11-28-2017, 08:24 PM
Hey Vick, welcome to the daggers. Patrick gave you a crapload of good resources and suggestions already. (Also...hey Patrick...long time no see!! glad to see you back :) )
One of the things I noticed in your drawings so far is that more attention could be paid to the construction of your basic primitive 3D forms. You have some pretty good drawings there, but some more iffy ones, some issues with perspective, form, and even general figure proportions. Many people teach or tell you that the ability to visualise and draw basic 3d forms in correct perspective is the fundamental base off which you can start building solid looking figures or creatures or whatever you might want to draw. Boiling complex forms into boxes, spheres, cylinders etc. It all starts with solid construction in a perceived 3d space.
I haven't used this resource myself, being predominantly an enviro guy, but Krenz Cushart is one that is always mentioned specifically for the 3d Simplification of figure work. Ofc this can be applied to drawing any 3d object well in a 2D plane.
https://gumroad.com/krenzcushart
Another more basic series of exercises is drawabox.com. It may seem too basic, but it really aims at the key fundamentals of 3d form building, line control etc and the exercises will help your general drawing abilities.
And ofc the bible of technical perspective is Scott Robertson's How to Draw.
There's a lot of stuff on technical perspective here too https://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/perspect1.html but ....yeah you either get through it, or you don't :)
I would also be remiss in not recommending Dorien Iten, who published a great simplified tutorial on accuracy training. https://gumroad.com/dorianiten
He has other videos as well, but for studies and how to analyze in a more classical way what you are looking at if using ref or from life, this one is priceless....and it is priceless. Legend!
With your 3d knowledge, you can and should totally use 3d models to refer to to help your studies. Doing exercises where you do line drawings of things like turnarounds of specific study objects, organic or otherwise will really help you create and check your own work from a sense of 3d form and perspective. It can be limiting to do this just from a single static photo, but we all work within our limitations.
Also Croquis cafe on Youtube has "live" video poses and turnarounds that are much better than static photos if you are doing figure studies
https://www.youtube.com/user/onairvideo
That's all study stuff.
The only other thing I would suggest without seeing more of your work is to try and complete some finished line drawings every so often (once a week, once a month?) in the way you envisage you want your skills to progress towards. It's only through repeated evaluation of our current weaknesses that we can decide what needs work and what doesn't. If all you end up doing is studies, you really won't have a good sense of what is lacking in a more general sense. Make the work you want to do! Evaluate and then tailor your study! Many people get caught in the study loop without testing themselves adequately in how they are tracking towards their goal. Don't make that mistake. Take time to try to make work that is your own, and isn't study.
Take the time to evaluate (ask for crits if you have trouble) and identify where your weak spots are. Then try and address those weak spots in future study. The more iterations of this cycle you can do the quicker you will improve.
Good luck and welcome again!
One of the things I noticed in your drawings so far is that more attention could be paid to the construction of your basic primitive 3D forms. You have some pretty good drawings there, but some more iffy ones, some issues with perspective, form, and even general figure proportions. Many people teach or tell you that the ability to visualise and draw basic 3d forms in correct perspective is the fundamental base off which you can start building solid looking figures or creatures or whatever you might want to draw. Boiling complex forms into boxes, spheres, cylinders etc. It all starts with solid construction in a perceived 3d space.
I haven't used this resource myself, being predominantly an enviro guy, but Krenz Cushart is one that is always mentioned specifically for the 3d Simplification of figure work. Ofc this can be applied to drawing any 3d object well in a 2D plane.
https://gumroad.com/krenzcushart
Another more basic series of exercises is drawabox.com. It may seem too basic, but it really aims at the key fundamentals of 3d form building, line control etc and the exercises will help your general drawing abilities.
And ofc the bible of technical perspective is Scott Robertson's How to Draw.
There's a lot of stuff on technical perspective here too https://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/perspect1.html but ....yeah you either get through it, or you don't :)
I would also be remiss in not recommending Dorien Iten, who published a great simplified tutorial on accuracy training. https://gumroad.com/dorianiten
He has other videos as well, but for studies and how to analyze in a more classical way what you are looking at if using ref or from life, this one is priceless....and it is priceless. Legend!
With your 3d knowledge, you can and should totally use 3d models to refer to to help your studies. Doing exercises where you do line drawings of things like turnarounds of specific study objects, organic or otherwise will really help you create and check your own work from a sense of 3d form and perspective. It can be limiting to do this just from a single static photo, but we all work within our limitations.
Also Croquis cafe on Youtube has "live" video poses and turnarounds that are much better than static photos if you are doing figure studies
https://www.youtube.com/user/onairvideo
That's all study stuff.
The only other thing I would suggest without seeing more of your work is to try and complete some finished line drawings every so often (once a week, once a month?) in the way you envisage you want your skills to progress towards. It's only through repeated evaluation of our current weaknesses that we can decide what needs work and what doesn't. If all you end up doing is studies, you really won't have a good sense of what is lacking in a more general sense. Make the work you want to do! Evaluate and then tailor your study! Many people get caught in the study loop without testing themselves adequately in how they are tracking towards their goal. Don't make that mistake. Take time to try to make work that is your own, and isn't study.
Take the time to evaluate (ask for crits if you have trouble) and identify where your weak spots are. Then try and address those weak spots in future study. The more iterations of this cycle you can do the quicker you will improve.
Good luck and welcome again!