BastionWing's Sketchbook

[Artloader]

Impressive dedication to the drawabox exercises Wing!

I agree with Sublimus about mixing stuff up - maybe if you don't feel confident at drawing figures from imagination - throw in a few Loomis studies here and there and then try reproducing it from memory?

Keep it going dude!

[bastionwing]

@Artloader - Thanks. They aren't exactly the drawabox exercises though - I'm doing the exercises in the beginning of the Scott Robertson book. The only one that's drawabox would be the freehand line in any direction exercise (one I did today) because I think the drawabox guy (Uncomfortable) took it from Scott Robertson's book.

I could try that with the Loomis thing. Maybe include my Loomis studies back in again - maybe even try to tackle anatomy (properly) with the XYZ drawing method so I understand the volume of the bones and muscles and other important anatomical parts. I end up with some blank pages (which I filled with random doodling for today because i couldn't come up with anything) anyway from having to use two pages to practice the XYZ drawing method, so I'm thinking of using those for Loomis.

~Wing

Today's drawings:

[bastionwing]

More drawings. Added Loomis stuff. Drew in my small sketchbook on Friday.

~Wing

Friday's drawings:





Yesterday's drawings:








Today's drawings:

[bastionwing]

Drew some more today. My pen died on the last page. I have to use my blue pens now until I get some more black pens.

~Wing

Today's drawings:

[bastionwing]

More drawings.

~Wing

[bastionwing]

I feel bad when I forget to upload.
I drew from 9/7 to 9/12 (today) except for 9/8 (Thursday).
I posted them in order b/c I didn't really have time to separate them today. Sorry, will try to post more properly tomorrow.

~Wing

[Tristan Berndt]

I'd recommend switching over to a pencil. There's no good reason to limit your ability to correct your work, especially when you're just starting off. Being able to change and correct your drawing is exactly what you want because it allows you to solve problems within your drawing rather than hoping that somehow each mark you make will be flawless from the start. This meme of learning with ink is just ridiculous and the people that try and convince students that it is the way to go are doing more harm than good.

[bastionwing]

@Tristan Berndt - I drew in pen because drawabox and Scott Robertson recommended it. I think I will still do my starting exercises in pen (because those are more focused on making lines/ellipses look better when first drawing them), but I think I follow your logic on why I should try using pencil on my other stuff (like my XYZ drawings and my Loomis proportion drawings). I tried it today and will continue to try using it. It didn't feel that much different (except that I could actually erase instead of crossing stuff out or trying to make the important stuff darker), but I will see where this goes.

I would like a second opinion on this pen/pencil thing though.

~Wing

Side note: I'm running out of ideas for my XYZ drawings. I'm thinking about maybe trying to draw anatomy with the XYZ drawing method, but I'm not sure if that will be too complicated for me. Scott Robertson's book shows using XYZ specifically for planes and cars, but planes and cars don't particularly interest me - at least, I don't know how they are visually interesting. Maybe that's just me, though. I need to think more on this.

Today's drawings:

[Artloader]

Nice going Wing :).

The whole thing about drawing with a pen as I understand it is to get a person to really think about the mark they are going to make before they make it and not about stopping them from correcting their mistakes.

If you are starting to really think about your mark making then pen drawing is working for you.

If you are not going back and correcting your mistakes then pen drawing is doing you harm.

With your Loomis studies - try to copy Loomis's work more accurately - I think that will help you download some of his visual library into your brain so that your work will start to look more realistic.

Take your time and maybe focus on a very small area at a time - maybe understand the general shape of an arm or a leg for example.  Repeat it from memory over and over.

Hope that helps.

Keep it going Wing!

[miracoly]

Love your dedication bastionwing! Regarding the permanent pen: Like Artloader said it forces basically two things: 1. You have to be more careful and think before making the mark and 2. If you mess up you have to redraw -the whole- thing. To rephrase it: It forces you to raise your overall volume by redrawing the whole thing AND the more pain redrawing brings, the more you'll think automatically. I'd recommend not to stick to one approach exclusively. I see that you're practicing a lot of basic mark making exercises (getting straight lines, controlling lines etc.) and basic perspective exercises. For those I'd personally go with the permanent pen because volume is just key to get your craftmanship up and running. Regarding the anatomy stuff which will require a lot more thinking and studying than just craftmanship you could easily go with Tristans advice.

Whatever you may choose, never forget: When in doubt, just try and see what works and whats not and when in doubt whether something is working or not, just do more of it.

Just keep going!