Hi everyone! I wanted to do a small update and share my latest exercises. Hopefully getting some critiques and advices as in previous occasions. First of all, I am attaching few gesture, rhythm and mannequin exercises. There are a lot of things to improve and they take more time than I wish, but also I am starting to feel confortable with these exercises and to like the practice. They are becoming part of my daily routine. Second, another study of Jose Garcia style. Very simplified, but aiming for his clean approach to illustration. I can see here how I am a bit lost when it comes to shading and hatching. Finally, my first (unfinished) attempt to digital protrait following the fantastic course of @Jon Neimeister . Again, I am struggling a bit with the digital shading process (even more than the previous one, as the piece is more complex) and it’s taking too long, reaching a point where I am a bit blocked. Bu I am determinate to finish it. I completed the courses Drawing Basics and Figure Drawing Fundamentals (they were great, thanks @Stan Prokopenko ), and I am getting ready (and excited) to start with Anatomy and Portraits soon. Thanks a lot in advance for your help and inputs :)

Here are some of my practices. I am trying to get looser with my lines and feel like this exercise is helping to do so. Would love a critique to know if I am going in the right direction

Hi everyone, These past days I have been practicing body landmarks and the mannequin structures. Personally, these have been my favourite exercises so far! @Steve Lenze I have been paying extra attention to my movements with the arm, as you suggested in previous posts. Still, I lack a lot of precision and I need to correct my lines from to time, but I believe I can see some improvements when sketching and definetely it’s cool to challenge myself. As always, I would appreciate some feedback. Thanks and I wish you a nice weekend!

Hi @Stan Prokopenko! This was a great lesson, thanks a lot for taking the extra time to explain the topic properly. I found it very insightful! I have a question though, which is: how rhythms complement gestures drawing? I mean, I can see the differences from a visual perspective, but I wonder how do they work together, or are they just different approaches to a posture with different goals?

Hi everyone 👋 Here is a small update and hopefully I get some useful feedback as in the previous round. Over the last days I was introduced to the concept of Gesture drawing and The Bean. And to be honest I found them both, very interesting practice, and also very tough to do properly and make the draws look good. I am struggling with a lot of aspects of the exercise, but mainly to have quality lines and being able to capture the motion. I think I focus too much in the contour and the results are quite still. I will keep practicing till I get better, but in the meantime here are my first attempts. I would appreciate some comments 🙏🙏 One more question. I am also starting to use Procreate since two weeks ago. Do you have any brush recommendation for this kind of exercise? I found the sketching brushes too thin for this purpose, but perhaps it’s just I am quite new and I need to get more practice. Thank you! 🤗 Javi

You did a good job on the first two but you could darken the value to make them pop, however, you did a great job on Jinx, that's the value you should aim for. John Snow's anatomy can be improved to better structure his face and his hair can be simplified.

Hey Javier, I like your drawings, you are able to draw from reference pretty well. I know that these are mostly taken from other artists, and they are probably stylized quite a bit, but I wanted to point a couple of things out. In the 5th drawing I noticed some things that I hope will help you in the future. I know this face is stylized, but I think you should understand proper proportions so that you can create your own style from that. I did some notes and a sketch to show you what I mean, I hope you find it helpful :)

Woah! Your progress is inspiring. Keep it up @Javier Lozano !

In this case, I am studying the art of Jose Garcia, one of my favorite contemporary illustrators. I chose him because I am very attracted by his use of lines, which I think is perfect for this exercise. I tried to be as clean as possible while keeping everything learned in the rest of this course. PS - I struggle with taking pictures of my sketchbook. I usually take it under my desk lamp, and I find it challenging to get the correct illumination (sometimes too bright when the light hits directly, or in shadow cast by the phone, etc.) Do you have any advice?