Study from Life Assignment

Lesson by

David Colman

inDrawing Dynamic Creatures

297

Assignments 74

Downloads 1

Study from Life Assignment

Lesson by

David Colman

in Drawing Dynamic Creatures

297

Assignments 74

Downloads 1

Use the provided ape footage in the "Study from Life - Ape Reference Videos" lesson group to do some sketching of your own.

Make sure not to “pause” the footage as you will lose all sense of movement when studying from a static image. Each clip is set to loop 10 times, but feel free to replay them as much as needed.

Extra Credit: Using what you learned from studying live footage, draw some ape poses out of your head (memory sketching).

Memory sketching will help with several areas of your development

Highlight what you need to work on in your observational skills and understanding of the subject
Surprised yourself on what you actually obtained and learned
Become inventive in your realistic posing leading to more successful concept creature designs in your personal and professional body of work

Sofiya Ilchuk

•

7mo

@David Colman Harder than I thought for sure. I think my biggest thing is proportion, and then connecting that with the movement. I'd appreciate any feedback

Rachel Dawn Owens

•

6mo

These are really good. The lines are so active and flow together. The whole pages are cohesive. Very very nice.

Valerio Capriati

•

8mo

Hi everyone these are my studies after a long time ahaha

klaibee

•

10mo

I tried to stay focused on the dynamic of gestures and movements. It is a real challenge to draw from live, but it‘s so much fun. I am looking forward going to the zoo- there is a lot more to learn and practice for me.

@korsola

•

1yr

I tried to stay loose in this assignment. Maybe I will try these with other ape videos.

@korsola

•

1yr

@korsola

•

1yr

Forth attempt!

@korsola

•

1yr

Third attempt!!

K. J. Reittinger

•

1yr

Trying again. Some improvement? I think.

Linus Lehmann

•

1yr

A few of my most recent video-footage studies. I used a thicker pen, and tried to be more effecient with my lines, while trying to stay energetic and improve my poses. The first three pages are from the videofootage, the last two pages are from imagination. Any Feedback is always very welcome.

Eve A. Bear

•

2yr

Have done more studies for my confidence ! Here are some.

Linus Lehmann

•

2yr

Some of my recent videofootage studies, im trying to give a bit more consideration to the volumes, perspective and muscles. I think they are better than the ones i posted two months ago. The first four pages are from the videofootage, the last two from imagination. Will continue to practice these. Feedback is very appreciated.

David Colman

•

2yr

I think youre doing great too.. Alot of life and movement and filled with energy and as you develop practice line efficiency. Drawing is more thinking than actual drawing but thats comes with time. Just keep going

Tiger

•

2yr

Some monkey and ape studies, definitely wanna make more of these and try the memory sketching as well. With some poses I had to stop the video just to understand what was going on with the limbs, but other than kept the videos playing several times over and tried to catch the movement. Also my pen started to dry up at some point which made me go over same lines a few too many times in a not good way..

David Colman

•

2yr

quite lovely- some nice line efficiency but seeing as you paused the videos it does feel like it benefited your decision making. Let it just loop over and over so you can practice observing and capturing a moving subject. It will be frustrating at first but you will grow more and quicker that way once you make that hurdle. I am missing some internal rhythms that come from drawing from the inside out. Those rhythms are what will make your own imaginative work more alive. Dont skip that step just yet

Jesper Axelsson

•

2yr

Nice! - I think it could be useful to do some where you simplify the apes into a few gesture lines. It will help you focus on what's essential for the action. - I would try to get more rhythm into the drawings. Look for how a gestural curve going one way flows into a gestural curve going the other way, creating a back 'n' forth rhythm. Like Glenn Vilppu describes it in the beginning of this video Drawing Demo by Glenn Vilppu. Being aware of rhythm can also help you design the contours with more gesture. You tend to draw symmetrical contours. Asymmetrical contours carry the flow better. Check out the first 2 minutes of this video for an explanation How to Draw Dynamic Shapes – FORCE Series Part 3 Hope this helps :)

K. J. Reittinger

•

2yr

David Colman

•

2yr

Good silhouettes but generally speaking you want to draw through the form.. I would rather see you capture the rhythms of the movement as wire armatures then worry about perfect silhouettes. you need to learn and acquire knowledge to draw poses out of your head- not copy what you see. Analyze and understand- dont regurgitate

Michael Gutierrez

•

2yr

Michael Gutierrez

David Colman

•

2yr

Loose and rough- great- lets see more drawing from the inside out at this stage. I see a lack of understanding of the internal structure. Think of the arm in its skeleton form not its flesh silhouette . So more wire armature rhythms and then build volumes and details on top of that. Great energy though

Eve A. Bear

•

2yr

This is so fun ! I will redo this more . It feels messy, but I know it will be better with practice !

David Colman

•

2yr

Messy is okay when its all about learning. Youre not here to make pretty drawings but to learn and understand how to create poses on your own. Draw from the inside out- skeleton to superficial forms. Not the actual bones but think of how the skeletal structure when the monkey is hanging. In one to two lines draw the rhythmic bend and flow then build volumes on top of that.

Anthony Damazyn

•

2yr

A few of the gestures from the live footage.

David Colman

•

2yr

Some nice natural silhouettes however youre losing dimension by not drawing through the form- get some overlaps, hooks and communicate the volume of the structure thats actually in these poses.

Mariusz Stefanowski

•

2yr

Reaaally hard for me, but also fun. Will work on it more, first tries below.

David Colman

•

2yr

ITs supposed to be hard- thats what makes it great when you do nail it. You'll never grow if you dont struggle a bit. I think youre off to a good start- just keep going. Try capturing the energy of the pose- not the likeness of the silhouette at this learning stage.

Mariusz Stefanowski

•

2yr

Totally not feeling it today, probably i should go back to structure study or memory tomorrow

Mariusz Stefanowski

•

2yr

Bp 3

Ian Gregory

•

2yr

This assignment is challenging but also really fun once getting the hang of it a little. As observing from the footage, I couldn’t get the gesture right most of the time. Throughout some of these sketches I tend to make small but many strokes in my drawings, that is why it can be too messy at times. I’ll keep working on this along with attempting the draw from memory for the next one.

David Colman

•

2yr

Try long lines of action... less silhouette likeness- more connection of the forms with overlaps and draw from the inside out- think of what the bones are doing. This is why we studied those skeletons first

Ian Gregory

•

2yr

More studies on the first image, while the second image is through imagination. Really glad to have made the attempt, also surprised with how it turned out.

@hunt4animation

•

2yr

Theses are great and I can see improvement when reviewing the past few posts! Some of the messier ones are my favorites. Keep it up!

Mathias Ragnarsson

•

2yr

I really liked this assignment! Drawing from live footage feels like it demands more “immersion” into what I’m drawing. Compared to when I draw from still images I can sometimes fall back into just copying what I’m seeing. More difficult to do so when things never stop moving. Thinking in motion also helped a lot when trying to invent poses from memory. It’s a challenge for sure trying to make something interesting out of nothing, but imagining the apes moving around and do stuff makes it easier. I took a somewhat similar approach to the memory sketching as the footage sketching, trying to stay somewhat loose but also allow myself to explore a bit of what I could recollect from the anatomy and muscle groups.

David Colman

•

2yr

This is a great approach. Another way to see it draw verbs not nouns. As in draw an action not that subject. Draw the subject/characters story, not their physical presence. I would now get away form the heavy contour line around the entire silhouette. Mix and match line weights to help the eye follow the rhythms you capture.

Jesper Axelsson

•

2yr

Hi, here are my sketches! I wasn't super happy about them when drawing. I feel like I wasn't very articulate with my strokes. I tried to be loose, but I think I should have been a bit more procedural. But I like some of the poses, like the crouched one in image 1, and overall I really enjoyed the exercise. I love how apes move, and being on the lookout for subtleties, like you mentioned, felt eye opening. When studying Ape Reference 4, I noticed that chimps tend to dive into actions with their head and arms first, which to me as a human, feels kinda risky XD

Jesper Axelsson

•

2yr

Hi @David Colman, here are some more ape drawings from video. I applied the feedback you gave me here https://www.proko.com/s/pRX2, about thinking more before each stroke, starting with image 2. I feel like it really improved my drawings. Thanks!

Thomas Vang Pedersen

•

2yr

drawing without pausing the videos almost broke my brain🤯 Had to watch the loops many times to complete each sketch.

David Colman

•

2yr

Its gonna be tough at first. Imagine drawing from life at the zoo- This is what I did before the internet was a thing and there was you tube. No loops in life. Youre doing the right thing by not pausing the video. Let it loop. There is some nice work here and then I notice some that are too contour heavy, flattening out the drawing and losing weight. Draw through the form, attach the volumes- give the volumes movement too

Eve A. Bear

•

2yr

Yeah, me too ì have brain locks !

Bernard

•

2yr

This was quite hard to do, being used to draw from photographs only. However, it does help in generating images from imagination (the one with the gorillas in the corner).

David Colman

•

2yr

Try drawing with pen first, I see you did them in pencil and then drew over it. Its only going to stiffen up. Dont worry about making it look like the ape, monkey etc- be focused on the action and energy of the subject- not the traits

Jeff Arsenault

•

2yr

Here are a few of my better gesture drawings from the last few days. Thank you!

David Colman

•

2yr

WOW JEff...some great work ...Youre really pushing the poses and I can feel the stretching,.the weight of the ape sitting. I love your head in the lower left- Fantastic silhouette and has character. Can you draw some more from your imagination? I expect to see some great work....show me

Full course

You will be given unexpiring access to watch the videos online .

View course details

Give a gift

Give a gift card for art students to use on anything in the Proko store.

Or gift this course:

About instructor

go to profile

David Colman

Illustrator working in film as a designer and storyboard artist- known as the "animal guy" for my passion for doodling animals. insta @davidsdoodles