Cici's sketchbook

[ciciliang]

Hey everyone! My name is Casey and I would like to improve as an artist! I would say I am a beginner and would love to become more advanced.

Most of my art has a cartoony background feel to it, so I am working towards strengthening my understanding of the fundamentals.  Here is some of my older stuff:




Annnd here are some of my studies I have been working on over the past few days. I have been referencing Bammes, Bridgeman and Hogarth for torso studies. I've always struggled with torsos which is why I am practicing so much...








I have also been working on hands as well... I have been working on drawing 100 hands in my sketchbook. The first 20 were absolutely trash... but I can see the improvement!



And of course, I am working on doing timed poses on posemaniacs everyday. These are 90 second poses:

Done in pencil:


Switched over to Ink to work on better line economy:



All critiques and feedback is welcome (and sorely needed). I will aim to post on here daily 

[Artloader]

Hi there Ciciliang, welcome to the forum :).

Nice start here, keep on doing sketches of the human body like you are and you will soon build up a good visual library. You could also try using a bit more construction in your sketches, like Proko does in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRHfcqjbPq8&t=325s

Good luck - keep it going :)

[ciciliang]

Hi there Ciciliang, welcome to the forum :).

Nice start here, keep on doing sketches of the human body like you are and you will soon build up a good visual library.  You could also try using a bit more construction in your sketches, like Proko does in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRHfcqjbPq8&t=325s

Good luck - keep it going :)

Thank you for the warm welcome! I just watched this video and I am going to give this a go. I think adding construction exercises might be the key to help me get going. :)

[ciciliang]

Here are some sketches from yesterday. I tried using the construction method on the first page in pencil and went back over the main parts in black pen. I outlined the structure of the torso in pink... I also alternated between the bean method and using boxes for the hips and chest.



Also, more hands! I still don't feel 100% confident tackling them. :( The only way to get better is to practice more!

[ciciliang]

So yesterday I attempted drawing the body as a mannequin as Proko demonstrated in the video linked above and I realized I needed to do studies of the torso in simpler terms. So, I did two pages of "bean" studies and it helped me understand the mass of the torso much much better. I think my two biggest issues are; 1. how the torso folds and 2. seeing the torso as a 3D object in space and translating that to a 2D drawing. All the beans were referenced from photos and even Proko's interpretation himself (to help me get started).




Normally when I draw the figure, I start with the head and work my way down to the feet. I attempted to draw the figure starting with the torso and I like my results so far.



And some stuff from imagination

[Tygerson]

I love the expressiveness of your faces.

Also, I love the proko figure videos--they helped me a lot with drawing people! His portrait series is good too.

[HIRVIOS]

You're on the right track, all I can currently say is you need to get more mileage (just keep drawing more)

[ciciliang]

@Tygerson: Thank you! I feel like that is an area that I need improvement though.. I would love to draw more dynamic expressions rather than static ones. What I posted was my comfort zone. And Proko is extremely helpful!

@HIRVIOS: Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment! I agree. Putting in the time is best way to keep moving forward.

--------

Finally an update. I wanted to keep this a daily thing, but unfortunately I had a family emergency that required me to travel out of state on very short notice. For now things are stable but I feel discouraged by not meeting my daily goal. Rughhhhh. I need to get over it and get back on it.

Here are a few older pages from the "drawabox" website. I noticed in mid-January that my lines aren't as confident and discovered this website while browsing reddit. 







I hope you guys all had a great start to your month so far! I'll be back tomorrow with more studies!~

[HIRVIOS]

You've done the planes,
Now do tons of boxes!

[ciciliang]

@HIRVIOS I'm slowly but surely getting there! Your comment inspired me to continue working on chapter 1 homework (see below). After I finish chapter 1, I will be tackling the 250 box challenge (oooof!).

--------

Update time! Since getting home, I haven't been able to sit down and hash things out until yesterday finally. I have more draw a box homework from chapter one with some hands thrown in there. Hoping to have a better upload for tomorrow.

[ciciliang]

I recently joined an urban sketching group and it has been very helpful. I think having a social aspect for learning art helps me stay encouraged and on-track for studies. I just wish they met up more often!! I also have some watercolor and gouache experiments below too. This is my first time using them, and I enjoyed the experience of using them even though the results aren't too stellar. Looking forward to using them more.

[Tygerson]

Awesome! Grab a perspective book from the library like "perspective without pain" by Metzger or "drawing perspective: how to see it and how to apply it" by Brehm and read a bit between your sessions drawing "in the wild." It helps!

[darktiste]

I still can sense some hesitation with you line making i encourage you to train doing simple line exercise use a pen because it will force you to be more aware of what you put on the page.I see you doing the drawbox exercise that a great start just keep doing it on a more regular basis to keep that confidence in line making.What i recommend is to be aware of the speed you drawing each line not to fast and not to slow i would say you seem too be to slow when using a marker and to fast when you using a pen.