Martin Sketchbook. Please critique!

[Madzia]

the really effective flow is described in Loomis book Creative Illustration. It's pretty similar to yours line -> value -> colors but you should read it and maybe learn something useful! :)
About the face, you should look more for face color zones, now it's only one hue all over http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkwscb...1_1280.png

[MW-Art]

Madzia:
Thank you very much for the hint. Ill try that soon! Btw, I love your work!

So for now, nothing much, but better than nothing. Tried to do some of my own ideas, with all the nasty consequences. I learned that I have no real idea about hands. And about light. But it was fun following my own ideas for a while.

[Kronos]

Hey I really like your sketchbook! All of your figure studies are pretty rad and getting better! I think you should try doing some line work before laying down your values in face studies, really spend some time on that line work sketching out the correct angles, proportions and even the shadows so you know where to transition values when you do lay them down. Really think about what the face actually looks like and how it's really positioned. Anyways awesome sketchbook man keep it up :D

[MW-Art]

Kronos: Thank you! This critique to not skip the careful drawing and constructing has come up quite often now and I really have to work on it. Its coming, stay tuned :-)

For now theres only this that Ive been able to come up with.

[MW-Art]

Heres some practicing proportions. I learned that I was wrong about some things and frankly still am. Sometimes Im not really sure why something is off. Im still reviewing my process and trying to see exactly when things start to fall apart.

[MW-Art]

Im starting to see a pattern here:

Draw smth-go terribly wrong-adjust/learn and learn a tiny bit-draw that tiny bit okay and go a little further out-and go terribly wrong with that-adjust/learn and go all over again.
Learning a little bit with each try. I hope that over time it will become more apparent.

[Jaik]

Nice stuff. Good to see you applying a lot fo what you are learning. If you want to learn faces try doing Suzannes mentoring class. You can find it here: http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-2727.html

It really helps with a lot of the stuff, and just gives you a different approach compared to loomis or something along those lines. Keep up the good work though :)

[MW-Art]

Jaik: Thank you very much! I checked out Suzannes mentoring class and Ill definitely give it a shot. These exercises seem to be pretty good.

Ohman, I always wonder how so many guys in here seem to be able to easily make fair copies of photos and stuff. I think with faces this is really hard. I guess I just need to do way more.
Some more drawings, focusing more on a general structure than on facial features. I failed okay i think..:D

[MW-Art]

Studies focusing on values, edges and using Photoshop.

[MW-Art]

Some gestures and faces. Really learned smth with the proportions there, even tho I dont get them right every time. I really feel like I learned a lot with those heads too, i was focusing on the structure of the head, not so much the features. I mirrored the heads and I found that I only had to do minor corrections. Im sure theyre still not right but theyre getting better hehe
The gestures are just random, mostly with ref, one from the amazing daarken, beacuse it was such a nice strong pose.

[MW-Art]

Some non-ref stuff.

[MW-Art]

[MW-Art]

[MW-Art]

[Tygerson]

Very graceful figure drawings! It looks cool when you add a bit of shading, too.

[MW-Art]

Tygerson: Thank you! Im still mostly frustrated tho, seems like all I can do to an almost okay degree is lose line drawings....

Hey guys
been working on this piece. I already trashed one version and now came back to it in a more structured appoach. I think I could make a decent copy in pencil, but I want to get a grip on photoshop and painting more.
So, I started with the basic facial structure, using the reilly approach, so far, so good.
Where do I go from here? Any tips?
Il will go like I think and post the result, but I am afraid this is the point where Im losing it :-(

[MW-Art]

Thats as far as I want to push it right now. While doing this I was thinking that I could maybe simplify the value planes a lot more, which I tried here and there..

[MW-Art]

Trying to work with transparenc lock and focusing on the process. After the face I didnt really pay too much attention to the hair.

[MW-Art]

Some more stuff. Need to be more consistent in my schedule I guess. A few weeks w/o sketches and it shows and feels...
Anyway, wanted to add a little value to the gestures and get a feeling for the form more.

[MW-Art]

Coffee gone cold, which is a good thing. Shows I was really concentrated...but still, my coffees cold now! XD

Doesnt look too much like the original, but I learned quite a bit on the eyes and I am so proud I was able to show secondary light! This was really fun! I think Im getting better at controlling edges. I couldnt get the neck/throat area any better by the life of me! With line it wouldve been a lot easier..