Can't get rid of this style

[voltageme5]

it looks like a building but its hard to decipher what is going on to the right.

The first thing you should do is focus more on details. To me, the biggest difference between a cartoonish style and realism is the level of detail.

If you spend more time on finishing the texture on the walls and corners you will begin to see that you are adding depth.

[secretasianman]

what is on the right is hard to tell like volt said, i almost want to turn it in different directions to tell.

windows and details on the buildings are not in line with other things they are sort of all over the place. you need to work of shading most of it just looks incomplete.

also need to know about draw distance and relativity when doing stuff that is achitecture like.

this might sound boring but sit down and practice shapes. when it comes to shapes and natural to things circles are natural to the human body and living things, squares and straight lines are more for buildings. is why you see people who do creature creation start blocking stuff out with circular motions, and you see people who do cars and buildings use a draw distance for comparing sizes on certain areas.

also what type of art do you wanna do human or architexture, whichever one just sit down and examine things and try and draw them.

[CybrGfx]

I always get discouraged because my drawings always have a sort of cartoonish look that I can't seem to get rid of. I can copy faces just fine, but when it comes to other things I just can't figure out what it is. I'm trying to expand my style by foccusing more on shading
You have NO STYLE to expand. Let's clarify this from the start.

To have a "style" you need to have a distinctive manner of drawing. There is NOTHING distinctive about this. It's not even neat enough to be considered indicative of your technical skills, and I'm not referring to the fact that it is scanned.

You are not putting forth the proper thought and effort into your works. You are just putting pencil to paper as your mind imagines. Now, if your technical skills were sufficient that you could draw straight lines on a true perpendicular, with accuracy and consistency, I would say you are well on the way to developing a style. But no. This piece doesn't even have the windows on the building the same size or placement across the face of it. This shows that
1. You are not thinking about what you are drawing,
2. You are rushing, and not taking the time to draw things accurately
3. You are trying to "hide" your poor drawing with shading...That won't work.

Liking to draw is one thing. Being good at it is another, and takes a LOT of effort and practice. There are really no shortcuts to make you learn faster. You need to learn the basics of perspective, proportion, line, mass, and value. Until you actually buckle down and practice to improve these skills, you will have a very hard time drawing something you can be truly satisfied with.

~C

[phoenix]

Hey Hey Hey its pretty fine work you starting with. i like the building, the scale, signified by the little guy near the elevator, is good. its nice work. shading it going good.

but bro

Like the other members mentioned concentrate on developing and refining your drawing skills. Drawing from imagination is really a fantastic skill to have and it needs to be trained and honed, mind is like a car lets say, it needs fuel and oil to run efficiently and in case of art it needs to have references to build from. :) without references there would be nothing for mind to work with.

i have few suggestions which can help you improve your drawing skills.

1. First and most importantly draw draw draw draw whatever you see and think of .. never stop. Like this you Will develop a style. as your strokes will slowly begin to have a distinct look.

2. Few things to help you become good at drawings

IF you want to make your lines bold and strong ( not by pressing hard :) )
Get yourself a huge piece of paper and i mean a big one. put it on a drawing board. and draw straight lines. keep your speed in medium not slow not fast, how do you know well too slow helps kid of automates the drawing, its like all of the body is concentrating on that line you don't want this :) too fast is like a fluke :) line is either drawn good or not. so with medium pace try to keep them straight AND don't forget to draw using you shoulder i mean your arm remains relatively straight little bending. what i am talking about is usually new comers draw with their wrist :).

You should draw landscapes or cityscape and try to get that aerial perspective feel ( aerial perspective is fading of objects with distance / gradual disappearing of objects in fog / the blue effect which you see in distant places like mountains) this can be achieved by giving variations in you line strokes intensity darker lines and lighter lines. How do you know well experiment draw closer and farther objects with different line intensities and hey DO USE Charcoal or Pastel don't use pencils.

Go to the zoo and try to quickly draw animals using Charcoal or pastel. don't worry if the animal moves just leave that drawing and draw new pose. Trust me this will make you efficient very very quickly.

Draw yourself, either sitting in front of the mirror or section of your body like hands, posing them. Again use Charcoal or pastel.

Draw "with pencil" wood, especially tree barks, or lots of leaves still attached to the tree or something. this exercise will improve your observation and Will help you develop the habit of adding details.

NEVER DRAW from pictures unless you are really good at drawing - because photos never teaches you observe. and observation is all that you need to be a good artist.

:) hope this helps :) thanks



Regards

[CybrGfx]

I LIKE the new first one of the building! It has a good overall feel to it, but yes, it would be better finished...

Now, let's get a couple things clear, here, okay?

FIRST AND FOREMOST: We are ALL artists here (or at least we LIKE art). No one is going to LAUGH at your artworks unless you are really, REALLY good at drawing humorous images. And I don't mean they're funny because they are drawn badly.

Here, we will tell you WHY your drawings look odd, or bad. But if they make us LAUGH, well then, you must be REALLY good, and we'll tell you that, too.

Please don't treat us, nor think of us, as some sort of "them," out there to make fun of you, or somehow that we think less of you because you cannot YET draw well. We consider you, as a FELLOW artist member here, to be as SPECIAL as the rest of us, because the "them" you think of, haven't a clue beyond, "Oh, lookee! A picture! Huar huar!" If that is the response you think we have, you are not drawing bad enough... ;)

SECOND: EVERYONE started sometime. EVERYONE learned and practiced. You are no worse, and a heck of a lot better than many of us, who did not have the wonders of the Internet to help us "back in the day." So either lift yourself up by your bootstraps, or come down off your high horse. We are ALL pretty equal in CGS pool, it's just some have practiced MUCH more, and so make "real pretty pictures..."

and THIRD: Don't make excuses. Excuses ONLY satisfy the people making them. Everyone else is unimpressed. If you upload a half-assed piece of crap, because you couldn't bother to upload a finished work., fine. Don't apologize for it, because if it meant that much to you, you would have uploaded a finished work. If it is a WIP, it needs no apologies, because you are working on it...

The side correllary to this, is that IF IT MEANS THAT MUCH TO YOU, PROVE IT. Don't upload half-completed sketches for "Show and Tell." Show and tell your Works IN PROGRESS (meaning you are and will be COMPLETING THEM), that you want feedback on.

Feedback here, meaning a critique, as in what is NOT working, as well as what IS working. Not to make you cry in your pillow at night, nor think the world is eagerly awaiting your next creation. Just feedback to MAKE A BETTER IMAGE. Your fellow members do not know you as a person. We do not know if you smell as sweet as a summer's day, or advertise your presence 3 minutes after you leave. We don't care. We know you by your art. We know you by your interaction here. You need not fear us, nor take ANYTHING any of us say as law.

You CHOOSE to be here.
CHOOSE to enjoy being here.
Thank you for letting me vent.

Now, to address your drawings...

NO. Just copying things you see will not teach you much of anything, because you do not ACCURATELY copy what you see. Now, if you do this long enough, yah. You will be able, like a trained monkey, to fairly copy anything you see, but you will not be an artist.

ARTISTS DON'T COPY ~ THEY CREATE!

But. You HAVE to know what you are creating. Just mindlessly drawing things is little better than copying.

So, you need to first start thinking about your art as more than just copying, and more than just making marks on paper.

Next, you need to practice. You couldn't ride a bicycle the first time you saw one. Same with art. It starts by being able to practice drawing straight lines. Can you make 10?
Then you progress to making squares. Can you make 10 that look like squares, not flabby, floppy, lopsided squares?

Then circles. Those are the most fun to practice, because you make 3 lines of loopy loops, THEN you try to make nice, clean circular circles...

NOW you are warmed up. NOW you try to draw something real.
Look at it for at least one full minute before you start. STUDY it.
Look at the overall SHAPE of it.
Then look at how the shape is broken into smaller shapes.
Look at how edges form LINES, the directions those lines go, and the angles they make when they meet.

Finally, you start drawing.

This is no game. Yes, it is an enjoyable pasttime, yes, some people actually make money from it. But if you are here, it's pretty serious stuff. Your fellow members all look at it that way. We Love it, we have fun with it, we play in it and with it, but we all practice (yes, still ~ You never stop), and we all repsect it, each other, and ourselves.

When you put yourself or your art down, you don't respect yourself, or us. Bad as any artwork may be, it is only as bad as the accepted norms of "good" composition and design go.

If you enjoyed making it, that is THE most important thing. It is only when you want others to enjoy looking at it, that you then post it here for feedback.

If you seriously want to improve, start HERE (http://www.scribd.com/doc/2243558/Andrew-Loomis-Fun-WIth-a-Pencil?from_related_doc=1). Read, study, PRACTICE.

Start a sketchbook in the Speedpaints and Sketchbooks forum, and post a practice page EVERY DAY. 20 minutes of your time. Not that hard.

If you are lucky, you'll never really be satisfied, but you will still be proud of your efforts.

I have GOT to stop checking the forums before my first cup of coffee in the morning...lol!
~C

[Bouke285]

Thanks a lot everyone for the crits and the (scolding) :P jk, but i did need that. I have been picking up random objects around the house setting them on a table and drawing them one at a time as realisticlly as possible. I usually use the objet to get the shapes and try to do as much shading as I can without looking at it and still staying realistic. The main thing i've learned is there are rarely lines in the real world. My old drawings had random lines everywhere which should be formed by the joining of two tones. I have started adding backgrounds or just shading behind my object to bring out edge highlights.

Well just wanted to say thanks and I'm going to stop posting in this threas. If I have any questions I'll be posting in 2d technique or in a sketchbook thread. So Thanks again.

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