Jan '24

Reply to

work_ronald

I've used the mirror myself to get the base done. It's very helpful, but if you were to eventually do pieces, it wouldn't work out too well, since angles and perspective have a huge impact on pieces.

It's also helpful to give it a try without the mirror to get a feel for proportions and alignments manually, since those skill will eventually translate into a 3D space. Of course your are bound to get disproportions on the first tries, but keep in mind it's just exercices, don't stress too much about the end quality, just on what you are learning from it.

Jan '24

Well, here's the gesture drawing. Although I did do the timing a bit askew. These are all done in 45 seconds. Overall, I'm fairly disappointed with them. :sweat_smile:
Anyways, I feel like I'm missing the purpose of this assignment. Like, I know what it's suppose to look like and what it's for, I guess my mind just doesn't understand how to make gestures or something. :confused:

Jan '24

It's all about training observation skill and learning to work from references, as well as building your mental library.

A quick test to see how it's helping you is to get one reference sample, one of the ones you are using, then put it away and try to draw it from imagination like if it was a gesture work. Then bring the image back, and do the gesture proper by looking at it same 3 mins. compare both and I think you'll notice a difference even in simple doodles.

Jan '24

Sounds like an interesting activity. I'll definitely give it a shot. Thank you for the help!

Jan '24

Alrighty, tried more gestures. I think these are turning out better. Who knew practice helps? :joy:
This time I also tried keeping my canvas smaller, so I'm not zoomed in as much. On the last 13 I kept the canvas even smaller, so I wouldn't have to move around it at all; helpful with time management and focus. I also put a line down the center of the canvas, and I found that really helped me with sizing and proportions.

Jan '24

Looking good so far, keep at it

Are you using the entire canvas to make those gestures?

cheers

20 days later

Feb '24

Got distracted by this game called Palworld. It's pretty addicting. So I thought I'd get back where I left off! :smile:
These were made in 30 seconds vs the 45 seconds I was doing previously. I did three sets, and this is just my last set. I think they look good, except for the part where they're not really finished. :sweat_smile:
I might move on after this one. Dunno yet though. I'm not really satisfied with my level yet. Although will I ever be satisfied? :joy:

Feb '24

Reply to

snakker

Umm, not sure what you mean by whole canvas, I do them in sets of 13 to 15, so I just put them all on on canvas. The last two pictures better depict how I do it. Is there a secret with this "whole canvas" you speak of??

Feb '24

Can't speak for @snakker, but what I understand, or rather what I do now, is that I'll add a layer, use the whole canvas space to draw, and when I'm done, hide it, add another layer, and work on the next gesture/sketch. By the end I can rearrange them as needed, making them smaller, moving then, etc.

Using the whole space allows me to do larger arm/hand movements and to visually focus more on the current gesture, which usually results in smoother lines.

What I did before, was just draw on a single layer, zoom in, and do all drawings one besides the other, trying to take up as much canvas space by the end. Some do gestures as long as there's space in their canvas.

I think either approach is viable, as long as you are comfortable with it.

Feb '24

The answer is yes and no.

No, you will always want to improve, to do something more. I can't think of a single pro who says "Yea, I've peaked, there's nowhere left to go".

Yes, you should learn to appreciate your own art, your progress and to be proud of what you do regardless of your level. If you put the effort and are working to continuously improve and express yourself, and more importantly, are having fun, you're doing it right.

Both are important in healthy dosis and very destructive when taken in negative ways. You will probably also swing back and forth depending on your mood and feeback received.

Feb '24

Alrighty, the next assignment is some figure drawings. When I overlayed the line work on the picture, it is pretty apparent I didn't get it right. While I think I did ok, there is definitely some improvement to be had.
I can't remeber in the video, if Marc did some guidelines for the body. I don't remember him doing them; thus I did not do them. It definitely made it a weird kinda challenge.

Feb '24

yo, these are very nicely done! good job mate

What I meant was precisely what @daceronine is saying. Basically using the entire drawing surface is what I mean. Either zooming in or later resizing to fit multiple gestures into a single picture. Gestures are always best done using your shoulder or heck, your entire body if you're standing XD

cheers

Feb '24

Alrighty, went back for some gesture drawings. These are done in 40 seconds. This time I tried utilizing the whole canvas, and man, my shoulder was getting pretty sore by the end of it. :sweat_smile: Overall though, I think they turned out well. :+1:

Gesture Drawings 8.jpg3000x4000 731 KB

Feb '24

Alrighty, went back to doing figure drawings. These are taking a lot longer than I expected them to. I'm not sure if there should be a time limit on these; although I'd probably ignore it. I have a bad habit of doing things to completion; when I'm just trying to study a specific area. :sweat_smile:

Mar '24

Looking good! Keep it up!

Mar '24

Did another figure drawing assignment. I tried doing these ones a lot faster than my others. I noticed that I was spending a ton of time making sure everything was jus right. This time I just kind of tried to get it close. Initially I was thinking about doing the next assignment, BUT, I really HATE doing perspective stuff. :sweat: But yeah, just a bit more progress.

Mar '24

It's all good progress. I feel you about perspective. Really important stuff, but it can get rough.