Be my Hero... Help me get better

[TimV]

Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook!!!

There are so may inspiring artists here and everyone seems willing to help each other out, hopefully this will be a good way for me to improve my artistic skills.

I'm just starting to learn to draw, and I'm not sure how best to learn. I've been mainly working from Loomis' books and just got Bridgman's Constructive Anatomy to start to learn from. I've already seen some improvement in my drawing, but I still struggle so much.

Anyhow... crits and comments welcome. And any advice or direction you can give me would be hugely appreciated.

-enough jabber... presenting some of my works:

-the girls are from reference pics I found on the web, 30 - 60 mins
-the smaller faces were from a magazine, 10-20 mins each
-the woman's face is copied from a Loomis drawing - 1 hr
- the hand is mine, 30 mis

[TimV]

Here's some sketches from Loomis...

[TimV]

Like I said in my first post... I'm just starting to learn to draw.

If you have any suggestions to help me in my journey, like things I should focus on, please let me know.

[JFierce]

Welcome to zee boards:)

Well good start, I see your already looking up Loomis and Bridgeman
Loomis is a great spot to start, I'm not sure if your just looking at his figure drawing book or some of his other stuff

If you havent yet checked out his book on Heads and Hand
I would do that, it will help your heads/faces

Theres a link to some of his books here:
http://www.fineart.sk/index.php?cat=1




Good luck, and keep drawing

[IRON-MAN-429]

Ok, Ill through out my 2 cents. I guess I would suggest studying up on anatomy. There are various books out there on the net. The Loomis drawing you did is pretty well done. Im pretty inexperienced myself, but my best suggestion for improving is to study up your anatomy and to just keep on drawing.

~IRON

[TimV]

Thanks for the kind welcome!

I have all of the 6 Loomis books I could find, and I've dabbled a bit in each, but I've definitely spent more time in his figure drawing book.

[TimV]

One mannequin in perspective... copied
One mannequin from memory, and two made up
One mannequin with simplified muscles copied

[TimV]

Here are my eyes and some other objects I sketched from life.

[TimV]

Copies from magazines and some studies from Loomis

[TimV]

Here's a an idea I had. I tried to draw it larger earlier, and made the figure too static. I'm going to trash it and start again. I kind of like the thumbnail, though, so I'd like to flesh out the idea.

[o00o0o0o0o0o]

You're on the right path (unlike me). You will get better. xD

[vann12]

nice start all i can say is keep studying and draw every day it's really the only way i know to improve

[Eux]

If you want to learn anatomy and construction I have to recommend "The Structure of man" Totally awesome set for learning the rules governing the human body. I think it helped me alot more than the loomis studies since it actually contained a system to help me memorise the anatomy.

[TimV]

I'll have to look into that. $45 for a 5 DVD set doesn't look too bad.

[The Fez]

If you're studying Loomis and Bridgman then you're on the right track.

Just make sure you can understand clearly what your reproducing. Don't just copy for the sake of copying. Analyze and make careful observations about what you're reproducing. What I mean by that is: If you say, draw the structural elements of the human face from a center-right perspective, could you then take the information from that and then do a center left perspective rendering of the human face without referring back to Loomis or Bridgman? What you need to be picking up from these books is not necessarily how something looks in a certain condition or pose, but instead develop and understanding of the shapes/proportions and volumes so that you can reproduce them from any angle. Making this distinction is the difference between progress and spinning your wheels in the mud. Your objective as an artist (or at least what you're supposed to be getting out of those drawing books) is an understanding of form, not simply a reproduction of form.

[TimV]

Thanks for the advice. I really want to make the best of my studies, so I'll try to keep that in mind. Do you have any tips or exercises I can use to help get a better understanding of anatomy as I study?

[thesadpencil]

off to a good start man. definitely put more focus on anatomy and on your faces focus on getting all the proportions of the face right. the loomis studies are good i'd also suggest bridgman because hes really good ref. for anatomy. it also doesn't hurt when working in anatomy you can set up the figure w/ simple shapes and forms such as circles/squares/rectangles/cylinders. also i suggest attending some life drawing classes at a local school. because you will be able to get a lot more from drawing from life. keep practicing and draw everyday. keep posting because your off to a good start.

[TimV]

I certainly appreciate all the great feedback... thanks guys!

I would really like to take a life drawing class, and because a recent move put me closer to some places that actually have art classes, I'm going to take one at the earliest opportunity. Looks like I just missed the winter semester, though so I guess I'll have to wait until Spring.

[Eon]

The still lives you are doing are good to train your eye. I'll suggest doing contour drawing and negative space studies to further develop your perception of edges and lines as well as your hand to eye coordination.

Your longer studies shine. Doing real good so far!

[petitemistress]

my advice for your faces is to treat them structurally: dt start right away with the features, first take time and pleasure defining the shape of the skull, locating where the features should be... little proportion tips you can memorize for the face can help you a lot, such as:

a "facing" face is 5 eyes wide, and the space between the 2 eyes equals one eye itself.

the corners of the mouth usually coincide with the inner corners of the eyes.

the spot where the ear attaches to the face is on the same level as the place where the nos attaches to the skin over your lip... sorry if im not too clear but english isnt my first language so i sometimes struggle with technical terms! lol

oh and another thing; when rendering a face, avoid hard lines to define shadow and try to work it more like rendering a painting, unlessur going for a flat style of course... a good tip to remember is that the darkest point in the face is generally the inward mouth line, especially the corners; so keep in mind that all other shadows should be LESS accentuated than this one...

hopefully this was helpful! :)

[Nibras]

nice start thats good i like the sketch of the girl kneeling down looks really good and all i can really say the thing that can help you the most is to draw draw draw practise anatomy and the basics and draw moarrrrr :P hope all goes well

[TimV]

Thanks for all of the help guys, it's really helpful. I'm really going to try to keep your tips in mind. It'll really help me progress as an artist.

Here are some more studies from Bridgeman.

Also, I've been trying to get my figures to be less static, so here are some stick
figures from memory.

The still lives you are doing are good to train your eye. I'll suggest doing contour drawing and negative space studies to further develop your perception of edges and lines as well as your hand to eye coordination.
I'll do some Contour and Negative Space drawings soon.

oh and another thing; when rendering a face, avoid hard lines to define shadow and try to work it more like rendering a painting, unlessur going for a flat style of course... a good tip to remember is that the darkest point in the face is generally the inward mouth line, especially the corners; so keep in mind that all other shadows should be LESS accentuated than this one...
I haven't tried painting, although I'd eventually like to start. Still, I think I know what you mean, though. I have been using hard lines. Also, interesting tip on the inward mouth line being the darkest.

Anyone know how other people get the quotes from other posts to have the original poster displayed?

[InvertedChalupa]

Welcome aboard : ) Seeing where you're at right now, it would be silly to give you advice on individual pieces so the only advice I can throw to you is advice that i'm sure will be echoed back to you countless amounts of times as you progress (as it should be echoed and taken seriously on your part imo). Firstly, your off to a great start. Your drawing all the things anyone interested in representational art should draw. Nextly (nextly?) I would try to nail down proportians like a mother fucker as much as possile. Its soooo important to make things look "right" when your drawing figuratively so I would concentrate on that alot at this stage. Always ask your self what your image is communicating at any given stage of finish (specially in the sketch/design stage!!) if the shapes feel lumpy when they should feel slim and straight, fix it! Is that a sexy smile or a wierd smirk that looks like shes dropping a turd? if its the second one, for gods sake fix it! or even on a more subtle level, does this shape on my paper evoke the feeling of a REAL nose/eye/face/whatecer? If it feels kind of off or funny or even just satisfactory, don't settle for that! don't know how to change it or stuck? Look at how others you admire do it. It's important not to simply gawk and stare in awe at your favorite artist, STUDY the shit out of them. There is so much knowledge to be gained from them. It doesn't mean copying the way someone draws a "nose" but what certain things that person does and sometimes more importantly doesn't do to make that nose feel like a nose (you can obviously substitute nose for anything here).

Thats about all I got at this stage. Happy drawing dude! Your now walking a fulfilling/depressing/awesome/kind of sexy road now.

[TimV]

A Still life (2 apples)

I spent over an hour on this. In some ways I'm happy with it, it's probably the longest I've spent on a single drawing. However, I know it still kinda sucks. I'm not 100% sure what's wrong with it. Anyway, any tips on how to improve would be appreciated.

[TimV]

Not much time for drawing tonight :-( but here are a couple brief contours and a negative space drawing as promised. These are tough. I need to start doing more of these.

[ItalianHorsey]

I haven't read anyone elses comments so sorry if I repeat anything. It's good that you are workin with those anatomy books. You need to work on shading more. Those first faces were looking rough. You also need to work on your line ( I have the same problem ). Instead of doing a lot of scratchy lines do one confident line. I want to see more studies. Oh and those apples are really flat...shadows are not completely black, the shadow shouldn't be what attracts the eye like yours does. Shadows also have diferent shades in them and have some sort of form. Study every shadow carefully. Maybe try just doing one apple so you can concentrate on that alone. Keep posting!

[TimV]

Thanks for the input. I do have a hard time with my lines looking rough. I really need to try to work on that.

And I did really screw up that shadow on the apples. I grabbed my 6B charcoal instead of a 6B graphite - Oops! Anyway... that's why it's so dark.

It's really hard to model form on something that complicated. I definitely need to practice more. But it was way fun! I'm going to do a lot more of those in the near future.

[l0stinth0ughts]

hey tim this is a good start on your sketchbook, but as far as i know for the still life figures, try using light contour lines. that usually helps me and trust me on this one, because once you mastered that you can work with the shading and that comes reall easy. just keep working on those studies and experiment a little. hope this helps :rocker:

[TimV]

Some arm studies from Bridgeman...

[TimV]

Here's another apple. Trying to learn to show form... It's really tough. It's a lot of fun though. Any more tips would be appreciated!

[Weavel]

hello Tim, those study's are looking nice, you already see improvement in your drawing skills. Just keep going and keep on practicing. As for the apple; i really doubt your apple is a elipse, so you have to focus first on the linework of the apple and after that you can render it. Take your time to see what the shape of the apple is. For the rendering; think in shapes your apple seems a bit flat because the value of the right side of your apple is almost the same, if you have the value's right of your apple you can do the details such as the wrinkles and the texture of the apple.

Have fun on the apples!

[TimV]

weavel: Thanks for the input. You're right... I did rush the linework on the apple. I need to slow down there. I'll put some more effort into the values of my drawings.

[TimV]

Wow! just realized I'm on page 2 of my sketchbook... my second CA milestone. The first, of course, was creating the sketchbook.

Time to celebrate!!!
:steph: :drinkup: :steph: :drinkup: :steph:

[Warforce17]

^^ Good to know that I am not the alone as beginner ;)
I really like your eyes and anatomie studies.
As a beginner I just can give you this tips:

Dont force yourself and dont be too hard to yourself.
I think you rushed with the apple.
Slow down a bit or just do the apple later when you want to draw.



P.S If you try to draw a apple but you can not the draw this apple...
Eat it :yum:

[TimV]

You got it... I did rush that apple. I need to slow down a bit when drawing. I'm going to try to force myself to do some slower drawings.

[TimV]

Well, It's been a while since my last post. I just had too much going on to keep posting. Now that things are settling down again, I'm going to start drawing and posting more regularly.

Here are some gestures and a drawing I'm doing. I've posted the ref as well as the line drawing, and my attempt at starting to shade. I think I've spent almost 3 hours so far on this.

More to come in a few days, promise.

[TimV]

And after shading the rest...

I think I made it worse :(

Oh, well. Guess it's practice. I did learn a bit about shading. Now I'll get to take what I learned and apply it to another drawing.

[TimV]

Here's a couple more. Two drawings of an apple (the same one). One in graphite, and one with charcoal pencils. And a woman, completely from my head. I know it sucks, but it's way better than I would've done a few months ago, so in a way I'm proud of it.

As always, comments and suggestions are appreciated.

[TimV]

Trying to get better at hatching / shading. Here's another. Probably 2 hours.

[me_art_and_animation]

i think u r doing good. but i feel that u r trying to concentrate on so many things at the same time. anatomy, copy work, lighting and shading, perspective and much more. i will suggest that u take one or two things at one time and leave the rest for a while. eg. anatomy and gesture. or shading and still life. this will help u concentrate well and that will help u observe the same thing everywhere by this way u will learn actually fast then slow as it looks in first view. rest is good. all the best.

[TimV]

me_art_and_animation: I think you're right. Any suggestions on what to tackle first? I'm not really sure if there's a good place to start. I've put the anatomy copies on hold for a while, for that very reason.

I've been trying to focus on shading / hatching because I think it's one of my weakest areas. I've been doing gesture drawings using posemaniacs too.

[McLean]

Wow, I can definitely see a degree of improvement from your first posts. I mean, no lie, its going to take a long time to really "get there" but starting is probably the toughest part. I'm really glad to see you trying to show planes with directional hatching and mark-making.

keep it up with those anatomy proportion studies, and when drawing from those photos, try turning both the photo and the drawing upside down, and check the shapes. You'll be surprised how much you pick up when you do that. Though really, Im a stickler for drawing from life as often as possible. Are you in art school? Have friends who draw and want to pool some money for a model session? Or even friends or family members who will sit still for 20 minutes?

Good luck.

[TimV]

McLean: no, I'm not in art school. I've been meaning to take some community drawing classes, but haven't found one that works with my schedule yet.

I'll see if I can get someone to hold still for a while for me to draw. Right now, I feel like I need so much work that I couldn't possibly draw someone in 20 minutes. Worth a shot, I suppose.

[me_art_and_animation]

i think the best point to start is always gesture. start with a basic spine line or line of action, then u can switch to spherical and box forms. start anatomy side by side so that u can observe more. the more u improve in gesture start to use your anatomical knowledge in it. i started with gesture and head anatomy. though i have not finished head yet, but i have started to draw a portrait a day. u can do the same. and then in gesture start to make faces. this is a bit slow but step by step and guaranteed method.

[TimV]

Here's one from life (yes, a real person) and some gestures (I've tons more).

[Stryyf]

thanks for the comments in My SB
keep it up.

[TimV]

Here's some more from pics. I hope to do more from life soon.

One page of the most recent set of gestures
One ~ 30 min figure
One head ~ 10 mins

As always comments are welcome. Any advice or direction is welcome as well.