Forum posts by Sanne

Hey Joshua! Looking good with those practices. :) Do you feel you better understand the anatomy and proportions of the head with these?

Hi Jeremy! Looking good so far. :) Adding on to darkover's advice, maybe you could focus on using less motions of your pen to get your gestures down? They look very over-saturated with repeat sketch lines that don't immediately try to get the action lines down. Maybe this post is helpful?

Hi pdlw!

I think Ay.Spies has a good idea there. :) Gestures really benefit from smooth, simple lines. Quick short strokes tend to make it more difficult. Trying to recreate a figure by using as few lines as possible with simple shapes (C and S lines, circles, boxes, triangles) is a good approach to narrow a figure down, and see what shapes define the motion and 'energy' in poses. Is that something you could perhaps try?

Edit: Check out this user's suggestions! https://line-of-action.com/forums/topic/first-critique-request/#post-8905

Thank you, that is an excellent answer I will keep in mind for the future! :)

Looking great Joshua! :) My one pointer is to pay attention to the thickness of fingers. They're a little on the thin side in proportion to the rest of the hand. You have the general shapes and angles down pretty well though!

Hey Joshua! Your gestures are looking good, keep it up. :)

For the one where you have trouble with the foreshortening, I think that is largely something you can solve by gaining a better understanding of how perspective works. Does this tutorial help you out at all? If you can better understand this, you can use gesture shapes to recreate a foreshortening effect as well. Let us know if this is helpful, and if not we can look further for more resources and maybe some redlines to help you out. :)

Your gestures look great Swen! I'm kind of curious to see what your 30 second gestures look like, do you draw those too? From a first glance I've only noticed 60 seconds or more so far. (If you don't draw those that's fine of course! Is there a particular reason why not? I feel I could learn a whole lot from you!)

Hi Jeremy, yes I can definitely see the improvement! Your gestures from today feel a LOT less static than the first image in this thread. :) Good job!

I saw the way the person does gestures in the videos, and I think that's a bit of a step forward from where you're at now. Possibly the reason why you struggled so much with your attempt. Remember that teachers usually already know how to and have developed their own style, so trying to copy their techniques too closely might lead to missing out on some of the learning process.

The gestures you've been doing so far look good. :) I recommend to continue practicing that way until you're comfortable and not trying other methods or styles until then.

Hands are my biggest weakness so I don't have a lot to add in terms of critique, but I compared the first links you posted to your most recent one and I wanted to compliment you on your more than evident improvement! You're working super hard and it shows. :) Keep it up!

I think that is a massive improvement on its own, to be honest! Drawing gestures isn't just about copying, it's about teaching yourself a proper foundation to work from. Meaning, it's the equivalent of a foundation for a house that ensures the walls will be straight and the house will last (hopefully) multiple lifetimes.

Gestures are the basic differences between static, lifeless figure drawings and energized figures that exhibit motion. Knowing how to draw gestures properly is the biggest step to take for people who want to improve. Not only have you dramatically improved how you draw gestures, you're starting to do it correctly. I don't think you can humanly ask more from yourself a this point!

That video series you were linked to is excellent, and from the first 1:30 minutes I want to highlight a very important line from the narrator: "A better approach would be to finding the gesture of the figure so many times that it becomes second nature."

Do you feel like this new approach to gestures is second nature yet? Are you capable of drawing them the way we've suggested without pausing and thinking about what to do? As soon as you no longer need to go down a checklist or think "Hey, I need to remember to draw a C curve instead of an S curve" or similar, is when I think you should focus on the next step.

Remember that while progress is something you actively seek, you shouldn't try to force too many aspects to improve at once. It's absolutely okay to take some time and focus on getting comfortable with something new you learned before deciding to move forward.

I have a lot of points I can share with you that you can focus on for further improvement, but my recommendation at this point is to spend maybe one or two weeks just drawing gestures as you do now, until you don't have to think about it anymore. At that point we can more critically assess your gestures and see what needs fixing. If we already move on to those points I fear your focus will be spread too thin and you'll end up holding yourself back.

Does this make sense? This is my personal input, maybe Kim and you disagree, if so I'd love to hear that too. :) This is your progress, if you really want to move forward I'll be more than happy to give you those pointers.

You're welcome Joshua!

Took a peek at your recent session and that looks so good! :D You're absolutely on the right track and making great improvements there. :) I recommend you keep practicing like this. When you're ready for more challenges, it's probably a good idea to start focusing on body proportions.

You can try to pay attention to things like:
- Is the head the right size?
- Are the legs long enough?
- Is the rib cage the right size?

Good luck and keep us posted! :)

I am part of a therapy group where creativity is a high priority. Being engaged in creative projects boost self-esteem, confidence and gives great senses of satisfaction.

Usually our projects are nothing mind blowing, but they are extremely fun to create and allow us to explore all sorts of crafty subjects.

Recently, I've been addicted to painting-by-number paintings. I'm capable of creating my own drawings from scratch, but there's something very nice about being able to just color in someone else's work and having something nice to hang up on the wall. :) It did make me realize that I am very much a digital artist, and not a traditional medium user. I often have no idea how to apply real paint to canvas and it can be challenging to get the results I want.

Still, those challenges are good and I feel good after completing pieces as well!

What is your preferred medium and/or craft? Do you do anything other than drawing?

Ambient video game music is indeed a great way to stay focused! Try finding music that fits the theme of your drawing and/or reflects your mood. If you want to draw energetic gestures/studies/illustrations, upbeat and active background music is good. For calmer and more settled down moods, go with the gentler varieties.

@JukaKem: I've had clinical depression for more than a decade now, and I can confirm that it can and will affect the ability to draw. Practicing self-care is extremely important, and while drawing can aid you in dealing with depression, it can also easily become a burden and a source of guilt.

I highly recommend taking a look at this page and doing your best to follow their instructions: http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/depression/self-care-for-depression/

If drawing doesn't work out for you right now, don't fret. :) Just try out new things and see if something sticks, and when you're feeling better and more energized, you can tackle gestures again! There's absolutely nothing wrong with that and it doesn't make you less of an artist. You deserve to feel good!

@HomuKuro: That actually sounds like fantastic self-care! We certainly need to push our limits and explore our boundaries, but allowing ourselves some reprieve can be just as valuable and necessary. I figure the duration of the breaks can vary per person (some people might only need a minute, some might need five or more), but that is an excellent suggestion.

I echo Kim's questions! :) Your gestures look really nice, but most people tend not to learn as much as they could from doing only silhouettes. I know I personally benefit from breaking bodies down anatomically, as they give me more flexibility to adjust the figures I draw without needing additional references.