I've been thinking about how to improve what I'm drawing a lot. Lately, I find it useful to draw a quick sketch based on someone else' work and then immediately following, draw my own thing, inspired by that picture.
The above sketch (Photo of a sketch actually) was done a few minutes after drawing Chel, from "The Road to El Dorado" Pre-production turn-around of chel, from this site: http://barcelonagirl.homestead.com/Originals.html
(I won't include any copies here, because they aren't original, just me copying some other artist.)
Two things come up, the first is that my copy of the original (Chel in this case) always comes out pretty good, I mean I'm pleased with how much it looks like the original, and my subsequent drawing (The one above) seems better for it as well, but not _as_ good. That's frustrating. Why can I copy someone else well, but not draw from my own head well?
I guess it's because I haven't established my style yet. I'm still working on trying to get proportions right, and facial expressions, and making the head look attached to the body, and hands, and feet, and...
Then tonight I was reading one of Loomis' books, and he mentioned that he thought every good drawing ought to have two or three thumbnails first. Maybe that helps establish style before trying to go whole hog?
Anyway, I guess I'll give that a try. Rough sketch two or three times till I've got the concept of what I want to do, then draw it in earnest.
Maybe also it comes down to tracing the final sketch, inking, coloring, and then it starts looking pretty good?
Dunno, tell you when I find out.
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