Well, been awhile since I posted anything. Here is what I have been up to, getting better slowly (at least I hope so).
I feel like I am getting a handle on noses and eyes, but mouths I still mess up real bad if I work without a reference. Also I'm sure there are a host of other problems. If anyone sees anything specific that I should work on and particularly any excercises/tutorials they think would help beyond just the normal keep drawing/draw from life it would be appreciated.
Hey John! I think you are starting to get a feel for form, but your construction of figures and heads is off here and there. Some are better than others, but I think in general if you spent a little more time in the beginning stages, focusing on proportions and lining things up perfectly, your work would improve drastically.
Also try to focus on drawing exactly what you see, not what you think you see. Drawing from life and reference like this is really helpful and healthy, so keep it up!
@F87 thanks for the comment.
So most of these figures were relatively quick, i was shooting for less than five min on each although some definitely ran over time. With this sort of excercise should i spend more time on the set up or do you think it's more beneficial to just keep pushing out as many as possible?
Well, you can continue pumping out lots of 5 min figures, it will help I'm sure. But I think it would be beneficial if you also did some longer studies.
Well haven't had much time to draw so no longer studies as of yet, but I did knock out a few pages of quick sketches during breaks. First page of mouths was with reference, then did a second group just trying to generate some expression. Not super happy with either but I think I figured out a few things. Plus some hand doodles sans reference other than occasionally my own.
You might need to break up longer studies in to a few different drawing sessions. If you only have a little bit of time, give some gesture studies a shot, if you're consistent they'll improve your figure drawing a lot. There's a useful tool for guesture drawing here.
thanks flay ill check those out.
EDIT: Ok I checked out those links, the gesture site really is a nice resource, with the timed classes and everything. Ran through one of those, these were the result.
Blarg, I really need to do some more reference drawings, a long study if possible but all I have had time for is doodling in class.
I keep either putting the ears too high or making the jaw too long... Looking at stanprokopenko.com (basically the loomis approach) But I keep doing it roughly from memory instead of practicing it when I have access to the materials... derp.
Ok started in on a longer study (finally). This is step one, just trying to block in the forms and the basic shadows. This took about 45 minutes; I was really agonizing over checking to make sure things lined up right (although that isn't to say they did).
Not much to say man, but it hate it when good work gives uncommented! I think your improvements are fantastic. I also like how in your doodles you're developing a very characteristic style which happens to be extremely charming. Keep it up!
Ok another 1.5 hours spent on this... Not perfect but I think I am done with it. I think, if I am gonna work from ref images, I should find one with fewer and stronger light sources (pref. one). Anyway I feel like I learned some things. If anyone sees anything glaring that I should know about so I can avoid it on the next one give me a heads up. I'm not especially happy with the amount of contrast I got into the image... which seems to be a consistent problem for me. If anyone has some suggestions on specific exercises that might help with that it would be sweet.
Posts
Also try to focus on drawing exactly what you see, not what you think you see. Drawing from life and reference like this is really helpful and healthy, so keep it up!
So most of these figures were relatively quick, i was shooting for less than five min on each although some definitely ran over time. With this sort of excercise should i spend more time on the set up or do you think it's more beneficial to just keep pushing out as many as possible?
Also some quick expressions. First time attempting these.
You might need to break up longer studies in to a few different drawing sessions. If you only have a little bit of time, give some gesture studies a shot, if you're consistent they'll improve your figure drawing a lot. There's a useful tool for guesture drawing here.
EDIT: Ok I checked out those links, the gesture site really is a nice resource, with the timed classes and everything. Ran through one of those, these were the result.
First one here is a bunch of iPhone doodles... fun but impossible
I keep either putting the ears too high or making the jaw too long... Looking at stanprokopenko.com (basically the loomis approach) But I keep doing it roughly from memory instead of practicing it when I have access to the materials... derp.
Ok small update, maybe another 30 mins of work, finished blocking in hands and started adding some basic shadows.
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt