Da Vinci study started, and others

Oddmind

Hello everyone. On my next step of anatomy study and muscle structure I figured I would give Da Vinci's sketches a good look over. I've gotten 3 done as of now, and another that was more of a warm up.

I need criticism on these pieces. I was recently told that my work resembled that of a novice or a beginner student to art. I was quite surprised but trust the outsider looking in more than myself, as I am probably filling in holes that I sub consiously know are missing.

I was well aware that I needed some work but apparently alot more is needed that what was previously thought.

what should I make my prime priority? I felt that my methods had failed me and i really don't know what the hell to do with this skill I once called art.

I'm looking at going to art school in 2 or 3 years, i hope I can right any major wrongs by then. I want this so badly, and have for years.

Anyhow heres my recent work, all done in about 30-45 minutes each on 9x6 paper.

I've been drawing seriously for a few years, i showed some "talent" as a child but never took it through.

I guess talent really is a relative statement.

this is the warm up sort of drawing i did








full sizes for the last 3 are here, didnt want to kill 56kers
http://www.oddmind.net/sketches/smallbook2.png
http://www.oddmind.net/sketches/smallbook3.png
http://www.oddmind.net/sketches/smallbook4.png


I've typed enough already, enough hiding behind fancy words I'll let my work speak for itself, muted or not.

Asherr

don't be afraid to put some lead on the paper! and use a sharpened drawing pencil.

right now there is very little weight to any of the drawings. your shading is almost the same shade as the paper. look at the first two drawings. there is little to differentiate the forms of the faces from the white background of the paper. my old art professor used to annoy everyone by saying "don't be afraid to go dark." (which by his standards was grinding a quarter of your pencil into 2square inches of drawing ) but it holds some truth here.

did you use any construction lines or forms to get proper proportions before you started defining the forms?

it's not enought to just copy Da Vinci's works. look at them at try to figure out the hows and whys of what he did. a little of the color theory style of looking at a color like green and seeing the blues and the yellows and various shades therein.

Tulkamir

I agree with what Asherr said, and think that it might be a good idea to study the human face some more. Look into the anatomy and proportions a bit more, right now both of the faces on there are off.

Deffinatly making a good start though.

(Oh, and talent means nothing without hard work and practice behind it)

Oddmind

"(Oh, and talent means nothing without hard work and practice behind it) "

So true.

Agh Asherr you are very right. I'm scared to shade dark, I guess that only means I don't know what the hell I'm doing :P. I also don't know why I'm afraid to do it, I guess I just don't need to care about it and expect to mess up a few hundred drawings.
thank you guys so much for the reply's. Every word means alot.

Ok so contrast and shadows need to be bolder. As well as facial proportions and anatomy.

Old guys are fun but hard to draw. Wrinnkly faces have the Ugly but beautiful effect on me. I'm strange.

Tulkamir

No problem man, and just go quick with your drawings. Obviously you can't do any real life drawing with a model without joining a class, but something you could try would be to just get a whack load of pictures and doing a bunch of short (30 seconds to 2 minutes) poses to get loosened up, then start working your way up in how long you go.

Also, try drawing with a darker pencil (deffinatly nothing harder than 2b). And yea, just don't worry about screwing up a few. It doesn't really matter if you mess up a few drawings along the way.

And yea, old guys can be a challenge. Just about anybody can be. I personally prefer young women though.

Oddmind

Alright that sounds good. these seem to be more ge=uesture drawings from photo ref your describing.


I will most definately start doing this.