Need to move to the next level

DavePhipps

As some of you know I just got back into 2D and 3D art last July. I've had much improvement since then but frankly every drawing I do looks very amateurish.
Critiques, suggestions, advice, and or links to tutorials are appreciated.

Here's where I'm at right now. It's a bit embarrassing to post this stuff, but I need the feedback.

PyrZern

I'm not very good at it either, but for the first 2 images; what I think is that you might want to think of the form of the person under the armor too. Where's his shoulders, where're the ribcage , where's the waist line. In which direction is his upper body facing actually. And so on. Then you can draw armors on top of his figure.

For 3rd picture, hmm, study what eyes look like ?

sipher3325

Well I would say take some figure drawing classes and maybe even some color theory. If you can't then search youtube for "FDZSCHOOL" and "My Drawing Tutorial". Learn the basics of form and function of the human body and go from there. I would avoid trying to create something out of thin air until you have a firm grasp of the basics because everything will probably be off. Also, don't just watch the videos. Follow along and do exactly what they day either on paper or photoshop. Learn the basics, use reference, and practice practice practice.

DavePhipps

Sorry, I don't think I was being specific enough. Even though Sipher is heading in the right direction. I'm needing direction in the way of color and realistic shading. Yes I know the forms are off on these, and none are close to what I would call a finished piece That's why there no eyes on #3, and no hands on #1, and #1 is supposed to be a robot/cyborg thing.

I can copy pictures and do studies but nothing has a finished feel.
Here's an example of one of my better studies and you can see what I mean.


I've been experimenting with hard brushes, soft brushes, but I can't seem to make the jump to what feels like a finished piece.

I will be taking classes for figure drawing, and color theory, but those are a few semesters away. I would truly like to get a better grasp on things before I start the courses.

katana

"I'm needing direction in the way of color and realistic shading."

The two things you describe are worlds apart. Start with values ( scales of grey) and how they describe a surface.

If you can show how a surface is in grey, color will be much easier since you are working digitally.

Also working digitally is not traditional. Working with a pencil is not the same as a graphics tablet and technology won't get you to where you want to be faster than working on a sketchbook everyday.

It takes years to understand the basics and train your hand to do what your brain sees.

As for your approach...here's a suggestion.

Take a ball, put it under a light and take some time to really observe how that light moves around the spherical shape into shadow (and reflective light)

create a grey scale....light to dark (6 steps should be enough)

Try to replicate what your seeing in value.

Value Steps

Ball Shading

move on to other geometric shapes, then combine them....eventually you'll see what has to happen on the forms.

As for color, I suggest looking at "The Interaction of Color" by Josef Albers. It is a small book that describes what happens when our eye perceives different colors (of different values).

Also it is necessary to have an understanding as to what Hue, Value and saturation are, but as I said earlier, Value and color are two different animals entirely.

Don't be too concerned about improving rapidly, this is a pitfall, as improvement in every craft (concepts, modeling, animating...etc.) can't easily be measured from piece to piece....where you will see it dramatically is when you compare a piece you did say a year or two (or three) ago to what you are doing now.

Just practice, learn and have fun.

Good luck.

artquest

I think before you even think about shading and color, you've gotta hit the perspective drawing hardcore. Look into industrial design and feng zhu design cinema, grab a book or the new gnomon dvds on perspective and rock out. When you can do sick sketches with a deep understanding of perspective the shading almost happens on it's own. From there move on to color theory. There's no shortcut for this kind of stuff, you've gotta start at the beginning.

Check out Daniel Dociu's stuff (He studied industrial design and architecture along side art). Imho nothing beats learning industrial design when it comes to our industry.