Across the stratosphere, a final message:

[Nuestro Capitan]

Hi, I've been lurking this site for years and finally got around to creating an account and a sketchbook thread. I'm 17 and I'll be a senior in the upcoming school year, and I'm hell-bent on attending art school. Sadly I don't think I'm up to par when it comes to my drawings, so I'm spending the remainder of the summer trying to improve. Any and all crits are welcome and don't be afraid to be harsh! Please, I need the help!

[Nuestro Capitan]

an update. Just some work from the pixelovely drawing tool, a book from Jack Faragasso, and a very limited few from imagination

[Migma1]

nice work man, keep it coming!!

[kdiegert]

You'll get to art school, no problem. All it takes is the will to make it happen -- there is no try.

A few tips that have helped me:

When you slam in blocks of tone, be careful to make them even or the eye will pick up variations in the block and break the illusion.

When you do posemaniacs studies (I assume that's what those are) make sure you're thinking in 3d, not in 2d. Draw through forms and imagine the forms connecting. Use 2d tools like negative space, angles, and measuring to check that your 3d forms are placed correctly.

With faces, divide the face into dark and light to start, nothing inbetween. Place the dark shapes (but lightly at first), and you establish enough form to check if you need to make corrections. The dark areas are usually the eye sockets, the shadow under the nose, the upper lip, and the shadow under the lower lip.

Don't draw eyes, draw eyelids -- and don't draw those until you've established the eye sockets.

Hands and feet are looking great!

[VengePool]

As I look through your sketches, I personally do not think you will have a problem getting into art school. I say this from personal experience, all my sketchbooks were ruined when I went to college as well as my big portfolio with my finished pieces in it. The only thing I had to show them were some horrible quality anime drawings and I was allowed in with no problem. Now I know not every art school will be as lenient as the one I joined, but still your sketches are pretty decent. Are you only using a pencil? I do not know if this is a no no around here or not, but I always have 4 tools when sketching, an ebony pencil, a kneadable eraser, my electric eraser and my blending stump. The blending stump is something I need to work with more, since it makes my sketches look a little too blendy. Hope this helps and keep up the good work!

[Nuestro Capitan]

Migma1 thank you I will
kdiegert Yeah you're right, that mentality will really help me in the long run. If there's a will there's a way! And those are all great tips, and I'll be sure to keep them in mind
VengePool That's encouraging to hear! All I have with me at the moment are pencils, some white erasers, a B charcoal pencil and some crayola colors. But this work is all graphite. I should experiment a little. . .


Some 30 second gestures I did today from this place

[VengePool]

I would definitely recommend experimenting, thats how I found out about oil washes, which is definitely now my favorite traditional media by far.

[Nuestro Capitan]

We-ell . . . I've been trying out charcoal. Kinda? This is what I've got to show for it so far

[p sage]

You have good desire, and you're making a great start.

The human body is a difficult object to master in drawing; there are so many things you have to understand to get it to look natural.

Proportion, construction (2D and 3D), value, unity, composition, anatomy, etc... it would likely be much easier to start with simpler shapes.

At my art school we used bottles (painted white).... You start by looking very carefully at the bottle and determining the shapes used to make it up. Squares, triangles, circles. Then, you project it in 3D and see the shapes that make it up (cylinders, cones, pieces of cones, spheres, etc). This helps you to begin seeing in 3D, when you look at more complicated things.

Value needs study by itself, but is only useful once you get a grasp on 3D... value on a 2D shape is not going to make it look less 2D.

Keep working and picking up pencil mileage. Remember to always work on proportion... always. Then it will become a habit for you. From there, work on each thing in succession. They will become habit, and you can concentrate on art-making instead of learning the ropes.

Have fun

[Nuestro Capitan]

p sage I've been working on shapes and. . . yeah I've got a lot to learn when it comes to thinking in 3d. Thank you for the advice!

Here's a self-portrait I'm working on. . . decided to bring out my bamboo tablet and figured out I have no idea how to render in photoshop. Hmm. I'll post an update on this as well as some other stuff later today.

[Nuestro Capitan]

update on the self-portrait
after a lot of trial and error, I've gotten this far. I'll continue working on it tomorrow.

[Nuestro Capitan]

Good Lord, I have absolutely NO self-discipline

[Devrak]

Hai thar. Studies looking good, keep them going. And if you haven't checked it out yet, http://www.ctrlpaint.com/ is a great site when you start out with digital painting. I'm also just starting out with it and it has helped a ton, Matt Kohr is amazing at teaching.

I also think it would be easier if you started with just values in digital, makes it easier. Anyway, keep studying!

[Ven S]

Getting better !. Keep going mate