03-14-2017, 06:11 PM
@Triggerpigking You're right, I didn't construct that figure, which was a mistake! I used a magazine reference, and tried to stylize my drawing. Later realized the magazine image was heavily photoshoped and distorted to begin with, which doesn't negate the fact that I made the head way too big among other errors (haha), but I want to note that I will avoid that kind of reference in the future.
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I'm sooooo bad at keeping up with forums. xD But I've been much better at keeping up with drawing, so that's something haha. Still, can always get better at both, and will try!
In summer, I took an in-person anatomy class taught by an instructor from an animation college. We focused on gesture and landmarks and proportions, but also covered planes, the bean, exaggeration, line of gravity, drapery (the 7 folds), muscles, the skeleton, and animal anatomy. It was only a week-long class, so it was a whirlwind.
I don't have many of the gestures photographed/scanned, but here are some of the sketches I did from life during the class:
(Yeah, we went to a pasture to draw horses! :D The one was aged and near death, so was emaciated. =/)
Here's a digital value study in colour (was more focused on getting the value accurate than the colour :P):
It's far from perfect, but I did see improvement as I repainted and adjusted parts of it several times.
The last month or so I've been evaluating what I learned about drawing/painting in the last year, and how I can improve more this year. If the goal is to learn to create an illustration, then I need to focus on learning some difficult and complex skills (composition, abstraction, memorization, simplification, stylization), and draw from imagination as much as I draw from reference. Sometimes I do mindless copying, instead of analyzing what I'm drawing, which does develop observation skills but not the understanding necessary for imagination drawing.
So to start, I have done three things:
1) I made an influence map. A lot of the illustration I like best isn't work with detailed rendering or academic realism (even though that inspires me, and I do love it!). I would prefer to do more cartoony/exaggerated stuff, so I should focus more on linework, simplifying form, and expressiveness.
2) I've just started the gesture drawing class at Schoolism (the subscription, which doesn't include critique). It's super hard to break down the figure in such abstract ways, but I know once I get the hang of it it's going to be helpful! (Goal: Make gestures less stiff and more clear/animated!)
3) I've started some Draw 100 challenges, with a focus on construction (using Bridgman and Loomis to reference planes and form) and memorization/drawing from memory.
That should keep me focused for the next little while! Will have to scan/photograph some gestures before too long (have done most of this work on newsprint).
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I'm sooooo bad at keeping up with forums. xD But I've been much better at keeping up with drawing, so that's something haha. Still, can always get better at both, and will try!
In summer, I took an in-person anatomy class taught by an instructor from an animation college. We focused on gesture and landmarks and proportions, but also covered planes, the bean, exaggeration, line of gravity, drapery (the 7 folds), muscles, the skeleton, and animal anatomy. It was only a week-long class, so it was a whirlwind.
I don't have many of the gestures photographed/scanned, but here are some of the sketches I did from life during the class:
(Yeah, we went to a pasture to draw horses! :D The one was aged and near death, so was emaciated. =/)
Here's a digital value study in colour (was more focused on getting the value accurate than the colour :P):
It's far from perfect, but I did see improvement as I repainted and adjusted parts of it several times.
The last month or so I've been evaluating what I learned about drawing/painting in the last year, and how I can improve more this year. If the goal is to learn to create an illustration, then I need to focus on learning some difficult and complex skills (composition, abstraction, memorization, simplification, stylization), and draw from imagination as much as I draw from reference. Sometimes I do mindless copying, instead of analyzing what I'm drawing, which does develop observation skills but not the understanding necessary for imagination drawing.
So to start, I have done three things:
1) I made an influence map. A lot of the illustration I like best isn't work with detailed rendering or academic realism (even though that inspires me, and I do love it!). I would prefer to do more cartoony/exaggerated stuff, so I should focus more on linework, simplifying form, and expressiveness.
2) I've just started the gesture drawing class at Schoolism (the subscription, which doesn't include critique). It's super hard to break down the figure in such abstract ways, but I know once I get the hang of it it's going to be helpful! (Goal: Make gestures less stiff and more clear/animated!)
3) I've started some Draw 100 challenges, with a focus on construction (using Bridgman and Loomis to reference planes and form) and memorization/drawing from memory.
That should keep me focused for the next little while! Will have to scan/photograph some gestures before too long (have done most of this work on newsprint).