Chunky Peanut Butter Sketch

[ChunoKipor]

Hello! I heard about this place a while back, decided to finally join it. Hopefully I'll be able to keep with it and you'll see a noticeable improvement in my work, sometime in the future! I'll admit, I'm kind of really intimidated by the quality and skill I've seen on here. I looked through the emoticons available for the most earnest looking one and this was the best I could find to describe how I feel:

Little intro, since I didn't make an intro thread cause I don't know why not augh.
I'm seventeen with high hopes for college and my future. I know I'm not going to be doing art as a career, but I want to develop my skills so that I can do it whenever I'm not doing my main career. This and music. I really welcome critique on anything and everything I do, and please be detailed since sometimes I just can't see what's wrong.
What I need to do to improve is practice everyday, and dedicate more of my life and time to it. That's where I personally struggle the most. I'm hoping this might help me do better.

First off is a more recent piece. My courier (player character) from Fallout: New Vegas. The gun hold was referenced, nothing else was.

An exercise in extremes, which I have trouble with. I also have trouble with sticking things out, as you will notice by the low-effort legs.

Second is a piece from a few months ago. I only recently scanned this and cleaned up the lines. It's a tiefling from Dungeons and Dragons, holding a storm weir or something I don't know.


Advice would definitely be helpful!!!!! I have flipped the images a couple of times, and noticed weird things, off things about them, but can't quite pin it down. I also know of Loomis and such, but haven't tried his methods. I get pretty frustrated with "learning to draw". Thank you all for your time!


I think I might try and do some black and white value studies next. I have a bad problem with color, so best to start there.

[ChunoKipor]

Here's that value study. It's a lot harder than I thought! I've done a great value portrait using colored charcoal before, and it's a lot different digitally. I'll add that old portrait once I've got it scanned, but for now, rough progress on this study.
The reference picture:
http://step-in-time-stock.deviantart.com...-205190187


And my work:


And just to see how this method worked with color:


Hopefully I'll be able to show further progress on this bit soon. Thanks for your time!

[ChunoKipor]

Some more progress. Slow but steady. Well, not really steady. Mostly just slow.



Difference is mostly in the hair and eyes. Still working with the mouth. Any crit would definitely be appreciated!