Caleb
Earth
Sharing art with those who understand the process. Illustrator trying to jump-start his career. Currently selling merch on my Spring (Teespring) store
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Caleb
•
3yr
added comment inHow to learn many things at once???
Unfortunately, you can't really learn all of these things at once. Before anything else I suggest you work on your observation and visual library. Your visual library will increase the more you observe, so observe everything! After a day of observing the various people and objects you may see, practice the gesture of the people and the form of the objects. This will help your gesture greatly after some time doing it. Story and composition come with the inspirations you have, that isn't to say just copy it. A character needs to show, in some way, what kind of world they live in, if you choose to build a world around said character. For example, Harry Potter wears robes and wields a wand, this shows that he lives in a world of magic and sorcery. Lastly, painting just develops as you practice different techniques and tools. After a while you should develop your own flow with all of these. However, these can't be learned in a short time, it often takes years if you want to "master" all of these concepts. Don't let that discourage you though! If you keep it up you can become a great artist. Hope this helps!
•
3yr
I totally agree - try not to put this pressure on yourself, @bleng. Our brains need time (with in-between periods of rest) to make knowledge sink in, so take it easy, try to focus on one thing at a time and do your best to avoid the temptation of rushing. Developing skills can take long, and the secret is to improve little by little, one day after another over an extended period in the long run.
The reordering of subjects suggested by @Caleb is what I'd also recommend: observation first; form and gesture right next. What comes after that (either painting, composition, etc.) could be interchangeable according to your priorities.
If you're just starting now, I'd simply suggest this: 1) take courses; 2) follow the courses' lessons and assignments in their designed order; and 3) get feedback. Over time, you'll probably witness your artistic objectives become clearer, then you can make more conscious decisions on how to keep going from there.
Hope this helps!
@bleng
3yr
Thanks you, caleb😭
Steve Lenze
•
3yr
Hey Caleb,
Nice job tackling this pose, it's a real good one to practice on. What I noticed the most is the proportions. See how the head is large, then the hips get much smaller, then the legs get even smaller. This is why we make sure all are proportions are working in the structural stage first. After doing a gesture drawing, we can build our structural drawing on top so that our drawing doesn't stiffen up. I did a quick sketch to show you what I mean, I hope it helps :)
Caleb
•
3yr
Some advice I think EVERYONE should know is this: Don’t compare your work to professionals work, instead compare your work to your past work. This can boost motivation by seeing how far you’ve come since the beginning. Looking back at my old stuff was a wake up call, I couldn’t believe the progress.
@ztgutz
•
3yr
I'm by no means an expert but I would say do some looser sketches as well as more finishing drawings like this. Sketching skills and drawing skills are two very different skills. Get a sketchpad just for quick loose gestures/ sketches and don't try to make them prefect. Don't even show anybody these sketches that way you feel less obligated to make them perfect. (thus making them less stiff and more fluid) also there's an incredible book called: Figure drawing design and invention by Michael Hampton. that MFer can do gestures like a pro haha The book goes over balance, Timing, "the about to" pose, etc. It will really help you put more life and action into the figure. Making the figure look mid-action rather than in between actions. It also might help to think of the gesture as an exercise in the way lines move the eye thru the figure.
My process for stuff like this is to do a light, loose sketch and then layer details on top as I continue working. It's how I solve the problem of going into details to early in a drawing. Also I feel it's good to show off sketches to people, since they aren't made for the purpose of being a perfect sketch since sketches are never perfect. And if you plan on turning a sketch into a finished piece then sharing it is ideal for showing the process behind it. I get your reasoning behind it so don't take this as me denying your advice, but I thought I would share my thought process behind how I work. I do appreciate the advice.
I haven't done a figure/gesture drawing in a while, so I'm glad that I have still retained some skill. Any thing that I can improve on?
I haven't done a figure/gesture drawing in a while, so I'm glad that I have still retained some skill. Any thing that I can improve on?
Hey Caleb,
I think what would help your drawing would be to do an under drawing to make sure your anatomy is working. Also, try to use more flowing lines in the hair as well as coloring your lines to make them feel more subtle. I did a quick sketch to show you what I mean, I hope it helps :)
That for sure helps!
I don't own a tablet so I can't easily fix the design, but I should be able to remove and transform any excess or overly-straight lines in the hair with Photoshop. My current process for these is making the line art on paper with ink, upping the exposure to hide any graphite smears from the sketch and isolate the lines, and import the line art into Photoshop. It won't be easy but I can for sure try and update the anatomy with the available tools.
Thanks for the help, Steve!
Caleb
•
3yr
You're off to a good start. However I agree with what Steve has provided. Starting off with a grid really helps with proportions, lighting, and overall balance. Something else that you could work on as well are the structures and nature. When drawing structures it's important to view the structure as it's base shapes, and use your perspective grid to perfect the proportions. With nature though it can be a struggle even for experienced artists, so it's a good idea to go out and sketch the forms of various objects in nature, being trees or rocks or other elements. Nature isn't limited to simple forms like most everyday objects, so studying them is very important when it comes to doing backgrounds.
I hope this advice has helped and keep up the good work!
I recently started an online store last month to try and sell my designs. This isn't an ad so don't click away yet, this is my latest design that I will be releasing on May 1st. Before the listing is live I would like to ask you to critique this work. I don't have a drawing screen and didn't want it to be overly detailed like a comic, but I would still like feedback with that in mind if you would be so kind.
Christopher Beaven
•
3yr
The drawing is done well you have everything in the right place, good job on that! The biggest problem I see here is exactly what I tend to do all the time which is go into details before establishing the big light and dark shapes.
I did a quick overlay on top of your drawing to establish the shadow shapes away from highlights on the forehead.
I don’t know if this really will help but I feel that establishing these basic shadow and light areas allows the form of your head to read a bit better.
let me know if that is helpful. And keep drawing!
Thanks for taking the time to respond to my post!
As for the light and dark shapes, I wanted to save filling them until I've outlined all the main highlights and then fill the dark space.
I don't typically do portraits but it was a nice change of pace and I appreciate the kind words!
In the future I will make sure to clearly establish where the shadows and highlights start and stop, thank you for the critique.
