I Need Help!

[inlerf]

since i can't figure the height/width bbcode.

lazy to cut off the physics notes. but hey, you get to analyse my handwriting->personality! woo! and learn physics! yeah, was in lecture and i saw this girl in front of me who had like, omg, the gorgeousest brown hair everrr. i bet she uses a lot of conditioner.

but anyway, i need help on how to better uh, for lack of a better word, draw. this is my...7-8th (semi-)serious attempt in my entire life. ignore the shirt--it was blue and had shadows. i donno how to do that. enlighten me? comments? help!

(and yes, i have never taken art lessons. well, other than in childhood but those i don't remember and don't count.)

[Emms]

Well, personally, I think that's a very good sketch. keep 'em comin'!

[db]

Inlerf - This is a great sketch! You did a great job (and must have a *lot* of innate talent). I esp. thought you did an excellent job capturing the highlights in the hair and the shape of her head.

Don't beat yourself up over shadows! If you want advice on mastering shadows - mine is to practice. Try placing a simple object on a white piece of paper (a ball, a piece of fruit etc) with a *single* light source - it will give you a good idea of how to look at the weight of shadows - how reflection impacts them and how even shadows have variation... try doing it all in one color first (don't choose a complicated object - you'll confuse the issue!).

Another good excersize is drawing an object with lines as if they were pieces of strings wrapped around the object - use the same simple object but concentrate on the *shape* of the object - Draw the lines parallel to the floor, stacked on top of eachother you end up with a drawing that looks like a 3-D stack of string. It helps with understanding the translation of 3-D to 2-D -- you already did this in the drawing you posted with the hair (ie defined the shape of the head using the perpendicular lines of the hair).

Again - truely, A great sketch. You should feel encouraged. It is really good.

db

[inlerf]

thanks for the encouragement.

db, i don't get your strings thing.

you already did this in the drawing you posted with the hair (ie defined the shape of the head using the perpendicular lines of the hair).

?

all i did was kinda follow how the hair flows, and um, sorta added another layer of "hair" on top of the first very-faint one, repeat etc etc. i (accidentally) discovered it helps control the shades, gives more continuous variance.

can you explain the string concept?

[db]

*blast*

my explanation skills are ass.

string example

ok - take for instance an apple...

What would a line (a piece of string) look like if you dipped it in elmers glue and wrapped it around the apple?

I am suggesting that you put your pencil on a piece of paper and draw the 'shape' of the apple (for example) as if the line your pencil creates *was* that piece of string.

Stack these lines one on top of each another.

It is kinda like making those pinch pots from kinder garden with those tubes of clay that you stacked up ...

and if that doesn't make any kind of sense the just feel free to ignore me.



db

[Emms]

Great technique, db! And great explanation of said technique.

Also, Inlerf... I don't think I mentioned before how much I love how this piece turned out. I just looked at it again and saw some things that I missed over the first time. I love the sketch, of course; the hair is well done... but I just realized how the math notes on the page really pull the composition together. Almost like she scribbled math jargon is representative of the thoughts going through your subjects mind. I don't know if you intended it that way, but it really fits well.

anyway....

[inlerf]

db, got it


emms,

lmao. overanalysis. i didn't intend it. just i had free space there and so. but lol, yes, i see what you mean. accidental ingeniousness ;P but, actually, the lecture i was in when i drew her was psychoanalysis (lol) and social theory. ;P

did this just to see if i can do a human face (i could never. this sudden drawing thing is...0.o). and well, i thought it'd be easier compared to a full front. so.

so to shade, i should use the string technique? so it'll give a more 3D feel instead of 2D (since i finished that before getting home so straight lines. :/)?

[db]

no - the string thing is just an excersize to help with the 3-d thing. You should end up with an escher-esque looking drawing :

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Museum/3828/dream.html

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Museum/3828/rind.html

For shading try the single light source excersize. This link might help:
http://www.artistsmagazine.com/article.asp?id=1949

Your drawing of the Tara/Willow smooch is very nice - it multiple light sources though (makes it harder because of reflection), Youdid a great job though! You have some excellent innate observation skills!

I guess I am not sure where you are confused about shading/shadows... or do you mean line quality/intensity? At any rate - I hope the above links will help.

[inlerf]

the last one was particularly helpful. didnt know about the core shadow thingy, that darkest isn't in the cast shadow. thanks

EDIT: also, it (w/t) doesn't seem realistic enough. what's wrong?

[db]

Inlerf -

glad the link helped...

I'll have to beg to differ about your assesment of your drawing - it *does* look realistic - just not *photo-realistic*...

It can be frustrating - but you have to remember that graphite and charcoal and paper are different mediums than photography - you can do different things,they have different strengths and weaknesses,

I think maybe you are thinking about the skills of master draw-ers? What do they do that you aren't? Well, practice for one - but also an understanding of anatomy, perspective and using shadows to portray weight, volume and pressure, and expressiveness in line quality... but mostly they know the strengths of their medium and play to them...

These are things that take practice.

Save the perspective and anatomy lessons for later. You have a pretty good sense of that (and based on your physics notes, I don't think it'll blow your mind thinking about it ). For now I recommend practicing with light and shadows - I think you'll find that thinking about reflected light and volume will help your renderings.

Other things that will help with expressive line quality are experimenting with different weights of line and varying the quality of edges (you have done this well, and instinctively in your last drawing - note the differences between edge quality on Willow's forehead vs her eye lid)... a place where pressing harder or lighter on your pencil (or using different quality of line) might have given your drawing some more dynamics is around the mouth area (where it makes sense to be dynamic).

An exersize that might help with that is contour drawing excersizes - I especially like blind countour drawings for this, but not everyone can wrap their mind around that (plus you kinda need big pieces of paper)

Your drawings are really good - you are doing a number of things really well! There are lots of factors to take into consideration in a drawing and you are doing most instinctively... at any rate you should definately keep it up. Keep drawing! You have lots of talent.

my two bits.

db

[inlerf]

ahhh, db, db, db, db,. absolutely wonderful tips! totally enlightened me. didn't know about so many things; the line quality in the last drawing were, as you said, instinctive. but now i can see mistakes--eg outlines that shouldn't be there but shoulda been more of value drawing.

again, thanks a lot. :]

[db]

ahhh... but *that* is the beauty of art.There *are* no mistakes. Just new ways of seeing things...

[Thianne]

i can't really help, i have difficulties drawing a stick man. but i wanted to say that i really loved both of them.

and db, you're such an arty genius *swoons*

[dynigirl]

I too can't really help with advice but I can with encouragement. Both pictures look great, keep them coming.

dyni

[inlerf]

kiss.

what to better?

thanks.

edit: sigh. looking at it again i'm disappointed. blah. one thing would be proportion. what else? :]

[Boschi]

You're quite good.

You are picking up on a point of shadows that I've always liked - that our eyes will impose contrast sometimes such that we see an object better. The bottom of the guys arm, for instance, is in shade but you have an edge of white that separates it from the dark of his shirt.

This can be seen in the photograph, you're not just putting it in. Could also be reflection of light from the ground. That sort of contrast can really make things pop, but you need to make it subtle.

This is going to sound silly, but I find that I can gauge which contrasts to accentuate and which to make more muted by blurring my eyes when I look at the object I'm drawing. The highlights of light and dark stand out, and I can start to set up a grade of contrasts.

So when I blur my eyes looking at the image you worked off, the highlight contrast along the top of his arm stands out more than the contrast along the underside of his arm. The top contrast is visible when my eyes are more blurry, the underside contrast becomes visible as my eyes focus more.

I dunno - maybe it's just a me thing.

At anyrate, I think you should keep working the pencil, the paper, the charcoal, etc. Good stuff.

- Boschi

[inlerf]

i get what your blurring eyes thing meant useful. and yes, i see it now: the glaring, like a bone's jutting out, thing with his arm. it's almost as bright as the sunlight above their heads.

thanks.

EDIT: you said "impose contrast"--meaning? as in...sort of, in psychology terms-ish, closing the gaps? like the gap between his arm and her jeans?

[Boschi]

Hmmm... well, I'm not familiar with the term "closing the gaps", so I don't know.

So I'll freely admit that I can't cite a source for this info - it's just floating around in my brain without a reference, but I remember reading that either our eyes or our brains actually accentuate subtle contrast points when it creates the image of what we see.

So lines separating areas that are really, really close in terms of their degree of darkness/lightness/tone are actually made to stand out more. Something about our eyes/brains, whatever, functioning by noticing contrast.

[inlerf]

ok. got it. thanks.