Forum posts by Katt Quiet

Thank you, Sayn for the advice, and for pointing out what to work on. Very helpful!

Ok, thanks. I thought I remembered seeing drawabox recommended for improving confident line quality, but if it's mainly for learning perspective then I'll postpone it for now. Thanks for the advice!

These studies each took 15 to 25 minutes. I used pen, because I'm trying to overcome my habit of erasing constantly. However, these studies are from the 360 degree tool and portray the same model, but my initial proportions (when I don't erase and correct them) are so sloppy that these look like different people to me.

My question is, would a combination of head anatomy and drawabox and loomis studies help me, or is there something else I should be studying? Or should I keep using an eraser and focus on only head proportions for awhile?

Any suggestions or advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

These look great. In poses where the head leans forward or backward, you might consider a curved eyebrow line, to wrap around the head, but that's just my personal preference. And I don't see anything else that you might consider doing differently. You nailed it!

Your studies definitely look like rubiks cubes, and most of your lines and angles look good to me. However, they could be slightly more precise in a few places, if you look closely. In the first one, the middle row of squares across the top (white, white, blue) seems wider front-to-back than the row nearest the viewer. And on the side, the middle row seems to grow taller as it recedes, while the row under it appears to grow shorter. Such subtle details may or may not matter, depending on what you're using the drawings for. But overall, I think you're getting a good grasp of the basic forms. Good luck in your studies!

Would it be possible to have a checkbox in the forums for hiding all posts started by accounts which have logged zero seconds in the drawing tools? Or some other way to distinguish between bots/ads and people who draw? I understand, though, if that isn't possible. Thanks.

I think Aunt Herbert's advice is great, especially about focusing on what you consider beautiful, and not being so hard on yourself.

I'll just add that I think modeling forms in 3d can help you simplify 2d shapes that confuse you. It takes awhile, but if you can squish a kneaded rubber eraser or some playdough into a head or torso or whatever (or create a really low poly model in 3d software), and then draw your 3d model from the same angle as the photo, then you'll have a much better understanding of the form that you're trying to simplify.

In the drawing tool, in the What Time Interval choices, it would be nice to have a way to enter a custom number of minutes (not just seconds) for a pose, or else a chart to convert minutes to seconds for 15, 20, 25 minute or longer poses. Thanks for everything you're doing!

I prefer silence. I can draw with tv noise or music or the chaos of public places, but I feel more focused in a silent room.

Hi. Have you ever tried drawing in the air about an inch above your paper or tablet? Do all the scribbly seeking strokes in the air, until your hand can feel the lines for the pose that you see. Then lower your drawing tool and make your final, confident strokes on the page. If you can't visualize the lines on a blank page, you could draw a faint mark for the ends of each limb, and for changes in line direction, and then connect these marks with single lines.

If that technique doesn't work for you, you could try drawing in your usual way and then erasing it until it's barely visible (or lowering the layer transparency and changing to a new layer) and then draw over your original drawing with clean non-scratchy lines.

Both methods will help you practice drawing clean lines. I wish I could tell you how long it will take to change your habits, but I still use too many lines myself, and erase a lot. Good luck!

Hi. I think you're doing a great job with your lines of action, and clearly showing what the person is doing in each pose.

I think that the proportions are part of why they look wonky. Keep in mind that a solid 3d person has to fit inside the 2d shapes on the page. Also, I looked at some of Reiq's gestures, and I think he's lengthening the legs slightly and narrowing the waists of the figures for a stylish look. You could try that in some of your drawings, if you like.

Also, in only a few of your drawings, the figures look off-balance. It might help to imagine an invisible line from the pit of the model's neck to the floor, and then mark where the feet should be, related to the neck, before you draw the legs.

But in general, I think your figures' proportions and balance will improve as you keep drawing and keep studying people.

Best wishes, and thanks for showing your drawings.

This is what I meant about vertical lines and poses.

I looked through your drawings again, and discovered that I hadn't seen all of them. The problem with making lines too vertical was only in a few of the early ones. Counting down from the top of the pages on imgur linked in your first post - page 8 has a person reaching upward, and the line from armpit to leg on the left side seems too straight to me. On the next page, the legs of the sitting person seem too vertical, and on the next page the standing pose seems too straight. I could be wrong, however, and I don't notice this in any of your later drawings, so it's probably a problem that you've already overcome. Your recent drawing of a man with a gun is well-proportioned and all the angles look good to me, so you can disregard my advice about straightening things up. (And if my meaning still isn't clear, I have an example in my profile sketchbook of the seated pose, and how it would look with less vertical lines. Your drawing is better than my quick sketch, but it shows what I mean. I tried to link it to this post but I'm failing to link it correctly.)

As for the 30 second or 1 minute poses, my favorites are on the 2nd page, upper right - a person lying down, and in the lower right of that page, a person standing with crossed legs, touching their head. Also, the 4th page in the lower left, the person with circles that might be boxing gloves or might be hands.

Other people might have other favorites, and I'm not an expert artist myself. But I like those drawings because the poses are clear, the lines are simple and direct - not scribbly or wobbly or changed too much, the poses have an accurate sense of weight or balance (so the people don't look like they'll soon fall or float away), and they have just enough information without distracting extra details.

(And I apologize if it's frustrating to hear that I like something you spent 30 seconds on even better than I like something you spent 30 minutes on. That bothered me when I was starting out, but I think that eventually your best long poses will surpass your best short ones.)

I hope some of this is helpful, and good luck to you.

After posting I realized that I called them stick figures too. Oops.

Hi. Here are my thoughts about your questions.

1. One possible goal for your 30 second and 1 minute poses is to clearly show a stick figure doing something recognizable. I really like the person lying down in the upper right corner of page 2, and the boxing person on the lower left of page 4. Those communicate clearly to me, in just a few lines. (And the "10,000 bad drawings" advice doesn't mean that they'll all be bad. Just that your percentage of really good drawings will be lower when you're starting out, and that's ok. But you are already doing some good drawings here.)

2. In your longer poses, you might want to focus on a common beginner problem. Many people look at something that's almost vertical or almost horizontal, and then draw it as exactly vertical or horizontal. A slight angle or slight curvature looks more natural on drawings of people than straight vertical lines. I don't notice this tendency in your quicker poses, so it might be that the reference pictures truly were that vertical, so disregard this if it doesn't seem helpful.

3. As for measuring, I think that you won't have time to measure much in a 5 or 10 minute pose of the whole body. Perhaps if you want to work on measuring, you could make some drawings of just one part, like just a pair of legs for example. You could use your first minute to make a quick drawing of the legs, very lightly. Then stop and look at the angles and lengths of the legs, and how wide they are at thighs, knees, and ankles. Make adjustments to your quick drawing, if needed. After that you can draw with stronger lines and add more details like the shapes of the feet or the curves of the muscles. And if you need more time, that's ok. A 20 or 30 minute pose might be helpful if you're trying to get accurate measurements on the whole body. With enough practice, you'll notice the angles and widths of parts quickly without really thinking about it, and you'll draw faster. (Also some people don't like the technique of putting down a light quick drawing, changing it with measuring, and finishing with a final darker drawing. It works for me, but you can try various techniques to see what works best for you. And it's ok to try one technique while learning, and then outgrow it as you make progress.)

4. I learned to draw clothing by draping laundry over a chair, with a bright light on one side, and drawing the shadows of the folds and creases onto the page. So I don't have a good answer for finding the best tutorials about clothing and shading.

I hope some of my advice will be helpful to you, and please ignore anything that seems wrong for your own working methods. Good luck!