Alopex's n00b Sketchbook of DOOM

[Alopex]

I struggled for a little while trying to figure out what to post.  Like I said in my intro thread, I'm not a professional artist and never have been.  I have a job not even remotely related to art that takes up 48 hours of my week including commute to and from work.  Art was mostly something I just did in my spare time on and off, not because of lack of interest but because I was discouraged from treating it as anything other than a hobby.  Now I want it to be a regular part of my life and I want to improve my skill.

I mostly did pencil at first.





I always like to experiment and discovered I liked scratchboard as well:






In preparation for Inktober, I started playing around more with ink:





I continued to experiment during Inktober 2016:
























I also enjoy alcohol-based markers, particularly Copic Sketch and Windsor & Newton Brushmarkers:









Just as a note, the marker strokes tend to show up a lot more when scanned.  They're not very visible to the naked eye in this one below.  In addition to other things, I probably need to work on scanning/photographing/editing.  :P







I've been trying watercolor, but I that's currently my weakest link:





Last but not least, this is a recent colored pencil bit I had a lot of fun with:



Hope that's not too much to start with.  I figured more examples might give people a better idea of strengths, weaknesses, suggestions for improvement, what kind of mediums I like to work in, etc.

[NoodleInBox]

Hey Alopex welcome to CD! I really like how moody your drawings are, very nice : D one thing i noticed is that you seem to be lacking the fundamentals. Maybe try doing some figure studies (quickposes oder stock photos on deviantart are great for that), maybe some anatomy books (Loomis, Bammes for excample), draw or paint stuff from life and try to figure out how it works. The internet is full of information you just have to use it haha : D thats just some things that would maybe help you improve but in the end its all about having fun so dont forget to draw and paint whatever the hell you want wohoo just keep on posting *.*
I hope this was heplful : )

[VoodooMama]

hello!
Welcome to the forums!
It's nice that you started art again. I think you have some nice ideas in your illustrations.

The Loomis books NoodleInBox recommended are very good for studying art.
Also to help work on the fundamentals you could begin by drawing some still lives as well, simple things like cubes and spheres and then gradually add more complicated subjects
Since you mentioned you commute to work, if you take something like the bus or train you can also use that time for drawing! Practice drawing the people sitting or standing.

[Alopex]

I really like how moody your drawings are, very nice : D one thing i noticed is that you seem to be lacking the fundamentals.

Doesn't really surprise me to hear that about missing the fundamentals since I haven't had a formal art education.  But yeah, this makes it clearer that I'm going to have to go back and fill in the gaps that I've missed.

Maybe try doing some figure studies (quickposes oder stock photos on deviantart are great for that), maybe some anatomy books (Loomis, Bammes for excample), draw or paint stuff from life and try to figure out how it works.

Thanks for the suggestions!  I've seen Loomis recommended widely almost everywhere, so I did get his figure drawing book very recently and I've just started doing some work with it (will post when I have more examples accumulated).  I hadn't heard of Bammes before though, and thanks to your suggestion I now have his animal anatomy books on the way.

Also to help work on the fundamentals you could begin by drawing some still lives as well, simple things like cubes and spheres and then gradually add more complicated subjects

I'll be sure to give that a try!

Since you mentioned you commute to work, if you take something like the bus or train you can also use that time for drawing! Practice drawing the people sitting or standing.

Great suggestion but I live in a very rural area currently, so I have to drive.  No public transportation, no one from work close enough to carpool with.  They need to hurry up with those self-driving cars already.  ;)

Thanks to both of you again for your input.

[Artloader]

Great imagination here Alopex :). I also love the fact that you're using all kinds of different traditional media.

Just one thing on your human figure proportions - I noticed that you tend to make your arms a little short. If you do get the Loomis book, he has some great diagrams on the subject. Remember that if a person has their arms at their sides, their elbows should be level with their navel.

Keep it going mate!

[Alopex]

Great imagination here Alopex :).

Thanks!  I know I have a long way to go with technical skill, but I guess that's something going for me at least.  ;)

I also love the fact that you're using all kinds of different traditional media.

I love traditional.  I have the necessities to dabble in digital as well later, but I still anticipate being primarily traditional or perhaps sometimes augmenting traditional with digital.  Part of it is that traditional feels different, part of it is liking having an original work.  I'm also one of those weird people who likes physical books better than e-books, so maybe it's related.  

Forgot to include this charcoal bit I did in my original post:



I hope I'm not stretching myself too thin, but I like being versatile and having a lot of choices.  I also figure many of the same principles still apply across different mediums.

I've also been following some of the advice I've been given.  I know it still needs some work, but I started practicing proportions:





I've also started trying to sketch a bit more from life.  Did this one of a palm tree in a restaurant while waiting to be seated:



Also started doing this one while out and about, but didn't get to finish because the old theater I was exploring, where my reference was, closed for the night.  Maybe I'll go back to try to finish it later:



Just noticed one of the candles is crooked, but I've still got to finish it anyway so I'll go back and fix it.

[Alopex]

Oh yeah...

Just one thing on your human figure proportions - I noticed that you tend to make your arms a little short.

Thanks for pointing that out. I'll be more mindful of that in the future.

[Alopex]

[deusExMatteo]

Nice seeing that you're doing so much stuff, looks like we're doing some of the same excercises :) I'm also looking at Loomis for anathomy and those shapes in the light study look really familiar. Just looking at that ball shadow was a rell eye opener for me, been doing shadows for a long time but that really made me think about how they work and kind of explaining why they look like they do.

Kind regards and all the best
/Matteo

[AlexShi]

The works in your first post are so imaginative! I really like your ideas. Combine it with strong fundamentals base like proportions, composition etc. and your works are going to blow minds. :D

Keep up the good work!

[Alopex]

Thanks to everyone who has responded!  Sorry for my silence, I've just been a bit busy and stressed out from some changes at work.  Have still been doing exercises, but I feel weird posting them even though others have because I don't really consider them that interesting and I'm not sure if much feedback could be given since in some cases it's just going to take study and practice.  I also tend to take social media of all kinds in bouts.

It's not perfect by any means, but in the meantime, here's a rough sketch I did using a photo of Max Ernst as a reference:



Reference photo:


I suppose that was a little more interesting/shareworthy to me since I've had a huge love affair with the Surrealists lately.