Biting the bullet- daily drawings

[Vailence]

The drawings you did of your family are really nice, loving the linework and shading. Keep it up

[black-swan]

Vailence: Thank you for the encouragement

2 1/2 hour drawing, I started it three times, this is the third attempt. It was so damn hard to be accurate! I feel as though a lot of my drawings are skewed and inaccurate, mainly through laziness and I think i've built up a bad habit in this. I'm not hard enough on myself, you get used to inaccuracies. What is the best thing to do? Really focus on life drawing, keep doing compositional stuff? What's the point in studying composition if I can't even draw what I see accurately? Is carrying on the way I am going to improve this? Sorry, just feeling frustrated.



I'm interested in classical art, I want to be able to see and draw beautifully, is it all a matter of practice? The right kind of practice?

[Kode]

Still in love with your pencil work from life, like the ones of your grandparents.
The colour painting you did also turned out really nice, looking forward to seeing
them progress.

As for your last post about inaccuracies, i think you're just at a frustrated hump
that you need to push through. I get it too! If I'm lucky I will catch the
inaccuracies early (a mirror can help with this) so I can fix them, other times I
won't notice until I am adding the finishing touches and will want to claw my
eyes out. I think it's just a matter of taking your time and practising as much
you can (from life when possible).

[luthertaylor]

Lots and lots of hard work! I see your recent posts and frustration on being accurate in your drawings. Bear with me I will get to my opinions on that in a second.

first a reply on your reply to my comment about gesture drawing. That scribbling method is actually a way that I use to draw. I actually still draw like that when I do poses from imagination. However when I started trying to make my lines as minimal as possible I noticed a big change in the way I draw overall. I believe catching form in minimal lines is all about confidence in line prowess. I won't go into it further but I urge you give it a try.
go to posemaniacs.com and check out the 30 second drawing tool. also check the videos on that same page.

about your question, I think something can be said about aspiring to be accurate in your drawings. I'll quote from a book on human anatomy. "in one sense, a human body is the sum of its parts. But this premise can both help and hinder. It can hinder when we attend to the parts and ignore the sum. it is true the student must work at first to be correct, but he must never forget that there is little virtue in sheer correctness. Ultimately, he should propose - right or wrong- to be convincing. he should acquire such mastery of structure that he no longer depends on the accuracy of his eye or the patience of his model. he will want to gain, in his own right, suh command of human forms and contours that his creation will become identified not with his anatomy charts but with HIM." - stephen rogers peck.

you are a very hard worker, carrying on the way you are, you are bound to improve. but you are sounding to be quite anal about accuracy to where it is sounding like it is hindering you. I wish I had the skill to give you confidence in what I am about to say but it is not the case. Personally I feel and only recently came to the conclusion after half a year of broad drawing studies and seeing little improvement, that whatever it is you wish to improve upon, you must isolate it, study to understand it, and then/or hammer out repetitive drawing on it. this is coming from a person whose main goal is to be able to draw from imagination without the aid of reference, to a likeness of how I see it in my brain. I believe learning how to draw, and learning how to draw to be able to do it without reference are two different things. Anyone can learn to copy, If I was to start applying reference to my drawings I am sure they would be of another level but then I feel that the drawing is no longer mine (or maybe it's just because I'm a lazy bastard who just wants to be able to sit down at any given time and vomit out phenomenal drawings effortlessly). I think the person that develops themselves to draw without reference to a likeness will make sure they learn what it is they are drawing.

That said I can't help but feel like i came in strong but now I'm chatting nonsense as it's that time of the night again lol feel free to correct my deluded mind. all the best swan, I believe in you.

p.s. let's swap areas. you live in london to visit the museums and I come to wales to draw those epic landscapes at least they won't destroy my spirit like cityscapes..or maybe they will lol good night.

[black-swan]

Kode: Thanks for the advice and encouragement.

luthertaylor: I'll have to try that method of gesture drawing, I haven't done gestures for a while now, I really need to get back into it. That's a good quote, thanks . Referencing has very little to do with copying when done the right way, It can just help your work look more convincing and build up your knowledge too, especially if you do both drawings from memory and direct observation. I can understand we're you're coming from, but I don't believe we should try to beat nature or completely abandon using references. thanks again.

Large update, although this past week I haven't been doing much. Read through all of Gantz in 3 days, I need to get back on track, haha.

I have decided to try out a month at MindCandyMan's (Jon Hardesty's) online atelier, with the view to study there over a year or more, classicalartonline.com. I want affordable traditional training, so it should be quite an exciting journey. I've talked with my Dad, and we're going to clear a space in the garage for my art stuff. It's going to be tough training, so I have given myself a bit of a break. Hopefully it'll be a good cure for impatience.

I'm going to focus on perspective and anatomy, with daily life drawing from now on. I'm starting to realize how important perspective is in making an illusion of volume, it's incredibly important to have a firm grasp on it. I've also ordered a life sized skeleton, so that should help with learning and drawing bones , I so need to get back on track! I think my eventual goal would be to draw and paint from life and mythical/ fantasy scenes, maybe another comic in the future...

[black-swan]

I don't like the new uploader, it's slow, there is a limit of 20 files and you still have to fill in a load of annoying fields, I'm not here to make money or steal off anyone, i can't see the point! It also goes a bit buggy with the subject selection if you include too many files,

[black-swan]

Stuff over the past two weeks,

[black-swan]

As you can see, I haven't been up to much,

[jabbit]

hey nice stuff i like all the skull still lives, very helpful i'm sure. Is the skull a plastic one or what? I've been thinking of getting one, got any advice on what to get?

[black-swan]

jabbit: Thanks, yeah the skull is plastic, I think I got it from a medical website. You can get plastic casts of skulls and full size skeletons on ebay, cheaper than amazon and well worth getting. I think a real skull would freak me out too much, haha

[nouge]

That's a lot of drawings! Very nice, as usual. My favorite is the lamp, it's very lifelike. (I assume you liked it too since you posted it twice!)

[black-swan]

Thanks nouge. I didn't mean to post it twice, haha, just getting used to the new system

[nodeerskulls]

love, love your work! it's very inspiring! especially your measurings! i never paid much attention to measuring, but i'm honestly learning a thing or two from you!

love your chess illustrations and your object drawings
so pretty ;_;

[black-swan]

nodeerskulls: Thanks

charcoal drawing of converse, from life,

[Aragah]

man. you are striking right at the core of what needs to be done to get good at art!
just keep at it!
maybe a little more of constructivism anatomy, like loomis or horgarth, would also be good.
you definitely on the right track!

[black-swan]

Aragah: thanks for the encouragement, I will start doing more figure studies soon, but it's quite an intimidating subject, haha. I'm also not sure about which book to go for, whether it be loomis, bridgeman or another anatomy book.

Some gesture drawings, I can't seem to get away from scribbling. 30 seconds each. Also, I bought myself a full scale skeleton, it's really cool and creepy, at least it's a cast and not the real bones- that would have freaked me out a bit.

Feeling a bit unmotivated, I need to ask myself, what am I doing this for? Well, I do find perspective interesting, I do find looking at things interesting. My imagination sucks big time, so that's something to develop. I think I've been a bit out of it for a few weeks, I need to get back on track. I really wish I could do longer studies and curb my impatience.

Also, not sure where to begin with learning anatomy. Do you begin by drawing the whole skeleton or parts in isolation? is it best to look at muscles the same time as bones? I think I need to do my own studies and learn this stuff for myself, I just need to get back into the swing of things.

Also, I think I need to get back to studying perspective and thinking in terms of perspective and depth as well as width and height in all my drawings. I feel they lack depth, or am I being under-confident and shrinking away from anatomy cause it's complicated? I don't know.

[nouge]

Haha!

As for where to start with anatomy, you could try Loomis. When I get through some other stuff I plan on following his book Figure Drawing For All It's Worth, as it makes an effort to ease you into it all with simplified models of the body before getting into details of bones and muscles.

It's available for free (as it's pretty old) various places, like here: http://escapefromillustrationisland....ion-downloads/

[black-swan]

nouge: thanks , I actually have the physical book, the quality is great , well worth buying. Thanks for the link anyways, very nice of you.

[black-swan]

portrait of my granddad,



some pages of freehand perspective, done from memory. I need to do further work on 3 point I think,

[black-swan]

drawings done from life, hands and the pelvis,






Different views of the skull, done from memory. What I had most trouble with was determining the base of the skull in 3/4 and profile views, length of the mandible, mechanism of the jaw and position of the zygomatic bones- I simply need to observe more,

[black-swan]

Drawings of the pelvis, rear view and movement. It's interesting that the whole pelvis tilts when you move the femur, the rotation of the hip joint must be somewhat limited though by muscle and flesh. The back view looked fine in the sketchbook, but when I scanned it in I noticed how the sides are uneven, it was probably because I ran out of space on the page,





Back view of the skull and side views, as I didn't have a clear understanding of how the skull is shaped all round and how the upper and lower jaws relate to one another, or in other words the mandible and the maxilla relate to one another. I want to study the vertebrae in the future, their structure is interesting and the spine seems to work differently from a hinge or a ball joint with regards to movement,

[nouge]

Your studies are looking good! Your shading goes very well with the bones.

[black-swan]

thanks nouge.

I joined a life drawing class this monday, for around 5 hours. It went really well, the other artists are good people, the model was excellent and i really enjoyed the experience. Hopefully I will be able to go again next Monday. I’ve also found a portrait group locally and shall be attending this Thursday evening.

On another note, I’ve started my first month with ClassicalArtOnline. The work involved is quite painstaking and slow, I will still be drawing, but the pace will be slower.

I’ll try to post my work from life drawing and coursework when I can.

Some gesture drawings and a value sphere at home, as after I did the life drawing session, I realized I don't have much understanding of light. I also need to stop feathering my lines. The life drawings are a variety of times, from 2 and a half hours to 25 minutes,

[Mewball]

Really liking your pelvis drawings! You seem to be getting a good grasp on the it's planes. Keep it up.

[black-swan]

Thanks Mewball.

I went to a local portrait drawing session last night, a lot of fun,




I've also started learning with Jon Hardesty (mindcandyman) over at classicalartonline, here is the first exercise, the gradient. It looks simple right? But it's quite difficult to get a smooth gradient with a pointed end, I used HB pencil,



More updates on Monday, I've got a life drawing session tomorrow and Monday! See you later.

[black-swan]

I went to a four hour life drawing class today, it was really good. We had a great tutor, and whilst I do not share her enthusiasm for matisse, I enjoyed the session. The focus was linear drawing, I used wax crayon, pencil and charcoal, on A4 and A3 paper. We began with 30 second poses which gradually got longer. We ended with two one hour poses.

I got looser as the day went on, and I discovered another way to do gesture drawing, quick contour drawing. I loosened up by doing some blind contours, and after the exercise, I found myself much more sensitive to line! The compilation image shows work from early in the day (at the top), towards the end at the bottom. It's quite a change. The other poses were longer, the reclined foreshortened pose was really interesting to draw. Today took me out of my comfort zone, it was excellent!

[nouge]

Keep going to these lessons! Your figure drawings already look great, imagine where they'll go

[Aragah]

right on man!
youre like a rocket shooting up! just be careful to not run out of fuel!

[black-swan]

nouge: Thanks, I feel as though I'm starting to get there, only if I keep going

Aragah: Thanks for the sage advice, I am going to take more of a break this week. I've got some time off work finally, plus last week I went to two life drawing classes and one portrait session. Only one this week

I am starting to run out of steam as you can probably tell by todays drawings . I've started reading through J.H.Vanderpoel's 'The Human figure", The first part is about the eyes, so that's what i've been studying from life, from memory and from loomis too. I also did some portrait studies of my grandad, which I'm not happy with.

Tomorrow I've got another life drawing session to go to, I think I will contue to focus on line for now, and save mass drawing for another week

[black-swan]

Had life drawing open session today, from 10 till 3. I really enjoyed it once again, despite being tired. Our model Bob was excellent, he did some really twisted poses, his bone structure and muscles were quite plain to see too.

Some quick ten to five minute poses, using a carpenters pencil,



Two longer poses, around one hour each, in charcoal, on A2 paper,



The next session is next monday, so this week i'm planning to focus on online work (gradients)