first, the tarzan preparing the spear is really cool. The anatomy is well desinged, and it has good story teling. Second, i can relate to your problem. I feel i confident i can draw the image in my head, but as im finishing it im startig to dislike the final product. What has helped me wth that is to have images of some of my favourite artist (Alex Ross, Frank Frazetta, Criss Samie etc.) as inspration. Sometimes it helps with composition, lighting, anatomy, color etc. hope my comment helps you. you have helped me relly well before, so thank you for that. btw. sorry for my bad writing, im still learning my english.

Hi, here is my fourth Tarzan drawing. It took 5 h and 15 min. Conté (b & 2b) on A2 printer paper. My main focus was to have an interesting shape and value composition. I wanted the shapes to interlock more, like a puzzle and I wanted the shapes to feel less clumsy. I'm very happy with it :) Feedback appreciated! The composition I had in mind when I started was a triangular shape splitting the canvas in two, with cool active shape design and a lot of energy. I think my brain was bringing up a Frazetta drawing. But the drawing didn't end up that way, because I had trouble coming up with something in that composition where the story was clear. The drawing I did illustrates Tarzan, proclaiming his victory over the lioness he's just defeated. He's yelling and pounding his chest. He has his right foot on the killed lioness. It's a full moon and the jungle lies dark. I think the fight took place out on a clearing in the jungle. The dark shape in the background is supposed to be the tree-top skyline. What do you think of the composition? The shape design? The value design? Do you think the story reads? Thanks in advance :)

Hi, I just finished my third Tarzan drawing. It took 4h and 35 min and was done with conté (B) on A2 printer paper. I'm really happy with it! I aimed at working as simple as possible; large shapes and thinking of the figures as simple mannequins. It really helped! I spent more time in the thumbnailing stage, so that I had a clear 3 value plan before starting on the real drawing. Things that I would like to change are: - The position of the hand, I think it's unanatomical at the moment. - Clarify Tarzan's pose; I think I lost track of the back's centerline and I also suspect that the pose is a bit broken. - Redesign the leaf pattern on his arm. - Even out tones and bring clarity around certain edges. But as far as the big picture goes I don't think I would change much. What do you think? How do you think the read is? Can you tell what's going on? What do you think of the tonal composition? Before diving in to this piece I tried to define more precisely what the exercise is about, and I ended up with this: The exercise is to take a drawing from idea to final product in 4 hours, using the skills I have. The drawings should have a full value range and preferably edge variation. Using reference is encouraged. Cheers!

Hey Jesper, I really like what your doing, it's a good exercise to determine if your images are clear. I agree, trying to render all this with a pencil can take forever, I think the Conte is a good idea. My favorite, and most clear and has the best storytelling element to it is the second one. It's nicely rendered also. The first one is not as clear. I think one of the reasons is because of story telling. To me, there is no relationship between Tarzan and Jane, he isn't even looking at her. Instead he is looking off screen...and so are we. Plus, he's Tarzan, king of the jungle, I would exploit that fact by having him in a pose that is outrageous for us, but not him. I did a quick thumbnail sketch to show you an option that could maybe give you some ideas about what I'm talking about. I hope it helps :)

Awesome exercise, @Jesper Axelsson! It's great how you set up this “self-assignment” based on something you observed and wanted to improve on in your workflow. I think 4 hours is really a very short amount of time to finish an entire illustration, especially in this level of complexity - a realistic figure, an environment, lighting, value composition, visual action and storytelling... a lot of stuff to figure out in a "half-day work", and certainly too little time for any kind of rendering and polishing. Within these constraints, I think you've done a pretty nice job! In terms of adjustment suggestions, here's my two cents, hope it helps: . Tarzan 1 - I'd say it could perhaps use some more darker values in the overall composition to let you enhance depth, atmosphere and global contrasts. And I believe I'd also take some more time to figure out how the hand should be grabbing the vine. Things that need to be worked outside the 4-hour time frame. :) But, as it is, given the context, I think it's a quite successful drawing! Personally, I view it as a thumbnail sketch or preliminary study that could potentially become a fully rendered piece in the future if worked for a (much) longer time. I’m also wondering what is it exactly that your family had trouble reading in it. . Tarzan 2 - I love the pose and the anatomical stylizations. But unless you want it be a “Frank-Miller-y” high contrast visual style illustration, I’d say it could use some more halftone variations to describe the muscle volumes and give you more room to play around with different levels of contrasts and types of edges. Additionally, I feel that my eye is being brought straight to the center of the image (abs and pelvis) because of the stronger details and more contrasting shapes there, but I guess your narrative kind of asks the focal point to be either the spear or, alternatively, Tarzan’s face. Hope this helps. Overall, great work!!

Nice use of shadows!

I love this exercise! Giving yourself a time limit really gets you out of our comfort zone a little and will really help expand your skills. I like the concept of the finished drawing. You have a lot of good contrast as well. The forms are a little hard to discern because of the paper texture and contrast that is just too dark. I'll point out some specifics. The way his right leg and right arm lines up makes the form confusing and I'm wondering if someone can actually get there leg in that position. The separation of the muscles in the right forearm with high contrast is also separating the lower arm from the upper arm. The forms of the fingers his left hand are confusing, same with his right on the ground. I also think the shading of the tibia of his right leg is too dark as well make it look as though the leg is split in half. The form of the head is great though. I feel the roundness there and the shadow help. Overall its a great drawing for the four hours, or less because you started a different one first. I feel the best place you can improve is to continue drawing figures so you get a better understanding of the forms of the body. The most important though is that you keep going! Share your next 4 hour drawing as well!