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@civon
@civon
Earth
always looking for ways to improve.
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@civon
@civon
2yr
Asked for help
I've been trying to do at least 1 figure drawing a day recently, and this helps me a lot to figure out what my weaknesses are. most of these are done somewhere around 15 minutes, I realized I haven't been actually doing basic figure drawing given how little I heard it be mentioned, I've done mostly gestures which wont help me be able to slow down & observe the form the figure as much as feeling the form from what I already know. please don't be afraid to be harsh/overly critical, or you don't have to, but any advice or criticisms you can give I'll definitely read & consider.
@civon
Asked for help
I started to realize how much I focus on quantity then quality. I just do what I think is enough then move on, but that often leads to them not looking good. Even when I notice they look wrong, I simply either abandon the drawing or erase it entirely, and move on, I feel like I don't think enough for this, Like I'm practicing without consideration, & just doing this intuitively thus not getting much out of it. I noticed when I draw with more thought they usually come out better like when I follow along with Proko or actually having the pressure of not making the drawing look wrong, & even though I believe its better to focus on quality than quantity, I continue to slip back into these bad habits. I do what my instincts want to do & not what the order or rules tell me to consider. So yah there's problems with these & the ones that are slightly more decent are the ones I either put a little more thought into or got better with intuition. Basically, Even when I notice my mistakes I don't try to fix them, I don't know how to & I don't really draw it again because I don't know if I'll learn from those mistakes. I understand mistakes are important, they are, but in the moment as I'm drawing & making those mistakes, I feel like I reject them instead of taking the time to analyze them. & find solutions. Which is a bad mindset. So How do you stick to habit? How should I approach this? Am I stressing this out here? Am I asking too much to the point I don't know how to solve it on my own?
Matt Tsui
2yr
First, things first, don’t forget to breathe. It’s ok to do quantity when you’re doing these kinds of exercises. In fact, it’s recommended to do tens, hundreds, thousands of quick studies rather than one very long study. You’ll improve much faster this way. Second, what do you notice when you see “mistakes”? Take a mental note, or better yet, write down what you’ve noticed. You don’t need to know how to fix it yet, or try to solve it right there. Just take a note. Eventually you’ll find patterns in the kinds of mistakes you’re making, and you might try different solutions as you keep making more studies. Maybe you’ll run into a tutorial, or re-watch a previous lesson and suddenly it’ll click. Of course it’s still important to do longer, more deliberate studies sometimes, but I personally would put more focus on the quick studies to build a habit of practising and build up that mileage. Just take it one step at a time and you’ll be fine. You’re doing great!
@civon
I did quite a lot, & noticeably got more improved & consistent. It wasn't easy at first to identify the landmarks to connect the boxy points but through mileage I got better, its still complex for me to do extreme angles though, & I felt the need to re-do a few. My hand started to hurt near the end, but I still enjoyed it. Anything I can work on?
Matt Tsui
2yr
Nice job doing so many robo beans! It definitely feels like you’re getting more comfortable doing the exercise. You could take it even further by working on the line quality (i.e. less scratchy lines). If your hand is feeling tired, you might want to double-check your hand to make sure you aren’t gripping too hard. Make sure to take breaks as well!
@civon
I tried what I could, I made a lot of messy lines with the intention of rhythm. Wasn't easy to feel the weight on some forms & some placement indications of limbs felt like a shot in the dark. I think I'm lacking in construction anatomy observation & careful planning. Any advice? Another thing, does my setup affect the way I draw? Like not just the way I hold my pencil but could my setup affect the way I hold my pencil because my desk is pretty cramped im drawing on an ipad standing up at an angle which is fairly close to my chest & my arms feel cramped by that & my desk getting in the way of my elbow. that I constantly rely on zooming in at certain angles To draw at a comfortable angle & I sometimes slip back into drawing with the pencil weighing on my thumbs pinch side which could cause pain when drawing. It feels like my lines could be more cleaner if i could change my setup to work with drawing.
Avshin
2yr
it feels like your biggest problem is you cant draw object in forshortened or extreme angels so i reccomend you to draw cubes or cylinder by looking at referances. if you write 3d cube to google you will find lots of 3d models just like the ones on proko videos. but i think youre drawings are pretty nice especially i like the way you thinking at the 14th model
@civon
Asked for help
This was actually stressful for me (as I went along). I feel like there's something fundamentally wrong with the way I approach this & I feel like if I continue on with the course I'll just get more stressed & start rushing through it until I stop. I feel like I'm not thinking/considering enough when doing this exercise. Sometimes I finish a gesture under the amount of time I'm given & often it doesn't look right, It feels like I could do better. my approach to gesture drawing remains inconsistent & I barley have a set method as if I'm not considering things. Most of these are done in 1 minute. Gesture is all about letting go & being loose but that might make it feel like I don't have to give effort when doing this which could be a bad habit if I continue.  So, how much thinking is required when doing this? Because Maybe I'm not giving it much thought at all & that leads to a lack of improvement, but I still don't know how to fix that. I wanna be able to not be stressed by mistakes & be able to learn from them yet I don't know how to get into a good mindset when doing this which I feel like I lack. Basically, I don't know how to think or how to not repeat mistakes & I'm not sure if I should continue if I keep making that habit.  kinda lookin for help here.
Jesper Axelsson
Hi @civon, nice gesture drawings! They already have a lot of life and movement. I understand your concern. Thanks for reaching out :) When you get stuck it's a great idea to ask someone for help. - I like to pass around some practice tips that helped that me when I took the course, and I think they might actually be the solution to your problem. I'll write some other thoughts below, but I think these practice tips will be all you need. I attached an image of them. (OTHER THOUGHTS: "So, how much thinking is required when doing this?" Good question. I'll try answering it: I think the key is variation. When practicing it can be good to switch between different tempos. If for example your drawings come out stiff or if you're scared of doing drawings where you let go, you might have to practice with no thinking at all, just to nurture your wild side and to get energy into your drawings. But if you already know how to access that side, and you notice that you have sloppy habits or other stuff that you want to improve on, then you might want to do some slow motion stuff where you really think through how you place your lines. You switch between thinking and not thinking (or stages inbetween) depending on your current needs. If I would pin down an ideal stage it would be: not thinking, but feeling. Your brain is really active. You imagine striking the same pose as the figure you're drawing. You imagine how it would feel to be that person. The weight your legs would have to carry. The stretch your torso would feel. The emotions you would feel if that pose has a story. The person is angry. What does that feel like? The person is happy. What does that feel like? You're like an actor through the page. But you don't think. "What line is best to put down to emphasize the gesture?" "How should I hold my pencil?" "How thick should the line be?". Those thoughts can be really handy, and many times necessary, when practicing and trying to improve aspects of your drawings. But they can also be a distraction. Again, the key is variation.) Hope this helps :) Let me know if you have any further questions!
@civon
i copied the measure units from Richers porportions & attempted to get proportions to feel correct. any advice?
@civon
I have some trouble identifying the landmarks & making it correct to what i remember. I apologize for the light color i used to study & extreme messiness, but I'd appreciate some feedback.
@civon
I dont think im doing this correctly.
@civon
Did a couple, some referenced, some imagined. If you’re able to provide feedback, please do.
@shatay
2yr
Hey there! That's a lot of beans! I think most of them look really great; it's easy to visualize the orientation of the figure you were looking at based on what you've drawn. I think the only suggestion I have is that you might try drawing the beans bigger; the tiniest ones are a bit vague just because they're hard to see. Other than that, I think you did a great job!
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