TheSomeone's Journey Thread

[TheSomeone]

From now on, every week, I will post at least 2 drawings. I'm really, really looking to improve, so please, be harsh critics. I can get praise from my mom .

First 2:

 

[Shippi]

The genie is a little out of proportion.. the arms look a little short. The upper arm (to the elbow) should go down to around belly button height, and the forearm to below the hips. Looks great, other than that though.

The shape of the woman's head is a little off I think, though it could just look that way because of the left (our right) eye, which should curve down a little rather than be straight.

Great stuff though

 

[TheSomeone]

Thanks SHIPPI! You don't even know how much I appreciate that stuff.

The arm is actually supposed to be foreshortened since its going backwards, I definetly need to work on that .

Yeah, I totally agree the head is kinda wierd. She was making that wierd, sensual face with her eyes and I gave up on reproducing it after wearing out an eraser .

 

[Shippi]

The arm does kinda look like it's going backwards, but it doesn't at the same time... I can't quite place what's wrong with it

 

[TheSomeone]

The arm does kinda look like it's going backwards, but it doesn't at the same time... I can't quite place what's wrong with it

Well the fore arm is supposed to come back front, but it doesn't overlap the bicep, which is wierd. Maybe that's it.

 

[nofx]

imho you shoudl do more than just two drawings a week maybe 2 drawings every 3 hours.. decent drawings eh lol

 

[TheSomeone]

imho you shoudl do more than just two drawings a week maybe 2 drawings every 3 hours.. decent drawings eh lol

Don't worry, I do at least 2 drawings a day, but I don't need to use up HL2.net bandwith in order to show my progress.

 

[eatbugs]

I think you need to rethink your approach. 2 drawings a day isn't really helping if you don't have a guide to go from. You really need to copy from the masters or study anatomy which is what everyone tells you to do but I think the most worthwhile thing to do is "Draw lines, lots of lines"- Ingres.

 

[TheSomeone]

I think you need to rethink your approach. 2 drawings a day isn't really helping if you don't have a guide to go from. You really need to copy from the masters or study anatomy which is what everyone tells you to do but I think the most worthwhile thing to do is "Draw lines, lots of lines"- Ingres.

Yeah actually 90% of my drawings are from reference. Only the woman on this one, but I figured I should post one of each for variety.

It's funny because for months I was telling you to improve your line quality, and now it's your new obsession :upstare: .

Just playin' with you.

<3

If you have criticism on the drawings though, don't hesitate! I really appreciate it.

 

[eatbugs]

lol, my "new obsession" I love it

In the end I think it comes down to which direction you want to take in drawing and painting because there are alot of different ways of doing things keep posting your stuff though it makes mine look good J/K now we're 1 all.

 

[TheSomeone]

4 Drawings today, although 3 are older than a week .
From now on I'm including personal critique and commentary on each drawing I'm posting.

3-Mafia: These are two character concepts for a fun party game based on the role-playing game most everyone knows (the one where you sleep every turn and there's a spy and blabla). The reason I'm fairly satisfied with those is because I was going for a comic-book, see cartoony, feel. If I was going for realisim, the proportions are a little off, but they satisfy their purpose IMO.

4-BeautifulFace: is pretty much exactly what it says . This one is very weak on tone and shading, but fairly succesful in capturing shape and outline.As always, I'm too lazy to draw the hair.

5-QuickSketchofaGirl: This one was done in about 5 min. TOne is pretty weak in that one again, but I think the shape is pretty much down.

6-ManatStaircase: This one was done two days ago, the most recent one. As you can see, I'm starting to work on my tone and shading a lot more. TH is one didn't turn out so great, but I'm not drawing to show right now, I'm drawing to improve .

SO PLEASE! CRITCISM IS 200% WELCOME!

 

[eatbugs]

You know, you and I have completely different drawing styles, yours is light and shaded mine is dark and shows a mastery of line! anyway I really think the Manatstaircase looks great but doesn't have depth of tone if you know what I mean, its all done in mid tone. That one is easily the best though keep it up

 

[ktimekiller]

good stuff, but im still stunned at the fact that i found out shippi is a girl only a week ago 0_o

 

[TheSomeone]

You know, you and I have completely different drawing styles, yours is light and shaded mine is dark and shows a mastery of line! anyway I really think the Manatstaircase looks great but doesn't have depth of tone if you know what I mean, its all done in mid tone. That one is easily the best though keep it up

Thanks eatbugs, I agree with you on pretty much everything you said. I think I also need a darker pencil, I'm just using regular HB right now.

ktimekiller: LOL! Good job being out of it . Thanks.

 

[Shippi]

good stuff, but im still stunned at the fact that i found out shippi is a girl only a week ago 0_o

TheSomeone, your latest pieces are good. But in the Staircase one in particular your shading's very rough and there's no depth to it.. vary your tone a little more and things'll look a lot better

 

[TheSomeone]

Thanks for the tip shippy .

 

[TheSomeone]

2 drawings based on shippi's tip (and using a 6B pencil) and since eatbugs inspired me with his endless love for concept art, two drawings of imaginary beats, both done in about 5 minutes.

 

[CptStern]

some nice work, good technique

a few points:

always always always use a reference when drawing humans/animals ..even the best artists use models and references ...memory only provides an incomplete picture ..better to go tot he source

need work on porportions ..your bodies are often out of porportion ...which is ok if you're drawing comics/video game stuff (just keep in mind that the porportions are exagerated to a degree ...look up any concept from U3 ..all the heads are always small in comparison to the bodies)


try to vary your tones ....try work on images that have shadows from the darkest dark to the lightest light ..good example


edit: your first 2 images above are much better at varying from dark to light


all in all good work that will improve the more you work at it

 

[Jimmeh]

Nice work I like the Minotaur.

The only thing I can see is even with that 6B you're still not pressing hard with pencil at all. Just a HB pencil is great for both dark shading and finer details, don't be afraid to press hard and build up shaded areas, at the moment your drawings seem to lack contrast and depth. You should try and vary your tone a little bit more to give things depth and make them look three-dimensional. Focusing on the Jesus pic, the whole drawing isn't very defined, maybe by using lines around the edges to bring out the shapes (although using them is just a personal preference).

Keep it up though, they still look good

personally I like your work much more than eatbugs' stuff

Edit - damn you Stern!! But great advice

 

[TheSomeone]

CptStern: Thanks for the comments, I really do appreciate pointers and criticism . I will try using reference for my concept art as well from now on. I'll keep working on my rendering. I also started a sketchbook at conceptart.org and now I'm getting double the criticism , I'm so excited about learning. I've been reading a lot of loomis too and will try to apply his tips on shaping and anatomy.

JiMmEh: Thanks Jimmeh . In addition to me not pressing hard enough, my scanner is also a $10 piece of crap, the darks on the jesus pic are much darker than on the scanned picture. But I agree about bringing out the shapes, which is coincidently exactly what I'm working on . I did a few sketches where I really blocked out the forms and planes. They turned out pretty ugly but I'll keep practicing .

 

[TheSomeone]

Finally got around to studying anatomy, and it'st he most fun I've ever had drawing. (all in pen)

C & C encouraged .

 

[eatbugs]

This is the kind of stuff that I should probably do..... . I'll post something tommorow that might speed things up for you a little bit. By the way, are you copying those from a book or master? or some....thing?

 

[TheSomeone]

From somewhere on this site: www.saveloomis.com

(and those were done entirely in pen, no pencil underlining)

And what do you mean by " I'll post something tommorow that might speed things up for you a little bit." ? (<- imagine this is a confused smiley )

EDIT: Oh I got it, I'm assuming you have some scans/links to anatomy stuff.

 

[Shippi]

Good stuff, TheSomeone Anatomy study is something I really need to do more of. It kind of bores me, tbh. I look at anatomy pictures quite a bit so I know something, i can never bring myself to sit down and actually draw it out it like that though. I will, though, i know i should.

Keep it up

 

[TheSomeone]

Thanks SHIPPI, give it a try and you'll love it .

I'm getting really obsessive over art ever since I posted my work at conceptart, they're such a nice bunch over there!

 

[CptStern]

Good stuff, TheSomeone Anatomy study is something I really need to do more of. It kind of bores me, tbh. I look at anatomy pictures quite a bit so I know something, i can never bring myself to sit down and actually draw it out it like that though. I will, though, i know i should.

Keep it up

the absolutely best way to learn to draw the human figure is to do life drawing ...you know, a model, one pose, 2 minutes to do the gesture sketches in conte ...you guys still do that in art class right? take a semester of that and you'll see your artwork vastly improve

 

[Shippi]

the absolutely best way to learn to draw the human figure is to do life drawing ...you know, a model, one pose, 2 minutes to do the gesture sketches in conte ...you guys still do that in art class right? take a semester of that and you'll see your artwork vastly improve

We don't do anything like that in art lessons at school, would love to do it tho. I'm not sure if there are any life drawing classes (outside of school i mean) near me, I might have a look

 

[Crushenator 500]

The arm is actually supposed to be foreshortened since its going backwards, I definetly need to work on that .

Shading

Don't try and copy things exactly, and your own work will look better because of it. put things where they look right on the page, not where they are exactly in a picture. Photocopiers and scanners were made to achieve perfection, you should draw so it looks right, not so it is

I hope that made sense... :E

 

[TheSomeone]

Yes it does (make sense) crushenator . It's what I'm trying to learn. It's coming slowly, but I'm dedicated to it.
.

 

[chu]

Anatomy, drapery, and hands are my weak points right now. I picked up several books of amazon.com and plan to dive into them soon.

Though since I have been working out i've been developing a little more knowledge in human muscles.

 

[StardogChampion]

Ahhhhhhh, don't use biros to draw things.

I would also say press harder with the 6B pencils, but that's already been explained.

 

[TheSomeone]

What are biros?

 

[CptStern]

We don't do anything like that in art lessons at school, would love to do it tho. I'm not sure if there are any life drawing classes (outside of school i mean) near me, I might have a look

assumption 1. ..you're in unviersity? if so, the art courses should have life drawing

if you're not you could always visit the nearest university/college and see if they have open drawing classes

sometimes they offer sort drop in centers were you pay $5 to draw models for an hour ..the models usually run it to make some spare cash in between classes ...no instructors, so the school doesnt mind if people drop in

 

[TheSomeone]

I'm pretty sure Shippi is younger than that.

 

[eatbugs]

A bit off topic but I have heard bad things about university art courses. The nude model was writing his opinion on how the teacher taught the students. Its a long story but later on he went round the class when everyone had left and it was worse than the stuff we are doing!!

 

[TheSomeone]

Well that might be a university in particular. I'm sure there are some good art teachers out there.

 

[eatbugs]

I can't believe you don't know what a biro is lol its a pen. Even Kenith clark wrote, something along the lines of, "They come out of a 4 year course and don't even know how to draw!" this is the top American art institute he is talking about too.

 

[ktimekiller]

Looks great, now, only if it was colored/finished shippi, me dont like your new vatar =(

 

[eatbugs]

Thesomeone I was having a look at your drawings that I missed and I know you'll take this the wrong way but your line quality isn't as great as all that. It needs to flow more you need to show precision in your line but at the moment I think you've reached a point where you need to incorporate these things into your drawing. I always try to think when doing my drawings. "Would anyone want to buy the finished piece?"- Lear.

 

[TheSomeone]

Thesomeone I was having a look at your drawings that I missed and I know you'll take this the wrong way but your line quality isn't as great as all that. It needs to flow more you need to show precision in your line but at the moment I think you've reached a point where you need to incorporate these things into your drawing. I always try to think when doing my drawings. "Would anyone want to buy the finished piece?"- Lear.

I totally agree with you about my line quality, it's something I'm trying to work hard on. I thought using a pen, or as yall crazies call it a "biros" in order to gain confidence in my strokes. I still use pencil, but the pen is a nice change.

I'm not too sure what you mean by that last part though. Right now I'm working to improve, not to please.

Peace.

EDIT: I skipped over the part where you said that you knew I would take it the wrong way. I don't think you would ever be able to find a post where I have not whole-heartedly agreed with and taken in constructive criticism such as this. Unless, by your definition, "taken the wrong way" means "being very pleased by such criticsm" you are off by a mile.

You have a big misconception about what offends me, here it is in a bottle:

Criticising an entire community of artists: very bad.
Criticising my work: very good.