Topic: drawing

I hope it's okay that I post this here. I remember there used to be more drawing threads before in here.
Anyway, I'm trying to improve my drawing skills. I've been drawing animals for some time now, but really want to become better at drawing people.
Here are my first two sketches of my brother's two children. Sorry about the bad quality. I had to photograph them because my scanner is at my parents' house.




I will try to practise every day and post my progress here.

And here's a lion I drew and framed!



Will get my scanner back soon, heh!

Are they done from scratch/your head or from looking at a photo or similar? Eitherway they're very good esp. the lion. The second baby's hand looks like more of a claw btw and is a bit outline-heavy.

the lion is REALLY nice

I think you'd REALLY benefit by working on line-quality, and making an initial sketch in as few lines as possible (or letting longer lines flow onto the paper more naturally) becasue you seem to be defining value, but it's a bit "blurry" i guess. 2nd one looks a lot better than the first in this regard.!



!

and once again, I wish I could draw

Hugh: I drew from photos on my computer. I wish the kids could stand still for me so that I can draw them from life, but they don't have the patience, lol!

cfb: thanks for the advice! I'll try this on my next sketches.

TP: Practise!

Yep...get sketchy.

You've got the eye for value, but you're missing out on gesture slightly.

Tale some time to do gesture drawings. Use as few lines as possible to define the space and "flow" of what you see. Exaggerate it a bit, play with it. Get more of the feel then exactly what you're looking at. Train your eyes to start blocking in the shapes of shadows and then your talent with value can come in and fill the void.

Your rendering is a bit sloppy, but relatively well thought out. Get loose all over the place, be sloppier...then start tightening up. Keep your values blocky and then work the blends. Being too subtle with your shading choices right now means that you're missing the overall values and tones of the piece, but nailing the incidentals (just a face...just a lionhead...just an eye) open up your eyes a bit more and establish your middlegrounds, then shadows and highlights.


I dig what you're doing, now start believing a bit more...get loose.



Peter

quote:

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DarkGarden said:
Get loose all over the place, be sloppier...

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Now that's the Peter we know and love

Good advice, and I can't add anything more...other than to say: nice work, keep at it!

Hi Peter,

Nice to see you back.

What is gesture drawing? I haven't heard that term before.

.



-- not necessarily stoned... just beautiful.

a gesture drawing is generally a very quick, very sketchy drawing intended to capture only the overall impression, or gesture, of the subject.

They are often used to warm-up, similar in purpose to a vocalist running through scales prior to performing.

They are a good way to train yourself to focus on the most important aspects of a subject without getting bogged down in details.

Just to throw in a sketchbook page



a drawing I did from life of my friend before the school was over. I though it was of a relevance so I put it in here.


Now onto advice: this drawing was made from a really really loose sketch.

Allot of atelier artists and art school kids draw with very blocky lines and strong outlines for the figure. No mater how beautiful drawing might look it's usually flat, and generally won't be noticed by someone without experience.

to draw an illusion is all about "lost and found? edges. You must always work with the space surrounding your subject to give it even more convenient "roundness". I am not talking about drawing all the stuff around it, just give the surface a tone as you approach the edge, instead of outlining it. Remember there are no lines in nature around our heads.

The trick is to look at where the edge disintegrates into the background and keep them soft and how they rise from the background by getting a bit darker.

Don't shy away from eraser and use it as a tool. To make an interesting drawing is to be able to engage in the process of reductive and additive together.

The whole gesture thing, is to move your hand around and pratice control over the material. Controling pressure of your pencil is very important, and work with an idea of layers, or "building up" more concreate shapes from loose drawing.




(Edited by Ruski on 05-12-2006 00:27)

I want to thank you for all the good advice I've been given. I haven't practised as much as I'd want to, because of a wedding coming up. But I did paint this cute boy in the water yesterday. I used a ref. I don't think the skin looks realistic enough, but it was fun painting him!

The sketch:



The oil painting:





(Edited by fenja on 05-26-2006 19:46)

Nice work fenja, I particularly like the way you have painted the sea lapping on the shore.

::tao:::: ::cell::

love the water and sand running back into the sea, very nicely done, the hand looks quite strange though

yeah, he's obviously gripping a rock .
And oh that hair style, it is the 1980`s all over again
I am no painter myself, so disregard anything from here on:
Isn't he a bit muscular for a guy his age?
In my opinion you're making quite a bit of progress!

Nice work gentlemen.
My grandpa was a museum quality artist ( oil paintings), my dad (who just died) drew well enough to illustrate his own book (inked)

me?...it skipped a generation..all I can draw are stick figures...yeah, I draw a mean stickman