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Please give me something to work with. I see nothing but flaws, but interested to hear what ya'll see and how I might make it better.

Thanks!

The shading on the body is a little off--the shadow line does not usually wrap around the top of the shoulder. He could use a little more muscle definition on the shoulder and side. The horns could use some shadowing and the growth rings are not that uniform in reality. The face is good, but the nose could use some more shading.

I always had to look at photographs when I did my drawings. I can't create the kind of detail in my head to make things look right. I still think what you did looks good. :)

If you want criticism I think the head looks more like a deer than a sheep. On sheep the eyes tend to bug out more and the ears come more straight out the side than up and back.

Going to give this one a shot on a much larger canvas and wanted to see if I was seeing the same problems that ya'll see. Yup!

-Head proportions are off a bit. -Forehead/top of his head proportionally needs to be about 20% wider. -The entire nose area is rotated 10-15 degrees to the left of the general angle of the head. -Agree on the overall sentiment that he's too angular. Need to smooth and actually draw the hair. -Horns got messed up as a result of the proportion of the head being incorrect. -I SUCK at shading and will continue to suck at it until I don't! Haha. Need honest people to tell my WHY it sucks though if I want to get better. Thanks!

Embry -- you are an excellent critiquer-er!

Main thing I see is that the lines are too well defined. A great caricature artist (like Hirschfeld) would start with a beautifully detailed & shaded, “3D” drawing and extract that One Clean Line that captures it all, then erase everything else.

For what you’re trying to do, you have to remember that those lines don’t actually exist.. so you need to make them become just “more” or “less” light coming from a particular area...

And I’d recommend having lots of pics or rams around you as you draw, because you have to understand the 3-dimensional shape of a thing in order to transfer it to a flat medium.

Just kidding looks better than I could dream of doing.

Yours is pretty awesome too Horn Donkey !!

Brutal feedback is it is a robo-ram

Drawings and paintings, like taxidermy, captures only one moment of thousands an animal can be doing. Mostly, we have an "ideal image" of everything and everything should match that ideal image we have.

The only thing that looked a little off from yours is the mass circumference on the sheeps right base up to the top curve relative to the left.

It's charcoal on 18x24 paper.

HDE, Dana, and Feedjake -- Thanks so much for the comments and constructive criticism.

Feedjake -- easy to open up to criticism when you accept it with gratitude. Whether it's helpful, harsh, or otherwise, it helps.

I would want that first rendition, not the perfect one.

Now if I’m paying or I don’t know you Might change Things.

The elk looks great also.

this drawing is on 18x24 and looking at the scaling of the closer ram compared to the picture reference....i screwed up his head. which is funny because the further ram's head is driving me crazy. the nuances in the the shading feel impossible to get right.

doing the work of learning though has been eye opening. I have so much respect for real artists who can do this kind of stuff well.

While some say the first sheep is too angular or robo-ram, not all art needs to look identical to a photograph. Take that idea to its extreme: a crude pictograph sketch on a cave wall may be little more than a stick figure, but is still cool art.

Your style may not be to create a "perfect" rendition of a real animal, but as long as it captures the essence and the viewer's imagination that's all that is needed.

Honestly I don't mind the angular look of the body, or contrasting shadows. The horns appear a "little" off, but IMO are better than those in the first art posted by Paul (color bighorn with winter mountains in background), and that's obviously from an "artist" so you're on the right track.

Tall Tines elk looks amazing, but it may have been easier for you to create from a photograph with the exact pose.

Just keep it up, you'll continue to get better and develop your personal style.

Just keep drawing and trying and you will improve! I love working with wood, and I have a small woodworking business... I am constantly learning and getting better with every project I do... I think!

It's all about practice and repetition, just like most things in life. You are very talented to say the least! Keep up the great work, and keep sharing your pictures!

I have thought about posting some of my stuff that I build, but it's not hunting related, so I am sure it would get Poofed! So I don't...

Best of luck!!!!

Scar Finga -- flatterred to say the least. You should absolutely post your art up here. I have yet to meet a bowhunter who doesn't enjoy wildlife art.

smarba and russell -- really appreciate you taking a minute to give the feedback.

It is not my intent to debate whether these examples are good or bad, but simply to demonstrate sometimes shadows/colors/exact dimensions aren't mandatory depending on an artist's style.

I think Whitey's advice is great: practicing on simple things may be valuable rather than diving into something very complicated. But it's all about practicing your craft and developing your own personal style. Art rarely appeals to everyone. Heck we can't even agree on a broadhead LOL.

While someone could take a photograph, use computer graphics to convert it to black & white, then some other software to "charcoalify" it to become a "perfect" charcoal, that wouldn't reflect an artist's touch.

On this thread various critics see your work in different ways and prefer or don't prefer certain things, but to me it's apparent you have talent and it's worth pursuing. After you've created 100 (or more!) pieces your style will evolve into something far superior to your first few...which are darn good in their own right.