Anyway, thanks for the comments everyone. If I draw anything half-decent I'll put it up.

galen

Penguin-Factory wrote:

Less detail? I thought they weren't detailed enough :?

What he means is you shouldn't really draw every eyelash individually like that. They're all just too uniform. Eyelashes tend to "clump" (especially on girls, due to mascara) and they're also shorter and thinner near the corners.

Penguin-Factory

Righty then, here's two more pictures. The first is a sketch of Beck (I think) from the cover of an issue of Wired, the second is a self-portrait sans-hair (that stuff is really hard to draw :evil:.

I posted a previous self portrait attempt here before, and I think this shows some improvement. As in, I don't look like a scumbag here and my nose is now 3 dimensional. The eyes are still weird.

Spilled Milk, Inc.

An important thing to remember is that there are no LINES on a person's face. Everything should be defined be shadows, softer, you know? You should look into getting some shaders. They look like little cone-shaped rolled up pieces of paper. They're very cheap and very useful. I mean, I am not the Master of All Art or anything, but it's a tip I would give anyone.

But I'd say you've got some great potential! Keep it up, buddy.

Doctor Pain

i would say shading comes later, right noe focus on skethes, just make crap loads of sketches of your face, and whatever else...

this is gonna help you get some better flowing lines, and teach you about facial structure and porportions. but dont just draw your face, draw bodies and watever else, to give you a good general experience with the pencil, this will help you grow.

Penguin-Factory

I try to draw one portrait and one full body (clothed and nude) a day. At the moment I usually only shade the portraits, because I'm focusing on anatomy and such with the bodies.

Aumni

Penguin-Factory wrote:

I try to draw one portrait and one full body (clothed and nude) a day. At the moment I usually only shade the portraits, because I'm focusing on anatomy and such with the bodies.

Shading is time consuming. Draw with lines to get the proportions of the features correct first, then worry about giving volume with value later. Do a lot more than one portrait and one fully nude/clothed a day. If you don't shade you can get dozens done. Do hundreds of quick sketches. When you understand proportion and you establish proper anatomy you'll be good to go because your shading isn't bad.

Specifics : Work on Noses[huge] chins [tiny] mouths [edges of mouth should meet inner corner of eyes] eyes [cartoonish]