The Tao Timeline

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

A 21 year old learning to draw. I gotta update this page more.

-Samples of a character I've drawn from age 14-20 (some of them are a little scary) I use him to gauge my art skills from year to year.
-Followed by a muscle man from Figure Drawing For All It's Worth by Andrew Loomis, and some practice sketches.
-I'll post more probably tomorrow. Phew! First post, kinda scary.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Ok, a few more pics. Sorry that some of my other art shows up in the background of the pics, I'll fix that in my next post.

-A mother trucking ball beside The Egg of Failure. (I do battle with tones on a regular basis)
-People sketches, mostly from Andrew Loomis' book. I've got about thirty pages left on FDFAIW and it has been an amazing help!

[obstacle3]

Nice stuff so far. I totally relate about choosing video games over drawing. sall about getting the motivation to do things for yourself isn't it. keep going with the Andrew loomis, i've just started doing some studies of his and there already paying off!

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

I know, eh? Video games are both a curse and a blessing. It was only a few months ago I realized that I'd better either get my butt in gear or give up and go back to school and learn to become a computer I.T. Then my Muse's like, "Noooo, don't make all those hours of drawing for naught! I'll kill you if you do!"
Sooo, yeah. Art it is.

[Krato]

keep up the hardwork, you just need to stick with it and you'll improve.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Alright, A few sketches of random junk lying around my desk, as well as some ideas for a picture I want to draw.
I think I need to find a better way to take pictures of my sketchbook.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Went to a life drawing class yesterday. It's been two years since I've drawn people from life, and after two hours I was physically and mentally exhausted. Of course I'm going back next week, and every week work permits me.
Some of my work below. It was tough at first but each drawing got a bit better.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

It's been awhile! I've been pretty sick the past few weeks so I've had no energy to post, instead I watched more tv than I have in years, from Silence of the Lambs to Princess Tutu. "Hello Clarice."
Managed to drag my lifeless corpse to another life drawing class.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Hands, hands, oh lordy, hands. Some worked, some didn't. Then there's our family piano, which no one plays, and finally some real quick sketches of a girl drawn from imagination.

[AlexTooth]

Nice studies, I think your life drawing looks great, and I know how hard it is!!

Try to back up studies with drawign anatomy from memory^^

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Thank you! Yeah, I want to get into sequential art (Comic books, animation) so it's pretty important I learn to draw from imagination, isn't it?

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

A couple pics from reference. I've been drawing naked people for so long I no longer remember how to draw clothed people. (If I ever did, haha!) Someday I'll learn to shade 'fer reals!

[Lateman]

sweet work! keep at it. more studies!!!!

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Ok, so,

-Some more practice sketches of clothed and non clothed people

-A self portrait of my face. Didn't turn out great. I'll have to do some studying and try again.

I've come to accept that my camera skills suck, I'll just live with it.

[north pole]

good drawingss uve got.. and u are at the true way to being a master.. keep that.. and draw more.. (:

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Thank you everyone for the kind encouragement!

-Posemaniacs. Haven't done this in awhile. And I always did it on the 1 minute timer. This time I put it on 30 seconds and I was all "Eek! Wait! Stop! No! Arg!"

- Some eyes and shading practice.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Been awhile since I've posted here! That's because, aside from Christmas, I've been working on a portfolio to go back to school (Animation). A few samples are below, any suggestions for improvement would be greatly appreciated, because I'd rather know something's wrong now than when I'm rejected from art school.

[iven]

Very nice work here, you remind me what else I can do to improve.
Hands have Boxes underneath I drew just BOXES for almost 1 year until it get's
natural to think in boxes, you'll improve 100 % if you change between sketching
and drawing just boxes;1 hand has 16 boxes.

I posted here some interesting links at the last page:
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=128605&page=9

And thanks to this guy:
http://www.placidchaos.com/AM/index.php/2006/02/21/andrew_loomis

After this google service I want to see some improvement :assspank:

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Actually I'm studying hands from a book called "Drawing Dynamic Hands" by Burne Hogarth. Great book. Unfortunately I'm only part way through it because I'm kinda ADD when it comes to art books. I have about ten art books that I've read the first 1/3 of. I just want to learn EVERYTHING and end up jumping back and forth a lot.

BTW, iven, looks like you're applying to one of the same schools I am (Sheridan).

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Another head for my Tao Timeline (Among other drawings). It's been almost a year since the last addition, so it was time.
Though still not perfect, I'm happy with this pic because I feel I'm finally learning how to draw heads consistently. All it took was some serious studying of my How to Draw the Little Mermaid book. "Ok, you start with a circle, then you add a triangle for the jaw, and HOLY SH*T it makes total sense!

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

-My friend said I needed to work on my necks, so I did a page of necks. Took me about 45 mins.
-Got a tablet for Christmas so I tried a bit of coloring with photoshop. Gave up about half way. I think I need to do some masters' copies to really get the hang of using a tablet.
-Also, chickens!

[Turbosnail]

Nice SB Cherry!! You've got some nice stuff here and your hand studies in post #17 look pretty accurate. Keep pushing yourself my friend!!

[Twan]

I see lot of hard work, it's good! don't forget to draw (or attempt to ) draw realistic faces or figure from mind, it enables you to find your weaknesses!
keep on drawing

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Finally finished my portfolio for Sheridan college (animation). Such relief! Now just to scan it, pack it, and send it on its merry way! And... wait two months to see if I'm accepted! Yay, waiting!

-Some eyes I drew quite awhile ago. I surfed the net, found pieces I liked and copied the eyes. I wanted to get the feel for different types of eye shapes that artists and cartoonists used.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Must fight on...

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Tried to draw last night after work and my brain shut down. It seems I enjoy drawing mornings the most.
I'm going to work on portrait drawings now. I'd really like to be able to draw people's faces with a good amount of accuracy.
Still fighting with shading.
Also, moar chicken! (Acrylics)

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Oohhh, lookie! 3-Dness! Bit by bit shading makes more sense. Yay! *Dances*:steph:

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Drawing from a Portrait Drawing book by Wendon Blake/John Lawn. It appears I have trouble with symmetry. And Noses. And everything. Ah, well. I'm getting better, anyways.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

My kid brother likes digging up artistic/indie/bizarre movies. So I decided to watch one of them, a black comedy named Teeth, about a girl with teeth in her, uh, "special place." Oh, dear lord, every dick chopping scence is stuck in my brain! I cannot unsee them! I need brain bleach!!!!
I wonder who were the artists behind sculpting the chopped up penises? You think they had fun?
And now here's some pretty pictures.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

I've been doing little but reference drawings/studies for the past few months so I thought I'd draw from my imagination at least once and a while.

[emilylorange]

This is something you're realizing at least subconsciously on your own, because in the work you do from observation it's not as pronounced, but it keeps popping up in the work you're doing in your head.

It looks like you're using a circle to define the shape of the head, and then trying to fit the parts of the face into that, resulting in cramming and confusion when you run out of the space.

The reality is that the skull does have a circular shape to house the brain, but it also has another plane attached to it where the face rests. It may be easiest for you to try to define it as an egg shape and work from there, or if you want to stay with the circle recognize that there's a wedge of it missing in the 'back'. To express this visually:

http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_203/119405381898yu24.jpg

http://www.darkelementals.com/incomplete/porexample.jpg

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Hm, yeah I stopped using the egg shape a long time ago because I found I kept making one side bend outward more than the other. I found the circle was a little easier to control. I suppose I'm beyond that anime knockoff drawer of me at 18, and should think of trying the egg shape again. Because that's exactly what happens, I run out of space and get confused, and then everythng comes off asymmetrical.

Any advice on what to do about asymmetrical eyes? They annoy me so.

[mdbauman]

Cool stuff dude, lots of improvement.

What do you mean when you say "asymmetrical eyes"? That they appear asymmetrical in your reference or they're asymmetrical in your finished drawing and shouldn't be?

If you're drawing from reference and can't figure out how to construct it just try to get the contours right.

If you mean that your drawing turns out funky, try comparing angles and distances between different masses/shapes to make sure your lines are in the right spot.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Yeh, when I draw one eye often turns out smaller or lower than the other one. I've tried measuring and construction lines but they still sometimes come out funny.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

So I made it to page two. Yay.

-Some failed heads and another self portrait with some primitive shading. Looks a little better than the last one, eh?
-Some figures drawn from imagination. About... ten minutes each? I wanted to see what parts of the body I'm still struggling with. Upper body, it seems.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

A few more reference pics. I think I'm finally getting the eyes level.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

I hit a week long drawing slump there. Think I've finally shook it off.

-Made a revelation while watching Evil Dead II a couple days back. When Bruce Campbell turned his head I realized his ear was slapped in the middle of the side of his noggin. I'd been drawing the ear too far back all this time and I think that's partly why my heads look off. Silly girl! I knew that!

Edit: Huh, no matter what I do my new Sketchbook image doesn't show up.
Edit: Oh, there it is.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Slowy managing to change the way I draw heads. (Used the egg shape, yo!) Like Emilylorange said I had a lot less difficulty "cramming in the face parts." Still far from perfect but hopefully I'm going in the right direction.

- For some reason this woman looks like Stephanie Meyer to me. Why? It definately isn't, I don't even like Twilight!

[My57]

If you wanna do more realistic hands try focusing less on line and more on form and shadows like how you would draw a still life. There is no such thing as a line in real life, just the difference in contrasts. Pretty a lot of people say that but if you follow it then your gonna improve quite a bit :D

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Son of a bitch! What has it been like a month since my last update?
Word of advice, if you want to be an artist don't get involved with people.
Sam damn it! I wish I could go back to being a hermit.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Here we go, back into drawing regularly. I'll start with some figure drawing and move back into (ugh) perspective and shading.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

I'm back from a far too long hiatus! I spent four months working two jobs and any time I wasn't working I was visiting friends/boyfriend. But since then I have moved across the country away from them to go to animation school, so obviously no more excuses not to draw. Here's a few things I drew for class.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

It's nice being in a class with a bunch of artistically talented people. If I'm struggling with a drawing I just turn to whomever I'm sitting beside and ask "Hey what's wrong with this picture and how can I fix it?"

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

School is keeping me super busy, but I should remember to update once and awhile.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Happy Holidays everyone!

Here we have some life drawing and 1 and 2 point perspective practice. Perspective isn't *that* hard once you get the hang of it. :^^:

[kiwigarbage]

Lookin' better and better! Keep going with those knee and elbow sketches. I've noticed that the "hinges" in your figures are quite unresolved. This could be because everyone you've been drawing has had on baggy clothing, so it's hard to tell.

Keep truckin'! And don't apologize for your time away, just update :D

Merry Christmas to you!

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Since last September I've been sending my boyfriend letters with hand drawn pokemon attached while I'm away at college training to be an animator, averaging about one a week. I've noted they're a very good gauge for how much I've improved in the last seven months. The first few are pretty wobbly and unsure since at that point I hadn't been practicing my art near as much as I should have been. Each one takes about 40 minutes.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Part 2.

[HAJiME]

The sandslash is awesome<3

Nice studies further up the page. I think you'd benefit from loosening up your hand. You sketch by making small strokes, try longer, fluid, looser strokes. You'll be able to get down more generalised information quicker. Handy when drawing from life.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Thanks!
I know, my teachers have been trying to beat the small sketchy line drawing style out of me, but it's hard to break real old habits. Still I'm trying to use longer strokes, but the old habit still keeps kicking in.

[Kendall]

Your studies are looking awesome! And Pokemon are just bitchen all the way around. Looks like you could you some practice rendering your pieces though, you have the basic structure down with you're line work looks like, now it's just rendering it out to give it some weight. Great work man, keep it up.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Thanks! And you're definately right. Rendering is one of my main weaknesses

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

I am still drawing lots, just not updating lots. I should change that.
A rough self portrait of me. About half an hour.

[iven]

Wooooow love the roomdrawing and the chickens, and all the play full character designs
at the end. I really like stylized drawings I did a cute update as well.

[masterpug]

Heya! Glad to see you are doing some studies. They are soooo important. Even the guys who came up with Pokemon did tons of studies before they ever got into drawing cartoons. They help with everything. Something you might try (since it looks like you are doing everything with pencil and paper) is do a rough drawing of a person in pencil. Then get a sheet of tracing paper and go over it and try to map out the muscles. After that, do it again, but map out bones. Then when you draw from your head, you can map out simple bones, figure out where the muscle is and then BAM - you have a person!

Also know a lot of people who draw in straight pen to help build confidence of stroke and motion. I get locked into a similar trap of using my wrist when I draw. Still do sometimes and it is hard to break the habit. Actually better to draw from the elbow and use your fingers for the control. Something to think about.

Keep up the work! Nice thing about drawing is people only get better as long as they keep at it.

[Cherry_Cheesecake100]

Still working never updating. Bluh.