Peter's Sketchbook

[Peter]

I think you are doing a fine job with these studies. I agree with Artloader and Felodika that you do not want to be a slave to the construction methods. Personally, I have found that my better portrait drawings have been ones that I have set off on my own path and just put in some basic guidelines rather than work from construction methods. That said, I do work often from construction methods, but I try not be be too rigid with them. I prefer to use Reilly or Loomis heads for study, although I have used both as a starting point for portraits. I think that is fine, as long as you remember that the construction is the firsts phase, and eventually you have to smooth out the sharp lines and add in curves. Plus, you have to allow yourself to move in your own direction at that point. The construction method will only take you so far. It's such a great starting point, as long as it does not hinder the fluidity and essence of the portrait (or figure).

Regarding the struggles you had with the pectoral muscles, I'm not sure what to say about that because the end result looks good to me. It's not a very complex muscle in my opinion. As long as you are aware of where it attaches and how it looks when flexed or stretched, I think you are good. I believe your studies depicting the pec muscles were convincing. I would continue with what you are doing and possibly refer to a good anatomy book for continued guidance.

I registered for Erik Gist's head lay-in streaming class today. I saw your name on the study group and your homework drawings. Nice stuff. I'm looking forward to getting started with the videos. I have to play catch up and watch the first few classes in the next week since I joined late. I'm still waiting for my order to finish processes. Hopefully I will receive a confirmation email tomorrow and I can begin watching the the first class tomorrow night.

Good luck with your studies. I look forward to seeing more of your work. Nice stuff so far!

Hey Shinkasuru thanks for stopping by. I seem to be finding it hard to break from that path of relying purely on the underlining construction, as you have all said I should be aware of it but not be a slave to it, just not sure how to break away from the cycle. I'll see if I can spend an afternoon watching Eriks and Jeff complete a full portrait drawing and make notes on how they draw, when they use construction and when they break away from it etc might make something click on my head.
Regarding the pecs, atleast I'm on the right path just felt like I was not understanding where it attaches on the forearm, i know it's beneath the deltoid but felt like I wasn't aware of when the arm was turned away if that makes sense?
Nice to see you've signed up to Erik's class how are you finding it so far? You should post in the group chat over on Watt's forums as it's rather quite haha.