Lovegazing Sketchbook

[lovegazer]

Hello there! My name is Mollie. I started this when I was fifteen and returned and edited this post when I was sixteen. I'm still probably bottom tier but I try my best.
I enjoy character art and stuff like that and hope to be an illustrator. Please go to the last page if you want to see things that are a bit better than these.
(I'd originally posted a really awful WIP here of something that sort of pains me to look at it now, so please accept this self portrait as an apology.)

[lovegazer]

This is a little bit older, but it's the piece I'm most proud of and my summer project.
I wish I could've done a bit more with the color depth, but I got a pretty good grade on it.
Some stuff from one of my actual sketchbooks coming soon.
(The girl is Nina. I draw her a bunch. Guy is Rhett. I draw him a bunch because something about the angular stuff on his face is really fun to draw.)

[Samszym]

Hi, welcome to CA
Don't worry about "measuring up" to anyone here, the way I see it comparing yourself to others will just make you feel dissapointed and maybe even jealous. Just work on being the best you can be!
I like your painting style already, the strokes are really soft and transition nicely. Nice colors too! I kind of want to see you develop that lineless styles more, it looks interesting. Try making your lines a color other than black. It seems like when you draw hair you're drawing from what anime hair looks like rather than hair in real life; you're thinking in line rather than mass. GURNEY! You should paint from life and photographs and try to duplicate old master paintings

And now for some links, don't know if you're familiar with Andrew Loomis, but reading over his books would be a great idea. Figure Drawing for all it's worth is a really good one. Bridgeman is also a good source to learn from, but he can be kind of confusing and you need to really think when you study him, just copying his lines doesn't help you much. Learn from the pictures, not the text. Matt Khor has a blog full of digital painting tutorials and tricks that you should check out, this is an awesome tutorial, this place has tons of old master paintings you can study from, and finally the links in my signature are good for online figure/gesture drawing [nsfw].
Okay, that's all. Now go draw!

[lovegazer]

Aw, man, Vertical! Thank you so much, especially with the advice on the hair! It's really helped. I already had the links to the Loomis books and have been meaning to study them but only got a bit through Drawing the Head and Hands. I'll be sure to make some time to study more, as well as photographs. I have one photo study WIP sitting about but am lacking in motivation. Although I do have a real passion for drawing characters and telling stories, it's pretty obvious that I need a fair amount of real serious technical study to improve on that. (It's just that I'm really full of ideas at all times. Whoops.) Thankfully tomorrow is a studio day so I can download some Loomis and Bridgman books and study them there where there's access to all sorts of materials.
Meanwhile, here is a drawing of a woman and some marker silhouettes inspired by something I saw on Tumblr. It's helped me out with action poses a bit.

[lovegazer]

And another imgainative drawing, here in colored pencil. I read through that "How I See Color" tutorial, so, practice. Not sure if it worked or if i went against every rule entirely and it looks like a ball of shirtless bony cat vomit.

[lovegazer]

I've been feeling really bad about my art/improvement lately. I feel like it's going a lot slower than I'd like and it makes me kind of sick, especially considering that my deepest dream right now is to go to college at all. And the unreachable, most heartfelt desire I've probably ever had is CalArts but I just have been swamped by everything under the sun and am not measuring up to my own expectations. Kind of burnt out almost, uncreative, unmotivated... and I lost my tablet pen, that alone making me want to break some necks.
Anyway, the first two are observational drawings from class freshman year.
The third is more recent, just muscular-male study from pictures.

[lovegazer]

Stupid, stupid, unfinished lighting/anatomy practice on an OC.
Excuse me while I curl up and cry. I'm so sour tonight.

[Samszym]

You're back! Hooray! Don't leave again :| . If you're feeling demotivated, why not try THE DEATHLINE CHALENGE?
Basically you set 3 goals to be accomplished by this time next year and post what you did to reach them EVERY DAY YOU CAN in the Crimson Daggers sketchbook. There will be some kind of meeting review thing every month. It seems super inspiring and challenging. I haven't started yet, but I'm gonna pick my goals tomorrow and start.

And no way! I'm trying to get into Calarts this year! Emphasis on the trying, I really doubt I'll get accepted...Character Animation? btw, maybe you should make an account here, it's full of people trying to get into Calarts, they'll give you some advice. Also sheesh, I don't think you need to be stressing this much about college yet, you're just 15! Unless you crazyskipped some grades and are already a senior, you have plenty of time to get better before you have to apply.

That sucks about the tablet

And now for some philosobabble. Link link, and don't force yourself to be creative; just do what comes to you.

K seeya. Also I subscribed.

EDIT Now I see the value study. Use reference if you have to, don't use textured brushes to block in and besides they kinda make the skin look like stone, and don't call anything you do stupid ever, work as hard as you can on everything you do and do it to the best of the ability. If it's important then put it in teh critique section to see what you can make better about it. Fix every problem you're aware of that you can fix before you say you're done with something. Flip the canvas to get a new perspective on what you're drawing/painting.

[lovegazer]

Whoa, thank you, man. I worry about college a lot, and yes I'm a sophomore, but... it's my dream to go to a nice college where I can finally learn at my own speed. The public school system is a fickle and cruel mistress. And yes, Character Animation. I'm going to try and start working on some animation when I reclaim my pen. That's kind of my ultimate goal, my hope, and what I try to work toward every moment of my waking life, but... yeah. It's kind of a huge stretch considering.
I'll make an account there immediately! Thanks for introducing me to that.
And thanks for, you know, everything else. It really made my night. (Also, are you going to Portfolio Day in DC? My school is taking a field trip there, and even though they only really look at sketchbooks for underclassmen, I'm really looking forward to the feedback. I'll be there for a few hours and then we go museum hopping.)

[Samszym]

sent you a pm, and you're totally welcome

[lovegazer]

It appears I can't send any PMs until I have ten posts. Shame. I guess I'll post then.
This is a height chart for some of the characters I draw. Just as a form of reference and so that I can work on defining their different body shapes. I know it's not the best in terms of variety or proportion. The faces especially are... not great. -distressed-

[meysha]

Hehe just going through your messages here - Vertical has some great advice! (just went and bookmarked a bunch for myself... P

Yeah, you're definitly gonna feel the burn of demotivation at times. One thing to do is against all things.... at least if you can, draw at least 1 hour a day. You'll seriously feel the improvement coming on faster this way. Reference helps too and actually, as much as it might hurt, looking at how other people do things helps you work out your kinks too!

Your last work wasn't that bad at all! I know for sure though that if you're gonna work on more defined body anatomy, also work on more defined faces? I can still see the simplification of anime in there and it off balances the lovely rounded detail of the character's torso with the simplicity of the face.

Maybe you should start with just the basics before you go all out! I feel like you might be doing too many things at once (trying anatomy, trying posture, trying lighting practice at the same time etc). That's why a lot of us just do figure drawings for a while... which is like just a big bunch of random sketches of ambiguous people in poses in stuff. Because then your aim is no longer to make a good completed work, but just to get accustomed and used to how people look and are shaped and all.


Please - keep it up!!!

[Samszym]

Why do you need 12 characters? Sounds like a crazy complex story.
I'll wait and see how you develop their variety, right now they're all kind of the same but you said they're a work in progress.

I'm too tired to find exactly the post I want, you should just read through this whole blog. There's tons of great stuff on character design.
and um this too
K good luck

[lovegazer]

They're RPCs. Not really one coherent thing and some of them belong to my partner! I just enjoy drawing them. RPCs generally means more flexibility and stories, which means more ideas.
And I will definitely take a look! Thanks for all the links. You're a true bro.

[JakehC]

i would suggest doing gesture of the head so you can familiarize yourself with the proportions!

great job, and awesome work ethic!

[lovegazer]

Thanks to everyone. Big thanks. I guess I do get really convoluted sometimes with what I practice! Just... a lot of things, I have problems concentrating on one thing at a time so it's difficult.
Just did a bunch of 30 second gestures. I'll try to get a better/more complete figure drawing in tonight, and I'm also working on a piece that's just sort of for free time/what I enjoy drawing (cough gay couple cough). Once I get it decent enough to post I will. Lots of motivation tonight despite being sleepless due to nightmares and backaches. Or maybe that's the cause.

[lovegazer]

Here is a more detailed one from reference. I didn't feel like doing the hand detail orz It's horrible of me and I know this but it's 6 am and I need to sleep so to hell with it.
Reference used: http://mjranum.deviantart.com/galler...t=120#/d30wd0h

Off to sleep now. I'll check back in the morning.

[Samszym]

Watch your edges, everything is soft. Use a hard brush or a lasso tool where you want crisp, hard edges. Edges in the shadow can be softer.

[lovegazer]

Alright, I decided to do something interesting for once. It's a re-do of one of ym old pieces from actually less than a year ago. I'm working on it right now so bear with me, but is there anything that should be changed before I keep going? The older one just looked... dead and very incorrect when it came to structure. So I'm trying to make it more interesting to look at and lively. Also I found a really really good skin painting tutorial and have been wanting to try my hand at it.
First is the WIP of the new one, second is the old one for comparison. It's from March of this year.

[Sno_]

It looks to me like you're getting better already! I agree with what the others have said. Focus on studying figure drawing. Draw from life as much as possible and from photos the rest of the time. Do your best to accurately draw what you see. It will make everything else you do better.

I would like to double the recommendation of studying from Andrew Loomis' books. I only recently discovered them myself, but in the brief amount of time I've spent with them, I've found them to be some of the easiest to read books on figure drawing that I've ever seen.

Try to enjoy what your doing and do your best not to stress too much. You're already doing so well and you're on the right path. I wish I had the same determination and focus that you are showing when I was your age. I look forward to seeing you continue to improve.

[lovegazer]

Thank you! I read a bit of Figure Drawing For All It's Worth tonight and then returned to that value study. Looks a bit better. Maybe.
I'd really like to say thanks to everyone for the motivation, I really do need it. It's kind of difficult sometimes but over this break I've gotten whatever the reverse of an artblock is.
His torso gave me some trouble. Actually it still is, I don't like how it turned out. I didn't want abs, he's kind of scrawny. Ended up being softer but looking... just.. weird... like he's not bending as much as I'd like? Whatevs.

[Naidy]

Hey, mate. Not a bad start at all! Infact, your art's a damn sight better than mine was at your age.

One thing though; you might not realise it, but you draw faces rather long. I did the exact same thing from the age of 14 to 16, mainly because I had dropped anime and was trying to find 'my style'. The long face thing tends to be a weird side effect from this transition I had people who'd tell me I was drawing faces weird for years but it took me so long to notice it myself, even though it was painfully obvious. You can read a bit about that sort of thing here, if you haven't already:
http://whitetrashpalace.deviantart.c...LE-1-169660607
http://whitetrashpalace.deviantart.c...LE-2-169660702

It's one of the reason that Loomis is also recommended, he drills in formulas that help you remember proportions and before you know it you iron out this problem.
Anyway, I love it when young members make sketchbooks, you guys improve so fast it is crazy. So stick to it! Hope to see more soon and keep up the good work.

[Samszym]

Are you using any reference for this guy? Grab something to make sure you're getting the anatomy right. The shadows on his chest look a bit too deep, it almost looks like he has breasts. You seem to draw your heads too tall, maybe do some facial proportion studies. Hampton's got a pretty good page on those proportions.

Do more observational work! Maybe a still life. Have a great day!

[lovegazer]

I've got a still life sitting around on my computer from a while ago, just no motivation to finish it. And I'll probably work a lot more on that value thing and iron out some problems, since yeah I just realized it looks pretty shit, whoops. Tonight maybe some head studies, Loomis, then working on a still life. Thanks guys. ;w;
(As for Loomis, the whole formula thing is what really gets me. It's hard to grasp all of the numbers, proportions, etc so my brain just gives up. Gotta work on that.)

[mike butkus]

You have talent, your subject matter is a we bit dark but overall I like what I see, oh coming from some who illustrates and authors zombie books, so continue
with your life drawing and anatomy, you'll get there.

[lovegazer]

Some stuff I did on Lovecastle tonight.
Included a bunch of head gestures based on Loomis method.
Thanks a lot to everyone again- I'm fixing the value study as we speak but I have to get to school.

[lovegazer]

Improvement meme, for reference. I feel bad about not drawing as much as I could once school started. A lot of things came up.

[lovegazer]

Some sort of vent-ish art I did, while working on some color and composition stuff.
I guess it's alright.

[lovegazer]

Eh. I guess this turned out alright. I hope everything that's been pointed out in the past WIPs is decently fixed, and I'm kind of proud of his hair. A little.

[lovegazer]

Some stuff pulled from my actual sketchbook. Just fun/experimenting stuff. Also sorry for being so bad at watercolor, I suppose.