Hey guys, just today I decided I might get back into a bit of drawing, but I've always just been the doodling, quick anime sketches type but today was my first attempt at a real life drawing. Most of you might be able to notice that it's an attempt at drawing Amy Lee but it didn't turn out looking like her at all so now I just think of it as a person :P So what do you think?
What bits look good?
Which bits look bad?
Tips?
Advice? (on improvements or anything really!)

Thanks, I'd really appreciate it.

Especially from those who are very experienced at drawing, and even if you're not please feel free to post, thank you :)

http://au.geocities.com/do_your_thing7/drawing.jpg

Just to let you know, this post belongs here. (http://evboard.com/forumdisplay.php?f=105)


And about your drawing... It really needs more shading. Look at the picture you drew it from, and I'm sure you'll see lots of shadows, and darker and lighter areas. Get a blending stump. The hair looks nice, but not finished. Her right arm looks a bit...distorted? Trying going more by what you seen in the picture (assuming you used one?)

Its actually pretty good, we did life drawing for 2 weeks and I was pretty crap.

Well here's my second attempt at real life drawing.. I think this one turned out a bit better..

Sorry if I had posted this thread in the wrong forum before but I think it's in the correct one now..

Thanks guys if you respond, it would be really great and helpful :)

And how do you make smudging less of a problem?? (I swear I put fingerprints all over the face when I was done and then I had to rub them out and left white square blocks everywhere so then to make it appear more natrual I had to erase a few features and then redraw them but they ended up looking crapper than before :( )

http://au.geocities.com/do_your_thing7/drawing2.jpg
^second pic

I quite like them, and Apryl already told some advice I wanted to give you, but there is some more. If you don't mind :D

1. Don't smudge with your fingers to make shadows. That's pretty nasty, at least that's what I think. Try to let the pencil make the shadows, and practice a little with it. You can draw little stripes together (light and apart from each other for light shadows, dark and close to each other for darker shadows) or you can use the side part of the pencil. Just practice ;)
2. If you draw people, look as closely at details as possible. If you know how parts of faces are built up, you know how to draw them right, and what shape they need.
This is not just with bodyparts, also with expressions. Look what it is that 'makes' the expression on the face. Sometimes it's the cheek, sometimes it's the eyes, it could be anything.
3. If you don't like the drawing, and you think something's wrong, then leave it somewhere, like in the drawer of your desk or something. Do something else for a while, and then go back to your drawing. Then you have 'fresh' eyes that see what's actually wrong. Remember: people you show the drawings to have never seen the drawing before in their lives.

I hope this helped. And I would love to see the development in the drawings :)

Shari

Some good advice there from Shari!!
The second one you did.. the face, it's very different in contrast and texture (wrong word I know, can't think of the right one lol) to the rest of the picture. You should try to make it a little more even. What penicils are you using? You should try to get pencils of a different range instead of just HB if you don't already.

=)

Thanks guys for all the great advice :)
I think I'm going to try draw smaller objects like maybe focusing on eyes or hands or something so i can practice those shading techniques and really get used to the whole shading deal without smudging

Take care always and again, I really do appreciate it :)
Thank you!

i suck at realism. that is pretty good, btu the eyes need some work and the nose looks off a bit

Well here's my second attempt at real life drawing.. I think this one turned out a bit better..

Sorry if I had posted this thread in the wrong forum before but I think it's in the correct one now..

Thanks guys if you respond, it would be really great and helpful :)

And how do you make smudging less of a problem?? (I swear I put fingerprints all over the face when I was done and then I had to rub them out and left white square blocks everywhere so then to make it appear more natrual I had to erase a few features and then redraw them but they ended up looking crapper than before :( )

http://au.geocities.com/do_your_thing7/drawing2.jpg
^second pic
that one is better :D