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A little tip! It seems like the back legs are smaller to accomodate for the paper size. When you do your next animal drawing, go for a larger piece of paper. This will provide enough room so this doesn't happen. You can definitely fit a whole animal on that sketchbook size, but it will be harder and you wont have enough space to capture smaller details.

Hi Voelepes, I hope you are having a good day! Something to keep in mind with this critique I'm about to give is that you should still explore your personal style and stylization in general. With that in mind, I see a big opportunity for you to grow in your fundamentals. You mentioned struggling with fundamentals like perspective, lines, and form. In particular you mentioned having issues with making your artwork feell vollumetric and solid. In your paintings and drawings, there is alot of business and complexity. There are folds, many loose brush strokes, and even on the faces and hair there are many colors presented next to one another. Although realism conveys nuance and complexity in color and value, it can also make it difficult to see the big picture. I would recommend doing some studies that focus on simplicity. Here are some ideas for drawing/painting excersices.

1.) Geometric mannequins

Take an object or person you can physically see rather than a picture. I would only use a photograph in specific situations. I'd recommend starting with a simple object with hard and soft edges like a household appliance or game controller. If you need a bigger challenge, try using people and animals as reference. Your goal should be to understand the dimensions of a person. You will need a good and simple light set up to do this. Dont position your light in such a way that it flushes out the shapes and shadows cast on the face. Shadows and highlites communicate the form of anything. If you are still having difficulty in this excercise, copy anatomically accurate and simplified designs that are pre-made.

2.) Value study.

Take a black and white movie or photograph and create a thumbnail of the image using only black, white, medium gray, and a medium dark gray. The goal isn't to make the most accurate or beautiful image, but to map out general areas of value in an image and to understand the relationship of the values. Make your thumbnails simple and small.

Its also a good idea to continue experimenting with the style you already have. I would hate to see you loose your style to accomodate for strict realism.

Hey there, Emhopam

Sooo I'm a little late to the party and it seems like you've already got alot of great advice on this thread so I'm going to give a mix of general art advice and practial tips in regards to your question. The first thing that caught my eye is that you seem a little discouraged and hard on yourself. We all go through these emotions and we all start somewhere. Don't feel bad about not being where you want to be. Developing art skills is a marathon, not a sprint. It's hard work and it takes a while. The fact that you are showing up and asking for help shows initiative and it takes grit to open one's self to a public online critique. You're doing good. You seem frustrated because you compare yourself to a version of you that you imagine should've been farther ahead than where you are. I could be wrong, but if that's not the case then I have some questions for you. Why are you frustrated? Is it because you want your art to be more than a hobby? Where do you want to take your art? What do you enjoy the most about art? These are not rhetorical questions, feel free to respond :)

Looking at your drawings, I think you have alot of awesome erratic energy from the sketchy lines. That kind of look isn't necessarily a bad thing. Some artists utilize loose sketchy lines to one degree or another and it can look awesome. Intentionality is the key. The reason why those artists make the lines work for them is because they have mastered loose sketchy lines as well as clean linework. They know the effect they are going for and they know where, when, and how to use it.

I found this video by Proko- 6 Habits for good line quality- (

) and it pretty much sums up the tips I know on confident line work. I also think DrunkenElf made some really good points. Don't just draw more. Deliberatly practice and keep seeking feedback just like what you are doing on this forum. Something I would add for practical advice, make sure you draw more from the elbow and the shoulder. I'm not sure if this is an issue for you. Drawing from the wrist is okay for short marks, but the range of motion is limited and pain can ensue if you do too long. Keep your wrist and fingers immobale (trust me, never scrunch your fingers for drawing) and allow only the shoulder and elbow to move freely. If it feels awkward at first, just know that it will go away as you develop the muscle memory. The reason for this tip is that the elbow with the shoulder has a greater range of motion and thus you can make long continous flowing lines as well as good small marks. You can practice drawing from the shoulder by making a large circle and straight lines on a page with only the elbow and shoulder. Make some of them larger and some of them smaller.

Some fundamentals to work on for better drawing-

*This is not an exhaustive list and it is subjective. The fundamentals you choose to work on will largely depend on what you want out of your art. For example, a photographer and an environment concept artist will be concerned with composition but the concept artist will need stronger drawing skills to get a job. Furthermore, a hobbyist doesn't have the same pressure to improve as someone who's job is art. I'm not trying to discourage you from pursing a career in art; it can be fulfilling and it is worth it depending on what you want most and are willing to put up with.

Observational drawing- being able to look at something and copy it. It is drawing what you see rather than what you think you see.

Value- Lights and darks. this applies much to painting and drawing. It helps with making things feel clear and 3D.

Form- How to make things 3D and understand the dimensionality of something rather than its outline (aka contour).

Color- It's made of hue, saturation, and value. Value is the most important aspect of color and each element is linked to another. E.g. If you change the value of something it will alter the color.

Storytelling- Let's go beyond just drawing something that looks realistic and lacks techinical imperfections. Let's say you draw an apple. What world does that apple live in? What has it been through? Is it half-eaten by a grumpy child? What do you want the viewer to feel when they see the appple? Storytelling is a confusing term, but people use it in the art world and we are stuck with it. I define storytelling in art as making art in such a way that it immerses the audience in the world that subject belongs in and creates a deliberate emotional response in the viewer. A great example of this is Miguel O'Hara's character design from Across the Spiderverse. He has a sharp and imposing shillouhette made of triangular shapes to invoke a sense of aggresion and the way they design his suit reflects the futuristic world he lives in. He wouldn't have the same impact if he was designed like a generic golden age superhero. In graphic design, the term "storytelling" is used differently. There is often no narrative, but it shares the same desire to create an emotional response to the audience through different artistic elements, like shape and color. Regardless of how the term is used, a bad drawing with an interesting idea is often times more appealing than a perfect image with no soul. However, good skills allow the artist to tell their story most effectively.

ONE MORE THING

The big question you need to ask yourself is this; why are you making art and what do you want to do with it? Do you want to become a designer? Maybe you have many fears and doubts that lead to indeciscion? Regardless, having a goal is crucial to creating a plan on how to practice. There will always be pros and cons. There will always be some kind of cost to pursuing art, even if its only the cost of a little time and energy. Knowing where you want to go will help you define what fundamentals you need to work on. As you seek more wisdom from other artists, I believer you'll eventually get where you want to. Keep running your marathon and I look forward to seeing where you go.

-Paul

Something I noticed is that your characters seem a bit stiff. If your thought process when analyzing the art is centered on the contours rather than the overall gesture, this could be the reason why. Another possibility could be the movement of the torso. Maybe if you exaggerate the pose that could help. I hope that helps you, antebellum.

Hi Duetro, one thing I noticed is that the proportions in your drawings struggle more within the abdominal region. Based on what I am seeing, it seems like the proportion problem is related to the spine. I think that studying how the spine interacts and connects with the pelvis and ribcage may help you. One idea is to do studies where you isolate the torso and draw how the spine connects these pieces (even if the spine is blocked from view because of the ribcage and pelvis). Also, keep in mind that general proportion studies are great and can give you a broad sense of how the body relates to itself but this can have some limitations when perspective is accounted for. Nevertheless, they can also help you with how the body connects together. Other than the distance between the two parts of the torso and some poses where the head is too small, you have a good sense of how the body connects and I noticed that you are looking for the larger movement of the figure. I hope that helps you out and I think you are doing great! :)

Hey Totoro3y, I have the same problems you mentioned. I noticed that your 30 second figures have sticks for limbs connecting at the joint. This is representationally correct concerning the anatomy, yet it causes the figures to look stiff. Communicate the flow in a single line or shape.

As for controlling your mind and hand simultaneously, I'm not entirely sure what you mean. I am assuming that you are talking about looking at the subject and drawing at the same time. I don't think this is necessary in your situation. If you are looking at the subject, your focus and energy will be on observation. You also risk placing lines that are not correct or accurate to what you see, resulting in odd figures. Instead of looking and moving the hand at the same time, you should do some excercises to increase your observation skills. Some good excercises include contour drawings, blind contour drawings, and observing proportional relationships around you.

Another thing you can do is make some post corrections after a figure drawing session. You can pause the timer at the beggining and take a picture of the image. Once you are done with the drawing, compare it. Take notes and redo the drawing. Take the time you need to make the wrong thing/s right. I would recommend correcting one or a few major issues instead of getting overwhelmed by everything. However, it could be helpful to take the time to try to correct everything (in some situations).

As for what to do in longer drawing sessions, this one is probably the most difficult for me right now. The problem could simply be a lack of understanding concerning the details of the human figure. Naturally, this will take alot of time to learn. A good place to start would be placing the big things first (large shapes, gesture, proportions, overall form) and then working on the specific forms, anatomy, and lighting second. You could also dable in some anatomy books. Just don't get swamped in too many details; I made the mistake of trying to learn all these small things and missed the big picture. One resource i know about is the simplified human form sheet by Sycra Yasin. It is a cartoony model, but it could help you with thinking of the larger forms that make up the body. You could also look at mannequinization of the human body to get the big picture.

One thing I noticed with your drawings is that they focus too much on the contours rather than the form and gesture. It's very important to make sure you get the feeling of the figure and construct your drawing on that rather than gluing big chunks in a curve. A great place to start is with 30 second quick sketches. Don't worry about capturing everything, focus on the gesture and the overall feeling of the figure. Get the big picture rather than every individual detail. When you do longer sketches, you can spend extra time analyzing and filling in more information. Do a mix of longer and shorter sketches; this wil help you think big and fast, but also analytical and detailed. When you do longer sketches, make sure you are considering the subject in 3D. You can look at what is closer/farther, facing towards/away, and what the simplified geometric volumes are. Edges can be helpful, but don't sacrifice the form. Best of luck, and I hope you are having fun!