Forum posts by Kim

Most of the current images were provided by generous photographers. Although we have curated the selection, trying to prune out poor quality images or poses with no educational value, we only have what was offered to us. Young, skinny and white made up the vast majority of the images we were sent — however, we agree that this is something that needs to be corrected, and are working toward commissioning our own photo collections to rectify the situation. :)

Hi there Mark!

I'm so sorry you're having issues. This is an error that seems to primarily occur in the Internet Explorer browser. We are working hard on fixing it, and there will be an announcement in our news when we get it sorted out. In the meanwhile, we recommend using Chrome or Firefox.

I'm so glad that you are (and have been) enjoying the site! :) That really makes me feel good about the work that goes into this project. :)

Welcome welcome! I hope you'll share your progress with us, I'm having a blast seeing what you're all up to. :)

Hi there!

Although I've carefully selected images for the homepage (and news posts, when we announce new series of photos) that do not show genitals or nipples, the site overall doesn't truly have a policy about nudes being only "opt in". For example, the critique forums have sketches of nudes posted in them on a nearly daily basis, where any part of the anatomy might be fully visible, and this is fully within our rules. We have advertisements for drawing books in the sidebar that sometimes have nudes of both genders on the covers (though those also follow the no genitals showing rule)

I am sorry if my avoidance of showing genitals and female nipples on the main pages of the site is not enough to make you feel comfortable. However, this is even "cleaner" than many of the images you'll see in an average exhibit of classical paintings, classical statuary or even in our own forums. I don't think we will be changing it at this time.

Loulou, I was actually asking pdlw to show us their work from 2 months ago.

You can just post a link to the image of your drawing like you did in your first post. :)

Hi Jeremy,

Your first link goes to a Youtube news report rather than your drawings!

When you say "I feel its time to push my skills a little further," do you have a particular direction in mind? :)

Your thoughts on what gesture drawing is for are very much in line with ours, Swen. Love to see that.

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!