Forum posts by Thephilistine

Kly those are such an improvement! I like the transition from the separate masses to the "bean". I'm very impressed keep up the good work!

Good evening Kly.

I think you're capturing your proportions well I feel. Your figures could benefit from having a little more life in them. The line of action is much more than a connecting line for the masses, it captures the movement of the figure. I think the way you separate the masses (the trunk and pelvis) is taking away from the gesture as well. Try some quick sketches and disregard the body but focus on the gesture. This forced me to shape my figure along the line of action and add more feeling. this link can expain what I'm trying to say about gesture better. I hope my advice is taken positively and I wish you well on your drawing journey!

I really like your drawings. I think you could benefit from exaggerating your line of action. I struggle with the same thing, as I try to replicate references instead of using them, so they retain a very rigid feel. Exaggerating the LOA would help give your figures more life!

I think making your figures bigger would also help since your lines become longer and have more "feeling" in them. I hope my advice is taken positively and best wishes on your drawing journey :)

Thank you Skeedadle. I started doing my figure drawing with my pen and slowly started to calm down my lines. I definitely think its been a huge help

https://imgur.com/a/P4johWn

Good evening everyone!

The link attached is of a 30 minute class study I did. I'm trying to become a little more expressive in my gestures but I feel like I'm failing. I think I might need in-person help rather than reading and watching videos. What do y'all suggest/think? If you've ever been in my position, what tips or practices best helped you?

About 2-3 years ago, I decided to finally take art seriously as I had been interested in it but never devoted time to practice it. I first started by buying the book "The Natural Way to Draw" by Kimon Nicolaides. I studied the book rigorously for about 2 months, following the plan, and then I dropped it and started an art class in college. After that class, I was on and off and basically threw away all of my knowledge as I bounced around the country. One thing I only realized recently was that I kept trying to make an exact replica of my reference. Too focused on details, too focused on perfect lines. "Use the reference, don't copy it!" was advice I was given and it really made me rethink how I draw. I think it depends on what your goals are in art, as "becoming a good artist" I've learned is too broad of a goal.