Forum posts by Loillty

I agree that you're off to a good start. These figures have nice fluid gesture and would be good bones for making something more finished.
In my opinion the benefit of using pen is that you build confidence in your stroke. The downside is that it makes refining when you're doing longer drawings more difficult. I might try charcoal which will allow you to make bold lines as well as lighter sketches.
If you're looking to improve proportion, I might do a one minute pencil or light charcoal sketch and then take a minute to check the proportions with the length of your pencil. Then make your adjustments before going on to adding more definitive structure and lines for whatever time is left in the sketch. I personally haaate having to check proportion, but it's useful. I usually find something I can improve or change when I do.

Good work!

Hi Dumplings,

What do you think the next stage of your artwork would look like? I love the piece you posted and working toward your next stage all depends on what you see for yourself. Try to identify the goal. Are you feeling uninspired? Is there an aspect of your rendering that isn't satisfying? Is there a project you're working toward?

As for the confidence to post things, I would ask again what you hope to get out of posting. This is something I struggle with a lot. Your work isn't any more or less valid whether you decide to share it or keep it for yourself ♡

Your proportions are good and I can see you mapping out the actions of the character. I haven't yet attempted a comic so I commend you.

As for line smoothness, I agree with what was said above about trying lots of shorter poses, drawing with your body, and tricking your brain by using new muscles. I would add that using a new medium can be useful--something that won't allow you to be hesitant. I have tried dark charcoals and a paintbrush with watery black acrylic paint. Challenge yourself to capture the motion of the figure in broad strokes. an arm or a leg or a torso can be suggested in one line.

Hey Array,

Frankly, I'm envious of your 30 second drawings. You capture the form with such percision and flow in that short amount of time! I think that will serve you well in storyboarding.

I will say, at least in my experience, that I tend to avoid things that I'm not super confident in doing in my art. And all the way down to your five minute drawings I don't see a lot of detail in the face. It has such potential for conveying and changing the emotion of an pose! I would suggest focusing on that. Perhaps some 30 second sketches of faces only? Then eventually combining some of those line shorthands for faces in your figure drawing.

Hey Morgan,

I'm glad you're finding some joy in art again, I love to hear things like that. You've got some really nice details in this drawing, particularly in the hands and face.

Two things I notice are that the lines are all the same thickness, and there isn't any shading applied yet. I suggest experimenting with these things. You could try to do some quicker sketches starting with the shading... Explore how you can express detail through blocks of shading. Play around with a charcoal and see what types of shade and lines you can accomplish with changes to pressure and the edge of the charcoal you apply. And of course, give yourself the leniency to play! Experiments don't have to look perfect.

Scribs,

Thank you so much! This type of advice is exactly what I was looking for. I'll have to play around with using more space or planning out how I'm going to be using the space I give myself. When left to my own devices I do tend to make my work smaller so that was a good reminder. And I think working bigger will make any forshortening or proportion mistakes more evident.

Thank you again for taking the time to reply! I appreciate it.

-Rain

Yamikumo, these are quite good. I know that's not a critique, haha.

Is this the whole study that you did for the day or did you do longer poses too? I would love to see the longer pose if you had them. I'm used to doing poses ranging from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. So I find that when I'm given poses of longer lengths like 30 minutes or hour poses I can feel a little lost as to what to add to the pose. ("What else is there to do?? I already blocked shading. How would I take this too the next level?")

What I'm saying is it would be interesting to see how you add to these dynamic and flowing frames.

Thank you too for being able to share your work with us. That takes guts!

-Rain

Hi yall,

This is my first practice session as a member of LoA. I used to take some figure drawing a while back and I am getting into it again. Any tips or critiques would be appreciated.

This is the first time I have split up the page in squares, usually I just draw wherever there's space. But the first ten are 30 second, next five are 1 minute, next two are 5 min and the last was a 10er I think.

https://imgur.com/a/d2jRFiJ

https://imgur.com/a/OGhCEfX

thanks for your feedback!

-Rain

Your drawings look proportional to me and have nice curving lines. Some of your drawings, though, are so small and softly sketched that they're hard to see. Some of the best advice I have been given has to do with speaking but I think it applies here.

When I think I might be wrong or I'm unsure, I speak softly. I suppose in the unconscious hope that my mistakes will go unnoticed? But we WANT to notice our mistakes in our practice. Our errors will still be errors whether we whisper or shout them. So my best advice would be to give yourself more space to draw. Get a drawing utensil that marks heavy and dark and draw your lines with commitment, even if they're wrong. you'll be able to see what needs improvement better that way.



Thanks for sharing your work!

-Rain

Hey there,

Your shorter sketches have good flow which is something I am always working toward. On your longer sketches I see a lot of smaller, thinner lines and the figure still looks like it's missing some meat on the gesture of the shape you've placed. One way to move toward this might be trying to focus on shaded and lit areas on the body. I get a charcoal or something with a lot of surface area so I can fill in swathes of area more smoothly.

In general, I think playing around with the parts of the sketch that I focus on (light, gesture, speed, anatomy etc) helps me keep my practices fresh and see my drawings from a new perspective.

Happy Practicing, and thanks for sharing,

Rain