some character sketch? Can you tell me if im getting better?

[Killer_gym_sox]

hey guys. I wanna know if im getting better.. This is where im at so far.. lemme know.

http://images.deviantart.com/large/indyart/indymisc/practice_sketch_of_some_guy.jpg
http://images.deviantart.com/large/indyart/indymisc/practice_sketch_of_some_guy.jpg

[Killer_gym_sox]

GOD PPL SAY SOMETHING FOR FREAKING SAKE

[fatmancomics]

It's only been two hours since you posted it. Have a little patience. I'm going to compare it to your merc from before and, yes, you are getting better but you still need to practice your basic anatomy. In this case, you've put a loose shirt on him but you've made it tight in the stomach area just so you can show off his abdominal muscles. That doesn't really happen; he is either wearing a loose shirt (which will most likely produce folds below that vest, thereby hiding his abs) or a tight one (which will reveal his abs since it's tight).
I also see that you're still avoiding showing the hand in the background. Granted that from a three quarter view, the hand may be hidden when the figure is in contraposto it still looks a lot more interesting when that back hand is shown. You're also avoiding the background (like I told you before not to do). I don't know if you've noticed but a lot of the artists in here (the best ones, anyway) have SOME kind of background to their finished pieces and at least the beginnings of one in their sketches. Even those that don't interpret an "environment" at least put a rectangle in the background to create a more complete composition. I know it's a sketch but show me at least a horizon line.
While we're speaking about composition, the pose you've chosen is really stale. If you want to wow people you need to start experimenting with more dynamic poses. Swipe them if you have to (didn't I post some pose sketches in that one merc thread? You could use those) from drawing books or, even better, from pictures of real people.
Other than that, I dig the costume design of the character.

[Killer_gym_sox]

heh sorry about the patience. I just get kinda pissed when i see that my thread is over half way down the forum when i just posted it and nobody has replied even though theres quite a bit of views. But anyways i dunno... I guess im getting better at doing faces, and muscles but I still stink. Beh.. I need to work on a lot. It would probably help if i made a dynamic pose or something more interesting than the one hes in. And ya i only sketched this to ask about his anatomy not about a background. I figure if i plan on making this a wip id add one. Maybe i get too eager to finish something i dont think about the realistics.. like on how tight the pants and shirt is to his body.. sigh..

[fatmancomics]

Don't despair. I've only posted art like two times and I only got one response. You have to keep posting to get attention around here and it seems like most members would rather ignore you than give you critiques (I guess they think it may be taken negativetly). As far as backgrounds, I think they're always needed, WIP or not. Like I said before, at least a horizon line to give the character some kind of setting or, at least, just to stop him from "floating" in the middle of the paper.
You are getting better but I still encourage you to take from real life. Don't be afraid to look in the mirror for things like hands, clothing folds or even poses (hell, Devilman pretty much snaps naked pics of himself to use as reference).

[Saturn Lad]

Adding to what fatmancomics mentioned about anatomy, I'll give you a few examples from this picture.

The neck is a little too thick, with a strange curve to it. It doesn't seem to be meeting the trapezius, which should be coming up a bit higher.

The torso seems to be elongated, and the arms should measure out to where the elbow lines up at about the navel and the wrist lines up with the crotch.

I like that you've put in lots of details, but details don't cover flaws in the structure. So definitely keep working on the anatomy. Bodybuilding magazines are a good reference for sketches.

[Killer_gym_sox]

i have a big fat book from some college called Anatomy for the Artist. I think ill study it and practice drawing the bodies in there.. Sigh i dunno. Its really depressing to know that ive put every day into studies for drawing (no joke) and i still think im terrible..... I know i can learn. but its not going as fast as i want it to..

[Saturn Lad]

I think many will agree that one of the best books for the figure artist is "Figure Drawing For All Its Worth" by Andrew Loomis. While getting an original copy can be a challenge, you can get a PDF copy from http://www.saveloomis.org and I highly recommend it. Really. As in, why are you still here?! Go get it now!!

[Killer_gym_sox]

heh im still here cause i aint got the money

[xadrian]

If you're just doing sketches to start, ditch the clothes. They'll eventually become a crutch and you'll start using boots to hide feet and shirts to hide arms and torso, etc. Learn the figure, then learn clothing, then learn guns and cars, then learn building, etc. But since these are just sketches, do some nudes (you can leave the naughty bits off and not worry about posting) but get a feel for motion and foreshortening and how each muscle group works. If you know all the muscle groups empirically that's great, but you'll learn a lot more if you know how they work together. After you feel you could draw a figure in any position anyone mentions from any point of view, then start adding clothing. And do some normal clothes, tee-shirts, jeans, skirts, heavy coats, ball caps. Figure out how they lay across or impede the body. You don't need anatomy books for this, you could just pick up Vanity Fair and draw those figures. They'll help with clothing, body posture and centers of gravity and faces.

In your pic specifically I think most of it has been mentioned except the face. It's a small head so it's hard to get the right lines, but always remember, less is more. The more dashes and hatches and lines you add to a face, they older and more worn they are. If that's your meaning, than go for it, but in the case here I'd have left off the forehead wrinkles, lessened the jaw line, and cleaned up the brow between the eyes. Maybe even left the lids off. The closer you get, yeah put those back on. From this distance they are distracting and make the face look like a pissed off skull.

And don't worry about style too much. That hair is very DBZ but if you're trying to get better, draw hair how it really is first, then exaggerate it.

And if you can't afford an anatomy book, wait a few months until summer and go draw people in the park. Clothing is less and their relative activity will force you to draw fast and only what's important.

Good luck and keep posting!

[Saturn Lad]

The PDF download is free. At least until somebody takes it down for violating some copyright laws. But since the book is out of print and hard to get, I'd take advantage of the opportunity to get it free.

[Tory]

After looking at your pic I think that you'd really benefit just drawing from magazine pictures. What i do is take out a mag like sports illustarted and but it side by side with my anatomy book. I'll draw from the magazine and compare it to the diagrams, i think it helps to kinda get the feeling of real muscel interaction and placement, not just drawings and diagrams from a book.

[Killer_gym_sox]

thanks guys. I think ill try what your talking about xadrian. Im going to start from scratch. I think i get too eager to finish something that my practices arent good enuf practices. Ill do body sketches and stuff.. Ill tone down on the lines and detail till after the lineart is done. Thanks a bunch. I printed out important parts to all of your suggestions. Ill practice on your suggestions. thanks again

[Killer_gym_sox]

saturn i dun understand the whole pdf thing. I clicked on it and nothing happened. The html is a zip file but you have to be a member of gamespy.. =\

[Saturn Lad]

Originally posted by Killer_gym_sox
saturn i dun understand the whole pdf thing. I clicked on it and nothing happened. The html is a zip file but you have to be a member of gamespy.. =\

Yeah, forget about the zip file unless you want to sign up for gamespy. To download the PDF file, right click on the link and choose "Save Target As". That will bring up a dialogue box asking you for a place on your hard drive to save the file. It's pretty big, 25MB actually.

Or, you could try this link: http://www.fineart.sk/page_01.htm

They have the individual pages as GIF images that you can download as you need them, instead of the whole thing in one shot.

[xadrian]

anytime.

[Killer_gym_sox]

Originally posted by Saturn Lad
Yeah, forget about the zip file unless you want to sign up for gamespy. To download the PDF file, right click on the link and choose "Save Target As". That will bring up a dialogue box asking you for a place on your hard drive to save the file. It's pretty big, 25MB actually.

Or, you could try this link: http://www.fineart.sk/page_01.htm

They have the individual pages as GIF images that you can download as you need them, instead of the whole thing in one shot.

thanks

[Killer_gym_sox]

heh thanks there saturn i finally got it downloaded.. daaang lots of pics. I guess just open them ONE BY ONE in photoshop and print up the important ones?

[Saturn Lad]

That's a good idea, just print the ones you need as you're working on them. I haven't tried printing them out myself, usually I just sit in front of the computer and draw on a lapboard when I'm using a digital photo or computer image for reference. Keep posting your work so we can see your progress.

[Killer_gym_sox]

ya i got 40 sheets of 9X12 bristol just for scanning my drawings. Oh hey.. do you by any chance have any pages to recommend looking at?

[Saturn Lad]

I'd just go through them in order, maybe skim through them as best you can to get an overview of the book. If you don't have an image browser to quickly view the images without having to open them into Photoshop, you can download free ones that will do the job. Try IrfanView (http://www.irfanview.com/). Pages 26 and 27 are good to draw from just to get the proportions down. There's also a mannequin frame on page 40 that's useful to understand. Then 44 shows how to put some basic musculature on the mannequin. It's a pretty amazing book, just absorb what you can and don't go too fast. By that I mean make sure you understand why you're supposed to draw something a particular way before moving on to the next stage.

[Killer_gym_sox]

wow thanks again!