A few questions!

[ExoSteNce]

Well first off - hi, first post here o.o.

Secondly - your stuff is amazing for the most part on here, and uh, im kinda hoping it isnt a community where you gotta be awesome to be a part of xD because most of it is, but i got a few questions, i do appologise in advance if its in the wrong place, or if these questions have been answered already somewhere on the forums.

1. How long would you reccomend taking on a picture? Because i never spend more than 40 minutes (Max) on my images.. which may kinda answer the next question on its own, but oh well

2. Ive had alot of trouble doing the more advanced poses lately, for humans anyway, i can draw straight on, flat 3/4 and a little side on.. but the rest always seem screwed in proportions? I mean, im only 16 so i suppose my temptation to rush and try to be the best is rather natural :P but hey, i hate it xd

3. Last one i promise..<3, as ive just started drawing again after a month or so break (Because of art in school put me right off. Do you use guide lines for your body art? If so.. what type..?

-Thanks in advance guys!

[Zilant]

Well, they haven't kicked me out yet. (the fools!>:D )
So I guess they let any monkey who can fingerpaint in here.

1) Depends,
I wouldn't recommend spending more than 10 seconds on a gesture. But if you want to flesh out a fully rendered enviornment I'd suspect days.

Bah, that's a bit of a "too politically correct" answer.
But it's hard to boil it down something that esoteric and variable into something like a guideline, so maybe I can just give an example?

The thing I'm working on right now has taken me about, 15 hours so far?
That's not just painting time, that also includes screwing up, starting things over again, researching, and staring at something in various ways for whole minutes at a time wondering why it doesn't look right and what can I do to make it better.

2 & 3) I'm a Loomis fangirl,
(Insert shameless Loomis plug here--->http://www.fineart.sk/index.php?cat=1)

So I tend to go Gesture (http://www.fineart.sk/show.php?w=909) ->
Geometry Mannikin(http://www.fineart.sk/show.php?w=915) ->
Muscles and all that other fun stuff I have to referance like crazy because I don't know 'em as well as I should. (http://www.fineart.sk/show.php?w=920).

There are other artists out there who do things differently (some frown on that middle step, for instance. Some throw in a "basic light and shadow" step). So I guess just sniff around until you find a process you like.

Being able to draw the human figure in different perspectives will come with Practice, Time, and Research.

[Maxine Schacker]

Are you drawing from the life model? Have you had any guidance at all? Have you taken a look at the suggested books thread? learning to draw is an art as difficult as learning to play the violin - it takes time and practice and you have to practice your scales. To this end, there are numerous exercises intended to build levels of skill and awareness that will eventually result in "driving all the horses at once,' as Hale puts it.

[subversive-imaginati]

Nah, you don't need to be awesome at art to post here, if awesome was a requirement, they'd have kicked me out already. You can be an up and coming or just an art lover. So long as you follow the rules and have a genuine love of art, you're welcome here. :D

It varies depending on what you're doing mostly. Uber realism is going to take a lot longer than a stick figure to give extremes. As you practice, you'll find the time you take to do something may go up and down. There's no set golden standard of time you have to meet unless you're on a deadline, it's done when it's done.

Advanced poses? I'd suggest a life drawing class if you can get one. A lot of photo reference if you cannot. You're not going to be amazing overnight, if it was that easy then everyone would be a master artist. ;) Relax, enjoy the journey. Half the fun is in learning. Plus you are never going the "best" at art, one of the best perhaps but really there is no ultimate high throne of art that the best sits on. Artists all have their strengths and weaknesses, there will be people who are better at one thing than you but you in turn may be better at something than other artists.

I use the guidelines I've always used, I don't know where I got them from but they just seemed logical to me. There's a lot of different schools on this though, I'd suggest borrowing a few books on figure drawing from a library and looking to see how various artists construct their figures.

[ExoSteNce]

Thanks so far guys - and i dont know of any Life drawing classes near me, i mean, photos can be good for me i guess, but i need to get into the habit of using them, ive been using a mirror lately trying to help me doing some of the more detailed parts (odd hands ect) which seems to help a bit.