Chasing Shapes

[nickydraws]

I haven't updated for so long. I went to New York for 7 weeks to take workshops at the Grand Central Academy of Art. Here's the stuff I made there. I learned a lot. Back to basics. I'm really bummed out I can't study there full time (because of money and visa stuff). I met so many great people and all the teachers told me I'd be a perfect fit...

A figure drawing of Buff Jesus-- I mean Hercul-- I mean, the excellent model John. One of the best models I've ever drawn. The anatomy, the epic beard and he knew how to hold the pose. Someone described him as 'the poster boy for Classical Realism'.


A cast drawing.
The block-in.


The finished drawing.
The subtleties don't really translate too well on photographs.


A painting of the same cast.

[nickydraws]

Some progress shots of the cast painting. Maybe it's useful to someone. First one is an oil sketch or 'poster study', the second is the underpainting for the actual painting, and then as I work on it piece by piece. I forgot to photograph every step, especially some of the first days, but oh well.

[fantasyartist]

Nice works nicky! You have good control over your values. Keep it up.

[Syle]

Man oh man, nice cast study there nick. Fantastic rendering!!!

Are you in school right now?

Great studies, keep it up!!!

[nickydraws]

fantasyartist: thank you.
Syle: thanks. Unfortunately I'm not in school right now. I wish I was.


I need to kick my ass into gear. It was 5 years ago that I started pursuing art, but I've probably only used about 2 years optimally. I keep quitting because of personal issues. It's pathetic. It really is DRAW OR DIE for me right now.

If I work hard, good things will happen. I hope.

Anyway:
Loomis studies.
Block-in practice.

[nickydraws]

What I'm studying from right now.

Harold Speed, The Practice and Science of Drawing (3rd time reading this)
Anthony Ryder, The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing
Andrew Loomis, Figure Drawing For All It's Worth
Andrew Loomis, Drawing the Head and Hands

[xyphid]

epic-ness of studies. Do you also create your own compositions yet?

[lancer_idenoure]

great studies man, that last cast drawing and buff jesus are lovely.

You say you've had commitment issues or whatever with art. I've always done art and been mildly interested in a career in it, but until I was about 17 i didn't actually DO much of it. Not until i found out what it was about art I had a passion for. You seem to enjoy it enough to quit your job and commit a large potion of your time to it, now take what it is you love about making art and create some goals for yourself. Endlessly doing studies is hard enough with an end goal in mind; without one it can be almost impossible. Try to apply your studies to something and push yourself to achieve whatever it is you want out of art and you'll find a whole new level of motivation.
Keep at it

[Gpozzo]

Really enjoyed looking at your studies! really nice sketchbook, keep it up!

[JesseM]

Whoo, Harold Speed! Great book, isn't it?

Kickass casts. It looks like you really have some great technical skill. Sooo, on that note, why aren't you doing original compositions and the like for your portfolio? I think doing those alongside skillbuilders is important (even if it's just one picture every month or two).

[nickydraws]

Thanks for the comments guys!

xyphid: thanks. Not yet..
lancer_idenoure: thanks a lot. You're right. I've always wanted to be an artist but I didn't get 'serious' until I was 18 or 19. My goal is to be a fine artist and an illustrator. I think studies are the way to get there. I want to be an artist more than anything.
Gpozzo: thanks
JesseM: thanks, I love Harold Speed. And you're right but I'm not sure if I'm ready. I did try to create my own compositions before. Doing thumbnails and then trying to work them out larger. But they were huge failures.

It's so much work to scan, clean and upload images but I want to start making regular updates.

Some sketchbook pages.

[nickydraws]

Loomis' method of drawing heads feels so inaccurate..

[nickydraws]

Trying to absorb the information as best I can.

[FROZ3N]

The head studies look like they came right out of the book. Great job. How long are you taking per head to draw, I read that you said speed comes with time, I am slow as well..nice work. I dont know how you can draw all those geometric shapes hour after hour..
discipline.

[Holydivered7]

I hope you don't mind my asking, but you keep on menioning "The book that I'm studying says such and such..." but you never mention the name of the book you study perspective from. If the examples you show on your sketchbook are from the book, I'd really like to check that book out. Thanks in advance...

[nickydraws]

PITCHBLACK: thanks. Keep at it.
I'm pretty slow with drawing. Even after a year of doing life drawing every day I noticed I was still much slower than other people. These sketches took longer than they look. Part of it is because I'm still not confident with my mark making and part because I'm very perfectionistic by nature. Loomis probably did these schematic drawings pretty quickly, because not all of them are entirely accurate and consistent, but I still want to make nice looking drawings. I can rush through them but that just leaves me feeling unsatisfied at the end of the day. I hope I do get much faster though, because at this rate it will take ages to copy the whole book.

Holydivered7: Actually I did mention what book I was studying from. In this post. It's called Basic Perspective Drawing by John Montague. I never hear anyone talking about it but it's a good book.

[S.F.Batchelor]

These studies are so fantastic, heads are the bane of my art life atm . Cast studies are also great of course. I really dig those batman/ sketchbook sketches of yours I'd so love to see more , they reminded me of the Dave McKean illustrated batman arkham asylum graphic novel if you know it?
You should so be more confident in your mark making, your sketchbook is superb and I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll do next,
Keep it up yo

[Tea of Doom]

Hello there,

Just stumbled across your sketchbook. Great studies overall. Terrific rendering.

I also refrained from drawing quickly ( because of accuracy loss) when i started out. I think it's safe to say that everyone wants to have both speed and accuracy so this is a very common problem for us, artists.

My solution so far has been to do some really quick sketches before settling down to do something more finished. Sure, your first dozen batches will be very inaccurate but eventually you will start to improve. The rest is left to practice. - atleast that's what I currently believe with my level of knowledge on the subject.

I would be interested in studying with you, so you can skype me if you want.

[NickyBeats]

nickydraws better than Nickybeats haha! Nice works man!! Im envious of your dedication to fundamentals, i really need to get back into correcting my perspective/ figure issues.. But great stuff man!! Im digging the progress!!

[nickydraws]

S.F.Batchelor: thanks. The Batman sketches were just done quickly from imagination. The Loomis studies are useful. I've heard of that graphic novel. I never read it but it looks awesome.
Tea of Doom: thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.
NickyBeats: haha nah, NickyBeats nickydraws at drawing.

[Lhune]

I know what you mean with the strange head construction of Loomis' method. Every time I do one of his studies I feel like I'm missing information because there are some things I have to guess or draw based on observing his finished head rather than knowing where to put it. You're doing great though, keep it up! If you'd like someone to help motivate you (and the other way around) I'd be happy to chat every now and then, my Skype is lhune1990, feel free to add me .

Thanks for dropping by in my sketchbook!

[Art Minded]

Wow man, your work is such an inspiration. Some of your lines are so accurate it's uncanny. The rendering on post #62 is jaw dropping! I had to read through your description to confirm it wasn't a sculpture, and I'm still not sure it isn't.

Keep up the great work!

[Aaron_]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICKYYYYYYYY


Sheep babies drink milk from diesel engines, haahahahaah, tasty mangled little fingers. Loving'em. Pump more, blue stomach button. Yay burgers children easel diet hahahahaha

[ja1307]

love your rendering mr, its very pleasing on the eye and clean looking

[nickydraws]

Lhune: thanks much.
Art Minded: thank you. Studies aren't all that impressive, but I appreciate the kind words.
Aaron: thank you. That gives me something to think about.
ja1307: thank you. Just checked out your sketchbook. Great stuff.


Today was like the worst day for drawing ever. I was so off. I don't know what happened. I can't SEE clearly anymore. I'm looking at the drawing in the book and then my copy and I can't see the mistakes. I can tell it's off but I don't know how to fix it. My mind feels so cloudy. I wish I could reboot my brain. I hope this is just a temporary thing because this sucks!!

[Kambei Shimada]

Really nice studies.

Rendering is really good.

[lionheartGFX]

first off that cast is amazing! secondly your studies are so neat and in order i hope you dont mind but i did the chin and nose one and it helped me tons! keep it up pleaase!

[nickydraws]

Kambei Shimada: thank you. I'm trying.
lionheartGFX: thanks!

I'm still feeling fuzzy in the head. I don't know what's up. The Loomis studies were going terrible today. Somehow I ended up doing a digital painting of a head. Just messing around and making stuff up. I don't know my way around Photoshop yet but I got my first digital painting out of the way.

[Aaron_]

So since you ask me for a crit.

The painting's nowhere as bad as you say, the drawing's fucking awesome and hilarious for a start. Ummmm, for nitpickings: The left eye might be a bit too wide, and nose might be longer? And nose should be the same length as the ear. The two lines for the shoulder is a bit weird, try to draw the clavicles and scapulae and connect the muscles to their origins and ends. And the left of the forehead seems to curve back too much(but actually that varies from person to person)?

The delineation of light and shadow's good but the edges are very unclear. I think maybe you are using brushes that are too small? Not sure why there's that streak of light values near the jawline. The cast shadow from the nose and the jaw and the outline could all be harder. BTW, cast shadow from the jaw should be straighter and maybe a tiny bit concave I think.

And as for the rest, it seems you just have to take it further. Like add more plains and lighter values in some places, and dark accents in some others. Come on, shouldn't be any different than traditional drawing.

Und that's it, back to skype now.

[nickydraws]

Aaron: thanks for the crit! That helps!


More Loomis.