Leo's sketchbook 2013 life drawing is good for you!

[LtPlissken]

Your talent was hidden behind a dark gloomy ebony cemetery observatory
for a long long time. Then the mist and the fog vanished, pure clouds descended.
Your bronze sparkling armor became visible as the rotten scarecrow became tangible.
A bit of chili sauce over here a bit of chili sauce over there, your mighty leg and
anatomy studies, became overly precious just like sand in the ancient stove of the
midnight magic. Strong endurance and high fidelity, radiates through every
hole of your perseverance. Heads up high and pencils above the sky, your
mighty creation time will now arrive.

[ja1307]

really good studies keep learning from them and you will make good progress.

[Black Spot]

Such rapid improvement. Might want to do a few still lives as well.

[lionheartGFX]

hi guys! well heres my practice on feet, damn i learned so much i always used triangles to express feet hahahaha, it certainly is quite complicate and will come back to all of these anatomy studies again in the future but for now i feel pumpled with so much info also my head drawings suck but now i know somewhat the planar and structure of the head, ill do some poses next and some portraits with enfasis on anatomy and exaggeration of the pose and well see from there.

[lionheartGFX]

@ja1307 thanks!
@blackspot wow thanks deffinetely will do more still lifes in the future
@ltplissken dude your comments always cheer me up as always thanks for the support!

[amaranthxx]

Wow...just looked through your sketchbook...can definitely see the improvement...you have done a lot of work with anatomy and the human form...(I need to start doing that). I can really see an improvement...I especially liked that drawing you did of the woman...I think it was at the end of page 1....it was the front pose, the head seemed too small...but it had a fluidity to it that was really nice...at least me...I am just starting out myself, as well...I also agree with blackspot about branching out, and doing something other than just the figure...do some still life drawings too...and maybe just studies on light and shadow to get a better feel for value, which will help with color....just some ideas...and things I plan to do myself...But, keep posting...it is inspiring to see others improvement.

[heavenwill]

great studies, keep up the good work

[lionheartGFX]

helloo people, im here with another update like i promised im trying variety and it feels good, take my word for it i havent done still lifes in a while and let me tell you they improved ALOT! i mean if course they still suck and look wonky as hell but they have a feelig in structure that it was really refreshing, im deffinetely gonna keep on doing them.

[marcocasalvieri]

hey man, a lot of improvements compared to the first page, keep it up with the good work!

[ceddo]

Hey Leonard, great stuff here! You're really putting the work in and it shows. So many anatomy studies! Keep it up, you're doing great

Kindly,
Cedric

[lionheartGFX]

hey guys quick question whats more interesting Dali dressed up as mario or mario posing off as dali?

[Ambiguity]

Oh hey, Leonard from Sycra's forums right?

As for the question, I'd say the former.

[MrFrenik]

I notice Michael Hampton studies when I see them. I'd say you're going well in the right direction but your perspective is still lacking in most of the drawings you've posted. Take some time and really delve into simple perspective grid studies and work with geo-forms for a while.

[Kjesta]

Hey, thanks for leaving feedback at my SB! I'd like to return the favour. Truth to be told, I'm not sure I can give you much specific feedback beyond "keep working those basics", you have a lot of really good people in here giving you very good crit, I feel like I would mostly just repeat what they already said. It's good to see you drawing from life so much, it can be frustrating, but it's really the basis for everything. Be patient, allow yourself to suck sometimes, and learn to relax into the work. (These are things I myself still have to work on.) Keep up the good work!

[surrealistic]

holy shiiiii so much improvement! your a real inspiration. im not really in a position to give good crit, but i will say that id love to see you do more sketches and studies with your tablet, it really helps you get used to it. dali dressed as mario definately!

[MrFrenik]

Hey, thanks for checking my SB out. You asked about how to apply perspective to figures, and while that's a quite an involved question, I do know where you can and should start to get better at this. My answer: The box and perspective grids. MASTER these two studies and all the techniques involved with them. If you can't draw continual freehand straight lines yet then start there first. In fact, I've noticed that in most of your drawings as well that your lines tend to be scratchy and timid, and in most of your perspective studies, the lines end up curved instead of straight and have a look as if you've gone over the lines tons of times to just try and get it correct. Start drawing with pens. Use fine-liners for warm ups, like drawing straight lines, grids, ellipses, boxes, cylinders, and spheres. Use ball-point for sketching, which allows for some dynamics in tone but you still have to be confident about your ability to draw strokes, because these lines don't erase and because you know that it subconsciously changes the way you feel about drawing. As a side note, as I always seem to plug this is in, if you haven't checked out Scott Robertson's basic drawing DVD then I suggest you do so. He goes through each of these things and really shows how to apply each exercise practically. So back to your question about how I apply perspective to figures, I can't help but use it. Once I started getting fundamentally strong in using perspective, then it got really hard to switch it off, as I'm sure a lot of others will attest to. Hope this helps some, and I look forward to see you continue to get better and delve deeper into the monster that is drafting.

[lionheartGFX]

hey guys just here dropping another update, been doing some drapery studies, i think i got the hang of them to a certain extent im happy with, next up is perspective, already did some reading and tried applying some of it really quickly it was confusing at first but its all clicking now, so ill probabbly stop posting until i have a good ammount of sketchbook pages to post.

[jerompt]

I really like your sketches, i think the proportion of the head in some sketches is smaller than what it should be, maybe its just me. Keep it up!!

[nouge]

Latest figure drawings are WOW! Definitely see that you're starting to get structure into them. Keep working on life drawings, it'll help you get a nice grip of perspective you can transfer the human body (and head!) into.

Overall, great improvement going on here!

[Anthonycarey]

I really like your sketches, i think the proportion of the head in some sketches is smaller than what it should be, maybe its just me. Keep it up!!

i think your right, and where the jaw line meets the bottom of the ear is off on some of them also pay attention to how the neck connects to the skull (it was my problem for the longest time ) but now my latest nightmare is faces
but i totally agree with everyone your making super fast progress, im totally jealous because figures and anatomy are like a huge brick wall for me i have to fight and grind through.

[lionheartGFX]

@nouge thanks man and yeah i deffinetely feel more confident around the figure

@jerompt thanks man, proportion is really my alltime problem and i do put conscious effort into triple checking my measuring but sometimes things do slip by

@anthonycarvey necks is a biggie for me specially when drawing in from imagination in different perspectives, and it really is a fight but there is a joy to it if you find it your golden son

ill be sure to upload my recent drawings today or tomorrow theres really a bunch of different stuff, im gonna study body language and facial expressions next all while still trying to practice anatomy, and stills yes hahaha it feels like im juggling a little bit

[kingkostas]

Great studies mate. These perspective studies will improve your perception of 3d space. Will be annoying right now but later on will allow you to create on a more relaxed state.
keep going!!!

[lionheartGFX]

@kingkostas thanks for stopping by!

hi guys well here are the drawings i tried animal anatomy again, strangely enough i feel like ive improved as well without practicing it im searching for good excercises for perspective, maybe pictures of simple buildings and then coming up with my own o dont know, what do you suggest?

[lionheartGFX]

im just gonna leave this here

[LtPlissken]

You are working like a beast lately, I can see your sudden improvements
in your lines and anatomy studies, definitely nothing go in vein in your
evolution time. While they are a bit dark because of the way you took the
photos, it’s still clearly visible the brightness and shininess of your brilliant
execution. Doing perspective studies is a great idea, I strongly support it.
The best and strongest thing that you can do about perspective is to try
and draw a chair from real life. You don’t need anything better for that
for start. Start to draw the chair from different angles, it’s a tremendous
perspective exercise. After you can do some referenced things from
google images and so on. You are doing good, you brought some fresh
and quality refreshments among us lately, with your divine pieces.

[lionheartGFX]

@Lt Plissken hey thanks for stopping by, and what an exellent idea about the chair excercises, it seems easy yet chalenging im gonna try that right now, also i have a bit more drawings i plan to upload, did some changes to that last portrait, and about the photos i edit them so that the pencil line is more visible since i dont own a scanner, did a full page piece completely original so i plan on maybe try to add color digitally and do expect me to stay around, theres alot of creativity and energy here and it deffinetely pushes me forward glad to be part of this and a bit sad i couldnt be here in the golden days of the site

[lionheartGFX]

hey! heres the stuff back to drawing hahaha

[arenhaus]

As you requested, I have looked through your sketchbook. You've got some good progress, comparing the early posts and some of the later posts.

I would suggest you focus on the form at this stage. I see you have been doing some exercises to track the form (e.g. the "wireframe" anatomy studies), but once you stop doing that as a specific point of the exercise, you often lapse and your automatic drawing takes control. Then you produce the same stereotypical things as you did in the beginning.

The only real way to break out of this cycle is always making sure that you are building the form, not just drawing lines automatically. Whether you are working from life or imagination, always keep track of the perspective, proportion, angles, measurements. Don't just make a mark; think what reason you have to make this mark - what edge does it correspond to, what underlying anatomical structure causes it. Use construction lines and make sure that you are drawing a solid volume, not symbolic lines. Even if you do not "see" the form yet, you must keep building it, as if you were sculpting. Eventually you'll begin "seeing" the form and it will get easier.

But for now - keep checks. Perspective, parallels, angles, sizes, relative positions, breakdown into basic shapes and planes, anatomical structures, whatever you are drawing. Otherwise you'll go on repeating symbols, and that's not what you want.

[Istmin52]

Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook. I feel that your lines are becoming more confident. I would agree by adding some still lives to the mix.

[Grafguy]

Hey Lio, thanks for stopping by I'm finally able to answer your question.

"i have a question do you do a sketch or "under drawing" when you do watercolours? i wanna start but im afraid im gonna suck too hard at it"
- I always lay down a sketch before I start a watercolor. I do avoid using soft pencils because they leave dark lines. Use colored pencils or hard ones that leave almost invisible lines. As you layer your paint they will be harder and harder to see. Please don't be afraid, its just a piece of paper. if you mess up, turn it around and start again.

You're doing really well with the studies, but don't stay in that sketch-comfort zone too long, take it a step further and try to make a complete piece of art. You'll learn faster that way. It doesn't have to be perfect, just take it to the finish line.

Cheers!