Figure drawing from imagination
5d
Tim Norris
Just attempted my first drawing from imagination after watching Marshall draw horses in ink from imagination. Had trouble placing the opposite arm. Going for a contralateral movement but couldn't quite picture the placement after placing the head and torso. Ideas to explore this weakness?
Note to self... Draw more feet and hands. 😆
Tim... man... You've blown by the beginner stage so fast... Figures from imagination at your stage and so well done?? You're gonna be amazing in a year or two. Just watch. You'll be the one giving me advice!
I don't have a lot of experience drawing figures from imagination (read: none), but my 20 percent improvement suggestion for this would be to feel the weight. As it stands, your figure appears to be floating around with a stomachache, which is cool, but what makes a masculine drawing like this stand out is a sense of grounding and weight. Plant those feet. Put more lean into the body, so the brunt of the mass is above the front arm and leg, driving into the floor. Imagine the center of gravity of this figure and see how it lacks that. Add it and it'll go a long way towards giving it life and solidity.
I don't know about the other arm either, although the rest is very well done. Excellent anatomy for out of your head, and on a first try, no less. I'd have put the left arm extended behind the back to counterbalance the pose's forward tendency, but that's just me. Otherwise, this is well done. Bravo.
Thank you for the encouragement, good sir. I do have the advantage of knowing a good bit about physiology already. So that helps. My family is in medicine. Mother is retired NP, brother MD, and another brother an RN. And I know a bit about movement and sports science from nearly a decade of rock climbing as a hobby. Was never particularly good...
I had wanted this to be a mid air action pose. The feet were unsuccessful, but I think they would have sold it better. If it were on the ground, your point to the counterbalance would make total sense. He would almost be bracing himself against attack. Could even have put a shield in the right hand and weapon in the left. So I think I'm seeing what you're seeing.
An interesting observation regarding figures in the art community... I think one of the most overlooked details is understanding movement, particularly ipsilateral vs contralateral movement. Walking is a contralateral movement, opposite hand and foot forward and back. Loomis has some ipsilateral movement in his figure drawing book and when I found it, I wanted to scream from my high horse! 😆 If the left arm were back, it would be ipsilateral movement. That wouldn't generally happen, particularly in locomotion. I wasn't thinking knee strike in particular, but the general mechanics of the position I had in mind were similar.
I think the trouble I was having was envisioning the proportions on the unseen side of the form. When I did the later scribble, I chose to use my fingers to measure the visible humerus and place it where the other shoulder would be. Felt a bit like cheating, but was the only solution I could think of...
I just threw a shape in there to see what would happen... What's the 80/20 rule to level this up now?
