Errol's sketchbook [images added 5/2/11]

[Errol McGillivray]

The Martian

Mhm... I havn't thought about the redline.

Flipped image: the problem seems to be more apparent

Redlined. Hope I didn't ruin anything. I removed the tail junction cause it made it hard to see.

OKAY now I see what you mean.

Her weight is supported by the hip that is to the further from the viewer. Stand with your feet staggered (one more ahead of the other) with a little space between them, but not much. When you put your weight on that standing leg, the hip of the resting leg drops a little lower than the standing leg. You're squaring her hips forward when they aren't. (That's why for the life of me I had no idea where you were getting that from. What you did pretty much took all the motion and life out of the drawing. (Which is what I had done with my first attempt.)

I love redlines. Can't confuse those.  

[Mogtoats]

So I guess it's all a question of personal preference?  

[Errol McGillivray]

The Martian

So I guess it's all a question of personal preference?

Yes and no. There are certain things that will happen with mechanics and then there's how much I push things to get my point across. It's very very rare that I will have something squared or flat on rather than having some turning. Mostly because the body turns on its own and also flat and square are synonyms for boring.  

[Viceregal]

Why do your skill level seem to vary so much from drawing to drawing?

In some of your work the outline of the bodies seem very confident and the anatomy is spot-on, almost photographic, yet the faces, accessories and clothing look like they were drawn by someone else entirely.  

[Errol McGillivray]

Arezou - The Dream Walker

Why do your skill level seem to vary so much from drawing to drawing?

In some of your work the outline of the bodies seem very confident and the anatomy is spot-on, almost photographic, yet the faces, accessories and clothing look like they were drawn by someone else entirely.

That's a difficult question to answer. Let's just say that I know things, but it's difficult to execute. Sometimes, I can do a damn fine job and sometimes I can't. A lot of it has to do with my confidence while I work. For example, here's the progression of the picture I posted last.
doodle
Sometime the next day
The last one was done while watching a video of a comic penciler explain as he draws a picture his process and little things he does. The guy is amazing, but doubts himself a bit and I thought, hey, if he can do it I can do it. And I drew something while I listened to him talk. I then went over it with pen/marker.

I think a lot of what my lines look like have to do with what I know (I know little about clothes, but I know some things about anatomy and a lot about mechanics/body language from my experience with animation/illustration). I think most of it really is based on how I'm feeling when I draw.

I have a lot of trouble drawing faces, hands, feet, and clothing and such. I did take figure drawing, but not clothed figure drawing, and I haven't done anything with heads or hands yet. I keep saying that I'll do studies, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. After some time well invested, I hope to close that gap in some areas of quality. (Also, you can't put the photoshop stuff with the pencils. I am horrible with trying to draw in that program.)  

[Viceregal]

Well that makes a lot of sense.
Since you do have bodies down, maybe it would be helpful to do more excersizes involving the areas you have trouble in.
One is to draw your hand or parts of your hand in 20 different poses.
You could draw portraits (starting at the head and going down to the bust line) to get a better feel for faces.

Clothes...oh man I still have trouble with that. I mean...the wrinkles in the cloth? The only time I can get it right it to look realistic is when I am using a photoreference. But learning how cloth and leather drapes over shapes can be very helpful. There are tutorials about that in DA.  

[Errol McGillivray]

I have been saying that I will do studies, but I'm a tool and have yet to do them. Haha. I may or may not go back to school in the fall, so it's possible that I'll take a real anatomy class.

If anything, I just need time to get my mind off everything else and draw. I learned some nice tricks to help that too like just scribbling for a hundred pages to loosen up. (Waste of paper, but oh well.)

Someone also suggested just looking at hair magazines and drawing heads. I think I'll do that too.  

[Anpu the black Seraph]

I love the doodle you did/ the drawing while watching the video of the penciler. The pose and body langauage is amazing. As well as her form. I can see as you have said, that your not big on drawing hands. The head doesn't look too bad though. The proportions and curves are done very well and I can't wait to see the finished piece.

Hairstyle magazines really are a good way to practice faces and hair. It's an exercise I'm using myself.  

[Mogtoats]

Mhm... I like the doodle better than the next day drawing.
That's the sketch of the drawing you posted last time right?  

[Errol McGillivray]

The Martian

Mhm... I like the doodle better than the next day drawing.
That's the sketch of the drawing you posted last time right?

That's why that one wasn't posted. I hated it.  

[Errol McGillivray]

7/14
Freebies done during the gaia ball. OMG Errol tried color. whee









I can't change these really. I do see that I have some issues, so if you could mention something that's consistently not working in the lot of them, rather than an individual one, that'd be great. Keep in mind, the lines are very sketchy. They took 30 minutes a piece. I had no intention of cleaning the lines to final lineart. Thanks!  

[Anpu the black Seraph]

I really don't have anything to criticize about your last post. I love your use of color and each character seems to have its own life. I especially enjoyed the second and third characters. They just seemed to pop more to me. Of course they all pop really. I can't believe they each only took you thirty minutes each. It takes me forever. Great job.  

[Errol McGillivray]

To be honest, I'm really slow too. What a friend of mine does in 20 minutes, it takes me 2 hours to do.

Don't worry about how long it takes. You get faster as you learn. Time spent on studies really does show when you're doing your drawings and things go faster because you know what happens.

I'm not really good with color or lighting, so I guess I'm trying to lease my way into it. I didn't do anything with blending, but I got some really amazing advice from out guildmates and when I'm a bit more confident, I'll be posting some attempts at real lighting.  

[Mogtoats]

Maybe use coloured light? And colder/warmer colours to represent shadow/highlights, not just colour+black/colour+white.

Cute stuff. :3  

[Errol McGillivray]

I played with color. Still have no idea what I'm doing.