Audiodoc's SB '08 | Free Beer | UPDATE 08-14-08

[Audiodoc]

**Please check last page for updates**

Hey everyone!
I'm new here at CA.org, been lurking for quite a while. I'm here to learn as much as I possibly can to improve my drawing skills!

About me:
22 years old
Completing a Adv. Bachelor of Arts (Ling/Pysc) at the University of Manitoba

This will be my daily/semi-daily sketchbook.

A tome to showcase my great improvements, and hilarious attempts at greatness.

I would appreciate any feedback anyone could give me on anything I post in here.

Most of my posting for the next week or so are going to be studies, I'm trying to 'buff up on the basics, eyes,noses, proportions, positioning, etc...

So, with that said... ENGAGE! (in Jean Luc Picard Voice)

[Audiodoc]

Hand & Gradient Study

[Audiodoc]

Just got ahold of the loomis book. Going to do a runthrough of that anatomy work, I'll be updating this SB soon with some loomis studies

[ArtZealot]

I saw your comment on my rage against the machine comment in the lounge and had to stop by your sketchbook. These couple of sketches look nice. Hands are really damn hard to draw but these are good studies. If theres anything to get better at and beat into the ground, it's knowledge of how to draw a hand. Anyway, post more stuff, is it possible to see digital stuff? cheers.

[Audiodoc]

Thanks for dropping by my SB. I'll be posting some digital stuff once I get my hands on a Wacom tablet. Going to pickup a Bamboo fun next week hopefully!

[Audiodoc]

Here's some loomies studies I did. Having a hard time with some of them, but I know practice makes perfect

[Max Martelli]

Those Loomis books are wonderful, I went through Figure Drawing for
What its Worth this summer and my general proportions and anatomy knowledge definitely got better, just keep going with it.

My suggestion based on your current studies would be to work with the manikin. Get to the point where you can draw it in proportion without the book and in various poses. Then you can start to add some meat to the manikin. Not necesarily muscles but thicker limbs and a thicker torso. Eventually I would graduate to drawing the entire figure and its proportions.

Do this for both the male and the female figure because the ideal proportions for the two of them differ greatly. Every time you sit down to do some studies try drawing at least the front view of each in their correct proportions.

After you get the proportion part down then start to indicate different muscles in the body. You don't need to go all out with every muscle. The bigger ones will do at first. Go for the ones that are noticable through your skin. Then when you get into more in depth anatomical studies you can go wild with the muscles until you have a general idea of all the muscles in the body. When doing this I think it would be good to split the body up into arm, leg, torso, etc. in order to focus your attention more than tackling the entire body at once.

Stop by my sketchbook later tonight, I'll post some of my proportion studies from this summer. They're just front side and back of the male, female and the manikin figure with some indication of the muscles.

Hope this is helpful, keep drawing.

[Audiodoc]

Thanks for stopping by the SB, great advice, I'll work some more with the manakin and post updates!

[funfetus]

Hey, man. Good luck in your journey -- Loomis is a pretty good path. My only suggestion at this point is this: your drawings look a little flat right now. Try to think of everything you draw as a solid, 3-dimensional object. Do your underdrawings that way. Everything is some sort of cube, sphere, cylinder, or cone, or some combination of those things.

[Audiodoc]

Is there a best way to go about making the foundations of a character drawing? Like do most start with a wireframe - then add shapes and muscles? I'm just not sure of the best way to go about it.

[armando]

I've never seen anyone begin with the wire frame. I've seen Marko, and Ian McCaig both basically go right in with the general shapes and proportions - a loose "block in"(helpful definition taken from dictionary.com: "a mold or piece on which something is shaped or kept in shape: a hat block."), then add details and refine those general shapes.
Things to keep in mind with the wireframe:
Gravity: To keep frontal figures from leaning keep your head up straight. Use your sense of gravity to feel vertical, look at the figure and feel that it's vertically balanced. Feel how the figure is supported by it's legs, the way the legs oppose the force of gravity.
Rhythm: The simplified bones give us the general rhythm of the body, the rhythm of the muscles, and then the rhythm of the masses are drawn within the framework of that rhythm. If the wireframe is 4/4 time, then the masses are the specific beat played over that underlying groove. Masses means: that the underlying anatomy isn't what you see on a living figure, we don't see the bones and muscles all seperated like they are in an anatomy chart, but several anatomical facts combine into one form, all the detail is lost beneath skin and fat, and just that subtly complex form is left. Rhythm means the way the lines are organized, the pattern that they fit into. That could be interconnected lines as Loomis describes, it can be spirals, fountain like arrangements of line, and lots of others.
These books have useful info:
Vernon Blake "The Art and Craft of Drawing" http://www.archive.org/details/artan...ofdra027904mbp
Michael Mattesi "Force"
Something to keep in mind when you're studying anyone's approach to drawing: There are basically two approaches to drawing, there is form drawing, and shape drawing. Form drawing is where you're thinking in 3D as you draw and your shape contours represent the surfaces of 3D forms. Shape drawing is essentially copying light and shade, the marks we make don't represent forms but the 2D effect of light on the picture plane.
Good explanation of that in: Heinrich Wolflinn "Principles of Art History"

[Audiodoc]

thanks vm for the helpful information... I have so much to learn!

[JamesF]

Hey man, my advice to you would be take your time. In the eye study it doesn't look as though you're taking enough time,

what I do normally is

get the basic outline, stand back, take a look at the reference and back several times, change if needed

always constantly looking back and forth, it really helps, but still I manage to get them wrong most of the time

just keep working hard and enjoy yourself, goodluck!

[Max Martelli]

Hey man, I got those proportion pictures up on my sketchbook so if you get a chance come on by.

In the meantime, good luck and keep posting.

[Audiodoc]

Thanks for all your advice and words guys, keeps me motivated to improve!

[Audiodoc]

Update:

- Loomis Studies
- Crappy Sketch
- Medicore Portrait

[Audiodoc]

Something about that portrait I really don't like. It looked alot better when I was drawing it, but I guess coming back to something you get a fresh look.

[lithiumdawn]

Good stuff keep working at it I'm sure you will get better

My sketch book:
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...=1#post1926198

"I walk the path of Kings and Gods" - Lithiumdawn

[jedininjaman]

aww where is the beer...
anyways keep trucking dedication is your key at this point, loomis studies look nice try to flush a few of them out some more
keep it up and stop by sometime
-jedi