Bookend's Sketchbook

[Bookend]

Gestures today, class style from one of those nifty pose generator sites.

[Zearthus]

Not sure how you're drawing gestures but these 3 blogs could give you some general ideas on what to look for when doing gesture drawings:
http://drawthefigure.blogspot.com/2013/ ... notes.html
http://analyticalfiguresp08.blogspot.com/
figuredrawingdotinfo.blogspot.com

And lastly 1 video of Kevin Chen drawing the figure:
http://www.downvids.net/kevin-chen-figur...30410.html

[Bookend]

Not sure how you're drawing gestures but these 3 blogs could give you some general ideas on what to look for when doing gesture drawings:
http://drawthefigure.blogspot.com/2013/ ... notes.html
http://analyticalfiguresp08.blogspot.com/
figuredrawingdotinfo.blogspot.com

And lastly 1 video of Kevin Chen drawing the figure:
http://www.downvids.net/kevin-chen-figur...30410.html

Thanks man. 

Yeah, it's been awhile since I did gestures, so I'm incredibly rusty.  I also notice that it seems to look so much better when they're drawn from life?  Photographs and/or other flat images seem to detract from the space/depth of it, making it more difficult to capture. 

Besides that, though--  I will check out these links, 'cause I have always wanted more of an understanding of an overall gesture, and more info can only help.

[Bookend]

The progress on my layday.

[Broadway]

Cool sketchbook and latest post is looking good! Rendering is quite nice so far. Since page 1 says you're looking for critiques here goes...

(Right/Left are HERS, not viewers :) )
Right shoulder looks a little to far away from her neck/also makes right arm look too wide
Left upper arm is a bit too long (compare to right)
Left lower leg doesn't "match up" to left knee (continue the line from the front of her left shin up towards the knee... it would have to bend backwards a lot to reach it)
Left foot is a bit large

I guess I'd say maybe it would help to draw out the anatomy that you can't see under the cloth to make sure everything connects at the right place?

Keep up the good work man!

[Vornag]

Gorgeous master studies you got going. I could hardly tell which one's which and, were the texture not there, I couldn't make the call.

One thing you could improve on which was mentioned in the thread before if your line confidence. Try using only one stroke to fill out a line instead of going over it multiple times. This is especially useful when it comes to gesture as it aids the pose.

http://www.posemaniacs.com/thirtysecond is a great resource for poses. I'd suggest setting it to one minute and hammering away as many as you can. The end result shouldn't be a good drawing, but an energetic, confident one. Matt Kohr describes it perfectly ( http://www.ctrlpaint.com/videos/quick-po...-sketching )

Have fun and keep it up!

[Incho]

Hiya, Misty (can I still call you that?)!

I went over to CA to see how you were getting on after not visiting for almost a year to see that you had left. :( So, I stalked you. Man, how you've improved (I melted when I saw your Ellen Page study)! Nice to see that you're still going at it. Keep after it; don't give up! I'm looking forward to keeping up with your work here! :)

[Bookend]

Broadway:  Hey, crits are ALWAYS welcome.  Thanks for the tips.  I'll analyze her and see if I can't fix her up.

Vornag:  Thanks-- Yeah, I gotta work on my line confidence, for sure.  I'm hoping that it'll just come.  Especially if I do gestures everyday.  I dunno how else to pull it off.  See, in the last gesture studies, I tried to use one line at a time for the most part, and people are telling me I'm doing it wrong.  In this example, there are a lot more lines, but it looks ... Better.  I dunno.  I will troubleshoot and figure it out.

Incho:  Of course you can dude, haha.  Great to see you, by the way!  Hope you're still working hard.  Thanks so much.  I'll keep it up an' do my best.

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So, I've done more gestures today.  I think they're looking a lot better.  I guess it's just that I'm so rusty.

And it's also tricky with the tablet. Small laptop screen... Dealing with clicking back and forth and Gimp not reacting properly, haha.

[CaDisciple]

Hi Bookend,

I wrote a lengthy response in Zearthus' Sketchbook http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-6...l#pid87110 and I want to give you the same advice.

Right now I can't get a sense of what you want to be doing with your art. Falling into a study trap is actually a very slow way to progress. I would suggest clarifying in great detail what you want to accomplish with you art and gear your studies specifically towards that goal. In a previous post you are kind of flip flopping between concept art and graphic design but both those professions require a high amount of specialized practice. For example if you wanted to do concept art, you need to be practicing actual design, and prefereably to a strict prompt so you can also learn problem solving. 

I hope if you are able to find a core purpose for your studies you can find even greater motivation in pursuing art as a career, good luck!

[Kimonas]

well done keep working on those gestures. Have a look at hamptons book on figure drawing, its really useful i find. It gives you instruction on how to approach gestures. everyone has their own method, but his seems good as it can be built on to more detailed figure drawings. keep it coming and well done!

[Bookend]

Sketchosoph: Thanks!  Yeah, I feel like I know the difference, but it's one thing to know, and another thing to implement.  I think I just need to practice.

CaDisciple:  Thanks for such lengthy and helpful advice!  I think that you've made some pretty great points.  It's true that I need to learn to apply what I've learned.  This is a biiig thing I realize, and yet I'm not yet getting anywhere with.  As for lacking direction and/or a core purpose with my art-- I have stated that I want to be a concept artist.  That hasn't changed.  

I am also adding design pieces to my portfolio in the hopes of getting a Graphic Design position.  Basically, I'm just practicing in every way I know how.  I'm thinking about making a schedule for every day of the week about what I'll tackle and do with my time.  I will be doing that tomorrow, I think.

Thanks for your support in that, and your advice. :)

Kimonas: Thanks, I definitely will!  And I'll take a look at the Hamptons book too.  :)  

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I've been scribbling away today.  Lots of half-hearted gestures, and some frustration with my lines and lack of line confidence.  Putting down one line at a time seems to be self-defeating, and the lines never seem to go where I want them to go, requiring a lot of erasing and re-drawing.  I've felt like I've been stuck at a certain level for a long time.  I'm hoping that I hit a breakthrough.

Tomorrow's to-do list:

1) Write a schedule for the dayz of the week.  
2) Draw something.  Then draw it without reference.  x8 times.  Or something.

Here's the best gesturey thing I did today... It's not very good.  I know I could've done better, and even though I've been working today, I've also been slacking in that work-- Bad quality.

I've switched from Gimp to a program called Krita.  I like it.  It's like photoshop, but open source and free.  It's improved my tablet/drawing, because there was a lot of lag with Gimp.  I'm looking forward to playing with it.

So here's my results from my play with it today:

[Bookend]

Wooo.  I'm feeling better now that I'm actually applying what I'm learning.  

It's hard, but.. I feel like it's worth it.  I'm also doing a semi-schedule pretty similar to Rapoza's old schedule that's floatin' around.

So, here's a couple of studies of me attempting to draw from reference, and then draw without looking. (So fucking hard not to look, lol)

The ones on the left are from reference, the ones on the right are without.  I was actually pretty surprised at how well I did at this...  Shocked actually.  I mean, sure, my versions look like a crude pseudo-picasso thing, but at least it resembles the source.  That's encouraging.

[Vornag]

I don't think you get what people mean with using a single stroke to make your lines, so I'll try to clarify.

I'm terrible at explaining, so a visual guideline might be better.
https://i.vimeocdn.com/video/364878640_1280x720.jpg

That's an image of Matt Kohr's (ctrlpaint.com) gesture drawings. The lines he puts down are bold and in one stroke, whereas some artists go over their lines multiple times (dubbed chicken scratch). There lies the issue. When people say "use one line", they don't mean "use one line for the entire contour", but rather that you should avoid ending your line halfway and trying to fill it in afterwards.

What it boils down to is: be confident, minimalistic and don't second guess your lines. Trying to build a figure with as little lines as possible is a great practice, and that's where the gesture skeleton comes in handy.

I forgot who established this idea (I think it was Loomis) but the figure's underlying skeleton can be simplified into three-ish major landmarks: the shoulders, hips, spine (really really important) and position of the feet (not necessary but useful). Using just a simple line to indicate these (ie drawing the shoulderline using just one stroke) helps immensely when doing gestures.

Simplification is critical. That's really hypocritical coming from me because I don't simplify for shit since I'm an arrogant asshole, but it definitely helps. I recommend doing 1 min/45 sec gestures of nothing but the underlying gesture skeleton.

I'm a broken record of what Kohr's saying in http://www.ctrlpaint.com/videos/quick-po...-sketching (which i think i linked before) but I really encourage you to take that video to heart. It's helped me out immensely and I think you can learn from it, too.

Gesture drawings are supposed to be crude. You only have a limited amount of time to add detail, but the most important part of it is the skeleton, so don't skim over that.

Moreover, you mentioned you wanted to be a concept artist, which is sweet because who doesn't love good concept art, though there's an issue in that you haven't really posted anything conceptual, just studies. Don't get me wrong, studies are important, but it's also important to devote some time to your personal projects. Everyone has an idea stirring in their head about a species, creature, city, whatever, it'd be fantastic to see it illustrated in your sketchbook. All study no application makes Jack a dull boy.

So that's my 3am ramble, hopefully you can extract some sort of usable information from it.

Keep on pushing, just make sure you don't get burnt out

[Bookend]

Vornag: Yeah, I get that.  Chicken scratch.  I have the knowledge, just..  Missing something.

I need to work on evaluation and planning out my lines better.  It's a frustrating process right now, because I'm not really getting anywhere with it yet.  But, I'll take your advice and your links to heart, man.  Thanks big time.  

I'll try drawing simplified gestures tomorrow.  I actually really liked Bridgman's construction of the figure-- It's got nice flow and gestural quality to it.  I know that studying him and applying his methods when I was in figure drawing class way back really helped..  Along the way, I lose track of certain key structural issues, I think.  I also think that I should be studying the skeleton, but yeah.

As for my personal projects..  I'm working on one which I've been posting (That colourful chick)..  But, it's from reference.  I was amalgamating references in an attempt to create something new.  I figured it was a good place to start.  I'm just not in a place where I'm comfortable with just doing stuff without looking.  Which is why the last two exercises.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes.  Simplified gestures tomorrow. :D

Thanks man.

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I had way too much fun with this one.  I don't really have time to do one without looking yet.  Will have to do it tomorrow.

[Punk-A-Cat]

You got the sheerness of the fabric nailed beautifully! Figure looks good too :D

[Bookend]

Punk-A-Cat: Hey, thanks a lot, man.  I appreciate it.

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So, I attempted some simplified Loomis gestures, which confirmed one of two things:  One: I need to study the skeleton.  And Two:  I need to study more anatomy.  And both together, obviously.

Luckily, I am in a place where I'm applying my work.  It was hard at first, but I got into it.  Just gotta push through.  No more copying.  Need to start bringing it out of my brain.  RAH.

Thanks again to Vornag for the links and the initiative to do it.

So, here's some simplified gestures, as promised. 60 seconds each.

[Bookend]

Been doing some studies.  More to come.

[VoodooMama]

Hello!
Nice studies! I really have nothing to crit, since you seem to be doing a lot of studies to improve.
Keep on pushing ! Try to do gestures from life too whenever you can! I find that helps me a lot ^^
I'm looking forward to more of your works!

[Bookend]

VoodooMama: Thank you very much.  I'll do my best!  It's hard, but I'm hoping that it'll pay off.  I'll also take out my sketchbook when I'm out and about.  And draw myself in the mirror and stuff, haha.  

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Some anatomy studies.  More to come.

[Bookend]

Just some addition to the anatomy studies from yesterday.  I did some gestures too, but they look much the same as the other day.