babyshark_ash (Ash) - Art School Journey

Gesture Drawing

I've done a hundred others of these, but this was the page I just finished today after an exercise and I thought it would be a good idea to start posting online for feedback from other artists. I started off by making the head, ribcage, and pelvis rectangular and have been doing that for the past week, but I just recently started working with ovals instead. I prefer the ovals, but starting with rectangles really helped me learn a LOT. This was also the first time I started filling out the figures as opposed to just making them stick people. I think I'm starting to get it. If there is anything anyone can point out that I can improve upon with my gesture drawings, I would greatly appreciate it. I numbered them just in case that might help.

I'm going to keep doing gestures for the next few days before I move on in the lesson. The next thing should be using cylinders to construct figures, I believe.

About me: Like many, I'm self-taught. But that could only take me so far. Even though I am a decent artist, I realized there was a LOT I could not do on my own. I never learned the fundamentals before. There are many things that I never understood and could never apply. So I joined Marc's art school class. I'm pretty determined, and I'm putting in 2-4 hours each day of practice and drawing time. I've got some pretty big goals and I'm going to reach them!

I know Marc says it's a great idea to get involved in the art community and that it helps improve your art, so that is why I'm posting. This is the first time I've ever posted anything art-related online, lol. Kind of nervous ngl.)

--Ash

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. These were 1 minute, I believe. Afterwards I go through and use the colors to trace the line of action and the three main body parts so I can see it better.

I've been able to start practicing using cylinders on my gesture drawings! Here are a few batches I was able to get done today. I feel I definitely get better from paper A to paper D, but still have a long way to go. I did 5 minutes for each of these. It was very difficult determining which part of the body was closest to the eye for a while, but I think I eventually got the hang of it. Still, I do need a lot more practice to make it intuitive. I'll be working on lots more of these for the next week before moving into proportions. I really want to solidify the concepts prior to tackling anatomy. It's incredible how much these exercises have already improved my art. Art pieces I worked on last week are already starting to feel outdated!

--Ash

These were four practice sketches I did. I started with a simple gesture drawing, then added cylinders, and put some detail into the hands. I think they turned out pretty good, but I'd love feedback if anybody has any.

These took me about 15 minutes apiece to complete. I was really trying to take it slow and get it as correct as I could.

--Ash

Thanks for the advice! Doing the ellipses is probably the hardest part for me. I don't know why, but I'm struggling with it. I saw someone else color in the ellipses closest to the viewer/camera. That might help me understand it better.

I will try drawing full ellipses as you suggest.

Been a while! Here are some more gesture drawings. This time I did the gesture, outline of the body, and cylinders. I practiced for a while drawing the full ellipses as was suggested by Lockenheim, then stopped, but looking at the results today, I think I need to go back to doing the full ellipses to get better results.

I went back to making the pelvis a box to help me understand the actual human body better. Doing that has really helped me start thinking in 3D. These poses were between 10-15 minutes apiece. I'm getting faster, at least.