Sketchbook Thread of deco

#21

Removing the dark outlines did indeed make a difference. Now if you could accentuate with a single line here and there, that will give it so much more… ofcourse it’s a very hard thing to do… most artists take years to learn to do it properly. Practice is the key here :slight_smile:
I still think though that if you would shade the darker parts darker than they are, you would create a lot more depth.

I’m really glad to see you are not skipping the perspective chapter. It’s very important I think, because everything we see in real life is under the influence of it. On paper/canvas however, we have to create the illusion that it is there…

Also good exercises are (to be done in that order):

  1. draw a square on the floor with chalk, then sit in the same room. Draw the square you see from your position. Change position a few times to do different drawings
  2. drawing boxes
  3. drawing a barstool, chair, table,… things that look angular but with a slightly more difficult shape than a box
    4.same as in nr 1 but with a circle
  4. draw a ball from different positions (you can go faster here)
  5. drawing circular, cilindrical shaped objects (vases, bowls, plates, etc) from different positions

Keep going you’re doing great!

#22

Ohh, it’s so helpful having other eyes point things out to me - thank you, Johan.

So, the lightswitch is actually what I did last and I was a bit tired by that point and it was only by mistake that I made it that dark. But, I did notice that it really kind of jumps out at you - is that what you mean about shading parts darker than they are?

Also, thank you for the additional exercises. I keep finding that I want to do a bit more than the book gives us just so I can make sure it really sinks in (i’m a tad slow sometimes :wink: ).

Thanks again for the feedback, it’s muchly appreciated!

Abby

#23

Oops, note to Womball - I did this last one on printer paper, and I see what you mean, much cleaner! And, hey, cheaper paper than the Strathmore Drawing and Sketch paper too! :wink:

Thanks,
Abby

#24

sorry, I should have mentioned I was talking about the woman standing on her hands :slight_smile:

those exercises… it took me 2 months to do them all… so take your time… practice practice practice… it sinks in slowly with everyone… Anyone saying “Hey I learned perspective in just 2 days” didn’t really learn it but only thinks he did :slight_smile:
Some don’t even bother because it can be a bit boring sometimes… oh well, it’s their skills :smiley:

Anyway,
looking forward to see more drawings

#25

oops, of course. See, I’d already moved on :wink: Although, I think the lightswitch does provide a rather simplified example of what you mean, which makes it a bit easier to see the principal.

#26

And another perspective drawing. This took me forever and a half until I wanted to throw it out the window. Sad, because its such a pretty room with such bold, strong lines and symmetry and I wasn’t able to capture that essence at all here. I found myself reverting to symbols a lot - like on the chairs, table, and chandelier - rather than actually drawing what I was seeing. I think maybe that’s the mode I revert to when I get tired and just want to be done already. The result, it looks like your typical, boring dining room rather than the rather nifty room that it actually is - you know, the thing that inspired me to draw it in the first place. :sad:

Perspective Drawing (my dining room)

On the other hand, I got to play lots with shading here. Yikes, ran out of significantly contrasting shades until everything started running together. Actually went back with my eraser to lighten some things and also to put a little space in between the items (primarily with the center chair) so that they didn’t run together.

If nothing else, I think I did a good job with perspective (you remember, the point of the exercise :wink: ). So, not all is lost.

#27

Hi deco

concerning perspective

it might be interesting to start a drawing with imagining the horizon in it. everything above that horizon should go upward, everything below the horizon should go down.
Now the important thing is… the closer to the horizon the lower the angle and vice verca. (check the chairs, compare them to the closets etc)

good work, keep going

and may 2007 be a great year :slight_smile:

#28

Hi Abby! Awesome progress in your thread!! keep it up!!:thumbsup:

Have a Great New Year!:scream:

#29

Thanks for stopping by my thread. Nice job on the perspective on the dinning room. Perspective is one of the most painful things about art out there next to capturing likeness of objects. I see improvement in your work. Keep on going and don’t stop drawing. To tell you the truth, how to draw manga books are just about the best thing to help people draw now and days. They have everything from multiple people interaction drawing tutorials all the way to drawing machines. I flip through mine from time to time to brush back up on the basic skills. Also I look at animation character guides and information books that talk about drawing characters with movement and avioding static and stiff poses that some people call “wooden poeses” And one more tip. Take plenty of photos on what you are about to draw and print them out or look at them on your computer screen and study the photo.

Oh yeah on the bedroom picture. the top of the door to the right needs more of a slant to match the plane on the ceiling.

I will be back to look at your progress. Keep up the good work.:thumbsup:

#30

Ooh, feedback! :bounce:

@NR43
Okay, I’m just gonna start callin you teacher (teach’ for short :wink: ). I like your suggestion on perspective, I think I get very caught up in the minutia and miss the big picture. When I finished it, I noticed it looks like the table is sort of squished at the back of the rug rather than centered on it, but I was totally oblivious to this while I was drawing it. I think if I look at things as above/below the horizon, that will help - and also maybe help me to remember to look at the whole picture, not just the item I’m currently drawing.

@anandpg
Thank you! It feels a bit slow, but it’s extremely encouraging to hear that progress can be seen, I really appreciate it.

@pushav
Thanks so much. That’s funny, I was just looking at one of my manga books and it does go through quite a bit on drawing heads and figures and proportions. Great idea about the photos, I never would have thought of that! And yes, I think I see what you mean about the door… I think I tend to (inadvertantly) revert to drawing what I “know” on the parts that seem simple rather than actually drawing what I see. Sheesh, I’m really impatient, huh?

@all
Thanks to all of you - feedback is so greaty appreciated!

Happy New Year! :cool:

Abby

#31

This was initially an experiment to limit myself to 1 hour. Unfortunately, the result was a very flat, very awkwardly thin ice skater :scream:

So, I started working on it a little at a time, adding some highlights, filling her out a bit - kind of interesting to see the progression. I tried to focus on some of the tips I’ve gotten here (so helpful, thank you!) - opposing curves (although, I think that one is going to take a while to truly understand) and avoiding heavy outlines (which I do think gives her legs more depth, I probably could have done better on the arms).

Figure Skater (reference)

#32

Happy New Year, Abby!

Nice perspective study and way to take the time to work on shading as well. Keep it up and before long you’ll become better and better in all of the areas you’re studying. I think one of the coolest things about art is that there’s always room for self-improvement and expansion, evolution as an artist doesn’t stop unless you make the decision to stop.

#33

@Knilblink - thank you, a belated happy new year to you too! :slight_smile:

I’ve moved onto the DOTRSOTB chapter on Portrait Drawing. These are just a couple of quick & dirty sketches from the book to get a feel for the size of the head to avoid the “chopped off skull” syndrome. I drew in the face first and then drew the rest of the head with ears and hair around it to see how much space they take up. I didn’t use any grids on these (ironically, maybe these were the ones I should have used grids on) but just wanted to get a feel for it and see how it came out on my own…

Portrait in Profile View

Portrait in Three-Quarter View

[left]I forced myself to use the entire page (9x12) on these instead of drawing so small (I keep feeling like when I do a copy my copy has to be the same size as the original - but the reference for these were only ~2" tall). The results seem very stiff and hesitant - not sure if that was from trying to draw larger, or just my discomfort with the notion of drawing heads… ah well, this is only the very beginning of the chapter, will keep tredging along…[/left]

#34

might be my screen settings being too bright but I can’t see much of the last posts. nearly white… think you could play with the levels a bit in your scanning software or in ps or GIMP?

anyway,
that’s a good choice not to draw too small. the smaller we draw, the easier to misplace a line :slight_smile:

#35

@nr43
Oops, I did draw these really light, part of that hesitation, I guess. Try Ctrl-F5 to reload the new copies and let me know if you can see them better now.

Thanks,
Abby

#36

Better :smiley:

Not sure if this book DOTRSOTB talks about the proportions of a human head, but one thing you should always be aware of is the relation of the different parts of the head to eachother.

Check out Loomis, Hogarth, etc if you can…
and draw many many heads :thumbsup:

keep going!!

#37

@nr43 - ahh, but wait, there’s more! :wink: (keep in mind though, DOTRSOTB is an absolute beginners book, you did see my portrait at the start of this thread, right? :smiley: - it’s not going to get into the intricacies of Loomis & Hogarth - those will come later :slight_smile: )

Here’s another quick one on how to place the features in relation to one another. This method obviously still leaves much left to learn about shape of skull/how to deal with heads that aren’t in perfect portrait view. I think the point is to start getting us to see these relationships (like the eye line at the half-way point on the head, and the triangle between eye-ear-chin) when we see people’s heads so we can start understanding how to draw what we see more accurately…

Portrait (placement of features)

#38

hey Abby,

I started off with Betty Edwards book too. The thing it helped me with most was teaching me how to draw what I see instead of what I think I see.

once you’ve learned that you’ll be able to draw things from reference with greater and greater skill. You’ll also get faster, and your lines will become stronger, more confident.

I love this quote:

In Chuck Amuck, an autobiography by Chuck Jones, Jones recalls that his first instructor at Chouinard Art Institute greeted the class with a grim edict: “All of you here have one hundred thousand bad drawings in you. The sooner you get rid of them, the better it will be for everyone.”

Once you’re satisfied that you can generally reproduce images from reference, you’ll want to move on to start building a library of shapes and forms in your mind so you don’t always have to draw from reference.

I’ve a fond place in my heart for that book you’re going through now, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn to draw but is stuck at the stick figure stage. You’ve got a very strong start here. Keep it up! :slight_smile:

#39

@adien, thank you! Great quote - definitely must keep that in mind (I could really use that for all aspects of my life - not just drawing :wink: ) [size=2]I can’t wait to get to a point where I can have a similar library to draw from, I feel very very far from that so I really appreciate your words of encouragement![/size]

Re: DOTRSOTB, I can totally see how this book has withstood the test of time, she’s obvioulsy figured out the trick of teaching people to draw (even if it does involve much kicking and screaming from the student :wink: ). Frankly, it makes me wonder why they don’t do a better job of making learning to draw a basic skill we’re taught in grade school - it would make life so much easier if we all knew how to at least do basic sketches to get our points across.

#40

Okay, now this one I’m really happy with (although C&C are still appreciated!).

This was our “warm up excercise” in the book before doing a portrait of a real, live person. I tried to draw a little more free-form, just kind of contour drawing for the outline. I did it in a light pencil as I expected to screw up a bunch but when I finished I was a bit blown away by how close it was to the original. Perhaps knowing that its easy to erase makes me relax and draw a bit more truley? Or maybe it was just a fluke, who knows? :wink: But, anyway, once I saw how close it was, I just made a few adjustments and then went over it with darker pencils.

The details inside the outline were a bit harder - the eye especially, I was amazed when I figured out the problem was that I was drawing it too big (it looked like I drew it too small!). The final version is still a little big, but that was the smallest I could get detail on (hmm, need sharper points!).

Sargent - Mme. Pierre Gautreau (click here for reference)