Cyrus' Sketchbook of Thought-(May 11)

[Cyrus]

[Updated April 23, 2006] I'm getting better, just need to practice, practice, practice.

Check bottom for newest stuff. Comments and critiques always help and are greatly appreciated.

[Updated June 1, 2005] Well, after being somewhat lazy(very lazy actually) I think it's about time I started putting a real effort into this, with a few goals in mind.

1) Getting, and staying out of a rut- Making sure I draw new things, more things, and continue to expand my subjects at all times.

2) More life drawing drawing and anatomical studies- So I can make sure my figures don't look like gumby.

3) More drawing from imagination- One of the reasons drawing from life is so important is that it allows you to draw things that don't exist but still have a life-like feel to them. Not only do I need to learn from life, I need to learn how to apply that knowledge to all my drawings.

4) Make more finished pieces- I can't say I've really made any 'finished' pieces to date outside of school, so my initial goal in this regard is to make at least one finished piece every two weeks.

5) Draw more in general- As Tom Browning once said, "I can't stress enough the importance of continuing to draw for the sake of drawing, even if you work from photographs."


[Original Post July 15, 2004] As many have before me, I'll be starting a sketchbook (finally). Hopefully I can call it a daily sketchbook if I'm not too lazy.

Anyway, just going to start off with a few studies for today. C&C will always be appreciated.

[mentler]

I do a lot of anatomy -- and teach it as well -- keep working with it I think it is the key to almost everything!!!
Try from the beginning to analyze what you are drawing and make it yours!
In other words, it is ok to work from Bridgman or Loomis or anybody else but make them your drawings from the get - go!!!

I probably have drawn every drawing in every Bridgman book--some several times--just recently decided to make all of these studies mine!
I feel a little stupid for waiting so long--so I thought I would pass it along.

this should get you to may sb thread

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25653

check out my site as well--- anatomy demos there more to come

http://www.tsofa.com/?faculty.gallery.demo1

[Cyrus]

Thanks for the advice, I did happen to grab those muscular structures from Hogarth's "Dynamic Anatomy," and agree completly about making my own studies, just trying to get the basic idea down first I suppose, since it seems I've been slacking off in certain areas. Of course, I hope this sketchbook here will change that.

Slightly older sketches of my less useful hand...and I think I'll actually go draw something now.

[Syrogen]

cool stuff cyrus, keep studying that anatomy!i like those hand sketches, but i think you should work on refining the contour. keep posting

[guchman]

Nice Sketchbook, Cyrus.

I too am starting to work on anatomy. Have purchased a few Bridgman and Hogarth books, so I hope to start an online sketchbook too.

I like your shading on the arm and hand drawings. But I agree with Syrogen on smoothing out your lines to match your shading.

Keep up the good work! Looking forward to seeing whole figures! :rock:

[Cyrus]

I considered what you said about the lines, and took a bit longer on these.

Also used a different shading technique on the first one...gotta keep working on values.



And I'm going to throw in a few older gestures..




I'll do different subjects from now on, really.

[Cyrus]

Managed an entire figure today, even if he is wearing armor.

Edit:added second figure.

[Cyrus]

Couldn't resist, I think hands are fun.

I was really trying to get the form with just line on most of these.

[Cyrus]

Just an arm today, it took about 2 hours on and off.

[Crunch]

nice hand studies man...keep drawing and posting is all i can say...your anatomy is a bit messy so focus on your muscles and ill work on my spelling. take a close look at the forearms they are almost never bigger than the bicept draw from life too man. keep it up man.

[Cyrus]

Thanks for the comment Crunch, I'm going to make sure and work on that.

Did this for the Behemoth/Leviathan DSG. Also one of the few things I've done from imagination recently.

[Cyrus]

Later update than usual, only a few small sketches to show. I spent about thirty seconds to a minute on each.

[mentler]

Heavier shadows under upper lid ::::: less attention to lower lid
upper lid much thicker is usually down plane in shadow
lower lid much thinner is usually up plane in light

Again less detail on lower lids..

[Cyrus]

Thanks Mentler, I'm sure I'd be wise to listen to your advice.


Quickies again, some torsos this time.

[Cyrus]

Found a Bridgman book at the library, tried a few quick studies and took a longer look at those eyes. I need to find more reference material.

[Cyrus]

I've been kinda slow this week, just hard to find a direction sometimes, so I'm just going to put up some up some messing arounds from looking at Hogarth and Bridgman.

Critiques are always appreciated, I can take it.

[mentler]

Hey ~~~ Like the 2 big heads ~~~ strong lines ~~~~ strong presence!

[Cyrus]

Recently I've been trying to get an idea as to what subjects to study and draw, need to find some direction.

I've also realized that I tend to not spend enough time on most of my work, since I usually take around 10-30 minutes on a single drawing at most.

At least I have a few goals to work towards now, so thats a good start, a few more couldn't hurt either if anyone has any suggestions.


More Brigman studies:

I spent about 5-10 minutes on each head..


and about 30 minutes on each arm.

[Cyrus]

School's starting up again, hopefully this will get me back into the drawing mood since I've slow down recently.

Just, some stuff from my head after looking at Brigman. More will follow soon.

[arghmisfit]

great studys


keep it up

[mentler]

Think of the padding about the eye as a small sausage ~ notice how different it appears on different people ~ remember upper lid is much thicker than lower lid!

[steak-tron]

whats up with all these people from athens with talent?...

Nice studies man, are you at UGA?

[scarletnocturne]

i like your edgy lines in the last post of portraits. I think you should continue with that style....i think it adds a lot of character to your drawings

[Cyrus]

Thanks for the replies, school kept me busy for the last week, but I'm trying to get back into a regular schedual.

Arghmisfit: Thanks! I'll try to.

Mentler: I'm holding you responsible for all the eyes I'm making now, not that I didn't draw them alot before...but thanks for the advice, I've been looking at various references, I see what you mean.

Steak-Tron: Heh, thanks. Yes, I've started my sophomore year at UGA, pretty sure I'll be going into the Graphic Design program at this point. Since I'm on campus alot now, I'll probably try to find the opportunity to make it to the museum's modelling sessions on Wednesdays.

Scarletnocturne: Thanks, I think thats mostly a result of drawing out of my head quickly, I tend to try and make my studies alot cleaner; maybe I should try some quick studies then.


A brigman leg(if you can tell) and stuff.


This is a quick charcoal erase in anticipation of a drawing project using the same method.

[Cyrus]

Well, long time no update again, everything I've done outside of school recently has been really quick, so here's a super fast self-portrait and some (hopefully) expressive eyes just for the heck of it.

[Cyrus]

I've been working on this for my graphic design portfolio; they said do what you do best, so yea..more hands.

Obviously, its still in progress, so any advice would be greatly appreciated (and sorry about the scan lines).

[Cyrus]

They say the first step to solving your problems is knowing what they are.

Getting tired of my procrastination, not just in not drawing enough, but actually spending enough time making finished sketches, studies, or whatever. I'm going to make sure I make at least a single one-hour sketch a day from now on(for starters). Time to beat that procrastination to a pulp.

On that note, I'll throw in another quick self-portrait I did earlier, and get to work.

[scarletnocturne]

one thing i can say is that if you do want to improve think about the way you draw. Say you draw steadily on and off....for no regular long amount of time...and see how much you grow. Now, if you shorted the periods of time between drawing, and extended the periods of time you spent drawing, your drawings would improve that much more. My instructor always goes on and on about mileage, and the truth of it is this, anything and most everything i have learned this semester so far has been because on crits my instructor was NIT picky about every single thing wrong....and because of that i spent as much time on my drawing as i could until i cracked -now i learn twice as much in a shorter amount of time only because i am disciplining myself to do so, to allow the growth. Half of drawing is a mental game we play with ourselves- it is deffinately not just a motor skill, because most everyone has the motor skill.


I would say concerning your drawings, what are your lines telling you and your viewer? Since lines do not exist in the natural world, your lines should speak about your message, or your subject, or the feeling...something. Right now it looks like you are using line to find the figure....if you looked for the shapes, say for instance, the shape of the nose and let your lines really feel what your nose feels like, your lines will reveal the nose because you are thinking of that shape, rather than i need to "draw" this feature. Be sensitive about your drawing. Dont draw what you know, tackle what frustrates you--like my piano teacher always told me, what good does it do you to practice the parts you already know over and over? The parts of the song you dont know is what you should practice no matter how ugly they sound in comparison to what you've already mastered.

long winded, i know....i'm in one of those moods... i feel like i needed to regurgitate all the stuff being drilled into my head!

Andrea

[Cyrus]

Thanks for the insight. And you're right about the finding stuff with lines thing. I've realized how much of a comfort zone I've been in practically since I started my sketchbook, it's good to be reminded about that every so often.

It was a breath of fresh air to do this page. I was concentrating on value while doing the two on the right.

[guggemmaneuver]

COME TO FIGURE DRAWING AT THE MUSEUM OF ART ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT, 9 november. 5:30-8:30 pm. ( please! )

I'm partial to the hand studies. OH-heed the guidance of mentler and DESTROY worlds with a single, 2H pencil mark. Do try and post more.

We NEED It.

regards,

The Gugg