Trying to get away from just copying to actually understanding?

[Clu]

Hiiiiii I'm new here and I've been looking around to try to find some resources that would help for understanding things more in 3D space.
Since I've taken classes for so long with the same teacher (who only had us copy things over and over) I feel like I'm really bad with actually understanding how things work so I can produce them from my head. I've done basic object studies and observation, but I feel like I just end up copying things from life instead of pictures so it's not exactly the kind of understanding I'd want to get (unless I'm doing it wrong?).

So...any tips/exercises for seeing things more in 3D space and understanding them versus just copying them in 2D? And if there's already something for this, you can just point me to the thread...

Thanks if anyone replies!

[dpaint]

Work from life more, that is the key. You have to understand the forms of the things you are drawing try breaking them into simple forms with strong light and shadow. Perspective is very important too. Most people ignore it but it is in everything you draw not just buildings. Check out all four of these threads by Ron Lemen and EM Gist using the Reilly method which relies on construction and working from life.

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...ted-nov-24-09)

[Black-Tooth]

I was about to post a thread very similar! So if you are studying from a book, how would you KNOW you are learning/understanding and not just copying? Is there some kind of method or process you can go through that clearly shows you are learning and not copying?

I'm studying anatomy, but am I just copying the lay out of learning it? How would you test? And how regularly?

[keeptime]

I'm going to go out on a limb here as a beginner and say that you know you're learning something when you're able to apply it outside of the original environment it was learned in. I hardly know perspective or anatomy but I'm starting to be able to see it in real life and use it in personal drawings (not well, mind you). I'm also starting to see reflected light in real life, which I never noticed before I learned it was a thing. That being said, I don't think you can copy without at least learning a little bit whether you want to or not. I also don't think you can really learn something without repetition, which is what copying more or less boils down to, to some extent.

I'm also going to go out on a limb and preemptively say what I think a lot of the regulars are going to say: Test it by drawing every day.

[blogmatix]

Those links dpaint provided are very nice, though for me they are way too advanced. I looked through them and felt overwhelmed and discouraged! Looking through the OP's sketchbook I think he/she is at a much higher level than I am, so I think the OP could use those threads in a way I don't think I am ready to.

Thus I would say: do the basic legwork first before trying to be Michelangelo. At present I struggle to see the basic shapes in complicated poses, and I get their proportions completely wrong. And the problem is, I never see the errors until the drawing is already quite far advanced. I cannot accurately draw a simple coffee mug using this method, thus I think it is safe to say I'll have some trouble trying to draw a whole figure. :-)

That is what comes of acquiring bad habits: I too became used to trying to reproduce contours (something I never learned to do in many years of practice anyway), instead of making a point of understanding 3D form right from the beginning.

[Arshes Nei]

Yes. Go to the Fine Arts forum and go to Seedling's Concept Art 101.
It kinda makes me sad (and granted I know the forums have a lot of subforums) that people don't look at other parts of the forum.

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...27#post1089227 ( I even bothered to link it to a particular assignment).

Seedling gave some great breakdowns and exercises.

[briggsy@ashtons]

I was about to post a thread very similar! So if you are studying from a book, how would you KNOW you are learning/understanding and not just copying? Is there some kind of method or process you can go through that clearly shows you are learning and not copying?

I'm studying anatomy, but am I just copying the lay out of learning it? How would you test? And how regularly?

Sorry if I'm asking the obvious, but have you tried closing the book and seeing how much of the diagram you just copied you can draw from memory? Quickest way to find out what you don't know!

[QueenGwenevere]

So if you are studying from a book, how would you KNOW you are learning/understanding and not just copying? Is there some kind of method or process you can go through that clearly shows you are learning and not copying?

One (fun) way is to try drawing things from imagination periodically... You soon find out if you've absorbed anything that way! And in the process of trying to muddle through a drawing from imagination, you start to realize which areas you're weakest in. Then you can go look up those areas/study them some more, and try drawing from imagination again, and repeat the whole process until it gets easier...