08-15-2015, 11:39 AM
I don't think you get what people mean with using a single stroke to make your lines, so I'll try to clarify.
I'm terrible at explaining, so a visual guideline might be better.
https://i.vimeocdn.com/video/364878640_1280x720.jpg
That's an image of Matt Kohr's (ctrlpaint.com) gesture drawings. The lines he puts down are bold and in one stroke, whereas some artists go over their lines multiple times (dubbed chicken scratch). There lies the issue. When people say "use one line", they don't mean "use one line for the entire contour", but rather that you should avoid ending your line halfway and trying to fill it in afterwards.
What it boils down to is: be confident, minimalistic and don't second guess your lines. Trying to build a figure with as little lines as possible is a great practice, and that's where the gesture skeleton comes in handy.
I forgot who established this idea (I think it was Loomis) but the figure's underlying skeleton can be simplified into three-ish major landmarks: the shoulders, hips, spine (really really important) and position of the feet (not necessary but useful). Using just a simple line to indicate these (ie drawing the shoulderline using just one stroke) helps immensely when doing gestures.
Simplification is critical. That's really hypocritical coming from me because I don't simplify for shit since I'm an arrogant asshole, but it definitely helps. I recommend doing 1 min/45 sec gestures of nothing but the underlying gesture skeleton.
I'm a broken record of what Kohr's saying in http://www.ctrlpaint.com/videos/quick-po...-sketching (which i think i linked before) but I really encourage you to take that video to heart. It's helped me out immensely and I think you can learn from it, too.
Gesture drawings are supposed to be crude. You only have a limited amount of time to add detail, but the most important part of it is the skeleton, so don't skim over that.
Moreover, you mentioned you wanted to be a concept artist, which is sweet because who doesn't love good concept art, though there's an issue in that you haven't really posted anything conceptual, just studies. Don't get me wrong, studies are important, but it's also important to devote some time to your personal projects. Everyone has an idea stirring in their head about a species, creature, city, whatever, it'd be fantastic to see it illustrated in your sketchbook. All study no application makes Jack a dull boy.
So that's my 3am ramble, hopefully you can extract some sort of usable information from it.
Keep on pushing, just make sure you don't get burnt out
I'm terrible at explaining, so a visual guideline might be better.
https://i.vimeocdn.com/video/364878640_1280x720.jpg
That's an image of Matt Kohr's (ctrlpaint.com) gesture drawings. The lines he puts down are bold and in one stroke, whereas some artists go over their lines multiple times (dubbed chicken scratch). There lies the issue. When people say "use one line", they don't mean "use one line for the entire contour", but rather that you should avoid ending your line halfway and trying to fill it in afterwards.
What it boils down to is: be confident, minimalistic and don't second guess your lines. Trying to build a figure with as little lines as possible is a great practice, and that's where the gesture skeleton comes in handy.
I forgot who established this idea (I think it was Loomis) but the figure's underlying skeleton can be simplified into three-ish major landmarks: the shoulders, hips, spine (really really important) and position of the feet (not necessary but useful). Using just a simple line to indicate these (ie drawing the shoulderline using just one stroke) helps immensely when doing gestures.
Simplification is critical. That's really hypocritical coming from me because I don't simplify for shit since I'm an arrogant asshole, but it definitely helps. I recommend doing 1 min/45 sec gestures of nothing but the underlying gesture skeleton.
I'm a broken record of what Kohr's saying in http://www.ctrlpaint.com/videos/quick-po...-sketching (which i think i linked before) but I really encourage you to take that video to heart. It's helped me out immensely and I think you can learn from it, too.
Gesture drawings are supposed to be crude. You only have a limited amount of time to add detail, but the most important part of it is the skeleton, so don't skim over that.
Moreover, you mentioned you wanted to be a concept artist, which is sweet because who doesn't love good concept art, though there's an issue in that you haven't really posted anything conceptual, just studies. Don't get me wrong, studies are important, but it's also important to devote some time to your personal projects. Everyone has an idea stirring in their head about a species, creature, city, whatever, it'd be fantastic to see it illustrated in your sketchbook. All study no application makes Jack a dull boy.
So that's my 3am ramble, hopefully you can extract some sort of usable information from it.
Keep on pushing, just make sure you don't get burnt out