On Courses + Tools use code BLACK20
@sjc
@sjc
Earth
Activity Feed
@sjc
Is there a way to tip the head backwards in profile? I can get it to move in every other direction.
@sjc
1yr
Answering myself, apparently not.
@sjc
Sadly, this is actually the best version I did. I chose the sketch because I think Raphael illustrates the idea of line weight to indicate importance: his face and hat are done with dark lines while his hair almost disappears. Faces are hard! I have so much trouble with noses in particular. Also mouths. And don't get me started on eyes. Thank god his ears are covered...In spite of the shame this causes me, I felt like I needed to post it so that at the end of the course I can look back and laugh/cringe. Or not. Whatever. Is it too early for a drink?
Sarah NP
2yr
You did well and most importantly you showed the variation in line.
Lisa L
2yr
I actually think you did well with the nose! I sometimes find drawings from this era can be pretty complex to deconstruct and copy because they’re so detailed, yet so subtle. Beautiful choice of reference to study from. 😊
@bert2
When drawing from observation is getting the correct line you observe just pure intuition ? If you are not measuring. I feel like i have been really overthinking drawing from observation lately. Are you guys focusing hard on the line you are seeing on your subject and going line by line until your done. Or do you interpret the shape of your subject more and try to copy ? I hope this made any sense. I feel like the awnser is that you guys dont really think about it and just pull your line and im overthinking it.
@sjc
2yr
For what it's worth, since I'm also a novice, I start with the longest curve I see. For the Picasso bull that was the back, for the da Vinci horse it was the neck. I think the way Jeff describes his process is probably the best way to do it and I hope I eventually learn how to see the shapes.
@sjc
I chose this da Vinci sketch for the way line weight is used for depth. The thickest/darkest lines are at the front of the horse, especially the head, fading toward the back, and the back legs are hardly there at all.
Nancy Yocom
Yes, two faces! He must be showing the movement?
@sjc
It looks so effortless when Picasso does it! I love the clean lines and that Picasso captures the essence of the bull with just a few loose strokes. Which are very hard to emulate. The next one I want to do is much more complicated and messy but I don't think I can face it right now.
Tuija Kuismin
Yay! I've been familiarizing myself with so many wonderfull artist over the past few days, that I got overwhelmed with choosing one for this assignment. And experienced a similar "nope! Not there yet!" feeling as you, as some of my favourites seem so complex that even the idea of studying them felt something I'm not yet equipped for. But that feeling passed, and I'm giving myself a lot of time for the thinking process, problem solving and planning before I get to actual drawing. Hope that works out for you aswell 😊. In my overwhelmed state of mind, I thought I'd take a break and study Picasso's one line drawings (for amusement). I chose some random animal pictures for reference and tried drawing them with one line. It was really fun, but to my surprise I also found one line drawings very beneficial as an excercise. It forced me to think really hard about simplifying, shape, importance - and so on. It's not as easy as one might think! Great to see this work from you, sjc, you"ve done well 😊.
Dan Stevens
Hello, I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but I can't seem to play the video. It loads as "completed" with the blue check with no playback option. Thanks for all that you do!
@sjc
2yr
Yes, me too!
Carlye Luft
How do you make the lines of the original line photo lighter for printing purposes? Also, how do you take the original photo and turn it into just lines? I wan't to do more of this to practice with other photos and with photos I've taken. Do I need a certain app?
@sjc
2yr
Carlye, I had to download the picture, open it in Photos on my PC laptop (that's the default when opening a picture), copying the image, and pasting it into a Word document. Once it's in Word, click on it and choose Picture Tools, which will appear once you click on the picture. You'll see Transparency as an option on the left on the toolbar. I'm running Windows 11 and whatever version of Word came with it. Things might be arranged differently in other versions. If you're using a Mac, I hope someone else can help you with it!
@sjc
The rhino project is the first one I've posted in the stream here instead of the general one. I felt so far behind on all of the others. Same observation here as the hierarchy of importance one--it would've been easier to distinguish dark from medium to light if I'd used a range of pencils instead of just a standard #2.
@sjc
There isn't enough differentiation among the dark, medium, and light lines. I used a regular pencil for both drawings and I think it would've been better to use a range of them.
Help!
Browse the FAQs or our more detailed Documentation. If you still need help or to contact us for any reason, drop us a line and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!