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Artist Training Grounds and Art-Related Discussion
This thread is dedicated to helping artists practice by giving them weekly themes to complete. These are not mandatory; you may complete the ones you like. You don't have to be a pro to take part, anyone and every one is welcome. It can be pencil, pen, computer, shaded or not, colored or monochrome, whatever you choose. When you complete a theme, you can post a link on here for others to critique and comment, allowing you to identify what you need to work on. I will keep this post updated with all the pictures done per week.

UPDATE You may also ask art-related questions on here. If you want to ask someone how they do something, go ahead.

UPDATE Dec 3, 2013 Other forms of art can be posted here as well. These can be photography, writing, modeling, or anything other art you can think of!

If you have any ideas for themes, please PM me.

Week one 9/9 - 9/16: Someone walking
- Tiki's
- PAIIS'
- Dede's
- Senakysam's

Week two 9/16 - 9/23: Someone wearing clothing
- Personguy's
- PAIIS's
- BRS'
- Tiki's 1 : 2
- Senakysam's
- Dede's

Week three 9/23 - 9/30: Someone sleeping
- Dede's

Week four 9/30 - 10/7: Action scene
- Tiki's

Week five 10/7 - 10/14: Water related
- Senakysam's
- Tiki's

Week six 10/14 - 10/21: Design a character
- Tiki's
- Dede's
F**k i suck at proportions. :P

And thanks for making this Senakysam! :)
Legs have always been a problem for me.... BUT!! i shall over come it. Hopefully.
I'd consider myself an amateur. I've still got a lot to learn but I do know a few techniques which help me draw.
I reckon this is going to be an awesome thread. ^_^
Btw I don't have a scanner but I'll try to scan at college if I get the chance.
Not much of an artist either. I've been told at school im good at pixel art on paint but that isn't art really. This is a good idea for a thread, if it goes well it could help a few people.
Here's me cheating: Pic. Drew it a while back, and it doesn't fit the "walking" thing by its definition. (running from a teank count?) Planned on finishing it, but, dammit, I hate coloring. One thing of note when I drew this, I messed up the positioning of the arms (hand in front was opposite the leg in front. Fixed it pretty simply (computer makes that easy) but something to watch out for when walking as well).

(Honestly, I just stole an opportunity to share the pic :P). With the time I have during classes, I'll draw something that actually fits the parameters and send it in some time this week. Should be a fun thread, though.
PAIIS said:
Here's me cheating: Pic.
That really made my day. To quote Family Guy, "Any problem started with a tank can be solved with a tank." XD
So here's my lazy attempt at the topic. Very rough but this topic is a "eeehhh" for me.
Tiki said:
So here's my lazy attempt at the topic. Very rough but this topic is a "eeehhh" for me.
He looks like he's feeling the after effects of a wild night. :P
Tiki said:
Very rough but this topic is a "eeehhh" for me.
Like I said, feel free to send me ideas. Good job too.
KingOfTheCrazies said:
He looks like he's feeling the after effects of a wild night. :P
I was trying to have him look like he's exhausted because of heat but looks like i only got the exhausted part right. I'm glade that i was able to get the hands and legs the way i wanted them. I just recently developed confidence in my hands. Legs though, have been a problem for a while.
A couple pointers I guess.

For legs, it helps to know the proportions of a human. A human is about 7-8 heads tall, though it may be more in Anime and Manga. I'll try to find a video that tells where each body part begins.

For heat, you can add a lot of yellow and orange to the picture to simulate sunlight. You should also make the light source higher up so that it seems as if the sun is high in the sky, instead of on the same level as the person. You can also use the person's pose to show heat. For example, you can have him using his hand to shield his eyes from the sun.

Just a few thoughts.
It does help to know that but i assume that 7-8 heads talls is the average human so doesn't that change depending on the height of the character your drawing? I felt like i did really well on the legs in that picture they're longer than the torso which is good and the pose doesn't look stiff or awkward which is good.

Heat... ya i was more focused on the pose than that and it helps to know stuff like that for future reference.
Here's my walking sketch, done during one of my classes. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Pics with any sort of movement can be difficult to capture, and an artist should strive to draw outside of his/her comfort zone. Other attempts at doing a person walking from different angles failed (I didn't make that many attempts, though. I only really draw during classes.)
I'm pretty much hitting two birds with one stone with this drawing. I drew this for a group project at college, and I thought, I might as well post one of the drawings here. It's not human.. but at least it's walking :P It's suppose to be half man, half dingo. I haven't finished it yet as I still need to add other details like leaves and a few more trees in the foreground and I also have to shade it, but those don't matter right now. I don't like what I did with its arm on the far side. I just added it in and it doesn't look natural. I'm quite pleased with its posture though.
I sadly failed epicly with my drawing so i won't be posting it, looking forward to the next challenge though. :)
I'm sure it's okay. I doubt anyone's going to look down on you after seeing your drawing. You're a beginner after all. And it doesn't matter if you fail because failure is the first step to success. Even a stick figure is as good as anything. Everybody has to start off from somewhere.
I'll have another go later, and maybe post it along with the next theme. :)
I'll be posting the next theme later, and will also still accept submissions for this week's theme for another day.
Ho...ly...shit PAIIS. YOU DRAW AMAZINGLY! Omigosh! You now have my utmost respects as an artist. You offically have a fan.
Heh, thank you. I don't feel I have a talent for it, though. Better than average, maybe, but nothing compared to someone who knows what they're doing. I draw too much within my comfort zone, most of the time. My typical drawings consist of little more than a face, so it doesn't really challenge me, and I don't get better. When I do challenge myself, I get frustrated due to overly high expectations, than never finish the drawing, and therefore never get better.

Granted, drawing from my head is considerably more difficult than drawing off a visual. I could probably improve more by sketching the drawings that appear on the sight, therefore getting a feel for dimensions, expressions, movements, et cetera.

For the amount of time I dedicate to the art (not much), a level such as sawasawa's or zaxzero's is pretty unreachable, but I'd be quite satisfied being able to draw at this level (without visual aid), where I can freely portray the character in whatever expression I choose.

All that said, I have an idea for one of the future drawing themes: pick a pic from the site and duplicate it to the best of your abilities.
Here's mine. Couldn't color it, as I was busy learning the female figure, and still don't know how I want to go about inking and coloring. I still need to work on how I draw legs. My goal was to have the viewer seeing her from a 3/4 view, with her hair and clothes moving in the wind, and her putting her hair behind her ear with her hand. Need to work on that last part, but I think I did a good job with the other goals. I am also happy with her face, as I am usually not that good with faces in the 3/4 view. I'm starting to add wrinkles to clothes in the pictures I draw, so this is looking pretty good. Breasts are still a bit of an issue; looking through various tutorials and reference pictures to figure it out.

Next theme has been posted.
I wish I could participate in this, but I have no way to get what I've done onto the net. :x Good work to everyone else though.
Aw how come? Don't have a scanner either? I can only scan my stuff at my college.
Senakysam said:
don't know how I want to go about inking and coloring.
I have trouble with colouring too. Actually I'd rarely ever colour something because I usually end up ruining it. I think it's mainly because I can't keep my drawings neat. That's something I have to work on.
Btw Senaky, the legs look fine to me.
If you have a decent camera, even a camera phone, you can just take a photo and upload it.

And thanks Dede :)
You know, I DO have a phone that takes pictures and uploads to my Photobucket, but for SOME reason, the picture I took of the walking one, WOULD NOT upload at all, but everything else I upload would. So I got pissed off and just didn't bother. :s

I'll attempt this next one here.
September 23rd? Will do it the 22nd. ^_^
I was trying to draw this newest theme at school today but i got stuck at the head. I am horrible at faces, that is why i am good at sketching Slender Man. If i had my notebook with me i would take a picture and post it as a draft but i don't, but does anyone have any advice for drawing a face/hair/head/anything above the shoulders, because i feel the rest of my drawing is pretty good for a bit of effort.
It's difficult to give advice without knowing/seeing the problem you're having. ^_^
Welp, tried the new theme, and here it is.
I have to work on proportions, she's way too short! ><
foxknight said:
-snip-
Guidelines. That's what I use and it has helped a ton. Also studying the body, namely the placement of bones and muscles, and their position in relation to other body parts. But like PAIIS said, a picture of what you have so far would help us help you.

And you don't have to worry about the person so much this theme, it's mostly on how clothing is worn by people.

personguy said:
Welp, tried the new theme, and here it is.
I have to work on proportions, she's way too short! ><
Good work! Can you post the reference picture as well?
___

EDIT: For Foxnight, here's two tutorials for hair:1 ,2 and one for heads.

For person guy, one tutorial on male proportions and two on female:1 , 2

These videos are done by Mark Crilley, who I like because he is good, and he stresses that these are not the only way to draw. I'm think some of you may have heard of him, as he has had several books published, including a Drawing Tutorial book, and a comic series published by Dark Horse, as well as posting tutorials on Youtube for years.
So this theme where trying to go for realism in the clothes? And by reference picture, are you talking about have the picture where drawing being the same or close to the one where using as a reference?

Do we have to have a reference picture?