Quest for drawing - Figure drawing... At least trying

[DiR3Kt]

Hi folks,

First of all thanks to the staff and community for making this great site alive :yayca:

I have been watching since a while and now I want to start my own sketchbook. I have always been scribbling but I'm serious about drawing since 2 mouths now. I'm quite busy because of work ( :carnifex: ) and other stuff but I draw whenever I have free time.

I will put all my drawings since I started to timestamp them (just need some days to scan these old stuffs).

I'm looking for critisms and feedback. Do not hesitate to point out my many weaknesses this is what I want to work on.

Cheers,
Joel.

----------

Maybe I will put a bit more about myself.

I'm 27 years old and my goal is to be concept/comic artist. I gave myself until end 2011 to reach it so well I have a lot of work to do! I would really appreciate any tips, crits even props sometime ;)

I think I cannot accomplish this almost impossible task without YOUR help. I'm definitevely not gifted and started quite late so do not expect woaw fucking awesome progress from me. On top of that I'm generaly slow at learning things. But still I think I have the ability to draw and some determination.

Because I 'm working during the day I can only draw on my free time which is evenings and week end. Sometimes it's hard because I feel tired, had a bad day, etc... But well I noticed that the hardest is to start drawing, second hardest thing is to stop drawing to go to sleep :)

Instead of spending time writing this I should draw! draw! draw! so I will stop there and hopefuly see you soon.

[DiR3Kt]

90sec posemaniacs

[DiR3Kt]

90sec and 5-10min posemaniacs

[DiR3Kt]

90sec posemaniacs

[DiR3Kt]

Played around with a pen...

90sec and 5-10min posemaniacs

Small hands study (using the 3d hands from posemaniacs)

[DiR3Kt]

90sec posemaniacs

[Kye Am I]

Cool stuff, you've got this posemaniacs stuff down. Keep em coming, and make sure to turn the time limit down once you get comfortable with 90secs.

[DiR3Kt]

Oh forgot to say that I start each of my posemaniacs session with a couple of 30sec drawings. Usually I try to do ~10 x 30sec then ~10 x 90sec then a few 5-10min poses.

[Xeon_OND]

I really like the hands drawn in ink. The pose of the hands looks so convincing and realistic!

[DiR3Kt]

I like the render too :) What is suprising is that they are drawn from 3d virtual hands.

Here is more stuff. Though it would be better to put smaller pics (scrolling is boring...). Also I found out that my scanner program can apply a filter to "correct the picture". I applied it to the following scans, I don't know if that is recommended to use (change the picture a bit, make it look more like ink drawing).

Anyway. 30 July I did some life drawing near my place.

[DiR3Kt]

Did a little story for fun :) Even if the drawing is not good, I like it :)

Else a few faces.

Finally a hand study. The references were having no shading at all so I though trying to shade them would be a good exercice.

[Xeon_OND]

Whoa dude, I really like your pencil sketch so much that I added this thread to my watch list.

That little comic thing above can make a good comic! :)
I'm probably gonna learn from your style.

IMO, pencil sketches are just more intriguing and interesting than full-color paintings, though. Not sure why. I just feel really good looking at them compared to those full-color drawings / paintings / renderings.

[DiR3Kt]

Thank you Xeon :) I guess it is just a matter of taste, like why do I like ketchup more than mayonaise!

In my opinion mastering sketching (with pencil or pen or tablet or whatever can draw a line) is the first step. Somebody told me "If you make a good sketch and color it badly the result can still be good. But if you do a bad sketch, there is no way it looks good."

So I decided to stick with pencil until I'm satisfied. And I think there is a lot of things to learn with them :)

PS: For the comic, I'm working as computer engineer, this might explain that ;)

[Xeon_OND]

Somebody told me "If you make a good sketch and color it badly the result can still be good. But if you do a bad sketch, there is no way it looks good."
Or better still, don't color it at all! Some drawings look way better in pencil sketch than in colors. In fact, some white t-shirts with pencil sketches / drawings on them look very eye-catching compared to colored equivalents. :)

PS: For the comic, I'm working as computer engineer, this might explain that ;)
I see, no wonder it's computer theme. :)
Just curious, but how long did you take to master these sketches? 1 year?

[DiR3Kt]

Xeon: Unfortunatly I don't master these sketches at all! 1 year means nothing, it depends so much on the time you spend every day. I can hardly calculate the number of total hours I spent drawing during my life...

Here is another batch, was a quite productive evening. The usual 90sec and 5-10min posemanics. Also few stuff from reference pictures.

[DiR3Kt]

hands

[DiR3Kt]

usual posemaniac business (90sec and 5min)

[DeeStar]

Nice start, second to last updates pretty stand out :)

[DiR3Kt]

Thank you DeeStar :)

Keep posting, next one I will be up to date... finally..

This day was quite productive after the usual posemanics I did a study on eyes. The last one are drawing from imagination (the left one is completely bad lol)

[DiR3Kt]

Just received Bridgman's Constructive Anatomy hoorah :)

Feel really really tired. But tried to apply the intoduction on posemanics.. As I said I'm very very tired today............

[Zazerzs]

good start! I like some of those hand and feature studies.

I like how you are extending your lines and using arcs, finding the forms with in your shapes

How about doing some longer more careful anatomy studies?

Set up the Bridgman book and draw the panels, paying attention to how he plays with form and cube shapes as well as the anatomy.

[DiR3Kt]

Zazerzs, this is exactly what I planned to do :)

I will take the time to study every Bridgman's chapter.

So here we go with the hands. First two scans are studies of the book. Last one I tried to apply Bridgman to some random ref pics. Not satisfied of the result, I will have to come back to this one day or the other....

[gutss]

here's some determination :) you're doing really well, just keep it up. and don't be scared to work from imagination either, no matter how bad you think the results are. a healthy balance of studies and imaginative work is good to have (and it makes things fun too!). keep an eye on those proportions: some of the wrists in the last pic are pretty flimsy compared to the hands, but I'm sure you'll pick stuff up naturally.

love what you do, never feel as though it's cheating to reference your work from imagination against real life stuff (it helps your understanding a hefty bit I've found) and keep up the good work. :) can't wait to see where it takes you

[Tofa]

crazy amount of studies man, nice one keep it up :)

[Sunseaker]

Those are some sweet studies mate, the posemanics figures are really dynamic and the hand studies are pretty swish! Watch the torsos on a few, they are too little compared to the arms and legs. Keep working at it!

[DiR3Kt]

Thanks Gutss, Chris and Sunseeker.

The wrists are obviously too small, some of the torso as well. Funny how sometime we don't see something until somebody told us. That's going to help me to improve :)

Was busy this week, not a lot of time to draw and no time to scan :(

Some landscape near my place.

[DiR3Kt]

here I go with Bridgman's arm and a fun pic "coffee zombiezzzz".

[Demon Lizardman]

I like it that you are trying all different kinds of poses. That is very good for practicing, keep at it and you will keep on improving. Have you made any finished pieces too? I would like to see some of your other artwork.

[DiR3Kt]

Haven't posted since well... August. So gonna dump to keep my sketchbook up to date then try to upload on a regular basis :)

[Sir Cam]

Hi there, thanks for dropping by my sketchbook.

I can see the knowledge in your work and I think you're heading in the right direction. As long as you keep challenging yourself, you'll continue to improve. The only crit I might offer is that, rather than having a somewhat irregular and continuous curvy line on the contour, instead indicate the way the masses fit into one another. In other words, feel what goes in front of what. Even if it is subtle, the body is almost always foreshortened relative to one's perspective so in order to indicate that the artist must draw the structure of the forms (how they fit together). You're using cross contours so I know that you must be familiar with most of this. You just have to constantly ask yourself "is this going away from me, or coming toward".

Sorry if that was a bit long winded, I'm sure you get the jist of it. Keep up the hard work, good luck.

[Marian Rowling]

Hi DiR3Kt, just wanted to say that I liked your cartoon, hand, eye and study drawings. Also I wanted to subscribe as I like the way you broken down the poses in post 29 to blocks. I keep trying to do that but no where near as well as you.

[DiR3Kt]

Sir Cam: Thanks alot for the advice, I see what you mean... or at least I understand ;)

Marian Rowling: Thank you. About the blocks I did that right after doing Villpu cubes. The exercice was to do draw cubes from any point of view and with different sizes. After a few page of those using blocked construction becomes much easier :)

Another dump (mostly october) to keep track of my quest...

[DiR3Kt]

Played with ink and marker.

The firsts are Sheldon copies, those with grayed background are from ref, last are bridgman.

[SlowDaddie]

good start! your figure drawing shows you're handling some pretty tricky poses well. you're particularly good at drawing hands. just keep drawing and posting :)

[DiR3Kt]

SlowDaddie: Thanks for the kind words.

Posting random stuffs. Girles are from ref, second one is little concept. Last ones are bridgman torso studies, there is some copy, some applied to ref and some from imagination. Tried to get out of the "let's blindly copy Bridgman" schema.

[krel]

Hey man, your Sheldon update is pretty damn cool. Wish I could do that. Keep going, youll definitly reach your goals if you continue like this.

[Danny_K]

good studies, figure and anatomy is so important and often so underestimated by many artists, to really make impact in our art we need to have strong foundation in basics of the human figure.
Keep rockin' it mate you'll get there :)

[DiR3Kt]

Krel & Danny_K Thx for dropping by :)

Here is another batch.
1. bridgman study were I tried to find the rythmes of the leg, interesting. Now I have to apply it which is much harder ...
2. Unlimited posemaniacs
3-4. 30s posmaniacs
5. 90s posemaniacs
6. Figure from mind

Just noticed how bad I still am at posemaniacs. I really want to get better at it so any tips would be appreciated :yayca:

[kittymeow84]

Really great progress!! :D I really like the inked stuff!

[DiR3Kt]

kittymeow84Thx u, speaking about inked stuffs here is more :)

So this dump:
1. Concept, concept, concept...
2. 30sec posemaniacs. Ok I tried to keep the pen on the paper as much as possible (did a lot of 10, 15sec before this set of 30sec). Noticed that doing these (dirty) circle helps keeping a fluid line so at lleast I learned something.
3. Inked stuffs from posemaniacs, J is from imagination. They are worser than what I did before... holy crap.
4. Bridgman feet, some are copy some are from mind/transformed.

[jeremygordon89]

Some great improvement in here. Keep it up!
I'm looking forward to more anatomy and life studies, as well as work from imagination

[DiR3Kt]

jeremy: Thx for passing by :) Life drawing is something I should really push myself doing.

Yet another batch:
1. Observation 1h30.
2. 10sec posemaniacs using actions lines. Only showing the 10sec because 15/30secs are crap. I learned that action line is good to setup the figure, not more. The rest should be rythm, form, etc..
3. A little procedure I will try to apply next time :)

[Sir Cam]

I'm really liking a lot of these Sheldon Borenstein and Bridgman studies, they look very nice. I learned most of what I know from Sheldon so I am always thrilled to find another student of his methods. I can see the knowledge you are trying to incorporate in your work and I don't really have any critiques. Just keep doing what you're doing! :)

Oh, one thing I might suggest (if you don't do it already) is to study the work of the old masters. Practice recognizing the fundamentals in their work. It is amazing to see that people from hundreds of years ago are doing exactly what we're taught to today, it is like were speaking a secret coded language that only the artists can understand. The better you can spot their use of these fundamentals, the more you yourself will begin to incorporate them. I suppose this really goes for viewing the work of any skillful artist.

[lalali]

hiya :)

i really like the fluidity of your ink lines. they say alot about the confidence you have in your hand, which is something i wish i had more of. i especially love those last few studies with gray marker and ink. VERY well done.

and yeah, bridgman rocks. a bad ass, he is :)

i'm in agreement with sir cam, just keep at it. i do, however, broadening the things you practice drawing. i'm sure i'm not one to preach as i need to do that too, but try drawing skeletons or animals, etc. i really think that that will help you further understand the underlying structure of other things to broaden as well as distinguish your knowledge of how the human form works. that will help you create more exaggerated and believable dynamic poses in the future.

sorry if that was a bit wordy, hahaha! great work though, i'll be keeping an eye out on this thread ^^ thanks for the inspiration!

[danlucas]

good studies dir3Kt , Bridgeman is great stuff isn't it? I enjoy drawing Bridgeman as much as possible.

[DiR3Kt]

Sir Cam: Thank u, it is always nice to hear from you! I just received Sheldon books (it book & figure boot camp) so I'm going to study a lot from him the upcoming weeks :) Studying old master... I write this on my todo list.

lalali: Thx for dropping by. Drawing animals, that is a good idea. Anyway it cannot hurt to draw something different from time to time ;)

danlucas: Thx, yeah Bridgman is great but he is also hard to study (a bad ass =).

Today only Bridgman studies. My posemanics were so bad that I have nothing to post here, my procedure do not work at all :( I'm going to take it back from the basis: Sheldon study...

[DiR3Kt]

Done that one for Jason01 mentoring was supposed to find and use ref. Even if it came badly I put it here because well.. it is already scanned :)

[krel]

Yes! Those poses! Diggin it!
What are you using to put down the light/shadow on your brigdman/sheldons? Pastels? Need to get some, really like the effect.

[DiR3Kt]

Krel, those are ink marker. I use the "Faber Castell - PITT artist pen" but I think "Copic Marker" are more famous. The best thing to do is to buy the gray tones. Other colors are needed only if you want to produce finished artwork using markers.

----

1. My 4th colored pencil drawing. The first three are so bad that I do not have the balls to put them here.
2. Bridgman hands. Tried to understand and finish the drawings, adding more details, shadows or the missing fingers. Quite happy with the result.
3. Sheldon studies using ink markers.

[Asatira]

Things are coming along, this last page of sketches are looking much more fluid. I think the Sheldon is very helpful. I really like how you handle the Bridgman hands.

One thing I would suggest is to move away from Posemaniac poses every now and then. It's convenient but there is some limit to the poses and they were built in Poser which makes them a little stiff (I'm sure you've picked upon it a bit). Don't be afraid to branch out to other sources and start building what's called a morgue file. Also, check out videos, especially places like YouTube. You can pause at the frame you like and use a timer to get the quick sketches in, and you won't have the posed aspect that crops up sometimes in planned photos.

[soul-core]

Ooh! I love what you did with circles on your posemaniacs sketchs.
I have to try to do that!

I agree with Asatira, Posemaniacs has its limit.
My friends keep telling me to draw from life (yeah, it's easy for them to say that since they're art school student and have those life-drawing classes) and one of them even point some anatomical incorrectness on posemaniacs figure; and the other say that posemaniacs' poses are pose-y (which I kinda agree).
But it's a good place for practicing lines I think ^^
And as for gesture, Asatira's suggestion is great! But drawing from life I think it's the best. People move all the time, it's like you have that timer on posemaniacs, but you just can't adjust it :D

Hope it makes sense.

Oh! And your improvement is to be envied!
Now I will go drawing because you make me desperately want to improve :D

[DiR3Kt]

Asatira Thanks for dropping by :) Drawing from YouTube is a so good idea, thank you very much. I mean thank you thousand times X) I'm going to use this tool right now!

soul-core Thx!! What you say makes total sense. One day I sat down at a cafe in a commercial center and started to draw. That was a blast but I didn't make it again... I'm too shy and lazy to do it I guess. Also it takes more time than just drawing at home. But I definitively have to do it and see if I can use the Sheldon tools.

1. Drawing from YouTube (breakdance and skateboard).
2. Bridgman arms. If the last one is half wrong it is normal, I finished it from mind.

[andres333]

you've improved a lot congratulations
gesture studies, and anatomy studies are looking great
keep it up

[Marian Rowling]

Hey DiR3Kt well done on keeping up with your studies. They are looking really good especially your last ones of the skateboarder and dancers. Thanks also for the tip on Glen Villppu box training. I've found his videos to be very good. Keep up the good work.

[DiR3Kt]

andress333 Thx man!
Marian Rowling Thank you for dropping by again! I'm really happy that I have been able to help you in any way :)

Here is a new (bad) batch...
1. Drawing from various volleyball pictures (gettyimages)
2. Sheldon copies
3. A little concept, I'm quite happy with the design but the drawing is crappy dirty...
4. Another colored pencil drawing... I would appreciate any tips there because I really suck at it. To defend my self the reference was a bad photo took by myself, but still the drawing is really bad.

I feel a bit down about art these days :(

[krel]

Your doing great man! But I want more, ok?! :D

Really love your Sheldon studies. Do you have a book or are there e-books on the net?
I tried a google the other day but didnt find anything..

EDIT: Ive never done anything with color pencil, but I would probably try to add some saturation in the foreground. It all looks really desaturated now. But maybe thats how color pencils work. Also, some shadows on the rocks and sea maybe. And try to smudge(?) the cliffs in the background. Its far away so I dont think the contours should be that visible.

Basicly, I dont have a clue haha. But those are things that came to mind anyway :)

[latigid]

Hey Dir3kt thanx for the advice in my SB. You have some really nice studies in here i think post #33 is particularly sweet keep posting would like to see more

[DazDaryl]

hey man, i like the way your using 3d shapes in your figures, kick ass!

[DiR3Kt]

Krel (sorry it is wordy)
Before using Sheldon tools I read the 'Vilppu Drawing Manual'. Do you know it ? It has been a major reading for me, really learned alot from it. Sheldon was the student of Villpu. So his teaching is following the ideas of his master.

Check the 'See Feel Trace Draw IT' book, that really sum up Sheldon's approach. If you are interrested and want to go deeper he also make videos. You can go on http://www.sheldonsartacademy.com/ for more informations.

And thanks alot for the tips about the colored picture. This might really help me :)

Latigid & DazDaryl : Thx for dropping by my little place :)

[Euthyphro]

You have some very nice studies here. The last bast of Sheldon studies are very nice. You captured the movement and weight very nicely there. The last few Bridgman studies are nice and tight, very clean. I can help but wonder if even though you have captured the nuances of his shapes if you know what exactly is there and why it is doing what it does. The work from your imagination and some of the photo-ref'd pieces lack the naunces you captured in the studies.

Have you looked at Robert Beverly Hale's books at all? In particular Master Class in Figure Drawing goes into all of the same ideas the Bridgman covers in his drawings but in greater detail. I believe Hale was a student of Bridgman so the approach is similar but I think Hale's explanations help to integrate the subsurface anatomy into your thinking.

Keep at it your definitely improving.

Cheers

[Sir Cam]

Don't feel down about your stuff, it is all looking very good. I especially like your gestures, they are very loose and full of rhythm. I struggle a lot in that area so seeing your stuff makes me quite envious. You know who it reminds me of? Sheldon's in-class students. Whenever I look at their work, it always seems like they have something that I lack. I think rhythm might be it.

Seriously, keep up the good work. You are improving quickly.

[krel]

DRAW!

[Aila]

Hey, I really like those Sheldon studies! The rest is coming along nicely too, there's some definite improvement since page 1. Keep going! And thanks for stopping by my sketchbook :)

[DiR3Kt]

Wow thanks a lot for all these replies. That is motivating :)

Euthyphro You are definitevely right now I have to USE that knowledge. I will check on Hale.
Sir Cam Thanks a lot for the kinds words.
Krel I do!
Aila Thx for dropping by :)

Here is the batch
1. Sheldon, first set are copy from the master. Others are from refs (gettyimage). Horses suck but well it was my first time...
2. Loomis head, will do them on a daily basis until I can correctly draw the basic layout.
3. Some studies for an eventual character concept.
4. A new colored pencil pic feel like it is a bit better.
5. Hopless update of the last colored pencil pic. I give up for that one :(

I'm trying to set myself a daily schedule for winter holidays:
- 10 sheldon (human or anything else, horse, cat, alien... X)
- 20 loomis heads
- 1 "Bridgmanized" observation drawing with values
- 1 Colored pencil drawing
- Character concepts the rest of time (if I still have energy ...)

[Whirly]

Those gestural illustrations with the horses are amazing. So much movement is captured by such a small amount of lines.

[krel]

Yes I think the horses are really good aswell. Great update! Im impressed.

Some of your figures/gestures seems to have balance problems, especially those you copied from Sheldon. Now I havnt seen the originals, but thats the impression I got.

Oh, and I like the basketball page aswell. Very cool!

[DiR3Kt]

Whirly Thx you :)
Krel : I might have made some mistakes because honestly I didn't payed particular attention to balance. It is so hard to remember everything: rythm, proportions, balance, volume... All of those have to become second nature.

Batchy batch:
1. The 20 loomis heads, from ref (Facial Expressions by Mark Simon a nice ref book by the way). Still fighting to get the sphere correct.
2. The 10 err.. 7 sheldons, first 3 are copy. First time using the basic forms, will be doing more of this.
3. Observation drawing, failed to properly use bridgman... Failed to properly draw, failed to put values.. XD
4. Colored pencil

I took me soo much time for 3 & 4, I might slow down a bit my schedule (one day observation, one day colored pencil).

[BlackDelphin]

The rhythm from your figure drawing, and your anatomy studies, basically your entire sketch book is a pleasure to watch. :)

I also found very amusing how you wrote in a post from the 2nd page, go study bridgman and his friends. ahahah!

You certainly have improved a lot from august and i am looking forward to see more!
It is truly inspiring.

[Marian Rowling]

Hey DiR3Kt I know you were feeling down about your drawing and not sure what to do with your coloured pencil pieces. So I really had to post to let you know that I think your walnut and radish are really good. Whatever you've been doing keep doing it because it is really working :).

[DiR3Kt]

BlackDelphin Thanks for dropping by, I'm proud that you find my sketchbook inspiring :)
Marian Thank you a lot. Yeah it seems that vegetable are going better than landscape for me :)

1. 20 (+1) loomis head. Trying to work on the basic planes using Loomis and mind as ref. I'm still not feeling confortable with the planes and the sphere so I will keep working on them before adding anatomy.
2. 10 sheldon figures using the basic shapes. Might try to add more details even if I still have to work on the torso, which I almost ever screw.
3. colored pencil, quite happy with the highlights but I will stop with vegetables now and find funnier references.
4. Observation drawing. I failed to see the planes of the knee so I will work on that. Damn I'm sure that Bridgman studied Michaelangelo...

[BlackDelphin]

And i will continue finding it! :D
Really nice studies once more. The last one has really nice shapes in particular. You defined them more too. But i think the features of the head aren't quite right placed. And considering the neck and everything, he should have more of a 3/4 view, rather then a side view.

Looking forward to see more! :)

[Sir Cam]

Observation drawing. I failed to see the planes of the knee so I will work on that. Damn I'm sure that Bridgman studied Michaelangelo...

Remember, just because you don't see it doesn't mean you shouldn't draw it. This is where your knowledge really comes into play, it is your job as the artist to clarify. Keep in mind that if there is any confusion on your part then the viewer will also be confused, you have to make an effort to clear up the confusion. If you don't see the planes, just make them up. If you don't remember where the planes are, then you've got some studying to do. :)

I find that the best way to locate the planes is simply to run a cross contour over the form to find where it begins to turn away, that is your side plane should you choose to define it. Sheldon says that "you cant have too many cross contours in your drawings, it's impossible." If you look at my signature you'll find another similar quote. I think that your Michelangelo study is very good overall, good structure. I'm sure that you're aware of the minor flaws so I wont go into that.

I hope this helps you out any, Keep up the good work.

[DiR3Kt]

BlackDelphin: Unfortunatly you are right, I screwed the head. The good thing is that I know what I have to work on :)

Sir Cam: Yes I was confused and noticed that I don't know where they are. The quote is nice, I will burn it in my head! What you say is really helping,thank you :)

Will be off a few days so...

Merry christmas to everbody that read this post!!!

I do not have a lot to show and it is bad X( But I post it anyway because I want to post everything.

1. 20 Loomis head. first 10 are from ref, next 10 from mind. Still struggling with the planes but I will move on to features now and come back to it later.

[BlackDelphin]

Well heck! Good for you!! :D You're still drawing!!! :D :D :D
It's really nice when you get to see everything, so don't you stop posting now!!

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS YOURSELF! :teeth:

[DiR3Kt]

BlackDelphin: Thxxx :)

Small update..
1. Bridgman study of arms and knee.
2. Loomis eyes from himself, ref and mind. I have to practice drawing the 2 eyes in relation to each other.
3. Sheldon figures adding more details. Those are done using Sheldon's drawing as ref, next time I will use photos.

[BranFlakes]

Your knowledge of the figure and anatomy has improved leaps and bounds from the first post, most notably your gestures. Even the horses (few updates ago), have an incredible sense of movement.
Keep it up! Keep drawing :)

Edit: Ah you updated while I was writing. Very nice anatomical studies :D

[BlackDelphin]

The arm studies are certainly nice! :D
The leg-knee ones too; i am particularly fond of the bone study. i, for some reason haven't seen to many like that one. but i think when you tried drawing them on the right knee, something went wrong, because it doesn't have a to pleasant overall look. Also that lower muscle seems like it has a back view.

The eye sheet is a very nice exercise, and i see you added eyelashes too. Great! :D
But i'll tell you what others have told me too, and i sort of see in yours too. Try drawing less eyelashes, vary their shape and size. Less is good in this case. :)

Your figures this time have a really strong bridgman mood to them. I am not sure i actually like that.
Don't get to cot in his style and forget yours!!

I think he is ok when you are starting out, learning the shapes n such, but afterwords, i don't think even posemaniacs is a good idea. Some of those poses are just to..
Anyway, try working with more real life people if possible, if not, more photography.

Good work! :teeth:
But go on!! ;)

[DiR3Kt]

BranFlakes: Thx for dropping by :)

BlackDelphin: Wow this is a lot of feedback, appreciated :) About the unpleasant knee I made it up using different stuffs from Bridgman which explains the mistakes and strange look. Hell yeah that muscule is really weird -_- I think I went into the 'let's blindly copy' mode.

About the figures those are more Sheldon style done from copying... Sheldon. I do not really have my proper style so I keep studying Loomis, Bridgman and Sheldon hoping that one day everything will mix together and generate something that will be 'me'.

Oh and thx for the eyelash trick ;)

No update because my holy f***ing scanner is down. Do not want to fight with him tonight so I will update tomorrow...

[Sir Cam]

DiR3Kt, I think you've got the right idea about style, for the most part, it is unimportant.

Your work looks good overall so there is really not much else to do but nitpick. One critique I have is that some of your drawings are lacking in design. The main elements of design are straight vs curve, simple vs complex, rhythm and structure. Your figures tend to have a contour formed by an irregular curvy line rather than by a series of straights and curves fitting into one another, this creates an overly complex drawing. That is the main issue for me but I think it couldn't hurt to brush up on all of it. A good book on design if you don't already own it is Force by Michael D. Mattesi, formerly of Disney. Sheldon and other such teachers emphasize the design so as to make it easier for a student to understand. In the work of the old masters, these elements are far more subtle (but they are there).

Sorry I couldn't be of more help, design is difficult to explain because it is a visual thing. Just pay close attention to Sheldon and you should get it eventually. Good luck with your work.

[BlackDelphin]

To bad your scanner is down :(
That is a precious little toy when you do a lot of traditional studies n so on.

I am glad if i could be of any help to you.
And actually, those figures gave me a more bridgman impression, but i guess it's because i didn't see much of Sheldon's work.

I am trying to find my style too, and i reaaaly have a long way to go.
I can't even decide on a medium right now!! haha :D
But still, i think, and i am still wondering about this, but i think the fastest way to find your style would be to see the real object, and just draw it, without studying to much after a master. Otherwise you'll end up with something similar to him, no?

[DiR3Kt]

Scanner back again! Nobody can help me there, some time it just hang forever. Reboot of scanner and/or pc do not fix the problem. Generally I wait one day and it is working again -_-

Sir Cam: I think I see what you mean and I see that it is missing in my drawings. But I cannot describe it and cannot make it better yet... Now that I'm aware of it I can work on it which is good :) So again thx for the useful post!

By the way if you can spend some of your time to tell me which of my figures have 'design' (if any!!!) that would be really kind and appreciated :)

BlackDelphin: I think that we should not think about 'finding our style', it will just come up one day. Maybe it is already there but we do not notice. And anyway style change with time, I guess.

i think the fastest way to find your style would be to see the real object, and just draw it, without studying to much after a master. Otherwise you'll end up with something similar to him, no?
Here is what I think: This can be true if you take the case of somebody that (for exemple) spend all his life studying Bridgman, only do Bridgman copy, never go out, never watch tv, never listen to music, never do anything else than studying Bridgman. But for all other human being that this is not the case. Every experience you are living, every master you study, every drawing you do influence your style.

Update
1. Character concept. No reference at all, spend a lot of time on it. There is some ideas but the final result look flat, inert, ....
2. Head features (continued). 1-15 from Loomis, 16-22 from ref.
3. Sheldon figures from photo ref. 2-6 done after reading Sir Cam post.

[SweetPea]

Hey dir3kt these drawings look rather promising, i can already tell an improvement from the first page to this one. One thing id like to see you do more of is fully rendering things. I like your studies of michelangelo, but i think they need some darker darks to ge them more push and pull and a feeling of volume. I think also if you tried drawing them larger youd be able to resolve their heads a bit more. but i definitely applaud u for your bridgeman studies and using posemaniacs, i use them both myself, and of course studying after a master is one of the best things!

im curious though as to the brown medium you're using, is it a pen or a colored pencil of some sort? id love to get my hands on that if you wouldnt mind sharing! Great job and keep drawing!

[Sir Cam]

By the way if you can spend some of your time to tell me which of my figures have 'design' (if any!!!) that would be really kind and appreciated

Your drawings do have design (especially your recent ones), I only meant that you might focus a bit harder on the design to try to emphasize it. I'm no master of design myself, It's just something to keep in mind.

I have a quick tip on drawing mouths, rather than fully drawing out every tooth, I think it might help to only subtly indicate them. Sheldon says "if you draw all the teeth in a smile, the person will end up looking like a horse". That doesn't necessarily mean that a row of teeth should be simplified into a solid bar (although it could), it just means that it can hurt a drawing to fully render them all individually. Grouping the teeth into a nice clean shape and then subtly indicating the spaces seems to be Sheldon's point.

[DiR3Kt]

SweetPea: Hey thanks for dropping and yes you are right I should draw larger!

About the brown medium well I do not use any brown medium... You might be speaking about my avatar pic for exemple. This is usual HB pencil on Canson sketch paper (a bit yellow paper). It got weird after scanning, do not know why. So nothing special ^^

Sir Cam: Thx a lot for the tooth trick, again this is gonna help. I'm glad to ear that there is some desing in my drawing, especially from a person like you :)

Update
1. Figure from photo ref, trying to use Force. These drawing looks really like crap but I said I will scan everything so they are here. Also I really learned LOT LOT LOT of things from doing them.
2. Head feature (continued). 1-9 are Loomis copy, 10-15 are photo ref, 16-19 Bridgman copy, 20-23 photo ref. I decided to sneak at Bridgman because I noticed that I completely fail to understand the planes of the nose. And I still do!
3. Guess who he is ? Ok it is a bit wrong (but not too much!) and the scanning doesn't make him justice...

[sarbro]

hey and a happy new year.
thanks for visiting my sketchbook and leaving a comment.
You´ve got great studies in here and a lot of variety. Keep doing more!

[Whirly]

keep doin what your doing its great seeing the fast progress.

I have been working through Sheldon's boot camp book over Christmas. Finally got through all those tiny sphere and cylinder arthritis causing exercises. Looking forward to the later chapters!

Have you worked much through the boot camp book yet? -- i have found to to be exactly what I needed before jumping into doing more complex studies :)

[DiR3Kt]

sarbro: Thx and happy new year too :)

Whirly: Well I do not really feel progressing but still, thanks for the kind words :) I'm so glad that the boot camp is what you needed. On my side I'm almost done with the basic forms and I already started a few more advanced stuffs. I like the direction the exercices are taking.

My little advice: Do not stick to what Sheldon say, do more, there is no rules. For exemple if he show only one contour line do many of them. Maybe you already do it, I think it helps getting even more from the the book.

update
:sungod: I have a Wacom, I have a new computer, I have a 24inch screen :sungod:

So here is my first digital drawing. I found two tutorial that really helped me setting up the whole thing:
Wacom setup (http://fox-orian.deviantart.com/art/Wacom-Photoshop-Painter-Guide-85536306)
Blending tutorial (http://ctjemm.deviantart.com/art/Big-Fat-Blending-Tutorial-123472907)

So here are the spheres....

[DiR3Kt]

Another digital drawing. Took me 2 hours.

I think that I used a too big brush with a too small image resolution...

[krel]

Gestures looking sweet man!

And dont bother with even thinking about "styles" yet. It will probably take years before you or me have our own style, and until then I think you could do much worse than taking influences from Sheldon and Bridgman.

To be honest, "style" is overrated and I dont think it should be an aim at all, as many others seems to think.

[DiR3Kt]

Krel: Yeah first aim should be proper usage of that little thing called pencil ;)

I'm not drawing alot these time, I'm lazy, I have to kick my ass!!!

1. Lamp study
2. Mixture of male from ref and mind.
3. Girls from ref.

[Icecold]

Well i can't agree with Krel about the style, it is very important to have your own that you will feel comfortable with, and people will recognize you for, altho you shouldn't worry about it until you'll be drawing for something like 3-5 years.
Untill then just study hard.

Now as for this last digital painting, i'll be honest with you, it's awful. Sometimes the worst truth is better, than sweet lies.
That one is baaaad in many ways. Pick some healthy apples and daw them instead, and do it from nature not photos.

The major things that bother me in that last peice:
First of all looks too digital, the goal in painting digitally is to somehow mimic the natural stuff, even in some small degree.

Lightened up with white shaded with black, thet's the most common mistake, use different range of values when you do it in b&w. But better way to observe how things work, is to simply look it out in nature, see how many colours are in shadows, and how that blue of the sky reflects in objects etc.

Good luck, ICE

[Whirly]

First of all looks too digital, the goal in painting digitally is to somehow mimic the natural stuff, even in some small degree.

Umm Why?

I really like your work and everything Ice but wanting an image to mimic natural media is a personal opinion I think. If you look at Neville Page's work it all looks very digital but very beautiful aswell. Just another medium like Pencil vs Charcoal

[Marian Rowling]

Hey DiR3Kt I just had to post to say that I think what you did with your lamp study is really good, turning it into a robot/figure. Clever idea and I think it shows how well all your figure and anatomy studies are paying of. :)

[DiR3Kt]

Icecold: Thanks for dropping and thanks for your honesty. I do not know if I have to continue with digital painting or do some traditionnal painting before. What would you suggest knowing I have no experience with traditionnal painting (I mean ok I did some colored pencil stuffs) ?

Whirly: Well I think it is all a matter of taste/style :)

Marian Rowling: Thanks for the kind words it is really appreciated!

Update
Some digital sketching was a lot of fun :) I think I feel better about using my tablet now.

[Abrodos]

Some cool works in here. Keep studying anatomy, it's certainly paying off. Also, I really like the softness you achieve with colour pencils. Be careful with your face proportions, though!
Keep up the work:)

[Icecold]

Umm Why?

I really like your work and everything Ice but wanting an image to mimic natural media is a personal opinion I think. If you look at Neville Page's work it all looks very digital but very beautiful aswell. Just another medium like Pencil vs Charcoal

Well there is some truth to it, but Neville's stuff has alot 3d in it, plus he made it his style. First of all people should learn how things work in nature before they can, lets say design them in their own unique way.

Now i have not that much experience with traditional media myself, my point was to literally force you :) to grab some real stuff, not digital pixels and draw it.
Light and shadow and form look different from what camera sees it like.
Plus alot of photos are modified these days. I'm not saying don't study from photos at all, but all these things that you can draw from nature , do so.
Some super hot naked chicks as anatomy studie scan come from photos ;)

[danlucas]

Hi myfriend, nice progress in your drawing. I believe you are improving quite a bit. Especially like the walnut, beat, and other colored pencil veggies.

P.S. Yes i have very big feet. I wear a size 14 mens shoe just to answer your question.

[Sir Cam]

Hey man, your stuff is all coming along very nice.

I just have one thing to caution you about concerning digital drawing. Digital work is fine as long as you continue to build the figure using the constructive method as you normally would. It is very important however, that you do not abuse your ability to erase. I made this mistake and it may have set my rate of advancement back a whole year. My advice is to try to mirror your traditional method, don't change a thing.

The reason I write all this is that I drew digitally for a long while before I eventually noticed the difference in quality between my digital work and my traditional work. That is when it dawned on me that I had barely improved at all in the time that I spent working digitally. This was because I was abusing the tools available to me through the digital medium and not actually mastering the fundamentals. When I tried to draw traditionally, my true level of skill was far behind where I thought it was based on my digital work. It was more than humbling, it was humiliating and I felt like a fool. I'm not saying that it looks like you're doing that, I'm just telling you to watch out for it. :)

[DiR3Kt]

Abrodos: Thanks for dropping. I'm still not confortable with heads...

Icecold: I think I got your point. It is not about the media but more about drawing from life. I always use photo as ref I have to break this habit. For the next week I will use only real life reference, let's see!!

Danlucas: Wow man I used a converter and 14 is 48.5 in europe!! Anyway... Thanks for dropping :) I will take the time to do more colored pencil stuffs, from life this time.

Sir Cam: I see what you mean and agree. However my experience with the latest drawing was different. Strangely I erased less than when I do traditionnal sketching. Thinking back I noticed that I was more confident because I know that 'ok I can undo or erase, there is no problem, no big deal to mess up'. I really wish to carry this confidence to pencil/pen drawing.

[DiR3Kt]

1. first 3 from mind, last 3 from posemaniacs. Last 'not from life' drawing of the week.
2. Drawing from life: 1 hour, crap.
3. Drawing from life: 1 hour, crap. But this is good local food trust me :)

I'm so weak in redering stuffs from life, I feel unconfortable, see nothing, etc... Any help would be really appreciated...

[Icecold]

Ah nice still lifes mate! The bottle is abit off, but elipses are hard to draw and you've managed them quite well. Now look at what you did, and listen to me: you can draw! :)

Just apply every bit of knowledge you've aearned in your last work to your new work, i know alot of people "working hard" they do anatomy etc, but they simply copy the lines or countours of an object without thinking about it.
So keep in mind the fact, that you have to analyze your drawings, you must become your best friend and your worst critic. Don't be to harsh tho ;)

Ok i have an advice for you try this method, draw light outline sof your objects next time, and use contrast of values to build up a shape and make them pop from background.
Examine this piece:

http://home.earthlink.net/~sketch_dude/images/24still_life004.jpg

[krel]

Your doing great, man. I see alot of improvment that you probably dont see yourself :)

The robot lamp is awesome, and the nude girl study from the same post is also good. How much time do you spend on those?

Honestly the digital study is quite bad, but that is expected.
Read this http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm#top

The last update is not crap at all. The figures show that youve studied quite a lot of Vilppu/Sheldon and the still lifes tells me that you DO see. I think you should try to push your blacks. Alot of action happends when you start to get some contrast, so dont be afraid of doing that.
Maybe get the bottle/apple drawing out again, and just push your values. Dont be afraid of screwing up or going too far. Youll learn more from doing bold things and fail, then from staying in your comfort zone.

Btw even your "bad" figures have a sense of 3D to them, and most beginners, including myself, would love to have that.

Keep on rockin!

[Wr00m]

Wow, look how quickly you improved on figures. That's amazing!

[Sir Cam]

Your still life work is looking good. You're drawing through and trying to use the fundamentals and as far as I am concerned, that's all that really matters. It's you're choice whether or not to fully render it as you have but I think that you could get the same point across in a much more simplified fashion (if you wanted to).

In my opinion, the point of doing a still life is to practice the fundamentals and for no other reason. As long as there is solid structure, clean shapes (both positive and negative), deliberate composition, and accurate tone/color (if you wanted to add it), that's all that really matters. You can basically hone all of your skills just by doing a still life. Again, it is entirely your choice if you do want to fully render it out but I personally don't think that it's necessary.

The only tip I could give on actually rendering something from life (like, in detail) would be to:

1. Pay close attention but do not copy (it's harder than it sounds, trust me).
2. Construct it's form with linear perspective in mind.
3. put in detail on the object that you've drawn based on what you saw on the object you're referencing.

The most important thing that I'm trying to get across is that you are still not copying the object, you are recreating it. You will end up with a drawing that looks like the object you were trying to depict but it will still work as a stand alone drawing. The way that I look at it is that the fundamentals come first, accuracy comes second. If you can get them both in the same drawing, then you are a master.

Anyways, it's all just my opinion, feel free to disagree.

[krel]

Sir Cam: Thanks, good post. Sums it up well I think.

Althou, if you dont fully render a still life you are not honing all your skills. You are not learning how to render.

Sure, you could do separate studies just to learn how to render with different mediums later on, but to me it makes sense to do it all together.

[DiR3Kt]

Guys thanks alot for your support, your are awesome, all of you!!

Icecold: Thanks alot for the tip it really made me learn lot of things. And yeah I keep repeating myself "do not copy, analyse". I still fail when things get too complicated...

Krel: Thank you for that link. Started to read it, already learned a lot but well it takes times to digest :) Will have another meal when it's done!!

Wr00m: Thx for dropping :)

Sir Cam: Thanks for all these tips, I feel free to totally agree :) I think still life drawing is the same as figure drawing in the sense that we have to understand how things works to draw them properly.

My goal with these life drawing is to get a basic understanding of light and how it works. So I will render them but still I should not forget all the things that come before rendering, nice that you remind me them :)

update
Here is two time the same scene. One source of light to simplify...
1. 1 Hour using pencil using Icecold tip.
2. The same scene done only using lines in 5 minutes.

[krel]

Im impressed. With a setup like that I would definitly bother too much with details and not be even halfway in an hour.

The illusion of realism in the last one is much better than whe wine bottle etc. If you can combine those two ways of drawing you would probably be on your way to something great.

[DiR3Kt]

Well you just need to set yourself a time limit. I think this is good because it push you to stay organized and plan a bit your drawing.

Update
1. 1 Hour. Naa this is not a mountain, it is a piece of paper! Messed up with the time limit, spent too much time on the paper and had to rush the spoon.
2. 1 Hour. Tried to work on my weaknesses (glow and perpective).
3. 1 Hour. Me drawing in front of the mirror it is :) Ok ok I look thousand time better in reality X)

[DiR3Kt]

Ok my scanner is down again... Did not made it through the update to Windows 7 -_- Drawings will be updated asap.

Update

1. Some utter crap, help!!
1. 1 Hour. Perspective is off I think I tried to exagerate too much...

[surfandsnow]

thanks for the visit. With values Ive found separating light and shadow to be the most important thing and it keeps things simple too. on the digital study http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2590627&postcount=88 you dont always need a full range of values to render something sometimes just enough to get the light and shadow shapes to read is enough.

For that suggestion about the teeth if you take a couple photos of teeth run them through posterize in photoshop(image > adjustments) and play with the levels you should see something similar to what he was talking about with the shape of the teeth.

Also something I learned about seeing values recently that might help, identify the type of edge your looking at, so you can find the bright and dark points and then determine the amount of contrast over that edge to determine the change in value. There is a difference between high contrast and a sharp edge. And of course you also need to determine light and dark point globally as well and squinting always helps.

more life studies.

[krel]

Youve blocked in the shapes and colors of the apple.
Now you have to render it.

There is different ways to do this, but from my limited knowledge, the easiest way is to take a normal brush (hard round, or maybe chalk), turn down the opacity(!), color pick somewhere on your apple, and draw "between" the different colors.

I think you could start out with an opacity around 60-70, and work your way down depending on how you want to render it.

Try not to zoom in too much. Or if you do, keep zooming out all the time just to see if it works as a whole. It easy to get cought up in rendering and before you know it your colors and the feel of your apple has changed to the worse.

When you have the brush selected you colorpick by holding ALT.

Take this with a grain of salt as always. If someone who really know their stuff have some advice for you that would be better I think. But in the meantime :)

[danlucas]

Hi again, Those two studies of the cup and cloth are rockin'! great work man, and only an hr and the other 5 min? congrats, that is how you draw. I am so diggin those. If you want any advice from me - draw still life. That will improve your observation skills 100%. I believe in drawing still life. Don't neglect drawing from life too - like people. I find it helps me to be able to observe more detailed objects and be able to render them. Check out my latest updates - the headphones. a month ago i was scared to draw that. now it was a piece of cake. Keep up the good work man. I'm srry haven't been by more.

[Turbosnail]

Really like the still life in post # 106. Keep up the good work with your pencil studies mate!!

[Loathsome]

hardcore studies man, love it.
if you allow me to go back in time.. on the first page of this thread, on the last post of that page. There's a sketch of a robot looking guy with a pointy thing coming from his crouch. I love that sketch/idea man! Keep the awesome comin'!

[DiR3Kt]

Updates have been posted on previous post. I think most of my newest still lifes are worser than #106 :( But I'm ok with it because I learned a lot of things.

surfandsnow Thanks alot for all these tips. The stuffs about edge are a bit abstract for me, I think I will need lot of practice in this area.

krel: Your advice are always welcome man :) I did some work on the apple and will post it as soon as I can make ps work again .... I hate reinstalling my computer...

danlucas: Thx for the kind words, it is keeping me motivated!!

Turbosnail: Thx for dropping :) I will do my best to keep it up.

Loathsome: Flashback are always allowed :) Thank you for passing by :)

[DiR3Kt]

Sorry I have been a bit off concept art this week. Here is a little update.

1. 1 Still life, yes!!! :)
2. Figures from mind, I had a blast will do more of those.
3. Witch from mind, not happy with the result. I looks flat.

[Xeon_OND]

Sorry I have been a bit off concept art this week. Here is a little update.

1. 1 Still life, yes!!! :)
2. Figures from mind, I had a blast will do more of those.
3. Witch from mind, not happy with the result. I looks flat.
Those figures from the mind (No. 2) are the sleekest sick shit I've ever seen.

[latigid]

Hey Dir3kt how goes it? your improving fast in here the still lifes are starting to show your understanding of what your looking at and the figures are starting to come to life keep drawing!

[DiR3Kt]

Xeon_OND Hey thanks for dropping :)
latigid Well going although I think I'm a bit down those days I need to KICK MY ASS!!! Still thanks for passing by :)

update
I'm taking weekling drawing courses. Here is my latest exercice the goal was to copy some scene, laying down the basic forms. Those are fucking dirty I used way too much the eraser trying to place everything at the right place. I'm bad at seeing the empty spaces they were all wrong, at least I know what I have to practice.

[Sir Cam]

Hello again. Out of curiosity, how skillful/helpful is the instructor of your weekly drawing courses? I ask because I personally took a couple art courses at my community college under the dean of the art department himself and yet, despite his position, the guy didn't know the first thing about drawing. Does your instructor reinforce the fundamentals like Sheldon? If so, I'm envious. :)

[DiR3Kt]

Hi Sir Cam nice to see you back :) My teacher keep up with fundamentals and he is quite gifted for teaching, so I can consider myslef lucky :) Currently we do figures but the goal is to learn paiting. He really want me to have better observation skills before moving on. Sometime it is really frustrating when he point out all the observationnal mistakes I do but well this is how we learn.

My next assignment is really an intersting exercice, I will post more info about it when I get started.

Update
I started to read Hampton "Figure Drawing: Design and Invention" and I have to say that it is a blast! Really worth reading imho.

1. Random crappy sketching. I will stop doing that and do more studies.
2. Exercices from Hampton books. Will keep it daily, just post the first batch to give an idea of Hampton book's content.
3. Ok ok this is random sketching again. Using what I learned during the exercices.

[BlackDelphin]

Hey there! :D
Sorry for not being here for a while. Hope that will change and i can get inspired once more. :)

Your figures, as always are a pleasure to watch, see them evolve and just..just see them :D
On a really old comment of mine i was telling you to study more from life and you replied with that comment about someone who dose only bridgman studies..you were absolutely right and what can i say..just keep at it cuzz it's great the way you do! :D :D :D Just more!! Post more!!! :D :D :D

[krel]

I know your at work, trying to feed the family and all that.

But, man, I need my fix too! I wanna see where those Hampton studies take you. So get on with it already! :D

[DiR3Kt]

BlackDelphin: I'm glad to see that those freakin alien released you :) It is fine to have a break sometime, it can only help you seeing new perspectives!!

Krel: Well those studies are taking me nowhere... yet.

update
Hampton studies and practice. Really wished I could do better...

I set up myself a daily routine: first basic exercices (circles, cyclinders, form connections, ..), then 30 sec posemaniacs gesture, then 90 sec posemanics gesture+landmarks, finally drawing from photo ref. Aside from that I study Hampton book.

1. Forms connections
2. Hampton head studies, it is similar to Loomis. A bit frustrated of not seeing improvement here. I
3. Figure from photo refs.

[Sir Cam]

Hey man, it's great to see that you're studying Hampton's book. Keep it up and especially practice applying what you've learned from imagination to make sure you've retained it. You're doing very well, I don't really have any advice other than to just keep doing what you're doing! One thing I might suggest is to study the old masters work as well though. It is good to become familiar with all of the old masters but here are a few specific ones that I recommend studying because I have learned a great deal by studying their work:

Albrecht Durer
Michelangelo
Peter Paul Rubens
Hendrik Goltzius
Giovanni Tiepolo
Francois Boucher

[BlackDelphin]

Yes, you may be right, a fresh new look at things could help a lot :)

Nice seeing you trying out different things. Keep posting!

[krel]

Looking good man. Almost everything you draw have a clear sense of 3D. jelous :)

[DiR3Kt]

Sir Cam Thank you for the names, I put this on my todo list (hell it is growing). I want to focus on Hampton and my drawing lessons right now. I do some stuffs from mind, but it is mostly done while watching tv so not worth posting I guess.
BlackDelphin I keep it!!
krel Glad to hear that. I still have a lot of work to put down the basic forms correctly though. I do daily exercice but improvements are slllooooww..

update
1. 90secs posemaniacs. The last one (right) is the best I can do that is why I post this.
2. Figures from photo ref.
3. this is my assignement for my weekly drawing lesson. The goal is to draw a complete figure from a silouette. It is an exercice with a great balance between imagination and observation, like it a lot (the exercice not the result). I really have to study feet and hands...
4. Random sketching...

[BlackDelphin]

Those are nice refed silhouettes you got there!! :D I love volleyball on top of that <3
Your balls look really good too, and the figures as always good. Don't forget always to think 3d, not flat; some of the in-air figures, butin general those voleyball figures seem a bit flat to me.
I know you can, so make them better next time!!! :D

The last sheet of your random sketching needs better proportions..
Draw randomly, but don't neglect what you learned form your studies :meow:

Lets see you keeping it up some more!!! :teeth: :teeth: :teeth:

[UrbanHermit]

Your figure studies are coming on nice. It's takes lot's of practice to get the proportions and perspective right but you are definitely improving. You have be doing these studies for a while now maybe you should doing some more detailed drawings to put your studies to use.

The Hampton book is great as well however I am yet to start any figure studies yet. I just use it for heads at the moment which I want to focus on at the moment.

[krel]

The sports poses looks really good man. But there was something that felt "off" in almost all of them and.. I think you tend to draw your heads too big. Or maybe its the chest area that is too small.

[purb36]

hey man, you're studying good stuff.

best thing for all your drawings is anatomy, so it's good to see that you're studying that. remember, it's the little things that will set your work apart, that will give your figures that extra spark of life. one big little thing to remember: your arms and legs extend (in 90%+ of most cases) opposite to each other. you'll get a natural feel for it the more you draw and observe people, but that will help you put your drawings in a bit more perspective. for example, the drawings you did of the silhouette people, some of them are off because you have the same leg and the same arm towards the front. like the top left one...the guy should be reaching out with his right arm and have his right leg back. you drew the legs right but the top switched. so, stuff like that, make sure you're reeeeeally paying attention to. also, as Krel pointed out, sometimes your torsos are too small/thin. but, you'll keep working out proportion as you see more and draw more, so no WORRIES, just pay attention to that. now, in terms of getting realistic human poses, posemaniacs is NOT your friend. it REALLY shows up in the way that your arms are connected to the body: in a real human, there's more of a connection with the muscles of the shoulder girdle (shoulder and shoulder blade) with the upper arm than you will see on posemaniacs. really, poser characters' biggest problems are getting realistic shoulder interactions. i think you definitely have the right idea with bridgman, you just need to keep working at it. that will help you drawing from life, which will in turn help you to draw better from your imagination. anyway, the moral is: pay close attention to the little things, and you will go far. keep up the good, hard work, and i hope to keep seeing more! take care dude! :)

[Turbosnail]

Nice updates on the studies DiR3Kt!! Keep pushing yourself my friend!!

[jeremygordon89]

Nice sketchbook; I'd recommend Charles Hu's figure drawing thread in the Fine Arts forum for some great anatomy reference, as well as Bridgman books of course. Keep up the good work, and also draw more from life.

[UmpaArt]

Great figure studies man! I can see the dedication. Remember to do some still lifes too :D

I was bothered by something you said in the OP. You said you gave yourself till 2011 to make it happen. I get that you gave yourself a time limit since you feel you started so late but...Well, my motto has always been- Live the way you want or Die chasing your dreams. Everybody always tells me "you need a backup plan!", to that I reply to those people with a quote from Will Smith "There's no need for a plan B because it only distracts from plan A". :)

[flurry]

Nice idea with the filling silhouettes, good quality of line there too.

The Hampton studies look pretty interesting, I must try that.

Remember to soften your faces with curves where appropriate.

Step it up.