inside a 14 year old's sketchbook (thunderobot's gallery)

[Thunderobot]

note-if this is your first time viewing this thread go to the end of this page,or the next page.The first few sketches i posted on here are not up to par with my current stuff.

I always love these daily sketch threads and i could use help with some of my drawings.Im only 14 so yeah my drawings arent great but having my own sketch thread allow's me to get help withough having to start a thread everytime i could use a critique.

Ill start with a picture i made yesterday.Plese look at my deviant art gallery here as well http://thunderrobot.deviantart.com/ and yes i did just get new inking pen's

also please comment on any of my drawings i post on here.i like crit's and compliments. :D

edit-YAY! im a senior member!

[Thunderobot]

:D I just finished this sketch.His name is dirk and he is robbing a bank.Ill color him soon.

[kdiddy13]

Cool. I like that you're already developing a style. Have you checked out Glenn Vilppu's drawing pages?

http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=Columns&column=vilppu&offset=20

I've sent you to the third page. Start at the bottom and start working backwards. I'd love to see your style in some more dynamic and "solid" poses. Take it slow. Try not to go faster than a week per working on a tutorial (idealy much slower, but I remember being 14). These tutorials are great for helping with proportions and mass.

Keep it up! I'm looking forward to seeing more.

.

[blinkmetoys]

hey thunderbolt.

those are pretty funny. I like the first one. and as kdiddy mentioned, you do have your own style just by looking at these 2 things.

you asked for some crits so, ill give you some. Hands. Your hands are a bit funky. It fits the style you have, but they are just a bit....weird. I suggest sketching some of your own hands over and over in different poses. That really helped me out. Once you have a good grasp of the basic shapes in hands your own stylistic hands will be more effective.

Your dude with the pistol. Aside from being off-balance and a bit stiff its pretty cool for a cartooney guy. Some hand work is needed there though. This one really made me make the hand comment above. And his arm closest to us is a bit long for his body. He actually has an extra muscle group in there. Like some armpit muscle.

And just a basic kinda thing. i think you may draw by using outlines. What you want to do is plot in the basic forms then go over that in detail. heres a sketch I did of what i mean.
http://blinkmetoys.com/gallery/albums/sketches/dogCompare.gif
keep that in mind when working on hands. working on everything. see how the one on the left is just basic shapes worked on the line of action? then on the right its shown with the outline can be made easily around that.

everything is made up of basic shapes. Work on the outlines after.

just some things to think about.

keep up the work man. practice practice practice. thats all it takes.

p.s. i saw your little animation for your dads birthday earlier this week when i looked at your deviant art place. it was awesome.

[Thunderobot]

kdiddy-no i havent but i will be happy to check out the link.Thanks a ton :D

blinkmetoys-thanks for the compliments.Yeah everyone seems to dislike my hands lol but that drawing my own hands idea sounds usefull Ill work on it.Yeah i was well aware of the extra long hand lol.I wanted a huge arm and i thought having an extra muscle made the arm bigger.I can see how you were bothered by that.

Ill admit that i have been using outlines.Most of the sketches i make i draw like 3 times before they are finished. i make a little sketch on paper that is rough but has qualities i like and then i draw it again with more detail(via a lightable so i maintain the exact proportions)and then i usually end up drawing it once more.Its a habit iv gotten but i think you have hit on something i need to work on. :D

thanks a ton all your crit's were very good ill work on them all. :D

[Thunderobot]

http://img351.imageshack.us/img351/4692/devid16fm.th.png (http://img351.imageshack.us/my.php?image=devid16fm.png)

here is the colored version of the i just got new inking pen's sketch.

and i attached a finished piece i did late last week. :D

[Thunderobot]

Here's two frame's from a cartoon im working on for my uncle.
Its in pencil and not final so i wont be like this in the cartoon lol.

[Thunderobot]

i watched some clone high yesterday and then i drew this nose and for some reason it looked like an honest abe kinda nose so i drew aberham lincon lol. :D

[blinkmetoys]

haha. thats cool. But for some reason it looks more like a leprechaun to me.

before i read you mentioned it was abe, thats what i thought it was anyway.

[Bandita]

Cool stuff!! When I was 14 (and thats not toooo long ago) I hardly sketched. So keep on working, I'm looking forward to see more!!

[Thunderobot]

a rough frame from my uncles animation.

and please visit acetate assassin's sketch thread to not only see some awesome sketches but also the killer backgorund he made for me http://forums.awn.com/showthread.php?t=3786

[Thunderobot]

I made this sketch last night.I really love some parts of it but please crit it if you know anything that would improve it.There is something about how his belly/back flows together that seems a bit off.I also think it looks way to spumco-ey(just like my aberham lincon) i think this is because my lines are too thick so i think i will buy a ultra fine flair pen and see if that helps.

[KalEl118]

Here are a few things to start with that might help.

First off, his hand is on backwards. I didn't notice it at first and then now its all i can look at.

Second, and I'm not sure the most appropriate way to word this, but his crotch is higher than his stomach. My eye follows the stomach around the right side of the stomach and then where I would imagine the bottom of it is, that is where the legs should start.

Third, when you get your new pen, just practice with making some lines thicker than others.

Now, I can't tell if you sketched this and then inked it so I'm just going to assume that lines we see are all there is. I don't have any links handy to show you how to do this, but it is important to build your shapes up first and then draw your character. I know that when i was younger, I resisted learning how to flesh out a character before I seriously put down my lines. Now that I'm older I wish I started younger.

Reguardless, i like what you have so far and as long as you keep drawing you will get better. Hope that helps some and keep putting up your new stuff.

KalEl118

[Thunderobot]

Thanks alot for the crits.

1-wow i didnt realize thanks a ton ill work more on this in future sketches.

2.yes you are right it is higher thanks for telling me.

3-I definetly will but i dont want there to be much difference between the thickness of any of the lines because i think mine have too much even now.

4-Im working on sketching first i do find this very hard though as i made faces before i make the body.I usually make a face i like and the make a body for him.I have no plan for the body untill i make the face.Is it alright to sketch a face without(planning) and then sketch the body with(planning)?

Thanks alot KalEl118 i really appreciate it and i will start working on these :D

[blinkmetoys]

ah. so now i know why alot of your stuff is lopsided. You draw the face and then go all liney on the details. When you throw in the basic shapes that will become less and less.

I always start drawings from the head (but i leave it just a circle usually. Then rough in the rest.

Something you can do is you can sketch out different faces and just faces on the page then test out bodies. then once you have the full idea of the character start a new drawing to piece it all together.

everything doesnt need to be created in one drawing.

[Thunderobot]

Thanks alot for those tips blinkmetoys :D I think from now on i will make my heads on a seperate sheet of paper.Today i did do a sketch that was completley (planned out) even the head.I still would like some crit's on it especially regarding the cape he's holding.

[img=http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/5011/scan00164cf.th.jpg] (http://img390.imageshack.us/my.php?image=scan00164cf.jpg)

[blinkmetoys]

the cape is fine. the bottom part works. the folds are alright. they would fade out before reaching the top though.

his hand seems to be on backwards though. You may want to take the pose you put your character in as well. That helps me sometimes. and his fingers are way to long for his hand. his closed hand is a bit, "eh"

work on hands as shapes. the palm is one block. the thumb is another. then the rest of the fingers are 1-3 blocks depending on their spacing. i could do a sketch for you of what i mean if youd like.

Your character isnt as offset as the others this time! Your guys always have great cartooney faces.

i can tell you are workin man. All drawing takes is practice. It helps to draw from real life before creating your own things from your head. In one class we had to keep a sketchbook. The rule was they had to be referenced from something (real life, or an existing drawing). all i did was look at reference material of video game characters (mario, link, samus) and just drew them how i saw them on the page. It really helped me. Some of them have become more of my succesfull drawings.

[Thunderobot]

blinkmetoys-yeah i know the hands are a little long but are you sure there backwards? i looked at the pic again to make sure but i truly dont think they are backwards.Thanks for the tip on the cape.Ill work on the hands some more.I really appreciate the compliments on my cartoony faces. :D .

Ok and now for the best part today i made this sketch http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/23328275/

PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK IT REALLY WOULD MEAN ALOT!!!!!!!!!!




and thanks everyone for the crit's you all have helped me become a better drawer.

[kdiddy13]

Sorry, but backwards. Although you're most recent drawing has one correct and one incorrect (the thumbs are on different sides for each hand). Hold your arm up with you palm facing out (like your cape character's). Is your thumb towards your head or away from it? This is where animators become actors.

Many really good animators will typically act out what they want their character to do before they start drawing (Pixar and ILM, for instance, both have/had acting classes periodically for their animators). It gives you some idea of which way things bend and limbs relate to each other. It's the same reason that many working in animating faces have mirrors at their desk (that and to comb their hair).

[Thunderobot]

dang yes you are right.

my dad moved while i was drawing him so its not %100 accurate.Ill really try to pay more attention to detail.

thanks alot for pointing those out.

[kdiddy13]

No problem. I'm glad you find them constructive and helpful. That says a lot about your personal character. You'll defintely go much further much faster with a good attitude like you have. :D

[Thunderobot]

kdiddy-thanks :D

after a few days(and alot of scanning/coloring/etc... problems)i have my first finished frame for my uncles animation.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/23346251/

plese look and tell me what you think.

[Thunderobot]

I did a drawing of quisp today.Iv always loved jay wards characters design and quisp is no exception.Plus after i did a realistic drawing like the one of my dad i felt i should do something realy cartoony. :) ill be sure to color this soon.

and yes this was a planned drawing i started with basic shapes first and then got more detailed as i went on.

[blinkmetoys]

awesome.

and i noticed just one little thing i wanted to comment on. On his arms sleeve. It would of worked just to make the line one continuous line. You see how it is one line then there is kind of an overlapping of another line?

simpler is always better, especially in cartoon characters. Just a little comment and something to keep in mind.

[Thunderobot]

i colored him http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/23383715/

and thanks for the tip ill try to work on that :D

[pascal]

Hey Thunderobot!!!

This is actually the first time i see this thread!
Nice sketches!
keep it up.
I do that as well... my "sketch of the day".
it's VERY useful for so many reasons.
You're doing great!!


P.

[Thunderobot]

why thank you pascal it really means alot coming from you :D

i made this sketch today http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/23401578/

[Thunderobot]

new drawing- http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/23503125/

p.s.johnnybuddahfist on dev art is acetate assassin on this forum. :D

[Thunderobot]

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/23746515/

new picture visit the link on top to see it full size. :D


ohh and as with all my drawing please give me crits.

[Thunderobot]

i made my own cat lol

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/23817839/ -click here to see him full size.

[blinkmetoys]

i like those last 2.

On the bear one though, the axe. it doesnt come to a point dude! Oh and lower hand, the left one. He would TOTALLY have to bend his writs upsidown to have that hand holding it from underneath like the top hand. The lower hand would be grasping it the the back of the hand facing forward. So his knuckles would be pointing upwards.

cool characters though.

[Thunderobot]

lol you are right on both accounts.

you know it might be a mistake but i actually like the axe not coming to a point its kinda unique lol.

but yeah thanks ill work on it. :D

man i gotta stop making errors like this. :(

[Thunderobot]

lol can a memeber start two of these sketch threads?

its just embarassing i mean look at the first post's in this forum and then look at the last ones.BIG DIFFRENCE!

i feel ashamed :( lol :D :confused:

[brien]

i like the bear and the cat. haha, the cat looks so sad. one think you might want to work on is the cats cheeks. it looks a little too busy at the frayed edges. maybe try using thinner, varied lines, or clumping some of the hairs together. and also practicing different line weights throughout all your drawings can make them stronger. just a suggestion.

[Thunderobot]

:D thanks for the tips.

i wanted a shaggy face for the cat so i kinda made the cheeks messy for a reason.If i had the regular cat cheeks i would have been called a slyvestor the cat copier. lol. but i do see your point maybe the next cat i will make will have ''regular'' cheeks.thaaks for the tip :D

I use a papermate flair pen so i can get thick and medium lines however its really hard to get thin lines so the cheeks look even messy-er due to that.Im looking into buying a thin flair pen (its like $7 a pen).

thnaks alot brian i appreciate it :D

[L_Finston]

I use a papermate flair pen so i can get thick and medium lines however its really hard to get thin lines so the cheeks look even messy-er due to that.Im looking into buying a thin flair pen (its like $7 a pen).


You might want to think about using technical pens. There are various brands, one calls them isographs, one calls them rapidographs, and there might be others. These are pens with needle-like metal tips with specific dimensions, .1mm, .25mm, .5mm, .7mm, 1mm, and perhaps others. I mostly use .5mm. They cost more than $7 per pen, I'm afraid, but they're refillable. Generally speaking, the color of the ink is more intense than what you get from a marker.

I often use them to draw over the lines of my pencil drawings before I erase the pencil marks. Then I use drawing ink with a brush or a nib. Technical pen ink looks pretty good, but it's no comparison to drawing ink. I find that technical pens are not really suited to sketching.

They're rather sensitive, so it's best not to carry them around with you. They don't like this, and react by leaking ink all over your hands and your possessions.

Laurence Finston

[Ontaious]

I use Faber-Castell Pitt artist pens. They also come in different sizes, but I generally only use the Brush pen. Its tip acts like a brush in that its very flexable so that you can get different line weights within a single stroke. Its kinda odd to work with at first but after some practice you really pick it up.

On the other hand, I'd also say try using an real brush and ink well. I was amazed at how easy it was control when I tried it. And the line variations you can get are wonderful. Plus, it last longer than the Pitt Pen. For the brushes, try to find a Kolinsky Hair brush (its not the brand, just the type of hairs). They may cost about $14, but if kept well will last you a very long time.

[Bandita]

lol can a memeber start two of these sketch threads?

its just embarassing i mean look at the first post's in this forum and then look at the last ones.BIG DIFFRENCE!

i feel ashamed :( lol :D :confused:

Even I feel so, when I look at the stuff I did a year ago. But don't worry, it's good to compare your work and it's fascinating how you get better and better. So keep on listening to advices and keep on working and practicing and you'll see a mind-blowing improvment.
You're on the right track by posting your stuff here, and everyone recognizes your improvement!!

[Stoo-art]

Alrighty . I envy you, lol, im fourteen too :D n ur sketches are great. How long you been sketchin for ?

[Thunderobot]

lol i started drawing(for real) about 9 months ago.I was tons worse then and im not great now but thanks alot for the compliments.

pm me and ill show you some of the first drawings i made about 9 months ago. :D

can i see your sketches?

[Stoo-art]

I dont have any on this computer, im using my brothers , but ill try n put some on soon. :cool:

[Thunderobot]

ok stoo art cant wait to see them. :D

do you have trouble drawing?

do you like your sketches?

[Stoo-art]

what do you mena troouble drawing lol. :) Yeah i like my sketches..sometimes..i drift in and out of styles of drawing.

[Thunderobot]

ohh i dont know i guess are you confident in your drawing skills?

[Stoo-art]

yeh i'm kinda confident.. :)

[Thunderobot]

ok i made this sketch of a turtle.I want to know (before i ink it) if there is anything i can do to improve it?

and does it look too much like the grinch lol? :D

thanks

[L_Finston]

ok i made this sketch of a turtle.I want to know (before i ink it) if there is anything i can do to improve it?


It depends what you want. You may not care about this, but reptiles don't have hair. The best advice I can give you about drawing animals is to go to the zoo and draw real ones --- often.

Laurence Finston

[Thunderobot]

lol well as i recall yertle the turtle had similar hair am i correct?

[L_Finston]

lol well as i recall yertle the turtle had similar hair am i correct?

I don't remember. I'm not trying to tell you what to do. However, adding hair will make it look less like a turtle. I think that knowing what animals really look like will also be helpful to you in drawing cartoony animals, or "funny animals", to use the technical term.

Laurence

[DeadSquid]

say i was looking through these. do you scan them as the size you need them? or resize them when you're done?

just some of the lines look a little jaggy.

[Thunderobot]

ohh good question lol

i re-size the HELL out of my original scans.

for instance the original scan size of that turtle sketch is 15.5 MB and i reduced it to 33.7 KB so it would fit on the page.

so yeah my stuff looks so much better but i have to reduce them to fit on this page.

[DeadSquid]

you scan them in as color or b&w photos?

try scaning them as b&w line drawings or something(don't know about your but that's an option on my scanner).

8.5x11 paper will be somewhere around 2800 pixels wide 3500 something tall. but the file size will only be about 1mb. also you can shave a few hundred pixels off. i usually go to 2100 wide and 2800-something tall(can't remember for sure it's automatic). That will get you just under 1mb.

Just save it as a .gif file.

Be prepared when you open it the image will be HUGE! just zoom out and get to work.....now one word of caution if your pc isn't strong enough when you go to full color things may get really slow.(i had to use a crappy pc for a looooong time). in that case MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE MAGIC WAND AND SELECTION TOOLS.

I use paintshop(don't care for photoshop). and the way it works is, say you go to fill an arm with a color. well the program takes into account the entire image, even though you're just filling a section of it. so if your pc isn't the best. select the area with the magic wand. then the program only pays attention to the selected area. and the fills will go smoothly.

Also be prepared that when you go full color the file size will be aroud 15-17mb. also any layers you add will be the same. so adding layers, no matter how little may be there the file size will still grow by about 15mb per layer.(on a BAD pc that can kill if you add one by accident)

Now with the pitfalls of a bad pc out of the way.

once you're all done with your image and it's all colored and prettied up. Then you resize it to what you need.

now while you're working on it your lines will still be rough. but vastly smoother than if you scan it in at a smaller size. remember the more pixels you have the smoother your lines will be.

now when you resize your image this is when your lines will get pretty....now paint shop has a "smart size" that i go with. i don't really under stand the bi-liner or bi-cubic options. There is also another option "pixel resize". if you choose "pixel resize" your image will look exactly the same small as it did large.

what makes your lines nice and smooth is "anti-aliasing". (with paintshop "smart size" does that). Anti-aliasing is basically the addition of gradually lightened(or blended) pixels on either side of your lines. or where one color meets another.

say you anti-alias a black outline. well at normal viewing it will look like a smooth black line. but if you zoom in you'll see pixels of various shades of gray along the black.

this is what makes your lines nice and smooth. and will move your work up another notch. =)

[Thunderobot]

Thanks for the tips :D

i dont know how to anti-alias with the gimp though :(

[Thunderobot]

finally i have a new drawing

Its a re-design of a character my uncle made(and the star of my next animation).

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/24441244/

[Thunderobot]

here is a sketch i did with my sisters new prisma colors.

[Thunderobot]

a boxer sketch i did with my sisters prismacolors.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/24620572/

[DeadSquid]

what's the gimp?

know anyone that can hook you up with paintshop or photoshop?(though honestly i hate photoshop)

[Thunderobot]

the gimp is a freeware program thats like photoshop.

and no i dont have or know anyone who has photoshop or paintshop.(though i think i will get a tablet around christmas and i think it comes with photoshop elements.) :D

[blinkmetoys]

i messed around with photoshop elements the other day actually (i never knew what exactly was in it so it was neat finding out). I think youl like it, it is pretty good too. it has a lot of photoshop...elements! imagine that. haha.

[DeadSquid]

i reckon elemenst might be able to do what you need. i couldn't even figure out how to make my image color......so i ain't never trying photoshop again. paintshop seems a lot more user friendly.

but you can't argue with free.

[Thunderobot]

http://www.blogger.com/r?http://www.katienice.homestead.com -I recently discovered Kaite Rice.I really love her woman and i certainly want to take a few aspects from them and combine it with my current style.This sketch was just a quick attempt at immitating her style.

tell me what you think?

[Thunderobot]

ok i changed the girl a little and then collored her with prismacolors. :D

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/24990762/

[Bandita]

ok i changed the girl a little and then collored her with prismacolors. :D

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/24990762/

Yeah, I like it very much, you can really see an improvement from your sketch to the final version.
By the way, I also recently discovered an illustrator who gives me much inspiration for drawing women...
anothoer style, but her drawings are more than amazing!!!

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=11/3111723039.jpg&s=x11

[Thunderobot]

thanks for the link :D i like her woman but they are a little realistic for me.They are really nice though and they have great proportions.

Thanks for the comment on my drawing as well.

[DeadSquid]

well, practicing even a wee bit of basica anatomy can do wonders for your art.

[Ant-eater]

I like Katie Rice's work. A great place to start for inspiration. If you want a crit, I would say work on your line quality. This is a tough one. Pretty much everyone when they're around your age has a bit of an uncertain quiver in their line. Some self-taught artists never quite get rid of it. I found what helped me a lot was drawing on an easel in life drawing classes. That helps you learn to draw from the shoulder through your whole arm, rather than just the wrist. When I look at your lines, they're a bit feathery and laboured. It looks like you're putting down a new line every few millimeters. It takes a lot of effort to draw this way. You wind up making a lot more decisions.

If you use a quicker looser line, you wind up simplifying the amount of decisions you make in your drawing. You wind up going swiftly from one key point to the next, rather than dragging the line along, not really sure where you're taking it. I know there is always the fear that you will lose control and the line will go wonky. Look at it this way. It's a quicker way to draw. In the journey from amateur to competent artist, there are thousands of bad drawings that need to be made before they start gettin good. A looser approach will get you through these faster.

Incidently I just looked through the thread, and it seems your older sketches have more sharper, more confident lines. I don't know if this is due to the medium you are using, but I think it may be that since you've started getting more into character construction, working on the form more you get the habit of putting down lines that aren't all necessary. This is a good thing, to a point, since focusing strictly on clean outlines can lead to ignoring the underlying problems in the shape and form.

Anyway, it's always a tough balance between all the various principles that make up a good drawing, so I'll leave it there. I like the general direction you're heading in, and I think you've got some good ideas in your designs. Th the steady effort you've been making is impressive. Keep that up and you'll go far.

[Thunderobot]

deadsquid -ohh im not against doing a few realistic drawings I ment more that im just not a huge fan of realistic drawings(as a fan not as an artist).

ant-eater-Thanks alot for the tips :D .Yes i really need to work on my inking hopefully if i take some of your advice ill get better.I think my older drawings may look better because i used to not take up my entire paper.I would use maybe an 8th of the paper and now i use as much paper as i can.I think if you only are inking an 8th of a piece of paper your lines are closer together and are easyer to ink.

Again thanks so much for the tip's. :D

[Thunderobot]

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/25365226/

[DeadSquid]

seems your coloring is coming along. now what i'd like to see from you is a lot more full body pics/designs.

[Ant-eater]

Some nice choices overall. I think the colour scheme works quite well, even if you were not happy with it. He really looks sad, nothing ambiguous about that. As someone else has said he looks like he's just lost his job. I'll bet you were really feeling the emotion as you drew.

If I were to focus on one criticism, I would say put a little more thought into the construction. The general eye shapes are a little awkward, and this winds up distorting the shape of the bridge of the nose. That's the bit between the eyes. Many cartoonists leave this out or reduce it, because it can get in the way of the eyes, but if you look closely at the eye shapes they use, they often hint at it's form.

In fact getting away from construction, it's well worth studying how different artists handle eyes. On the most basic simplified level you can get a lot out of very simple shapes for many different expressions. The classic upturned U shape for example makes a good starting point for happy eyes.

[Thunderobot]

Dead Squid-thanks,I generally dont like full body shots because i have nothing for my characters to do unless im making an animation.Most poses to me seem akward and the fact that i cant make backgrounds only worsens the situation.I want to make backgrounds but i dont see me making them without a tablet.Any suggestions on body shots?

Ant-eater-thanks,lol to be honest i cant understand what you just said.I actually made the nose before i made the eyes so if the nose looks distorted to you it was purposley distorted.

[Ant-eater]

To clarify: the nose goes all the way from the tip up to the eyebrows. The bridge of the nose is the part from the eyebrows between the eyes. If you wear glasses, they rest on the bridge. In other words, there is nothing wrong with the nose you have drawn, just the empty shape above it where in real life we have a bridge.

Many cartoonists just draw the end of the nose, and either leave the bridge out or reduce it. You have left the bridge out. This is a perfectly okay thing to do, but when there is a wide gap between the eyes, you can't draw lines that overlap where the bridge would be. To give you an idea of what your drawing looks like to me, look at the area between the eyes in your drawing, and try to visualise what the bridge would look like if it were there. To me it looks kind of swollen and distorted.

[Thunderobot]

ok now i get it.I guess you are right but i generally dont like drawing bridges because it limits the kinds of noses you can draw and thats one of my favorite things to draw..

[brien]

thats a pretty cool drawing. good emotion, and your line quality is definatly improving. i would have to agree with anteater about the nose, though. it ruins the construction of that part of the drawing.

i also agree with deadsquid about the full body drawings. its not just about emotion within the face, but throughout the whole body, and i think it would be good for you to practice that. and you said that they come out awkward, well then keep practicing! heh, shouldnt just avoid it all together.

anyways, your doing good, i definatly see the progression in your drawings. keep it up!

[Thunderobot]

thats a pretty cool drawing. good emotion, and your line quality is definatly improving. i would have to agree with anteater about the nose, though. it ruins the construction of that part of the drawing.

i also agree with deadsquid about the full body drawings. its not just about emotion within the face, but throughout the whole body, and i think it would be good for you to practice that. and you said that they come out awkward, well then keep practicing! heh, shouldnt just avoid it all together.

anyways, your doing good, i definatly see the progression in your drawings. keep it up!

thanks Brien

Ill try to do more body shots,any casual pose ref's you can show me?

[DOOM2099]

HAHAHA I wish I had the intertron when I was growing up.

[Thunderobot]

Heres my current work in progress.I think its fairly close to being finished except for the hand(which needs ALOT of work).

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/9105/a2jscan4ec.jpg

[blinkmetoys]

maybe shorten the extended arm a bit too.

nice progresss.

[Thunderobot]

ohh yeah thats what i ment by ''the hand needs alot of work'' I just wasnt thinking and should have said arm instead of hand.(my brain dont work good some time) :D

[Ant-eater]

You've come on a bit with this one. The face feels like there's more structure to it.

The biggest problem here is the outstretched arm and hand (I think you know this). If you are having difficulty with hands (I often do), what you can do is try to find a good hand model sheet. I had a photocopy of the one from Preston Blair's book stuck on my wall for years. Bit by bit it will sink in, and if you're really stuck, you can sometimes just copy them straight off.

[Thunderobot]

thanks ant eater that sounds like a great idea. :D

I actually took a picture of myself in this pose so im using that as a guide.Yesterday i fixed the hand and i will post the picture again once its finished. :D

[bupaje]

Hey Thuderobot. Just wanted to give you a quick thumbs up. I can see the faces of your imagesare becoming more and more expressive each time. Keep it up. :)

[DeadSquid]

sorry i been away.

the only way to get better at full body shots is to draw them. even if there's not much for the character to do. even if you just sketch them in basic poses.

same with backgrounds. you don't need a tablet. just sketch a simple scene. maybe a clearing in a forest, some trees, maybe a stump, bushes. backgrounds won't just happen for you. you have to practice them. having a tablet won't make you a better artist. drawing and drawing and drawing does that.

and making sure to practice your perspective. because sometimes no matter how hard you try, you have to use it.

[DeadSquid]

oh and real quick. hands are a tricky thing. really fun once you start gettig the hang of them though. heck even if you draw them in a very simple manner it can still be tough getting them to look just right. but keep at it an' you'll get there!

[Thunderobot]

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/7755/a2jscan00015fy.th.jpg (http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=a2jscan00015fy.jpg)

some sketches just to show you that im alive and well. :D

[Thunderobot]

trace of my favorite sketch from my head sketches onto tablet-http://img418.imageshack.us/img418/833/fin2dq.png

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE THIS TABLET!!!!! (i cant belive it was only $70)

[blinkmetoys]

just a little note:

if you work on your brush strokes and how you make them you can have gaps in your color fill and it still will look nice.

That space dude just looks a little messy to me, thats all. I know you just got the tablet and want to mess around with it, learn its ins and outs, im in the same boat....and you said it was a "color test" keyword test i recon, but just thought id throw that out there.

But i really like how that other one turned out. try do do some shading and highlights on it, its fun with a tablet.

[Thunderobot]

ohh about those.I kinda like the look of having little spots without color in my drawings.The color test went a little too far but having a little bit of that makes my drawings remind me more of cel's. :D

[blinkmetoys]

yah, but im just sayin it looks kinda messy. you can still do that but make it look more natural.

////////////

rather than /--\\//\/)_-/\\\/]-

[brien]

yea i would have to agree with blinkmetoys about the coloring. but it looks like your getting better so keep at it.. and im glad to hear you got a tablet.

[Thunderobot]

I agree with blinkmetoys too lol :D I do like a little bit of imperfections in my coloring though.That was just a test(that went too far)

anyway heres my best tablet drawing so far.Its a fanart-http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/6356/howbeatnikbearsactwhentheyfind.png

[Thunderobot]

i made this for a contest,the theme was ''somewhere out there''-http://img416.imageshack.us/img416/7021/somehwereoutthere5gx.png

[Thunderobot]

First try at a detailed background-

http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/1043/goinghikinginthecountry7sh.png

[blinkmetoys]

haha, your background piece's most interesting aspect is the character. a character which i like by the way. the tree tops and clouds are handled quite nicely though

The colors are way to strong though, for that stuff being off in the distance. Colors fade as they go farther back. This is also a tip for your other colored works. All your colors are pretty much the same value, makes all the stuff compete.

I suggest when trying a background work on just a background. just the scene. Dont be afraid to look at a reference picture and copy it.

keep it up.

[pcdoctor]

ok i made this sketch of a turtle.I want to know (before i ink it) if there is anything i can do to improve it?

and does it look too much like the grinch lol? :D

thanks

This does look like the Grinch.
You should create a cartoon with this or something.

[Thunderobot]

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/343/2354/1600/deviant%20art.0.jpg

sketches of my favorite original character -red headed stepchild.

[Thunderobot]

Huge Update!!!!!!

I entered these into a draw a caricature of angelina Jolie contest on John K's Blog http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/ .I didnt win,but i was good enough to be a runner up.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/343/2354/1600/caricature___Angelina_Jolie_by_Thunderrobot.jpg

This last Angelina was made after the contest was over.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/343/2354/320/utyu.jpg

[Thunderobot]

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/343/2354/1600/a2j_scan0001.jpg

quick sketches of several oriental women.

[Thunderobot]

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/343/2354/1600/faces.jpg

a few charicatures -Lindsay Lohan,Alyson Hannigan,and two characters from Ghost World.

[Thunderobot]

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/343/2354/1600/scan.png

some more sketches of red headed stepchild.

[Thunderobot]

Sometimes i listen to an album and for every song i do a drawing untill the song ends,I call it song sketch.This was my second try at it.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/343/2354/1600/Song%20Sketch%202%20Todd%20Snider%20East%20Nashvil le%20Skyline.jpg

[Thunderobot]

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/343/2354/320/weird%20al.jpg

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/343/2354/320/evil.jpg

two more poeple from Ghost World

[Thunderobot]

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/343/2354/1600/fdgdgd.jpg

a sketch i made for my freind seren :D

[Thunderobot]

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/343/2354/1600/Thug_sketches_by_Thunderrobot.jpg

a thug character

[Thunderobot]

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/343/2354/1600/Song%20Sketch%201%20Clem%20Snide%20The%

my first song sketch.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/343/2354/1600/the%20aftermath.jpg

drawings based on that song ksetch.

[sajdera]

I recognized your Angelina Jolie before I read the accompanying text.

If you're in the mood for some seriously awesome celebrity characture sketches, check out John Kricfalusi's blog:

JOHN K! (http://www.johnkstuff.blogspot.com/)

[Thunderobot]

actually that anglina,was for a contest on John K's Blog.:D


There is a post with the winners of the contest,and if you look at that you should see my angelina as a runner up.:D

[Thunderobot]

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/343/2354/1600/The%20Tender%20Trap.jpg

you will note- ITS CONSTRUCTED!!!!!! :D