*****ATTENTION ALL ARTIST******
(and anyone else who wants to participate)

The recent postings of artistic ventures has given me an idea. Mind you- it's a stolen idea. I used to periodically visit a lovely site called Conceptart.org, and in their forums there was an individual that challenged himself to draw "1001 drawings that sucked". Essentially, he drew. Anything and everything from people sitting in coffee shops to barbarian chickens, he drew. Then he would post his drawings up and present them for critique (and the folks over at conceptart.org are *hardcore*, too). I never saw if he made it to 1001, but the progression of his drawings was pretty damned amazing.

This is the very same challenge that I wish to present to anyone and everyone that wants to pick up a pencil. You draw- you don't have to keep to any theme, you just draw. Then you post them up here (if anyone needs hosting, send me a pm), and they are available for critique by the other participants (or anyone else that has a valuable contribution to make- keep in mind that while I may not have mod status in this forum anymore, I can and will have useless posts removed).

Yes, there will be 1001 drawings from each participant. Sure, it'll take a while, but seriously- what else have we got going on right now? The idea is that at the end of the run, we post up each person's first drawing and the last drawing. I'm betting we'll all be amazed at the difference. I think for anyone that wants to improve their skill, or even take it on as a complete beginner, it'll be time well spent.

Each participant will only need to start with the desire to draw, an open mind, be willing to provide and receive constructive criticism (I want this to be some straight up, pulling no punches critiques. Just telling someone "Oooh, that looks good" doesn't help). You will also need to be able to scan or digitally photo your drawings. As I said before, if you need help hosting, let me know. Stretch yourself a little bit as you get more comfortable with it- try different drawing media. The whole point is to expand your experience.

There are a few rules to keep in mind:

1. Number your drawings. I don't want to have to keep track of 1001 drawings for everyone who gets in on this. Even if you do several drawings on one page, number them all and scan the page.

2. Image size needs to be no larger than 600x800 at 72dpi. Keep your file size as low as possible, without wrecking your detail. If you can get away with posting it as a .gif, do so. Otherwise, a medium sized jpeg is ok. Anyone with gi-normous files will be asked to remove them and have them resized.

3. Here's where the freedom of artistic expression meets up with the Banzai PG-13 rule. Most any topic is fair game, and I'm even willing to accept tastefully done nudes. For the sake of argument, let's try to steer clear of any full frontal genitalia presentation on the actual forum. If you have any that you want to share, post a PG-13 warning, and provide a link to the drawing. I personally don't have any problem with said subject matter, but some might. I'm sure it goes without saying that there will be no intentionally derogatory or inflammatory artwork allowed. If something shows up and is in really poor taste, expect it to be removed.

4. No recycling old drawings just to get your numbers up! First submission is ok since that drawing is a representation of your current skill level (or should be, at least), but after that we need to see your progression, and old drawings aren't gonna help us a bit with that.


Ok, I think that's it for now. Keep your eyes on this thread, because I've likely forgotten something. Remember- any kind of drawing is acceptable, right down to quick 5 minute gesture drawings. If something strikes your fancy, by all means keep working it until your muse is exhausted.

Now go get to drawing!

You sure you don't still have mod status? You're explicitly listed as a member of the mod team for this forum.

Also,l just for reference, pen and paper (or Wacom and Photoshop) only, or is electronic art permissible? I'm for the former, myself, but hey, it's your idea.

Just curious.

Hell if I know... I just assumed when my status changed to inactive that my mod status went away too. If it's still there, then all the better if no one else has any problems with that.

By the way.... I expect you to be in on this. That's an order

EDIT: I personally don't care what anyone draws with- I have literally drawn with river rocks before. I would prefer not to see any poop drawings, though. Digital is fine- the important thing here is that these aren't supposed to be "finished" works. Hopefully a number of the drawings will inspire finished works, but it's the drawings we are gonna be looking at.

Oh, and yes.... I will count multiple drawings of the same topic towards the 1001 count. Just keep 'em numbered.

Oh, I'm planning on participating. I know that just from three months of architecture studio my drawing has improved substantially -- not from anything specifically taught, but just from working things over a heck of a lot. I did some elevations of a church building not long ago that were some of the best drawings I've ever done.

Ok, well, without further ado, I give you

Image No1

My 1st go with PSP

And image No2 (finished about 1/2 an hour ago actually)

my 2nd go with PSP

Both of these were hand drawn and then PSP'ed to the best of my ability which ain't much. Be merciful, I beg you.

Edit

Just realised how damn big that 2nd one is, replaced it with a smaller version

Ok, first there is a question- How are you drawing the images into PSP, stylus or mouse?

The lady with the katana:
I'm not sure if it's unfamiliarity with anatomy or how weird it is to try and draw with a mouse here. There are a few things that need fixing. One, she's got too much of a forward lean. Second is that her calves are far too small to support her thighs- the legs look almost like they were drawn at a "bird's eye" perspective, but the rest of her wasn't. Thirdly, watch how you protray the bends at joints- an elbow bend isn't going to be a contiuous, gentle curve; rather, it would be an angle. I like how you pretty well nailed down the position of the hand holding the katana, however. You've given us the idea of how the hand is resting in space rather than trying to spell it out for us, and that's a method that just *works* in a case like this.

One thing to work on also is thinking of the human body as a stack of three dimentional blocks, rather than one continuous shape. By starting your drawing using those cubes and cylinders, then applying the body's form on top of those, you'll locate your subject in space a lot more solidly.

The Mech:
Locating this fellow in space is precisely what you've done here. It exists, it's resting on a ground plane with a very solid weight, and the perspective it fantastic on this one. The one foot kinda bothers me, as if it may have been the last part that you finished, so you didn't take as much time with it. It goes flat, unfortunately. I would love to see a little more detail on this, even some directional lines would give it more liveliness. Right now, it's pretty static.


Keep 'em coming.

Thanks for the advice, these I drew with a pencil and pen and then scanned them in and played around with PSP. I don't have the mouse skills to try and I can't afford a stylus so that's the only way I can.

The lady with the Katana was my 1st serious attempt ever at human anatomy, let alone female anatomy so anything that worked is purely accidental. I personally hate the head, I feel I screwed up the chin and the hair and the eyes.

With the mech, the foot didn't work out nearly as well as I was hoping. It was meant to be a kind of front on view but failed.

This one, the foot worked a lot better, mainly cause I kept them facing the same way. It's just as static unfortunately (older drawing, just slightly more recently coloured) and from the same angle.

My first submission, a revised Eli James. Shortened the arm, rotated the hand and feet, put the back arm out a bit more, and shortened his torso a bit by drawing up the crotch of his pants a bit. Added some wrinkes to the pants.


(0001)

My submission:

Trying something out that I've been meaning to do for a while, which is to use toned paper, and a white ink pen to find my lights, as well as dark ink to find the shadows. I can't say I'm all that thrilled with my results- I've always had a hard time finding light sources, and it seems like the white ink just accentuates that fact. If I could get the lighting source thing down, I think it's a really nice effect, though.

Of course I'm not the best with inking in general- I spent forever trying to get her hands right, only to flub them when I inked them.

Also, Google Image is the artists best friend. Owls are a *pain* to draw without a reference tool.


0001

Much improved, Thrashy. Looks like you also straightened out the gun some. A couple of things you can try here is to make the arm hole of the jacket a little larger- it narrows at the shoulder, and that's making that section of the arm appear weak. Widen the upper arm, and take a little of the "blousing" out of the forearm of the jacket.

Also, I'd love to see some shadows. You've figured out the posture pretty well, but until the drawing has a little more depth to it, it isn't quite believable yet.

1001 sketches?

Er...this could take a while....and a lot of HD space as well...

Get another hard drive. But draw.... DRAW, DAMNIT!

I wonder if Deviant would have me killed if I uploaded 1001 images...

One step at a time, Sandy. Give us Numero Uno, and we'll work from there.

Yup- you make the drawings. We'll make it work.

I've got an FTP server on my home PC here, and about 30gb of free storage on the drive with the FTP root. It's not -fast-, but there's plenty of space, so I'm happy to host pictures if people need them hosted. If the usual sensible compression is used, it shouldn't be noticeably slow at all.

And I liked Athena =(. Always hate to see artist's being so critical of themselves, heh. Maybe cos it's still a bazillion times better than anything I could ever do.

Athena looks great. The owl in particular really came out well, and I like the helmet and the way you have it pushed back. The only suggestion/feedback I'd have is that for some reason Athena's face looks a little... masculine, maybe? I'm not sure if it's the brows or the jawline or what. Something in the face seems too strong to match the delicate features of her arms and legs.

Well, delicate isn't the right word. I realize she's supposed to be muscular in an athletic way. I guess I'd just always thought of Athena as kind of a hottie, and the face doesn't seem to match that.

As far as the guy with the shotgun is concerned, is it just me or are his legs too short for his torso?

Fury:

Very Nice sketch of Athena!

OK, here's #1, done with Corel Draw. I have not yet gotten the hang of 3-D perspective

0001

Not done by any means. Piccy Uno.

Simple >5 min sketch with Contiq and PS CS2.

I need to get my scanner fixed...
And for those look for a decent free PSish program...
Here

Don't s'pose I could give this a try could I? I've not decent talent on a paper but I'd love to learn how to draw.

Che. As if you needed permission.

Just start posting stuff.

Piccy 2

http://www.deviantart.com/view/26100971/

It's amazing how philosophy class can inspire me in everything except philosophy.

There are other cost effective ways *cough* newsgroups *cough* of finding drawing programs

I blame Az for number one. I'm actually both proud and dissapointed with this one. proud because that's the best clothing I've ever drawn and dissapointed because it looks like hammered crud.
Oh well, here's number one. Also, would anyone be willing to host bad drawing for me?
*puts a blindfold on and pins a target to his chest* Okay, I'm ready, fire when ready.

Speed Bump! WOOT!

Good Job man. I need to start drawing again myself.

Looks like a good start, Leeran. I'm guessing there's a bigger story behind it....

Piccy 3
This is my first Dark Eldar pic.

Actually, he seemed easier than Craftworlders to draw. Pointier, meaner, and fewer gems and runes.

My question is how do they keep from killing themselves every time they trip....

Barbed Tormentor Pattern Armor

Bigger version link below
http://www.deviantart.com/view/26401173/

Just what Az said in the Urban dead topic.

I decided to convert to the dark side and joined DeviantArt (Leeran.Deviantart.com G'wan and criticise me there). Hopefully they'll let me put up a few drawings before trying to leech me for money.
Here she is.
Najin Jun

Piccy 4

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/27705453/

Here's what I'm working on.

Yes, there are boobs there. Deal.

Image.... Uh...2?

Close up

Thighs look a little....thin?

*checks his references again*

Yeah, the anatomy is actually all kindsa wonky- and some of it's even intentional. I was going for something of an elongated, ethereal look- and so the thighs don't bother me nearly as bad as the overly muscular back does. That and her neck is too far back.

I think that once I lay in the paint for her wrap there, the thigh will (hopefully) work itself out.

Ah, I see. Will you be adding extra effects to it? Mist, sparks and such?

Oh yeah- this piece is far from finished

I think this is my main source of jealousy with you folks. You don't do it all in one sitting, you take your time, come back and look over the work and fix something here and there. Rinse lather repeat until you've got awesome work.

I do almost everything in one go, if something looks bad I'm mortified to change it because it'll screw everything else up. I s'pose my art won't improve until I learn patience huh?

Oh and one question Fury, are we allowed to sculpt and have that count? I've got a block of modeling clay I've been itching to use and I wasn't sure if it'd count towards this.

Modelling clay- do it. I don't know how good of a critique I can provide, but then again it's not like I've been doing a lot of that lately. I wasn't good with 3-d, and while it's not exactly "drawing", I'm still interested to see what you do with it (besides, this thread is a bit more of a show-off thread lately, rather than a critique thread).

As far as patience goes...... Yeah. I hate to admit that, because I know what it feels like to just dump your everything onto the page in one sitting. I still do that, a lot. I also know the agony of realizing you've got something out of whack, and to make it right is gonna require a complete re-draw. That's usually how it happens, because the way I draw is that everything is drawn in relation to what came before it, if that makes sense. So if I have an arm thats off kilter, but the shoulder and neck looks perfect, when I re-draw that arm, the neck and shoulder are then off kilter to the new drawing. It can be maddening. But in order to improve, you have to be willing to wield the eraser.

Looks good Fury

But I agree, looks a little thin. I know you are sort of going for that look, but its just one that's never done it for me. But I still apreciate the talent that goes into it.

Looking forward to see the finnished results!


Also, for any of you guys doing this who are also having trouble with the board's attachment feature (there's a limit I think), I can set you up with access to my gallery on my site mesnic.com so that you can upload there and link the images in your posts...

You'd have to register on the forums for it to work since the gallery and forums share user info

Leeran- Got a look at your deviantart page, and here's what I can tell you-

For starters, *much* better! I can tell a couple of things from this- one is that you are a perfectionist from hell, and secondly that you have a very good aptitude with drawing from a reference/life. I'm really impressed with the anatomy. You drew from a photo or picture, I assume, because it appears that you were very intent on getting *exactly* what you saw.

A tip to use on dealing with those pesky eraser smudges- Start your drawing with no pencil softer than a 2H lead. Harder pencils make lighter marks, and the graphite "sits" on top of the paper better, making it easier to erase.

This leads me to my next, and very important point... because it's a mistake I make constantly. Your first marks should not ever be your final marks. Drawing is a series of steps; not a sudden outpouring of a final product. It's something that took a very long time to break myself of, and I still tend to do it. You have to lay down your guidelines first, and build your drawing from those. I'll see if I can get some 5 minute gesture drawings posted up, because getting in a habit of doing them is something that anyone that wants to draw should do. They are like the very basic, cellular building block of a drawing.

On the topic of doing hair- as I told you via PM, you need to consider a head of hair as a whole shape, and not individual strands. Once you get the shape of the mass of hair, then you can go in and add the details that say "hair".

Last but not least, I'm gonna share something that will make me sound like every art professor that I ever had that I always thought never grasped the fact I was on a limited budget. Use the best materials that you can afford to use. It's as simple as that. Seriously, I hate to admit those arrogant bastards were right, but they were. It makes a difference.

Now that I've told you to spend lots of dough on supplies, I'll share with you a trick I learned to get around at least a little of that expense, at least in the paper department. The best paper you can use will be 100% cotton rag paper. However, it doesn't necessarily have to be specific for drawing. Go to a frame shop, and see if they have any scraps of white to off-white rag mat. It's a great, heavy duty surface to paint or draw on, it's entirely archival, and frame shops generate tons of the crap. A lot of places will give away the smaller scraps, and you can't beat "free".

Thanks for the tips Fury, as I said, next one on the list is the same model but I'm going to be ballzy and try to draw her looking straight at you with her hair in the shot. (unfourtunatly I can't remember her site address so there is a lack of Kudos to her at the moment)
Also as an example of my modeling.
Dwarven Pie!
I made this two years ago, it's still standing to this day (that's actually a pic taken today) and was made using nothing but my hands, a toothpick and at one point I believe a fork. These days I use "proper" tools and the results are -much- better.

Ugh, here she is. "Whatcha looking at?"
I didn't think I could actually become ashamed of art that's a massive improvement of what I normally draw.
I tried your recomendations for her hair Fury. It was going great too. I just made it too small and had to layer it again, and again... '
Edit: actually not just her hair. I also did you'r "steps" reccomendation. First the rough lines (anything that'd affect all other things to come, eyes, head and sleeve)
Then I proceeded to fill in the eyes and begin rough hair. Finally I moved onto shading and toutching up lines here and there. It wasn't broken down into as many steps as it should have been but it's a step foreward from the prior piece that had everything done at a staggered rate (eyes, no, shading! Now eyebrows! Wait... Shouldn't I have done that before shading?) Things were stepping on each other preventing me from altering things too much without destroying a lot of work. at least this time I had it broken down enough I could hold the page back now and then and if I liked what I was looking at. Move on. Ironic that it should be the shading, the final part of most of my drawings, that should show major flaws in the artwork. (Like her LACK OF EARS! >.< )

Stuff I did today.....

piccy 5
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/28323133/

piccy 6 slightly hard to see, sorry
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/28322692/

piccy 7
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/28322635/

piccy 8 Warning: Nudity. Will not accept requests for phone numbers.
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/28322492/

Piccy 6
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/30280672/

Something I did as my submission to redesign some Battlesuits in the 40k universe amongst others...

I got some stuff to upload for this when I get my 'puter back and get to somewhere where deviantart doesn't bounce off the damn net nanny blocking software (at college being bored)

Been a long time since I sat down and did any drawing of any kind. Helped out a friend in designing some animal "masks" for a theatre production, and it worked me up to this:

Lookin' good hon.

Current piece is still in the works. It's actually not what I'd been intending to draw when I first mentioned wanting to do a "deep" piece on DA but I want to hold off before I try to draw that paticular photo.
So without any more beating about. Here's the work in progress preview.

Clockwork.

I've got a gut feeling the anatomy is horible but this is all in my head (no picture reference! ) so I'm not sure what needs fixing or how to fix it.
Oh and to explain the green. I did that so when doing small areas I can see what's the pictures graphite and the computers ink. I had very large bald patches on the scrap pile before doing this.

Your anatomy is actually very good. Only thing I would suggest is to sort of flatten the bottom of the rump, so that it appears to be sitting on a solid surface. Also, try shortening the front of the neck just a bit. When we drop our heads, the skin sort of compresses down there. For help, take two mirrors and use those to see what your neck does in a similar process. Turn to the side and use a smaller mirror to see what you look like in the larger mirror.

Long time no see!



Did this for a guy in my hall who earned the nickname "Evil Rocket Guy" during a game of DoD:Source. I got this wonderful mental image that I just had to get out on paper. Not quite as good as the picture in my head, but better than most head->paper conversions go for me. It seems one and a half semesters of architecture studio has done me some good, after all!

(Warning: hefty image as usual. Linked to the preview one this time)
Gift for BMW

Hey Fury, does this count as modeling? (as it's made of food)

Having done this one I'm actually kinda tempted to try wood working. It was really neat starting off with two blocks of chocolate shaving a bit here and there as I watched it actually become something resembling the finished product. A warning for those thinking of attempting this medium though.
Chocolate, while tasty to work with can change quality in a heartbeat. I worked it with a paper towel seperating my hands from the work to both avoid oil as well as heat. Turns out it works best at room temperature but if you apply anything that could count as "pressure" then it'll rip through the work like a chainsaw through buter. in the end I pretty much whittled the final bits.

Medium: Confectioners chocolate
Tools in order used
Serrated knife: rough cutting
Tooth pick: detailing as well as fine cuts
Razor knife: finer cuts as well as reshaping
Pumpkin carving saw: not really used but I did poke it briefly with it
Modelers hand tool: final reshaping as well as a butchers tact. It was used to make the tail 3D as well as carve the rock the wolf is sitting on.
(this ruined the taste of the chocolate on it due to previous work on modeling clay)