30 minute figure drawing class
© 2019 Dre123
Hello, I am working towards improving anatomy construction and form. Thank you for your comments and critique!
Dre123
Thank you so much for the information, resources, and encouragement. It really means a lot.
I like the idea of 10 lines or less for gestures and will begin to challenge myself with doing it. I was initially hoping by using a pen it would limit me from making too many lines, but I did feel myself going back to the same habit.
How far back did it push your progress when adopting a new drawing grip?
I like the idea of 10 lines or less for gestures and will begin to challenge myself with doing it. I was initially hoping by using a pen it would limit me from making too many lines, but I did feel myself going back to the same habit.
How far back did it push your progress when adopting a new drawing grip?
Shirru
Hey, one thing I'm noticing in your 1 min poses is that you tend to make legs shorter than necessary, so next time I would keep that in mind.
Other than that I must say I'm in love with how you portrayed calves and the belly folds in the 10 min sketch. Damn
Other than that I must say I'm in love with how you portrayed calves and the belly folds in the 10 min sketch. Damn
Dre123
I was always wondering about how I am approaching legs and seem to go too long or too short. I think my problem is looking at them as an afterthought (not a good approach). Thanks!
What I really like is that you have really shown the weight on the weight bearing leg.
1. Trust yourself. You have skill and it's growing. Keep doing what you are doing. What I see in your lines is a tight writing grip on your pen and a lack of confidence in what you are doing. Trust what you are doing, commit to a full line. challenge yourself to use fewer lines. One of the ways I challenged myself in this area was to learn how to make a gestural drawing in 10 lines or less. It took me 18 months to get good at it. It helps me to be more confident in what I am doing.
2. I challenge you to use a pencil and learn a new grip.
I have copied a short article from Jerry's Art O Rama below and will include a link.
If you look on You Tube for "Proko How to hold a pencil" there is a video that after I watched it totally changed my approach.
3. Hold your art up to a mirror. I mean literally take your paper, go to the bathroom or bedroom where you have a mirror. Hold it up and look at it. When it's reversed you get a new persepctive and you are able to look at it from the point of view of something that you didn't draw. You see the mistakes and the good better.
I really like your line work, you have skill. You have practiced. It shows.
<h2 style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 30px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 500; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 33px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Get More Control Out of Your Pencil</h2>
<p style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;">While doodling can create amazing pieces of art like the ones we’ve recently shared in our facebook posts, for the most part wont produce the kinds of lines you want to make to really get your drawings to show off the <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;">fluid or gestural lines[/b] you really want. So what can you do about it? Well, here at<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"> Jerry’s[/b][/i] we at the Blog Squad have been practicing our drawing and sketching and wanted to help share some pointers to help make you a <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;">better drawer. [/b]
<p style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;">To avoid messy lines that are no where near straight, try <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;">these two grips:[/b]
<p style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;">
<h3 style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 500; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 26.4px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The Writing Grip</h3>
<p class="align_cntr" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;">
<p style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;">Going back to grade school we learned how to hold our pencils in order to write. This method gave us the coordination to draw small lines and curves in order to form letters and numbers. To create small details and short lines, we can use the exact same grip!
<h3 style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 500; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 26.4px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">To make these smaller lines-</h3>
<ul style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Grip the pencil like you would when you sit down to write a letter- between your thumb, index and middle finger.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Draw with your whole arm instead of just your wrist.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Do not keep your wrist on the desk or drawing surface. Instead, you want to move both your hand and forearm when you draw as this will give you control without grounding you which leads to more unplanned curves in your lines and details.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Let the knuckles on your pinky barely touch or glide along the paper as you draw. Doing this will keep your forearm up while keeping your pencil just a bit more sideways so that you can choose how thick to make your lines-either with the point or along the side of the lead.</li>
</ul>
<h3 style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 500; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 26.4px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The Underhand Method</h3>
<p class="align_cntr" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;">
<p style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;">To make longer and straighter lines, we need to turn to a different grip. By drawing from your elbow and holding your pencil a different way, you will be able to increase the range of the straight lines you can draw. This is called the “underhand method” and it takes awhile to get comfortable with it, but once you do, you will be able to draw anything.
<h3 style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 500; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 26.4px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">To make grander/longer lines-</h3>
<ul style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Grip the pencil between your thumb and your index, middle and ring finger.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">As you draw, the knuckles of your ring finger and your pinky finger should glide across your paper.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">Use your hand, forearm and elbow to do most of the moving while you draw, while keeping the pencil and your fingers pretty still. This will keep you steady as you create longer, steadier lines.</li>
</ul>
<hr style="background-color: transparent; border-image-outset: 0; border-image-repeat: stretch; border-image-slice: 100%; border-image-source: none; border-image-width: 1; box-sizing: content-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; height: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; border-width: 1px 0px 0px 0px; border-color: #eeeeee #333333 #333333 #333333; border-style: solid none none none;" />
<p style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;">By following these general rules of thumb, you will be able to draw better. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;">Experiment with both[/b] and figure out which one makes you feel more comfortable with the results you’re looking for. It seems like some simple tips, but it just may save your life.