My 3rd attempt at drawing a person

You should try some exercises where you break down figures into their basic shapes. Heads as ovals, torsos as barrels, arms and legs as pipes. Try drawing these shapes over photographs/magazine photos. This will help you to be able to better illustrate shapes that you are trying to draw from real life. Look at everything as an arrangement of shapes!

Also to help relaxation more, listen to this while drawing. www.rainymood.com... You produced a good attempt. Good shading. Can't wait to see your 4th.

reply to post by Sci-Fi_entist


excellent point i forgot to mention, when drawing, or recreating a face or any object, there is no object, it is a series of curves and shapes.

if you get into life drawing, often you will be looking at a naked model, although you lose yourself in the shapes and curves and you honestly forget you are looking at a naked person because that person no longer exists, only the shapes, shading, etc etc

It's pretty good! I'm terrible at drawing faces, it's a different beast.

But I have taken a drawing class.. What I learned from that tells me that there could be more contrast in the piece. And not the level of darkness or lightness of the piece, but rather the blackness of the black and therefore the depth of the grayscale in between. I would suggest you go over the darkest regions with a softer pencil to see what I mean.

Also more details. a contour line doesn't have to be the OUTLINE of something necessarily... For example the shape of the lighting on the cheekbone can be added with contour as well as shading.

Seriously like another poster said I would suggest taking a class.. I mean you care enough to post your work on ATS, and some of those classes are only a couple credits meaning it would can be cheap at the community college or whatever....I was damn near blown away by just how much could be learned rather than what I thought had to be pure talent..

Originally posted by saiyankev
be honest, what do you think? im posting the link from my Deviant Art
the drawing is of 1 of my friends

Not bad for your 3rd attempt. Have you ever looked at the proportions of the human face? Sometimes a good way to get the "feel" of it is to make the oval the shape of the face. Halfway down, draw an arc, that's where the eyes will be, halfway between that arc and the chin, make another, that's where the nose falls, half way between that and the chin, another gives the location of the lips.
It's something my HS art teacher had us do to ensure we got our pictures proportional and it may help.
The eyes seem to be in the right place, but the nose is too long, you need to get a better handle on the proportions for your next drawing. This will also enable you to make the mouth a bit larger and proportional.

please don't consider this as negative in any way, just giving you the "critique version" that is common in art classes.

.... I had to make a choice when I went to college and it was a difficult one. I had to choose between Math, Art and Physics. I chose the Math Major/ Physics Minor my freshman year (ended up picking up Chemistry too) because they went together well and were in the same building... I often wonder how it would have been different if I had chosen Art instead....

but I can't sing at ALL, nor play any instrument and not crazy about history or literature... just to point out my weaknesses so I don't sound like I'm bragging or something.

Originally posted by gostr
reply to post by saiyankev

 

Yeah, i knew the ear didnt exist I was just trying to illustrate how everything on the face lines up in eery fashion. its almost perfectly symmetrical how everything lines up.

bilateral symmetry actually

I think you did a good job. I have yet to study drawing the human form, but my next art class will be using cubism to draw portraits. I guess I'm looking for the easy, abstract way out of learning human antatomy. LOL Right now, I'm studying the basics. This video is helpful, IMO.

wheres the 4th attempt!? keep em coming.

You've got a good dose of natural talent and you've gotten some good technical advice. I can't really add anything useful in that area, so let me take a different tack.

Don't show people everything you draw. I don't mean "Sara", that was quite presentable, I just mean you need some private space in which to make your mistakes. Who learns any skill without screwing up along the way? Have you tried drawing hands yet? Feet? That's hard. You don't need to have your confidence punctured by somebody reacting naturally to a silly-looking foot.

But you need objective feedback to evaluate your progress, right? I remember a sketch I did in which the subject's neck was way too long, like 25-30% too long. I couldn't see it, even though it was pointed out to me. I was way too used to looking at it, if that makes sense. I put it away for a few days, looked at it again, and I was like "Whoa, how did I not see that?"

I call that "fresh eyes". When you are close to being done, put it away. When you pull it out it'll be easier to spot what needs fixed. It'll also be easier to tell when to stop fiddling with it and call it done.

Originally posted by gostr
wheres the 4th attempt!? keep em coming.

im glad u like it, but no 4th attempt yet... been busy

Originally posted by Vitruvius
You've got a good dose of natural talent and you've gotten some good technical advice. I can't really add anything useful in that area, so let me take a different tack.

Don't show people everything you draw. I don't mean "Sara", that was quite presentable, I just mean you need some private space in which to make your mistakes. Who learns any skill without screwing up along the way? Have you tried drawing hands yet? Feet? That's hard. You don't need to have your confidence punctured by somebody reacting naturally to a silly-looking foot.

But you need objective feedback to evaluate your progress, right? I remember a sketch I did in which the subject's neck was way too long, like 25-30% too long. I couldn't see it, even though it was pointed out to me. I was way too used to looking at it, if that makes sense. I put it away for a few days, looked at it again, and I was like "Whoa, how did I not see that?"

I call that "fresh eyes". When you are close to being done, put it away. When you pull it out it'll be easier to spot what needs fixed. It'll also be easier to tell when to stop fiddling with it and call it done.

ya i know not to show others, i got a bunch of idea/concept drawings i plan on making real, not posting those, only post drawings of anime characters, games, etc

i always do hands... not to good but have no choice cuz im making my own comics so some scenes i gotta show hands, i drew my foot tho... that... came out decent.. still need alot of work

idk if what i done is like that... but old drawings i drew that were either quick drawings or when i was younger, or etc... i re-drew 'em, updated them