Minecraft chicken practice! Perhaps I made the perspective converge too suddenly, his wings box seem off. A lot of my confusion was that the head is turned and seemed to be a differing vanishing point. Any help/tips on fixing the wings/body?

Follow Up: I saw the following image online and thought maybe I'd try with a brown shadow instead. I turned the photo black and white to check Values as Steve had mentioned them. I think the values aren't too off? Though I'm partial to soft watercolour and pastel art, and this lighting might call for a very high contrast. The problem is I've gone from a purple shadow which was corpse-like to a brown shadow which seems monkey-like or something - it still isn't feeling like skin. (ie. darkening the brown shadows to make them higher contrast would likely look muddy - not skin-like) I'm closer to putting this one down (will probably do some blending, glazing, and add a few details to the cloak - but don't plan to finish the glove on her hand at all), but once again, any input, critique, or insight is welcomed. I'm thinking still that maybe the transitional colour HAS to be red/pink (not yellow/orange) due to the subsurface scattering on the skin.

The simplest answer is: its all about value. If the value is correct, then technically you could use any color and it would work. In the reference you have, the colors were chosen by the artist, even the screenshot at the end was colored in post editing. Now, I'm going to give you a generalization: warm light= cool shadows. At golden hour, when the sun is setting, the light is very orange/red so the shadows tend to be purple. Skin is a desaturated orange, so when in shadow it starts to look purple because the shadow is cool, but the warmth of the skin takes it from a blue to a purple. Again, this is a generalization! My suggestion is, if you work digitally, then create the lighting and values in gray scale first- then color over it with different colors and see what happens. Hope that helps :)

Hi, Chris! I have to say I think your problem may be as you said, you're "very nuts and bolts like that". It sounds like you're interested in making original artworks but have only been practicing others' works and the basics of shapes. I'd suggest, as uncomfortable as I imagine it might be, that you try to create an original scene or character you have in mind using your preferred paints (don't worry, you can always create it again after learning more, and don't have to show anyone). Once you finish a few paintings look at them critically and ask yourself where you'd like to see improvement without being too hard on yourself (original ideas can be a different skillset than copying and referencing). Then, see how you can work on that. Some key skills for splash art would be things like: faces, figure drawings, character design, composition, colour theory, among other things. Art doesn't follow one process or one "best" material or learning schedule for everyone, it is truly a creative art. I would also say art can be cyclical. Acrylic and digital and pencil and ink can all be used for simultaneous growth. If you practice in pencils you can get a good understanding of shading and value - the same skill that can add to your acrylic paintings. If you learn how to hold your pen/pencil and use good lines this can lead to future accuracy with a paintbrush. This is true of most art forms, they all add to one another in the long run. What you can mentally see/draw/imagine helps you make images in any medium. Painting is essentially just drawing in colour, so there's no harm in practicing inking or shading (and you can do no drawing at all under your painting if you trust yourself to draw in paint, just it's harder to fix mistakes). So focus on what interests you or where you want to improve and it should add up (similar to what another poster said, if you can learn from someone who does something with their art that you like, I find this is the fastest way to grow - absorb and learn that same thing you like to look at in art! Then it's already stylized to your preferences and goals). If you're a complete beginner with acrylics I'd recommend looking for any intro classes, or simply following along with some free tutorials on youtube. You can sometimes pick up the basics by following along and slowing down these videos to get the hang of blending and layering in your chosen medium. Plus, it's very cost effective before you decide on what teachers, courses, or subjects you may want to learn from. Overall, I just wanted to comment and say I think what's holding you back is probably your mindset. It's not the tools or the order you learn things in. Learn lots of different styles (maybe even the anime and inked comic art you hate so much) and especially learn the application of the art styles and medium you're interested in. Let go of right and wrong - because to grow you'll have to step out of your comfort zone and be wrong often to find the next step forwards. Hope this helps in some way. Let's do our best on our art journeys :)

Hope to have time to do more of these. Thanks for the awesome references! I think the first box could be set more logically (showing the bottom side as we're looking from below) but the cranium on the first and the temple on the second gave me a challenge.

I missed it but it's really fun activity, will ya create space for people to to share work where we can interact with one another ? Thanks for the great work Proko, and kids you have no idea back in the day no internet, no art teacher, no access to photos references, if one is poor no access to comics books no nothing, so many talents got hurried, and now you have place like proko, hell no need even for art schools, it's an art university and basically for free.

Hey. I did some 2 min and 10 min sketches. For a few of them, I gave them an additional 10 mins because I was curious where they would go.

Final day! Great job and happy holidays everyone! And a thank you to the Proko team and artists for hosting and teaching! 2 minute warmups 10 minute poses (with some visible perspective and angle struggles for the torso) 30 minutes with fineliner and brush pen (looked for a pose that reminded me of a character to dress up)

I was desperate today:C.. I set the timer for 30 minutes and kept going for another 5 -15 minutes for Robo Bean and figure. This assignment is very complex but also absolutely necessary in order to understand the forms and perspectives, I really need to study, especially the joints- I was totally lost with those…and avoided them not very elegantly ;) (charcoal pencil on paper)

15 minute drawings, and a bit I caught from the very end of today's stream. Hoping to watch the replays from today and day 1 after the challenge, since I'm in Figure Fundamentals and they both seem like great additions to it!

I have not finished this yet. Want to work on it more tomorrow. Got kids waiting for dinner. This is charcoal on newsprint. Does anyone know if you have to have it in by the end of the day or do we have till the end of 12 the days?

My first timed paint. About 50 minutes and done with a limited palette (whatever was already mixed) for a challenge. Amazed how much I didn't get done (distracted by outfit), but enjoyed a bit of colour in the challenge! Feel free to leave feedback/thoughts.

My first post on here however I've been following the prompt each day... and I have got to say I'm very much entertained with this this12-day challenge I needed to do some figure studies over winter break and this is just the right challenge and motivation I needed but here my submission for today each face was 10-minutes long thanks for looking!

It's close to midnight here so the photo quality isn't great, but I didn't want to miss expressions practice! Did 3 minute sketches and then 20 minute ones, feeling very rushed for all of the above time limits.

5x 1 Minute warm ups, then 5 minute gestures.

25 minutes per page. I've been having trouble with metal lately, I can't figure out how I ever painted it fine in the past! Any resources or videos you guys would recommend?

today I was again confronted with new challenges, I have never drawn armor before, also ink and shading were new to me, but it was great fun. In the first 5-10 minute sketches I wanted to get the shape, gestures and proportions right, elaborated details with ink and one drawing with markers for another 30 Min. Voilà the result.

I did a 35 minute drawing today. I don't know too much anatomy, so mostly followed curves and mannequinized what I saw, but I tried to label basic things I do think I recognize on the body near the end of the time. Included some one minute warmups, as well as where I tried to draw along with the livestream.

7 minute quick sketches, and then a 30 minute drawing. I'm still struggling to combine the flow of gesture with structured form. Tips/Critiques welcomed, and I look forward to seeing everyone's warriors.