07-05-2014, 05:35 AM
Cyprinus - Thank you! It is a combination of a few things, and is kind of hard to explain because I'm so used to it, but I'll try. So I look multiple times, but I lay quite a few strokes between looks, and also do a degree of work without looking at the paper (more so with pencil for some reason). In a way it is a combination of remembering chunks of information, as well as attempting to treat it more like 'look at the person, check up on the page' over 'check the person whilst looking at the page'. Trying to improve on that one though, since I've only been doing people sketches regularly for about 6-12 months.
Things I found help with speed are practising with online gesture tools (gradually lowering the time limit), doing sketches from life and just practising drawing so much you get to the point that your process is more automatic. Learning the anatomy helps too, because if someone moves a bit, I can still finish the picture by mentally translating the visual information to match the original position. (I hope that makes sense...) I try to get the biggest shapes (the hair, the general face shape) down first, then eyeball the proportions as I build the detail.
I have a list of good places to do this too!
Tube trains - I find these the best, especially when crowded, because people can't move around much, and they are already so desperate not to appear aggressive on a carriage cramped in everyone's personal space, they rarely try to talk to you. Not really easy to access them unless you live in (or my case, have to visit) a city with a tube system. Trains/buses in general are good too.
Slow moving queues/waiting rooms - post offices in particular are good for this. People seem reluctant to talk in my experience too. People milling around stalls/booths at market-type places are reasonably similar too.
Cafes/bars are OK - people are seated but they tend to make weird faces when they eat.
Libraries
Parks, lunch areas, etc. when people sit down on the grass in summer.
Old people and fat people are generally easier to draw because they tend to be more slow-moving. Children and pets are way more difficult, unless asleep. Pets are still very hard for me unless sitting down really.
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Been a bit ill, but I'm back to practising for portrait/caricature sketching this week, and just tuning up some studies. Practising cars for my nephew's birthday stuff as well - haven't broken out the markers in ages and I am not terribly good with them. (I bet Scot Robertson has something on YT though...) Been trying to pay more attention to my rendering in these sketches too! I think once I get the car pic. done I will try to get back to more imagined work tomorrow, with that demon and perhaps some sketches. The cars have been surprisingly fun as a change of pace too!
Fists, Bridgman related studies
Caricature practises. Getting a bit of a feel for this, still a bit scratchy looking though.
Portrait practises, about 10 mins each
And some dog faces too... I have been asked a lot about them, but I doubt any animal would ever sit still long enough for me to get a portrait out of them. Not to mention that dogs don't often like me. Really need to pay attention to my proportions, this was a good study to indicate how far out I was.
Couple of quick Leonardo sketch studies
Car practise. Again with the proportions, and it really shows with mechanical stuff. But they are fantastic practise for perspective-form drawing. Thumb ideas for my nephew's pic. Did a couple of Plymouth Barracudas because man they look awesome. Not a car enthusiast but yeah.
Warm up sketches from this morning
A 2hr photostudy that went horribly wrong (colour temperature where?), got me warmed up though.
Another little still life with rocks, pushing a little more.
Using that backlit birdwing in a speedpaint. Might need to draw back and fix the composition a bit if I want to finish though.
And an update on that WIP demon picture thing.
Things I found help with speed are practising with online gesture tools (gradually lowering the time limit), doing sketches from life and just practising drawing so much you get to the point that your process is more automatic. Learning the anatomy helps too, because if someone moves a bit, I can still finish the picture by mentally translating the visual information to match the original position. (I hope that makes sense...) I try to get the biggest shapes (the hair, the general face shape) down first, then eyeball the proportions as I build the detail.
I have a list of good places to do this too!
Tube trains - I find these the best, especially when crowded, because people can't move around much, and they are already so desperate not to appear aggressive on a carriage cramped in everyone's personal space, they rarely try to talk to you. Not really easy to access them unless you live in (or my case, have to visit) a city with a tube system. Trains/buses in general are good too.
Slow moving queues/waiting rooms - post offices in particular are good for this. People seem reluctant to talk in my experience too. People milling around stalls/booths at market-type places are reasonably similar too.
Cafes/bars are OK - people are seated but they tend to make weird faces when they eat.
Libraries
Parks, lunch areas, etc. when people sit down on the grass in summer.
Old people and fat people are generally easier to draw because they tend to be more slow-moving. Children and pets are way more difficult, unless asleep. Pets are still very hard for me unless sitting down really.
----
Been a bit ill, but I'm back to practising for portrait/caricature sketching this week, and just tuning up some studies. Practising cars for my nephew's birthday stuff as well - haven't broken out the markers in ages and I am not terribly good with them. (I bet Scot Robertson has something on YT though...) Been trying to pay more attention to my rendering in these sketches too! I think once I get the car pic. done I will try to get back to more imagined work tomorrow, with that demon and perhaps some sketches. The cars have been surprisingly fun as a change of pace too!
Fists, Bridgman related studies
Caricature practises. Getting a bit of a feel for this, still a bit scratchy looking though.
Portrait practises, about 10 mins each
And some dog faces too... I have been asked a lot about them, but I doubt any animal would ever sit still long enough for me to get a portrait out of them. Not to mention that dogs don't often like me. Really need to pay attention to my proportions, this was a good study to indicate how far out I was.
Couple of quick Leonardo sketch studies
Car practise. Again with the proportions, and it really shows with mechanical stuff. But they are fantastic practise for perspective-form drawing. Thumb ideas for my nephew's pic. Did a couple of Plymouth Barracudas because man they look awesome. Not a car enthusiast but yeah.
Warm up sketches from this morning
A 2hr photostudy that went horribly wrong (colour temperature where?), got me warmed up though.
Another little still life with rocks, pushing a little more.
Using that backlit birdwing in a speedpaint. Might need to draw back and fix the composition a bit if I want to finish though.
And an update on that WIP demon picture thing.