# New drawing...critique?



## Solon (May 11, 2008)

Very nice! Is it an Arab? I'm not fond of that breed but I love the ones with really dished faces (Polish maybe?).

I think you've done good. Maybe add a little more shading along the top of the neck and along the side of the nose (just left of the nostril).

Good job!


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## ShutUpJoe (Nov 10, 2009)

The neck is beautiful, the ears are perfect and the nose is wonderful. The eye is offset and not dark enough. It looks like you drew a mane in and changed your mind and tried to erase it. Other than that I think it's really good.


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## Mercedes (Jun 29, 2009)

I don't like to critique art, for the simple reason that the result of creative expression is subjective. And since that expression comes from the soul, it seems unfair and unnecessary to judge.

So, I will tell you how your art makes me feel. 

When looking at this Arabian, I feel a great sense of concentration, some tension and a touch of wariness, as if at any moment he may decide to turn tail and run.


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## Solon (May 11, 2008)

I don't know, I think it looks like he is looking at someone that is bringing him something yummy to eat!


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## Ponni (Jan 9, 2010)

good job. he looks very friendly.


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## RoxanneElizabeth (Dec 18, 2009)

Pretty head, soft shading, great work!


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## juniormylove (Aug 28, 2008)

ShutUpJoe said:


> The neck is beautiful, the ears are perfect and the nose is wonderful. The eye is offset and not dark enough. It looks like you drew a mane in and changed your mind and tried to erase it. Other than that I think it's really good.


funny story..that's where my hand rubbed across it and smudged it in school...I got frustrated with how messed up it got so I erased a large portion that got smudged and haven't drawn it back 

Thank you everyone, for your kind words 

Solon - I don't particularly like Arabs either, but I love to draw their necks. I don't know why, but I LOVE their necks.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Very nice drawing, particularly for one drawn in class at school! You've got your proportions beautifully, so the only thing I will suggest is that you need to add more 'depth' in the shading. So the area's that have the darkest shadows, make them almost black, you need to spread the tones throughout your work so that it does not look weighted in one area. I tend to put the very dark points through sections of the ear, the eye, the nostril, mouth and often in small areas under the mane and jaw. 

Just a little more fine details around the nose and the eye and you will have an EXCELLENT drawing on your hands.

No for the art class subject. You say not having lessons is holding you back. Well I can promise you that once you find your own style of work, having art classes will probably hold you back, not vice versa.
I tried to have art classes when I was about 12, and hated it. Then I did 2D art all through high school, and although I enjoyed trying out different mediums and techniques, I felt as though they were trying to shape my work into something it's not.

I pride myself on being a self taught artist, no body showed me how to draw, they simply showed me other mediums to try. But in the end, no body can really teach you art, they can simply guide you. Art is a very personal and emotional thing that cannot be forced. Once you find your own way, you will see what I mean


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## Lunachick (Feb 10, 2010)

I don't like critiqueing art as such, but you ould try being a bit looser, maybe getting a 5B or 6B pencil, and just relax a bit more.

Otherwise it's very good, you have all the shapes right, which is the hard bit!

It took me a lot of practice and experimentation to improve.


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## juniormylove (Aug 28, 2008)

Kayty said:


> Very nice drawing, particularly for one drawn in class at school! You've got your proportions beautifully, so the only thing I will suggest is that you need to add more 'depth' in the shading. So the area's that have the darkest shadows, make them almost black, you need to spread the tones throughout your work so that it does not look weighted in one area. I tend to put the very dark points through sections of the ear, the eye, the nostril, mouth and often in small areas under the mane and jaw.
> 
> Just a little more fine details around the nose and the eye and you will have an EXCELLENT drawing on your hands.
> 
> ...


Thank you!

I am proud to be self taught, but I would like to have a semester of art class to learn new techniques, even if I choose to ignore them. Even just to have the art teacher to look over my pieces wouuld be nice...and having the art supplies at my disposal would be nice! Plus I know the Drawing&Painting class have a unit where they draw skeletons and the little mannequins to get proportions down...I'd like to do that, since eventually I'd like to draw people. I've drawn four people, and they weren't very good. I totally understand what you mean about being held back...I think that I will get frustrated in class if I am told how and what to draw, but if it makes me a better overall artist, then I'm willing to do it. I'm 15 and still learning...I feel like I just need some instruction, ya know?



Lunachick said:


> I don't like critiqueing art as such, but you ould try being a bit looser, maybe getting a 5B or 6B pencil, and just relax a bit more.
> 
> Otherwise it's very good, you have all the shapes right, which is the hard bit!
> 
> It took me a lot of practice and experimentation to improve.


I actually have a 6B pencil somewhere...I think it may be at the bottom of my backpack. I really should dig it out. My grandpa, who is an absolutely AMAZING artist and my inspiration, gave me a full set of his old pencils ranging from 6H to 6B but they've been lost throughout the house  I do need to relax though...I become an absolute perfectionist about everything. :/


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## dantexeventer (Jul 11, 2009)

I agree with Kayty - I've always HATED art classes, always scraped by with Bs. People have asked me if I've considered going to art school, and it's always been an emphatic NO. I would diiiieee haha!


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## Lunachick (Feb 10, 2010)

To loosen up I always find drawing something with a paint brush helps, or even a marker. =)

I taught myself how to draw too. And I did think of going to art college, but I dont like the idea of having to draw something under pressure!


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## juniormylove (Aug 28, 2008)

Lunachick said:


> To loosen up I always find drawing something with a paint brush helps, or even a marker. =)
> 
> I taught myself how to draw too. And I did think of going to art college, but I dont like the idea of having to draw something under pressure!


the only paint brushes we have at my house are old cheap teeny tiny ones from when I was in elementary school. 

I'm taking my government course over the summer and I'm currently signed up to take Drawing & Painting next year -_- Hopefully it goes well.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Having a few school art lessons is certainly i good think, as I said previously, you will learn many new techniques. It certainly got me interested in a few different mediums, in fact school art is what got me hooked on pastel.

Unfortunately the teacher at the time was very much into abstract type works, and I am not at all. I'm very much a true to life artist. And she did not consider this as art, and often tried to crush my desire to draw true to life.

well I showed her, I won at 3 Royal Show art comps running, took out the senior art prize in year 12, earned myself just over $1000 in commission work in my final year of school and was told by the SACE board art judges that my work was 'increadible'.
Needless to say she ate her own words and now emails me regularly to find out how I am going with my commissions


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## juniormylove (Aug 28, 2008)

haha that's funny, Kayty!

If nothing else, I'm excited to have use of the school's art supplies XD Even if I find i don't like them, at least I'll get to try painting and other mediums without spending a buttload of money on supplies first!

I started a new drawing of John Lennon...I kinda like it. It's one of my first times drawing humans so it's not the greatest. It's not equine though so I won't post it here


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## Lunachick (Feb 10, 2010)

Doing art in school helped me branch out with mediums, it's a good experience!

However, I changed schools for my last 2 years, and we had to buy our own supplies!


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## juniormylove (Aug 28, 2008)

that would happen to my school -_- My school is SO sports oriented, everything gets put on the back burner. I mean, we have a cross country runner in the running (hehe) for Gatorade Player of the Year and she's going to the ESPY's (YAY. awesome.) but the school newspaper gets absolutely NO funding, meaning that we don't have enough money to print the last two issues even though the admin says that we HAVE to have 9 issues a year or else (sore subject, sorry). *sigh* But I digress.

I'm kind of excited...but scared...I don't like showing people my drawings. I do on here cause it's the internet and tbh I don't care what you guys think (only in the sense that you could be anyone and I'll never meet you so what does it matter if you think I'm bad at drawing?) and now I'm going to have to show people my stuff! EEK!


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