Composite’s 100 Days of Figure Drawing

[Composite]

Day 10. I picked up a water brush today and I’ve only used it a tiny bit, but I love it! It was so fun to try out using it like I’ve seen in Glenn Vilppu’s demonstrations. I also showed my sketchbook to a professional artist friend of mine and she had nice things to say about my gesture sketches, which gave me a lot of confidence.

I have to say, I’m really enjoying drawing right now! Since I let go of beating myself up for drawing badly, I feel like I’ve improved faster than before. Ironically, letting go of my expectations has produced far better results than when I was super-focused on the end product and being so frustrated about it.

I think I’m gradually getting a feel for gesture and describing 3D form, but my lines need to become more accurate. I think more practise will help with that. These drawings were done pretty quickly as I was previously copying Glenn Vilppu at his pace, so I carried on the momentum.

I’m a bit too tired to draw any more today, but I really look forward to more drawing tomorrow! It’s making me really happy to pursue this hobby that I’ve been keen about for so many years, but never committed to quite like this.

[Composite]

Day 11. I started a new sketchbook today! I also bought a little easel yesterday, so I can tilt my paper towards me, which should enable me to use more “proper” pencil techniques. I also tried sharpening my pencil with a blade and then sandpaper, rather than a pencil sharpener. I’m still a noob at this, but I want to use the proper materials and techniques. I would have liked to spend more time today, but I got busy doing other stuff and I had to press through end-of-evening tiredness to get my drawings done. I’m really keen to keep up my commitment to this challenge! No day shall go without putting pencil to paper!

[Composite]

Day 12. It’s been another very, very busy day for me, leaving me tired when it was time to begin my drawing session. However I got through a 25-minute figure drawing session (Lilias from Daily Life Drawing Sessions). There’s not really that much to say about it, other than that I’m consolidating the skills I’ve been practicing. Those are: Describing the gesture and describing forms in 3D space.

I feel like I’m getting more accurate drawing with the pen from the shoulder, which surprised me! My lines are going where I intend a lot more of the time, so I’m really happy about that! Maybe I would get better results if I were to slow down a bit, as the lines of these drawings were put down very quickly.

I’ll see how I go tomorrow!

[Composite]

Day 13. This is what I managed today. I’ve tried drawing on an easel and it feels very awkward. A flat surface is much more comfortable. I think I can maybe do a bit better than this, but this is what I came out with. At least I put some lines down today.

[Composite]

Day 14. I used the easel again today. First I copied Vilppu’s lines for the same session I tried on my own yesterday, then I tried a new set of figures until I ran out of energy for the day.

I feel like my lines are chaotic and sometimes they all meld into a mess that obscures the figure. I’d like to try and be a bit more purposeful with my lines.

[Composite]

Day 15. I think I get my best results with a pen, and I enjoy using one. I continued the daily drawing session from yesterday and did a bit of the next one. I think I’m beginning to grasp some of the concepts of gesture, and I can get some of the mood and feeling of the figure. I’m still not there in terms of accuracy, but I intend to keep practicing!

I think it’s particularly helpful to have this daily commitment, otherwise there’s been so many days where I wouldn’t have bothered to draw because it’s late and I’m tired, or I didn’t have the time. This way, I’m -making- the time to do it, so I am definitely putting the hours into this. Even if it’s only 30 minutes a day, that’s 3.5 hours a week. So much better than 1-2 hours once a week. I’m sure it’s more helpful to do smaller, daily drawing sessions than longer, less frequent sessions.

Tomorrow I’ll have limited time too, but I want to see if I can spend a bit more time!

[Composite]

Day 16. Today was all following Glenn Vilppu as he drew. I’d already attempted these poses on my own previously. At this stage, I want to keep trying and narrowing down my process so I can draw more cleanly.

I think I put down far too many lines, because I’m not finding the best line for the situation. Instead, I’m drawing about five lines to try and get the feeling that should be captured with one. Sometimes the lines go in the wrong direction and I try to fix it, but my second attempt goes too far the other way, so I try to fix it again, etc, etc.

I’m nearing the end of the Dynamic Figure Drawing course, but I think I will require a lot more practise before I feel like I’ve properly assimilated what I’ve learned. So I will keep going! It’s really enjoyable when I feel like I’m getting somewhere like this. I reckon I’m starting to see some results, which is exciting! I am well aware that I have a very, very long way to go, but I am determined to continue on with my best effort every day!

[Composite]

Day 17. I spent all day drawing today, and it was great! I filled eight pages of my sketchbook (not all are shown). A lot of it was following along with Glenn Vilppu for the final chapter in the Dynamic Figure Drawing course.

I think I will need to work a bit more on consolidating the skills I learned in Dynamic Figure Drawing before I move onto Advanced Dynamic Figure Drawing or Renaissance Figure Drawing. All these pictures are imitations of Glenn Vilppu’s work, so I need to be able to do it on my own before I will feel ready for the next course.

My ultimate aim is to draw animals and fantasy creatures from imagination, but I view figure drawing as a way to learn the skills that I can apply to animal drawing.

[Composite]

Day 18. I’m disappointed with how I went today. Apart from getting a little mileage down, I’m not very happy.

I am tired from staying up late to keep drawing last night, so that’s probably made me draw carelessly today. Maybe I am rushing things a bit, but tiredness is probably a big factor here today. Maybe I’m also trying to work on too many aspects here at once. Perhaps I need to revisit basic 3D forms again. Today’s drawings I’m not very happy with.

[Composite]

Day 19. My focus today was to try and slow down, stop rushing, and draw more carefully. I still feel like my lines are very rough, and I don’t really know how and where to draw them properly to best represent the figure.

I feel like I’m in a rut where my skill is so low, I don’t know what to do when I have 10 minutes to draw my last figure. The initial lay-in is so bad that additional time won’t improve it, because I’ve already put down bad fundamental lines. I don’t understand how to do the initial process well enough that extra time will produce a better drawing.

I am worried that because I am not on top of the process, I’m just practicing drawing badly every day and will just be stuck at this low skill level.

I wish I still had the “I can do this” feeling that came from imitating Vilppu’s lines. Perhaps it will come with far more mileage.

It’s certainly my intention to keep drawing every day, and just push through this rut. There’s absolutely no way I will ever improve if I simply give up.

[Composite]

Day 20. Today I tried really slowing down. I paused the Daily Life Drawing session in various places to find poses, and really took my time to draw as carefully as I possibly could.

I really want to be able to capture the gesture as best I can, because that’s the basis for everything that follows. Without getting that crucial step right, it’s difficult to make a convincing drawing. So I will keep trying my best.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by Composite.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by Composite.

[Composite]

Day 21. Today I focused really hard on capturing the essence of the gesture, trying to find the right lines to describe the flow of the form. Glenn Vilppu makes it look straightforward, but it’s so much harder to find those best lines than it looks.

I also tried to slow down a bit and focus on accuracy, which is a challenge because I just want to get the drawing down.

I also tried to think about where my cross-contour lines should go. I think I can see the difference when I try to approach it this way. I will try my best to continue finding the best way to capture the form like this.

[PaulDidier]

Hi Composite. Great challenge! I’m glad you posted your early work you felt so badly about, because we can now see how much progress you’ve made! Your drawings have improved significantly, especially the sense of movement and gesture. Hang in there.
I love gesture. If I can make a suggestion, I urge you to do studies of artists who excel at gesture. Two of my favorites are Heinrich Kley and Daumier. I urge you to do studies of just about everything you can find by them.

Here’s a Kley;

And a Daumier;

 

Gesture doesn’t get much better than these guys.
Good luck!

[Composite]

Hi Paul, thanks so much for your input! I’m really glad you think my work has improved! Day to day, I don’t notice improvement, everything just kind of feels hard, haha.

Thank you for your suggestion, too! I have to ask what you mean by a “study” and how you do one. I assume it’s more than just looking closely at the work in question?

Thank you for the encouragement! I honestly really need it because I’ve been struggling with disappointment a lot lately.

[Composite]

Day 22. I started today with some still life to warm up, but I scratched it out because I found that despite taking the utmost care possible when drawing, the result was not in uniform perspective.

I’m finding pencil or pen control very difficult too. I want clean, confident lines, but they go in the wrong direction when I draw from the shoulder, which messes up what I’m trying to do. I’m not sure how to improve on that without just continuing to draw and maybe I’ll get better with time.

I’ve been trying my best to “lead the eye” with the initial gesture drawing, but I’m struggling to understand how to do that. I try and draw lines in the direction my eye moves over the model, but they’re often not quite that fluid. I’m also finding I’m not sure how to do arms if not for two curved lines. If I try to break it into more lines to try and follow the flow, it ends up looking a bit weird.

Occasionally I come out with something approaching half-decent, but the next drawing won’t have that same fluidity.

There’s a lot I can see wrong with my results, so I’m trying to see if I can improve on that. I’m determined to do this every day and try to improve one bit at a time.

If I can identify very specific things to focus my attention on and improve, I think I can make more progress than if I just go “oh well, maybe the next one will look better.” I’m afraid of spending all this time and effort just practicing making bad drawings, so I want to make sure I use my drawing time as effectively as possible to learn and improve.

[Author]

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