Forumberichten van Sokarads

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  • #25848

    Loving this work!!! I can see you're making a lot of strides in understanding structure and anatomy, where everything fits in together, and that's super important. I think you've done a really good job at capturing the position of the ribs and pelvis and how they relate to the position of the spine, as well as the placement of other limbs; I think the work you did on 16/06/20 and 18/06/20 is a really good indicator of your understanding of structure, and I think the proportions and anatomy look really good.

    I want to second the idea that one way you can improve is drawing with longer, more confident strokes. Something that helps me do that is to look at the human body more abstractly by converting it into shapes and lines in my head; instead of seeing a foot, with toes and bones and muscles, I look at it as a group of curves and arches, no structure underneath. I will say that drawing this way will turn out messy the first few times, you might get a figure that looks like a bunch of ribbons rather than a human person, but that's okay. It's a really good way to liven up your drawings, reduce stiffness, and even get a better sense of anatomy in different positions other than forward-facing; you can start to understand how the parts of the body widen or narrow based on their position relative to the camera, i.e. how to foreshorten. You can do this by practicing gesture drawing in 30-second or 1-minute mode, and keep yourself from putting the underlying structures in, just draw the form you see as it is. The most important thing to remember is that you will get frustrated and pull out some drawings that don't look anatomically correct, and that's okay--the best thing you can do for your art right now is to keep going, keep pushing, and keep experimenting to look for what works for you.

    I can also see you've done a really good job studying the internal structures of the body, i.e. the skeleton, as shapes, for example the pelvis as a 3D cone that can shift based on its angle, a good example is the top left drawing on the last page. A solid next step would be to convert the rest of the body to cones and cylinders, such as each section of the arms and legs. Instead of drawing the ribcage as an "m" shape, draw it as a big cylinder. If you have a hard time with rotating it, a good exercise might be to get a soda can or a can of spraypaint and tilt it around at different angles, drawing how you see it, to get a better grasp on thinking in a 3D space.

    I recommend the same steps for expression drawing as well. If you can, don't draw a base for the heads at all, practice a few pages of just drawing the basic position of the eyebrows, nose, eyes, and mouth as big, loose shapes and lines, and exaggerate where you can. It's okay if it doesn't look accurate, and you can still do work on studying structure afterward if you like. Something that helps me is drawing these "phantom faces" and then drawing the head and facial muscles around them to see how they might interact. This can be done after you've seen the reference material, and it's okay if it doesn't look like the reference material. You can compare and contrast after the fact to see where the structures under the skin (muscles, fat, bone) might differ from the reference material in your interpretation.

    Two sources I want to recommend for studying structure more is this brief overview from Lackadaisy author Tracey Butler on construction drawing, or drawing with shapes; it's helped me IMMENSELY in understanding how to position facial features in a 3D space, as well as body features, by thinking of all of them as just 3D geometric shapes with some lines on top. The other resource is Anatomy for Artists by Anthony Apesos, which is a comprehensive study guide on finding and understanding the skeletal and muscular structures that contribute to form, or otherwise what we see moving the skin and body to give it shape. There's stuff you expect, like the ab muscles and shoulders, but also a lot of muscles that you did not know people had, and it's also helped me in not only rendering, but understanding what i'm seeing when I do render.

    EDIT: sorry one more resource from Tracey Butler that is useful for expressions OK COOL SORRY

    Sorry this got so wordy, I hope it helps!! You've got a really solid start, and you'll only get stronger moving forward. I see massive improvents from your first few pages to the last, so you're going to do great!!!

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    • Sokarads edited this post on June 20, 2020 6:42am. Reason: adding another link to study material