Lovely painting! I think you've done a great job observing the colors from the reference, at thumbnail size you've captured the overall impression perfectly and your value control is good. I think part of the struggle is that the reference itself isn't super interesting color-wise; the fruits are nice, but the lighting is very neutral and ambient which doesn't create the most interesting colors. I'd maybe do some more studies from references that are shot outdoors so you can get the warm light vs. the cool shadows and bounced light from nearby objects, that kind of complexity is a big part of what makes colors look interesting. As for this particular piece, Gourd's suggestion of color notes is a good ones. Marco Bucci talks about this a lot in his videos; you can incorporate all kinds of colors in your painting that aren't there in the reference to make it more interesting, and in this case I think that would help a lot since the reference is a bit flat. I did a quick paintover of what I might try to do with it if that helps. Keep up the good work! :D

I'd say the colors look accurate but flat. A bit of experimenting with color notes might do the trick.

hello, human anatomy is the most difficult, so it's great that you're practicing on it, I'm in the same. i would definition the shades. You can do it with the line or with shadows and lights. I recommend is that you also put the image that you used as a reference here. I have several doubts regarding the pose, is it that rigid? Does the position of the right leg agree with the perspective? Where is the right arm? I hope my comment helps you, keep it up !!

what I do, although I am not an expert, is use the guidelines for eyes, nose, mouth etc, It is important to start with the basic shapes first and then when the proportions are organized you can add the details. keep it up!

@Kako Great color study! I think that you captured all of these different hue and value changes really beautifully. I just wanted to add that something you could pay attention to is the way that the color and value dulls and darkens in that top shelf behind the glass, as well as that area where the right wall of the fridge has a reflected image of the beverages. For instance, because of the way that the thickness or slight tint of the glass obscures the pastries, especially in the very top shelf, those pastries are much darker and desaturated in value in comparison to the beverages that are just displayed in the open. Hope that helps! Keep up the good work! :)

I would suggest taking Marco Bucci's color course on here. I'm going through it now and doing a lot of tests with my palette and color.

Hi @Kako, one thing to take note of while doing color exercises is that if your values are off, then the color will be off as well. Getting the proper color is dependent on getting the proper value. That being said, you can throw the two images into greyscale and see how their are slight value differences in your study. It looks like overall, the color of the exterior of the fridge should be made darker, both in the area of light and in the area of shadow. The area of food in the top shelf should also be simplified into a darker mass. When I look at the two images in color, I think you may have saturated the food and drink area just a bit much, which makes the colors clash a bit. I think it might help to unify your colors by starting off with the base color of the fridge exterior first, and then comparing all of your subsequent colors off of that fridge color. This is definitely a tricky exercise, and I think most of your colors are about 80% of the way there, so great job! Just keep some of the aforementioned concepts in mind when doing your future studies. Hope this helps!

good sketch, I can see how you copied what you saw on the reference for the lighting. But with the reference you used, I think it would be more useful to invent the lighting instead of following what you see for your goal. I have struggled with similar problems a lot also, and I know for myself making sure to focus longer on the gesture and structure before adding the details such as shading can really help.

Nice drawing Kako. It appears with this one that you have more drawn the shadow shapes, which is a great way to show form (and teh muscles light is hitting) but doesn't necessarily distinguish muscles. Was that what you were aiming for?

I'm going to give my advice on this, though it generally differs from others. If you are trying to get better at drawing quick and loose gestural sketches (which I assume based on your title), then don't worry about line quality yet. You can't really work on both at the same time at first. If you focus too much on line quality now your drawings will likely become stiff. Keep drawing loose sketches by letting the pencil move freely. In time, you line quality will improve while still drawing quickly. Nice work!!

Great work! I would suggest practicing on line weight to help your sketches flow more better and to keep practicing gesture. Hope this helped :)

REGARDING COMPOSITION, IT IS NOT ADVISABLE FOR THE FEET STEPPING ON THE EDGE OF THE BLADE. NICE WORK.