Show Us Your Progress!
https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtFundamentals/comments/3etybp/show_us_your_progress/
2015-07-27 23:14
Uncomfortable
Today we hit a bit of a personal milestone. Almost a year ago - on August 16th 2014 to be precise - I opened this subreddit. Before then, I was mostly active on /r/DigitalPainting. It was there that I got used to critiquing peoples' work, doing paint-overs and drawing attention to the need to step back and practice the foundational drawing skills.
Today, after less than a year, we've been able to grow even larger than the subreddit that got me into all of this critiquing business, with 11,668 subscribers. Not a whole lot as far as reddit goes, but for such a niche subreddit, it's a pretty big deal to me.
Anyway, I just finished doing today's critiques - 13 of them, with lots of great work in there - and it got me thinking. I hear a lot of people talk about how they've benefited from the lessons and exercises here, I think it'd be great to see that growth.
So, if you feel up to it, I'd like you guys to post artwork done before joining us here, and artwork you've done recently. It's totally fine if you haven't completed all of the lessons (no one has actually finished them all, and most people have only done the first few). I'd just really love to see what kind of an impact is being made.
tonehammer
2015-07-28 14:47
Earlier: http://imgur.com/uwKDZYk
Ok, gotta be completely honest: the first image is just one of the many sketches and imitations of video games I drew when I was around 15-16. I could post more, but they're mostly shit imitations of Warcraft III characters and such. Then, at high school, I took a massive hiatus from drawing to pursue music (unrelated, but worst life decision ever); so at 22, I decided to get back to something that the younger, pre-complicated-existential-problems me liked to do, which is drawing.
The second secret is that this sub was just one of the sources I used, but these lessons were absolutely invaluable in helping spark my decrepit imagination once again. In fact, they were the ones that made me go "well, here are the utmost basics, can't go any easier than this, no excuses anymore".
Thank you, Uncomfortable, personally, for all the effort and trouble you suffer to help out random lost would-be artists of the online world. :)
Angela_Merkel69
2015-07-28 19:13
Awesome progress man :)
What were some of the other sources you used?
[deleted]
2015-07-28 15:16
Here's some of my old drawings. Keep in mind that I thought these were some of my best at the time. I probably kept 1/15 of my drawings because the rest were shit: http://imgur.com/a/OLxBp
Here's some of my newer stuff where I tried to intergate what I've learned in these lessons into them, but even so, these are a couple of months old: http://imgur.com/a/8dTz5
Lemina
2015-07-28 16:33
Wow, I'm not a professional or anything, but that looks like a lot of improvement to me!
[deleted]
2015-07-28 17:01
Thanks! It's honestly just playing with forms. I've found that I'm decent at extracting proportions and making weird shapes, faces, bodies etc. On the other hand I have problems keeping proportions in check and drawing realistically.
Uncomfortable
2015-07-28 20:06
Definitely seeing a greater consideration for form and volume! Keep it up.
[deleted]
2015-07-28 15:27
I have to finish lesson 1 soon :( I'm going way too slow with it, but I have a lot of other stuff I'm trying to learn at the same time. But I went from zero understanding of perspective to a shaky basic one even from doing most of lesson 1.
ajmandourah
2015-07-29 01:41
I dunno if digital painting counts as an improvement but i was struggling at forms at first - to be honest i still do but i feel im better than before
Before http://ajmandourah.deviantart.com/art/Adventure-445619741
After http://ajmandourah.deviantart.com/art/Mountain-Landscape-546290360
jaimeiniesta
2015-08-01 10:23
Well, I didn't draw much before this course, so all I can show you by now is my current exercises. I'm collecting my favorites on my deviantArt gallery, I'm specially proud of this colored goldfish.
eifer
2015-08-01 19:56
I literally just started yesterday. I probably haven't drawn a picture in over a decade. Hopefully I'll have something in the near future!
YT_kevfactor
2015-08-06 06:55
i just found this place. might look into it more but i think for now i just need motivation to actually draw. that's why i've been doing sketch daily
month of sketches think i've made progress for me. some days are just sort of meh lol. i've had low end art classes(figure drawing the best one) but i'm striving to learn more of the struto get better. which is why i'm looking into some of the theories and stuff:)
Uncomfortable
2015-08-06 12:55
This post was intended to show how people improved after studying the lessons I post here, but it's always nice to see people progressing in their own way. That said, I definitely think you've got a lot to gain from following the lessons here. Establishing a solid understanding of how to capture the illusion of form is a great way to push your art to the next level.
victoriarosie
2015-08-07 07:05
So I haven't been drawing all that long, in fact, I found this subreddit only a few months after wanting to take art seriously. Before that I drew maybe a couple times a year. So it's safe to say I've been doing it for a year give or take a few months.
I could copy line work exactly if I took enough time, but was not good at translating actual photos into drawings, which is exactly what we're doing with your lessons. I was also absolute rubbish with any digital art and drawing from my mind. While your classes don't emphasize on those, the classes definitely got me to start drawing and I'm improving significantly. So my before photos will have some well drawn stuff specifically because I can copy lines so well, and some grabage from when I was just starting to draw from my mind (which I really wanted to do).
But here is my before, where I was either bad, or copying someone else's art line for line.
And here is more recent stuff of mine. I feel a lot better with digital art, I can draw from my mind and not always cringe at it, and when I do reference work, it's from real photos, I don't copy other people's art any more.
Uncomfortable
2015-08-08 14:47
I'm really glad to see your improvement, and even moreso, the apparent boost to your confidence. You are by quite a stretch our biggest supporter on Patreon, so I'm thrilled that the lessons have helped.
Thank you so much for your contributions, both from me and from everyone who uses these lessons and benefits from my critiques. It's people like you who keep these sorts of things open to everyone.
WolfyMr
2015-08-09 23:50
hi, i like to introduce myself, but i don't want to show my progress since im still in the basics, though, idk, my arm, for some reason, doesn't want to learn the 1st lesson you made.
I mean, i skipped the 1st lesson and started the 2nd one, when i did it, my drawin was far supperior than the practices i made on the 1st lesson, i think it's that, when i learned a new thing, my brain, nor my arm wants to learn that again because it's already on their heads.
Anyway, hopefully i'll have better drawings than the ones i make (which was 2 years of self-practice and 1 year of not drawing btw), just wanted to share what person you're teaching right now.
EDIT: Forgot to add, i'll be using pencil for the entirety of your lessons, reason is that, i live in Brazil, and here, for no reason, they put a ink pen R$ 299.00 (it' about $ 84.7866, if you're from USA), because of that, im triing to do a little trick, i'll be using pencil, but, without an eraser, remember when you told that pencil drawing is more forgiving than ink? That's what im gonna try to do, turn this pencil an Ink pen making myself restricted from using an eraser, futhermore, im drawing on another drawing notebook instead of the one that i draw more serious drawings.
Uncomfortable
2015-08-10 01:01
You are, of course, free to use the lessons however you choose, in whatever order and with whatever tools you'd prefer to use - assuming you don't intend to submit your homework for review and critique. That said, the lessons are organized in this way, and certain tools are recommended, because they are generally far more effective.
The thing you mentioned about the pens being really expensive shocked me, so I went looking for myself - these are the brand I use, and at R$ 74,90, they're still a little pricey, but nowhere near what you were finding. Chances are you were looking at the wrong kind of pen. Standard ballpoint pens, which are acceptable for the first two lessons, are R$ 6,99. They're much better than using pencil.
About the troubles you were experiencing with lesson 1 - drawing from your shoulder is not an easy thing to get used to for anyone, since we're all familiar with using the pen from the wrist when we write. Avoiding it altogether however, is not a good idea. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that you are a special case, that your arm or your brain works differently from others'. If you let yourself believe that, you'll simply use it as an excuse to give in that much more easily, and if you let yourself give up, you won't achieve much.
Anyway, it's up to you. Just remember that if you do want to submit your work for critique (which people have found to be quite helpful), be sure to complete the lessons in order and in full, using the required tools.
VergilSD
2015-08-10 01:32
The problem with the ones you linked is that they are all different sizes(from 0.05 to 0.8mm) and probably have only one 0.5mm.
WolfyMr, I'm from Brazil as well! Nice to see someone else from here trying to learn/improve at drawing :). The site I bought my pens unfortunately don't have any more for sale(bought them for R$11,45 for each pen). I found it for sale here and here as well, but the shipping, at least to where I live, is kinda expensive.
Uncomfortable
2015-08-10 01:41
Yeah, that's definitely troublesome. I think I've only found the pens sold individually when I was studying in Los Angeles. Even here, it's tough to find them outside of the sets. There might be other brands, though.
Just in case, /u/WolfyMr - check out VergilSD's comment (above this one).
WolfyMr
2015-08-10 01:58
hehe, thx for the help guys, i just want to get better because there's a webcomic that i want to begin and it's stuck in my head.
/u/VergilSD thx for those websites, i'll look more in detail
/u/Uncomfortable OMG thx for showing the brand you use, there's a store called Kalunga that's selling for R$47,00 for only 6 of them, thx a lot!!
[deleted]
2015-12-01 17:29
[deleted]
Uncomfortable
2015-07-28 20:00
Yup, there's no cut-off date.
Edit: Except due to unexpected circumstances at work, there's going to be a partial interruption of critiques in August.