Pencil work - workin' on it

These are some drawings I did with reference photos. You can see that, even with photos, I do a rather bad job of it. Whatever, I think you guys can give me some tips on that.



Sis



Friend



Cousin

Whaddya think?

Okay, i just want to say, wow. I love these. You do such a great job with taking a picture and really capturing it in a drawing. For the first one, i like the girls hand. You did a great job on the nails and knuckles. I think her face and hair seem sort of warped, I don't know how though. It just seems kind of weird. In the second picture, i like the hair. The way you made it look darker than the rest of her face is nice. You capturedthe shading on her face well, though her teeth need work. The third drawing was my favorite. I love the childs eyes, with the small pinprick of light in it. I think her mouth could be a tiny bit larger and her eyes are way too bright. Just add a little shading into them.
Great job. If you post ay othe art peices please pm me and let me know.

Hi there.

First off, I realized your lines are a little bit rough. You seem to be working on them, when really you should be drawing the shadows and light itself. I don't know if you understand what I'm saying, but one tip is to never draw the lines, well the main lines are okay, but the lines within the face, are only shadows.

1. Now, for the first drawing, your eyes and nose seem pretty good, but the mouth seems a little bit hard, when in the picture, it's not as much. You see what I mean about the hard lines? They can change the entire drawing. The shape is good, but the lips are a tint darker than her skin. There's also a spot where the light hits, on her face and her lips... We should see those.

2. Again, your lines! These are really hard. And by the pictures, the girl seems to have really soft features. Lips... No lines, just colors. That's probably going to do all the difference in your case. Because you have the shape all right, and your proportions seems good.

3. This is probably the best one. I like it. You did pretty good. I know I said it before, but I want to make my point, so I'll say it again! Shadows are key here. If you look at her nose in your drawing, it's only lines, right? The picture though shows a little bit more shadows on either sides. The lips, again. I have a feeling you don't really like to draw those, right? avoiding them isn't the right solution though. The more you practice, the more you're going to master them. And one last thing is probably the shape of her face. She has big cheeks, sticking out, like pretty much all children that age. The eyes though seem pretty good.

Oh, jeez I sound harsh, but this is really good. Great job, and keep drawing!

-Other One

Ok first of i would like to say wow you really captured the first girls hand well! Hands are probably the hardest thing for me to draw. most of your drawings are pretty spot on a think theirs just a slight bit of detail that are in the photographs that you still haven't captured your drawing, like the curve on the left hand side of the first girls face. I think you could also shade a bit lighter in places this will make the drawing look more realistic. The last one is my favorite i love her eyes.

Thanks for the critiques!
@Emmy: the teeth actually stick out in the picture and it looks okay, but when I did it that way in the drawing, it looked horrible. I changed it a little if you look closely.
@theotherone: That's makes perfect and absolute sense! I can see what you mean by lines and shadows. I have a hard time doing it, though, since I only have three different types of pencils, but I'll try it that now...hmm. Also, don't stop being harsh, this world needs more harsh people. >:D (Also, about the lips, totally true, I didn't like making them stick out or have them fade into the face, but I couldn't do anything else with them. So I avoided doing it.
@itsjustemilie: Yes, I worked hard on the hand! But not very much on the rest.

Firstly, I'm an awful person who writes critiques and forgets about them, whilst you are awesome and actually post reviews. I apologise profusely.

1) I like the hair very much, you have a good mix between messy and neat that I always find hard to manage. The nose I also like - your shading seems subtle around it which is really well done. The eyes I like, but I think are a little underdeveloped. There is interesting shading around the eyes that I think you could spend some more time on and refine, right now it looks a little messy. The lips I also think need more work - right now you seem to have left them quite pale and without much shading, which is a shame because there's a lot more you could do with them, and they need to be darkened more. Lastly, the hand doesn't look especially realistic to me - the lines are too soft around it and the shading isn't quite right.

2) Woah ... lines? I get it if you tried to draw this in a certain style, but for me the entire drawing seems way to harsh and simplistic for such a photo. You shading, in places, is very striking and out of place. If I were you, I'd try to soften up the shading lines and define the outlines a little more. Also, refine the lips! Lips are dark, and have lots of lines in them - try that.

3) /favourite/ I think that, mainly, you did this one very well. A couple of things, though: try to draw the eyes very closely to how they appear - there are tear ducts and a few more defining lines/shading points that you could fill in. Also, work on the nose so that instead of looking very blocky, it is subtly shaded - I know that the nose in the picture doesn't have much shadow around it, but you could try and work it into the face a little more. The lips are, again, not quite right; work on them a little more to actually make them look more realistic and really capture the cheeky look.

Hope this helps, sorry for its belatedness.

are you going to be an artist because i think you should be one that is asome

These drawings are amazing!! Oh my gosh, you're really good! So my mom's an artist and I just want to let you know that when she starts a painting, her sketches always look like what you drew. If you want to make them better (which will be hard to do in the first place) go back over them and thicken up the lines. That's about as much advice as I can give you because these are so good to begin with! Keep drawing.

@Amy: No problem, my critique actually included a psychoanalysis of your MC, so don't feel bad (I actually feel kinda weird about that review now)

@animalallover: Thanks! That's what I'm going to try to be!

@Noelle: That's a relief! If a good artist can build up off sketches like these, then I'm probably on the right track!

My biggest mistakes, as y'all say, were eyes, lips and too-dark lines. Hmmm, something to think about there.

Jenth

Hey, Jenthura! Jashy here to review yoooou. =)) My comments will be after each drawing.



Sis

Okay, this is honestly pretty good! =D/ The lines were in ration with the picture.

What I can say is, you probably need practice with shading. I can tell that you were a bit lazy with the hair. It seems like you just brushed it of as if you were using a paintbrush. Don't do that. Take some time to show the hair strands. Be patient. (Wow, I have to give myself a sermon as well LOL) I know that it's very tempting to just "brush" the hair, but then you'd end up with a fairly bad hairdo, which is going to ruin the sketching even how good you've drawn with the face itself.

Another nitpick is the eyes. Can you see the corners? You've winged them away a bit too far. Your sister has winged, big eyes it seems. You've drawn the eyes a bit like Chinese. You'll have to open up the eyes a bit. Now, don't ignore the twinkle in the eyes. Leave a small, white space there. Twinkling eyes are more realistic than just sketching them flat, unless, of course, the person is in the dark. Wait, even in the dark, eyes twinkle because there's some light source, so don't forget the twinkle!

You've drawn the nose pretty well, the shape of the face as well. But the mouth was a bit too--straight? The smile was suppressed into a hostile smile. Your sister, in the sketch, looked like she wasn't happy being a subject for a picture, which, in the photo, isn't really the thing.



Friend

This next sketch looked like it was rushed. The eyes were too close, the teeth were unrealistically perfect, and the sinus area was a bit emphasized.



Cousin

This is cool! I love the expression of your cousin here! LOL Though you've missed to show her cheeks in your drawing. The cutest thing about her are the cheeks, and you kinda didn't show it in your drawing. The lines of the nose were a bit too thick. But it's cute.

Hope I've helped. I just pointed out nitpicks above. I suggest you study shading. You've got a problem with shadings. You sometimes line some parts which were meant to be shaded. When shading, tilt the pencil. If you didn't get the shading you want by tilting the pencil, don't be afraid to smudge it with your finger. I sometimes use a clay shaper, but fingers are the best to use. LOL So there, I hope I've helped. =)) If you have any questions, PM me or post on my wall. If you want some more reviews, just drop by my thread in the WRFF forum. If you're not sure where that is, click the link in my signature.

Keep drawing!

~~ Jash♥

I have to say that children are very hard to draw, and you did a good job with that on the last picture. Also the expression is a very important thing to capture when drawing and I think you did good in that one with that quality. The middle one needs the most work, but you certainly have talent! I think more shading and defining of the facial features would increase the look greatly. It all depends though on your style. If you were looking to be more realistic, then I'd just say add more depth and detail to your works. Value and shading are key. But many artists have different styles so this may just be your style. Anyways. I love them, and wish you the best in improving your skills.
P.S. Practice really does make perfect.
<3

Hiya!
What I liked most about these was the great likeness to the real people. You've done that very well - I for one can't draw likenesses to save my life. I can draw, but never off real people.
Wow. Very, very good. I liked how you were obviously very meticulous in getting every line and shadow right.
Two things I'd like to comment on: firstly, I think you could give them more dimensions. Maybe make the shading less lined and more soft, 'brushed' in a way. Especially the second picture looked kind of hurried - the lines, in her hair and face, were maybe too dominant.
Also, sometimes their proportions were slightly doubtful. Sometimes you made a chin too rounded or a neck jut out too far. But for heaven's sake don't change anything - I would hate to see these wonderful drawings ruined by a stupid little whim of mine.
Once again, these are very good pictures, and once again, the likeness is stunning.
God bless,
Ignis

Afternoon, Jent! I was absoloutley not stalking your wall or twaling through your work or anything. I'm sane, you see. (Yeah, right)

Anyway, I will actually attempt to review/comment/be of some use here! I like that you've offered photos here as well, it gives us something to compare the actual drawings to.
For the most part what I think you need to work on is making the drawings more three dimensional. The second drawing in particular, offered a bit of a flatter face than shown in the photograph. You also need to make sure you pay attention to detail; things like teeth and hair and where things are in realation to other features.

I can't really talk though, considering I can't draw to save my life! Keep it up!