These are the ones I did today but I can't seem to get it right. And I need some things to practice daily that will actually help me cause I never know what to practice. Any thoughts?
I think its great for you to get into a daily practicing habit! dont feel down about not getting things " right " tho. Mistakes are part of the natural learning process. also you chose quite a difficult and complex subject. on top of that we as humans are also very sensitive to things " seeming off" in a persons face / head for evolutionary reasons, so not only did you pick something hard to draw you are also much more likely to spot mistakes in it . for those reasons please dont be discouraged if you arent satisfied with your results. id recommend checking out books like " how to draw" by scott robertson . its about how to depict form and perspective which is the underlying skill of drawing any object, additonally you can practice your form skill by drawing simple shapes from refrences like zylinders and boxes. ( the draw a box challenge is also aimed at developing your form skill but its very challenging and might proove too hard for a beginner) now on top of your form skill id focus on your lines, familiarize yourself with the CSI -Line concept, it helps you make confident and readable lines, which after all are what youre using to depict your form. form and line might be the most valuable skills to build up quickly as a beginner, meaning youre gonna get the most out of these and see the biggest changes ( at least in my expiernece). if youve advanced these skills a bit then im sure more complex subjects will become easier. lastly, dont forget to have fun ! not every single drawing of yours needs to be a study to be valuable and ofc you arent bound to drawings subjects " appropiate" to your skill level.
Ceton,Thanks for the feedback! I definitely agree that we always see mistakes in our drawings haha. But at least then you also learn to improve, but it's also good to be okay with it and not be a perfectionist sometimes. I will definitely check out those things you talked about. Thanks a bunch!
Say, May, I think you'd made a greater choice of practicing how to draw faces and expressions, but I feel that it's OK to make more mistakes as long as you, I, and we all learn from them and move on. Yet, I can still see some parts that were way too off in a more evolutionary way. Why don't you please just take those drawings and flip them vertically, followed by horizontally ? The reason why is because you can and will perceive your errors more readily than average or your average. So for more details, kindly look into Nicolaides book, The Natural Way to Draw, and the Betty Edwards books, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and Drawing from Within, for they are plentifully inspiring for you to draw more observantly but imaginatively.
Kudos for starting a daily habit of drawing! I feel like making a daily habit of anything will lead to some measured improvement. You got this!
It looks like many of the references may have been face-on, which are giving your drawings a somewhat flat look. If your subscription allows, maybe specify that you'd like to see some more 3/4 turn reference images. This may give you more practise making drawings that are more 3-dimensional, and get a better understanding of anatomy.
The above books suggested are really awesome! I'm familiar with a couple. But if books are not your thing, try checking out Proko on Youtube. Stan Prokopenko has a pile of amazing beginner tutorials and anatomy lessons to break down the shape language of different parts of the body and facial features.
Here's a drawing basics playlist you could start with: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtG4P3lq8RHHMNwxuVk0IcGRtPGHi4vN9
My tip to first steps towards drawing heads and portraits. Start with an abstraction. Usually the Loomis abstraction is regarded as the simplest abstraction of the head.
The idea is, that unlike in gesture drawing, the distribution of facial features is pretty much determined by the skull, which is a single bone. Once you internalized the average proportions, you will have much less of a struggle to draw an individual head.
So, your daily practice would be to draw the Loomis head several times every day. First attempts will likely take 10 minutes, when you get more practiced, it will go down to approx 5 minutes. So, if you want to draw 30 minutes daily, do 3 to 6 repetitions.
At first, don't bother much with capturing an individual reference. You can use reference as "randomizer", but only for different perspectives (and to keep the page counting your practice time). You don't really need reference at this stage, though, as your goal isn't to capture a specific face.
Just keep drawing Loomis heads, until you know by heart, which lines you are supposed to draw in which order. That way you develop an internal map for the human head in general, the major proportions, where the features of the face are supposed to be. Circle for the head, cut-offs at the side, brow line, center line, chin line,....
Once you repeated drawing a Loomis head often enough, that you feel really confident doing it, THEN you can start individualizing it and start switching from the idealized form to modifying the features to express emotions, or to start wondering where the proportions of the individual on the reference maybe deviate from the idealized proportions, that you now have practiced.
Bit of a warning with Loomis' OG material. It's really old, and some of his caricatures are quite outdated in regards to sensitivity to stereotyping people.
Aunt Herbert
4 months ago.
