Beginners' Lounge

#1

EDIT: 7/30/08 - I’ve closed this thread to encourage everyone here to post their work in their own Personal Sketchbook Thread in the Personal Anatomy & Sketchbook Threads forum. All are welcome to continue to use the reference here and to browse this thread, however it is no longer open for posting.

EDIT: 3/5/08 - I’ve moved this thread to the Personal Anatomy and Sketchbook Threads forum as I’m hoping that our members here will contribute to encouraging and critiquing our beginning members.

____


Everyone,
   
       Feeling like a newbie and kinda intimidated? Don't be ~ here is one place (though in truth, I don't think it should be the only place, by any means) to feel free to post your work, discuss your images with one another, and to get feedback from more experienced artists who can help you along in your journey as artists. 
   
       For starters, why not post, say,   2-5 examples of your most recent / best work for comments / feedback? Everything here is informal, and anyone is free to comment on anyone else's work. 
    
       We can take it from there. Don't be shy! No one is here to judge you ~ the purpose of the WIP forum and Anatomy sub~forum is to help people grow and mature in their artwork. We all have to start somewhere, and here is a good place to get started.
   
       Thanks to Dreamy Kid for the excellent suggestion! :)
   
       Hope to see the work of shy beginners here! :)
   
                                 [b]RULES:[/b]
      
         
       1. No flaming / rude / unconstructive remarks. Only constructive criticism and helpful comments, please. :)
   
     2.Please do not post work that is over 800 pixels wide x appropriate pixels high.
       
       3. It's not just for me to make comments or critiques ~ anyone may do so.
   
       4. Have fun. ;)
                   +++
       
       
   [b]ASSIGNMENTS:[/b]
          
        
       ASSIGNMENT 1: GESTURE DRAWING FROM REFERENCE
       
       [http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=2869899&postcount=40](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=2869899&postcount=40)
        
       [ASSIGNMENT 2: MASTER COPY MINI 2-5-10 SKETCHATHON](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=2876945&postcount=85)
       [http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=2876945&postcount=85](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=2876945&postcount=85)
        
       [u]ASSIGNMENT 3: MASTER COPY MINI 2-5-10 SKETCHATHON[/u]
       [u][http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=2903604&postcount=163](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=2903604&postcount=163)[/u] 
        
       [u]ASSIGNMENT 4: MASTER COPY MINI 2-5-10 SKETCHATHON[/u]
       [http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=3022068&postcount=279](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=3022068&postcount=279)
        
       [ASSIGNMENT 5:](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=349580)[Open Figure Drawing Workshop - Rembrandt Master Copy - with Rebeccak 016](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=349580)
       [http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=349580](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=349580) 
       Use the reference from OFDW 016, and post your work here! Give yourself 4 weeks.
       
    PLEASE NOTE: Anyone may start these Assignments at any time. Just give yourselves one week to do each of the Assignments, and post your work here.
   
       +++
   
   [b]USEFUL THREADS & RESOURCES:[/b]
       
       [[color=lemonchiffon]TUTORIAL SUMMARY - Anatomy Review 003 Shading Tutorial - Tutorial Material Only](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=351832)
       [/color]
   
                         [left]It contains all of the original Tutorial material from the Anatomy Review 003, which talks about Digital and Traditional methods and principles of Shading.
   
        All are welcome to try out the Exercises and to post their WIP here.
           [/left]
         
       [center]15 Minute Sketchathon - Beginners' Edition
      
        
       [left]For those of you who wish to participate in the [15 Minute Sketchathon](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=295498), but are too shy to post in that thread, why not use the daily References which are posted here:
   
   [I5 Minute Sketchathon - Thread 1: Reference](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=298699)
   [http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=298699](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=298699)
   
       And post your sketches here in this thread (The Beginners' Lounge)? :)
   
                              [Simple theories and excercises to improve your drawings](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=302282)
       
       
          What is Gesture Drawing? 
       [
       >>>Great Article on Gesture Drawing<<<](http://www.ndoylefineart.com/gesture3.html)
       
       [http://www.ndoylefineart.com/gesture3.html](http://www.ndoylefineart.com/gesture3.html)
       [](http://drawsketch.about.com/library...y/aa052003a.htm)[>>>Another Great Article on Gesture Drawing<<<](http://drawsketch.about.com/library/weekly/aa052003a.htm)
   
   [http://drawsketch.about.com/library/weekly/aa052003a.htm](http://drawsketch.about.com/library/weekly/aa052003a.htm)
      
       +++
        
       [color=#fffacd]See the Best of the Beginners' Lounge highlighted here: 
        
       [>>>SPOTLIGHT: Best of Beginner's Lounge - Year 1<<<](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=349232) 
       [http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=349232](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=349232)
       [/color]
   
                    
         Looking forward to seeing your posts! :)
   
          [/left]
        [/center]
         Cheers,
   
       ~Rebeccak
#2

Resources for Beginners:

Tutorials, Workshops, Anatomy Reviews & More … [links within]

New to CGTalk? Learn how to post IMAGES here!

BEGINNERS’ Drawing Workshop - Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain - With Margie
I5 Minute Sketchathon

Anatomy Resources : BOOKS

~~

                                                                         [b]Anyone may create a Personal Anatomy Thread:[/b]

Anyone may create a Personal Anatomy Thread here:

Personal Anatomy & Sketchbook Threads Forum

See this thread for information about creating a personal Anatomy Thread first:

FAQ: Can I Create My Own Anatomy Thread?

Links to all Personal Anatomy Threads can be found here:

Anatomy Threads of Individual Users

~~

                          [b][>>Master Copy Resources<<](http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=354836)

[/b][left]I frequently recommend that people do Master Copies ~ it’s a great way to learn the figure quickly. Doing Master Copies using a new software package also helps you to learn the software package quickly.

Click on link above to be taken to thread containing links to many Master Copy Resources. Freel free to post your results here!

I recommend setting a goal for doing a certain number of Master Copies per week ~ 5 optimally, but it depends on the amount of time you have. The main point is to do MANY of them, as the more you draw, the better you will become.


          [/left]
#3

allow me to roll the ball , here goes nothing:D, i did this quick sketch earlier this day

[b]slightly fixed

[/b]

#4

Dreamy Kid,
Nice! Not so bad for a beginner! :wip: Ok, the first thing I notice is that the arms are too small for the rest of the body. Also, it’s a tough thing to get the head / face to work with the body ~ something you will often see even master draughtsmen do is to do a larger study of the head on the side of their figurative drawings ~ drawing larger enables anyone to get more detail. I would suggest doing a larger, separate study of the head on a new page (if the drawing was not done from life). If the drawing was done from life, I would suggest using photo reference from the web of a head in a similar position to practice getting the relationship of major facial features. :slight_smile: But you’ve got a great start, and hope to see more of your work! :slight_smile:

Now, what I always ask new folks is to tell us a bit about your training and bkgrd. It helps me to know where people are coming from, and what type of artistic training they’ve had. :slight_smile:

Thanks for this great suggestion!

Cheers,

~Rebeccak

#5

Well this seems to be an excellent place for me :smiley: expect to see some WIPs from me soon!
(Since I am a starter with this whole forum as well)

But one question: what kinds of pictures are allowed? I mean, does it have to be an anatomy study or such?
Haha it seems I missed something there…

#6

thanks rebecca for the great input, i did fix it a bit on the hands and i think it’s slightly better now :). i’ll do more studies on the head, and i’ll probably post some work soon. anyway, my background is 3d modelling, did a bit of character design, i also do some website design. Just recently, I’m working on this personal project, a 3d model of a man including all the muscle >__< i realized how little i know about human anatomy, i’m fascinated by it and decided to learn about it seriously. I’ve been drawing for a long time, but i think it’s the time i learn it properly and seriously. I’m working on my own website where i’ll put some of my work but for now i’ll show you something from my past work so that you got a glimpse of what i’ve been doing.
here is some drawing i did a while a go, willy wonka and the oompa loompas :wip:
http://img473.imageshack.us/img473/8518/wonka2qz.jpg

and i drew this one af i watched the passion of christ 
[http://img473.imageshack.us/img473/8967/forgotten9iy.jpg](http://img473.imageshack.us/img473/8967/forgotten9iy.jpg)

i’ve been a quite a self learner all this time when it comes to drawing, i learn most of the things from this forum, books about drawing,figure drawing, and anatomy, lock my self for hours in my room haha. i would say that i got better and improve a lot after i learn all this things - i just wished i’ve learnt this earlier but i guess late is better than nothing at all, let me show you my drawing from last year…yeap this is my best drawing from last year hahaha :

thank you for the help, I do really enjoy this learning process :)
#7

Dreamy Kid,

You have some nice work here! There is a girl in my current CGWorkshop class who draws in a similar manga style, and who similarly recognized that in order to improve in that style, she needed to study real anatomy. I think you’ve already recognized that one really must learn to draw realistically first, and learn to stylize second. :slight_smile:

I definitely promote learning in 3 ways:

  1. Drawing from life
  2. Doing Master Copies ~ from Drawings, Sculptures, or Paintings
  3. Doing copies from Anatomy books / plates

The following is a list of books which I highly recommend for any student, no matter what age, of anatomy:
[b]Anatomy Resources : BOOKS

[/b]
“Artistic Anatomy”, by Dr. Paul Richer - Watson Guptill, publisher

“Anatomy Lessons From The Great Masters”, by Robert Beverly Hale and Terence Coyle - Watson Guptill, publisher

“Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist”, by Stephen Rogers Peck - Oxford University Press, publisher

“Dynamic Anatomy”, by Burne Hogarth - Watson Guptill, publisher

   ["Vilppu Drawing Manual", by Glenn Vilppu - (self-published)](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1892053039/002-6733442-6091234?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance)

“The Human Machine: The Anatomical Structure and Mechanism of the Human Body”, by George Bridgeman - Dover, publisher

I have all of these books and more, but think that these are the best of the lot. I’ve done just tons of copies from “Anatomy Lessons From The Great Masters” and have found it to be an invaluable resource.

Learning Anatomy takes time, and there aren’t really any shortcuts.

Set yourself some goals. For example, why not try in the next week to do 2-3 master copies? Or even just one, if there is not enough time to do more? The purpose is to start. :slight_smile: Master drawings are easy to find on the web, if you don’t have art books ~ I like Michelangelo, Pontormo, Leonardo, and Rubens. But there are just hundreds of artists to choose from. I really recommend Renaissance artists, however, as they are the best of the best in terms of figurative drawing. :slight_smile:

Looking forward to seeing more work of yours! :slight_smile:

Cheers,

~Rebeccak

#8

thank you, you hit me on the spot, i always draw in that kind of style and just realized that i need to learn drawing realistically to improve my drawing, kind of late after all this time, but oh well :). i got some of the books already, in fact i’ve just bought the atlas of human anatomy 2 weeks a go and find it really useful, i think i’ll do some book shopping someday this week. so teacher, i guess my assignment for this week is make some master copy and do study on head ? :slight_smile: thanks reb i really appreciate all your help here , i hope you’re not tired of me hehe :smiley:

#9

Heheh, nope, I don’t get tired of people unless they call me “Becky” :smiley: in which case, they get the boot. :slight_smile:

No problem! Yep, your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to do at least one master study this week, and hopefully 2-3. :slight_smile: If you post your work by Sunday, I’ll be a happy camper. :slight_smile:

Cheers,

~Rebeccak

#10

@dreamy kid: Nice ones! claps

Well, here goes some from me…



These are the best of my latest “studies”. Done with mechanical pencil in short breaks I take while programming. Sorry for the scripting on the back of the paper, but I use the back of useless papers as drafts :shrug:None of them with any reference, and some of them are unfinished.

About my artistic background… well, basically none :stuck_out_tongue: I liked drawing since I was very young (about 4 or 5 -now I’m 25), but most of my life has been anime-oriented, so guess :rolleyes: I’ve tried almost every kind of digital art (besides pencil drawing), including photomanipulations, 3D modelling… Now I’m focusing both on getting the theory about drawing and painting (anatomy, colours…) and the technique (lots of training with pencil and the tablet), but as you can guess, I don’t advance much without help and advices from professionals, so I decided to join the CGTalk community and learn from the best :slight_smile:

Please, tell me what you think, specially my failures and how I could improve, thanks a lot!

#11

Kencho,

Great to see your work, and your eye studies in particular are quite beautiful! With the top image of the minotaur (is that right?) there are problems, which I think can only be remedied, I think, through the combination of life drawings, master copies, and copies of anatomy reference.

First ~ do you have any anatomy or art books from which you can make copies? And if so, what are their titles? Check out the list of books linked at the top of this thread ~ these are the books which I would highly recommend for anyone interested in Anatomy to have. If I were to choose just two, I would pick “Artistic Anatomy” and “Anatomy Lessons from the Great Masters”. I think you can get years of mileage out of just these two books.

I would also add “Dynamic Anatomy” if you don’t already have it and can afford it.

I also recommend picking up a few books from the really cheap Master Draughtsman Series of Paperback Books: as I wrote in the Anatomy Books thread, these are great books because they are cheap, light, and great for copying from, as you will not be concerned about destroying the book ~ they are really instructional devices, more than anything else. To find: run search for “master draughtsman series” on Amazon.com.

Once I know which books you have, would you be willing to take on an assignment? :slight_smile: There’s no magic formula for improvement ~ it’s just practice, or “mileage” as they used to call it in school. :slight_smile:

Well, I am off to run some errands / get some ‘life’ stuff done :wink: but will be checkin’ back later. :slight_smile:

Cheers, :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#12

Thanks for the suggestions :slight_smile: I don’t own any book on this subject, but I think I can grab some of these from my local library :slight_smile:
I would like to take on an assignment, yes. Just ask and I’ll give it my best try :wink:

Thanks a lot for the help you offer us here :bounce:

#13

Kencho,

No problem! :slight_smile: When you get your books, let me know, and we’ll take it from there. :slight_smile:

Look forward to working with you! :slight_smile:

Cheers,

~Rebeccak

#14

I feel honoured :slight_smile: I’ll take a look in the library tomorrow :slight_smile: Can’t wait to start :bounce:

#15

Great idea! It was a bit intimidating for me to post sketches and such in other threads but I guess its a little better here :slight_smile:

Around a year ago I found out that it was quite fun to doodle and stuff, but I did never do so when I was a kid. Although i havnt painted at all this summer (Im into alot of videographing and photographing skateboarding and have been doing so for 2 years, so it kinda sucks up all my time(and money…) in the summer ^^). Never took classes and such, although Im having a class right now about product design. Looking forward to improving myself!

Heres two image of some recent work.

 [[img]http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7769/skullsidesketchsmall9rf.th.jpg[/img]](http://img14.imageshack.us/my.php?image=skullsidesketchsmall9rf.jpg)
 Around 45min for this one, had alot of fun doing it! Loved to play around with values!
#16

Gorgnut, that skull looks great, and the values are perfect IMHO!

#17

:slight_smile: :slight_smile: Thank you!
I made it in Painter with just pure white, pure black and middle gray. First I did a little sketch and tried to nail the proportions correct. Then I used the Digital Airbrush and the “Just add water” blender (Blenders -> Just Add Water). The great thing about it was that it was so flexible! If you have a copy of Painter I suggest you to try it out, I didn’t find it hard at all and it was great fun!

#18

:wavey:hey kencho and gorgnut welcome to this thread, nice to see you guys here

Becca, I've been out all day and i'm beat:scream:, i went to a local second hand book store and do some book shopping ^__^. I was able to find this book for a good deal ( everything under canadian $13:twisted: Dynamic anatomy by Burne Hogarth, Anatomy lessons from the great master, and drawing lessons from the great masters, glad to add them to my library :). i couldnt spend more time doing the book hunting since they were about to close, but i'll probably going back there someday this week. I havent drawn anything today:bowdown:, been busy working on some web design for clients and do some school project. i'll try to do some things tomorrow after school and post them later on, thanks
#19

Dreamy Kid,

AWESOME!!! Those are some GREAT books, and I’m thrilled you’ve found them! Spent all day book shopping, eh? :slight_smile: Well, look at it this way ~ you won’t have to do that again, at least for Anat. books, for quite a while. :slight_smile:

Alrighty then…I would just pick a few master drawings that you like from the Anatomy Lessons from the Great Masters book, and have at it! I would recommend either using 2B-4B pencils or my personal favorite, ballpoint pen for these studies, in a sketchbook. You may at one point want to get a fairly large (11x14) sketchbook, but really an 8.5 x 11" sketchbook should do. I know the sizes differ from country to country, but just use your best judgement ~ standard letter size or larger should suffice.

Looking forward to seeing your first copies! Let me know which pages you’re copying from, so that I can look at the same reference. :slight_smile:

Cheers, :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#20

bec, before i forgot i actually have some question regarding drawing media, I always draw using 2b mechanical pencil, and rarely use regular pencil or ballpoint pen. I just thought that mechanical pencil give a fine sharp line and it’s good for a study. do you think i should try regular pencil or ballpoint pen? I was planning to do some gesture drawing tomorrow just for warming up, i find it relaxing somehow hehe - maybe i should try experimenting using ballpoint or regular pencil just to get the feel of it? sorry this is sounds like a silly question :rolleyes: