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@drusk
@drusk
Earth
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@sharpjab
I got a bit more rhythm in making different head angles using loomis method. So I was trying to pick one face and draw it in different angles while still keeping it recognisable. I think I could get it to look somewhat consistent. Like I can tell it's the same person. I'm still struggling with getting the angle of the tilt right. Is there any hack to measure the tilt correctly?
@drusk
3mo
I don't think there is any easy hack to getting the tilt correct. It's all about the spacing of the facial features and the ear placement. Tilting up puts the top of the ears below the eyebrows, tilting down puts them above. Remember, the human face is one of the most difficult subjects to draw not because of its complexity but because we are all genetically preprogrammed to know exactly how it is supposed to look. Micro changes will look wrong. Watch Stephen Bauman do a portrait demo (a master of portraiture) and even he will get things off on the first pass and need to make adjustments. These look good by the way. Keep at it.
@drusk
This piece is very fun and evocative of the time period. Yes, you may have some small perspective issues that are not technically "correct" if you took a ruler to it and marked it with red lines but I don't think that would improve your work. I wouldn't change anything unless after a few days looking at it something feels wrong and needs attention. Nothing stands out like that to me. I think after you take Marshall's course (I'll be there too), you might look back at this and see things that are "wrong". This looks good. Are you painting it full color?
Jeanne Bowman
Thanks so much! I am glad to know the main impression seems correct! I feel like I just need to be more precise since it is going into an institution that a lot of people are going to be seeing. I want to try to do my best at it so I don't look back on it with any regrets! I will be painting this in watercolor, which will soften some of the "preciseness" but my experience with watercolor is that if you are trying to paint something with sharp edges, the drawing needs to be extremely tight because a looser drawing seems to compound with wobbliness. I am so excited for Marshall's course but I wish it could be happening now, for sure! Thank you for the lovely comment!
Ezra
Decided to try challenge myself with the two hands interacting with eachother. Difficult!
@drusk
3mo
You did this assignment so much better than I did so anything I say is nitpicking but you did ask for feedback. In number 3, the orientation of the palm suggests that the ring finger should be a bit more foreshortened. I would also say the fat pad on the right side has a bit too much wrinkle in it. I would also say that in number five the fingers of the left hand are bend at a bit too much of an angle. These are tiny adjustments however. This was a great job and it makes me want to go back and watch all the hand videos again and give it another go myself.
@drusk
Decided to combine a gorilla and a big horn sheep. This is just a head shot right now but I hope to have some more full body shots soon. This was a fun exercise and I want to try this with other critters.
@drusk
4mo
continued with body design combining the gorilla and mountain sheep. It looks a bit like a satyr.
@ern1s
Asked for help
Hi everyone, here's my attempt. Any comments welcome
@drusk
9mo
Everyone here has good suggestions. I do something to check to see how I did with the lay in. I make a copy of the original and draw an outline of the face, eyes mouth and nose. Then do the same to my drawing. Try to size them approximately the same and then compare. The outlines make it very easy to see how different my drawing is from the reference. Seeing what is wrong is the hardest part because sometimes everything is a little off. I find if I can get the lay in right, rendering is easy and usually successful.
@pasqualed
sorry I forgot to attach the gesture and the mannequin I'll post them here because it won't let me edit thanks again for the feedback
@drusk
1yr
First, thanks for being brave and posting here, especially when drawing from imagination. I don't know if I would be ready to do that myself. I am not an expert here at drawing the anatomy from reference or imagination, but here are my thoughts. I will also refer to your other post as well with the finished drawing. To begin with, your first sketch wasn't too bad for a basic sketch from imagination. You skipped hands and feet because I am guessing you are not confident with those yet. But as you refined the drawing, you pushed the pose further and further until you started to miss the perspective and the anatomy started to look off. My first bit of advice is to try and get in the pose you are trying to draw. I've even take a selfie to see how it looks when I am trying to do this. I think you will find you can't get into the pose you are trying to draw in the final picture. The body doesn't move that way. You could almost copy that first sketch however. As you refined your drawing, the right hip went way up while the legs basically stayed the same. The angle of the calf and heel is out of alignment with the thigh on the left and the whole leg out of alignment with the right glute. As you move up into the torso, there is an extreme twist and you need to make sure that twist is clearly shown. Right now I think the first sketch conveys that twist better than the final which would have an strong pinch on the side in order to twist that way. The difficulty here as described by Stan and other artists here is adding structure to your gesture without losing the gesture. I think your initial gesture had promise and then you tried to refine it and then some perspective and anatomy issues crept in. Try going back to that initial sketch and see if you can keep that gesture and refine the drawing from there. I'm new to this too however, so these are just observations. Other people may have different thoughts.
@pmak22
Been a while posting, though was still practicing. These are two studies I worked on in the past 2 months. The women from the back is the one I worked on right after I worked on the reference for this assignment. I was really trying to figure things out with core shadows and some of the definition of back muscles. At some point I had to step away and call it even though I could have fixed a great many things. I also didn't really attempt to render the objects, which I'm cool with because that's not the point. The man from the front I just finished tonight. I feel like its a good deal of an improvement. I can see a dozen of things I'd do differently, like the face proportions are off, the hands are questionable, ect, but I'm really proud of what I was able to finish. I'm hoping to do at least 1 finished study a month for the rest of the year, but should start thinking about which aspect I want to focus in on to improve. Welcome to any feedback.
@drusk
1yr
Great job. I do have a few observations. But first I should say that I think you are further along with your skills than I am so this is not a critique, just observations. I will focus on the female model drawing. I feel like you captured the gesture and proportions of your reference really well. There does appear to be a slight discrepancy along the right of the neck, but this is only noticeable because the rest of the figure is done so well. The main observation is that your half tones and shadows are very close together. For example, the right glute highlight and the left glute have the same tone but in the reference they are quite a bit different. The right arm also has very light tones and highlights going down the arm while the reference photo is darker. The affect on me as a viewer is that the lighting seems very bright and intense. There is also a really hard edge along the right glute between it and the leg. The only thing I will say regarding anatomy is that you took a lot of time to emphasize the anatomy in the torso but not in the leg so visually there is almost split between the detail of the upper and lower half of the drawing. The reference photo sort has this playing out too so I see how you got there. Again, this is not a critique because that may be exactly what you wanted. Overall, you did a great job and I am inspired to go do some more on my own. Thanks for sharing.
Marco Sordi
2023/8/14. Good morning everybody. Here's my latest work (pencils and pure graphite on Kent paper, 21 x 29.7 cm). Thanks for your comment or critique. Have a good week.
@drusk
1yr
Looking back on the reference (I saw that you posted it earlier), I think you did a very good job matching it. Reading what Peter wrote is interesting because I feel like this is where artists can make decisions about the final piece. I was wondering what your thoughts are on what he wrote. I'm personally at the stage where doing as well as you did on this would make me super happy. But I was wondering if what peter had to say will influence what you do in the future. Thoughtful critiques are fascinating to read.
@drusk
Asked for help
My final anatomy course assignment. I tried to do some on my own and then stop and watch Stan for a while to see if I was on track. It took a few days working a couple of hours each day. It was a first for me with stretching and toning the paper. I wish there were more videos like this because it was very informative. Comments welcome.
Steve Lenze
I think you did a nice job on the gesture, it doesn't feel stiff at all. Now, about the rendering: You are not rendering the forms as 3 dimensional making them look flat. Your making some forms much darker than they are. You are not accounting for light fall off. This is when the forms that are farther from the light, get darker. The body is too light overall. Too much contrast because you don't have enough dark, middle and light halftones. I did a quick diagram and digital painting to show you what I mean, I hope it helps :)
@drusk
More practice. I think it is closer, but I still need work on my faces.
Martha Muniz
Hey, good job! Something I'd recommend as you progress into your studies is to not only think about the gesture and the shapes you observe on the page, but think about the subject as it takes up space. The shadow below the model indicates the plane she is up against, and this (the floor) visibly pushes against her feet and her bottom. This causes a visible compression that you could exaggerate to make her feel even more believable as a 3D form with weight affected by gravity. It also helps to compare features to one another, such as her hands or feet. Right now, her right hand and left foot appear larger in the drawing than the left hand and right foot respectively--so think about how perspective plays a role in what we observe. There is some foreshortening for the left hand and right foot in the original photo, so assess the direction they are facing and how much of each side we get to see. Hope this helps!
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