Learning to draw to become an illustrator

[hermit]

Hi.
Here are some of my older (sadly unfinished) drawings:







As you can see, I'm just a beginner.
That's why I've started learning from Hampton's Figure Drawing book (currently I'm doing chapter about upper torso). Todays notes and drawings:





It would be really great to read your thoughts or advices!
 (especially if you have any tips about learning how to draw faster - each of those unfinished figure drawings [at the bottom] took me around 45 minutes; is it normal?)

[Zearthus]

As for drawing faster, don't worry too much about it. In fact, the more you do something, the faster it becomes without you realizing, because of visual library and repetition. Reason it takes longer to get something in the start (this something I learned from instrument as well) our brains aren't used to what we're learning. But after continuous repetition the process becomes easier in our brain, which in turns lets you do the thing without thinking about it.

Hope to see more from you, since you already know what to practice.

[insbox]

Hi Hermit, i personally think its oke to take longer time. just take your time and try to be more accurate as possible.
i think some people might take longer because they think more about what are they are going to put into the drawing, so its more decision making like which line are you going to choose and i think that is really good if you are doing that.
Like Zearthus said, once you are used to it your decision making become faster or even without thinking. btw from what i see you already know shape and form, the anatomy it self are pretty good. i think it just more into proportion. (just my opinion :D)

Hope to see more stuffs XD

[hermit]

Thanks for your encouraging replies!

And thank you insbox for pointing out my lacking proportions - I guess I'll have to work on my gesture drawings, when I'll find time.

As for today's sketches:

[hermit]

This time I've been working from imagination - it's much more fun, but I'm not sure is it as helpful as studying from photos or old masters:


Sadly, because of lack of time, I had to give up on rendering those sketches.
Tomorrow I'll move on to lower part of torso - I'm planning to finish Hamptons course in just 5 weeks, so I have to hurry.

[Zearthus]

Imagination is important. It helps you analyze what you still need to learn/study on. Keep going buddy! :)

[hermit]

I've wasted few days. Even today I didn't draw as much as I wanted to:



I'll have to find a way to overcome my laziness, if I'm serious about this. (things like these: motivation tips, blog posts about making it or books about breaking bad habits)

By the way, do you have any good anti-procrastination methods?

[Zearthus]

Check out the current discussion going on:
http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-6619.html

You can also check Anthony Jones:
https://www.facebook.com/Robotpencil/pos...88006196:0

And the 3 part series article of Andantonius:
http://jodeonslow.deviantart.com/journal...-376942516
http://jodeonslow.deviantart.com/journal...-377103772
http://jodeonslow.deviantart.com/journal...-377292496


Another great method for anti-procrastination is setting up projects, and have an accountability partner. If you're interested in that, create a thread in seeking a partner section.

[hermit]

Thanks for a reply, Zearthus! Especially for that series of articles by Andantonius and link to your thread - it really is useful.


As for todays practice, I've been doing poses from http://www.quickposes.com/ :

[hermit]

This time I've been studying illustrations from http://www.figuredrawing.info/ :

[hermit]

I've been thinking about using what I'm learning in actual illustrations (see thumbnails), but I realized it's not the fastest way to learn. I believe that I should focus on practicing one skill at a time instead of making nice pictures. I'll have time for fun later.
For the same reason I decided to ignore rendering and to focus on construction of these sketches:

[RottenPocket]

I disagree with your latest post - I think it's important to trial characters or illustrations to put your combined lessons into practice. You can practice on one area until the cows come home but still go back to drawing a poor representation as a whole image. Even if you worry about how it's going to look, you can't improve an entire recipe if all you do is beat eggs all day.

[hermit]

RottenPocket, thanks for your input! But could you elaborate and explain your point a bit more, please?
Are you telling me that I'll learn faster by making illustrations instead of learning one fundamental at a time?

You said that "you can't improve an entire recipe if all you do is beat eggs all day".
I beg to differ (assuming that I'll move on to other parts of recepie after mastering beating eggs).
When I was looking for a way to learn quickly, many blogs ( http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/06/what-t...performan/ ), books ("Outliers: The Story of Success", "Talent is Overrated") and forums (http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-6619.html ) have mentioned deliberate practice. According to this theory, dividing complex skills into more manageable parts and learning them one at a time is essential to learning as fast as possible.

It's simply easier to practice anatomy, when I'm not thinking about texture, composition, cones of vision or colours.

I'm planning to spend next month learning about anatomy and I still don't understand what's wrong with this idea.

As for todays, still unfinished, studies:

[VoodooMama]

hey!
I like your anatomy studies. its nice how you construct them it makes them have form. I think you're in the right track.
You should try doing gestures of people from life too, when you're in the subway or bus for example, I find this helps me get better at observing and faster at drawing , since people are rarely still for long.
Also I think its important to finish the studies too in order to learn, even if it takes a long time, besides your gesture and proportion studies, you could pick one pose that you really spend time to slow down and nail the proportions and rendering.
Keep up the good work!

[Zearthus]

All I will say is, if your method is working stick with it. I'm also a keen believer in the method of deliberate practice, instead of diversifying yourself. Oh and I do agree with one statement VoodoMama present, which is longer studies, like you leave one study where you do in consecutive days, that it takes to complete it.

But yeah, if your learning method is working, there is no need to change it, unless you head a roadblock. There is no need to switch how to do something, if it's working for you. And if I recall correctly that's the way atelier method works as well. They drill the fundamentals in you, after few years, its up to you what you with those skills you earned.

Since we're both learning from the same source, I'm kind of curious do you do gesture drawings as well, or mainly focusing on anatomy? Keep at it, and continue growing buddy.

While you're at it, enjoy the journey of practice, something I learned from this blog learning-to-see.co.uk/van-dyck, maybe you might find it helpful for further info investigation during off-time. Lastly, if you want, we could also start some sort of accountability going on, if of course you're up for it.

[RottenPocket]

I'm not so much referring to the speed, but you might miss a lot that would otherwise take more time to discover without experimenting. I'm not saying to forgo isolated studies, just don't rule out an occasional illustration. Seeing how you use what you've learned is a good tool for improving.

[hermit]

Huh, I didn't expected to get so many responses - thanks for your time!

As for longer studies - I'm still not convinced, but I guess they can't hurt. I'll try to find more time for drawing to do some polished studies, at least once in a while.

VoodooMama, drawing gestures from life seems like a good idea - I haven't thought that it could improve my speed! Thanks. I'll buy a sketchbook tomorrow.

Zearthus, you got me - I was neglecting my gesture drawings. I'm planning to spend more time on them later, after learning more about anatomy of arms and legs. I started learning from the middle of the book, because gesture drawings are way too abstract for me - I hope I'll understand their purpose and how to use them better after spending more time drawing figures. Hampton is saying that without them figures turn out stiff, but I don't believe him - I don't see why that should happen.

I'm kinda surprised that you're talking about enjoying the practice - isn't deliberate practice uncomfortable from the definition? I'll read that blog soon, sounds interesting.

You mentioned accountability - do you mean making a study group or becoming art partners? I'm sorry, but I'll pass - I don't feel like I could take up another responsibility right now and making a group just to put in half-assed effort is pointless.
Besides I'll finish learning from Hampton soon.

And RottenPocket thank you for explanation - I get your point now.


Anyway, today I started with a body builder to make finding muscels a bit easier:


Unfortunately I didn't had time to do many of these - they're even more time consuming than my previous studies. Well, at least it's something.

[hermit]

Damn, I'll have to do something about my discipline, if I'm planning to be a freelancer :/

Anyway, today I've spend my time mostly learning from plates from "Drawing Course" by Charels Bargue - I tried to analyze placement of muscles and shadows:


Ignoring rendering earlier probably was  a mistake - it was faster (and probably more efficient in memorizing anatomy), but it took out all the fun from studying.


I tried working more from imagination but, despite my efforts, pose turned out just awful. At the end I made that pose in a 3D program (from http://terawell.net ) to compare what I imagined with my drawing:


I have to fix my foreshortening and proportions - I'll spend some time tomorrow doing gesture drawings and learning more about perspective.

[Bookend]

Awesome work so far! Let's see you pushing your values on the stuff you'd like to finish. Don't be afraid to find your darkest darks.

[hermit]

Thanks for your compliment and advice, Bookend!

As for todays studies:


Not as much as I planned to do, but it's still something.