Forum posts by Kim

Great catch! I will work on fixing this right now.

There was an older version of this post that I have retired, as there isn't really a scrap of recycled code from the old website, so naturally we're going to have a different set of issues.

A list of known issues we're working on fixing:

* The "critiques given" weekly critique counter is not resetting on users who are very active critiquers

* The "critiques received" box on the Your Studio page never updates.

Fixed

* Class mode sometimes speeds up after a break Fixed 06/29/2022

* Class mode on the environments tool does not advance photos Fixed 1/8/2019

* In the animal drawing tools, selecting "All but insects and other creepy crawlies" will throw an error where the tools claims to have no matching images even though it most certainly does. Resolved 10/13/2018

* "All mammals" in the animal tool DOES show only mammals, but not ALL available mammals. Resolved 10/13/2018

* "react" box is too low when clicking the "react" buttonon mobile, so it looks like it didn't open. Resolved 10/13/2018

* "reacts" work on responses to own sketchbook images, when really only critique responses should be reactable. Fixed 9/18/2018

* Stand-alone URLs are not being properly converted into links on the forums. Fixed 9/18/2018

* There's an error that can occur when trying to save a custom goal Fixed 9/18/2018* 7 day streak badges are showing as broken images Fixed 9/18/2018

* Sometimes when copying/pasting from another forum post, you'll end up with bizarre extra bbcode styling that we do not actually support.

* Some of the blog post images need to be re-linked, since we've moved all our files around. UPDATE 9/8: I'm about halfway through linking everything back up.

*Sometimes forum topics are appearing out of order Tentatively fixed 9/9/2018

* Choosing "only show live animals" in the drawing tools is causing the tools to erroneously report that it doesn't have any images. Fixed 9/9/2018

* Some of the tool images appear more blurry/pixelated than before. Not yet clear why this is effecting some images and not others. UPDATE: We have a clue, the server is working to regenerate images with the new compression guidelines, we'll see if that rights this! Update 9/8/2018: Everything is confirmed back to normal with tool images now.

* Because we don't have proper timezone settings yet, what day study time is assigned to can feel totally absurd for some users.

• Kim edited this post on September 7, 2018 6:59pm. Reason: Fix to blurry images being tried
• Kim edited this post on September 7, 2018 8:57pm.
• Kim edited this post on September 7, 2018 9:40pm. Reason: Password reset issue was resolved, removing it from the list
• Kim edited this post on September 9, 2018 6:31pm.
• Kim edited this post on September 17, 2018 6:02pm.
• Kim edited this post on September 17, 2018 11:50pm.
• Kim edited this post on September 19, 2018 2:10pm.
• Kim edited this post on October 14, 2018 3:03am. Reason: Fixed animal image categories, react box on mobile
• Kim edited this post on January 7, 2019 4:47pm.
• Kim edited this post on January 8, 2019 5:55pm.
• Kim edited this post on July 5, 2022 8:05pm. Reason: Adding fix for classmode speed up

A list of features we are planning to add to the site, mostly in no particular order:
* Mute for critiquing, so you can skip seeing particular people's work in your critique queue if you find you never have anything useful to say to them.

* Delete multiple playlist images at once

* Delete multiple sketchbook images at once

* Improve & increase he tips & lessons offered in clss mode for subscribers

* Review & expand FAQ

* Add "basic shapes" drawing practice tool

* Ability to filter the study store (Criteria like by tool, hide already purchased or full member-accessible, etc.)

* Photographer credit management - so you can update your portfolio link on your submitted photos whenever you need to, or even have multiple credits (For example, if you want to include the model's name in the credits for some photo bundles as well)

* Search tools for the forums

* Better pause for the tool countdown timer while the loading spinner is displaying

* On a person's LoA anniversary, send them their oldest sketch of the year and their latest sketch of the year to see their progress.

* Blocking other members from sending you PMs, responding to your forum topics, or commenting on your images

* Ability for users to delete comments on their own images

* Categorization of sketchbook images

Stuff being considered that may or may not get added

* Social authentication, like logging in with your Google or Facebook account

* Experience points? Levels of some kind? Maybe we'll just run a Habitica challenge! ;)

* Site translations to other languages? Portuguese, Mandarin, Dutch and Japanese might be our biggest demand, looking at our analytics data. We do have volunteers who have mentioned maybe helping with translations to German and Spanish, as well, however.

Completed
* 360 degree views tools 11/25/2021

* Pay for photo bundles with Alipay

* Pay for subscriptions with Alipay

* More work done on caching - this isn't exciting or sexy, but it will help to keep the site speedy and strong for years to keep up with our growing community! :)

* Ability to design your own class-lengths with custom pose lengths and breaks (full subscription members only) Added 10/20/2020

* Better email settings

* New study tool category: filter by age range 05/01/2020

* Push notifications! Want to be nagged to get your study in? Want to know right away when someone has left feedback on your critique requests? Added 1/13/2019

* Allow purchasing gift-vouchers for subscription time? Might be nice around the holidays!

* Easy method for users to delete own account Added 1/7/2018

* Add last message date/time to inbox Added 11/7/2018

* Non-intrusive reminders to review your practice goal if you haven't changed it for four weeks or longer Added 11/7/2018

* Subscribe/unsubscribe from our mailing list from your account page

* A more streamlined system for us to be able to send photographer payouts

* Pay for photo bundles with Paypal Added 11/5/2018

* Pay for subscriptions with Paypal Added 11/21/2018 in the form of purchasing gift codes

* Adjust which book resources are recommended based on user's goals

* "First class" that introduces the concepts of gesture practice

* New study tool: environments (indoor and outdoor)

* Greyscale mode for the study tools (subscribers only) Added 9/17/2018

* Flipped mode for the study tools (subscribers only) Added 9/17/2018

* Adding back the book resource suggestions

* Timezone account setting, so all timestamps and day starts will look right to individual members.

* In-class tips and focusing goals Added 10/9/2018

* Doodlers and Full subscribers can choose to be forwarded directly to the image upload page after a practice session, with their current practice goal and the study time intervals they were working with already pre-filled into the description of the uploads... Automatic critique requests, just upload your work and hit go! Added 9/12/2018

* Even deeper filtering for the practice tools: Want to only study people who are sitting down? Exclude images that feel too glamorous? Only draw birds seen from behind? Stay tuned. Completed 12/30/2018

* Ads for non-subscribers -- doodlers and full subscribers won't see these, but soon non-subscribers can help support the site's continued upkeep and improving by seeing a few ads. Added 12/23/2018

• Kim edited this post on September 17, 2018 6:37pm. Reason: Crossing off some finished features
• Kim edited this post on December 24, 2018 4:40am.
• Kim edited this post on December 30, 2018 8:30pm.
• Kim edited this post on January 4, 2019 11:46pm.
• Kim edited this post on January 9, 2019 5:04pm.
• Kim edited this post on January 13, 2019 11:21pm.
• Kim edited this post on January 14, 2019 2:42am. Reason: Crossing off push notifications
• Kim edited this post on October 24, 2020 6:25pm. Reason: Crossing off more finished features
• Kim edited this post on November 30, 2021 10:51pm. Reason: Adding 360 degree tool to completed list

This looks like a good start, and congrats for making practicing a priority and putting time into it! :D

Based on what you say you're trying to accomplish, I would suggest for awhile, try the exercise of drawing the hips and torso as 3d objects rather than two dimensional shapes. Make them cubes or oblong spheres rather than boxes and ovals. If you have time, you can do the arms, legs and head in this way too. This will help promote your perception and understanding of how the figure is constructed in space, not just what it "looks like."

We started building such a tool about... oh, three years ago, but faced challenges that stopped it from ever quite being released.

I can't say anything definite, but I would suggest that you might look for new life in that project as more new features roll out after our new site release in September... You didn't hear it from me! ;)

Hi Paladin! I (site owner) share basically all of your concerns. :)

One of the big goals going forward is not just more gender equity, but a wider range of body types, ethnicity, and age. Also we are trying hard to discourage "sexy" or "glamorous" poses and preference more everyday or classical art poses. This is a little hard, as the majority of photographers who have contributed photos seem overwhelmingly interested in photographing young, white, skinny, female models.

The fundraiser unfortunately did not reach the threshold that would have allowed us to schedule our own photoshoots immediately. However, we've been working on alternate ways of sourcing more photos in the meanwhile.

Time tracking and achievement features are not just planned, but already built - they will be available after the site relaunch happening in September, along with a plethora of other improvements.

There are a TON of posts up about what we're planning and how the execution of that is coming in the site news section, including stuff that addresses all of your questions, so I would suggest browsing through those if you're interested in knowing more.

suggested that you should draw something 5 to 10 times with reference and then put all your studies and references away and then draw it from memory.

This is a great idea for an exercise! :)

Hey SlugGirl,

Your topic had erroneously been caught by our spam filter. I just found it and approved it, so even though it's a few days late, it's up! Sorry for that delay. :)

I can definitely confirm that when I practiced only via "what I saw," I had terrible troubles drawing from imagination. Instead of being a study aid, references became a crutch I needed all of the time and couldn't escape from.

And of course, I got to that place because when I started drawing what I saw, I did at first have big leaps forward in my drawing ability, so I kept doing it as much as I could!

But I eventually discovered it could only take me so far, and was in some ways a backwards way to study, starting with the details of shading and individual features rather than the bigger picture of how the thing I was seeing was constructed overall.

You're welcome! I suspect over the next few days you may get more advice from others as well. There are some really amazing people in this community! :)

Welcome to the site! Really glad you are enjoying it so far. :)

You seem to be focusing on the contours of the figures - that is, the outer lines of the shapes that make up the body. This is very tempting and what most artists are tempted to spend all of their time on, because it feels like that's what will make your work "good."

However, if your goal is to improve at drawing and general anatomy, you need to let go of making "good" finished pieces and put a lot of energy into doing exercises that aid your understanding of what's behind all those contours.

To start with, I don't see any construction work underneath your drawings. I would say start with a line that describes the general action of the post, from head to toes if possible. Usually the spine is a big chunk of that line, as a clue. This is what the 30 second poses are for helping you practice, although it should be the starting place for almost all the work you do of any length.

Then, try to put the hips and and ribcage on top of that line. Remember that both of these are 3D structures, so the "shape" that will best represent them in your 2d drawing is going to change depending on the angle you are seeing them from. Your one and two minute poses is where this will usually come in. It's okay to be wrong, just make your best guess. You will learn something either way. One thing I also like to do is to draw a line through the pelvis and the shoulders that show how those structures are tilted compared to the main line of the body.

Try to identify the major body joints and how they are connecting to the hips and ribcage. Also, what parts of the body can you NOT see? WHY can't you see them? Does one arm look particularly "short" because a hand is reaching toward you, for example? You can start to work on these questions in your 5 minute drawings.

One of the goals of under-construction is to make notes about what's going on inside of the body, to inform those contours that show us the outside of the body. This is much harder than drawing the contours, because you can't see it directly. But it will make your contours so much better and eventually enable you to draw from imagination instead of reference with relative accuracy.

It is 100% okay if these pieces don't look like anything, or if that under-construction makes your 10 minute piece look quite messy. You do not need to be making finished drawings to show off of during practice time, you need to be learning new things. :)

I have no idea, but I cross-posted this to our Facebook page just in case that helped. :)

https://www.facebook.com/lineofaction/posts/1752185881496287

It doesn't look like you posted any image, tafazulmattoo :(

There’s currently no image reviews or directory available for easy browsing.

This is because most of our images so far (especially in the figure study tool) used in the gesture drawing tools were provided by very generous photographers interested in helping to train fine artists, but some of them specified in the licensing agreement that their images were not to be displayed in any kind of archive or list. Out of respect for their artwork and their legal rights, we have complied and not added an image archive/review to the site.

As Ghostly points out, people have found a few workarounds though!

I was going to say that I think your next focus of practice should be looking at the figure as a whole, in order to improve proportions, but it looks like you've already got wonderful advice and committed to that as your next practice goal!

So I'll just say this instead: Your practice schedule sounds great and your attitude about getting to practice the "right" way is perfect. Keep at it! :)