Sketchbook Thread of Krysiak

[krysiak]

This is a series of head figures that I've been trying to draw from a Loomis book. Some are ok... others... not so good. lol. Ignore the messed up drawing of some one kneeling in the middle... I was tired of drawing heads so just goofed off some. You'll notice lil' things like that alot in my sketchbook.

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/9571/heads1zy0.jpg

[krysiak]

this is one is of a few more heads, tried doing a face (failed), tried doing an eye (failed lol), and tried doing a lil' manikin sketch in the top right...Also tried doing a real quick perspective drawing to see if I had the main concept of it down...and the thumbnail in the corner was something to keep me going. Sort of a reminder of what I want to be able to draw some day.

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/3236/perspective1ns2.jpg

[krysiak]

And this was a study of noses... I basically just searched on line for a bunch of faces and tried to draw the noses with shadows and what not. I think some of them turned out pretty good. I numbered these ones to make comments on certain one's easier.

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/9903/noses1md2.jpg

[Rebeccak]

krysiak,

Welcome. :) I am glad to see your thread here - don't be shy about posting work as a beginner, because the purpose of these forums is to improve. As you do more work and practice, you will necessarily get better - I frankly don't believe in talent, but mainly in hard work.

I know you are waiting on a few books to arrive, and I look forward to seeing your exercises. I think the studies of the noses are a very good start, and I would like to see you do studies of all of the other facial features as well.

For the time being, I'm not going to offer crits, but would like to see you do several sketchbook pages, of eyes, noses, lips, ears, etc., from life and from reference. Looking forward to seeing your progress!

I encourage you to look at others' threads, offer comments, suggestions, and constructive critique, and you will likely receive them in return.

As well, it would be nice if you could tell us something about your art training and background.

Cheers, :)

-Rebeccak

[krysiak]

:) Thanks for the welcome. I'll be sure to try and draw the lips and ears and so on. Hrm... little bit about my art training and background... Well, basically I have no art training. I have never once had a drawing class. I used to just draw random doodles, but it never resembled anything really. The only training I have so far is from the Loomis books I am reading. My artistic background is different though. I'm a huge fan of photoshop and digital images. I usually just do simple things for my friends such as make forum signatures or alter their images with different effects, retouch photo's, change black and white photo's to color, etc. And that's my background summed up.

[krysiak]

I was told to try and do some eyes, lips and ears... so I did... hrm... it's not pretty :shrug: I guess I'll just have to keep at it. If any one has any tips or pointers about these parts, please share. I just can't seem to get the eyes to stop looking like they are staring straight ahead, or the lips at an angle... and ears...well, ya...

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/4594/ears1fb1.jpg

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/9476/eyes1ya6.jpg

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/7056/mouths1ex3.jpg

[Rebeccak]

krysiak,

I hope this review helps: :)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b380/rebeccak5/Anatomy%20Thread%20of%20kyrsiak/kyrsiak-01.gif

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b380/rebeccak5/Anatomy%20Thread%20of%20kyrsiak/kyrsiak-01.jpg

One thing to recognize about all features of the face - the horizontal axes of the features - eyes, nose, lips, chin, ears - are parallel to one another, no matter what angle the head is seen in.

When you draw, try to draw less what you see before you, and instead, deconstruct features in terms of their simple shapes, and the contours of the form. Drawing is an abstraction, and as such, simply rendering form faithfully onto paper does not always convey the impression of what it is that you are attempting to draw. One critical thing to always find with forms such as lips and eyes, for example, is the central vertical axis of the form. It is also important to know that it makes things much easier to draw if you think of them less as eyes, nose, lips, chins, and ears, and more as complex shapes that can be broken down into simpler ones.

A great book that explains this in depth and which I really recommend is:



Drawing the Human Head (Paperback)
by Burne Hogarth (http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Human-Head-Burne-Hogarth/dp/0823013766/sr=8-6/qid=1157423101/ref=pd_bbs_6/104-9961556-7457554?ie=UTF8&s=books)

Hogarth breaks forms down very simply and makes complex organic shapes into more easily identifiable, simple structures. He also has books on Dynamic Anatomy and Dynamic Figure Drawing, which I also recommend.

Try drawing a new set of lips, but with the above principles in mind. Draw the horizontal axes first, and make these guidelines parallel to one another. Then draw the lips not as exact copies of what you see, but as abstractions and as simple shapes.

Please let me know if this doesn't make sense. I hope this helps! :)

Cheers,

-Rebeccak

[krysiak]

:) Thank you so much for those hints Rebecca! You have no idea how much that actually helped. I'm currently practicing on some more lips (just reference ones for now till I get a little more comfortable with it) and they're already looking so much better than my previous ones (in my opinion anyway...)


- Krysiak

[krysiak]

Alright, here is my new set of lips, only did 10 right now, didn't have much time to draw today :-( but oh well, I think they're better than the last group. Any one have any hints for eyes? I mean.. I tried to do the horizontal axis thing... and keep them parallel, but the eyes still look like they do before, just more straight. Thanks in advance!

http://img307.imageshack.us/img307/8199/mouths2gr6.jpg

-Krysiak

[krysiak]

ok, I haven't posted here in a few days. I got my "Learning to draw on the right side of the brain" book finally, so I've been reading through that and doing the exercises. I just did the hand one's and here are my two results. Please let me know what you think of them.

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/4821/hand1qh6.jpg

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8009/hand2sx1.jpg

[Rebeccak]

krysiak,

It's good to see you've received your book and have begun your exercises. :) While I cannot critique every drawing you do, I am happy to critique an overall set of drawings after you have done a number of exercises. Drawing is about practice and a lot of it. The more you do, the better you will get. I look forward to seeing a large batch of your drawings. :)

Cheers,

-Rebeccak

[Talaria]

Your lips have improved a lot :) . You said you were having troubles when drawing eyes. I found this page quite some time ago and it really helped me improve my drawing, here is the eye section:

http://www.portrait-artist.org/face/eyes.html


I hope it helps :)

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