Maija's Sketchbook

[Maija]

I'm a Graphic & Flash Designer currently working in Helsinki, Finland. I'm 27 years old, and would love to someday work as a full-time illustrator or concept artist.

I've loved to draw since I was a kid. I attended an upper secondary school that had an emphasis on visual arts. After that I studied Digital Arts in an art school. The program sadly had only a little drawing practice, as you can guess from the name, it was mostly about how to use different computer programs, but there were a few life drawing courses on the way. So I have some background in arts, but not that much. In the past few years I've noticed that I don't draw as much as I used to, so I'm trying to improve my skills and regain some lost momentum. That in mind, I joined this here place.

My weak points are especially perspective and environments. I've been drawing almost only humans, since I find them a more interesting subject matter. I know I should draw more things that I'm not that good at, but I thought I'd brush up my figure drawing skills a bit at first. They have suffered from lack of use.

So for now my posts will focus on figure drawing. I'll also post some other drawings I'll do on the side.

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[Maija]

DSG1458: Robot Romance
I'm not really feeling this. Might look better if I redid it in vectors, but I don't feel like continuing on it.
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DSG1459: The Hovering, Eternally Wandering King Sarcophagus
My very serious take on the subject...
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[Maija]

Working on the coloured version.

Snow White
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[tomjones]

Great pose on your wandering king sarcophagus drawing. I really like the way she's sat at the table. Snow white is looking good too. I think the tops of her arms look a little long, and the left thumb looks a bit broken - but the rest is ace, especially her face! Keep up the good work!

[Maija]

Tomjones - Thanks for commenting! Yeah, I've developed this new bad habit where I draw some parts of the arms too long (it varies what part). I understand what you're saying about the thumb, too. The right hand is better.

[Maija]

An inked sketch of The Tenth Doctor and Rose from Doctor Who. Tried to go more for the image of them in my head than a real likeness.

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[hala]

Hi, your style adds a lot of personality to your works. :)
Let's see some studies though too :) It seems like you know how the body is pieced together already, just need to watch those proportions sometimes
Welcome to CA !

[Parsakoira]

Moi maija :D Nice looking stuff here, its a good start for a sketchbook! Please stop by at mine :) (your linework looks tasty!)

Post more! - Noodledoodle

[Maija]

Thank you for the welcome, Hala! Yes, my proportions tend to get go crazy every now and then. A real weak point of mine is perspective, though!

Yes, I should do some studies and post them. I'm thinking of going to a life drawing class in autumn, the last time I did that was at college. Life drawing is always so much fun! I guess I'll use posemaniacs until then. I also have a couple of skeletons I drew last autumn in a comic drawing class, I'll scan them for my next post, too.

Ja moikka, Noodledoodle! I know, I really should post more!

[Maija]

Here's a sketch/thumbnail for an illustration idea. Any comments about composition especially are welcome!

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[Maija]

Hi everyone! Sadly I didn't manage to get to any life drawing lessons this fall, since all of them were on Monday and Tuesday nights, which I have full already.

Here are the skeletons drawn last autumn that I promised. Drawn from one of those school class skeletons at a comic drawing course.

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And to post something newer, here are some Posemaniacs sketches, ranging from one minute to 30 seconds. Sadly I forgot to write down the times. These were harder than I remembered from my school days (because of lack of practice, of course).

Does anyone feel that it is much harder to draw from Posemaniacs than from real life? Sometimes the positions and the angles it chooses are so weird!

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[Maija]

Here's an illustration I did for a Finnish science fiction fanzine.

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[Maija]

Two quick sketches I did a few moments before leaving work, just for the fun of drawing and to loosen up!

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[Maija]

I've been silent for so long, bad me! The truth is I haven't been drawing that much, only some illustrations at work, and I can't show those.

Well, I colored the earlier Snow White. I had started on the colors before tomjones's comment, so those errors aren't fixed in this. But I'm going to do another version, so I could really use any comments about any errors in anatomy or changes to the coloring!

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The critique I received from tomjones was: "I think the tops of her arms look a little long, and the left thumb looks a bit broken." I think he means her left, not our left. Any other critiques?