04-24-2016, 06:54 PM
Hey Alex, thanks for dropping by my SB! :) I'm gonna keep up with those abstract shape studies for a bit for sure. I learned a bit from doing them.
I think we do learn more from traditional, especially at first–it forces us to really draw and not rely undo and fancy digital tricks. Then we can apply what we learned to digital. I prefer to draw a lot in felt tip pens 'cause they really force me to think before I draw.
Nice work on the head study. There are a few things I'd suggest, though. It looks like you are drawing from a photo portrait. You should keep in mind that many photos have terrible lighting for drawing. All the light comes straight head-on at the face, the face is usually turned towards the camera, and you get a lot of very bright highlights. It's a boring lighting scheme and tends to destroy form, which is what we want to express in our drawing. It looks like you did a good job drawing from the ref, but you preserved the refs bad qualities as well in your drawing!
So, I suggest getting your hands on some Loomis books, that guy drew like a champ. http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/ He talks about this problem with photos. He recommends drawing from life and using ref that has good light and shadow. And his books are just chock-full of great knowledge. If you look at his drawings, you will see how he used strong lighting and shadow to define form. Looks much better than photo portraits. :D Drawing from life tends to be the best, really.
Anyway, that's what I would do. ^^; Be careful with what photos you draw from!
Quote:I have big issues with rendering, i am still tryingto learn how to do that better. I do most of my studies on paper (except color) because it feels that i learn more. I am very proficient in photoshop so the transition is easy for me.
I think we do learn more from traditional, especially at first–it forces us to really draw and not rely undo and fancy digital tricks. Then we can apply what we learned to digital. I prefer to draw a lot in felt tip pens 'cause they really force me to think before I draw.
Nice work on the head study. There are a few things I'd suggest, though. It looks like you are drawing from a photo portrait. You should keep in mind that many photos have terrible lighting for drawing. All the light comes straight head-on at the face, the face is usually turned towards the camera, and you get a lot of very bright highlights. It's a boring lighting scheme and tends to destroy form, which is what we want to express in our drawing. It looks like you did a good job drawing from the ref, but you preserved the refs bad qualities as well in your drawing!
So, I suggest getting your hands on some Loomis books, that guy drew like a champ. http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/ He talks about this problem with photos. He recommends drawing from life and using ref that has good light and shadow. And his books are just chock-full of great knowledge. If you look at his drawings, you will see how he used strong lighting and shadow to define form. Looks much better than photo portraits. :D Drawing from life tends to be the best, really.
Anyway, that's what I would do. ^^; Be careful with what photos you draw from!
"Drawing is a skill like hammering a nail. You might not be great at it yet, but there is nothing stopping you from gettin' down and hammering away." -Irshad Karim
Sketchbook!
Sketchbook!