Forum posts by Jcmlfineart

Tell us something you have had trouble withdrawing, but now have found solutions to that problem solve your former struggles. Tel us why you think you had a hard time understanding that concept of your former struggles.

Maybe your Eureka moment will help someone here who is currently struggling with the same issue. We all learn better when we work with each other.

Example:

I found it hard to place volume into my works via line quality. I never understood that if I layered circles or shapes over the top of each other they would give the figure Lots of volume! Why could I not understand this would work was... well I was scared of being too messy. I found if I used the pencil method and slowly started up the B pencil scale I could achieve both a clean drawing and volume. It took me about a year to be brave enough to place one circle, over an oval. I know really embarrassing. But I think when you direct your stubbornness to good use, everything is more likely to fall in to form

All the best!

Michellerose Cusack
JCML Fine Art

laitochris,



If you feel stuck, why not draw so many on the same page? Once you have more than one figure on a page you are now composing. This can cause distractions and limit your movements on the surface. I often recommend no more than three images per page, but if you are struggling, place only one per page. It is not a waste of paper, it is an investment in your talent.



The one thing I think you are doing really well is changing your line quality. You have a nice touch. If you would like to move up to the next level, why not try mass drawing? Take a bigger brush- if you are working digitally, or if physically- Use the side of your implement: and draw the form in chunks. This is a lovely skill and I feel it will definitely help you see your next level in your art game.



All the best,



JCML Fine Art

nenastik,

Overall these are rather strong, and often one can identify the model.

Why not amp up your skills and try mass drawing with your non dominate hand for 10 minutes before you start your drawing session? It's a known technique to intensify your observation mastery.



All the best,



JCML Fine Art

Which artists from Disney are on your list?

Charity,

Sometimes I find the best way to stay accountable is to have a body double. Which is sort of like a study buddy, but it does not mean you have to do or study the same thing. Instead, it's an agreement that you and your body double meet up and do whatever you, and often they, need to get done while in the same room physically or virtually.

Do you have someone in your life who would be your body double? If you don't, most of us on here would like that accountability too. As for me, I live in England, but my classes are on Central time due to going to school at SMSU. So if you are short one day or need a body double to keep you honest, I am cool with helping you reach your drawing goals.



I took a look at your work on Pinterest; Thanks for sharing! I think you would do well if you took the time to study the male nude. Since you are in high school, I understand that it may be challenging to get that content. (The study of the body is purely academic. Still, it can be difficult for underaged drafts peeps to understand how the body works without "seeing it".) But even if you draw the male figure in boxers, it will improve your overall character design.

Take some time to look at your hand. Do you notice how a hand sort of looks like those little kid house shapes? Box on the bottom and a triangle on top. This is the basic shape of the knuckles, and the fingers exaggerate this base shape. The fingers are always more believable if the hand's base shape is correct.

Another thing to help you with your hands is understanding how the arm works. If you flip your hand so that your palm faces up words on a table, then the ulna and the radial bones are straight-"The Open Handed Yes" But! If you have your hands pushed out like when your motion stop, the ulna and the radial bones are crossed in an X'd position- "The Closed Bones Pirot No." Both the Closed Bones No and the Open Handed Yes affect how the wrist sits in the body. If you look for these tells, your hands will be miles better.



If you would like an excellent book to study, try Nicolaides "The Natual way to Draw." It's a great book with lots of good content about staying on task, creating a drawing schedule that works for your needs, and exercises for you to try.



All the best,



JCML Fine Art



PS. I did the same thing when I was babysitting years ago. I picked up the wrong kid! and He went along with it for the first three blocks. So embarrassing.

Hello Nat,

Welcome to the group. Why not post your work and send us the links on this group page. Then we can help you get along.

Or try the perfect Shape prompt on our group page? I hope to post more and more exercises with due dates so you and the rest of us can keep getting better.

I find deadlines really help get more accomplished than without them.

What are your funny story and something fun you did this year?



Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I am celebrating in England on Saturday. So I may not get to the drawing table, but I will be full of food and fun.



All the best,

JCML Fine Art

Eleighs,

What's your funny story and something fun you did this year?

I am going to Southwest Minnesota State University, and I am about halfway through my education. Is this your first semester of college?



If you like try some of the assignments, or invent some for us as well. We all learn more when we share what works well in our drawing routines.



There is a cool book called The Artists Handbook. It's chuck full of techniques, materials, and tools. Give it a look in your college library. Most have one and they are a thrilling read to any art nerd.



All the best,

JCML Fine Art

Cadrawsy

Try drawing bigger and focus on mass of form instead of line expression. I also noticed you are pressing equally all over the figure. Try to vary your line quality.

Exercise to help you see the foundations of form which create the details:

Find a picture of an animal or human. Look for the basic shapes within the structure and draw them over the top of the image. This exercise will help you see what conditions create the details so vital to living more realistic art. I would suggest you try this with master artists sketches of people you find are your art role models.



Want a book? Try Robert Hales Drawing with the masters. It's where you can find this exercise and many more like it.



All the best,



JCML Fine Art

One Stroke Exercise:

Try drawing basic shapes in one stroke. Circles, triangles, parallelograms, eggs, squares- you get it. Flat shapes, like the ones you see in elementary schools. Make each shape as perfect, and even as you can. After drawing your first shape make each shape the same size as the one drawn next to it. Keep the spaces between shapes as eyeballed even as possible.

Do this exercise before you do your figure drawing until you feel you have warmed up. It helps you with control, proportion, and quality/economy of line.

Warning: This task is elegant, works really well when you take the time to do it right. But like all elegant things, they can be rather hard to put into action. Have a reward ready. On your first few goes, you may be too tired to progress to figure drawing. Don't let that turn you off this exercise. I promise you will see improvement when you get to the fun figure drawings.



All the best,



JCML Fine Art



Let me know how it goes.



All the best,



Jcml Fine Art

Honey Bee1331,



Do you warm up before you start working on your formal drawings? Do you stop working on what you're doing and move on to other things when you feel stiff? Do you plan out your works by making thumbnail sketches? How many times do you redraw your image before you work on the final?

Often we want everything we touch to look AMMAZING! But that's never the case. One must be able to reproduce the same thing a few times, create drawing workout routines and study if they want to get better. It's not wasting paper, it is investing in your abilities as an artist.



Until you post some of your work into your sketchbook on this website, I feel this is the best advice I can give you. Take the time to do the work and study anatomy, and the basics like drawing cubes, eggs and cones with different light sources. Yeah, it's boring snoring stuff, but that's what is often needed to get to any state near-photographic reality.



All the best,



JCML Fine Art

Honey Bee1331,

There is a cool book I think you should read while taking breaks from your drawing called "Outliers" By Malcolm Gladwell. It talks about how long it takes for someone to get good at something, anything- including drawing. It takes on the question, "Are you born with talent, or can you earn talent?"

Or, if you are not a reader/this encourages you to pick up the book watch this...

[url=]20 hours to Success[/url]



Artist blues are real! That's why I joined this community. Just yesterday, I was feeling rather down on my drawing abilities, so I looked through my old sketch leaflet books, and I can't believe the difference nearly a year of constant study has made. What I can do in 30 seconds now would have taken me 5-10 minutes to achieve back then.

This website gives you a badge of honour if you draw 33 days straight for 30 minutes or more. Why not make it one of your goals? Keep your first drawing. Give the first drawing to someone and tell them to hide it from you. Then draw for the allotted time. Once you prove, you got your badge to your buddy who hid your drawing; they can give it back to you. Then look at the difference. I am sure you will be shocked.

(I still have yet to get this badge, but I am trying)

If you would like a book to study, try "The Artists Way" It's made more for writers, but visual storytelling is still a kind of journalism. The book has a lot of nice prompts that have helped my journey through the years. Give it a go, and tell me what you think.

Slowagain,



There is a beautiful book called Classic human Anatomy by Wilson. All the mussels are colour coded, there are visual and verbal explanations, and it does a fab job at showing how the joints move.

However, if you want something with exercise, try Drawing from Life. It's a college textbook, but I have always found it helpful.

If you go through both of these and still need some help, try Drawing lessons from the masters by Robert Hale. He has some cool basic art block ideas that have helped me along my art path, unlike other references I have tried.



If you try any of them and still need a few more references, let me know, and I can send you more.



All the best,

JCML Fine Art

Right looks like I am gonn'e start this thing So here goes!



Welcome to our art group.



I started using this website at the beginning of this year and decided to contribute to it as it has helped my studies about 2 moons ago.

Big goals:

I am a tetrad artist currently working my way through college in Minnesota, but I love and live in Watford England. My major goal is to be a commission artist, creating paintings or drawings, especially for my patrons. Custom work is my favourite art challenge.

The book I am currently reading is called Colour by Victoria Finlay it is all about where pigments come from, how they are made, and who makes them.



Funny story: " A God, Tacos and Wednesdays"

Here in England, salsa is not very good. I love spicy food, and as much as I love a good curry: I grew up thinking spicy meant more the flavours of South America. About a week ago, My husband found this cool taco with the best salsa I have found so far that doesn't taste like Asian-SouthAmearican fusion.

He placed an order and had it delivered home. He planted it in the way of what I was working on in my sketchbook at the time. I was a bit annoyed, but hunger was more powerful than my sketching yen. I pushed my work to the side. I read the white words on the brown paper bag. "Jesus Saves Your Tacos". I have dyslexia what it really said was "Jesus Salvador made your Tacos". I ripped off the white sticker, thought it was odd that a restaurant would be so forward with their religious views. Shugging, I proceeded to eat my taco goodness.

Meanwhile, my husband left the apartment to get his part of our weekly Wednesday order-in meal. By the time he was on his way back I was in mid 3rd taco thinking the phrase- "Thank you, Jesus!" (I find this ironic as I am Jewish, but if this is what Christmas states like, I am in.)

It was at this point I noticed my reading error. I was in mid taco bite and could not help getting guac and salsa up my nose from laughing so hard. And of it is at this moment that he looks at me with snot quack, salsa and spit all over my face. He looks at me and says, "Oh Jesus! What happened?!" I wiped my face with a napkin and said "Well, he saves" Then proceeded to laugh uncontrollably for the next minute or so before I could explain what happened.



Looking back, maybe it's not that funny, but at the time, in the moment the oddest most ordinary things can be funny, even Jesus Tacos on Wednsdays.

I know of Tite Kubo, author of Bleach, One Punch's Yusuke Murata, but I do not know Tatsu Yukinobu's work. I am guessing that he-she is a manga artist? Yeah?

If so, what is the name of their main manga?

If not, will you send us a link to some of your favoured peace's?



Are you more interested in anime or manga? AND... are you making comics? If so, share. We would love to see your work.



All the best,



JCML Fine Art

Let's open up and share

Tell us something fun you did this year.

What is your major overall art goal?

Annnd... how about a funny story.

If Some of you are comic book writers, or you feel dry on inspiration why not take someones prompt response and turn it into an artwork.

Go!

All the Best,

JCML Fine Art