Sho's Sketches

[Shos]

Welcome to my sketchbook. My aim is to post a number of sketches each week. I'm pretty much a beginner at drawing, as you can see for yourself. However, they say that genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.
Let's see how hard I can make myself sweat.

Constructive criticism is very welcome and I'll do my best to reciprocate where I can.

Thanks for checking out my stuff!


See the attachments for my first posts.
1. Referenced on a David Beckham photograph. I'm afraid his identity is not quite that obvious from this drawing...
2. Based on an image of a nuclear explosion. I experimented with tone and texture.

[aussiedeza]

Good attitude mate and thats quite good for a beginner. My advice to you is start learning the fundamentals straight away I wish i did.

And if you don't know what fundamentals include they are Form / Form and Form =), seriously i suggest start by learning how to draw boxes best thing to learn first, it may be a bit boring but latter on you will be so great full you did it =).

[Shos]

Thanks for your feedback, Aussiedeza. Much appreciated.
I wasn't sure at first what you meant by practicing 'form', but after going through your own sketchbook thread I got the idea. I have to admit I find 'form' one of the hardest aspects of drawing. I'll look into it this week and set up some exercises for myself. Since I can see how it helped your work along, I agree that it should be a good investment.
Cheers for that!

[Shos]

Today I tried some form studies. First looked up some tutorials about shading, and shadow dynamics (cast shadow etc.). I find it quite hard to apply good looking shadows (maybe because I use a mechanical pencil?) and determining where the more complex shadows should go (cast shadow, etc.).
In the attachments you can see what I managed today.

My apologies for the mediocre quality of the pictures. I'm going to try to get my hands on a scanner :)

[Psypherlis]

Since I think we're on the same page as far as practicing form this week, I'll have to admit that I often just use a mechanical pencil too. It's time to break out the soft graphite and make life easier. I'll be looking forward to seeing more of your progress.

[aussiedeza]

Good work dude your on the right track, whens learning how to draw boxes you don't have to shade them, try and create form with just line for a little bit you will be able to produce pages and pages of boxes compared to 2 or 3 fully rendered boxes. and where not talking hours of it just 10 mins or so, no harm there aye also learn about 2 point and 3 point perspective. keep going at it mate.

[Shos]

Psypherlis: Thanks for the feedback!
I think you're right about the 'softer' material. Next week I'm picking up some drawing supplies from home so I'll continue the shading practice once I have my hands on that.

Aussiedeza: Is this more what you mean? (see attachment)
I have to admit, I made your mention of 2-point and 3-point perspective into a challenge. It was a rather enjoyable one at that. However, I did spend an hour on these, so I'm thinking the next step is to increase my drawing speed.
These are all free hand, by the way.

[Psypherlis]

Shos, a couple of times lately, I practiced some foreshortened squares and then drew a horizon line with vanishing points to see how accurate they were. I plan on doing that more often and it may be helpful to you. I like aussiedeza's tip about drawing boxes because from much of what I've seen lately, many artists can put their whole compostion inside a box drawn in perspective.

[fantasyartist]

Good work on practicing drawing basic forms. Just keep at it and you will realize that it isn't that hard at all, you just have to be patient and carefull. If you have problems with shading get your hands on the Andrew Loomis books and/or Scott Robertson's shaiding DVDs. Keep sweating!

[Nibras]

Nice start. Really nice shading and studies i think you should do more life studies and anatomy they really help you loads.
Just keep it up and keep practising

[Shos]

Psypherlis: Thanks for the tip! I tried drawing the boxes a little faster, with a little less planning, but haven't managed to come to a presentable result. I'll be sure to post it when I do.

Fantasyartist: Thanks for the encouragement :) And I'm indeed eager to get my hands on some decent drawing manuals (Vilppu, Loomis, Hogarth). Friday is my birthday, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some nice presents...

Lilnebo: Anatomy is indeed something I really want to get into. Thanks for the feedback :)


Continuation of the perspective/form study:

[Shos]

Some improvisation. Tried to go a bit faster, and keep everything a bit rougher.

[Psypherlis]

Shos, I didn't necessarily mean draw faster although there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes the straight-edge can be used to check perspective after the drawing...I found ConceptArt 101 over the weekend. I plan on working through the assignments slowly but surely.

Here's the link in case you're interested:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=81332&page=42

[Shos]

Thanks for the tip, psypherlis. That thread indeed seems to contain some nuggets of wisdom. I'm adding it to my subscriptions.

On a more general note, I'm flying out tomorrow for a week in the home country. I'm going to pick up some stuff (hopefully my old scanner) and see if I can get my hands on one of those drawing manuals dripping in pictorial wisdom. I'll keep up the good practice during that time, and post the backlog of images once I'm back.
So, check you guys in 10 days or so.

And as a last note, did my drawing practice today but all that came out was some chicken scratches. Must be the pre-travel stress...

[Grafguy]

hi, thnx for passing by
At first, when I saw ur first sketch (David Beckham), I immediatly had to think of Fable.
it kinda has the same style, I like it :p
Second, yes im belgium and dutch speaking :) so are my fellow student
We go to school at Kortrijk (West Vlaanderen) @ PIH

ciao

[Shos]

Grafguy: thanks for stopping by. Do you mean Fable the game? That game rocks



Here are some older sketches photographed.
Got my scanner now, but haven't worked out to get everything working. Soon.

Apologies for the white spaces. I'll try to fix that in a bit.