Silvenon's SB - Criticism appreciated, possible nuditiy, but not likely

[Silvenon]

Well, I'm kinda new here, I don't know how everything works. Looking at all your cool sketchbooks makes me feel depressed, but I will continue drawing. I didn't go to any drawing school, but I took some video lessons from riven phoenix. I tried to develop my drawing skills, but all my drawings are from the 3/4 view and all the characters have the same facial expression..... yeah, still learning :P

I'm trying to draw looking at photographies to study facial expressions, the first two drawings are from photos.

I hope you like these, I hope to make more soon.

Btw, I never figured the neck area completely, I mean, I know the muscles, but the shading's killing me, should do some studies probably....

[SkyTheArtist]

Hey! Not bad! You're doing pretty well right now. The only picture (Which I'm sure you see too, so hopefully I don't sound naggy :^^;: ) is the third one, with the chick with the pure black eye on the left. Her head and neck definitely need some work. But these are what doing studies help with. Even if you dont have your drawing supplies with you, just observe the life around you, and try to keep a 'snapshot' in your head, if that makes any sense, on how the head and neck relate.

Keep it up! Hope to see more. :)

[Leramettev]

Hey there, and welcome to concept art.

Don't be intimidated by all the good stuff here (often difficult!), take them as something to aspire to. I know it's a bit cliched, but we all have to start from somewhere.

Your first piece is the strongest. Best shading and most realistic. Last two are off in proportions. Looks as if you've drawn the head and neck first, and then added the torso. It might be better to start with torso, then move to everything else; helps you keep things in proportion.

You should look into some anatomy books to build up a strong foundation.
here is a helpful link someone else has provided:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=94571

Hope to see some more posts.

[Silvenon]

Thanks for replies!

@SkyTheArtist
Thanks for the head and neck advice, I'll try to do more studies so I understand those better.

@Leramettev
Thanks for the welcome. Oh, yeah, I won't stop drawing..... Making a sketchbook will make me draw all the time and that's what I want.

Yeah I like the first one the most too, but it was from a photo so that doesn't count, because I didn't quite understand what I was drawing (well I did most of it). Yeah, I did exactly like that, added the torso after...... ok, tnx for the advice, I will start of the torso from now on, I never tried before, might be interesting.

Thanks for those links! I didn't know there were such things, I'm getting on them!


I will post my studies soon (well, not mine, the ones from the video lessons).

[Silvenon]

Here we go... :)

[Meloncov]

You need to push the value contrast further. Especially in the pieces in the first post, almost everything is a neutral gray, with only subtle variation. Get some shadows and highlights in there.

Your anatomy sketches are better in that regard.

[D@niel]

Good studies, keep them up and be aware of your tonal values and light source, try to maintain a nice range of lights and darks:)

[Dogprince]

This is an awesome start! Just make sure when you're posting stuff, don't just post the good stuff, try to put up some of your crap drawings. You can get some good advice from people when they can analyze the full quality range of your drawings. :)

These are really good though!

[Gail_Blitzy]

Your first face picture is really good and your doing well in trying to figure out the anatomy!
keep at it, i'd like to see some coloured/finished pictures of yours!

[Silvenon]

Meloncov: thanks, I'll try to do that from now on.
D@niel: thanks, will try to darken them.
Eternal Ziggurat: hey! thanks! good advice :)
Gail_Blitzy: thanks, that really made me smile :)

Here is something I did a while ago for my mom for christmas, it's not so good, but I put a lot of work in it:

[Silvenon]

Some more drawings.... hope you like 'em :)

First: More of a study, I copied it from a photo (my photo, no worries, bwahahaha)
Second: Well, I'm not too happy about it, especially the hair, but the bricks turned out ok :P. I got the inspiration from Indiana Jones :D
Third: Something I drew a while ago in school, I'm really happy with the result, especially the drapery
Fourth: I don't like it so much, but it has something I like
Fifth: Something I drew when I was thinking about fights and how scary they can be (I'm not a pussy, I just don't like getting beat up)
Sixth: Hehe, four fingers.... :P

[Silvenon]

I always wanted to draw one of these :)

[Silvenon]

I was wondering weather I should leave the eyes out or to put them... I decided to leave them out, I love a little creepiness :)

[Autumnal Dream]

hey silvenon! :)
Welcome to CA, i guess you will learn a lot in here!

So.. it's a good idea to start with anatomystudies. Anatomy is the key! And don't stop till you're done with it. Drawing from photos is.. well.. not that good for your development. Draw from life as much as you can. Your family, friends, random people in the streets, the park, doesn't matter. It's a completely different feeling and experience.. drawing quickly cause the people are moving, thats really important to learn.

You're doing well, so keep it up ;).

[paulpratt]

I just started the Riven Phoenix Structure of Man DVD's too.
I'm still on the first disk. I can't believe how much info is packed into that set. It looks as if you are further along than I am. Do you feel it's helped you improve? I wonder what some of the experts on this forum have to say about it?
Great pictures btw. I think anatomy is the place everyone recommends starting. Good luck.

[Murido]

Hi Silvenon, Always cool to c new blood ;) here r some tips: if u finished a drawing and u want to c if its accurate: hold it before a mirror. then u can find easy all the errors u created and learn the most out of it.
I ve noticed that ur pencil works like the portraits miss a bit of expression, and i dont mean the expression of the faces, try to take a softer pencil like the B4 or sometin like it and overdraw ur drawings where nessecary. U will c that they will express a lot more... I hope u understand what im blattering here...
Keep on practising !! nice work!

[Silvenon]

Thanks for the comments guys!

@Autumnal Dream
I know drawing from photos isn't art, I'm doing that just to improve, and sometimes it really works, I learn new stuff, but I always have to be focused to learn as much as I can....I did two life drawings, I fucked up the first one and my friend was posing for hour and a half for no reason. The second one turned out ok, some woman asked me to draw her daughter, but the odd thing is that her mouth were off with the proportions, so I thought if I should move it a little up, but I decided not to :P.

@paulpratt
Yap, it helped a lot, especially me, because I'm to lazy to learn how to draw on my own. It's really good for sketching, but the major missing part is... WOMEN! Only 1-2 lessons on female anatomy! Nothing on female faces!! Also, I wanted to know how to draw proper hair, but that is also missing. All in all, the lessons are great if you want to spend your time drawing really muscular guys (which can be quite gay). But it's worth it.

@Murido
Thanks, err I'm not sure if that helps alot, since I'm drawing most women and female proportions are a bit different.....but my drawings don't look THAT much off the proportions....do they?

I drew with B6 too, it is really cool, but the one thing I couldn't stand IS THE DAMN SMUDGING! My hand was all in pencil!! And also, I had to sharp up my pencil each time I shaded something. That's why I moved to hard pencils, but I will listen to your advice and try with soft ones again (this time, I'll sketch with hard ones and fill with soft ones, never tried that... :P).

[Murido]

Well Silvenong, thx for dropping by in my scetchbook, thx fior the compliments... weel the disadvantage u get from drawing with the softer pencils is idd the smudging, u can always try not to tough ur paper when u draw :p or take a piece of paper and put it under ur hand. That helps me, i did that for the cat btw, else u make ur paper as dirty as hell... An other sollution that works well for mee is drawing in pen. Just regular Bic would do... Anyways, About the comments, ur faces are sometimes a bit off, especially the ones in perspective, the frontals are cool and good drawn imo. just mind the proportions... (small body for a big head) imo. dont take this wrong, we all have to learn... ;)

[xinranliu]

Proportions are wrong :) Loomis said that even a layman can see that something's wrong, because we all know what a person is supposed to look like.

Just like what Murido said, mirror is a great tool. Riven Phoenix's videos are great to learn from, but you can also learn from Bridgman and Loomis for free.

Keep doing the studies, friend.

[Silvenon]

Here's a little something. Sorry for not uploading more, I have better ones, but I didn't scan them yet.....

[Kurjuus]

Nice improvement in your lines in the latest, still there's some way to go with that. You should try to use the least strokes possible but yeah, there's some need of confidence for that. Studies and practice help there so keep that up. I'd suggest you make some gestures or blind contours as well, really helps to make your lines fluent, it's so much fun as well and doesn't take mcuh time :D

[Silvenon]

Thank you Kurjuus, I'll try to do that from now on.

Ok, I decided to use photoshop so the drawings look more digital and lifelike.

[escape2mars]

Not a bad start. This is the place to improve. Okay, so of course you learn faster with life drawing, but working from reference is not all that bad. If you can't get someone to pose for you, choose the right photos to work from. Find photos with harder light, stronger shadows (dramatic lighting) so you get a better understanding of forms. I learned to draw by....guess what--drawing. So keep at it.

[newman]

hey silvernoon, some promising stuff in here.
watch your head/neck proportions; in some of your pics the head is massive compared to the body, and the neck is super-thick. try doing some studies of the anatomy of the neck and how it connects to the head/shoulders.
keep posting!

[Sigit]

your drawing not too bad, you just need to learn more about proportion

[smuli]

I think you're exactly on the right path when doing those anatomy studies. The faces look solid in their simplified form but now you just need some knowledge of what's underneath to make them more lifelike.

I like your pencil shadings, very consistent. It just seems you tend to put shadows on the edges and highlights on the planes facing forward. This kind of rendering works sometimes I guess but try to get out of the habit to broaden your horizon. Do some reference drawings of figures lighted from the sides as well.

[DaStreets]

LOL, Hey man. I used Riven Pheonix too, i'm about on video 128. Ur studies look way better than mine, but itz only good if u apply it. I recommend looking at some life drawings and some anatomy book. Your faces seem decent. but your shoulders and chest look waaay off. They are very short and packed. Nice work tho, keep posting

[Silvenon]

@Sigity
I got that by now :)

@smuli
Thanks dude!

@DaStreets
That helps, thanks.

Ok, here's a step-by-step drawing. My photoshop is screwed up so I could barely edit it :(

[Silvenon]

One quicky

[LisandroG]

apply what you learned back in your anatomy studies; draw in your core first (pelvis, ribcage, head) when youre drawing full-body figures, I guarantee it will help you improve alot

[Silvenon]

@LSeraph
Thanks... sometimes I do try to apply it, but I always end up with struggling and then I go with symbolism (which Riven told me strictly to avoid).... I can't seem to think right, but thanks for the advice, I should do some studies....

Ok, here are more drawings, they are all doodles pretty much and are edited in photoshop (I know it's really noobish, but it really improves the look). Also, I know my anatomy blows, I'm working on it (when I feel like it :P).

[Silvenon]

Here I tried a different style.

About the last one: I know this looks totally off, I did that on purpose, because I tried to draw a figure strictly following my anatomy knowledge of height... not such a good idea, I should still stick to symbolism...

[Silvenon]

Some more... I'm really happy with the second one.

The last three are the paintings.... I never realized painting could be so much fun :)

[smuli]

Faces are improving and the watercolours are a refreshing thing to see from you. Keep experimenting with that but try using a bigger brush for the value blocking. For the sketches, only crit for now would be to stop using Photoshop to change the look of your sketches. With the pixelation, it's hard to see how you've meant the lines to look like and your plain unaltered pencil sketches just simply look tons better.

Nice work, keep them coming!

[Silvenon]

Thanks for advice smuli.

Ok, I'll stop using photoshop, I needed someone to tell me that's a bad idea :P

I'll probably post some more soon..

[Silvenon]

Here's some more...

[Silvenon]

Here's another step-by-step drawing...

[hp]

i think you need to fix your scanner settings :D make sure that the auto adjusts are all off. then go into photoshop and use levels to bring the mid-greys to a darker clr.

make sure to draw some more full bodies...i have the same problem where i just draw faces :D

[Jasper_]

Hey man, your doing some good portraits. Are these from life or photo? I think you've gotta push your values a little more, make your shadows darker. I'd like to see some more figure work too. Keep it up!

[Silvenon]

@hp
Hey thx! I thought there was something wrong.... Also another thing about the scanner I never seemed to figure out, all of the drawings I scan seem a little squeezed (from the sides)... is there any way to fix that? Because that started to annoy me

@Pyroclasm00
Thanks man, will try :). These are from photos, unfortunately, because I don't feel like bothering people anymore to pose for me for an hour and a half when the drawing turns out to be crappy in the end :(

[kymoart]

Thanks for visiting my sketchbook. I can see youre making progress. nice study's keep on drawing!

My sketchbook (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=149434)

[Silvenon]

np, thanks for visitig mine

bah i should really post the new drawings, these are really old... :|

[BlackDelphin]

Hey there silvenon!
You have quite a collection of studies here!
Try doing more of those wacky angles and pay attention to proportions. :)

[Silvenon]

I'll start posting drawings now...

Here's a few. The drawing that I'm really proud of is the zombie, I used no references. The second is Pythagoras, but it was from observation... I got bored during the class so I drew the first thing that I found in my book. That head and the neck is a self portrait/study, it's not very well and I didn't learn much from it, but meh.

[jatherip]

haha, that first thing in the last post looks like bill from tokio hotel ^^
nice stuff, but remember, when you study you should measure distances with you eyes!!!
keep practicing!