Sleeping Lessons: Sketchbook

[majaiku]

Helloooo.....

So, introduction:

Like many recent sketchbookers (it seems), I'm a long-time lurker. Probably since I was about 12 or 13, haha. Aside from being a creeper, I've been doodling on and off, mostly off, but I randomly decided to pick it up again. I spontaneously changed my major without thinking about it and as you'll read on ahead, regret it a little. But I try to make the best of what I have.

I'm currently a studio arts major at UCI. I've realized it's a waste of my time (the program is rather poor), so I'm going to either switch majors or double major. However, I'm still interested in drawing, and although I might not continue with it as a profession, I'd love the opportunity to improve in it.

The classes I took at UCI were, well, like I said, unhelpful. They never provided crits, as the students and the teachers were always too kind or they didn't say much at all. I'm most definitely aware that I've got a lot to learn so I'm really quite capable of taking criticism, preferably helpful--if it sucks, I'd really like a reason so I can make it not suck next time! :D

I'm trying to deviate from the anime/manga style that so attracted me as a child (still does, I suppose). It's a slow process, though. I'm hoping to take some life drawing classes eventually, so as it stands I'm aware that my anatomy is kind of poor.

So yep..thanks for reading (if you did):
The thumbnail is just some random Photoshop coloring, it was probably my second time--I have a mouse so I dread doing any digital work. No tablet yet. :/

The big pictures are oil and watercolor, respectively. The oil was the first time I'd painted--I just randomly found a piece of wood outside and snapped it in half to paint on. I had been doing some painting homework (colors grids) and I had leftover paint I didn't want to waste, so I used it. I rather dislike oils as it's difficult to control for me, plus I'm terribly impatient. The watercolor is actually a few months old--it's not done on watercolor paper, I just used a piece of thick paper that came with the comic book I bought (Runaways :)). I'll start posting more sketches instead, but I figured I'd start off with some colorful things.

I'm terrible at environment/background and I really need to get myself to do those, but I get lazy and bored = =''. Also, apologies for the poor quality: I used my camera phone to take them. I'll -scan- sketches later.

[majaiku]

I lied a little--I didn't really draw anything today, only paint something real quick before class.
Yehh, more cellphone pictures = =''.
The bottom sketch is a random one I found on my computer, I figured it'd be a good idea to post to show how I draw bodies 'n such.

It was just a random found off of www.characterdesigns.com, I spent maybe 10 minutes?

I'll post more of those as I draw them, but lately I have been concentrating on schoolwork.

Unobserved portrait, approx. 2 hours.
Our teacher hasn't really actually taught us how to paint yet, just assigns us projects and lets us at it, so does anyone have tips or anything? :/

[sourgasm]

That figure study is awesome. More of those, please :P

[AlexTooth]

Hi Majaiku! Thanks for checking out my sketchbook :)

I was exactly the same as you, as a teenager I loved anime, all I wanted to do was draw anime girls etc.

I now realise that you need a good grounding on the art basics before you can do anything really, even good manga/anime. Probably why all my old stuff turned out crap!

So yeah, you're headed the right way, get those figure drawing classes, learn your light, colour, composition etc and you're halfway there to creating amazing art. I'm still learning all that and it's helping a lot more than when I was trying to draw with no foundation knowledge.

Anyway, on to your work; you have a very strong style, and there is tonnes of potential here. You just need to nurture and develop it, seriously some good stuff, the girl in yellow is awesome and that figure study is pretty much spot on.

The proportions on your larger portrait painting seem a bit off, but the colours nice, god knows I could never paint something for real anywhere near that good.

So keep it up, work hard and it will pay off sooner than you think :-)

Some sites I'd recommend - www.posemaniacs.com
Andrew loomis books - The head and hands book is great for constructing the human head accurately, and I keep hearing great stuff on the figure drawing book. Loomis (http://www.artcone.com/forum/andrew_loomis_books_downloads-t1772.html)

Have fun :)

[majaiku]

@ Sourgasm: Haha, thank you; I'll try my best.

@ Alextooth: Ah man, I've had those Loomis pictures for a while but I have yet to look through them... I'm very lazy when it comes to learning anything. D:

Thanks so much for the advice--I probably won't be able to take any figure drawing classes until summer or something, but I really hope they work! Any tips would be very helpful--I'm learning on my own here and it's hard to find out what works and what doesn't without any outside opinion. :|

---------

I draw really intermittently so I don't really have much to post and I probably won't post too frequently = =''.

Here's the most recent, quite literally just today. I haven't drawn in over a week, sheesh. They're all just sloppy sketches. I wasn't too concerned about anatomy (good Lord I just realized how bad the last one's is, lol) in any except the male--I hardly ever draw males so I totally have several issues with drawing them.

[sourgasm]

i dig the cloudy one. has a lot of stylization to it, and i love the big red highlights with bright centers. reminds me of old pre-akira manga.

[majaiku]

Humm, actually having this online sketchbook deal makes me realize how infrequently I draw. I s'pose I should dedicate myself a little more.

I think I'm going to stop trying to draw from my head until I can properly draw from life--these are all from my head, which is obvious due to the glaring flaws in proportion and perspective and lighting and the like. >_>

These are supposed to be characters from the movie Push (it was okayyy).

[majaiku]

These are essentially copied out of a magazine, except edited a little to fit my own tastes. I've finally signed myself up for a figure drawing meetup group. Unfortunately they meet during times when I have class. :(

[gutss]

don't don't don't stop drawing from your head! it's important to find that balance: between your studies and life drawings and the things you pull from the library of images in your head. if you do too much of either, it's never beneficial.

draw from life and learn to apply it to the things you draw from your head. you can do studies, copy images and people until the cows come home but if you're not drawing from your head while you do it, you aren't one day going to draw something fantastically amazing straight off the top of your head because you won't have learnt that way.

draw whatever you want, whenever you want. draw anything and everything. if one day you fancy doing a childish looking monster in crayola crayons next to a perfectly rendered study, do that! don't limit yourself.

you've made such a good start now, and your colours are delightful. keep at it and good luck! :D

[majaiku]

@gutss: Thanks so much! I'll try to keep it balanced, haha. I'm just frustrated because drawings from my mind are often inaccurate and have improper... everything (shading/proportion/etc.). In any case, I'll try my best!

soo, iwent to my first figure drawing thing...

it wasn't a class, though, it was a "meet up"
so i didn't really get any instruction or advice.. it was more like:
"here's a naked guy, draw him!"


so i triied, but yeah, any advice would be good!
i plan on attending again but i'd like to go with some things in mind as to how to do it properly. i used mostly pencil/charcoal, switching off randomly.
anatomy is still wonky though, i need to practice observing more. or at least planning out what i draw.

there was this like, super bomb artist guy there that drew like he was tracing out of an anatomy book or something, so awesome.

incidentally, is there an easier way to upload stuff? it takes forever having to categorize everything i upload.

[Blythe]

Good start! I agree, don't stop drawing from your head, keep doing both, you'll never learn to apply it to your made up drawings if you don't keep doing them after all. Still it will be awhile till you manage to find a balance between the too.

I have found a lot of inspiration from my life drawing for poses for my made up drawings, and just a general reference--sometimes I even apply poses I see directly in class. This can be a bit hard to picture at first, but eventually it turns out pretty fun!

Good luck!

[enmi]

I really like your style! Original and sweet. I especially like the soft, coloured pictures. One thing you could work on is the shapes of the head, the skull. Keep doing studies from life and apply your own style to more realistic proportions. If you learn to really master the realistic shapes and volumes of the body you can warp it to your own liking afterwards. This is something I'm working on myself. It's hard, but it helps. :)

[Hyptosis]

Where you been? No new arts?

[majaiku]

Where you been? No new arts?

Wah, I was so surprised when I got this e-mail about an update to this! Totally forgot I had this..

Well, as a life update, I've changed majors from arts to English;; so I kinda dropped the whole drawing thing. I just randomly draw some faces and whatnot that aren't very exciting: