Hi @Marco Sordi, cool studies! These mannequins are really nice! They feel solid, and the flow is nice. I'm currently working a lot on learning to draw the figure for animation, and I'm constantly making discoveries, most recently the discovery of drawing with shapes. It makes it much easier to capture the gesture AND structure and form of the figure quickly. You seem to be interested in drawing Disney characters, so I thought I'd share some things I'm learning :) Keep in mind though that I'm in the middle of the discovering, so take my advice with a grain of salt. When I draw the figure here's how I approach it at the moment: I imagine the figure as built out of shapes á la Glen Keane I focus on feeling the gesture; tension, weight, squash and stretch And I try to express that with my lines But the lines are part of the shapes If you want to draw characters from Disney animation I would strongly encourage you to practice drawing like an animator. Study how they do it, and you might, like me, discover how it makes achieving a result closer to theirs much easier. Here are some Glen Keane drawings that inspired me https://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/508/2740/1600/ariel04.jpg https://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1250/2135/1600/page5.png https://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/508/2740/1600/ariel06.jpg Again Walt Stanchfield's book is a treasure chest for learning how to capture the story of the pose. I hope this helps :)

Cool! - I might have made the humerus a little thicker. Cheers!

Hi @needsmuchhelp, nice studies! This is not easy. Nice job with showing dimensionality of the forms! - What's you art goal? Do you want to do animation, illustration, florence academy style portrait, or something else? Knowing that might help me guide you better. Feel free to put together a slide with a few examples of art by artists that you admire. Not just any artwork that you like, but the type of work that you'd like to create yourself. - The proportions are off in your drawings. I have some ideas to help you with that: Do a few more figure drawings, but rather than drawing boxes and cylinders focusing on the form, draw simple shapes. That will help you focus more on the relationship between the parts. The great thing is that within those shapes, is the form. If you want to show the form, you simply add crosscontours. You can see some examples of me drawing with simple shapes in this reply https://www.proko.com/s/nH3v - It would be great to see more energy in the poses you draw. I think you'd appreciate reading this reply https://www.proko.com/s/bcZ6 - I noticed that you posted some drawings for the Drawing Basics course as well. I think you'll really appreciate taking it. It will support you with a lot of skills that can help you with your figure drawings. This video for example shows How Animators Use Basic Shapes with Aaron Blaise. And the course also seems like a lot of fun :) I hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!

Hi @liquid, nice drawings! - What's you art goal? Do you want to do animation, illustration, florence academy style portrait, or something else? Knowing that might help me guide you better. Feel free to put together a slide with a few examples of art by artists that you admire. Not just any artwork that you like, but the type of work that you'd like to create yourself. - I'm into animation, so I think a lot about weight, tension and what the story is, and most importantly getting involved with the pose, as if I was striking it myself. I think your drawings could use some more of that. Do some more, and try to really feel the pose, as if you we're striking it yourself. Maybe even get up and actually strike the pose (assuming it's safe XD), to feel the weight and tensions. Before you start to draw, ask what part is carrying most of the weight, and focus on communicating that in your drawing. Keep in mind that the body is connected, so if for example you're standing up leaning with most of your weight on your right leg ---> the hip will be pushed up on that side--> and the shoulders might angle the opposite way for balance ---> causing one side of the torso to squash and the other to stretch ---> etc. But most importantly, try to feel the pose. Get involved! You could imagine that the pose you're drawing is part of a sequence. Where is it coming from and where is it going? Try to feel that in your body while you draw. It helps to describe what you're drawing with verbs: "the head hangs down" "the hip pushes out" etc. This is not easy stuff, so don't be discouraged if you struggle. Instead I hope for you to be excited about all these things XD! I hope this helps :) Keep up the good work! 💪😎👍 PS. Try to have your camera parallel to the drawing, when you take the photo, to avoid distortions. You might have adjust your position relative to light in order to avoid cast shadows. If you struggle, take the photo outside, where you have a lot of light :)

Hi @Nikhil Lewis, cool drawing! - You might appreciate reading this reply https://www.proko.com/s/YiWN - I took a quick look in your course library, but couldn't see the Drawing Basics course. Don't miss out on that one! You'll learn a lot of important drawing concepts that will help you in other courses. And the drawing basics course also seems like a lot of fun :) I hope this helps :) Keep up the good work 💪😎👍 PS. the quick tip is based on this lesson How Animators Use Basic Shapes with Aaron Blaise

Hi @Samuel Sanjaya, nice drawings! I think you're doing a good job describing the forms! - I think you need to work on proportion and weight. PROPORTION As mentioned you describe the forms pretty well, but the proportions are often off, making your drawings loose some likeness and a lot of realism. I have some ideas for how to help you with this but first, I'd like to see what your process for drawing the figure is at the moment. Please do a few more drawings like the ones in the first image, and take screenshots of your process. If you have the time feel free to capture your process of a longer drawing like the one in image 2. WEIGHT There is rhythm in your figures, but they are lacking weight and tension, which makes the story of the pose less clear. This is something I'm focusing on in my drawings so maybe that's why I notice. In the bottom left drawing of image one, for example, the story of the pose is that he's leaning against a bat, putting most of his weight there, which causes his arm to tense, and the shoulder is being pushed up. But I'm not really feeling that in your drawing. Do some figure sketches where you focus on communicating the weight. Before you start to draw, ask what part is carrying most of the weight, then try to express that in your drawing. Try to feel the pose, as if you were striking it yourself. Maybe actually get up and strike the pose yourself (assuming it's safe XD) to feel where the weight and tensions are. The body is connected and in the case of that bottom left drawing you have this chain reaction: most of the weight is put on the bat --> which causes the arm to tense and the shoulder is pushed up --> and that stretches that side of the torso --> which squashes the other --> etc. I attached a slide with some weight tips. In short: Weight causes things to bend. The amount of weight applied and the strength of the thing determines how much it will bend. (Just keep in mind that these "rules" are ones that I've formulated myself. They might not be 100% accurate.) I hope this helps : )

Hi @vonun, cool drawings! - The rhythm is nice 😎👍In the next ones I would focus on improving the structure and proportion. Think of the shapes that the figure is made up from and note how they relate to eachother. Start growing curious about proportion and ask things like "which one is longest, the upper arm or the upper leg?" "What's the angle between these points?" etc. I think you would appreciate watching this video How Animators Use Basic Shapes with Aaron Blaise. Try to use his approach for your figure drawings. - I noticed that you've posted some assignments for the Drawing Basics course as well. I would encourage you to keep taking it. It gives you a broad foundation and complements the figure drawing course well. But if you have to choose one or the other, I would say focus your efforts on the Drawing Basics course. - What are your art goals? Knowing that might help me guide you better :) I hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!

Cool! These seem to be in pretty much the same ballpark. The advice I got when getting feedback on mine was to narrow it down. I was all over the place with what I wanted to do. If you want to, you could play with narrowing it down even further. If you had to choose between comics, character illustrations and splash art, which one would you choose? Not to say that you can't do them all (I don't know XD ), but it could be interesting to think about. Here's a link to my goal slide https://www.proko.com/@skatej/albums/art-goal. I did many revisions with feedback inbetween and it was satisfying to reach the "final" one. My goal became so clear. - I would encourage you to look into, how the works of art that you've selected were made; what process the artists used. Now that you're learning to draw heads, for example, study how the artists you admire do it. You might find that they use a certain approach to create their type of work. This doesn't have to mean that they're using the best approach, though it could be. Maybe you choose to go with a different approach to, perhaps, surpass them. Either way, it's relevant to study what they do if you want to create work like theirs. I hope this helps :)

Hi @ern1s, nice drawings! Charcoal can be a bit harder to control than graphite, but I think you did a good job👍 - I don't know if there is a secret or hack specifically related to wrinkles. I think the important thing is that they are drawn with the same care as the major forms of the lips; that you treat them as forms and shade accordingly, or if your process is more about copying shapes, edges and values accurately, that the shapes and values and edges of the wrinkles match the reference. When drawing details it's important to make sure that they don't disrupt the whole (unless that's the effect you're going for). So you might want to keep the contrast low, not drawing the wrinkles with dark or bright accents, but rather, keep it with in the value of that zone. You tend to go too dark with the wrinkles. Remember that the marks you put down communicate something. Really dark lines could suggest: - a deep crease where no light enters - a cast shadow And if the above doesn't make sense in the context, then it will look like the local value changes, that there are black stripes painted on the lips. - Before adding all the nuances of the shading, it could help to start with dividing the image into two value groups. Then once that's established you may start adding nuances within those groups. I hope this helps :)

Nice drawing! - Notice how the right side of the shoulders has a longer line than the left side, in your drawing. A similar thing happened in the eyes. The head is symmetrical from side to side. As you draw the face, look from side to side and try to make them mirror eachother. Using the centerline helps a lot in this comparison. I hope this helps :)

Nice! It might help to pay more attention to the overall shape of the head. In #16 you've drawn the shape less compressed than it is in the photo. What's your art goal? Drawing like animators might help a lot if you want to draw from imagination. In these drawings https://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/508/2740/1600/ariel04.jpg by Glenn Keane, the character is built with large shapes. Starting with that, the major shape that you then break down, working outside in, is something I've found to work better when drawing from imagination than working inside out, arriving at the shape through a construction method. You might appreciate this lesson video How Animators Use Basic Shapes with Aaron Blaise Cheers!

Cool! They feel pretty solid! - You tend to make the heads a little tall. - I would keep an extra eye on the jaw. You tend to put its start at the skull a little too far back, I think, making the jaw feel really robust. Also keep in mind that the angle of that "vertical" (it's not truly vertical on a skull I think) line vary a bit between men and women. In women I think it angles forward a bit more creating an angle of jaw that's more obtuse. Cheers!

Hi @Nat W., nice drawings! - Yes, I think crosscontour lines would help. You don't need to add hundreds of them, but one or so, on each form would help, like you've done in the wrist in the top right drawing. Drawing is much about communication. Crosscontours is a way to communicate form. Where you place the crosscontours and how many you put down, depends on what and how much you want to communicate. Often, communicating that the upper arm bone for example, is a cylinder, is enough. That's the case in this exercise I think. One crosscontour might be enough to get that point across. However if you want to show all the variations in that major form, you might want to use more crosscontours. Just be deliberate with them. When you're putting down a line you're not just putting down a line, you're communicating something. Think about what you want to communicate to the viewer. - The level of simplification is pretty nice. But you could be more decisive with the design. Some forms feel a little ambigous. Think about what you want to communicate and try to state it clearly. You might appreciate studying the assignment examples in the lesson. In Marshalls drawings the forms and planes are clear. - Keep an extra eye on proportion. In the bottom left drawing, for example, the hand is too small. There are some videos on proportion in the figure drawing fundamentals course (Human Proportions – Average Figure), but most importantly, start growing curious about proportions. Ask questions like: "How tall is the hand in relationship to the forearm?" "What's the angle between these points?" "Which one is largest: the hand or the scapula?" "How many heads down is the bottom of the sternum?" "Which parts are the same length?" etc. Develop an interest for proportion and you'll start to discover the relationships of the parts. I hope this helps :)

Hi @hermitsketcher, nice drawings! Good rhythms! - What are your art goals? What type of work do you want to create? Feel free to share examples, by artists that you admire. Knowing your goals might help me guide you better, since if you want to do animation for example, there is a certain focus on gesture, whereas if you want to do Florence Academy type drawing for example, you might have optical accuracy as your main focus. - To improve your gesture drawings, I would try to be more clear about where the weight is. Before you start to draw, ask what part is carrying most of the weight. Feel the pose, imagine striking it yourself. You might even want to get up and try the pose yourself to actually feel it (assuming that the pose is safe to strike XD). Capturing the gesture is a lot about feeling the pose yourself. I attached a slide with some tips on weight. In short: weight causes things to bend. How much it bends depends on how heavy the weight is and how strong the thing is. - The proportions could be improved on. Thinking of the body as built out of clear pieces, with certain proportions could help. You've drawn from the same model here, so the proportions of the pieces won't change from pose to pose. In the bottom right drawing you've made the torso much longer, suggesting that you were now drawing from a model with different proportions. It goes a long way to note, that the halfway point of the body is at, about, the crotch. Considering the bilateral symmetry of the body is also important. The corresponding parts, such as the upper arms, have the same size, only mirrored. Getting this right is important, and something I struggle with. In short, start to be curious about proportion! Don't stress over it. It could get in the way of your focus on gesture. But start to be curious about it and ask yourself questions like "which one is thickest, the upper leg or the upper arm?" "Where does the leg attach to the hip?" "What's the angle between these points?" "How long is an arm in relationship to the torso?" "How many heads down from the chin is the belly button?" etc. I hope this helps :) Keep up the good work!

Haha, really funny XD. I never thought of this🤣👏👏 - It might be interesting to play with how the weight is distributed. What parts carry the most weight? Maybe section one and three. You could show this by making the limbs in this section more tense, pushing the torso up. While section two and four sag down and have relaxed limbs. This also gives the body a more dynamic rhythm. - As you might see in my paintover, you can show the pose with very simple shapes. Starting your drawings with simple shapes, just focusing on capturing the pose, before adding details, might be something you'd want to play with. I hope this helps :)

Really nice drawings! -You might want to add a stronger sense of structure where the obliques insert to the illium. In the bottom left drawing, the muscle feels loose, like it's not attaching firmly to the illium. Being aware of the line of insertion could help. As it's squashed the muscle might spill over, but never looses its attachment. For even more solidity, you might want to make the form of the muslce, squash less like a water ballon, and more like a sandbag, or some firmer type of matter. I hope this helps :)

Hi @Kevin C, nice drawings! The boxes and cylinders look pretty good, and I think you did a good job simplifying the animals😎👍 - I would recommend considering the ground plane as well. This will anchor the animals more, and it will help you with placing the feet. - The boxes and cylinders could be even stronger, so keep playing with them. BOXES Most of the time the edges are converging, but in the paws of the lion, the edges of the boxes are diverging. Try drawing some more single boxes. Draw through (lightly), as if they were made out of glass, for an extra level of structure control (and challenge 😎) and try to make the convergence even better. You could extend your lines beyond the boarders of your box, with a ruler, as a way to check if the edges seem to go to the same point. Only extending them a little bit, not all the way to the vanishing point, is often enough to spot errors. I would also encourage you to do some more drawings where you play with placing the primitives in the same space, as in the top left of image 1. Add a ground plane. Keep in mind what edges are parallel. If they are rotated back in space, then they should share vanishing point. Think of which planes are level to the ground, and if you have two boxes rotated the same way, only with different placement in the space, they will share vanishing points. CYLINDERS I attached two slides with cylinder tips. You get most things right, but the shape and openness of the ellipses could be improved on sometimes. I hope this helps :)

Hi @Rebecca Brown, nice drawing! I attached a paintover with some tips 😎👍 Cheers!

Really najs! I'm not a painting expert, but you might want to clarify the structure, with planes. Think of it like you're building a sculpture. Simple but well designed planes. Like a low poly 3d model. This might help you be more decisive about how you design your forms. Then you may soften these planes, if you'd like to develop the painting further. I attached a little paintover. I focused on clarifying the structure of the head. I was unsure at what angle we viewed it at. I assumed, slightly from above, and tried to add some to the front plane to clarify this. I also adjusted the values to more clearly communicate the light direction, thinking of the head's simple geometry. When you paint, it might help to think that you're drawing, only this time with a different medium. So you try to describe the forms (constructing and such), but with paint, that is put down as shapes of value and color, as your tool. Try to communicate the subject to the viewer. For a face, the eyes are important, but I don't really feel the spherical form of the eye-ball in your painting. This is something you might want to clarify. At the end of the gif is an example of what a start of the painting might have looked like in the early stages. I also attached some of the oil painting I've done, so you know where I'm at and what of my advice to take with a bigger grain of salt. ( The paintings are about the size of a hand and were done in about 2 hours each, from photos ) I hope this helps :)