Newbie, still at drawing faces, but wanted to share...

[ArachneJericho]

Newbie stuff!

So I can't figure out if I've totally regressed in faces, or if I'm exploring new terrain that will be better for me, or what.

The top face with the pigtail is... NO. I tried some coloring and a little bit of shading, too.

Here also are my stick figure exercises.

Sigh, I feel like I suck. But I'll get better, I'm sure... almost sure anyways.

[ArachneJericho]

My friend who is an evil taskmaster artist (well no, but they set me at exercises!) saw Face #40

and said that while it was even better yet, I still needed to work on shading, because I was scared of it. And they were right, of course.

So of course they gave me an exercise where the face had to be done allll through shading.

Here's what I did: part of a face. The eye is good, nose is good, lips are wrong, cheeks are OK.

So I was doing this without a reference picture, and they told me to go find one, so I found one of Godfrey Gao, and now I'm a-gonna do the shading exercise.

Whee!

[ArachneJericho]

I am halfway done with Godfrey Gao's (or an approximation of him anyways) face:

I tried Art Studio on the iPad, using my finger. I don't think it works as well, there's no pressure sensitivity.

[noeinan]

Face 42 is pretty good, I can see a lot of improvement from the last shaded face.

[DarkSin]

There is an improvement. I'd say keep doing referenced art, and work on them till they're finished and you're at least semi-satisfied. After that when you're feeling more confident, try working on original pieces, applying everything you've learnt from references to them.If you find yourself stuck at any point, just google for some references. It's all part of the leaning process. It also helps to have a folder of stock photos or just pictures that show intricate lighting, difficult poses, complex structures etc. on your computer.

You also need to decide on what type of drawing style you're going for. Once you've decided look up the works of great artists of the same style, and study them. Also see if they have any process videos. Those help a lot. Once you get in the habit of studying pictures and videos for details, you'll find that your whole perspective changes. You'll find yourself observing everything around you in real life, and trying to figure out how they could be drawn

[ArachneJericho]

daikiraikimi,

Thank you! Yeah, I'm embarrassed at the previous face now, lol.

DarkSin,

Yup, this referenced art one was a lot better so I'm probably going to keep doing referenced art as you say, until I get brave and even better. Thank you so much for the tips.

I'm so nascent in my art skills that the idea of a style seems out of range for a while, but I'll keep that in mind! Thanks!

[DarkSin]

I'm so nascent in my art skills that the idea of a style seems out of range for a while, but I'll keep that in mind! Thanks!

Ah I just wanted to say I meant "style" in a more general sense. Realism? Anime? Somewhere in between? It helps a lot to have a direction. Cheers