life drawing difficulties

[SHAP00PI]

Just recently I've been taking my art up to the next level, and refining my traditional drawing skills, through life drawing.. that's all fine and good and I'm doing well.. but I have immense trouble with objects that have the slightest of depth to them, and those that are not at level, I'm not quite sure why I'm having problems but I think it has something today with me being unable to view the shape I'm looking at in 3D.

I drew a pepper grinder recently and had difficulties, not with its shape, lightsource or shadows, but with making it look 3 dimensional, and not like a 2d sketch.

Does anybody have any suggestions as to how I can train this problem away, kinda' hoping it's a problem shared, thanks in advance.

Also, got a tablet for christmas and I'm having a tonne of difficulties with drawing accurately with it, not a huge problem as of late, because i trace my sketches straight from my pad, but I would like to be competent enough to sketch a character or environment without having to use my pad.. any suggestions?

[PuppyKitten]

The tablet will just take some getting used to. Keep at it and you'll get there.

With regards to the other drawings you are having trouble with... Well post em.

We can't exactly guess where you're going wrong, so we need to see why they are falling short.

[Texahol]

and had difficulties, not with its shape, lightsource or shadows, but with making it look 3 dimensional

those are what make something look 3d- shape and values. There isn't any special trick, aside from doing them properly.

as for the tablet, I hope you installed the drivers, and are not using it in pen-mode.

The tablet should be set up to relate to your computer screen. You just need to look at the cursor as you draw and get used to the hand-eye coordination.

[SHAP00PI]

the drivers are installed, not sure what the difference between pen and mouse mode is, but I'll experiment with different settings.. I'm sure I'm in pen mode because I've been adjusting the eraser feel and nib feel in the settings.. thanks for both of your replies.