Would you like to come up and see my etchings?

[wla91]

Really good works man! Figure drawings have helped me a ton in terms of proportions and anatomy! Something that also helped me is to memorize the muscle insertions so it makes it easier to know where they end/begin/overlap.

Keep it up!

[Adam Lina]

Thanks for the advice guys!

I've been kinda slacking the last couple weeks. Mostly because of work. I started smoking weed regularly again too XD I've noticed my gestures are nicer than my 20 and 40 minute drawings. The longer drawings seem to be getting worse actually. I've been slowly practicing my perspective but I'll post those later.

[Lyraina]

Ooooh look at all that figure work! Certainly doesn’t look like you’ve been slacking.
I know that problem with longer sketches turning out worse than the gestures… it’s so easy to lose the energy of a sketch, and to mess up proportions when working bigger. One thing I like to do for longer poses is make a tiny gesture first, to remind me of the flow and energy of a figure before starting on the bigger 20 or 40 minute version. Might be worth a try?

Also, tiny crit: Watch your legs, sometimes they seem to end up being a bit short compared to the rest of the body… not in all of your sketches, but some. Just something to watch out for.

[Ursula Dorada]

Oooh gestures!
(now I'm feeling guilty, I haven't done any in SO LONG)
So nice! Are this from life?
You don't seem t be slacking at all. Stephen Silver mentioned on one of his videos we need to stop being guilty for not meeting our own very high expectations - we just need to keep going. So rock on :D

[Adam Lina]

Thanks pretty ladies. I have done mini gestures in the past a couple times, Lyraina. I need to get back to doing that more, thank you. And actually that gives me an idea to try and do large gestures in a series at the full 18x24inch news print size. I always practice gestures at a 4th or smaller size than the 40 minute drawings. So doing that might get my arm use to doing them better at that scale. I can go back later and render them so not to waste whole page. Ill be sure to use some mini gestures in there and watch my leg proportions as well thanks again.

Ursula, Even having not done them in so long Im sure you could teach me a thing or two about it :D
I know these make it seem like I've been busy but the last update was over 2 weeks ago. I was doing much more in a week time for the past year. So for me this is a significant drop in productivity. I feel guilty mainly because I've been mostly ignoring working on the things I know I need to work on the most. Figures have been dominating way too much of my time and energy. I just lack the inspiration at the moment to really get into practicing perspective and find a way to have fun with it. Not to mention I need to get to painting more as well. My problems with painting is that it drains me mentally so much because Im so not use to thinking about form, edges, value, proportion, perspective and anatomy all at once.

But I hear you about the just keep going part. Im happy to say that I've made solid progress with keeping my momentum in the forward direction. Last year I had a art block that started in April and went on through to June before I got back into the swing of things. This year I only had a dead zone throughout May. I've heard some advice I think from someone on One Fantastic Week that said the most important quality you need to be a working artist is the ability to continue producing consistent quality work no matter what problems spring up. Its something I've taken to heart and hope to build up in time.

[Adam Lina]

I had a much better life drawing session this week. I didnt even practice figures since the last life drawing session. Usually I need a couple hours of warm up figures to get in the zone. This time I spent some time practicing composition and design and it seemed to translate perfectly into my gestures. I think I'll keep focusing on design and composition, having a lot of fun with it.

[smrr]

Adaaaaaaaam, those gestural lines are sexy af, me gusta @_______@

Damn, I'm in love with the hardwork you got goin' on here. Especially those traditional paints on the page before, holy shit.

I need to peak in here more often and get my butt kicked!

Keep it up meng, <3

[Hobitt]

Since there is no more like button we can't  like each others post's anymore  and move on :P. I would suggest trying to construct figures from imagination with crazy poses so you can detect the areas you have the most problems with. Keep up the good work!

[VoodooMama]

Nice gestures and figure studies!
The way you shade them is very nice, by emphasizing the terminator, it really brings out the 3dimensionality of the form.
I don't have critique to give, you seem to be doing great, except maybe work a bit more on the hands a feet, some poses look like you were having problems with it (mainly the lady with the chair in the last post, and the guy sitting down on the post before), though it could be there just wasn't enough time for the pose.
Either way, great stuff :D

[Adam Lina]

Thanks Mama, Hobbs and Smmhmmrr for the comments and advices.

Heres some comp studies and some heads from the other day.

[Hobitt]

Really like the enviroment studies ! Keep it up

[KurtJeremy]

HEYYY mann , liking those Enviros indeed also the figures way back , try to practice shading heads as much as you can , dont just do the construction.

you said youre feeling a little guilty about not being able to tackle the other stuff like perspective and painting. i say doint sweat.
i heard from a video of jeff watts that they do 70% drawing and the remaining 30% is for painting.
it basically means that youre already on the right track , drawing is so much more important than painting. dont think so much about it cos they complement each other.try to do longer one of those anyways.

if youre really feeling guilty , try some still lifes using paint. doesnt matter if it doesnt go well just put in the mileage.
you can sneak in an hour or two of that just so you could get away that feeling of guilt.

keep it going mah bro.

[Kir]

Holy cow, your stuff is amazing. I seriously love your anatomy studies! :D

[Adam Lina]

Thanks guys for the comments and I'll try to do what you said, Kurt.

[ZombieChinchilla]

Yoooo Adam these drawings are looking bangin'! Especially your figures and gestures, they look GREAT! Looks like you would perhaps benefit from focusing on faces, though? They don't look wrong or anything, but I think they're the weaker part of the figure. Keep 'em coming, dude!

[Hobitt]

Your figure drawings keep getting better and better!But maybe try out to draw some specific parts like hand heads etc just to challenge yourself its easy to get into a routine and do nothing but that (guilty of that myself).

[Lyraina]

I really like that last outdoor sketch, clear read and nice shapes despite a lot of stuff going on!

[Adam Lina]

Thanks guise!

[Tristan Berndt]

Looks good, man! I always like seeing a bunch of traditional figure drawings in a sketchbook. I would however recommend you try and upp your game a bit with how you approach your figures. I see a bit of slacking here and there. Try and pay more attention to things like hands, feet and how the head sits on the shoulders. Getting those things down right really adds a lot to a drawing.

A lot of your drawings look fairly quick and while that certainly has its value, I think that you learn more from the 1-3 hour drawings where you just focus on outline. By taking your time and making sure you get an exact drawing, you become very intimate with the human figure and your eye develops to be more accurate. Maybe I'm wrong, but i think you should give it a try ^^

If you do life drawing sessions, see if you can get longer poses and either use the comparative method or sight size to make sure you get a very accurate drawing. You may also want to look at some of Charles Bargue's figure drawings from life. They're an excellent guide in how to approach a figure. Something often done in classical drawing is to first only use straight lines so you can more accurately establish the foundation of your subject (you'll see a lot of this in Bargue's drawings). I personally have found it very helpful but it's not the only way to do it :)

One last thing: I'm not seeing any anatomy! Get your butt a book on the subject and get studying! Anatomy really helps your figure drawings. I'd recommend Artistic Anatomy by Paul Richer. You can't really go wrong with one of the classics. Consider avoiding stuff like Hogarth, I see a lot of people studying his books end up with very inaccurate and wobbly drawings.

Anyway, keep on working hard! Hopefully I didn't come off as smug or anything ;)

[Hobitt]

I am liking the sketches i assume they are from life always fun to do some here is a tip a very obvious one, carry a ruler with you so you can get tricky perspective done, while standing or in any other uncomfortable position keep it up.