self portrait that needs major examining

[Brium]

I'm new to CA.org and would like any help from those who are willing to give. I recently decided to take my art more seriously which lead me to buy books on drawing and to this web site.

Anyway, I drew this sp of me referencing an old photo, but it didn't turn out like me at all. I can spot alignment and porportional erros, among other things, but I would like others to tell me the major things that need to be improved so that I can improve.

http://brium.net/images/art/self1.jpg
Sorry if the image is light, that's how my scanner scanned it...or maybe I draw with light lines. I apologize if it's too big as well.

[fukifino]

I personally think this is a good start. What you have here shows that you are capable of drawing what you see. I particularly like the nose, lips and ear.

You already seem to know your shortcomings: proportion and relation. Spend more time in the inital phase planning the drawing out. Sketch lightly and try to get the locations of objects down in relation to each other. Don't sweat the details early on. Only when you're sure you know exactly where everything goes, start to come in darker and render.

It's a good start, keep at it!

[Brium]

You're absolutely right, I do need to spend more time planning out the picture. For some reason when I draw in my support lines they tend to be off from where the actual body parts should be. Spending a little more time in the early phase of my drawing would help.

Thanks for the comments and good words, fukifino!