Roanna's progress blog (digital painting through classical tradition)

[roanna]

Hello, my name is Anna and I finally find place to post the dumbliest things I draw. Please, guys, If you've ever read this post, CRITIQUE me a lot!!! I really need some hard, objective and argumented advise, because I'm sick of soul-searching and creepy slow progress.
I promise, you won't see me crying )))
Ok, let's start with the funniest thins: a HUMAN LIFE DRAWING. One week ago I had found some evening naked humas sketching classes and decided to attend them. Here is the result Hope, you'll laugh as much as I did )

[kigerneko]

Awesome sketches! The poses and anatomy are really good but could get a bit more depth by varying the lines a bit more. Try to draw darker lines where there are shadows to suggest mass and light/shadows to make the characters really pop out. No need to go crazy, keep it simple and move on to the next sketch. I see you already did that in some parts of your sketches.

And last but not least, try not to forget to add a "horizon" line for some of your poses. It can be a very simple and subtle horizontal line from a wall, chair or whatever, but it will serve as a guideline to read your poses better and create more depth as well.

[roanna]

Oh! Thank you so much for such a quick reply! I'm thinking about shadows, but I can't figure out how to do this. I draw with simple koh-i-noor bicolor pencil and a pin is too narrow. On the other hand, I hate charcoal in sketching because it smuges a lot and transfers to other sheets.
What may you suggest? Maybe markers with different nibs?

[cherrylimeade]

When I took my first life drawing class, what gave me the best results was just to TRY EVERYTHING. You forgot your pen? Okay, draw with whatevers handy. Smudged a drawing? Work it into the picture. It's all practice, and you might find something new in your art you didnt know existed!

[roanna]

forgot everything? DRAW WITH YOUR BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD
Thanx for advice)

[taydemcdonald]

This all looks amazing! Maybe try implementing some of this into a drawing from your imagination to see if you do as well?

[kigerneko]

In my shared sketches below you can see two examples. The hands were drawn within 1 minute each with a 0,5mm pencil. Each sketch is exactly the same size as my own hand. You said you're using a narrow pencil, but I don't think that should limit your shading much. I solved it with simple cross hatching. The darker lines are just more lines piled up making it appear darker.

In the second sketch I took my time focusing on anatomy. Sketched a Roman statue. I don't think you get enough time in your course to draw it like this, though, and you probably shouldn't.

Sketch of hands
Sketch of a Roman statue

Hope this helps..

And @cherrylimeade is right. Try everything! Even the materials you don't like.

[roanna]

Only one minute? Amazing speed! O_o I suppose, that it'll take me 5-10 minutes to draw like this, but thank you for advice, I finally get it.
At first I thought about this or this kind of shadowing and actually I would like to achieve it, but again, those charcoal transferring to other paper just drives me crazy.

[roanna]

You know... Actually I can't My "imagination poses" look creepy and awful.

[cherrylimeade]

ok weird story but I use to carry fake blood everywhere when I was in high school and I added it to a really dark pencil drawing then touched it up digitally and I still like it somehwat to this day. SO HEY YEAH blood why the heck not ahahaha!

[roanna]

Hi there, here are some new stuff. I tried to accomplish advices given here and to emphasise form and shape, also used new materials, which were weird to me. Any critique is appreciated.

[roanna]

Ok, today I did really interesting but weird exercise, I've decided to repaint an extremely gorgeous painting, done by Offutt Karen, with only 50 brush strokes.
It was so complicated and challenging! In fact, to accomplish this you should think in advance
about ANYTHING: type of brush, colour, direction, thickness, even sometimes I did curved strokes to minimise their quantity.
All in all, I've been painting this for 3 hours, which means 3-4 minutes per stroke. I made me feel like a turtle...
I think, I'll do this exercise more to boost my confidence and speed.

Does this site support GIF animation? I'm thinking to convert this study into animated process.

[roanna]

And here is my painting process. I think, that some day I will definitely repeat this challenge.

[achronic]

This is a very interesting exercise! Really brings out the thinking side of the brain

[Gyruum]

That last exercise, it's awesome! I'd like to do it myself.
As for the gestures they are good. I found really helpful focusing on one part of the body at time. Feet, legs, hands and so on, this made me more comfortable with drawing the human body.
In the last image, the woman seems to have more body fat in some of the poses, and less in others, maybe you can try to focus more on proportions. Good work!

[mar_cynwer]

Wow, that is a really interesting challenge, it must really make you think what you do.

[roanna]

@achronic, @mar_cynwer Yes, this exercise makes you think a lot and it's really cool.

[roanna]

Of course, you should try it. I think it may be affordable even in drawing, just use not 50 but 10 strokes - this'll boost even understanding of your dry material (esp charcoal or pastel).
I'm not sure that I understand to correctly. But to my mind, focusing on one part of the body is good when you study anatomy at home or doing photo sketching (so you could adjust your drawing time to at leas 10 mins). But I drew from life and my main focus was to get figure pose right (and at least proportions of the human body) within 2-5 minutes.
Yes I'm planning to focus some day only on body parts alone, not to draw a whole model, for better understanding of human nature.
As for capturing overall body shape, maybe you're right - I'm not good enough at getting the exact proportions, but that is why I'm attending this life drawing classes.

[Gyruum]

We are all here to study, and I think this is the best thing about art, you never stop, there's always something to improve. Good luck with your studies and keep it up!

[roanna]

@Gyruum Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt you? I don't mean anything.
I was just telling, that for that short time period, I can't concentrate on different parts, sometimes I even don't finish the overall gesture.