Figure Shading Study
3yr
Becky Alemayehu
Hi! I would appreciate any feedback or critique. Thanks!
I didn’t have the materials fr a BG. Would pastels work? Idk, but I have no clue on H2 draw hands and feet. This was hard. I took about maybe 3-4 hours. I don’t know what else to add. I learned to start with a linear lay-in of the shadows. I’ll probably do another one of these.
Feet are really hard. I think you are drawing really well. If you nail hands and feet you will be among .05% of the population who can do this. Encourage you to attack this problem head on.
In some ways they are harder than hands because we don't observe them as much. They are lower and have subtle things about them that are hard to see at first. This is one of my favourite anatomy books, Anatomy for Sculptors by Uldis Zarins. This book is amazing. The way the foot is simplified is great as a second stage. For the first stage just try to draw it as a box. A life drawing teacher once said, " How can anyone draw a figure if they can't draw the box it is standing on?"
I really like these old books from the 60's, in the Walter Foster drawing series. This one is by Ernest Norling, Perspective Drawing. To start drawing feet, just practice drawing boxes on the end of legs at different angles. Then start to shape it similar to the Uldis Zarins type simplified form.
Hey! Sorry about not posting the drawing. I was able to find materials for a BG btw. Although I put it in lazily.
When rendering any form, you must use both form shadows and cast shadows to describe the form. I did a quick drawing to show you the difference. I hope this helps :)
Also don't forget the basic forms of the structures, the arm should feel like a cylinder or a box, the torso like a barrel or a box too, so try to show that too with your shading. And btw that pose and drawing the back is HARD so nice effort, keep it up!
Almost all your edges in the core shadow are hard or firm, so try softening the form edges, for example you could soften these edges:
Hi Becky, I'm not seeing your work, just the reference
Well done Becky. It has volume and I like the smudgy feel of the material. Give that front foot a go. Feet are easy to ignore but they still express something of the direction and balance of the figure. start with a box. Even if they are just like blocks of wood, that's fine. getting the orientation right is an important first step. Keep it up mate.
