Christopher Alaimo
Christopher Alaimo
TX
Beginning artist, Professional musician (not anymore though)
Christopher Alaimo
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@jdn
love the mouth and the eyes and the shading is really nice . oh hey btw i was just working on this heres a before and after 😁✌
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Christopher Alaimo
FINALLY JDN! I have been really sick, the internet went out for awhile... wife was sick too. Anyway, sorry for the delay.
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Christopher Alaimo
I can see the liquid quality to the flow of your art. That is something I would like to be able to emulate!
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Christopher Alaimo
Love your work, where do you get your inspiration from? What has influenced your style?
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Marco Sordi
2021/10/20. Good morning all. Fast portrait warm up exercise using Loomis method.
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Christopher Alaimo
Nice!
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@hunt4animation
Hello, Christopher! Thanks you so much for taking the time to share your drawing. It may be helpful to compare reference but I will try to assist some areas to work on. First off since we see the light source it seems the wrong side of the face is illuminated and shadowed. As is the candle would be better off on the center left hand of the paper. A lot of the drawing is rendered the same it may be helpful to pull areas of interest. Especially in the shadow area. There could be levels of darkness and help build depth to have some overlap. The drawing is being flattened by the way the light source is placed and the same tone being rendered. Keep on sharing and hope this helps!
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Christopher Alaimo
Here is the reference. The primary light source is from a window opposite the candle. The candle has a very small impact on the light. The way the drawing is composed is probably a bit confusing because I did not include the window, or any reason to think of a secondary front/left (facing photo) light source... other than the shading itself. This is a still from a film so there is definitely some fill light there. I still really like the effect that I got, but perhaps I need work on composition. Thanks much for the critique and please share more of your thoughts!
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@jdn
nice i see all of the little different shades and the little highlights , great work if i were to suggest anything it would be to work on the positions of where all of her features a bit more that's all . :D
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Christopher Alaimo
Thanks! I kinda feel that the ear is too far back, but that is really how it looks in the reference. It's hard to find shadow references like this with no copyright, so I have been freeze-framing scenes in movies to get an inspirational reference to draw from. This is not an exact copy of the actress or scene. Anyway, that's been working well for me lately.
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Christopher Alaimo
Critiques? Comments? All welcome.
Marco Sordi
2021/10/8. Hi all. Here's my new digital portrait. Any advice or help to improve it is welcomed. Maybe I should push the values and dark them a little bit more (especially on her right side). Thanks and have a good weekend.
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Christopher Alaimo
This is really nice!
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@jdn
nice it actually looks like there is natural light coming from the light source . 👌😉 if i were to give advice about anything to do with it. i would make their necks down a bit darker along with the backs of their hair but keep the light spots on their trout's . but other than that this is not bad by any means in my book. looks great you will get only better as you go on. 😉✌
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Christopher Alaimo
Well, here's what I came up with!
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Christopher Alaimo
Hey Thanks! That is my first finished charcoal drawing, again from imagination. I was trying not to make it too dark, but I see what you mean about the hair/neck area. Thanks much for the critique!
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Christopher Alaimo
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Christopher Alaimo
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@jdn
idk why but i feel a bit evil for sending this >:D~ .i spent 2 or 3 hours on making this, only after doing 4 sketches or so, as practice 😅 . i was going to do a female at first but then i thought to my self wait ! a sec , i suck at drawing female's so ill just get out easy by just drawing a male for , Christopher , to draw 😂HA HA HA! . but dont worry when you get done making your own version of this , piece in your" style , you'll get to make me draw what ever you draw next, so i figured it will be even Steven . so with that said i hope that you have some fun making your own version of this thick boi . and dont stress. because i already did wall making this 😂👌 and remember its . AOK if you do sketches its all about having fun sharing ideas and making great art . good luck again i cant wait to see what you send back ... ✌😉
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Christopher Alaimo
I'll get to work on it. Thanks!
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Christopher Alaimo
I'm starting to like charcoal
Emily
I like how you picked such a difficult subject for your first drawing from imagination. It shows that you're really pushing yourself. There's two things that immediately jump to mind that I think could help you for next time. The first is the hair. I'm not an expert at hair at all, I find it difficult still. The best advise I can give is rather than approaching the hair as one whole shape and going in to define individual strands afterward is to approach it as a series of different shapes that make up the whole. Angel Ganev has a really good way of showing this, heres a video link (https://youtu.be/ClAMuGEfFNM) The second is the hips on the front character. Womens hips are higher up then mens and are also tilted at a more severe angle (this is what makes a woman's bum poke out more than a mans). Female hips are basically just a big bone bowl to hold a growing baby in place. On your picture the widest part doesn't start until after the public mound which isn't correct. When drawing women basically as soon as you go in at your smallest part of the waist you need to start bringing that line back out for the hips. Aaron Blaise explains it a lot better than I can in his human anatomy course. I've put a reference picture in a different pose just so you can see where the hips width is in relation to the tops of the thighs and the waist. Hope this helps!
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Christopher Alaimo
Hey thanks much! Oddly, the things that you pointed out looked off to me, but I did not know why. Now I know! I may go back in and correct some things on that drawing just to get it right as a reference for some things in future. Thanks so much again!
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Christopher Alaimo
This is a new one. Questions, comments?
@jdn
Hi ✌😁 there Christopher Alaimo. my name is JDN short for Jadon. so i just went through all of you're work to get a better understanding of you're art as a hole and to see where i can offer any of my knowledge . see ive seen you're art but i have to get a even better understanding of it myself that is or at least that's the way i see it anyway. with that said. i can see a lot of good progress as it is . that you have made compared to just making marks. from the point to where any artist will always begin at now as i said before i do want to re look over all of the art that you have posted so that i can get a better understanding of what you have best as it stands . and what needs a larger amount of work before you get better . you know what im saying ? 😄 ok . so my stock advice is from what i gathered is 1st to observe. which means look around you think watch the best of the best and realize that they were where you are right now in some way shape or form and use that to your advantage . and some times try to get a understanding of they way they see what it is that they see . and try to practice a bit of it here and there to see how far you can get. . 2st to practice which means repetition over and over again. and i feel that even though it looks horrible most of the time. 😄 i cant believe im saying this but its totally worth saving every bit of it even if you think that it looks like trash and nothing else its worth it because later when you get burn out from all this work. its when and only when you look at you're own art work that you see how far you have really come trust me if you take anything away from this at all SAVE ALL OF YOU'RE ART please and thank you . you will not believe it when you it latter on 👌😉 3d never let anything make you think that you're art is just bad its not even when you know that you could have done better. but you didn't even though it seems like you failed . let me reassure you that just because you slip up once in awhile . it dose not mean you are done. its just apart of learning . you must fall first in order to be able to get back up again right ? . the only way you get better at any skill such as art is to make mistakes . art is a skill not a talent remember that. 4th you are who you are so dont think that you have to change who you are at the core just to get better. its not hard to think that you are the problem when you are told that you're art is ok or that it could be better. you make the art that you make not because its a part of you but you make the art that you make as a representation of you're personal perspective . and you're self maybe a thought that you had. a image a story a emotion a dream anything. the thing is that its how you see it. that's what makes everybody's art unique in its own way at the end of the day.. which adds value to you're art work as a hole no matter what . and 5th . being me telling you . that i am not the best artist ever and i might never be i am not the smartest person ever . but with all of that said . i dont need to be . to know these things and neither do you. nor anybody else. and being an artist means never ending learning and expanding upon what you already know. all artists are always learning new things rather if its things like learning a new short cut new ways of creating there art or just new ideas in general even the best of the best we are all stuck for ever in this loop of learning with everything witch i think is kind of funny 😂 we are all students. so just remember that its ok if you dont learn as fast as others we all have our own flow in witch we do our thing . and that's my advice to you or to anybody that is curious. i hope that this helps please let me know when you get the chance if you did or what you're thoughts are i love to see what others have to say always . god bless and take care 😉✌
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Christopher Alaimo
Thanks so much for such a response, and the great advice! Every day I draw something and honestly I hate about 4 out of 5 of my sketches... still I learn something. It might be in relation to composition or shading or perspective. The failures are worth it. I have also looked it your work. I like unusual way that you distort the eyes in many of your drawings. Interesting work! Stay in touch!
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Christopher Alaimo
I know it's not perfect, but it's a start. Comments? Critique? All welcome.
Christopher Alaimo
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Christopher Alaimo
This one is from "Crowhaven Farm". An old horror movie on youtube! Love Hartman, by the way. Cracks me up just thinking about those endless lines of profanity!
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Christopher Alaimo
Hello! My name is Christopher Alaimo. Honestly, I've never drawn a face before 7 weeks ago. Mostly when I was much younger, I drew scenes, buildings etc. Having never studied art, I studied music composition and theory and I play 4 instruments; but somehow ended up working in healthcare for the last 14 years (I hate it). After dislocating my left shoulder, music is difficult so I took up art to scratch my creative itch. My goal would be to get good enough just to be considered competent. It would be nice to become a professional, but I am a bit old. Never realized how addictive drawing can be! All the best to everyone here!
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Christopher Alaimo
The right arm "maybe" looks slightly long (the radius and ulna), but then again she is stretching it out. The body looks perfect... really perfect. It's a wonderful drawing. The body is something that I struggle with always. The cloth looks amazing too!
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Christopher Alaimo
I know what you mean. Lately I'm feeling like I am struggling with everything! (I'm in one of those moods). Where did you get the inspiration for that? Model? Stock photo?
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