My First Figure Drawing

I have been drawing for quite a while but have never tried figure drawing before - I am a bit of a perfectionist and to be honest it just looked too hard and I doubted my ability to pull it off...I know that is a bit stupid so I decided to have a real go at it...

Anyway, this is my first attempt which I spent quite a lot of time perfecting. Feedback would be extremely welcome thanks!
http://creativepsd.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Figure-Drawing.png

Hey Paul, welcome to the site!

What sort of things do you usually draw? I would love to see your regular stuff! I'm also interested in knowing why you started with figure drawings. :)

As for your drawing, that looks pretty good! I particularly love the care and detail put into the hands and feet, they look very realistic.

The only thing really standing out to me is her face. Her facial features are misaligned. The original image only shows the eye on the left, but you added the second eye and positioned it wrong, which unbalanced her face quite a bit. That's really just about it though!

How long did you take on it? Have you tried doing the 30 second gestures yet? :)

Its an amazing work. However I do think that her face and butt are a little off. Quick fixes though, over all very well done piece.

Hi Guys and thanks for the feedback - much appreciated!

My background is in IT ranging from network support to web design and have got more and more in to art in a kind of natural progression. I am obsessed with Italian Renaissance art at the minute and can's stop buying books and reading about it...I started looking in to figure drawing after studying some of the anatomical studies by the masters - I hope to produce some fine art in the future so feel that I need to study the human form in great detail.

I have been drawing individual body parts recently (example below) but felt it was time to try a larger project

http://creativepsd.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Hand-Drawing.png

As for my first attempt at the full figure, it took me about 8 hours in total over about 5 sessions...I see what you mean about the face now and particularly the eyes. I know the original covered the eye but I was just experimenting (badly :))

I haven't tried the 30 second gestures yet but will definitely give it a go if you think there is value there...What would be your best advice to someone who is trying to master figure drawing???

Thanks!

Gesture drawings, particularly the 30 second ones, are a great way to help you break down the body you're seeing into basic shapes. You capture the motion line and build on top of it, improving the dynamics of the subject, and it's a great way to get tricky poses down. It also helps with proportions if you find yourself struggling with that.

8 hours is a really long time to be spending on one image, even though it's really good! The problem you may run into is that you'll be so focused on the detail that you lose eye for the basic things like proportions and it's easy to burn out on.

If you spend 30 minutes per drawing, you have 16 drawings in the time it took you to make one. It will speed up your progress because you have more variation in your practice and you will get less hung up on the small stuff. Being a perfectionist is great for details, but (and I speak from my own personal experience) it can also hinder your progress a lot. The 30 second gestures are a great first step to loosen up and start disregarding the flaws, helping you to see the bigger picture. :)

If you're not sure how to draw the image in 30 seconds, give these articles a shot:

https://line-of-action.com/gesture-basics-1-line-of-action/

https://line-of-action.com/gesture-basics-2-torso-and-hips/

https://line-of-action.com/gesture-basics-3-joints/

If nothing else, these are an amazing warm up to get you into the right mindset for your practice. I used to think warm ups were silly and unnecessary, but now before I start drawing, I always spend about 15 minutes on 30 sec gestures and it's making a huge difference in my 'serious' drawings! Give it a shot, see if you like it and find it useful. :)