Shane's CA Sketchbook

[shanesemler]

I'm not new to art and I'm not young. However, I'm not at all happy with my skills. I feel I haven't made any real progress in years. So I'm sending myself back to art school, so to speak. All signs point to conceptart.org as the place to learn and get real, fair and intelligent critiques.

I'm going back to basics, starting with the human figure. I never felt I mastered it so here are some sketches I did today. They aren't pretty, but they're not supposed to be. Just me trying to suss out the basic shapes and flow of the human body. Using a combination of photo reference, Dynamic Figure Drawing (Burne Hogarth) and Anatomy: A Complete Guide for Artists (Joseph Sheppard). Please critique, thank you.

[Kim Flynn]

Really nice work so far. It's good that your using rough lines and giving a lot of expression to the movement. The figures look convincing and not very stiff (Something I still can't do). One thing is that you seem to be making a hell of a lot of marks. I could help you to move faster if you tried for more economy, and it can give a lot of energy when you get it right. Try making figures with as few lines as possible. See how much you can express.
A lot of the scribbles on the figures are confusing rather than helping show the anatomy.
A good book for anatomy if Bridgman's "Constructive anatomy".
Like I said, great work so far. Oh! And are you working from life?

[Bill]

I think that what you are doing makes good sense as exercise. It's hard to comment regarding progress since these are your first posts, but of course the longer you do these the more confident, and elegant, you'll get. Working from life is what will help you the most but there certainly isn't any downside to doing "prep" work. Keep posting, you'll get more comments as you go. Good Luck!

[RoboBobo]

This looks to be the start of a great sketchbook.

[shanesemler]

@Kim - Thanks, that's some great advice, I should try to cut down on my sketchy lines. I will certainly work on that. I'm glad I posted here already! :) I'm working from photos at the moment. Sketching from life isn't a possibility but I'm going to look into life drawing classes in the area.

@Bill - I haven't had a life drawing class since the mid 90's but it's something I will look into. In the meantime, I'll have to get by with photos.

@RoboBobo - I will be satisfied with tangible progress but great is something worth shooting for! :)

[desertdogg]

shane. nice start on the sketchbook. as bill stated a figure drawing class will help you in leaps in bounds. i really help me out a lot as iam pretty much a self taught artist. . just keep plugging away. you will get there.

larry;]

[retardedmonkey]

Shane, you've got a great start here! I wish I was more qualified to crit...I've still got a ton to learn!!

I just wanted to post and hopefully help kick you into action and pump out some more work for us. Practice is all you need! looking forward to more :D

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Starting a sketchbook here is a great way to motivate yourself, especially if you look around at the amazing progress others have made 1-2 years time! I'm still starting my anatomy journey, so I won't even try to critique your figures, but shall at least try to provide some useful links:
- Loomis (http://fineart.sk/index.php?cat=12) "Figure Drawing for all it's Worth" explains concepts like balance extremely well
- Posemaniacs.com (http://www.posemaniacs.com/) is an okay source for quick figure sketching.

Some people really like Bridgman for anatomy studies, (and his books are fairly cheap), but his really sketchy style can make the illustrations hard to understand if you don't have some basic understanding already.

[kuroart]

nice start. just like riding a bike, eh? definitely loose and expressive.
good construction shapes. I see scratching throughout your lines though.Try to carry a line in one stroke.( like the line in the first one from the left shoulder to lower back.) It'll create more confidence and looseness. They're just sketches anyway, right?
one small thing is that the sketchy shading distracts, not really important but I'd suggest hatching in the same direction throughout or not worry about shading.
Hope I helped a little. keep it up.

[shanesemler]

Wow, those are both insanely useful links, thanks!

[shanesemler]

I'd suggest hatching in the same direction throughout or not worry about shading.
Hope I helped a little. keep it up.

Good idea, I'll work on that thanks! :)

[shanesemler]

Posemaniacs.com is a great resource so I made use of it. I started out with 30 sec sketches but I had to slow them down to 90 seconds. I consciously made an effort to reduce the amount of scribbles I usually do and just use a stroke or two, which felt weird and awkward to me. Again, not pretty, just practice work.

[shanesemler]

Some warm up sketches first from posemaniacs.com, each figure is 90 seconds. The next two drawings are 30 minutes each from stock off deviantart.com. Done on my Wacom in the GIMP - simply because its more convenient and easier to work with at my computer than a sketchbook. Despite being done on my Wacom, the 30 minute sketches were done in ye olde conté crayon style with black and white on a grey background. Very minimal erasing and no smudging.