my drawings..

[GT1]

i posted this somewhere else but didnt get much ppls attentions lol so here i go again

im david, im from toronto i go to sheridan college, taking art fundamentals right now,
i never did any life drawing before, just been doing it for 2 months or so, i need to improve a lot, i wanna go to animation next year, this is the link to my drawings

http://lifedrawings.tripod.com/index.htm

note that those are the best ones (i think so) lol and my regular ones are like 1000 of them but i just thought id dput the best ones, i need feedback...

im taking as much extra life drawing i can, 15 hours a week or so, from 30 seconds to 15 minutes poses.. i even got myself a tutor whos in second year of animation hes pretty good..

i need ur help guys, lol ^_^ i feel im improving a lot, im trying really hard!!

so hit me back eh lol

[nafa]

Tried to look at the pictures. Gave up as I got tired quickly from trying to look at things sideways.

[jetpack42]

Tried to look at the pictures. Gave up as I got tired quickly from trying to look at things sideways.

agreed. that is very unwieldy.

[Pesmerga]

My neck... ... ... Help!

Keep practicing. Not bad for a start.

[sula_nebouxi]

The poses are waaaaay too short to learn much IMO...try to convince your teacher to have 2 hour long drawings. I know most of the students will probably want to kill you though But trust me, you'll learn much much more. Right now it looks like you have some problems with foreshortening, proportion, getting the weight and 'life' of the figure down, and some anatomy. If your teacher says something like "Oh, long poses aren't loose and fresh and you end up being tight so I won't do them" you'll *need* to find some other life drawing session with long poses. You won't learn as much with 15 min as you can when you draw for 2 hours. It allows you to train your eye more and it teaches patience. And I'm a firm believer that to get a good gesture, you *have* to train your eye to notice subtleties first. You might get lucky with a few but to achieve consistency you have to be experienced. If all else fails, copy some Bargue cast drawings(there's a thread around here on how to do them properly) and do some self-portraits. Good luck

[GT1]

well last friday we did a 2 hour drawing, we had to do the cross contour thing.. im going to extra life drawing class in a while so yeh, ill post my drawings from today tonight or maybe tomorrow for more feedback

thnx guys, btw, ill post the pics again this time so ur neck doesnt hurt when ulook at them lol

[JJH]

Hi GT1,
I'm also in Art Fundamentals at Sheridan. What sula pointed out is right. First of all, you should practice getting down all the proportions down correctly first. I know Animation requires quick gestural drawings, but what's the point in doing them if you don't have a firm understanding of all the correct proportions? After you get the proportions down, you need to work on cleaniness (is that how u spell it? hehe). Don't make your strokes so furry, aim for fewer...longer strokes. Also, try to filter out any uneccessary lines, if it doesn't help define the form, then take it out. Someone else that will help out a lot is to draw the line of action first, then making light indications on your newsprint of where the head is, where the feet are, and where all the axis points are. The shoulder axis and the hip axis are usually in opposite angles.
Just trying to help ya out =p. The tutor should be of help, what is his or her name?

[GT1]

lolwhats up, ya, i found out i needed good action lines the hard way, lol my tutor name is joe, hes awesome...but newayz, my recent life drawings include action lines, proportion check lol and fewer lines.. i guess.. more quality in the line too.. i would say..

ill post them whenever i feel like it, lol,.. what class r u in?

[JJH]

I'm in ... B? heh...

Oh and your tutor, Joe. Is it Joe Ho? If so, yea you're in good hands.

[Druie]

Hmm. Sheridian Fundies Student! Halloooo` I'm from Seneca Fundies : )

I also have just started lifedrawing for 2 months~ Trying to get into animation as well.

What worked for me was to do extended studies whether from an actual model, or a picture reference. I don't know if this is possible at Sheridian.... but at Seneca I lifedraw with the animation students, so I walk around as they draw when I feel unpleased with my work. It's very helpful watching how other students approach drawing. Almost everytime I go lifedraw I'll spend some time walking around. You can learn alot by doing that. I have 2 sheridian animation graduates currently at our lifedrawing sessions so it's very helpful!

I recently got told I sucked, and that I had no form because I would start at the inside, shade everything in for a gesture. Kind of harsh, but after that I really think i got better. You can see from my other post I have a couple gestures posted where the lines are quite dark and thick. After you understand more on proportions, start trying to make things clean as JJH says and have line weight. Try not to get dark too fast and remember about overlaps.

Whenever your stuck draw boxes or points. Below is one I drew last month, do u see how i drew sort of like a stick figure and i drew a point to mark off where the joints connects? The guidelines might help u out map things out. Later on u won't need to use them anymore when u get more use to things! By the way, ignore the proportions, they aren't right, i'm just trying to show u how i mapped things out. ^^


I'm not a master but that's what worked for me in my 2 months of learning. There's really nothing much to lifedrawing. just go alot ^^ take advantage of all the extra life classes. I think at sheridian it's from 3-6 pm, 7-9 pm mondays to fridays? Honestly I use to draw similiar to you when I first started off. You'll get better~ At my school we only have it from 6-9! I wish I had as much as u guys ^^;

[JJH]

Yea Druie's examples shows the method of mapping out points on the figure first. As you can see, he also did not 'fur' his lines.

[GT1]

ya his name is Joe Ho ahh! hes good.. well imma take the pictures to show u my latest drawings ^_^ so yeh, theyre not quite good yet, im not having lifedrawing until next week so.. :/

i was gonna go to art fundies at seneca cuz its easier for me to go to seneca, i live in toronto, so i have to spend like 4 hours a day (if not more) going and coming back.. but its worth it totally.. AHH! ill get some pics taken..

[JJH]

Hey that's a cool idea.. to go to seneca's extra-life...

which campus is it again?

[GT1]

http://lifedrawings.tripod.com/index2.html

thats the second set of drawinngs..

haaa its Seneca@york, i guess, thats where they have the animation and art fundies thing, yo how am i gonna go there, i probably get kicked outta there lol

[JJH]

Hey you're improving from what I see.
Yea your lines are getting better.
One thing to keep in mind is to not make the shoulders too.. wide. In a few of them I noticed that they were too wide, and the neck too wide too.
Oh and yea, the boxes seem to be helping you. Did Joe teach you that? I am going to get a tutor when I go back to school, just curious what they can teach you.

Keep it up! =p

[GT1]

u should definitly get a tutor, if u can get joe, ur lucky.. first, he tought me action lines, and stuff, then the boxes, the boxes are great man, even tho theres a guy in my class thats always like.. ahh ur wasting ur time drawing boxes, i kno i am not cuz boxes are like important.. lol

i still have one newsprint pad on my locker, i think those drawings in there are better then the ones i just showed u.. damn.. i cant wait til i get better...

[sula_nebouxi]

Wow..looks like you're improving quite a bit. Using those boxes really will help(that guy who told you otherwise is just plain wrong ) It really helps in learning how to give form to an object. And it also helps a little with forshortening and gesture studies. I always start my drawings(if it's fairly long) with something similar to the boxes. I draw a simple skull and from there imagine where the spine goes and draw the curves for it(it's one of the most important parts of the body that show weight and movement). Then I'll draw a simple ribcage shape which tells me which way the chest is facing. After that I figure out where the waist goes and I'll draw a triangle shape there. I'll draw a line across the body telling me which way the hip is leaning and from each end I draw a line connecting to the pelvis. Then I'll draw the arms and legs. I make simple lines for their position and watching out for their proportions cause this is where it can get a little messed up. That's basically my starting routine and I found it works out quite well for me.

Another thing that's helped me a little with quick stuff is trying to find the rhythm lines in the beginning. One of fredflickstone's figure drawing tutorials starts with one so you can get a visual example. It's kinda hard to explain...you kinda have to see it to figure it out. It's just one of those things...but, these curves or 'rhythm lines' give the pose life. It gives a sense of movement. It takes quite a bit of practice to get the hang of it but once you do it'll look that much better.

Remember to measure more. Don't rely *too* much on proportions since everyone is different and they're only a guideline. Keep working at it

[JJH]

Hey sula.

Are rhythm lines like drawing the figure by using C and S curves very simply to define the form?

[sula_nebouxi]

JJH, kinda but not completely. Rhythm is hard to describe. It's like the flow of the line, it ties everything together and makes the drawing seem more graceful and just plain pretty. This is how Andrew Loomis described it, a rhythm line is any contour that can be made to flow into another. Here's a visual example and there's more on fineart.sk and saveloomis.org:

http://www.fineart.sk/show.php?w=1006

You can see the curve of the back almost join with the curve of the front of the thigh. As humans we just like to see curved lines. I don't know why...but if you can take advantage of that in your drawings, it'll look much more appealing. Rhythm only helps with the general pose, to get a feeling of grace and flowing movement. Remember it's only a loose guideline to where the body parts should be placed.

[GT1]

lol awesome.. ill practice that on monday..

btw, what u guys thiknk about life draing on the computer? you ever heard of Virtual Figure Drawing Studio?

[sula_nebouxi]

Life drawing on the computer? isn't that kind of an oxymoron? Nothing compares to real life and drawing what's in front of you. It may be good to keep your arm moving when there's nothing else to draw and for some exercises but that's about it. A big part of learning comes from taking what's in front of you and putting on a 2d space. Having a figure in any kind of print or televised media takes away the hard part of drawing, the part we need for the study of life. But if you don't have models to work from, I guess it's an ok substitution. You just have to remember not to blindly copy the pic, but analyze every portion of the body for why things happen the way they do. Why is that shadow there? Why is this part brighter than this one?

About that virtual drawing studio, is that the program that has a simple 3d model that poses for you? It might be a good resource if you use it for reference. It seems to me like it's just a virtual mannequin. It might help you if you need to come up with a pose. The more detailed models should only be used as a guideline too. I'm not so sure about that light, it seems way too simple and it might not be a good idea to learn about light from it. That's my take on it. Only use it as a reference for a specific pose(unless you can't control it)