
John Daniels
added comment inWarmups to Improve Line Quality
2d
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Whether its pretty picture, or practices lines, my sketchbook will take all marks! :)
This is oddly nostalgic, as I did some DrawABox Lesson and there is some cross over exercise (only more fineliner). But that was a LOOOONNNNGGG time ago and I tossed most of my practice sheets. Pity.

samkatz405
2d
I like the last one how you not only practiced them straights but also made the page feel designed. Thanks for the inspo!
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Hey guys, I tried my hand at the level 2 assignment. My daughter wanted to get a dumbo - octopus to color it, so I settled on it. I attached a clean lineart out of habbit, but the assignment probably asked more for something in the lines of the page with the 2 designs. Hope you like it.
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I had to repost because I forgot to add the tail. This was a challenging and fun assignment. Each sketch is a learning experience for me.
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Gave these a go with a 4B graphite. I ran out of space for the VR orb, so I did a modification. I still would like to take a try at the hand.
17d
These are very nice! I feel like I can follow your thought process in your line work. Bravo!
18d
So just to confirm, when you do the single clean line, you use tapered lines to achieve it?
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First time trying lvl 2 but this exercise is exactly what I wish to learn! Love the invitation to simplify and search. Excited to learn how to get the images in my head onto the paper! This feels like an excellent first step. Ready for more!
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HI
Here is my combintion of a banana with a snake.
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Okay. Today I'm drawing those @#%#& boots with tapered lines then. I'm not giving up! 😉
1mo
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The CSI method forced me to think about where and how I'm placing my lines. I'm really proud of the process, yet the outcome not so much. I felt so much clarity in this method, it was really fun. Even with the CSI method, it feels messy or untamed, it could just be a lack of dexterity/line quality. All critiques welcome.
Did 4 thumbnails before this.
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1mo
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Level 1 assignment. The boots were very very hard. I had to do a lot of measuring and draw many construction lines. I have no idea how to simplify the laces and at this point, after spending several hours on this sketch, I just don't have it in me to try and draw them in all their detail. I am happy with how the boots came out though.
1mo
totally understand! The laces almost took me out. I found it doable to start at the bottom and work my way up. Gave me a clear starting and end point, connecting the little holes. Great practice!
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1mo
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Would love some feed back on these practice assignments. The first snail was all out of proportion so I tried again. Noticed in the reference how they were not only a beautiful example of the CSI line options but there were clear sharp and fuzzy areas. I tried to show that in my drawing but not sure how that translated. Really appreciate the simple break downs you offer. When I would start to panic on the shoelace bit, I would pause and just look for the CSI.
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2mo
A little bit off guard with the challenge and picking up subjects, but here is day 1. One is from a pinterest photo.
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2mo
My 4th-day challenge of the mushroom warmups. This time I kept my hand hovering while drawing mushrooms (except the circled one) My right arm was shaking badly and it looked as if the poor mushrooms were also shaking with fear!
I hope the exercise would improve my muscle memory to draw ellipses.
1mo
Just wanted to say thank you so much for a fun ellipse exercise! I have ADHD and that really makes it impossible to do boring (yet beneficial) exercises. With this, I was engaged and able to focus on the cute mushrooms. Yay! Thanks again!
Thank you for the eyebrow. Might have been yelling at screen ;)
2mo
I think I got lost in myself on this one. Have only been drawing since last April and really haven't spent any time on learning value. It's rather intimidating. I know my lighter bits are less defined but I wasn't sure how to make it defined but not too dark? Also my first attempt at trying different pencils, an HB, 2B and 6B
Hello all! This was a fun project to try. I liked simplifying the pear into a basic shape with only straight lines. That definitely made doing the contour easier and little bit less intimidating. That being said I found the values to be a little bit trickier. Looking at my pear and the reference image, I can kind of see where I went wrong with it. The shape of the dark shadow line running across the bottom should probably be adjusted. The shape there looks a bit off to me. I think the bottom floor shadow needs to be moved to the right a little also. And finally the stem doesn't quite look right either. It looks a bit too flat to me. But all in all, I'm feeling pretty good about it. I think this will be a good project to come back to every so often to retry. Then I can see how much I improved!
2mo
I experimented with sharpening my charcoal pencil with a razor blade and using overhand grip for this drawing of my cat. (He gets a crown because he’s a king 😝)
2mo
What did you think? I have been trying it as well and really am enjoying the freedom! Excellent kitty cat!
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These last two videos are the most comprehensive and informative videos on pencils, erasers and sketchbooks I have ever seen! Thank you! Also, great Kangaroo!
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