Project - Rhythms
Project - Rhythms
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21:02
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lesson video
Project - Rhythms
courseDrawing BasicsFull course (185 lessons)
$159
assignments 1247 submissions
Rachel Dawn Owens
A little mantra that might help some students on this one.: ’Design. Don’t copy.’
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Rhythm Project Assignment Images.zip
99 MB
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project-rhythms.mp4
703 MB
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project-rhythms-transcript-english.txt
17 kB
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project-rhythms-transcript-spanish.txt
17 kB
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project-rhythms-captions-english.srt
28 kB
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project-rhythms-captions-spanish.srt
29 kB
ASSIGNMENTS

It’s time to draw the figure! Use the rhythms method I showed in the previous lesson to draw the poses from the photo references in the downloads tab.

Deadline for submissions to be included in the video critique is 10/6/2023.

  • Capture the gesture of each pose using rhythms.
  • Spend at least 5 minutes on each pose, ideally 1-2 hours per session. Take breaks as needed.
  • Shoot for accurate proportions by eyeballing placement of the rhythms. Have an idea of where the line will end before you execute the line.
  • Use the the template as a starting point, but observe the pose. Remember that each pose might have some of their own unique rhythms that differ from the template I proposed. This will develop your own rhythms over time.
  • Balance loose, energetic lines with more committed singular lines. Don't let it get too messy. Consider what we've learned about line quality.

Level 2

There are a few ways to make this more challenging. Mix and match based on your comfort and experience.

  • Set a timer for 5 minutes to force yourself to draw only the most important rhythms.
  • If that's too easy, go for 3 minutes.
  • Practice developing the overhand grip.
  • Try charcoal pencils (sharpened like a bullet) on newsprint paper.
  • Add another layer of smaller rhythms indicating the muscle masses. You can add some time to the clock.
@ralk
4h
Since the assignment description didn't mention "pick a few", I assumed we had to do all of them. The 1st-2nd day were quite taxing. At the end of the second day with ~10ish total done, I could feel my brain throbbing; such is the immense strain needed to process what we see, extract information, then attempt to relay it on paper (or the digital equivalent). I didn't want what little I knew of anatomy to affect how I would see things, but it was an unfounded worry, because I've never drawn anything from reference before this course, nor any person in such complex poses! Some of the more static, disjointed poses are real brain-teasers. I think I was trying to see if I could link everything with rhythms at the start, but gradually as I moved from pose 1 to 24, I forced that linking less, and slipped in a bit of measuring (just rough height), a bit of negative shapes, a bit of eyeballing angles, and only did rhythms for the bigger shapes. The arms/legs are indeed very challenging to get right, and more than once I've mangled them to the point that they don't look like convincingly load-bearing appendages. I've flung any insistence on measured proportions to the wind, but interlocking rhythms with some negative shape checks prevented people from turning into aliens.
@ralk
4h
Rest of the poses as you can't post more than 20 pictures per comment.
Petar Ristic
Enjoyed this project a lot. I downloaded some additional poses from a couple of the posture kits to get more variation for the lesson, but also, I figure I'll try and stick with doing a few hours per week as well to constantly improve my rhythms, so might as well grab some extras! My sketches below are a bit scratchy, so I need to improve on that. All of them were done against a 10min timer w/ charcoal.
Ilan Jones
Sorry if these are hard to see. I've tried gesture drawing before and was never happy with the results. I'm feeling more satisfied by these after Stan's instruction. I still admire those who make gesture drawing seem effortless. I'm thinking i need to make this part of my daily routine.
Sabyasachi Goswami
What the Hell !! This is some serious shit people are submitting here. Such clean lines and proportions Really feeling intimidated posting my stuff now. But frankly it was fun. Seemed like I am getting on the Big boy stuff. Well attaching my submission for Pre-demo. Will do more.
Chuck Ludwig Reina
Hey! Your work is some serious....you know what too! Really solid gestural lines. And remember, someone is looking at your work and feeling intimidated too. Every artist has someone they admire, and feel intimidated by. That never goes away. Keep up the good work!
francesco zanardini
This has been the most enjoyable exercise for me so far. I started with charcoal but didn’t feel comfortable with it, so after a while I switched to a blue pencil (I only regretted it once I’d scanned the images because the lines weren’t very clear; from now on I won’t use it for the exercises anymore) Looking back at all the exercises, I’m happy with some of the poses, whilst in others I notice they’re mainly off in terms of proportions. I’m continuing to practise gesture drawing daily and find it a brilliant exercise. I’m open to any kind of feedback and thank you in advance. P.S.: I’ve uploaded the rest of the images in the comments
Melanie Scearce
You're on the right track! Getting a good handle on gesture drawing takes lots of repetition, so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed this project. Have you tried timing yourself doing these drawings yet? That would be a good next step in your practice if you haven't already.
francesco zanardini
Catherine Supnet
Had fun with this one! pardon my anatomy and proprotions, i'm still working on those. I tried to do 5 mins on this first run but I ended up going beyond a bit. I would love to hear what I can improve on these!
Nat
18d
My first try. It took longer than I would like it to (a bit over 1h on all 3) but it is very unnatural for me to hold the pen with overhand grip. I had to switch sometimes back and forth to tripod one cause I was getting frustrated (especially in the beginning of every pose when I was trying to be a bit more loose) but I can absolutely see the appeal of lines with overhand. Very fun anyway, can’t wait to draw and experiment more. ❤️ used HB and then switched to 4B pencil
@etin
21d
This was fun, very interesting, and challenging. I have to work a lot more on the big rhythms, I think I'm too stuck on the contours without a simple enough first pass with better lines, and struggling a bit with proportions, but I feel like it's improving.
Alexandre Frazao
Scale continues to be an issue but it was fun :)
Blaise Burns
I definitely struggled here. I think I was trying to get "good line quality" so much that I didn't really look for the rhythms too much. I also surely missed the proportions for most of the poses. That said, the exposure to the idea of rhythms and gesture more generally has been fascinating to me and I'm glad we learned this. I've certainly moved from "unconsciously incompetent" to "consciously incompetent" when it comes to gesture.
Geo Lovinaria
First attempts, will definitely add this exercise to my daily practice. I found that showing a body part to appear closer to the viewer to be difficult but I will get better. Still working on my line confidence as I go over them decent amount.
Clément Douziech
First attempts before watching demo and critics, I really enjoy to do these figures !
Ronald Moss Jr
My second attempt after rewatching those demos.
Juan Sanchez
Daniel Cho
1mo
The first dozen were done in 5 minutes each, and the second half was done in 3 minutes per pose.
Melanie Scearce
Wow, these have so much weight to them! Fantastic work. 3 minutes is a great pace to work at for this kind of exercise.
@jorge21
2mo
Here some gesture drawing
Rio
2mo
Finished these a week ago but was not very proud of them again. Kinda let things get to my head but. I shouldnt let my self doubt get in the way of progressing. Im proud of the line weight variation here, im still new to it but this is the biggest leap ice made so far.
Sneek
2mo
I'm awful at proportions but I'll keep practicing.
Melanie Scearce
Keep practicing! With this lesson you're focusing less on the correct proportions and more about designing the energetic connections, so it's not as important here, but I definitely recommend revisiting the Measure Proportions project multiple times as you continue through the course. It will get easier with each iteration! No need to get stuck on it, but if proportions are something you struggle with, practicing in tandem as you continue on will help you build that skill more quickly so you can apply it to your other current projects.
Carlos Javier Roo Soto
Before moving on to the perspective portion of this course and back to Marshall's perspective course. I wanted to compare this 2 drawings: The first one I did it when I started this course and the second one as a closing drawing for sketchbook I'm been using. The biggest improvement I see was that I started to use line weight and I don't think that great of a job here, but other than I don't see big improvements. I think one of the biggest reasons is that I didn't do projects or draw for fun as much, and it was practice practice practice. And I'm gonna have to start doing more of those. See anything I should work on other than taking good pictures of my drawings? What are your thoughts?
Ronald Moss Jr
This kind of skill is what I am here for.
@jorge21
2mo
here are some of my gesture.
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