Young Writers Society

This drawing (above) is a Faerie Queen. I used the book How to Draw and Paint Fairies, by Linda Ravenscroft, to give me a general idea of what to draw, then colored it with colored pencils. It's one of my better drawings by far.


This is another drawing that I got from my fairy book.


This is a faerie, minus the face. A lot of my drawings skip the head, because I CANNOT draw faces. It takes a long time for me to get one absolutely perfect, and even then they aren't that great.


This sword is a magical weapon from the book I'm working on. Another one of my better drawings.


And this (gestures upward happily) is my map. I love this map, don't ask why (I'm not quite sure.)

Anywho, there you have it, my drawings that apparently can pass as art, if only for the moment. Sorry, by the way, that they turn up super huge-ish, I really have no idea what i'm doing.

1. This is a little out of proportion and she's very stiff but the colours are nice and the eye is detailed. Perhaps draw her again but in an interesting pose.

2. The wings seem a little small but the outfit and hair are brilliant. The expression is interesting too though the mouth could be better. I think you should colour this one. I certainly prefer it to the first.

3. Love the wings, fireball and hair but the arms and legs need work. I can understand your trouble with faces but have a go. Start with the eyes, you're good with those and then study how other people do noses and mouths and try to copy them. This will help you develop your own style. A little colour would be nice too.

4. The writing is cool but I'm not too fond of the sword. I think it needs a bit more shading and a few jewels wouldn't hurt or the odd nick here and there to show that it's been used frequently.

5. A bit more colour on the map would be nice. It's rather hard to see as it is and the writing is a bit dull. Try something bold and fancy.

Altogether, some nice work.

1: The head is a little too, round? The colors would be cool if they were full and bold....I would try something besides colored pencil for coloring OR fill out the color. Many of mine are colored pencil, but they are done dark...do full you can't tell. It's all in the pressure!

2: She looks like a man in the face, but the outfit is girly...maybe had some girly features? Also, she has no toes. I'm not realy excited about the mushroom, not enough detail, kind of unoriginalish.

3: Well, she has no face And only two fingers. The hips are a little awk, and so it the left leg/foot, but actually I like this one the best.

4:The sword is missing the bottom half of the photo.

5: This isn't anything special. It kind of looks like it was sloppily put together, has round tree-tops for areas where there are trees, random blue lines for waves like we learn to do in primary school...detail is just not prevalent here.



You are pretty good though for a "learn to draw book" beginner!

Lol, the learn to draw book actually helped quite a bit with size and proportion, Write Me! As for the sword, I don't know what's up with that, but I think I'm goign to take it off, and the map because...I'm not reallly sure why. Number 2 is wearing stockings, so she wouldn't have toes, and number 3's fingers are supposed to be lined up where you can't see all of them (although I'm starting to think I should rework that I little.) Thanks for critiqueing!!!

I thought Number one was porportioned rather well as far as her body. Her facial features are a bit off though. The Colours are very nice.

Number 2 is cool. The fairy is done nicely. Her face is better than the first. The Mushroom is...wierd. And your Grass at his base could have been left out, or done with a different medium.

3 is cool. her arms and legs are a bit off but her body is nicely shaped. Her wings are cool and the magic effect is interesting. She could do with some coluour and a face.

Magic sword. You and those magic swords. The Hilt looks cool

A nice map. I'm not much for maps though.

The only thing I am going to say is;

Dont use the how to draw books...

This is not because these drawings are bad - they're actually quite good, as is the colour - but by using these, you will never find your own style, and that is an important thing to think about when drawing.

With the map, I may have a few tips as to how to improve... if only because I love drawing maps. =D


Start with pencil, preferably something like 2B. I also like to use the paper with light blue squares so that it's easier to get scale right and so that I don't go wrong so often.

Put in all the major landmarks first. I would put coastlines, mountains etc. first, then cities afterwards so that you can think about climate and things more easily when choosing where to put the cities.

Switch to a black fineline pen. First thing to do is the names of cities, as if you do this last, you may find you don't have any room to write them neatly enough. Try artistic flowing scripts or calligraphy if you want to make them look extra special!

Then go over the mountains etc. with the fineliner. Be extra careful to get it right this time, as you can't get rid of pen marks unlike pencil.

Finish by rubbing out all the pencil lines! =)


One or two more things would be perhaps looking at names. Instead of "The Sea", how about "The Black Sea" or "Cabin's Cove".

...okay, so I can't do names that well, but I'm sure you can think of something. If this is for a story that you're writing, the names should have extra importance, either because your characters may well visit these places and use them in dialogue, or because of symbolism, clues to the reader etc.


I really hope I'm helping here! =) I'll try and come back to comment on the other drawings, just thought I should talk about the map first. (Like I said, I love maps... =P)

Good luck with all of them!

Kay.

GingerLizzy wrote:The only thing I am going to say is;

Dont use the how to draw books...

This is not because these drawings are bad - they're actually quite good, as is the colour - but by using these, you will never find your own style, and that is an important thing to think about when drawing.

I disagree, I think "how to draw" books are a great way of learning the basics, such as proportions and shading..

after you have the basic skills, then you should go on to develop your own style..

I really love the skirt on the first drawing. Very very pretty and well-drawn.

The others didn't do a great amount for me, but I did like the shoes on the third. They were really cute, very fairylike.

And the map was neat. I like the octopus in the corner.

Peace, love, chocolate,
Muffin

you should try figures from different angles than just front. I do love the outfits though.

And most the other stuff people commented on.

Purple Fairy: Her dress is wonderful. The gold band around her head ought to be covered by the hair rather than show up through it. Her right index finger [our left] is a little fat. Her nose also needs improving but I'm not very good with faces so can't help there.

Mushroom/Toadstool Fairy: This one is really good though her face is rather strange, it doesn't eaxctly suit the rest of her body. Love the mushroom/toadstool and her pose. Her necklace is beautiful.

Faceless Fairy: This is my favourite one and you've draw her so well.

Sword: The sword doesn't show up properly, I can only see the top half. I think the hilt needs to be a little longer, doesn't seem a hand could hold it [an adult hand that is].

Map: I see too much water. You could have important cities/towns etc. Also you could outline in felt pens and have the writing bigger.

With a little more practice you'll certainly improve. I'd like to see more of your fairy drawings or anything really, especially if they are in colour.

My only favourite was the first and the sword was all right.
The rest wasn't so good for me

this is nice!
it reminds me of my friend who has the same style.
i like the first one the best!

vince

Hmm, I usually use the "How to" books for basic shape. I'm horrible at the "start from a stick figure" approach; I try to draw the person "fleshed out."

Fantastic "fairy art". I really like the wavy lines used in the first image and it with the following image really portrayed the emotions on the faces. However the third picture I found rather nice, it had no face which created a sense of mystery in a sacred, hidden, magical kind of way. As for using "how to books", when I first started drawing I found the best way for me to portray any still object was to sketch it. You may not always have a "how to to book" and that's why starting with sketching natural objects really helps you develop a common style or rather a certain way of portraying what you want. In your pictures you seem to like fairies, and if you need inspiration on the wings or any other part it might be helpful to look up stills of animals that contain similar characteristics and practice drawing those, remember it's always more enjoyable to draw something you have a passion for.

Warm Regards,
-Elitehusky