Birdie's Sketchbook

[Birdie]

Hello everyone! I've been lurking these forums for a while, but finally decided to make a sketchbook. My only experience with art is one beginners art class, some Draw-A-Box, and a few Ctrl Paint studies. I'm a novice artist - but I really love drawing and try to devote at least 1-2 hours a day to it. Sometimes I miss a day due to school or work, but I'm pretty consistent overall. Summer just started for me though, and I really want to take advantage of the extra time to level up, as well as continue to increase my consistency and output. 

I currently don't have any professional aspirations - but I would love to self-publish a comic book someday, and maybe start an online shop to sell illustrations. 

I'll do my best to post daily, or at least every other. I may be a beginner - but I'm serious about putting in the hard work necessary to reach these goals! 

Here's some stuff I did this week to give you an idea of my skill level and the stuff I'm currently working on. I've spent a lot of time studying form with Draw-A-Box, but my observation skills are seriously lacking. I spent this week focusing on proportion, shape, and value. 

I did two proportion studies. One of a dog, the other a cat. Next I did a proportion study of a Totoro plush and added some value. I did it twice and included my first and second attempt. Finally, I did a value study of a pork bun, but unlike Totoro I tried not to think about line and focused purely on the value. I also did this one twice. (I included all the reference images I used too. Never posted on a forum before - so I hope all my images post in an order that makes sense. It appears also I can only post a few images at a time, so I'll add another post after this with the rest of the aforementioned studies.)

I really appreciate any feedback or advice you might have. Don't hold back! 

Thank you - I look forward to learning with everyone here!

**Edit: So due to some computer troubles - I foresee myself posting all my work in bulk at the end of each week, as opposed to individual studies every single day. It took me roughly one hour to upload all this. I'd rather spend the days I'm low on time drawing instead of messing around with tech just to upload a single sketch.

[Birdie]

Actually - it appears I can't post anymore attachments. Is there a daily limit?

[darktiste]

To learn how to properly measure you should create a square around the subject it help establish the scale you will be working in.But more importantly learn to visually estimate distance between two point and then being able to scale it down or up.Think of drawing like those kid drawing where there is point and number and you link those point and it make a drawing exept here it you who create those point from nothing and link them together.

Don't skip the basic just to do pretty drawing you will slow down your result and plateau.

There should be no attachment limit just size limit.

[Gliger]

a lot of people just post the images to imgur or some other hosting website then insert a link with this tool

[Birdie]

Thanks! I made an Imgur post for the rest of the studies I mentioned.

https://imgur.com/a/I3ABr56

Also, thanks for tips Darktiste! I did a little of what you suggested regarding connecting the dots when working on these - but never considered establishing the scale before hand with a large box. I'll make sure to utilize that technique next time.

[Birdie]

Here's my studies for the week! Got a lot of helpful feedback from Discord on these individually - but I'm curious to see if there are any consistent issues which become more clear when viewing them as a whole.

I focused mainly on portraits this week, and started practicing with my tablet for the first time ever. Really tried to put into practice what Darktiste recommended regarding proportions with mixed results. I definitely get caught up in wanting to be "fast" and end up making silly mistakes. Overall though - I like to think I improved a little bit. Will most certainly be spending more time getting comfortable with digital next week, as well as really hammering away at proportions. I also want to start adding values to these portraits, and focus on getting them more realistic. While comics and stylization of the figure are my ultimate goals - I know full well the importance of learning realism first.

https://imgur.com/a/CpsFDsx

[Birdie]

Just spent this week grinding portrait studies. Mainly Hampton/Loomis heads and some individual features. (Nose planes, eyes, lips, facial anatomy, etc.) A lot of these studies are absolutely horrid - but I think I'm making progress compared to my last digital portrait. Here's a progress picture to get a good grasp on what I've learned since last week.

As usual - any advice or critique is much appreciated!

[darktiste]

Forehead to small.Some angle error.Ears to big.Hair mass to small.

But overall making error is what make you progress so keep going.

[Birdie]

Thank you! Will continue to be mindful of details like those as I pursue likeness and get better with proportional measurements.

[Birdie]

Hey all! Sorry for lack fo updates. I've been drawing every single day but not posting - which is probably gonna hinder me since feedback is super important. I'll try to be better with that. In the meantime - here's what I've been up to. Some feature studies, as well as reviewing the Reilly Head. (I find it much easier than the Loomis method - though I try to incorporate some of that into my construction as well.) Still struggling with portraits as well - I've done a lot but just going to post my "best" here. 

l also went out the other day and decided to draw some flowers and sketch people's faces - similar to how to how Stephen Silver does it. I gotta study some character design after getting realism down to make them more interesting.

[Birdie]

More Photos:

[Birdie]

More Photos:

[Birdie]

Portrait:

[darktiste]

What i like about your journey so far is that i can tell already you have the potential to improve at a good rate since you take note and not just draw and i can tell you put though behind the line you draw there a confidence in your own skill that is good .

I would do more symmetry exercise if i were you. Let remember that face aren't perfectly symetrical even when they face us perfect.But i never seen a jawline like this before.I can relate to the struggle of indicating the jawline since it require to have a trained eye for angle and it even harder to mirror that angle when perspective is involve it can become overwelming when you have not really solidify those concept.Solution is to draw more face and to remind yourself of that centerline.You could draw a few front view of the face to start to familiarize yourself with the proportion of the face you will eventually learn how the centerline and the feature move when the face change direction and angle.It one thing to know how locate the feature of the face it an other to understand the volume of those feature specially when they start to overlap one and other it where thing become challenging.

[Birdie]

Updates! I have more portraits, (after reviewing Dorian Iten's wonderful guide and focusing almost entirely on observation) and some basic anatomy studies. I want to start adding the figure into my studies. I started with gesture but found it tough so for now I am just doing the gesture of the head and torso. I plan to add limbs to compete them soon. For these gestures, I combined the bean with Reilly Rhythms. 

Also some more cartoons. Ordered a book on cartooning I hope comes soon! My goal is to be decent at the figure (realistic and cartoon) by the end of the summer, and begin attending local life drawing sessions when they start in the fall.

[Birdie]

Heads and Facial Anatomy:

[Birdie]

Portraits

[Birdie]

Oops - One of my figure studies got posted with portraits. Well - here is the rest of the figure stuff and my gestures. (And doodles!) Feedback, comments, and observations welcome as usual!

[Birdie]

Last Bit:

[Birdie]

Gestures Didn't Post - Let's Try Again. (If this works it is the ACTUAL last bit)