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Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.
LESSON NOTES
Download the free reference images and try it for yourself!
Drawing shapes is easy, but making them dynamic…that’s another story. In this lesson, I demonstrate my process for identifying the gesture of your subject and then designing dynamic and interesting shapes to support that gesture.
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RELATED LINKS:
Shape Hacks - How to Draw Interesting Shapes
7 Ways Simple Shapes Can Improve Your Drawings
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Let’s give the Level 1 “Dynamic Shapes” project a try. In this demo, I show my process for finding the gesture of a subject and then designing dynamic and interesting shapes that support that gesture.
I was just casually drawing along in spots while taking notes with a semi-dull red colored pencil, and noticed that the line quality looks nicer than my actual assignment in spite of the dullness and smaller format I was drawing in. It got me thinking - is a dull pencil better for laying in gestural/dynamic lines? Or maybe more specifically, is a thicker softer line better, especially as the drawings get bigger?
Curious what other's thoughts are on that, thanks!
The results of my two short sessions. I think the second attempt, after watching the demo, turned out a bit better.
Hi everyone, this is the result of my practice. Any feedback is welcome. Thanks! :D
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26d
Oh these are excellent! You nailed it with the asymmetry of the shapes. Great use of CSI with good variety of straights and curves. I don't have much of a critique...is there anything that you found difficult or interesting while you were practicing?
Struggled quite hard with this. I think I was getting my central lines and flow lines mixed up. And when I focused on the flow and gesture, my shapes became very complicated. I also forgot about the forces pushing the individual elements.
Things to improve.
1) Map out shapes and ghost lines so they're cleaner
2) focus on the forces of each shape.
3) strip lines down to only CSI.
4) Keep measurements, purportions in mind
Set of drawings before watching the demo and during, I really struggled not focusing on the proportions and just focusing on emphasizing the gesture and flow of the seals
Here are a few more drawings after watching the demo. I’d be grateful for any tips on how to improve :)
This was a fun exercise. Not quite sure if I did this right. Gonna watch Proko demo now to check. I find it difficult to leave the outline "alone". Also drawing fluid lines needs attention the first time but also when I want to darken them by a different pencil (a 4B for instance) and it loses its character. Well keep practicing will help me further.
I tried to do the assignment before watching the demo first, but I was having waaay too much trouble on my own, so I decided to get some help from the demo. And it definitely helped a ton!
Here’s my notes for this demo and follow-along drawings, and my very first attempt pre-demo.
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4mo
You’re doing exactly what you need to for this assignment! These are all great examples of dynamic shapes and the little notes will serve you well as you learn.
If you want to add more, these drawings could look even more dynamic with some perspective as well. I know it’s not part of this specific assignment. This could be a good exercise for you too:
https://www.proko.com/s/6i8h
The first six drawings were a copy of Proko's demonstration. Then try drawing the photos again and capture the gesture.
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6mo
I really like the group of them. Well done!
Second attempt at drawing those Seals as I rewatched Stan. Trying to adapt the mindset of energy and gesture in these drawings. I know it will take more practice.
