Olivia's Sketchbook

[fraisecake]

Hi, I'm Olivia!  I am 15, a sophomore who wants to get as good as possible before college. I aspire to become an illustrator when I grow up. I'm making a sketchbook to get feedback/critique on my work and to grow in my art skills! :)
Here are a few things I finished recently. I will also soon post my sketches.

[TonariNoPunpun]

WOW! First off: amazing work for your age! I wish I were as good as you when I was 15...and I love your mentality "get as good as possible before college", I truly believe the sooner you get through the hard patches, the better!

Now unbiased critique: You seem to understand a lot of fundamentals already (light source interacting with planes, local color/value, texture...etc) but they don't seem fully developed yet (you are making some mistakes such as, in the last image: rendering too "shallow"/not enough contrast, some confusion about lighting (her left arm), value ranges too close together (horns/skin/hair/dress),etc...)

Now, I'm no pro, so dont take my advice TOO seriously.

I think doing some studies and applying them afterwards (! important !), like painting a portrait from a photo and then painting a head from imagination, would really push you forward (and will introduce you to a method of studying which can be applied to pretty much everything you would ever want to paint).

But more importantly, do these studies informed. Learn as much as you can about how light interacts with surfaces, how value models forms, colors interact, how images work... Don't wait for college to learn art theory (fundamentals, pratical stuff).

I'm sure you have been doing your own research, but here are some favourite books/ tutorials:

http://www.fusroda.com/resources/ (search for "Struggling with value - Marek Okoń") - about value ranges

http://imgur.com/eih4nLC - abou "shallow" values

http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/ (greatest books! A bit cryptic, but a goldmine of information!)
James Gurney "Color and Light" (MUST HAVE)
Michael Hampton's figure drawing book


And the list goes on, but I will stop now, it's too much hahaha

Good luck learning and hope to see you more often here!

[fraisecake]

WOW! First off: amazing work for your age! I wish I were as good as you when I was 15...and I love your mentality "get as good as possible before college", I truly believe the sooner you get through the hard patches, the better!

Now unbiased critique: You seem to understand a lot of fundamentals already (light source interacting with planes, local color/value, texture...etc) but they don't seem fully developed yet (you are making some mistakes such as, in the last image: rendering too "shallow"/not enough contrast, some confusion about lighting (her left arm), value ranges too close together (horns/skin/hair/dress),etc...)

Now, I'm no pro, so dont take my advice TOO seriously.

I think doing some studies and applying them afterwards (! important !), like painting a portrait from a photo and then painting a head from imagination, would really push you forward (and will introduce you to a method of studying which can be applied to pretty much everything you would ever want to paint).

But more importantly, do these studies informed. Learn as much as you can about how light interacts with surfaces, how value models forms, colors interact, how images work... Don't wait for college to learn art theory (fundamentals, pratical stuff).

I'm sure you have been doing your own research, but here are some favourite books/ tutorials:

http://www.fusroda.com/resources/ (search for "Struggling with value - Marek Okoń") - about value ranges

http://imgur.com/eih4nLC - abou "shallow" values

http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/ (greatest books! A bit cryptic, but a goldmine of information!)
James Gurney "Color and Light" (MUST HAVE)
Michael Hampton's figure drawing book


And the list goes on, but I will stop now, it's too much hahaha

Good luck learning and hope to see you more often here!

Wow, thank you so much for the compliment and feedback! :D And wow, did not expect getting all these wonderful resources, thank you! You are totally right with everything, especially learning values. I actually checked out the "Struggling With Value" and it really got me to understand value so much more. I honestly don't think about value as much as I should, I'm more focused on learning anatomy, composition, etc. I have always winged it by seeing what I thought looked right when I shaded, but never really looked in depth of the topic.
As a whole, I will follow your advice by doing more life studies (which I realize I don't do enough of!) and photo ones as well, but pay more attention to where to put the light and shadow.
Again, thanks so much for your help! I promise to post some more stuff! ;)

[fraisecake]

Hello, it's been some time.. to be honest I have no excuses, but I have a bunch of stuff! I scanned pages from my sketchbook and a wip (the girl with the armor and sword). Sorry if the sketchbook pages looks cropped, I had to cropped it because my scanner messed up some of the pages. Anyway, here are mainly studies and random doodles hehe.

[fraisecake]

Hello! sorry for another hiatus again! >< I have some new stuff to show. I also had some bad art block, and I feel like I'm stagnating. If possible, I'd love some feedback to see what I should improve on. 
I did a couple of studies (the fruits from life, and the George Romney master study).
The one with the witch and forest isn't done yet, but I'm having so much trouble with it, not sure what to do with it.

[Jan Kloidt]

damn, 15?! keep studying hard and you'll be a professional at 18! Lots of potential here, just never be discouraged, stay curious and focus on learning fundamentals!
Jordy posted this video here some time ago & I think it's a great introduction and orientation for what anyone can always improve upon, just look through it and look for things to learn! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xsObHKA8E8 I'd recommend anyone who's starting out to master perspective first, it'll pay off big time later!