markey2d new sketcbook-crit-crit-crit

[markey2d]

Turn to last page it gets better!
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/8797/kingn0.th.jpg (http://img337.imageshack.us/i/kingn0.jpg/) Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)


i am a 16 year old aspiring artist, and simply want to improve, please give me as much critique as possible and alittle encouragement inbetween.


anyway here goes....

[markey2d]

sorry for the first oversized picture.

here a some sketches i did at the national gallery in london.

most of the pictures have wings because it was for my exam which is now done and dusted.

[markey2d]

this pick went into my exam preparation and is an image i recreated from michelangelos adam/creation of man.

plz rate

p.s face is horrible i know

[markey2d]

just tryin some texture advice i got from andrew jones in an imagine fx workshop

i think i adds depth to what is a simple sketch.
enjoy

i will update with a fully fledged picture in this style.

[markey2d]

bump...bump sumone plz critique or rate my pictures

[Duq]

Your anatomy is generally off, and alot of stuff like your values, volume isnt very good either.

Iwould say, go here http://www.fineart.sk/index.php?cat=1. Download the books and start working from them, and most of all, draw draw draw :)

[ivow]

If theres one thing i could recommend it would be get off the computer and draw with a pencil.

Also, look at art seriously, as a subject to study. More of that Michelangelo stuff and less playing with photoshop. ;)

[markey2d]

thnx for crits

dug- thnxe for crits i know i need to improve my anatomy thats why im here

ivow- thnx, and i do look at art seriously, and yes i do draw with traditional medium but i need to scan my work onto the computer.

is there any i did well though?


thnx

[markey2d]

i will be posting all that good pencil stuff soon

[ivow]

I will check back later for the pencil stuff, then maybe i could give some relevant advice. :^^:

The Michelangelo one has a good body, but im not too hot on anatomy so i couldnt point out any subtle mistakes.

Anyway keep it up. CA isnt really like it used to be for newer artists, but if you stick around and mingle you can get some killer advice. Dont be put off if no one replies to your sketchbook. ( mine has about 2 replies )

[markey2d]

here a some non digital stuff just drawings with my intrest, the portrait was made with water colour.

[Ryan K]

I recommend getting a hold of Andrew Loomis' "Figure Drawing For All It's Worth". It's is a great starting point for sketching anatomy. Other than that I can't offer much advice, as I am a newb heh.. :)

[ivow]

From what ive seen you should probably start drawing A LOT from life.

Your drawings are not great, but they are from your mind. To learn you need to draw from actual objects or really good reference photos/drawings.

Dont feel bad. If i sat down to draw a sword or something from my mind it would look crap. :dur:

You just need to build up your knowledge about the real world and the way things look. Then you will be able to produce amazing work from your mind. Im nowhere near being able to. :^^;:

Good luck. :)

[markey2d]

thnx downloading now.

[markey2d]

took the great advice from all of you, and i am now fully fledged and studyin anatomy, big post.

enjoy.

p.s can sum on tell me how to put up signitures.

[markey2d]

ah forgot this

more on the way trust me.:teeth:

[asoir]

that watercolour portrait is great, keep studying, do some slow face studies and you'll improve quick. also, check out other artists for inspiration

[markey2d]

thnx asoir just need to keep going, good luck with your stuff too

still need help with putting up a signiture.

[markey2d]

just thought i would make alittle character so here is a litlle idea.

be bac with a full sketch soon--hour maybe

[markey2d]

heres the little design i came up with, and i still consider it to be anatomy practice.

expect more anatomy in the morning.

[Sirio_Brozzi]

Hey markey, good to see youre starting off young, follow everyones advice and keep the studies up, as reccomended focus now more on loomis and bridgeman as much as you can, draw stuff from life and try to get cleaner lines so it doesnt look so scratchy. Just do a bunch of studies everyday from those books and you'll get better in no time.

As for your signatures heres some help. Click on the USER CP function in the top left corner, then go to 'edit signature' which will appear on your left. I can email you the code for you to paste in if youre having trouble figuring it out. Drop me a line at eclipser69@gmail.com. Keep it up!

[markey2d]

thnx alot siro, i think i have figured it though.

peace

[markey2d]

hey guys

big up date might split it into two post though,
the anatomy i promised.....

[markey2d]

some of my most recent anatomy stuff, i think im improving.

anyway all crits are welcome.

[markey2d]

asoir, i decided to take your advice and did a slow face study of my brother, the likeness isnt that good but i think it was decent overall.
abit annoyin since it was a A3 image but i only got an A4 scanner....oh well
took me just less than an hour.

[Wake101]

great sb so far markey, just keep going and you'll get where you want. Study from life as much as you can. All these anatomical studies your doing will also help you out alot. You might want to size down some of these pictures though.

keep up the good work

[markey2d]

i forgot to thank people for crits so here:

wake101-thnx for the encouragement, will definetly scale down next post.

asoir- thnx for support.

[nilaffle]

Hey markey2d, your work is coming along. These are great studies you're doing, keep up with them. You've gotten some really helpful suggestions so far, not much else to add. :) Just keep drawing!

[CouchPotato]

Hey man, thanks for visiting my sketchbook. As you know, I'm just starting out myself too. But I'll pass on the same advice that I was given as I started lol. Get your proportions right first before you start on your anatomy (meaning get your body shape and how long or wide everything is in reference to everything else before you start learning your muscles).

When you draw your guide line for dividing up your proportions (that line with 8 head division thingamajiggy), use a ruler. I know some people will say not to rely on a ruler, but you're starting out. It's really crucial for you to fix firmly in your head the "correct" look. If you divide freehand now, you'll be bound to get some of the divisions wrong, and your proportions will start going off.

I think you might need some work on basic perspective. To be honest, I think you should do at least some perspective drawings before you even start on figure drawing. From my current experience, I'm facing a great deal of difficulty with foreshortening, and that difficulty stems chiefly from my inexperience with perspective and shapes in general lol.

So, I would really suggest looking around for a few boxes, balls, and cylindrical type objects, set them up somewhere in your house in some type of composition, and just keep drawing those for a bit (I would think at least a couple of months). At the same time, go find out what horizon lines, vanishing points, 1, 2, or 3 point perspective means and stuff (I suggest Perspective Made Easy by Ernest Norling). This step will be really tedious and boring, but stick to it man, and don't give up.

[markey2d]

niaffle- thnx alot.

couch potato- speacial thnx to you and your long post, very use ful stuff,and your right prespective is something i have little experience in. i will study it but i feel i should also do some anatomy stuff so i dont get bored.

[markey2d]

niaffle- thnx alot.

couch potato- speacial thnx to you and your long post, very use ful stuff,and your right prespective is something i have little experience in. i will study it but i feel i should also do some anatomy stuff so i dont get bored.

[markey2d]

this is a kinda near finished version of what i was doing, before you can see on previous posts.
i know there is quite abit wrong with it so dont be too hard on me.:[

[Mr-Joe]

Hey yo whats up markey2d,

Thanks for taking a look through my sketchbook.

I see your working on the anatomy, you should keep doing that, are you working from any books? looks like some loomis skeleton studies there.

See if you can get your hands on this book, "drawing on the right side of the brain" Thats a great book and I think it could help your portraits out alot.

Check out some of these videos here, I think there really good the way they are taught:
http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=moatddtutorials

[CouchPotato]

couch potato- speacial thnx to you and your long post, very use ful stuff,and your right prespective is something i have little experience in. i will study it but i feel i should also do some anatomy stuff so i dont get bored.

It's up to you how you wish to proceed friend. As long as you feel comfortable with it. You can't rush art, is something that I'm beginning to feel. Go at your own pace.

For your new piece, to be honest, I can't quite see much of it. I'm not into painting (yet, haha) but it would seem to me that there is no such thing as pure black. Any surface or shadow that seems black probably has a shade of some other color in it, most likely reflected from the surfaces around it. Think about how light behaves in real life and you'll get it, I think.

Once again, your proportions are not precisely right. Your head is too small for someone with that body size. I can't really comment on the rest because I can't see very well the rest of it, but work on correcting the proportions.

[markey2d]

heres a little self portrait i did a little while ago.

i think it's ok, tell me what you think and be brutal.

[asoir]

hey man, i must say i'm impressed by the dedication you've got
don't let it die, keep pumping at it...improving already! :D
good values in the last one, what you could try to improve your portrait is get the measurements first, i get lazy with it but it truly helps, make sure you have a good sketch, then paint.
peace

[markey2d]

hey thnx asoir, and your right i didn't measure for the portrait, will do next time.


thnx for the kind words.

[markey2d]

does have any good tips on gettin a likeness in portraits, cause im really struggling.

[alenacat]

I like the dragonesque things! Hey, you can creeate your own dragons by mixing up some species of animals, maybe you could try that? just keep drawing from life and from ref and you will go far. Going from pencil line studies to the digipaints liek you are doing will really help you

[asoir]

does have any good tips on gettin a likeness in portraits, cause im really struggling.

http://www.gfxartist.com/features/tutorials/14033

great tutorial for this, and should help a lot towards colour theory too.
peace

[markey2d]

alena cat- thnx for the suggestions.

asoir thnx for the link.

[markey2d]

by the way guys i got couple anatomy studies that need posting i will post as soon as i can. how ever i might have to take my foot of the drawing pedal as i got GCSE that i need before hopefully, going onto a Btec art and design course in september.

wish me luck.

[asoir]

by the way guys i got couple anatomy studies that need posting i will post as soon as i can. how ever i might have to take my foot of the drawing pedal as i got GCSE that i need before hopefully, going onto a Btec art and design course in september.

wish me luck.
no shit? i'm doing btec art and design in sept too, where you going?
peace!

[markey2d]

hopefully richmond college, i got an interview in a couple weeks.

[asoir]

hopefully richmond college, i got an interview in a couple weeks.
dude. you are SHITTING me! i've gotten accepted but i might goto strodes in egham...richmond look like they have great teachers though.
thats incredible! keep me updated in whether you've been accepted.
peace!

[markey2d]

what a small world it is the reason i havn't recieved an acceptance or rejection is because my inerview had to be reschedueld because i change to a Btec course.

will keep u updated

[markey2d]

heres the anatomy stuff, from books, done in pencils.

the drawing of the women is A3 so i couldn't scan the full thing but i did my best.

[Mr-Joe]

yo markey, whats up,

The portraits not that bad, looks like all soft edge brush, which is fine if thats what you want, for more realistic approach try using some hard edge brushes, also that random page of textures overlaid on it looks bad.

check out those videos I linked in the other post for some good perspective lessons, there 10 minute videos they have a lot of good info.

[markey2d]

i know haven't posted in a while but i did warn you, i have been drawing but haven't had the time to scan and wat not.

anyway here is some manakin stuff.

[asoir]

cool, use less marks in the future though, take your time with each stroke and try to make it one long one.

[markey2d]

hey been a while but i have been drawing, here is some new stuff, again the A3 thing is still a problem.

[markey2d]

sorry i haven't replied to some of your sketch but somwtimes i try there is errors on pages, sometimes i cant even get onto mine.

[asoir]

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=122552&stc=1&d=1176536961
shows good form! keep going is the encouragement i can give

[markey2d]

here is a really early WiP. its ment to be a three armed swordsman.

[Wake101]

some good things goin' on in here. Right now I would say to keep pushing your anatomy. Particularily understanding form. You did a couple of renderings of maniquins which is good. Just really pay attention to how perspective and depth play a role in the shapes. Then apply that to your figures. You might want to look at some of the loomis online books. Hogarth, and Bridgeman are also top notch teachers to study from. I'm in the middle of a huge bridgeman book, and its really helping me to understand some issues I've had.

Keep on keepin' on.

laterz,

[markey2d]

been busy revisong for exams, so i havent been able to update, but i got something i doodle here.

thats all i got guys expect more after june really when my exams are done, or i might just start a new sketboo, any way later.

[markey2d]

it's definitely been a while, been studyin for exams, however i do have these four updates, hope u like. the first is a loose interpretation of the comedian Justin Lee Collins wen i saw him sitting on the Jonathan ross show.the last is a drawing of my mum from life.

exams start Monday...:dad:

[markey2d]

i'll be back on here soon just 2 more exams n i will hav an update.

kool

[Sketch]

Hey markey2d, good progress so far. I think it would help you to focus on your line quality(not as sketchy... some more smooth lines) and using a line of action. I noticed some of your figures are off balance wise. It's good that you're sticking to mostly black and white drawings. Keep at it!

[markey2d]

sketch- thnx, for the encouragement, but do u have any tips on improving lines, thats an are that i can't seem to get my head around.

Finally finished my major exams, I'll be back on here regularly, until i go on holiday that is, but even then it'll be drawing to the cows come home.

here is just some crap. be back with sumthing in just a sec.

[asoir]

hehe, justin lee collins rocks, the charcoal(?) stuff is great, try to get darker tones in there too.
peace

[markey2d]

as promised here's what i have been up to.

[markey2d]

as you can see from the post above, i haven't been sitting on my hands this past week.
here's some anatomy stuff.

[Lee W]

nice studies :) I would suggest starting the sketch with a very light touch (with almost no pressure on the pencil) then darken where it needs to be when the sketch looks correct. This way, the sketch looks cleaner and more accurate.

[markey2d]

Asoir- thnx for ur continuied support.by the way how did u upload ur Z brush3 artwork work i'm not sure how to. and u need to give me some tips on how ur making those cool sculptures.

old-noobie- thnx, i know i needed help improving my lines. ur advise is so obvious but something i didn't really do.

heres a WiP and a doodle or two.enjoy.

[markey2d]

sorry for over sized pic forgot to resize. sorry.

[markey2d]

1 more experiment, trying to concentrate on just the shape.

[markey2d]

to be honest all i got is crap here, just doodles and stuff. trying to post everyday. expect better stuff tomorrow.

[Piranha Clan]

There's plenty of good advice here that I can't add to. Encouragement- you're young. Everybody has to start somewhere and the younger the better. Be patient, give yourself time and room to grow, draw everyday from life. Check out a book called "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". Plenty of good exercises in there that will help you learn how to observe and really "see" things.

Work hard!

[Jason Rainville]

The biggest problem you have that I can see (didn't read the whole thread, hope no one mentioned it) is OBSERVATION.

Basically it looks like you're looking at your page more than you're looking at your subject. I'd wager that you'd look at an eye, think "I know how an eye basically goes" and proceed to draw it. The problem is that you don't know how an eye goes, how each line dips an weaves, how the light falls on the different surfaces. So what you need to do is look at the angle of each and every line in that eye, MEASURE with your eyes, comparing the length of an eye to how much distance there is between the eye and the side of the face, etc.

Basically, really look at what's going on with the pic and always check and redo your pic if neccessary. :)

[markey2d]

lirce-thanks for your advise, i will start drawing from photos and stuff at least everyday.

piranha clan-thnx, i know i'm young it's just that sometimes i feel like i'm behind everybody else and that i need to catch up. i guess i just need to focus on me n stop looking at everybody else.

Rhineville- your not the first person to tell me observation is my biggest problem, in fact when i went for an interview and showed the guy my portfolio, he said i need to draw from life rather than my head. thnx a lot i will start to take my time and look.

this is just here to make up the numbers really, expect my next post to be a nice portrait. gonna spend a lot of time looking and drawing that, but until then.
keep drawing.

[Jason Rainville]

markey, I didn't just mean study from life/observation, I mean your work shows that you're not REALLY looking at what you're drawing. Like I used to do, you peeked at it, concluded you neede to draw an eye, and drew it. Neither of us payed attention to the gentle slope of the crease over the eye, the various angles and measurements involved etc.

REALLY look at what you're drawing and measure with your eyes, the most important things to remember with life drawing, or all this practice isn't going to get you very far.

[markey2d]

Rhineland- thnx for the reinforcement of your message.

in this portrait i really tried to look and observe everything, i don't think the final image justifies this however, i think i need to see this as a place to start from.

speacial thnx Rhineland.

[markey2d]

been observing again, got some things wrong again, however i think i did an ok job overall.

Nude Warning lol.:bashful:

[TheDonut]

There's a huge improvement already! I had your problem when I was starting out. I sat down and decided that I was going to copy photos of people until I could make it look just like the photograph, so I did, over and over again until I stopped making those mistakes and started drawing automatically from what I saw, rather than what I thought I saw :) keep it up!

[markey2d]

thedonut- thnx, i plan to the same thing that you did.

here are some enlarged observations of eyes. plz crit this if nothing else.

[asoir]

wow dude, that portrait was really a jump forward, congratulations. the nude has great solidity to it too. kudos to the improvement!

[Dile_]

I agree with marco, and the nude and the eyes are aswell a huge jump in the right direction, keep the progress up! I think this will be a uber-great sketchbook at the time you reach page 20 ;)

-Dile

[voxelfog]

yes, very nice eye studies, and a huge improvement. I can tell you are starting to think about the actual form of the eye and the eye socket, rather than just the lines surrounding it. It's good that you are doing multiple studies from different angles. Keep it up!

Some things to think about while drawing eyes:
-how does the eyelid shade the whites (sclera) of the eye? Even though the sclera is white (really off-white), the eye is round, and receives shade from the upper eyelid.
-Does the eye reflect the environment in any way? Often in a brightly lit room, you will see reflections and highlights on the iris and sclera. Adding these can really make the eye seem more alive.
-How do the eyelashes group together? Rather than trying to draw each eyelash individually, it's often easier and looks better to draw groups at a time.
-How does the shape of the eye and eyelid change as you rotate around the head? From a profile view the shape is very different than it is straight on.

Just keep cranking the anatomy studies out, and draw from life as much as possible. Maybe do a self-portrait or two. Those are always fun... :)

[markey2d]

Asoir, Dile, voxelfog- all your comments really made my day or evening i should say. thnx for ur advise on eyes voxelfog i will think about as i do my next eye study.

woohoo my last exam is tomorrow.

this is a quick observational study, i think i will slow down though n try build speed up rather than rush next time.

[TheDonut]

These are much, much better - well done!

[markey2d]

thedonut- thnx for the encouragement.

two more updates, 1 is just a random thing using the hat from one of Dile's pictures.
the other is another observational study, i think i mess up the head but i think i did the hands and feet preety good.

anyway...exams are over!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :^^:

[markey2d]

lol forgot to attach pictures in the excitement lol sorry.

here they are.

[TheDonut]

Nice work

Remember that the eye is around half way down the head - you seem to be drawing them 3/4's of the way up, like a lot of people start out doing. I know I made that mistake, and it took me ages to figure out why all my faces looked off!

[markey2d]

finally got my final piece back from my art exam that i did in march.

here it is tell me what you think, it's meant to be Icarus from Greek mythology.

second is a little bit of a close up

[Shobunkin]

You definitely have talent already!!! You also seem to be working hard and sketching lots and that always helps to improve. Here's my suggestion, try to play with getting lighter and darker shades with the pencil and then you can alter the thickness of the lines also. This will create a lot of interest compositionally. I'm trying to get better too, but you are lucky cuz you are starting early and you have talent. Keep up the good work and keep on sketching!!! I like your stuff a lot.

[Shobunkin]

Hey! Thanks for the advice! I had an art teacher also tell me that drawing is the science of looking. It's hard to draw what you actually see and not what you think you see or representations of things like nose, mouth, eyes. Thanks for your encouragement =)

[markey2d]

shobunkin- thank you for your advise and kind words.

thedonut- thnx for your consistent posts to my thread, and the fundamental advice.

well still trying to get better wit observations so here one more, i see a few problems that i will try to rectify during my next study.

[Dile_]

damn man, keep it up! post more then one drawing a time also.

[Lee W]

doing good :) keep doing those studies

[markey2d]

Dile and Oldnoobie thanks for your comments.

been lazy really all i got is some manikin frames.

[invinciblewombat]

you're really productive with the amount of sketching you do, that's awesome, its all about keeping at the, for the figures i find that an easy way to get good at drawing the human figure is to just look at the proportions of the body, just seeing how long the limbs and torso are compared to each other and things like that will help you nail them down. keep at it man.

[FourTonMantis]

nice progression; keep it up with those anatomy studies.

[Dile_]

fill the page, and don't fill the page with two giants, fill them with 5-10 cm figures ;) so you get a lot of stuff done!

Looks good.

-Dile

[markey2d]

i got an update again.

inviciwombat- yea most times i struggle more with the width of limbs a little more than the length.

BigZam-thanks, will do.

Dile-the problem for me is I've got an A3 sketchbook using it on an A4 scanner, so i have to scan half of it, crop then resize all images so it does look bigger, however i should definitely draw smaller.
this update illustrates that.

i will try and post some more stuff later 2day.

kool.

[Shobunkin]

Nice calla lilies =) Keep up the good work

[Mr-Joe]

Hey Markey, your showing some great improvement and you've gotten some great advice here and you have some great responses to that advice and show a lot of determination to learn,

I'm probably reiterating what others have said, but I agree you need to take some more time to observe what you are going to draw before drawing it if you want it to look some what believable.

You said yourself you need to slow down, you should definitely take your time, don't rush making lines, put lines down on the paper carefully and use less of them.

I might have already mentioned this but I know others have mentioned it as well, go get "drawing on the right side of the brain" Read that book! and do the exercises I'm pretty sure it will help you with observation.

And like you said yourself, don't get discouraged by all the artists work here on conceptart, don't feel like you need to "catch up" just work your own pace.


Hey keep drawing your showing a lot of improvement.

Joe.

[markey2d]

shobunkin- thnx man

mr Joe-thnx for the advice and encouragement.

i was gonna post the cloth study yesterday but there was an error on the page.

i just got three Bridgman books, got so excited i did 5 pages of A3 drawings.

the lines in my last post got a lot cleaner than the previous posts.

HUGE UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!

[Shobunkin]

Hey thanks for stopping by my SB again. I'm glad you are doing bridgman studies now! I think they help a lot. Some of his books help with drapery also. I would try to get more contrasting values and in the drapery so you can tell where it's folding. Drapery is hard. Keep up the hard work!!!

[Smash^]

Hey, your work on your eyes and body's are pretty good, keep them up!!!

Bridgman work looks like its doing good, keep it up, i know it will improve you greatly, as there are many examples on this forum!!

[markey2d]

well im off on holiday tomorrow, so i will see you guys in 4 weeks with lots of observational drawings.

see you then.

[invinciblewombat]

these studies are great man, keep plugging away, it's the best way to nail down the figure, if you need more reference material than whats in most books you can try posemaniacs.com, theres a ton o different 3d models of the human body perfect for drawing on there.

[markey2d]

im back from my holiday and rearing to go.

wombat- thnx for ur encouragement.

ok here we go. these are some head studies.

[invinciblewombat]

good practice on the planes of the head although you may want to get the underlying structure of the skull down before you add features as some of them look warped

[markey2d]

thnx wombat

this image is like a breakthrough for me because my past rendering attempts have been less than satisfying.but this looks ok to me.
please give me as much advise as you have to offer and perhaps some suggestions for a background.

while critique plz ignore the face and the hair.

done in photoshop and painter.

[lysgaard]

wow, good job and great progress!
I'll try to critique you'r blue woman alittle:

You shoud think more about how and where the colors are placed.
Like that the shadows on her stomac is too dark compared with the other places you have painted with about the same color. Also, I think maby you shoud use the old trick with blocking in light and dark, and then make mid-tones. I don't know anything about painter, but it's look like you have used some thing like smudge tool to make a smoother shadow, I think people i have spoken with about digital painting says that you shoud rather use some kind of brush-tool with alot of different tones/opacity. the smudgeing sort of make the whole character in a mid-tone and it's a little messy to look at.

great stuff, keep it up! :D

[markey2d]

new update be back with some more goodness.

l8r

[Mitchell]

Hey man ever thought about doing some bargue drawings, or just a really careful self portrait/still life study? Make sure every angle is correct, every tone/value is correct, until it looks EXACTLY like the object you are drawing. That will really help you become more accurate, even if it takes days/weeks to finish one, you will gain a ton of knowledge on becoming more accurate, and seeing shapes for what they truly are. Then you will be able to sketch fast and accurate. The slower you go now, the faster you will be later. Keep it up mate, you're studying the right things, you just need to take your time on them now.

[markey2d]

skieff- thnx for your advice.
in fact this next image is made with you advice at the back of my head.

[markey2d]

just happy i got an A in GCSE art. seems like all the hard work payed off.
anyway i will post again l8r on.

[razz]

Bridgman is a great choice for studies. I really loved his book I've read and redrawn most of it. One more artist you might find interesting is Glenn Vilppu. He has made a series of DVDs, also books about drawing the figure. You can find him HERE (http://www.vilppustudio.com/).
What I can say is just keep going, learn that anatomy, do studies along with imaginational work and don't rush things.
You're young so there's plenty of time, just use it productively.

[markey2d]

razz- thnx for you support and advice.

im really starting to feel my artwork come together.
here are two examples.
the first one i did last week it's a master copy.
and the second one is a WiP progress master copy i did yesterday.the girl with a pearl earing.

[markey2d]

heres a smaller version

[yungks.ae]

hey markey2d, welcome to the forums! I'm 15-16 just like you :D
so looking at your pieces, I could suggest a few things, the most important i would say is to draw draw draw draw draw draw draw draw draw. Drawing is the basis of art, and learning a lot of techniques in drawing will vastly improve your ability in other fields like painting, composition, etc.

What I would comment on is your blurred shading you use.
In fact, many artists use soft cotton balls to blend their darks to lights, and essentially, that's a really neat technique. The trick to blurred shading (like using your thumb to rub the graphite) is to first start by shading in the entire form first with a sort of mid-tone. After filling in the mid-tone of the shape, go for darker areas, and then try rubbing the graphite for a blurred effect. for brighter areas, you want to use an eraser, and yet again rubbing with a cotton ball. The most important part of using blur for shading, though, is that the entire image is consistent, meaning that this technique is used throughout the piece with exceptions to small rough parts which could potentially add a light sense of drawing-a-tism to your image :)

I don't usually use the rubbing technique for drawing, though. You could also take the image to another spectrum and refrain from blurring in your shading and instead using the pencil's edge to shade though this is a technique which takes some time to master, I'm still in the process of doing so :P.

[TheDonut]

Some very nice updates here :) Watch the proportions though, in your latest drawing of the woman, her eyes seem too big for example. You're making good progress though:D

On smudging graphite - I've personally never done it. When I do a portrait of a person, I shade the entire face lightly with a 2h pencil to get a consistent tone. Then I shade the darker areas with an HB in the same way. I build it up slowly, changing pencil softness as I need to, and using a putty eraser to highlight areas. I did try smudging, but I ruined a few drawings and decided to go for my more meticulous approach :P

[markey2d]

yungks- thnx for ur advise

dounut- thnx

just trying to get a bit of imaginative doodling down.

[throtailer]

What a good progress.
Study skull to do more realistic faces, all bump u now. And fix eyes!
Really nice figures.
Oh and i hope u comm my SB sometime i'd will appreciate it

[Flipnastywebby]

hey man thanks for stopping by my sketch book!

I like some of your stuff. I guess the key is to keep drawing and drawing. Youll get to where you want to be someday.


as for the childhood to now story about art, I figured I would post it here, mainly because you asked me and it would be uinfair for me to assume you would continually check my sketch book for the details :wink:

in short;

When I was young the only way my dad could get me to read was with comics and graphic novels. After reading them I would generally start drawing them to occupy my time. I also got in trouble alot and had alot of things taken away from me( tv, video games ect.) for like months at a time. So after a while i started to create my own wolrds and characters. I would draw out batman and superman and make stupid lil laminated toys out of them.( at the time they bent more than regular toys anyway so it was a lot more fun.) as time past i always kept a sketch book and sadly like so many high school artists I fell into drawing anime constantly!( hence why my proportions a f%@#ed half the time.) Never took any art in high schoool because they wouldnt let me because i already played trumpet in the concert band, and that counted as the art req.......which by the way was bullshit and really shows the amazing top notch work public schools are doing with creative minds......anyway, I went to Syracuse University (G'Oragange!........shameless plug) for engineering as a mech engineer. I spent one year as a MechE, it was dredful, too easy and redundent, nothing really learned, and the hardest part was trying to translating what my teachers were trying to say. Any way at the end of april my freshman year a great artist and friend Jeff Passetti asked me to come to one of his classes, he's and illustrator too, and meet his teacher. Well I went, drew, learned more in five hours than I did in 1 year of engineering, and then switched my major. I had like 5 sketch books finished my freshman year and just showed those to the art board.....yeah no portfolio, just a stack of books....not really recommeneded but hey it worked. for some reason they gave me a shot.....graduated in a solid four years( this includes the one as a MechE) and I am now living in Atlanta GA working as a freelance Illustrator.



that about covers the major parts :pirate:
hope that answered your question.

Slainte!

[markey2d]

tnx again flip for the story

heres a WiP done in photoshop

[TheDonut]

Creepy..

Try using a big brush and blocking in the shapes in photoshop rather than scribbling. When I first used it it took me a while to get used to the fact that it wasn't like drawing in pencil. I'd try to shade the same way and I got nowhere till I got the hang of big brushes

[markey2d]

thnx donut, everyone's been saying it's a creepy image.

the first one is my first attempt of the same picture, its pixelated so you can go back 2 pages to see original if you have to.

second one is the most recent try.
the picture is of me when i was three.

crits are most welcome.

[markey2d]

sorry messed up the image size again ( remember a 1000 or less)

here it is again sorry.

[markey2d]

come on people i need a crit please!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

[markey2d]

come on guys more crits.

anyway hers an update on the previous WiP.

[markey2d]

wow still no crits, come on plz.

[paperX]

hey man i know you're working hard and always looking for crits,and thats great...thats the sort of attitude that will get you where you want to go.

i think it might have been said before but in reality the number of crits people are able to give you at this point will always relate to the fundamentals, things such as line, form and structure, composition, proportions, colour theory etc etc will be mentioned over and over again. to improve you simply need to research (looking at books and master's drawings), think (VERY important step, it is best to compare too, that way you can see where you have made a mistake and where you have done things correctly)..and then DRAW...these steps may seem tedious at times but they should prove invaluable in the long run.

im running out time atm, but ill just leave with an advice on your pencils, the relationship between black, grey and white is the fundamental of any sketch, only by clearly differentiating between them can you portray form and structure and depth of space on a piece of art...in other words, more Contrast. i would suggest you do less smudging when rendering as it tends to destroy the form, smudging should be used to blend between your darks and lights to create the greys that i mentioned before, however, it is best to redefine your darks areas after smudging, that way the you piece wont seem to be too grey in terms of tone.

ill be back with more crits but hopefully you'll find what i've just typed useful. :)

[~Faust~]

Yep, all you have to do is drawdrawdrawdrawdraw everyday I guess. Thanks for stopping by my book, but all I could give you would indeed be the ordinary reminders, line-confidence, anatomy, studies, etcetc.

Just keep going, pls.

[speedysam267]

did you happen to be watching that movie with the lady that gets torn apart by barbed wire when you did your last digital... I forget what the name of its called maybe silent hill or something...

you have really improved from you earlier posts! you look like your getting a lot more comfy with your pencils, keep going man! or girl... whichever works better.

[markey2d]

hi everyone, been away for along time, not because i ain't been drawing, just because i just began my art and design course, so i have been busy with that.
i will post what we have been doin tomorrow or something, but for now heres an update of my WIP.

i will respnd to all your kind words tomorrow. thnx

[markey2d]

untill i scan my stuff heres some doodles.

[markey2d]

paper x- thnx man, i understand what your saying but you have to understand why i am so impatient about getting criticism, i just want to get better.

faust-thnx i definitely will practice all those things.

speedysam- never actually heard of that film, and i am getting more 'comfy' with my pencil. thnx.

ok im splitting up these into different posts so i dont confuse you guys (and me).

ok these are 'exploded drawings' basically you take an object take it apart in a drawing, then put it back together to make something else.
these are all school assignments.

[markey2d]

this next assignment was for me to take ordinary items and make them look like letters.

[markey2d]

lastly doodles and still life drawings.

[markey2d]

this a Wip of some alien type thing.

aint had a reply in weeks but i have got to push on.

[markey2d]

hers a WiP for teen challenge.

[TheDonut]

I admire your dedication :D Your recent charcoal (?) stuff is looking good. All I can say really is keep it up, you're on the right track by the looks of things, if you keep up your attitude and dedication you'll just keep on getting better :)

[Beta_v1]

GREAT WORK MAN!!!!
i'm just starting my anatomy study too...
no posts up yet though...
i kinda mess my finger up on my drawing hand and its kind of swollen...
but check out my sketchbook when you can to see if i have any up yet k??

[markey2d]

here is an update.
be back with some scans later

[Mr-Joe]

Hey markey, Keep working at it man,

Some quick general crits for you, Try slowing down your pace when you drawing and sketching, take your time and carefully place lines, Practice drawing simple shapes , then try practicing drawing some simple shapes from life,

Don't start shading things until you get the proportions down better.

Pick up that book, drawing on the right side of the brain!

Try doing some blind contour drawings (Look at an object, don't look at your drawing paper, and try to "trace" the object without looking at the paper) Do a lot of these it helps build good eye hand coordination to help you draw what you see better.

Hope any of that makes sense to you or helps.

Joe.

[markey2d]

thedonut- thnx man

beta-thnx man

the scans on these are horrible but you get the idea.

[markey2d]

oh i guess the scans just looked bad on the preview, ah well.
crits are very warmly welcome.

[Beta_v1]

thanks for the crits and advice man!
i just downloaded the book by Andrew Loomis...
im on my psp right now so i cant read it but once i get on the computer i'll probably print it out little by little..
once again thanks man!

[markey2d]

Joe-thnx man im still trying to get that book.

here a WIP.

[paperX]

hey markey, great to see u get in to some bridgmans! i still stand by what i said last time though...ur tonal work needs more contrast...theres more than just black, white, grey...u need variations in them to make something really pop. also like i said last time too...try to smudge less man :P if u wanna smudge when rendering with a pencil...go over the forms again after u smudge otherwise u lose the shape and form of the muscle or whatever you're drawing :)

anyhow here's (http://basangpanaginip.blogspot.com/2006/01/figure-drawing-for-all-its-worth.html) a dl to loomis if u want it

hope it helps, theres some other good dls on that site too just scroll down to find loomis and click on downloads to find the other books, cheers :)

[razz]

Hey Markey.

The book by Loomis will surely help you. But i see you have some sketches done after Bridgman. And if you ask me, I liked Bridgman's book much more. Well, speaking about which one taught me more about anatomy. An artist you might find very interesting is Glenn Vilppu (http://www.vilppustudio.com/redesign/gallery/anatomy.htm). He has teaching DVDs, books and other kind of stuff. I think it's good to do studies after artists you like. You know, learn from the best. A good exercise is to first do a study after a great artist you like, then draw/paint something from life using the knowledge gained from the study after the artist and finally the imaginational drawing/painting.
Just know that you're doing a study after the artist's piece, not a copy of it. You want to understand how and why he did what he did in the piece.
Ah, but you knew that already =]

Cheers

[markey2d]

paper X and razz- thnx to the both of you, i actually have Loomis' book but it is on my pc and i am slowly printing out the book. but i have haven't drawn from it much recently.

paper x i did these with what you said in mind, about contrast, first one is new, second one is an old post i improved, rest are just random.

[Doggy]

Hey, i kinda liked your hands. They show a lot of promise.
I´m by no means a master at this, but i have some advice anyway:
Measure stuff! Hold your pencil at arms lenght and check how long the subjects upper arm are in proportion to the lower arm etc, and don´t forget about the negative spaces in a subject, like the empty space between a arm and the body.

[paperX]

hey man i'm glad you're even reading my mumbo jumbo :P anyways i know i told u about contrast...but remember why theres a need for it...it brings out the shape and forms of a surface/object in relation to the light and shadow.

for example, a really dark outline all around a figure doesn't help with contrast even though you've got greys and whites, why? cuz it doesn't make sense according to lighting! i know this is probably boring stuff but remember cubes? or spheres or cones etc? they're the most basic example of contrast cuz its all right there...the face of the cube totally in shadow is the darkest while theres a surface of grey and one thats totally white because its totally exposed to light, now add subtle variations in the darks, greys and whites and you've got yourself a totally believable cube that looks like it actually belongs in the real world. thats what we're trying to achieve, making 2d drawings look believable as 3d objects.

I hope that made sense...i try not to mention way too many things in one comment from now on as it'll probably just confuse you, just keep pushing those fundamentals and you'll definitely improve :)

[Kat_Warrior]

Hey there!

I just looked through your sketchbook, and I gotta say I admire that you're so determined when you're so young. If only I'd started anatomy when I was that age! You've improved a lot since starting this thread, I can see that. Good for you! Keep on practicing and using resources when you can.

Also, a note on your drawing of the gun - I recomend doing a Google image search for guns, revolvers, etc., and then practice with those as reference. Guns are a difficult thing to draw but references with them work wonders.

[Camara]

You are working hard....but you need more work.First of all,you can´t pretend to make good characters if you can´t give them a good body with a good anatomy.What you should do is forget the color for now and dedicate all you effort to improve your skills in anatomy.Before you draw a face,for example,take a look at some references,keep an eye on the shapes and the bones.Do that with the whole body.Draw much more from reference and....keep drawing!

[markey2d]

kat- thnx man, the gun was actually made using the limbs from a manikin but thnx anyway.

paperx- your absolutely right all i have done is but a dark outline around, but i do think in certain areas i have improved it.

doggy- i need to learn that measuring thing your right, thnx man.

camara- your right i do need to work harder, but that is why i am here. thnx.

heres some more pen doodles, second one has a nice manikin in it.

[paperX]

hey markey good to see u starting to work on manikins, just thought of some exercises that u might be interested in trying out, have u ever tried drawing something from ref all in one line without taking the pencil off the page? or doing drawings with pen? i think improving line quality at a early stage can really help u in the long run (im still suffering from bad line quality), try to not go over your lines continuously (less 'furry' lines), keep working hard man, cheers :)

[Hurley]

Hey there :)

I looked through your sketchbook, and you have definatly improved alot since you started, which is fantastic.

Your very determined, which is great. My mentor recently gave me this link, which I think if you have not yet read it would definatly help your digital work.
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

Your anatomy is improving, keep it up!

Keep sharing!

[thetempest]

Hiya Markey,
It's really nice to look through your work and see your improvement, as most people have said you could do with more anatomy and life drawing (but couldn't we all?) One thing i found helpful in breaking out of the habit of getting caught up in pretty little lines is to really loosen up by spending 10 mins before you sketch doing a couple of 2 minute poses, then maybe a line drawing with no shade, a shade drawing with no line or a pose without taking pencil off paper, I find it relaxes my hands and mind a lot...Mix it up!! Keep at it though!!

[markey2d]

thnks for all your crits guys.

its been a while but it's not my fault, my computer died so i have been waiting for my new computer which has just arrived, turns out my computer dying was a bit of Godsend cos that pc had... 256mb ram!!!! and a 64mb video card !!!!!
luckly this new has:
intel Q6600
4gb ram
256mb geforce 84000 vid card
and some other tid bits.

i have done alot of stuff but to be honest im too busy with school to post in all now so i have i got a 10 min sketch hevenly sword thing for now and hopely this weekend i will post the work i have been doing.

[markey2d]

heres is update to an old WiP

[markey2d]

well i have definetly been away for too long and i have been lazy with scnas.
i will explain work as best i can, most is school which i have been busy doing.
we were asked to make clothing use different parts of animals. so first we have to research animals by drawing them then, we design.

so im gonna aplit the post first are all my animal drawings.
alot of these are timed drawings 1-5mins

first 3 continous line
next six 1-5 mins pencil drawings
last 3 4-5min ink

last one is my favourite

[markey2d]

i think my line quality is improving abit lines seem to be flowing abit better.

anyway next is more animals but this time i spent alittle more time doing them.

[markey2d]

1 more pic part of my school work, its meant to be a portrait with a cubist twist.
picasso style!

scan is abit crooked sorry.

[markey2d]

damn didnt add image

[Mr-Joe]

Hey Markey,

Post #157 the animals look nice, i like the bat, the frog, the chameleon and the reptile ones,

Keep working at it,

Joe.

[markey2d]

thnx Joe i think im feeling abit more comfortable with drawing, maybe because i am starting not to care about making bad drawings.

well here is a very messy Wip.

[markey2d]

i feel im improving.
this image was made from a virtual pose model, this my second attmept at drawing this one, my first attempt is on page three i think.
anyway, i really messed up the face right at the end but i think its overall an extrodinary improvement over the first attempt.

[razz]

Hey Markey!

Well, first thing I may suggest is doing some anatomy studies. It is necessary to understand what you're drawing very well. Don't know if anyone suggested you any books but Bridgman's is one of the best, for me at least. It is just a lot better when one doesn't have to guess when drawing, when he knows how and why it should be like it is, both in his head or before his eyes. I mean, bones and muscles are just so fun, haha!

[markey2d]

thnx razz cant do enought anatomy.

i finally bought that book 'drawing on the right side of the brain' it's preety intresting, i have only about 50 pages into it but its preety good in terms of observation.

anyway heres an update from a Wip i need to just find time and finish all my WiP stuff, i never seem to finish but im determined to do this one.

[paperX]

hey markey, sorry for not dropping by for a while, i have to say i like the animal sketches that you did over the "cubism" attempt for school work, you have to understand picasso only attempted to experiment with planes and stuff to create the abstract effect because he already had a hefty mountain of foundation knowledge behind him to back that up. i honestly thing attempting "cubism"at this stage in time for you isn't such a good idea and i doubt it'd will help you much with your art.

having said that, i do think you're improving and definitely keep doing those anatomy studies, don't ever stop :)

and oh yeah, merry christmas :)

[markey2d]

paper x- thnx man

1. doodle
2. old image that i think i reworked abit.
3. an old image that i painted in watercolour
4. marko djuredjevic study(hope i spelt that right if not sorry)
5. marko study--- blade

[Nickles]

Hi! You're definitely improving! I admire your determination, it's really hard in the beginning. (I'm starting too!) I really hate doing the boring stuff like proportions and anatomy but I find it really helps to mix it up and draw fun stuff, like in your last post :)

I think it might help a little bit if you drew the forms first before you started to draw the subject. Here's a video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=c5BgX_okfh4)I found on youtube to explain what I mean.

Also, looking through other beginners sketchbooks really helps too, you might read some advice you didn't even know you needed.

Keep drawing every day like you are and you'll get better and better in no time!

[paperX]

hey markey you might want to spend a bit longer on the marko studies and push the values of the rendering more. also watch out for line quality + line weight in marko's work.

PS: i think blade's face might be a bit skewed :)

[markey2d]

Papaphobian-thnx alot

paperX-thnx, your right about blade i think i got abit overexcited and rushed it in the end.

this i s the 'girl with the pearl earring' by vermeer, i oringinally post the sketch to this but have found a new facination with watercolours and decided to potentially ruin it by painting over it. Fortunately it didn't turn outh that way.
i guess whoerver said 'there is no growth without risk!'

peace

[Diphallia]

Gotta say that you have made a great progress since your very first post (in the other SB).
But, well. Nothing really, keep working on it!

[CouchPotato]

Markey, thanks for visiting my sketchbook again after so long haha. You have definitely improved since your first posts, so keep it up!

Most of the animal studies are great, except for the lion (the eyes are weirdly huge) and the horse (head is too long, and the body's proportion isn't really right).

Your human figures still need work on proportions, and more grace in their poses. I can recommend doing gesture studies everyday. They really help with proportions and appeal in posing your characters. Gesture drawings are really really quick (30 seconds) studies of people in various motions and poses. Those really messy drawings you see in my SB's are my attempts at gesture drawings. I'm still not very good at it, and my lines suck lol, so I'm not a good example. But there is a mentoring thread on contour drawings in the mentor forums that's pretty close to what this is, so pelase check it out!

[markey2d]

couchpotato- thnx but i dont know how to do gestral studies, i would love to learn though.

Diphallia- thnx

been away for too due being lazy of scanning, n i still aint scanned things in, so here is a digital version of my last post.
i was testing the new stuff in painter 10

[IamPeter]

Hey I looked to your first page and this one and I must say you improved quiet a bit. Your line work looks alot let scratchy now and more confident. Anatomy is also improving, though it still needs work.

just keep working.

[markey2d]

IamPeter- thnx for the encouragement.

i thought i'd paint over an old picture with painter, its a WiP so its not finished .
i found alot of mistakes that i made that i didn't see the firt time through.

[markey2d]

dammit i made it too big im re posting sorry people.

[markey2d]

update on WiP

[markey2d]

hers just a finished version of two pictures. i think i fixed blade's face

[markey2d]

actually looking at it after its been scanned his glasses are still crooked.

[paperX]

sorry markey, but i think its not just his glasses, i still reckon the lower half of his face is slanted towards the bottom left, I suggest holding the page up to the light to see it in reverse to check for errors like that, or even getting a ruler our and lining it up to see. or even just stand a few meters away from it.

Here's what i mean: (compare the blue dots with the opposing facial structure on the other side of the face, it should be even more obvious if u flip the pic horizontally in photoshop.)

keep it up! :)

[markey2d]

paper x- ur absolutly right in fact looking at it i feel like an idiot for making such a major mistake. thnx for taking the time to do the grid thing.

the first one is a drawing of an asyrian type table from the british museum starting as a quick study.

second one was jus a doodle in my art lesson.

[paperX]

no worries man, i'm glad it was helpful, i cant really crit on your doodle as its pretty stylistic but im sorta confused with the leg portion of the royal lion study...i think there should be a knee cap for the hind leg somewhere? semi-confused here sorry :^^;:

keep drawing though!!!

[markey2d]

dont worry the picture i copy it from was also quite stylised so it would look weird, the original was done in the 7th century and its a carving.

thnx again

[markey2d]

i have been doing some animation project at skool and it has alot to do with lions, so i have been with the help of my teacher learning lion anatomy. which has been the most fun i have had on this course all year.

im really impressed by these drawings i did.
l8r

[Miles_]

You can see how good some of those lion pics were with a bit of practice in lion anatomy, imagine how much better you'll get at figures with some practice in human anatomy. Also, when doing face try to be careful of just drawing the symbol of a feature. For an example when you have drawin the eye, somthing in your head has said, and eye is an elipse with a circle in the middle and that is what you have drawn. Unfortunately that is not entirely true so you end up with faces that dont look so realistic. Try doing some studeis of faces from life or photographs if you are struggling. When you come to drawing each part make sure to draw exactly what you see and not the symbol or what you presume it will look like. Cya around man.

[sketcheth]

Some of those lion studies are looking very smooth and loose. Keep working towards that with those light gestural strokes before you settle on a single line to darken. They're looking really good. Nice anatomy studies too.

Have you seen Elliot Goldfinger's Animal Anatomy for the Artist? It's an excellent resource for animals. Keep up the good work!

[paperX]

good studies markey! keep up the hard work :)
(watch out for your line weight okay? :) )

[thetempest]

Hi Markey,

wandered back into your sketchbook and really can see the difference. Those lions have a real smooth graphical style about them that is feels very mature compared to your earlier work.

If you were actually in the british museum as opposed to the website and you can get back to London in near future you gotta check out the national gallery (trafalgar square) Head straight for the rennaisace period section and soak up some da vinci...really great day out (also great curry house round corner)

Keep it up!

[eminkey2003]

Hey nice. The lines are surprisingly confident. Totally smooth. Try some life drawings at the zoo....and absolutely everywhere else. :)

[markey2d]

eminkey2003- hey thnx, do u have a link to ur SB man?

thetempest-t hnx, funny enough i went to national not too long ago, didnt get to seem any davinchi will do next time though.

paperX-thnx again man

sketcheth- thnx, i dont have that book, but i'll look it up.

Miles_- thnx, your right about that anatomy, and im learnig about that symbolism thing in a book im reading.

i wiil update later my computer is being funny.

[markey2d]

here are two more lion studies i did.

[markey2d]

here are some studies, from loomis' book. and some random doodles.

[markey2d]

first is another loomis study and then there is a lion WiP i think this is about 1 hour or so in.

[markey2d]

here the finished version of the Wip please crit guys.

[Call0ps]

hey there, i really like how u give movement to your animals etc..=) i should pratice a bit more from life still some anatomy problems, ah another thing try to do less lines, lift your pencil / pen as less u can or need. but u are on the right track ^^ keep it up

[markey2d]

Call0ps- thnx alot,

just a da vinche arm study and a doodle that i am going to turn into a painting, so u should see a WiP today.

[markey2d]

here is the WiP i said i was gonna post. bout an hour in.

[razz]

You could show the lightsource better. Start painting with darks and go into lights. Now it looks flat. The way I like to paint (when painting digitally) is to start with a dark silhouette and then just turn on the lights. Go HERE (http://www.daarken.com/Flash2005/main_02.html) and you'll find some tutorials by an amazing artist. Don't know/remember if you've seen them already, because I had a link to his site in my sketchbook some time ago.
Keep up with the studies and the imaginational work!

[markey2d]

razz- it is flat ur right, im working on it. thnx

some booby chiu and kei Acedera studies from the book 'Ancinet Japan sketches'
u should see a few more of these.

[markey2d]

heres a WiP of a portrait, it was actually about a half hour ahead of this until painter decided to crash. oh well.

[markey2d]

some bridgman studies and a portrait of alicia keys :), dont think i really captured her but maybe next time.

[Brat]

Nice improvement. The next thing you should do is study shadows, light, and textures on objects to really tighten up your shading. You got your lines under control, what an improvement I must say, and once you get shading and depth down, it'll bring out more realism from your artwork.

[Bendragon]

Hey Hey! Good to see a range of studies in here. My advice would be to draw a lot from observation. Really a large part of your studies should be from life or books. Observation helps inform your drawings from your imagination. Some studies from other artists are very helpful too, like the ones youve done after Bobby Chiu and Kei Acedera.
Good luck with your studies man! Keep up the good work!

[markey2d]

Brat- i definetly need more depth in my work, thnx.

Bendragon-thnx man.

to be honest all i really have this week are paintings i have done over past drawings. and i went to the imperial war museum and saw an AMAZING John Singer Sargent paintingcalled 'Gassed', i did a few quick studies of that, two of which i painting over when i got back home. the rest really arnt worth posting.

l8r

[markey2d]

i created a brush using bobby's tutorial in his book and i tried it out. i really need to do alot more of these. and wat i really need to do is finish a painting.
hopefully this will be the one, i really enjoyed doing this.

[markey2d]

some gerald scarfe studies and a soldier drink water.

[kovah]

You've improved a lot and your digital work is coming a long nicely.

You seem to be quite 'loose' with a lot of your digital work and i think you would benefit from doing quite a tight and detailed study every now and again.

keep it up

[nyssa]

Just keep on drawing dude just like everyone is saying you'll get far! I'm new here too!

[Quicksilver]

Heya, try to take what I'm about to say with a pinch of salt....I think you need to work on your line quality and observational skills. There were moments where they look great (i.e. this one (http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=291642&stc=1&d=1201718317) and the one beneath it), but I can't see anything else like that here (yet! ;))
What might help is working with ink as you're more likely to think about what marks to lay down and how before physically doing so, as erasing mistakes isn't really an option (unless you paint over the whole lot).

Defo work on more studies to help build a stronger understanding of form and placement.

Have fun~ ^_^

[Té-Can]

You've really improved! I really like those anatomy studies. It looks like you have lots of determination, keep at it!

[markey2d]

in a rush will do the thnx l8r

school work.

[ciots]

hey man, been a while..
still in richmond college?

nice progress

[markey2d]

ciots- thnx

Té-Can-thnx alot appreiciate kind words

Quicksilver- yeah your right cant do enough studies.

nyssa-thnx. and im not new here.

kovah- the reason my digital work isnt tighter is cause im still not sure how to use brush effectively. thnx

jus some work ive been meaning to post. tell wat you think about the baby on the tank.

[markey2d]

jus a quick scribble.

[markey2d]

all some what linked to anatomy.
and i finally started some gestures using the ones Bumskee and razz used. gonna start doin my owy now cause i think im getting the hang of it.

[markey2d]

some bridgeman studies

[markey2d]

here some stuff i did on my ds, with the software colours.
first is a light study and second is a still life of my remote.

l8r imaginary peeps

[BRINKMAN!]

Markey, it's great to see you doing a lot of work and you are deffinately showing progress. There seems to consistently be problems with proprtion and shape in you work, though. Do you ever use comparative measuring? If not, I think you'd find it most helpful in getting your proportions to come out right.

Keep up the good work! :)

[markey2d]

some more still life painting with my DS.
funny that my rendering with this little machine is better than my render with photoshop.
gonna do more life drawings with this.

by the way that is a vase.

[Bendragon]

Good to see a lot of studies going on. Anatomy studies all the way! But do get some observational studies under your belt too. Its a really great way to improve and test your seeing skills.
Regarding the paintings, try avoid using harsh blacks like that. They can really flatten things. Absolute black hardly exist in real life. Give them a tint of colour. Shadows may be blueish or redish, its all dependant on what light they r lit in. Heres a link thatll explain things better.
http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/light.htm
I think you might benefit from a sharper pencil too. Some of your drawings bear some harsh lines. Try going delicate with your lines. Really think about line quality - why is this line thin? should it be heavier? It makes a lot of differance to your drawings. A line that has the same weight throughout the whole drawing can flatten the form. However if you use lines with a variation of thickness you can create the illusion of 3d form.
Give it a twirl bro!

[markey2d]

BRINKMAN!-thnx, but to be honest im not sure what that is, could u elaborate.

Bendragon- thnx alot, it means alot that you went to the trouble of writing that long reply. bad line quality has plagued me since the begining of this sketchbook, even though i feel its alittle better, my lines still get too heavy.

[markey2d]

heres an update of the WIP, i forgot to mention the oringinal image is by micheal cunningham.

[markey2d]

my first moleskine!!:mittenbop:

and update on WiP

[markey2d]

lol forgot pics :wtf:

[markey2d]

landscape speedy.

[markey2d]

wow 3rd update of the day, not too happy with these but ohwell.

[markey2d]

new WIp, quite excited by this one, trying a new working method, painting from light to dark. so far i think the face is looking good and i want to use the face as example for the rest of the body.

[markey2d]

forgot image again

[markey2d]

im quite happy with this so far, really need a crit though, wanna know wat people think. i still need to put finishing touches and do the underwear.

[PeggyChung]

hey Markey- quick thing I notice when you did that sphere in DS- dotn forget the bounce/reflected light
(http://www.williamsclass.com/ElectiveClassArt/ShadeValueSphere.jpg)

trust me, its so simple but it makes a world difference when you start rendering out your monsters/people etc- keep it up!

[markey2d]

LadyLioness-thnx

update on WiP, trying to depearately finish what would one of my real first paintings exlusively on photoshop, i need crits though. plz help.

[Nibras]

Dude lovley sb loved really loved going through and cheking improvment keep up the great work

[Warforce17]

I watched your first pictures and then the latest and I see improvement.
Just keep on drawing pictures from mind and life.
You will automaticly learning.
I wish you good progress.

[markey2d]

sorry guys but PLZ COMMENT AND CRIT MY LAST UPDATE. OR ELSE I MAY NEVER FINISH.

[Miles_]

Some quick critique, well, for a start you will learn more if you spot most of the mistakes yourself. Flip the image horizontally in photoshop and you will see that it all leans to one direction. You can tell you are right handed because the drawing leans to the left. Don't worry this is an extremely common problem and doesn't take long to fix, but it makes a considerable difference. For the digi paint, I would start by desaturating the background colour to something a little less ugly, that also contrasts witht he figure rathet than blending in with it. Also turn the picture to greyscale quickly and you will see that the values are very similar. Remember when painting with colour that you have to remember to get the values correct, at the moment its all a bit flat. I hope that helps you out a bit, something you might wanna do is start in greyscale it really helps to get your values down before worrying about colour.

Cya around man keep on working hard,

Miles_

[markey2d]

thnx alot miles that was just the advice i needed. however once u turn something to grayscale how do u then apply colour.

here is an update with what u said being considered. i really like this bobby chiu style.

[markey2d]

man im gonna call this done now and chalk up all the mistakes as a learning experience.

[Miles_]

Well, some more critique. Where are the edges man? So many of them blur into the background colour so your eye looses the shape of the figure. Also, remember that while you want high contrast, the highlights won't be as strong in shadow as in light.

Try to picture you have a value scale from 1-10
values 4-10 should describe the form in light and 1-3 should describe the shadows and the subforms in shadow. Don't use and of 4-7 in shadow and don't use 1-3 in lighted areas.

Also make the edges hard in light and ever so slightly softer in shadow, but only just.

Another snippet for today man, cya around.

[markey2d]

Miles_-thnx alot miles, but for now im gonna leave it, will defnetly come back to it during the summer holiday, right now i got to finish my final major project.

[ChuanMing]

Hey man, nice SB! Keep practicing and copy from the masters(I do it too). It's a good practice. My crit for your last post: 1st picture:the study of the shoulder and the en profil dude. The neck of that old dude is far too long.
And the Lybian sybill is a bit too muscled. If you look at the original picture you can see the muscles aren't that much accentuated. Also her hips are more in a turning kinda pose. Still, good studies!

[markey2d]

trying to post but my scanner is not working so i will try again 2morrow.

[markey2d]

ChuanMing-thnx

just some poses and a Frank Frazetta study, quite happy with how it turned out, im really learning how to slow down with my drawings and enjoying the process.

[markey2d]

it's been about a year since i started this sketch book and i wanna do a quick before and after. maybe it will inspire someone to draw alittle more or to continue working hard.

it funny though cause looking at that before picture i did realise how bad i was, i hope i feel ten times worst in a year about the after picture.

keep going guys ur hard work will pay off.

[markey2d]

studies and some more animation work.

[xinranliu]

I see improvements buddy. Keep going.

[dannE-B]

Hey thanks for taking the time to look through my sketchbook. Your work is steadily improving, its good to see your practicing your anatomy. Yea i am at the AIB on the animation course...its a very good course. hmm in terms of advice id recommend going out and drawing, do lots of gestures of people walking around, thats what the course is all about, observing and translating it into a drawing..

[markey2d]

Ronald Liu- thnx

Prophet- thnx, will do.:lifedrawing:

well u know, more animaton storyboards and studies, studies, studies!

[ChuanMing]

I see improvement, but make sure you practice indvidual bodyparts also. Cya around, man!

[clanlord]

Hi... I see you're posting a lot of works here, which is good on one side, but this is not a sign of improvement... work more serious and study the body structure and frame-work... The picture which is after April is very good and It's showing that you're improving very well! Keep going my friend I wish you luck!

[markey2d]

[B]ChuanMing-thnx :)

clanlord- yea ur right i do need to be more serious thnx.:)

first is a doodle,second is more animation stuff and then some arm studies.