Forum posts by Devil Darlinqq

Hello, Jelli Bee Kate! Sorry for the late response! I hope you are doing well today! You made me realize that I've been trying new methods all wrong. I assume that when I try a method I haven't tried, that I will be just as good as the person in the video(s). If I'm not, I'll get frustrated. That isn't a very good mindset to have. It's rather destructive I realized. The people in those videos have spent years practicing and trying new things. So when they make videos, they already have those years of experience under their belts, which I don't have. So I've been trying my best to change that mindset. Now, when I want to practice a method, I will try it out for a week and see if I like it or not. Currently, I've been trying the method in Link 2. It's been going well for me so far. I actually really like the method! It's been really fun trying it out, and I've been using it for my personal art as well!

As for going with the flow, I struggle with that lol. It's something I have to improve on, and it probably just takes practice doing a lot of gesture drawing. But, if you have any tips, please let me know!

You also made me realize how the artist in Link 1 was drawing their limbs and joints in. And I realized that, you are right, I do need to change the way I draw joints. I sometimes forget to draw joints, and when I do, they look wrong. But I realized while drawing yesterday, that I don't know where the joints should go, or how to draw them. I have a vague idea, but I don't really know where the joints go. Could you explain a little more about the joints? Like, where they should go in relation to the body? And explain in more detail how I should draw the joints?

Tl;dr:

1: I realized I needed to change the way I practice techniques, as well as my mindset. Now, I do a week for each technique. If you have any suggestions for how I should practice techniques, please let me know!

2: I struggle with going with the flow during gesture drawing. I think it's because I want to be perfect, or I'm feeling pressured while drawing due to the time limit. Please let me know if you have any tips!

3: I realized I neeed to change the way I draw joints, but I also realized I don't know where the joints should go and how to draw them. I would like an explanation on where the joints should go, as well as some tips for drawing them!

Again, thank you very much for the critique!

-Devi

Hello, Polyvios! Sorry for the late reply! I'm doing very well, thank you very much! Just started a new medication, and it's going well so far, with a bit of ups and downs. But overall, it's going well!

Thank you very much for the book recommendations! They've proven to be very useful! I do have a question, though: How should I use these books? Should I read them like a regular book? Should I take notes while reading? Should I just skim through the book and find/read the pages I need? What I'm doing at the moment is skimming through the book, but I don't think that's very useful for learning. I would like to know how you would go about it!

As for your critique, yes, the first drawing looks very stiff to me as well. The pose was in perspective, as well as some of the body parts hiding behind objects, so it was quite hard for me. I do this a lot with poses I don't understand. It's probably caused by me not analyzing the pose enough, due to the pressure of the timer. Do you have any tips for this? I feel I am getting better at it, but I would like to know what you think! I also did your recommended time, and it was very helpful! I feel I've gotten better at getting the gesture down quick, so thank you very much!

Tl;dr:

1: How do you think I should use the books provided?

2: Do you have any tips for analyzing poses on a short timer, so I don't scribble down the pose?

Again, thank you very much for your critique! It was very helpful!

-Devi

• Devil Darlinqq edited this post on March 31, 2022 3:21pm. Reason: Added a check list to the Tl;dr portion to make it easier to understand

Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DsW_YGyeV44xMs-UoyvYztbofimP7rqL

(Please tell me if the link doesn't work!)

Hello, hello! Today I present to you some figure drawings! These ones I'm not very proud of. It might be due to the fact I tried doing a different method, because the "Stick Figure" (as I like to call it) method isn't very helpful, especially for perspective. So, I found some methods and tried doing them. I will link the videos talking about these methods that I used!

Link 1:

Link 2:

(Again, please tell me if the links don't work!)

I like the method explained the most in Link 1. In Link 2, I tried using that method first, but I didn't like how it came out, so I switched to the method explained in Link 1. An area I struggle with is drawing limbs. With 30 sec poses, It becomes especially hard. I hate the way I drew the limbs in these pages. I tried searching for ways to draw limbs, but most of them use a method where you use cylinders, and for gesture drawing that isn't really an option. So, what do you think I can do? Do you have any methods that you use? What can I do better next time?

Tl;dr:

1: I used 2 different methods instead of the "stick figure" method

2: I'm not very proud of the way I draw arms and legs

3: I tried searching for methods, but they all use cylinders, which isn't really quick to draw

4:If you have any methods you use for drawing arms and legs, please do tell!

5: (And also some methods for figure drawing)

Thank you!

-Devi

• Devil Darlinqq edited this post on March 31, 2022 3:23pm. Reason: Added a check list to the Tl;dr portion to make it easier to understand
• Devil Darlinqq edited this post on March 31, 2022 3:23pm. Reason: Added a check list to the Tl;dr portion to make it easier to understand
• Devil Darlinqq edited this post on March 31, 2022 3:24pm. Reason: Put Link 1 and Link 2 in bold to make it easier to understand

I fixed it! I didn't realize I needed to give people access to the folder it was in lol, apologies! It worked on my end, so it should hopefully work for you! Again, I apologize!

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Bz3zyy_F9NiR2rmXo3Qc6A1b9VlmuNHd/view?usp=drivesdk

(Please let me know if the link doesn't work!)

Hello! This is my first time posting a critique here! I decided to post this so I can get some insight on drawing heads! I started the challenge so I can make my heads look more proportionate and not too small where I can't fit the eyes and mouth. I also realized while drawing this spread that I needed more practice with realism. I did make some notes on the page as to what I needed to improve. I feel like my eyes are too big for realism. I draw in a more cartoon/anime style, so It was really hard to get the eyes to be small. I also realized I suck at drawing lips lol. They just look weird on some of them, so I would like to know how I can draw lips better! My personal favorite sketches are 7, 5, and 2! But don't be afraid to critique those ones as well! I did the Loomis head method that I learned from Proko awhile back. I would also like to try different methods, so please feel free to leave some suggestions!

Tl;dr:

I feel my eyes are too big, and my lips look weird.

I would like to know what/ how I can improve on my realism.

I would like to know some more methods for drawing the head besides the Loomis head method.

Feel free to give critiques on other areas I can improve on!

Thank you!

-Devi

• Devil Darlinqq edited this post on March 18, 2022 9:03pm. Reason: (Hopefully) Fixed link
• Devil Darlinqq edited this post on March 18, 2022 9:06pm. Reason: Grammar errors

Hello, Pasta! I do think you achieved some fluidity in these drawings! Though I feel they are pretty stiff, and I believe it's due to the fact you are adding details in the beginning stages of your drawing, which can cause your drawings to look stiff and make your proportions look off. For example, the second image: His legs are small compared to the rest of the body, which might of been caused by running out of space on the paper, which leads into my second critique:

The drawings are too big on the paper. Don't get me wrong, drawing big like this isn't bad! Only when creating finished pieces, though. Since most of the exercises on this site are for creating quick sketches, drawing big isn't necessary. To combat this I recommend doing thumbnail sketches! Thumbnail sketches are tiny quick sketches used for capturing the pose and getting proportions right, before going on to the final illustration, or in this case, sketch. Depending on the time limit, you will most likely have enough time to do a tiny sketch of the pose, and then doing it again, but this time bigger. Or, you can practice doing some of the exercises small, and others big. That way you can have more sketches on one page! And can show contrast between sketches, but in my opinion that's not all that important right now.

I recommend checking out an article from Hbeats Art about thumbnail sketching (Warning! The page does contain some lude/smexy art! But it's still a good read for learning more about thumbnail sketching and how to do it!), I recommend checking this out for more information about thumbnail sketching!

Link: https://hbeatsart.com/how-to-thumbnail/

Another thing that impacts the fluidity of a drawing is the shading and line quality. I noticed that you blend almost all of the shadings on the drawing, which gives it a soft look. That's not a bad thing! Some art styles do well with this kind of soft look. But for realism, that's sadly not the case. There are both soft and hard shadows on the human figure. Usually, hard shadows can be used to define muscles, and show that something is in front of an object. Soft shadows can be used to blend the hard shadows, but don't do it too much or you might get that soft look again! I'm not very good with shading, so try doing more longer exercises trying to find the hard and soft shadows specifically!

I can see that your lines don't feel very confident. They feel very rough and firm, which takes away from the fluidity of the drawing. They also have a soft look in some spots, which could be due to the blending. All you have to do for that is go over the lines again to make them darker. Gaining confidence in your lines is something even I still struggle with. A tip I can give you is before you start working on exercises for the day, trying making short lines and long lines on the paper. Do them quick! Don't do them slowly. Trying being quick and lose. Try holding your pencil/pen a different way each time to see if you can find a position that's more comfortable for you when making these lines.

The last tip I can give is using an under sketch, which ties back in to the first critique I gave you. To me, it doesn't look like you used an under sketch, which is basically the basic shapes that make up the drawing. Example, circle/oval for the head, oval for the rib cage etc. Making an under sketch will help you with placement of the features, and getting the overall feeling of the drawing before going to add details. These sketches should be light and not super dark! They aren't a finished drawing, but will help you make a finished piece! If you have trouble making light lines, then repeat the exercise I mentioned above, but instead trying to make lighter lines. Try holding the pencil more farther back to easily create light lines! And don't forget to be lose! This will help a lot with fluidity and will overall make your drawings much better!

Tl;dr:

Try not to add details too early in the sketching process

Try to make your drawings more smaller, use thumbnail sketching!

Article that goes more in depth: https://hbeatsart.com/how-to-thumbnail/

Use both hard and soft shadows! Try not too over blend, look at reference!

Gain more confident lines! Before exercises, try drawing some lines on the paper, do it quick and not slow!

Before adding details, use an under drawing! Use basic shapes, and sketch lightly! Use same excerise as above, but drawing lightly! Hold pencil further back to get more lighter lines!

Overall, I think you do rather good! The third image is the most fluid in my opinion! And the fourth image portrays emotion really nicely! I didn't go to in depth with proportions because that's more of an anatomy thing, and you will get better at proportions by drawing everyday and making connections on how things look on the body! I hope my critiques helped you, and I apologize for it being so long lol. You are doing a great job so far, keep it up!

-Devi