Thought I'd give this sketching business a try, and I've just mangled Sir Christopher to the nth degree. What advice would you give to a total beginner to fix this?

>>7633746 (OP)
Your shit is scarier than the ref, I'll give you that

>>7633746 (OP)
Learn to actually observe your subject, and how to actually measure proportions.
The eyes are too big, you've drawn the head vertically straight when it's slightly slanted, the mouth is too wide, etc, etc.
Just pop the reference over your drawing and see where you made mistakes and take note of that next time.

All this said though, I kind of dig your sketch - being able to capture likenesses may have been a miss, but drawing something that's appealing is far more important in my eyes.

>>7633746 (OP)
I would tell them to pay careful attention to the size of the facial features and the dark shapes on the face. All of the features are drawn too big and a lot of the details can be reduced. Like on the right eye, the top of the eye and the eyebrow are one single dark shape but in the drawing there's light added between them, so the expression looks wrong. Same on the left eye, if you squint the eyelashes and eyebrow merge into a single connected dark shape. Look at the lips, they're scratching the pencil around desperately trying to figure out where the they go but it'll never look right because the lips are really a barely-visible dark line above the teeth. They've also drawn in a thick dark line underneath the bottom lip which isn't in the reference (it's a lot lighter), that puts a lot of undue emphasis on the lips, like he's sticking them out. Same with the teeth, they're just a single white shape but when they try and draw all of the individual teeth with dark lines they're creating a very dirty spaced look between them. The laugh line on the right can be made a lot lighter, left one is fine. Big idea: pay attention to dark shapes.

See the shadow they've got going down the left side of the face? That's great. I think the eyes on their own are good too. I have no idea how to fix the hand.

>>7633746 (OP)
Mirror. Self-portrait. Draw what you see. That’s it, really.
There is no shortcut. There is no magic trick. Don’t be lazy.

>>7633746 (OP)
Now that you've warmed up, try drawing it again.

>>7633746 (OP)
>How do I fix him
Give him a personality, a backstory and draw him with a cig on his hand instead of doing a silly sally pointing.

>>7633746 (OP)
what the fuck dude lmfao

the perspective is kinda flat but besides that i really like your sketch

my one hour attempt. I'm not OP.

>>7633746 (OP)
why dod u turn him anime
put his eyes closer together and make them smaller
also study how to measure shit or whatever to draw proportionately

>>7634103
why does he look like the unholy product of bruce campbell and nic cage marriage

>>7633746 (OP)
It's beyond saving. But in the long term you might want to learn both Portrait and Caricature, then at the outset of your work you can decide where in-between both ends of the spectrum you want your drawing to lie

>>7633746 (OP)
You are in this beginner trap, where you're still "symbol drawing" but also following the reference too closely.
the hand in the reference is a blurry mess so you drew a blurry mess, you either would need to find or make a reference for the hand, or know anatomy enough to fake it.

>>7633746 (OP)
These kind of posts always confuse me. Do you have eyes? Are you able to discern differences between two images? Simplify this to a basic level. Youve basically posted an image of a black equilateral triangle (your reference) - next to a wobbly oval (your drawing). And youre asking us to tell you what the difference is between the two images. You genuinely dont see a difference between the triangle and the wobbly oval? Do they appear the same to you? So for example, if I held a gun to your head and asked "Are the eyes in your drawing bigger or smaller than the reference photo? I will shoot you if you are wrong." Can you answer the question? If you can then you have the capability to use your eyes and judge your work for yourself and make the necessary adjustments

>>7633746 (OP)
I responded to the first time you posted. You've actually got his proportions down compared to the first one, but you need to actually clean it up and draw what you see. It's still improvement compared to the last one.

>>7633746 (OP)
You are at such an early stage that there's no point in giving advice for a specific thing like portraiture, instead you should try and improve your skill overall. I'd say pick up a beginner course like Dynamic Sketching and stick with it for a while.

If I had to give specific advice, however, I'd say focus on learning the planes of the face (Asaro head) and the shape of the skull, and then practice separating the different value groups of the reference. Once you have all that down, you should be able to combine that knowledge into a semi decent portrait. Getting the likeness down comes with practice, I haven't really cracked this one myself

>>7633746 (OP)
this is good, now do it again and pay attention at the parts you think you messed up last time. That's it.

It was supposed to look bad, its your first time. Now try again, but start smaller, like just do his head

>draw what you see
>learn how to draw heads

which is it? If you can already draw heads like that guy above me, then you only need to reference the light and shadow. Any "mistakes" that deviate from the ref will still be good.

So is it worth getting observational skills when construction and anatomy would already draw good faces?

>>7633746 (OP)
spent more time observing
yes its a pain in the ass
yes it will help you get better at drawing
yes it will make you hate drawing
no you don't need to do it for every drawing

>>7635474
Observational skills are the foundation of good draftsmanship. Without them you won't be able to learn the construction to draw heads even from imagination.

>>7635476
I see, can't I skip that and just memorize heads at all angles?

>>7635479
how are you going to memorize them if you can't observe them?

>>7633746 (OP)
>pilachu, I choose you!

This thread should become a /dtiys/ thread, in my opinion.

>>7640467
You should pay for a commission in my opinion.

>>7635427

very skilled. but there's no character in the drawing. it loses the essence.

>>7633746 (OP)

>>7640522
I know, FUCK you're right. You've got no idea how long I spent trying to get that scowl right. I just couldn't pull it off, hence that defeatist little remark at the end of my post.

>>7640472
Always one retarded nodraw killjoy who brings this attitude into ANY thread they can.
Get a new script to try and troll people with.

>>7640708
You're missing the tell tale pointers of disgust in your work.
Keep close attention to the position of the eyes as well beccause it is slightly diff in the oringial

>>7633746 (OP)
Try to work on basic shapes and how to do construction so you can space things out in the face and later on you can try to incorporate perspective into those basic shapes to give more depth.

>>7635427
>>7640708
The upper lip is showing too much of the upper top teeth and the mouth is not centered, you have it slightly left. And I would push the values more on these eyebrows and the upper eye sockets more. The eyes look more directly to the viewer (us) while yours is slightly downwards (not looking at us).
I thought that other anon was pulling your leg at first but now I'm inclined to agree. Still good stuff. It's so cool how this is the only place you can still get good crit no matter how good your stuff is.

>>7633753
This, your is better.

>>7633746 (OP)
I had fun drawing him, though I did no better capturing his likeness or his expressions, haha.

>>7645756
Nice you did a good job, but, it's missing the anger of the original

>>7649086
Thanks, and you're totally right. I got lost in the sauce and hadn't noticed I lost the angry expression. It looks like I raised his eyebrows a little at some point, and that's what's done it - I think.

I couldn't feel the form much and had to rely on aping what I saw because I haven't studied human anatomy yet. It's not bad, but neither is it good. I'm just glad I drew at all because I haven't in months, and guess what, I enjoy the act of mark making. I just can't bring myself to doing it. Mental issues stemming from chronic pain and too many IRL issues; classic nodraw sobstory.

>>7653856
Usually drawings look worse when you zoom in on them, and I have to say your drawing looks like shit as a thumbnail, but I was pleasantly surprised because it looks great at the full size, good job. You're probably closest to his actual expression in the thread
So quit being so hard on yourself.

>>7653856 (me)
I should tweak his left eye and wonky hairline, they take away from the seething anger. Aside from that, it is what it is, the likeness is sort of there, and it will require studying to get better.

>>7633746 (OP)
I actually enjoyed your attempt, OP. You mostly just need mileage but I can see you focused on the "energy" of the expression and were able to capture it despite the mouth looking too large or the nose too blocky. Literally just draw, and try reducing the pressure put into your linework because facial features are very delicate and minute details make or break likeness.
>>7640687
Underrated post, it's very simple yet effective. The line quality is not appealing, however.
>>7634103
Your cartoony influence has pros and cons. I think you really need some darker values, made the chin too large/square, and simplified the eyes too much, but if those were edited, you'd be "cooking", as the kids say. The eyes are the single most important and delicate part, I didn't get them just right myself, but they have not received much attention from you yet.

>>7635427
You're a better artist than me, but I agree on the eyes not properly staring at anything, e.g. the viewer. I enjoy you properly handling the planes of the face, but the actual wrinkles themselves are missing. Remember that microexpressions are crucial in identifying emotions. Adding some very delicate lines should hit the sweet spot here. The missing hand also lessens the overall expression more than you probably assume. Ultimately, you can add a very subtle texture to make the skin feel more natural, for digital brush strokes alone look too doll-like.

>>7653902
>your drawing looks like shit as a thumbnail, but I was pleasantly surprised because it looks great at the full size, good job.
I know, right. And thank you. I was pleasantly surprised myself.

A lot wrong with mine

>>7654031
I dig it, very stylish... well, except his banana bunch hands, haha.
Otherwise, good job.

>>7633746 (OP)
Jesus christ, is he british? He needs braces..