Daily Gesture Practice

Fast dark shadows is uh... exactly that. And it’s not really something that has a set answer either. https://www.deviantart.com/funkymonkey1945/art/Shape-handout-2-516407178 Is kind of talking about what I mean, or maybe https://www.deviantart.com/funkymonkey1945/art/Notes-for-User-Lightsandlighting-524284838 will make more sense? The shadow shapes have gestures, and getting that gesture and defining a shadow shape quickly and efficiently is important. For that particular one in the Jun 17 set, getting the shadow that’s probably on the model’s chest and belly will define a whole lot of the torso and arms and maybe legs depending on the lighting. Not getting the shadow means you have to draw a whole lot of different lines and carefully measure out bits in a complicated shape so it’s harder drawing, and you have to be super careful with line weight to not lose the sense of space. It’s a lot to do in 5 minutes and probably isn’t possible without leveling up a lot.

The other way to push would I guess be lean into line weight more, and figure out a solution you like for those complicated spots? Maybe a toned canvas so instead of drawing a shadow shape you can draw in lights to define a shadow? Dunno. This kind of thing gets really philosophical really rapidly, and for me it’s usually best to brainstorm a bunch of ideas and then try a one class per idea I come up with instead of trying to find the right one by thinking. Draw first, think after you know what your hands can do.

The getting better thing is always a mixed bag :-/. Part of getting better is you see more mistakes. That’s part of why I always ask people what parts of the drawing they think work or are good. Because the “mistakes” you see aren’t usually objectively wrong as you get better, they’re an idea that works fine in another context but it wasn’t what you had in mind for this context. The good parts tho tell you what it is you’re really after.

What I’m seeing with today’s 30s and 1m poses is you do a good job getting gestures on fairly straightforward standing or sitting poses. Crawling or contorted/foreshortened poses don’t seem to go so well. And poses where there’s props like fabric or a seat can get iffy.

If it were me, I’d do a class where I set it up to be all contorted poses, a class where I try to set it up for lots of props, an all hands class and an all feet class to kinda evaluate what it is I know and where I want to go.

(ok to be really realistic, I’d set up a class for all dogs and draw cute puppies because sometimes you just need to do fun drawings)

For today's practice I luckily got several contoted poses to practice with. In general I tried to just find the largest shapes I could in the pose and then fill it in. I'm particularly happy with the 10 min pose as I feel that even though the pose is an odd bend, it still feels dynamic due to the pose looking like it's in control of its posture and the way gravity impacts the model. Also, how do you all draw quick dreads? I just kind of used a thicker sized tip and it didn't quite work, heh.

Today's practice. I really felt the gesture today, specifically with the lower time ones. I ended up finishing most of the 30 sec ones with time to spare, which caught me of guard. However, if it isn't obvious enough, I struggled with the 25 minute one, not necessarily in the gesture but just the face. It just ended up looking cartoony and I wasn't quite sure what to do since the face was generally small in the reference and the face shadows were pretty flat. Does anyone have any tips for how to deal with face stuff when it's generally small or lighted flat? Any critique is highly appreciated.

Today's practice. I went over some more proko videos and really took into account how I'm not using basic shapes. So, this time around when I just focused on getting those basic shapes. For the most part it went well until the 25 min one. I really tried to take my time on that one, measuring and what not, but I wasn't able to properly blend it into getting the gesture so I feel it ended up looking too stiff (I also desperately need to get better at shading, I think the problem is that other than my lack of pen pressure, I use too big of a pencil size that I constantly go over so it ends up making accidental shading that I then need to erase).

Any and all criticism would be highly appreciated.

P.S if you could specify which day you're critiquing that would help.

Today's practice. Not much to say. I didn't feel that good about the lower timed gestures, I forgot to use basic shapes. However, when I used the basic shapes for the 5 and up gesture poses they helped very much, I'm specifically happy with the forshortening of the torso in the 10 min one.

Today's practice. Got to use those basic shapes (have actually been really helpful, especially when the hips and chest robobean do relatively parallel the gesture line drawn).

Any and all critique would be appreciated.

• Vvalverde edited this post on June 27, 2019 5:43pm.

So, I'm new to drawing so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but it seems like sometimes the heads on your figure end up being a little to small? I find the head is a really useful guide to making sure that everything is in proper proportion. Maybe focus in on that and do some studies on using the head as a landmark? Really train your eye to see the body in terms of head-lengths so you have something to fall back on.

That's something I'm personally working on right now, so it might help you too! :)

Today's practice. Eh... I liked how the 25 min came out... but at some point I put the timer on pause to do something and forgot to turn it back on for a while... But on the other hand I did try to measure things out with the head as a landmark, as suggested, and it kind of worked out. Sometimes I was sure I got the right measurements but then I looked at the drawing and it felt small, so I took some libertys. Eh, probably my fault.

Any and all critique would be appreciated.

• Vvalverde edited this post on June 28, 2019 5:35pm.

Today's Practice. Oof, was pretty much on autopilot the whole time and wasn't focused.

Any and all criticism is appreciated.

Today and yesterday's practice.

Any and all critique would be very much appreciated.

07/02/201907/03/2019

Today's practice.

Any and all critique would be appreciated.

Ohh I love your shadows. Very cool use with the gestures. I do agree with the heads being too small, though. Proko actually has a number of videos addressing proportion and specifically using heads to measure. The upper torso is about two heads tall, if that helps. The pelvis is roughly the size of one head. The average human body is between six and eight heads tall; females usually more around 6-7 heads and men 7-8 heads.

It's really great to get a response from you Literally Mom, your minute gesture drawings blew me away in the amount of shapes and form you were able to accomplish. I'm also surprised you commented on the shadows, I've never thought that I've done them well as I think they look relatively flat and don't provide that much of the form, I guess I'm just bad with the gradient.