Is this good practice?

[HunterKiller_]

Hi
I just bought a new Graphire3 tablet a few days ago. Ever since then, i've been going to Doodlebug (http://doodlebug.desktopcreatures.com) and 2Draw (http://cellosoft.com/2draw) (which i visited on a regular basis before purchasing a tablet). I draw at least one piece on each of those sites everyday, is this a good way to practice? Or should i be using photoshop do more intense stuff?

EDIT: Oh and here's the work i've done on both sites.
2Draw (http://http://cellosoft.com/2draw/users/HunterKiller_/gallery/)
Doodlebug (http://doodlebug.desktopcreatures.com/members/HunterKiller_)
I would love some critique please. The latest 3 on 2Draw were done using the tablet.
And a little history on myself if you need it for your evaluation, i am 17 years of age. Been drawing ever since i was still wetting my bed. Haven't really taken any art classes except the art subjects at school. Lastly, i have recently got into CGing.
Thanks.

[HunterKiller_]

Please?

[Danilo]

You will get more replyes if you post some work in forum.

[egerie]

Allright here's an ultra condensed path you might want to take in consideration..

It's very good to be consistent early on and draw everyday as you do. But in order to progress further, practice isn't the only thing you should rely on. You have to learn while doing it as well.
Computer graphics, tablets and 2D packages are great but it remains a medium among others. Everyone has to go trough the learning process of the basics. You can stick to digital work but I highly recommend learning with more traditional media especially when it comes to colour theory. Now in terms of topic, always learn from reality before creating from your head. I understand it's enjoyable to jump immediatly into your own fantasies, monsters, aliens and popular topics of the sort, but you won't learn dirt from doing that.
That said, you could start drawing from life and start focusing on outer shape and silouhettes, trying to be as close as what you see, starting to get the hang of the general proportions of an object / person.

You could then shift toward negative spaces (the empy space between legs and/or arms on a model, objects), to give you a point of reference and comparison when trying to draw from life and as accurate as possible.

To practice basic shading, drawing something white will be the easyest way to learn. A folded and then crumpled piece of paper is great for this kind of foundations. You really need to figure out how to draw what you see and not what you think you see.
Another little exercise that can be fun and encompass the two things you've learnt before is to take an object or a person and blast it with a strong light source to create interesting shadows. You can then draw the white area on black paper (or dark canvas in digital...). If you simplify the light shapes and areas it'll give you a two tone drawing but you'll learn how shapes work with each other. It's a good time to move inside of a shape and keep a close eye on proportions & placement between shapes.

Basic perspective is paramount too. It's what makes your work pop out and not flat as wallpaper... Try to find some basic shapes like a cube, sphere, pyramid and draw them from life, and pay close attention to perspective.
After you do a lot of these, try to deconstruct what you see in shapes. Faces can be difficult for beginners. Starting by deconstructing the body and limbs is a smoother point to transition from. Figure out how the rib-cage meshes with the abdomen and shoulders. How the upper arm goes into the shoulder "ball" and at what angle. This is where you figure out how things coexist in tridimentional space. Focus on shape, angle and perspective of your shapes.

Don't get discouraged, EVER, keep practicing. You'll learn to enjoy it when discovering you are progressing and before you know it, you'll be able to create sureal, frightening, beleivable creatures and places from your mind. But first things first !
Keep your work and as you go along watch your progression. Good luck and happy learning ;)

P.S.: Sorry for the engrish :bashful:
P.P.S. (edit) : as it was mentionned before, post images in your posts instead of links. The first one has two http:// in it and will be broken if people follow it.

[HunterKiller_]

Thanks alot egrie. That should give me enough stuff to draw for another good few weeks, since i was running out of ideas.
I wondered why i didn't get any replies lol, didn't realize posting images in the forum was the thing to do.
I'll do that from now on but it's pretty a pretty tedious process to upload images with my 56k and hunk of crap computer.

EDIT: I can really notice improvements when i practice with the basics first like life drawing and shapes. I never took any classes or learned any of the theories of drawing so now i'm kind of working backwards, going back to the basics.
Thanks again.

Here are some of my past pencil and paper works of the (few) human characters i've done.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/HunterKiller_/My%20Pictures/girl.jpg
This was a copy from a book cover. A character from Rockman.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/HunterKiller_/My%20Pictures/war_goddess.jpg
My "War Goddess".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/HunterKiller_/My%20Pictures/ninja.jpg
Here's my ninja. Not quite finished. I was trying to do folds but got a bit carried away haha.

[HunterKiller_]

Look look! I posted pictures please help!

[HunterKiller_]

I'm not letting this thread go until i get some help please :)

[Gregory Wohlwend]

dude egerie made an incredible post up^ there that answers any and all of your questions and then some, after you read it and learn those ideas, and practice them a bit, and still have questions and need more help (i can't imagine) then you should return here...

[HunterKiller_]

Oh yeah... i suppose you're right, my brain is just being a tad retarded :}
Guess i'll get to work on some more life drawing stuff and post those when i'm done.

[Danilo]

find some school whwre you can practice human drawing from life, or put one miror in fron of you, and begin.

[HunterKiller_]

I'm going to an Animation school next year, they have weekly life drawing sessions there that i'm really looking forwards to.
I don't have a full length mirror but there's a small one in my room that i could use to just draw myself from the shoulder up i suppose, better than nothing.
Thanks.

Btw, i have this dumb worry that i have to get good now before i get older, because i think i won't improve as fast then... pretty stupid i know, can someone tell me this is not true, because i know it's not... right?

[Danilo]

I think it is true. It is quite normal that younger learn faster, so dont waste your time!
http://www.eatpoo.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11173 I found this very good.

[HunterKiller_]

Thanks alot for the link dude, reading it right now.
Why do they call the Wacom a penis? o.0