i guess this is where i should post this...

[Lucian]

im a real beginner..like uber begginer but wtever.

first question: Where can i get a cheap scanner?(i took this with lame didital camera)

second question: Where should i go from the point im at? i take an art class but its advanced program art so its a lot of bookwork and writing about other famous artists so its not really teaching me anything.

btw i'm in high school

here it is:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/vega177/apple001.jpg

[manadigi]

I'm also new on drawing,and the basic skills that I have I gained from practicing with pictures on art book,go to the library and find art books and drawing books,I got a book from the library title "how to draw comic the marvel way" by Stan Lee and John Buscema,is very basic but it was a good excercise for me.
Scanners? man! go to a thrift store and for sure you are going to find a scanner for 5 to 10 dollars
Good luck.
Manuel.

[freakedintheface]

alot of it is self taught

then studying the history is cool to see where its been at and where its going

then to see and study the old school artists
they were the best
study the techniques and the art itself

just keep at it and post here on these forums
there is alot of people and willing to help you out here

as for cheap scanners just go to a store
best buy walmart
or online
check out newegg.com

i also never heard of a diDital camera
are those new

but by the looks of it you need more contrast on your shading on your apple
seems washed out

darken the the core darks to make it stand out


other than just study

use references to study anatomy and structure
it helps out alot

that all from me

[pvrhye]

Moved: i guess this is where i should post this...

hehe, guess not.

[SirRon]

Cheap? What's your price range? I really wouldn't suggest getting a scanner just because it's the cheapest. Chances are you get what you pay for. But it wouldn't hurt to get the cheapest scanner that won't crap out on you. Sure it might cost $100 more than the lowest scanner but at least you saved yourself from buying a piece of junk.

Couple of links I found that might help you.

http://www.viewz.com/shoppingguide/scanner5.shtml

http://www.mouthshut.com/readreview/19663-1.html

Good luck with finding a scanner.

As for your second question, just keep on going you're heading in the right direction. Still lifes are going to be your friend for awhile. You just gotta check out where MindCandyMan (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=870&highlight=mindcandyman) started to where he is now... it's amazing. And he started where you're at now. Me too, but I'm not even close to where he is now.

The suggestions here are good. What I can tell you is to learn the basic shapes. Spheres, cubes, and cones (I feel like I'm missing one more, can't think of it though). You can pretty much draw anything with variations of those shapes. Use those shapes to help you learn perspective. Once you get those two concepts down you have the tools. Now it's just a matter of constantly sharpening them. There's more stuff too, but you can find new stuff once you know shapes and how to draw them in perspective. That's in my opinion, other people may say otherwise.

I kinda feel bad that I'm not a pro that can impart great knowledge and stuff to you. The least I can do is encourage. Something I wish I could've gotten when I was in high school.

Post more.... and if people aren't replying, that's just their silent way of saying "post more" :D

['becca]

your drawing looks good. What medium did you use? Is it from life? How long did it take you? You need to watch the placement on the page, and it needs a shadow to keep it from floating, if it is from life, there must have been one.It's good you made it as large as you did, but lower and more off center would have been better composition. It needs some darker darks and some highlights to get it three dimensional. 'becca

[CCCP-DeLux]

SirRon forgot cylinders, one of the most important shapes for drawing any animal. Tsk tsk!

Lol! Thankfully my art teacher, while he did teach us SOME history because it was required, knew better than to be a tool and leave us clueless about MAKING art. If you feel you're not learning what you should be learning dont be afraid to 1- Ask the teacher about things like the basics you should be learning: negative space, value, stipling, cross-hatching,etc. or 2- be bold and let the teacher know you are learning nothing that will be useful until later on, which is exactly what art history is, something that's only useful AFTER you learn the basics.

But, it is helpful. I got some cool ideas out of René Margritte's works. And Salvador Dali, well... let's just say the man was way out of left field :wink: ... and very creative.

Make the darkest parts a little darker. You know what might really help you? Get a white egg, a white peice of paper, and a white light source. Place the egg on the paper, make it dark in the room, aim the light source at it, and draw it as many times as you can until you think you've got it crisp and correct. Later on you can put a white styrofoam cup next to the egg, slightly obscuring it, and then repeat. You should pull a lot of valuable value knowledge out of that. Remember that the light will be bouncing off of the paper and causing secondary illumination.

Your art teacher SHOULD be teaching you these sort of things, that's why you took the freaking class now isn't it? :^^:

[pvrhye]

You're drawing from life which is good, so i'm not really gonna critique you on the appearance of the apple, just keep at it and try to really think about what you're seeing. Apart from that work large and really fill up that piece of paper and try to push your values. Get your darks darker and your light lighter. An excersise that i find is good for that is to take a piece of paper, go over it with charcoal dust or some crumbled up vine charcoal to get it all a 50-75% black grey color. Then take a kneaded eraser, a hard plastic eraser, and a gum eraser and some charcoal and draw from that middle grey. it will get you thinking in terms of highlights and shadows. Right now your work seems biased to shadows.