Weekly Drawing Prompt Thread

Some great drawings, as ever (and some really nice hair work too!).

I've been drawing some random character poses over the last couple of days. I'm trying to improve the general level of expression on my characters' faces without changing my style too much—as I might have mentioned before, I generally find I draw quite bland or stiff facial expressions. I'm not going for anything too crazy or cartoonish—just working out how fairly subtle tweaks to how I draw eyes and lips and other features might give me better results and inject a bit more personality into my drawings.

So here's a study of a single character with a few different poses (and different colour schemes, because why not).

IMAGE(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSizTcSgN0nO7J1qIR-AL-H_beZk8nh7zC_E1G9GCcYi1GERUUUr-Z0L1FyHl2sveVFpuMRWAxpkdclnaqQh7QgtyOQgBcC6l6ZhIbphDmG7xkFKaFk_eKxZY8oaOtae3asmg-mBQ4JZL9-xi-NuLONbOfecVwjAgOt18zjFxMia3cEI0i6eatU9vBO983/s1600/Expressions_1.jpg)

I think more work is necessary—it would at least help if I could draw the character's fringe the same way twice so that it actually looks like the same character, but anyway...

Those are awesome, Ravanon! The one on the top right is my favorite.

Same. I think because it’s untypical.

Love the lot of them

new Portraitcism, Moeka Hoshi (Isumi Fuji on new Shogün show)

Took me about 2 hours, and I have no notes for myself this time, the limited amount of hair plays a big factor on that of course, but seriously I'm very happy with the likeness and overall result

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/ykWGXVZ.png)

Lovely. You have a very nice style.

Yes, you seem to have a good grasp of when to go heavy or light with the pencil Feeank, particularly around the mouth and nose.

I didn't have much to do yesterday (and was a bit drained from having to go out and *shudder* socialise the last few evenings), so I ended up drawing another four poses.

IMAGE(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7IG0DY4zKtUFjZQbY7CqVwrc80CoQAECwOU805QWjLLKHDtyl4SsslpSC5h2QnvsEFGpjnTWnKYioNwrTbJaIDZBXRoggJAoLU2G5Wujl31KzmsrcW70kGhdHUS5zL-UPw9xEytu6hcf5IL4OvLTowmn9s_gZQSEoVmlOvUyLOHYQEqxwBHtPXNzLwj1/s1600/Expressions_2.jpg)

Nothing too crazy. Still have difficulty getting fingers to look right, and the one on the lower right looks like she's actually holding the lens of her eye up in front of her face, which is not the desired effect!

Perhaps a little shadow on the eye would send it back behind the fingers.

These are worth doing I feel like these women all have stories and character.

I agree with Higgledy and Ravanon regarding their comments on your latest portrait, Feeank! I really like it, and it reminds me I must start Shogun soon!

Cool girls, Ravanon. This time, I like the one on the top left the most.

I have family coming soon, so I need to color my Rachel Weisz drawing today, or it won't happen for two weeks! Let's see if I can stop playing Dredge long enough to do it!

Yes, you seem to have a good grasp of when to go heavy or light with the pencil Feeank, particularly around the mouth and nose.

I agree. I would extend it to the skin areas too. You have good hard/soft contrast between the nose/lips and the neck/cheeks/ears.

Finished!

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/br33sjx.jpg)

Thank you all for the amazing feedback, it's been one hell of a month getting back in drawing shape, you've all been a great source of inspiration and motivation to keep at it, I appreciate it.

After seeing Moeka today with fresher eyes I can tell the hairline is a little lower than the reference photo, her head seems a bit smaller because of that, but still, this has been the best sketch so far in this journey and one I can showcase as is without any second thought, or having to excuse myself for any issue with it.

Now I'll have to do a Rachel too, Mario! She looks great here.

We're glad you have joined the fun, Feeank, so please keep the drawings coming!

I'm glad you like my Rachel. I think Brendan Fraser turned out much better, but still --she was fun to do. I am looking forward to seeing your version!

I'll try not to do too many stages but I thought I’d share how I’m going about doing my latest painting.

I try to find relevant references or a screenshot as a kicking off point. This is my character at the very start of the Elden Ring DLC. My idea is to add in Spikeout and Shymlark’s (the friends I regularly co-op with) characters. The fact that the character’s will be in partial silhouette means I won’t have to recreate every tiny detail in the outfits.

Here I have copied my character to another layer and enlarged it. There’s another layer there with a screenshot I abandoned. I turned it off rather than deleting it. I tend to do a sweep now and then and delete redundant layers like that.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/r36Jzfd.jpeg)

On another layer I’ve drawn in the other two characters so I can move them about and resize them. I have reference screenshots for those characters that I’ve taken and can add in.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/6gLo0Jb.jpeg)

It's always interesting to see other folk's processes, and the tricks they come up with, especially when they use the same tools as you (such as Procreate in this case). I'm looking forward to see how this painting develops.

Me, I'm going to keep my processes secret (translation: too much effort for a Sunday), and drop in my latest piece after my sojourn doing smaller character sketches. Something very much back in my regular wheelhouse.

IMAGE(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVZwYQ1wupTLmw-4U42C_SPfaMekcRZQKHkSH_odpV3Esy3fSIU5kqCLOZrLOmXTA7Vl-Iq-SygeLlWilDD9hRo-Jnng4SXUuTaOeprvE1NdtAzcF1VdvA6c__DTc0ksMQJaKEp5V0z6snt1PCJRldQvQG4ZNMLdpjjohCgLMlL3Gr4H3J602ZuLev_krL/s1600/Tiefling_Warlord.jpg)

I'd just like to say, armour is hard. It took me forever to get the breastplate and shoulder-guards to a point that I was willing to just let it go and get on with the rest of the drawing. There's basically so much less tolerance for distorted shapes when trying to draw a rigid object viewed from an angle as compared to drawing regular clothing.

Drawing armour is a similar problem to drawing boats from any angle other than flat on. There are curves and sweeping lines but they still have to be accurate and in perspective in order to look like they are a solid object.

It looks good. I like the shine.

It looks awesome, Ravanon!

And thanks for the insight into your process, Higgledy! It is very interesting.

My family will be here until Sunday, so no drawing for me for a few more days.

Family. Boo!!

(Good to see family. Enjoy!)

Hahaha. Thanks! It's both fun and tough!

Made a Barbarella pixel fan art earlier tonight, after finishing it and while waiting for the glazing to finish I did this little accompanying sketch.
Blonde hair is tough to render.
I like the fluffy hat
Nice exercise all in all.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/LqvqXmb.png)

OTOH: Nice project Higgledy!
Mindblowing detailing for a 2d piece Ravanon, I love the attitude, I also see you have an Artstation profile, have you heard about Cara yet? I'm posting there my pixelart and sketches as well, I abandoned AS a few years back on the brink of AI's defacto take over, but hadn't found another site until Cara came into the spotlight a few weeks ago. If you get to check it I'm there with my usual handle.

What is this?! no new art!?!?!
FEAR NOT
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/WKEYOMU.png)

Man I love Natalie Wood, what a beautiful lady

a couple of wips for the curious
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/AJTC0Ai.png)

Nice! I like the gesture in her hair!

On a different note, my family left this morning. Woohoo! ... I mean, I miss them already. (What this actually means is I will have time to draw again, so yay!)

On a different note, but going back to art, I was just now mowing the lawn, and I was thinking that today is July 7th, which means Inktober is almost here, and I had an idea I thought I'd run by you.

As you know, some of us here participate in Inktober. Sometimes we follow the same list, and some other times we don't, so I thought --what if we create our own list this year?

Without scrolling up to check past posts, I think Fang, Feeank, Higgledy, Ravanon, and myself post here regularly, with Mixolyde cheering us on and offering suggestions every now and then. So, what if each one of us (six people) came up with five prompts (30 total, plus a free one for the 31st drawing), and that became our Official Inktober List, which we can name in a more clever way than that?

To be clear, none of the aforementioned excellent humans would have to commit to participating, but since we all interact with one another regularly and comment on our respective masterpieces, it would be fun if we all threw some challenges each other's way to see what happened.

What do you think? If you like it, awesome. If you think this is a terrible idea, don't worry --I will come up with equally bad ones on a regular basis over the next few months!

Just found this thread. Very exciting! Is there a weekly prompt or is it more a place to showcase things one has done?

Hi, Fredrik_S!

This thread did start with a weekly prompt indeed, but now it's a place for us to post our Awe-Inspiring Masterpieces, yes, so feel free to share yours if you are so inclined. We'd love to see them!

I'm really liking your sketches Feeank.

Feeank wrote:

Mindblowing detailing for a 2d piece Ravanon, I love the attitude, I also see you have an Artstation profile, have you heard about Cara yet? I'm posting there my pixelart and sketches as well, I abandoned AS a few years back on the brink of AI's defacto take over, but hadn't found another site until Cara came into the spotlight a few weeks ago. If you get to check it I'm there with my usual handle.

I've basically abandoned ArtStation for now, for various reasons including the apparent hollowing out of the community in the wake of the proliferation of AI art. I'm aware of Cara, but I've been holding back until I have a clear sense of how they're paying their hosting bills now that they've started to get big—basically, I want to see what concessions to investors they're going to have to make to become sustainable before I put too much effort into the platform. If they haven't fallen over or sold out to the devil in a few months time, I might go ahead and open an account (and then I'll check you out!). One other place I've been active on is Mastodon, which has proven quite nice, but its not the place to curate a portfolio.

Mario_Alba wrote:

On a different note, but going back to art, I was just now mowing the lawn, and I was thinking that today is July 7th, which means Inktober is almost here, and I had an idea I thought I'd run by you.

As you know, some of us here participate in Inktober. Sometimes we follow the same list, and some other times we don't, so I thought --what if we create our own list this year?

Without scrolling up to check past posts, I think Fang, Feeank, Higgledy, Ravanon, and myself post here regularly, with Mixolyde cheering us on and offering suggestions every now and then. So, what if each one of us (six people) came up with five prompts (30 total, plus a free one for the 31st drawing), and that became our Official Inktober List, which we can name in a more clever way than that?

Hmm... sounds suspiciously like effort. Joking aside, it could be interesting though I'm not sure what I really want to do in October yet—I guess I've gotten a bit partial to knocking out fanart for characters from shows and games I know nothing about. For that matter, if this was an internal GWJ thing, it wouldn't necessarily have to be October, and it wouldn't necessary have to be a daily prompt list. A weekly thing might be more agreeable to some people's schedules (I'm just thinking aloud though).

Thanks guys!

As usual, once you hit "post" and upload your carefully, painstakingly crafted sketch, suddenly all the wrong, terrible details become obvious, vulgar and evident. I did not pay attention to the hair volume, there isn't enough of it over the head and it feels as if she has a tiny head, very much the same thing that happened with one of my previous sketches. Aw man, what a bummer. The face is good, lips could be better resolved, but the proportions there are spot on, it's the top of the head that drags the whole thing down.

On the topic of inktober thingies, I'd rather not commit to something as demanding as that, I may jump in for some weekly prompt, and even then I may not deliver, but a daily schedule / task is kryptonite for my desire to draw, etc.
I can still cheer you all on your masochistic quest thou!

Hahaha. Got it! I will definitely do Inktober this year, regardless of what list I end up using, but thanks for considering my wild idea!

A boy band made of Holiday Monsters. Go!

Great drawing Feeank. I know that feeling of intense awareness after posting something. Before hand you’re incredibly excited to share some of your best work but the moment it’s posted you become acutely aware of all the shortcomings.

You’re right about the lack of volume of the hair. I’ve done that kind of thing before. You could still add a little more height to it but it depends if the paper is going to hold up under the necessary rubbing out.

Mario_Alba wrote:

Hahaha. Got it! I will definitely do Inktober this year, regardless of what list I end up using, but thanks for considering my wild idea!

I think it’s a fantastic idea but I too am a little unsure about committing to the next Inktober. I amazed myself with my dedication to the last one but my drive to draw seems to ebb and flow from week to week and I just don’t know how I’ll be feeling at the time.

It might be fun to offer submissions for a GWJ month of drawings list ( I’ve been trying to think which month goes with GWJ. Too late for this year but: GWJune mb?) even if we all then just sit back and cheer on Mario as he works through it.

As an alternative we could perhaps use your idea on a smaller scale at some point. We all give one prompt and then have a week for each one submitted.

The weekly prompt would be fun, yes! And so would the boy band made of Holiday Monsters, hahaha!

I think we could come up with some very unique prompts. The first thing that popped into my head when I read your post Mario was "Sitcom".

Others that come to mind:
Articulated
Muscle
Etiquette
Dive

Honorable mentions:
Noir, inverse, step, round, and "honorable mention"