beginning of a long way... (mild nudity)

[shiNIN]

hi people :)

after quite a few dsgs, I think I really should make my SB as well :) it's a sign I became serious...
I dump various things here along with some thoughts. feel free to skip the blurb, especially that my English is so bad. I understand almost everything, but I rarely write and never talk in English.

I'm a programmer, born in 1976, I live in Hungary.
as a child I loved drawing, but at 7 I realized I suck and maths are more exciting for me anyway...
I made not even doodles, but I always loved nice visual things, especially pictures full of beauty, mood or idea...
20 years passed and I felt an urge to draw... but it was only playing... I drew faces (then bodies too) and almost no more and they were simple copies, mostly from an anime.
my copies were often impressive for a complete beginner, but I just traced the lines well, I didn't know how to construct a human figure, my own ones were horrible. so I studied human anatomy, but still half-heartedly.
imagination was never my strong point, but I realized I had no own ideas at all, not even for poses or for a unique face, it was strange, I felt so lame.
then I've "accidentally" found CA and the Daily Sketch Group. I've read and watched DSG topics for 2 days, it was wonderful. one topic, many different styles and interpretation... I registered and made my first DSG entry. it was bad, but it was such a good feeling to make something and to be among the others, making new things.
my progress is noticeable, my confidence has grown, my imagination seems to be not completely dead yet and I have new goals.

it's hard to draw every day, I'm struggling with it. but this feeling is too passionate and wonderful, I won't fail.

my favourite topic is the human(oid) body. I want to be really good at it, anatomy, every kind of expressions, different facial features... both simple and realistic, various styles.
I like clothes and accessories too and I like creatures, plants and I'm ready to make limited effort in order to create backgounds for completeness and mood, but I have an extremely low interest in mechanical things, especially if they're not humanoid-shaped ones (no, I have no mental/emotional problems being a programmer, it's just another thing :)). the fact I drew robots shows the power of DSG =)
I like the simpleness and charm of some anime style (I can admire even the most simplest comic), but I think I usually prefer a more realistic approach... I definitely won't use big eyes and anime noses everywhere, but I like interesting shaped eyes and a bit more slender body then ours.

I dunno if it's a problem, but I'm reluctant to spend too much time and efforts for a picture. I love simple but expressive and feelingful styles and besides, I'm a beginner, I need learn the basics and for now, I need making many sketches about anatomy and stuff, I don't like working in detail on a basically messed up base.

thanks if someone has read this much and now my little things...
I start with my few drawings _not_ created with pencil or photoshop.

1. (+dragon pencil sketch) my best (though rushed and unfinished) Commodore-64 picture, 2005, FLI (still 16 fixed colors and 320x200 resolution with 2x1 pixels, but this format has more freedom with colors. except for the first 3 column, but I used a trick. I've created the viewer program and the painter, too ;))
I really like the dragon, the original pencil sketch became my first avatar.

2. two funny creatures from a thanking card, 2007:

pictures created in Flash (all from 2007):

the winged girl I often draw is Reki/Haibane Renmei. I usually copy very easily, but she drove me nuts!!! I drew many hundreds of Reki, so now some of them are similar to her. I'm not particularly fond of her, but my Love, Alvaro is, he writes fanfic about Reki and himself and I will be his illustrator one day...
3. a picture about her (the body is horrible)

4. an anonymous haibane girl. I just made lines and circles with my new wacom tablet, as an exercise, but I got bored pretty quickly and suddenly she was there. I had to tidy up her a bit and add colors... it was fun.

5. a one-minute dog ;) a test element for a comic maker site which I've been working on.

6. it's a funny pic about Alvaro. Alvaro isn't only a real person, but his own character :) their appearances and abilities are different, though :)

7. a logo. it's a request of Alvaro. the Haibane Renmei has a logo, and Alvaro has his own, vaguely resembling the other one. it still need a finishing touch.

[phoenicorn]

nice start. hope to see more in the future

[shiNIN]

(expcept dsgs :))
I don't have much to show. the copy stuff don't show how I can draw by myself. the others are really messy, with too many lines and my goal usually wasn't a nice rendering, but grabbing something about the anatomy or feeling. I usually don't use shadows, only lines.
but there were some exceptions.
especially the fanfic I've already mentioned gave me motivation :)

COPY:
1. hands: one of my favourite topic. they have a very important role, but really tough to draw.
even my copied hands tend to be awful, so I must show these gloved ones (original: Getbackers anime, the fingers of the first doesn't have a 3d feel):

2-3. when I go home, to my Mother, I have no computer, but more time and energy, so I draw more and I copy from various books.
so I've copied these (I alter some of them in the process).

4. Alvaro's fanfic is a crossover one... he use not only Haibane Renmei, but Bleach too... the two are extremely different, but fortunately Bleach is more compatible for me.
Inoue Orihime is the only Bleach character I'll need to draw as the illustrator...

OWN SKETCHES:
5. Reki is a Haibane Renmei character, and these are her usual summer clothes, but I drew from memory:

6. "tearful" - after 150 Reki, not-Reki and almost-Reki faces I tried to give her expressions too... I think she's a bit younger here.

7-9. I had so much time on the train to home, plus a little face (anime profiles are fun)

10-11. sometimes I step closer to caricatures (the second one is the real Alvaro, I drew on a bus, about 2 minutes. I don't have a problem with my _speed_).

12-13. some of my better "Alvaro, the arrancar" drawings. I know, anatomy...
I'm still don't know how his face will look like exactly. the clothes, the crow skull (I'm glad with my stylized version :)), the holed black wings and the broken black halo are from Alvaro's fanfic and the character _must_ be a slim, feminine boy. *sigh*
the clothes are correct on the picture with adult and child (the adult figure wears it), and I usually forgot the wings or the halo (or there wasn't space left for it).
the child version has a shiny halo and gray wings like every good Haibane.

14. a muscular, totally off-character Alvaro. you know, I just need to play around sometimes... I was cruel, but I enjoyed it ;)

15. "Mine is bigger" (it's about his wings, of course :)). I messed up his left hand.

[shiNIN]

after the period shown by the previous pictures, I made a really big jump.
I drew still rarely, but it was from another world: Daily Sketch Group entries and studies for them. I made things I didn't know I was able to...
most of them are (wow, they're many... I didn't realized it until now):

1. DSG 1326: Environment: NATURAL FEATURE OF DIRT AND ROOTS RISES OUT OF WINDSWEPT PLAIN (Flash)

2-3. DSG 1327: Creature: BIZARRE ALIEN IS LIKE AN AMBULATORY COLLECTION OF SLIME-MOLDS
the shot of my pencil sketch was horrible and I applied an effect. it couldn't do much harm ;) I redraw it in Flash.

4. DSG 1328: Sci-Fi: LUXURY YACHT'S SUPER-LOADED FANTASY JUMP-JET

5. DSG 1329: Creature: THE ALIEN "SPHINX" IS COMPLETELY FREAKISH (Flash)

6. DSG 1333: Sci-Fantasy: WEAPON-TOTING DINOSAUR W/ A HUMAN FACE VS. LAND-SQUID THING

7. DSG 1335: Creature: CENTAUR IS RIDICULOUSLY, VEIN-POPPINGLY, MUSCLED

8. DSG 1344: Creature: GREEN, ELEPHANT-SIZED, HERBIVORE W/ YELLOW MARKINGS + SHORT-HORNS (human figure added only for showing its size)

9. DSG 1346: Sci-Fi Character: CYBER-AMBASSADOR IS A ROBOT KNOWN AS "THE BIRD-WOMAN"

[shiNIN]

I've got fed up with the quality of my entries created with pencil and shot with a camera, and I like colors anyway... so I've switched to Photoshop.
some time later I threw away my beloved lines too. I had no experience with colors and composition... it was tough, but I wasn't bored at all.

DSG 1349: Open-Ended: THE CHANGELING (only the best part)

DSG 1351: Creature: FREAKY ALIEN "TREE SPIDER" WAITS FOR PREY TO WALK BELOW

DSG 1354: Creature: AN ALIEN HOLDING ITS BABY
the original pencil sketch has some charm, but the result wasn't the expected :(. somehow it became a bit distorted (in the original the parent looks exactly into its baby's eye) and I had very serious problems with colors I just couldn't fix.

DSG 1356: Fantasy: NEWLY DEVELOPED FAERIE EMERGES FROM ITS CHRYSALIS (I consider it a failure, though I like the leaves and the idea: the newborn fairy is looking to the wormie and thinking about what she gained and what she LOST)

DSG 1360: Creature: UNIPED CYCLOPS (lines again. I needed them :( )
not very tidy, but I liked this pic and I drew one such cyclops every day for a while. even the whiteboard in the office couldn't avoid its fate. my collegues were glad :)

DSG 1361: Sci-Fi • PEOPLE SPOT THE HUGE ROBOTS CRESTING THE FORESTED HILL HORIZON
the people are too black, but I drew a scene and there's some lightning, I was a bit pleased

DSG 1362: Sci-Fantasy • RED SEMI-CIRCULAR ALIEN CRAFT IS KNOWN AS THE "BLOOD ARC"
crafts aren't my thing, but I focused to the colors and played with PS brushes, it was fun

DSG 1365: Creature • CLOSE-UP SHOT OF A SEA BEE... BEES THAT'VE GONE AQUATIC
I still played with brushes. the coral is referenced, though it wasn't really like this

DSG 1366: Creature: HIDEOUS DEEP-SEA MONSTROSITY IS CREEPILY KNOWN AS "THE MERMAID"
I got a bit carried away... 2 versions

DSG 1368: Sci-Fantasy • THE GREAT MECHANICAL SQUID
I'm proud of it :) at last, I did something I was really pleased with!

DSG 1370: Creature • ESIPHET, THE VELOCIRAPTOR-HEADED EGYPTIAN GOD OF PUNISHMENT
too crowded in the breast area, there are some anatomy issues and it's not sharp enough, but I like his legs. I need to draw figures without outlines :(

DSG 1373: Weirdness • HUMAN CHRYSALIS

[shiNIN]

1. the task was to overpaint a kid's drawing, in The Monster Engine (http://themonsterengine.com/art.html) style. it was fun :)

2. Gimme Face #4: Pucker up my hero! first I thought of Catwoman, but she's not a hero and the current dsg was about bunny... so here's my make-up hero ;)

I will continue making entries (usually with Photoshop), they're useful and it's good to show my little things.
but I badly need making a lot of anatomy studies and I lack experience in everything. as for human anatomy, I have a good eye to realize what the problem is, but if it's anything else (composition, color, lightning...), I just feel something isn't right and often have no idea how to fix it :(. so any good advice is highly appreciated! :)
I will do what I can myself, I'll practice (and draw instead of writing) :)

thanks for visiting my very humble SB! crits are welcomed, of course. be honest with me, I will be the same in your SB :) I like to crit when I am able to give a reasonable opinion.

[phoenicorn]

me again. soz if i was a bit vague in my earlier post, I meant to say something was slightly off about your anatomy but i could not place my finger on it. looking at your newer stuff I can see alot of improvement in your work. keep it up

[the ANGRY filipino]

Hi shiNIN!

whoah! that's a lot of sketches there man! I like how you imagination works!
anyway, hope to see more stuff, and I am looking forward to seeing you
develop and improve your art!
Don't give up ya hear?

[shiNIN]

phoenicorn: OK, I understand, just I saw soo many times "nice start", even in extremely beginner SBs that it's very shallow for me... but now I get another very frequent and highly true phrase :) yeah, I have to work on anatomy, very, very much, especially that I want to draw mainly humans - and do it well, at that (it can't be helped, I'm like this :bashful:).

the ANGRY filipino: don't worry, I don't mean to give up ;) there are hard times, tough.
my number one task is now: DOING STUDIES. I never did such things, I just drew something ocassionally. I'm extremely slow if I have to develop a new habit. I love human anatomy, but I am not a disciplined person and I do anything but studies after my work's day and the most basic household chores.

my new picture is for gimme face #5. in my latest DSG entries I tried to draw without my dear lines, but for faces, I have a very strong desire using them.
I never drew a decent (for my level) face without lines and I like them anyway and I know there's cases and styles they have a right to exist :)

the problem is I can't control my lines when I'm using a tablet.
the bunny girl was created mostly with the eraser tool, because I was not able to draw relative thin and correct lines. it was tiresome.
creating "Sly cry", I used Flash (line smoothing, if my lines are wonky... it's not like 'real drawing' but I was desperate) and PS for afterwork (limited shading and hair). and my Flash picture was based on a PS sketch based on a pencil sketch. it just... turned out this way.
shading are minimal, because I lack knowledge on lighting/shading and have no confidence. and I can't draw hair.
okay, I've learned a couple of things...

[shiNIN]

my fresh and hot DSG entry :)
I like my idea and I'm pleased with my nebula. the composition isn't good and I realized again I have serious difficulties with drawing an object in perspective.

[shiNIN]

DSG 1379: Character: SHORT BOUNTY-HUNTER HAS WEAPONRY/BACK-EQUIPMENT TWICE AS TALL

well, I had an idea. not literally a bounty hunter, but I thought it wasn't a bad idea :)
the problem was that for a such difficult picture I am far too tiny... I needed quite a few hours making only this sketch. it's about my idea only, technically it's not much. maybe I will make something about it one day...
I had to make this sketch, but now it's better to use my time for studies!

"Photography is a sublimated murder" /Susan Sontag/

[shiNIN]

I tried to do something for GIMME FACE #6 - KISSING. I spent hours on it and the sketch was still horrible. I had difficulties with the lips, I drew them several times. and line control with a tablet is definitely not my thing.
at last I used Flash and its line smoothing, then some silly colors and shadows, though I don't know much of either. well, here is the result. I'm tired and it felt not like 'drawing'. maybe I have an unusual small talent. or I am bad at choosing ways to achive something. now I'm a bit disappointed in myself.
or just facial expressions are such a hard nut to crack? they're tough, I'm sure, but still...

I won't give up, next time I will use pencil. this time I faced with too much difficulties at once.
now I make some anatomy studies too. the weekend is almost gone and somehow I made everything but studies :(

[drewfarr]

Eesh, yeah, kissing can be tough :(. But I think you actually pulled it off pretty well! He bottom lip is a tad too big, and maybe more defined cheeks, but other than that...

I really enjoy the anime influenced style youve going here, keep at it!

[the ANGRY filipino]

Hello shiNIN!

stick with those studies man! the only way to get better is to stick with the studies.
and you can post the studies you make here in your sketchbook.
I know its tempting to draw anything except studies but trust me,
doing studies are for your own good.
I'll be checking in to see if you post some studies..
if you dont..i'll be very aaangrrryyyyy!!!!

[shiNIN]

drewfarr: thanks :) I try to keep the anime style influence as minimal as possible (except that I probably will draw slender, long-legged humans, I like them this way), because I need to learn drawing a normal human body, but sometimes I can't resist ;)

the ANGRY filipino: you're totally right. and I like even studies, because I LOVE the human body, it's so beautiful and interesting - and damn tough to draw. the problem is that I draw too little. the entries aren't only more exciting, but there's a deadline and if I get an idea, I want to show it. studies can wait a little more... and somehow the evening is over... again. and I read too much, this forum is so exciting... my bad, I have no excuses. I'll get over it.

but yesterday I actually did some studies, mostly stickman poses. they're ugly.

and I realized I definitely must draw simple things too, not only humans. I get disappointed if I can't draw something nicely. maybe some cute simplified skulls :) (I can't part with humans, but I'm trying)

a post without any picture? it can't be...
so some older studies. unfortunately, I tend to copy the lines without listening to the anatomy itself, so my skills don't improve at all. but without references I go astray. I'll work on it.

[shiNIN]

I'm back from my little holiday and I think it's high time to update my abandoned little topic :) nothing nice to look at, just a few studies, just to show what am I doing... my goal wasn't a nice render, but still they're very messy, I think I was not patient...
some Brightman, Kevin Chen, posemaniacs... I hope I go to a good direction, I know I need anatomy knowledge and studies now, but I'm a bit uncertain what exactly to do...
I'm copying nice and easily drawable hands/faces/figures too, but I don't show such things, I copy them easily and I just wish they help me to construct my own figures and hands.

I'll continue studying the muscles of the human body (in the past few days I've studied the ones in the leg, Latin names are fun :yum:) and I need to listen to the proportions, when I concentrate to the forms, I'm tend to make such mistakes. the head/torso proportion is the worst, I think my anime watching is at fault too...

sorry for my rusty-again English...

[chuck18mp]

Pretty cool SB man!!
Keep it up!!!:D

[the ANGRY filipino]

hey buddy! Glad to see you are doing anatomy studies now!
( i should really do some too..)
keep on drawing man!

[shiNIN]

chuck18mp: thanks!
the ANGRY filipino: thanks. I'm glad too, I need them badly :)

well, some pictures:
eyes and mouth (copy, Kevin Chen), my angry samurai for Gimme Face #7 (5 minutes pencil sketch and the multiple hours digital version, grrr) and a doodle-guy.

[yinteck]

Your studies are great, keep them rolling and you improve in no time.

[AgentAlpha]

I'm not sure if I can get proffesional advice because I'm not proffesional...but may be I can suggest something you may find helpful...:)....It is good that you started to make anatomy studies.. it will make your hand feel sure when you draw.[at least how it works for me] I suppose you already knew this but may be you would like to check Bridgman and Loomis books of anatomy...they can give you some pretty good ideas.:)http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=131117
Also this site: www.posemaniacs.com could be really helpful in your anatomy studies.

It is really good that you do things from imagination and from memory. Keep up the good work and the studies!

P: S I really like the nebula pic and your anatomy studies !:)

[AgentAlpha]

I can't give proffesional advice because I'm not proffesional...but may be I can suggest something you may find helpful...:)....It is good that you started to make anatomy studies.. it will make your hand feel sure when you draw.[at least how it works for me] I suppose you already knew this but may be you would like to check Bridgman and Loomis books of anatomy...they can give you some pretty good ideas.:)http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=131117
Also this site: www.posemaniacs.com could be really helpful in your anatomy studies.

It is really good that you do things from imagination and from memory. Keep up the good work and the studies!

P: S I really like the nebula pic and your anatomy studies !:)

[shiNIN]

yinteck: thanks :) my biggest problem is that I draw very little. I sacrifice my free time for it, but somehow time is flying away. I think I have great uncertainty and some fear from the whole thing. I'm searching and struggling. and I'm a perfectionist :( but I won't give up, never.
AgentAlpha: thanks! yeah, I know some Loomis and Bridgman works. but my favourite is Sheldon Borenstein: See it, feel it, trace it, draw it. unfortunately, it's very hard to get this book. I can buy Bridgman books easily and cheaply on eBay, but I want the Borenstein one, somehow it's for me, the information get through easily and I find it useful.

I've brought some really messy stuff, just to show I'm making my studies. not much, I've spent my time with searching on the Net and watching and thinking. just one anatomy book isn't enough for me. I had two printed sheet about the human muscular system and they were different, I spotted some anatomy flaws too, and I needed other views too. I had a tiresome day. I've learned a couple of Latin and English words and found out there's such things as hyoid bone. it's so unique and important and interesting, but I hadn't learnt about it! oh and I admire the human body more than ever. what a wonderful system... :)

oh, too much talk. here are some studies and a very early wip about a dragon. that's an aborted dsg entry (herbivorous dragon), now I have no time and self-confidence to finish it. I wish to learn digital painting _properly_, not "some shapes, burn and dodge" style thing. the dragon's body is referenced, but I altered it, the head is my favourite dragon head type. this specie can't fly and is peaceful, the colors are for hiding. I planned darkgreen wings and mane, I dunno what will I do with my picture, but now the colors are boring for me.

I think it's time to make body parts and bodies, a LOT of them. and throw away this fear in me :) produce quantity and I'm sure quality will come.

[xinranliu]

You're doing the right thing, my friend. It's great to see people with a positive attitude like yours. Keep this up!

Thanks for dropping by my SB!

[shiNIN]

Ronald Liu: thanks! :)

now I'm better, in Sunday I was a bit lost... yesterday I started drawing at 9pm, I was tired, but I didn't care. at the end I drew half-asleep, but at least I wasn't shocked because of the result. I drew feet and hands from life. I don't show the feet. I have some pride, after all ;) hands are even trickier, but I tried to choose easier poses. my line quality and the scribbling is horrible, I need to use more pencils and develop some technique...

[shiNIN]

I'm really mad at myself. I have an easy period in my work, I have a willing model who cook for me this week as well (more time for drawing)... and I go home, take some rest and go to bed. okay, the weather is rainy, but I have absolutely no reason for being soooo tired :( once I drew anyway, half-asleep... :) not very good. last night I woke up at 4am, but I only read some Loomis and slept again.

some really crappy sketches (and I don't show the others... miserable hands, maybe my weakest point in human drawing).
a hand with a photo ref (it's actually looks like a hand... fluke) and some life drawing (well, the third pic has things copied from anime too). without shading, I studied the lines and I think the light wasn't good anyway and the model fell asleep during the process...

weekend comes, I will have more time and energy :)
I have some ideas:
1. let's try spending more than 1-3 minutes for a hand/arm drawing... well, patience isn't my strong point and if I saw I drew some miserable thing again I don't wish to play with it more.
2. I need to draw poses. I'm focusing to the body parts only this week... I never drew many poses in my life. but if I fear them, I won't be better.
3. I need some excitement. studies are fine, but I need other things too. my tiny creativity does nothing and the studies are a bit discouraging...
and today is my 32nd birthday! I want to make some nice little thing.

[yinteck]

shiNIN relax ! u already have a good attitude. Relax have fun, give urself a break when u are frustrated. Keep ur spirit high and you'll improve.

[xinranliu]

Happy birthday! anyway take your time
I don't praise my own art, but that's just me because I want and need that career
on the other hand, you are in no hurry and you should do it for fun

good luck!

[the ANGRY filipino]

Happy Birthday Man!!

[shiNIN]

I write too much again... but being at CA is great for my English, well, maybe the quality doesn't show it, but I'm far quicker now ;)
and my SB is a bit like my psychiatrist ;) I need to write about my stuggles and thoughts. sorry for that.

thank you guys :)
yeah, I know... at the beginning, when I just copied anime faces for fun, I was relaxed, I don't want to be a graphician or anything... but then my perfectionism became active in this area too. but the main thing is that I draw not enough. I studied muscles and bones, though and now that I have an SB, plus I heavily criticise others' works (I have an eye for anatomy flaws, it's true, but I should show them I am able to draw a human figure if I want), I won't bear long the pressure and shame and I simply will draw ;)

yesterday evening I was tired again, I drew some life studies. arms and hands, I'm a maniac now, I want to draw hands, dammit. I know it's a tough object, but I want to draw simple but nice ones, and now.
my model was asleep and I was lying sleepily too, so the loomis study (male body, front) became lopsided, but not bad, except the awkward wrongsized hands :) I do it again today! Loomis' Figure drawing is very useful and I will take my time, no one minutes scribblings :)

the picture:
a hand. it's better than my hands from life... it's from a Haibane Renmei artbook, plus my memory/knowledge/whatever.
the wormies... lookie, a doodle :) I practically never do a doodle, especially recently, in my human anatomy maniac :)
the shot is better, redrawing with a softer pencil + outside shooting + exposition correction makes wonder... the light was better too.

[shiNIN]

I drew today a lot! I mean, for a long time. it's unusual for me, drawing for hours on a single study, but it was difficult. I did it wrong at some parts, I got tired, I focused to the correctness (not perfect, I know) and not the rendering quality, so it's not so nice, but I've learned a lot! :) it was the first time that I studied the sceletal and muscular system and the body outlines together...
well, a mixed thing, based mainly on Loomis' "Figure drawing", but I used other resources as well. while I actually drew, I mainly used my memory, I learn much more this way than copying something. I know there are problems, but well, here the result (the previous versions which were too ugly and not about the whole body, had better hands, but I had left no more energy, I will focus on human hands another times).

time for easier things tonight... I will eat my birthday carrot cake and maybe draw the cake resembling skull group from Doom 1 ;) the original won't be a big help, that's just a bunch of colorful pixels, oh, the good old times...

[shiNIN]

today I wished to draw the male body from behind. well, I did, but it's the very sketchy learning version, though my first messier things are often more alive than a clear aftershot...
some life drawing and at last, 3 figures. I looked at my one year old copies from a manga, there weren't enough details, but I wanted partially construct them myself anyway. the third one is really messy, but the others were quick works too, so they could be better.

next week I wish to draw figures. muscles and bones are nice, but I need some rest now ;)

[shiNIN]

it was a nice weekend. I didn't draw enough, but far more than usual, and the old struggle and fear disappeared... it's a great feeling... I hope I will produce a lot of different drawings this week :)

here's my new DSG entry. it's messy, I know... normally, I don't dare doing such a complicated picture, a human itself is complicated enough for me and I'm horrible at digital painting, I don't know how to set my brushes, though I have ideas. till now, I used lines or burning, that's not the right way, I know... I will make digital copies, focusing the technique. I did that a few times, but they were too ugly, I need to take my time.

[Dogprince]

This Is Some Good stuff! I'm really glad to see you take this drawing thing by the horns and just run with it. My best piece of advice is Simply to keep motivated! CA.org is an awesome place for that, it certainly helps to be surrounded by those who share your interest.

Thanks for the SB visit too! Keep it up, this is awesome!

[shiNIN]

Eternal Ziggurat: thanks! :) yeah, I feel I started drawing every day, I will draw various things, it's a great feeling.
CA is a great place indeed.
sometimes too great... ;)
I've drawn for hours and it's very late now, I'm exhausted.
I felt so motivated :)
well, I feel a bit pleased, I did something. the result isn't so nice, though. it's digital and till now I just used lines and/or burn, but now I became more serious and used a different approach! for this sketch, I used almost only hard brushes with 100% opacity.

oh, he's Woordenboek, an undead for a great new topic in "Oooh's and Ahhhhhhh's!" named Fantasy Drawing Roleplay World of Wonders!!!11!one!
Woord's profile in the topic (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1858208&posted=1#post1858208)

I think I go to bed now.

[shiNIN]

I have busy and tiresome days. I don't draw, except some sketches for my digital pictures and the digital ones themselves :)
Woordenboek, the wandering undead and Belly, his unusual carnivorous plant enjoy the sunset. Belly is developing a new technique for catching insects.

a little more than one hour, I need to find out how to use brushes... and I lack knowledge in every areas. but I was motivated and drew ;)

[Ikkida]

Wow, you're really good, even from your first few posts I can see major progression! ^_^ Keep up the good work and thank you for showing me this delightful sight!

[shiNIN]

Ikkida: thanks! :) yeah, founding this site was very good for me, there's motivation and I'm improving. but I need far more studies...

well, I promised daily update and skipped a day (I slept, I needed it, my life is so busy now), but now here's Belly for the playful RPG topic ;)
I've read about opacity hot keys in Photoshop and now I'm playing with opacity and flow, I like it.

here comes the weekend, at last... I had two busy weeks. I've wrote letters, I've designed a few simple pages, drew a G that suits the other letters (I couldn't get the font, not even the info how its G look like)... but I mostly designed banners, a lot of them.
sometimes I needed to remind myself, I am a programmer here...
but I like this :) if this no-programming periods don't grow too long...

this was a week full with motivation, but I had more ideas than time, energy and skill to draw them. I have another idea for the RPG topic I want to draw it soon.
and now spartan camp has DRAGON as option and DSG flapping wings... I'm so tempted! and I MUST start pixelling my FLI commodore-64 picture for a party held in August and I have no idea what to draw (some pretty woman with something in the bg, but how...).

I'm tired.

[shiNIN]

a weekend, hurray! - I thought. but after my hectic week I was too tired, the weather is too hot, I hadn't mood for anything...
I've struggled with my dsg entry, well, here it is (until sunday evening I had only messy sketches and I restarted the whole thing).
I played with the usual thing, low opacity + 100% flow brushes...
the topic was far too difficult for me, I feel more and more I will need perspectivity and lighting studies very, very soon... but the form is hard enough for me now...

[Surion]

Hey!

Thanks for helping me out in my sketchbook.

Such progress you have made! when i watch the beginning of you SB and compare it with the last page. Stunning!
About the perspective and light studies, yea, those would come in handy.
If you need some good books, there are tons of free e-books online
Here's a link to a list with some beautys :) (perspective too) Click (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=131117)

Cheers man! and keep up the good work

[shiNIN]

surion: yeah, thanks, I know that link :) I collect useful ones, nowadays I focus on digital painting tips for my humble entries (I like studies, but participating in activities is something I can't resist. I don't go near the bigger ones, COW, CHOW, but I do DSGs and similar smaller stuff where sketchyness isn't a problem)...
well, I'd never complain about improving. I'd make it very well if I drew more. what's the problem with me? :(
well, in the last days I did some (sooo few) drawings. poses (posemaniacs and photos about sexy girls), but I have no patience now.
I tried to draw hands too. I ALWAYS try. and always fail. hands are the topic I don't improve at. but I'm not the type who gives up, never! *gnashing of teeth*

and I don't like perspectivity studies at all (well, I never did one, except in school). I know perspectivity is useful, it's a must, I feel the lacking of it, I know I have to embrace it one day and I will love when I can use it properly. I just don't like perspectivity studies, so I won't do it till I need I can't live without such skills anymore. it's like language grammer exercises, I never do those when I'm learning a languages, I read books instead ;)
self-discipline is a word that I don't really know...

a little halfhearted (or less) playing at night, just because I have that "no post without a picture" rules ;)
at first there was 100% hardness brush, plus burn and dodge tool.
then I fell in love with low opacity/100% hardness/100% flow and did everything with it.
a few pictures later (now) I have the idea I need to be more flexible ;)

so, they are bad, I know, I lost my tiny interest halfway. but my strokes are far better than in the old days. I use a better technique now.

[kikindaface]

Keep up drawing guy, you're in the good way, some improvement since the first post :) :)

[shiNIN]

Walid Dala: thanks! it's strange how nice to get a comment here... my sb has unusually few visitors, I saw other beginner sbs got more, though it's not important. I sometimes sorry about the quality people face here...

just some pose sketches. I know I should draw poses, tons of them. somehow posemaniacs 10 seconds are the easiest for me. it definitely worth the time ;) but I dunno what will be the result.
I just draw... don't think or plan or anything, I usually don't draw feet or nice curves on the legs, there isn't time... in the past, I used 30 seconds, but there I start to think, oh, I should make shapely limbs... the result won't be much better and my mind become tired. after making 10 seconds drawing, the pose is often recognizable and hey, it's only 10 seconds and just me... it's better for my troubled mind and soul, I need some rest now.

the second pic has some drawings without time limit (but they are quickies too).

I drew some (originally) hot babes too (and a male, I accidentally met a nice photo), but I can't bear to share them. I start to hate my lines, they're so messy and thick (I should use my sharpener more often... and use a sharp pencil and another one - or I should learn hatching...).

[bstsk]

I agree with Wala, you show improvement! Keep up!. I recommend you "Drawing with the right side of the brain", from Betty Edwards, it has some excellent excercises (absurd as they might seem, they´re great).

[shiNIN]

bstsk: thank you! I've only heard about "Drawing with the right side of the brain"... I will check it ;)
graphic is so different from programming, the latter is something one learns by oneself, even the profs in the university told so... drawing requires much more practice and various knowledge... I never knew until I came here how many things a real graphician has to know.

some doodles I did in the last 24 hours. the winged woman is based on maeharrington's drawing I saw today here in CA. I planned to use only the pose and build her from my mind, but that drawing made too much impact on me, though I didn't look at the original too much... then I went a bit crazy (the various elements refer to a fanfic character I like).

[shiNIN]

after 2 very inactive evening (I went to bed early, grrrr, I hate it, I have so much to do... why am I so tired nowadays?), a new DSG by me! I had to draw my idea, but my enthusiasm wasn't so big then before :(

and the new DSG topic is tasty too, I have an idea again... complete digital pictures aren't for me yet, but... but this is about a sexy babe without too many clothes (the topic is about a bot, but it doesn't matter ;)), it's perfect for my current pose+nude drawing period.

the tale for my DSG:
once upon a time, there was a lovely forest. the food was enough (well, in the reality everyone is food), the weather not too hard, many species were thriving.
only the Bad Awful Poacher and his evil tricks poisoned the life of the forest.

then one day Shakem Reh Ibryngh, the wandering alien sage emerged. he decided to teach the poacher a lesson.
one day later the Evil Poacher entered the forest and noone ever saw him again.

Shakem Reh Ibryngh made a pleased sigh and left.
the forest got back its balanced life - the human population was too big and nasty on the planet anyway.

[shiNIN]

hurray! I drew a lot of poses last evening and some today. they're not sooo bad, but the most important that I actually drew them! I neglected these important studies for so long... I'm so glad I put almost the whole bunch here :)

[shiNIN]

my second digital painted portrait (the first was failed) as Spartan Camp #54 option study.
it's rushed and half-assed, but it's not so bad for my level - if we ignore the fact that the original isn't like this at all, that's a lovely sweet girlie with a charming smile. I'll make this painting much better when I will have time.

[JetLime]

Hi There,
You are improving a lot indeed, great sketches, good to do lots of basics.
A brilliant book for drawing the human figure (not so much for poses, more for general artistic anatomy) is Anatomy for the Artist by Jeno Barcsay (http://http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anatomy-Artist-Jeno-Barcsay/dp/0316030244/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218457185&sr=8-1)(Muveszeti Anatomia in Hungarian). I know I go on about this book but it's really the best I've ever found on anatomy and it's available in every larger bookshop in Hungary.
As for the portrait of the girl at the end, it's probably a lot better then you think. The face is well proportioned, the eyes are especially expressive, if there's one problem I'd say I'm not sure about the direction of the light.
Otherwise I enjoy seeing your progress so keep it up! :)

[shiNIN]

JetLime: thanks for the tip! :)
the girl portrait wouldn't be bad in itself (for it's a digital quicky by me), but the original was a younger girl and she lost the charmful smile, the very thing captured my attention... I'm sure I am able to do it better ;)

yesterday I was horribly tired, I just played a bit. I need to improve my techniques with my pencil. hatching is totally unknown for me, I only used the (hopefully) dull tip of a soft pencil, it's quick and natural to me. the result will be smooth enough, if the tip is really dull. it's not for very light shades, though.
I wish to learn hatching too, I find it pretty and I'm sure it will come handy. I like if I have possibilities :)
in this picture I used mostly hatching. but my spheres are prettier with my old technique, especially if I lose my patience...

[yinteck]

shiNIN- nice studies ! Nothing much to say now. Make sure you pay close attention on balance when doing those studies.

[the ANGRY filipino]

I am very happy to see that you are really serious at improving your art my friend!
You are definitely improving.

[Surion]

nice studies mate!

Keep drawing, once you have some spare time, grab your pencil and start drawing.
Get yourself a sketchbook, take it whereever you go. When you have some time, take your sketchbook and draw what you see around you.

Cheers man! and keep up the good work.
Surion

[shiNIN]

yinteck: yeah, I just make this and that, following my undisciplined chaotic self and the various temptations... about balance, yup, I will...

the ANGRY filipino: thanks for the kind words! I am serious, I drew more than before, but it's still so little... and I can't say I have no time :( and I spend almost all my time for trying to draw.... fortunately I still have my sanity and don't give up!

Surion: thanks. oh, I always have my sb :) I go to work with it every day (I rarely draw at work, though). the current one is about the 14th... well, the first 10 is full with simple faces and copied anime stuff ;) though I copied figures from the old masters' paintings too :)
I don't draw from life, only myself and my Love. I'm usually at work or at home (to the way home I'm walking and I can't draw).
oh, damn. I feel I almost never draw :(
fortunately I'm not the type who got depressed.
I just go deep for a while and am perfectionist and write instead of drawing.
silly me.

[2 minutes later]
yeah, I make things wrong... or slow, with a strange curvy path to the "goal".
I got many eye-openers recently.
well, hardship usually makes me tough and more dedicated. I'm a little but strong gummi ball... rolling towards my goals...! :)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
sometimes I need to draw in digital.
I had an idea for a DSG topic. well, I failed to draw it. usually when I really sit to draw, I make something, but not always. the old story... my idea was a whole scene, with a human body, perspective was heavily involved... it was too much for me now.
but I show my sketches for the woman and the cat, because they are far better than my digital sketches used to be. I usually use my pencil sketches as a base, I have so little control over the tablet pen.

[shiNIN]

a new pic for the rpg topic. I spent about 4 hours on it. I have almost absolutely no experience with backgrounds and well, I used a bad way: I played around with brushes till I could say it's not so horrible. but I don't want to write about it more. I know it's not good and that a digital scene is very early for me, but that topic gives me motivation and joy :).

I drew almost nothing in the last days. I'm tired and I can't stand this hot brainmelting weather here. I'm still not used to the drawing I could do it in these extreme circumstances :(

[Ahnem Mee]

Helloooooo shiNIN! Surprise visit! *Litters shiNIN's sketchbook with confetti*
I'm so pleased to see you studying human anatomy - the human body is one of the most intricate and wonderful things out there to draw, and it deserves to be done justice - that's why I think I myself need to keep drawing that kind of thing too.
From what I've seen here, you sure look tenacious and motivated, so keep up the good work - you're improving, I can see!

Looking forward to your next contribution, and cheerio!

[shiNIN]

Ahnem Mee: yeah, I love human anatomy, but I always got distracted from my studies... ;) because activities attract me.

fortunately Spartan Camp is an activity too...
the human poses are mostly ugly and I don't put everything in this sb...
but here's the goats.

and my little silly pic, Woordenboek with a flower. it's a really quick one, drawing it was some kind of relaxation for me. I CAN'T draw a better line with my tablet.

[shiNIN]

Spartan Camp #55, optional study "desk object"
I chosen my new and beautiful mouse :). I tried to draw it with pencil a few days ago, but my skills are pathetic for the various surfaces.

[Drunken_hand]

I effin' LOVE that mouse! ... That's... that's the VX Revolution? Any way, I'm guessing that's a fly-wheel on there. Made my life so much more fun and easier.

Great to hear that you've got the art bug and you want to improve. And you're much more prolific with your drawings than I am with mine, :D

Keep up those studies. It's good to see that you have a basic understanding of how to convey form (I'm mainly going off your latest mouse piece here). Keep it up, you have no idea how incredibly important that comes later (I'm learning this lesson myself). So feel free to go back and do some of the most basic things. Hopefully it'll help your understanding of form and structure. Good luck out there, I'll come back again sometime to watch your progress.

[shiNIN]

I am tired and very inactive, but I missed my update... and this thread is for showing my works, even if they were created in the night not seriously at all.
here is my last pic for the rpg topic. I know composition is horrible and I am unable to make a background with depth... I should learn digital drawing, but I need more basical things. they're only for fun. activities are tempting and I'm a hedonist, I can't resist such temptation ;)
442603

Drunken Hand: it's a fine mouse, Logitech MX620, and my pic is okay too, except that my tablet has some little problems. if I draw for example a really straight slanted line with a ruler, it becomes wavy, I dunno why. my ellipsises aren't nice because of it... but it's okay for sketches and if I will became more serious about digital drawing, I'll get a better tablet anyway (it's a tiny wacom :))
It's good to see that you have a basic understanding of how to convey form
have I? sweet! I'm not conscious about it, I just tried to draw what I saw :)
I'm conscious about my flaws and there are MANY of them...

[shiNIN]

I rested and I drawed only past midnight. a quick a bit rushed dsg sketch. one hour.

and my THIRD page! :) I should regularly make studies already... *sigh*

[the ANGRY filipino]

a tiger iguana?
thats a cool idea man!
are you going to work on this more?

[xinranliu]

You should probably work more on your forms and shape and values before moving onto colors. DSG with pencil? You've got good ideas. It's nice to see that you're actively involved :)

Keep doing the studies!

[Farsh]

Heya! Good to see you working on anatomy (and other assorted paintings), I must admit I've never wondered at the results of successful intercourse between a tiger and an iguana, but good attempt nonetheless! Don't do too many digital paintings at this stage, a lot more drawing! You were getting somewhere with your pencils. Keep up the effort!

[shiNIN]

whoa, visitors! :)

thank for your opinions :)
the reptilian tiger was only a dsg entry (I rarely make such ones nowadays, but sometimest I can't resist. I like creatures and I needn't wonder about the creature base colors at least), I wish to draw my failed dsg entry, the vegetarian dragon instead ;)
but not now.
I know very well, colors and digital is too early for me. I don't learn or study it, I just make some entries for activities. they're too tempting... I learn a lot in the process, though. but I have huge problems with colors, perspective, composition, lighting... I don't even learn them, I spend my currently very little energy for human anatomy and poses. but I can't make ONLY ugly pencil figures for months... (I love skilled pencil drawings and I'm so lame with pencil too. I lack simply everything)
I need to enjoy drawing and I like playing a bit with digital, despite the results. I need my dear pencils too, of course, but I need help from both media to keep my tembling drawing spirit alive :)

in 1 month there will be a computer party. I need coding again (coding isn't exactly the same as programming, but similar), but the very hot summer is almost over, I wish to draw much too!

some pictures, but in the future I plan not to show every messy sketch...
I was extremely tired this week, but I did a spartan camp entry. I'm not pleased with the quality at all. a part of my entry:
some life drawings, poses from photos, 2 loomis figures and the optional.

[Surion]

You're on the right track, keep up the studies!

[the ANGRY filipino]

Hello shiNIN! There is nothing wrong with trying to color digitally from time to time. Its perfectly natural to try and want to get accustomed to things
from time to time.
All i can say is that I see some improvement in your work and that you continue
pushing yourself.

[shiNIN]

Surion, the ANGRY filipino: thanks! :)

well, this week... not much activity by me. there was NO spartan camp, but I did some referenced poses, of course. and a few vague attemps with real animals. I tried make another little holiday... well, I'm glad I'm back. the wild bees in the forest were the exciting and not the worst part...
but the hot tiring summer is over, I hope I will make much more studies in the autumn!

[kilon]

I am like you , still very noob at this. Skill is something you develop over time , so we need time and organization to acquire it. We need to fight for the dream that one Day we will illustrate our fantasies so vividly that people will be lost inside them. I think this dream is worth sacrificing tons of free time.

Your Studies are quite good , I like them alot. Do not let life get you down, keep working and enjoying it at the same time. Do not let yourself feel the pain that will cut your motivation in pieces. I would love to see you progress , because your progress will motivate me and all noobs out there.

Have fun and keep them coming.

[Nadesican]

Great job with all the studies! I especially liked your little adventure with hatching! And hmm...maybe I need to look into this spartan camp thing, It seems like it helps alot

[shiNIN]

kilon: thanks, your words are wise, I think the same (maybe it wasn't a very humble sentence ;)). well, I don't feel I'm sacrificing my free time... I was never good with using my time and drawing is one of the best things I can do with it! I always loved if I did something creative and produced something nice and/or interesting, for example a rotating truncated octahedron in 256 bytes, with a generated palette and everything ;) well, it was about thinking and limits, but still, I didn't sit at home watching tv and eating and that's all...
my feeling about the fellow beginners' improvement is the same too :)

Nadesican: thanks! yeah, the spartan camp was useful for me. spartan camp, anatomy studies, critique center crits, attention to the interesting human body... they formed a great combo.

a few recent pictures. at(? with?) the girl head I was influenced a bit, the others is completely by myself. these show I become a little better, not my copied things...
the last one are The Doodles When I Realized I Can't Even Draw An Eye :) I think I need some deeper thoughts and perspectivity for my heads too...

[Gorgoleon]

Hey there you got an inspiring sketchbook! Its good to see you are focusing much on studies ( i am doing the same atm). A tip is to not only draw from books or photos but from life aswell. I think its good to balance those two.

Anyways i will keep watching your book :)

[Galador]

Hey shiNIN! Glad to see you started your own sketchbook, so i can return the comments :P. You gave me some useful crits some while back, and I haven't forgotten. Glad to see you making such an effort, I'm always inspired by people who start from ground zero and work their way up, no matter what. That kind of determination is worth praising. I will be checking your progress if you don't mind.
So far i like your goat studies, very expressive and Woordenboek, your creepy zombie wood/straw trigger happy hobo guy, and his orange mutated frog (ugy nez ki mintha megakadt volna az evolucios skalan az ebihal es beka kozott :P). They are very colorful and seem to have a personality, and even from your first posts with them, the viewer can already put together a story in his head. Which is really cool. Not many characters make you place them instantly in a story in your head. Keep up the good work!

[yinteck]

Hmm..i smell improvement. The mouse u did is nice.
i would like to see some head study. Keep those gesture study coming.

[shiNIN]

Gorgoleon: yeah, I do very little real life drawings, though when I do I always feel how much more information I get... I mostly draw humans and strangers keep moving and wear clothes (I like challenges, but it's too much for me), but I should draw my Love who is cooperative (if I am quick). he would like to see some illustrations for his story by me, after all ;) and I always have myself... too bad neither of us is a slender beautiful girl ;)

Galador: well, Belly is originally a carnivorous plant. but as a part of a story, "she" needed some personality, agility, and she's cuter with eyes... so I carried away. she may look like a frog, but she is not, she has a tendril and 2 legs just like the attacking plants in the game Wizardry 8...

yinteck: thanks! I'll making gestures every week, thanks to the spartan camp :P without it, I'd do less and if I'm tired, I'd skip a week or two... *sigh*
I'm only at the beginning. I know something about the human proportions and form. something. and I have to learn very much about perspective, balance, dynamism...

an unusual pic from me: some fish (for the current spartan camp. I need a kick or two to draw something nonhuman) and I used hatching. I've read about hatching with a pen, well, a pencil is different, I have more freedom, so things are more complicated, now I'm experimenting with it.

[Freddy Lierman]

Hey Shinin. I think your doing very good. Your definitely very motivated.
It's good to see your doing lots of different studies. Keep at it !

[shiNIN]

Freddy: yeah, I will :) I will make other studies too, I think it's time for some perspective studies and I try to draw hands again...

a few poses from my Spartan Camp #57 entry. sorry for the presentation quality, it's montages from indoor photos... next time I will be more careful!

[shiNIN]

it's Saturday without any program, so I have the whole day for drawing :) you know, priorities... other things can wait. I have time, but I need efforts to spend it for actual drawing.

it's September and still very hot here... I'm kind of lazy... and I never have much patience.
I am a bit sad. I just wish for some more detailed sexy girl, but I don't like the starting sketches so much, so I didn't render them any further.

456717

I'm not pleased my still life drawings. the real thing is much more nice.

456718 456719

a hand as an evidence I am able to mess up even a very simple pose...
456720

*sigh* I make some anatomy studies now, maybe my weak foundations is the problem. maybe I'm just in a bad mood, but I can use some study anyway.

[yinteck]

NIce line work at the last 2 post.
Keep it up

[the ANGRY filipino]

Hi shiNIN!
just keep it up! I am happy to see you are doing a lot of figure studies!

[shiNIN]

yinteck, the ANGRY filipino: thanks :) I'm touched that you came to my really humble SB again...

my entries for the sprite animation activities till now. dust and explosion. I am a complete beginner in animation and though these are created in Flash and then I convert them to animgif, I'm still a bit pleased I made them.

458389 458390

and a few little drawings.

[kilon]

I love your animation , especially the first one . It reminds me ROADRUNNER.

http://www.gifmania.co.uk/Looney-Tunes/Roadrunner/roadrun1.gif

[pantless_wanderer]

Hey shiNIN, keep cranking up those gesture studies. They're extremely usefull.

[shiNIN]

kilon: thanks, it's good to hear/read :) for my first animations, they are okay, I think, I'll be better. I do a normal sprite animation this week, pixel, outlines... and it will be a character. it won't be easy, but I'm looking forward to it!

pantless wanderer: yeah, I feel so too... my main interest is the human figure and I'd miss the gesture studies if I didn't do them ;)

I did another dsg. I was motivated and I know I made the pose better than before, but I was still uncertain (especially with my tablet. I started with pencil sketches as usual) and I need far more time for such a picture, 2 or 3 hours are so little, I rushed it. the original had (extremely sketchy) legs too, of course, I'm that type, I don't cowardly run away from full bodies ;)
I will continue or maybe redraw this.
I need a better face (the previous sketch had a prettier one... the eyes were large there too. maybe I should make them normal sized ;) and show I know the shape of the human skull... I will get rid of this anime feel) and some brave lighting and contrast... maybe I draw her with pencil, though I badly need a decent rendering skill...

[the ANGRY filipino]

Her hair looks so cute with those spooky little eyes!
Nice one man!

[shiNIN]

the ANGRY filipino: yeah, I like them too ;) "irigaru!" - shouted my Love, seeing them (illegals from the anime Dennou Coil are black with shining eyes too). I just needed some living hair, my only idea was hairy worms... but I concentrated to the body, I'm in this 'gesture-anatomy-women' track now, I can't do anything else, just poses of sexy gals...

but here is an exception ;)
I did it for the weekly sprite animation activity. I pixelpainted only for my humble Commodore-64 pics and in animation I'm really a beginner, so I think the result of a few hours' work is okay. I'm not happy with the childish face (it's too tiny, I can't do it better) and the shoes. and the halo should be doing something too.
462552

it's weekend and though the weather doesn't make good to my mood, I'll have time for drawing! poses and maybe some other things will come. I plan a perspective study (at last), a quick digital still life and a some more detailed pencil drawing. I have to do so much!

[shiNIN]

I wasn't really active in this week, but I did my gesture studies.
I think they became better :) I rarely mess them up now and the lines are cleaner.
here are some. I mostly used a harder pencil, then a softer one for the final lines that I draw very quickly. they're never mindless copies, except the Brigman ones, their lines were too visible (unlike photos and bad-quality youtube videos ;))

I included the pencil sketch for my gothic girl and animated haibane boy.

[Farsh]

Good studies mate, do more studies of heads and try constructing your own, you will get rid of that 'anime feel' more quickly that way. Some of your figures in the studies are really good, but others feel a bit too lanky. Try to 'feel' out the form when you draw. Your linework seems to have improved since your earlier posts, remember to keep the strokes confident and minimal, and keep up the good effort!

[shiNIN]

..though it's funny when I realise the obvious from the comments I get...

Farsh:lanky figures: oh really. I was half-conscious about it, well, I like lanky figures too much, I fear... it seems I was busy with the main bumps of the body and the vertical proportions. I try to keep in my this too :)
besides, I plan to make normal people too, people like me, not ideal slim and tall... but for now, it's easier using the type I like most.

heads: I tried drawing heads now. not epic fail (the gothic girl's face, that was epic fail...), but I don't like the result.
today I drew some ears, noses, eyes and mouths. I still have no idea how an ear looks like and the problem is I'm not very interested in it :( and my hedonist memory is working based on interest. noses are trickier too.
and I can't draw hairs.
heads are important for me, in the past I drew many of them, though bad ones. now I'm concentrating on bodies and strangely, if I draw full bodies, I can't concentrate on drawing heads, even their size is problematic (the one I'm concentrating less became much smaller than it should be).

and in the past weeks I barely draw anything beyong entries for activities. it's not my intention, it's just like this for now (it's a long 'now'). I'm struggling with making drawing a habit. I sacrifice all of my free time, but it's slow and sometimes everything is against me, weather, my energy level...
I hate whining :(

maybe I should give it up for a bit, there will be a computer party soon and I need to code a 256 byte intro and I just draw gestures or do nothing instead.

now I will be in bad mood (oh, morning, with the joy of cleaner lines... OK, I'm not good with drama :)), then I'll revive again, with fire in my eyes! I HATE losing. and I'm extremely bad at sinking into depression, when my mood is bad, I always become cheerful soon ;)

a little pasque flower paint, about 20 minutes, I'm slow... for the spartan camp, of course. it's nothing compared to the reference photo, I love the texture of petals... but I don't use textures yet, only a few ps brushes.

EDIT: oh, I forgot to say: Farsh: thanks, I'll try harder! :muscle:

creating this SB was a must for me, I can't bear having this and not doing my best for long... I'll get over these pathetic struggles (and have other struggles ;))!

[Ahnem Mee]

Heya!

I like the white aura around the stem of your flower very much - reminds me of these:
http://www.interraweb.com/gast/kruiden/galerie/img7/wildeman3222.jpg

And the flash animations are lovely, I'd love to see them step-by-step... It's supposed to be my field of study but I haven't gotten around doing a whole lot of effects animation so far, and I hardly know how to do anything in Flash...

They way you keep being motivated and productive is heartwarming and inspiring to say the least though, it's a good thing you have this sketchbook here.

[lithiumdawn]

Good stuff keep it up

My sketchbook:
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=132538

"I walk the path of kings and Gods" -Lithiumdawn

[shiNIN]

lithiumdawn: thanks, though I can't do much with such empty phrases, but hey, this post made my sb 4 pages long at least... ;)

4. page! okay, it doesn't mean sooooo much, quality is more important, but hey, I'm here and do my stuff, I'm slow, but determined.

Ahnem Mee: thanks for the visit! :) yeah, they're pasque flowers too... the one on my reference is a bit different, more hairy and has a dramatic lighting too. here's the original photo (http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/photo/IMG_2382.jpg?t=1221427757). my Love is a hobby photographer, he took the shot. we watch these pasque flowers every spring, they bloom on the nearby hill.

what do you mean, you'd love the animations step-by-step? the results are viewable step-by-step with the appropriate programs, they're animgifs, after all, the process... I don't know the good way for it myself, I just drew, redrew, something like this :) or did you mean Flash specific drawing methods, maybe? I'm familiar with Flash, both drawing and programming, I sometimes even go below actionscript, bytecode level optimization... ;)

and thanks for your kind words, they did good to me :)
but I know I should be FAR MORE productive... I have to learn so much, I can't reach my goals with this pace and I dislike wasting my time. I should draw more (and write less). I wish to, but it's not enough. I don't think about it, I'd go nuts ;)

a little fragment from the failed pasque flower pic, I struggled with it much more, I'm bad at giving up.

[shiNIN]

..what a plain umbrella is able to do? my clothes became a bit wet, but my sketchbook is okay :) its cover isn't so important...

there was no light for decent shots, sorry.
things I drew yesterday. some bridgman and facial features. I messed up the little japanese kid's proportions.

[shiNIN]

some little things... I try to draw heads... it's not so easy prople may think it is.
the weather is horrible, my mood isn't good and there's no light for decent shots. faces, doodle beings and Kevin Chen head studies.
the 4th one has a far too tiny body, I almost ALWAYS do that if I draw the head first... I see this problem, but I couldn't get rid of it till now :(

oh, the half-anime face is meant to be an anime character, Reki/Haibane Renmei. I messed up her proportions a bit and poor girl isn't recognizable despite her anime eyes, but I knew it won't be an easy fight to make her more realistic. I don't know how she will look like in the future fanfic illustrations, but the anime look is far too simple, I don't wish for that.

[shiNIN]

a few gestures and a geisha, spartan camp #59. not pleased at all.
I hope I will draw far more (and better) this week.

I've found somewhere here in CA the link classicbodybuilders.com (http://classicbodybuilders.com), it's funny :D and useful.

[shiNIN]

not much, only two faces and my new SAW entries. power ups: health potion and some kind of ammo. I could do them a bit better, but I stopped after a few hours, I'm so slow... but I'm still pleased with them. the ammo anim has only 7 colors (+1 for transparency) and 4 different frames :)

[Farsh]

Thanks for dropping by my sketchbook, really appreciate it. Your faces have improved a little since the last time i was here, the construction technique is helping. Yes, heads are not easy, I make a mess of mine all the time, i'm deadly serious.

Your powerup items look really good, and the last head profile on the right is pretty decent. I don't know if this is any help, but try to stay loose when you draw, it doesn't matter if your lines end up really light. Hm, you're making progress already, even if its not obvious to you, and theres not much more that i can say other than keep it up, you're already at four pages - if you keep going, improvement is really inevitable.

It's good that you're doing a lot of studies, but don't be afraid to paint/draw something fun once in a while and apply what you've learnt to it, it can help keep these exercises interesting and you can learn a lot, even from dreadful mistakes! I'll be back to visit this SB...

[shamandalie]

Hey dude! You are improving i swear! :) I'm no artist to give good critiques but all i can say is, dont stop drawing and painting! :D

Not sure if you use photoshop to paint but it doesnt matter, you just gotta have a look at this. It got me started with digital painting! *THANK YOU bumskee*
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=107217&page=24

For anatomy, bridgeman and loomis are good stuff to look at! and if you dont have the book ----
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=94571

Heh, i think i'm talking too much, i havent even gone through the pdfs yet! :P
Take care ya! :D:D:D:D

[shiNIN]

Farsh: faces aren't easy, it's okay, but... when I drew, I always drew faces. they're important for me. why am I so bad at them? sometimes they're simple, but nice, but I am able to mess up 3/4 view faces epically. *sigh*
I should make some research. looking at faces, maybe? looking at them _really_. it seems to be so obvious, why do people tend to skip this step? not only me.
and you're right, I feel I should make funny things, but I draw too little. I can't skip my weekly spartan camp and spite animation, thanks to them, I draw something :(

shamandalie: thanks :) I know I'm improving, this week I could draw a few decent poses from my own mind. it seems to be a tiny and natural thing, but it's my first time ;).
yes, I use photoshop, thanks for the link!
but I knew about Loomis and Bridgman, their books aren't exactly perfect for me, but I can learn from them. but my fav is Kevin Chan. and I know about some books I'd love to buy, but it's no so easy if one live in Hungary :(

I have so many nice links already. I should visit them all... especially the ones about drawing heads. some tutorials are so great, I'm improving slower alone.

a few pictures from this week... a DSG entry without a plan :-/ and some quick ones without enough motivation... missing eyes, I'm such a coward for a while, I lost my little confidence with faces :( but I won't give up, of course.
I drew some hands too, they're between "will do" and "bad", you don't want to see them.

I try to draw something nicer today!

[Surion]

Hey man!
Sorry for being inactive,...
Nice drawings, i see improvement.

Maybe a little tip for doing faces, dont draw them in front view, but try to do them from 3/4 view. Cause then its easier to see the different shapes.

Keep it up!

[the ANGRY filipino]

I love the expression on that alien xenologist's face! He really looks happy with his discovery!
Keep it up man!
There really is some improvement from the first page to the last!

[shiNIN]

Surion: you can see that I sometimes draw face in 3/4 view too, okay, the recent ones aren't here, they wasn't good and you're right, I need draw more of them... and that's my plan too, different faces from different angles. faces are highly important for me and my currently almost zero confidence with faces is unbearable.
I hope you'll update your SB soon ;)

the ANGRY filipino: thanks! :)

my gestures+quick birds for the spartan camp (I did them on Sunday evening in a tired state :) forgetting I had some gestures on some earlier page of my sb... but it was okay) and two faces I drew today.
it's a mystery why people visit my very humble SB, almost only some quick pencil thingie, I slowly become tired of them... it's time to do something more funny and/or nice! :D

[shiNIN]

my dear SB,
I sick to death of this struggling. in the last few months my goal was: drawing. no matter how and what, but DOING it, dammit! I go home, cook or not, eat, a little chat with my Love, enjoying my home... and it's already 9pm. I have still time, but I have no energy... mood... force doesn't help here.
it's not only about drawing.
(weekends are worse, I dunno why)

a few days before I was in a good state :) I love such periods, I feel I have energy and I happily sketch even in 2am. the sketches weren't good, but I was still glad to have them :) I got new ideas for pictures, I was active, I was my real self... such periods rarely come and never last long. I want to change it. I dunno how.

I am still here, I update my sb in every few days, but it's so little. okay, I started to draw faces, it's good. I shot my sb pages this evening.

digital painting. I wished to make an "electric girl" for a dsg topic. I attach a face, fail, but with an interesting lips, the first figure is unreferenced and awful, the second one is referenced.
I have no idea how I did about 30 dsg entries in the past. I don't know the basics. and my brush strokes are too sketchy. other people are able to make nice sketches with hard brushes. I'm not. I just search for the forms, but a bearable render is a dream.
maybe I gave up dsgs for now and copy instead ;) I can't do everything at once.

I bought two books! from ebay, one about portrait drawing (I don't know what is it like, someone recommended it here in CA and it was on ebay with shipping to Hungary... I needed one already) and one about perspective, I saw some pages on Amazon.com, it's a fine book. they were about 25 pounds together, with shipping :) I dunno about other countries, but one can buy a Harry Potter book for this money in Hungary... so it's not expensive at all. I'm waiting for them now... I'm excited.

Vilppu and my art classes in the past
in my active period, I've read some Vilppu tutorials... I've heard about him already, of course, but now I really read a nice amount of his stuff. I LOVE his rounded boxes... I will make a picture with them :) and I wish I could have met such interesting approaches when I was a pupil.
but we had 45 minutes to draw an apple. a cloth. a hand (whoa, part of a human, it was a rare thing)... slow copy, I got always good notes.
and I never enjoyed it much and my drawing skills remained around zero.
no interesting, playful exercises... no talk HOW to draw, only one boring object with the instruction "copy". composition? depth? lighting? radiosity or cooler shadows of a warm object? I remember nothing. we was told about complementary colors, addictive and substractive color mixing, something about perspective... we never drew with coal, I dunno why.
I don't remember drawing humans, okay, it's not easy, but almost everyone is interested in humans, especially me. no humans, no animals, I don't remember many plants either.
well, my memory isn't so good, but those classes could be better, I'm sure.

this week's Spartan Camp has "apples" as optional. this and Vilppu are the reasons I think of the past now. (the nursery school was good. I was too good at maths, more quicker than the others, so I became separated from the others and I drew happily for hours... then at the age of 7, something went wrong. I realized I'm no good, but maths is interesting. silly me. not because of the maths part ;))

[The Whistler]

Hey, don't beat yourself up about not drawing all the time, I've found out that if I'm not in a mood to draw, making myself do it doesn't help since all of my drawings somehow end up looking bad, sometimes you're inspired an sometimes not, it'll be OK :)

As for your drawings, those gestures seem to be working for you :)

Another thing, don't be afraid of spending more time on a gesture sketch or a face until you get it really right, speed comes with skill, and if you make a drawing that you REALLY like and are proud of it'll only motivate you further :)

Keep up the good work!

[shiNIN]

The Whistler: not all the time... but I almost never draw. I do my gestures and a few things and nothing more. I have many hours a day for drawing and I don't draw even one. I will change it! :D
and I'm not afraid, I know I should make longer drawings too, you're totally right. it's just... somehow... never happens... but I plan to. among many other things.

faces and more from this week (the little kid again, I added some strokes)! the faces are a bit better now. and there are some differences :) I'll go somewhere if I keep doing them. and I do. I have problems with starts.

[Farsh]

Improvement! Kid's face on the left is good, you did something right there. Watch the lower lip, a little too small/flat. The rest of your heads show a little improvement, but your lines have this scratchy quality about them as compared to your poses - which have far more pleasing lines. Follow through with the line more often i guess?

About taking pieces further/spending more time on them, i'd give you advice if i wasn't guilty of it myself. Is it impatience? That's the case with me, at any rate. I just get frustrated with a bad sketch/study and move on quickly to another, which doesn't end well.

[Nettle_Mountain]

more stuff, and patience! it will go well in the end

more stuff

[shiNIN]

Nettle Mountain: thanks for the visit! patience... I have not much, but I do what I can :)
Farsh: well, the faces aren't referenced, that must be the reason. for now, I'm glad I do them. do them _well_ will be another step. and my gestures should be far more clearer too. but I'm not worried so much, I need time. I do them and that's good.

it's Sunday, another Spartan Camp deadline, so I have more gestures :)
I took a step toward more detailed drawings... still rushed...
this week's optional was "apples". I did them relatively quick, I'm full of doubts how should I use brushes (I prefer hard, sometimes soft low-opacity round brushes and I dunno if I should use sensitivity for opacity, size or nothing or vary them), I think I will read some tutorial and make experiments.

[shiNIN]

I dunno what's wrong with me lately, but I sleep very much. so I draw very little.
just a few figures for now.
I drew a few skulls and anime girls (there's a nice little forum and they like them :D) too, but nothing that is worth to show here.

but here comes a nice weekend with sunshine...

[shiNIN]

a dsg entry (it has so many flaws, but I couldn't do it better in a few hours :()
[it's the second version, in the first one the proportions of the head and neck was horribly messed up. proportions are like English: I just can't use them without attention, I make blatant mistakes and I don't even notice... it's so shameful :( and illogical. I have a pair of eyes and if I really look, I notice such things...]

and a few hands... it was surprising, I usually completely mess up my hands. almost every time is an epic fail and I don't put them here.
now I just scribbled a bit at work and it went much better. most of them are referenced. the refs are drawings, I feel this is cheap... but it's the easiest this way and I need the easiest way if I draw hands. I still messed up them till now.
I don't wish for realistic, detailed hands, just things that look like hands... I'm interested in cartoon hands too. capturing the "hand-ness"... I need it :)

I hope I will draw tomorrow. today I wasn't productive despite it's weekend :(

[shiNIN]

well, some gestures for Spartan Camp #62. the optional was self portrait and I suck at that... so I skipped that.

and and and... MY BOOKS ARE HERE! I didn't open the packets yet... I bought a nice book about drawing in perspective and a recommended one about drawing portraits, I know nothing about it yet :bashful:

[Ahnem Mee]

Hey, great hands!
I think I can spot the gestures that have been thoroughly referenced too... I think this is your key to success!

Have fun with the books!

[shiNIN]

Ahnem Mee: thanks :)

8 day passed from the previous update... oh my god.
I drew almost nothing and I have no excuse, I did nothing instead of drawing :(

but I did, as always, my gesture studies for Spartan Camp. I drew a few lolcats too :)
the optional was "telephone", I did two very quick, impatient, bad sketches and a 40 minutes digital. the tricky shape of the oldschool phone was too much for me (I can't draw a proper circle in perspective), so it's a bit wonky, but I'm still glad. it was so good to paint something again :)

[kaktuzlime]

Hey mate! You show good progress! Just stick to it, your potential is infinite. It´s super you´ve picked up on Vilppu. He´s my god ^^

I think you´d find the lecturenotes by Walt Stanchfield greatly beneficial, I´m sure you´ll be able to find them as a torrent or book.

In my opininon, you should focus a bit more on weight, balance and gravity, as well as the mood of the people you´re drawing. Remember to apply squash and stretch (or "contra posto" as the italians called it ^^).

Keep drawing and have fun!

[shiNIN]

kaktuzlime: oh, I am honored having you here :) thanks for all!
I'll search for Walt Stanchfield, thanks :)
you're right about my poses, I know they're not good. I always admire gestures with a nice flow, good balance and stuff, but it's not so easy to reach :( but I will draw more and I will be better, I'm sure!

some copy or other stuff. the face is from real.
the last one is sketch and parts of a pic for my visitors of my topic on the Haibane Renmei forum. the girl represents me, though she's far cuter and anime style, HR is an anime, after all (though I try to draw more realistically the characters of the anime... oh yes, I like challenges... :oneye:)
that red thing is a bell nut, its meaning is "Thank you for taking care of me".

I need to draw far more. I need fight for it seriously.

[meganite]

You've got some really nice stuff going on here =) I like your studies, I wish I had time to draw that many figures.

I would say, don't stress about not drawing every day. Some times the charge has to build up, like electricity, you know? And some days are just programming days. Actually I had an art teacher in grad school tell me that I should draw the equivalent of 30 minutes every day, but instead of actually doing that daily, save it up to a couple or three times a week in which I could devote an hour or two to the drawing. And draw from life, not from a photograph. Not from your brain. Your brain always has the tendency to distort things, and photographs have condensed information already into 2D, so you can't see 3D as well, but if you draw from life you can get better.

Something else I notice is that your shading seems rather flat. You might want to do some light/dark studies instead of simply doing studies of the outlines of figures. Your outlines look pretty nice, but until you get INTO the form and see what's going on there as far as shadows and everything, they can get distorted, again. I found some of my most helpful exercises were done in charcoal, where I was just supposed to draw the darkest parts of the scene I saw in front of me. Just still life studies, real simple. But it gets you thinking about light and about form, how big those shadows are, how far away they are from each other. It really improves your rendering capabilities. So, you might try some of that! =) Even if it's not with charcoal. Just try to draw exactly what you see, without letting your brain make too much "sense" out of it.

Anyway, hope this helps! Keep it up =)

[shiNIN]

meganite: thanks for the visit and the advices! I know I should make various studies, but I wrote I draw very little. I try to draw from life too (I have nice clever plans, I just suck at realizing them...), I always am amazed how better is a living model even if I make only a quick gesture study... my last and current spartan camp entry contains some real life drawing too :)
shading. I know I can't grab the form with simple lines, but I can't draw 50 gestures with shading and I have problems with proportions too :( but maybe you're right, tones are so basical that I shouldn't neglect them.

I bought a charcoal pencil and I met that mysterious kneaded eraser (I never saw one till now) :) I dunno why, I felt like it. I have pastel pencils too. I hope I will make something with them some time... :bashful:

today I drew pretty much... (of course, it's spartan camp deadline =))
in the beginning it was horrible, I felt I can't do anything, I won't have my 50 gestures... but here they are :)

[the ANGRY filipino]

hey shiNIN! I'm back! now I'm the one missing yah! update when you have the time ok? You have improved since i last visited and I hope to see more!

[shiNIN]

I'm back... I dunno if I have showable stuff, I was fooling around in a completely different world, I studied for my driving licence (now comes the practical part, yay!) or didn't do anything...

at least, I had some fun AND while I haven't learn much, I got used (and addicted) to drawing. it was always my weak point, I drew so little.
I learned I can do more than I suspected and sitting down to create a whole pic is far easier now. I lack knowledge and my pictures have many flaws, but I badly needed this attitude and "bravery".
now I will focus on anatomy, gestures and other stuff again :)
I feel I'm willing to research, learn and actually draw a lot. I will improve quicker now, I hope.

[the ANGRY filipino]

hi shiNIN,
Glad you're back! now lets get postin!

[shiNIN]

thanks :) how hard is to get the wheels rolling again, they were never very active...
I don't show my Tegaki stuff (in a crazy group full with yaoi fangirls, oh I got into bad company but they're fun, I got motivation and there's someone who is able to draw with lines and being somewhat realistic... in the little quick posts lines are hard to avoid, entries are different. I try to do my best and focus on anatomy, poses) there is one pic that counts as a study and serious enough... I failed anatomy not so horribly that time. the head became too anime like and a not very good one, so I cut it.
drawing with a tablet pen is still killing me, it's the result of a few hours:
615152

I used a pose from posemaniacs as reference, but I lost something. my poses are usually weak and too static, even if I'm careful, I need to draw a LOT of gestures and in a way I can learn from it the most.

OK, another one... I tried to focus on poses several times. unfortunately if I try to be realistic with the body, the face suffers, became too simple, rushed and line based :(. this time it's "normal", he's my most "anime faced" this character, easy to draw quickly.
615161

lines. *sigh* one often tend to draw lines, but we know life isn't about those...
I don't know what to do if I wish to make a realistic picture. my beloved book about chiascuro says I should forget lines at a very early stage, but that's not easy at all...
I basically love lines and good cartoon style drawings, but I prefer the realistic approach when it's about serious, detailed works. especially that I'm a beginner, I have no imagination for something more creative and I'm in love with anatomy anyway :) though I feel this love is one-sided...

I plan to post few but not crappy things in the future. the new attachment feature scares me, other methods aren't so simple either, so I can't post too much. using pencil and taking shots aren't very good either.

and I won't talk so much in my still too bad English.

[Flashback]

You have a really nice sketchbook. Keep studying!

[shiNIN]

I do spartan camp again!
it's great, but showing my pencil stuff is always problematic. I have no scanner (our office has, but no better than a photo), I took photos, but now, tired, in a badly lit room... I didn't even play with tripod.
but I did my gestures this week. here is a few of them:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/poses0315.jpg

my quick 'metal object' optional:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/metal_obj.jpg

[the ANGRY filipino]

hi shiNIN! just dropping by to say keep it up! push yourself, and after youv'e done that, push yourself some more!
I know how hard it is to stay motivated when life gets in the way of art, but
you owe it to yourself to take your art to the next level.
keep it up with those studies, spend more time on them..better to do 5 drawings and learn while you are doing them than to do 20 rush drawings and not learning from them....
see you next time my friend!

[shiNIN]

the ANGRY filipino: you wrote wise things and I'm very thankful having you here. you're a very positive force in my tiny artist wannabe life :)

I don't worry much anymore... things became clearer in me... or I don't know, but something happened and now I feel my little gears really started to move. in the past, I struggled a lot, I dedicated my time for drawing and still time flew away, doubts, fear, confusion, low energy level, whatever...
now it's better but I didn't draw in the past few days (I did doodles, I can't avoid it anymore, yay) because I simply fell asleep after dinner.
but today I don't have to cook... I go home and DRAW. I'm very motivated, I KNOW what I want and what to do... I reached this miraculous state... I definitely won't surrender to some stupid tiredness... if I don't draw, I won't get any better, on the contrary... creating something makes me feeling far more better.

I dislike posting without any drawing... it's only a Tegaki chibi... don't attack me please :) fun is an important thing in my life and art trade with others is so sweet and soulwarming... I need that. even if I'm a beginner and many think I should stick to realism in the next few years. I can't help it. btw, I don't like chibis. I prefer struggling with head/body proportions. but I do like some cartoon styles.
oh yeah, I messed up basic proportions a bit even if it's a chibi. his left arm is too long.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/chibi_daichi.jpg

[the ANGRY filipino]

Hi shiNIN!
He looks cute. His left arm is a bit long though. And if he is going to be in the Chibi style, then go all out. Make his head bigger, body smaller. Think of little cute dolls when doing Chibi art. But don't forget your anatomy studies too ok? do one body part a day? maybe that could fit into your schedule...
I do hope that you are doing well, from your latest post, I have the impression that you are very busy and exhausted at the end of the day.
I understand what that feels like. Just find time to draw. you don't have to do a masterpiece everytime...the key thing is to draw something everyday, no matter how simple. As long as you learn from it.
All my best:)

[Flashback]

those are some great pencil studies

[shiNIN]

well no pictures yet, but I'm really back now...
I went for a tiny holiday and slept awfully lot in the past few weeks. one problem is solved :) a few others remained. whenever I try to draw something, I feel I have no idea how to do that, even with human heads and I practiced those the most...

I started spartan camps again... this place is nostalgic and inspiring, I really want to draw this evening a lot!
I don't know why and how my time flows away, but I must practice more. I have time and energy for this. I usually have a few hours freetime a day and I gladly "sacrifice" most of it for drawing... but it's not enough. it's a mysterious thing. when I was a kid, I simply couldn't sit down and study... I never did, except right before tests. my personality is totally clashes with patient drawing practice for years and I suspect I have antitalent in hands and body, dynamic poses and perspective.
if I had a nice amount of sense, I would give it up.
but I'm a hedonist who WANT to draw and my prestige is barely stand the fact I'm this miserable, but it would totally NOT stand if I gave it up.
and anyway... if someone feels a desire to draw at the age of 28 and it gets stronger and stronger with the passing years (I'll be 33 this year and now I draw every day if a little)... one must follow it.

sometimes I produce something I like. the problems are
1. I don't feel I learn from it a lot. I did something somehow... but I'm not sure I could repeat it and
2. I kick myself forward, very slowly, it's a struggle, I'd prefer a more natural and pleasant flow...

I don't know where to start, but I'll do something. when my mind becomes blank, I will simply copy something, it can't be so hard... when I already decide and start something, things usually go more smoothly.

if I don't make a couple of pictures today, I'll dig a hole and bury myself >:{

[shiNIN]

I wasn't very successful but I did draw :) it's an important step.
only some copywork. I had some pencil stuff too but that's more work to share and not worth it. I did some RL using my only willing model but I wasn't pleased with the result :( usually I do it better.

some Tegaki stuff :) I will switch to a decent graphic program soon. the only round hard brush is okay for most stuff for me, lack of layers doesn't pose a problem either, but I need to pick the color I want... it's worst when I try to color human skin...

every pic is referenced and more or less messed up.
the lying woman has serious leg issues, not like her left arm is okay... I did it quickly at Sunday.
the cute acanthoscurria geniculata (I will use her for my RP life at Tegaki :) she's Thirza Triel, my handsome vampire character Kryth's new friend) is too simple having a really bad anatomy, but I had no patience to draw her hairs and pattern.
the kid's proportion seemingly aren't good, especially after seeing the beautiful original.
the tarantula and the kid costed about one hour.
I'm not patient but on Tegaki I typically draw my entries for hours, my record is 7-8 hours, I think, not counting research. interactivity and the charm of roleplaying helps. I need a big amount of interest to make efforts.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/100509pose.jpghttp://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/acanthoscurria_geniculata.jpghttp://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/110509kid.jpg

(I will share only the best ones in the future... this newer complicated attachment thing isn't for me and photobucket is weird in my firefox and I need too much time for my posts, I could draw a lot instead)

I don't know how useful copying pictures can be... I fear I scan the pictures despite my efforts... I will draw my favourite pictures again and again, I try to draw them from memory. my memory isn't so great so I have to observe and think and wonder and build them ;).

[shiNIN]

still on Tegaki E. that palette killed my desire to try to do a decent coloring...

the woman cost about 2 hours...
I tend to neglect faces when I draw bodies, but now I tried hard and failed. I definitely will try again soon... (too bad the reference pic is too small)

the tree is a 10 minutes little thing I drew this morning. the original was in an anime, already very stylized but I liked it and I had fun ;)

[a la bapsi]

keep it up!
and damn. props for using tegaki. i have next to no patience with that thing. *__*

[shiNIN]

a la bapsi: thanks for your post :)
well, tegaki gave me motivation and fun time - with extreme struggles with my tablet.
my pencil guides me... helps to draw things I don't _know_ how to draw... a tablet isn't so nice.

returning here was great but I feel I can't draw - I mean no matter the quality, I can't, I have not the slightest idea what to do. studies, yeah, but where to start and if I try, why am I so dishearteningly bad...? in the last days, I can't draw the simpliest face. or copy a body. or anything. I need some success, a very tiny one will do.

next time I bring pictures.

[My57]

i like your progression! you've gotten better and at a good rate.

Just keep practising, if you have an anatomy book use it. If you dont go get one at a book store new or used. Or do what i do and find free ebooks.

Here's a site if you interested

www.scribd.com

not illegal, and you can download. Just search some stuff up like Hogarth and you'll find the books.

I also noticed you liked anime in the beginning of the thread. Are you still interested in it? i know a few manga books you'd be interested. Same guy who did death note.

[shiNIN]

hi again, my poor abandoned topic.

oh I got a visitor. thanks :) I have ebooks and I really need to buy a real anatomy book too... I have only 2 books about portrait drawing (I love them. I usually draw human or almos human faces and practically nothing more) and one about perspectivity...

there was heat, extreme exhausted periods, motorbike accidents (when it fell on my right hand, it was a little problematic. but I run home when the doctor said it must be plastered and drew :) a slightly fractured little finger, no big deal), I turned 33... and still can't draw at all, but still write too much.
I have a big tablet now (A4 Oversize) and... an Intuous3 is really different from a cheap little wacom I had before. it was wavering, unobedient, it drove me crazy... now I'm not worse than with pencil and I don't use even pressure sensitivity (btw, I dunno what will I do. I can't use tilting with photoshop and pressure sensitivity in painter... I was confused and continued to draw without both in Tegaki. my very active, fun and not very glorious Tegaki time - won't end but I won't live there I hope... it gave me motivation but wasn't useful enough. I need serious studies).

I neglected the Summer Camp too. I always planned to participate, but I became more and more scared of drawing the human body. copying is hard enough but by myself I have no idea about anatomy or flow or anything. but I won't get better if I avoid drawing.

my line quality has improved and I'm better at drawing faces I guess... my quality is very unstable though.

I should put at least one drawing here... a very quick sketchy thing with my old unobedient tablet. Nemu of Haibane Renmei, reference: a screenshot from the anime. the head is too big and the neck is too long as always. the few seconds halo is the best I think...

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/nemu.jpg

anime. I still like it and it has a big influence in my life, through anime and Tegaki too... :( I do my best to be somewhat realistic but I fear I should try much harder.

maybe I will post some other stuff soon... and it's time to be really serious.
I will fight against my biggest antitalent. hands.

another one. I used a nice reference for the sunset sky and sea. sketchy but hey, I barely never draw backgrounds and environments :) [using a very simple flash tool with 10 opacity levels and only round hard brushes doesn't always help either]
755433

oh ConceptArt.org... a place where people understand why I say I can't draw... *relieved sigh* it's good to be here again.

I will attend a 8 bit computer party this week. I don't know if I try to draw a commodore 64 fli picture yet...

and at last, my best character created on Tegaki. stylized, of course. his name is Slade.
755439

[shiNIN]

I guess I should return...
I became a little more serious again, I see better what I should go, have more energy and a better, deeper attitude... it's a recent development, it came when I had a lot of work, of course... so I was tired and copied a lot :) still on Tegaki.
some of my results:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/szitakoto.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/slug.jpg

optional for Spartan Camp:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/bocky.jpg

people are harder to copy, even faces, my favourite subject... I draw faces a lot, still, I'm still so weak... it's not a copywork, though:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/jay.jpg

an older copywork (except the rushed tail...):
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/male_pinup.jpg

[Ink Fish]

wow. you've really improved heaps since the first post. I really like the girl that fades into the black, and the recent coloured ref one of the boy. The colours on him are really nice. You should try downloading the free versions of programs like artrage or open canvas, and seeing if you prefer them to tegaki - tegaki is really limiting.

[shiNIN]

thanks! I have a bigger tablet and more patience and practiced.
but my knowledge is still very very limited. I can't draw a decent human figure by myself (decent: at least as good as an average skilled teen).

yeah, I start to feel limits of Tegaki are too much for me sometimes (coloring, hair, clouds)... but generally, I like that simple Flash program... I prefer drawing with it to drawing with Photoshop (my company bought me that, I need working with pictures), that annoys me. I tried Painter and it was fun but strange and I couldn't use pressure sensitivity [EDIT: OMG I found it! yay] (in PS, I couldn't use tilting, I dunno why). maybe I need something different...

some pictures: animals from last week for spartan camp:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc107c_animals.jpg

a few Tegaki copywork (I can only copy when I'm this tired... a very good way spending my otherwise useless time, I can't even rest):
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/girl_portrait.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/flying_birds.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/male_nude.jpg

[Ahnem Mee]

Hey! Good to see you're still alive, and kicking!

Lots of good things in your last post - but I see litle variation in pen pressure... Are you sure you're getting everything out of your pen&tablet?

But like I said, it's looking good!
Take care!

[shiNIN]

hi! it's made on Tegaki, limited colors and opacity levels, no pressure sensitivity!
(and my tablet even has tilting... I can't use it in PS, though)
and I always have driver problems with wacom tablets. but it seems to work...

but sensitivity is so strange... like with my keyboard... it's curve isn't natural, giving bad results.
I can't use my tablet's tilting and pressure sensitivity, after all. I'm happy with a pencil, but a tablet/program combo confuses me... :(

I should do something by myself if I gather some strength... copywork can give nice results but doesn't say much about my drawing skills...

for the time being, I lost my will to live. non-temporal work problems.
so nothing more but copy - or maybe some brainless doodle...?

[shiNIN]

I have a busy tired time.
have I mentioned already I had enough and quit my job?
I need a long rest.
still have some days' work and I need to move.

but I'll be free and more relaxed for a while.
if I won't get much better at drawing, I'm hopeless and I don't want to live anymore... I can't imagine it. if I do my best and will be able to focus on drawing, I can't help but improve, right? even if won't be a great artist, making some decent drawing of humans can't be that impossible.
[I want to be damn good at drawing humanoids. I can't help it, I'm a perfectionist. I know it would take decades at least]

something I did for Spartan Camp. I wasn't in top form :(
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/together.jpg
the colored skulls is pathetic, so I tried again (quick lazy copywork, but I had fun with colors and kind of pleased with it - except with the teeth):
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/skull1026.jpg

[Ahnem Mee]

WOW!

Lovely skulls!

Do you have one at home? That'd be awesome.

I like the moneky too - and believe me, the human figure, at least to me, is something that you can keep training on and even though people start telling you it's good, you'll still want to do it better. There's just so much to learn about it; and with each thing you learn, your ability to perceive the human body will improve, and you'll see new things tht you can start working on to get them right.

But, as far as skulls go, I think you kind of mastered those. What 'll you be tackling next?

Cheers!

[Surion]

Hey dude!

thanks for the comment on my SB :D
i have some stuff, but still lacking time to really jump into art. But i got some stuff which i will upload soon :D


IMPROVEMENT!!!!
Dude seriously, youre on the right track! No critics from me! just keep doing what you're doing, cause youre doing good :D


Cheers mate!

[Yuki_slider]

hay, ohayo :)
where did you do that guy with fire, thats really goog :
lovely work with light ,,,mybe you should do light fazed a bit wsharper that gets sance to that i think :)

[shiNIN]

thanks guys :)
Ahnem Mee: I have only a decorated bronze skull at the moment, it's beatiful! I plan to draw it nicely as "Still life", optional for Spartan Camp this week... ;)

I'm back again...
I had some stressful time, but now I moved into a new and very nice home...
Now I will take drawing REALLY seriously. My last years were shallow and I can't give enough attention to whatever I did. My copying skills and my line quality improved in the last months, I have some idea of face expressions,
but I always forget how to draw things and I'm usually very bad when I don't copy. My visual memory can't be that bad, it must be that attention issue.

I have some stuff uploaded for spartan camp since last time... all copywork and done on Tegaki (normal graphic programs still annoy me... I'm a weirdo):
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/treefrog.jpg http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/baby_portrait.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/eyes1106.png http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/running_cheetah.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/ola.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/sc116.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/sc116_bouguereau.jpg

This one is referenced but I used a different angle (who know when would I do such a fun and useful thing but it was the Spartan Camp optional). I somewhat failed, of course...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/copywork/sc114optional.jpg

From now on, I will update this topic far more often...

[kilon]

ok thats it what I call vast improvement.

I am glad your effforts pay you back so impressively . It gives me hope for my efforts.

Especially your last post is breathtaking, you have not only developed your skills further but you seem to have a good understanding how to make color talk emotionaly....

[shiNIN]

Erm... I vanished again... It's shameful considering I have all my time for drawing...
Personal problems and block... I'm harder to myself than ever, it seems every kid is cut to be an artist more than me. It doesn't matter though, I WANT to draw...

kilon: Thanks... Copying and faces are okay if I take my time... But I wish for so much more.

It's annoying I can't draw a decent body by myself. Not even a handsome stickman.
But I failed a standing man copy today too. I don't understand, I'm not so bad at copy... But some simple poses beat me.
I should focus on human body more (but I fail and it's a bad feeling...). I do Spartan Camp again. This week's optional is "mechanical object".

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc125_optional.jpg

Tegaki stuff, a new character of mine (in his base form, he's a 17 years old boy but strange things happen in a world where there are magic potions):
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/qwell_kid.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/qwell_female.jpg

sengis... I love them. The smaller kind has a great very mobile trunk (once I saw a video... it was hilarious) but its whole body looks very funny and hard to draw...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sengis.png

[Surion]

Hey man!
Great to see you updating again :D

Keep on practicing, i see some great improvement man! :)

About drawing human body from head: it takes years and years of practice to draw this kind of stuff from head. Start with small goals like: i want to be able to draw hands from head, in any pose, any direction, any angle! And then start drawing hands! hands from life, bridgman hands, hogarth hands, and so forth.

Keep it up man! and keep us updated! :D

[shiNIN]

Surion: I know that my not humble goal "drawing perfect human bodies from mind in every pose" will take probably decades if I can reach it =) But not being able to draw a simple sketchy standing man without messing it up... That really bothers me. I will practice gestures every day, not cowardly avoid the bitter experience I don't feel how to do them at all.

A few older Tegaki drawing... I hope they aren't doubles, I did my best to check...

My boyfriend bought new tires for his beloved motorbike called Teresa named after the great claymore girl...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/link/teresa_new_boots_360.png

Reisen (resized to 75%), a character from the very famous and loved game series called Touhou... (there are over 500GB music downloadable with a single torrent, for example... fans are formidable) It's fun to play with it, my boyfriend is totally into it...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/reisen.jpg
He even bought an expensive and special little manga with a chibi Reisen. I used a reference photo - I have problems with symmetry (legs).
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/reisen_chibi.jpg
A small miracle: I actually could copy a cute cartoony face. She's from Touhou too.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/tsurupettan_suika.jpg

My few months old attempt following the wonderful tutorial in www.furiae.com. It took 30 minutes. One day my eye will be perfect... Eyes are my favourite, after all... I'm not bad at drawing them (front view) but I need to get better ;) [people keep saying I'm too hard on me. I wonder why]
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/eye_30min.jpg
Copied (and probably a little altered) anime eyes... Maybe my favourite kind of eyes, not quite realistic but detailed and interesting...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/anime_eyes.jpg

Some old Spartan Camp stuff I want to put here too:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/running.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc120a.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc120opt.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc122c.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc122a.jpg

I draw many animals for Spartan Camp because they are easier and more relaxing to draw for me... (and I'm a coward who avoid drawing human bodies)
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc120b_doggies.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc122hummingbirds.jpg
..especially if she's a smart, lovely little girl I sponsored ;) Too bad the ocean is between us...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/hachi.jpg

Finished. New stuff will come later.

[Janos]

Whats the story behind the doggie? She is very cute!

[shiNIN]

Janos: She is, indeed! There is a very nice board on the Net where members are almost family... One of them has some dogs and Nana, one of them, had puppies. Hachi is the only girl but the dogs' master who's a cool guy had not very much money and we decided to help him out a bit.
The puppies has new masters now - except the brilliant, smart and playful Hachi.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/lady.jpg
I used 3 different references: face, shoulders, dress - the face became different from the original :(

Copying human bodies again was hard... By myself, I would have been totally helpless.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc125b.jpg

[Yuki_slider]

nice one, shez like those country girl style gouz... i love em',
and th shading is very nice as well... keep up :)

[shiNIN]

Yuki_slider: thanks!

some Spartan Camp stuff...
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=915049&d=1267099664
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=911765&d=1266758073
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=912158&stc=1&d=1266788643
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc126c.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/mouthes.jpg

I did an account on iScribble. It was horrible in the beginning and I'm still not fond of it, without opacity I'm lost... But it was worth a try ;) And opened my eyes even more about how useless I am without refs. I can't stand it so I'll try even harder from now on!
{I have knowledge about things I can't apply because I lack something more basic stuff}

[Surion]

omg!
Awesome update! and again it screams improvement! :D
Keep pushing there and whenever you get impatient or frustrated or demotivated or whatever, give bobby chiu's podcasts a listen and you will suddenly become an enormous danger to your pencils :p

[Yuki_slider]

neat, was that fast on scatch?
gamma can be good on that...
cheeers

[shiNIN]

Yuki slider, I seriously don't understand your last post...

Erm I abandoned my topic again for a while... I was very inactive, I badly need the spring... It seems it will be here in a few days... I won't sit in my room all day in a low energy state!

It seems I put my stuff only to the Spartan Camp thread again... He's my beloved own character, Silver. I drew him with joy and realized I leveled up at faces. I looked back and was surprised at my improvement in the last few months. But I need time and effort... My half minute faces aren't so good :( Tegakids do it better.
I know there are flaws everywhere:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/silver_big.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/silver_waiting.jpg

A side character. Quick pics, a few minutes at most.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/cherie.jpg

I started to draw Haibane again. But I focus on the face. My best one:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/kuramori.jpg

My new character... I should design him properly, he's so vague...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/shay.jpg

I usually draw faces and has some idea about "the human face" but I'm so bad at the diverse features different people have... I want to change it.
Copied faces:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc129faces.jpg

[Novbert]

nice bunch of studies but I'd like to see some non-referenced (and non-anime!) ones. Try to spice up your characters a bit. You (as we all :)) like to draw thin women standing in thight clothes but there are many other types of characters. FAt ones, anorectic ones, kids and old ones, people in thick ski-dresses, etc. And they can do many more things instead of standing. Try to think a bit more out of the box when you create those poses.

I'd also suggest that you should create more finished pieces. Create composition, imagine scenes and lighting conditions. Spend more time on a picture. I mean MUCH more. Days. Or even a whole week. You can do these studies till the world ends but you still can't feel success of creating someting from your own imagination and pushed it beyond your own limits. Hell, man, you've been studying human anatomy for two years and still use your knowledge to draw five minute manga faces?!? (nuthin wrong with manga, no offense, but stickint to its style when learning the basics isn't the best idea. Not pushing it to its limits (http://reiq.deviantart.com/art/Laura-BlueFrost-155630358) but keeping it safe and boring is again: not the best idea. )

Get rid of those references and DRAW!
:yayca:

[shiNIN]

psychiatric session like thing. I'm sorry, Novbert, it's just your post, right now, made me to write my thoughts and feelings...
It's pointless to try to help me, I must find my own way somehow.
I have no idea how to draw at least one hour a day and I try it for months, I have nothing else to do all day (except to care about the fire and that's tiresome). I'm sure others don't understand how it can be possible. Neither I.

Novbert: I can't do that. I can't draw. I have no idea of anything except faces a tiny bit and I can't do simple studies (sphere) because I'm not interested in it, usually.
Don't accuse me with drawing manga faces, I practically never draw manga (though I'd like to learn that style too). I love realism and I stick to it the best I can (because I have no other way, I'm not creative enough to do something well and stylized). I'm sorry if I fail at it and it's not noticeable. I even try to draw eyes in the right place in cartoony style :(
I wondered if I should stop doing copywork and I did stop doing them now. And I don't draw those quick faces on Tegaki either. The result: I don't draw at all.

I'm not a complete beginner yet. I haven't even started. I know that.

And I have minimal anatomy skills (I do learned several hours but I barely practice. I try but I end up not to.) and I can't use even those.
I don't even want to draw poses. In the last days I drew a male in the most basic pose, from front. Using a Loomis ref. After several days, it starts to resemble a human being.
Too difficult. I should draw boxes, maybe. Not like I would be able to do that much. Even my circles are bad.

I shouldn't update this topic anymore, it's pointless. It's a shame. I should give up on drawing, probably, I'm too lazy to reach my huge goals.
But I can't. I'm not searching for a job, I want to learn to draw. Stupid. I don't care.
Too bad I do nothing.

I'm more lost than ever.

But I will find the way out. Or die. I won't give up till if lose every self-respect that remained in me.

I'm too scared to draw now. I can't anyway.

[Yuki_slider]

i know that Cocos get you sibber :)

[Surion]

You need some kick under your butt shinin :)

First of all saying you can't draw is totally untrue. you CAN draw, youre not a pro, you still have a long road ahead of you like every artist but never say you CANT draw. You're human, like everyone else here, don't think like you are deffective or something, NO.

The thing with art is that it takes long practice to get real good at it, more then anything else. You should keep pushing yourself to draw as much as you can, keep pushing and pushing, even if you don't like it. In the beginning it will be hard and youll be having a hard time, but slowly it will become a habit, and youll enjoy drawing more then anything else. If this is something you really want to get good at, you MUST go for it and reach it. it sounds cheesy, but just simply the truth. It's hard work, so put as much effort into it as you can.

About the not having fun with spheres and boxes and stuff. Yeah thats true, sometimes im having great fun when painting a box but sometimes it also gets boring and i get frustrated. The key is to put variety into your work, so you dont get bored. Arms the other day, then hands then throw a cube into it, then do some animals,.. WHATEVER just keep your interest high.

Every single drawing you make is an improvement, even if it doesnt seem like it, it is. Youre always learning something new, so draw! It doesnt matter what you draw, just draw stuff and keep drawing and you will get awesome at it.

And if you're thinking ahhh i cant draw faces, and this and that. Ofcourse you cant, i cant either, thats why you have to put effort into it and practice practice practice. If you want to achieve your dreams throw yourself for 200% into it and reach them, cause nothing is more important then making your own dreams into reality. Life is short enough already, so dont waste time and make the best out of it

also, give a listen to:
this (http://www.livestream.com/fuckinartwithmrdelicious/video?clipId=flv_ea0f0709-24fe-45c9-8411-d1a0c9765711) (crimson dragger stream with algenpfleger and jana, they talk about motivation), this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=935nSBMMKYk) (bobby chiu motivation talk), and all other crimson dagger/bobby chiu streams, they talk about the hard way to art and get you all pumped to do it and find your way!

[shiNIN]

Yuki Slider: I still don't understand you... and have no idea why you waste your time on my sketchbook anyway... *sigh*
I have this sketchbook and make Spartan Camp activities and am on Tegaki because without them I would be all alone and I wouldn't draw anything. I need to show my things even if they aren't worthy.

Surion: Thanks for the links... I know practice is the key (there are other factors too but I'm not one who keeps drawing the same own wrong stuff again and again for years - I saw some people like that. who really never try to see how people look like. I research and sometimes I try to draw hands at least) and I really don't mind my quality so much... I miss the feeling I practice and put effort into it... I KNOW I would improve a lot if I could start to draw much every day. I TRY to draw much. And I draw less than one hour a day and my days are dedicated to drawing. There's some huge problem with me. I never could handle many things at once. And I must practice zillion things. And I must change what I do. Sometimes I love anatomy studies (I end up mostly looking and trying to memorize things but I can't draw that stuff all by myself) but sometimes I need a complete colorful pic I can't draw yet... I need knowledge, motivation - and memory.
If you give me a piece of paper, a few months ago I couldn't do ANYTHING with it. Maybe some very basic front head. I have no visual memory.
Now I could draw a horse skull too. I spent days on it (I felt like it) but I will forget I fear.

I developed a fear of gestures. I'm horrible bad at it by myself. Human body is too difficult and I keep forgetting what I studied.

[Maybe my main problem is that my 'very high' self criticism became 'unhealthy high'. The crazy inner critic hurts my inner child artist. A hedonist can't handle an abusive split personality...]

My self respect is minimal and I HATE whining and apologizing all the time.
I'll be away for a while, probably.

Sorry and thank you everyone.

I think about Novbert's words a lot, by the way. Just because someone says things there mostly obvious to me (partially I don't think they are true in my case), it doesn't mean it can't be a little eye opener or can't trigger some "I will show you" actions or whatever...

[shiNIN]

I produce practically nothing now but I'm busy with learning anatomy. It seems finally I'm able to learn that stuff (I always learned quickly but every info about human anatomy seemed to escape my mind... it was maddening). They're messy and on paper, I'm not happy with these either but I wanted to update... It helps me to move on - but spring has the biggest factor, I spend my free time mostly with drawing... Even if I don't even try to draw anything by myself, it feels nice.

It doesn't very apparent but I spent much time on the (refd) face and applied perspective... My ref was great for that purpose but it's a very hard angle for me.
My newest love is horses, skulls, heads, bodies...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/misc20100324.jpg (http://s259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/?action=view&current=misc20100324.jpg)
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/horses.jpg (http://s259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/?action=view&current=horses.jpg)

I will do quick sketches, I know I usually can copy nicely if I have a good ref and take my time but I don't value that very much. I need to be more easy and free... I should feel the most basic thing, the gesture...

[Novbert]

I produce practically nothing now but I'm busy with learning anatomy.
It's kinda controversial for me, man. How can you learn anything if you don't draw? Memorizing anatomy is for doctors. As an artist you can learn a lot more by producing stuff.
Anyway: The head construction study looks nice. Those horse thumbnails look also good. I'd say you should rather do a whole bunch of thumbnails and not spending too much time with one single pic. You can learn a lot from thumbnailing about movement, overall look and such. And in a very fast, very efficient way.
:yayca:

[shiNIN]

Yeah, I plan to do quick stuff, I realized that :)

Of course I must draw many sketches when I learn anatomy - I never was able to learn anything without writing/drawing it... I meant I don't draw stuff I can show, only some little not showy sketches :)
By the way, I make an exception with arm musculature right now because I can't draw it if I don't understand what is what and where... I do several hours' reseach, I can't stand I haven't the vaguest idea of the arm despite the effort I put into it. Now I have some days to sacrifice for this. I don't know a shortcut.

Whatever. I keep fighting. There won't be anything decent here for a while but I wish to START the learning process already. I was just lost and confused till now. It's not my world, after all.

[Novbert]

Nem tudom milyen anyagokat használsz az anatómiatanuláshoz, de ha igazán szeretnél elmélyedni a témában Bammesnak van két remek könyve (a Nackte Mensch és a Wir zeichen der menschen). Igaz, mind a kettő német, de az ábrák miatt nagyon érdemes csekkolni.
Az említett 2 könyv megvan nekem pdf-ben. Ha érdekel, dobj egy privát üzenetet és valahogy átküldöm (bár az egyik majdnem 300 mega, de talán a mammutmail vagy valami elbírja).
Ebben a fórumban (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1665584)találsz belőle képeket. Szerintem nagyon állat :)

[the ANGRY filipino]

Hi ShiNIN!
I'm bumping this to make you update it!
I'm sooooo glad you're back as well!
New stuff's looking good! a far cry from the beginning!
Let's keep an eye on each other to make sure we both don't go into hibernation again ok?

[shiNIN]

Novbert: Ami elém kerül... Loomis (hasznos, de annyira nem vagyok oda az irrealisztikus nőitől és az art director emlegetésétől), Bridgman (cool csak túl sketchy. művészi, de kevésbé látom pontosan, mi merre), Neten talált képek (persze hibák és elnagyolt ábrák akadnak), s van egy magyar kis alakú könyvem is az ember és több állat anatómiájával. Az hasznos, de a vonalkezelés nem valami művészi... a Barcsay könyvet nem vettem meg.
Köszönöm, leszedtem a Bammes könyveket (nem volt kihívás megtalálni a Neten), az egyikkel már találkoztam is régebben...

Angry: sure! I really don't want to be inactive EVER again!
I don't know if it's obvious or not, but I think I'm the type who improves quickly if practices... I barely drew till now and still there's some improvement... I've met people who are always drawing and worse than me... and some produce the same quality (sketchy faces. cute and stuff but... always the same) for years. I think that's very sad. The worst - at least for me. Even my pitiful struggles were better...

I became inactive on Tegaki for a while and switched to Photoshop. I tried it sometimes in the last year already but it was too strange... Now I use hard brushes, 26% opacity, pressure sensitive brush sizes... and Visibone color swatches for the most part :D I should use my own palette later but it's fun and random now (and somewhat similar to the coloring on Tegaki)... A bit too random, but it will work out :)
I'm so clumsy but I see the light... it is there... right?

(A small miracle... days passed and they're still on photobucket... Life is full with surprises...)
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc130a.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc130b.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/hand0329.jpg

Oh and the new IDW topic is Coffin!!!!!!!!!!!! Cool! I want to participate!
The Chow is Gunslinger and I have nothing to do with weapons at all. I should start to play the thought again that I will participate in Chows one day... I don't want to wait until I master human anatomy, it's a bit too far away and studies won't satisfy me till then :D But it's tough with my inner critic...

I was busy in the last days but today I'll do my best. I hope.

[shiNIN]

[nothing interesting, ignore me]

I should give up on anatomy.
I spent a few days on horse skull and head anatomy (only the simplest angles) lately. I managed to draw some decent simple sketch from memory. I skipped a few days and I realized I forgot EVERYTHING. I can't even copy a horse head. I tried for hours.
It's even worse with humans where my first 100-200 hours had almost no temporal effects...
What can I do without memory? without knowledge...
Being a programmer didn't require much, there was logic and manuals. My life always were so easy... till I started to draw. It's 1000 times harder than anything else I tried in my life. Even if I manage to draw something, I forget how I did that and if I do it again and again, it won't get easier (it may be better but not easier). Square one again and again and again, especially if I skip a day. I never quite understood this.

Am I a mental case...?

Damn. I need self confidence for my motorbike lessons...
And I slipped and hurt my right elbow today. It's painful.

[the ANGRY filipino]

just keep at it...a lot of people seem to think that to be a pro or a good artist, you have to be able to draw from memory ALL the time...i doubt that. Even seasoned pros need to refresh their memory by doing the studies again and again if needed.
While you slowly build a reference library or a manual if you will in your head..you will do a great service to yourself if you just keep at it.
And don't just sketch something again and again without trying to understand what it is.
Sure, studying Loomis etc helps but if you don't take the time to think about how muscles stretch and contract in motion..your sketches of people will still be stiff.
I think one has to know the basic parts of something and then carefully adjust those elements to fit whatever one is trying to sketch.
Try this..do a sketch study of a body part from reference..and then immediately after that..sketch it as simple spheres or blocks...and then after that sketch that body part in motion..while sometimes looking at your original reference..try to understand whats happening underneath the skin as the muscles move in that movement.

sorry if I didn't make any sense..I'm not a topnotch artist (yet :)) but I'm willing to take time and aid you whatever way I can.

[Novbert]

Jeez, man, stop whining for Christ's sake. Anatomy is not something you learn from one day to another. On the other hand it's not about anatomy at all. It's about the mindset.
Of course it is important to be critical with your work, but it is equally important to correct the mistakes you've made. You say you try to draw from head and it turns out all screwed up. You say you try to memorize anatomy, but hey! There's nothing about basic anatomy you already wouldn't know. Can you tell wheteher a drawing is anatomically wrong or right? Of course you can. You don't need to learn anatomy for years to say things like: "that arm looks too long in comparison with the other one" or "that spine is bend in a very unnatural way" or "the color of that guy's skin looks pretty unnatural - is it green?" (just some random thoughts on your works in the previous post). You don't have to be an anatomy expert or a doctor to say things like this. Even my 10 year old brother could tell these things. And you should also do it. You should crit your own work and find ways to correct it. And if it still looks bad you should think about it again and try something else to correct it, etc. Don't leave the drawing with the feeling of having done something awful.
:yayca:

[shiNIN]

Well, there are people who don't realize their anatomy flaws, for some reason... I'm not one of them.
But seriously. If I forget nearly EVERYTHING I learn, it's very disappointing and I can't help but have doubts about the whole drawing I'm so not suited to.
And I whine in my own topic if I want. My last year was full with apologizing (for most of my Tegaki drawings and it was many thousands I guess. Every day and almost every little drawing was a failure, if I was weaker, I would have broke down), it hurts me greatly.

I abandon my bad stuff because redrawing it is way more quick and gives better results. I drew some basic sketches for 10 hours already... It's very bad, it's just trying, even if my result would be good, I can't repeat it - I don't learn anything from it.

Anyway. Today I learned some anatomy again (I wonder how many hundreds hours is required for the most basic arms and how many days to forget it), then I copied it, few minutes. Tegaki.
I'm always glad if I'm able to do something quickly. In the past even sketchy copywork required much time.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/horse0401.jpg

[shiNIN]

Copying horses are very relaxing... Let's hope I learn something through it... I don't like copying very much but it keeps me drawing at least... I drew a few hours today and it's not evening yet. I wonder if I ever had a day like this, despite my efforts.
yay.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/horses0401.jpg

[Surion]

the horses look really awesome :D
no crits from me! ;) just keep it up and running :D

[shiNIN]

I tried to draw today. The usual stuff: I try to sit down and draw all day, it's my first and only priority and I more or less fail. I'm doing this for months now. It's mystical.

I did some horse and anatomy sketches (if I will ever do them pretty, I will shoot and show them) and some Spartan Camp gestures. They took hours. It was a bad idea to use lines. It's much slower and less fun than using values, my line control is as bad as ever. Probably my brush choices too.
The last one is extremely rushed.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc131.jpg

[shiNIN]

Sleepy weather... But I drew yesterday so it's no big to continue... I mustn't skip a day and I will be fine!
Doodles and a few days old bones. The faces are somewhat based on existing people but no copies.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/stuff0405.jpg

[Novbert]

It was a bad idea to use lines. It's much slower and less fun than using values, my line control is as bad as ever.

That's the point. I feel the very same way. Creating linework digitally is a really slow process and I guess you'll never have the same line control you have while drawing traditionally - unless you are lucky enough to have a Cintiq.
Your horses look really good, man. Lots of nice movements there. Would be interesting to see some more polished drawings based on those rough thumbs. That skull and scapula look also fine.
:yayca:

[shiNIN]

[another psyichiatric session, ignore me. to tell the truth, I have no idea why anyone visits this pathetic sb. I can't draw anything by myself except some not very exciting faces. It's just a collection of copywork, despite all my efforts]

I think it's abnormal that I'm not able to draw a simple neutral front view human body, not even a memory of a Loomis reference or anything. I made attempts in the last years and tried really hard lately and I'm still bad though better than before. And even the hundredth (a small number I admit) attempt tires me out mentally and emotionally. It hurts and gives no joy at all. I have no idea how to start to construct a human body. I tried various things and read books but I'm still completely lost.
Copying is so pointless. Maybe I leave Spartan Camp alone, they will be happier without me anyway.

I will do enviros from now on. And stop writing posts like this.

[Prion]

DON'T GIVE UP! *bitch slap* It'll be worth it, you've come so far. You might not see your improvement but I and many others do! Ffs, your sketchbook is one of the sketchbooks that convinced me to start drawing! Seriously, no joke. I came here to say thanks and I get an "Omg, I haven't improved" post. You killed my inner bunny with that comment! MURDERER! :P

This is going to sound stalkerish, but before I began to scribble I was checking out people's sb's to see if artists relied on talent or dedication. Your dedication has shown leabs and bounds in your skill. I'm hoping that I'll experience the same dramatic improvement.

Your title sums it up, tis a long way. At times we're gonna step in crap; shit happens. Ya just gotta keep trodding along untill that shit falls off. At which time you'll feel fucking amazing.

Oh wow that was shocking, see what happens when you drink and internet. Shit jokes aside I think you need to visit these:

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=182996
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=81690

P.s sorry about the swearing :S

Oh and I've *subscribed*

Please don't kill my inner kitten as well. Keep posting and it'll live...... Not blackmailing you or anything. ;) You wouldn't have come this far if you didn't enjoy drawing. Learn to enjoy it again. Stop getting stressed and overevaluating. Take a break from studies, just draw for the sake of doing so. Accept what you create and accept that you have and will continue to improve.

Much love from your neighbouring infectious protein,

Prion.

[the ANGRY filipino]

Hi ShiNIN!
I really like the skull study update you posted.
Looking forward to more updates..it may be cliche, but keep it up!
I agree with Prion, don't let your art learning subdue the enjoyment you have for drawing.

[shiNIN]

I didn't want to post without including some drawing, but I wished to read the comments I got... (no answer isn't an option for me)... so... well... here is this messy stuff (it has nothing to do with the current Spartan Camp optional, I started before that :D). I did put effort into these, not extremely much though. Hands... marvellous subject and very very hard.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/hands.jpg

Some more reply/thought but I whined and explained way too much, I feel no desire to do so anymore.
I don't think it's not obvious I don't actually practice... I just copy a tiny bit - and study anatomy. I have some knowledge and skill I can't use because the very base is missing.

But I was able to draw for hours 2 days ago (then I was unwell and had motorbike lessons) and I really want to continue that. Too bad the results are just some simple messy stuff in my real, paper sketchbook. It doesn't mean I'm unpleased with them but I want to draw them again and more carefully.

I didn't do enviros :( It would do good to me though.

Prion: have I written I haven't improved? strange. I think I'm improving, no idea how with this minimal practice, bad visual memory and so on, and I see my good points and I'm sure even I can learn to draw if I practice ;)

Joy... I lost it somewhere, it's a vital problem I know. If I could draw just a bit, it would be cool (in the first second, till my inner critic's awakening). I have plans and I'm a visual type hedonist... and a damn stubborn one. I won't give up, no matter what. But I can't continue this struggling. I've wasted my time and life force for long enough.

I try to post some own stuff soon... even if they won't be so "nice" than copied stuff. I copied because it was better than doing nothing and I tried to learn something through it. But I always thought those has little value.

Oh and a copygirl, I did it a week ago. I tried to fix it but failed. I can't even blend smoothly...
[EDIT] Oh where was my mind? It's a naked chick, photobucket deleted it of course. I attach it this time:

[Prion]

Oh sorry,

"I will do enviros from now on. And stop writing posts like this."

This lead me to believe you were going to give up figurature and thus almost gave me a heart attack. :P

Looking good, I'm dying to see some things from your imagination. Maybe you're having applying things from loomis etc because you're not using what you learn in your own imaginative stuff? Supress that inner critic and let it fly after you've applied everything you've learnt and then find flaws! Study-Draw-Study? If that makes sense....

I dunno, anyways good ta see some sexy hands. :P

[shiNIN]

I drew some chicks. But I can't think and draw nice lines at the same time. I drew very thick strong lines even with a freshly sharpened H pencil (I need some harder ones)... I ended up being better at digital drawing.... *sigh*

..but I need some brushes...

erm... enviros... one should start at somewhere... quick doodles... I tried to compose them, colors are merely for my fun, I didn't take much attention to them.
I appreciate the mere fact I tried to draw something by myself and no humans at that.
Yay. A tiny, important, pleasant step.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/enviros0411.jpg

A few hours left till Spartan Camp deadline.. I should draw some poses... I did a few already but they are messy and on paper.

Prion: Sorry!!! I know it sounded that way ;) But I could NEVER stop drawing humans. Human body fascinates me. I want to draw kinda perfect (in my inner critic's opinion) bodies from scratch. I can't help it :( I will live a long life to achieve this ;) My problem is that I focus on humans (it's very stressful) and neglect everything else. I try to change this but I don't want to draw much non living stuff.
I think my imagination is bad but I think I can improve it and I probably have some anyway, I was just a coward and avoided to use it. My state of mind is important, in winter I was too dead to have any ideas.

[shiNIN]

These are horrible this way... But when I had a scanner, that was not much better either... My paper sketchbook is horribly messy anyway... I don't plan to do this again... But I had to update already.

I practiced a little in the past days. I'm very slow but I'm not very unpleased, I'm better than before.
I try to look very little at references and even to draw some figures by myself.

Now I need some colorful digital playing... I'm tired (and want to make up for these photos).

[shiNIN]

It's mysterious how can't I sit down and practice... I'm not so very uncertain in my skills now, I do know some little, I learned a lot lately.
I'm somewhat nervous too, maybe partially because my motiorbike exam is near and the weather was very bad when I rode my bike lately... But not able to draw is worse.
My newly made PS brushes disappeared and I couldn't redraw the most useful one... I will save them from now on without doubt.

Some quick stuff. I can't even shade a ball in PS, I'm fighting with my brush settings. Practice, practice...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/stuff20090418.jpg

[the ANGRY filipino]

whohoooh! those legs are sexy!

as for painting in greyscale..i'm no expert..but try laying down a flat midtone grey first under your drawing..then on another layer..paint with your brush settings set to pen pressure. i think it should be bigger strokes first..at low opacity..as you do the details..smaller brush strokes and increase the opacity..

at least thats what i remember from what I've read in the forums..

hope it helps...

[shiNIN]

the ANGRY filipino: Hi! :) Yeah I usually use a non white background, now I just started drawing without thinking... I'm very unsure how I should do things... I use hard brushes set to 26% opacity, pen pressure affects the size... Maybe it's wrong if it's not about lines, sometimes I wonder I should forget about pen pressure... But why I have an intuous3 then... I will try out different things... I just know hard brushes and fix opacity has nice effects :)

Here's my Spartan Camp skull. I was lazy, I never have patience for teeth... I did a sketch by myself, then a reference was used.
Not very exciting I admit.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc133skull.jpg

It's a new week and I plan to find joy again... In the last month I struggled, studied, tried and failed and in the end I barely practiced at all and I was all nervous and unhappy. No good. I will draw whatever I like for a while, even if it means zillion heads in profile view only *shrugs*. A few weeks ago I realized I can't even draw heads, not even in prefile view, I quickly learned the basic things I missed and now I should practice a lot. Lighting is problematic for me, I want to define forms well but I lack experience so much at the moment.

[shiNIN]

I still do nothing much... a few lazy profile view heads. I lack so much knowledge... Therefore my values are a bit random and uncertain... I will study human face forms more...
I made these on Tegaki.

I wish to practice A LOT from now on, I totally forgot what fun means and just tried to force myself, that's so useless on a hedonist... I want to feel alive... It's crazy a wonderful thing as drawing is a struggle and almost an object of fear (I'm scared of full bodies only... I suck at them horribly but they are sooooooo cool, I must learn to draw them).
I will start with my favourite topic, human heads :) I plan to draw zillion faces in the near future...

I must learn how to draw hair... and all the basics...
I will design characters :) That's fun. I can't do studies only, I need to have some bond with the one I draw... I plan a playful/sexy series with Chiliegia, the impersonation of my motorbike ;) She's a dear and I love her. Sometimes Teresa will be there too, she's our other bike. She needs a different design than the girly warrior she was named after. Her personality isn't like that at all... I like her but I never rode her (sitting in the backseat doesn't count) and my boyfriend isn't very good with words *sigh* despite being the writer of a fanfic I will illustrate. I need a design for his antagonist too... He isn't much help except being my model.
So, Chiliegia may save me... A cute girl who is a motorbike... I needn't much imagination to get ideas... My imagination works best when it's about being playful... and our bond helps a lot.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/tegaki_profiles.jpg

My final exam will be tomorrow. I want to pass so badly... I had enough and I want to be free... and start my joyous life with my Ciliegia.

[Prion]

Sweeet skull. :)

I know what you are saying with respect to fear, i feel it whenever I start something I've never encountered/something difficult. I guess it's more of a confidence issue than anything for me... I just tell myself that whatever I produce now is a small step to the future, if I've learnt something/had fun in the process it was worthwhile.

Anways I can't wait to see your characters, they sound awesome! :) Gl with your exam.

[sombertwin]

Just stopping by..saw your post at Prion...

I see you are working on foundation and slipping in a composition or two. Like you I have trouble with the human figure, that is until I had really good advice from Anna Marie Nelson a artist and teacher. Her advice was to start with simple shapes in still life studies. I was desperate so I stopped drawing figures for awhile, and started drawing apples, pears, tomatoes, oranges...etc etc

I can't believe how such seemingly simple advice has helped me progressed. First I became more confident about what I observed, then I discovered shapes in the shadows and darker values, then I learned more about light. I am still learning from the work of still life's.

I try to paint at least two one hour still life's a week. The exercise helps in many ways. A few of the ways are: I get something completed, I get shapes, learn how to observe and react to the object, helped with gesture drawing and loads more, oh and it is FUN!

Gesture drawing really means your body feels and reacts to what you observe. Draw shapes , mass....feel where the body is moving. I am not great at this, but if you saw my earlier stuff you would see I have come a long way from stick figures.

I really can see the hard work in the portrait study. Landscapes are hard I think, you have to think in 3rds with the composition. Then you have to know perspective, and and and.

I see how you are progressing toward your goal. kewl

[shiNIN]

I was extremely busy/tired this week (my first cosplay in an animecon, for example... I surprise myself...) and I barely draw anything... I should do better shots, there are much light now...
I failed my exam by the way but it was a huge eye opener. I was a COWARD. Motorbike riding, drawing... I have some tiny skills - but I show much less than that because I have no self confidence and I want to be super cautious... No fear just a useless illogical stupid attitude... It was very, very wrong. One can't progress that way at all. I changed my attitude, at least at motorbike riding...
It's so stupid, I can't lose anything if I bravely draw... at worst I would do some pathetic thing, who cares? And my inner critic will kill me... Eh I have to talk with that person...

I'm still tired and I'm most tired with my inactivity. And I will have more chance at my exam if I feel I'm more serious at drawing. I dunno if it makes sense, I know and feel that.

sombertwin: I can easily imagine still life studies would do good... I always enjoyed when I had to draw objects for Spartan Camp... I don't really want to neglect everything else but I have really hard time to draw something that's not a human body part... :( Not like drawing humans would be easy.
I need practice and many different approaches... I often experienced that an advice I practically rejected became a very good idea a tiny bit later, with a more mature mind of mine - or that I looked at a dear portrait drawing book for a while when I realized some aspects... There are cool instant things but usually I should ripe a bit before I can use some advices...
But still life drawing seems to be useful right away. I just should keep in mind it's not boring... It's one of my problems, I want to draw something that fascinates me. True, that helps a lot...
That's why landscapes would be good, I love them and they are relaxing... And I found a nice book.

I wonder if it considered a bad thing to draw many profiles... But I like them :D I finally stopped to draw almost the same stylized boys (they had gestures though... when I was in character, it was cool), I design profiles now :) It would be great to be able to draw the same faces in other angles too... I plan to draw actors, I get plenty photos in different views and it's easier to say if it's succesful...

[shiNIN]

I haven't drawn anything digitally in this week.
I tried to draw an action pose for Spartan Camp.
My hands feel strange and I'm still lost when I have to draw a human body. I have not much idea where to start (I usually draw a simplified skeleton nowadays, the simpler shapes never worked).
The strong lines were created last by the way.
I dunno what should I do.
1. give up about human bodies
2. practice them every day, no matter what and post here. My inner critic would DIE, well, that would be not a bad thing :D

*sigh*

Now I go and practice motorbike riding being oh so brave.
It's a very fine afternoon.

962683

[EDIT]
I redrew it and drew some more. I spent hours on these, the first sketches were extremely messed up.
As time passes, drawing human bodies are harder and slower for me. It doesn't get any easier at all. I'm lost like always. It's VERY painful. I don't want this. My self confidence is zero at times like this. I can't pass my exam this way.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc134.jpg

[shiNIN]

my dear sketchbook,

I really tried to draw today (I have another motorbike exam tomorrow! I need to know I can do things, no matter the quality now... practice in itself is something valuable). My sea dragon didn't go well so I tried the most simplest: redrawing a profile head I did on paper before.
Quick attempt, I didn't want to do the exact same head just something similar. Shading, well... that's very uncertain and surely very wrong :(
I can't draw hair but it's no excuse to mess up his hairline... I've just noticed this.
Anyway, I did something today. And I have a name day. Not like it's important.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/profile0427.jpg

I plan to work on it later but now I do this with other profiles :) Maybe without shading, I need some more research.

EDIT: I will correct his eyes... Bad habit... I find eyes prettier in profile view if they are longer... (it will be one of the liberties I will use when I will be good enough :D) but this guy absolutely doesn't need it.

[one hour later. I had fun, I used eyeliner on my model's face too :D]
I always knew it's good if I have some emotional bond with the target. He's called Alvaro Acwellan, not quite my own OC but the author of the fanfic (my boyfriend and model, his nick is also Alvaro Acwellan) can't say how he should look like except the yellow eyes (the left one has an iris similar to the ones of cats) - and the crow skull I haven't drawn.
The red rubber ring was quick and I was informed it should be a vertebra instead... well, later :D
I used a reference pic for the shading even if that head had a different shape...
Quick plaything this far but I'm a bit pleased and I definitely will work on it a lot :) (I have to get rid of those black lines... I draw like I never bought a chiascuro portrait drawing book... *sigh*)

I modified the pencil sketch face. It was too childish and didn't work in big anyway.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/alvaro_profile0.jpg

He's supposed to be pale skinned. I have a feeling I know nothing about values. I will work on it.

I had a funny piece too but I forgot to save the newest one. I redrew it later but my passion diminished meanwhile. I should stop doing these without any more research...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/0427lol.jpg

[shiNIN]

I'm way too lazy now... Despite I could find a pretty something to copy (it's not easy, I have high standards.. I spend too much time with searching references). Macchiato, few minutes, not much effort.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/lazy_macchiato.jpg

I should learn to control my pressure sensitive strokes...

[Prion]

Mmmmm, that macchiato looks delicious.

Come on, lazy is a mere state of mind. :) Pump some music and get to it. Just draw for the pure sake of drawing if you're currently sick of studying. Then you'll probably, before too long, get the urge to study again.

I read somewhere else that it helps to draw, study and then draw. Sorta trips the memory switch in our mind. Oh and drawing before going to bed or something like that. :)

I have some tiny skills - but I show much less than that because I have no self confidence and I want to be super cautious... No fear just a useless illogical stupid attitude...

I hate to go with cliches, but these get me up whenever stuff gets me down.

Speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tWLqFmaNdQ

Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYQXgdBjTMk

RAWRRRR!!!!

Stop saying you don't know what to do. If you say that, imho, you won't. YOU KNOW what to do inside, you just have to kick it into action. We all see human bodies on a daily basis, we know what they look like... we just don't instinctively know how to put that imaginitive image on paper. I dream quite clearly and yet when it comes to putting pencil to paper, I often will wonder wtf, I JUST SAW IT.. why can't I put it down on paper!? If you are lost, pretend you know your way. Practice your way out. You never know where you'll end up or what you'll produce. If it's not as good as your previous stuff but you learnt something important in the process it's worthwhile. I could be wrong... but it makes sense to me. lol


I dunno what should I do.
1. give up about human bodies
2. practice them every day, no matter what and post here. My inner critic would DIE, well, that would be not a bad thing

Practice the SHIT OUT of bodies. However perhaps try multiple methods from different artists? Maybe a memory switch will be tripped. Make some short studies and long studies? Draw gestures to find the life and supress that critic for a lil while? Learn when to turn the critic on and when to turn it off. I dunno, just some ideas. If you don't like the way you're traveling find another way around, explore. No two people learn the same. Draw your leg, arm and hands! EVERYTHING! *mwahahaha*

I'm watching ya ;P Keep it up. If ya don't I'll send my angels after you. Lol.

P.s. Gramma nazis, i hope this post annoys you because I don't want to spend time editing my grammar and spelling mistakes. :P

[shiNIN]

Prion: thanks :) Your posts and your SB do good to me for some reason ;)

*sigh*
I dislike to post without a picture but...

I passed my exam, I will get my driving licence soon :) It's very important, I always find my motorbike riding and drawing is very similar in many aspects... They even help each other :D I can't be brave and somewhat self confident in one of them only :D

Then I rested a few days, I was very tired. I was blocked in that too, but I broke through in the end, I turned a switch and everything got way better.
I know I will start drawing now. I feel like I wake up.

I was playing around in PS, did own brushes - and two fail enviro speed painting :D
And I spent much time in Critique Center as well... Now I really feel the urge to draw myself, I don't want to be a hipocrit...

I WILL get some idea about human body very soon, I can't stand I can't draw a single pose (copy doesn't count, I don't learn much through that. recently I really want to understand what I draw so my nice and useless copy quality disappeared anyway).
I drew many Bridgman figures but they are messy and on paper.

I will sleep now and then I will draw like crazy (and post a lot, hopefully). Yay.
I have nothing else to do, after all. It's the thing I must do now.
It will be hard but fun :)

[shiNIN]

Family tragedy and other things.
I haven't drawn for a while, now I try to start again and being more serious this time.

Children for Spartan Camp #137:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=976960&stc=1&d=1273856871
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=977172&stc=1&d=1273877708

The Bouguereau copy girl was made on Tegaki and has serious issues, maybe I will work on it later in PS. It was my plan but I got tired. Maybe tomorrow.

[shiNIN]

I'm not very well recently... I should draw much more... I wish I could turn off my inner critic...

I want to learn to draw faces, I'm really bad at angles, lighting, consistency...
I'm very clumsy at brushes, can't really show forms... maybe I should start with something easier than a human head...?
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/pmhead.jpg

[shiNIN]

I skipped a few days again (I had to) and now I try to draw again, more seriously than ever.
My hand definitely is shaking and I have a reason for that. But I must keep trying, without drawing my life would get consumed by the darkness.

ridiculousposes.com, the head of Michelangelo's David (I gave up) and Alan Rickman as judge Turpin (I won't give up, I will continue working on it).
I'm bad at drawing faces consistently and I guess my favourite actors will help ;)

Oh and Ola, my own character. I'm in a bad shape and no matter how much I struggle with PS, Tegaki is so hard after it...
But if I return to Tegaki, I will draw much more, motivation, you know. I should draw in a more "messy" way there, being clear takes very much time... We will see.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/20100523fail.jpg

[Prion]

Holy Crap Dude!

Loving the new stuff. It seems like you've leveled up somewhat. The value studies seem more detailed and accurate than they were imho.

For some reason tegaki's arm is bugging me though, I dunno why. :P

I'm glad to see you're back at it! ^.^ Keep trucking!

[bustthewave]

Hey man, you're way to hard on yourself these look great, and I am seeing improvements from the start of this sketchbook to the end.

Oh, and thanks for the encouragement on my sketchbook :)

[love tank]

the above post is me, didn't realize I had another user name with CA, log in on another computer than normal and that's what I get :P

[the ANGRY filipino]

hey ShiNIN..post#197......shows great improvement man!
Thats it! keep it up!

[shiNIN]

Thanks everyone... :D You can't change my own opinion of myself but it feels good (and sometimes I wonder if I really improved. I sometimes get that in the Spartan Camp too... It's not so apparent to me, I focus on flaws :bashful: )

I want to sit down and draw many hours per day already... I should stop being a lazy coward... I got a chance now... MY DRIVING LICENCE ARRIVED TODAY! It's very important, my motorbike riding and drawing walks hand in hand, if I'm braver and better in one of them, it does good to the other as well ;) Both things are dreams I started too slowly and they both will give me much joy...

I played with faces today. Oh my god, I can't even draw a head, a nose, a mouth, an eye... only from certain angles, maybe. It will be a great adventure to learn everything!

Not much new digital stuff yet... The Tegaki part took much time but I know those are very flawy (the poledancing Ola has no left arm either); Laura Vandervoort as Lisa in V (WIP) and a random and a little rather ugly face...
I never copy/scan faces lately. I want to construct them myself. I got much worse results very slowly but it's a right way ;)

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/20100525v.jpg

[shiNIN]

Lisa again... It's very tiring... and damn hard.
There are some similarities but the original is way more prettier and has a very definite look in her eyes... *sigh*
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/lisa2.jpg

[shiNIN]

I was busy and away but now I really draw several hours a day... Not much to show yet.
Lilah is a huge motivation, the most recent picture isn't completely horrible just very flawy, I shouldn't change the pose in the middle of the rendering...
I actually did something else than copying or drawing some general head in front view... wow.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/lilah.jpg

[shiNIN]

I've drawn a stylized kis Nemu yesterday (using a screenshot of the anime /Haibane Renmei/). I fail at cute. It was quick at least (15 mins).
I modified it today (30 mins) and for some reason I'm quite pleased with it. Still messy and I can't draw wings but the face has some charm :)
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/kid_nemu.jpghttp://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/kid_nemu2.jpg

A face without reference (WIP). I should learn to draw noses (and ears and hairs).
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/woman.jpg

[Flashback]

I think your noses look alright without sounding like a have a nose fetish.

[the ANGRY filipino]

definitely improving my friend!
The nose in that last update looks good, it has the proper structure..
now get to work on her ears ;)

[shiNIN]

I think I should start to thank my visitors. I use thanks very sparingly but I'm oh so happy when I got comments - even when I know my SB isn't so great and I do nothing to get attention (I should change my avatar at least). The less people face my blurb the better... :-/

Flashback, the ANGRY filipino:
Thanks!
Yeah but I spent MUCH time on that nose... :D I redrew it many times and it tired me out... :D Wait, learning to draw works that way... I hope I'm not too lazy...
Noses always posed some problem, Lilah's one too.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/lilah_head.jpg

A quick copy, my new Tegaki avatar (ref: portrait-photos.org):
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/tegaki_avatar.jpg

[Novbert]

some nice improvement here, man. The face-sideviews are pretty well constructed, that spartan camp skull looks solid and well-shaded. I also love that macchiato rendering.
About the refless stuff: I'd say construction is still your weak point. The rendering of that lisa drawing turned out good, but it still lacks underlying structure. In post #202 you show the structure skech for that lisa drawing but there is much more structural elements on a face than the ones you laid down there (which are basically a modified sphere for the cranial mass and some added simple shape for the face. In this early stage of learnin you should try to block the simplified bone structure of the face first (as it is descirbed in Loomis' Drawing heads and hand) including the cranial mass, cheekbone, jaws and nose bone. Plus you should also place the eyes in the eye sockets. When you've done all these stuff you can start putting flesh on those bones. This whole process can sound a little too analitical, but this way you're forced to think in terms of structure.
On that aformentioned face there are signs of lack of structure all around the place. The face - as you rendered - is just a flat plane with flat features put on. Both lips and eyes look flat, not to mention the nose. You shouldn't forget that the eyes are speres and eyelids are curvy forms around those spheres. Mouth can also be best imagined to be placed on a cylinder rather than a flat surface (so you can't alway see both corners. Neither you can see both corners of the eyes from all angles). You could even use that spartan camp skull to place features on it.
Also you should check this tutorial (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=84105) to see how to define structure by using planes (third pic). Useful as hell.
:yayca:

[shiNIN]

My problem is that I know a lot about human anatomy, especially about heads but when I draw, I seem not to use that :( I don't know why, it's so stupid...
I think I get distracted or something...

I planned to work on that Lisa drawing anyway, maybe I should redraw it...
I will start with a skull then :D Too bad I can't draw skulls from not trivial (front+profile) views.

I'm positive I will learn to draw heads somehow.
But I start to be desperate about hands... I simply can't understand them. I know the bones and some important muscles and I don't know how to start. I guess I have problems with 3D as well... It was okay when I learned maths, but drawing is something different...

A Bouguereau study wip made on Tegaki... (it's some kind of perversion. I'd choose color and it would be masochism) I'm in bad form, I feel like abandon it but I won't. And I'll redo it in PS.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/bather2.jpg

[Novbert]

.
I will start with a skull then :D Too bad I can't draw skulls from not trivial (front+profile) views.


As I said, check Loomis ;)

http://www.fineart.sk/photos/loomis_heads/023.JPG

it looks so damn easy, isn't it? :P

[the ANGRY filipino]

hello my friend!
i can feel that you are now at a higher level than you were before..please keep it up. I f you don't..you'll fall back and it will be harder to continue.
Your recent posts and the Bouguereau study are proof that you are definitely improving man! It may take a long time to retouch a problem area now..but the more you draw..the faster you will be able to spot mistakes and correct them!

[shiNIN]

Maybe but it isn't.
I studied Loomis's books of course... I tried to draw what he did without any success...
But that's why I use everything I could, Bridgman, Loomis, Vilppu, my model, my beloved decorated bronze skull and whatnot :D

It's no use to spend time on me till I start to practice a lot... But I'm coward both in drawing and bike riding... But the latter seems to be easier...

Some fragments from my sketchbook...

[shiNIN]

Some Tegaki stuff, I barely did anything else lately :(
I know I shouldn't use color, I can't. But there is no thing I CAN draw at the moment.
I'm unbalanced, I focus on faces therefore there's a bigger and bigger gap between my face drawing skills and everything else... And I can't draw faces either, just from certain angles, without being consistent, not always and with much effort... I don't even attempt drawing expressions...

Maybe I'm a bit too critical... I'm not sure.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/tegaki_2010juni.jpg
(The last woman is my version of an anime character)

I drew my old character, Slade again (Myra too but I messed up her, I started with her)... I'm not very unpleased with his face and that's something. Coloring was fun and time consuming :)
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/slade_profile_pics.jpg

[shiNIN]

After my holiday in Slovenia I try to be more active than ever, i.e. I start to do a significant amount of practice...

It helps that the books I bought on ebay have arrived! Yay!
Tom Bancroft: Creating characters with personality
and Digital painting techniques :D
Both were advised here on CA.org and they definitely looked nice... I started with the cartoony one... Stylized stuff helps me a lot, it's good to go back and forth between stylized and realistic style... at least in my case :)

Some unfinished stuff based on the book... After a very short time I start to wander off and make a more detailed and more realistic stuff...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/girls_book.jpg

A very quick Lilah...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/lilah_cartoony.jpg

Meet Sliver, I'm currently working on desinging him.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sliver.jpg

[Surion]

AWESOME!!
MoreMoreMoreMoreMoreMoreMoreMoreMoreMoreMore!!! :D

[Novbert]

that Eye study in post #214 looks nice. Also some cool stuff is going on with the second rendering of that Slade character in the same post - nice skintones.
One note: Don't forget to lay down the structure of the face first - even if it comes to cartoony characters. They may look simplified but it doesn't mean that their body is unstructured.
Keep it up!

[shiNIN]

Novbert: I will try to build face upon a skull again (my only attempt was a failure), not easy, I like when heads don't leave skull state, skulls are cool :)

I drew more than usual lately, faces and figures... I had a serious block (and even my pencils behaved in a strange way), I'm really shocked how tiny my skills are, it's time to get really serious... I copied Loomis heads and I'm better...
It seems measuring, looking at the strokes itself does't work for me, I need motivation and if I feel what I do, things just happen. When I roleplayed a lot on Tegaki, I didn't know how to draw the expression I wanted, what muscles do, what perspective does... I just listened what I felt inside and the strokes followed... It's kinda disturbing. Illogical...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/20100711a.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/20100711b.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/20100711c.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/lilah0711.jpg

[shiNIN]

I did zillion Loomis head studies (angles, angles, angles... I suck at every angles except front and profile view horribly), without much success. The human head, angles, perspective, whatnot is very difficult, it's tiring, I think I will forget about most of contruction from now on and just do it somehow, concentration to some feeling, aestetics, not drawing a sterile generic head, that gives the best results (and starting with the eyes).

My Spartan Camp #142 optionals, they're very bad copies. The refs were small, maybe it has something to do with it too.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc142opt.jpg

[shiNIN]

Some Tegaki stuff again... I should do something in PS as well...
I try to make some good shots of my paper sketchbook later (that's huge now :D), I drew some faces... It seems I'm getting better.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/tegaki0725v.jpg

[shiNIN]

I'm so bad at updating my own SB... Even when I do practice, the results aren't for show... But I learn through it and that's what important.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/figs0803.jpg

I did some Preston Blair and Loomis hand studies and I feel I'm a little less lost at hands...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/hands_blair_loomis.jpg
quick hands except the simplest and biggest one:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/hands-1.jpg
Some heads, Loomis and some by myself:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/heads_loomis_self.jpg
For Spartan Camp #144
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc144v.jpg
A small fragment of my manga evening :) I can't accept I'm bad at drawing chibis. Kids say that's easier than realism. Not for me. I didn't like chibis in the past but they can be good enough and have their role...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/inaba.jpg

[Karshia]

I think you should post more often. I like looking at other people's studies... even if you think they are boring, they are interesting to learn from. You've come such a long way since the start of this sketchbook. It's so impressive and inspiring. Thank you!

[Surion]

Yeah! You should update more often! :D (i shouldn't be the one speaking but aaaah)

Stupid to stop now cause you were doing awesome. I don't want to say "UPDATE YOUR SB EVERY DAY FROM NOW ON!!!", no not at all, I just hope you are practicing and improving and kicking it cause you have so much potential!

[shiNIN]

You are right...

I had a kinda inactive period, I even stopped doing Spartan Camp...
Some Tegaki E activity now and then, I did some decent stuff but I was too lazy to put them here or something.
I was troubled with my inheritance in the other side of the country and accepting my Mom's death took much time as well.

Now I feel much better, my only big problem is that I can't grab time and draw. I have time, it's just... passing away... My figures, my memory is disheartening but now I have strength to face it and fight!

A big Tegaki E collection will come later, okay?

Some Spartan Camp stuff for now:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/feet.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc151a.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc152optional.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc153a.jpg

[a la bapsi]

keep strong and fight!

[shiNIN]

a la babsi: Aye! :D

Oh and I already forgot there was the ~ 5 weeks when I had a reluctantly or totally not working pet that got wet a bit. I bought a new, more slender one (Intuous3 Classic Pen). The tablet itself may have some issues, my strokes don't end when I lift the pen sometimes (the bodybuilder in the second collection shows it too, I won't fix it now, it's a failed pic anyway).
Here are the Tegaki stuff I wish to show even if I'm not exactly proud of each...

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/te_doodle.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/te_copy.jpg

Other people's characters using references:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/te_trades_dpink.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/te_trades.jpg


my new characters, I have some difficulties with drawing bats even if I did it in the past:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/te_embers.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/te_verdell.jpghttp://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/te_ebony.jpg

Debbie and Silver... His re-app is totally not him. Consistency is a weak point of mine :( And I should practice profile bodies.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/te_debbie.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/te_silver2.png
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/te_roomies.jpg

[Wr00m]

You're definitely on the right track. keep it up :)

[Karshia]

Yes! This is all very good. I definitely enjoy your faces. Keep it up!

[Surion]

Wooowowowowowo!! What an update! yay!
The grayscale portrait is amazingly good! Admiring your skill with a wacom, I'm totally unhandy with that thing haha. Maybe try putting some more contrast in your colored images, i think it'll create some more depth

Anyways: Moooooaaaaarrrrr!!!!

[shiNIN]

Erm... I wasn't here again lately... I don't feel well, I still feel I have a block in my life in general... I have just a few things to put here, mostly Tegaki stuff...

I did some trades, I love them. I drew Seafoam for the third time, still not good enough but way better than my previous two fails... I really should do something about the parts of my portraits that NOT the face... I used a photo reference for the face (to make things even more unbalanced... *sigh*):
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/te_seafoam123.jpg

White (I have no idea how to draw true white skin) and Mossy Green (I tried hard and still, something is wrong):
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/te_white_mossy.jpg

A quick, motivated sketch, he's called Slate and has rosacea. I just drew without thinking (but not without any reference) and I like the result:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/te_slate.jpg

A study for another trade (Photoshop), the TE entry is worse:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/tami_roan_sketch.jpg

My own babies:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/silver_cream.jpg

Some half assed animal gestures from pixelovely.com:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/pixelovely.jpg

My pencil drawings usually are problematic to show, a messy bunch:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/misc1115b.jpg
and some Loomis feet and leg:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/loomis_leg_feet.jpg

[shiNIN]

It's hard to draw gestures again... and I had serious problems with brush settings in the beginning.
Pixelovely, mostly 60 seconds:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc159_fail.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc159_fail2.jpg
Preston Blair cartoony hands:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/preston_blair_hands.jpg
And something that was fun :D
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/my_tractor_sexy.jpg

It feels good to do such things again. I should do so much more. I don't think I even start learn to draw, I barely have any idea about anything. I know what I should do and I finally feel I'm well enough to able to take steps I should have done long ago but couldn't.

[Star Eater]

That's exactly how I felt a couple of weeks ago. It's actually a good thing. Stop putting yourself down and lets see some more of your art. I know it's overwhelming sometimes balancing the lessons with the art that you want to draw just for fun, but the two go hand in hand. Lose yourself in your work and studies and the two will start to merge.

Hope to see more of your stuff.

[shiNIN]

Star Eater: I know it's a good thing :)
I guess I really should draw for fun. I enjoyed drawing a few times but I never drew for fun. It was work, a crazy, illogical desire to learn to draw a tiny bit.
Being a perfectionist hedonist with an eye for flaws is tough enough but this year sucked big time. I think I should pat my shoulder just because I survived it - instead of telling myself I should have drawn much more and not just in my extremely tiny safety zone.

I will be away for a few days, then I'll try to update this SB every day (and shut up).

[Surion]

Yesssss! AWESOME
Great to read this! :D Keep up the funfunfun! That's the most important.
It's not worth it to do stuff you don't like because then you get bored and demotivated and you'll get to think drawing is boring. While it's totally the contratry!
Anyways, last update was awesome. Loving those cartoony hands, gives me flashbacks from my childhood wathcing micky mouse :D

[shiNIN]

I'm back and tried to drew. I sucks sooooooooooooo much. I don't feel what to do, drawing feels so strange...
I abandoned this girl I guess.
1106266

Some hands:
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/hands1121.jpg

[Falchion]

Wow, I'm liking the rendering and progression! Keep it up!

[shiNIN]

Falchion: Thanks, I will... :) I guess now comes the good part when I learn much because there's so much room for improvement but maybe I don't suck enough to be devastated _all_ the time looking at my results... ;)

Cats for Spartan Camp #159. It was a good choice I think. It's fun and kinda easy...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc159cats.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc159cats2.jpg

[Surion]

The hands are looking good! Keep doing them from time to time!
awesome cats. I always have a lot of trouble with animals like cats, always getting caught up in the chaos of their fur. hahah, but it's been a while since i actually tried drawing them, really should get back to that.
Anyways, keep the pencil flowing! Don't forget to do stuff from imagination also, keep it fun!

[shiNIN]

Surion: Thanks! Oh cats with long fur is troublesome, I tried to draw some but gave up for now. I need some custom brushes as well :D

Imagination... have I such thing? I will search for it ;) I feel much better than before, more things seem to possible for me now :D I still barely draw but I will change it very soon.

[shiNIN]

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc159a.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc159hands.jpg
Drawing hands was very tiring today but I will continue :D Too bad PS died after I drew some and it didn't go better for the second time...

[shiNIN]

more for Spartan Camp...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc159b.jpg

I need to draw some heads and then something easier and relatively new... still life, enviro, doodling with colors while listening to some music...

[Surion]

Yes! Keep the updates flowing, cause theyre awesome!
Proportions look good, so keep doing what you're doing! :D

[shiNIN]

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/20101129.jpg
Hopefully I will draw much more tomorrow.

[shiNIN]

I did some pencil head/skull/eyes studies today and this head in PS. It's wrong on so many levels but it's late already... I'm still completely lost if it's about brush settings, pressure sensitive opacity and fixed size is strange to me but pressure sensitive size didn't work well either. I'll try again tomorrow.

[S_Gangl]

woah :)

cool anatomy studies!!!! Great job!
You know, what you are doing...

looking foreward seeing more ;)

[shiNIN]

S_Gangl: I know, I just don't do it... I should practice everything a lot... But I'll try harder.

Oh human face, my favourite subject, I usually draw faces and nothing else. But it doesn't know I have much idea about it. I fail at even a mere 3/4 face but I will do studies about it every day or so *determined*. I fail at drawing hair horribly. I need study them already.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc160heads.jpg

Oh and some quick spartan camp stuff. I have no idea what brush settings to use. Probably I will learn to do sketches with my round hard brushes with fixed opacity and pressure sensitive size... They seem to work best for me. It means they are hard to use but everything else seems impossible... I'll keep experimenting though.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc160a.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc160b.jpg

[shiNIN]

Today's update... I started more, I'll finish them tomorrow.
Struggle with brush settings again...
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc160faces_v.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sc160c.jpg

Lookie I did an enviro :D This fact made me happy, no matter what :D Quick random no effort stuff (but I researched a bit), that's why the half size, it doesn't deserve more :) It deserves nothing but I never draw anything by myself (except some faces), let alone an enviro, it is a step forward... Yay. (My tiny remained Tegaki RP life forced me to do this, but still... I did it)
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/te_cafe.jpg

[wunts]

some really nice quick character drawings, i couldnt imagine some of them getting any better unless you wanted to go and finish them off more.
I do pressure sensitive size too (they are the ones im especially talking about) I know a lot of people say you should use opacity for pressure but I figure size is more useful sometimes too.

[shiNIN]

wunts: Thanks, I just try to do a lot of quick sketches and in the end, being able to render expressive faces quickly... I spend way too much time on everything, my brush settings problems are partially to blame for this.
I guess there are no Single Right Way, everyone should find what suits him/her best. Pressure sensitive opacity often looks weird to me, I use it for some subtle shading only. I can't do much with fixed sized brushes and both size and opacity on pressure is confusing.
Probably solids would be useful, I would go nuts in the beginning just like with using a real pen :) I'm not someone who can work in a nice clear way.
I need experiments.

[shiNIN]

Today I'm barely awake, I do some effortless but fun stuff... A quick Tegaki sketch heavily based on someone else's pic and a bit longer photo refd sketch.
I always rush hair, I'm way more interested in faces, more rules, therefore easier in some sense... it's so stupid, I will do hair studies, I need to concentrate on this very important topic :(
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/indigo.jpg
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/boy101205.jpg