Hello everyone! I am a 19 year old guy and a hobbyist cartoonist who is trying to learn and improve my drawing skills to meet my goal of someday creating some kind of comic thing.
I won't do this as my job, but drawing is something I just really like doing and improve upon to create stuff with a pen and a computer.

Annd I'm gonna tell my story I guess on why and when I started drawing.

I've always been drawing random doodles as a kid.
And this is one of the stuff I was able to salvaged. xD

Spoiler: show

Skip to somewhere around September of 2012, I was able to draw this.

Spoiler: show

I was like, "Wow, with reference, I can draw all the fan art I want!"

And draw fan arts I did... (examples)

Spoiler: show

This probably went on around 7 months.. and then stopped drawing altogether because it got boring and I'm not improving at all.

Then, at November 2013, I found this super beautiful and awesome webcomic called Lackadaisy.
It's art style is just something I really, really want to be able to draw. It gave me a new spark to improve and to create my very own art style!
So, I went to Newgrounds and created an art thread where I could submit my drawings and my progress. And also to ask for advice a criticism.
Here are some of the early stuff I made and also "progress" I might've had.

Spoiler: show

And took a knack at the digital painting biz.

Spoiler: show

And my friend taught me how to paint.

Spoiler: show

And a few character designing along the way.

Spoiler: show

But just 6 days ago, I asked one of the awesome artists in Newgrounds some help.
A user (Havegum) helped me and actually gave me exercises to do!
I've been drawing gestures,perspective practice, and heads everyday. Actual studies..
I used to avoid this because to me, I know I would fail and it wouldn't be as fun.
But I'm actually having fun and with a motivation to not disappoint, I'm doing this as I can.
Here are some of the stuff I've been doing the past six days.

Spoiler: show

So that's my story. Sorry for bombarding you with tons of images. xD
I'll be here looking for critique and advice on how I can improve, so feel free to comment below.
Thanks and have a nice day!

Sorry for bombarding you with tons of images. xD

Well this is a place to post your sketches or whatever you want art related so I think you'll be fine
And this is the place to get critiques and advice to improve. I really love that painting you did with the potato (?) walking it's pet. And your recent gesture studies do look great. I feel like you're so close to understanding how faces works, just keep practicing and observing, you'll get it. A little thing I noticed with that grey scale study you did, it looks like you went in right away with the light colors, like I feel like there should be more darks. Try using the darkest colors first and paint on the lights. I think if you'd googled "Planes of the face" on image search you'd get some really good references to study with

I've been drawing gestures,perspective practice, and heads everyday. Actual studies..
I used to avoid this because to me, I know I would fail and it wouldn't be as fun.

I know it exactly. Before I started to think about art seriously I've never learnt basics 'cause I thought it's not necessary (What?!) or it's gonna be borring or whatever excuse I could find. But I can tell you, maybe for a little bit of motivation, that there is nothing more satisfied than seeing your drawings getting better because you're improving your basics. And try to look at the process of learning in other way. I told myself that it's not borring but exciting process, like "what new I'm gonna learn today?", "wow, finally hand starts to look like a hand", it kinda helped me and now I'm learning basics almost every day and always feel really impatient to start my "lesson" ^^

I can see that you're imrpoving, can't wait to see more. Don't give up and keep working!

damn you are owning those perspective shots. and i think your animals you draw from reference really stand out.

cool thing about cartoons is that you really don't have to give a funk about proper proportions. i mean hell look at dexters lab (that i'm watching as i type this), invader zim and the like. not saying you should go less quality or anything. just saying you can care less about curtain things with cartoons and really play with styles of shapes and symbols (plus cartoons are easy peazey to whip out a quick skit for). a little bit of structure can go along way. I see you trying to add more from that base circle, yeah! do more of that, you should be adding to that circle rather than working inside it, makes it pop out more.

honestly It's a good start, needs more solid lines... but I'm actually impressed on how creative you went with some of the perspective scenes, the buildings and what not, i see a lot of imagination going on, which i like. but yes... work more on structure and try to add more depth to it. which proko does a good 1 2 on.

Well this is a place to post your sketches or whatever you want art related so I think you'll be fine
And this is the place to get critiques and advice to improve. I really love that painting you did with the potato (?) walking it's pet. And your recent gesture studies do look great. I feel like you're so close to understanding how faces works, just keep practicing and observing, you'll get it. A little thing I noticed with that grey scale study you did, it looks like you went in right away with the light colors, like I feel like there should be more darks. Try using the darkest colors first and paint on the lights. I think if you'd googled "Planes of the face" on image search you'd get some really good references to study with

Lol, yeah its a potato walking its pet fish. My friend, Daker, and I was talking in skype and he suggested me drawing a potato with a hat walking a walking fish.
As for the coloring the grey scale thing... I really suck at painting and had no idea what I'm doing. I completely forgot to start with base color and just chose a lighter one as my "base." I'll focus more on my anatomy first before values and compositions.. Well, except if that got boring and just want to do something random. :3
Also, my friend Daker also gave me that planes of the head thing which is gonna be useful for the future. Thanks for the advice!

I know it exactly. Before I started to think about art seriously I've never learnt basics 'cause I thought it's not necessary (What?!) or it's gonna be borring or whatever excuse I could find. But I can tell you, maybe for a little bit of motivation, that there is nothing more satisfied than seeing your drawings getting better because you're improving your basics. And try to look at the process of learning in other way. I told myself that it's not borring but exciting process, like "what new I'm gonna learn today?", "wow, finally hand starts to look like a hand", it kinda helped me and now I'm learning basics almost every day and always feel really impatient to start my "lesson" ^^
I can see that you're imrpoving, can't wait to see more. Don't give up and keep working!

Yeah, I know right. It's actually quite fun once you get the hang of it. But, I am still suffering with procrastination...

damn you are owning those perspective shots. and i think your animals you draw from reference really stand out.

cool thing about cartoons is that you really don't have to give a funk about proper proportions. i mean hell look at dexters lab (that i'm watching as i type this), invader zim and the like. not saying you should go less quality or anything. just saying you can care less about curtain things with cartoons and really play with styles of shapes and symbols (plus cartoons are easy peazey to whip out a quick skit for). a little bit of structure can go along way. I see you trying to add more from that base circle, yeah! do more of that, you should be adding to that circle rather than working inside it, makes it pop out more.

honestly It's a good start, needs more solid lines... but I'm actually impressed on how creative you went with some of the perspective scenes, the buildings and what not, i see a lot of imagination going on, which i like. but yes... work more on structure and try to add more depth to it. which proko does a good 1 2 on.

Most of the perspective shots are copies from various places in street view, you know, to see how perspective works. It's one of the exercises I was told to do.
But for every 3 I did, I try doing 2 on my imagination, which is I hope is kinda decent. xD
Those animal drawings, yeah, thanks. xD I haven't drawn a lot of animal drawings though these past few months. Imma focus on teh heads cuz it's harder. D:

As for the cartoons, idk, I'm not really sure what style I'm going for. I think I do have my own style and way when drawing characters, but as for my end goal, I want to do something that's kinda not that cartoony similar to Don Bleuth or past Disney films.
Learning anatomy can make simplifying it easier and not look.. weird.
And, I agree, I'm not really confident with my lines. My tablet is so small (5'8") that I got used to using my wrist instead of my shoulders. I hope I could get out of that habit and get a better tablet someday..
Thanks for all the advice!

When I get to college, I'm gonna take computer science to study programming.
However, the next school year is still next year, so in the mean time, I'm gonna take a job.
I'll probably be able to take that job somewhere in October, so I hope I won't be as busy and still continue to draw.

Anyway, I'm going to the place where I'm gonna work in this 3 days.
Not gunna be able to draw much, but I'll teh best I can.

Daily drawings for the day. Not much. :c

Spoiler: show

And as for the last picture, there's this game I really like to play called Transformice.
And over at their forums, they're having an art contest! Prizes are stupid, but I love joining at contest for the fun of it.
So far, I've added the mannequins.

Daily gestures and did more stuff on the mice thing.
Really gotten lazy and tired.. ugh.

Spoiler: show

Spoiler: show

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you the painting technique that is this!
Which I still don't know if its the most efficient or inefficient way to paint.
Where I just paint out the silhouette and create many many clipping mask layers to each silhouette. :3
Helps me organize layers though.

Definitely, this is by far hardest thing I have ever worked on.

I really like that painting you did, but I can't help to notice how flat your characters looks
I know I don't use construction lines much myself but if I was having some trouble trying to imagine something in 3d I'd probably use some guidelines. You know the creator of lackadaisy made a tutorial on construction lines. Even if you did know I think it's a good idea to look at it and try to refresh your memory link

I really like that painting you did, but I can't help to notice how flat your characters looks
I know I don't use construction lines much myself but if I was having some trouble trying to imagine something in 3d I'd probably use some guidelines. You know the creator of lackadaisy made a tutorial on construction lines. Even if you did know I think it's a good idea to look at it and try to refresh your memory link

Yeah, I get what you mean.
It has been also acknowledge by my other friend over in Newgrounds.
Making really flat character is definitely something I need to work on. And probably add more extra guidelines than just a cross through a sphere.
Thanks!

----------------

Well, done.

Some daily stuff from 2 days ago to now.

Spoiler: show

Those gestures are looking great
and those sketches of those ferrets, I love them tbh. Keep going!

Those transformice drawings though.

You're doing good :3

Keep it up

Those gestures are looking great
and those sketches of those ferrets, I love them tbh. Keep going!

Will do!

Those transformice drawings though.
You're doing good :3
Keep it up

Yup!

-------------

Wow. been really busy this past few days.
Not much done, but at least still done something..

Spoiler: show

cool stuff in here. I love how you painted that fox

cool stuff in here. I love how you painted that fox

Huh. Really? Cause all I did was choose a random color and colored it for no real reason...
Thanks anyway.

---------------------------

What I did the past 2 days.
Kinda getting tired of studies and also have this programming course I'm also focusing on.

Spoiler: show

[ErnieTheMighty]

so much lackadaisy inspired stuff

AHHH LOVING THIS PLEASE POST MORE BOYS

so much lackadaisy inspired stuff

AHHH LOVING THIS PLEASE POST MORE BOYS

lol thanks. But if hope I'm not copying Lackadaisy too much..
It's an art style I love, but not something I want to be mimicking.
Also, what do you mean by boys? .-.

-------------

Just leaving out my thoughts...

Well, it's happening again. Too busy to draw.. :c
As maybe some of you know, I'm really not that busy finishing high school and still waiting for the next school year for college.
And I'm taking computer science as my course on hopes to fulfill my dream of creating games.
In the meantime, I spent my free time in learning how to draw, not only for the art skills, but to maybe improve my creativity or to create something entirely on my own.

A week ago, my friend Daker invited me to learn program with him.
I accepted, and now I'm learning how to program.
I had this digital books given to me by my bro-in-law (he works programming) and just really did not touch it until now.
And I've come to that time of me again being too preoccupied with something to draw.
I just try to prioritize something I think is better for me to learn.
And because of drawing daily these past few months, I kinda feel guilty not doing my drawrings.

Ugh..
Anyway, my new schedule would probably go:
Wake up.
Do Chores.
Study Java.
If there's time, draw anything at least an hour.

In a more positive note, I think I've really improved since one year ago..
It's almost 1 year anniversary of when I started posting these stuff in Newgrounds.. yey!
And the doodles I did above is something I could NEVER do a year ago. xD
*happy*

Stuff done from a week ago till now.

Spoiler: show

Annd wip

Having fun with my ink brush and a .3 gel pen.



It has been a year since I decided to become serious because of the comic Lackadaisy.
Drew this to celebrate it!

I think this is going well..

[ErnieTheMighty]

OH MY GOD I LOVE IT SO MUCH <33333333 what a cutie <3333

OH MY GOD I LOVE IT SO MUCH <33333333 what a cutie <3333

Whoa. .-.
Why thank you! C:

------

And done!


And quickie.