Courses
Albums
pedrobranco
added comment inCritique - Learning to Sketch from Imagination
4d
I feel like I rushed my stuff a tad too much when looking at what everyone did. At the same time I've no idea on how to make something loose and experimental and as detailed as some of these. I'll just do some more.
On a side note, it's funny how we've had a few of these critiques and I can instantly recognize Clowndev's work.
Clowndev
3d
Heh, guess I should thank my crusty photo setup for this, it gives my drawings more character. You're doing good on the tapered strokes ,although I feel like you darken some lines too much and they start competing for attention with each other! I'd honestly advise you to draw with a lighter sharp-tipped pencil (or pen) for a while and see how you like it. But it's up to you! Have fun drawing Pedro :)
Show all replies (1)
Show 1 more replies
Thanks Stan, and that was my first time drawing an arm from reference (aside from gesture but I don't draw fingers in those) so I think I did good. I've found that sketching is a way to go for easing my way into drawing, I feel like it's been working out a lot! Usually I have this fear whenever I want to draw something that freezes me stiff whenever I try putting my pencil to paper, but It's been getting slightly better. Sketched some flowers :)
Got inspired to draw a Stangaroo, it was very hard to capture a likeness, merge it with a kangaroo AND give him chubby cheeks! Not mentioning the fact that drawing a kangaroo in the first place is hard. It took me 4 pages to prepare for the final, but it's still not as funny as it was in my head.
Show all replies (1)
Basics course clown counter: 2, baby steps, but we'll reach a 100 in no time!
Oh wow, that's probably even more helpful than the first video! Sketching from imagination seems to be a good way to boil something down to it's elements and familiarize concepts! Although I must admit it's very hard to someone like me who's not used to drawing shapes in space and having control of my lines in general, but the practice itself is useful in starting to understand a subject and then immediately applying the learned principals in practice.
Asked for help
Heya again! It's time for me to finally draw something from imagination! I'm so excited because it's probably an easier level 2 then the previous ones (for me)! Here's something funny! I even made some fun facts about this creature! #1 - It's poisonous to eat! You will probably not survive if you confuse it for a banana. #2 - It pretends to be a banana! #3 - It's a carrion, so when you die they'll eat you :) #4 - It can swim and breathe underwater! It can crawl up your toilet pipes so close your lid! If a banana is in your toilet then it's probably not a banana. #5 - They form colonies and swarms! But they're harmless so it's ok :)
Hope you have fun drawing from imagination!
Asked for help
That ended up being both easier and tougher than I expected! I'm not used to haphazardly throwing my lines with this much energy! I usually take much more time, looking at things, measuring and erasing a lot. Maybe I even erase too much. But not this time. Proportions are off but I didn't care to check because I was too busy throwing em lines!
I love doing stuff like this, the sketchy feeling brings a lot of character to the drawing.
I've been meaning to write this for a bit, but never really know how to put it. I don't mean to be rude by what I'm about to write and obviously, no one owes me anything but I still feel like I need to put this forward.
I put a lot of time into art. I got into it for the first time in my life during the pandemic and I was set. I want to create comics and illustrations, they've been a big part of my life. I am in the very fortunate position of being able to afford taking some time off, won't bore you with the details. The crux is that after a few years I came back to my parents, and with their blessing I've taken the last 2 years to pursue art. Due to local policy circumstances I can't enroll into an art program, I am however enrolled into loose art courses, this semester: naked model drawing 2h, Scribbling 3h, 3d software 2h and general art 2h per week. My time in them while packed is very short and the teachers don't go too into depth. Talking to them hasn't really helped much. The rest of my time I dedicate to becoming better at art.
After one year, I won't say I wasted my time, my general knowledge of how things should look, line quality and 3d notions have improved significantly, but I'm nowhere near where I though I'd be. I still struggle with quite a few things I thought would I'd be better by now, in particular, I can't seem to draw any details on anything. And lately, it's becoming harder and harder to just do anything art related. I do my drills and that's that I can't muster myself.
I actually drew this horse the day before yesterday and a friend of mine that used to do art told me I've been "doing things like these for a while" and "I'm in my comfort zone". I was quite proud of my work and that pretty much deflated me.
As someone with so much free time I'd like to fill my day with more meaningful practice, I've been going on a bit of a round trip of invest heavily in figure and gesture > I don't have the fundamentals down > do a lot of geometry > do 1-2-3 point perspective> practice strokes> feeling confident go back to anatomy> do some copies> do some figure> still doesn't look good> go back to fundamentals> ad nauseum at this point. I feel a bit lost to put it mildly.
Apart from this course I dip into the figure drawing and I've also started poking at Steven Zapata's shading course. I'm also following Marc Brunet's 1 year plan he made on his Youtube Channel. I've no doubt that this year I'll reach some sort of expertise in the things that I want to do just by virtue of following these, but I'm treating this as my job and some days I just can't do more than the absolute bare minimum. Today was one of those days, and last week I had a few as well. I feel somewhat aimless.
Lastly, this is the last year I'll be as free as I am at the moment. Next year I need to get back to work and my free time will obviously dip. I really want to pour it as much as possible in the time that I have at the moment. I'm not expecting to become a professional just like this, that would be spitting on other's hard work. But I'd like to be in a position where I can lift off from the ground confidently.
If anyone can help me in maybe getting things in better order? I feel like I'm running in place. I know I am making progress, but for the free time that I have I feel like I'm wasting most of it. And I'll never have a better opportunity to really learn Art as well as now.
I'm not asking the course to be sped up, far be it from me to demand anything. But I really don't know what to ask, maybe some insight? I'll probably be told that I'm burning out on Art but honestly, I feel closer to burning out on always doing the same thing, never really doing what I'd like to be doing, and if I ever dare do what I want it just looks horrible, forcing me to go back to the things I'm doing now.
25d
Heya Pedro! I'm not going to give you resources or advice in your draftsmanship or anything. Most commenters already gave you solid advice but I have something else I want to mention.
What if when you finally get good enough to draw the things you want to you'll still have those feelings of things "not looking good enough"? This is a problem you'll face throughout many years, especially if you want to grow artistically! You will be out of your comfort zone because you will constantly be growing if you have that critical eye in ya! This feeling of inadequacy is something you actually have to make peace with, it's not just going away. And it's going to sprout legs and kick you with em like a high school bully, but it doesn't have to be like that! That's a part of you mind you, if you try to suspend it or push it back it's just going to punch you in the face. The key is to establish boundaries because you'll actually benefit from getting a kicking once in a while, but not to the point where it actually hurts your motivation and enjoyment of the process and the result. You'll start burning out!
Now that feeling of being limited on time and your "slow" progress by doing one thing over and over again is going to push you to the limit! And drawing through it might not be the perfect solution. If you treat this as a job, don't! Because when you're good enough you'll be lucky to draw the things you like as a job, don't you think you might start burning out on the things you actually love? Ideally you want to not think of your job as well... job. The most important thing is having fulfillment from the experience itself! Not even the final product! And yes, this is an actual skill, you can enjoy it more I'm sure! The key is asking yourself why do you not enjoy certain things and when have you ever enjoyed them or will you ever enjoy them at all? All you have to do is giving yourself some attention, your thoughts and feelings. Especially when you can get to the specifics, you'll start understanding the most important things about YOUR experience! You are the one who's goal was set to study art! This Marco-guy and Stan-boy and StevenZ can't give you a key to your own personal judgment, to the way your brain is suited to train or comprehend things! You have to start learning to become your own best mentor (It's not literal I'll elaborate on that). I know it sounds hard, and some people are going to struggle with this but that's the truth. You will be learning from various sources and it's going to be up to you to make your own decisions of how you interpret and incorporate the information you are given. Through practice and observation and analysis of information try to understand why are you doing what you're doing. And some of those insights might come years after those practices! How do you deal with that?! The best way in my opinion is to actually investigate as many resources as possible when you're studying, because some may not give any reason of why you're doing what you're doing and some may. And some may contain opposite information! In any case, you'll have to find your own way while absorbing tutelage of others.
Let me tell ya something. I'm here because I know exactly what I need to get better at, and step by step the area I focus on improves. It's hard to see at times but it does. Your leaps might not be vast but wait a little and you'll notice how much better it really is. As many noted, two years is really not a lot in art. It can be a grind. And if you're tired of exercise and you know you're at your limit then stop. You can come back later, you might deal with getting rusty in a few places but what's more important is that you. do. not. burn. out. It is an actual injury, a mental one. Again, enjoy the process of drawing, make it excite you. You may actually learn more by doing less because you're invested! And remember, things that are most fulfilling are often difficult and you have to push through internally to get to them. If you run in place you may find it boring eventually (unless you really like it :)).
In the end you'll have to balance enjoying the process, getting out of your comfort zone to reach for something greater, knowing your limits, chopping bigger goals into smaller goals, absorbing and analyzing information and drawing funny faces (mandatory). Hope that was helpful, but what do I really know I'm just a clown :0)
Show all replies (1)
Show 8 more replies
30d
I like how the entire video can be applied practically to any submission, that's a great lot of value!
Why did I simplify the shoelaces out? Because I thought: "Wow, Stan's real tricky! He showed us the simplified tortoise with reduced contours, and since this is a level one submission he certainly expects me to focus on the primary boot shapes! I'm going to show everyone how smart I am by doing the project corretly, hee hee ;)". Whoops! Guess I'm still the clown.
1mo
Day 14. It's the final day and I did two drawings! One from live reference and one from this very good photo of the bird I found on google! I Was going to make a life drawing of a pizza to celebrate but I would probably eat it before I can finish the drawing, too impractical! So I chose this pizza pizza cutter instead, ha! Now that those drawings are done I can play Pizza Tower in peace. Yay! And to all of those who made it this far, I salute you :)))
Show all replies (2)
1mo
Day 13. One day before judgment! I was so excited, I picked this piece of wood! It may look a little like meat-on-the bone, but It's not edible, believe me I tried. As soon as I drew it, my head stopped hurting! I think it's magical.
1mo
Day 12. Is it really day 12 already? Time surely flies. Brought out my lil anvil today, but it was pretty lackluster so I added a ring for additional challenge. Yup, that's the anvil that my clown budget has allowed me to get, but I like it! My drawing of it had a little elongation incident... :)
Show all replies (1)
Show 1 more replies
1mo
Day 11. I was dreading the day I had to drew this cone, and for a goon reason! It's a cone of madness! Ack, I'm going insane I'm loosing it! Too bad clowns are impervious to madness, ha ha :)
Show all replies (1)
1mo
Day 9 and 10, forgot to post these ducks from yesterday...today I went to my friends house and found this awesome kneeing-chair, there is some other stuff too, oops :)
1mo
Day 10. Today I decided to draw something appealing. A banana peel. It's not too complex, yet is the most dignified instrument of true comedy. Any clown ought to know how to draw it! The one and only! I kneel before banana peel!
1mo
Day 9. It keeps getting more and more complex! I wonder if I should do something easier the next time, I aimed for a 30 minute session but spent the whole hour! That's right, that's my treasure chest. Don't ask what's in it, it's not that interesting really :)
1mo
Day 8. Today I drew this piece of driftwood, it was pretty complex! Sometimes I feel like it's moving on it's own. Must be my imagination, heh heh. In other news this comment section is now over 1000 comments, wow! Keep on drawing buddies!
Show all replies (2)
1mo
Day 7. This time the object was a choice was pretty challenging! I went over 30 minute mark and my brain left at about 20 minutes into the drawing! I think it's still missing. "I don't get cylinders." it said as it jumped out of my cranial cavity. If anyone sees it please bring it back ;)
1mo
Day 4
A snowgirl made by my niece today :)
Show 2 more replies
