Please critic my figure drawing!

[Sydneythearist]

Hi everyone! so i am working on my portfolio and a specifically want to get into either cal arts (my top choice) or ringling (2nd choice) and i was wondering what your thoughts were on my figure drawing. feel free to be harsh (i LOVE getting detailed responses good or bad so i can find a way to improve my drawings) the main purpose of these aren't for finished peices i want the reviewer to be able to see my process, gesture, and form. did i succeed in doing so?

[Sydneythearist]

oh btw i am hoping to apply to cal arts as a character design major

[Avvatar]

It could be different for Cal arts but they generally don't want to see shading or tone in your portfolio, especially when its hiding all the flaws. There are way too many lines which indicate that you don't understand human anatomy or figure drawing. Proportions are off too, in the first image the head is too small, in the third the lowers legs are too short, etc... I don't know how long you have before you have to submit but you need to hit the books hard and learn as much anatomy as you can. Also focus on drawing with structure and form.

[Sydneythearist]

It could be different for Cal arts but they generally don't want to see shading or tone in your portfolio, especially when its hiding all the flaws. There are way too many lines which indicate that you don't understand human anatomy or figure drawing. Proportions are off too, in the first image the head is too small, in the third the lowers legs are too short, etc... I don't know how long you have before you have to submit but you need to hit the books hard and learn as much anatomy as you can. Also focus on drawing with structure and form.

Thanks so much for the advice! these are just a couple of my works and i am a junior in high school so i have a lot of learning to do before it is portfolio ready! but these are more of gesture drawings but i have just bought myself an anatomy book and i plan on studying till i can draw it back to front and front to back thanks again!

[arenhaus]

1. Get a scanner. Poorly presented drawings aren't going to cut it.

2. Get "Figure Drawing for All It's Worth" by Loomis. Read it. Understand it.

3. Practice, practice, practice.

[hakepe]

Try practicing just the gesture with few lines. A good tool for this can be found free on the internet, just google "pixelovely" and you'll find a free croques tool. Do lots of 2 minute and 1 minute drawings and try to get the action and the gesture right. Do this with very few and loose lines, do not copy the contour or worry about anatomy just try to get the gesture right.

I would also recommend downloading Glenn Vilppu's figure drawing manual (drawing manual) and practicing with that. Then you should study the proportion of the human figure and the anatomy underneath. So gesture first, simple forms after that, then the anatomy.