Ash - Art School Journey

ashley.durnall1 · May '20

Hello all,

I'm Ash, I've started Term 1 this week and wanted to share/document my progress while enabling full critique and advise to fuel improvement.
Please bear with me as I've never used a forum before (the asynchronous communication confuses me a little).

I've been trying to learn to draw/create art for approximately 2 years now (with small improvements), but i've not gotten anywhere closer to my personal goals. So, I hope that going through Art School and coming here for advice and guidance helps me achieve that.
My main hurdle is Aphantasia, which simply means I can't visualise anything... +It's made learning difficult, but I haven't given up yet!

I started with a the tasks in the Nude Figure video, drawing the skeleton and cylinders for foreshortening. For these, i've used both my Huion Inspiroy Q11K, and Ipad Pro.
First Attempt:

My first attempt was a 'quick' try at drawing the skeleton over the image. I had watched some of the video and then closed it and forgotten quite a few things that had been said - such as the seated figures making it difficult.
Second Attempt (Huion): img src="//cubebrush-forums.s3.amazonaws.com/original/3X/f/7/f7155565d40338f3f9ae2dc92cc483b53b3756bd.jpg" width="3500" height="2625">

The second attempt went much better. I had the video on and went through it properly, pausing and replaying bits I didn't understand. Despite not being all too comfortable with my Huion tablet, I'm quite happy with how these turned out. My cylinders are not perfect but both myself and my partner could understand the 3D orientation. I also cut out the unsuitable images.
Ipad Attempt:

I'll probably be using my iPad more due to work etc. I think the attempts here weren't all as good as the Huion attempts, I think it may be due to me not liking the Technical Pen inking brush on Procreate as much (Though I'm not used to the tapering brushes all that much). I think the issues here stem from the cylinders and the elipses I drew; not all are the best fit.

Any and all advice/critique is welcomed, to which I thank in advance .
I think the main issues here are due to experience, but anything I can do to improve I will try (be it possible for me to).

Vonschlippe · May '20

Hello and welcome!

It's interesting that you have aphantasia but you're not letting that stop you in your art journey, kudos for that!

A surprising amount of artists have very little to no mind-visualisation but they don't let it stop them. Through reference boards, studying and perseverance, it's still totally possible for them to make amazing artwork.

As for your skeleton drawings, they look clean and proper, but it will help us tremendously in terms of critique if you allow us to see the reference picture, either in transparency or beside your skeletons. Otherwise there's very little that we can comment on.

Good luck!

JP · May '20

I also have (severe) aphantasia. It's a very different way of thinking about things, but don't let it get in your way. Alternative methods of association is just as strong and I think it's still possible to build that kind of mental library - but you just have to go about things a little differently.

Good progress, though like Vonshclippe says - it helps to see the ref you're working from for any crit - but looking solid. If you keep up with the reference work; it's mainly practice and muscle memory. Building up that understanding of gesture as well as volume.

ashley.durnall1 · May '20

Nice to meet you both

Good shout on the references @Vonschlippe. I did think about it and must have just completely forgotten that the references are key.

Here's my second attempt again - I need to learn a few general things (such as accidentally saving over images I use - I think that got rid of the image in my original post.

The one area I think I have issues with this is getting the correct orientation of the elipses. There were many times I went over the images and struggled to identify how far the cylinder should be tilted.
@JP thanks for the confidence boost; the only other artistic person with Aphantasia I'd spoken to ultimately told me they gave up due to it and I guess it was disheartening. But I guess that perseverance and practise still win out.

ashley.durnall1 · May '20

This week was my first back at work after a month long furlough. It's definitely impacted the time I have spent drawing a lot more than I liked.
It saddens me because I seem to lose motivation, and I really want to succeed with this. I don't know whether it's a product of work, or maybe other stressors that affect me in other ways (I'm diagnosed with Asperger's, so it could be the changes in routine or that i'm just a bit overwhelmed).
I really want to make some meaningful progress and actually create some of my own artwork - I am dedicated, just not always motivated. Any tips for this?

This week I tackled drawing the skeletons and cylinders over references again. It took me a lot longer than I wanted to complete the tasks this week. I managed to remember to keep the references in this time - though i'm unsure how easy-to-see everything is.

It's going to take some time for me to become confident using my Huion tablet as it's not a display tablet, my coordination isn't there quite yet (but that will improve the more I use it). One of the issues I've found with doing this task is that I struggle identifying the correct orientation of the cylinder. I may be overly critical, but it seems that some of the cylinders aren't the best fit - though it's difficult to identify the 'best fit' while i'm doing it.

On my iPad, again I found the same cylinder issue - but I feel like I have a little more control. I'm still not a fan of pen pressure, but i'm going to keep practising with it on.
I found some different references to keep my attention, and I like how they turned out. The cylinders are helping me orient things a little better.

I want to start attempting this task next to my references instead of on-top. My only hiccup is the width of the cylinders - I have this suspicion that i'm not going to be able to correctly gauge the width & orientation of the cylinders without being over the image. I do tend to find problems with limb girth when attempting to use reference. I'm not sure how to train this skill.

I also attempted the proportions task.

My lines are not all that confident, I noted all the scratchy lines while I was doing the exercise - i'm trying to work on it. I don't know whether work space has any impact on this, my desk is possibly a bit to high up. Turning my canvas definitely helps with the lines though and I find myself doing that more often than not.
I definitely struggled splitting the boxes and making circular shapes to fill the relevant areas. I like the proportions of the end results, they look human - which is all I can ask for

The female doesn't look all too female - but I think it's because i'm more used to seeing the exaggerated proportions, and indicating breasts (or any curves for that matter) is something I just can't seem to get down

if there are also any other points of improvement, I'd be happy to know them, as always.

mau.wamp · Jun '20

You did a great job on the proportion exercise, @ashley.durnall1!
One thing I'd like to point out is the size of your character's hands. They seem a little too small for me...
Everything else looks good to me

Cheers, Mau

ashley.durnall1 · Jun '20

I don't get much time in the week to get on here, but I saw this and wanted to say thanks.
I can honestly say that hand size eludes me - I know they're approximately face size but other than that i'm lost. But i'm definitely trying to implement it when i'm drawing out the proportions like this.

Ash - Art School Journey

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