heng on the train

[ah.heng]

i spend over 2 hours on the train everyday, might as well make it useful. also in part inspired by tensai's great sketches of people in the trains.

http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0001.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0002.jpg

i switched a train and lost my sitting space. the rest were all done while standing up and doing some kind of balancing art. :ninja:

http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0003.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0004.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0005.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0006.jpg
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0007.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0008.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0009.jpg

this last lady spotted me drawing her and i think she started posing for me. she kept really still the entire while. it started getting cramp on my right so i switched to my left hand to draw. it later got too cramped to continue.

2b pencil on a 5x7.5" notebook.

note to self: tear pages out before scanning.

[Tigermilk]

hey, man these look nice. I can see you've just started drawing 'bit more, no?
You're on the very best way to progress! Drawing from life gives you a different view of how things work, a better one. :) Very good practise!
Planning on becomming a conceptartist or such?

Keep it up, post more!

[P E N Ricklund]

Oh, you switched from you right to you left while drawing? Wow.
It's good training to draw from life *making note, draw more from life*
Draw more tomorrow and post here. Give us a daily dose and make it into a habbit ;)

Hugs!

[ah.heng]

tigermilk - i'm not really sure yet. for the time being i just want to be a content creator. i'd like for my stuff to be made into anime, games, toys.

pencilator - you can usually tell which hand i'm using by which side of the paper the drawing's on :p

i couldn't really get into the mood today. i drew, but somehow wasn't able to focus on the drawing part. my whole mind's been wandering the entire day. might be falling sick :|
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0010.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0011.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0012.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0013.jpg
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0014.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0015.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0016.jpg

[P E N Ricklund]

No I can't tell, you only post one stand alone page at the time :P

[faux pas]

Nice use of time. Very economical :perv:

[Eskay]

Hey, I'm part of SSG XXV :P

nice facial sketches, must be a good place to do that on a train - lots of people with natural expressions to pick from.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=68669

thats the link to my sketchbook btw!

[ah.heng]

wasn't very productive today.

i've noticed some improvements in my observation skills, but the drawings seem to be getting worse by the day. i wonder if i'm doing something wrong. i think i need to sit down and do a proper portrait with all the right proportions.

http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0017.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0018.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0019.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0020.jpg
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0021.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0022.jpg

[Nixon]

it's great that you can have that time on the train to sketch. check out some head anatomy reference, it will help you build the masses and planes of the head better.

Keep it up!

[Master 25 Days]

hey, good start here man. Try to map out you head before you put the features on to get more structure. Pay attention to proportion and placement. Try to think as simple as possible.

[Eskay]

I heard a quote once, "experience is just a list of all the mistakes we've made - and remembered." So don't worry about sketches you're not totally pleased with, practice is still practice!

[tensai]

i spend over 2 hours on the train everyday, might as well make it useful. also in part inspired by tensai's great sketches of people in the trains.

i hope that includes the ride home. it can be a bitch to draw standing up, but its still better than trying to sleep standing.

i wouldnt worry to much about how they come out. just observe; look, hold, draw, look hold draw. when your doing stuff from ref later on you will only be that much better. keep it up man. you will learn if you do, sometimes more, sometimes less or you're just keeping on the same level. but thats still better than getting rusty by not doing anything.

maybe see you around some time.

[mQe]

I don't think it's getting worse really.
I guess you need to forget what you learned as a kid and draw exactly what you see. Don't think "ok theres an eye here" and then draw an eye there, instead think "theres a shape/line that goes like this" then draw the shape/line. Forget what you're drawing and think of the shape/line.

Keep it up!

[faux pas]

Hey, drawing is always preferable to no drawing :)

Cant wait to see what you can do with a proper portriat.

[Absolute]

That's pretty good, especially since it was done on a train

[ah.heng]

my last day at work and i left my sketchbook in the office, please hurt me. :nohope:

well since i no longer have a job, i don't have any reason to take trains anymore . but i liked the practise, so i'll probably find a place to sit down everyday to observe and draw people. maybe this time i'll move on to more than just faces.

i was also greatly inspired by sparth's sketches (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=48190&highlight=sparth), and i'm thinking of trying something similar, once i find a way to man handle a 9x12. maybe i'll just start from drawing around the neighbourhood. i'm also going to begin practising more still life and chinese calligraphy. oh how great it is to have free time. :blahblah:


nixon - i intend to, i bought this great book called 'human anatomy for artists' by andras szunyoghy and will be practising off it everyday.

tensai - yup, the 2 hour journey includes the ride back, i'd go crazy being cramped in a moving box for 2 hours :xpld: . looking back at it, i kind like drawing while standing, more freedom to move about compared to the cramped seats, and a larger pool of targets to pick from :D

mQe - thanks, i'll try to think that way.

absolute - thanks.

[Master 25 Days]

hey! when did I become Sparth?

[ah.heng]

oops :p

this sparth (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=48190&highlight=sparth)

[Lake]

WhatUP, heng? you're MIA! what's with that?!

you said you were going to start doing some studies -
a lot of people start with the muscles, thinking "oh, if I start with muscles I've drawn what's underneath the skin."

while this is technically true, it helps even more to do bone structure studies. They give a better sense of proportion (imo) and show where the muscles connect to each other and to the skeleton. check my or dcept's sketchbooks to see what I mean. Or mentler. mentler knows what he's talking about.

I have my stuff scanned btw, it's just not loaded yet.

[ah.heng]

yeah i'm doing some bone studies now. but nothing really worthy of being shown i think.
i'm kinda being overwhelmed by all the information i've read the past few days, especially the wrist bones and the muslces around the arm. i'm still trying to absorb all of it.

[entdroid]

I think you have a very nice start here, some of this faces are really expressive.
Studies are definetely useful, but be warned: the more you learn, the more you become aware of how much you still don't know. It's worth it, though :P

[Craig Houghton]

It's great to see that you've been committing yourself to drawing during the commute. It's a time when many just do nothing or relax, so it's to your credit that you instead spend the time building your skills. In addition to this sort of study, I recommend that you devote more time to all sorts of other subjects. You might be doing this already, but nonetheless, still life and landscape studies will help you develop a strong sense of value and proportion while allowing you to work on a subject that doesn't move and change shape the entire time.

Humans are, for me at least, the most rewarding subject, but they are also the most difficult to master -- you may find it harder to get a handle on some of the fundamentals this way. Simpler subjects often make difficult lessons easier to digest. For example, if you first grasp the hills and valleys of a crumpled cloth, it will be easer to apply that lesson to the planes of the face. It's important to begin by training your brain to see the world in terms of form, light, shadow, shade, and relationships.

That being said, train sketches are a great way to observe and capture expression/character, and you do indeed do that. They all have their own individual nature, and that's great to see. Well done.

-Craig

[ah.heng]

I LIVE!!!

thanks for the very kind words craig :)

did a lot of drawings today, wanted to do more but when i did #13, the girl beside me started to talk to me, then everyone started looking at me :(

anyway i tried to draw people that were talking/smiling today, something a little more expressive. it was harder, as i had to rely on a lot of memory and imagination, but it was much more fun.

http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0023.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0024.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0025.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0026.jpg
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0027.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0028.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0029.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0030.jpg
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0031.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0032.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0033.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0034.jpg
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0035.jpg

[Craig Houghton]

Lookin good. I think there's a marked improvement in this batch -- I see more confidence already. The 3/4 views seem to cause you the most trouble. I recommend practicing some construction lines with these using whatever technique you prefer. Also, depending on how thin the paper is, sometimes you can hold the page up and look at your drawing from the other side of the paper/page. When you do this, you'll find that your eye can more easily catch any placement problems (i.e. misplaced features etc). This can also be accomplished by looking at your work using a mirror. I do this with my own stuff constantly. Often, you can only see your work with 'fresh' eyes when looking at it reversed. On the train you can try looking through the other side of the page or, if you have to, hold it up to the light and look.

Keep it up!

Craig

[Lake]

very expressive. looks like you're having some trouble with facial structure - you need to do some skull and muscle studies. I suggest bridgman and anatomy for the artist - very good books.

[entdroid]

You have nice expressions here, but I think you have to be more careful with face features placement, maybe you should try some contruction lines before refining, you know, mark the center line of the face and the placement of the eyes, nose, mouth...
Keep working, you're definetely improving!:)

cheers,
entdroid

[ah.heng]

http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/05---lotus.jpg

was testing and practising some brushes, and decided to try whether it was possible to recreate the feel of a chinese painting.

[entdroid]

I really like the last addition!
The right part looks a bit messy and less subtle than the rest of it, but it's got a great feeling going on, very expressive!
Keep it up!
entdroid

[Craig Houghton]

I think the composition might be a bit off balance, but I'm loving the style. Keep it up.

-Craig

[ah.heng]

just to prove i'm still alive.

http://www.project-h.per.sg/flash.jpg

some friends and i have formed an illustration group, we call ourselves JKYRD, which means junkyard. we've been working on putting up the webpage for quite a while but never got around to doing it due to work and procastination. but we've put our foot down and will complete, or at least get a working version of the website up within this week. this image is the concept image of the splash page, the composition is wrong and we'll be changing it but that's the rough idea of how it looks like. we're creating an apocalytic world and will be showcasing it through the website.

[Craig Houghton]

Hiya. I like that you're moving in a different direction than I have seen before with this. It also takes some risks and that's a great thing. When developing up from a rough sketch I recommend working out all of the problems on the paper then doing a second or third version over the first one using a light table until you have a neat and clean version that reflects your original intent. That takes a while, but for the sketches that matter, it's a great way to work. In the end it also makes it easier to spot problem areas because you are left with a clean copy.

-Craig

[entdroid]

It's great that you and your frinds have a common project! That's the kind of thing that keeps your mind in motion :)
About the image, I like the idea but it's still very rough, I'd like to see where do you go from there.
Keep at it!
entdroid

[ah.heng]

http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0036.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0037.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0038.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0039.jpg

we were planning on working on the webpage today but ended up spending half the day watching fengzhu and scott robertson's gnomon dvds, and the other half conceptuatlising the sanctuary world.

lack of sleep and the brain overload made me really tired at the end of the day, but i was really inspired by fengzhu's way of doing thumbnails, which is to simply not think and just let the shapes flow. i tried doing that, but that last bit of mental activity was exhausted during the 3rd piece. the 4th piece is a pure brainfart. idea is based on IDW 12, peace time transport.

the top piece on the 1st page was my original concept, which was a bus. and also my 1st attempt at the draw with shapes thing. later i started thinking of motorcycles so came the other 2. the 2nd page is randomness from everywhere, a 3 wheel 'segway', scorpion rider, F1 racer, bouncing ball. i'm not sure how the 3rd page came about, it literally just flowed out by itself. 4th page 1st image was meant to be a slipper, next image i tried to do what i did the previous page but nothing good came out.

[entdroid]

It's great that you try new things besides portraits, it's something I should probably do myself.
However, I think you need to be more assertive with your lines, let them "flow" a bit more, they look a bit "hairy" right now.
Keep it up!
entdroid

[Craig Houghton]

It's great to be doing thumbnails. Ideas come faster, for me at least, when doing thumbnails/getting the idea on paper than they do when purely visualizing the concept in my head.

As for improving line quality, it's a good idea. It will help you produce finished works, develop technique, and learn to let the lines flow. I recommend practicing pages and pages of hand-eye coordinating circles and semi circles and triangles with rounded corners and etc etc. Practicing pages and pages of simple repeating patterns really helped me out in the beginning. Once I moved to circles with lighter lines in one portion and heavier in another I started to really notice an improvement in my work. I must have done thousands of light to dark semicircles. It makes for a good warm-up before drawing and 'breaks the ice.'

-Craig

[ah.heng]

mind explaining a little more on that practise, craig?

[ah.heng]

random dragons, those on left done with right hand those on right done with left hand. drew this while on a bus, it shoke a lot. i usually get bus-sick. :dead:
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0040.jpg

did these on saturday actually. there were another 2 pages but they were pure crap so i left them out. rather than do portraits, i sat down somewhere busy and just drew really fast gestures of people, then worked out the details later. interesting, but not a very fruitful exercise IMO.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0041.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0042.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0043.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0044.jpg

don't remember where i drew this. anatomy's wrong. drawn from mind. started with the glove then worked down the body the rest of the body. not even sure what i'm drawing, just a random brain fart.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0045.jpg

http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/logo02.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/logo03.jpg
this was actually a logo i thought up some time ago, but wasn't able to control the brush well enough to get a clean, smooth stroke. it's heng written in ancient chinese, stylised to resemble a butterfly. in the painting few posts up, it's the character on the right in the red stamp. the written character above is how it's written nowadays. i think i'll practise more, the 'eyebrows' still don't feel right. my friends prefer the clean lines, while i prefer the one with the dry brush feel, which was part of my original concept.

[faux pas]

Hey an.heng. Quick sketches are fine, but Id like to see what you can do when you get to spend more time on some of your studies. :teeth:


And I'm eager to see that apocalytic world. I like that kind of stuff. :xpld:

[ah.heng]

http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0046.jpg

we did some character templates today. this is 1 of them. the front view is half referenced from 1 of marko's degenesis characters, and half made up. the rear view is wholly made up with some reference from loomis. i drew the legs too much to the left so i erased them. need to rework the left arm as well.

would appreciate if someone could do a paintover for the rear view. i'm having a very hard time visualising it, even with construction lines.

[entdroid]

That last one looks quite good, but you should do some more anatomy studies and pay some more attention to proportions (one arm looks wider than the other one on both views, for example) and how the different parts of the body connect, as the most obvious issues in this image are the joints, specially the shoulders.
Keep it up, you're improving a lot!
entdroid

[Lake]

interesting. heng, how much time do you spend checking back on your reference? I can see that you took a lot of the pose from Marko's drawing, but it looks like you just took the pose, and not the lines. Marko has an excellent sense of line weight and proportion that would probably help to emulate. Coro says: I stare at Marko's drawings for hours on end while I'm on the john, and then I go back to my drawing board and try to envision his lines in my head.

Try it - and work on your feet.

This is actually my favorite of your recent stuff.

http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0045.jpg

[Craig Houghton]

dragons - I like the way there's exploration on the paper. You're letting the pencil seek out the shapes. Well done.

figures - That looks like a useful exercise to me. Keep that up.

templates -It's great seeing something that you spent extra time on. You slowed down and paid extra attention to the hands -- this is important. As for the backside, instead of working over this figure I recommend just moving on and doing many new figures.

I see real improvement already. Keep going. Also, what I meant the other day was just to do hand exercises to improve line quality. For me, pages of basic shapes and patterns helped.

-Craig

[ah.heng]

thanks for the comments. we've been doing tons of thumbnails and designs the past few days. will make an update tomorrow after work. here, just borrowed my aunt's cybershot :}

http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/sweatshop.jpg
the laptop is my main. i'm giving the computer away to my half sister.


our website is still in the works, as we want to wait till there's more material before putting 1 up. so i made 1 for myself. as the name says, it's still in testing. the php is taking longer to code than i expected.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/csstest.htm

[asoir]

Holy shit! That is a HUGE tablet!
Your dedication is very admirable, keep it up.

[Lake]

where do you work?

and - can we some more of your digitals? with a tablet like that, I'd like to see what you're doing with it.

[ah.heng]

entdroid - yeah i noticed the arms were sort of unbalanced, the right arm also seems to be longer too.

craig - thanks, i understand the shape of the arms better than i do the rest of the body so i was able to add that bit more detail. the torso would've been almost bare if it wasn't for loomis :nohope: i'm going to do more dragons sometime this week, those are my favourite subject.

asoir - thanks.

panda - i'm not really sure how much time i spend looking at reference, i look once, try to remember as much as possible and draw, i look back everytime i have trouble with proportions and pose, but once i get a good gist of everything i just drop all reference and try to work out the details by myself.

i do freelance web/graphic design. i bought it at a fair almost a year and a half ago, wanted to get the 6x8 but they only had the 9x12 left, and it was going for the usual price of the 6x8 so i bought it then, it's rather under-used though. i'll search for my old digital stuff later, gotta sort out the scans.

here's a quickie, i did a whole bunch of mono-wheel bike thumbs, and my friend re-worked 1 of them. my thumb is in the corner.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/26_june.jpg

[Dile_]

Nice sketchbook! :) and nice workstation! :)
we got the same model of tablet! keep it up heng!

[ah.heng]

thanks dile.

here they are panda. nothing fancy really. banners, cd-roms, typical graphic work. and also a bunch of editorials but won't be listing those.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/chomp.jpg
*this girl was traced, not mine*
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/rev.jpg
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/rabbit.jpg
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ub3.jpg

t-shirt designs
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/gift.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/epilogue.jpg

random stuff for people
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultra/uml_angry.gif http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultra/uml_blush.gif http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultra/uml_cry.gif http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultra/uml_grin.gif http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultra/uml_har.gif http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultra/uml_hehehe.gif http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultra/uml_lol.gif http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultra/uml_lol2.gif http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultra/uml_razz.gif http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultra/uml_sad.gif http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultra/uml_shock.gif http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultra/uml_smile.gif http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultra/uml_speechless.gif http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultra/uml_veryangry.gif http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultra/uml_wow.gif
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/ultraman.jpg

[ah.heng]

back to sketches. i compiled them to reduce clutter and most of the crappy stuff.

thumbnails, weapon, vehicle designs. kamen rider for fun.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/gauntlets.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/gauntlets2.jpg
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/sword.jpg
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/monobike.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/monobike2.jpg

stress relief - no ref
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/happy.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/happy2.jpg

still life practise - i only realised the perspective error after i finished rendering. any tips on rendering? i'm using a single 2B pencil.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/lamp.jpg

skull practise - drew the boring skull while looking at ref. didn't look right and i got fed up, so i stopped looking and drew from memory. the teeth are too far down for the front view. for the left view, the cavity beside the ear is too far back. i'm not sure how many teeth there are, my ref was rather small. i counted 8. any crits, i think there're a lot of errors but i just can't spot them.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/skulls.jpg

[ah.heng]

http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0047.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0048.jpg
http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0049.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/train/train0050.jpg
quick sketch of my friend. drew him too fat.
any tips on the shaded hand?
i wasn't very sure how to bring out the veins. that's as best as i could do.

[Lake]

I like the dragon skelly - and also those digitals! Looks like you're really tight on your digital stuff (unless those were paintovers on the tshirt designs_

The monobike is also REALLY cool - is your friend on CA.org?

Last, I'd be really really wary of drawing in the line between the teeth to place the mouth. The teeth generally center in and are irregular in shape - don't use the little diamond pattern; it's taken from many an anime and doesn't teach you anything about tooth structure.

[entdroid]

Nice updates heng! I really like the hands in the second image of your last post, and it's great to see you try new things, I think you're improving a lot lately.
One small crit/advice: a lot of your stuff seems pretty rushed, I'd like to see something taken a bit further, a bit more rendered I mean.
Keep practicing, I think you're on the right path :)

[ah.heng]

panda - the t shirts weren't paint overs, but were done with reference, there's actually a series of these, but those 2 look the best, the rest are rather amateurish. i'm trying to get my friend on CA. we talked about creating a joint sketchbook so we could get more input on our ideas and progress. yeah i know what you mean about the teeth. i'm going to spend more time looking them up, i'm usually very bad at little details like this.

entdroid - thanks. i'd like to practise more renders too, this all started as an old habit of mine back in school where i would usually spend maybe half an hour, max 1 hour on a drawing. the result is my still life is really weak and i need more practise on that. i'm trying to correct that now.

http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/support01.jpg
thumbnails for structure supports.

http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/xmas.jpg
concept for a shopping mall entrance's christmas decoration

[ah.heng]

http://www.project-h.per.sg/work/support02.jpg
more structural thumbs.
and also a quick compositional test for my TD piece.

[ah.heng]

photo ref. any help on the hair?
http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/sketch/ske0001.jpg

saw some lady yawning and couldn't help it. it's kinda exaggerated since i only saw her face for like half a second.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/rakugaki/raku0001.jpg

kamen rider V3 and some random lobster monster. drawn from mind.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/rakugaki/raku0002.jpg

[Craig Houghton]

That tablet in the pic makes me long for something half-decent. Mine cost 30 bux.

That monobike thumb made for a truly sweet illo. Neat to see that.

It's great seeing so many sketches. It's all about doing many many and pushing yourself harder each time. I particuarly like that hand in the lower right of the 28th update. The rendering there is more solid, but the reason I like it is that there's some cut and dry attention paid to the planes there.

The portrait looks good too. I don't think you need any hair help there. In fact, I love the hair. I'd like to see less squiggles and more confident shading on the face, but overall I think you did a great job. The rendering is far less important than getting proportions and placement right in the portrait, but it still has great value as it helps develop a sense of the values.

I'm looking forward to more.

-Craig

[ah.heng]

panda - finally got my friend to post. check out the JKYRD sketchbook.

thanks craig. the hair didn't really turn out the way i wanted it to and i didn't really know how to render it so i just went it as though i would a typical hard surface.

i have a splitting headache and can't finish this right now. maybe later when i wake up. again a photo ref. looks like i screwed up the face. she was so much rounder. looks like her face is crooked too. i just tried flipping the image in photoshop and it looks SO BAD :nohope:
http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/sketch/ske0002.jpg

i drew from the same photo ref half a year ago, just to explore how much i've changed.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/rakugaki/raku0003.jpg

[Bartovan]

You're making good progress here. When you draw faces the exat placement of the features is important - studying Loomis should help. In general i think you draw the noses too long and put the arc in the nose too low. And then the mouth ends up too low. But you have the ability to put expression in those faces. Keep on working.

[ah.heng]

Bartovan - thanks.

as usual, the face is crooked. :upset:
http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/sketch/ske0003.jpg

this was meant to be another practise, but i lost track of what i wanted to do and it turned out really weird.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/rakugaki/raku0006.jpg

http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/rakugaki/raku0004.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/rakugaki/raku0005.jpg

[staylor]

Hey! I've finally found your sketchbook! I didn't realize you got a new one.

Sorry the whole sketchgroup thing didn't work out, I'll still try to drop in here and comment though.

Anyways, the new sketches are really good. Sometimes the lines for shading are very far apart and look more like scratches than shadows, try to bring them tighter together so they blend more.

[Craig Houghton]

I'm glad to hear that you're doing the image flip. It's always tough for me when I do that after working on something -- the flaws jump right out.

btw, I like that older anime version

you are right about some of the crooked faces, but it's not too bad, and that's to be expected for a while. Just remember to really look at what you see in the ref. Stare at it till it's just a bunch of shapes and planes. Then, draw what you see, not what you'd expect to see.

-Craig

p.s. I see a bird in there ;)

[ah.heng]

hey staylor! nah it's ok. things got too hectic for me, it was my fault for my updating you guys anyway. thanks for the tip, i'm a very impatient guy so i try to draw very fast. i believe i've managed to somewhat better this habit. will keep trying harder!

craig - i do exactly that. stare hard, rough out the shapes and proportions. everything looks all fine and dandy unthing i begin rendering, and things slowly start to go out of proportion.

today's.
got a fever and can't continue anymore. head's aching too much.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/sketch/ske0007.jpg

yesterday's.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/sketch/ske0004.jpg
http://http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/study/study0001.jpg
http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/sketch/ske0006.jpg

some creature thumbs
http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/rakugaki/raku0008.jpg

[entdroid]

These last portraits are great! I think you're doing great progress here, and it's nice to see you do stuff that's a bit more polished.
Just try to keep an eye on the proportions and placement of facial features.
Good job! :)
entdroid

[faux pas]

Good portaits. And pretty weird creatures from what I can see of them. I hope you decide on one soon and flesh it out.

[ah.heng]

just to mention i'm still alive. have stuff to do so will not be updating much till august 10th.

[Listing]

Good work. Keep at it with your portraits. Some of those monsters look like Bosch creations.

[2b BOY]

Keep up the good work man. Just got to keep busting out all those drawings, I know how it feels to keep drawing, and getting discouraged to keep going because it's not turning out the way I/you want it. Just keep going.

Take care.

-Two bit

[Craig Houghton]

http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/sketch/ske0007.jpg <--- this looks rather solid and I like the drama. well done

The woman are looking better too, but watch for overly harsh edges/linework. Sometimes those sharply defined planes look better on guys than on women.

Keep it up!

-Craig

[ah.heng]

thanks for the comments, all.
i'm preparing a pre-portfolio for a few people to review so they can point out what exactly i'm doing wrong. it'll be used for entry into an industrial design course in a tokyo university in december. i'm getting kind of nervous as after 3 months of practise, i still don't think i'm getting near to the level of proficiency required. -> 1 (http://www.tamabi.ac.jp/pro/publication/sansaku/2004/image/pd_21.jpg) 2 (http://www.tamabi.ac.jp/pro/publication/sansaku/2004/image/gd_13.jpg) 3 (http://www.tamabi.ac.jp/pro/publication/sansaku/2004/image/gd_11.jpg) 4 (http://www.tamabi.ac.jp/pro/publication/sansaku/2004/image/gd_12.jpg)

these are some of the recent sketches i've done, i'll leave out the products and concepts for the time being till they're more concrete.

http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/sketch/ske0008.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/sketch/ske0009.jpg
http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/sketch/ske0010.jpg http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/sketch/ske0011.jpg
baby drawn from real life, she was sitting beside me but moved about too much so the pose is from imagination. i think it's quite badly done.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/sketch/ske0012.jpg
middle and bottom piece done from ref, the rest from imagination. i gave up on the middle piece, looked too masculine, couldn't really figure out what i was doing wrong.
http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/sketch/ske0013.jpg
ref for the last one, very badly done. our previous president.
http://www.popular.com.sg/images/product/book/53611.jpg

[entdroid]

Nice update heng! I can see a lot of improvement here! :)
Some of the face features look a bit off, but your shapes and rendering are looking much better.
Keep going!
entdroid

[Craig Houghton]

babies (and just about anything) are much more easily drawn while they're sleeping :)

The faces are looking increasingly solid. I really enjoy looking at the hands you're drawing. The knuckles look very well understood in those 1 2 3 4 linked images. Since they look so great, why not have them in the thread as normal instead of linking to them?

The proportion and line quality on the presidential drawing tells me that you have to slow down, even when you might not want to. It's like driving. It's easy when you're not speeding.

Improvement can be seen all over the place. Keep it up.

-Craig

[blanquish]

hey there!
Im the newest member of the ssg. so just add my sb to the sig.
Im liking what your doing with your portraits, and they are certainly improving, but they lack a bit in proportions and shading which will come over time.
When you render your drawings, there is no need to do it superquick, slow it down and take your time.
I suggest experimenting with different pencils- hb, 2b, 4b.
One of the things i notice, is they lack contrast.
If there is a really dark spot, make it black with a darker pencil.
You might wanna get yourself a mechanical pencil. Generally it makes a cleaner render, and doesnt need to continually be sharpened.

[sabe2003]

Love this drawing>
http://www.project-h.per.sg/img/sketch/ske0004.jpg
The girl on top is beautiful.