meds's sketchbook: looking for critiques

[meds]

I am a self-taught artist that has been drawing as a hobby for about 3 years. I had a sketchbook that was abandoned, but art has taken a stronger hold in my life, so I decided to start posting again in a new thread for a fresh start.

[meds]

Here are other recent drawings.

[meds]

The first is just a quick random portrait of no one in particular. The weird markings on her forehead are due to me wrinkling the paper.

Goals for this week are to do some observational drawings, work with some watercolors (I am new at painting) and to continue with quick portraits.

[p sage]

I like your first one the very best (done from a photo?)

I'm guessing the rest were a mix of photos, live, and self-portrait from mirror?

It always seemed to me a bit easier to copy from a photo than to copy from life. For some reason, the eyes get "restless" trying to analyze the real-life model, where the drawing from reference we have no such reservation.

Then again, I could be way off... LOL.

I'm not really studying to be an illustrator or portrait maker (more of an animator) but I can see the potential for you with these drawings.

Keep working!

[meds]

Thanks for your encouraging feedback.

None of these were done with live models and there are no self-portraits. I used a photo reference for them, although I tend to use references loosely, and use them more as a guide. That way I have room for my own ideas and interpretations, but if I start to stumble with the placement of things or anatomy I can refer to my reference. If I don't use some type of reference, I tend to stumble a lot.

[iphigen]

Your drawings look really nice, I like first one best.
I think maybe tutorials like this http://fc06.deviantart.com/fs12/f/20..._by_Snigom.jpg can help you to improve relating to anatomy. Keep it up!

[meds]

The first is a quick watercolor of my character, Jillian, a character that will probably pop up often (already has a few times) because I am trying to develop her. The second is just a cheesy drawing.

I can't paint, so I am slowly be practicing watercolors. Any advice is welcome.

[Chison]

the first few reminds me gothic and fairyland etc

the head seem to be work well ....like it (fine art-ish)
just the body aren't "real"(cartoon slim body?and not sexy intended?)not sure is that what you want?
i suggest you to move on to the whole body and get the body more real to fit the nice draw head

[meds]

Well, here is some anatomy practice. I am almost embarrassed to post these, but I know that is how I will get better. I clearly struggle with anatomy but that is partly due to the fact that I just haven't had a lot of practice drawing the body. I guess I will be changing that and will start drawing the body more often.

I feel like I struggle a lot with shoulders. The head on the first one is huge.

[The man with no name]

I'll make a suggestion, have you used posemaniacs (been on the website)? if you have some troubled spots with anatomy just jump on that website, will help tremendously. keep up the good work

[Taven]

Hint: Bigger pictures make it easier to critiuqe. Not giant ones, of course, but sizeable so that the viewer can clearly see everything in enough detail.

The second image in the second post has a style to how she was drawn, it's nice and I like the effect, but there are a few things you could improve. One, the hair framing her head closest to the viewer should go back further, because right now it makes it look as if her head ends early, and second, while the torso is really great, the arms look flatter at the joints and loose their illusion of depth due to how the shading and line across was done. Both of those things are easy enough to fix.

The third post's first image has a nice face, but the features in relation to the way the head is turned are at slightly the wrong angle, making it look off. They should be "rotated" around the curve of the face to match where the hair falls. Of course, you could always change the hair and face outline, so the inner features fit it. You do a really good job on each of the individual parts (hair, eyes, nose, lips), but they don't quiet all fit together right yet.

The third image of the third post, the head is great. There's a few tweaks that could be made, but that would be nitpicking. Here the head and position all works together, but the body and torso are disproportional to the size of the head. Anatomy is annoying, isn't it? I'm working on it a ton myself. Loomis is most often recommended, and I also collect pictures of people from old or free magazines, and paste them all in one "reference sketchbook."

For not being able to paint, your watercolors are awesome. I don't really paint myself, so my advice won't be much. The nose bottom is great, but you need some "shading" in to make the bridge of the nose. The eye on the left is awesome, but the corresponding shadow peaking out from under the hair covering the right eye should be darker to match it.

The face after that looks like it should be a little longer, and some reflected light in the eye closest to the viewer would make it look better as well, I think. I like how you did the hair, though again, the forehead should be maybe a bit taller.

The anatomy practice: Try drawing the body with shading too, to better describe the form. Outline is good for getting the basic shape, too, but getting the outline and form built together is best. I'm working (as I said), a ton on anatomy myself lately.

Anatomy pratice advice by picture number:

1 - Nice torso. The hands look funny, but they're hands, and hands are HARD. Individual hand pratice is something to consider, because you can draw them bigger and get used to it. The lower legs are too small, proportionally. The head is a little bit big, and reminds me more of an anime style head, size-wise, then a "real" head.

2 - The arms need more bulk. This includes the shoulders, too. Asides from Loomis and magazines, I sometimes sketch off of sculptures, either from images, or viewing them directly, if I can. Maybe not as good as a living breathing model, but they usually get their stuff straight for that sort of thing.

3 - Lower legs need to be longer again. Nice back and rear.

4 - Hands and arms are disproportional to the body, but those are NICE hands. I like how well you did the fingers with the pose.


Annnnyways, that's everything. I hope you found that helpful and not harsh, because it wasn't meant to be. We all need work, and I'm no exception. I'd love any advice you could give me, actually. Pop by my sketchbook sometime.

--Taven

[adammelo]

Love the watercolor face Keep doing that and practicing anatomy and boom in notime at all

Sketch back if you'd like...

[Zorcron]

i like your work a lot , i think you should start worrying less about each line and more
about the value and shape the image holds.

i would dig out the charcoal perhaps with some white chalk too and have a blast !

some different subject will help break you of comfort zone as well i would think

keep uploading ! = )

also i think it would be healthy as an artist not to worry too much about each piece on its own after you are finished and just move onto
new and better things.

keep the artistic process in mind and dont worry about the nit-pickyness that is easy to dwell on

[anjyil]

You have some really nice artwork, and it is definately going to get better with practice. I am curious--when you sketch out, what kind of guidelines do you use? A lot of people say study and practice anatomy, and I totally agree--but to do that really means to start from the bones up. Literally. Even if it is just sticks and balls for bones, starting from there and working up to muscles and form really helps. Using photoreferences is great--I do that, too. But I really started to see improvement in my portraits when I actually focused on the skull/jaws and muscles and then did photoreference. I'm about where you are at, too--been a while since I seriously drew and now I am looking for any practices/exercises/etc I can so that I can get better

[meds]

Thanks everyone for your helpful critiques. I really appreciate it.

To answer a few questions, yes I do use posemaniacs, but I am trying not to use it as my only source that way I can get use to different body types. And, when I draw, I typically try to start out drawing the basic shapes, but I don't necessarily go down to drawing the bones, then muscles etc. I guess that is something I can start working on. Thanks again!

Not much to post today, but there are a few items. First is lesson 1 from my mentor. It is not a study of eyes, but a study to show how accurate I am when copying the reference. The first page is my copy of the eyes, and the second is my drawing of the eyes over top of the original to show the accuracy. The original lines are red. And I also have a quick sketch of my cat using oil pastels, and more face studies of my character, Jillian.

[meds]

a portrait of my sister that I got a little lazy with.

[meds]

I am currently studying perspective with my mentor, and I will post those studies soon. For now here is a picture I did for fun.

[JailHouseRock2]

Some great progress already!Love the last two, your portraits are pretty good, but make sure to keep up the full figure studies- proportions seem a bit off- heads too big

Good stuff tho, please keep posting and you'll see some really improvements soon!
Cheers,
matt

[anjyil]

I only glanced at the sketchbooks before jetting off and saw a familiar name--welcome to the course! You will do well, I think You already do pretty well on your own

[meds]

Thank you everyone!

I am doing an online class with my mentor, and we are currently working on perspective. I have to admit that this is the first time I have ever drawn 2 point perspective. Here is some of the work I've done, and hopefully I will have more soon.

[anjyil]

Looking good! Better than mine, I think ^-^

[Taven]

In post #15, I'm impressed with how close to the original reference your eyes were, that's pretty amazing. The next picture in that post, the sketches of the lady's head, are nice (and way better then my faces), but I think that her eyes might be a little large. If they were a little smaller, I think she'd look more realistic. What was the medium used for the cat? It seems less refined then your other things.

The portrait of your sister looks really good to me. In your opinion, where did you get "lazy" with it? In the next post, #17, the face of the lady is done in a really interesting style; I like the colors a lot. I think the shading on her left cheek might be a little too intense, but other then that, it's pretty good.

Keep posting your progress, and keep up the good work!

--Taven

[Enydimon]

You're doing an awesome job. Keep it up.

Your form really started improving when you got into those eye studies.

[meds]

Thanks everyone!

Taven - The first cat picture was done with oil pastels, a medium I am not comfortable with. It was also a very quick sketch. In regards to my sister's portrait, I got really lazy with the hat. Thanks again for your critiques. They are helpful.

Here are more perspective studies and some cat portraits I did for friends. The aquarium I did earlier was wrong. I drew it again to fix the perspective problems.

[anjyil]

nice perspective work! And the pastels and charcoal looks really nice--I wish I was as comfortable with that

[meds]

More stuff. The last two are quick fanart sketches of video game characters (Haunting Ground) that I did at work.

[Clockwork Bunny]

I love seeing sketchbooks progress, yours has been evolving leaps and bounds!
the only thing I could suggest you work on is the proportions when your draw full figures.

the details on the faces are beautiful and delicate, look forward to seeing more

[anjyil]

The second to the last girl looks really cool! I hope you finish that one soon!