Project - Line Master Studies

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

inDrawing Basics

4.0K

Assignments 776

Lesson Notes

Downloads 5

Project - Line Master Studies

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Drawing Basics

4.0K

Assignments 776

Lesson Notes

Downloads 5

Pick a master drawing you find amazing and study it, focusing on the artist's use of lines. A big part of this project is about taking some time exploring different artists to figure out what you like.

Select artists you admire, do multiple small studies, and focus on studying the lines. Ignore any shading.

Don’t forget to share your drawings! Include the original master drawing and make sure to credit the artist.

Deadline for submissions to be included in the video critique is May 11th.

Alex Watson

My first attempt is this incredible Wolverine drawing from Ryan Benjamin. Any critiques would be very much appreciated. The thickness of his contour lines are so varied, ranging from absurdly bold to literally no line at all. I especially love the claws how he leaves some long lines entirely to your imagination.

Patrick Bosworth

26m

Nice study! Ryan has a great energetic style and you're noticing the huge variations he can achieve with a brush pen! Be careful of going straight for the inked lines though, Ryan is using a framework underneath his inks to maintain the gesture and structure of the arm. If you look closely you can see the underlying scribbles of pencil (often red or blue for comics) that have been desaturated so the inks can shine. Start with a simple gesture of the arm, and then build the primitive forms on top. Once you're happy with the gesture and structure of the arm, you can build up the final pencils on top of that framework. Check out these free clips from the Marvel Course where Ryan explains his process! Keep it up, can't wait to see more! https://www.proko.com/course-lesson/how-to-start-drawing-comics-working-with-primitives/discussions https://www.proko.com/course-lesson/marvel-inking-demo-with-ryan-benjamin-bf23/discussions

Styrbjörn Andersson

Here is a non complete study of a drawing by none other than Kim Jung Gi. I didn't complete is since about halfway through I realized that I didn't really pay enough attention to the actual lines of the original drawing. The amount of detail sort of overwhelmed me, and I ended up looking more at proportions. I'll do another master study, probably of the skull in the demon this time, and really try to focus on the lines instead of all the proportions.

Allan

20h

I really like the expressive sketches of Glen Keane and the way he uses line weight to really draw the eyes to the wanted areas. So simple yet so efficient

@merlini

I know there's no way I could draw like Charles Gibson, but I really admire how he organized the 'flow' of the lady's hair. You can almost feel the thickness and softness of it.

Sally

Wow, I really enjoy looking at what you've done. I feel like your work embodies the qualities you say you appreciate - flow, thickness, softness. Hats off to you on that!

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Martha Muniz

Nicely done--definitely good practice for thick to thin line weight!

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Vera Robson

I wanted to do a study of my teacher's drawings like Stan's study of his teacher because I also admire my drawing teacher's work, but there isn't much of his work online, and I thought it would be a bit awkward to bother him with a reference request just for an exercise. My second choice was Sargent, so I decided to do two studies of his drawings.

@mertaal

I really struggled with this one. I kept on pitching at it but never felt like I was doing a good job of replicating someone else's lines. The Karl Kosinski one at the end is unfinished- I tried using a brush pen and ran out of ink!

Martha Muniz

Hey! Good job taking a look at line weight variation, it really does add a dynamic quality and volume to drawings. With the Rembrandt piece, another key element that I admire is how he maximizes the potential of every stroke, and this is something useful to emulate. Using a few key lines with variety in weight, he places them to create a rhythm and flow throughout the image that helps it feel complete.

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Gannon Beck

These look like successful experiments to me. Nicely done!

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ALEX FLORENSA

I post my Master study from a book anatomy draw from Matt Smith.

Martha Muniz

I think something that's interesting about Matt Smith's drawing is how he organizes his main shapes through line weight, which makes sense given his purpose is to communicate the forms of anatomy. You'll notice the darkest outlines surround specific shapes in a way that divides them into clear groups, like the pec/serratus/oblique group, the latissimus dorsi shape, and abs shape. Only afterwards will he bring in smaller details and shapes with light line weight. It helps give clarity and unity to his drawings and is definitely worth studying.

@igamble

phew. what an intimidating project, but totally worth it. After a long scroll through a bunch of other assignments looking for dope artists, I chose 3, Claire Wendling, Eliza Ivanova, and Phil Guy. I even dug out my scanner to get some better images lol.

Chris

10d

Took me way too long to find a master to study. Decided to do Izzy “Talin” Collier since I’m already a fan of her work, just in a 3D form. Go with what you know and I know minis. Still got a long way to go so I’ll most likely keep doing these for the next couple weeks in addition to this course.

@rulah

10d

Helloo, I've done this study after Karl Kopinski. Tried my best not to shadow to hide the many mistakes!

@juicyj72

11d

I chose Bill Sienkiewicz because I've always liked his chaotic energy. He uses lines a lot for flow, motion, and to create energy chaotic and otherwise. He also tends to use little or no contours preferring shading to define borders except for more static structural elements

Yury

12d

Saw this lively illustration by Reginald Birch in the "Rendering in Pen and Ink" book. Gave it a shot knowing that drawing people is not my best skill :) I wanted to replicate free hand strokes of the pen which makes people on this drawing so alive. My work is on the left.

Gannon Beck

11d

Very nice!

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Gannon Beck

12d

Here is another Chris Samnee Batober sketch study. One of the things I love about Samnee's work is his ability to make you look where he wants you to look.

Yury

11d

I wondered how you do such broad strokes with felt tip marker... And then I saw the brush pen on the picture :-D good control of those wide strokes. I think you have some exp with that.

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Luka Reinmöller

12d

Awesome!

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Yury

13d

I used fountain pen without line variation, but Beatrix Potter def. used dip pens with varying lines and tapered stroke too. I had good time doing these and I will do more, even though they are super hard. Study is the first image, invidual images - I took from the great book "The complete Tales" by B. Potter.

Art Stark

12d

Meticulous work! Well done.

Eric Bubb

13d

Your very good.

Gannon Beck

13d

I did a master study of one of Chris Samnee's Batober sketches. I'll do a few more, but this will get me started.

Joan Lacasse

12d

Very beautiful, but rather a study of masses than a study of lines. Impeccable result.

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@kelliej989

14d

I tried an Eliza Ivanova portrait and spent a little more time on it. This is the third attempt. I really like how she uses chaotic looking lines to add depth and form to the face. Mainly just focusing on the face for this part. I think the ear and neck are off proportionally and the fabric got away from me. I missed a lot of the softer contour looking lines but this is a really cool style I'm going to study more

@bwebb2732

13d

That is a really cool style, you're starting to get it, good work!

Joan Lacasse

14d

Here are my studies. John Singer Sargent used charcoal and I used graphite. This makes a big difference in the value of the blacks.

Joan Lacasse

13d

Yes, I take classes here and there. I love to draw, so I spend as much time as possible drawing.

Yury

13d

@Joan Lacasse outstanding studies. I wonder did you have experience prior this course?

Brando Gould

14d

stunning! Well done. I can't really give much of a critique since these are wonderful, bothj the references you chose to study for line and also your recreations of them.

Yury

14d

I wanted to study the head and lines used there. Whole figure is out of my league for now. I did drawings in the following order (except for 1st): 1. Winslow Homer - master drawing 2. Trying to get a feel for a figure, quick sketch 3. Quick sketch for angles and then quick sketching of the head while keeping my focus on the lines. 4. More careful planning (and overthinking) in two tries. This turned out worse even though maybe lines are closer to the original, the whole idea is lost. I have distilled my own feedback from this exercise. It is so earth grounding... Gotta learn :)

Yury

11d

Another attempt, bigger scale. Still messed proportions but this time it was easier to get lines as I wanted them.

Brando Gould

14d

i actually think you did a great job! Specifically on the 4th photo from the left to the right, you can see the line quality improve dramatically (which tends to happen when you draw a subject multiple times). Although you say that it gets lost, I actually think that since line is the ultimate goal here, you excelled. As a side note, it looks like these drawings are fairly small and for a head drawing it is a LOT of details in a very small area where any mistakes will make the drawing look "off" and that is just the nature of portrait, so don;t beat yourself up! Try again another time if you feel up for it, and maybe try to scale up the drawing a little bit. The russian academies teach by making your drawing the exact size as your reference so there is no "scale" that you have to change proportionally, it may be worth zooming in the reference and printing it at a size you would like to draw it and place them side by side! Anyways, great lines and keep at it!

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James Anderson

17d

Really interesting exercise! I felt uncertain exploring all the different options but found it fun once I got going. Pinterest was great for grabbing images. Definitely tonnes to learn from these masters.

Vin

18d

Hello! I really like this project! I took photos 1 and 2 by Glen Keane and photo 3 by Kim Jung Gi (YouTube: Proko). I focused on simple lines with energy and perspective( I didn't learn this theme yet, but I want to try:)) drawing. It was super difficult, but I also had fun. I would appreciate some feedback. Thank you!

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Stan Prokopenko

Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.