- This topic has 88 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 4 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
- My goal is to have a good understanding of head and figure structure that will allow me to draw from imagination.
- I will use different mediums, but primary focus will be on practising to draw larger and from the shoulder, instead of wrist.
- During the challenge I will review lectures on Figure Drawing (Glenn Vilppu) and Portrait Drawing (Steve Huston).
- I will draw every day and alternate between figure and portrait drawings.
I didn’t do much since my last challenge, life simply got in the way. For this challange I like to work on better understanding of head and figure structure. I started today with Glenn Vilppu’s figure drawing course and admittedly nothing was working very well, it felt like I have both left hands. Drawing larger and from the shoulder is also something that I like to work on and eventually master it at some point. That might be part of the reason why today it felt as if I was learning how to walk agin. Regardless this is my start of the challenge I am looking forward dealing with whatever twist and turn comes my way 🙂
Day 1
I started working on figure gesture and this is some of that work.
Faber Castell Sanquine on 14 x 17 block paper
Thank you Erik!
Day 2
Today I continued with working on gesture and drawing along with Glenn Vilppu. I really enjoy Glenn’s constructive approach and putting emphasis on the analysis of the pose, what you see and what you want to convey about the pose as oppose to simply copying it. The gesture part is especially tricky, but at the same time very exciting. In my understanding I see it as a rhythmic shaping of a visual message we are creating, reflected by our emotional response to the pose. Drawing larger and with overhand grip presents an additional challenge, but I really want to make it a habit and at the end a routine. We shall see how much that will improve by the end of this challenge.
Day 3
I was out of town most of the day so there is not much to show today. Still struggling with gesture sketches. Most of what I have done so far is teriblle, but as a wise man once said: ” you have to be a fool before you can be a master and if you aren’t willing to be a fool you can’t be a master”.
Day 4
Another day working on gesture, working through the lectures. It is very hard, harder than it looks. Glenn is an amazing teacher, but I also understand how difficult it is to figure out how to approach to learning of this matter. It is real tough to pin point where is the best starting point. In short, to do the gesture it would be desirable that you already have some understanding of proportions, basic shapes and anatomy, but for each of those it would be good that you already have understanding of gesture. Catch 22 as they say. The way I see it I just have to power through, pick up bits and pieces here and there along the way and somehow everything will come together, eventually.
I do regular daily warmups and dexterity exercises in the effort to get in tune with my large arm muscles. It is getting somewhat more comfortable when compared to the first day.
These are couple of the pages of my practice today. I am following Glenn’s lecture directions in everything including switching and working with various mediums (water-colours, coloured pencil, brush pen, fountain pen etc.)
Day 7
Continue working on spherical forms and gesture. Starting to feel little bit more comfortable. This stuff looks and feels a lot easier than it is. I also started reviewing S. Huston’s head construction course.
Day 8
Continued with spherical forms and gesture. Learning figure and head drawing is certainly a steep learning curve. For now I am trying not to get overwhelmed and think about all the figure anatomical details, rendering etc. Instead I am trying to focus just on capturing the basic figure action, getting basic proportions right and then constructing or modelling the figure by using geometric form. It is so easy to get drawn into fiddling with anatomical details and loose the site of the key things for this stage of my development : gesture, proportions, forms. I think it is important to stagger the learning process or else it can easily become too complex and unmanageable . Tomorrow I will expand and start working with the the box forms and then later, in a week or so, a cylindrical forms. Along the way I will pick up some general anatomic pointers and then later on expand studying of more detailed anatomical structure. That is the plan anyways.
Day 9
I think I am finally getting more comfortable with capturing the gesture. Structure is still very basic because my knowledge is limited to basic shapes and I am slowly learning how to express skin folds, overlaps, some basic anatomical features etc. The way I am drawing figure’s hands and feet somewhat irritates me, they don’t look very good at all. But that is ok, hands and feet at this stage for me are details and will be addressed later, I should just keep powering ahead. Got to stay focused on the major items: Gesture, proportions and forms.
Day 11
Still working on spherical forms, drew along with Glenn and did assignment timed poses. I am slowly getting hang of it. The gesture part and capturing the figure action as a whole is becoming easier as time is going by. Not knowing anatomy hurts and makes me disoriented from time to time, but will get to it eventually.
Hi Gordan. Drawing people is incredibly difficult and what you’re doing looks great. I’m a botanical artist and am learning to draw people primarily to push my drawing skills. Push me it certainly does, but the leap in drawing skills is definitely worth the effort. I am grappling with a lot of the same things you’re talking about – overhand grip (after 100 days, that does feel natural now), anatomy, gesture etc. It does become more fluent over time. I’ve found the Russian drawing course really good for adding anatomy in to the mix. Keep up the good work!
Hi Deborah, thank you very much for your comment and words of encouragement!
Figure drawing is very difficult that is for sure. Glenn Vilppu’s course appealed to me because it felt the most intuitive and it seemed to provide the closest path to drawing from imagination. Drawing from imagination is my ultimate goal, that is what I find exciting. Will see how it goes, still tons to learn!
Not much to show today. Today was a pepper roasting day, my regular routine every fall. By the time I went through two bushels there was not much time left for drawing.
CONNECT
New Masters Academy
16182 Gothard St
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
Contact US