White Rose's Sketchbook - Latest Update 12.06.08

[White Rose]

I hate work :( especially with hours from 9 am - 6pm of on going stress and chaos... i havent drawn anything really in 3 weeks.. hell i couldnt with work at all. I let myself down big time with incompletion of the gods vs gods.. even though i missed it.. im gonna work on it till i have something to show..
damn perspective grids.. -_-;;

oh well back to the drawing board. I have a couple of peices i need to get back on.
but since i needed to grease my wheels again. (figuratively speaking)

I drew this...oh well..

[White Rose]

Another work in progress...

[Cup of Joe]

Hey White Rose! Glad to see you're still at it.

No specific crits, I think the best thing you can do at this stage is just keep drawing often. I do think that you still have a lingering fear of drawing. this isn't your fault, don't get me wrong, because as a society we are taught to be afraid of failure. But, like I was saying before, failure is the best way to learn. You'll find that you have a lot of time to draw, it's just not in large chunks. But I doubt you don't have, say, 10-15 minutes a day to do some gesture.

Oh, and by the way, I was thinking of adding a few people to the ProtoSSG, considering Kitsu and Afgal appear to be MIA. Any candidates?

Keep up the hard work!

[White Rose]

Hey Joe... thank you for posting... Yeah feel free to add more members.. i wonder what happened to Kitsu and Afgal.. I guess life got in its way or something like that... I hope everything is okay for them

But guess what... ^_^ I finally did an sp.. took about a good hour and a half.. i feel proud...

it looks like me.. i even got the happy lines on my face.. my glasses are crooked..and i defintly need to pluck my eyebrows..

i need to work on my shading.. rubbing with a pencil isnt good enough.. the funny thing was when i picked up the mirror.. i got a bit dizzy,..cause there were so much to look at it...

[Grim Reaper]

I think you... should really work..on your hands... It seems like...you draw the little finger... as a longest one.... and ... after all this...anatomy studies... I expected a bit.... more

Also...all I see here..is very few lines... this is basics to me... there is no shading...

Long way ahead of you... darling:)

[Jho]

Hi WR, long time no see.
I really understand what you are going through with the work thing. I too have try to find strength to draw after 8 hours of steel factory every day, and its not easy.
I just try to carry a sketch pad with me at work, if its possible for you, I strongly suggest that.

Hope you still can find time to create art, I really like your work.

[White Rose]

did a little warm up drawing..made mistakes.. gonna work on this one a bit more..

[Grim Reaper]

The figure's allright. Still- the hand, study hands. If you're aiming for realism this hand is out of this world...It's from the world where people's hands are pancakes... I think you should work on that.

[silvestri99]

Looks like you are coming along well. Your anatomy is still off in proportion and placement. Keep working at your references and maybe pick up a loomis book or two to "map out" the body as you are working on it. But most of all...just keep on drawing!!

[White Rose]

Working on my presecpective. Here is the first layout. Going to work on it some more. But first thing first..look for some reference pictures on certain items.. and get the prespective thing corrected.

[White Rose]

I've wiped the dust off the bridgmans anatomy of hands..
and started studying from that. Also i bought a reference book of models.. studied from that a bit.. since i dont get a chance to go to life drawing class that often...

didnt turn out so well

[White Rose]

warming up again....

[White Rose]

warming up again...

[Grim Reaper]

Hmmm.... She reminds me of Lisa Simpson a bit.
How about if you tried getting the shape of the character right by shading it a bit?
Also I think head is a bit too big... unless she's a child. Or Lisa Simpson.

[loveandasandwich]

I'd like to see some of these shaded, and with some color!

[Dile_]

Hey White rose, just thought i could drop you some lines =)

First some general stuff that I see just by scrolling through the book.
You should draw more! A lot more, skip that time you spend on irc and draw instead!
You have posted 12 pages since january , which is way to less! And to be honest, you haven't
improved ultra-uber-much either, which you could if you tried to focus and draw more!

I start back on page 4 just to have something to do =) afterall, I just finished my moleskine book =) !

September 12th, post 181.

The gestures are pretty... un defined, even to be gestures. They also look very rushed, especially
the first page , wich is very rough.
The second page is better.. But you should work on getting the rythm in there! I suggest getting bridgman
or villpu's book for this, theres a lot about rythm , and gesture for that matter.
Again, your gestures looks pretty rushed.. and since you don't seem to draw very much.. At least
try to slow down while your at it! Otherwise, I think it might be really hard for you to get something
out of it. Try to look at the human in motion.. any videos could help you really, Martial art sports, running
anything where you could copy or learn the gestures from.. and with those books, bridgman or villpu
you hopefully learn some tricks on how to easier get it down from you head later!
I think that drawing the gestures head that big, will damage your "feeling" of how the head
should look like when you draw it on a more advanced figure.. Most of your figures, and those gestures
have a way to big head, and i measure about 5-6 heads sometimes on those.. On a normal
figure , its supposed to be around 7½ - 8 . Study anatomy, its really important to make a believe able figure!
Heres some never before seen material that might help you.. ;)


http://i19.tinypic.com/2yjqxb5.jpg

http://i17.tinypic.com/4ci00md.jpg

http://i16.tinypic.com/2rggeg3.jpg

also, the easy-to-remember one by Darktwin :

http://i16.tinypic.com/43wd1k9.jpg

So.. basicly, some of your gestures reminds me more of deformed childrens then "adult" gestures.
Although I'm not sure where you are going with those.. but to judge by the size of the head, and the shape of
some, they are kids.
The last page has some more deformed lines.. but you seem to guess and scribble more then you observe and focus!
If you just could change that, your stuff would look a lot better!
Also, when doing gestures, block in the basic shapes, like rib cage, head, hip, leg form, etc even if the lines
are swoshy.. Bridgman and villpu comes to mind again haha.. really, try to get those books!
whatever its in PDF or the real once!

Post 190

The gestures are still pretty deformed, and the lines, that make up those
legs makes no sense.. Even though lines are tiny, you make it look a little funny
with those tiny lines as legs you know.. BUilding up the basic shape would be good for you!
The heads are still very big, I think the gesture on the left side is most accurate though. Head-wise.
But still, its about 6-7 heads.. The good thing is that i can see some villpu form! But
you should still work on getting it more right, because your lines looks very lazy and rushed, like
if you wasn't paying any attention at all :( Telephone doodles. The second page looks better, at least some
fo the gestures does! The one up left has a good structure, and its a nice gesture, although the arms still
look a little lazy, and its just a scribbled line kinda. Try to think more of what you are going to do , before you
do it.. Thinking in two seconds would have saved me from writing those 3 rows ;) The rest of the gestures on
this page looks like ants.. They are better formed, but they don't remind me of human gestures really.
The running one in the middle-down is good though! nice motion! Very simple though.. sloppy lines etc.
The third page looks kinda lazy, I'm not sure of what to say that i have already mentiond, because its the same thing
all over, the structure is a little off, the limbs look lazy, its just rushed lines! Sometimes you have gone
over them several times which make it look more and more like telephone doodles! Take your time!
Pay some attention to what you are doing! And again, do this kind of stuff like studies until you know
the structures! Not from your mind.. I think You will only gain a lot of habits if you do, that you will have
problems with laters!

Post 192

Those gestures are A LOT better! Still a little sloppy, but there is some basic shape in there, like rib cage and hip!
You should still pay more attention to the lenght off stuff, the proportions come of bad sometimes!
Head is a also a little better! I can see some 8-heads! quite a lot 6-7 heads. Nice work though!
Something that I think might improve the dynamicness in those are the stuff that we is the most natural thing when
we walk, and that is to not put the left arm, and the left leg in a motion pointing at the same angle!
So when the left leg is in front of you, the left arm should be "behind" you! It will make the whole thing
look a lot more natural!
As for those small gestures.. I think you should skip them, they just look rushed, I think you would learn
more by spending your time at two-three big once , where you take your time! , instead of making 15 small, rushed once.

Post 197

Its pretty good, a lot better then your gestures haha, I think it looks pretty stiff though.. I would suggest to not use
so many horisontal lines to make it look like a lot of boxes you know. But instead make the lines flow!
The head is pretty misplaced, and the arms looks tiny and the anatomy doesn't look very accurate.
May I ask what the left hand is doing ? and why is the legs placed like that ?
The left leg seems very long, wich is easy to fix though.
I think the picture would make a lot more sense of you made the legs closer to eachother, putting both hands visible ,
drawing the actual hand and not only scrible something that might look like fingers! Wich reminds me of that you should
study hands ! ( I should.. Too =) ) I did a quick paint over.

http://i16.tinypic.com/2cgn1oy.jpg

play with the curves more, especially around the shoulders and the hip area! That is basicly what i did in the
paint over. Hope it makes sense.


Post 201

What size are you drawing on ? A4 I suppose ? Why are you posting so small.. It makes it hard
to see anything really. Those gestures are really really stiff, not much action in them, and nothing going on.
Again try to not do the left leg and arm in front of the figure at the same time. and if you do, try to think
more before applying that, Why is he having both left leg and arm in front of him ? If it would be some
sort of taek wan do pose, that would make sense, now your figures are only standing there, and it doesn't make
much sense to me ^^ Work on that! Also, try to finish them.. The lines often ends up in nothing.
Second page is a lot better then the first page, there is something going on, and thats the whole point! Any one can
do stiff stick figures , that isn't the same as gestures =)
Really, look up some xma videos ( extreem martial art ) and try to catch some gestures from those. I think it would be
good practice.. and your gestures would come out a whole lot more dynamic!
Those bach hand spring/stand poses are really good.. reminds me some of loomis once! Good job!

Post 204

Good planes, and boxes, a good excercise is to try to build em together like a huge group of city
shapes and stuff.. the hard thing is to make it look right in perspective!
Not much to crit on yours.. but add a perspective point on a horisont and draw the lines from
there to make sure it look accurate! like this. ( or similair. )

http://i15.tinypic.com/30rmddw.jpg

Also, maybe work on shaiding them.. i mean, put together the perspective studies with lighting studies :)

Post 208
just great! Althought some of the angels doesn't look correct.. but it might just be me.


Post 215

I'm a little dissapointed. Because those gestures are a step back.. I think you should work it up with
a good structure before trying to get dynamic with the figure.
the right gesture looks pretty rushed, and the head form doesn't look right to me. Really really spend some
time thinking of where you gonna put down the lines. Btw.. Aren't you using a pencil ? If so I suggest
gluing that eraser to your left hand ( or right if you are left handed ;) and start ereasing those areas that you have
done something wrong to, or where there is to many scribble lines. Like the back area of that
gesture, those sketchy areas doesn't look so good to me .
The figure on the bottom is good though! the arm seems pretty long.. but i think its because you started
the line on the inner-side of the arm, a bit early..
Heads are really hard to draw from profile, so keep practicing doing those!

Post 216

The left female is pretty good.. but its the same errors as in the last female which i did a paintover on.
the head is misplaced.. the neck is to long, the head is also to big btw, the rib cage doesn't take
any shape but seem to just flow inside the body. Try to make the ribcage stand out some more because
those marks, or the shape that the ribcage makes is what makes a female standing out as fat, skinny, etc etc depending
on how you make them.
The right figure need a lot of work.. and i see you have wrote that you don't understand the area..
And I think that it is because your lack of knowledge behind structure and basic anatomy!

Post 219

Thats GREAT! why didn't you finished it ? I know which this is supposed to be a copy
of , even though its some errors, i still belive its awesome that you did a master study
or at least tried to. I think you lack patience though.. I really suggest trying to sit
down and finish something, even if it take you 2 -3 hours only, make sure to finish it!
And as you get better at it, try to expand the working time more and more!

More master studies please! Make sure to take your time and observer really carefully!
Putting values wrong , or shapes will change the whole facial to something that doesn't
look a lot like the orignal. Also.. A White background ,can give you a whole different
impression compared to the same drawing with dark background!


post 221

As you mention yourself, try to finish the arms, draw the hands! Study hands, work on anatomy
your stuff consist to 99% of characters.. why not making it easy for you by studying anatomy?
You see, it would help you a lot. A lot of those crits would fall off directly!
The neck is to long, and the head is to big . Try think of those measurement rules, 4 heads
down the the crotch!now it look like you have three only!

On the girl portrait. Don't outline the lips that heavy.. same with the eyes! Also
the left eye seems to far up, It makes the portrait look pretty weird.

Post 229

Spend more time on those! You should really take your time and observe from the loomis book!
Don't draw to get it done.. Draw because you enjoy it! The head shape in those are really
good.. I suggest doing a lot more of those ! also try to get the basic shape of the neck
in there!

Post 230

The nec is pretty tiny in those.. But its nice to see you studying loomis ! The torso area seems so pretty
small compared to the big head.. so by decreasing the size of the head, it will look a lot better!
Do not rush the anatomy of the arm.. When you are doing those studies try to instead see the formula, or build
it up in blocks.. The guy on the very right seems pretty off because of that you rush the anatomy instead of thinking
and applying what you've learnt by studying loomis etc.

Post 234

I'm not sure what to say that i haven't already mentioned. The Hip area of those seems pretty deformed.
The structure is all off in the right one.. and looks weird in the middle one.. Especially the shoulder/arm area.
The left one looks pretty good, but the head is way to big!

Btw.. Post more! :D You are only posting on sketch every time.. and you aren't even posting daily ^^

Post 237 is looking nice! the neck is still pretty long, and the head is to big.. The arm have a better
shape then before though.. and both arms are in front of her! Take your time when you draw hands though.. They
are really trick :) Also, try to push something further then just to sketch!

Post 241

The can in the background could need some work.it doesn't make any sense in the perspectice!
The girl looks pretty deformed.. The hip area and the torso is to small.. The anatomi isn't
that good to be honest. What is she looking at ?
The legs under-legs are quite long.. The only thing that looks good is the face and the left foot! nice work on those.
Although, the face could need some work, it look exactly like all you other faces.
expression wise that is. The hand looks rushed and its because i can only see 5 lines. It looks
more like a fork to me then a hand.

Post 242

Wow man.. is it a good day if you did two things ? You gotta get working haha
it has a lot better pose then your other stuff. The anatomy is actually better also.
The legs seems pretty weird to me.. but I can't seem uch. The hip area is a little small, but that could easly be fixed
and the face reminds of some french guy with mustache :( sorry! The head is also to big!
The hand is a lot better then last time though, good job!

Post 244

NICE! The line work is great.. the colors on the chin is doing the wrong thing though.. I know
you wanted to add this pink "blushed" tone to it.. but it doesn't work since the pink
is more desaturated..
The line work have good anatomy around the shoulder area.. the neck is pretty thin and the head a big
to far up though. Now shade it please!

Post 251

The line work is pretty lifeless so is the expression of the face. I don't know what to say
really.. It looks very rushed, especially with those quick lines that only flat it out.

Post 252

The left arm is pretty tiny, and what is the hand doing ? Good work on it though.. But as you mentioned it was WIP i suggest
that you should try to finish it man! You haven't finished one single thing so far.. at least not on page 4 or 5
The look of the face is different to the usually faces in your book, thats good!
She seems to be pretty short though.. Work out the structure and figure first!

Post 254

nice portrait! It needs a lot of work and some tones to make it realistic, but
its nice so far.. Don't rush the lines though, its pretty sketchy! and those headphones
are flat, take your time!

Post 257
If you did warmup I suppose you have something after the warm up right ? Show us! The warm up is
very scribble like sorry.. The proportions are off, and the head is very big.
Do you start with the head ? Try to start with the torso, and decide the heads size
out of the space between the nipple and neck insteead of starting with the head ( if thats what you do )
The hand look like a crashed fork sorry :(

Post 260
Nice!! Keep working on it.. and keep putting characters in perspective enviroments!
I suggest getting a book on basic perspective stuff.. Or some of the gnomon
dvd's on enviroments.. You can't belive how good that was for me to have seen those
videos on perspective before i even started to draw haha.. Good stuff that is!
Keep working on it


Post 261

YES!! Thats great great great! nice studies on those hands! nothing to crit, but please
do more, and post more of those!
The girl is also pretty good.. the neck is a little weird though, and to long, and the eyes
are very open.. it looks to exaggerated.. Try to add those pupils =)

Post 263

The shoulder area is nice.. You seem to be best at that area.. still watch out for the deltoid
and the head is pretty big upon the long neck.



, Thats it haha.. The crits keept getting smaller as i didn't wanted to repeat myself over and over.
I hope you can learn something from it. Keep working, especially on anatomy and proportions!

edit* Btw, POST MORE ! DRAW MORE!

~Dile

[Rudeone]

Childish rubbish, crap and waste of paper. And most of all - waste of my time.

If you don't have anything usefull to say other then to knock people down then please take your crap elsewhere, nobody is waiting for comments like this.

White Rose don't be discouraged, a lot of people in this thread are taking time to help you get on the right track, use it wisely and keep at it, you can do it! :D

[silvestri99]

Rose...just a quick suggestion for you. Try not to focus on the details to begin with.Try and see how fast you can capture the pose and with th fewest lines as possible. This exercise should helpwith making yourfigures not as stiff feeling. Also--try changing your medium to charcol or graphite. Use somethingunfamiliar to change things up. Good luck...and I have seen improvement since your first posts!!!

[White Rose]

Dile : thank you for looking into my sb. I really dont have much to say. But I have alot of work to do.

Manuel_Calavera I wonder whats your reasoning for saying that. But I wont go there.


Rudeone Thank you, dont worry i wont. I'm not going to give up

silvestri99 thanks for the info.. its hard but i'll see what i can do.

Another picture.......used a bit of reference for the position of the body.

[Cup of Joe]

Hey White Rose! Sorry I haven't dropped by in a while!
There's definitely some improvement, but man, you're getting a lot of good crits. Sadly, I have nothing to say that hasn't been said ten times before, but I'll just repeat what I've said before.
Draw more - Have fun - Keep at it

Good Luck!

[wheezy]

Rose, just wanted to drop some support your way. Like Cup of Joe said, you have had all the crits you could use at this point, even one that was undeserved. So I will just say keep up the hard work, take your sb with you everywhere you go and you will continue to improve as shown by your posted progression.

[Grim Reaper]

I believe Manueal Calavera was actually the only person being 100% honest here. Big words should be used to describe big things. Little doodles posted here finally got good crits, it's as simple as that.
I know it might hurt a bit, but the reality is you have still A LOT to learn.
Also what happened to that girl's other nipple few posts above? Has it been stolen by the nasty anatomy book writers who entrapped you in this world of lifeless art?

[White Rose]

Grim Reaper: I'm not going to comment on Manuels opinion nor yours. The only comment I will respond to is the picture that looks horribly rushed. I got it from a reference book I bought. I shouldnt have even posted it. But I posted cause I drew something even if its half-assed. Its my sb anyway. I can post what ever I want to. Even if the product that I create isnt benfiting me. But that picture, I'm going to do it over, But you know what, I'm sorry if I havent had my AH-HA moment as quickly as I and everyone would've hoped for . The worse thing I can do to myself is stop drawing. So I'm going to keep on trying till something clicks. Yeah I fully understand that I go half-assed. But half-assed is better than nothing. Its no excuse. But I'm getting there.

Like you said, I have a long way to go. So please let me go on my journey and for me to figure it out. I gladly take peoples opinions and critiques if there willing to give it. And people of the own free will come in and critique and give there own opinions. and I thank them for that. I can go on and on for ever. But I'm just wasting your time and mine.

Did some extra studies. I really hate doing antomy studies of the arms and hands. Reading through bridgemans book "book of hundred hands made my head hurt.."To much info to make one say..okay lets start here"
I'm going to try and participate in the anatomy sketch group thread. That will help me practice more of my anatomy.

I lack patience in getting things done.
Shading
I'm not sure using your own fingers to spread the graphite and eraser to use erase in the highlights would qualify as shading. All of the photos below were referenced.

[chaosrocks]

Manuel needs smacked...as they say around my part of the
country.. 15 posts and he thinks he can be an idiot

keep workin grlfrfiend.. Iwould like to see you concentrat less on the outlines and more on the form...
you might like to try building form with shading and NO lines.... just to look at thing a little differently.. its like trying to darw some thing by only defining the negative space around it..it jsut makes you look at it a little differently

don't let the bastards get you down even if they are helpful bastards :P

chaos

[White Rose]

Okay since 8 am yesterday and today. I was given a link to check out a video about porportions. As many times I avoided that chapter in the anatomy books cause i thought i understood it. Sitting down and comparing notes in the anatomy books I had. Made me very feel very..wow *puts on the dunce cap*.
So today I did porportion charts. I posted some i did. I need to get a couple more in. More detailed ones. I think I finally understood it to the point that when I draw a picture and I have serval characters I can make them different heights.

Also around mid night, I decided to put a figure drawing. This somewhat made me happy but made me sad. But I did have a revelation on shading. While checking the porportions to make sure everything sit. I noticed how the head sits on the top of the spine. Need to find out why. I looked through my other drawings and compared it to my bridgman,loomis books and i noticed something very off. Something I never noticed before. So hopefully if i have a chance I need to figure that out why I've been drawing the head very wrong for such a long time.

Last but not least. While I was trying to shade. I was very confused. on where i was placing the shadows it just didnt look right. Not sure how to word it correctly. But when I took the photo (color) I was referencing from and accidently put it in greyscale. I had my ah-ha moment of why it did look right.
Lets say I'll be redoing this tomorrow. This was so not intuitive.

[Noë]

Keep doing the studies! I think those proportion things are exactly what you need to be doing right now. The female is also.
Try to draw a center line for the chest and pelvis area which connects the two. Get a lot of pictures from males and females and draw draw draw!

But I think this has been said before, and well, Dile has probably said everything there is to say :P

just draw a lot, and focus on getting things right.
love
Marleen

[Dile_]

Actually, the last posts kickass! No matter how advanced they are.. Dang thats a very nice jump in the right direction! Now keep doing those reffed once, take your time, and your observation skill will improve.. The last girl for example look a little unbalanced.. and its because of ONE line haha, If you pay more attention to the form, and the mass I think it will be easier to put the line down !
Now keep up those studies and keep improve!

[alesoun]

White Rose, I saw this sketchbook a while ago, and liked what I saw; but you're not taking it forward. I'm in the anatomy study group with you.

How do I put this.... ? I saw some of the comments that upset you, and I've noticed you've backed off from your sketchbook. C'mon, lass, don't do that!
I know what fear and insecurity are, but the only way to move forward from them is to be bold!

Keep working, and keep playing with what you do. I don't find you boring; and I'm certainly not so much "up myself" to think that what you do or try to do is a waste of my time. (If I did, I wouldn't bother looking)

What I DO think, though, is that you're afraid to take that next step,- and I do understand that feeling.....

There are a lot of half-finished drawings here. Let's make a pact! I'll give you a subject and you finish it by next week, and you give me one, and I'll do the same. The object of the exercise is to finish the subject boldly (perfection doesn't matter) I can't do digital, but other than that....

I give you the subject "little Miss Muffet" in ink and wash.....

Waiting for your subject for me.....

Be bold.....


"The road goes ever onward"

[alesoun]

Okay, in case there's a culture difference here. The nursery rhyme
"Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet
Eating her curds and whey
Along came a spider and sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away"

[Mr-Joe]

Hey White rose,

Manuel_Calavera Childish rubbish, crap and waste of paper. And most of all - waste of my time.


Thats really messed up, Don't listen to that guy, Do what you like to do,

I see you say you don't like doing anatomy studies, I agree sometimes they can be extremely boring, but maybe you don't have to..

Drawing and painting and creating things should make you happy when your all finished working on something, even while your working on something, well maybe not necessarily happy, but It shouldn't make you feel like crap, you should enjoy it, I think so right?

The way I see the study of anatomy and basic drawing principles, like perspective and shading and light, I study these things to have a better understanding of how I would like to create them, Figure out what it is you want to draw, say its animals, go watch some animals for a while, take things slowly, I see a few posts up you posted a self portrait and said it was hard because there was so much to look at, This is something I struggle with a lot, I focus too much on all the details of something,

Take things slowly, study things and see the basic shapes they are made of, So what ever it is you want to draw, go observe it for a while, think about it, don't stress yourself out, break the objects down into basic shapes you can draw, when you get good at observing those shapes, then start looking deeper into details, see how the shapes relate to each other and how they connect and take notice of how the proportions of shapes relate to each other.

Working a lot can take away a lot of motivation and energy, I work a 10 hour shift at a potato chip warehouse, I always bring some type of paper and some type of tool that makes marks on the paper, and I will always try to fit time to scribble something, I actually find sketching anatomy stuff and studies at work is when I benefit from it the most, because I'm somewhere I don't really want to be, so I find something I enjoy doing more, like sketching or drawing, even if it studying some boring anatomy, its more enjoyable then moving potato chips around, so I get a lot more studies done then, Sometimes that little time at work I get to scribble motivates me to do some more drawing as soon as I get home, a lot of the times I'll get ideas for drawings and if I don't have the time to draw them at work, I'll think them out in detail in my mind while I'm working, so as soon as I get home or when the weekend comes, It's so much easier for me to start working on it because I have a good picture and direction to start in.

Also, don't compare yourself to anyone else, rate your progress on your own work, every new picture you work on, try to find something in your last picture you can improve on, and put effort into that. If your going to look at other peoples art, don't let it discourage you if you "think" its better than your art. Look at some of the paintings that you really really like, and look at them for a long time, and try to figure out how the person painted what they painted, try to break it down and think what steps they took to get to where it is, try to think of ways to apply what you observed into a technique you can use to create something yourself,

Also try experimenting with different mediums, not just pencil and white paper, try getting some colored paper, or some makers, or pens, or colored pencils, or paints, or well, theres tons of stuff at art stores, find something that interests you and grab it up and play with it.
Have fun with your art work, don't make it a daunting task that you "have to do" , do it because you want to do it.

If your having trouble motivating yourself to draw something, try making some habits, for example, every time you wake up, commit yourself to draw or paint for 30 minutes, or maybe if evenings are better, I find the easiest time to commit to a habit is right before bed, just say to yourself, I'm not going to lay down until I draw for 30 minutes, and most of the time after a few minutes of doodling, you might get a really great idea, and get carried away for longer than 30 minutes. But I know for me the best way to accomplish something is to stick with it and make daily habits, some days might not be that great, and others will be great, but I know that the feeling of doing something even if It turned out crappy, feels better than not doing it at all.

Alright my post turned into what seems like a ton of paragraphs of motivational speaking/typing, sorry,

I hope you continue to draw and paint, but if you do, make it fun, and enjoyable, use it to calm yourself or to think about other things than work, use it to relieve stress, not create it.
If you stick to it, with consistency and time you will surely improve in what your practicing, so just practice what you have fun with.

Heres a link I think you should check out, theres some good drawing videos here:
http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=moatddtutorials

Take care,

Joe.

[Cup of Joe]

You're definitely taking some steps in the right direction. I don't know if this was already explained, or even what you were asking, but it seemed like you wanted to know how the head sits on the spine.
The end of the spine tapers into a kind of rounded poit, which fits into a hole (sort of.) The head can 'spin' on this joint, allowing it to move to the sides. Up and down movement happens when the spine bends in your neck.
Oh, and it might help when you're shading if you boost the contrast on your referance (easy if you have photoshop, but just about every photo viewing application has the same ability now (along with plenty of free ones.)

Keep moving!

[Grim Reaper]

White Rose, my intention was never to stop you from drawing, why the hell would I want that? What I meant is that sometimes every one needs a good kick in the ass to get themselves together and finally do something. And as the idea of sketchbooks on ca is to comment each others work and progress you have been given quite harsh opinnion to motivate you rather then put you off! Anyway as we spoke in the past we established that when you dislike somebody's work you're also not afraid to throw masive critics on them and I found you quite cocky and unwelcoming when I first started my sb... So I assumed you wouldn't mind some strong crits yourself.
I always tried to notice good things about your sb too but lately you've been slacking and any progress slowed down massively... But I apreciate you'd taken the suggestion to try some shading seriously and gave it a go.
All the people posting here are obviously in love with you and your drawings so they're gonna be sweettalking you now and saying don't listen to this and that...But for Christs sake, prove you can do better! 'Cos what I see now is a person obsessed with anatomy books or rather the idea of the book but not with art itself and that's not enough.
And of course human head is on top of the spine, where else would it be? On the left buttock?

Also, what happened to your post in my sb? It kinda dissapeared...

[chaosrocks]

actually the way the head sits on top of the spine is a classic anatomy error which she noticed learned and corrected... dont be so dismissive from a good small step in learning anatomy that makes sense.

now rosey you need to fix you other really common head related problem. they are almost always perportionally too bigt anad the faces are proportionally to large for the head... which is whats making many of your studies read as children.

the studies are helping you a lot.. crankem out!
and tellyou what
I'll do a miss muffet too
chaos

[White Rose]

i've been kinda holding off on the posts. Trying not to go half assed about it.
did some studies here and there. trying to get some pages done to put them up on the sb. But so many replies.... ;-;

Alesoun, I'll try to see what i can do.. but first thing first.. Need to figure out what this inkwash thingie. and how to do it. I'm kinda in a position not to buy an extra art supplies. Soooo i might do it in color.

Mr.Joe 10 hour shift. My goodness. I understand its tough. To find the balance time and energy. And thanks for the link. I will be checking it out.

Cup of Joe Yeah..thats what i was trying to figure it out. you and chaos and gave the answer.


White Rose, my intention was never to stop you from drawing, why the hell would I want that? Grim, that thought never crossed my mind about you intending me to quit. I dont think that way. I was trying to express that (its kinda hard to put into words) was that even though I understood where you was coming from. I mentally was not there yet.

What I meant is that sometimes every one needs a good kick in the ass to get themselves together and finally do something. And as the idea of sketchbooks on ca is to comment each others work and progress you have been given quite harsh opinnion to motivate you rather then put you off! Anyway as we spoke in the past we established that when you dislike somebody's work you're also not afraid to throw masive critics on them and I found you quite cocky and unwelcoming when I first started my sb... So I assumed you wouldn't mind some strong crits yourself.

Weather(sp?) i like/dislike (i dont think there was ever an art peice that i dislike, just the fact it was a picture that didnt suit my taste or i couldnt visually handle it.) I will critique it anyway. If I notice something is off, i'll let you know or question it. Hell I may not be right on the critique but I'm willing to learn from it.

And Grim, I welcome the strong crits. One has to be strong willing to take their own medicine if there going to give it out to others? If you see something that you want to bring to my attention.. just let me know.... :) thats all i ask.


I always tried to notice good things about your sb too but lately you've been slacking and any progress slowed down massively... But I apreciate you'd taken the suggestion to try some shading seriously and gave it a go.
All the people posting here are obviously in love with you and your drawings so they're gonna be sweettalking you now and saying don't listen to this and that...But for Christs sake, prove you can do better! 'Cos what I see now is a person obsessed with anatomy books or rather the idea of the book but not with art itself and that's not enough. And of course human head is on top of the spine, where else would it be? On the left buttock?

Also, what happened to your post in my sb? It kinda dissapeared...

"In love with me". -- Your exagerating. They are kind, helpful and understanding. These fellow CA'ers have no problem letting me know when im in the wrong and they do bring it to my attention.
When I dont understand something I ask them for advice.The only person who I asked to give me a critique in my sb is Dile. And I would do the same for them.

And yes <3 I am somewhat anatomy obsessed. So what !!!! But I understand where you comming from.

My post..in your sb.. I removed it. Lets just say after Manuels post then yours. It really pissed me off. But I wont get into that. Whats done is done. Lets move on and eat cake ^-^.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

So far, I've been doing some hand exercising in the book of hundred hands. At first I my response.. was what the hell.. i dun wanna But its not that bad. I learned a couple of things in there. Also...posted a little line art. Which I am trying to figure out some things. I think I will use her as the miss tuffet quote alesoun gave me. For those who dont know what a tuffet is. A tuffet is a mini stool. :3. So I just wanted to post.. what i have for now. I do have some other stuff comming along the way.

[ThabisoMhlaba]

Yay an update!
Nice hands, More!
And also look at the hand to the bottom right, the first segment of the fingers that attaches them to the hand is a bit too long.
And the one to the left of that is curved to much like a circle, block it out and make it more rigid as if the fingers are like 3 rectangles connected to each other. then round off the parts that need to be rounded off.

[alesoun]

Yay! You're back,- and I like your Miss Muffet so far. Ink wash was just a suggestion to give you an idea; could've been watercolour or anything else.....

There's a nice sense of mischief in that figure!

[White Rose]

decided to see if i can do the skeleton from memory...and understand some of the joints.. i guess the next step is muscles..

[Mr.Delicious]

Geez, I just took a good look through your sketchbook. everyones giving you a hardtime, its strange really. I'll never understand people like that, I mean, we all start somwhere. But it takes guts to put your stuff out there for everyone to look at and critique. I know when I was really trying to learn anatomy I was afraid of people looking at my work. so kudos to you.

I think youre doing just fine, if you just stay on the same course, draw from life, practice anatomy and work on a few from your imagination based on what you've learned. I find that to be an easy way to engrave things in your memory. As far as muscle placement and form go anyways.

Good luck,
Dave

[Jho]

Heya White Rose!
Sorry for not writing for a while.
The hand studies from Monday look great, your anatomy is really improving. Heads are still a bit big, and necks just a bit too long, but other than that your doing great!
Anyways, just wanted to drop by and give my support. Keep up the good work :D

[White Rose]

soo today i did a td.. in ca's irc. it was to draw a random girl 1 hour. found a reference i wanted to use and this is what i came up with. Some things i noticed... while I was drawing. Need to figure out the folds part. I love drawing clothes.. but clothes will look flat with out the folds. Also I noticed how her right arm is stiff..i should've bent it a bit to give it more of a flow.. with in a 1 hour period.. i should try to ink it and color it ps.

But next time :3

[White Rose]

So some figure drawing again..from the reference book i have. this one was hard... :( im not crazy about the shading... feel like doing it over..

[Axion]

Nice big sketchbook you have here. Keep working on your anatomy, reference pictures are great. Keep it up, practice = progression.

[squidmonk3j]

ah, the studies are looking good, wr:) keep pushing on through, you'll find that your ability to to "imaginative" stuff increases as your fundamentals improve!

[Manuel_Calavera]

Manuel needs smacked...as they say around my part of the
country.. 15 posts and he thinks he can be an idiot



So you judge people by number of posts ? Interesting idea. I heard about people judging others by colour of a skin or place of birth and that led then to great misunderstandings.
If you judge draughtsman by number of drawings then not surprisingly White Rose seems to be great artist for you.

White Rose : I didn't meant to offend you with my rude but sincere words. I stepped by at your SB accidentally and never be back, so don't worry you will not need to shiver and remove my posts again.

[alesoun]

Rose, you are having problems with proportions. A good and helpful "cheat" and one I use myself, is to draw a grid,- on your paper and on the ref if it's not someone else's property.

Then draw what you see in each square of the grid on the ref into each square of the grid on the drawing. Once you've tried it a few times, you feel more confident about drawing without a net. (Well, I do anyway.....)

Keep going, and try the grid if/when you get stuck!

[Grim Reaper]

He he he I like this new tendency to remove inconvenient posts. Lets just pretend they were n e v e r there:) Seriously, that IS a bit childish. I suggest you remove this one quickly my dear:)

About your last drawing- finally s o m e shading but still her head is enormous baby. Unless that was your intention, 'cos then it's fine.

[White Rose]

Grim Reaper: Remove posts?
the only posts i ever removed.. was the one I made from your thread cause after all the conversations we had...
and with alot of things aftermath I only had guilt of what i said. Just didnt think my words had any value, so I retracted it

And I cant remove other people's post... i dont have access..to do that.. Nor would do that.. Anyone can freely state their mind.


Manuel Calavera: Everybody has a right to say what they want. Just expect the reactions from it.
Yeah I was offended. But I did not remove your posts. I dont have the ability to do that. The only people who can remove posts are the people who created their posts and maybe ops.

[chaosrocks]

dear Manuel and Grim. I do believe that Rose cannot move other peoples posts from her SB. she can modify her own posts but not others. It taked a Moderator (Mike c or Oregano) or an Admin to delete a Post. Thye do that if they find that it is breaking the spirit of CA which is based on CIVIL debate. and constructive criticism. Rose didn't delete your post Manuel.

Manuel I do judge how long a person has been around CA, bythe number of their posts... probablly not the most accurate method, In this post to Rose (the one that is no longer there but be assured I read it) you were quite unnessisarily mean and dismissive to one who a total stranger and who has never offered you any harm. That was uncalled for and mean spirited. On Irc we often virtually smack each other with large fish... Its more a reminder than an actual offence. You have a right to say what ever you want. But it is the height of bad manners to do it in a harmful fashion.
chaos

[Manuel_Calavera]

Is there freedom of words in the internet yet ? Maybe somewhere else but not here.
I said what I thought without intention of offence. Didn't presume it'll cast an avalanche.
I've lost interest in this thread anyway...

[White Rose]

i do not know how it turned into a pirate peice..told myself i'll keep on drawing till.. i finished the figure. I'm really not feeling this..

[alesoun]

I can see your lines becoming more confident, White Rose; but I can see, too, why you're having trouble with this figure. Why is she in this pose? What is she doing? Is she afraid? Defiant? Exhausted? Is someone threatening her?

Emotion can be expressed by the pose. If she's defiant, I think her sword would be held higher, and she would be looking at what she had to fight. As it is, she looks defeated; but what has made her feel that way?

I'd suggest that you work on the background; the barrel and the ship's rigging, the planks of the deck and sides while you figure out what you want to do with the figure. The solution will come to you, the harder you work on the sketch.

[Grim Reaper]

WhiteRose, I know you hate me, but I'd love it if you joined 3CH activity of the week... It would be a great chance for you to improve, get some inspiration and just think of all those wonderful arguments we could have hehe Anyway 3CH was a bit slow for the last couple of weeks and we need fresh blood. Think about it please. I can't think of a better person than you to join!

[White Rose]

i think i finally understand..what it means drawing using forms.
In art class...and alot of principals that the teacher banged into my head for the past two weeks.... Also learned about composition and fitting things onto a page when you draw.

Surprising...the class i signed up for. The first lesson was not anatomy. But composition. and learning how to use axis lines. and drawing using form.. and not lines... using a pencil in a different way...The professor talked about getting into knowing what you like and dont like. Finding who your favorite artists... are...

I dont know how to put it into words.. But for once..in my life.. I'm very happy :).

This is from studying a statue in class. my notes are messed up. But i had to avoid drawing the outline and focus on.. the form itself.. the also figuring out the compsition..to be able to know where to place it on the page.

[alesoun]

Woo hoo! You GO, girl!

[Derlaine]

you are drawing lots ! Keep it up, you'll be great.

the pirate piece could benefit from a message/theme to the viewer; it's not very clear what is going on in the picture. Perhaps taking a step back and asking what you want to convey to the viewer will help.

[Cup of Joe]

"I'm very happy"

These words will help your art more than any amount of practice. Drawing is mainly a mental practice, and having a healthy mindset will make drawing all the more enjoyable and usefull.
Have fun, and good luck. Even if you don't realize it, I think you're going to start turning corners very soon!

[White Rose]

STUDY FORMS STUDY FORM STUDY FORM!!!

you know for as long as I've been taking studio classes and such. I can remeber Miss Minerva telling me this. I remeber when she drew my face out by not using any contour lines she asked me to do this. The thing I remebered was. I didnt want to do it cause I didnt agree it will help.

........Man I'm such a stubborn woman.

But now in this class ive been taking we're starting off with the basics. from
compsition, gesture, froms, and now schematic anatomy. I'm begining to see things clearly.

The one thing that saddens me, I draw every now and then. I literally forget to draw. There are so many things that are happening right now. I forget to draw. But I do have some time today. So I will go crazy artistically. Or try to ..
But here is another drawing based on forms of the same statue but at a different angle.

[White Rose]

just pulled out some random stuff from what i did..still working on forms..and what not...

[Manuel_Calavera]

White Rose:I really like one of your last sketches – last post, first from left. Nice pose and drawing, I think it would be good start to make some interesting picture from this sketch. Try to add some value and shadows and maybe drawing bigger sketches would make things easier – when you have more space on paper you are not so constrained.

[Grim Reaper]

It is good, isn't it?

Also when you add shading you can disguise all the little mistakes you didn't see before..so I guess the advice this time(again) is shade! -and give that person you've drawn some character, not only a form.

[White Rose]

My first time with acrylics...

This was done with acrylics, and a paint set that my father bought for me. The brushes were so crappy but I managed. The downside.. it smelled sooo bad it made me ill. But as my first painting I like it alot :)

I love seeing the colors right infront of me.. I

[Grim Reaper]

It's nice...but what made you decide to paint her face yellow?I suppose this is a kind of question you don't ask the artist...we all know of a certain french artist who liked to use a lot of yellow paint....and then he shot himself(but thats not the point).:)I suggest you mix your yellow paint with some red next time, see what happens.
Also-the eyelids seem to be missing...That's two things I kinda noticed first.
Now when I look at it-not inthe nasty way- I think this lady's face expression is quite scary...It's a bit like she's chewing on something. A lemon perhaps?
Grim

[alesoun]

What a difference I see now that you're doiing life drawings! I'm sure if you look back through your sketchbook you'll see it yourself.

I know what you mean about the smell of acrylics; oils smell so much better!!!
I live in a rural area and sometimes the fields smell like acrylics (only 1000 times stronger!)

The more you paint, the more you'll learn little tricks like following the planes on the face with your brushstokes to give form, just the way that you've done with the hair on your lady.

The first steps with paint are always exciting,- keep going!

[Newbs]

good progress here, keep up with the form studies and keep having fun!

[Manuel_Calavera]

Rose, you improved your pencils but with acrylics you have long long way to go. Try to use more colors and mix them. I like your thick impasto, though. About this sketch on the right - is it Sailor Moon ? It's quite dynamic and I like it.

[White Rose]

Today I lost my fear. Fear within myself...of not succeding.. Best remedy.. is just draw alot till your comfortable with yourself. This is something I'm going to be repeating every day till the day I die.

Over the course of 2 1/2 weeks..thumb nailing.. doing research. On costumes...designs....
And then over the course of 2 days.. including today.
I began to transfer the thumb nail over to the final peice (which did not work out so well) So this peice.. oh yeah I did a BUT LOAD OF Mistakes.
This is what I learned so far:

1. Never wait till the last minute. It takes time to get from point a to point b <---this one is a biggie
2. Every drawing is a learning experience
But I do have the confidence to improve... now :) soooo i'm going to work harder at it

I would like to do it over..I do over a certain part of it.. So I can understand how to correct it.

But here it goes..... I should add the thumbnails later on.

[Cup of Joe]

Yep yep. Doin' good. Keep on truckin! (In a non drug-related way of course...)

[A.J. Gardner]

Wow, your sketchbook has really inspired me. When I first talked to you, I thought you were a superskilled artist like so many I've seen here. But now I see you're alot like me, except that you took the next steps and pushed through the mental problems I'm facing now.

I'm definitely now more encouraged to continue to update on a more daily basis ^__^

[White Rose]

08/24/08 -
Problems on figuring out the proper plane for arms.. and movement.. hands.. feet..crosshatching.. could do more with the background.. to tired to fool around more with this pic.. time to move on.
Gonna do chest and arm studies.. to understand the flow of it.

[White Rose]

1st still life. my goal is to see if i can do one ever day before going ot bed this week.

[White Rose]

Did the cup over. After I was told the original cup didnt show any values.
Was able to get a hold of couple of harder pencils. 9h is really hard pencil.

[White Rose]

Had a ah - ha moment. A couple of things made me realize.. im not going to improve.. if I do not work at it.
So I pulled out all my art books and notes from my life drawing classes.

[White Rose]

Was working on anatomy again.. You might see 2 thumbails on an idea that just came to me. So I would like to create it into a picture/painting. I'm kinda having difficulty cause I realize.. after doing the pose myself... Maybe I'm just not very flexible anymore.. It does put alot of strain in the back.

[White Rose]

Today is a late night.. So I manage to squeeze in a few sketches from the bridgeman book. Tomorrow I'm going to do more.

[White Rose]

Trying to break habits...But not happy how this sketch is turning out. :| But here are the first stages of it.

[White Rose]

I dont get bargue.. I like his smooth lines. But I didnt quite understand the eyes... In the bargue book he has pages of eyes in different.. positions..

:| so I studied a couple.. and also I have 2 wips.. one is a continuation of the first one..and the other one.. I used a reference for the pose.

[White Rose]

:( Today was not a good day. I dont understand bridgman. The forms that he uses and positions i get. Its all that fancy calligraphy.. ^^;; How is a bigginer suppose to figure that out.

I guess thats why I felt so comfortable with Loomis. Loomis is very clean..

[ThabisoMhlaba]

Hey Rose!! just droppin By to say keep it up those Bargue drawings are quite awesome. Yes eyes are confusing at first but pretty soon you'll understand them.

[White Rose]

Another page from bridgman

[White Rose]

Okay,, sooo I notice a bit of improvement.. took me about a good hour or two.. actually went slowly and plooted how i was going to go about this. Would do more but kinda got tired...

[Robert.B]

Really injoyoing the studies and I cant wait to see more! ^_^