My artwork

ooh~ thanks ^_^

My first piece of artwork done in Adobe Illustrator:



I used gradient mesh and a bristle brush to make everything :x

This was an assignment for class, we had to basically draw an animal and I wanted to go with a more realistic appearance than digital.

Here's how it was constructed:

These are nice, and believe it or not, the iris is probably the most sensual drawing here. Think Georgia O'Keeffe - she paints orchids because they represent the female genitals. You're on your way to becoming a hentai artist!! Lol!

I'll be even closer this quarter :P I have to draw naked people in class.

These are -really- sloppy drawings, but we had to draw the model standing in front of us within a minute, so it's all about getting the 'gesture' of the form in front of us and conveying what the person is doing, not necessarily how accurate he appears.



There are some serious issues I have with him, like the shoulders or legs. It was my first time drawing someone in front of me though, let alone the time constraint I had which made me feel 'under pressure' to get something on paper.

I used line paper this time because I forgot my newsprint at home (;~:) so next time I have class I'll have more drawings and on nicer paper.

Seems to be your destiny, lol! I like the second one! I would suggest you try drawing with just your hands without looking at the paper - it's gonna come out weird on paper but helps you get the idea of how the outline works in terms of space and distance because for me, I find that if I take my eyes off the figure in front, my drawings start to become more subjective ie. thinking that the limbs should be like this and that when in fact, what's in front of you is of a different perspective. Also people might argue with this but I learn a lot from tracing (use a photograph and layout paper) because you know what the picture comes out like very accurately, it helps you learn quicker than hours and hours of practice - of course it's a shortcut and conventional practice is also needed.

I wouldn't go for tracing. Ever D: I'm sorry but it just seems like people do not learn that way. I've never traced during the time I've seriously practiced drawing. It was something that I did when I was six and liked pokémon cards.

Reference is a-okay, necessary even.

But tracing other people's work... I doubt that it does much for anyone. I think it actually is the long way to learn, since all that you do is draw things over and over and the person that did the mind-work is the one original artist. Rather than this, I'd first try to learn to see things in 3D, learn of what parts things are made of; what shapes. This is stuff you can do even without pen and paper. Once you have the understanding, everything becomes easier. Also when practicing by tracing it's easy to get lost with your own style.

OT: great stuff, I'm glad that you're practicing efficiently now and your works are no more just tracing. Croquis is really fun, do it more and you should be able to get rid of the feeling of pressure. After that it becomes quite liberating, for you no longer have to worry about accuracy nor finished product. It's all about speed and movement and form. The overall look =) Beginners usually worry way too much about detail and don't realize that the overall look is where you should start and when that thing is clear and out of the way, that is when you start moving into detail.

Oh dear I got a bit carried away.
TL;DR: One shouldn't spend time on tracing, but rather learning the structure. Croquis is fun. It's efficient to lay in the overall look first, then move into detail. Good looking stuff, Ziggy =)

Thanks for the feedback, but I've never traced .-.

It does feel a little liberating though.

Ah, I count redrawing other people's works in any way tracing. You had quite a few on your opening post ^^;

I'm sorry if I came off as harsh, I didn't mean to /o\ apparently I'm a bit overly passionate about this subject...


Hee :) I like to secretly use random people as models for croquis drawing when I'm out and happen to have a sketchbook with me.

P.S. Why couldn't we have naked male models at our art classes?? Whyy?

I would have had that kind of thought long ago too - that tracing is like throwing away your pride, cheating, taking the easy way etc. but now that I've thought back and been practicing a little more (actually really rusty at the mo due to 3 years in uni) I've decided that even knowing how to draw all the forms and stuff, if you haven't had much practice, your drawing hand won't move the way you want. As in your lines are more hesitant, therefore tracing really helps with practicing and getting your hands used to the motions quickly rather than having to do everything from scratch. Sure you don't learn spatially and anatomically from tracing but it really helps with strokes. Like some might say it's useless to just keep drawing straight lines over and over but it really helps with control. My hands do shake a lot if I haven't drawn in a while.

Well, I still reference other works. I wouldn't say looking at an image and replicating it is tracing, because it at least increases your ability to draw what you see. It's another thing to have tracing paper over an image and drawing over the lines despite the argument presented.

The male model is a little awkward, with me being female :P I don't want to stare. Besides, genitals aren't as nice to look at as breasts are visually appealing.

Mmhm, I guess with strokes it can help. But that is only when the drawer realizes to practice them. I've seen a ton of people drawing with short/uncertain lines and are happy with the result afterwards. Since even wobbly lines in the form of a talented artist's work looks fairly good. At least to a beginner.

I guess tracing is the wrong word to use. Any kind of copying is what I mean, whether it is a piece of art or a photograph that you are replicating. Drawing from live models and objects and scenery is probably already in the effective educating side though, but I haven't personally found even that worth of my studying time. I think that the best way is to gather as much information as you can, look at references and what ever you need for the understanding process - and then sit in front of an empty canvas and start working on a piece that you can see only in your mind.

I see it this way: A talented artist will always be able to make excellent replicas. But one who can produce excellent replicas but hasn't got the understanding won't be able to draw talented original art. It is because I have seen this happen in real life that I think this way.

P.S. I do need to admit that there is a strong possibility that I'm wrong here, since people are different and learn in different ways. It's just frustrating because I think I'm on to something here >.

I have two things to add, but only one finished - the other is an awkward WIP of mine.

I had to do a poster for school and use an art style that was a movement in history. I chose "Pop Art" and chose the event Comic Con in New York. (we had a choice of 4 events).



I'm not completely happy with it at all but was under a pretty big time crunch. I used a mixture of Illustrator and Photoshop. I used Illustrator for the text and the super hero who was modeled after a friend of mine (don't get me started on how dissatisfied I am with the outcome of that) and the comic panel and background was done in Photoshop. The comic panels were kind of like mini projects in themselves of me photo editing the regular photographs into a "pop art" style.


As for the WIP:

Lady Gaga in progress. I'm doing it completely in Illustrator too. I'm pretty happy with the work I've gotten down so far, her teeth are meh - but I love what I did with her eye.

Never knew you were an artist Ziggy, these look really good.

Thanks Sneaky, I don't really consider myself an artist. My illustration skills are kind of eh - but I plan on doing more graphic design work which hopefully we'll see more of in the future.

I'm taking a typography class working with type and one of our first projects was to make 10 patterns using 1 letter. However you could use that letter multiple times to create an object and then create a pattern with it. Some are more obvious than others :) but can you guys pick out all the letters?

Hint: Two of the patterns are not alphabetical letters. One is a form of punctuation and the other is a logogram ;)

I would have to say: Q, L, V, Y, ? or j, X, B, &, and O. I'm missing one but I got no clue what it is.