Man at Rest, Best pic so far

comments?

try blocking in the overrall picture before going into detail to get the proportions right

good attempt with the shadows, but you are painting the shadows you EXPECT rather than actually looking at the values of light and shadow that you SEE...I can tell this because the shadows do not indicate realistic light source(s)...try squinting or whatever you have to do to get the real values

About the proportions, do you mean to do a light, rough outline of the shapes and then work in from there? I didn't do the shadows until the end, I tried to make them more pronounced but I didn't do it well enough. What gave it away that I didn't block in the overall picture? Just bad proportions? By the way, thanks for commenting, I was waiting for someone to give me some advice. Do you see how much I have improved though? I don't know if you remember my first drawing I posted, it was terrible

I would say you need to think about composition first before you start to draw. If the subject is horozontal as is the couch turn the paper to horozontal format.

I'm not finished with the picture yet, I'm still going to add a foreground, but I see what you mean.

Yes. While it can be an interesting exercise to just start drawing at the most detailed level, it is generally best to block out your picture first by drawing the general outlines...this way you can adjust the outlines until you have proportions correct. In this picture, the head is much too large, and the couch ends are too skinny, and the body is a bit oddly shaped also.



Our eyes don't see shapes, they see light and shadows. Light is bright...so when we draw or paint, we are really only painting the negative light -- the shadows, because whatever medium we're using it's darker than pure white light.

So instead of drawing the shape outlines and then shadowing them, try just drawing the shadows from the start...and skip the outlines..because there is really nothing else to draw!

Now, the problem with your shadows is that they are not consistent...which indicates 2 problems.

1) The scene is not believable

2) It shows you're not drawing light as you see it

You're interpolating where you think there should be shadow...which is ok to do when you get good enough to do it realistically...but you're not there yet. Once you have practiced copying it, perhaps you'll get better and be able to fake it.

I have done a quick paint over to show you an example of a consistent set of shadows. This is more of a lamp-lit scene, I imagine that in your setting light was coming from more sources, but this is just an example.

By the way, when you do start doing your own lighting...your scenes will always look dark if you assume there is only 1 light source. In real life, there are light sources all over the place...because most objects reflect light, and you've got to take tha into consideration unless you want a night scene.





yep



No problem. I do notice that you have put more of a conscious effort into shading, which is good. However, the proportions and the composition might be worse.

i thought it was great it has a surreal quality to it, the one that stuh did looked more realistick, like if the character was falling asleep on the couch with the tv on, lol.....good stuff....

I'm glad you liked it, I'm still learning how to make things look real.

<nodding>

CS - How long did this take you? Are you rushing through the shading?

You should try some cross-hatching to practice your light source perception. You can use anything, really... just throw a few objects together for the composition and voilá! It's easy, fun and it'll look fantastic!

And Pitter has a point. This drawing would've been better if the pad was on the horizontal position. It wouldn't look so crammed.

It took me about three hours, not much to show for all that work either.

Well... I disagree.
Rule # 1 - No self-deprecating.

I have a collage that took me 12 1/2 hrs.
Gosh that's long! And it's just a collage, too. But it really looks like it was time very well spent.

I had a sore back to show for it. My confidence level isn't very high when it comes to artwork, it doesn't mean I'm not going to keep trying to improve, but I certainly can't overrate myself, or I will never improve.