Eugene - My Artistic Journey

[Lockenheim]

Really nice job with this practice! I really love your box constructions. Looking great!

[Sthingz]

It's October! And w/ a new month comes a new post (although a bit late, sorry). Let's go!

Tuesday (9/27):
- I watched David Finch's Monday Night Draw stream from 9/26 where he draws Link. I then watched SomeNormalArtist simplify human proportions. Finally, I watched David Finch describe some gesture drawing tips.
- Per usual, I worked on my line art and gesture drawing but for a shorter duration, 10 minutes and 30 minutes respectively. I kept this up for the rest of the week.
- I filled a whole page (front and back) w/ figure drawing poses on a 5-minute interval each.
- I finished the day by working some more on the perspective assignment at the end of Term 1.

Wednesday (9/28):
- I watched two more videos on basic anatomy and proportions by Bluebiscuits and Xabio Arts (I found this guy extremely annoying lol). I then watched two videos, one by David Finch and the other one by SomeNormalArtist, on how to make my poses more dynamic.
- Repeated the second and third points from 9/27.
- I finished the day by tracing and copying two reference images.

Thursday (9/29):
- I started the day by watching a video where Yoh Yoshinari, the character designer for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (great anime btw!), draws a quick sketch of Lucy and David from the same anime. I then watched a video by dr. Draw over perspective (I will explain this below)
- I only repeated the first point from 9/27 as the focus of my studies that day was perspective. Hence, I practiced 1-point perspective on one side of the page and 2-point perspective on the other by drawing a bunch of different shapes.
- I finished the day by grabbing 4 images and trying to find the vanishing points (I struggled so much on the last one that I wasn't able to pinpoint any of the vanishing points - feedback is greatly appreciated).

Friday (9/30):
- I watched Part 1 and Part 2 of the FORCE Series in Proko
- I repeated the second point from 9/27, and I practiced drawing the torso, in isolation and over reference images, using the bean shape for the first time.

Saturday (10/1):
- I repeated the second point from 9/27, and drew the different facial features (for some, I had to go back and watch the videos, but I quickly got the hang of it). One other thing I did is actually practice my lineart by going over my sketches with a pen and boy....I am sure lacking on that department.
- I redrew the Angela Balzac from the previous week. She came out looking better than my previous sketch, but when I went over it w/ my pen, things took a turn. Nevertheless, this drawing looks better than the previous one, so I'm satisfied.

Sunday (10/2):
- I repeated the second point from 9/27, and watched the final part (Part 3) of the FORCE Series in Proko. Then, YT recommended a video about George Bridgman's constructive anatomy which I put into practice. I got curious as to who this man was, which led me to moderndayjames' channel where I watched this video. I stopped at time stamp 4:20 since "I don't have a hang of twisting forms" in different perspectives. On that note, I tried tracing over just one image using simple shapes and I found that difficult, which makes for a good segway into this week's commitments.

My commitments for this week are:

1. Make progress on the perspective assignment from Term 1.
2. Practice George Bridgman's constructive anatomy, that is, using box forms to analyze the human body in different perspectives
3. Practice drawing the torso using the bean shape

Note: Thank you everyone for checking out my progress. I sometimes don't feel like drawing because my art is not up to par, but your words of encouragement keep me going. Although my art may not look the way I want it to, I have to understand that building up my skills will take time. There's still a long journey ahead, and your feedback only makes that journey all the more enlightening . Cheers!

[prinzmoana]

Wow you did A TON of studies 😳
And its very helpful you put all the links of the videos in your descriptions,
thank you 😄

[Lockenheim]

Really nice work! Really love the shapes in perspective especially! Keep it up!

[Sthingz]

This past week was hell - there was sooo much schoolwork. Nevertheless, I did not forget to get my art practice in.

Tuesday 10/4:
- Practiced line art and gesture drawing (30 and 60-sec intervals)
- I drew the human torso using boxes to improve my perspective skills

Wednesday 10/5:
- Unfortunately, I was super busy this day so I didn't get to draw at all.

Thursday 10/6:
- Practiced line art and gesture drawing (30 and 60-sec intervals)
- I did a bunch of perspective studies using boxes. I had a lot of trouble understanding how perspective changes in the real world, so I watched the following video

Friday 10/7:
- Although I didn't get to draw this day because I was loaded with schoolwork, I was able to watch some very helpful gesture drawing videos from Proko. This first video features Stan Prokopenko sharing a whole bunch of advice on gesture drawing and quicksketch. The second video, which I was shocked was free, has Michael Hampton explaining how to gesture draw.

Saturday 10/8:
- Practiced line art and gesture drawing (30 and 60-sec intervals)
- I downloaded Blender and used it as a reference for my perspective studies. Honestly, I found that this to be more helpful than watching videos since I could interact with the cube.
- I finished the day by putting into practice what I watched yesterday, that is, Michael Hampton's gesture drawing style

Sunday 10/9:
- Practiced line art and gesture drawing (30 and 60-sec intervals)
- I finished the week by drawing poses on a 180-sec interval each using the egg shape for the rib cage and a rectangle for the pelvis as well as implementing what I learned from Michael Hampton's video

This past week, I feel that I have gained a better grasp of gesture drawing and perspective. On that note, I did not work on the perspective assignment for Term 1. I need ample time to sit down and work on that assignment, something which did not present itself this past week. Hopefully, I will get working on it this soon, which leads me to my commitments for this week:

1. Continue to gesture draw using Michael Hampton's style but add more detail towards the end
2. Practice drawing the whole human body using simple shapes to improve my perspective skills
3. Work on my line confidence while still employing the FORCE method

[prinzmoana]

Amazing commitment ^.^

[Sthingz]

Hello everyone. I hope you guys are having a fantastic day. Regarding last and next week's progress, I won't be uploading much given that I will be dealing with numerous school assignments and projects. Once I get these out of the way, I should return to uploading artwork daily. That being said, let's get into this past week's progress:

Monday 10/10:
- The YT algorithm did me a solid by recommending a video by Mike Mattesi on how to draw arms and legs using FORCE. This is just what I needed considering how much trouble these two extremities have caused me.

Tuesday 10/11:
- Per usual, I practiced my line art and tried gesture drawing w/ a different style before moving on to 180-sec figure drawings. In these exercises, I focused on drawing the human figure using basic shapes.

Wednesday 10/12:
- I skipped David Finch's latest Monday Night Draw, so I went back and watched it. He had some very good gesture drawing tips at 38:51.

Thursday 10/13:
- I found a very similar lecture of Michael Hampton's gesture drawing Proko demo from the previous post. After watching it, I felt that Michael Hampton's gesture drawing style resonated more with me than Mike Mattesi's FORCE, at least for now. For this reason, I picked up his figure drawing book.

Friday 10/14:
- I practiced my line art and gesture drawing. When gesture drawing, however, I gave myself two attempts, with the second one not being time-constrained though I tried my best not to take longer than 1-2 minutes. The point of the second attempt was to implement what I learned from Michael Hamptom's gesture drawing method.

Saturday 10/15:
- I did not get to do anything art-related this day

Sunday 10/16:
- I practiced my line and returned to gesture drawing w/ only 1 attempt.
- I watched another gesture drawing video by Michael Hamptom and drew along

Given how busy I will be this week, I want to make only two commitments:

1. Read Michael Hampton's Figure Drawing book and practice his gesture drawing style
2. Continue using basic shapes to describe the human body (this is also a great perspective exercise)

[matthewwemes]

These are really good gestures! your commitment and productivity level is keeping me inspired!

[nikolinkanikolova]

You have improvement in your gesture drawings. Try to relax torso`s line even more, to be more curved. Your limbs lines are better than torso lines. Good work

[CYP2C19]

Insane dedication despite school related work!, Can't wait to see where you end up!.

[Sthingz]

Noted! Thanks for the feedback

[Lockenheim]

Keep it up! Gestures looking great!

[Sthingz]

Hey everyone ! I just wanted to throw out a quick update about my art progress. As aforementioned, this week I was VERY busy with school, so I did not get to do anything art-related . However, that changes this upcoming week, specifically on Wednesday. That is because Tuesday is the due date for my last big assignment. So expect my next post to show progress from Wednesday onward. Thanks for checking in and I wish ya'll the best in setting up your Halloween decorations.

[Sthingz]

Happy Halloween! Sorry I kept ya'll waiting, but I'm back! Without further ado, let's get right into this past week's progress:

Wednesday 10/26:
- Read Michael Hampton's Figure Drawing book until page 28.
- Practiced line art for 10-15 minutes and gesture drawing for 30 minutes.
- Drew the rib cage using the egg shape. After that, I drew full figures in under 2 minutes.

Thursday 10/27:
- I had to stay late at school so I did not get to do anything artwise this day.

Friday 10/28:
- Read Michael Hampton's Figure Drawing book from pages 29 to 33.
- Repeated point #2 from Wednesday and did some 2-minute gesture drawing, adding basic shapes on top of my drawings.

Saturday 10/29:
- Read Michael Hampton's Figure Drawing book from pages 34 to 39.
- Repeated point #2 from Wednesday and practiced drawing the torso in under 2 minutes and in an unlimited setting.

Sunday 10/30:
- Read Michael Hampton's Figure Drawing book from pages 40 to 50.
- Repeated point #2 from Friday without the overlay of basic shapes.

Past week's takeaways:

• There's so much more to learn about gesture drawing lol. My lines need to "flow" more.
• The way I'm drawing the torso looks strange/unnatural at times.

Next week's commitments:

• Keep reading Michael Hampton's Figure Drawing book for more insight on gesture drawing as a whole.
• Begin reading Mike Mattesi's FORCE book in order to improve the "flow" of my lines as well as my torso drawings.
• Try to resume my Term 1 - Perspective assignment.

[prinzmoana]

I really like the last 2 minute gestures and overall well done 😄

[Sthingz]

Thank you for your kind words. There's still a lot I have to learn. I will continue to strive for improvement.

[prinzmoana]

Yeah I saw that, you already made a list of commitments 😲👍
Maybe I should do that too 🤔😁

[CYP2C19]

Amazing studies, I really love how you incorporate those basic shapes in your longer timed gesture drawings, absolutely amazing!.

[Sthingz]

@prinzmoana I highly suggest you make a list of commitments. I feel that doing so helps you develop realistically achievable goals and keeps you focused, thus preventing you from losing motivation - at least that is my experience.
@CYP2C19 Thank you very much! I need to still practice perspective somehow. Plus, this was a tip from a friend who is really good at drawing (shout out to Fu!). I really need to do this more often.

P.S. Ignore the above comment. I tried copying what Lockenhelm does when replying to people but I messed it up the first time

[prinzmoana]

Didn't saw it, so everything fine I guess haha
Yeah I'll definitely try doing a list (I'll probably use a little booklet) :}