BEN LEE
BEN LEE
England
Would-be Illustrator hoping to learn something from you fine folk
BEN LEE
Hi James, I think these are great and really expressive, which is cool. If you want to go for more realism I would say the main thing would be to learn the anatomy of the hand. You could then support this great form work with underlying bone and muscle structure. You don't need to know every ligament, just the landmarks and what we can see on the surface ('Atlas of Human Anatomy' by Stephen Rogers Peck is a good book). Structural understanding would not only help with some of your fingers that are perhaps flexing a little further than is possible, but also would help you to draw what you "know" as opposed to just drawing what you "see" Hope that's helpful. It's certainly helping me with my scribblings 😊
Write reply...
Drop images here to attach them to the message
BEN LEE
I am super sad about this news. I love the Draftsmen Show! Now I'm going to have to start looking for podcasts to draw to again!!! #MarshallSelfishdruff Thanks so much for three seasons of brilliance. I really do love it and will miss it. Looking forward to what comes next x
Write reply...
Drop images here to attach them to the message
BEN LEE
Hey Guys. This is a full graphite portrait. I feel like I managed to get the likeness pretty well in the block in (after several attempts!) but then lost it a bit in the final render. The strange thing was that after doing a much more complete drawing, but before going to full render, I traced the photo and overlayed it on my drawing and everything matched up almost perfectly, so the differences were, at that point, extremely subtle. I unfortunately didn't take a picture of that part. Any thoughts on how and why I went off track would be really appreciated. I was using Tombow Mono 100 Pencils (4H - 2B) on Canson Mi Tientes paper if anyone is interested. This was a birthday present for a friend.
Write reply...
Drop images here to attach them to the message
BEN LEE
Any general feedback on composition and general artistry would also be greatly appreciated
Reply
BEN LEE
@Ahmed Aldoori recommended an awesome desktop App in one of his videos (GestureDrawing!3) and this was my first attempt at putting myself through a Gesture Drawing Class using it, all be it in my living room! Any Feedback greatly appreciated
Write reply...
Drop images here to attach them to the message
BEN LEE
A couple of digital pieces I've actually managed to bring to full colour. Any feedback would be really appreciated. Still trying to find what direction I want to go in with my doodles and just trying to put myself out there
Write reply...
Drop images here to attach them to the message
BEN LEE
Hi Mac. This is really fantastic! Great colour palette and very cool sense of design. For me the most obvious thing to push further would be the shadows. There are more occlusion shadows to find for definite and the ones you have could definitely stand to go a good bit darker. The cast shadow on the neck is at a really good level, but the soles of her feet are maybe not as dark as they might be, for instance. I would take that neck cast shadow as a starting point and bring the rest of the cast shadows to that level and add in occlusion shadows wherever you can find them to give the piece more depth. Really great work though. Looking forward to seeing more of your stuff
Write reply...
Drop images here to attach them to the message
Yu Hsien Hsu
Please give me your advice. I take the photo of my hand and then use the grid system to measure the accurate shape. Critique is appreciated!
Write reply...
Drop images here to attach them to the message
BEN LEE
Hey. First off this is great. The shading is really beautifully done. I agree with Renaldi Bemba about there being room to push the values further but that's definitely a matter of choice and style. For useful critique I would say the gesture is perhaps a little stiff and I think the grid system is partly to blame there. While it's great for getting an accurate representation I think there's a trade off in interpretation. I think this is particularly evident in the thumb. Without the grid system you are forced to make decisions that ultimately lead to your own artistic expression coming through. That being said, this is still a really wonderful piece. Thanks for sharing
Reply
BEN LEE
I second what @Gabriel Kahn said. If you want help with this it is well worth checking out @Dorian Iten 'Light and Shading' course. It doesn't cost much and he gives great feedback. He has a module in there specifically about this subject that is very helpful. He's also a really cool guy and a great teacher
Write reply...
Drop images here to attach them to the message
Gabriel Kahn
Hey David! Amazing work! @Stephen Bauman 's artwork heavily utilize core shadows, I think you should focus on that a bit more. Core shadows are usually the darkest shadows on the form and they are right on the border between the light and shadow. Similarly to the ambient occlusion, no reflected lights travel there.
Write reply...
Drop images here to attach them to the message
BEN LEE
Is this one of your pieces Gabriel? If not, who is the artist? It's beautiful!
Reply
BEN LEE
These are fantastic. I'm, sorry not to be able to say anything more constructive but you are definitely better at this than I currently am. It's inspired me to do some more gesture drawing though so thank you 😊 🙏 There is real life and weight in all of them. Thanks for sharing
Write reply...
Drop images here to attach them to the message
BEN LEE
I feel like the stand out issue for me is that it looks like you are spending a lot of time on making the anatomy 'correct' but not so much time on shape design and flow. The result is almost more mannequin like than organic. There are a lot of good videos out there on silhouetting and working on that might help some. Also look at the way gravity acts on the body, particularly for the breasts in this piece, and many really good figure drawing teachers talk about exaggerating the pose as well which can help. Also have a look into the Riley Method as it's a good way to break out of slaving at anatomy (important as correct anatomy is) and finding more gestural flow, at least for me anyway as I have suffered with the same problem you're having.
Write reply...
Drop images here to attach them to the message
BEN LEE
Hey Marta. I'm sure many have already said so but firstly, this is really beautiful. There is real life in the eyes and a definite sense of the person in this portrait. My main critique would be that there is a lot more depth and light to find in the hair which is currently flattening the image a little too much for me. Hope that's helpful x
Write reply...
Drop images here to attach them to the message
Help!
Browse the FAQs or our more detailed Documentation. If you still need help or to contact us for any reason, drop us a line and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!
Your name
Email
Message