Life drawing sketch

[Rachel Atkins]

Hi again, just starting out, love some feedback. It’s only small, just on A5 sketch pad.  Thanks

[Mengu Gungor]

Great drawing! I think the values are solid, and I really like that you are differentiating between hard edges for cast shadows, and soft edges for form shadows. I noticed a few tangents and marked them, that could be eliminated fairly easily when picking where you’re sitting. Or if that’s not possible, you can move the arm a little so it doesn’t come straight out of the rib cage, or move the foot so the heel of one foot doesn’t run along the ball of the other. Hope that’s helpful. Keep it up!

[Rachel Atkins]

Thank you! Yes that’s extremely helpful, it did not occur to me, but it makes sense, especially how difficult it was to draw those little bits of body that stick out just a little bit. So awkward. Great tip, I’ll keep my eyes on it. Cheers Rachel

[xelael]

Hello, Rachel.

I second Mengu’s comments. Solid drawing, great value arrangement, and overall it’s very well structured. Except for two specific bits, which is where I would encourage you to work on next: feet and hands. I understand these are small and might be hard to get good detail on, but they still don’t get up to the same level as the rest of the body.

These are extremely difficult parts of the body that most people struggle with, but I’d say the bigger issue is usually being faced with its complexity and never actually sitting down and tackling the problem head on, which is really the only way to improve. Take this as a more general advice, though. I don’t mean it necessarily to you, as I don’t know you, but it might help others reading through these threads as well. The moments we struggle with are precisely those we must do our best to stop, analyze, patiently study and overcome.

[Rachel Atkins]

You are spot on there, I do avoid the hands and feet often when I draw figures (also faces). Sitting down and focussing on them is a great suggestion. I think it’s true that when we find ourselves in a struggle with an element of drawing or painting, it’s a great opportunity to improve. It just takes a bit of determination to sit down and say, right, I suck at this, time to put some work in.

Thanks so much for your feedback, I think I’ll go face that challenge.

[Author]

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