Michaela - Art School Journey (Archived)

[milkcee12]

Hello everyone, my name is Michaela. I'm 18 years old and I'm a to-be computer science major from the United States.

Over the years, drawing has become an increasingly important part of my life to the point where I'm seriously considering a career in it. I fell into the trap of trying to study and improve my art without a goal in previous years, but during COVID-19 I feel like I've learned a lot about myself and my art. Now, I feel like I have things I want to say but a lack of knowledge to execute it. I started Art School in order to build on my skills as an artist and learn how to tell stories visually. My biggest goal (right now, at least) is becoming a comic artist or someone who can live off of their own IP.

I'll be posting homework here regularly as well as reflections on what I've learned. Thank you to everyone reading this! As a benchmark, here are some pieces I've done between 2020 and 2021:

More art is on my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milkcee12/

See you around,
Michaela

[Aw_Ralex]

Welcome! These are really cool - I love your use of dramatic lighting, depth and your brushwork. I'm sure this course will be a great help as you work towards your goals!

[Vonschlippe]

Hey there!

Welcome aboard! You're in the right place to make some great art gains. If you have not checked it out already, I recommend you also join the Art School discord. It's very active and there is a lot more action/feedback/critique/hanging out than over here on the forums.

Your understanding of color, light, perspective and rendering is far beyond what I could do at your age. Keep working on it! Over time you'll develop shortcuts, stroke economy, and a deeper understanding of the fundamentals - Art School is a great platform to work on fundamental skills and revisit things you may have been taking for granted.

I like that you're a computer science major - I'm an aerospace engineer! I'm not here to give career advice, but I think it's a smart move to have a lucrative day job and to paint as a hobby - lets you build up a portfolio while having some financial security. One day you might just well take the plunge into full-time art, if that's the path you choose, but you'll already have a following and made contacts in the industry!

Until then, I hope to see you around, and I look forward to your homework assignments. Cheers!

[HANDRO]

welcome. I cant add to what was already said so ill keep this short. great pieces.

[milkcee12]

[Term 1] Photoshop for Digital Production 1
I'm already familiar with digital editing softwares so I skipped most of the photo manipulation-type homework. Line quality and pen control can always be practiced though!

Reflection

• I tend to offshoot my vertical lines slightly to the right.
• Grip the stylus lightly! You don't want your carpal tunnel to act up again!
• Lock your wrist for basically everything; use your shoulder/elbow.
• Look ahead to where you're aiming for instead of the line itself; it increases accuracy. Use a medium speed that feels natural to your hand.
• My hand got tired towards the end of the 2nd exercise but I still pushed on—take breaks.
• I kept zooming in unconsciously when drawing the lines. Probably an indicator that I should zoom out more in my personal work.

I'm not sure how consistent of a practice schedule I'll keep up, but here's to day 1!

[milkcee12]

[Term 1] Nude Figure Drawing
Still in a honeymoon phase with the class right now so I want to draw a lot, but it's starting to take a toll on my hand and arm. Usually, I use shapes to draw people so thinking in 3D again was a challenge. I messed up my proportions quite a bit too, but it's all good because it's fun.

Page 1 Reflection

• Stop zooming in!!!! Make sure the whole figure is on the screen when you're working.
• I think ovals work better for me to indicate the major bones - just make sure to establish the tilt of the oval.
• Clip Studio brushes are a lot more sensitive than Photoshop; makes it harder to maintain line quality but it makes for nice tapers when inking.

Page 2 Reflection

• Wow my skeletons are off when I'm drawing from reference. It's hard to draw it without even a gesture as a base sketch.
• Ovals are nice as ribcages if you're tracing, but they lack structure that is nice when you're measuring and using the pose as a reference. Maybe use rectangles or ovals with more measuring.
• Hip joints might be attached to the ends of the pelvis, but there's not a very large gap between the legs. Muscles don't wrap uniformly around bones.

[HANDRO]

I like your approach to this. hope it yields good results.

[milkcee12]

Me too, haha. Thank you for your kind words!

[milkcee12]

[Term 1] Nude Figure Drawing
Whew, art is a lot of work! It feels good to work hard though. I have a lot of free time since it's my senior year and I'm at home all the time, so all I do is draw lol. I'm slowly working my way through the exercises...

Page 3 Reflection

• After you draw the skeleton first pass, take the time to CORRECT it! The proportions get a lot better when you do...
• Seems like I'm fairly accurate at drawing the position of the ribs/pelvis. The biggest problems are the head position and hips/legs.
• Don't be afraid to overlap cylinders; it's probably even better when you do because it gives depth to the image.

I'm used to seeing myself draw unbalanced figures, so I was surprised that the proportion drawings turned out...well, balanced. Granted there's a whole grid system to keep you in check but I'm still pleasantly surprised lol. It just goes to show how measuring and proportion is also important for those who want to draw from imagination.

[milkcee12]

[Term 1] Nude Figure Drawing

Not sure how I feel about my gesture drawings right now. They don't capture the figure as nicely as I want to (like Marc's I suppose). Well, this is my first set of gesture drawing homework so I expect I'll improve if I keep at it.

Page 5/6 Reflection

• I like the confidence and rhythm my lines have, it's more of making the lines accurate to the pose now. Gesture drawing is about choosing which lines communicate the figure the best. I think I'm relying on skeletal structure too much so I'm losing a lot of the silhouette that makes a figure readable.
• My 1-min gestures are noticeably scratchier than my 30-second drawings. Be more deliberate with my lines?

Used these two pages as a drawing warmup today--going to attempt the figure measuring assignment after I post this!

[milkcee12]

[Term 1] Nude Figure Drawing
Starting the perspective lecture today! Here are some figure studies I've been doing over the last couple of days. I'm not satisfied with the proportion studies yet but I think I should start on perspective anyways to have more exercises to mix and match between.

04/26/21 Reflection

• I'm not interested in grid techniques and more fine-art approaches to measuring because I don't see myself using these techniques at all in the future. However, to reach the same level of accuracy, I have to be a lot more careful in placing the landmarks I learned in the proportions lecture (specifically the navel, shoulders, and hips).
• The general shapes in your proportion studies are almost always off; if something looks wrong in your drawing, it's will almost always be a general issue, not a detail.
• If you get nothing else correct, at least get the tilt of the limbs accurately.

---

Finally, I'm also attaching a portrait sketch/piece I've been working on the side. After trying to study art a number of times over the years, I've learned that it's EXTREMELY important to always be drawing for fun. Never forget why you started studying art in the first place!

Thank you so much for reading!
Michaela

[Julia_J]

You are right! Never forget why you love drawing

[HANDRO]

good stuff!

its been a while since seen this course. what exactly is the grid techniques your referring to? like for anatomy?

[milkcee12]

I'm talking about the measuring techniques that Marc mentions. Essentially, you create a grid/mark up the reference and your own paper and then it's basically connect the dots until you have an accurate replica of the drawing (like the picture below).

Personally, I don't see myself using this technique at all because I'm more interested in drawing from imagination and therefore analyzing a reference as if it's in 3D space is more important to me (although proportions are still important). Hope this helped!

[Julia_J]

To be fair, the grid method is only part of Term 1 It will switch to construction very soon

[HANDRO]

gotcha. yeah I don't think I use that either, completely forgot about it. like @Julia_J said. it switches.

[dangras-almeida]

Pretty solid stuff so far, Michaela! Congrats!

I love how confident your lines are the exercises you share, and the way you are approaching the posts here, breaking down the exercises, sharing your notes and what is (not) working for you is also an amazing approach (which reminds me to go back doing something like this for my own posts, too).

And indeed, the "head tilt / pencil position / grid" it's indeed something that stays behind rather quickly. I still do find it interesting to have learned it because it still provides some knowledge around identifying negative/empty spaces, looking for shapes, relationship between the landmarks, etc. But I agree 100% that using those with the construction methods afterwards are way better

Thanks for sharing your posts here and keep up the awesome work!

[milkcee12]

[Term 1] Nude Figure Drawing, Perspective 1

I officially finished watching through all of the Term 1 lectures!! I wasn't able to do as much studying these last couple of days because of homework, but it's nice to see some improvements in my proportions (the ones that aren't foreshortened, at any rate lol).

4/30/21 Reflection

• Get the line of action right!!!!!!
• Improved a lot more in getting accurate tilts of each limb.
  • But now the limbs are a little too short!

I also got started on my 1-point perspective assignment! I love adding details to scenes but then I remember I have to finish them... :') But for now, I'm excited to get to cleaning this drawing up.

I learned a lot about keeping the scale consistent in the perspective lecture and had a lot of fun searching up medieval rooms and offices for reference. The concept is based off of an IP I've been thinking about for a while. Please look forward to the finished version, and thank you so much for reading!

Michaela

[milkcee12]

[Term 1] Perspective 1
Progress on my one-point perspective piece so far. I've been slacking on figure drawing and I honestly feel like I only know how to draw in perspective now because of it. Super happy with my progress so far and having more fun than I thought I would.

05/03/21 Reflection

• Getting a perspective drawing to look organic yet accurate involves alternating back and forth between the line tool and the pen. Too much of the line tool will stiffen it, and using the pen for everything will take waaaay too long.
• Staying zoomed out is helpful for managing detail concentration (a lesson I will forever relearn with every piece, haha).

Thank you so much for reading!

[Julia_J]

Wow, all the details!