Forum posts by Kim

You can clearly see progress in this collection of poses! Good job.

One thing I'm not seeing is any under-construction, which can help dramatically with improving. I know it's very tempting to skip doing the line of action and drawing the underlying shapes because they don't feel like part of the finished drawing, but they will inform both your understanding and an improved finished piece.

I'm also seeing a lot of furry lines, where you've used lots of little short lines to make up what is essentially one line. This makes the piece look less confident. Try to draw with longer, smoother storess. Less is more! With fewer limes, it's also harder to hide mistakes, so this might feel very jarring at first.

Great job committing to your practice! I look forward to seeing more from you :-)

Please excuse any typos, I'm writing from my phone

Do any of you use Habitica to motivate yourself? Would it be interesting at all to have a line of action Guild and/or challenge(s) on Habitica? :)

Too big! At least pick a species to focus on, even if it's just for that one practice session.

You might also want to be clear about what KIND of drawing from imagination -- should your imagined animals look more realistic? More exaggerated and dynamic? Here's some random suggestions of what a more specific practice goal might look like:

"For this practice session my goal is to draw bears from imagination, with a focus on understanding the underlying shapes the construct their form."

"My goal is to draw horses from imagination, with a focus on correctly portraying their special leg anatomy."

"My goal is to draw animals from imagination, with a focus on picking one key part of the body to exaggerate to make it look like they are in vigorous motion."

The link is a little bit buried right now as I work to get more photos into the store and the last of the promised fundraiser features up. I suspect it'll become much more prominent in the weeks to come. :)

One reliable place to find the link that Sanne gave is under "Billing," hit the button "Get more photos"

I promise to make that more intuitive ASAP! :) Also keep checking back, we have lots and lots of bundles in the works of widely varying sizes.

Specklld, what is your current goal for your practice sessions? Having an extremely vague goal like "get better at drawing animals" can mean that your brain doesn't know what piece of information to pay attention to in all of the thousands of things you might learn from a practice session, and lead to you not really retaining anything. Pick something really specific to focus on in your practice sessions for awhile. Change your practice goal every 2-4 weeks. Give your brain an area of learning to focus on. Otherwise, it is very easy to plateau. :)

Hey Mike!

I’ve been told I focus too much on the outline of the drawing instead of the whole image. Is there anyway I can fix that?

I answered almost this exact question for someone right here: https://line-of-action.com/forums/topic/critique-requested-for-1510-gesture-drawings?page=1#post-2672

I think it will prove useful to you as well! :)

I’ve heard a lot of artist using arms helps with getting good lines. But what about the smaller details? Can I use my wrist for the more detailed parts? To sum up the question, what are the exceptions to using your arm?

Yes, you can use your wrist for details. Drawing from the elbow or shoulder is better for large, broad, confident strokes. However, you should not be arrived at needing detail until after your under construction is done. (Again, check out that link)

• Kim edited this post on September 9, 2018 10:17pm.

Huzzah! :D

Oh golly, no! Thanks for letting me know, I've fixed it now. I think my brain has melted a little doing so much site-launch stuff this weekend :)

You might want to look at this: https://line-of-action.com/article/master-pencil

And also this: https://line-of-action.com/art/view/1

Both discuss methods of better shading/blending :)

• Kim edited this post on September 9, 2018 5:59pm. Reason: Fixing a link

Is that shading issue something you have only with faces, or just in general?

hey Wing, what length of time were you using for this drawing?

Gesture is only one part of many things you will have to study. It's totally okay to start with gesture practice. You don't need to learn to draw all the details first.

Have you read these articles?

• Gesture basics #1: Line of action
• Gesture basics #2: Head, ribcage and pelvis
• Gesture basics #3: Joints

• Kim edited this post on September 8, 2018 9:21pm.

Hey bgarcat, do you have any specific goals for what you're trying to learn right now other than "on a tablet"? That can help a lot in focusing our feedback. :)

Both should now be working. Thanks for letting me know about this! :)

I think the #1 way to "get used to it" is to expose yourself to it by trying it until it's something you're used to. Like with anything, there's an adjustment period where the newness is uncomfortable and you have to remind yourself a lot what your goal is.

If you really need help drawing smaller, give yourself less space. I have a a tiny sketchbook, about 4 inches by 5 inches, that I can keep in my purse. Using a surface like that would give you a constant reminder to downsize!

Contact form fixed. Addressing the pencil exercises next.