Getting back into illustration.

Devilboy999 · December 2013

I started drawing when I was in elementary school, and it was one of my biggest past times. About 4 years ago I began to drift away from it until a couple weeks ago when I watched Strip Search when I felt something that inspired me to come back to it again. I've been trying to re-learn the basics for about two weeks now. This is piece, below is the first pencil sketch that I felt confident enough about to show anyone.
As of right now, I'm limited in my material to pencils, and paper (as well as a black pen for inking). I'm drawing on lined paper at the moment because my sketch book is still a little too intimidating. I would really appreciate any advice or critiques, but I'm a novice when it comes to digital drawing and I've only ever taken an basic art 101 class, so bear with me if I don't understand some terminology immediately.

While I stepped away from art for several years, I hadn't stopped working creatively. This piece is a pencil sketch of the main character from one of my projects that I started working on in 2011.

Tell us what your goals as an artist are.
I want to learn to be able to be able to consistently draw, ink and color persons, objects and environments to a degree that I can create comics based on stories and universe I have created in writing. I eventually want to learn to draw, then fully create works on a digital drawing pad.

How long have you been practicing this form of art?
Overall, I have been drawing since early elementary school, but I have only picked it up again in the last two weeks after several years of being away from it.

Who are some artists or styles that you admire who you strive to be like in your own work?
Brandon Graham ("Multiple Warheads"), Adam Warren ("Empowered"), Hirohiko Araki ("Jojo's Bizarre Adventures"), Micheal Allred ("I Zombie").

Devilboy999 · December 2013

Here's an updated version of the picture. The subject's name is Connor, the main character from my on going project.

Devilboy999 · December 2013

This is a sketch one of the other protagonists, named Ian, from the same story.

Iruka · December 2013

Welcome to the boards!

First off, I know that drawing comes with a certain level of discomfort. Its awesome that you are posting, and you're going to have to keep pushing yourself to not let mental hang ups get in the way of moving forward. Remember that everyone starts somewhere. There is nothing particularly sacred about a sketchbook. Personally, I buy spiral bound strathmore sketchbooks. They are super cheap, they are unassuming, and I can rip out pages. I think of sketchbooks as a place to think, and I'm just as likely to write down a phone number or other bullshit notes in them as I am to draw.

Try to work on getting into a space where you can draw in a sketchbook, mostly to work on the notion that your drawings are not worthy. You should know that the mental negativity is a common malady of the artist, but its something that should be worked at. Its a dangerous cycle and you don't want to keep tripping yourself up on it.

As for the drawings themselves, they are really simple. They show that you figured out a sort of symbol of the figure that you can present, but Its hard to really know what your knowledge is with these two drawings.

So I just made this post in another dudes thread, but I think it also applies to you:

Iruka wrote: »

The bad news is the skills that you want to improve require the most technical areas of study, as you are essentially looking to improve your base level understanding. That is a sort of tedious process that will require you tackling some exercises that are on the boring side. The good news is, those skills are the easiest to look at completely objectively.

More good news is, we have some threads that can help. I suggest checking out the Noahs art camp thread, because it gives you some idea of what sorts of exercises can propel you forward. I'll try and get in there and put in the last three weeks of lessons.

We also have the monthly enrichment threads:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/172670/feb-monthly-enrichment-simple-shapes-light-and-form
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/177066/apr-monthly-enrichment-color-studies/p1
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/180484/july-monthly-enrichment-character-construction

If you are going to keep up with portraits, I'd recommend these proko vids:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL39135B8D190B7C97

Anyway, sorry to throw a bunch of links at you, but its the best thing to do with some of these basic concepts. Keep posting work, and we'll try to be as helpful as we can!

Try some exercises, and we'll be able to really help you!

Devilboy999 · December 2013

Thank you very much for the advice. I really appreciate the links. I definitely need to take some time to focus on the fundementals so I can improve from there. I think I'll move to a sketchbook very shortly from here. I'm starting to feel more confident at this point.

Devilboy999 · December 2013

Here's an update with color.

Iruka · December 2013

Once you do some studies, Post them. You will get a good response when people see you putting in that kind of effort. Mostly because its so easy to comment on and see exactly what is right and wrong. You will also find that it is easy to self evaluate once you get going with them.

Anyway, cant wait to see what you bring to the table! Buy a sketchbook and keep at it.

Devilboy999 · December 2013

Thanks for the moral support. I started another sketch in an sketchbook I had lying around earlier tonight. I'll post it tomorrow once I've finished it. I'll get started with those studies tomorrow too!

SpaceMoose · December 2013

I've read some stuff in regards to sketchbooks being intimidating to start. One thing that seemed like a good idea is to just do whatever on the first page, something ridiculous that you don't even care about, splash paint, coffee, marker scribble, whatever. Then afterwards it shouldn't be as intimidating to use. It's just paper after all.

Devilboy999 · December 2013

SpaceMoose wrote: »

I've read some stuff in regards to sketchbooks being intimidating to start. One thing that seemed like a good idea is to just do whatever on the first page, something ridiculous that you don't even care about, splash paint, coffee, marker scribble, whatever. Then afterwards it shouldn't be as intimidating to use. It's just paper after all.

Thanks! That's a good idea.

Devilboy999 · December 2013

Here's a sketch I finished last night before I want to sleep. I sketched this in my sketchbook I found yesterday. The character's name is Liam.

I'm going to ink and color this today, then begin working on the enrichment activities that MOD Iruka showed me. Thanks again!

Devilboy999 · December 2013

Here's the character (Liam), now with color.

Now to work on those enrichment exercises!

Devilboy999 · December 2013

Here's my first attempt at simple shapes:

These were done free hand. Any critiques or advice is welcome.

Devilboy999 · December 2013

Quick still-life practice sketch I did this morning. More to come.

The photo was taken a hour or so after the sketch was done (and I just realized that I didn't shade the inside of the cup).

Iruka · December 2013

Try not to do your still life too quickly.

I have these two posts over in Mabelma's thread that sort of apply to you:

Iruka wrote: »

Bacon. You are rocking it.

Just wanted to drop some other opinions on you, Mabelma. It seems like most of your studies are from stock photos, But I think you really need to put in the hours of doing a few basic still life drawings. Actually set something up in a room and stare at it for a long ass time. Don't forget about the Simple Shape Monthly Enrichment we did, and watch the Proko video again. The thing that we sometimes forget is how complex it can be to just render a sphere so that it looks real. Doing the simple shape studies is important, because its sort of hard to to build on bacon's advice if you cant complete that first step.

Try the egg one. You are going to need to look at that egg for a long time. The thing is, these studies are really not about the end result. You are basically taking notes. Watch the proko video, look at your egg. Watch the proko video, draw the egg once and take notes. Watch the proko video, spend three hours drawing a stupid egg. Get critiques, walk away for two months. Go back and read the crits, Try again.

This is the method I use when I am trying to learn something and make it stick. I still need to sit down and hammer out the fact that basic technical things are eluding me, it never really goes away. I have trouble understanding concepts when I am just frustrated and trying to make a complex drawing work. You need to really break it down to its building blocks, read/watch/take in information, try it, and then go back and review the information. An excellent exercise, for instance, is going back in your own thread and rereading critiques. When I look back in my own thread, I can see the advice that I digested in the moment, but I also can readily see all the little clues that I missed.

for some more information overload, I have these saved,
http://artanecdotally.tumblr.com/post/51731675342/via-http-forums-penny-arcade-com-discussion-comm
http://artanecdotally.tumblr.com/post/42297819611/http-forums-penny-arcade-com-discussion-comment-2
http://artanecdotally.tumblr.com/post/28450705576/as-a-person-who-has-been-collecting-tutorials-and

Keep Hammering away, man.

Iruka wrote: »

This egg is a great start and shows me a few things,

First, If you are going to primarily use Photoshop, you are going to have to jump through some of the technical hoops to really make the program work for you. You'll want to experiment with switching brushes and changing up your flow/opacity to get smooth results. don't settle for splotchy results, use your selection tools and push the tech to give you the results you want. You would similarly try to control any traditional media, try to think of your digital tools as flexible things.

The trick is though, is not using them all at the same time. When you are going for that extra level of realism, pull out the stops to try and achieve what you see. The benefit of trying to accurately replicate textures is that you will start to think twice about pulling out a "chalk brush" and just using that over a whole image for no good reason.

Saying all that brings me to my second point, which is about increasing your level of observation. Part of doing still lives is learning how to see. It is the most obnoxious thing to try and get across to beginners. Some of it just will come over time, but you will have to be hard on yourself to be accurate. Does the egg you posted really look like the egg on your desk? Where does it fall short? You will need to be able to ask this question in the moment, and look at your drawing objectively.

I wanted to repeat this from my last post too:

Iruka wrote: »

Try the egg one. You are going to need to look at that egg for a long time. The thing is, these studies are really not about the end result. You are basically taking notes. Watch the proko video, look at your egg. Watch the proko video, draw the egg once and take notes. Watch the proko video, spend three hours drawing a stupid egg. Get critiques, walk away for two months. Go back and read the crits, Try again.

Thats alot of information in there, But what is super important to take away is that studies are not about the end result. You want to spend time on them looking at the object, and you really want to be saying to yourself in the moment "Does this look like the cup on the table in front of me?"

Does the cup on the table have a dark rim? Does the cup on the table have an elliptical highlight on it? Am I covering the same value range as the cup on the table? Why is the light hitting it that way? How can I shade with my pencils to better enable me to render this cup?

In the end, what you aren't trying to do is get a perfect drawing of a cup, you are trying to learn how you would make a perfect drawing of a cup. You are training your brain to look at every object and understand the information that it needs to translate it to paper. Once you can do that without even thinking about it, you'll understand enough about light and form to apply that technical knowledge to imagined subjects.

Devilboy999 · December 2013

Thanks, I'll be sure to spend more time practicing, particularly individual pieces. Thanks again for the advice and support.

Devilboy999 · January 2014

Here's a sketch of another one of my characters (Betty) from the same project.

Devilboy999 · January 2014

I haven't taken a break from drawing, but here's some stuff I've done the last few days.

Devilboy999 · January 2014

Here's a sketch I did of the print design I want on the character Betty's black shirt.

Devilboy999 · January 2014

Here's the design, updated with color.

Devilboy999 · January 2014

Here's another sketch, updated with color, of Maria.

Iruka · January 2014

You are cutting off limbs all over the place, which is not great. You need to plan out

If you really want to improve in turbo mode, I suggest looking at the types of studies getting done in the Noahs art camp thread: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/178745/noah-s-art-camp-ac-group-of-supreme-organization/p1

I realize studies aren't always as fun as doing the stuff that you are doing, but you just probably aren't going to get much in the way of comments on these. You are sort of "doing your thing" in a way that we cannot be at all helpful with. They are heavily stylized, and fairly simplistic. Other than telling you if we find them cool or not cool, there isn't much to say. When you post a still life, its much easier for us to see whats going on. The same thing goes for master studies. It will take time, but you'll start to see the benefits.

So if you really want to get the most out of your thread, keep at the studies, and keep posting those.

Devilboy999 · January 2014

Here's a group sketch I'm working on.

Devilboy999 · January 2014

update:

Devilboy999 · January 2014

Another update.

Devilboy999 · January 2014

Finished, with color.

Devilboy999 · January 2014

Thanks!

SpaceMoose · January 2014

Your work is very consistent but something that was already pointed out by @Iruka seems worth mentioning again. In this last picture it looks like you're hiding all the characters hands. The one on the far right seems the most obvious as it looks like a super uncomfortable position, plus in your original sketch above his hand is out and visible. Maybe this is a conscious choice and you can draw hands just fine (they seem alright in your other drawings) but it seems maybe it's saying you need to work on them a bit.

Devilboy999 · January 2014

Here's another concept sketch of the character Maria, in another outfit I want to use in the project.

Devilboy999 · January 2014

Devilboy999 · January 2014

Here's a few more things from the last few days.

Devilboy999 · January 2014

Here's some new stuff:

sampangolin · January 2014

Iruka wrote: »

I realize studies aren't always as fun as doing the stuff that you are doing, but you just probably aren't going to get much in the way of comments on these. You are sort of "doing your thing" in a way that we cannot be at all helpful with. They are heavily stylized, and fairly simplistic. Other than telling you if we find them cool or not cool, there isn't much to say. When you post a still life, its much easier for us to see whats going on. The same thing goes for master studies. It will take time, but you'll start to see the benefits.

Hi dude. I've quoted some of Iruka's text as I think it's really relevant and, not wanting to be rude, you seem to be ignoring it. Most of the pictures you've done are the sort that most people will look at and just sort of shrug.

Have a look at some of the artists work you mentioned in your OP. The characters in a lot of them show a lot of form and structure, you get a real sense in some of them of the person being a three dimensional object. That's not going to come across in an outline like you're doing. Maybe that's just the style you want to do or maybe you're drawing that style to hide a lack of knowledge, but people on the forum can't tell if you keep drawing the same style.

Keep drawing, it's good you're still at it after a few weeks! But some more focused studies would be good to see.

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