Spartan Camp #228 - 50 gestures + Optional "Contrapposto Study"

[Anthis]

Spartan Camp #228 - 50 gestures + Optional "Contrapposto Study"

The aim is to produce 50 gestures by Sunday the 24th of June.

- The gestures can be of anything, human, animal, cavorting capybaras.... You can draw full figures, but you can also go for heads, arms, eyes, or anything specific. All media can be used, both digital or traditional. Coloured or black/white. Quick scribbles or long studies. Imagination or referenced. Clothed or nude. Specifics are up to you!

- In addition to this, participants can choose to do an Optional "Contrapposto Study", in any medium.
Additional notes on this weeks’ Optional Study:

The Background:
Contrapposto is a well known and clearly defined type of pose. You tend to see it a great deal in classical (ancient Greek, Roman) sculptures, but also in visual arts in general. You'll also notice it around you if you look for it.
It is a relatively simple pose, best explained through pictures (such as the Wikipedia page, or do an image search). In a contrapposto posture, weight mostly rests on one leg, tilting the pelvis. The shoulders are then tilted in the opposite way, and the same applies to the head. The resulting pose is well balanced with a strong composition. The figure also looks lively and organic due to the curved forms.

The Exercise:
Do a figure study using the contrapposto posture. You can draw a figure on your own, or use reference. An obvious choice for the latter option would be classical art.

Next optional studies:
Knee anatomy study (week 1, June 25th - July 1st)
Long study: knee (week 2, July 2nd - July 8th)
(clarification: Because this is a tough one, we'll focus on anatomy in the first week and follow up with a rendered study in the second)

Colour, medium, time frame, any specifics are up to you! Good luck and have fun! And feel free to ask questions!


50 poses is a challenge, but don't hurry or stress yourself reaching it! Focus on drawing, as practising is the main goal of this exercise.

Criticizing each other is highly encouraged!! Share constructive criticism, reference images and resources!! Let's help each other get better!

Come on soldiers! Flex those muscles!!

HALL OF FAME - SPARTAN CAMP #227

MeteorCat
SmallPoly
Pàdruig
AdrianNagorski
J8stine
kayness
Little-Maiden

[kayness]

I LOVE contrappostos! I studied it in uni, because it's a very favoured sort of pose in Classical era Greek &Roman sculptures onwards.
and of course Michelangelo's David

[Anthis]

kayness; Haha, I had somehow forgotten about it until it surfaced while looking for reference for one of the previous optional studies. I now remember how it got mentioned a lot during several school courses. It was a favoured pose indeed (for good reason), David is a perfect example.


Also working on some critique in the previous thread.

[DKHutcheson]

Sadly, tendinitis kept me from drawing last week, but this week I'm definitely going to make up for the lack. Contrapposto is just a cool thing to work into poses. I like it mostly cause I get to draw feet standing on the toes. xD

[SmallPoly]

Here's 50 from imagination. Contrapasto and other poses with throw-away characters. If I have time, I may stop by the local art museum and see if the have a statue in the pose. All art museums are required by federal law to have a david clone, right? (edit: checked the website - yep we have a nude contrapasto "Hermes")

Edit 2:
Also just ordered a 12" replica of David off amazon. The picture is crappy but the two reviews claim it's good. If the quality is actually good, I may get some more models from that seller. What i'd really like is to find is to find some replicas created using 3d scan data.
http://www.amazon.com/Michelangelo-1...d_sim_sbs_hg_1

[AdrianNagorski]

some scribbles from yesterday and today. . .

[MeteorCat]

These were all done in class today. 16 so far.

[Animare]

You guys are so good!!
I keep missing this spartan camp lol so determined to post this time.

So I started with some random poses with no time limit. I was trying to figure out the easiest/quickest way of drawing them, and then trying to convert them into simple shapes so I could remember them better. Those were the first 8 poses.

The rest were done on a 2 minute timer using love castle. Badly struggled with this, I wasn't going to post any of them but was hoping maybe someone could give me some tips as to what to do next time. My drawings got worse rather than better lol.

[Prometheus09]

Okey dokey... time to dive in. I am taking a step back from stuff like COW to focus more on my basics... any feedback is much appreciated.

Most of these are from imagination, some from observation. First, a page of ballpoint pen doodles done today, and second, three simian/feline-inspired gestures I did for this week's (unfinished) COW piece.

This makes 28 so far...

[SmallPoly]

Got my David statue in the mail today. Only flaw seems to be little bump above the right nipple.

[saan356]

spam.

[kayness]

SmallPoly: wow you know, I never noticed how distorted David's proportion is. I read that it is deliberately distorted because it's going to be seen from a worm's eye view, but to what extent, I didn't realize until now.

[SmallPoly]

kayness:
Some things are definately exaggerated, though I think the camera angel may be distorting things a bit. Here's a shot from farther away which shows the proportions better.



Similar shot using a scan of the real statue: http://graphics.stanford.edu/project...d41h-csh-s.jpg

[Anthis]

Nice statue! That's an interesting point kayness, because I was thinking roughly the same. One thing I can remember from school is how his hands are deliberately slightly enlarged, as to accentuate his strength/virility. I'd have to check back on my Latin textbooks. Interesting stuff!

I also finished adding some critique to last weeks thread.


And thanks for looking after us Black Spot!

[SmallPoly]

First couple sets of drawings from the figure.

[DKHutcheson]

@SmallPoly, I really like the way those lighting studies are looking. The black and white one is really interesting to look at. I'm really liking how you drew the shadow wrapping around his pec like that.


I did mostly gestures this week, trying to figure out how to simplify the body quickly. Hit a few brick walls with it at first, but I think I'm getting there. Did some contrapposto studies, the first woman from imagination and then the other two from observation. Neck study as well, though I still need more work on it. Not understanding it as well as I'd like.

[J8stine]

I decided to do all my drawings from old paintings this week. Interpreted body postures under a lot of loose period clothing. Searched out a few contrappostos into the mix.

Did a few digital colour studies this week with gesture/hand/face studies then did a bit of brush pen, felt tipped pen and dip nibbed pen drawing (bit of crayon underneath a few). I found the nib pen really challenging, so will probably practice more with it in the future.

A bit pushed for time this week, hoping to do some more detailed studies and practice more linear instead of scribbled gestures next week.

[SmallPoly]

I'm not sure when the next thread is going up, but since the topics were already listed, here's my first 10 knee/leg studies. They're based on images of body-builders, which can be pretty grotesque at times.

[Animare]

Well today I got very little work done but a good start on the knee studies lol.

[SmallPoly]

50 gestures from tonight. I suppose I should dust of my old "Anatomy for the Artist" book and do those knee studies. :-)

[SmallPoly]

More studies tonight:
-50 gestures of muscular guys and obese girls
-Leg/knee studies from the Barcsay's "Anatomy for the Artist"

[Animare]

Loving the poses SmallPoly, do you use references? You work so fast lol.

[SmallPoly]

Thanks :-) Toon stuff is usually from my head, but realistic figures like the last set are all with reference. Some of the time I use sites specifically geared towards artists, like posemaniacs or lovecastle.org/draw. Other times I"ll use sports photos, or artist nudes (eg Mapelthorp's stuff). If I'm trying to find reference for a specific body type...the internet has no shortage of nudity & exhibitionists.

[Anthis]

This was a fantastic round!

A new thread is up. I see some of you have already started on it (nice work!), you can simply repost it there if you want. I also added some clarification.