New ways to 'neaten' my pencilsketces? Please?

[Mad Giraffe]

I'm having big problems with the neatness of my pencil sketches.
Could the reasons be:
1. I'm too sloppy(i think, but ive got a good hand..).
2. I'm work with too soft pencils(for the all over sketch I first draw with HB. Then I erase it all, untill I can see almost nothing left, and then I 'try' to trace the lines with a 2B pencil, but that always ends up too grainy).
3. I've got nothing to worry about. I'm just not jet experienced enough( I'm fiteen and I've been seriously drawing for three years and pointless doodling for as long as I can remember).
4. I'm hopeless....please no!
(5. I'm dutch....)
At my site (http://www.madgiraffe.tk) You can see some of my works.....

:help: :chainsaw: :machinegu :help:

[Signature]

Did I comment on your images already? Dunno.

I think if you get the proporions right the sketch will in most cases look ok.
I'd draw from reference and simpler stuff to warm up.
Draw the more difficult stuff later in your sessions.

About the line quality ...
problems can be that the pencil is too soft if you work too small.
The lines are to bold then.
But I think most of the time that's the case when you don't sharpen the pencil often.
It can get to grainy when you start shading though ...
but I don't know if that problem exists for lines!?

Try to loosen up a little.
Draw more confident lines with less pressure when you are sketching.
But don't rush it. Take all the time you need to get the proportions right and fix mistakes.
Then you can trace the lines you want to keep later.
Maybe read about line weight. It can take your sketches to the next level.

I think sometimes it's hard to figure out what drags an image down.
Some of your images look a little too flat for example.

I like the perspective in that image:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~rfriet/peppo/images/peppo_berzerker.jpg

This image has potential ... maybe even more than the "berzerker" image:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~rfriet/peppo/images/peppo_angel.jpg
I don't know if drawing the same thing bigger and with better line quality would make it look amazing though.
Even with bad, bold lines it would look great if the legs were longer, hips wider ...
maybe if one hand was viewed at a more interesting angle ... and so on.

So experiment a little ... and see what works for you.
And maybe try mechanical pencils for the early stages of the sketch.
Probaby you have seen this before but it's an approach I'd try ...
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5918&perpage=30&pagenumber=1

[MonkeyHunterCam]

Use H pencils!! HB are medium and can give you too dark of a line. after you use those then you can use your HB's. also do thumbnails in order to get your Idea straight

From,
Cameron Rogers
Creator of Comicbook Tomahawk!













tomahawk all rights reserverved copyrighted by blam comics industries

[Mad Giraffe]

Thank you two! It really helped me out! It's looking better already! But the lines aren't still that great, well, everything comes with experience!