- This topic has 132 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated 3 years ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Hi David,
first it’s nice to see someone else working through the beginner course and there’s definitely some progress! Looking at these makes me excited to catch up to the same excercises.
After looking through your thread my advice would be to work on your accuracy/execution. I don’t necessarily mean measurements but if you look at your copies they look much cleaner. I could be wrong but it looks like you would do the copies real carefully but if you try doing something on your own you rush through them.
So if I’m right just try to slow down a bit if not forget everything I said … 😅
Thanks Christopher. Yes, you might be right about that. Sometimes my artwork is produced last thing in the day when there isn’t much time and I’m rushing. Good observation. Better to draw something smaller I suppose in those situations.
Thanks Elizabeth for the kind words.
Anyway here is Day 38 which is the finished skull piece.
Hi David,
Firstly, let me say that this reminds me of one my favorite artists, Max Beckmann, a German expressionist from the first half of the 20th century. Definitely look at his work, especially the watercolors, etchings, and drawings. Now, I do hope that you will only take this as a compliment, because I can also imagine that someone who is trying for a much more classically realistic approach, when compared to an expressionist painter, might almost be discouraged. But don’t be. This only means, that you need to be aware of certain tendencies that you have that you can either build upon or decide to work against, both directions are good. The more you know about yourself the better, right? At least I think so.
That said, I think that this piece could benefit from more precise proportions and corrections of the outlines (this is of course if we’re pushing this towards the “realism” end of the spectrum). I think the apple is a bit small, and the skull is a little too sharply defined on the upper right edge. I think the background could probably be darker, the vase on the left side also needs to be more defined. You might know some of these things and were planning to get to them, but as I am commenting on the image I have, I’ll just include everything I see that could be adjusted. I also think that you should probably rub or blend the charcoal more to get some flatter tones, on top of which you could then apply charcoal texturally. This would give you more control of your accents and let you just see the page as a unity. Also, check those ellipses, they seem a bit slanted.
Keep up the good work and keep working on that course. It’s a great primer for a lot of the other awesome courses on NMA.
Best,
Iliya
Hi Iliya,
Thank you for your kind words and detailed critique – super insightful and useful. I’d not looked at Max Beckmann’s work before and I can definitely see why this piece reminds you of his work. It’s not a style I am consciously aiming towards, no, but rather one that comes from my inexperience. Given the choice of being able to draw like Beckman or Michelangelo I would choose the latter any day!
I’m really learning at this stage – so much to learn! I have no real idea how to draw a skull, apple and so on, I’m just picking it up as I go along. I’ve never formally studied proportion or anatomy so find a skull quite an intimidating object to draw. I think the ellipses are a little clumsy looking at them, you are right. I have drawn better ellipses before, but these ones are a bit all over the place – I think this is because they changed location and I drew over them many times. This piece is in graphite actually and the paper is cheap newsprint – I chose that as I was doing thumbnails on the newsprint and continued from there. I think I’m going to do this piece again with your comments in mind on quality paper. I will stick to graphite for the outline but perhaps will dare to go for charcoal at the end for rendering. I’m a bit scared of charcoal – I lack control with it and it’s so dark! Also it’s much harder (impossible?) to erase.
Another thing I will do on the second pass is to make the drawing myself, so to speak. This piece is effectively a lecture note. I’m following along with Heather not quite stroke for stroke but certainly following her flow. I will produce a more original drawing working directly from the reference material. One last change to make in my working setup is that I should use my easel not the tabletop. Using the table means I am viewing the paper at an angle.
Thank you again for your helpful comments.
Best wishes,
David.Day 39, Really only have a few minutes today so started some quick outline sketches of some aquatic forms. I’m taking my cue from the book The Sketch Encyclopedia – Over 900 Drawing Projects. I’m wondering what the professional opinion is of books like this. I find it quite useful for ideas and basic forms.
Day 40. The second outline for the plaster sketch of Brutus. The first one looked like one of those african elongated heads, so I redrew. This one the nose is too long, so will go at it again, but happier with this one than the first. Was going to amend but a) I’m using Conte not graphite so harder to rub out and b) mistake is right in the middle of the piece and it would affect everything, so easier just to call this practice and go at it again.
Day 41. Another Brutus – I’m much happier with the proportions with this one. I might start shading it on a later day.
Day 42. Had to take a pause in this challenge for the last 10 days or so as was dealing with a tricky home issue which is largely over now.
Laying-in sketch from the reference material from the beginners class. Found out some information about this bust on the old internut: “This is a fragment of the Tomb of Giuliano di Medici, Duke of Nemours with Night and Day”, 1521-1524, located at the Sagrestia Nova, Medici Chapels at the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy; the tomb were built by Michelangelo Buonarroti as a personal sepulchre to the Medici family in this basilica, which is considered by the Medici as their private church and located in front of the residential palace in via Larga (presently via Cavour).” I like the plaster reproduction very much in the reference images – I wonder who made it? Anyone know?
Anyway, enough gassing here is my effort:
The bust in the reference material looks very similar to one sold by the Caproni Collection. Can anyone confirm this is the case? When I save a few coins I might splash out on one – they are not cheap but quality rarely is!
Here’s Day 43. Very brief sketch. Will try to pick up the pace soon.
Day 44. Back on the beginner videos. Life seems to be back on track slightly (for the moment!). I’m quite pleased with this one. The proportions aren’t perfect but I didn’t fuss to much with them to begin with. There’s something about the head – perhaps the jaw which is too masculine for me. Any general tips for making a head more feminine would be appreciated. Also I don’t see the resource (i.e. the image used by the instructor in the video) in the resources page – if any admins read this it might be something to fix.
I’ve realised my iPhone is slowly dying. The battery doesn’t work very well and more importantly the camera is going – there’s a dark circle in the middle of the lens I can’t get rid of and there seems to be temperature issues (this one was taken in natural light but it has a horrible yellow cast on it). I might have to start using my dSLR to photograph my work, which would be no bad thing, but I ought to get my iPhone fixed 🙁
D x
Hello David, I like your attempts at drawing classical sculptures. To answer your question about more feminine features, the trick is to deemphasize them. For example, the jaw in your drawing looks very strong and hangs low. If you raised it up quite a bit and don’t emphasize it as much (use more delicate shadow) it would look more feminine. As a general idea, anytime you make features look strong by drawing them large or by putting in dramatic shadows, it will look more masculine. Sometimes, you have to ignore how things actually appear in real life and change them a bit in order to get the look you are going for. Hope this helps, and keep up the good work.
David, it would be helpful if you lit these photos better so we can see more clearly.
I think you’re on the right track here. You need to keep doing these exercises and building skill. Try using a thicker pencil so you can go from a sharp line to more of a tone. That will help you start to bridge the gap between linear and tonal drawings.
CONNECT
New Masters Academy
16182 Gothard St
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
Contact US