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@stevenmc
@stevenmc
Earth
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Steve Lenze
You should post as much as possible, that's how you learn. As far as your drawings, the proportions are pretty good, but I agree, your eyes are a little big. The thing I think you are lacking in these is some structure to the heads. I did some examples to show you what I mean, even though I haven't seen the reference, I hope it helps :)
@stevenmc
1yr
Thank you. I'll continue to post gor feedback. I appreciate that. On the woman with no face, I see it now that you've pointed it out too me. Thank you. The problem I faced with that was that she was a slim in the face woman but then had a double chin type thing going on. One thing I haven't figured out yet is how to take a photo on my photos and the reference photo so I can check my proportions with some sort of overlay stuff. Is it possible on the phone? Or do I sent it too my pc and have to do it that way? I also see it with the crooked face now aswel. Amazing how I only see it after I'm told. Thank you. Not sure why that happened. I know the reference photo his head was wider, than my drawing. I think I'll post the reference photos with future drawings.
@stevenmc
@stevenmc
1yr
added a new topic
Another critique please.
I've went back to just proportions as advised by you guys (thank you) and it's really helped. I fixed several little and big things and it seems to have clicked a lot more. These seem very much more correct to the reference pictures (busts) My own critiques are the angles are sometimes off by a little bit causing the eye to be in the wrong place compared to the reference but using the Anatomy knowledge I'm able to put in that bit imagine to be there. I think the eyes are looking a lot more like eyes rather than just almonds. But still need work to give them the 3d pop but that may be when I start shading properly. Right now I'm working on the Anatomy of things proportions and thinking about the placement in comparison too other parts. If I did critique the eyes I would say they are maybe too big. Also going back and watching the videos over and over. P.s please let me know if I'm posting too much. I'm trying to draw every day and if there is a limit that I may be annoying people with the amount of posts.
LEAH HARRIS
When I find something looks ‘off’ in my drawing, i hold it up to a mirror. Seeing it from a new perspective can make errors stand out. I use this as a way to check my proportions, placement, etc before i do any shading. Hope this helps!
@stevenmc
1yr
Thank you. I'll try and do this and incorporate it into my work flow.
Martha Muniz
Hey @stevenmc! - Fixing proportions: Having accurate proportions is a skill to develop, so don't be discouraged. You don't have to wait until shading to check, either. If you start out with the lay-in drawing, you can use a digital program like Photoshop (or its many other free alternatives like Photopea or Krita) to overlay your drawing over the original image, allowing you to instantly check the differences. Being able to check at this stage will allow you to both correct your mistakes and go through more practice drawings, which leads to developing this skill much more quickly. Here is a video that goes more in-depth both on measuring proportions and overlaying: https://www.proko.com/s/8B6Q - Shading control: Avoid blending or smudging as a method to shade, as this gives little control and often leaves things uneven and difficult to fix. Instead, try relying on layering tone evenly with pencil and using a range of pencil gradations (HB-6B is good to have if you have access to them). Practicing value scales can be helpful too--try out both smooth gradients and steps with even distances in tone between each square. Once you're able to control this, tackling complex subjects will come much easier. - Eye whites: Despite their literal color being so, eye whites do not often appear as pure white due to shadows from the surrounding environment. You're starting to add some shading to them, which is on the right track, but make sure to take into account how shadows from the environment will affect them. For example, in the first two images, the faces seem to be covered in shadow on the left side. This should cause the eyes on the left to also fall in shadow, making the eye whites darker than the eye whites in the area of light. - Perspective: The Loomis model is a method of breaking down the head into simpler parts that allows you map out the position of the head as a whole and place the features together. It also helps illustrate that the features should align in perspective, so if you were to mark the direction of the eyes, nose, and mouth individually, they should all end up facing the same direction in space. Here, there's a tendency to have the features all at slightly different angles, which can break the illusion of perspective and cohesiveness. But just utilizing guidelines, like from the Loomis model, can help fix this. Here is a video that explains how to go about this: https://www.proko.com/s/1cX2 Hope this helps and let me know if you have any questions.
@stevenmc
1yr
Thank you very much for your reply. A lot of information in there to help me. I think I will go back a step and just do the proportions for 50+ heads and discipline myself enough to do it without shading and really concentrate on only proportions. That video really helped my thinking. Its one of his ones I haven't seen or haven't seen for a long while. I've got prokos portrait course but I think I was racing ahead a bit much because he does the shading in his eye tutorial. So I'll take his advice on the video you supplied and not shade for a while. I just find the mind to hand to paper process annoying. I know what I'm trying to do, I can see it as I'm copying. I also understand it in 3d space in my mind. Then something happens from my mind to the paper that completely goes wrong. As you say it's a skill. So I need to be patient. I appreciate that thank you.
@stevenmc
@stevenmc
1yr
added a new topic
Critique
I'm having a nightmare. Could I get some critique please. A bit of feed back on what I should be thinking about and working on. I feel like the more I know the worse I'm getting. Or is just the start of the process? An I where I'm suppose to be at this point at the start. I also don't wanna spam the forum with pictures so I thought it was better to put a few in one post than separately after a few days. My critiques. I think one major thing is I don't know how to shade, which is making me inpatient with shading making it a cycle of getting worse. Also my proportions go wrong and I don't notice until I've started shading and the eyes and nose are too big as an example. The one of brad pitt that I done 3 times and then drew the eye, I seem to have a tendency to have the heads too short and wide. So on the bottom right I really stretched it out too my measurements, and it was much closer even then its not right. Haha I'm sorry for the pain this might cause you experienced real Artists. Haha.
Kimberly Lee-Lewis Adams
Human woman? Check! @stevenmc Honestly, I think you have a good grasp of facial features, especially the eyes, though you are right they are slightly off. With more consistent shading and detail throughout the face...this is on it's way to being pretty great! Remember, every drawing is a learning opportunity, and continuous practice will only refine skills further.
@stevenmc
1yr
Yeah. If I was to draw previously who knows what it would have looked like haha. Thank you for that. I got work to do and practice. BTW I didn't do the other features I just plotted them with loomis for practice.
Steve Lenze
There are a few issues with your eyes, but the most important is that they look like stickers of eyes on a flat surface. The eye is a round ball shape, which influences the surface of the face. We need to make sure we give them dimension either with line or shading. I did a quick and rough sketch to show you what I'm talking about, I hope it helps :)
@stevenmc
1yr
This is perfectly what I needed to know. So why does mine look so flat when I've shaded what was on the reference? Your absolutely right mine does just look like a sticker. Is it because effectively its just lines? I'm looking from mine to yours and yours has a lot more more depth. So I need to bring out that depth that yours has.
@stevenmc
@stevenmc
1yr
added a new topic
Eyes critique
Ignore the rest of the face this is just for the eyes please. It looks so wrong. I'm thinking the right eye is too high? The tone of the colour are too light? Maybe I can should have went darker on the darks. It was a very light picture in that sense. I also think I went to Sharp with the creases to shape the eye. Thanks P.S. it looks like a human woman so that'd a start 😂
@stevenmc
My attempt at following along. My critiques would be my lack of Anatomy knowledge is causing it to look a bit flat, I can tell the difference even though I've copied proko as best I can that his is leagues ahead of mine. There is a lot to think about while doing it. So I think I'll spend some time doing loomis with eyes 20-30 times before moving on.
Martha Muniz
It looks pretty good from what I can tell structure-wise. I do think spending some more time with the shading can reinforce the structure you already set up, and provide more visual information to the viewer. More particularly, there tends to be a strong contrast between light and dark here, whereas some half-tones in the middle can help transition and add form. For example, the eye white area in light has such a small transition that it almost appears only one value, thus flattening the illusion. Continuing shading here, along with the areas hit by cast shadows around the outside of the eye (nose, brow ridge, eyelid), can help add to the illusion of 3D form.
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