Life Drawing 30 Mins (30sec-10min)
© 2019 PochikDone as part of a 30 minute class.
My current goal is: Reduce stiffness and make my drawings feel more dynamic, energetic, fluid
Mx. Abi
Ah yes, the eternal struggle to draw what you see and not what you think you see.
I am going to share some tips on how you can do this better.
1. Unfocus your eyes, if you can. Relax the eyes and see the fuzzy shapes and then transfer the shapes to the paper
2. practice subjects outside of your comfort zone. If you are a figure artist, draw animals. Draw stuff. Draw landscapes. Draw ANYTHING that is not people. I started doing this and it really opened my horizons. You don't have to do it ALL the time but do at least once a week something that is NOT people. or NOT your comfort zone.
3. If you are using a reference photo, turn it upside down. Draw the shapes
4. Draw everything that IS NOT the thing you are drawing. If you are drawing a vase draw the wall behind it.
Our brains are lazy and will ALWAYS cut to the shortest and easiest route. And as artists we often develop a single movement to indicate a leg, a torso, or a head. And we impose what we think we see or the movement for a leg onto what we are drawing.
It literally took me years to leave behind the comic influenced style I had.
If you go to my art page on facebook (look for hornet of justice art) you can see the journey I have been on. Or Line of Action just shared an interview with me. And you can see it there too.
You are absolutly NOT alone in learning to draw what you see not what you think you see. And when you MASTER this come back and let us know how you mastered it because the rest of us are still working on it.
Pochik
Thanks so much for writing up such a detailed explanation! I will definitely try your exercises. I just had a look at your facebook page (and left a like). You have had a really interesting art journey. Your pictures are so dynamic and I especially like the dog drawings.
I actually started out drawing architecture years ago, but I rarely do it anymore since I started drawing character illustration. Perhaps I should try going back to it and widening my range a little. I have also recently been trying some exercises with tone only, on the recommendation of my teacher. It is challenging since I rely so much on contour but definitely beneficial. I think you are onto a winner with tip number 2 especially!
Thanks again for taking the time to write this out. It is very encouraging and I'm sure my art is going to benefit from these exercises!
Mx. Abi
THank you for listening - it's not always easy to find people open to criticism.
I like your style and I am really looking forward to seeing what else you do.
I mild amount of exageration in the line of action helps to loosen up the image.
I can see that you include teh line of action and the begining steps in all of your images, and that is good and important. Keep that up.
Push it a little more. Give it a little more bend. Based on the style of your 10 minute image it appears that you are not going for realism, rather a more simplified style. (one I totally support) So in order to continue in that style exagerate things a little bit more.
You have a good grip on foreshortening.
So my advice is - stretch a little.
This is very helpful - thank you! You are the second person to say I should add more exaggeration so I think that is something I will be focusing on. Although I don't have a strong preference for whether my art turns out realistic or stylised, I am often a slave to the angles and relationships in the photo when drawing directly from a reference. My art teacher always tells me "draw what you see, not what you think you see" but maybe I should temper that with some imagination too.
Thanks again for taking the time to critique.