Critique Request
3yr
Lu Wang
Hello! I did a long drawing to test my limits, after watching all videos from the anatomy course and the figure drawing course. It took me about 10 hours. I recorded the process here: https://youtu.be/ZfK3I-CaPRU I hope that I'm doing OK with gesture and basic anatomy (although now I realized that the left deltoid looks bulky, and the supporting lower leg is too long). I'm not sure about composition and shadring. I'd appreciate critiques. Thanks!
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Peter Cohen
Really nice drawing! I enjoyed studying it, I always learn when I look in here for inspiration. I read your comment about shading and the deltoid and I have some suggestions after analyzing things in photoshop. If your goal is to get very close to the photograph then there are a couple issues with the torso and the leg, I traced over the figure in the photograph and put it over the drawing. I don't think the drawing needs to match the photograph 1:1, the drawing is believable but I wanted to point that out in case it's important to you. I looked at the deltoid and what stands out to me is the value range of your drawing makes the deltoid look a little bit different shape than it is in the photograph. The deltoid on the picture has softer shading and contrast relative to other areas. The drawing is impressive as it is now and those are just a few things that jumped out at me. I often struggle with where I want to land in terms of photorealism and stylized drawing. My goal is to be able to choose and it's quite a lot of work in both directions proportion and technical on one side, design and shape-appeal on the other. Do you or anyone else reading this have any thoughts on that?
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Lu Wang
Hi Peter, thanks for your comment! The difference in gesture was a "happy incident". I've been aware of the difference and I'm happy with it. The deltoid part, on the other hand, seems to be lying near my skill limit. I mean it looks obvious when I'm told to look there, but I was not able to find it by myself. I guess I'll do more training about value obervation.
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Liandro
Great stuff, @Lu Wang! I think it looks pretty stunning. The reference is awesome and I think you did a very nice overall job depicting it. Basic anatomy looks fine to me - I agree with the issue you pointed out on the deltoid, but I think it should be enough to just soften its lower edge a bit so its form blends more with the scapula's. I really like the work you've done with the hands, they're such a small part of the composition but make an absolutely crucial difference. Concerning gesture, one tiny thing I think I would have done differently would be to raise her chin a bit more, but I think it's a matter of personal choice, because I still think the other aspects of gesture work really fine the way it is. Two other things seem a bit more critical to me though: 1) I feel like she's a tiny little bit out of balance, so I believe I'd try to make the angle of her right leg more vertical; 2) this may sound like a very small thing, but maybe you could make her bottom foot slightly more widely compressed against the ground so there's an even stronger sense of weight there. When I zoom in, I think it looks nice, but with the zoom out, I don't know why, it feels as if there was not enough gravity there. Maybe it could also be a matter of increasing the contrast with the background on that small area so the sense of weight pops out more. Finally, as a final touch, I think I'd add just a bit of a "vignette" by the borders of the image, just to help soften the background texture a little bit and direct the viewer's eye to the center. That's all I've got! :) Congrats on this work and keep it up!
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Richard Barkman
I like the texture you achieved on the skirt! Sometimes. though, I find what is actually there in the photo looks wrong in the drawing. In the photo, we accept everything without thinking; in the drawing if something looks off we notice. So basically the curvature in her bottom leg looks a bit much to me, and the ankle looks too thin (even though its very close to the reference) - I would have thickened it a bit.
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Lu Wang
Thanks a lot for your feedback! This is super helpful and inspiring. I agree with you about the chin. I realized that I did not pay enough attention there, after reviewing my timelapse video. I'll do some experiment with it. "vignette" is a super interesting idea! I'm already excited just by imagining the possibilities. I have never done this before, and in fact I have rarely seen it. I'll definitely give it a try. Regarding "out of balance" and "feeling of lack of weight", this was 50% by accident and 50% intentionally. I was hoping to make it more dynamic, action-alike. Say this could be the moment when the dancer just about to jump up, or just landed. Something like this flying horse sculpture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Horse_of_Gansu I actually tried to emphasize this idea, by putting highlights near both arms and the raised leg. I was thinking of the "afterimage" effect: https://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/178129-street-fighter-alpha-3-playstation-screenshot-birdie-s-counterattack.png, but I guess it didn't work out very well. It was a random attempt after all. :D I had also thought about applying motion blur, but I was not "brave/confident" enough to test it. I wonder if there is any tricks for this. I guess this is more related to topics of composition, focus or "leading the viewers' eye" etc, where I need to learn (a lot) more.
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