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quick life drawing...

howdy peeps of Sumea and others,

My mate was over last night and was using the computer next to me so I started to sketch his head. I showed him and he liked it so I tried me best to make it look pretty, about 5 hours of fun in there.

http://uniquesnowflake.web1000.com/sumea/Martin.html

If you have any tips on how I can make my picture better (or just tips in general)please send us a line.

Submitted by Brain on Fri, 04/07/03 - 12:05 AM Permalink

Very nicely done. Proportions are well laid out, and I'd see this as being a good likeness of ya mate. All I can suggest is that some darker shadows could be used, say in the ear and below the jawline. It looks a tad flat, but seeing the only light is coming from the monitor, it could be expected. Really pay attention to lighting.

One thing you could try is adding a secondary light source, say from behind his head, so it'd softly light up edges of his ear, a little along his jawline, etc. Best way to bring it out would be to use a coloured light. It doesn't need to be harsh, as subtle lighting can work really well. Experiment a little. A coupla references while I think of it. Both by Dhabih Eng:
[url]http://www.sijun.com/dhabih/gallery/jack.html[/url]
[url]http://www.sijun.com/dhabih/gallery/pilot.html[/url]

Another point you could try is concentrating on the eye. It's always glistening with wetness, and he's infront of a screen, so some sharper reflections could really bring it out. Adding a bit more shading as the eyeball enters the head would aid in making it a bit more spherical looking.

I love how you've used some light grays edging on blues. Mixing in a bit of red/pink to the skin might 'flesh' it out a little more too. But yes, keep up the good work! Expect to see more life drawing from ya @:-)

Submitted by Malus on Fri, 04/07/03 - 9:48 AM Permalink

Nice start man.
Brain covered most of it, good to see your using various colours under the skin instead of just trying for skin pink. I'd recommend staying away from a profile shot, lacks interest and emotion, try a 3 quarter view etc.
Its a little hard to see if you got the likeness right, post a pic of your mate if you have one handy.
Also work on the hair more.
great start though and kudos to your mate for staying still for 5 hrs. [:P]

Submitted by Groady on Fri, 04/07/03 - 12:29 PM Permalink

Not bad, but not great either. It looks extremly flat. You need to give it a bit more contrast between the highlights and shadows. You also seem to be suffering (slightly) from drawning in symbols, by that I mean lets say you see an eye and your brain tells you 'this is what an eye looks like, draw this'. You aren't really "seeing" the contours. I'm not trying to be harsh it's just you have the general proportions correct it's just these things are letting you down.

Submitted by UniqueSnowFlake on Sat, 05/07/03 - 1:53 AM Permalink

Thanks for the feed back guys.

I?ve been working on it a little more over the last few days while trying to think of my next project.

- Brain: The likeness of my mate is there but not really, the 2d out line looked more like him so I?m not sure were I went wrong. On the other hand the original drawing was out of proportion so that?s saying something about his head. [:p]

I tried to get that second light working but I don?t think it was really what you mean. I tried lighting up the side of the head a little and added some light to the ear and neck areas. I also added a bit more red/pink into the head so it doesn?t look like his sitting in the freezer anymore.

Thanks for the pictures, I had a good look at Dhabih Eng?s site. I noticed he has moved on from how I?m rendering to a more traditional art style. I tried ?Painting? like that but I just made a mess so hopefully as I continue I?ll get to that stage.

- Malus: I drew the outline with out my mate knowing about it and he was sitting right across from me hence the profile shot. In future I will be more serious about the pose and not do something so plane.

I don?t have a picture or digital camera handy so it would be a while before I could get a picture up. Either way I did the hair up for you. The lighting in this room is pretty bad so its hard to work on something as dark as hair.

By the way my mate was only sitting there for like an hour as he was having fun drawing his own pictures using MS paint. So yeah, not 5 hours.

- Groady: I have tried to work on the light and dark areas a lot more trying to get it to look a less flat. Don?t worry about being harsh either ?Pain is for the weak?. Nah I?m enjoying this a lot and I would like to do more in the future so I?m not going to crawl under a rock and die. I?ll just try my best to learn and improve on the quality of my art.

Once again thanks for the feed back. I?m posting the same link that has been updated with the original and the new image.

http://uniquesnowflake.web1000.com/sumea/Martin.html

Please if I haven?t added or gone off totally in the wrong direction give me a slap and we will see what we can do. [xx(]

Submitted by Doord on Sat, 05/07/03 - 2:47 AM Permalink

I think you need to add more texture to the face (if you are going for a real look.) because the skin looks to clean and smooth.

Submitted by Leviron on Tue, 15/07/03 - 7:48 AM Permalink

You don't have a photo reference of that face do you? Or are you really trying to make it look stylised?

Anyway, the shape of the ear is really nice but it doesn't seem to fit into the style of the face. The hair is another thing, hairs usually don't grow in those directions...the ones above the ear.

The profile shot is not bad for emotion but its pretty hard to pull off.

howdy peeps of Sumea and others,

My mate was over last night and was using the computer next to me so I started to sketch his head. I showed him and he liked it so I tried me best to make it look pretty, about 5 hours of fun in there.

http://uniquesnowflake.web1000.com/sumea/Martin.html

If you have any tips on how I can make my picture better (or just tips in general)please send us a line.


Submitted by Brain on Fri, 04/07/03 - 12:05 AM Permalink

Very nicely done. Proportions are well laid out, and I'd see this as being a good likeness of ya mate. All I can suggest is that some darker shadows could be used, say in the ear and below the jawline. It looks a tad flat, but seeing the only light is coming from the monitor, it could be expected. Really pay attention to lighting.

One thing you could try is adding a secondary light source, say from behind his head, so it'd softly light up edges of his ear, a little along his jawline, etc. Best way to bring it out would be to use a coloured light. It doesn't need to be harsh, as subtle lighting can work really well. Experiment a little. A coupla references while I think of it. Both by Dhabih Eng:
[url]http://www.sijun.com/dhabih/gallery/jack.html[/url]
[url]http://www.sijun.com/dhabih/gallery/pilot.html[/url]

Another point you could try is concentrating on the eye. It's always glistening with wetness, and he's infront of a screen, so some sharper reflections could really bring it out. Adding a bit more shading as the eyeball enters the head would aid in making it a bit more spherical looking.

I love how you've used some light grays edging on blues. Mixing in a bit of red/pink to the skin might 'flesh' it out a little more too. But yes, keep up the good work! Expect to see more life drawing from ya @:-)

Submitted by Malus on Fri, 04/07/03 - 9:48 AM Permalink

Nice start man.
Brain covered most of it, good to see your using various colours under the skin instead of just trying for skin pink. I'd recommend staying away from a profile shot, lacks interest and emotion, try a 3 quarter view etc.
Its a little hard to see if you got the likeness right, post a pic of your mate if you have one handy.
Also work on the hair more.
great start though and kudos to your mate for staying still for 5 hrs. [:P]

Submitted by Groady on Fri, 04/07/03 - 12:29 PM Permalink

Not bad, but not great either. It looks extremly flat. You need to give it a bit more contrast between the highlights and shadows. You also seem to be suffering (slightly) from drawning in symbols, by that I mean lets say you see an eye and your brain tells you 'this is what an eye looks like, draw this'. You aren't really "seeing" the contours. I'm not trying to be harsh it's just you have the general proportions correct it's just these things are letting you down.

Submitted by UniqueSnowFlake on Sat, 05/07/03 - 1:53 AM Permalink

Thanks for the feed back guys.

I?ve been working on it a little more over the last few days while trying to think of my next project.

- Brain: The likeness of my mate is there but not really, the 2d out line looked more like him so I?m not sure were I went wrong. On the other hand the original drawing was out of proportion so that?s saying something about his head. [:p]

I tried to get that second light working but I don?t think it was really what you mean. I tried lighting up the side of the head a little and added some light to the ear and neck areas. I also added a bit more red/pink into the head so it doesn?t look like his sitting in the freezer anymore.

Thanks for the pictures, I had a good look at Dhabih Eng?s site. I noticed he has moved on from how I?m rendering to a more traditional art style. I tried ?Painting? like that but I just made a mess so hopefully as I continue I?ll get to that stage.

- Malus: I drew the outline with out my mate knowing about it and he was sitting right across from me hence the profile shot. In future I will be more serious about the pose and not do something so plane.

I don?t have a picture or digital camera handy so it would be a while before I could get a picture up. Either way I did the hair up for you. The lighting in this room is pretty bad so its hard to work on something as dark as hair.

By the way my mate was only sitting there for like an hour as he was having fun drawing his own pictures using MS paint. So yeah, not 5 hours.

- Groady: I have tried to work on the light and dark areas a lot more trying to get it to look a less flat. Don?t worry about being harsh either ?Pain is for the weak?. Nah I?m enjoying this a lot and I would like to do more in the future so I?m not going to crawl under a rock and die. I?ll just try my best to learn and improve on the quality of my art.

Once again thanks for the feed back. I?m posting the same link that has been updated with the original and the new image.

http://uniquesnowflake.web1000.com/sumea/Martin.html

Please if I haven?t added or gone off totally in the wrong direction give me a slap and we will see what we can do. [xx(]

Submitted by Doord on Sat, 05/07/03 - 2:47 AM Permalink

I think you need to add more texture to the face (if you are going for a real look.) because the skin looks to clean and smooth.

Submitted by Leviron on Tue, 15/07/03 - 7:48 AM Permalink

You don't have a photo reference of that face do you? Or are you really trying to make it look stylised?

Anyway, the shape of the ear is really nice but it doesn't seem to fit into the style of the face. The hair is another thing, hairs usually don't grow in those directions...the ones above the ear.

The profile shot is not bad for emotion but its pretty hard to pull off.