10-17-2014, 01:08 AM
Doing the same thing over and over is not how you improve. The idea behind repetition is that you are trying new things every time you sit down to draw. If you always use the same technique, the same same process to build up the anatomy, the same poses, always avoid your weakness ( eg hands, foreshortening, eyes etc), you will always make the same mistakes and will not improve.
I don't know what your practice time actually constitutes, but if you're doing any of the things I listed above, the best thing for you would be to try something completely different from what you're doing at the moment.
I looked at your sketchbook and you seem to have a decent sense of the musculature and the skeletal structure, but you're proportions and how the parts all relate together is lacking. The best book I've read on posing anatomy and learning about it is "dynamic anatomy" by burne hogarth. Try to find it somewhere, read it through and do studies of the pictures in there. I can guarantee you that you'll have a better idea of how the body works when you've done a few dozen studies from that book. Andrew Loomis books are also good but I personally didn't find there to be as much information in them as in hogarths books.
I would also recommend watching a lot of other people draw. If you can go to life drawing classes, do it. Draw the figure, watch your peers draw, absorb their process and try it for yourself. If you can't then watch people draw in youtube videos, livestream critiques or wherever you can find it, and work from photos you find online! Theres a ton of resources at your disposal, you just need to use them to your advantage. Its good to learn from mistakes, but they don't always have to be your own.
Lastly, how long have you been drawing for? If its been less than a year of serious drawing, then don't sweat it. You likely won't see the kind of improvement you're looking for in that time frame.
I don't know what your practice time actually constitutes, but if you're doing any of the things I listed above, the best thing for you would be to try something completely different from what you're doing at the moment.
I looked at your sketchbook and you seem to have a decent sense of the musculature and the skeletal structure, but you're proportions and how the parts all relate together is lacking. The best book I've read on posing anatomy and learning about it is "dynamic anatomy" by burne hogarth. Try to find it somewhere, read it through and do studies of the pictures in there. I can guarantee you that you'll have a better idea of how the body works when you've done a few dozen studies from that book. Andrew Loomis books are also good but I personally didn't find there to be as much information in them as in hogarths books.
I would also recommend watching a lot of other people draw. If you can go to life drawing classes, do it. Draw the figure, watch your peers draw, absorb their process and try it for yourself. If you can't then watch people draw in youtube videos, livestream critiques or wherever you can find it, and work from photos you find online! Theres a ton of resources at your disposal, you just need to use them to your advantage. Its good to learn from mistakes, but they don't always have to be your own.
Lastly, how long have you been drawing for? If its been less than a year of serious drawing, then don't sweat it. You likely won't see the kind of improvement you're looking for in that time frame.