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Johannes Schiehsl
added comment inProject - Dynamic Shapes
3d
Asked for help
Still catching up on these ones. First image: studies from reference, second: from memory.
Tuija Kuismin
3d
Ooh these are great. Nice shapes, and the seals are so expressive. Love the birds you included, they're so much fun :).
4d
Asked for help
Great exercise. It felt like I’ve progress already through this series of drawing. I’m still not quite happy with my line quality.
Cool! I think these are very nice, you're capturing a great energy. I like how you leave the searching lines so visible. The line work in the first sketch is quite beautiful to my eye, and as I wondered why it stood out from the others I think it's because there's more variety with line weight. I don't know the order you've drawn these, but I think one, two and three you've posted here are the best. Your lines look more confident in them, and I love the softness or fluidity of lines after harder lines in later sketches. Also congrats for such good proportions!
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Oh man... Perspective is a whole new territory for me and I was kind of dreading it because it seemed to me that I need to switch from Paint Brush to Excel Charts, so to speak. Noooo!
So these are my two first ever attempts to draw any kind of room in perspective. I've tried drawing some room-like spaces in the past, a couple of times, but they were a big mess and got me too frustrated to even try figure it out. But what do you know, I surprised myself, as this assignment surprised me, big time: I enjoyed doing these, a lot! It was really fun. I feel like these two look just as insecure as I felt doing them, but I guess they work... and I realized how much perspective is going to help me improve in drawing anything, really. I think I got a little excited and inspired, I want to do more of these and also take the second one further a bit.
(I know this was supposed to be straights and corners only, but I love old castles, stone structures and arching ceilings so couldn't stop myself. Sank a sink on the floor, though :))
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I redrew the apple I did after watching the demonstration video, I think it looks better than the first although I think I would have been better with an image that had a better light and shadow contrast. Any feedback is welcomed 😀
Nice work! I took a look at your previous post, and what a difference there is :D. I see better consistency with shading, improvement with pencil technique and what most stands out to me is that in this second one you trust in the edges that values create instead of giving everything a heavy outline. This one is a good example of how clear shapes and values alone can look better than a dozen fine little details. Inspiring.
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2024... my goal is to try out different tools, mediums and methods. I hope to find my own style, one I kind of fall in love with and it'll feel just right. In the long run, I'm aiming at inventing a concept for something between comics and a fine illustrated novel. It's a big goal and requires more years to achieve, but that's the dream :). Next year, it's going to be training basic drawing skills, trying out those tools, storyboarding and discovering my way to structrure a written story and combine it with drawings.
1mo
Hi Liandro! I love the picture and the moment it captures. "I don't care where you drive that tank of yours, but it wont be across this flower, I won't permit it!" :D It's so sweet, and so relevant. The theme touches me.
So it's the greens and reds that are challenging for you? If so, very corageous to make this piece with just those colours. And well done. I'm definitely no professional, but with my eyes... I might emphasize the root of the flower with a darker value, or, alternatively, give some highlight to it, just to have the focus of a viewer on what's going on in this scene, why is she stopping a tank? Same with the sky / clouds, some variation with values or some shading could give the picture a more striking atmosphere. I like it that you've chosen to use green on the soldier and red for the girl, since red reads more powerful or, in this picture, authorative, so it's an awesome contrast: a common girl with a stop sign has more power than a soldier sitting in a tank :D. Overall, I think you have here a great colour scheme, wouldn't change a thing if not emphasize with darker values or highlight what you most want to show.
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1mo
It feels that activity in this course has dropped for some reason. It felt more alive 1 month ago. It's such a pity. I would like to receive and give constructive critique, but people are gone :-(
1mo
I've had similar thoughts, but I'm not sure it's all bad that people are more "quiet" for the now. They're learning! For me, I've been practising a lot and the course has encouraged me to look beyond the lessons here. I believe that might be the case for many, so the focus is just... not all here. We're spending the time we have for drawing on getting the hang of it. Many times I might decide not to post a comment because I don't feel equipped for critiquing others. It's so easy to tell someone you love their work, but if you see room for improvement - that's hard. We people are funny that way, we all appreciate honest feedback, but are often afraid to give honest feedback because we fear it'll make someone feel bad.
I feel like during this course my ability to self critique has evolved, and that might cause me to not be so active posting here. We all crave for feedback, though, so the lack of it most probably causes some inactivity. I myself love to look at other people's work and think on it and learn from it, I'd love to exchange thoughts, throw ideas, give and get feedback from likeminded people. Like you, I'm also missing an interactive community, which is very difficult to find where I'm at. I've not tried that private message feature on Proko, but I sure won't mind if someone drops me a line.... So if you feel like conversation in these threads is not responsive, maybe try that? Suggestion goes for everyone attending this course :).
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here is my exercise. Glad to hear your thoughts! Is it enough simplified?
1mo
I think this is very nice. I wonder what would happen if you used more of the darker values? Just to have some spots pop. Or maybe consider if the haphazard background shading is needed? Good job :).
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1mo
Asked for help
Man, this was a lot of fun! I can already see great improvements to the way I think about shapes, and things that I previously just left to chance are more carefully considered. This course is amazing!
1mo
These are so nice! I love your lines, the way you've applied thickness to them in, as my observation goes, to thought out places. Drawing white on dark grey background has a great effect. Also your shapes look easy. Some of them could maybe be more dynamic, but you're on your way and they all have a nice flow. Great!
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2mo
Indeed (@Amy ), thank you Stan for the pep talk. After two weeks doing this exercise every day, I was frustrated and felt stuck. I took a couple of days break and now watched the demo before giving it another go. I have to post this sketch just because I'm so happy to see this result. It took me 10 mins, so I did it faster than I've been able to before, and even though my lines are still kind of all over the place, I managed to apply a variety of them. It seems I've figured out some things, and the best thing is that drawing this felt a lot more effortless than my previous attempts on this assignment. I feel wowsie, so thanks so much for such great instructions! :D
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2mo
Asked for help
Here are my attempts about in the order I drew them. This is hard! I think my focus is scattered between too many things at one time, shapes, line quality, rhythm and force, pencil technique (training the overhand grip here), so I feel a little bit clueless what it is that would actually help me take it further and improve. Maybe I'll take a couple of days off rhythm and gesture, and draw something entirely different, could be that a break from this brain buzz will help me see more clearly what the next step should be :).
2mo
Asked for help
My assignment: 1-2 hours per session, 2 sessions so far, 2B graphite, practiced mostly with overhand grip.
2mo
You've got really nice shapes going on for arms and legs. That's something I struggle with, a little bit, trying to figure out right places to apply straights and curves. Also some very pretty looking lines there, with the overhand grip, and lineweight - well done :).
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Wow. This was not too long - I could've easily sat through a three hour lesson :). This lesson made me want to go further to anatomy, but I'm biding my time with that since hours in a day I have for drawing are limited and I'm trying to avoid getting overwhelmed. But this is so inspiring, I've been waiting for getting into figure drawing so eagerly and right now it feels like all the stuff we've been taught previously matters, and is going to be a valuable asset for what's still to come. Thank you Stan, looking forwards to the assignment on this one!
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Mike Mattesi, thank you. These lessons on shapes are packed with information that comes at me fast - at first I thought I wouldn't comprehend it or be able to process it at one sitting - but the examples are fantastic and made me realize so many things. I'm itching to go practise now, this is awesome :D.
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3mo
Asked for help
I find myself forgetting energy and dynamic shapes mid way through completing a sketch... my brain seems to be strubbornly stuck with "focus on contour". I feel like I got a hang of it in the first and last seal, though. Tomorrow on I'll have time for drawing dynamic shapes from imagination, perhaps not having a reference will help me forget about focus on contour and proportions :).
3mo
Asked for help
My level 1 and 2 assignments. It's hard to tell a seal from a sea lion.= = Seals more cute?
3mo
Beautiful :). These look well dynamic shapes to me, and I like your use of line weight.
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3mo
Asked for help
Fun assignment. It’s really challenging to keep the pose and gesture loose and dynamic when you start adding a few details. It’s amazing how rigid the drawings can start to feel. I hope that some of the movement and dynamism was captured in these.
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4mo
Asked for help
Hello everyone, here's my submission. This is my third take on the assignment. First two drawings went to frustration bin, as I kept mixing up my measurments and units and the drawing turned out bigger than planned. In other words, I made every common mistake Stan warned about on the video :P. So I watched the lesson again, took new notes, and decided to first practise taking measurements digitally, like was shown on the video, drawing them on the reference. This turned out very helpful, as shapes were already familiar when I started drawing on paper, and suppose I had spent enough time studying the reference.
This was quite the challenging assignment, but I feel like I learned a ton. I wanted to try Stan's method comparing my drawing to the reference and was surprised to find how close I got - I did well! I think :D. So that was three hours well spent.
Super excited! 😄
6mo
Thank you so much for this lesson, Jeff and Stan! It's a gem. In addition to being educational, this was very encouraging and, yes, very inspiring as well.
I feel like the lesson could alternatively be titled as "Jeff Watts Goes Fast & Furious on Line Quality". He says so many things, that feel important to me, just one after another and they keep coming, that I forgot or didn't have time to take notes! I'm going to watch the lesson again, pausing it several times to just stop and think and properly take it all in - what you're teaching us to do when drawing, it occurs to me as I write this :). Anyways, thank you!
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