2013-05-15, 11:59 AM
The teacher/advisor for my portfolio class was extremely "traditional" in that she really disliked it when people jumped to drawing "what a human should/usually looks like" before being able to draw "exactly what the reference shows you, nothing more nothing less." Some of my critique might not be able to apply to you because you started off with two references (if I didn't misunderstand you), so you're not drawing a 1:1 "copy" of your reference. So it's a bit irrelevant for me to point out how some parts of your drawing might not match up to your reference, because it seems like you're not basing it off of just one reference. You can either base your drawing off of what's actually there, or base it off of known ratios in human features, but if you try to mix and match both you'll end up with something that has neither, unless you happen to be really skillful already. Capiche?
. Tracing forms is good (might want to work on making it more accurate, too), but only as guidelines. These lines should be so light that you can just dab it with an eraser and it'll disappear. So for example, in the eyes:
[IMG]<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=nnm8sy" target="_blank"><img src="http://i42.tinypic.com/nnm8sy.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>[/IMG]
The outer edge of the eye is equally dark and thick in both places where the arrows point (actually almost all around the eye except where the tearduct is). That's not actually what's happening in the reference. Again it's hard for me to point out how it should be because I don't know which reference you're basing it off of. If it's your second reference, if you look closely, there's a small highlight on the inner ridge of the eye, and instead of a line, it's actually a gradient going out from the eye. Bleh, it's really hard to describe without drawing it; sorry if I'm being absolute unintelligible. One artbook I've read described it as (paraphrased) "Almost all 'lines' that you see are actually edges formed between dark and light areas".
[IMG]<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=nflnr6" target="_blank"><img src="http://i40.tinypic.com/nflnr6.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>[/IMG]
[IMG]<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=nv5hkw" target="_blank"><img src="http://i44.tinypic.com/nv5hkw.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>[/IMG]
If you look at this drawing, there are no actual lines around the outer part of the eye. It always blends out or forms an edge.
See Wrote:I do not know what you mean by 'don't outline the eyes.' I trace the forms of images and then go over them with increasingly confident lines. Is that what you mean/how should I change that habit? I haven't drawn eyelashes at all. Teacher said to save them for last.Yes, that's what I mean. Well I can't really comment since I haven't seen you in the process of drawing so I'm not sure what exactly you are doing
. Tracing forms is good (might want to work on making it more accurate, too), but only as guidelines. These lines should be so light that you can just dab it with an eraser and it'll disappear. So for example, in the eyes:[IMG]<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=nnm8sy" target="_blank"><img src="http://i42.tinypic.com/nnm8sy.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>[/IMG]
The outer edge of the eye is equally dark and thick in both places where the arrows point (actually almost all around the eye except where the tearduct is). That's not actually what's happening in the reference. Again it's hard for me to point out how it should be because I don't know which reference you're basing it off of. If it's your second reference, if you look closely, there's a small highlight on the inner ridge of the eye, and instead of a line, it's actually a gradient going out from the eye. Bleh, it's really hard to describe without drawing it; sorry if I'm being absolute unintelligible. One artbook I've read described it as (paraphrased) "Almost all 'lines' that you see are actually edges formed between dark and light areas".
[IMG]<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=nflnr6" target="_blank"><img src="http://i40.tinypic.com/nflnr6.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>[/IMG]
[IMG]<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=nv5hkw" target="_blank"><img src="http://i44.tinypic.com/nv5hkw.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>[/IMG]
If you look at this drawing, there are no actual lines around the outer part of the eye. It always blends out or forms an edge.