First Step into a Larger World: Sketches

[Noble Ire]

A month or so ago, there was a thread here on AMP in which I expressed my dissatisfaction with my own drawing abilities. I was somewhat encouraged by the advice of some others, namely keep trying, practice by copying others, etc., but afterwards, I pushed thoughts of bettering my skills aside. Then, last Sunday, I was in a Borders, and for whatever reason, a How To Manga book caught my eye, and I decided to buy it. I've spent the last few days trying to get reoriented with a pencil, and tried my hand at a few figures (the first is copied from the drawing book, but the others I tried by myself):







I obviously have quite a few things I need to work on; hands, proportions, elements of perspective, and I haven't even tried inking yet, but still, I'm suprised with what I've been able to do in such a short period.

Comments or suggestions?

[Acidburns]

These are good. The first, and best piece of advice I can offer is draw, draw, draw. Draw everyday if you can. Even when you think your work sucks, force yourself to do it anyway. Enjoy it of course, but don't compare your work to others and get fazed by the difference. I've made that mistake. The greats sure as hell didn't start out like that.

As for your pictures, the first shows the most promise. The body is good, you chose a dynamic pose and went for it. You've got the right idea about the figure. The curve of the back is important for accenting the feminine figure. Dress is nice. Hands are great, especially for a beginner. Hands are a bitch to do. What I might suggest, that may not be so obvious is to round out those shoulders a little around the neck. Round out the curve where they meet a little. Your book will show you how I'm sure.

Second picture, it's the shoulders again, and the arms "bend" a little. Take a look at your book for the kind of shapes arms make around the elbow and shoulder.

Third picture, it's just perspective stuff. Draw the base of the feet horizontal (face on almost). Good show for shading it in, I'm always scared to do that. Looks like you had fun with this one, reminds me of a 40K arbite or Vindicator assassin.

I'm sure Pick will have some good tips. While I've nattered on a bit, I'm really not that good at drawing, I've just read some how to draw books too, I'm a total beginner too. I'd just like to emphasise how much I like that first picture. You're off to a good start.

[Darth Raptor]

Don't feel bad, Ire. I haven't progressed all that much either. I've been... kinda neglecting it too, which is bad. That's much better than any humanoid I've churned out so far and my backgrounds look like crap.

I really should get a bunch of "how to" books. Don't quit practicing though, and you've inspired me to get back in the saddle.

[Pick]

Looking awesome so far! Also, if you want more tutorials, pol*ykarbon.com (remove *) is a great resource for budding arists . Really, though, you've got a lot of the basics down --from here it's just inordinate amounts of effort and dedication !

More specifically, you do seem good on proportions (I tend to ignore this out of my own personal tastes.) All of them have a degree of consistancy that is integral, definitely a necessary aspect of really stunning artwork. Also, you've getting there with the basic nature of poses, which is also extremely important. The pose really defines what kind of character you've got, and so it's good that you're already practicing different "personalities". I've been very lazy about poses, especially recently, since a lot of my work has been defining character appearances and less into "scene" work. You know, I should really get back to... well, anyway !

I recommend not starting to ink until you're more comfortable with a pencil. This is nothing against inking, or saying you couldn't do a fine job, but practice tends to yield increased comfort with long, smooth lines --absolutely essential to good inking. When you do ink, make sure it's not ballpoint pen! There's no point to inking with ballpoint .

I do think feet are really important, though, because they really define your character's relationship to the background (usually, anyway!) As such, I recommend you just draw feet-shapes sometime for practice. Either way, great start!

[Noble Ire]

Thanks, all. I'm glad I seem to at least be on the right track.
And that site looks really good, Pick. Especially the bit on feet.

Now, back to the sketch desk...

[Ford Prefect]

Wow Noble, you've improved! I agree with AcidBurns - draw, draw, draw! Thne we get to see more!

[Sriad]

What they said: draw lots.

When I practiced sketching (I'm quite rusty now, tyvm) I'd sometimes do "advanced stick figures fighting" without facial features or clothes, but with arms, legs, hands, etc well represented with geometric shapes. Really helped a lot when I drew pictures of people doing things, and it's easy to throw out three or four really fast.

[Noble Ire]

Here's my first sketch since the first ones that I thought was final enough to display. Again, its modeled after a picture in the drawing book:



I thought it turned out fairly well, although her legs and torso do seem to be somewhat different in terms of scale.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Not bad at all, just keep it up.

[Pick]

Looking good so far! I like the swing of the posture.

If I may be so bold, however, this is how I learned (through much time and effort) to draw hands with basic shapes: here. You might find it a helpful system too, of sorts. Hope that helps!

[Darth Raptor]

That's really good. You have the ability; all that remains is to develop it.

[Shroom Man 777]

The legs are the most wonderful part

[Noble Ire]

If I may be so bold, however, this is how I learned (through much time and effort) to draw hands with basic shapes: here. You might find it a helpful system too, of sorts. Hope that helps!

Thanks a lot.
Hands are quite a challenge, appropriate finger configuration and spacing especially.