01-21-2017, 10:03 AM
Haha, well first, take 5 really deep breaths :)
I would start with trying to land a daily drawing habit first. Whatever it is, to get back into the swing of things.
I would go right back to fundamentals first like a primer. Drawabox is a decent primer because it mostly focuses on perspective, form, volume etc. Perspective in drawing (realistic forms) is absolutely essential so that's a good place to start and keep practicing all the time.
With figures, well many of the books by the authors I listed will have different approaches to the figure and every artist will have the ones they swear by. I admit I was never a good study guy, I just winged most of my learning. In general I guess I would focus on constructive drawing techniques and building figures from basic primitive shapes and understanding overall proportions first. It makes sense to start from general and go smaller. Michael Hampton's book is sworn by by many, I haven't looked at it myself so I can't say for sure. Loomis definitely has some good info and easy to find online for free.
I highly recommend going through Walent 's sketchbook here. He approaches figures in what I would consider the best example on CD of a very smart and efficient and stylistically unique way to boot, so you might get some inspiration and ideas from him.
The Crimson Cadavers group here which isn't active anymore has a link to a document that is the start of an approach to understanding anatomy which might also be useful. General proportions, then skeleton/bone study and knowledge and how to find general landmarks on the body from these, constructive building of basic forms of the body in perspective, while trying to finding rhythm and line of action in poses. I often see gestural drawings overemphasised for figures so people do countless 30 second short gestural drawings without really understanding what they are trying to draw or how to break it down or construct. This can be a red herring. So even if you do gestural studies, don't be concerned about how quick they are done, it's better to do 10 accurately well drawn things in an hour, than 60 really shit ones.
Specific anatomy study does have to come into it, so looking at attachment points of muscles and knowing the muscle groups of various areas and a large focus on the head itself, which will in turn make your understanding of constructing the general figure get better. It's a huge subject so don't approach it like you will "finish it" and move on. It's more like constant revision of knowledge and understanding that will be constantly upgraded every time you go back.
Life drawing combined with constructive techniques and building up specific anatomy knowledge is probably one of the best things you can do for your figure drawing if you have access to sessions somewhere, but photos will do. Also croquis cafe on yt has video life drawing sessions.
I think it is always good to test yourself relatively frequently (once a month?), with personal drawings / illustrations and whatever you struggled with will be able to inform your focus during your study time, and allow you to adjust study if needed.
If you want to mostly only do stylised work it might seem there is too much emphasis on this kind of "realism" study, so I would say keep doing those things as well, they can only improve with more knowledge.
And about being one's own harsh judge. Trasmute that to being your own brutally honest but constructive critic. Remove the emotional judgement part out of it, it doesn't help anything. Judge how well you are learning and what you need to learn next, but then just do it. I recommend talking to the artists in the discord channel, we're all friendly. Most are in early- mid stages of learning and not professional, though there are some, but you can talk out things more directly there and meet other people too! Just a warning though that discord has occasionally become a degenerate time sink of unproductivity :)
I would start with trying to land a daily drawing habit first. Whatever it is, to get back into the swing of things.
I would go right back to fundamentals first like a primer. Drawabox is a decent primer because it mostly focuses on perspective, form, volume etc. Perspective in drawing (realistic forms) is absolutely essential so that's a good place to start and keep practicing all the time.
With figures, well many of the books by the authors I listed will have different approaches to the figure and every artist will have the ones they swear by. I admit I was never a good study guy, I just winged most of my learning. In general I guess I would focus on constructive drawing techniques and building figures from basic primitive shapes and understanding overall proportions first. It makes sense to start from general and go smaller. Michael Hampton's book is sworn by by many, I haven't looked at it myself so I can't say for sure. Loomis definitely has some good info and easy to find online for free.
I highly recommend going through Walent 's sketchbook here. He approaches figures in what I would consider the best example on CD of a very smart and efficient and stylistically unique way to boot, so you might get some inspiration and ideas from him.
The Crimson Cadavers group here which isn't active anymore has a link to a document that is the start of an approach to understanding anatomy which might also be useful. General proportions, then skeleton/bone study and knowledge and how to find general landmarks on the body from these, constructive building of basic forms of the body in perspective, while trying to finding rhythm and line of action in poses. I often see gestural drawings overemphasised for figures so people do countless 30 second short gestural drawings without really understanding what they are trying to draw or how to break it down or construct. This can be a red herring. So even if you do gestural studies, don't be concerned about how quick they are done, it's better to do 10 accurately well drawn things in an hour, than 60 really shit ones.
Specific anatomy study does have to come into it, so looking at attachment points of muscles and knowing the muscle groups of various areas and a large focus on the head itself, which will in turn make your understanding of constructing the general figure get better. It's a huge subject so don't approach it like you will "finish it" and move on. It's more like constant revision of knowledge and understanding that will be constantly upgraded every time you go back.
Life drawing combined with constructive techniques and building up specific anatomy knowledge is probably one of the best things you can do for your figure drawing if you have access to sessions somewhere, but photos will do. Also croquis cafe on yt has video life drawing sessions.
I think it is always good to test yourself relatively frequently (once a month?), with personal drawings / illustrations and whatever you struggled with will be able to inform your focus during your study time, and allow you to adjust study if needed.
If you want to mostly only do stylised work it might seem there is too much emphasis on this kind of "realism" study, so I would say keep doing those things as well, they can only improve with more knowledge.
And about being one's own harsh judge. Trasmute that to being your own brutally honest but constructive critic. Remove the emotional judgement part out of it, it doesn't help anything. Judge how well you are learning and what you need to learn next, but then just do it. I recommend talking to the artists in the discord channel, we're all friendly. Most are in early- mid stages of learning and not professional, though there are some, but you can talk out things more directly there and meet other people too! Just a warning though that discord has occasionally become a degenerate time sink of unproductivity :)