Shalis Sketchbook

[Shalis]

I'm more than a little embarrassed to post these but one has to start somewhere right?

This is my journey from 0 to wherever heights (or lack thereof) that I am able to reach. I started with no skill or knowledge except for what my eyes can see, shaky hands and all.

Seem to be having trouble adding attachments to the post. Every time I try to add each attachment individually with a small comment in between it messes up my text formatting and prevents me from editing the text of the post for some reason. So i'll try something different by stating a small blurb that hopefully will give enough context for the images.

All the following images are from about 3 months ago when I first started this journey.
The first few are figures posed and drawn from imagination (plus the typical newbie eye), a small landscape composition based off simple geometric shapes (was experimenting with contours and composition), a page of thumbnail sketches (still probing at composition), and a couple characters I developed for an animation concept that I intend to realize one day all things willing (one of the sheets is me trying to draw the same character in a couple different styles, turned her into a dora the explorer wannabe unfortunately).

[Artloader]

Nice start here Shalis :).

With your figures, try to focus more on the 3D forms that each body part is constructed from, one way I've found really helpful is to sketch in contour lines that wrap around the surface of the form. Check out drawabox.com for more info.

With your landscapes I've found it helpful to start by sketching in the horizon line and a basic perspective grid first. Makes drawing objects in perspective so much easier from there on in.

Keep up the good work!

[Yumi]

Hey, as your first sketches they look pretty good c: I like the fact that in your first environment sketch you've included a reflection in the water

I agree with everything that @Artloader wrote, contour lines that wrap around are super helpful in thinking of 3d form rather than flat shapes.
There is one thing I encourage you to do and that is to try to gather some human reference photos and draw from them starting with a basic skeleton(similar to the ones used in this article https://design.tutsplus.com/articles/hum...ctor-18254) and then move on to adding more form into it.

Do you have any new sketches? I wrote all this stuff here but since these sketches are 3 months old you might've figured that out already
I'm looking forward to seeing your new art c:

[AfricanVoodoo]

Aww, your chibi-like style is very cute and your dependence on shapes is something that I also want to do as well with my character designs. Your thumbnail sketches of the environments are very cool and I look forward to some progress!

I guess all I can recommend is Draw A Box for now. Follow the man's curriculum, 20-30 minutes a day with each lesson/exercise, and you will be golden. Trust me! You are on a path to art but this website can help you form 3D shapes and a sense of perspective a lot easier. They also have a community critique forum on Reddit so others can give you help as well.

Happy drawing, bro!