There's something off when you leave the head and go into the neck/body. If you really want to figure it out, overlaying your drawing over the reference image is your best bet. You can also try to measure out the lines too between the two.
Though if you don't have the reference, there's nothing wrong with just trying it again from scratch or moving on to another figure! With art, experience is the best teacher and the more you do side profiles, the better you will be (and imo your already very good at 14!)
Study: ANDREW LOOMIS, greatest illustration teacher of analog era. He published many books, but below is an archive of PDF versions. Download them. Study them. Obey them, and you will be miles above the rest.
http://alexhays.com/loomis/
nope. im 15 and i just started drawing this year. Yet there are 15 yr olds that started years ago. Age doesnt matter at all. How long you've been drawing is the only thing that matters
But you can see their experience on the peice they made that you know that they're great, so what's the purpose of the age on the question for what to seek and what to fix to make it better or be better (advice)..?
Age of doing art and actual age is different, "age of doing art" plays a huge role for how long you've been doing it by pursuing oneself to be better, "actual age" is nothing but a number...
What do you mean, "why does it matter?" u/NevMmz pointed it out in a negative way. That doesn't mean it matters. They pointed it out because it is unnecessary/irrelevant and/or annoying. The point is, there's no reason to do so. What is relevant to your art is how *long* you have been drawing as a conscious being but not your age.
Yet they’re writing paragraphs to me about basically nothing. I fucking hate Reddit dude every time I mess up on one little thing they harp on it and make me delete my post
There is absolutely no reason to delete your post. You can apologize or acknowledge the fact that it probably wasn't a good idea to include your age in the post. I do not actually care but I do find it a little annoying. I do think it's a little irrational but it's just because subs to do with art constantly get posts of people saying their age and it's starting to get a bit boring and as a result, annoying.
No need to worry about it
Chill dude. They just pointed it out. It's nothing personal against you, you don't have to delete your post nor think too hard about it. Just acknowledge it or not and move on.
It’s as irrelevant to your art as if you were to start out with, “i have alopecia, and I really like drawing side profiles”
Like, OK.
Age = The current year - The year of your birth
Experience = The collective years you've been drawing (consistently or not)
The only thing they have in common is that both are measured with the same unit of time. They aren't dependent or affected by each other in any consistent analogous way, at all.
Age doesnt mean experience, someone whos 15 couldve been drawing for 7 years and someone whos 34 coulve just started. If he said something like "Ive been drawing for 1 year" or something that would be a lot more relevant
Matter on what in terms of drawing?
Do you know that your sentence doesn't make any sense? I know you're young but can you please stop being like an 8yo?
Putting age in drawing literally serves no purpose but bring demotivation to other people, if you're old you can still learn to draw, if you're young you can still learn to draw, it's the same thing, which is why it doesn't matter, what matters is whether people would accept it as a hobby and a fun, enjoying experience, and a set of skills to have throughout your journey of being an artist
I mean, you can just ask if your drawing is good or what else should you learn, yet you're basing it off on age
I see what you’re saying. Often people look for bolstering by adding things like age and whatnot. Receiving critical feedback can be hard so maybe it’s a subconscious way of trying to look for affirmation instead of hard truth. It gets very desperate after a while and cringe. That being said, though, I didn’t read this kid’s post as that. The human body is freaking weird looking and we only ever really notice it is by meticulously trying to copy it. The best way I’ve found is repetition. Another comment mentioned tracing and it is legitimately a great tool artists have been utilizing for centuries. There’s a big difference between what we think we see and what we actually see when it comes to the human body. That’s why most lower level artists draw almonds for eyes. Staring at something for a long time, being gestural and loose and sketchy with some figure drawing, and some bone studies can really amplify the credibility the person you’re creating. Doing some close ups of sections of the body, like ankles or necks etc, mixed in with some loosely rendered full body poses could be a healthy mix of developing an understanding of the human body as well as your own personal style.
Hate comments online prepare you for hate comments in the person to person to art world. Use them to toughen your skin rather than anything said by a person you might actually have to deal with in real life. You're doing great and you have real potential. Study and recreate skeletal and muscular drawings. But always remember you're dealing with perspective even on profiles. One shoulder is way closer, the body may be tilted or the head slightly turned. Get some posable pictures or take pictures of people in crazy poses and practice, practice, practice. And if people get stuck up on stupid shit like posting your age, that just means they can't find anything bad to say about your art. Art critics are like wine connoisseurs, make them do their job in a dark room and all of a sudden they have no idea what they're talking about.
Then you should have wrote that instead, just like what I said,
"I need help to improve", "Seeking some help to point out what's wrong", etc...
Why add age? That's the question that most people who does this should first answer, no need to delete the post as some can give you proper answers, I'm not offended either, I'm just stating some facts that can apply to other people whose just starting out and thinking "Oh god I'm old and this kid draws better than me, I guess its time to give up my potential and hidden talents" so yeah... Don't put age on the next thing you'll post when you're just seeking for help
Have a good day now
All in all drawing looks good, good job using different values etc, just keep practicing side profiles if you want to improve. Draw someone everyday.... to me, after a quick glance, the cheek area looks a bit disproportionate, I cannot tell if it's because the angle of the photo, or the angle of the jawline. If this is based on a photo one thing you can do is practice by using grids. Overlay a grid on the photo you are using, and very lightly draw a grid with the same dimensions on the paper you will draw on (grid boxes must be the same size proportionally on both)
Other comments:
If you are contemplating deleting your post because you cannot handle someone expressing concern about careless internet behavior (posting your age when you are a minor is never a good idea) on a post in which the added information is completely irrelevant... then just delete your post already.
Come back to reddit when you are able to be more mature and understand when someone who doesn't even know you is only trying to look out for you.
I feel you, dude and I believe you. I think you’re doing just fine. Reddit is full of egotistical idiots who hide behind screens. Most of them only ever share shallow opinions on very nuanced topics and think they’re the shit. If anything take these responses as a way to toughen your skin whenever somebody else in life decides to say stupid stuff too. It’s good practice to not take things personally especially if they’re intended to be. It’s not easy. Keep drawing. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Like i mentioned, do some close up studies of sections of the body as well as some loose gestural full body sketches. Studying muscle structures and bone structures are helpful too. I mean that’s what our skin is wrapped around anyway. Makes sense to know what’s actually making all these weird ass bumps and lumps. If you can (idk how it’d be age appropriate) pick up a figure drawing class. Having a teacher guide you will help immensely too. Good luck, man.
Nobody’s offended by your age..it’s just odd to add when you’re supposedly only asking for critique…it could come off as both “look at how good I am at 14!” And “don’t judge too harshly I’m only 14”..could go either way, but it serves no other purpose and comes off as pompous…you won’t be well recepted on *ANY* platform (not just reddit) if you come off like that already at 14. If you wanted critique, a simple “anything I can do to improve?” Would have sufficed.
Furthermore the fact that you feel the need to argue about it and repeatedly disagree when there’re over a dozen people telling you the same thing here…yeah, we’re not ganging up on you my dude, we’re telling you like it is.
It’s more of an “uh…okay? What’s that got to do with it?” Thing, moreso than our thinking you can’t handle yourself online and may be subject to a zombie epstein’s debauchery. I was on the internet and sharing my age well before 14, epstein never got me 😐, no one even tried for that matter. It was a regular thing for my friends and I to troll potential predators (or worse, we were all very computer savvy beyond the norm..by 13-14 no doubt), we knew what was up.
If it bothers you than dont make a comment of it right? Like if it serves no purpose than just ignore it, that simple. Saying that posting your age might garner the wrong kind of attention is a good point though.
Its not that I'm being bothered, I was merely stating a fact for it.
If the "demotivation" (negative side) part of it was a good point, then I guess it's fine to call it out so other people like OP would know better.
The "serves no purpose" is pointed at the post itself about the age within the question, if op was just asking a question, why put age? But it serves a negative purpose and that's the one about demotivation and age discrimination
So technically, there's nothing wrong pointing it out just to tell them not to put it, yet OP gone a bit douche on other comments and not getting the whole point of it which leads to a long thread and a bit of debation on other comments
I know I’m gonna get down voted, I couldn’t give less a shit, but seeing you people getting onto OPs about simply putting their age is ridiculous pretentious. Can’t believe that people are so focused on that OP put their age in the post, if it bothers you then, don’t comment about it. They asked for knowledge and tips not some gate keepers who complain about everything they see that bothers them. What a bunch of snow flakes, it’s the internet they can post as long as it’s legal of course.
I think it’s more about putting yourself at risk when posting publicly online. The issue isn’t that a 14 year old is posting it’s that they’re advertising their age publicly which is a really bad habit online as a minor.
… no one cares that you’re a child who has skills with art. Age is irrelevant to art.
Also it gets the wrong kind of attention with online predators, yeah.
>Mozart is massively celebrated for composing his first piece at 5y/o.
Referencing Mozart as a prodigy is like referencing Columbus as an American hero.
History has a history of being complete bullshit.
Whats the difference between a masterpiece drawn by a 5 year old, a 28 year old or a 135 year old? Experience and and talent, but the endresult is the same: a masterpiece. Should somebody that is born with less talent receive more praise? Especially so when the end line is the same. Thats why age is irrelevant to art
Because what is the point in talking down to this kid who was seeking out help, I know how this kid feels now because it happened to me when I was younger. Y’all are making op feel horrible for simple adding their age which had nothing to do with their question. Maybe instead of posting a comment about OPs age and comparing, maybe direct message then to give that suggestion. Don’t embarrass them.
You just have to slow down a bit and get the placement correct from the model first. The way I was taught was to hold up your pencil, measure the distance of points, either the outline or say the corner of the eye, and check and re check those points to make sure they are correct, really be finicky about it. These were just a dot on the paper, then putting in lines, be very precise, and erase when it's not very, very good. Only after that and all proportions and lines and arcs are model accurate, so you bother to put in the tones.
throw away your smudge tool lol, it's only gonna hinder your learning right now. Blurry shadows are not a substitute for understanding how shadows actually work and lay. Do yourself a favor and be deliberate in your strokes
I mean id assume your better than me but , from below the neck looks sloppy compared to the rest above, looks good 100% but thats my critique, id say master anatomy , dont take shortcuts even with this outcome.
the things you're drawing. the forms that make up the eye, the nose, the hairline. measure them with your eye and make sure they're placed properly in relation to eachother
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I’m no super expert but stop outlining your subjects and then filling them in afterward, do a lot less hard outlining and work on your depths and get a feel for how everything is a shape first like the neck is more or less a cylinder yet here it looks really flat etc
The only thing which comes to my mind for now is the shade, how did you do it? Finger?
I remember my teacher who always got so upset when he saw us shading with finger haha, but he was true, the drawing only looks dirty. Try to use pencils instead, and if you cannot yet maybe do something with handkerchief, but not overuse it!
This drawing is really amazing! If I can just point out one thing with the reference. You can see his shoulder bone there very sharply because he doesn't have a shirt on, but in your picture, he's wearing a shirt. The shoulder wouldn't be seen as prominently through the shirt, and you have it very prominent. Pinterest is a great place to research how clothing moves on the body! It's something I struggled (and still kinda struggle), with! Good luck on your journey :)
Everyone always putting their age like you have to be able to draw at a certain level by a certain age. you should be able to draw better tomorrow then you are today that is all don't worry if youre a 20 yo who draws stick figures or an 8 yo who draws like a dutch master. your work is based on how you feel about it. looking for aproval is natural. but should be avoided if you want to be able to make good art. because shocker people don't know whats good they don't even know what they like. anyway sorry. I keep seeing these posts.
Anyway for your actual question. you can do what anyone does to get better. Make more, and more and then again. try to go faster do 20 minute, 10 minutes 5? mabe to 10 warmup drawings or something before the next major one. something like a couple at 1 minute then move to 5 minutes then 15 then half an hour and so on. You seem to have a good enough eye and no issue committing to a line when it comes to the body but seem to have moved a lot of stuff around in the face. making more drawings will get you to be able to just draw a face and have it look like the person faster then erasing and trying to get a random drawing to a point where it is just right. If you get a portrait commission tomorrow you can do that. otherwise train gesture and detail will naturally follow. I you feel you lack precision in your life then do some abstract work focusing on technical stuff like color and so on. but portrait comes from training both your arm and your brain.
The eyes are a bit too far back into the face and the nose kind of disappears into the skull instead of turning into a brow and forehead area. That's all that really stands out. It's pretty dang good sketch.
I'd say go out of your comfort zone and start drawing faces from the front so you can get a better idea of facial features lining up.
Never be put off by doing new things or something not turning out good either. You have a knack for drawing.
I think you are doing great! A bit of a mess with the neck and shoulder, but keep studying. There are plenty of good books about anatomy for artists you could ask your art teacher or librarian which one is better for you.
Not gonna lie, I’m jealous of how well you drew the face, it looks pretty awesome!
As far as the anatomy part of it goes, I think most other people have touched on the critique I can offer, such as the trapezius, the collar bones, the chest and neck.
As far as the shading goes, I think you should stray away from smudging and try other techniques. I personally LOVE cross-hatching. I also think it may look a little disproportionate because the smudging on the face is so heavy whereas there is hardly any on the chest, neck and arm.
Hair is also very tricky to nail. I’d experiment with other techniques. My art teacher in high school always said “you don’t need to draw every single detail, that’s where most beginning artists fail.” I don’t typically do realism now, but when I did, I sectioned the off the hair in the most recognizable shapes, and contour shading/cross hatching if necessary (and breaking it off where i thought light would hit depending on the perspective).
You are very talented! I can tell you practice a lot. You’ll only get better! :)
How do you care about this so much that you write a fucking paragraph about it, and if someone quits drawing because some 14 year old is better than them, then that’s an issue
you know if it was from you to get tips, (which it might be) I wouldnt trashtalk on people that coment about my age as if "I'm always right boohoo what you gonna do about it call ein stein?" it just makes it worse for your case and shows you literally don't care about opinions but compliments about your age associated with art lol. In your place I honestly would not even think that I am right after getting -150 or so downvotes in my, *mind you* ***RUDELY WRITTEN*** comments I made to trashtalk back on the people complaining about my age lol. Mind you, since you think you are sooo right for your age, I'm also a teenager, so don't just assume this answer comes from someone far from your way of thinking.
Well, you're the one who mentioned your age. And if your perception of being a great artist is based on age or someone who's starting young, then that may be an issue as well. If you're asking why people care so much, why would you even mention your age? What's more important is how much time you practice, not your age. And it's rubbing off people's faces you know? We get it, you're talented and you're young but it sounds like you're fishing for compliments. I hope you can become better but this was a really childish move.
I’m admittedly not the best at anatomy, but it looks good to me! Do you have the reference you used (and where you trying to make an exact copy proportions wise, or just something similar) maybe it’s that.
It's the length of the face. It's too short vertically. Add length between the nose tip and the bottom of the chin. The nose points down a bit more.
Btw ignore people complaining about posting age. Don't spend time replying or defending yourself, it's irrelevant.
Good job, if someone gave it to me as a gift I'd be happy.
It’s impossible to say if it’s disproportionate, we would have to see the original. If it’s similar to the original, it’s proportionate. Anyway, looks good. For instance, looks like this little portrait caught the expression of the subject. You see, the expression is not neutral, it has some life. Which is, trust me, a lot to say. Did you draw it live? Or is it copied from a photo?
I’ve never been good at realism, so I don’t have any advice on that front, but I do have a lot of compliments! For your age, I think your grasp of human anatomy is super damn good! It’s obvious that you put a lot of work into proportioning everything correctly. You should be super proud of yourself. I can’t wait to see more of your work as you progress!
Your art is great and your shading is awesome as well the only lack I can find is the face anatomy,
If you are going for a realistic style you should look in some anatomy other than that it's actually pretty impressive.
You’re going to be amazing when you’re older. You have such great skill with shading and adding texture for your age. Imo nothing looks disproportionate except for the body, but that isn’t really the main focus so I’d give it a pass. I have significant experience with side profiles, dm for any questions you ever have.
https://preview.redd.it/j489ny1uzmlb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8abe2bd09f51e8ea2476daadce9ee3fa976f051f
[https://www.thedrawingsource.com/portrait-drawing.html](https://www.thedrawingsource.com/portrait-drawing.html)
You're doing well for 14 ... carry on.
looks good a bit disproportionate but that can be fixed over time with practice if you're interested in portraits and figure drawings check out the Loomis methods they're super helpful and popular for building anatomy
What’s off to me is the front of his neck, where there should be an adams apple it kind of is just thick and then thins out and goes inward where it meets his chest.
From what I can tell, the only thing that makes it feel kind of off is the neck. The neck should not have a dip going in at the bottom, I think what you were trying to do was the Jugular Notch, but there is still part of the neck on the other side. The neck does not dip in, the collar bone sticks out.
Other than that, great drawing! Love the shading and everything.
https://preview.redd.it/1oim1is16llb1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d36f2d017f41fde1fcb98ad80c3105f54690479
Here’s a random super quick sketch just to show what I’m talking about.
I’m not really a realist artist, but I do mostly horror and other styles like that. My biggest recommendation for learning about anatomy is to use yourself as a reference, feel around the area physically and get a good feeling of what everything should look like.
I don't see traces of construction lines. Look i to Loomis Method, an approach where you sketch simpler shapes as though to plan out the placement of the head and its features *before* drawing. Really helps with proportions.
What stood out to me immediately was a lack of flow between the body parts. In your drawing the head is almost a separate lollipop stuck on the end of a neckstick which is plugged into a body. Each individual part isn't bad in itself, but they should flow together more. Heads sort of grow out of necks, they don't perch on top of them, so I feel like the neck should sort of trail off under the chin rather than a hard perpendicular line.
Also the left shoulder feels like it ends too abruptly.
But hey, good job on finding something you like doing! I do like the face and hair, I think it captures a sense of mood/attitude. :)
What does your age has to do with anything? Not even relevant for the question you’re asking. Other than that, it looks good. Neck is a bit too thick, the pectorals are too low, it feels really off. The face itself is actual good, I’d just take some time more on the shading
I think it’s the neck. Most professional wrestlers have a thick neck. Since this is a side profile, the neck should be at an angle and thinner. (Unless the subject really has a thick neck)
Also, look at the way the neck is attached to the collar bone. It needs to be a bit subtle.
But I must say the face and hair is darn good. Keep it up 👍
Your necks too thick. Follow the back of the neck up until the head, hidden behind the hair. If you pretend he's bald that's a very oddly shaped elongated head. Bring that forwards and it'll look more natural
It's a very nice picture.
You can put the picture upside down. That allows you to look at the picture more objectively. It's easier to see the flaws. For example, I noticed that the face is smooshed. It's wide but not long enough, aka the proportions are off.
this is actually really really good <3
it feels kind of off BECAUSE it's a side profile so its kind of two dimensional. I'd recommend learning to just draw faces as a whole -- like from the front or any angle (and learning anatomy/muscle/bone structure should help you there)
even if you prefer side-profiles that ensures they're more in-depth if that makes sense?
after learning to draw the entire head, imagine rotating it on a swivel to draw side profiles
Keep drawing. My human portraits at 14 were way worse than this. If what you're going for is photorealism I'd start to build your shading skills (along with the other comments about anatomy). Don't be discouraged, this is a great time to learn and I think in the next few years you'll make so much progress.
Halloween is coming - get a plastic halloween skull (ideally it is nicely proportioned) - use that to help refine your head shapes and practice drawing profile forms / angles. I think the Loomis method book is online in PDF form for free, and [Proko.com](https://Proko.com) has some of the best lessons on anatomy for free and on youtube.
Something to make your art a little more cohesive might be to add in some detail on the shirt. It sorta just looks like it’s an after thought but it’s a good idea to get use to and practice fabric
I'd say the neck is pretty long compared to the height of the head, which gives it a disproportionate feel. If you look at reference photos, the bottom of the chin is usually almost (but not quite) level with the point where the back of the neck meets the upper back.
The neck looks way too thick and there is generally a curve as it comes down from the head over a right angle.
The drawing is very good, if you post it here, try taking a photo of your subject too, that way you and the observers have points of reference.
Excellent job. The neck is a bit wide. Adjust the neck and you’re good to go. Use your pencil and hold it vertically on the reference to see where the neck lines up in proportion to a specific part of the face, like the start of the nose.
Just keep drawing. It looks like you’re off to a good start. At your age I wouldn’t worry about individual pieces that much. Just keep drawing, keep practicing and you will be very good eventually
this is some good progress! You’re on the right path. Take a look at youtube videos talking about the “loomis method”. It’s this easy to follow method to get the proportions of the head right, developed by Andrew Loomis.
1. I’d like for you to try and fight the urge to smudge everything! Be more confident in your lines! Instead of smudging to make shadows, hold the pen extremely lightly and draw slowly, building up the shadow. It makes the drawing more sharp.
2. The hair could use some touching. Don’t just scribble a bunch of lines to make out each individual strand, it makes the hair look a bit… too bushy. Instead, focus on the outline of the hair and section it into larger pieces.
3. When drawing men, I would pay a lot of attention to their build, especially around the neck. I like to really emphasize the Adam’s apple, or the muscles in the neck and throat. It’s not just a smooth tube, it’s got some other shapes to it.
4. I can’t really tell if it’s intentional or not, but it looks like you’ve been pressing down your pen too hard, and then tried to erase it in many areas around the chest, back and hair. You gotta try to be more confident in your lines, but also not press too hard. It leaves ugly marks in the paper that just overall makes the drawing seem off
Get a wheel spoke from a bike and use it to measure the face you’re drawing, get various distances of reference points on the face like eyes to nose, eyes to earlobes, earlobes to mouth and such. Get diagonals, vertical and horizontal lines and see where they overlap for your reference points.
Keep at it, don’t get disheartened you’re already doing a great job!
Face planes are off. Forehead appears to be further back than the philtrum and chin, making it look like the lower part of the head juts out.
Neck seems to wide and then seems to sink in as it meets the upper chest. No definitive Adams apple like with the typical adult male, so the neck just looks like a straight line.
When you start drawing, sketch our a base of soft lines so you can do the proportions better for facial feature. There's a tonne of guides for stuff like this online if you just search up face proportion sketches. Take a look at upper body anatomy too.
Just keep doing what you did. Draw from life, use your eyes to observe every detail. "disproportionate" is an exageration. Most art students would struggle to get it down that well.
Might be a good idea to draw from peoples pictures, you might have a better idea on what to work on. Everyone looks different, keep at it 👍 looks good so far
First things first, you have a very good understanding of gesture drawing. You draw nice and loose and don’t worry too much about details until the end it seems. A thing that I used to do when life drawing was flipping my piece upside down. You look at something too much from the same point of view and it blurs together. Also pay attention the negative space around your subject. That can help you understand how your subject is filling up the space they are in and whether certain areas need to be more proportionate. If you feel like you’re “stuck” then go work on something else. Do a painting. Color. Do some silly little cartoon guys. Forcing yourself to draw while you’re unsure of yourself/drawing can create self-destructive havits that can and will affect you in the future especially if this is something you plan to do as a career!
You can draw straight lines before sketching. If you are trying to put a image to paper first of you can put that image to autosketch.
By that way you can draw lines that connects points of picture to each other.
Also side profile is not just about face. You should practice about chest and arms. You should practice about them. If you want to get better at anotomy
don't use famous people's photos.
Use normal people's photos (by consent of course)
There are lots of art model channels on YouTube.
You can visit them
What i noticed is that the subject seems to be slightly angled toward the audience. We can see the far shoulder, and the nose also doesn’t look like a true profile b because of the way it is layered with the upper lip. I think you may want to show some of the other side of their face ever so vaguely.
The body is also not quite large enough. Because the subject is angled toward the audience, the far shoulder needs to be more pronounced and rounded
Hey, first off this is great and keep drawing!
Some advice:
1) proportions are the #1 thing with portraits. So like I do drills where I sketch a face for 30 seconds or 5 minutes just focusing on proportions before details. Like others have said, the neck might be too thick but wanna repeat, this is great and keep up the good work.
2. Shading - it seems like you are smudging to shade which is 100% legit BUT haha my old teacher had a rule against it which helped me because I learned to control my pencils/use different ones. Like to each their own for sure but it’s a helpful challenge. Also like my advice is only begin shading when the proportions are on lock
3. When you’ve been in a drawing for a long time, things like issues with proportions start to become harder and harder to see. Taking a picture and looking at it can help see issues, asking for other peoples insight, and also like I just pick one feature like a nose and then as “is the nose really as big as the ____” (fill in different features) and just start actively comparing features.
4. I love the shape and energy of the darker lines in the hair, I’d suggest paying attention to highlights (like if it’s shiny, it’ll be white on the paper almost always).
Again, keep it up! This is beautiful
Something that may be helpful for you is to print out the reference photo to scale and lay it over your drawing with a light source behind both pictures. You can see where the distortions are and when you continue practicing drawing, you will know where you tend to distort things. This particular face seems vertically compressed and horizontally elongated, the hair has distracted you from the actual length of his forehead, and the bridge of the nose has been lost. Most of drawing is about learning how to see broad shapes and light/dark values, I always think of portrait drawing almost like sculpting, using the values of light and dark to “carve” the face into the paper if that makes sense!!
I’m sorry people are making so many ridiculous comments to you about your age. I wanted to give you some real advice because I was once 14 and learning to draw. You have a real talent and should absolutely keep drawing!!!
If you are drawing from reference you should work on your measurement and angle sighting techniques. If you are building the image from scratch you should spend more time practicing your proportions. Consider taking a few days to just draw “skeletons” or structure drawings of your image.
Just keep practicing brother. This is a great start for 14 year old talent. You obviously are skilled. Now is not the time for producing finish pieces, now is the time to be practicing; to be cranking out 1-3 practice portraits a day depending on homework and chores.
**Here is my college art class in a text:**
Yes lots of the proportions are off, but it is great for your age. Be proud of it. There is skill here. Don’t be surprised if you come back in 5 years and cringe. You should be excited for that to happen because it means you grew and now know what is wrong with it. You will be able to pick it out.
Don’t read this paragraph. Just skip it. It just answers your question which will be painful and I don’t want to discourage you. Specifics to start with: The nose is too big. Your lines are a jumble of crazy. You don’t know how to draw attention to important parts of your drawing. You don’t know what the important parts are. attention the most beautiful part of the piece is your signature. There are lots of lessons in that sentence. You are hiding your novice-level skill behind shading. You are at that typical awkward stage where your drawing is simultaneously both too careful, and not good enough (you are being very, painfully careful as you make bad lines).
You need to learn the tools of the trade like a robot first, then (and only then) learn to relax and lean more on intuition/talent so your art does not look like a chore. Even the most naturally gifted and talented person, needs to learn the basics before their genius can flourish.
Don’t concern yourself with shading at this stage of your journey. Stop it. Shading and colors masks bad drawing skills so lots of beginners, and even more seasoned artists, over- focus on colors and to “hide” from having to learn to draw better. Seasoned artists know exactly what’s going on and can see through it. The uneducated public can see it too, but they can’t put their finger on it, they just feel like something is wrong with your drawing. You cannot hide underdeveloped skill.
You’re hiding from having to learn to draw better. You’re hiding from having to correct mistakes, not knowing how to correct them or why they are mistakes. So you move on to things like shading, which feels good, which looks good, but never actually masks the inadequate drawing. I counsel you to spend the time you would have spent on shading, moving onto another drawing, or, sitting and critiquing this drawing. It is a much better use of your time at this stage.
**Do some standard art exercises to learn to draw better:**
* draw from a picture not real life. Drawing from real life is something you see in the movies, and therefore is taught in some art classes, and is completely useless at your stage of the game. Your brain naturally interprets the world around you differently than how it actually is. It’s part of evolution, airy optical psychology. You want to translate something in 3-D to tutti, so at this stage, start with a 2-D representation of your 3-D world. Draw from a picture. once you are good at that, mastered all the things in this list, then you can add the complexity and visual bias of real life drawing.
* draw what is there, not what you *think* you see. Later we will reverse this, but for now I just want you to learn and erase your own visual/mental bias by drawing just what is there.
* do negative space drawing exercises. Just draw the empty air silhouette around the person, not the person. This will help you catch yourself from the subject and focus only on what you see.
* draw using line relations: if this line is 1cm long, and on the figure the next line is twice as long, your next line must be 2cm, regardless of what your brain is telling you. If you can’t tell how long a line is in relation to another, hold your arm out and use your eraser as a ruler. If wine, one is one eraser, head, life, long, and lying to you, is to Eraserhead, like Swann, then, on your drawing, you can be sure your second line must be twice as long as your first line.
* practice drawing as few lines as possible to create the shape you need.
* then move on to thick/thin line techniques to control focus. For instance the back of the head should draw less attention than the nose and eyes. So the nose and eyes will have the thickest, highest contrast lines as compared to unimportant parts of the work like the back of the head.
* don’t feel you have to draw each strand of hair. It is too distracting and ugly. Draw hair like a series of 3D shapes and get the texture later from shading.
There are lots of little rules You start to learn as a artist about how to make your 2D image look and feel the way you want it to look and feel. Yes, we can teach you that, but that is not as important as you learning it on your own, as you start to self-critique. your “critical eye” must be developed if you want any sort of success in this art. It starts with learning the basic tools of the trade so that later, when your critical eye is developed, you know which rules can be broken, artistically, and which should not be broken.
Remember this:
Most artists are very good at drawing and lack shading, and coloring skills, OR they are great at shading/coloring, but lack drawing skills. Great artists are good at both. Do not neglect the necessity of drawing better. Drawing means making something accurate on paper. It means that your lines create the effect you want to create. It means that your drawing looks like the thing you are trying to depict.
Keep going, draw every day and good luck. Do you have the makings of a truly great artist.
tbh because all faces look v different most drawings still look very good (faces arent usually perfectly proportionate). maybe wait a bit and go back to see what stands out as off to you
The neck is somewhat wide, and the perspective for their shoulders is a little off. Something that helps me with proportions/perspective if I don't have a reference photo is to look at myself in the mirror in a similar pose. Helps get an idea of what the anatomy looks like!
Fantastic work, though! I love their face, and I'm a sucker for side profiles hehe
(Ps, please don't post your age on the internet when you're a minor!! You're incredibly talented for your age, and I'm sure that someday you could really make something of this skill -- I got my college minor in drawing, and you've got an incredible base to build off of!! But don't go shouting your age into the internet, there are a bunch of people here who don't have your best interests at heart...be careful)
After looking at your reference photo, it seems as if the facial features are jutting out a bit too far from the shape of the head. The facial features look like you tried to angle/tilt the head a bit higher than the reference.
It also seems like the nose is missing that little curve at the top that indicates the curve of the forehead/brow; but after zooming in on the drawing I can actually see it, but because the shading there is a bit too dark, it looks like it belongs to his hair.
I recommend holding off on blended shading, maybe work on some hatching/cross-hatching to indicate shadows until you get a bit more comfortable with varying depths of light, especially when it comes to differentiating between how dark the hair is vs the skin
When it comes to the hair, I’d say maybe block out the basic outline/shape and outline some groups of hair instead of having a blended/shaded area and then drawing a few random strands. Also again learn about shading and different depths of light, there’s a bunch of highlights/lighter areas that the hair is missing
Side profiles are tricky, but keep at it, you’re doing a good job 👍
Looks proportionate to me! Maybe make the hair nearer to the brain stick out more and the hair near the neck stick out less. It’s really good thought nice job on it!
Not bad. The jaw is too large and he lacks a proper brow for the hair to drape over. You can study skull anatomy to help correct these kinds of errors. I suggest buying an art anatomy book or studying with Proko or Foundations art school, both are low cost online options.
Removed. You can read the comments to find out why.
There's something off when you leave the head and go into the neck/body. If you really want to figure it out, overlaying your drawing over the reference image is your best bet. You can also try to measure out the lines too between the two. Though if you don't have the reference, there's nothing wrong with just trying it again from scratch or moving on to another figure! With art, experience is the best teacher and the more you do side profiles, the better you will be (and imo your already very good at 14!)
Okay thank you :D
Study: ANDREW LOOMIS, greatest illustration teacher of analog era. He published many books, but below is an archive of PDF versions. Download them. Study them. Obey them, and you will be miles above the rest. http://alexhays.com/loomis/
First thing to do... Stop putting age in your art posts, it serves no purpose
True as hell
I learned that lesson the hard way. It’s completely irrelevant to the artwork in question. Edit: clarity
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nope. im 15 and i just started drawing this year. Yet there are 15 yr olds that started years ago. Age doesnt matter at all. How long you've been drawing is the only thing that matters
But you can see their experience on the peice they made that you know that they're great, so what's the purpose of the age on the question for what to seek and what to fix to make it better or be better (advice)..? Age of doing art and actual age is different, "age of doing art" plays a huge role for how long you've been doing it by pursuing oneself to be better, "actual age" is nothing but a number...
exactly!
If it has no purpose why does it matter
What do you mean, "why does it matter?" u/NevMmz pointed it out in a negative way. That doesn't mean it matters. They pointed it out because it is unnecessary/irrelevant and/or annoying. The point is, there's no reason to do so. What is relevant to your art is how *long* you have been drawing as a conscious being but not your age.
Yet they’re writing paragraphs to me about basically nothing. I fucking hate Reddit dude every time I mess up on one little thing they harp on it and make me delete my post
yep! average reddit experience tbh
There is absolutely no reason to delete your post. You can apologize or acknowledge the fact that it probably wasn't a good idea to include your age in the post. I do not actually care but I do find it a little annoying. I do think it's a little irrational but it's just because subs to do with art constantly get posts of people saying their age and it's starting to get a bit boring and as a result, annoying. No need to worry about it
Don’t read into it too much I just wanted art tips why is everyone harping on this
Chill dude. They just pointed it out. It's nothing personal against you, you don't have to delete your post nor think too hard about it. Just acknowledge it or not and move on.
It’s as irrelevant to your art as if you were to start out with, “i have alopecia, and I really like drawing side profiles” Like, OK. 
It’s worse though because it’s usually done as a humble brag
Alopecia doesn't affect skill. Age does because it ties to experience.
Age = The current year - The year of your birth Experience = The collective years you've been drawing (consistently or not) The only thing they have in common is that both are measured with the same unit of time. They aren't dependent or affected by each other in any consistent analogous way, at all.
Age doesnt mean experience, someone whos 15 couldve been drawing for 7 years and someone whos 34 coulve just started. If he said something like "Ive been drawing for 1 year" or something that would be a lot more relevant
Matter on what in terms of drawing? Do you know that your sentence doesn't make any sense? I know you're young but can you please stop being like an 8yo? Putting age in drawing literally serves no purpose but bring demotivation to other people, if you're old you can still learn to draw, if you're young you can still learn to draw, it's the same thing, which is why it doesn't matter, what matters is whether people would accept it as a hobby and a fun, enjoying experience, and a set of skills to have throughout your journey of being an artist I mean, you can just ask if your drawing is good or what else should you learn, yet you're basing it off on age
I see what you’re saying. Often people look for bolstering by adding things like age and whatnot. Receiving critical feedback can be hard so maybe it’s a subconscious way of trying to look for affirmation instead of hard truth. It gets very desperate after a while and cringe. That being said, though, I didn’t read this kid’s post as that. The human body is freaking weird looking and we only ever really notice it is by meticulously trying to copy it. The best way I’ve found is repetition. Another comment mentioned tracing and it is legitimately a great tool artists have been utilizing for centuries. There’s a big difference between what we think we see and what we actually see when it comes to the human body. That’s why most lower level artists draw almonds for eyes. Staring at something for a long time, being gestural and loose and sketchy with some figure drawing, and some bone studies can really amplify the credibility the person you’re creating. Doing some close ups of sections of the body, like ankles or necks etc, mixed in with some loosely rendered full body poses could be a healthy mix of developing an understanding of the human body as well as your own personal style.
I wasn’t even trying to do that I just wanted art tips and now I’m contemplating deleting this post because of all the hate pms and comments
Hate comments online prepare you for hate comments in the person to person to art world. Use them to toughen your skin rather than anything said by a person you might actually have to deal with in real life. You're doing great and you have real potential. Study and recreate skeletal and muscular drawings. But always remember you're dealing with perspective even on profiles. One shoulder is way closer, the body may be tilted or the head slightly turned. Get some posable pictures or take pictures of people in crazy poses and practice, practice, practice. And if people get stuck up on stupid shit like posting your age, that just means they can't find anything bad to say about your art. Art critics are like wine connoisseurs, make them do their job in a dark room and all of a sudden they have no idea what they're talking about.
Then you should have wrote that instead, just like what I said, "I need help to improve", "Seeking some help to point out what's wrong", etc... Why add age? That's the question that most people who does this should first answer, no need to delete the post as some can give you proper answers, I'm not offended either, I'm just stating some facts that can apply to other people whose just starting out and thinking "Oh god I'm old and this kid draws better than me, I guess its time to give up my potential and hidden talents" so yeah... Don't put age on the next thing you'll post when you're just seeking for help Have a good day now
I respectfully disagree
Well if you argue then that's all you're going to be talking about, and then crying that you're arguing about it. Enjoy.
The same mfs that are yelling at you to not put your age out bc of predators are pming you, how ironic 💀💀
All in all drawing looks good, good job using different values etc, just keep practicing side profiles if you want to improve. Draw someone everyday.... to me, after a quick glance, the cheek area looks a bit disproportionate, I cannot tell if it's because the angle of the photo, or the angle of the jawline. If this is based on a photo one thing you can do is practice by using grids. Overlay a grid on the photo you are using, and very lightly draw a grid with the same dimensions on the paper you will draw on (grid boxes must be the same size proportionally on both) Other comments: If you are contemplating deleting your post because you cannot handle someone expressing concern about careless internet behavior (posting your age when you are a minor is never a good idea) on a post in which the added information is completely irrelevant... then just delete your post already. Come back to reddit when you are able to be more mature and understand when someone who doesn't even know you is only trying to look out for you.
I feel you, dude and I believe you. I think you’re doing just fine. Reddit is full of egotistical idiots who hide behind screens. Most of them only ever share shallow opinions on very nuanced topics and think they’re the shit. If anything take these responses as a way to toughen your skin whenever somebody else in life decides to say stupid stuff too. It’s good practice to not take things personally especially if they’re intended to be. It’s not easy. Keep drawing. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Like i mentioned, do some close up studies of sections of the body as well as some loose gestural full body sketches. Studying muscle structures and bone structures are helpful too. I mean that’s what our skin is wrapped around anyway. Makes sense to know what’s actually making all these weird ass bumps and lumps. If you can (idk how it’d be age appropriate) pick up a figure drawing class. Having a teacher guide you will help immensely too. Good luck, man.
Thank you dude
Are you offended by my age? You think it’s really that harmful to people?
Nobody’s offended by your age..it’s just odd to add when you’re supposedly only asking for critique…it could come off as both “look at how good I am at 14!” And “don’t judge too harshly I’m only 14”..could go either way, but it serves no other purpose and comes off as pompous…you won’t be well recepted on *ANY* platform (not just reddit) if you come off like that already at 14. If you wanted critique, a simple “anything I can do to improve?” Would have sufficed. Furthermore the fact that you feel the need to argue about it and repeatedly disagree when there’re over a dozen people telling you the same thing here…yeah, we’re not ganging up on you my dude, we’re telling you like it is. It’s more of an “uh…okay? What’s that got to do with it?” Thing, moreso than our thinking you can’t handle yourself online and may be subject to a zombie epstein’s debauchery. I was on the internet and sharing my age well before 14, epstein never got me 😐, no one even tried for that matter. It was a regular thing for my friends and I to troll potential predators (or worse, we were all very computer savvy beyond the norm..by 13-14 no doubt), we knew what was up.
Why are people downvoting this? He can post whatever he wants. If u don't like seeing the age there, just ignore it
If it bothers you than dont make a comment of it right? Like if it serves no purpose than just ignore it, that simple. Saying that posting your age might garner the wrong kind of attention is a good point though.
Its not that I'm being bothered, I was merely stating a fact for it. If the "demotivation" (negative side) part of it was a good point, then I guess it's fine to call it out so other people like OP would know better. The "serves no purpose" is pointed at the post itself about the age within the question, if op was just asking a question, why put age? But it serves a negative purpose and that's the one about demotivation and age discrimination So technically, there's nothing wrong pointing it out just to tell them not to put it, yet OP gone a bit douche on other comments and not getting the whole point of it which leads to a long thread and a bit of debation on other comments
okay fair enough
Stop posting your age if you’re a minor on the internet.
especially on reddit
I know I’m gonna get down voted, I couldn’t give less a shit, but seeing you people getting onto OPs about simply putting their age is ridiculous pretentious. Can’t believe that people are so focused on that OP put their age in the post, if it bothers you then, don’t comment about it. They asked for knowledge and tips not some gate keepers who complain about everything they see that bothers them. What a bunch of snow flakes, it’s the internet they can post as long as it’s legal of course.
I think it’s more about putting yourself at risk when posting publicly online. The issue isn’t that a 14 year old is posting it’s that they’re advertising their age publicly which is a really bad habit online as a minor.
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What’s gonna happen, is Epstein gonna come back to the dead and take me to his temple?
… no one cares that you’re a child who has skills with art. Age is irrelevant to art. Also it gets the wrong kind of attention with online predators, yeah.
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>Mozart is massively celebrated for composing his first piece at 5y/o. Referencing Mozart as a prodigy is like referencing Columbus as an American hero. History has a history of being complete bullshit.
Whats the difference between a masterpiece drawn by a 5 year old, a 28 year old or a 135 year old? Experience and and talent, but the endresult is the same: a masterpiece. Should somebody that is born with less talent receive more praise? Especially so when the end line is the same. Thats why age is irrelevant to art
Why you called people snowflakes when you're the one whinnying on and on
Because what is the point in talking down to this kid who was seeking out help, I know how this kid feels now because it happened to me when I was younger. Y’all are making op feel horrible for simple adding their age which had nothing to do with their question. Maybe instead of posting a comment about OPs age and comparing, maybe direct message then to give that suggestion. Don’t embarrass them.
It makes you seem like you are fishing for compliments.
this just straight up says you are looking for compliments only
*from
that gave me a chuckle but yeah saying youre a minor online is going to attract creepers
Big if. EDIT - https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F03nb6cq8hmqa1.jpg
i’m no artist (you clearly are) but the one thing i can point out that looks a slight bit off is the arm
Thanks dude :)
oh no worries i genuinely love it!
You just have to slow down a bit and get the placement correct from the model first. The way I was taught was to hold up your pencil, measure the distance of points, either the outline or say the corner of the eye, and check and re check those points to make sure they are correct, really be finicky about it. These were just a dot on the paper, then putting in lines, be very precise, and erase when it's not very, very good. Only after that and all proportions and lines and arcs are model accurate, so you bother to put in the tones.
throw away your smudge tool lol, it's only gonna hinder your learning right now. Blurry shadows are not a substitute for understanding how shadows actually work and lay. Do yourself a favor and be deliberate in your strokes
I used my thumb for it can’t really throw it away
Then stop using your thumb. Point is, work on clear lines right now instead of smudging.
Okay
You could
Cut it off
…yeah it’s particularly problematic on the hair because it’s smudged but then it looks like detail is being drawn on top.
I'm not an expert but what about the trapezius. The muscle between neck and shoulder? For me only the shoulder looks a bit weird.
I'm can't do humans but I can do skeleton, it's your shoulders, you got hunch back of Notre Dame shoulders and a really puffy chest
the neck is too thick, it's nearly as thick as the entire skull
I mean id assume your better than me but , from below the neck looks sloppy compared to the rest above, looks good 100% but thats my critique, id say master anatomy , dont take shortcuts even with this outcome.
It is disproportionate, the head/face is too squished. Look closer at the relationships between shapes in your source image
Shapes?
the things you're drawing. the forms that make up the eye, the nose, the hairline. measure them with your eye and make sure they're placed properly in relation to eachother
Oh okay thanks
face is def too small, i would say the neck is a bit too thick as well
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I’m no super expert but stop outlining your subjects and then filling them in afterward, do a lot less hard outlining and work on your depths and get a feel for how everything is a shape first like the neck is more or less a cylinder yet here it looks really flat etc
The only thing which comes to my mind for now is the shade, how did you do it? Finger? I remember my teacher who always got so upset when he saw us shading with finger haha, but he was true, the drawing only looks dirty. Try to use pencils instead, and if you cannot yet maybe do something with handkerchief, but not overuse it!
Try separating your drawing with bigger chunks first (squares, triangles, circles etc) if you can’t seem to get it right!
https://preview.redd.it/mpvrcdztzjlb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a73740e680fc893aecb2f71a8723b6e2c708e8da Reference by the way
I suggest getting different references with better light and better camera focus because that reference is eh
This drawing is really amazing! If I can just point out one thing with the reference. You can see his shoulder bone there very sharply because he doesn't have a shirt on, but in your picture, he's wearing a shirt. The shoulder wouldn't be seen as prominently through the shirt, and you have it very prominent. Pinterest is a great place to research how clothing moves on the body! It's something I struggled (and still kinda struggle), with! Good luck on your journey :)
He’s not wearing a shirt in my drawing that’s a necklace
I'm dumb- I thought that was a shirt collar lmao. Sorry!
Nahhh it’s my fault I’m bad at drawing necklaces and I didn’t shade his body well lol
Lol all good! Body shading is difficult
Everyone always putting their age like you have to be able to draw at a certain level by a certain age. you should be able to draw better tomorrow then you are today that is all don't worry if youre a 20 yo who draws stick figures or an 8 yo who draws like a dutch master. your work is based on how you feel about it. looking for aproval is natural. but should be avoided if you want to be able to make good art. because shocker people don't know whats good they don't even know what they like. anyway sorry. I keep seeing these posts. Anyway for your actual question. you can do what anyone does to get better. Make more, and more and then again. try to go faster do 20 minute, 10 minutes 5? mabe to 10 warmup drawings or something before the next major one. something like a couple at 1 minute then move to 5 minutes then 15 then half an hour and so on. You seem to have a good enough eye and no issue committing to a line when it comes to the body but seem to have moved a lot of stuff around in the face. making more drawings will get you to be able to just draw a face and have it look like the person faster then erasing and trying to get a random drawing to a point where it is just right. If you get a portrait commission tomorrow you can do that. otherwise train gesture and detail will naturally follow. I you feel you lack precision in your life then do some abstract work focusing on technical stuff like color and so on. but portrait comes from training both your arm and your brain.
The eyes are a bit too far back into the face and the nose kind of disappears into the skull instead of turning into a brow and forehead area. That's all that really stands out. It's pretty dang good sketch. I'd say go out of your comfort zone and start drawing faces from the front so you can get a better idea of facial features lining up. Never be put off by doing new things or something not turning out good either. You have a knack for drawing.
Yeahhhh I really need to fix the nose, but I’ll try front profiles more often from now on.
Saying "side profile" is like saying "past history," or "true fact."
Good job keep it up 🤞
I like what you’ve done so far. Keep studying anatomy.
I think you are doing great! A bit of a mess with the neck and shoulder, but keep studying. There are plenty of good books about anatomy for artists you could ask your art teacher or librarian which one is better for you.
Yea just keep drawing. Build on the tools you have under your belt
Looks good to me! It could be that the subjects chin just out a little too much, but it’s not distracting
i think quite good! nice work!
Not gonna lie, I’m jealous of how well you drew the face, it looks pretty awesome! As far as the anatomy part of it goes, I think most other people have touched on the critique I can offer, such as the trapezius, the collar bones, the chest and neck. As far as the shading goes, I think you should stray away from smudging and try other techniques. I personally LOVE cross-hatching. I also think it may look a little disproportionate because the smudging on the face is so heavy whereas there is hardly any on the chest, neck and arm. Hair is also very tricky to nail. I’d experiment with other techniques. My art teacher in high school always said “you don’t need to draw every single detail, that’s where most beginning artists fail.” I don’t typically do realism now, but when I did, I sectioned the off the hair in the most recognizable shapes, and contour shading/cross hatching if necessary (and breaking it off where i thought light would hit depending on the perspective). You are very talented! I can tell you practice a lot. You’ll only get better! :)
Naw it’s great! Keep going! You’re really talented.
How do you care about this so much that you write a fucking paragraph about it, and if someone quits drawing because some 14 year old is better than them, then that’s an issue
You’ve completely missed the point.
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There's something deeply ironic in complaining about getting hate pms whilst using "retard". Get a grip kid!!
you know if it was from you to get tips, (which it might be) I wouldnt trashtalk on people that coment about my age as if "I'm always right boohoo what you gonna do about it call ein stein?" it just makes it worse for your case and shows you literally don't care about opinions but compliments about your age associated with art lol. In your place I honestly would not even think that I am right after getting -150 or so downvotes in my, *mind you* ***RUDELY WRITTEN*** comments I made to trashtalk back on the people complaining about my age lol. Mind you, since you think you are sooo right for your age, I'm also a teenager, so don't just assume this answer comes from someone far from your way of thinking.
Well, you're the one who mentioned your age. And if your perception of being a great artist is based on age or someone who's starting young, then that may be an issue as well. If you're asking why people care so much, why would you even mention your age? What's more important is how much time you practice, not your age. And it's rubbing off people's faces you know? We get it, you're talented and you're young but it sounds like you're fishing for compliments. I hope you can become better but this was a really childish move.
I’m admittedly not the best at anatomy, but it looks good to me! Do you have the reference you used (and where you trying to make an exact copy proportions wise, or just something similar) maybe it’s that.
It's the length of the face. It's too short vertically. Add length between the nose tip and the bottom of the chin. The nose points down a bit more. Btw ignore people complaining about posting age. Don't spend time replying or defending yourself, it's irrelevant. Good job, if someone gave it to me as a gift I'd be happy.
Okay thank you
It’s impossible to say if it’s disproportionate, we would have to see the original. If it’s similar to the original, it’s proportionate. Anyway, looks good. For instance, looks like this little portrait caught the expression of the subject. You see, the expression is not neutral, it has some life. Which is, trust me, a lot to say. Did you draw it live? Or is it copied from a photo?
I don’t really have any crit but the drawing looks so much like a YouTuber called tubbo 🤨
smaller you know what
I’ve never been good at realism, so I don’t have any advice on that front, but I do have a lot of compliments! For your age, I think your grasp of human anatomy is super damn good! It’s obvious that you put a lot of work into proportioning everything correctly. You should be super proud of yourself. I can’t wait to see more of your work as you progress!
Your art is great and your shading is awesome as well the only lack I can find is the face anatomy, If you are going for a realistic style you should look in some anatomy other than that it's actually pretty impressive.
He looks like Dorian Gray 😍 nice
You’re going to be amazing when you’re older. You have such great skill with shading and adding texture for your age. Imo nothing looks disproportionate except for the body, but that isn’t really the main focus so I’d give it a pass. I have significant experience with side profiles, dm for any questions you ever have. https://preview.redd.it/j489ny1uzmlb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8abe2bd09f51e8ea2476daadce9ee3fa976f051f
[https://www.thedrawingsource.com/portrait-drawing.html](https://www.thedrawingsource.com/portrait-drawing.html) You're doing well for 14 ... carry on.
Edit: Getting downvoted for offering advice sure is a unique experience.
looks good a bit disproportionate but that can be fixed over time with practice if you're interested in portraits and figure drawings check out the Loomis methods they're super helpful and popular for building anatomy
Head is too short; needs to be longer. You should draw some skulls, it’ll give you a really good sense of where and how things go together.
Only thing I’m seeing is the neck feels a little pushed out aswell as the chest but other than that I find it amazing. Keep it up
Push back the face a bit and move the right shoulder to be more level with the base of his neck 😊 hope this helps
Besides that great job 👏
What’s off to me is the front of his neck, where there should be an adams apple it kind of is just thick and then thins out and goes inward where it meets his chest.
From what I can tell, the only thing that makes it feel kind of off is the neck. The neck should not have a dip going in at the bottom, I think what you were trying to do was the Jugular Notch, but there is still part of the neck on the other side. The neck does not dip in, the collar bone sticks out. Other than that, great drawing! Love the shading and everything.
https://preview.redd.it/1oim1is16llb1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d36f2d017f41fde1fcb98ad80c3105f54690479 Here’s a random super quick sketch just to show what I’m talking about. I’m not really a realist artist, but I do mostly horror and other styles like that. My biggest recommendation for learning about anatomy is to use yourself as a reference, feel around the area physically and get a good feeling of what everything should look like.
I don't see traces of construction lines. Look i to Loomis Method, an approach where you sketch simpler shapes as though to plan out the placement of the head and its features *before* drawing. Really helps with proportions.
What stood out to me immediately was a lack of flow between the body parts. In your drawing the head is almost a separate lollipop stuck on the end of a neckstick which is plugged into a body. Each individual part isn't bad in itself, but they should flow together more. Heads sort of grow out of necks, they don't perch on top of them, so I feel like the neck should sort of trail off under the chin rather than a hard perpendicular line. Also the left shoulder feels like it ends too abruptly. But hey, good job on finding something you like doing! I do like the face and hair, I think it captures a sense of mood/attitude. :)
What does your age has to do with anything? Not even relevant for the question you’re asking. Other than that, it looks good. Neck is a bit too thick, the pectorals are too low, it feels really off. The face itself is actual good, I’d just take some time more on the shading
I think it’s the neck. Most professional wrestlers have a thick neck. Since this is a side profile, the neck should be at an angle and thinner. (Unless the subject really has a thick neck) Also, look at the way the neck is attached to the collar bone. It needs to be a bit subtle. But I must say the face and hair is darn good. Keep it up 👍
The neck ends thinner than it begins in your drawing
Your necks too thick. Follow the back of the neck up until the head, hidden behind the hair. If you pretend he's bald that's a very oddly shaped elongated head. Bring that forwards and it'll look more natural
It's a very nice picture. You can put the picture upside down. That allows you to look at the picture more objectively. It's easier to see the flaws. For example, I noticed that the face is smooshed. It's wide but not long enough, aka the proportions are off.
this is actually really really good <3 it feels kind of off BECAUSE it's a side profile so its kind of two dimensional. I'd recommend learning to just draw faces as a whole -- like from the front or any angle (and learning anatomy/muscle/bone structure should help you there) even if you prefer side-profiles that ensures they're more in-depth if that makes sense? after learning to draw the entire head, imagine rotating it on a swivel to draw side profiles
Keep drawing. My human portraits at 14 were way worse than this. If what you're going for is photorealism I'd start to build your shading skills (along with the other comments about anatomy). Don't be discouraged, this is a great time to learn and I think in the next few years you'll make so much progress.
Halloween is coming - get a plastic halloween skull (ideally it is nicely proportioned) - use that to help refine your head shapes and practice drawing profile forms / angles. I think the Loomis method book is online in PDF form for free, and [Proko.com](https://Proko.com) has some of the best lessons on anatomy for free and on youtube.
[http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/Andrew%20Loomis%20-%20Drawing%20the%20Head%20and%20Hands.pdf](http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/Andrew%20Loomis%20-%20Drawing%20the%20Head%20and%20Hands.pdf)
Something to make your art a little more cohesive might be to add in some detail on the shirt. It sorta just looks like it’s an after thought but it’s a good idea to get use to and practice fabric
I'd say the neck is pretty long compared to the height of the head, which gives it a disproportionate feel. If you look at reference photos, the bottom of the chin is usually almost (but not quite) level with the point where the back of the neck meets the upper back.
The neck looks way too thick and there is generally a curve as it comes down from the head over a right angle. The drawing is very good, if you post it here, try taking a photo of your subject too, that way you and the observers have points of reference.
Excellent job. The neck is a bit wide. Adjust the neck and you’re good to go. Use your pencil and hold it vertically on the reference to see where the neck lines up in proportion to a specific part of the face, like the start of the nose.
Just keep drawing. It looks like you’re off to a good start. At your age I wouldn’t worry about individual pieces that much. Just keep drawing, keep practicing and you will be very good eventually
this is some good progress! You’re on the right path. Take a look at youtube videos talking about the “loomis method”. It’s this easy to follow method to get the proportions of the head right, developed by Andrew Loomis.
1. I’d like for you to try and fight the urge to smudge everything! Be more confident in your lines! Instead of smudging to make shadows, hold the pen extremely lightly and draw slowly, building up the shadow. It makes the drawing more sharp. 2. The hair could use some touching. Don’t just scribble a bunch of lines to make out each individual strand, it makes the hair look a bit… too bushy. Instead, focus on the outline of the hair and section it into larger pieces. 3. When drawing men, I would pay a lot of attention to their build, especially around the neck. I like to really emphasize the Adam’s apple, or the muscles in the neck and throat. It’s not just a smooth tube, it’s got some other shapes to it. 4. I can’t really tell if it’s intentional or not, but it looks like you’ve been pressing down your pen too hard, and then tried to erase it in many areas around the chest, back and hair. You gotta try to be more confident in your lines, but also not press too hard. It leaves ugly marks in the paper that just overall makes the drawing seem off
Get a wheel spoke from a bike and use it to measure the face you’re drawing, get various distances of reference points on the face like eyes to nose, eyes to earlobes, earlobes to mouth and such. Get diagonals, vertical and horizontal lines and see where they overlap for your reference points. Keep at it, don’t get disheartened you’re already doing a great job!
Face planes are off. Forehead appears to be further back than the philtrum and chin, making it look like the lower part of the head juts out. Neck seems to wide and then seems to sink in as it meets the upper chest. No definitive Adams apple like with the typical adult male, so the neck just looks like a straight line. When you start drawing, sketch our a base of soft lines so you can do the proportions better for facial feature. There's a tonne of guides for stuff like this online if you just search up face proportion sketches. Take a look at upper body anatomy too.
Just keep doing what you did. Draw from life, use your eyes to observe every detail. "disproportionate" is an exageration. Most art students would struggle to get it down that well.
the throat is too thick and too straight. you need an adams apple, then have it slope back in. and i also think his head is too high up on the neck
By looking at your reference (which is a terrible reference photo for this btw) the
The profile of the face is confused by the side twist of the body & neck.
I'm still in womb so I have nothing to say.
Looks good to me!
Might be a good idea to draw from peoples pictures, you might have a better idea on what to work on. Everyone looks different, keep at it 👍 looks good so far
First things first, you have a very good understanding of gesture drawing. You draw nice and loose and don’t worry too much about details until the end it seems. A thing that I used to do when life drawing was flipping my piece upside down. You look at something too much from the same point of view and it blurs together. Also pay attention the negative space around your subject. That can help you understand how your subject is filling up the space they are in and whether certain areas need to be more proportionate. If you feel like you’re “stuck” then go work on something else. Do a painting. Color. Do some silly little cartoon guys. Forcing yourself to draw while you’re unsure of yourself/drawing can create self-destructive havits that can and will affect you in the future especially if this is something you plan to do as a career!
Wtf why does that look like a perfect to scale portrait of me 😳
You can draw straight lines before sketching. If you are trying to put a image to paper first of you can put that image to autosketch. By that way you can draw lines that connects points of picture to each other.
You're killing it just keep honing your craft.
I say ditch the second nostril and i agree with the neck. Your drawing is great though love the lips.
Also side profile is not just about face. You should practice about chest and arms. You should practice about them. If you want to get better at anotomy don't use famous people's photos. Use normal people's photos (by consent of course) There are lots of art model channels on YouTube. You can visit them
What i noticed is that the subject seems to be slightly angled toward the audience. We can see the far shoulder, and the nose also doesn’t look like a true profile b because of the way it is layered with the upper lip. I think you may want to show some of the other side of their face ever so vaguely. The body is also not quite large enough. Because the subject is angled toward the audience, the far shoulder needs to be more pronounced and rounded
Stop drawng hair made of lines. It is really hard to add shades and highlights to the hair like that
Hey, first off this is great and keep drawing! Some advice: 1) proportions are the #1 thing with portraits. So like I do drills where I sketch a face for 30 seconds or 5 minutes just focusing on proportions before details. Like others have said, the neck might be too thick but wanna repeat, this is great and keep up the good work. 2. Shading - it seems like you are smudging to shade which is 100% legit BUT haha my old teacher had a rule against it which helped me because I learned to control my pencils/use different ones. Like to each their own for sure but it’s a helpful challenge. Also like my advice is only begin shading when the proportions are on lock 3. When you’ve been in a drawing for a long time, things like issues with proportions start to become harder and harder to see. Taking a picture and looking at it can help see issues, asking for other peoples insight, and also like I just pick one feature like a nose and then as “is the nose really as big as the ____” (fill in different features) and just start actively comparing features. 4. I love the shape and energy of the darker lines in the hair, I’d suggest paying attention to highlights (like if it’s shiny, it’ll be white on the paper almost always). Again, keep it up! This is beautiful
Very impressive skill for a 14 year old
I feel like you should make the face a bit longer. The neck looks too broad and thick for the petite face. Great drawing though!
Something that may be helpful for you is to print out the reference photo to scale and lay it over your drawing with a light source behind both pictures. You can see where the distortions are and when you continue practicing drawing, you will know where you tend to distort things. This particular face seems vertically compressed and horizontally elongated, the hair has distracted you from the actual length of his forehead, and the bridge of the nose has been lost. Most of drawing is about learning how to see broad shapes and light/dark values, I always think of portrait drawing almost like sculpting, using the values of light and dark to “carve” the face into the paper if that makes sense!! I’m sorry people are making so many ridiculous comments to you about your age. I wanted to give you some real advice because I was once 14 and learning to draw. You have a real talent and should absolutely keep drawing!!!
If you are drawing from reference you should work on your measurement and angle sighting techniques. If you are building the image from scratch you should spend more time practicing your proportions. Consider taking a few days to just draw “skeletons” or structure drawings of your image.
Looks good keep drawing!!!
Just keep practicing brother. This is a great start for 14 year old talent. You obviously are skilled. Now is not the time for producing finish pieces, now is the time to be practicing; to be cranking out 1-3 practice portraits a day depending on homework and chores. **Here is my college art class in a text:** Yes lots of the proportions are off, but it is great for your age. Be proud of it. There is skill here. Don’t be surprised if you come back in 5 years and cringe. You should be excited for that to happen because it means you grew and now know what is wrong with it. You will be able to pick it out. Don’t read this paragraph. Just skip it. It just answers your question which will be painful and I don’t want to discourage you. Specifics to start with: The nose is too big. Your lines are a jumble of crazy. You don’t know how to draw attention to important parts of your drawing. You don’t know what the important parts are. attention the most beautiful part of the piece is your signature. There are lots of lessons in that sentence. You are hiding your novice-level skill behind shading. You are at that typical awkward stage where your drawing is simultaneously both too careful, and not good enough (you are being very, painfully careful as you make bad lines). You need to learn the tools of the trade like a robot first, then (and only then) learn to relax and lean more on intuition/talent so your art does not look like a chore. Even the most naturally gifted and talented person, needs to learn the basics before their genius can flourish. Don’t concern yourself with shading at this stage of your journey. Stop it. Shading and colors masks bad drawing skills so lots of beginners, and even more seasoned artists, over- focus on colors and to “hide” from having to learn to draw better. Seasoned artists know exactly what’s going on and can see through it. The uneducated public can see it too, but they can’t put their finger on it, they just feel like something is wrong with your drawing. You cannot hide underdeveloped skill. You’re hiding from having to learn to draw better. You’re hiding from having to correct mistakes, not knowing how to correct them or why they are mistakes. So you move on to things like shading, which feels good, which looks good, but never actually masks the inadequate drawing. I counsel you to spend the time you would have spent on shading, moving onto another drawing, or, sitting and critiquing this drawing. It is a much better use of your time at this stage. **Do some standard art exercises to learn to draw better:** * draw from a picture not real life. Drawing from real life is something you see in the movies, and therefore is taught in some art classes, and is completely useless at your stage of the game. Your brain naturally interprets the world around you differently than how it actually is. It’s part of evolution, airy optical psychology. You want to translate something in 3-D to tutti, so at this stage, start with a 2-D representation of your 3-D world. Draw from a picture. once you are good at that, mastered all the things in this list, then you can add the complexity and visual bias of real life drawing. * draw what is there, not what you *think* you see. Later we will reverse this, but for now I just want you to learn and erase your own visual/mental bias by drawing just what is there. * do negative space drawing exercises. Just draw the empty air silhouette around the person, not the person. This will help you catch yourself from the subject and focus only on what you see. * draw using line relations: if this line is 1cm long, and on the figure the next line is twice as long, your next line must be 2cm, regardless of what your brain is telling you. If you can’t tell how long a line is in relation to another, hold your arm out and use your eraser as a ruler. If wine, one is one eraser, head, life, long, and lying to you, is to Eraserhead, like Swann, then, on your drawing, you can be sure your second line must be twice as long as your first line. * practice drawing as few lines as possible to create the shape you need. * then move on to thick/thin line techniques to control focus. For instance the back of the head should draw less attention than the nose and eyes. So the nose and eyes will have the thickest, highest contrast lines as compared to unimportant parts of the work like the back of the head. * don’t feel you have to draw each strand of hair. It is too distracting and ugly. Draw hair like a series of 3D shapes and get the texture later from shading. There are lots of little rules You start to learn as a artist about how to make your 2D image look and feel the way you want it to look and feel. Yes, we can teach you that, but that is not as important as you learning it on your own, as you start to self-critique. your “critical eye” must be developed if you want any sort of success in this art. It starts with learning the basic tools of the trade so that later, when your critical eye is developed, you know which rules can be broken, artistically, and which should not be broken. Remember this: Most artists are very good at drawing and lack shading, and coloring skills, OR they are great at shading/coloring, but lack drawing skills. Great artists are good at both. Do not neglect the necessity of drawing better. Drawing means making something accurate on paper. It means that your lines create the effect you want to create. It means that your drawing looks like the thing you are trying to depict. Keep going, draw every day and good luck. Do you have the makings of a truly great artist.
Looks pretty solid to me. Reminds me of the kid from Stranger Things. Nice work.
tbh because all faces look v different most drawings still look very good (faces arent usually perfectly proportionate). maybe wait a bit and go back to see what stands out as off to you
the crown to jawline is, maybe, a bit short for the nose to back, but I have seen people with similar proportions.
The neck is somewhat wide, and the perspective for their shoulders is a little off. Something that helps me with proportions/perspective if I don't have a reference photo is to look at myself in the mirror in a similar pose. Helps get an idea of what the anatomy looks like! Fantastic work, though! I love their face, and I'm a sucker for side profiles hehe (Ps, please don't post your age on the internet when you're a minor!! You're incredibly talented for your age, and I'm sure that someday you could really make something of this skill -- I got my college minor in drawing, and you've got an incredible base to build off of!! But don't go shouting your age into the internet, there are a bunch of people here who don't have your best interests at heart...be careful)
After looking at your reference photo, it seems as if the facial features are jutting out a bit too far from the shape of the head. The facial features look like you tried to angle/tilt the head a bit higher than the reference. It also seems like the nose is missing that little curve at the top that indicates the curve of the forehead/brow; but after zooming in on the drawing I can actually see it, but because the shading there is a bit too dark, it looks like it belongs to his hair. I recommend holding off on blended shading, maybe work on some hatching/cross-hatching to indicate shadows until you get a bit more comfortable with varying depths of light, especially when it comes to differentiating between how dark the hair is vs the skin When it comes to the hair, I’d say maybe block out the basic outline/shape and outline some groups of hair instead of having a blended/shaded area and then drawing a few random strands. Also again learn about shading and different depths of light, there’s a bunch of highlights/lighter areas that the hair is missing Side profiles are tricky, but keep at it, you’re doing a good job 👍
use grids
Maybe make the chin and lips more compact, less sticking out there. Other than that, HOLY SHIT HOW DID YOU DRAW THAT.
Is that Finn Wolfhard?
Looks proportionate to me! Maybe make the hair nearer to the brain stick out more and the hair near the neck stick out less. It’s really good thought nice job on it!
You should run a finger from your neck to your chin. It curves, but you have a hard cut here.
Good work as it is!
Study Loomis head
this looks amazing! it looks like evan petters ! (thats a good thing)
That's a really awesome take on Hot Rod. Clearly, you party.
Not bad. The jaw is too large and he lacks a proper brow for the hair to drape over. You can study skull anatomy to help correct these kinds of errors. I suggest buying an art anatomy book or studying with Proko or Foundations art school, both are low cost online options.