Sketchbook Thread of deco

#1

I’m a 35 year old software developer who has never learned to draw. Not so much for lack of desire as overall lack of a clue.

Sure, my bookshelves contain a number of books on the topic - How to Draw Animals, Learn to Draw Manga!, Sci Fi & Fantasy Art. Each one sounded like great fun right up until the point I laid pencil to paper to attempt the first exercise. It has always seemed an act of futility, like there’s just something fundamental I’m obviously missing and it always ends in frustration.

Then, I discovered 3D models and programs. Finally! Tools with which even I can create my own characters (or, well, at least render the models I’m given). But, alas, I quickly found that without an understanding of lighting and textures, I wasn’t going to get very far. Worse, it just failed to satisfy my craving to really create my own characters.

So, I love the idea of doing CG, but I feel like I need to start with the basics. Thus, this thread.

Abby

#2

So, my first challenge to myself is to work through the book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. I greatly appreciate comments and critiques. Thank you.

First off, my pre-instruction drawings to use as a basis for comparison. These are so miserably embarassing - but, hey, I guess there’s nowhere to go but UP from here, right??

Pre-Instruction Drawings

#3

The next thing the book has us do is to copy drawings upside down. These were amazingly frustrating for me, each one took several hours and even though I did them in seperate sittings, you can tell on the last one that I was totally out of patience by the time I got to the “bottom” of the drawing (really the top since they were upside down - so the horse’s head on up), I just wanted to be DONE with it already - very tedious and frustrating because drawing is supposed to be fun, right??

Pablo Picasso. Portrait of Igor Stravinsky (click here for original)

#4

The next exercises are done using a picture plane with the goal of learning to draw 3D (depth) on a 2D surface. We only had to do our hand but I then practiced with a couple of random objects sitting on my desk: a Tazmanian Devil figurine and a water bottle.

Again, the first one was amazingly frustrating and took several hours. The next one was also frustrating, but perhaps a bit less so, and didn’t take quite as much time. The last one was, admittedly, a much simpler item to draw, but was considerably easier and less frustrating… not sure if I’m finally learning something or if it’s just that the subject was so much simpler. But, feeling a bit better after drawing this (good enough to come start this thread and post my work! So, this will be all of my drawings for right now).

My Hand (take 2)

Tazmanian Devil Holding dripping ice cream cone (3 " figurine)

Water Bottle (not very figurative, but I wanted to practice round)

#5

deco-3d,

Welcome! :slight_smile: I look forward to seeing your progress here. I think along with the DOTRSOTB exercises, you might think about looking into a community college art class for Drawing - that will be the best way to really begin learning, I think - if you can spare the time and money, there are plenty of local classes in the DC area - Montgomery College has a lot of good, inexpensive art classes, some of which you might be able to take in the evenings or weekends. NOVA also has art classes on offer, as well as the Corcoran (though they are overpriced). A good intro to drawing class is something you might really enjoy! :slight_smile:

Cheers,

-Rebeccak

#6

Thanks, Rebeccak, I’m sure I would enjoy that as well. I’m currently booked up on weeknights with other classes/trainers (too many hobbies :wink: ), but maybe in the summer - will give me some time to hopefully not have to go into a class with total 3rd grade skills.

Thanks,
Abby

#7

I’ve been looking through the forums here and am so impressed and inspired by everyone’s work here. One thing I’ve taken away is that quantity is more helpful than struggling for perfection in every last drawing when seeking to improve your skills.

That’s a real eye-opener for me because I’m such a perfectionist by nature, which is very frustrating with something like drawing where I don’t even know yet HOW to be good, so I just struggle endlessly hoping I’ll accidentally stumble upon brilliance. No wonder I’m finding drawing to be so frustrating! I think I’m liking the quantity idea better… :wink:

Anyway, I just finished Chapter 7 from DOTRSOTB, which teaches the perception of negative spaces. I did a few drawings for this chapter but the only one that seems worth posting here is this…

Rubens. Studies of Arms and Legs (click here for reference copy)

[left]This actually took me a couple sittings. The first, maybe 30-60 minutes I just focused on the negative spaces. You can see I drew a light grid (my first attempt had the spacing slightly off in between the negative spaces which resulted in, well, very fat legs!) and then just tried to draw the negative spaces in. That was all I was going to do, but then I came back to it a little later and filled in some detail. A little hard because I only have a #2 pencil and we haven’t learned shading yet, but even with my very poor shading tools/abilities, the difference in the picture is immense. [/left]

[left]Anyway, the exercises for this chapter have been the first ones where I haven’t felt totally frustrated, and, in fact, I’m finding myself wanting to draw more (like going back and fixing this picture) - so this is really encouraging![/left]

[left]Abby[/left]

#8

Heya Abby,

Great to hear that you’ve discovered that it’s all practice and not perfectionism with each drawing that really counts the most! :slight_smile: Trust me, it took me years to learn that :wink: - but by now I just don’t get upset if I have a string of drawings with which I’m not happy, I just trust that at some level, I’ve learned something, and I move on. It’s cool that you’re so inspired, and I’m impressed with your Rubens copy - he’s one of my all time favorite artists, and there is so much to be learned from him! Don’t worry if these initial drawings take you some time to do - as with everything else, you’ll get faster as you gain more confidence and with each new drawing. Keep up the good work! :slight_smile:

#9

Rebeccak, thank you! :slight_smile:

#10

haha! I finally found something fun to draw! :slight_smile: :bounce:

Is it a super hero?? Well, not exactly - it’s the body builder, Shawn Ray. I began it as negative spaces practice, but then came back later and filled in the body detail. This was my first time really trying to do shading and highlights - and I know I totally don’t have the right tools (graphite to tone the paper, a #2 pencil, an eraser, a couple blending stumps and peel-off vinyl rub stick that I’m sure was the wrong thing for adding lights, but hey - you use what ya got, right?)

Shawn Ray (click here for original)

[left]I think I learned a lot doing this. Interestingly, the arms and abs were the easiest because they looked like at least roughly what I’d expect very toned muscles to look like. But those legs! What are those teardrop shaped muscles and how do his calves have points?? The legs were so unnatural looking to me, it was harder to do… I guess this is why we study anatomy, huh? :wise: [/left]

[left]Anyway, I’m staring at this and still can’t believe that I drew it - did you see my initial portrait, did you??[/left]

[left]Abby[/left]

#11

Abby, thanks for posting this thread. I’m very excited to watch your progression, there already seems to be a drastic difference from your first post. The original post is just outlines of your subject where we all begin, your newer posts are giving a sense of form and lighting! Keep up the good work. :slight_smile:

-Adam

#12

Thank you! You know, I’m inspired by all the action poses in your thread - please let me know if you have any good (preferably free :slight_smile: ) references you’d recommend for those.

Thanks!
Abby

#13

Well, despite what I said a couple posts back, I got quite perfectionist over this one and spent around 4 or so hours obsessing over the details (note to self: this is a bit more fun when I can drop the OCD! :wink: ). BUT, nonetheless, am quite pleased with the result…

Symmetry (click here for original)

[left]I spent a lot more time thinking about shading and lights on this one. The results definitely look different to me, not sure if that’s different better or just different… [/left]

[left]BTW, thanks to Larzker for the pointer to the free bodybuilder poses! [/left]
[left]http://www.builtreport.com/dynamicposes.html[/left]

Abby

#14

I like this shading style your using, its very graphic looking. Very unique too. It seems your drawing on really grainy paper, you might want to try drawing on smooth paper. Also keep in mind the softer the pencil is, the more likely it will smear if not fixed.

#15

Womball, thank you! :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

I fear what is appearing as grainy paper may just be my sloppiness as I try to figure out toning my paper, shading, poor erasing, and getting smudges everywhere - darn sensitive scanner. :wink:

Anyway, I tried a couple new things… the first was copying a head (yikes!) and the second was trying some other pencils. Hrm, I might be better to stick with #2 pencils for now, this was an awful lot sloppier, I think I liked my shading better in the other pix. But, hey, look, it’s a head…

Whisper (click here for original)

#16

Hey Abby,

I abuse google images every so often for references, but pretty much everything I use comes from CGtalk. I use images from the workshops and the Sketchathon thread. It took me a little while to remember the threads home, glad it’s still up! :smiley:

#17

Hey deco

your shading is indeed nice, although I feel your drawings can use a lot more contrast. It will create more depth, as some of the body parts seem kinda flat.

Also, Rebecca wrote a wonderful article on Opposing Curves. You can find a link in her signature just a couple posts back. It’s the one “Article (nudity)”.

really nice work and looking forward to see your progress!

#18

I agree about the flat feeling to some of your drowings but you can definitely see progress and the last full figure one you did is by far the best! I think it may be the hard outlines that make your characters more comic like and flat in feel… try getting rid of them and making the shading harsher where the shadows are. Good luck with your work and ehem… your nick here suggests 3d so bring it on :scream::thumbsup:

#19

Thank you so much for the feedback!! :slight_smile:

@Knilblink
Awesome - that’s just what I want, thank you!

@NR43
Thanks so much for the feedback, the Opposing Curves article is really interesting, will try to keep that in mind - oh, I have so much to learn! Tips are wonderful, please keep 'em coming!

@NR43 & @Intervain
Oh! <<lightbulb>> I didn’t realize that the dark lines were what was causing it to look flat. I did a quick and dirty experiment where I lightened the outline in Photoshop - here’s an animation that goes between the dark and light outlines and I think the light outline version does seem to have more depth. Am I understanding this correctly?

[left]As for the 3D… :slight_smile: That’s my ultimate goal - well, I guess really my ultimate goal is just to have fun… but, I’ve toyed with 3D some and found I was pretty lousy at it without basic drawing skills, so am dabbling in the traditional for a bit. Will undoubtedly jump back and forth because I can never stay satisfied with only doing one thing for long. Stay tuned… ;)[/left]

[left]Abby[/left]

#20

Okay, so on to Chapter 8 where we learn about perspective.

Here’s one of the exercises on perceiving angles. We were actually only supposed to just do the corner where the ceiling meets the wall but I got all interested and started drawing in details and before I knew it, voila - a corner of my bedroom (okay, minus the clutter :wink: ).

Am really pleased with this, it was kind of funny, I made a couple of really stupid mistakes that I think helped me to understand perspective better (why doesn’t this look right? ohhhhhh, i see! :wise: ). So, then I was able to go back and correct them and see what a difference it made, very helpful in learning.

Corner of my Bedroom (minus the clutter)