Peter's Sketchbook

[Peter]

@Peter: Some nice studies you have here. I do agree with your own admission that your laying pose needs some work. I also feel the last pose with the rotund lady languishing in the chair feels awkward. It doesn't look natural. Granted, the model might have looked like that, but it just looked a little strange to me. Too stiff. But I do like the way you drew through the leg. I love seeing those construction lines and getting a feel for the form.

I respect what you are doing here and I am very much into this academic form of art and the style of construction used by artists like Bargue, Jeff Watts, Erik Gist, and Ron Lemen, to name a few. I think the Reilly method is super useful and I use it all the time. That said, however, I feel you need to break away from the academic art instruction sometimes and just be free with your pencil (or stylus).  Allow yourself to sit there for 30 mins at the computer or with a sketchpad and pencil and do a bunch of fast drawings. You can use some basic construction like Loomis or Reilly, but be free with your drawing and loose. Don't think too much. I find that Reilly and Loomis, although they are great methods for beginning any portrait, some of the best drawings I have completed have been just starting with a few basic guidelines and then just using some comparative measurement and sighting to find the placement of my landmarks.

What I'm trying to say is, keep learning from all these great artists and practicing. Just don't be a slave to these methods. Try starting a portrait some time with just an eye and build it out from there. Or just sketch in a crosshair for the brow and midline and go from there. You can always return to the construction methods whenever you want to, but I think it's nice to break things up a little and try something new sometimes.

Regarding Erik's 20-minute lay-in class, I'm liking it, although it's not what I expected. I guess I thought the entire class each week would be instructional, and the warmups would only last a few minutes. Still, I am finding it informative, although I would prefer a little more instruction. I hope he touches on his methods for laying in shadow patterns. Although even if he doesn't, it does seem self explanatory. I drew along with one of his videos the other day and found it was a great learning experience to go through the steps Erik went through in the video. I think I will definitely get something out of it. I did't care too much for the last one (yesterday's class). But there are many more to come and I expect to get something out of it.

Did you save the reference images for the first two classes (10/8 and 10/15)? I joined late and was not able to save the reference images (if there were any at all).

Keep up the great work. I'm really enjoying your studies. I love this method of construction. Loomis and Reilly two of the best artists to learn from about form and construction. In fact, I started off with Loomis and it wasn't until I started applying Reilly over the Loomis construction that I finally started to get past issues I was experiencing, especially with three-quater view.

Yh I should of drew the cushions she was sitting on as that might of helped ground the figure better, it was such a stiff pose that I found it rather difficult to make it look more exciting. I don't know why but for these long poses they never have the model sitting in an actual chair, we have plenty but the perso who runs the classes always insists that if they do sit it be on the platform they use, even though that means we are looking way down on them rather than being eye level.

I can see where you and Fedodika are coming from, tbh for awhile now I wouldn't say I've lost interest but sometimes it can take me awhile to get into drawing. Like I'll think to myself "oh man I've got to construct this portrait via Loomis method, or draw these basic shapes etc", I think what I'm trying to say is that I've lost the part of art making where I just don't put pressure on myself, relax and just draw for the fun of it.

I still want to continue learning the construction apprach but perhaps like you said mix it up abit, keep a skecthbook and experiment with different mediums or appraches and don't worry about producing a good drawing.

Yh I know what you mean about Erik's classes, think the instructional portion only lasts about 25 mins or something but I'm not complaining. :) I believe he said he will go over how he maps out a drawing in the next couple of weeks or so, didn't realize that the first 4-5 weeks would be focusing on construction.

P.S I'll pm you the ref for the first 2 classes.

Thanks as usual :)