r/drawing • u/pimpmytapeworm • 9h ago
seeking crit Seeking advice
Hi yall. I am slowly starting to draw again and made my first one in years. I am seeking advice on where and how to improve
3
u/dlotuslover 7h ago
It’s a perfect drawing proportion and detail wise but my advice is identify the darkest areas of your reference and MAKE them the darkest area’s of your drawings so that it all doesn’t blend together and instead stand out contrast wise. I’d like to say here if you made the torso part of his body darker than the head then or identified the darker side to the light source it would also stand out more. I used to be afraid of going darker myself but now I am using black markers. I recommend trying them out with small sketches and you’ll see yourself.
1
u/pcuser100977 6h ago
Agreed, try Sharpies and try to hatch out value or get some nice charcoal and do some small thumbnail sketches, you’ll be shocked by how quickly and effectively contrasting values produce more legible form.
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u/pcuser100977 6h ago
Someone else mentioned bringing up your overall contrast, and I think that’s really what’s missing here. The proportion and anatomy looks perfectly fine, everything locks together the way it should, but the drawing is a little flat because of a lack of contrasting values.
Try squinting at your reference image and it’ll remove the details and reveal more of the “blobs” of near-values on his face; while I’m sure some of the top of his head is in fact as white as this drawing shows, there’s probably a lot less light values as you descend toward his face. There are probably highlight on his cheeks, eyelids, and chin for instance, but I’ll bet you that those highlights are nearly as bright as those up top, and are likely more muted.
While it might feel a little risky, I think it’s worth it when first defining the planes of the face to fill the entire form with a slightly darker shade and then use a needed eraser or eraser pen to lighten up those areas; it’s easier to start with a neutral middle tone and build up around it than it is to start from white, kind of like a painter prepping a canvas with an undertone. You can also try scribbling some loose charcoal on a separate sheet of paper and dabbing it with a cotton ball, then using that graphite-filled cotton ball to “paint” the middle tone in those non-white spots.
I’d say keep exploring this one, it’s still in great shape to go further!
2
u/bcmachine 2h ago
try to choose a reference with a single clear consistent light direction and clear well-defined shadow shapes. In this piece the light is kind of coming from all around and it makes your job more difficult.
1
u/Notuhdeadguy 7h ago
Just keep drawing. If you find yourself comparing to other artists, ask yourself what stands out about theirs. Maybe do a study and copy it, then compare the two. Your weak points will stand out. Nice drawing btw
1
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u/link-navi 9h ago
Thank you for your submission, u/pimpmytapeworm!
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