I'd appreciate some criticism and help on this practice
2yr
Nio
I'm mainly practicing shading, so I did the initial sketch in a few minutes causing the proportion to be off.
Other than the proportion errors, what is off about this? I get a feeling something doesn't feel right but I can't tell straight away so I came here. Basically searching for guidance in the right direction. Thanks everyone =)
Hey Nio, I see the form in the arm coming along well. One thing I will say is be careful when applying the dark shadows. In the edge of the torso approaching the armpit seems to be a faint rim light contrasting against the inside of her arm, so I would try erasing some of that area to lighten it up some more.
Also, if you are using charcoal, I like to use a paintbrush with my shading so I can get some smooth transitions in the shading, and then going in with an eraser and white chalk to introduce more highlights. But I like how you are not afraid to go in with dark shadows.
Asked for help
Didn't realize how off the angle of the arm was until I took a picture of it to post here. I will step back more often.
Don't hold back on critiques, I want help =) I'm new to shading so I'm trying to find that comfortable spot between showing form, making it look good, and using a technique I like.
Very good job. Now, this is what you can do to improve it. The thumb needs some more body (thickness), but most importantly the separation of lights and shadows is not perfect. Unfortunately, nothing less than perfect will do when it comes to realistic drawings. for example, I am seeing a lot of veins and tendons on the hand. these details are all in the shaded plane but they look as bright as anything else on the lit side of your drawing. I think that is your main issue, I would do away with details like that for now and keep things simpler. Does that make sense to you?
Hey Nio, i love the way you drew that outstretched hand. As for shading, I noticed that in the forearm you have a gradual shift in value from the shadow side to the light side. however, if you notice in the reference, the shift is more sudden and creates a harder edge. You seem to do the opposite in the crecent shape in the elbow. You created a hard edge, when the reference had a softer edge. One advice I have is to lightly outline the border between the shadows and the lights during the drawing process and indicating where this border is gradual/sharp.
