I’m Scared of Shading in my Drawings
It is true, I am scared of shading. Not like phobia bad, but enough to give me the bad habit of under-shading. When I finish drawing the outline of my work, the idea of basically scribbling all over it and applying varying pressures as you go sounds like a nightmare.
What makes it pretty embarrassing is that I should of got out of being so precious about my work years ago. Being so precious is what has stopped me from drawing in my spare time through out my life; so worried about that line going astray and ruining everything I have ever lived for. Like the world will end, just because I drew a picture and it turned out crap.
I think another problem is that I have never been taught (or tried to learn) shading techniques. Luckily with the help of sites like ConceptArt, it is very easy to find people who can constructively criticize your work and give you genuine feedback. Being praised is a nice feeling and does give you confidence, but it is criticism that really helps you improve. David Airey touched on this topic in an article about praise and criticism a few months ago.
Although confidence is probably my biggest weakness here, praise is not what I’m looking for to cure that. What I really need is critical feedback to keep me on track. As long as I can see I am genuinely improving, I’ll be happy.
The image belows below contain nudity, so be warned.
The top image looks a bit odd because I have not shaded the hair, but also her face is possibly a bit over shaded compared to the rest of her body. I may get around to shading the hair another day. At least I gave them faces this time.
With only 5 days left to complete my Big Christmas Draw, I am a bit concerned about how many I will of finished in time. The target is 31.
Roy
January 7th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
I find your choice of model interesting,it seems a little different to the model choice at Falmouth Uni? Julies family will be more impressed than ever. The addition of stockings and a G string could result in the sporting accountant never returning to these pages again. They are becoming more X rated rather than artistic. Good work.
Steve´s last blog post..Vectorising sketched artwork and drawings
January 7th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
I thought you would pick that out. I had drawn half of it before I realised, and I wasn’t going to waste half a drawing when under all this pressure to finish the 31 pieces.
I have found a better source of stock this afternoon, so it should bring it back out of the gutter a bit.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Looking forward to seeing ladies from ‘better stock’ do you mean yuppies?
Steve´s last blog post..5 reasons a screen printer should not be without water.
April 26th, 2009 at 2:03 am
Not to be rude, just helpful. The first one’s eyes are off, but I like her sensual pose. The hand is great. Your lack of shading isn’t that bad really.
The second one seems really off anatomically for some reason. That left part of her hip seems displaced, too far to one side. Looks like a terribly awkward, uncomfortable position.
April 26th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
The hip issue was the first thing mentioned to me when I uploaded it to my CA Sketchbook too. The reference image I used looked very uncomfortable too, but unfortunately I think it got much worse in my translation of it.
You are right again, I definitely need to work on faces – they aren’t really something I have practiced yet.
Thanks a lot for your comment and crit, it is much appreciated!
November 29th, 2009 at 9:40 am
when you want to shade a picture but don’t want to run the chance of ruining it scan into a photoshop program and work on printed copies. no hardware? copying machines are easily available. once you have it nailed go back to the original.
November 29th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Thanks for the tip Azure, that is actually a pretty good idea. I’ll definitely give that a go.