meds's sketchbook

[meds]

Hi everyone!

(avatar image)

[meds]

Here are other recent drawings.

[meds]

The first is just a quick random portrait of no one in particular. The weird markings on her forehead are due to me wrinkling the paper.

Goals for this week are to do some observational drawings, work with some watercolors (I am new at painting) and to continue with quick portraits.

[p sage]

I like your first one the very best (done from a photo?)

I'm guessing the rest were a mix of photos, live, and self-portrait from mirror?

It always seemed to me a bit easier to copy from a photo than to copy from life. For some reason, the eyes get "restless" trying to analyze the real-life model, where the drawing from reference we have no such reservation.

Then again, I could be way off... LOL.

I'm not really studying to be an illustrator or portrait maker (more of an animator) but I can see the potential for you with these drawings.

Keep working!

[meds]

Thanks for your encouraging feedback.

None of these were done with live models and there are no self-portraits. I used a photo reference for them, although I tend to use references loosely, and use them more as a guide. That way I have room for my own ideas and interpretations, but if I start to stumble with the placement of things or anatomy I can refer to my reference. If I don't use some type of reference, I tend to stumble a lot.

[iphigen]

Your drawings look really nice, I like first one best.
I think maybe tutorials like this http://fc06.deviantart.com/fs12/f/2006/329/2/3/Female_Anatomy_Patterns_by_Snigom.jpg can help you to improve relating to anatomy. Keep it up!

[meds]

The first is a quick watercolor of my character, Jillian, a character that will probably pop up often (already has a few times) because I am trying to develop her. The second is just a cheesy drawing.

I can't paint, so I am slowly be practicing watercolors. Any advice is welcome.

[Chison]

the first few reminds me gothic and fairyland etc

the head seem to be work well ....like it (fine art-ish)
just the body aren't "real"(cartoon slim body?and not sexy intended?)not sure is that what you want?
i suggest you to move on to the whole body and get the body more real to fit the nice draw head

[meds]

Well, here is some anatomy practice. I am almost embarrassed to post these, but I know that is how I will get better. I clearly struggle with anatomy but that is partly due to the fact that I just haven't had a lot of practice drawing the body. I guess I will be changing that and will start drawing the body more often.

I feel like I struggle a lot with shoulders. The head on the first one is huge.

[The man with no name]

I'll make a suggestion, have you used posemaniacs (been on the website)? if you have some troubled spots with anatomy just jump on that website, will help tremendously. keep up the good work :)

[Taven]

Hint: Bigger pictures make it easier to critiuqe. Not giant ones, of course, but sizeable so that the viewer can clearly see everything in enough detail.

The second image in the second post has a style to how she was drawn, it's nice and I like the effect, but there are a few things you could improve. One, the hair framing her head closest to the viewer should go back further, because right now it makes it look as if her head ends early, and second, while the torso is really great, the arms look flatter at the joints and loose their illusion of depth due to how the shading and line across was done. Both of those things are easy enough to fix. :)

The third post's first image has a nice face, but the features in relation to the way the head is turned are at slightly the wrong angle, making it look off. They should be "rotated" around the curve of the face to match where the hair falls. Of course, you could always change the hair and face outline, so the inner features fit it. You do a really good job on each of the individual parts (hair, eyes, nose, lips), but they don't quiet all fit together right yet.

The third image of the third post, the head is great. There's a few tweaks that could be made, but that would be nitpicking. Here the head and position all works together, but the body and torso are disproportional to the size of the head. Anatomy is annoying, isn't it? I'm working on it a ton myself. Loomis is most often recommended, and I also collect pictures of people from old or free magazines, and paste them all in one "reference sketchbook."

For not being able to paint, your watercolors are awesome. I don't really paint myself, so my advice won't be much. The nose bottom is great, but you need some "shading" in to make the bridge of the nose. The eye on the left is awesome, but the corresponding shadow peaking out from under the hair covering the right eye should be darker to match it.

The face after that looks like it should be a little longer, and some reflected light in the eye closest to the viewer would make it look better as well, I think. I like how you did the hair, though again, the forehead should be maybe a bit taller.

The anatomy practice: Try drawing the body with shading too, to better describe the form. Outline is good for getting the basic shape, too, but getting the outline and form built together is best. I'm working (as I said), a ton on anatomy myself lately.

Anatomy pratice advice by picture number:

1 - Nice torso. The hands look funny, but they're hands, and hands are HARD. Individual hand pratice is something to consider, because you can draw them bigger and get used to it. The lower legs are too small, proportionally. The head is a little bit big, and reminds me more of an anime style head, size-wise, then a "real" head.

2 - The arms need more bulk. This includes the shoulders, too. Asides from Loomis and magazines, I sometimes sketch off of sculptures, either from images, or viewing them directly, if I can. Maybe not as good as a living breathing model, but they usually get their stuff straight for that sort of thing.

3 - Lower legs need to be longer again. Nice back and rear.

4 - Hands and arms are disproportional to the body, but those are NICE hands. I like how well you did the fingers with the pose.


Annnnyways, that's everything. I hope you found that helpful and not harsh, because it wasn't meant to be. We all need work, and I'm no exception. I'd love any advice you could give me, actually. Pop by my sketchbook sometime.

--Taven

[adammelo]

Love the watercolor face :) Keep doing that and practicing anatomy and boom in notime at all :)

Sketch back if you'd like...

[Zorcron]

i like your work a lot , i think you should start worrying less about each line and more
about the value and shape the image holds.

i would dig out the charcoal perhaps with some white chalk too and have a blast !

some different subject will help break you of comfort zone as well i would think

keep uploading ! = )

also i think it would be healthy as an artist not to worry too much about each piece on its own after you are finished and just move onto
new and better things.

keep the artistic process in mind and dont worry about the nit-pickyness that is easy to dwell on

[anjyil]

You have some really nice artwork, and it is definately going to get better with practice. I am curious--when you sketch out, what kind of guidelines do you use? A lot of people say study and practice anatomy, and I totally agree--but to do that really means to start from the bones up. Literally. Even if it is just sticks and balls for bones, starting from there and working up to muscles and form really helps. Using photoreferences is great--I do that, too. But I really started to see improvement in my portraits when I actually focused on the skull/jaws and muscles and then did photoreference. I'm about where you are at, too--been a while since I seriously drew and now I am looking for any practices/exercises/etc I can so that I can get better :)

[meds]

Thanks everyone for your helpful critiques. I really appreciate it.

To answer a few questions, yes I do use posemaniacs, but I am trying not to use it as my only source that way I can get use to different body types. And, when I draw, I typically try to start out drawing the basic shapes, but I don't necessarily go down to drawing the bones, then muscles etc. I guess that is something I can start working on. Thanks again!

Not much to post today, but there are a few items. First is lesson 1 from my mentor. It is not a study of eyes, but a study to show how accurate I am when copying the reference. The first page is my copy of the eyes, and the second is my drawing of the eyes over top of the original to show the accuracy. The original lines are red. And I also have a quick sketch of my cat using oil pastels, and more face studies of my character, Jillian.

[meds]

a portrait of my sister that I got a little lazy with.

[meds]

I am currently studying perspective with my mentor, and I will post those studies soon. For now here is a picture I did for fun.

[JailHouseRock2]

Some great progress already!Love the last two, your portraits are pretty good, but make sure to keep up the full figure studies- proportions seem a bit off- heads too big:P

Good stuff tho, please keep posting and you'll see some really improvements soon!
Cheers,
matt

[anjyil]

I only glanced at the sketchbooks before jetting off and saw a familiar name--welcome to the course! You will do well, I think :) You already do pretty well on your own ;)

[meds]

Thank you everyone!

I am doing an online class with my mentor, and we are currently working on perspective. I have to admit that this is the first time I have ever drawn 2 point perspective. Here is some of the work I've done, and hopefully I will have more soon.

[anjyil]

Looking good! Better than mine, I think ^-^

[Taven]

In post #15, I'm impressed with how close to the original reference your eyes were, that's pretty amazing. The next picture in that post, the sketches of the lady's head, are nice (and way better then my faces), but I think that her eyes might be a little large. If they were a little smaller, I think she'd look more realistic. What was the medium used for the cat? It seems less refined then your other things.

The portrait of your sister looks really good to me. In your opinion, where did you get "lazy" with it? In the next post, #17, the face of the lady is done in a really interesting style; I like the colors a lot. I think the shading on her left cheek might be a little too intense, but other then that, it's pretty good. :)

Keep posting your progress, and keep up the good work!

--Taven

[Enydimon]

You're doing an awesome job. Keep it up.

Your form really started improving when you got into those eye studies.

[meds]

Thanks everyone!

Taven - The first cat picture was done with oil pastels, a medium I am not comfortable with. It was also a very quick sketch. In regards to my sister's portrait, I got really lazy with the hat. Thanks again for your critiques. They are helpful.

Here are more perspective studies and some cat portraits I did for friends. The aquarium I did earlier was wrong. I drew it again to fix the perspective problems.

[anjyil]

nice perspective work! And the pastels and charcoal looks really nice--I wish I was as comfortable with that :)

[meds]

More stuff. The last two are quick fanart sketches of video game characters (Haunting Ground) that I did at work.

[Clockwork Bunny]

I love seeing sketchbooks progress, yours has been evolving leaps and bounds!
the only thing I could suggest you work on is the proportions when your draw full figures.

the details on the faces are beautiful and delicate, look forward to seeing more

[anjyil]

The second to the last girl looks really cool! ;) I hope you finish that one soon!

[meds]

It's been a while, but here are a bunch of images I've worked on over the last few months.

[meds]

more stuff

[meds]

and more

[meds]

Finally, this is my last batch of updates for today.

[meds]

I decided to simplify the image. I think the idea was probably too advanced for me, and I wasn't able to convince myself that I would be able to tie everything together in a way that made the image flowed well. Hopefully this will allow me to focus on getting a few things right, rather than having a bunch of things that are just okay.

[meds]

And, the third time's a charm, at least I hope so. I think I'm finally happy with the composition of this sketch. Now I just need to color it, but I'm not sure how I want to do that yet.

[anjyil]

I like this simpler version a lot better. I always tell my students that simpler is better--and I love how you put the moon between them. That is cool! ^_^ I feel like the picture is better balanced.

I noticed with the faces at the same profile looking at the viewer, it seems like the two are one in the same, like two parts or personalities or something like that. Was that intentional?

[meds]

woo hoo for progress! Thanks! I'm still working on the composition, but I'm really glad I toned it down.

The girls are not the same character, but they are best friends that are intensely loyal to each other. Unfortunately, their friendship is rocked possibly beyond repair by a tragedy.

[anjyil]

Can`t wait to see it all together ^_^

If there is something that comes between them, then it might be more powerful if the girl with the rabbit had her back to the other girl, showing the tension between the two...

[meds]

shading practice

[anjyil]

Nice work--is that graphite?

I noticed that the highlight and cast shadow are not matching up. With where you have the highlight, I think the shadow would be more up and behind the sphere a little bit. Still, the gradations are awesome ^_^

[meds]

I used my mechanical pencil. I haven't figured out how to place the shadow yet, but I'll get there.


Here are a few more studies. I'm trying to learn how to paint digitally, so there will be a few digital drawings from time to time.

[Jason Scanlon]

The latest stuff is looking real good! Keep going

[anjyil]

I really like that ear---the lines look pretty good, actually ^_^

[Klaw]

Really great progression! I like your portraits. The one of your sister has a lot of great definition in it. The haunting ground characters are really good too! I am curious about Jillian: She is interesting, and a bit mysterious. Not a real person? Who IS this Jillian anyway? Great stuff, and thanks for sharing. Keep going!

[meds]

Thank you everyone!

Klaw - There is a story brewing in my head (I wrote one chapter so far), and Jillian is one of the main characters. I draw her often. I'm glad you find her interesting.

Here's a pencil/charcoal drawing of my sister done for practice.

[meds]

Here's another sphere. I think the shading is becoming more accuate, but I still need to work on edge lines and blending.

[anjyil]

This is looking a lot better than the previous ones, Meds. I have the same struggle with the lines. There are a couple of things that I have found helpful--one is using a mask of some kind . Even a piece of paper is good enough. I only use it during the blending process to try and keep from fuzzy the edges. Another is to use a stump with a finer point on it to blend the edges. A third way is to not blend the edges at all, or to go back over them with graphite after blending to strengthen the contours of the edges.

I noticed the core of the shadow isn`t as strong as it should be. It needs to be a close match to the cast shadow, if they are both supposed to be white, or darker if the ball is a different shade. I really recommend getting a ball of some kind to practice on--even a ping pong ball. It helps loads to see for yourself how it looks in real life ^_^ If Pat hasn`t suggested it yet, check out those Scott Robertson videos on the gnomon workshop. I found those extremely helpful.

Keep it up, dude!!! ^_^

[meds]

Yeah, I hope to get those videos soon, even if I only rent them. I saw a tiny bit of one on youtube, and it was very helpful.

[meds]

I did not reach my expecations with this picture. Maybe I will with the next.

[meds]

Here's another sphere, but this one is digital. It's not good, but by far the best digital sphere I've done. I still have lots to learn. I also need to learn how to accurately place the cast shadow.

[meds]

Here's more stuff. I know that the standing girl is not good, but I have to do more of this stuff to get better.

[meds]

With this sketch I learned that when I'm not confident, my lines really, really suffer. I also have no sense of proportions or balance.

[Junpei]

Hey great start, I'm sure you'll improve quickly. My bit of advice is make sure your highlights are consistent/relative to the rest of the drawing and you don't need so many shades to blend, only 3 or 4 for a color. :)

[meds]

Here's is some digital practice using the same sketch.

[meds]

more stuff

[meds]

and another sphere. My digital spheres are still pretty lumpy, but they are slowly getting better.

[anjyil]

Have you tried using the ellipse tool for your spheres? Spheres are more for shading than actual shapes, so it will probably help for that.

[meds]

Yeah, I use that tool. I color outside the lines sometimes. lol Even if the actual sphere was perfectly shaped, I think my blending also makes it look lumpy, but I think it's getting better. I just have to keep practicing.

[krel]

Hey meds! Didnt know you had an SB on CA. Keep going girl, your doing great :)

[meds]

Hi Krel! :)

Here is another sphere and a master study.

[meds]

more stuff.

[meds]

This master study was more difficult than the last one I did. By the time I got to the body, I was so tired that accuracy was pretty much thrown out the window.

[meds]

practice

[anjyil]

I still think you did good, Meds ^_^ Are those fish pastel?

[LAL]

Hey man , your paper works are very great!keep up my friend!

[meds]

Thanks. Yep, I used pastel and charcoal. I used white and black charcoal pencils, gray chalk pencil, and a red pastel stick on yellowish paper.

[anjyil]

Looks very nice ^_^

[meds]

Just quick drawing I did when I needed a break from a bargue plate copy.

[Klaw]

Really nice mood to these last posts! Love the colored pice in post 61. She reminds me of the old Coca Cola Girl. Very nice!

[meds]

More quick sketches.

[meds]

more stuff. I hope to have a bigger update soon.

[meds]

Here is a bargue plate study that I'm still tweaking here and there.

[Puffynose]

Huge improvement. I like you colored pencils a whole lot. Draw a lot from life. You cannot draw what u cannot see~

[Benjie]

sweet work man! your doing all the right things, keep doing the traditional stuff and the still lifes, they will help you out a tone. I'm diggin the light and form value studies your doing just make sure you do a shit load of full figure studies, you can never get enough of that.

[meds]

Thanks! Most of my colored pictures are done with pastels/chalk, not colored pencils. Also, there are no still lifes, yet. The shapes in this gallery are from photo reference or imagination. But, still lifes are next. And, I definitely plan to do more full figure work, but right now I'm working on shading with my mentor, which is why there is an abundance of shading exercises. The anatomy lesson is right around the corner.

[meds]

more sketches

[meds]

charcoal

[meds]

for my charcoal lesson

[meds]

charcoal

[meds]

This is my last drawing for my charcoal lesson, and now I'll be doing some still lifes.

Since this was just for practice, I just re-used an older sketch. I think it turned out better than the original drawing.

[anjyil]

I think you are right ^^

[Denki]

Med's keep up the good work. You will notice after a while that ur work will look and feel better.

[kojot]

from picture to picture you are better and better

when you make a study with charcoal try to paining not drawing
focus on black(charcoal) and white(paper)
like this
http://nathanfowkes.blogspot.com/2010/01/charcoal-demo.html

try to not copy but analyse the model

cheers and keep it up :)

[SusanMart]

oh, oh, oh

I think I looked through the history of your progress, your last works look impressively professional.
so almost a year has passed and you gained great skills.
I love your animals and humans. You can play with moods and inner states.

great job

[meds]

Thanks everyone!

Here's a still life that didn't work out as well as I hoped. I had some issues scanning it. I'm going to see if I can re-scan it later, or possibly take a photograph instead.

[meds]

A failed master study. Failed in the sense that the accuracy is way off.

[Novbert]

some really nice traditional stuff here.
I'd say you should experiment a bit with hair rendering - it can be a better idea to kinda block it in instead of rendering it strand by strand. Check these (http://www.fineart.sk/show.php?w=14) pages (http://www.fineart.sk/show.php?w=63) of Loomis' Heads and hands to see what I mean. also drawing spheres can be a good excercise, just be sure you also draw spheres of different materials (metal, wood, glass, etc.)

[anjyil]

Don`t sound so down about it---if you learned something, it isn`t a complete failure ^_^

[meds]

Novbert - I definitely agree about the hair, and you pointing it out only confirms it more. It is something my mentor recently pointed out, so I'll definitely be working on it. I'll take a look at those links you provided. Thanks so much!

anjyil - I'm not trying to be down, I'm just really frustrated in general. But, with that last drawing, I'm just trying to be realistic. I had a goal, which was accuracy, and I failed to meet that goal. I either need to work harder on the next one, or find out why I did not reach the goal.

[anjyil]

Well, what technique were you using to help you get as accurate as possible? It is probably bettter to first find out what is going wrong and THEN work harder ^_^ If you worker harder doing the same thing, you will just get the same results :D

[meds]

My last few master studies have shown me that accuracy remains a big problem, so over the weekend I decided to go back to some of the basic bargue plates for practice. I did them digitally and rather quickly, which I know isn't the way to do them. But, I wanted to work in a similar way to how I would draw, and I wanted practice with my tablet. My lines are the red ones. You can see how unsure they are. They'd look a little better if they were traditional.

[anjyil]

Nice work, Meds . I know you want to get more comfortable with the digital, butI really think you should setup this piece how it is meant to be. The idea is to get to the point where you CAN do it without thinking like this. I am about to get started on it again, too...blew them up as big as I can (each eye is on it`s own A4 paper). Whew...here we go again, right? ;P

[meds]

Nah, doing it this way is perfect for me at the moment because I'm also working on a master study, which is obviously a lesson in accuracy as well. Doing smaller and simpler plate studies and doing them rather quickly is a great way for me to warm-up. When I'm not doing a master study, I plan to work on a more complex plate and I plan to do it traditionally. If I were to do them the way they are meant to be done right now, then I wouldn't have time to devote to my master study, which is taking up almost all my time.

The main thing is that I don't plan to stop doing these. I'm not just doing them this one time. I plan to do them on a regular basis for practice (at least for a while). So, what I choose to do for practice any given day really will depend on what else i'm working on.

[Aresa]

You've got so good stuff here. I like your charcoal pieces. The have a great value range and look very smooth. All I can really say is, enjoy the process of making art. If things are not coming out the way you wanted, don't give up. :) Good luck and nice sketchbook!

[anjyil]

I understand what you are saying ^_^ Keep it up, then.

[meds]

Yeah, I'll definitely do it the normal way, or the way it was intended, once I'm done with the master study. I feel like all I've done lately is studies. I'm likely to rip my hair out soon. hahaha! But, I really am enjoying the current master study (the one of his daughter).

[anjyil]

I know the feeling. Don`t be afraid to step away from the study and do something for fun :D

[meds]

Here is another master study. It is better than my last one.

I'm going to take a small break from any type of studies for a few days and try to just sketch for fun. Then it's back to work.

[anjyil]

I still think it is really well done. Makes me want to give it another go :D

[meds]

Thanks! I had a lot of fun working on it. I was a little disappointed when it was over, but I'm starting to think that's because I get so sucked into the drawing that when I'm finally done with a project that took a few days, I get a little depressed. But, the process was fun. The next master study is a beast. hahaha! Almost half my time spent on this one was just trying to get the sketch right, so I don't want to even think how long it will take me to do the next one. I'll probably take a good break before I start it.

[xxPurple Nugxx]

Love your cat. I can't wait till I'm good enough to draw mine.

[meds]

Thanks! Drawing animals can be fun because I can experiment with the fur, and it seems there is more room for error. :)

[meds]

A few sketches. One is a Silent Hill fanart.

[meds]

just a quick life drawing of my sister watching tv. I hope to do this as much as possible. Hopefully we'll actually have time where she can model for me.

[dleoblack]

Hi Meds, I find the life drawing really well done, expecially in the eyes. I find the Mucha study also really nice! Continue with studies- also if sometimes are boring :)
Cheers
:)

[meds]

Thanks! Life drawing is kind of hard for me, so I'm glad you think it turned out okay.

[sanakris]

Great great great job. Keep on drawing man! And work on a combination of studies, still-lifes, and imagination. Keep at it and don't get discouraged! :D

[Lola3237]

You have a flair for portraits - keep working them, do as many as you can. Use friends, relatives, people who are in cafes, etc. Sketch, sketch, sketch. Your proportions are very nice in the top drawing. Nice pencil technique too. Don't worry about getting into other media. WAtercolor is VERY difficult to control. Use it when you want to just play for awhile. Do the sketches from real life - photos are ok if you have no one around to pose for you. Just remember that photos are flat and your drawing will end up being flat too. Keep those shadows and give it form.
You're doing great....keep going!!

[Lola3237]

just a quick life drawing of my sister watching tv. I hope to do this as much as possible. Hopefully we'll actually have time where she can model for me.

This one is very nice - you have captured a moment in time, a feeling. Good!!

[Lola3237]

A few sketches. One is a Silent Hill fanart.

This one is too high school looking. Do a different angle - turn the head 3/4 view. Frontal is ok for some portraits, but not recommended. Different lighting is good too.

[Lola3237]

Here is another master study. It is better than my last one.

I'm going to take a small break from any type of studies for a few days and try to just sketch for fun. Then it's back to work.

You're getting really good here!I like this one a lot - even if it's a frontal. Nice technique - and you are getting good at hands too.
NICE.

[Lael]

You have a really soft style, and it works good with your people. Keep it up!

[anjyil]

Wow, you can definately see the improvement from the course. Very nice work! You got a nice symmetry on the frontal portrait. I like the life portrait of your sister, too ^_^

[Pixie Trick]

Nice work meds! You've done some quite nice work and you're definitely improving. I have two things to suggest to you- A) Draw from life and B) draw quickly from life! :P Drawing from life can help you improve soooooo much. Not just people but pots and pans, or anything else you have hanging around. In terms of speed, going quickly means that you will have to work at getting value down quickly. Right now it appears that you use a rather laborious and meticulous method and I think speeding you up will help you to recognize the key value areas.

Keep at it! :hugsmile:

[The Pariano]

I don't have much in the way of critique, so just encouragement from me! Your latest life drawing is very nice- but always be aware that you are drawing a form- and not a face plastered onto an egg. Each feature you're drawing is part of the larger form of the head and in order to realistically represent something we must think in these terms of drawing and creating " forms" as opposed to " features".

Keep it up!

[meds]

This one is too high school looking. Do a different angle - turn the head 3/4 view. Frontal is ok for some portraits, but not recommended. Different lighting is good too.

If this was done as more serious portrait, then I can see what you are saying. However, this sketch was a quick character sketch to help me figure out how I wanted her hair, dress straps and crown to look. It is actually a quick sketch in preparation for a larger picture I'd like to do.
__________________________________

Thank you everyone for your comments and critiques. I'll keep them in mind as I sketch this week.

[meds]

Here's a quick sketch for fun. I needed a break from the art studies I've been doing.

[anjyil]

Me, too ^_^ Nice sketches.

[meds]

Yeah, I'm not one that can easily do study after study after study. I'm lucky to study at all. hahaha!

[anjyil]

lol. I love to study, but the harder exercises need more breaks or else I get whiny and frustrated! :D

[meds]

charcoal, chalk and pencil

[meds]

Here is a doodle in progress. It's nothing major, just some digital practice.

[meds]

Here is another update. I'm learning a lot from this, and I plan do small digital stuff like this as much as possible from now on. It is the only way I'll learn digital art.

[anjyil]

Keep it up, meds ^_^

[meds]

It is finished. And, now I move onto the anatomy lesson! I have to keep working on compostion with my mentor, but he has allowed me to work on anatomy as well, so I'm really excited. I think this will open up my ideas and pictures.

[meds]

doodle

[Softskin]

Not too shabby!! there's some really nice process going on here :D Keep it up. And if I was to say anything it would be to construct even more.. Make drawings where you build up the whole thing using the basic shapes: Cube, sphere, pyramid, cone... aand the last one I can't remember.. THEN do the "finished" lines on top with a darker line... really helps with shape-realism

[meds]

Great advice softskin. Thanks! I'll keep that in mind.

[meds]

anatomy studies

[meds]

more anatomy studies

[meds]

another sketch

[papervampire]

good stuff. looks like you're having a little trouble with the structure of the face... you should check out the bridgeman books, they really help to understand the planes and angles of the body... keep goin!

[anjyil]

nice anatomy stuff. Don`t skimp on the heads--put the same thought and care that you are into the rest of the body. Keep it up ^_^

[meds]

Here are just a few quick sketches, a drawing for a cousin and some anatomy studies. The anatomy is pretty bad, but that's okay.

[Sufuri]

Great work. I love the portraits, especially the first one

[meds]

trying to sketch more often.

[meds]

another sketch

[GuruGaia]

Hey meds your stuff looks strangely familiar :) Looking good BTW keep it up.

[meds]

Hi Guru! Thanks!

[ulyssessa]

The first is just a quick random portrait of no one in particular. The weird markings on her forehead are due to me wrinkling the paper.

Goals for this week are to do some observational drawings, work with some watercolors (I am new at painting) and to continue with quick portraits.

You are really good, but you have to exercise on sketching your lips,
they looks so tense. You can think that its a line from the pupil and down to the lips, where the line is ends, there your lips going to go and end to ;)

[meds]

Thank you for the tips, but that is a really old picture. There is always room for improvement, but hopefully they've improved since that image.

[meds]

sketch for today

[meds]

Today's sketch

[meds]

digital work

[meds]

here's my painting for today

[cgaddict]

Nice portraits here. Try pushing values more, think of the head as an egg and a variety of planes to give them more depth. Keep posting!

[meds]

Thanks for the critique. My mentor gave me the same critique, so I pushed this last image a little further to give it more depth.

[meds]

I'm not sure I like this, but it was fun to do.

[PSan1010]

WOW, meds, you are really an incredible artist. Your cats are amazing. Keep it up. I look forward to seeing more of your pieces. Thanks

[meds]

another in my clown series

[meds]

not much to say

[Woji]

cool stuff, I'd like to see what you'd do in oils, keep it up

[meds]

Thanks! I don't know how to paint with oils yet, but I'm looking forward to learning.

[meds]

Maria - Silent hill 2

This was for some practice with charcoal.

[meds]

just a few studies

[anjyil]

nice studies. that reminds me that I didn`t post my life quick sketches I did a week or so ago before I got really sick. Gonna have to do that later ^_^;

[meds]

Thanks michelle!

I think this will be the sketch for my next digital painting. I need a little break from some of the other stuff I’m working on.

[anjyil]

I can`t wait to see how this one turns out. I think you have a really nice base for a beautiful portrait on this one.

[meds]

It's been a little while since I've posted anything. I got a little busy around the Holidays, but I'm getting back to my studies. Here are a few things I found to post.

The first is a sample of a drawing that probably won't go anywhere and the rest are just doodles or studies.

[meds]

It's been a while since I've posted any sketches, so here are a few.

[meds]

more stuff

[meds]

I got some critiques from my mentor, so here is an update of my recent picture.

[meds]

a quick drawing

[meds]

This was an older picture that I cleaned up a little bit. It still has it's flaws, but it looks a lot better than it did. And, it gave me a little practice with digital art.

[meds]

I'm learning to paint!

[meds]

Here are some quick drawings (probably 5 - 15 min) where I tried to only use lights and darks to show form. I’m going to try to do this as much as possible to train my eye to see the simple shapes. It might take a while, but hopefully I’ll start to notice better form as I progress. Until then I can get a good laugh out of these. Oh, and I tried to use a medium that I couldn’t easily erase. Otherwise, I’d try to fix things too much and would start to spend too much time on details.

Here are the first three. I need to go do about a hundred more.

[meds]

I allowed myself an hour to work on this one. I’m just trying to focus on lights and darks to show form. I’m not use to working in this way, but I have to get past the beginner’s mistake of jumping into details too quickly.

[raminafshari]

good works , post #153 is ...

[meds]

thank you

[meds]

Here is a Mucha master study I did for my online art course.

[anjyil]

woah, nice study! Your lines have really improved a lot, too and the values are great. What image is this that you based your study on?

[meds]

Thanks Michelle! Here's a link to Mucha's original, http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artwork.php?artworkid=4453&size=large

[anjyil]

wow, amazing details. Ah, the time to do all those folds and movement of the fabric. nice work ^_^

[meds]

I’ve been practicing my digital painting and shading skills. I think both have gotten much stronger. But, my little sphere has lost her shadow.

I have a basic understanding of drawing cast shadows, but mostly I just fake it hoping it looks correct. However, the better the form looks, the easier it is to spot problems with the shadow. So, I'm going to try to find information on setting up a proper cast shadow.

[anjyil]

Hey, nice work on this one! You are really improving ^_^

[meds]

Thanks

Here's another master study.

[meds]

Here’s a quick Bioshock fanart. I thought I’d have a little fun before diving into my next master study.

[meds]

Here is another master study. It's not as accurate as it should be, but I learned a lot with this one. Next I'll be working on gestures, which is something I've never done before.

[meds]

This is a work in progress. I still have lots of work to do.

[meds]

here is my final picture. I'm kind of at the point where I'm making it worse, so that's probably a good time to stop.

[meds]

I've been working on gesture drawing. I was having some problems, so for now it's just stick figures, but that has helped some.

[meds]

just something quick

[meds]

charcoal

[meds]

more practice

[meds]

It's been a few months.

[meds]

more gestures and figures.

[meds]

mixed media

[meds]

This is my first still life painting. The little girl is fanart of game of thrones, and is just a quick sketch.

[meds]

another quick painting

[meds]

more painting practice

[meds]

acrylics

[meds]

I have such a quiet little sketch book, but maybe someone can help me with this. When first learning to paint, do people usually start with acrylics or oils? I feel like I want to try oils, but for some reason I have it in my head that they are difficult and not for beginners. I'm not sure if that's true, or just bad information.

[anjyil]

You should post this in the art discussion forum on this site. You are more likely to get a response from someone who has experience. Not sure how many people are watching your sketch. ^_^ I ,for one, have no clue but it is a good answer. Let me know what you find out ! ^_^

[meds]

quick sketches

[meds]

trying new things

[meds]

more studies and a new painting.

[meds]

Some digital paintings

[meds]

This one really shows how much I need to work on my basic shapes. But, still not too horrible for being new to painting either digital or traditional.

[meds]

another quick still life

[Nerferinn]

your studies are really getting better! keep it up!

[knut-]

Nice studies.
Keep up those value studies, you're doing great

[Roope Maatta]

Whooooah, you've improved so much since the start of this thread, brilliant! I really love your still lives and your figures have gotten way better. Now they have a sense of depth and volume. Keep pushing higher and have fun :3

[meds]

Thank you so much for the support. I appreciate it.

Here is another quick digital painting from life.

[meds]

Here is another painting from life, but I exaggerated the colors quite a bit. Not sure if that was a good thing or not, but it was still fun.

[meds]

not much to say about this one. I'm still primarily working with digital, but I really need to get back to my traditional painting as well.