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Alexander Andreasson
•
3yr
added comment inHow to Draw Gesture
I struggle with adding contours to my gesture drawings (and drawings in general), which makes me end up "blocking out" anything i draw which looks really stiff, help would be greatly appreciated!
Tyler Young
3yr
Hey! I'm a beginner like you so take what I say with a grain of salt. I noticed a lot of your lines are drawn using several little line so "Chicken Scratches". Try to use one continuous flowing motion with each line you draw. Don't worry if it's not exactly what you intended just try to make nice smooth S and C curved lines to capture the figure. Hopefully that helps a bit.
Not even close to the quality of most people posting here but hey, progress is progress!
i totally appreciate people posting what they consider imperfect work, the point is we are all working on it, not just showcasing nice work. I see you are also breaking down the analysis here by tracing; that is a smart intermediate step so you don't have to worry about proportions. Try to think of all the body parts as solid shapes, even the legs and feet.
My very first attempt at a mannequin, definitely the most diffucult part so far, feel free to tear me apart and say everything that needs improvement!
First, what I can say is I can definitely already sense a 3D quality in these shapes. Awesome! It may be a first try but you already have taken an important step forward! :D
As for some guidelines you could consider for your future exercises, try this: Before putting in the blocks of the mannequin (you know, a box for this, a cylinder for that), try doing the gesture first. Even if it's just in stick figure form.
The gesture is always going to be the basic armature for your figure. It's like a blueprint that'll help you map out where each part of the character is going to be, and how it moves. :) I've seen some "pro" artists just start drawing their characters without doing the gesture first, and the result is that the character always feels off in the end, in some way or another. Always do the gesture first, and you'll invariably reap the benefits of your labor! :D
Anyways, it takes a lot of courage to try something for the very first time, and even MORE courage to put it out there for the world to see! You're doing great; keep on practicing! Great job!!
Alexander Andreasson
•
3yr
Man this is not easy, struggling quite a bit, any critique / tips are more than welcome!
I think you're running when you should be trying to walk. What I mean by this is your lines are too quick and you're committing too soon and not considering the forms of the rib-cage and hip. You also seem to be also struggling with perspective.
I'd suggest going over the bean again and practice drawing more boxes in perspective. I've included below an edit of your image to help. I'll just go over that now.
The bean as drawn in green is how I like to approach the bean, I like to find the vertical and horizontal lines that help show it in 3D object in space, this makes it a lot easier to then make a box out of it because you've done a lot of work. .
I hope this is helpful. 😋
Alexander Andreasson
•
3yr
Asked for help
I gotta admit that going from drawing the bean to drawing the entire human figure caught me a bit off guard, I have tons of room for improvement but its a start!
Asked for help
Should i practice the bean some more or am I ready to move on to the next step?
Hello!
Only you can answer that question.
IMO, I would keep at it, and leave it when the page is full.
Do something else. Or, draw something else.
Then, on a fresh blank page, try drawing them again.
Hope that helps!
I found it easier to visualize the flour bag over the bean, Does that mean that the flour bag is a better method for me or that the bean needs more practice?
Thanks in advance!
Since the purpose of the bean is to help simplify the twisting of the torso, if you're better able to visualize that with a flour bag instead, then you can replace the bean. The bean is meant to be used as an analogy, but you should use the analogy that best suits you.
If you're more comfortable with a flour bag, then use that instead.
Ill be honest and say that I don't like how my poses are looking, I am not a very experienced artist and im really struggling on finding the motion and making the pose feel "flowy"
I have the same issues! Your sketches are showing your efforts at line discovery, It might be helpful to air draw and then very lightly draw before committing to a line.
Check out Mike Mattesi FORCE method videos. Proko has hosted some of his videos; I would start with Improving Line Quality and Rhythm - FORCE Series Part 1
Alexander Andreasson
•
3yr
Asked for help
Never done any anatomy before so this is the first step!
Should I do the other pictures as well or do I simply move on? I honestly dont feel like im learning too much because I have no real idea what muscles / bones im drawing. Rather I'm tracing whatever the surface shows me.
Feedback always welcome!
•
3yr
Hi Alexander,
If learning to draw the human figure is a goal of yours, then yes, you should continue to do exercises like this one! Doing things like tracings studies, etc. of the anatomy is intended to give yourself a functional understanding of the human body's forms. Your drawing looks like you are at least having some intuitive understanding of these forms, your contour lines are helping to push the '3-d-ness' of the muscles, which is great.
I think something that might help you be more directed in your studying of the human figure is to simplify the muscles into a few easily identifiable groups, as I've done over your tracing here. It is a key skill in drawing and studying to be able to focus on the fundamental big shapes/forms of a subject. This is true no matter what you are drawing, you always want to be thinking big > small.
I applied this same kind of thinking over an awesome David Finch drawing . Even though David's drawing has all this cool stuff going on, at its core it's a sequence of the big anatomical forms. Thinking about these muscles as big shapes/forms will help us study and simplify the variations in anatomy across different body types as well.
Remember that all of this stuff takes time and practice. You're not going to 'get' the anatomy after one tracing. It takes many many directed efforts to really ingrain this stuff, but it's not magic and you will get better at it, and understand more as you practice it more. Just be sure that your mind is always present and studying, not copying! Hope this helps some and keep up the excellent work!
I see you have the figure course as well. I've heard Stan say, start with the figure course first, do anatomy second. Maybe that would help
As title says, I have been going pretty hard at the course, doing gesture for abour 4 days, bean for 2, and the plan is that I start landmarks tomorrow. But I really don't feel like doing it. But when I draw "freestyle" I feel like whatever I draw is bad because I am not studying enough.
Anyone got any tips on what to do? Thanks in advance!
