Anatomy + imagination studies
3yr
Marcus
Here’s some anatomy studies and fun stuff I’ve been working on over the past few days. The anatomy is mostly from the Proko lower back lessons. I’ve really been making an effort to draw more from imagination, it’s absolutely getting easier, better, and funner! the inklings are from last night haha. 💯I find that drawing something fun I really like or am interested in at the moment from imagination is really more effective and zone-inducing than trying to force it. It’s really great practice iterating on similar characters with different poses, details, expressions and all that. Thoughts and crits would be appreciated!!
3yr
I am really digging these. You really have a knack for finding the balance in the pose.
Marcus
3yr
Thanks Gannon! That’s one of my new objectives to focus on going forward, emphasizing the weight and where it is!
3yr
these are great! I also aspire to draw from imagination but get stuck with characters/other-things that look very static or stiff. Any suggestions for how to improve that? Your sketches look very alive, dynamic, interesting
3yr
Thanks so much Peter! Drawing from imagination is certainly not the same as drawing from reference and has its own challenges in training yourself to visualize, and trying to overcome the fear of making an abomination!! You can definitely see in mine a few aren’t looking so hot haha, and there are many more that are much worse than these lol. I think it’s just a matter of getting the bad ones out so you can see your weak points and improve on them. Also I try to draw from reference the same way I attempt drawing from imagination, understanding the 3D forms and how the pose and action of the body are working and breaking it down into simple forms and gestures to build upon.
I’m actually listening to the newest draftsmen on sketchbooks, and I would highly recommend it! It talking about some super useful stuff related to this. I know I’m still in the beginning stages of drawing from imagination so I can’t put too much pressure to make every drawing great or else I just won’t be able to do it. Getting through the bad ones, seeing where you can do it better next time. Going in with the mindset of being fine if nothing turns out good and just having fun with it helps get the ball rolling. And occasionally when your in that mindset great things can happen! Hope something in there was helpful haha, thanks!
3yr
These are great again! No critique really, I think you nail the gesture work really well. Would love to see the next level with some larger drawings, so see how you scale it up ;)
How much practice would you say it's taken to be so fluid with line control and proportion? I constantly struggle with these things, but I'd really like to get to your level, particularly with animals. Have you done a lot of animal anatomy study?
3yr
Thanks you much Dan I appreciate it! Thats a great point, new challenges come up with bigger drawings for sure, I’ll definitely be trying it more in my sketchbook! These might look a little smaller than I drew them at too since I was zoomed in on one at a time, but I understand the point nonetheless!
i thank you for the complements, I still have some proportional issues quite a bit, and the lines I think are just a result of making them with confidence! I’ve been doing drawing seriously for about 3 years but with varying degrees of focus. I do lots of quick sketches and have been doing them everyday, I think it’s just getting lots of drawings out and failing faster to learn from my mistakes haha. Things like proportion and line control are just refined as you draw I believe, there’s still much room for me to improve such as in not making things too stretched out and long and paying more attention to line weight. Being mindful of it and keep going.
and on animals, I just approach them the same way as a figure. I have drawn quite a few but I want to do more for sure. maybe I’ve picked up a few basic anatomy things like the bones of the legs, but you can really use what you know about human anatomy like the rib cage and pelvis and apply to animals haha. I do want to learn more animal anatomy though because it’s important! Thanks 🙏👌
