@mcminnjesse
added comment inProject - Blob to Box
14d
Asked for help
Here's some full figures I created using the blob-to-box method!
I've been getting pretty good at rigid boxes, but have still really been struggling with organic shapes, particularly finding the plane changes and applying lighting to them. So here I made a conscious effort to think of each limb segment as a box while still allowing it to distort. I have a long way to go but this kind of felt revolutionary to me. It's so freeing to be able to just drop a blob down and carve planes into it however I like!
17d
Asked for help
It was difficult to draw it from my imagination, so I referred to a photo.
@mcminnjesse
14d
I'm in awe of the way you apply gesture and perspective to the boxes. They look so solid and energetic even though you don't use any shading. The distortion is subtle but it adds so much. Awesome work!
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15d
Asked for help
My submissions for Level 1 and Level 2!
Anyone else find this exercise really satisfying? It was a lot of fun to carve planes into the blobs - somehow it felt a lot more solid and real than just drawing an abstract box.
I'm going to make a conscious effort to think of the forms I'm drawing as actual 3D objects I'm carving into. With luck, that sense of solidity will be transferred into the drawing itself.
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1mo
Asked for help
Level 2 - Stan said "More guns!"
1mo
Asked for help
Well, I wanted to keep going with this one, but ended up running out of time. I used 2-point perspective because I wanted the camper to straddle the horizon, which made things easier. I also used guidelines this time instead of eyeballing it! As you can see I went a little overboard. Very grateful to be working digital - my hat goes off to those of you working traditionally.
I managed to sneak a lot of ellipses into this practice - like the fringe of the canopy - but more than anything this exercise taught me the importance and power of construction. I feel like I could keep adding details forever!
Awesome submissions everyone. This was a great assignment!
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1mo
Asked for help
My first two attempts at Level 1, reference included! I included two versions of my jeep... one clean and one with construction lines present.
This was a really fun exercise. It really drives home the fact that the more complex your drawing is going to be, the more important it is to nail the construction right at the beginning... I spent a lot of time getting the box right for the jeep and still noticed some lines going wonky as I started to add in the details.
I'm inspired by all the awesome stuff people are posting. Level 2 next!
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1mo
Asked for help
Hello. I don't usually draw vehicles. So this is my first attempt. And I have to say. It is fun . I think I found my new favorite exercise. I made this drawing freehand because I want to improve my line and hand. So I hope it's ok. Thank you for feedback.
1mo
This is pretty darn good for freehand using traditional materials! I think your tank looks great. The only thing that stands out to me with the truck on the left is the back plane - it's pointing almost straight at the viewer when I would expect it to converge to the left the same way the side plane converges to the right.
2mo
Asked for help
Welp, I'm totally intimated by all the awesome projects people are submitting, but here's level 1 and 2 for hand #3!
This has been a fantastic exercise. I'm still struggling, but I already feel the improvement from the first hands I did. I don't think there's much else to say but that I'll have to keep doing this again... and again... and again...
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2mo
Asked for help
Here's hand #2, level 1 and level 2.
I think it's coming along well, all things told. My main issue is just losing myself in the noise with all the fingers and joints and forms... I feel like each drawing reaches a critical mass where I'm having a hard time keeping track of which lines belong to which box, and the clarity of the drawing starts to suffer. I end up erasing some lines and re-drawing others, which is contributing to the slightly sloppy look I'm getting in some areas.
2mo
Asked for help
Here's my Level 1 and Level 2 attempts for hand #1!
Level 1: I think the hardest part about this was figuring out how to deal with the knuckles... whether to have the boxes overlap, to leave spaces between the boxes, or to somehow stretch them into non-boxes to accommodate the squishing of the fingers. I ended up seeing @Vue Thao's assignment and using their technique of treating each knuckle as part of the preceding bone. I think it turned out!
Level 2: This was haaard. I've heard of Kim Jung Gi and his "little man", but trying to draw the same picture from a new perspective breaks my brain. I ended up changing the hand from a righty to a lefty!! The spread of the fingers is also off, but still, I don't think it turned out too badly for a first attempt. Onto the other hands!
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4mo
Asked for help
I did another one that I felt was hard for me to test myself. I spent a lot of time on this because I usually have trouble with portraits that have a up shot. I got so into it I ended up rendering it. Not sure if I nailed the likeness or not but I'm liking it. Some other I did are below if you scroll down. Those I kept it simple.
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4mo
Asked for help
Here's 2 more submissions for Level 2! I think I'm progressing well, though I still feel like I struggle to indicate many of the features of the face even though I know the theory of how they work. For example, I know that the brow ridge juts out over the eye sockets, and that the eye sockets are a kind of notch or 'whistle' shape cut horizontally into the face plane... but when I try adding/subtracting these shapes to/from my head box, it just looks weiiiiird. I think I need to do about 100 more of these before it will really start to come together.
4mo
Asked for help
Some more Level 1 boxes and my first attempt at a Level 2 portrait drawing. I think it turned out all right, though I feel like I was too focused on copy+pasting the facial features instead of seeing them as 3D forms. I'm going to try to focus on that for my next attempt.
4mo
Asked for help
Here's a bunch of boxes for Level 1! I don't normally do the Level 2 assignments but I may give it a try later.
This was deceptively hard. I seem to struggle a lot more with low angles than with high ones. For a couple of the boxes I traced the shape over the head, then drew the box freehand once I understood the form a little better, which really helped.
I've drawn so many boxes in my art practice already and I can't believe how much I still have to improve. I really like having to match the box to the head - it gives the exercise so much more purpose compared to just drawing randomly-rotated boxes floating in space. I think this will become a staple exercise for me.
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Was absolutely frightened of my linework, so I tried to keep it as loose as possible to... I guess to avoid commitments? I just wasn't confident I was getting the perspective right. Loosely based on my bedroom.
4mo
Good work! The great thing about 1-point perspective is that as long as you're sticking with boxes, you can draw your lines with 100% confidence: every line is either completely vertical, completely horizontal, or radiating out from the vanishing point. If you're lost and wondering where a line should go, just remember that you are restricted to these 3 options. If you want to add a non-boxy element to your drawing (like an oval rug or a headboard), start with a bounding box first to capture its dimensions, then subtract from it to get the object you want.
Looking at your image again I think you do a good job of following perspective. What's missing from your room is the room itself. This makes your furniture look like it's floating in space. If you choose to do the exercise again, watch the part of Stan's video where he builds the room itself, then start with establishing the back wall, side walls, ceiling, and floor. This is the foundation on which all of the other elements will rest.
Asked for help
And done! I've included 2 versions of this - a cleaned up version, and another with the guidelines still intact. This was a lot of fun. I've done some 1 point perspective exercises before but this was the first time I've really focused on building a scene from nothing and I think it really drove home the lesson of just how much stuff you can construct with only boxes.
Working digitally really helped with this to the point that it almost felt like cheating... I drew each line about 100 times to get it just so and was able to jump onto a new layer to do the cleaned-up version. In my defence, all the lines were drawn freehand! I think it would be fun to go nuts with the line tool and see how much complexity I could fit in that way.
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5mo
Asked for help
And here's the final batch. I had no time limit for the first one, and experimented with some brushes and values. The other 3 were done on a 10-minute timer.
What a project. This definitely felt extremely uncomfortable at the beginning but I think I'm finally getting the hang of it.
Question: for a beginner who's still picking up on figure drawing, what length of drawings is optimal? I often do 30-minute classes at Line of Action, which start with 30-second poses, then go on to 1 minute, 5 minutes, and finally 10 minutes. I understand that beginners should try to fail fast by doing lots of quick poses, but I find the 30-second poses kind of frustrating because I feel like I'm not fast enough to do any meaningful problem-solving in that time.
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5mo
Asked for help
Rounds 3 and 4 complete! I've decided to keep going until I get through all of the sample pictures Stan provided. I'm really excited by my progress... I still see lots of room for improvement but I think I've gotten noticeably better since the first poses I submitted. It's always gratifying to be reassured that practice does actually yield results! I decided I was taking too long to get the poses done, so I instituted a 10-minute time limit on the last 3 poses.
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5mo
Asked for help
Round 2 complete. Some of these definitely went better than others. Any advice appreciated!
5mo
Asked for help
Round 1 of rhythms. I'm definitely going to do more of these because I feel like I'm just barely starting to understand what's going on. Feedback highly appreciated!
I know I have to work on a lot in all areas, but something I keep struggling with is a sense of two-dimensionality, or a sense of the subject of the drawing not really being 'there'. Basically I can't seem to get my drawings to feel like people instead of just a collection of lines.
