It's been a couple months since I have completed the proko's figure drawing course, and I've been dabbling around with a few courses from Watts and from Stephen Bauman these past few months. But my question is, what are the things that I need to get right/ learn before I delve into anatomy. Because I know that anatomy is an advanced topic, but I can't seem to get more out my drawings because I don't know the anatomy. So I just want to know if anatomy is something I should start learning, or are there other things I should prioritize? Many thanks! Love your works btw!

I think you did pretty well! I can really see the likeness to a degree. One thing I noticed was the placement of the eyes, I think that the right eye is about too far out, and the iris aren't in the right orientation. So while, you got most of the things in the portrait right, the slight mistake is what makes it feel a bit off. So just try to take your time in your block in phase so that you can sort out all the proportions and placements. Great work nonetheless!

While I do agree with the others that you need more contrast, I think what will make your drawing more realistic is to know the structure of the features. Because without the structure, you might just be blindly copying the values you see in the source image without understanding how the like interacts with it. Another thing, if you know the anatomy of the face, then you will be able to render the face to get it closer to the source image. For example in the area of the nose, you only indicated it through the use of an outline, when in reality, there are many different planes in the nose all with different values. And these things are the key in making your drawing seem more realistic rather than cartoonish. You effectively draw what you don't know. Keep working on it and you'll get the hang of it for sure!

I really like your works! You can definitely see through your works not only how your art is improving but also the design choices that you tend to go for. These are really great stuff!

Hey there Thomas! I must say the portrait is looking pretty good. The placement of the features are very sound, and the lighting seems to be consistent. One tiny thing I'd just like to mention is that the tip of the nose looks as if its pointing a bit to the left. I think that it could be rendered a bit more to better communicate the form of the nose. But solid work nonetheless, keep up the good work!

Was wondering if I could get some critiques on my work, please don’t hesitate to point out any mistakes or inconsistencies, many thanks!

I really like you work, it has a good sense of form and structure. One thing I’d like to say is that I think your drawings would benefit from having some more half tones. Because the dark line the separates the line side and the dark side feels too much like a hard edge. I think that that the drawings will pop even more if you can some gradations to your drawings. But nonetheless great work, keep it up!

I really like the way you construct your forms, it definitely feels 3 dimensional. The placement is mostly sound aside from the ears from time to time. Although this is sort of nitpicking, remember that when the head is tilted downwards, the ears are generally higher than what they’d normally be, so they won’t really line up with the brow ridge. As I said before, this was kinda nitpicking, because I only saw this in one of the drawing (third picture), and the rest seem to be fine. One more thing I’d like to mention is the edge quality of your drawings. I know they’re mostly form and structure studies so it is understandable that things like the nose have hard edges(first picture). But when you work on more finished pieces, try to think about the edges you place because they might make your subject look older/younger than they really are. Generally a hard edge signifies an abrupt stop in the form, while a softer edge is for smoother transition. But aside from this, you have made some really solid works, keep it up!

Hi you’re definitely going in the right direction! One thing I’d like to comment is that perhaps you can try to keep the features of the face more consistent. For example, the jaw and the nose vary a bit between the three studies. But another thing I’d like to mention is that you should try to keep in mind how the neck interacts with the head. Since the head is tilting backwards, we should expect to see some folding at the back of the neck. This is similar to the concept of the bean. So if you tilt the head backwards, there’s a stretching of the muscles in the area of the Adam’s apple, while there’s a contraction of the muscles in the nape. Remember that muscles almost always contract and relax in pairs.