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[Rose]

That's a rather well done hand, actually, though the thumb looks a little off.

Also I like your handwriting.

[Vector]

Thanks.  I'm not sure if the weird thumb was a product of my drawing, or of my weird generally-too-small hands, but I'll be more attentive in the future.

[Rose]

Probably a better idea to wait for critique from people that actually know how to draw, though.

[lordnincompoop]

*shrug*

Okie-doke.  Here's my hand.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Much better, and I'm happy you're trying. Drawing hands is good. Lots of people do it.

It seems you're got a good grasp of form (better than many). There is still the issue of showing depth and volume - though you've done some of that with the shadow on the middle finger, sleeve and the base of the thumb, everything still looks rather flat. There's a lot more variation in tone and light than that - a lot of it is subtle. Try to get those in there, and exaggerate if you have to - it's a great exercise.

Additionally, it's a good idea to try to look at many hands, and try to simplify those shapes into a usable pattern - almost every artist I've seen has a different way of constructing hands, but this is a good example of one artist's method, as well as a few pointers on posing.

[Vector]

Alrighty.  I'll try for another hand today or tomorrow, focusing on non-layered shadowing techniques.  Most of the practice I did while learning cartooning was on strict form and flattening unnecessary details (ever tried putting your drawings into ink, and then drawing the same thing multiple times per page, for 20-30 pages, while trying to smoothly tell a story?  One tends to give up on certain things quite quickly), so my skills do have holes round about the "smooth light" area.

[Duke 2.0]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Two hour speed charcoal self-portrait done for my drawing 1 class final, taken via digital camera in unideal lighting conditions because I honestly have no other methods of digitizing it.

There are a million and a half problems I am constantly beating myself over and no real way of knowing how to deal with them. Whenever I go practice things just sorta turn out different. It's like a completely different person drawing when I practice at home and in class. I should probably upload my doodles, because they are the reason I'm so frustrated with this skill. I can't doodle. I can't sketch i can't practice.

I really need advice on how to get the right mindset for making this stuff work.

[Patchouli]

There are a million and a half problems I am constantly beating myself over and no real way of knowing how to deal with them. Whenever I go practice things just sorta turn out different. It's like a completely different person drawing when I practice at home and in class. I should probably upload my doodles, because they are the reason I'm so frustrated with this skill. I can't doodle. I can't sketch i can't practice.

I really need advice on how to get the right mindset for making this stuff work.

I'm not trained in art or anything and I'm not very good, so my opinion might not mean much - but lot of times, it's just a change in your environment that sort of messes you up. It could be things as simple as your posture when drawing at home, the lighting in your house, or even just listening to music at home if you don't listen to music at school. I think one of the bigger things is that I tend to get distracted when trying to practice at home, and I don't really get into the zone.

Whatever it is, I pretty much just try to keep practicing at home and muscle through it, hoping that I eventually get into it.

It blows drawing crappy sketches one after another, so something that helps me a lot is having some pages from CGTalk or ConceptArt open, as well as having artbooks and stuff laying around my working area. I find it easy to get back into the groove if you have a lot on inspiration laying around.

Also, we all have off days sometimes, so if you can't get into it, a break might be worth taking.

On the reverse side, even if you don't feel like drawing a full-blown picture, it might be worth doing tiny stupid sketches or figures that "don't really matter" while stuff is loading on the computer or something, since you might find that you do want to make a full picture after all.

[Muffindog]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

For some reason, you look very Italian (with a bit of Johnny Depp) to me.
Perhaps it's not the environment per se, but your teacher/mentor. Perhaps you work better guides you and points out the flaws so you can improve them. Perhaps doodling and practicing with someone could help with the problem?
Also upload your sketches and doodles, they're always more interesting than formal works to me. They have more character. And if they actually are the root of your problems, maybe someone here will figure out how to solve them.

Here are some of mine pictures. The first one is from umm... three years ago. Drawn with charcoal and a reference for art class. It was rather brilliant and both the teacher and my classmates were impressed. Even I was surprised by what I've done. But now, I see that I made quite a mistake. All the things I found difficult to draw I just hid behind the hair - ears, face proportions, most part of the nose, even the mouth behind the hands... Without drawing things I don't like to draw I'll never improve.
The second one is just a sketch of a female figure. I'm pleased with the body and clothes, but I messed up the face badly. The model had a mean, bitchy expression so I tried to make it more innocent and messed things up.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Please go ahead, Lordnincompoop, shatter my hopes and dreams

[mendonca]

I drew another spaceship for a little game mod I am working on:

[Monkeyfacedprickleback]

That's a spaceship? Hmm. I like how the design appears to be completely unaerodynamic.  It looks more like a birds eye view of a building then the traditional Seaship or plane shape that's more common but that's good since if a spaceship was built in zero-g and was never intended to go into areas affected by gravity it wouldn't need to be aerodynamic or anything. (like if it was built in a orbiting shipyard/spacestation.)

[Askot Bokbondeler]

aerodynamics has nothing to do with gravity, it relates to air resistance

[lordnincompoop]

I hope you like the advice here, because I wasted far too much productive time on this.

Two hour speed charcoal self-portrait done for my drawing 1 class final, taken via digital camera in unideal lighting conditions because I honestly have no other methods of digitizing it.

There are a million and a half problems I am constantly beating myself over and no real way of knowing how to deal with them. Whenever I go practice things just sorta turn out different. It's like a completely different person drawing when I practice at home and in class. I should probably upload my doodles, because they are the reason I'm so frustrated with this skill. I can't doodle. I can't sketch i can't practice.

I really need advice on how to get the right mindset for making this stuff work.

You're probably not around to listen to this, but I'm going to tell you anyway because it'll be useful for other people too.

Good eye detail is paramount for a picture to have "soul". Notice how your drawing's eyes are matte and your pupils are pinpoints. Now, look at a real eye:



A few things you'll notice:

• The sclera does lot look pure white. This is because the eyeball is a sphere, and should be modelled as such.
• The eye has a slight specularity to it. The visibility of this varies in different lighting conditions, but the property will always be present. Always keep this in mind.
• The iris is not matte - in fact, it is full of fascinating detail. You do not have to model this precisely, but trying to do so the first few tries is a good exercise, after which you can try to apply your own artistic intuition.
• The pupil is never, ever pinpoint unless you're staring into a lightbulb that is a hand's width from your eye (don't do this).

Besides this main flaw, there are also a few others that degrade the quality of the picture:

Don't make artificial outlines on shapes. In fact, never make outlines on shapes, because almost all outlines are artificial. For examples, look on the sides of the nose and on the bottom edge of the hair (that is outlined against the forehead). These outlines never exist, and should never be drawn (unless you're doing shitty cartoons like a douche). Here's a good example with a similar face:



Note how none of these outlines are present on the face. The sides of the nose are darker because the planes than make up the sides are tilted away from the light. The edges of the forehead are in fact lighter because the hair starts to thin out there.

Besides those, the background is sloppy.

There are your three points to work on, and they should be explained enough for you (and others) to understand.

Please go ahead, Lordnincompoop, shatter my hopes and dreams

Alright, I'll make this one blunter for you, but please, don't be discouraged.

Here are some of mine pictures. The first one is from umm... three years ago. Drawn with charcoal and a reference for art class. It was rather brilliant and both the teacher and my classmates were impressed.

No, it isn't. Classmates are terrible judges of taste (unless you're in art school funded entirely by scholarships), and your teacher was secretly underwhelmed.

Rembrandt was brilliant. Frida Kahlo was brilliant (and completely self-taught). Renoir was brilliant. Caspar Friedrich was brilliant. Hell, even Adolf Hitler was pretty fucking great.

Michaelangelo (who is also brilliant) painted this at age 16. You are now 18; compare and contrast.

You are not brilliant. To be brilliant, to be amazing, is to be at their level. You are not even very good. You are half-decent, perhaps passable, and that is that.

Don't mistake this for arrogance. I am a terrible artist, I pale in the presence of any professional, and many artists in this forum dwarf my abilities (I'm not even commission-worthy, unlike Fault _{^{(though that's got to do with some other issues too)}}; I'd get laughed at if I tried). I have to cope with that fact every time I do "art".

Learn to be humble. See your art, and who you are, as it truly is, instead of through rose-tinted glasses. And once you see this, you'll want to improve even more.

By the way, I want you to take all of your tortillons (that's those little paper rolls you rub all over your drawing to fuck it up and very occassionally "smooth out") and burn them. If you used your fingers, I want you to slice them off with a rusty pair of scissors and use your asscheeks for drawing from here on out.

But now, I see that I made quite a mistake. All the things I found difficult to draw I just hid behind the hair - ears, face proportions, most part of the nose, even the mouth behind the hands... Without drawing things I don't like to draw I'll never improve.

You have taken your first steps toward a good ethic. You must face your problems instead of avoiding them; this goes for any pursuit you undertake, and for life in general.

The second one is just a sketch of a female figure. I'm pleased with the body and clothes, but I messed up the face badly. The model had a mean, bitchy expression so I tried to make it more innocent and messed things up.

Stop. Drop that stylus immediately. Trash the tablet. It's good of you to use models, but you are learning two very bad habits for you at this stage:

• Sitting in front of the computer instead of out in the world, where real art and the best learning is done.
• Using unnecessary tools.

Leave digital art behind, get a sketchbook and a 2B, 4B and 6B pencil, exit your apartment/house, and start sketching everything you see. I mean everything. You need to get to the basics first.

What you need to learn:

• Shading. Do some of these, then start drawing from life.
• Stop drawing symbols. This was described earlier in the thread. Go find it.

I drew another spaceship for a little game mod I am working on:

I agree with the monkey that it looks more like a building than it does a spaceship.

Spaceships may not need aerodynamics, but it's a good design aesthetic to make things than move often (such as spaceships) look like they move often (i.e. sleek).

That's a spaceship? Hmm. I like how the design appears to be completely unaerodynamic.  It looks more like a birds eye view of a building then the traditional Seaship or plane shape that's more common but that's good since if a spaceship was built in zero-g and was never intended to go into areas affected by gravity it wouldn't need to be aerodynamic or anything. (like if it was built in a orbiting shipyard/spacestation.)

Aerodynamics requires air to be present to be applicable. There is no air in a vacuum. Space is a vacuum.

Thus, there are no aerodynamics in space. And because there are no aerodynamics in space, there is no need for ships to be aerodynamic.

[freeformschooler]

I've got some questions. It's frigid cold outside so I'm not doing much outside drawing and instead doing indoor objects. I really need to be drawing from life in general more. Anyway, could anyone recommend me some exercises for hand-eye coordination? Is there even such a thing outside of just "practice"? Hand-eye coordination has always been one of my weakest points, so it's something I'd like to improve on a bit more smoothly than my current rate if possible.

[mendonca]

Spaceships may not need aerodynamics, but it's a good design aesthetic to make things than move often (such as spaceships) look like they move often (i.e. sleek).

This isn't the 1950s, man. It's the ... 20050s?

I went entirely for function over form in the design (a trait shared by the rest of the fleet), deliberately avoiding going for the classic pointy space ship, as it doesn't necessarily make any sense, as pointed out. So that's cool. Perhaps I should have called it a 'spacebuilding' instead ...

If you want to know why the armour only protects it from attacks in one plane, while existing in a limitless vacuum, I can't answer that. Luckily the space game is only in 2d, so I don't have to worry about unseen, high intensity plasma strikes coming from 700km above the craft.

[Rose]

While it's true you don't need to worry about aerodynamics, you do still have to worry about inertia, so even if you don't make it pointy, it would still be a good idea to make it mostly straight.