Forum posts by Kim

I'm so glad you're enjoying the new tools!

I've had several beloved drawing teachers through my life who would repeat mantras like "She who erases most wins"

Which is to say: learning to see, acknowledge, and then go through the process of figuring out how to fix your mistakes is a major skill, and heavily engages your brain in creating new connections and revising old bad ones. If you can stand it, do it! :)

Would you be willing to show us one of your earliest gesture drawings?

That sounds like a good project. Keep in mind this may be a challenge you need to work on for some weeks or months or years -- you are correct in the difficulties you've identified to mastering it, and try to continue being patient with your learning process. :) (Foreshortening STILL throws me for a loop)

Congratulations on your three months of improvement, and good on you for recognizing a plateau and seeking out new things to try.

I wonder if you would find Swen's recent posts about "rhythm" an interesting next challenge for your gesture drawing? They're in this thread: https://line-of-action.com/forums/topic/first-critique-request/#post-8886

This was and is always a weakness of mine as well, so my help will be limited. But if you know it's a weakness, practice it hard. Take a sheet and drape it over a chair and draw it. Tack it to the wall at different points so you get different drapes and draw it. This was helpful to me when I could actually convince myself to do it. ;)

Knowing some of the different types of folds helps my brain to get a grip on what I'm seeing. Here's an article I found that talks about some of the main types: http://blog.digitaltutors.com/the-6-fold-types-every-illustrator-should-know-for-drawing-clothing/

I hope someone who has this more figured out will come along to give us more tips!

I think this is your best practice page yet. Keep it up! :)

Having a lot of fun watching your progress! :)

Swen, could you say a little more about how you're using the word "rhythm" here?

A great start! You are boldly taking on a whole lot of different practices right now. I hope you aren't going to overwhelm yourself!

As for critique -- I'm not sure, but I think you're putting the eye crossbar a little too high on the faces. I think you're being fooled by the start of the hairline and not counting that area as part of the "face", when in fact the hairy part of the skull needs to have room allowed for it on the oval you've drawn too.

Swen, your image appears to not work. Can you repost? I'm really curious what you did. :)

That is a classic stumbling block. Don't be discouraged! :)

Hi Joshua,

I split this post into its own topic, since while it's related to figure drawing, it is also its own contained question, and I thought others might benefit from the answers being easily findable.

There are a lot of different methods of doing face gestures, but this is how I do it:

At 30 seconds, I try for a shape to represent the head. That might be an oval, a rectangle, whatever I see most strongly in the person's features. Sometimes, it turns out to be two shapes, because from the side I need to represent the bulge of the back of the skull where the brain pan hangs out. Then, I draw the "crosshairs" that represent the midlines of the face, along which the nose and eyes will rest. These are just two lines that I will use as a guide, not any actual features.

At 60 seconds, I do the above, but rough in the shape of the eyes and maybe a line to represent the mouth. Maybe I also draw a line to represent where the bottom of the nose will fall.

At 120 seconds, I do the above, then go back and make corrections to try and get the proportions more dialed in. I might erase some of the outlines of my face circle and redraw to account for the "dip" of the eye socket, or the jut of the cheekbone.

With enough time to finish refining the comparisons and proportions, I might then attempt to draw the features on to my now measured face frame.

Very nice! What time interval did you use for these?

Updated OP again.

Yeah, improvement every time I look at your work.

I noticed in your posts that you've been practicing for about a year? I am understanding that right?