First attempt at drawing real people - 15-30 minute sketches

[ZonariAn]

So I was bored yesterday and produced 4 quick sketches. I had never attempted to draw a real live person before. The first two were drawn in real-time.

The very first of the collection was a quick profile I tried of my boyfriend as he was watching TV. This one took about 15-20 minutes.
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/4824/vhyleprofile62109.th.jpg (http://img193.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vhyleprofile62109.jpg)
The second was a drawing I did of him while he was drawing. This one took about 30 minutes. I LOLed when i really looked at it because his head looks HUGE.
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/6801/vhyledrawing62109.th.jpg (http://img38.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vhyledrawing62109.jpg)

The third I drew based off of a photograph that I took yesterday, just to draw. I'll link the original photo...I didn't do that well but I know if I keep doing stuff like this, I'll get better.

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/505/vhyle62109.th.jpg (http://img31.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vhyle62109.jpg)

Original:
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/7346/s6302514.th.jpg (http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=s6302514.jpg)

And the fourth and final is a drawing I did of a photograph I had of my boyfriend's very squinty, very red eye. Hmmm....

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/6379/vhyleeye62109.th.jpg (http://img30.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vhyleeye62109.jpg)

I know I need a TON of practice...but for very first attempts, I hope I did well.

EDIT: Sorry about the huge picture size...didn't realize how big they were.

[SizzlingNickel]

Sell your drawings to pay for your DUI.

[Pencil]

I'm pretty sure those aren't your first attempts.

[Lag]

I'm pretty sure those aren't your first attempts.

Which isn't a bad thing, they're still good drawings.

[ZonariAn]

I'm pretty sure those aren't your first attempts.

Actually, yes. They are.

I don't draw regularly the last time I drew anything was 2 years ago and it was an Anime-style character.

So truly first try at drawing something like this.

[SizzlingNickel]

No but really, drawing is a big hobby of mine and that being said i really like your shading and the fact that you drew those in less than a couple of hours is just Amazing!!

[Narutoluvr]

Decent drawings, I'd say. However, your boyfriend looks like a Wiccan loving queer bitch.

[ZonariAn]

Decent drawings, I'd say. However, your boyfriend looks like a Wiccan loving queer bitch.

Wow, fuck you.

[ZonariAn]

No but really, drawing is a big hobby of mine and that being said i really like your shading and the fact that you drew those in less than a couple of hours is just Amazing!!

You like the shading? I didn't think I did it very accurately or very well at all. Thank you! :dance:

[Xantii]

I love the the shading too! Fucking amazing, less than an hour? You've got talent. ;)

[The_Solipsist]

Watch your proportions, and some more line variety would help.

[Narutoluvr]

Wow, fuck you.

I said your drawings were decent! :wail:

[laugh]

If thats your first attempt then your already matching my sister's ability, and she's been taking school art classes and taking a summer course somewhere for afew years.
I love the shading also.

[ZonariAn]

I said your drawings were decent! :wail:

Get out of here you fucking Naruto fanboy. You can't say something nice and then turn around and bash the one I love, and expect me to be nice to you.

[ZonariAn]

Watch your proportions, and some more line variety would help.

Yeah I already knew on a few of those my proportions were off, and I will definitely work on them. I appreciated the constructive criticism. Thanks guys.

As for the one of him in the chair, his head is way too big and his foot is too small. I drew that one in real time so during the course of 30 minutes or so, he did move around a little. The one of the face, he came out with way too skinny of a head and eyes that are much larger than that in the photo.

[Ziggy St. Valentine]

I'm no expert on drawing by any means, but these are pretty good, just work on your proportions like everyone is saying. The shading is excellent.

[MusicalIdiot]

I have to disagree with the shading; while the sketches are better than average, they do not hold enough contrast to be particularly interesting. Usually with life drawing you'll want to use a complete range from black to white rather than just shades of gray so that it has a realistic depth (thus making it more interesting). Consider using paper than isn't white to make it easier.

Also avoid smudging (at least with pencil since it's so light) because it's a lazy technique that really only flattens your picture.

Proportions tend to work themselves out with time, so don't worry too much about that. Good start though.

[Poopymo]

Draw me.

[hollywood_maggot]

Gotta admit, for a first attempt they're fucking incredible. I mean, they're not brilliant drawings without that background info, but you'll get alot better very quickly I'd warrant.

[ZonariAn]

Thanks guys. Yeah I don't know how I'm going to achieve pure black shading without anything other than my normal #2 pencil.

[exetra]

You posted these in chronological order, right? It's like I can see improvement from top to bottom and the very bottom one is rather good. The eyebrow ridge, selion and nose bridge needed to be more defined but you put plenty of effort into the actual eyebrow hairs. Looking at the lashes from left to right they look awesome, then rather messy around the eye and then a little bit rushed into the left. In fact I'd say the right side of the eye has more realistic depth than anything in any of the other drawings.

Solipsist and MusicalIdiot said pretty much everything else I had in mind. Have you got a good range of soft pencils? I took an interest in sketching a few years ago and got a good set which went from HB all the way to 9B and it really helped getting the full range of shades to look good.

[ZonariAn]

You posted these in chronological order, right? It's like I can see improvement from top to bottom and the very bottom one is rather good. The eyebrow ridge, selion and nose bridge needed to be more defined but you put plenty of effort into the actual eyebrow hairs. Looking at the lashes from left to right they look awesome, then rather messy around the eye and then a little bit rushed into the left. In fact I'd say the right side of the eye has more realistic depth than anything in any of the other drawings.

Solipsist and MusicalIdiot said pretty much everything else I had in mind. Have you got a good range of soft pencils? I took an interest in sketching a few years ago and got a good set which went from HB all the way to 9B and it really helped getting the full range of shades to look good.


Yes, they are in chronological order. And nope I only have just a plain old number 2 pencil. No fancy drawing pencils yet. I will definitely be pursuing this as a more serious endeavor. I plan to hit an art supply store sometime soon.

[ZonariAn]

I attempted another sketch. This one took me longer because I tried to focus more on detail and proportions (although I really screwed up the hand...I've always been bad at hands.) I'm a little irritated that most of my shading was lost in the scanning process. I'll have to figure out more about my scanner and hopefully next time it will look better.

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/5738/vhyle62309.th.jpg (http://img197.imageshack.us/i/vhyle62309.jpg/)

[exetra]

It might be the scanner but the figure seems to blend into the couch... not really enough contrast in the image. The lines are mostly good though.

Just a heads up: it's better to have one thread for all your sketches rather than lots of threads for single pieces. It's easier to track your improvement and it doesn't clutter the board.

[The_Solipsist]

Looks rushed. Watch your shading, particularly the hatching you are doing. Also, the hands wouldn't have been a problem if you had not made the shading so damned dark. The details of the couch seemed particularly off place, really taking away a lot from the sketch. Otherwise, you capture the main details well, but you still have some proportion problems and can't quite capture the real details yet.

I suggest looking at and sketching pictures of people in different positions and, with you eyes, measuring the size of their hands to their arms to their shoulders to their torsos, and then to their heads and their legs and etc, etc, until you get a feel for how each part corresponds with each other. Also, take time to lightly draw a sort of grid or just the basic shapes, circles, squares, etc., of objects and compare the size of them to the parts already drawn so its easier to keep proportions equal.

Keep working at it, you are getting pretty good.

[Mustache]

That's really good. I like all the detail. This is my favorite.

[DubiousCrow]

The couch is nice but what the fuck is he doing? Scratching his nuts?

USER WAS PERMABANNED FOR THIS POST. (http://forums.explosm.net/eventlog.php)
Reason: dubiuscrow

[ZonariAn]

It might be the scanner but the figure seems to blend into the couch... not really enough contrast in the image. The lines are mostly good though.

Just a heads up: it's better to have one thread for all your sketches rather than lots of threads for single pieces. It's easier to track your improvement and it doesn't clutter the board.

Yeah, sorry about that, I'll make sure to do that from now on. The scanner does completely screw up the contrast and I already repaired it a little in photoshop, but alot of it was a total loss.

Looks rushed. Watch your shading, particularly the hatching you are doing. Also, the hands wouldn't have been a problem if you had not made the shading so damned dark. The details of the couch seemed particularly off place, really taking away a lot from the sketch. Otherwise, you capture the main details well, but you still have some proportion problems and can't quite capture the real details yet.

I suggest looking at and sketching pictures of people in different positions and, with you eyes, measuring the size of their hands to their arms to their shoulders to their torsos, and then to their heads and their legs and etc, etc, until you get a feel for how each part corresponds with each other. Also, take time to lightly draw a sort of grid or just the basic shapes, circles, squares, etc., of objects and compare the size of them to the parts already drawn so its easier to keep proportions equal.

Keep working at it, you are getting pretty good.

Well with this sketch I was looking at a person, that sketch was done live. It did get rushed towards the end because my boyfriend really wanted to move, and I was starting to get tired of drawing the couch. I guess I'm just a tad lazy when it comes to details... I know I need to work on slowing down and just take my time with the drawings. Its hard for me to draw a grid and start from scratch when all of these sketches were done based off of looking at someone.

[ZonariAn]

The couch is nice but what the fuck is he doing? Scratching his nuts?

Haha no his hand was really resting there but the way I drew it makes it look like he's grabbing his bulge or something. I swear IRL it was not that way.

[Frobes]

The only thing I see is that his head seems bigger than normal heads.

[ZonariAn]

The only thing I see is that his head seems bigger than normal heads.

If you'd really like to know, he does have a slightly larger-than-normal head in real life. :P

[Dauntasa]

Is he scratching his balls? 'Cause it looks it he is.

EDIT: Ah, Okay, he isn't. But his hand looks really weird if that isn't what he's doing.

[Godly]

It seems to me that part of the hand problem starts with his fore arm. It's too curved, it doesn't have a realistic look and if your fore arm is coming in at the wrong angle then it would be hard to get the hand right as well.

It's not that bad though, it could use some finer attention to detail and just generally more practice, but I'd say you are alright at this art thing.

[Godly]

You won't need an amazing assortment of pencils mind you, just a couple different densities. 2H through to 2B should do you fine, also a good eraser, pencil sharpener(I can't stand drawing with even a slightly dull pencil, I find the lines just don't look as well as they could)(Personally I use a mechanical pencil for a lot of things, it always has the same dimension and you don't have to worry about it giving different results) and you should be able to work better with shading and contrast in lines.
Basically most people have said what needs to be said, aka, you have a good basic knowledge and you can apply it well. Shading is descent, proportions are a bit off and you could do with more clarity/detail.
In a nutshell, draw more often and keep going at it.

Also, does your boyfriend own a shirt?...

[lazerwaffle]

You won't need an amazing assortment of pencils mind you, just a couple different densities. 2H through to 2B should do you fine, also a good eraser, pencil sharpener(I can't stand drawing with even a slightly dull pencil, I find the lines just don't look as well as they could)(Personally I use a mechanical pencil for a lot of things, it always has the same dimension and you don't have to worry about it giving different results) and you should be able to work better with shading and contrast in lines.
Basically most people have said what needs to be said, aka, you have a good basic knowledge and you can apply it well. Shading is descent, proportions are a bit off and you could do with more clarity/detail.
In a nutshell, draw more often and keep going at it.

Also, does your boyfriend own a shirt?...
I spy a collar in the first drawing.

[ZonariAn]

I spy a collar in the first drawing.

Hah yeah but for those two days I did the drawings, it's been 100 degrees outside and our AC is low on freon -_-

[John Travolta]

Get out of here you fucking Naruto fanboy. You can't say something nice and then turn around and bash the one I love, and expect me to be nice to you.

You're a fucking bitch.

[ZonariAn]

You're a fucking bitch.

For what? Standing up for my relationship? Whatever.

[John Travolta]

On an internet forum where people are dicks for no reason. Not the best medium for showing loyalty or compassion, stupid.

[ZonariAn]

On an internet forum where people are dicks for no reason. Not the best medium for showing loyalty or compassion, stupid.

What do you mean I'm a bitch? You're a total dick for coming in here randomly just to call me a bitch. Eat it.

[exetra]

You're a total dick for coming in here randomly just to call me a bitch..

On an internet forum where people are dicks for no reason. Roll with the punches.

[Poopymo]

This has happened to you in 4 threads, get the fucking message people don't give a shit about your feelings and will be dicks for no reason.

[WoeStorm]

Yeah JT's right, but those sketches are pretty good too.

[DuboobiousCow]

Your boyfriend looks like a bitch, bitch. Still, the shading on the couch is nice. Why didn't you include his mantastic pimple?

[SlantedSkarekrow]

the drawing aren't bad. Make sure to, if your not already, use a skeleton first so that the proportions are all marked out, then come in for the kill. If your having too much trouble try some still lives first then come back to people. Work on hands, and I wouldn't feel bad if it takes a while to get good at a lot of people have trouble with hands, you should practice drawing your hand in all types of different positions, and sometimes holding things, it helps. great drawings, and try not to take random dickery personal it's internet peoples way of feeling clever.

[Phetis]

Hey guys, you know whats serious business that we should care about?
People on the internet and their opinions.

[The_Solipsist]

Hey guys, you know whats serious business that we should care about?
People on the internet and their opinions.

Hey guys, you know who really fucking sucks?

This guy.