Tutorials from the russian renaissance tradition(explicit nudity and bad language!)

[integra]

You don't hav any idea how much you've helped me and all for free! where I live its impossible to make online payments so this are the only few resources that helps.

[Star Eater]

This stuff is gold, so many questions I've had in my head have had their answers voiced in your tutorial. Thank you.

[hummel1dane]

Thanks everybody - I'll make a bunch of tutorials after I've finished studying Robert Beverly Hales system of anatomy, possibly after christmas.
Again I REALLY recommend Glenn Vilppu, Robert Beverly Hale, Gottfried Bammes.

[beggargirl]

Thanks everybody - I'll make a bunch of tutorials after I've finished studying Robert Beverly Hales system of anatomy, possibly after christmas.

Looking forward to it!

[Book Guru]

Hi Everyone!

I truly hope this teaching aid will help to answer many of your questions and to improve your art studying.
And now this popular teaching aid is also available in English!

Not a hard copy (yet), but a complete, translated PDF version that can be used either by itself or as a supplement to the Russian version of the book.

Here is the link: Fundamentals of Drawing, V.A. Mogilevtsev

Highlights
- the only manual on academic drawing approved by the Russian Academy of Arts.
- awarded with a Silver Medal by the Academy in 2008.

P.S. It's also available in Chinese, if you're interested.

below are some samples:

[Logo]

How much does the english pdf cost and how to buy it? I went on the website but I cant see the option to buy english pdf. Many thanks.

[Book Guru]

It's 420 rubles, which is roughly $14.00 USD (or 10 euro).
You need to use the translation button to your right, in order to translate all the pages during your order (it's an auto-Google translation tool but works relatively well).
They accept credit cards, WebMoney, or PayPal. Though many clients get rejected by the credit card processing center - many provide address and phone number that doesn't match with their bank's records.

For any details, you can ask directly at [email protected]

Regards,

Kat

[sidyrm]

Hey hummel1dane, This thread is fantastic.

I am now confident that I need to spend more time on the sculptural approach to drawing. I have saved some money for a skeleton, but you cautioned against using oversimplified skeletons.

I found a skeleton online called the Budget Bucky that is supposed to be fully articulated. An alternate model is Mr. Plain. This one is about double the price of the Bucky. I presume the detail is finer. Also, this one is manufactured in Germany, whereas the Bucky's origin is not listed.

The store catalogue says that Budget Bucky is fairly detailed, except for the surfaces. Exactly how detailed does it need to be to be useful for drawing study using the method you describe? Do you think this particular model might be useful?

Again, many, many thanks for your insightful threads.

[hummel1dane]

Glad you like the thread! I really hope to be ready to add more information in the future, atm Im bussy with studying anatomy.

As for what skeleton to buy, I would definitely suggest the more expensive one, it's the one I use. The price isn't that bad, I paid about the same for an already used model.
Real bones would be the best however, so you should be aware that the bones could be a bit out of shape, even in this more expensive model. I have the problem of the plastic gotten soft, so that some of the bones have bend in the wrong places. Therefore definitely also look to good anatomy books, or atleast check that the bones have the correct shape. Also the placement of the bones on a plastic skeleton might not be 100% anatomically correct.
I ended up removing the shoulderblade and clavicle of one side to study them in isolation.
Also be aware that many artists would exaggerrate the twists of the bones, so definitely also study master drawings/paintings.

The cheaper model is most likely aimed at medical students on a budget. They need to memorize the bones, but the exact shape is less important.

Good luck in the future!

[watdekikker]

Thanks for posting this. Great to see your process behind it, very useful.

[rapxic]

coool tuts man , learnt something new man

[hummel1dane]

All right I should be about ready to post some anatomy tutorials. I'll be using this 3d skelet that I hope you guys won't mind, you don't need to know anything about 3d to understand this, it just makes it alot easier and faster to show examples of anatomy in 3d.
In the near future I'll make some anatomy-drawing tutorials based on Robert Beverly Hale's video lectures. Following his logic it will be much easier to use these 3d anatomy tutorials, so if it doesn't seem useful now it could be useful in the future.

This is the basic jaw movement of opening of the mouth. Besides this hinging movement, the jaw can also move forward and backwards, and a bit from side to side, but you can try this yourself. It is just important to keep in mind that the jaw has a very movable joint, and that the condyle moves forward in the opening of the mouth.

Btw the jaw in latin(anatomical language) is called the mandibula, in english mandible.

[fork]

super helpful.

[NewmanD]

amazing thread!

[Thadas]

Wonderful tutorials. Absolutely love the one with the ribcage. Informative, and incredibly well done!

[BlaqCat]

This is a very helpful thread to say the least!

[mentler]

Outstanding direction here.... love the Russian approach of construction and observation.

[hummel1dane]

Thanks Mentler, hopefully I can find time to do more tutorials.

I'm preparing some skull drawing tutorials that I'll post ASAP.

About the tutorials :

This is the skull I'm using,


and this is the finished result, a semi-fast study, no teeth.


I recommend 1-3 hours per drawing. You shouldn't worry about details or finishing anything. When studying anatomy you'll eventually realize that "finishing" doesn't make any sense. Try to see it as an ongoing process.
Especially since many details will be covered by skin, focusing on the wrong places of the skull can be a waste of time. Unless you want a career as a medical illustrator.


Materials :

I use a charcoal pencil and white-chalk pencil, sharpened with a knife and sandpaper. For eraser I use a soft kneaded eraser, but you don't have to erase much, since the chalk and charcoal can easily be brushed off the paper, and you can draw on top.
I use cheap cardboard paper of medium brown value. If you're only drawing for 1-3 hours I can't see any reason to use expensive paper.

You can use pencil and white paper - in my experience ordinary printing paper is fine.

Eventually I'll post a complete a-z of this drawing. Hopefully I'll get to do other drawings from different angles including teeth.

EDITED :
this is closer to the actual size A4, it might be a bit bigger stil since CA zooms in, at least on my computer. If you want the correct size you can just open the picture in another browserwindow.

[hummel1dane]

As you can see I like to mark all plane changes directly on the skull. That way I usually don't have to think too much about the form - it can be difficult to judge by seeing it from only one angle.
Another way is to touch the object, or look at it from different angles.
But by drawing the skull from many angles eventually you'll understand its form.

[hummel1dane]

These are the materials,

I prefer to use non oily drawing materials. That way it's much easier to whipe off the paper. The whitechalk is also much brighter than an oily white.
the thing to the left is what I keep the sandpaper in, remember to keep it seperate from your eraser.

The paper is midtone or slightly brighter, that way it's much faster to draw than it would be on white paper, you hardly have to do any rendering.

If you feel it's too difficult to figure out how to draw with white then I suggest you wait a bit. In general drawing with white is considered pretty advanced. You have to reverse your thinking in a way.

[hummel1dane]

You want to get the charcoal and whitechalk really sharp, for that you use the sandpaper. In the beginning you can keep the point less sharp, since you don't decide on any outlines.

[hummel1dane]

I like to keep the white appart from the black on the sandpaper. Or you can just use too sandpaperpads.

The same is the case when smudging.
When smudging I suggest you smudge with a different finger for the white areas, or you'll end up with a messy drawing pretty fast.

[hummel1dane]

There is a special handposition to avoid smudging unwanted areas.
It might be too strenuous if you are not relaxed, so if you are a complete beginner you might want to avoid this.
This position is mainly used for cross-hatching or outlining.

You support your hand on the knockle of the little finger.


Some even draw like this using the tip of the little finger as only support, but I avoid it myself since it feels a bit strenuous.


But when starting a drawing you might want to use a super relaxed handposition like this,

[hummel1dane]

I start with a very loose almost invisible line. It might take some time to develop the feeling for softness so don't worry if you use too much presure.
I try and establish the main shape of the skull, as well as the composition.
Personally I don't care much for composition in a drawing like this, but the people who taught me really did care a lot, even in an exercise study.



I try and get a feel of the perspective early on.

[hummel1dane]

You start by construction outer perspective lines, in this case the horizontal line is way above so you can't construct it on the paper. In this case the vanishing point of these lines will end somewhere on the horizontal line way outside the borders of the paper. But don't worry!
By constructing the outer perspective lines, these are the perspective line from buttom of jaw and top of forehead, you can relate all inner perspective lines to these.



These two red lines will meet on their vanishing point somewhere on the horizon line way outside the borders of the paper.

[hummel1dane]

Picture 4



I advice you to measure angles, and to relate points on the skull by use of vertical and horizontal lines. You can hold up your pencil and see how point falls on these horizontal and vertical lines.

Other than that I don't recommend measuring. The reason is that it stops the flow and you get too focused on "correctness" and that stuff.
Correct proportions can be very very difficult even for the experienced artist.

First things first :

composition

construction(perspective and landmarks)

clever use of the outline

to some degree rendering.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can look at the angle that's formed by the top and buttom points of the skull and the vertical.




perhaps a bit off in this case..

[hummel1dane]

Picture 4 again



And picture 5 - the chalk is easily wiped off, can be easier than using the eraser.

[hummel1dane]

Picture 6




You have to establish the inbetween perspective lines - they go to the same vanishing point. Actually all parallel lines always go to the same vanishing point!
When moving points up and down on your drawing, remember to always relate what you do to the established perspective.

Again you only imagine the vanishing point - a well trained artist should have a very good sense of "correct" perspective. This means that you have to learn to see if something looks off.
You don't have to do mathematical calculations or anything, just keep perspective in mind and train your construction.

[hummel1dane]

I now start using the charcoal pencil. I waited a bit, since the white is nice to use building up the main shapes.

I recommend you use cross-hatching. Cross-hatching is a very old renaissance way of drawing. Look at Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci for best examples. As well as old prints.

You can always smudge the cross-hatch and draw another layer of cross-hatch lines on top.

Picture 7



Picture 8



PIcture 9

[hummel1dane]

Although I've started using the charcoal now, I still keep it down, try and do a very light-wristed stroke.



When constructin always draw transparent, even though you can't see where some lines end doesn't mean you can't draw them!

A :

Look how the jaw is drawn behind the cheekbone, the same is the case with the line behind the nosebone.



B :

When constructing the attachment of the cheekbones on the nosebone you have to draw transparent, other wise you can't relate the twinpoints.



Twinpoints :

This is the term I use for the symmetrical landmarks. Any point not located on the midline has a twinpoint on the other side of the midline.