Starting here, but going where? (12.03.03)

[Noah Bradley]

Hi, I'm new. : )

My name is Noah H. Bradley, I'm 15 years old and live in Virginia. I love art and have done it on and off for years now, but I have arrived to a point where I am not satisfied with my skills. Therefore, I have come here looking for C+C, not only on individual pieces but on my art as a whole. I am here to learn, improve, and have a jolly old time while I'm at it. :)

Oh, and yes, I know this is a daily sketchbook, but due to hideous upload speeds I fear that I'll probably only be able to upload art once a week. But I will draw (almost) every day nonetheless.

...So it begins.

I was having trouble with hands so for a few days I worked on hands quite a bit:

http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0001.jpg
http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0002.jpg
http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0003.jpg
http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0004.jpg
http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0005.jpg

An Attempt at drawing my sock:

http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0006.jpg

Some pen sketchs:

http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0007.jpg

Found an old marker set I had, but was kinda bummed that I only had one shade of grey:

http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0008.jpg

Here's more using that one shade of grey:

http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0009.jpg

I bought two prismacolors but I didn't know there was a difference between warm and cool gray, ah well:

http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0010.jpg

Next day I picked up the corresponding shades of each. Didn't have much time to draw, but still messed around with my prismacolors:

http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0011.jpg

Starting to get the hang of them, and practicing a little two point perspective:

http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0012.jpg


As was said, comments are very much appreciated.

[talmir]

you have talent

[PeggyChung]

Hi there Noah, im no professional like many others here but im also starting out like you are. to comment on your hand sketches, hmm try boxing the hand out first. i cant really explain, but i scanned something so i could show you but the stupid site i want to host it on isnt working. so if you got an email i can send it there if you like.

edit: wait found an awesome site! http://www.fineart.sk/index.php

click on andrew loomis, and in that it has pages from his book drawing hands and heads etc. very good site!

[Yiako]

Welcome, Silvir.
Definetly you have talent. But talent is only the ability lo learn, so don´t try to ask yourself for too much yet.
You seem good in shading but your proportions need to improve: compare, compare, compare. When you're drawing a finger, don´t start trying to get the values of shadows; just outline it comparing his position in relation with the hand.
Try this: draw a line and then draw another that has to be 1/3 long, or twice as long as the former. Or draw a line and then draw another that has to be at an angle of 30º. Those exercises are very simple but they educate your sense for measurement. It worked for me.

And remember that you're very young and that first and foremost you need to have fun drawing.

[Noah Bradley]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. :)

@Talmir: Perhaps, but I still have a lot to do. :)

@LadyLioness: For some reason I havn't had much sucess with blocking out a hand, it never seemed to 'click' (as they like to say). Perhaps I shall try it again sometime, maybe even today. :)

@Yiako: Yes, I realize that I need to compare objects alot more, but I thank you for bringing it up because I had kind of forgotten to do it. You're exercise there sounds interesting, if I have time to do it today, I will, otherwise I'll be sure to try it out tomorrow. And yes, I'm having fun. :)

[Noah Bradley]

I'm not sure if double posting is looked down upon in these parts, but if it is, I'm sorry. And if you have no idea what that is, then this place is a lot more relaxed than other forums I've been to.

Anyways, after being heavily inspired by some artists around here, I'm really having a craving to do some mechs and mechanical vehicles and such. But, I don't know where to begin. Do I draw engines from cars? Or insides of computers? Or just jump on trying to draw mechs? I have ideas for them, but they never seem to turn out, and just turn into something you would've seen 50 years ago. Help? :)

[Noah Bradley]

Hey guys (and all the girls that hang around), first update. :) I went ahead and downloaded (and printed) the hand section of loomis' book. Looks to be some cool stuff in there (lots to learn). I'm in the process of getting all of the head pages downloaded, and then, well, whatever happens next. :) Enjoy (and more C+C would be great)!

During church last sunday I doodled during the sermon (and yes, I did listen at the same time), and here's what I came up with:

http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0013.jpg

My bro had to make a picture for a college class of his, so he subed the job off to me. Here's the inked version:

http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0014.jpg

It had to be colored, so after a few tries (I scanned and printed) I got it fairly good. He took it to class today and apparently mountains of people came up to him saying how much of an artist he must be. ;) Yeah, he did tell them it was me, but still funny (he's not much of an artist, but still a genious).

http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0015.jpg

As I said, I printed up loomis' hand portion of his book, so here's a few freehand copies of his works (probably could be considered studies, but who knows).

http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0016.jpg

More to come!

[chudzta]

The blocked out loomis study. the one on the right. is also A good way to get some conceptualism of figures. The three figures seem to have some whacked out arms.. and a slightly wide spread stance.. or maybe not. But keep practicing.

Where in VA are u? im in williamsburg.

Ur pen work has potential.. but for practicing hands.. use a media ur familiar with first. Read up on some pen inking techniques later.. and better pens (none of which i have experience.. i just know there is room to improve there)

Looks like u might have some potential with marker rendering. Keep practicing. And a good xmas present you might like is Feng's 3rd DVD.. its a tad expensive but shows some good live inking/markering/pencilling for taking a small thumbnail into a 8 x 11 tight render. I love the dvd to death. if u want more info search around for the link or i can get it later if u like.

Keep practicing. Stop by my sbook sometime too. piece - chudds

[jester]

Hey silvir,

you have started a nice sketchbook here. Especially your marker sketches show talent and potential. As others have said before, when drawing hads try to block them first and then go into detail. You have a good grasp of shapes and tone so this should be quite easy for you.

Jester

[Noah Bradley]

Hey all. Been a while since I last posted, and now that I am posting art it's not that spectacular of pieces. They're all inked pieces, and for the most part are done with one of them Zebra f-402s, or whatever they call them. :) Anyways, I really want more tips on what to draw, how to draw, things to try, something! I really want to improve, but don't really know where to start. Help would be great.

http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0017.jpg
http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0018.jpg
http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0019.jpg
http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0020.jpg
http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0021.jpg
http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/0022.jpg

Thanks in advance. :)

[Noah Bradley]

Hey guys. After posting some question in the middle class forum about joining up, I received some advice from an artist over there (Signature, to be exact), and decided to take my shot at doing some digital art. Now before you look, keep in mind that this was done in PSP7 with a little mini mouse that's meant for a laptop but we have to use it because the other one is broken. This is also my first digital piece. With that in mind, enjoy. :)

http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/apple.jpg

[Signature]

Good one! Can you explain how you painted it? Always with the biggest brush possible?
I don't know about PSP but if you want to blend the colors and make soft transitions ...
draw over the existing colors with a lower opacity. Then pick from the new color.
Don't know how to explain it. :emb:

Just try different opacity settings. ;)

[Noah Bradley]

Well, I'll try to explain. :) I made a 1000x1000 pixel canvas to start with, then I just tryed to get an interesting background going and messing around with colors. Then I just started puting down shades for the apple, and then just building it from that. I'll try to figure out how to get some smoother transitions on these soon, they're so much fun! :) I made another (grayscale this time), but now my arm is getting sore. Must get tablet! Any reccomended tablet if I want to do some of this art? Aiptek? Wacom? Other? :D

http://www.silvir.com/sketchbook/dude.jpg

EDIT: Soar does not equal sore.

[Signature]

Images removed ... I'm cleaning my webspace!

[jester]

silvir, the apple looks great.

@ Signature and silvir: I think it depends on which effect you want to achieve. Given that you are aiming at a naturalistic rendering of the apple, Signature is absolutely right. Given you are going for an "abstract pop art view" the technique isn't wrong. However, the perpective and shading of the apple are really convincing.

Jester

[chudzta]

Exactly Jester, the perspective and the block shading make it dcent. and especially shrunken to your avatar. :)

To make a smoother transition you need to find the eyedrop tool. I believe its a 'I' on the hotkey system

Take it and get the value of a certain shade that u want to smooth around. Look up to the brush menu.. or go to Windows > Brush Palette or something like that. Change the opacity to like 35%.. or play with it.. Take that semi opaque brush setting and paint around the perimeter of the value u first click on...

Then select one of the new values in the area you just painted and repeat the process around an area until you get a smooth transition. Then you can detail, rough it up, etc.

Orrr. you can get a fully rendered greyscale sketch.. Exact shading you want. then scan in and open it up. Resize it to what you want (usually make its bigger then shrink to make final project) Anywho, take that image. Make a New Layer and change its property to Overlay or Color Mode.. i think both work in similar ways. Paint your base colors on and it will give you a rendered colored piece.. works for most things.. not always though.

PLAY.FIDDLE.LEARN with PSP .. ALLLLWAYS. trust me you'll get better just following that motto.

BTW.. i like the apple like that.. makes me want a granny smith right about now :) keep drawing. - piece - chudds

PS oh yes and get a wacom.. you dont need a large one to do work trust me, thats just for tracers and u seem to have a scanner so dont worry. Get a graphire 3 or a intuous 2 if u can afford it. or just a graphire 2 4x5 is like 100 bux. not that much. thats what i have. just dont lose the installation cd so u can change the settings.. this computer doesnt seem to have that option and the mode.. yeah its gay. thats a long PS. so im out.

[Noah Bradley]

Thanks for the help everyone. :)

Signature: I see what you mean, I'll try larger brushes next time.

Jester: No idea what "style" I'm hoping to achieve right now, so I suppose I'll just be experimenting.

Chudzta: Thanks for the shading tips, I'll try that next time (sounds like I've got a lot to do :) ). I'm hoping to get a wacom for christmas, but we'll see.

Thanks again!

More art coming soon, probably some charcoals, more hand drawings, portraits, and more! :D