Mr. Manatee

The Manatees tail got cut off in the scan. -_- (I'm too lazy to re-scan.) This was done in mechanical pencil.

A random kid off of Getty Images, I think. Done in "Terro Cotta" Col-erase pencils and ebony pencil.

I need to work on my line quality. The drawing of the boy shows that I have a habit of pressing too hard. (And when you are using ebony, you really don't need to since the lead is so soft.)

I've applied to universities/colleges on the 1st of Feb. The subjects were mainly science, however, I did apply for the Art Fundamentals course at Sheridan. (A 1 year preparatory course that teaches you have to draw and paint before you enter their animation or illustration program. Assuming you work hard and can get accepted.)  Sheridan is no push over when it comes to being accepted, and I know I could never get in without some more work, so I applied for that.

For the most part, art is my safety net, in case I can't get accepted into the other programs I applied for.Those other subjects being Physics and Astronomy and Biology. (With a few Technologist courses at the local colleges, I can go to those and then transfer to a university to finish out my Bachelors degree.)

Finally, something good!

I didn't think much of it at first. It didn't really take me that long to draw either. A. saw it and insisted I save it for a potential portfolio piece.

By the way, the "Terro Cotto" Col Erase pencils (made by Prismacolor) are awesome. They don't draw very dark (you can see the red mixed in there from the original drawing before I darkened and shaded). I have  a terrible habit of drawing too darkly, making my work look sloppy if I have to erase a mistake.

The Ebony Pencils that I bought are also nice, though I am not skilled enough to take full advantage of what they have to offer. Very soft lead, very dark and smooth lines. When I get better at line quality I can utilize them better.

Some more junk drawings.

A scan of some figure drawing practice. It's got lots of problems. A pointed out the flaws and showed me some corrections I could make. The face did not turn out the way I wished it would. Too long and too stylized.

Another foot study. Again, needs some major work.

A few more attempts.

Some more hand practice. It also has it's issues. I haven't gotten A. to pick these apart just yet.

 Practice off of a random stock image on Deviantart. Again, it hasn't been picked apart yet. Not drawing hands and feeet is a very big "no, no" because it sends the message (to people with experience at least) that you are trying to hide something. (In this case, the assumption can be made that I don't know how to draw hands or feet) . Also, creating tangents is another thing you shouldn't do. (I'm just great at making all sorts of noob mistakes, no?)

A really speedy sketch of a foot from the deviantart stock gallery.

Because I live within a reasonable vicinity to Sheridan College (considered one of the top Art Schools in North America), I should be able to find life drawing sessions fairly easily and for a reasonable price. Pictures aren't a substitute for drawing from life and that is what I really need.

Art Direction from the boy

Welp, last night was "lets rip apart your drawings" night. Meaning my boyfriend (who holds a degree in animation and is a professional artist) picks apart when I am doing wrong drawing by drawing. I kills the ego, but it is very helpful.

Here is an example of some of the corrections he made.

He gave me some tutorials on how to make hands and feet not look so darn flat. (Like how they are in that drawing.)

 He gave me the advice "When in doubt, block it out.". Meaning reduce everything to it's base geometric shapes (in this case, the fingers can be 3d rectangles.) I also looked up some Dynamic Hand Drawing by Burne Hogarth. (His books are excellent, I recommend them!)

This isn't great by any means, but I can at least see that I'm beginning to "get" how to make a hand look more 3d and "real".

I still have a long, long way to go. -_-

Hand Bones

Lakeside Shot

An image I photographed months ago. I've been major busy for the last few months and haven't had time to really update my deviantart account in months either.
I just did some experimenting with curves and other settings n this one.