Feel like i'm stuck and don't know where to go from here

Greetings everyone!

This is the first art community I've ever joined and the first critique I'm ever requesting. I am nervous but excited to hear feedback.

I am currently trying to improve the expression and simplicity but somehow I always get bogged down in details. My goal is to further on down the road create concept art OR go into animation (I know they are not exactly in the same vein but I am really uncertain).

These sketches started off for 5 minutes and then I narrowed them down to 3. I have yet to try anything lower without my head exploding.

Any and all suggestions would be tremendously helpful!

Link: https://imgur.com/a/HWB6nPc

Thank you!

Hello friend,

I am also a studying artist so maybe take my recommendations with a grain of salt.

Overall I would say you are well on track. Just keep on practicing.

I believe you might be visualising your drawing process in the wrong way. When it comes to the more difficult/confusing poses they seem to become more anatomically incorrect, your lines also seem rough and sketched in. I will just note this down to inexperience most probably. I would suggest taking more time observing the shapes and flow of the human body, it is not necessary to stay constrained to the 3min/5min timing. I personally enjoy sketching throughout all the timeframes as there are benefits to all of them. With faster ones aiding in improving decision-making and observation of the large overall shape and composition. With slower ones aiding in observation of the finer details and rendering.

I would suggest visualising the human body as a collection of intersecting 3d shapes, and I recommend drawing in a light guideline layer to find the flow of each pose first, then lining it more confidently in the end. We need the lines to be representative of the 3d form. A common misstep that beginner artists make is drawing objects via their outline, and not observing the overall structure and geometry. This usually results in wrong proportions and sketchy unconfident lines. Try find the interconnecting structure, i.e. the muscle and bone structure and draw with that in mind.

Good luck with everything :))

Thank you for taking the time to give me feedback! I really appreciate it.

I am already working on the line quality and am not too happy with it as well. I will definitely focus more on observation and simplification of 3D shapes and flow of the anatomy going forward!

Have a great day!

Kdimitrov, I really must say that you're really onto something in terms of your movement of your rough but cleaner figure drawings. What I really admire is that how much movement you've got into the anatomy and gesture in complete detail. Great job on most all of them.

What I must say that though your 3 minute poses are most natural than your 5 minute poses, all the while, I'm totally not getting enough of the distortion and exaggeration of movement and emotion. Would you please loosen up and draw larger, lightest, largest, and most importantly, liveliest, with 30 minutes of 2 minute attitudes? (15 poses, in our custom class option) Extra option: Go to YouTube and look at any Chaplain or Keaton film frame-by-frame with the , and . keys.

The reason why you could do this idea is because, it can help you get into the animator's mindset in the motion and performance and action, while focusing on the plastic forces, and more importantly, to make your sketches the least stiffest, and the most solidest, most fluidest and liveliest.

Good luck with your current goal.

Thank you Polyvios Animations for your time, your kind words and your constuctive suggestions! I am very grateful!

I will try to work on the advice and try the 30 min. 2min study. And also study the actors you suggested.

Have an awesome day!

Hello!

I am also hesitating between concept art and many different things, it's pretty normal to be unsure so don't worry!

As for your sketches, I will begin by saying you're doing a good job on keeping them dynamic which can be very hard. I don't think you're getting too lost on details, and as others have mentionned, your sketches done in 3 minutes tend to look better.

I have noticed that your arms are often a bit too long and sometimes too wide where they're not meant to be, probably because you focus on them and forget the rest of the body when you are detailing them.
It might be better to start with a sort of loose tentacle-ish shape to set the proportions and overall shape, so you don't get lost later when you are trying to define them. Especially if you want to make longer studies of the same poses (which is good to understand anatomy in a different way)!

Maybe take a look at this video if you have the time, I liked this artist's way of explaining his process (he has a lot of other interesting tutorials too):

Hope you found this useful and good luck with your studying! :D

Thank you so much Nara Art for the reply!

About the direction (illustration vs. animation) I don't know at which point it is the crucial moment to decide it, but for now I am just considering both without commiting to one or the other while studying the fundamentals for art in general.

Also as a matter of fact I have watched Sycra's videos, they are some of the first ones I stumbled upon when I started learning 1 year ago and I loved them from the first one. I found him very usefull and enjoyable to watch. He really does explanations well. I will 100% rewatch his stuff as the concepts now may make a lot more sense then when I was starting out. Including the tenticles you mentioned which I had learned about but forgot to put into practice somewhere along the road.

Again thank you and have a wonderful day!

Those are great sketches!

I understand what you mean by saying you get caught up in details. In my opinion try doing very loose sketches in 2-3 minutes. Try not to pick the pencil off of the paper. In this way I think your sketches will be looser and have a flow and more life. Good luck in the concept art or animation world!

Hi there,

You are coming along beautifully as an artist. I do appreciate your care for detail, however, there are some remarkable errors that you can work on in your study time.

Your lines stood out the most to me because they lack confidence and are pretty scratchy. This happens because we focus on the outcome of the sketch itself versus the purpose of the practice. You can easily clean up this habit of yours with a few simple exercises prior to your gesture. A useful exercise is drawing straight lines using the ghosted method. You draw to points across the page or in proximity and you hollow trace between dot 1 to dot 2 without touching the paper. When you feel confident, you draw the line. This teaches your muscles to relax and your mind to follow through.

The next is the stiffness of the figures. They have an angular appeal to them that doesn't quite translate the idea that they're in motion. Yes, the subjects themselves are posed, but a pose STILL carries motions and this is done in the lines. You can achieve better 'flow' by being more looser and intentional with your leading lines. Focus less on the outcome and just be active with the pencil. Practice drawing S's and C's as strokes, no stopping whatsoever. I found this video to help with my work:

I wish you all the best!

You're doing good. This time, I think it would be good to describe it more using 10 to 20 minutes.

Thank you all for your feedback! I really am grateful for your time! I will work on everything that has been pointed out here and sooner or later report back with my next phase of these efforts!

All the best!