Newbie to drawing/painting wants to improve! - Arimus

[Arimus]

Hi there! Thank you for stopping by my sketchbook. Like many others, I've been inspired to begin teaching myself to draw, and began my journey on the 6th Febuary 2007. Below are some of the portraits I did since. Though there moments of frustrations, the journey so far has been really fun, and I look forward to learning more from you guys.

On the 16th of April, I began learning to paint digitally. Most of my newest works will be done digitally. Any comments or critiques are more welcomed.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/06-02-07SP.jpg

07 feb
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/07-02-07SP.jpg

08 feb
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/08-02-07SP.jpg

[Arimus]

more self portraits

15 Feb
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/15-02-07SP.jpg

16 Feb
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/16-02-07SP.jpg

17 Feb
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/17-02-07SPedit.jpg
- screwed up the proportions... touched up with photoshop=d

[Arimus]

I've been studying loomis' figure drawing in between, but i realise i should be working more on my values and perspectives/proportions... so i'm reading successful drawing now.

Did another SP today. Still doesn't really resemble me though. My mum says the 2nd one (with contours only) is the closest so far..
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/03-03-07SP.jpg
The eyes are wrong... i seem to have a mental block when i draw eyes... other than that, pretty happy with how this turned out^^

[Christian223]

Heey hi, this last one is a big improvement, keep up with the studies!, with proportions i recommend "drawing heads and hand" from andrew loomis too, keep it uppp you are doing quite good!.

[Arimus]

heyy christian, thanks!:D I just printed loomis' drawing heads and hands, think i'll will study that next once i'm done with successful drawing. trying to force myself to study atm, all the lines in perspective confuses me=d

I just realise how much sighting helps with proportions. Used to hate sighting
coz it was pretty troublesome and even then i couldn't get things right lol. guess i have the tendency to rush into things. it's so much easier now to get proportions out of the way right at the start by doing a light sketch to mark the features.

Anyway, here's another SP for today:
- kinda drew the eye on the left too hard, came out too dark=/
- the shadow under the mouth is off too@@

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/04-03-07SP.jpg

[MUNIZ]

Man I know the feeling of being new at the SB thing. Great portraits that you've started so far. Keep up the work and the golden rule DRAW,DRAW,DRAW,DRAW,DRAW,!:)

CHEERS

[Arimus]

thanks muniz! yea, its kinda intimidating, especially since i'm just starting out in drawing... but nonetheless it's inspiring to browse through the forums and look at everyone's work. heck, it's been pretty fun so far haha:D like you said, draw draw draw draw draw! ;d

anyway, here are some of the studies i did in my sketchbook since i started, sorry 'bout the bad quality. my scanner can only scan A4, and my sketchbook is A3=/

study on light and value
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/Studies.jpg

mostly figures copied from bridgman's life drawing, adding some stuff of my own=p
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/studies2.jpg

studying loomis figure drawing
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/Studies3.jpg

more loomis - balance and weight
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/studies4.jpg

random skeleton mannikins
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/studies5.jpg

that's it for now. gonna go read up more. draw draw draw=d

[Arimus]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/04-03-07SP2.jpg

the right eye's abit off... always the eye...;.; back to studying perspective><

[shyamshriram]

Nice works so far..there are many things to learn here :)
the sp in post #3 is nice...just push those values bit more.

[Arimus]

thanks shyamshriram! i like #3 too. In fact, I was kinda surprised it came out that good, coz i gave up on afew sketches that came out horribly just before doing that SP... was abit of luck i guess? Or maybe it's the crumpled paper studies i've been doing hmm

anw, I've been trying to get to that level again but nothing seems to be coming out well=/ i think i'm rushing things again.. here's what i did today lol-_-;

ok... something went horribly wrong lol. i got lazy when i had to draw the eyes.. so i decided to have a little fun and uhh... it turned out like that-_-;..... i didn't even know what to name it=(
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/05-03-07SPfun.jpg

this one came out slightly better=/... got the proportions wrong though, plus i think i worked the values abit too much in this.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/05-03-07SP.jpg
just did a comparison between this and #3... I realize that when i did #3 i felt more relaxed and less concerned bout how it'll turn out than when i did the ones that followed.. maybe that's the cause@@..

i've been studying "Successful Drawing" for most of the day... somehow i can't seem to appreciate studying perspective very much, it feels so much like maths=P don't really know why i'm studying it most of the time... thinking of going back to anatomy. bah, i'm so lost as to what i should study, there's so many things i need to improve in, just don't know which to do first-_-;;

anw... anyone have any recommendations for exercises on value/shading/line weights? i think i need more practice for these...

[shyamshriram]

Cool updates mate...im not agree with ur "luck" thing..its not possible..at least not in art... sometimes u should give a little credit to ur hard work :)

Just for ur inspiration and motivation....pls chk this thread...hes an AMAZING guy..just proved that nothing is impossible...dont miss even a single page...

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=870

[Arimus]

thanks shyamshriram, very much appreciated heh. I notice i was in a different mental states when i did #3 as compared to the rest... maybe i'm just abit burnt out from doing self-portraits lol, getting kind'a sick of myself. I think i'll do some photo reference of my friends sometime instead heh.

and mindcandyman's thread... haha, one of the first threads i browsed in this forums. Amazing guy indeed, he's one of the reasons why i even dared dream to take on this journey myself haha. thanks for sharing though, gonna browse through it again. He has this totally wicked avatar now, haha. hmm, I think i'm beginning to get a slight slight slight feel of all the pain and sweat he had to go through lol=p

Never give up eh? draw draw draw=o

[Arimus]

Mostly did perspective and values studies today, think i'm beginning to understand abit on perspective.. anyway, some uploads. sorry for the bad quality.

random stuff i did while still in sleepy mode
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/06-03-07randomstudies.jpg

studying 1 pt and 2 pt perspective... initially had no idea why i was reading all that stuff about diagonals, scaling distances etc.. in loomis' Successful Drawing, now im starting to realise the its application. still get confused once in awhile though...
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/06-03-07perspectivestudies.jpg

Value table:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/06-03-07valuestudies.jpg

paper study, idea i got from christian's SB =P its good practice haha
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/06-03-07paperstudies.jpg

and lastly a random doodle
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/06-03-07fun.jpg

that's all for now heh. gonna start cracking on anatomy soon.

[Arimus]

ack. another ugly self-portrait. did it at like 12am after i got back home... thought i'd squeeze in some time for a SP before i go to bed... i guess that's the kind of quality of work you get when you are tired@@

anyway, here it is.... Zzzzzz
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/06-03-07SP.jpg

proportions all screwed up again. guess i wasn't sighting properly... could have sworn it was correct though=( i checked, double check, triple check every single time i sighted the proportions and could have sworn they were correct... then half way through another part of the portrait they suddenly become wrong-_-;... in the end i couldn't be bothered anymore. did the shading hastily too=p

anyway, lesson learnt... go sleep if you're tired. lol.

think i'm gonna stop doing portraits for awhile.. maybe when i feel like doing one heh. probably will come out better. more perspective and anatomy studies tomorrow. off to bed now, nights:d

[Arimus]

Well, i felt like doing a self-portrait tonite lol. It's in my blood now-.-...

thought i'd put aside my drawing board for abit and draw it in the sketchbook instead.
[the one i bring around everywhere, and i haven't really used it yet...]

anyway, here's the WIP... only got the proportions and shapes out so far.
I had to darken the contrast abit because i used a H pencil to sketch out the outlines=s
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/07-03-07SPWIP.jpg
I kinda realise why my proportions for the last few portraits went horribly wrong.
-i missed out some important measurements like measuring the eye level position compared to other areas...
-when i mark the measurements i took on paper, it's usually slanted so when i draw my contours in they get distorted abit

Now that i've scanned it in, i realise the eye on the left is abit lower than it should be=S gotta fix that.

Anyway, some figure and mannikin studies from loomis...
i screwed up the proportions for one because there wasn't enough space in the sketchbook, so it became a dwarf=/
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/07-03-07Mannikinstudies.jpghttp://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/07-03-07Figurestudies.jpg

[Christian223]

Hey you seem to get perspective quite right, now you must practice to do it without all those guidelines :) heheh.

If you want to make a quick self portrait try doing just outlines, dont worry about shading and lighting, but get the contours of all features and shadows area, light and halftone, also try doing cross hatching i think its faster than tilting the pencil, and make an effort to get the values right from the moment you make a stroke :) its hard so dont worry, practice and study, thats the way to learn.

The paper excersize i did is specially helpfull to practice getting the angles of the contours right, try getting the angles of the lines of the countours from both sides, that is, if a line is at 45 degrees, its also at 270, if its at 50 degrees, its also at 275, and so on, also try putting the pencil to match the angles like when you measure, that will help you get the angles too.

K, keep it up!!!!! your learninggggg :)

[Arimus]

thanks christian;d

i tried crosshatching for awhile before but it was hard because i never knew where to start putting lines, where they end and where i should stop drawing lines etc... it gets kinda complicated for me with all the crisscrossing =p I have this book "Rendering in pen and ink", i think they have some exercises in there that helps with this, yet to look through it though.

and regard that paper exercise.. lol i never gave so much thought to it when i drew it. I just drew what i saw lol, erased quite abit for it to look "right" thought. measuring the angles never even crossed my mind=p Gonna try that again tomorrow. For now, it's bed time=p

Take care!

[Christian223]

Hey no problem, in regards of crosshatching and other things, this book helped me check it out.

Cya.

[CouchPotato]

Thanks a lot for dropping by my sketchbook Arimus!

I see we're both doing a lot of the same things lol. Really, same as you, I'm here just to give encouragement because I'm n00b as well hahaha.

I think you got a bit of courage trying out self portraits now lol. I don't think I dare to yet ^^;;;

Anyway, please keep up the good work! And while I don't think there's anykind of finishing line, it will be a pleasure to run with you ^^.

CP.

[Arimus]

Hey no problem, in regards of crosshatching and other things, this book helped me check it out.

Cya.

hmm, which book? :P

couchpotato: hey man, thanks for dropping by too. heh. I started off by reading "Drawing on the right side of the brain" which focused quite abit on self-portraits, so i ended up doing quite afew=p I remember going through some threads on CA and someone recommended to do a SP everyday, so i tried that and got stuck to doing them lol. They're quite fun actually, you should try them too. =D It's hard at first [i didn't upload all of them haha, some are really hedious. i dont even recognize it as a human face;.;...] but after some practice you get progressively better, though it can be frustrating at times... lol

Anyways, updates for today.
- Mostly did figure studies and some perspective studies I didn't scan in
- Won't be doing self-portraits for awhile...

Paper Studies
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/08-03-07Paperstudies.jpg
I tried the angle thing... it was harder than I thought@@

Mannikin Figure Studies
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/08-03-07morefigurestudies.jpghttp://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/08-03-07mannikinstudies.gif
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/CA%20Artwork/08-03-07figurestudies.jpg

That's all for today. Advice/Comments/Critiques will be appreciated:D

In other news: I'm down with chicken pox=( probably a good excuse for me not to go out the next couple of weeks, loads of time to draw then:P Just hope I don't get too sick to get out of bed even. ;.;...

Gonna go rest now, take care all!

[Arimus]

=S I've been dead for quite abit. I've stopped drawing for about a month because of the chickenpox.
Somehow, the virus affected my retina on the right eye, causing some cotton wool spots to appear on it.
It's pretty stable now and it's bothering me less so it's all good.

On a happier note, I got myself a wacom intuos tablet yesterday and have been trying out digital painting on photoshop.
Man, it's hard. I had no idea where to start... So far i've having fun been doing random sketches on it.
I also did some exercises from the peer project thread:

My first painting with a tablet: An Apple.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/Apple.gif
Just to try out. It's out of balance i think=S

Peer-project
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/Shere-1.gif
Shadow looks wrong... didn't like the shading... so I changed it...
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/sphere2.gif
The shadow still looks abit wrong...
:S

crits/advices most appreciated. Thanks!:D

[Arimus]

Been doing some reading and painting greyscale on photoshop.. god, it's hard. Man, it seemed easy reading all the other threads here. i'm so confused the brushes. where to stroke?! what size?! what kind of settings?! info overload! ack. Oh well, screw it, i'm just gonna play around:S

Here's what I came up with today, some of them are for the anatomy study group.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/apple.gif
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/MaleProportions.gif
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/propfun.gif
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/Color.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/SkullWIP.gif
It's a mess! @@

C&C most appreciated. Thanks!

[Arimus]

Skull repaint:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/Skull-redo.gif

I documented the process too.. it's a mess!
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/ProcessSkull.gif
Basically I had afew layers.. Background, Base colour, Dark tones, Mid tones, Highlights, Blending1, details, blending2, outline.

Also did another self-portrait today. Was dreading it because I haven't done one for awhile. Also I forced myself to use a larger scale than the usual 1:1. Came out pretty good i think, quite unexpected. I guess the loomis studies for Heads and Hands helped alot. i hate how i render with my pencil though, it's too messy@@
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/SP18-04-07constructions.jpghttp://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/SP18-04-07.jpghttp://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/SP18-04-07outline.gif
pencil construction/outlines, pencil shading, lineart

I always get stuck on the hair... and sometimes eyes@@
Gonna go try paint that SP in greyscale now.

C&C most appreciated. Thanks!

[Arimus]

Thought i'd post a WIP... this is too hard@@ I'm sitting down here laying down stroke after stroke, and before I know it 3 hour's gone, and I'm only partially done with the nose. Ack. I'm gonna go rest now though, been at this the whole day. C&C Most appreciated. Thanks!

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/WIPSelfPortrait.gif

[Envisor]

Got a good start on your studies I see. The ones from Loomis turned out great. Self protraits are getting better and better. I suggest to clean up your lines a bit and do some figure studies of your own. Keep up the sketching.

[Jazz]

I like your progress, and the fact that you keep at it frequently!

I can't say a thing about the portraits because that angle is a tough angle for me to figure out! XD But I can at least say I like how each one is turning out! ^_^

[KromNz]

nice works, you still got a few things to improve but is a great job you are doing with your studies, keep it up, and on thing, try drawing other faces, different faces gives you other challenges.

[Arimus]

@Envisor - thanks mate! heh. My lines are a mess, i tend to have the habit of scibbling until it looks right to me instead of thinking before i lay down my lines... still trying to kick that habit. Thanks for reminding me!:D I've been trying to get down to figure/anatomy studies too, but the painting's distracting me=p

@JazzW - heyy, thanks! I'm actually having a break until june/july (just finished studies, waiting for enlistment into army... it's compulsory for all males over here=/..) so there's plenty of time to spare. I try drawing everyday but it gets frustrating after sometime... still trying to strike that balance between studies and having fun at art. studies =/= fun, but art without the studies are no fun either so..=(

@KromNz - thanks! You're right about me having more to improve on. The journey's still long for me, most of the time i'm just experimenting and playing around. I actually dread drawing faces... though my sketchbook might say otherwise since more than 1/2 are SPs, but @@ i get a mental block whenever I try to start and I hate that feeling. Sometimes I get pass that, but sometimes I don't. Just earlier today I sat down for 10mins trying to draw another SP, but I gave up after getting frustrated at the proportions. Not too sure if i'm up for drawing other people yet, not really confident. Photo references maybe heh.

Anyway, updates for today:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/Self-PortraitWIPpainting.gif
[Self Portrait - WIP] Spent like 5 hours on this today... another 4 hours from yesterday so it's 9 hours so far... I'm left with the ear, one eye, and the hair before i'm done! arghhhh! :S Made another layer to paint a helm over the hair just for fun :P

Gonna go do some arm muscle studies now. C&C most appreciated. Thanks!

[Arimus]

Some SPs and arm studies. I think i'm starting to understand how to crosshatch.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/handstudies.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/SPapr19-20gif.gif
I can't draw hair for nuts...

Gonna go do some arm studies later and maybe more SPs tonite. Ciaos!

C&C most welcomed/appreciated. Thanks!

[Arimus]

some arm studies... nothing seems to be going in. Zzzzz

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/armtsudies20apr2.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/armstudies20apr.jpg

So i started doing some self-protraits without reference.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/SPstickfig.jpg
argh, the damn hair.

I did another SP, but got stuck at the hair again.
So to avoid drawing the hair, I drew a bald alien... wearing my face as a mask.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/alienmask.jpg
At least I know now that portrait faces don't make good masks. Or maybe it's just mine:S

Gonna try sitting down to get some arm studies done... god, muscles are hard. Zzzz.

C&C most appreciated. Thanks!

[Arimus]

WIP
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/sppaint.gif

Uhh... I kinda changed the hue/saturation on photoshop... no idea how to choose colours. The initial colour was horrible=S

C&C appreciated.

[CouchPotato]

Hey man, thanks for dropping by my sketchbook again. You look as if you haven't stopped practicing, which is good! And I'm definitely seeing improvement. It's like your drawing has gotten more expressive. Keep up the good work!

[Number_6]

The most obvious critique I can give you is that his mouth isn't wide enough. Typical facial proportions have the corners of the lips directly under the pupils of the eyes. This guy's mouth is only as wide as his nose. I think his chin is a bit too wide as well. When you're drawing a face, if you have trouble try looking at yourself in the mirror for reference. I find it helps me a fair bit.

[Arimus]

its been awhile since I updated. I've been rather lazy to scan my stuff in... heh.

couch - hey, thanks for dropping by again too. :P

number_6 - heyy, thanks for dropping by, as well as the advice. i'll take note of those. I didn't complete that piece (ack), kinda treating it as a practive for painting since i'm new to that. I haven't been doing SPs for awhile, but i'll get back to that soon. Gonna try to get the 2 Ps correct this time :D thanks!

Here's some new stuff...
I've been doing arm studies mostly for the past week or so, currently starting on drawing my own hands from life, as well as concentrating abit on my values... i feel like i lack proper control of my pencil when it comes to laying down values.

Random stuff I did during the past week, most with photo reference, some incomplete:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/jaggaunaut-1.gifhttp://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/Laputarobot.gif
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/Ironman.gifhttp://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/PhantomMask.gif

Hands studies:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/hands4.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/hands3.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/hands2.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/handsstudies1.jpg

And even after all that, I still can't draw hands. :D
Some doodle from photoshop, mega clean-up from the original... @@
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/skullwarriorguy.gif

That's all for now. Gonna draw more hands/still lifes.
Comments/Critiques/Advices most welcome! Thanks!

[Arimus]

WIP, demon warrior guy.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/Yang87/skullwarriorguy-1.gif

Haven't tried drawing the hands... no idea how to go about doing it. Gonna try some pose in front of the mirror later i guess. I suck at picking colours-_- the original colours were horrible, his skin was like bright orange, with dirty green pants and purple shoulderguards... ack:S didn't save that version though. I ended up using paint bucket to experiment with the colours abit and settled on the one above. Will work on this again.

C&C on how to improve this most appreciated. Thanks!

[Arimus]

Drew the hands in... finally, after many attempts. I also did my first environment piece today... 1 pt perspective. God, it was hard. and lastly, more hand. More of a contour/hatching practice than studies. :S C&C welcomed.

[Jazz]

Hey!! :) You're getting better with drawing hands! It's GOOD that you're putting them into the picture as you have with the demon warrior! Since there's not too much detail with him, the hand detail seems to fit. Hopefully you'll work on getting more into the detail of the drawing, though!

Keep it up!! ^_^

[Arimus]

I was lazy today... didn't really draw much. I did spend some time reading about traditional painting and perspective tho, learnt alot of stuff i didn't know before, so it's cool.

Anyway, still managed to pull out a self-portrait despite the laziness. I'm still too afraid to try drawing hair... it's just so messy i dont really know where to start. Gonna force myself to practice some in front of the mirror tmr or something. I like this piece so far, though I'm thinking I should work on the values abit more, but i'm scared i might ruin it=S

C&C most appreciated.

[Jazz]

Hey, I like it!! I think the contrast is pretty good, and your detail on the facial features is clean! :D

As far as tone goes, I suppose it would be good to darken the whites a little more; that white is pretty sharp for a highlight.

With the hair, I understand how tough that is! As someone with scrappy hair, I have to decide how to bring it into my self-portraits--in clumps or haphazard detail. I opt for clumps to start off with. Maybe, try finding some overall shapes amid your hair that you can draw with your face (and think of the direction of the hair, too!), then slowly go into more detail until the hair matches the efforts of the face! Or until it looks like hair! Ha ha!

That's just my idea! See if some of it works for you, and don't be afraid to mess up a nice sketch/drawing a bit! It's not the last one you'll do, I'm sure of that! :D And the practice will be great for you as you get used to it!

[Wahuh?]

That latest pic is the best of the bunch for me, nice and clean with good contrast, you've got a knack for doing faces. As for hair, yup thats a pain and one I'm trying to figure out myself :) I'd really like to see some full figures from you though that would be cool :)

[Arimus]

jazz: heyy thanks for dropping by again and sharing some advices. i tried to tackle the hair tonite, but i think i wasn't really in the mood or something, ended up shading things in random:P I think why i'm having such a hard time with my hair is because... it's really dry and messy. There's hardly any flow to it... the hair goes << and >> and << and >> way, bah. Maybe I should try styling my hair next time=s i hope my attempt made it look like hair at least, though it was done half-heartedly haha. I think i'll find some hair-styling books and just draw those inside for practice sometime. One thing that bothers me though about my portraits... they all seem dead if you know what i mean. My mum's friend came to me one day and asked if i was depressed, because apparantly drawings supposedly express the inner world of the artists, and my portraits all look sad to her. This is one area i think i definitely need to work on... breath more life into my drawinggggs!

wahuh: Thanks for dropping by! The latest one was a huge improvement for me in terms of values, but i'm still experimenting with styles and techniques. that last one was actually done with the strokes all going in the same direction. I read somewhere long ago that we should go with the form but when i tried that it was a mess (see earlier SPs heh) I might try that again though now that i have a better understanding and control of my values. As for figures... I don't know, so far my attempts suck. I'm thinking of life-drawing classes but i don't know if they have it here where i am. we'll see. :P

(1) updates on that portrait.. fugly hair.
(2) a page from my sketchbook that i did in the past hour.

[Nismo]

WOW

Amazing progress since your first post. You clearly have latent talent!

I'm especially impressed with your figure drawing practice. Have you checked out Bridgman as well as Loomis?

Dont' stop!

[Jazz]

Hey, Arimus!! :D Oh, you're welcome about the SB! I'm glad to look!

Messy hair is pretty intimidating, I guess because you really can't see the 3D and the shape so much. It's more of a mass, and a matte on at that! But there's an overall shadow and lighting, even if it's veeeerry slight! The hair-styling book sounds like a great idea to start! And some different fashion magazines.

Regarding the portraits, I do see what you mean! I think one part of the problem might be the shading. It's rather flat, especially the eyes. Like they're papet cutouts on your face. It's tough and tedious for a while, but you need to look at your face and really get a feel for the shapes within, like on the cheeks, around the eyes, the forehead, mouth, etc. And the mouth also looks flat, but the fact is, it's actually rounded, like if you put a piece of tape along a toilet paper roll. :)

I won't take full credit for what I just said! XD I learned about the face from a Loomis book recently, and it really makes sense now that I'm studying the structure! Hmmm...maybe you could sit somewhere where the light and shadow has more of a contrast, to see if you get a better idea of how your face is shaped!

[Euphemism]

Firstly, don't treat hair like it's straw!! D: You HAVE to attempt drawing hair someday, don't put it off. Tackle the difficult things, get out of your comfort zone, with no whinging, and ye shall succeed. ;)

Hair, at any shape or length, must be drawn carefully and delicately. Take care in thinking about the roots and how the hair sits on, and grows from, the head from there. Refer to female hairstyles (mostly longer hair) for definition and structure, there's only so much you can learn from male haircuts sometimes. Search up images and photos on Google to help you. ;)