[Mannequin] Help!
4yr
@mrincongruous
I've gone through the gesture, bean and robobean part of proko's figure fundamentals course, and thought I was doing reasonably well. However, now that I'm trying the mannequinization part, I feel like it's way, way way worse than it should be, to the point where I'm feeling a bit guilty as I go through each one, like I'm committing a crime against art or something :O These three are the ones I've made so far, with the one with the exercise ball taking about half an hour, and the other two about 15 or 20 minutes each. I feel like I had each separate part moderately well sorted, but putting them together is another thing entirely. Thank you very much for your feedback and help!! EDIT: I thought I'd added the images, but I hadn't.
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@brevittyy
3yr
Asked for help
Hey guys, i tried mannequin pls let me know how are they and what should i improve.😺
Steven x Davis
It's really good! I really like the dynamic pose of the left model but she is sort of missing her left leg. Because the left side of her hip and her left foot are both resting on the ground plane, there must be space under her right thigh through which we should see some portion of her left thigh or calf. If her left leg is at such a sharp angle that we can't see that, then we should see her left knee behind her right thigh. Hopefully that makes sense.
Dylan Gabriel
These look good. If you just keep doing them and pay attention to proportion and perspective they will continue to improve. You can also break the foot into 2 or 3 parts to get the position right. The heel midsection and toes can all be separated.
Alexander Wegner
It looks fine to me. But I have a big concern, on the second drawing you draw the pelvis with two side plains, don't do that. We are trying to simplify everycing into simple shapes and the pelvis we draw it as a box. So you have to think of a box while drawing it and a simple box can't show two side plains, it's impossible. For that to happen it would mean that the box it's expanding, the plane we are facing is smaller than the one that is facing away from us. I hope that helps!
Mengu Gungor
There is a lot of good advice here, but I just wanted to say, where you're at is a perfectly normal place to be. So don't worry about committing crimes against art... And don't feel like you have to "nail" a course before moving on. Do the exercises, spend some time to absorb the information, and move on. Keep in mind, you don't have all the information yet to create beautiful drawings. Once you've gone through everything, you'll want to circle back, and do it all over again. It gets progressively better. Keep practicing!
@mrincongruous
Thanks for replying! Yes, I think I'll do just that. I'm only on the first unit of the syllabus I'm following (https://i.redd.it/7ns7su264gp31.png ), so I still have a couple years to go before circling back, but, as has been mentioned in the draftsmen podcast, I'm confident that going through the different items in it will end up helping me in all aspects of art :D
H H
3yr
I think the critiques below are pointing you towards the right direction. One thing I will add is that certain area lack three dimensionality, mostly in the legs. For exemple in the first image, the legs don’t look like 3D forms because there isn’t enough information to suggest it. Maybe adding cross contour lines could help. I think it could also be the way you made the legs attach to the pelvis and then to the knee. Because we don’t see one of the cylinder’s ellipses (top or bottom plane), the form look flat. So I think learning perspective, especially ellipses, could greatly benefit you. I drew over the legs of the third image, hopefully it will be of some help!
@mrincongruous
Thanks for taking the time to reply! There are many things to juggle even in these simple drawings; hopefully I'll get better as I keep going through the different units in the syllabus I'm following. I'll try to make the 3d forms more obvious instead of drawing of over them :)
Serena Marenco
Hello Mrinconguous, When you draw the dummy you still have to start with the gesture, otherwise you will end up with a series of very static geometric shapes. Look carefully at the reference photo, identify the main line of action, on it find the position of the shoulders and pelvis and their inclination, then insert the arms and legs. At this stage limit yourself to sketching the gesture with simple curved lines (C S I ). This is the scaffolding on which you will build your shapes, you'll find it easier to maintain proportions and perspective this way :) I also recommend that you don't use a pen but a pencil, so that if you make mistakes you can easily correct them. Choose a soft pencil, use cheap paper and do a few sketches every day, always starting with the gesture :)
@mrincongruous
Thank you for your suggestion! In my case, I'm only working digitally using an old wacom tablet: it's impossible for me to work in a physical medium because I'm by nature very anxious, so I feel I'm wasting drawing materials. Since digital only deals with bits, I only have to deal with making bad drawings, which are a necessary stepping stone on the road to making good art :P
Izak van Langevelde
Check your proportions: the pelvis block should be a lot bigger. It refers to a big element which carries a good deal of your body weight!
Izak van Langevelde
You may want to start with a quick gesture, to layout what goes where, and then place your blocks? It helps to separate planning from execution.
@mrincongruous
I will give it a try, thanks for the suggestion :)
Steve Lenze
Just to give you an idea of how you can practice mannequinization, use the shapes that I made, and practice drawing them in perspective. Remember to think of them as 3D objects with a side, top and bottom. I hope this will help :)
@mrincongruous
Thanks! It's strange: I feel I don't have too much trouble drawing basic figures on their own, but trying to do so with a full body for some reason seems to make my brain implode.
John Guy
4yr
Don't feel guilty! Study perspective. That involves way more than I can fit in one of these comments. In order to do mannequinization effectively, you need to be able to draw boxes, spheres and cylinders from any angle out of your head. This is harder than it sounds. I recommend starting by learning how to plot those forms out in perspective. Then you can draw them freehand and use perspective to check your own work. Be patient with yourself. I teach perspective in an animation school. A lot of students still struggle with it even after an entire semester. Its going to be even harder to learn it on your own just from books. Most perspective books contain the same information and they are all generally pretty good. Find the one that makes sense to you. My personal favorite is 'The Complete Guide to Perspective' by Craig Attebery. If videos are more your thing, a Youtube channel called 'The Drawing Database' has some excellent perspective content.
@mrincongruous
@John Guy Thank you very much for taking the time to reply, and apologies for my lateness. I feel like Stan and Marshall mentioned in one podcast, juggling several balls at the same time, and knowing that my drawings won't be good until I'm reasonably proficient in all of them. Still, I'll keep going at it. Worst case scenario, it's unlikely I'll get any worse :P
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