Leoc's Adventures in the land of drawing

[Trixies Apprentice L 493]

So 2 days ago I though to myself that it would be cool to start drawing and so I did. I have drawn 6 images as of now all copies of course I am very very very very far away from creating my own stuff I just watch from the screen and draw on the paper. Anyway here are they 1and 2nd to 6th from up to down

 

All feedback are really really welcome so if you draw please take the time and comment something

 

Btw PENCIL RULES ABOVE PEN

 

Edit: It would be a good idea to click the pencil one cause they are a bit feint

Edited September 7, 2012 by Trixies #1 Assistant Leoc

[Vicke 3,189]

Hey, its Leoc and the Whip!

 

The first picture of Apple Bloom made me laugh xP

The fluttershy one is OK, just that the neck is...... Well, twisted.

Third one is the best.

Applebloom again, she got a bigger flank then Trixie and Twilight combined!

Applejack one looks good, just that. WHERE IS HER BACK LEG!?

[Trixies Apprentice L 493]

Hey, its Leoc and the Whip!

 

The first picture of Apple Bloom made me laugh xP

The fluttershy one is OK, just that the neck is...... Well, twisted.

Third one is the best.

Applebloom again, she got a bigger flank then Trixie and Twilight combined!

Applejack one looks good, just that. WHERE IS HER BACK LEG!?

 

She is quite disfigured yes XD

 

Dont look at me that how the pic was I figured she was turned in such a way that it didnt show XD

 

Anyway thanks

[Bohtty 1,775]

I'm going to recommend that you use guidelines when drawing ponies since effective use of guidelines can fix and proportion problems you may have. It is also just good practice in general.

 

On many of your drawings you use a technique that I've come to call "hairy lines" since the lines end up looking like hair. I would suggest that you work on getting line segments down in one swoop or in several swoops rather than many small strokes. This will improve your line quality and your drawing skills in general.

 

I would also say that you should look at the whitespace around the drawing and not the drawing itself. When you carefully observer and consider the whitespace in your drawings, you'd be surprised at how accurate your drawings become.

 

The paper on most of your drawings appears to be very damaged. I would suggest either taking better care of your paper and drawings or get a hard back sketchbook. I prefer Moleskine, but that brand can be a bit pricey. There is no best tool. Both pen and pencil can be effective at making equally good art, similarly, your paper won't do anything for you when your starting out. I use mechanical pencil, but some people swear by wood pencils. It's up to you.

 

Do NOT buy expensive drawing paper. Use printer paper or buy a cheap line-less notebook/sketchbook. It's just a waste of money. Buy it when you know why you shouldn't use good paper when you're first starting off.

 

From what I can see, you also appear to be making one of the most basic and common beginner mistakes which is not doing a sketch first or doing your sketch in pen or dark pencil. I HIGHLY recommend that you do a basic sketch before you move onto the actual "Drawing" of the image.

 

Here are some things that you can do to help yourself improve your drawing skills:

• Do blind contour drawings. This is where you draw something without looking at your hands, or the paper.
• Draw images upside down. Just print out and image and flip the image upside down and draw it that way.
• 30 second sketches. Google this. There are website where they put an image up for 30 seconds and you have to draw it as fast and as accurately as you can.
• Draw real horses. This will help you draw mlp. I promise.
• Draw something with chalk or a crayon as realistically as you can
• Learn painting/photography/3D modeling/Sculpting
• Draw fruit
• Draw your peers
• Draw your pet
• Draw things you suck a drawing
• Draw fucking everything.

Some of these things will seem silly and I thought so too when my art teachers told me to do them, but I PROMISE they help so much if you do them regularly enough.

 

Also, Applejack looks like she only has 3 legs.

 

I'll end with this: A wise man once told me that "practice makes permanent, not perfect." Make sure you are practicing or at least trying to practice proper techniques. Take any art class your school or community offers.

Good luck.

[Trixies Apprentice L 493]

First and foremost thanks a lot for this detailed comment it mean a lot

 

I'm going to recommend that you use guidelines when drawing ponies since effective use of guidelines can fix and proportion problems you may have. It is also just good practice in general.

 

On many of your drawings you use a technique that I've come to call "hairy lines" since the lines end up looking like hair. I would suggest that you work on getting line segments down in one swoop or in several swoops rather than many small strokes. This will improve your line quality and your drawing skills in general.

But drawing many small lines is so much easier XD

Alas I will try to do that

 

I would also say that you should look at the whitespace around the drawing and not the drawing itself. When you carefully observer and consider the whitespace in your drawings, you'd be surprised at how accurate your drawings become

 

 

 

Noted but how does this help in the drawing ?

 

The paper on most of your drawings appears to be very damaged. I would suggest either taking better care of your paper and drawings or get a hard back sketchbook. I prefer Moleskine, but that brand can be a bit pricey. There is no best tool. Both pen and pencil can be effective at making equally good art, similarly, your paper won't do anything for you when your starting out. I use mechanical pencil, but some people swear by wood pencils. It's up to you.

 

 

Yea I now I just used paper that I found around the house I intend to go buy a sketc book in the coming days

 

Do NOT buy expensive drawing paper. Use printer paper or buy a cheap line-less notebook/sketchbook. It's just a waste of money. Buy it when you know why you shouldn't use good paper when you're first starting off.

 

 

From what I can see, you also appear to be making one of the most basic and common beginner mistakes which is not doing a sketch first or doing your sketch in pen or dark pencil. I HIGHLY recommend that you do a basic sketch before you move onto the actual "Drawing" of the image

 

 

Stupid question but when you say basic sketch you mean ?

 

 

Here are some things that you can do to help yourself improve your drawing skills:

• Do blind contour drawings. This is where you draw something without looking at your hands, or the paper.
• Draw images upside down. Just print out and image and flip the image upside down and draw it that way.
• 30 second sketches. Google this. There are website where they put an image up for 30 seconds and you have to draw it as fast and as accurately as you can.
• Draw real horses. This will help you draw mlp. I promise.
• Draw something with chalk or a crayon as realistically as you can
• Learn painting/photography/3D modeling/Sculpting
• Draw fruit
• Draw your peers
• Draw your pet
• Draw things you suck a drawing
• Draw fucking everything.

Some of these things will seem silly and I thought so too when my art teachers told me to do them, but I PROMISE they help so much if you do them regularly enough.

 

 

 

1st and 3rd I will try I doubt I will be able to do anything with the 1st though

How does drawing upside down help ?

I actually find none of those silly apart from the upside down one I cannot see the point :/

 

Also, Applejack looks like she only has 3 legs

.

 

Indeed she does

http://images2.wikia...eone_Sketch.jpg

 

I'll end with this: A wise man once told me that "practice makes permanent, not perfect." Make sure you are practicing or at least trying to practice proper techniques. Take any art class your school or community offers.

Good luck.

 

Thanks

 

I also drew this some minutes ago it took me around either 1:30 or 2 hours I lost track of time

 

Edited September 6, 2012 by Trixies #1 Assistant Leoc

[Bohtty 1,775]

Noted but how does this help in the drawing ?

 

It helps you draw what you see. You may be thinking "I already draw what I see!", but that is where you're wrong. The way the human brain works is that it doesn't "see" the whole object. It sees key properties of the object and then categorizes it as such. The brain sees the color pink and pinkies crazy eyes and you know it's pinkie, without even seeing all of her. In fact you could probably identify her from just her color alone. Drawing with whitespace in mind helps you draw what you see. It helps you stay more accurate to what your drawing because you are actually aware and looking at the distance between different parts of the drawing. So instead of thinking "Oh it just needs to loop around" you think "Oh, ok this part needs to be this far away from this to have the correct shape". You have to train your mind to "see" since it's been doing it wrong since you were little.

 

Stupid question but when you say basic sketch you mean ?

 

It's different for each person, but generally it goes like this. First you start with a light drawing of the guidelines to block in the overall shape of the drawing. This early stage allows you to assess the balance of the drawing and to move limbs and objects around before you spend 30 bajillion hours drawing them perfectly, just to find that someones arm is a bit too long. Next after that you usually refine the guidelines by smoothing them out to get the correct shape of your subject. Lastly you go and "draw" it by darkening in the lines that you want and then sometimes you color it after that. The key is light pencil marks so that you can erase them. You also don't want the pencil to indent the paper as this will leave a mark no matter how hard you try to erase.

 

The part before you "darken" the lines is generally called a "sketch". They are usually quick and rough to get the idea across with some accuracy, but not enough that you would hang it on a wall or sell it. Although some artist's sketches are so damn good that I would hang them on my wall.

 

If you follow some very good or professional artists on deviant art or a similar website, chances are you are only seeing their favorite or best work. MANY artists carry around a sketchbook wherever they go to sketch out quick ideas when they come to them. Sometimes artists sell their sketch books and some times artists put them on sketch dumps(ie: a long picture of all their sketches) and sometimes they never seen the light of day ever again. :]

 

How does drawing upside down help ?

 

It has to do with "seeing" what your drawing. As I described above, you don't really see the object you are drawing. You simple categorize it and then use the image as a reference as you draw from what you think you see. By turning it upside down you are working against your preconceived idea of what you are drawing. It helps you draw what you see rather than what you think you see.

 

I also drew this some minutes ago it took me around either 1:30 or 2 hours I lost track of time

 

I thank you for actually drawing the damn tits. I cannot count on my toes and fingers how many people omit them because they think it's wrong, perverted or disgusting. The proportions on it are actually not bad. Humans are often the hardest things to draw for people and thus they often look like mutants, but your's does not (at least the human half, because she is literally a mutant of sorts being a mermaid'n'all xD)

[Trixies Apprentice L 493]

It helps you draw what you see. You may be thinking "I already draw what I see!", but that is where you're wrong. The way the human brain works is that it doesn't "see" the whole object. It sees key properties of the object and then categorizes it as such. The brain sees the color pink and pinkies crazy eyes and you know it's pinkie, without even seeing all of her. In fact you could probably identify her from just her color alone. Drawing with whitespace in mind helps you draw what you see. It helps you stay more accurate to what your drawing because you are actually aware and looking at the distance between different parts of the drawing. So instead of thinking "Oh it just needs to loop around" you think "Oh, ok this part needs to be this far away from this to have the correct shape". You have to train your mind to "see" since it's been doing it wrong since you were little.

 

 

It's different for each person, but generally it goes like this. First you start with a light drawing of the guidelines to block in the overall shape of the drawing. This early stage allows you to assess the balance of the drawing and to move limbs and objects around before you spend 30 bajillion hours drawing them perfectly, just to find that someones arm is a bit too long. Next after that you usually refine the guidelines by smoothing them out to get the correct shape of your subject. Lastly you go and "draw" it by darkening in the lines that you want and then sometimes you color it after that. The key is light pencil marks so that you can erase them. You also don't want the pencil to indent the paper as this will leave a mark no matter how hard you try to erase.

 

The part before you "darken" the lines is generally called a "sketch". They are usually quick and rough to get the idea across with some accuracy, but not enough that you would hang it on a wall or sell it. Although some artist's sketches are so damn good that I would hang them on my wall.

 

If you follow some very good or professional artists on deviant art or a similar website, chances are you are only seeing their favorite or best work. MANY artists carry around a sketchbook wherever they go to sketch out quick ideas when they come to them. Sometimes artists sell their sketch books and some times artists put them on sketch dumps(ie: a long picture of all their sketches) and sometimes they never seen the light of day ever again. :]

 

 

It has to do with "seeing" what your drawing. As I described above, you don't really see the object you are drawing. You simple categorize it and then use the image as a reference as you draw from what you think you see. By turning it upside down you are working against your preconceived idea of what you are drawing. It helps you draw what you see rather than what you think you see.

 

 

I thank you for actually drawing the damn tits. I cannot count on my toes and fingers how many people omit them because they think it's wrong, perverted or disgusting. The proportions on it are actually not bad. Humans are often the hardest things to draw for people and thus they often look like mutants, but your's does not (at least the human half, because she is literally a mutant of sorts being a mermaid'n'all xD)

 

I see your point about seeing.

 

As for the sketches I see your point there too but the thing is I am not drawing my own stuff. So when you are seeing an already comeplte drawing then how do you make a sketch of it beforehand.

 

I think it stupid to omit them And thank you I am lucky my scanner doesn't pick up the fain trace of the erased pencil especially the face and the arm. That arm gave me a lot of trouble for some reason. Not more than the face though xD

[Bohtty 1,775]

I see your point about seeing.

 

As for the sketches I see your point there too but the thing is I am not drawing my own stuff. So when you are seeing an already comeplte drawing then how do you make a sketch of it beforehand.

 

I think it stupid to omit them And thank you I am lucky my scanner doesn't pick up the fain trace of the erased pencil especially the face and the arm. That arm gave me a lot of trouble for some reason. Not more than the face though xD

 

Doing sketches on already done drawings is even more helpful because you already have the finished product in hand. You can work your way backwards and use the finished image as a model. By doing this, you will learn the proportional rules of the MLP style ponies which can then be transfered to other ponies when you make ponies that aren't straight from drawings. Edited September 7, 2012 by Bohtty

[XUNUSEDXXX 3,459]

These are decent, but some minor blips like eye size and the distance between them and such. Overall they are decent though, well done.

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

These are ok, the eyes are a little weird in some, and one of Applebloom, the mane is a little weird looking, These are ok though, well done!

[Trixies Apprentice L 493]

Doing sketches on already done drawings is even more helpful because you already have the finished product in hand. You can work your way backwards and use the finished image as a model. By doing this, you will learn the proportional rules of the MLP style ponies which can then be transfered to other ponies when you make ponies that aren't straight from drawings.

 

I see your point

 

These are decent, but some minor blips like eye size and the distance between them and such. Overall they are decent though, well done.

 

These are ok, the eyes are a little weird in some, and one of Applebloom, the mane is a little weird looking, These are ok though, well done!

 

Wasn't expecting anything more than decent

Thank for the words nonetheless

 

and

two more drawing

This one I did alone without reference turned bad

and

This while watching this

http://alipes.devian...ecora-265116076

 

 

Just finished this one. I just started Adventure time and it so freaking awesome. Also Marceline <3

Edited September 7, 2012 by Trixies #1 Assistant Leoc

[Planty 1,053]

You definatly drew zecora and Fluttershy the best out of all of them

You main issue's are genrally down to lack of exsperiance drawing LOTS and especially ponies

 

for instance;

 

there are quite a few issues with proportations (and thease are genrally the biggest issues with most people's work) for example eye size being weird and in the applebloom picture her head is to big for her body.

 

In quite a few of your picture's the neck seem's really long compared to teh rest of the body.

 

Your Applejack was done really well the main issue with it for me is the way the front leg curves. To fix this just remeber that they have joint's too (a nice guide here show's it nicely ) I would recomend trying to use a skeleton to fix this (this will just help everything seem more natural ).

 

your Zecora look's awesome!

 

but if you see her back leg's they don't look like she is actually using them on the ground, just try and imagine what they would look like if she was walking allon the street and copy that if it help's then add construction lines of the ground so that her leg's feel like there touching them when drawn!

 

Overall, for first picture's youve done really well Just remeber that everything will be better with more practice

[Trixies Apprentice L 493]

You definatly drew zecora and Fluttershy the best out of all of them

You main issue's are genrally down to lack of exsperiance drawing LOTS and especially ponies

 

for instance;

 

there are quite a few issues with proportations (and thease are genrally the biggest issues with most people's work) for example eye size being weird and in the applebloom picture her head is to big for her body.

 

In quite a few of your picture's the neck seem's really long compared to teh rest of the body.

 

Your Applejack was done really well the main issue with it for me is the way the front leg curves. To fix this just remeber that they have joint's too (a nice guide here show's it nicely http://musapan.devia...onies-290650111) I would recomend trying to use a skeleton to fix this (this will just help everything seem more natural ).

 

your Zecora look's awesome!

 

but if you see her back leg's they don't look like she is actually using them on the ground, just try and imagine what they would look like if she was walking allon the street and copy that if it help's then add construction lines of the ground so that her leg's feel like there touching them when drawn!

 

Overall, for first picture's youve done really well Just remeber that everything will be better with more practice

 

Thank you very much for the feedback and that guide it very detailed and helpful I never though of adding joints and stuff cuse I just copy what I see no original stuff yet XD But I see the point it might help even when copying

Also thanks for the good words

 

So this is the first proper original thing I ever done It's my OC Lionheart It not good but it not bad either also it took me like 3 hours or something XD

and also this thing that took god know how long to finish

I must seriously stop copying so hard stuff :/ This took like 4 maybe more hours I have lost count let alone that I finished and redid like everything god know how many time (after the first 4-5 hours) but hey in the end it came out at at least decent looking XD