Deborah’s 100 Day Figure and Head Challenge

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  • #502784
    Debbie H
    Participant
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    Hi everyone.
    My name is Deborah and I live in Tasmania, Australia. To date, my art has mostly consisted in taking and then drawing from my photos – little drawing and lots of rendering. Thus I am lacking in drawing skill. Whilst I do draw freehand, most of of my work is botanical, which is pretty forgiving if a proportion isn’t quite correct. That (and because it’s a wonderful subject) is why for this challenge, I would like to focus on figure and head drawing. I’ve never drawn a person before, so I’m a little nervous to do this publicly. However I’d love to be part of this community and learn from you all, so thanks for having me!

    I’ve started Glenn Vilpuu’s Renaissance Figure and Head Drawing classes. Are these a good place to begin? I’m also working through Erik Olson’s Perspective classes, so I may throw a perspective drawing in now and then :).

    Looking forward to meeting you!

    Warmest regards,

    Deborah

    Image: Day 1 of 100. Fountain pen in sketchbook. Trying to look for movement and express gesture.

    #502890
    Bryan MccabeBryan Mccabe
    Participant
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    Hello Deborah,

    I am also new to figure drawing, and I agree it is intimidating at first. I really like Glenn Vilpuu’s class, and also Steve Huston’s. Looks like you are off to a good start. I also just started a figure drawing challenge, except I am trying to do them in oil pastels. I tried to use a fountain pen recently, and I struggled to get the ink to flow out evenly. Glad it is working for you. I mostly draw with jumbo compressed charcoal sticks because they feel the most natural in my hand. It will be nice to see your progress over these 100 days, and maybe we can share some tips along the way.

    Bryan.

    #502906
    André Girão TaufferAndré Girão Tauffer
    Participant
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    Nice! The volumes seem to be working!

    #502925
    Joshua JacoboJoshua Jacobo
    Keymaster
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    You have the right idea. My advice the moment is to do many of these. Dozens– at least and keep sharing here please!

    #503513
    Debbie H
    Participant
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    Hi Bryan,

    I’d like that! I’ll have a look for your thread. I’m used to pencils and the like, so I find chunky materials hard to control. Glenn talks about deliberately using a variety of mediums, so I’m going to challenge myself to try different things, although the subject matter is probably challenge enough for the moment!

    Deborah

    #503519
    Debbie H
    Participant
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    Thanks Andrè. Thanks Joshua – dozens I shall do!

    #504948
    Debbie H
    Participant
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    Hi everyone,

    Here is my Day 2 work. Some worked better than others! I’ve used a contè Pierre noire B pencil and also used an underhand grip, both for the first time. Thus I felt pretty out of control, but it was kind of fun. I have been doing timed sketches, but I’m finding that it’s rushing me to the point where I’m losing sight of careful observation. Perhaps I need to slow down for the meantime? I didn’t set out to tone these – it came about as an attempt to correct errors and developed into play, so don’t take too much notice of it!

    My primary question at this stage is whether gesture and movement is evident in the figures I end up with.  Secondly, what’s working and what’s not? Thanks.

    Deborah

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Debbie H.
    • This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Debbie H.
    #505540
    Bryan MccabeBryan Mccabe
    Participant
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    These look good. I like the conte tone, it gives them some dimension, even if it’s accidental. The one thing I see is the arms look a little unnatural in a couple of the poses, especially the one in the bottom row middle. It does look like a tough pose to draw. It seems to me (in my limited experience) like your gesture is pretty good. One thing I’d suggest is to check out John Asaro’s lecture on here. He goes into a lot of detail on how the limbs should appear in a bunch of positions. I’ve watched it a few times, and I’m still trying to draw them accurately.

    #506082
    Debbie H
    Participant
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    Hi Bryan,

    Thanks for your great feedback. That one was a tricky pose, but yes, you’re right. I need to add in some anatomy as you’re doing. There’s a lot to learn! I’ll look up John Asaro’s lectures. As far as the contè goes, I’m sure that I just need to get used to it. Drawing bigger would help too. I might try the contè again and shade my figures instead of just using contour lines.

    Deborah

    #507351
    Debbie H
    Participant
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    Day 3: more figures in my sketchbook using graphite this time.

    #508260
    Bryan MccabeBryan Mccabe
    Participant
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    Good work Deborah. These look a little more fluid and natural than the ones on day 2. You did good conveying a sense of movement. Keep it up!

    Bryan.

    #509483
    Debbie H
    Participant
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    Thanks Bryan. I appreciate your encouragement.

    Deborah

    #509486
    Debbie H
    Participant
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    Day 4: Let’s just say that today wasn’t my day. I’m tired and not observing well. It’s hard to post in public  when things aren’t going well. The positive: I drew.

    I’m sensing that I’m not ready for solid gestural drawing because I don’t have the structural knowledge. As Steve Houston says, the two have to go together. I’m undecided whether to change my challenge and do the Russian drawing course from the beginning or whether I’ll pick up structural knowledge as I go if I keep going with Glenn Vilpuu’s/Steve Houston’s gesture focused approach. Any thoughts?

    Tomorrow is a new day.

    Deborah

    #509614
    Bryan MccabeBryan Mccabe
    Participant
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    The Russian drawing course looks cool. I watched a few lessons, but haven’t studied it seriously yet. I also think there is an incredible amount of information and practical knowledge between Vilpuu and Steve Huston. I think the most important thing is just to keep going and learn along the way. Don’t get discouraged even when things aren’t working out. Just be prepared to start again tomorrow and try things slightly differently. My approach is to think of my art works as experiments. One experiment fails, I just feel sad for a few minutes, and then decide how I will try to make the next one better tomorrow. All of the famous artists went through growing pains. The key is to figure out what works for you slowly over time using trial and error. Steve Huston says something like that in some of his lectures when he talks about how he likes to do things slightly different from everyone else, and that’s how you develop your own style. Hope this helps and please keep going.
    Bryan.

    #509958
    Debbie H
    Participant
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    Bryan, thank you for your encouragement – I really appreciated it today. You’re right and I’ll take your advice. Keep drawing, experimenting and moving forwards.

    There are so many wonderful courses on NMA and piecing together a coherent path isn’t the easiest – spoiled for choice! Don’t quote me on this, but from reading Joshua Jacobo’s comments on the threads, it does seem that Glenn Vilpuu, Steve Huston and Iliya Mirochnik all follow a basically constructive (as opposed to sight-size) approach and thus their methods probably all work together pretty well. Rather than trying to conquer Rome in a week, I’m going to slow down and enjoy the learning process.

    Thanks again,

    Deborah

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 246 total)

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