Faytez's Sketchbook of To-Be Wondrous Art

[Faytez]

IF BORED, SKIP TEXT AND SCROLL, SCROLL, SCROLL. Start at last page too, while you're at it. Maybe I even improved. =O

Hi everyone! I'm Nicole, or Faytez if you want to call me that. I'm a 14 (now 15) year old girl living in Canada who've been lurking for the past few weeks. Hopefully in the future, I'd be attending an art school in California , but I need some help getting there, as my skills aren't exactly impressive. That's where you come in, and yes, I'm looking for critiques and advice, no matter how harsh it is.

Anyways, right now, I want to improve my human drawings, since I've always avoided those before. I'll try my best to update daily, so you better make the effort and look through my sketchbook. >D

[Faytez]

A sketch from a while ago that I touched up. Again with no references, but I spent more time on this.

With no knowledge of anatomy, it doesn't look that amazing does it? ._.

I'll make some studies today if I have the time.

[strange1900]

I'm sort of curious as to why you're drawing without refs, if it's simply from a lack of anything interesting check out characterdesign.com under photosets. There's a ton of great stuff and even though it's only pictures it's still more helpful than nothing and taking time with them should really help your figure drawing. The lines also look uncertain in both pieces but that's something I have trouble with myself. Best of luck.

[Faytez]

It's basically because I can't find any pictures that'll be a good ref. That site is amazing though. I used one of the images on there for a 20 -30 minute sketch ((attached))

Mm...Thanks for the advice! And does anyone have a good anatomy learning site? One with diagrams of skeletons and muscles? That'll be very helpful.

[strange1900]

XD for anatomy you probably can't do much better than some of the stuff on CA. Check out fine art and discoveries and look at the book of bones. nit only useful, beautiful too.

[Acisej030]

Posemaniacs.com is a neat little site. You might find that interesting. :)
But yeah, check out so books, or if you're in school, ask your science teacher if they have a skeleton in their closet you can look at. :D

[Faytez]

I'll browse CA some more. ^_^ Thanks!

And Acisej, I love posemaniac now. I've drawn four figures with its help. -attached- ((It's numbered in the order it was created))

I'll take a look at some books too, and I've seen a skeleton in the science closet before, so I shall take a closer look. Thanks!

[Faytez]

More of the same...Done left to right, then the one at the bottom.

[Faytez]

Some sketches of my hand. Each took around 15-20 minutes maybe?

I think that's all I can squeeze out today. I still have math homework to do for tomorrow. -sighs- High school sucks.

[Faytez]

I had to stay home sick today, but at least I have time to draw?

Not much motivation to make me pick up the tablet pen, but I did manage to sketch a little, and draw some random pictures.

Does anyone have any advice or anything? I'm not really sure what I'm doing, since I'm just sketching random things.

[Lapada]

hey thast a pretty good start -- better then what i could do back then , just keep drawing every day XD or when ever you can lol

[strange1900]

The work with your hand for reference is great, keep it up :) one suggestion with the figure drawing though; you might want to try to construct the figure rather than doing contour drawings. The contour is great but for me I understand more of the form if I work deconstruct the figure into the shoulder/hips/spine/hips ect as rough shapes and then flesh it out from there. Again, great work.

[Faytez]

Thanks Lapada, I'll try to draw daily. Hopefully I'll be as good as you one day. =)

And thanks strange1900 for the advice. I'll try to use more shapes to make the figures. I'm just not sure where to put all the shapes to use it to construct a figure, but I'll do my best.

I think that's all I'm going to draw for today. -tired-

[Faytez]

I was hooked on MLIA today, since I was home sick yet again, and have only just realized that I didn't draw anything. -shock-

And so I whipped up a little sketch. The eyes and noses were drawn without a ref, but the rest were.

Oh, and if you were wondering why all of the sketches are on photoshop, it's just because I don't have a scanner, and finding my camera all the time takes a long time. Yea, I'm lazy, so sue me. ._.

[Faytez]

I decided to not use a ref today, so...here you go.

I think I'd probably go back to using photos and live references again, since well, I still need a lot of work.

Sorry for all of the little posts by the way. I just never know when I'm finished for the day. I'm very tired right now, but later, I might find the inspiration to sketch something else.

[Faytez]

Hand bone structure.

I swear, bones are the hardest things to draw. @_@
I...don't know if I should add in the names of the little bones in a clump there, and decided not to, since there's no chance I'm actually going to remember them.

[strange1900]

Wow, I wish I learned as quickly as you. your figure's looking much more belevable. Congrats :D

[Faytez]

Thanks strange1900! I'll just keep practising until I can get it...as perfect as I can get it.

Update for today. I doubt I'm going to draw more, since I just had my last art class, and I'm tired.

P.S. The giraffe in the suit is a quick doodle that one of my best friend suggested.

Edit: Looking back at this a few hours later, I found out that the second hand looks really awkward. Oops. @_@

[Faytez]

Taking a break from figures, and attempting to "paint", but failing epically. We all have to start somewhere right? Any pointers? They would be very appreciated. ^_^

[alexson]

Hey that is one tasty looking pear! Nice figure studies you have here, I don't know if you already seen it but the books by Andrew Loomis is just super great. Figure drawing and all the rest of the books he made have at least helped me so much.
Keep up your hard work!

[Bombur]

Hey, that last painting looks great. You're definitely on the right track!

[Faytez]

Thanks Alexson and Bombur! I'll take a look at those books too. I need all the help I can get.

This apple...I was have a hard time blending the colors together, so I just decided to leave it. (I also have some homework to do, so I can't use more time)

[Faytez]

I was just in a rendering mode today instead of figure studies again. xD

20-30 min eye. I used a ref.

[Faytez]

Nose this time. 20-30 mins again. No ref.

Lips are next. ^_^

[Faytez]

Lips. =)

The biggest problem that I have is tying them all together to make it look like a face though. -sighs-

Anyways, it's midnight now, so I'm off to sleep. I'll try to draw as much as possible tomorrow, since I'm going to miss five days after that.

[Faytez]

x3 I woke up a few mins ago, and decided to work on anatomy things again.

Arm muscles, used a ref. (ignore the tiny hand please.)

[Faytez]

Putting some skin on the muscles now... ((Different drawing all together, but same pose))

[Faytez]

Well, I'm back now, with a face full of bug bites and all. I just sketched a few things for an update here. I think I need more arm studies, since the ones attached still look rather awkward.

[Faytez]

I think I'm a little stiff with my lines, so I sketched 15 minutes worth of 30 second poses. (Thanks posemaniac!) It was intense.

[Faytez]

I drew a few of these figures (without refs) to just practice using more fluid lines and practice making the proportions right. There're more than just the two that I'm attaching, but I'm not happy with the others. If anyone has any helpful advice or critiques or just a general hint, that'll be amazing, since no one's commented for the past...8 posts.

[Faytez]

Mm...Still no replies. Well, you can't stay silent forever. >D

More figures without refs. ((While watching old episodes of friends.))

Edit: Omg! Second page. -cheers-

[Faytez]

I decided to take a break from figure studies, and practice some head studies instead. :B Hurrah for Loomis!

[Faytez]

Well, I've wanted to work on a bigger piece instead of little sketches, so I took a look at the teen challenge, and decided to participate. =)

It's not going to be a huge masterpiece, but -shrugs-.

WIP at the moment.

[Zorcron]

the balloon looks great i would shoot for some charcoals too ,cant go wrong with charcoals

[ike_ike]

Neat. Although, isn't doing a ref-less figure study kinda redundant?

[Faytez]

Charcoal? I've used it once or twice before recently, but since my camera isn't the best, and I have no scanner, I can't really post it here.

Oh, and I'm just trying to get used to making my own figures with fluid lines. The majority of the figures are with refs from posemaniac. ^_^

Thanks both of you.

I have to apologize for no updates today, since I -just- finished a planning project which involved lots of glue, paper, and other arts and crafts stuff. Yes, it took forever, so yea...Sorry.

[Lyno]

Very good stuff Faytez, keep going, just keep drawing every day :D!

[Faytez]

Thank you very much Lyno. =)

I worked on it a bit more, and changed the city into a castle, as it's supposed to be. I'm going to keep going with this, and I think I'm going to slant it and maybe add something pulling it. I'm also going to tweak the colors, since they're looking funny.

Still WIP

[Faytez]

Um, well, I've changed some little things and added a background which I'll keep working on. That's about it for now.

Edit: Hm...Why is the quality so much lower now? -confused- Is there a way to fix that?

[Faytez]

Taking up figures again. Each took maybe 15-20 mins? I erased lines to make it cleaner. Ref from posemaniac.

[morningbloom915]

Stick with the ref'd figure studies. I'm seeing a lot of improvement there. The more you do them the better you'll grasp the form and your imagined stuff will look more realistic. You have to reinforce the correct proportions so many times before it sticks (at least in my experience - I'm still not there yet)

I love the article at the beginning of your sketchbook too. Never really thought of it that way...puts it in perspective!

[Faytez]

Thanks morningbloom. I'll do that. ^_^ I love that article too.

Sorry for not updating yesterday. I was really tired and busy, so yea...I'm pretty much free the entire day today though, so hopefully I'll put something else up.

[Faytez]

Mm...Refs from character design. Took I guess 20 mins each?

[Faytez]

Ugh, I was trying to do more figure studies, but I couldn't get anything right, so I just doodled.

[Faytez]

I tried to draw this person again, but I don't think it worked that well. I had to redo it a lot, and I'm still not satisfied, especially with the face. Which led to me drawing a face with a reference.

Edit: I took out that person because it made me cringe every time I looked at it. xD

[Faytez]

I was busy with a sleepover at a friends during Thanksgiving and such, as well as volunteering at the aquarium (Haven't been there in ages), so I didn't draw yesterday. Anyways, I reworked the background since I wasn't happy with it. I've never drawn clouds before digitally, and I'm not really sure how to. xD

[Faytez]

I had no idea what to draw today, so I just drew a circle, and went on from there.
-shrugs-
Yea...

Anyone have any suggestions on what to do?

[Faytez]

I felt like coloring one of the sketches, so I took the sketch of the face and...started on it. WIP at the moment. :B

Edit: Oh god, looking back, I've finally realized how awfully pastey and pale and ugly this looks. Oo; Anyways, keep scrolling. xD

[ehhwot]

I'm doing the Loomis head studies too. =) Drawing circles does get boring after a while. I'm doing some more head studies - with features - in some of the more interesting angles, and then working on refining features.

[Faytez]

=) I'll get back to Loomis and try that as well, ehhwot. Thanks for visiting!

I added a bit more color and just basically worked on the face a bit more. I'm saving as GIF at the moment, but the quality isn't great...Is there a way to fix this? Or something else I can use?

Edit: Hm...The color on the actual photoshop image is more saturated than what you can see. Strange.

[Faytez]

Worked on it a bit more. I think I'm going to end this and start something new, since I don't seem to be going anywhere. xD

I saved it as JPEG this time, so hopefully the quality would stay the same.

[Faytez]

Mm...Well, I was practicing figures again, but most of them are pretty messed up, so I wouldn't post them here.

[Faytez]

I started on a new, full body piece, but it was hideous, so I'm not going to post it here at the moment. I'm having a lot of problems rendering the face, especially the eyes, so I'm just going to practice those separately.

[Faytez]

Well, I wanted to get more comfortable with drawing faces, so I found a picture of one of my best friends, and...yea. I figured it was easier to draw someone you're familiar with, but turns out, it's harder. @_@

WIP at the moment. I've been working on it for almost 2 hours, and I still have so many things to change. Btw, it's saved as GIF again, so the colors changed.

[Faytez]

Worked more on the portrait...But still not satisfied at all.

[extremeillustrator]

NO U R WRONG IF U SAY YOUR WORK ISN'T IMPRESSIVE, ACTUALLY YOUR WORK IS. CONSIDERING YOUR AGE ITS BRILLIANT, YOU HAVE LOT MANY YEARS TO GO SO JUST DON'T WORRY AND ENJOY.

MY SKETCHBOOK
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=171543

[Faytez]

xD Thanks extremeillustrator. I do have a long, long, long way to go though.

Oh, and I just noticed that I've kept this sketchbook active for a whole month! I usually have a problem being motivated to continue things, but this site's very inspirational. =)

[Faytez]

Ohh, I found these lil things that I used to make last year. They were fun to make, but really time consuming, which is why I stopped. I just thought I'd share them with you.

Shown in order from the first one I made, to the last.

[Faytez]

I made some minor changes, and am calling it finished for now. I don't want to spend too much time on it.

[Faytez]

Arg, I think I'm going to do studies in an actual sketchbook now, since it's easier to control the pencil than the tablet pen still. ((Even though there isn't a control Z in life))

Anyways, here are the tiny batch of horrid tiny Loomis studies. I don't have a scanner, so if I want to post pencil stuff here, it'll be by a camera, so the quality would be bad. ((Just a warning))

[Zorcron]

learning to do things without a "controll Z" will train you to be more confident with your work.

show us some Sketchbook material mate ! would love to see some


keep it coming

[Faytez]

I'll try my best to refrain from using those blessed keys. xD Thanks!

Mm...I think I'll just beg my mom for a scanner. It'll be very, very useful.

[Faytez]

Whooo! Third page.

Anyways, sorry for not updating yesterday, I had my first portfolio/art studio class thing, which was 3 hours, so when I got home, I had homework, and just didn't have time to do something extra. Anyways, today was kinda busy too, but I managed to set an hour or so to do some studies. And what's even better? This is the first time that you guys would see my pencil drawings. I know the quality isn't amazing, but that's just because of my lack of a scanner, and my poor camera skills (As well as my non-existent art skills). The paper's actually white, just do you know. I guess the light made it all...not white.

And yes, I realize I have messy writing. >.>

I used The Practical Guide to Drawing Figures by Barrington Barbar for this.

[Faytez]

xD Well, I did another page of that book, and this time, the photo turned out gray and black instead of bright orange!

[Faytez]

Figure sketch on paper.

It actually took like, an hour to do, but I'm not that proud of it. -shrugs- It's a start I guess. This'll be my entry for the day, since I had an orchestra concert today, which took up the entire day. @_@

Oh, and I've been watching So You Think You Can Dance Canada, and I've been so inspired by them. I wish I could dance...-sighs- Especially contemporary.

[Faytez]

Mm...Alright, well, this is a WIP of my other best friend. Yes, her tongue has a blue part to it in the photo ref. It's not just me picking a random color. xD It's just a start.

About 1 hour of work so far.

[SamC]

Good job, keep it up. Unfortunately your hour estimating needs a bit more work, I think it'd be very probable to achieve 10,000 hours in 4 years even if you slacked a lot. Although, I think spending that much thought on hours is quite counter-productive :)

[Faytez]

Thanks Sam.C!

I don't think that it's that easy to reach 10 000 hours though. If you wanted to finish all of the hours in four years, it would take 7 hours of practice each day, which is far from slacking. Of course, my math isn't the best, so it could be wrong. xD

[Faytez]

Alright, I worked on that WIP a bit more. Still quite a lot of work to go. There's something that isn't quite right, but I can't put my finger on it...

[Faytez]

Well, I think I'll call this one done too. I had an art class at school today, where a model came in, and then I went to a portfolio making art studio thing for 3 hours, so I'm all art'd out for now.

Oh! And I got a scanner! So now, when I draw something worth posting, I can scan it instead of taking a picture. -cheers-

[Faytez]

Whee! I -finally- got my brand new scanner to work!

Of course, this is a page from my new sketchbook, so...next time, I'll draw more in the middle, and try to not leave too much white space between the images. xD

I love Disney, so I thought it was time to take a look at some "How to draw Disney Princess" pages.

[Faytez]

More Disney!
I sketched Jasmine and Belle, and a really bad picture of Aurora in my "doodle book" at school, but forgot to bring that home to scan, so you'll have to wait until Monday for that. I've drawn more in my actual sketchbook though, which I have here. Cinderella's the hardest princess to draw in my opinion. @_@

[Faytez]

Ahhh! I haven't updated in -so- long. I've started a WIP of Midna, from Legend of Zelda. I've been drawing lately, yes, but only like, school things or studio things that I can't really show since they're not...at my house.

Lately, I've been trying to sketch things that aren't like, imitating other drawings, but more something I made up, and I just can't do it. Any tips on starting an idea?

[Faytez]

Mm...I think I ate something bad today, so I stayed home again instead of going to school. Worked on the Midna picture some more, and drew some...random thing as well as a really bad animation jumping experiment just to see how it works. (I'll work on animation after I get a better grasp on everything else) I''ll scan a few pages of doodles in my notebook at school on Friday. I'm being very bad at updating daily nowadays. @_@

[silvestri99]

keep up with those daily sketches. It was told to me once (teacher was quoting another source) that everyone has 10,000 bad drawings in them and then sooner you get them out of the way the better off you'll be. Keep doing the anatomy studies and life drawing. If you're looking for ideas I can't help much. Most new ideas are just combinations of existing things or old ideas. Read some fantasy or books that you like and try illustrating what you are reading so that it matches how you picture it in your head. Good luck!

[Faytez]

Will do! Thanks!

Sorry for not updating for such a long time. I've been...lazy in posting, but I -have- been drawing every day still. I just haven't visited this site for a while. -coughs-

Anyways, I've worked a bit more on the Midna picture. =) I've taken a break with it, but just recently looked at it again.

[Faytez]

Taking a break to start something new.
It looks awfully colorful and ugly, but hey, I have about 9999 more of these to go. ;P

[Faytez]

Drew another of the same as above. Hands are hard to draw. D:

[andres333]

You've been working hard that's inspiring
I think you should focus completely on gesture and structure, and leave color for later

[Faytez]

Alright. =) I'll see if I can do some gesture drawings. Thanks!

[Faytez]

Mmkay, well, I -have- been doing more posemaniacs, but I haven't scanned it yet, so all I have here is my first OC and my third finished person drawing.

Here's Mira. ^_^

[Faytez]

Mmkay, I finally got off my butt and drew some more posemaniacs. I've really got to find myself a figure drawing session place.
P.S. the lined paper ones are on my notebook from school, which I doodle on...all the time, so you can see through it to the page opposite, hence the vague outline of Sonic. x3

[Faytez]

Well, since my posemaniacs are hideous, and not accurate, I'm determined to draw more.

[laxon]

Some interesting work here. It is good that you are doing anatomy studies just make sure you keep doing them often ^^ Keep up the progress! :)

[Faytez]

Thanks laxon, I'll continue to do those studies. =)

WIP of...an amazon warrior?
I might just cell shade it quickly to get it over with, or...spend a lot more time on it.

[Faytez]

Mmkay, well, I decided to work more on it, so here's the result. Not too sure what to think about it.

[chibimeli]

i like the sketch of the little birds, they look realistic to me :D

oh, and i like the disney princesses as well, ahahaha

[Faytez]

Thanks. =) Well, I have some more sketchbook pages that I've scanned. I'm very lazy, so I just upload everything at once. Everything is ref'd from various...things, including paused youtube clips, books, or coloring pages.

[Faytez]

Wow it's been a while since I've been back here.

Um...I guess I'll update, since I actually have been drawing. I'll just show the two main pieces. I didn't use a reference for either, which is why it kinda looks weird. >.>