Dancing Skeletons! (due Nov. 10)

[Seedling]

If you want to draw people, then you have to learn a bit about the skeleton. For this activity you will need a diagram of a human skeleton. Or, of you have access to one, a model skeleton. But instead of just copying the diagram, and in celebration of All Hallow's Eve, I want you to draw a series of dancing skeletons!

Here are some websites to get you started:
http://www.jburroughs.org/science/resources/skeleton/diagram.html
http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/educate/resource/human1.pdf
http://www.immediart.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=61_63&products_id=286

Ready, set. . . no, don’t start yet. Before you start drawing, I want you to decide exactly what you want to learn from this. This activity shouldn’t seem arbitrary. Here are some examples of how you can use this assignment to learn the things that you want to learn:

Animation/quick sketching/storyboarding – simplify the skeleton down into basic shapes that you can draw quickly. Using this simplified skeleton, do dozens of fast drawings in skeletons posed in the most dramatic, active poses that you can think of. Bonus points if you do a series of poses that could potentially be linked into one animation

3D – In order to really get yourself thinking spatially, first draw a skeleton in a dramatic dance pose. Then draw the same pose again, from one or two more angles.

Perspective – draw a 3D space in perspective and populate it with dancing skeletons, all in proper proportion to one-another.

Scientific illustration – draw only one skeleton, but with every knob and rib and vertebrae in exactly the right place and in the right numbers.

Expressive poses/expressive mark-making –Don’t worry about getting the right number of bones or exact proportions or persnickety details. Go instead for emotional impact through bold marks and dramatic body language. These skeletons should make your audience want to get up and dance!

Character design/costume – first draw several skeletons in various dance poses. Then add costumes to the drawings. These could be the skeletons of pirates or the inhabitants of a Mayan tomb throwing a midnight party.

For best results, don’t wait until the end of the week to post your results. Get your first sketches or in-progress work up soon so that you can all see what everyone else is up to. Be sure to say what you are you are focused on learning when you post. I’ll do my best to give feedback on everyone’s’ work, and you should all critique each others’ work, too.

Usually these classes will last about a week, but this one will go a little longer because I’m too impatient to wait until Saturday.

Be sure to post your results right here in this thread. :) I look forward to seeing what you come up with! Remember, although this is supposed to be a learning experience, it should also be fun.

Okay, now you can start!

[alesoun]

Jeez, Seedling! It's been a long and surreal day (but not in an artistic way). I logged on , saw your thread, signed in and lost it again. *sigh* it's been a long night.

Okay, I'm in! Looks like fun. Can I do them one at a time, starting with the silliest? It's the 1st Nov here, and I haven't slept yet, but I'll make a start in the morning, or the afternoon, whenever I surface.

[Seedling]

Hello Alesoun! It’s up to you how you would like to use this assignment, really. :)

Oh crud, I wrote down the wrong due-date in the title. *duh* Sorry, last night was hectic. The due date is actually November 10.

[alesoun]

I've never done a storyboard, but this ridiculous idea popped into my head....

[Seedling]

go for it! :)

[PaTXiNaKi]

Woo! this are my first 4 poses, i want to do about 8 skeleton.

Im interested in Character design,costume.I don´t know if the poses are well balanced or not.

I used two reference pics for two of the poses, the breaker, and the pose with the left arm raised.
I ll work on 4 more, and i ll try to improve when i have the 8 sketches

I have enjoy a lot doing this.

http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/6274/posses1ke5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


Offtopic- Where do u guys upload the draws?, i use to do at imageshack, but sometimes they dissapear.

[drivebybaptism]

Ok here is my attempt.

Im interested in the character design. (edit) Done these from reference.

Real sorry about image quality.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/Obi_/034.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/Obi_/033.jpg

Ok my goal for this is learn to proportion out my figures properly and more consistanly

[Seedling]

Awesome start Patx! :) Thanks for breaking the ice!

drivebybaptism – don’t just do what someone else is doing. Decide what you want to learn from this exercise, and then do it! :)

[drivebybaptism]

Well i really want to get my character creation skills up to par. Basically I was a bit confused as to what was asked of the character portion. Seeing Pat's example told me.

[Seedling]

Those were all just different examples of how you can use this assignment, driveby. [edit] Hey, good start! Before you go any further, you need to decide what your goal is for this assignment, and state here what that goal is. :)

[drivebybaptism]

Aw ok sorry its been one of those days :bashful:

Please tell me if I've done/do anything wrong.

[Seedling]

You're doing just fine. [portal]

[alesoun]

I just want to draw dancing skeletons and make them look like they're moving!

First lot....
230363

230364

231151

231753

231754



Seriously, I saw this last night and the idea flew into my head for a storyboard. There's a lot more to come. I dreamed about it last night... or, about 50 pics of it.

[alesoun]

Dear Heavens! Is it THAT bad?

[Earendil]

Probably going to do this over again, I think I combined animation/quicksketching and expressive poses. Fun, but gotta break it down further! It's fun to imagine what they're doing/wearing. Left is tai-chi exercises, mid-left is a raver, middle is vaudeville...

[sweet&sourpb]

Halloween isn't a local custom here and I have little affinity for dancing skeletons, so I think I'll look at building my understanding of the skeleton with a realistic study.

[Seedling]

LOL, Alesoun, those are a great start! I’m just not always going to be available for immediate feedback. :) Drawing skeletons to look like they are moving is a good achievable goal. Here’s something you can try that can help you to reach that goal: find photographs of dancers. Then copy their poses, but as skeletons. You can even use tracing paper to draw the skeletons right on top of the photographs. This will give you a great understanding of the crazy extent to which the bones in the skeletal system move around. (The top hats made me giggle, by the way!)

Hello and welcome, Earendil! I like where you are going with these. You might also want to take a look at some photos of dancing humans with their skin on to get inspired, especially when it comes to foreshortened poses. As for simplification, it might be worth simplifying a little less. For instance, break down the skeleton into upper and lower leg, pelvis, rib-cage, upper foot, lower foot, palm, fingers, head, each as a very simple 3D shape. That way everything won’t become so loose as to be formless.

Hello Sweet&Sour! I look forward to seeing what you do.

Rock on everyone! :D

[PaTXiNaKi]

Another 4 poses, this time i tried not to use ref pics (i want to think how each pose works and try to make them "real")

[Reject-D]

you can count me in as well... ill post some sketches after i get off from school

[Colin Pritchard]

count me in! I'm going to look around for some ideas and I'll post some pictures sometime this weekend.

[Miracula]

Very nice idea to set up this classroom, Seedling. Especially human anatomy is an interesting topic - I think I'm in, too :teeth:

[alesoun]

Did a sneaky update! Not much time, so they're rough and fast... The detailed skeletons on top of a photograph is EXACTLY what I have in mind for the penultimate (or maybe the ultimate) post.

I'm going to work in the room of dancing skeletons in perspective in there as well!

Actually, I wish I knew more about animation; but I doubt if I'd have the patience for it.

[PaTXiNaKi]

Did a sneaky update! Not much time, so they're rough and fast... The detailed skeletons on top of a photograph is EXACTLY what I have in mind for the penultimate (or maybe the ultimate) post.

I'm going to work in the room of dancing skeletons in perspective in there as well!

Actually, I wish I knew more about animation; but I doubt if I'd have the patience for it.

U are working hard,alesoun, u gave the skeleton a bit of "cabaret" feeling. ^^

[alesoun]

I have a whole,- don't know what you'd call it, and I doubt if I'll do it well,- sort of story going on here. I'm drawing and choreographing at the same time.
But, as a matter of record, I am the most mediochre tap-dancer that ever did a step-ball change or a five beat roll. This came alive in my head; I can actually "see" every fifth step or so. First time THAT'S ever happened (but it's fun)!

[Stryyf]

Wow first post, I came across this board from a tattoo forum I am on, It was suggested to get a good looks at some great artists. I am over in Afghanistan working as a contractor and don't have a scanner yet to use. I am gonna follow along with these classes, once i get a scanner I will post up better quality imgs. my supplies are seriously limited. No2 pencils and paper out of the copier is about all i can get until i get a chance to order stuff. I am coming at this from an angle different them most here it seems, I'm a tattoo artist that wants to get better at drawing and moving the drawings onto skin.
Thanks so much for doing this, I'm also going through your prospective lessons so many people over look that in tattooing.

Here are my skels, I did kinda diff, styles of dance
Top row play'n finger symbols, Kinda Latin, Ballet, and a Jazz jump
bottom On a chair, On the pole, Russian, and a back hand spring.

Sorry about the quality, have a crappy camera over here with me.
231609

[Seedling]

Hello Styyf, and welcome! I’m seeing a red X instead of your image. Try uploading your image directly to the site here by using the “go advanced” option, and then use the “manage attachments” option. Also, no worries about simple mediums! Those perspective examples I posted are done with pencil and bic pen on printer paper. ;)

Alesoun – haha, more fun skeletons. :) For the time being, it might be best to leave the clothes off and focus on getting the poses to tell their stories without props. (Except for things like canes, that the skeleton might be leaning on.) Try not to get too many different goals pulling you in too many directions.

PatX – you’ve captured the weight well in those poses. Try making your skeleton a little less simplified – for example, the skull breaks down well into a sphere with an oblong bit hanging down to form the face and chin. Such a shape will work better at showing which way the head is pointed and tilted in 3D.

Reject-D, Colin Pritchard, Miracula – looking forward to seeing your work!

[armando]

I'm in.
Mostly I want to work on perspective and getting the group of skeletons interacting believably within that perspective. Compositionally I want to concentrate on line and shape, and somehow get a dance like quality out of those.

[Stryyf]

should have fixed the pic, I should have taken more time and done them much better I feel they re just thrown together I know some of the relationships between the limbs are off. I need to get the hands and feet together maybe I should just do skeletal feet and hands.

[armando]

So I'm trying to figure out how to place these skeletons, and also thinking a bit about how I'm going to draw them. I want to keep them pretty simple, no rendering, they'll be done in ink, maybe with simple values done either in marker or digitally just to seperate the elements.
Can't decide whether I'll have them all in one group shape, or somehow have 2 or more groups of skeletons interacting somehow, or would it be better with just two close-up skeletons? So far I like the repetition of the circular heads, and there's lots of linear potential with the arms.
I haven't drawn it, but I'm also trying to think of some clever things they could do with their limbs, twirling long bones like batons, using their own skulls as bongos or something, not completly original but it's better than nothing I think.

[Miracula]

Okay, here we go! :xpld:

Welcome to conceptart.org, Stryyf. I'm pretty new here, too and found that people help each other where they can. If you want to improve your painting/drawing skills this is the right place for you. :perv:
To your sceletons: I like the Russian and the back hand spring ones most. They made me laugh, because I can see them moving and dancing on my screen :^^:
Your limb-relationship-problem can be solved: practice! One or two month ago I wasn't able to draw humans, because I had the same problem. Something went always wrong - one leg too long or the head too small. That makes the pictures look somehow "wrong". :dead:
Then I came across this book: Figure Drawing For All It's Woth (http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-Worth-draw-paint/dp/067031255X) by Andrew Loomis. It's amazing! Very well illustratet and with small steps - absolutly beginner-friendly <3
Now I'm not a master in drawing humans but they don't look like aliens any more. I can only recomment to buy or download this book!

Armando, it's a nice approach - totally different from the others. Especially the group at the bottom of your page looks nice. Somehow well-balanced. I'm looking forward to see your final pic.

And now my hopefuly not alienlike sceleton: I want to practise quick sketching to put ideas and thoughts down to paper. But the animation-thing sounds nice, too, I thought. Now it's a combination :perv:
It's a dancing sceleton which's getting sick :tihi: I'm not quite sure about the dynamic of the poses and the legs of number 2-4 are too short, but I think you can "read" the whole thing, can't you? Please tell me if not. Criticize. Help me to improve! :xpld:

[armando]

Patxinaki: The balance is okay, since they're moving figures they can be tilted this way or that and still look correct.
Two things I noticed is, with some exceptions, a lack of overlap and no indication of foreshortening.
Introducing overlap is simple on a basic standing figure, if you know the general shapes of the basic anatomical parts: head's an oval, torso's a rectangle, pelvis is a rectangle. It's possible to represent them differently but that's the basic idea. I want to stress that by shape I mean just that, if you wanted you could cut those shapes out of paper then experiment with different poses, don't even need to worry about perspective, and still it's possible to get decent space, foreshortening, and solidity out of it.
Another technique is to use circular cross contours like those found on a cylinder. I noticed that you were dividing the arms and legs with straight lines, but if you divide them with lines of varying amounts of curvature you can indicate different amounts of foreshortening.

[chaosrocks]

http://content.answers.com/main/cont...bein-death.png

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Styx...ubeckdance.jpg

http://www.dodedans.com/Full/est2f.jpg

http://www.dodedans.com/Full/est3f.jpg

inspiration
I found these the other day
while I was looking for something else
thought of you all

chaos

[drivebybaptism]

Hey cool links. Thou the first 2 dont work for me due to sum unknown reason.

[PaTXiNaKi]

armando, thanks very much for the help, i ll try to aply to the desings.

This is my first skeleton pirate, very simple, i dont want him to wear too many clothes because he has been dead for long.

Im so bad drawing clothes >_<

[alesoun]

Snuck another sneaky update in!!! Heh! I'm the first to admit the proportions are excruciating (sorry, folks) but I can be too worried about that a lot of the time. I'm a crap cartoonist, but I'm finding this exercise liberating; especially as I don't have a lot of free time right now.

I promise I will produce at least one "proper" skeleton before next Sunday!

[Colin Pritchard]

Here are my first 2 sketches. I was more focused on drawing the pose than the actual anatomy of a skeleton. Let me know what you think.

[alesoun]

If you're scanning pics your scanner should have an image size option. Try to keep pics about 400 x 600 pixels. I scan at 72 dpi.

[jls191]

after a 25 year break I am back and seem to have lost a lot of skills so am starting over. I lovethis site and look forward to relearning a lot here.

Jeffrey

[Malеk]

I hope it's ok to join in. :bounce: I've never done this before, so I'm probably missing the whole point of the exercise... :[
I used the image of a standing skeleton for the reference on the bones structure.

[Seedling]

Holy moley the joint’s jumpin’ in here! Wow, you guys are all awesome! Three cheers for helping each other along!

Stryyf – Aha! Now I can see your image. :) Thanks. For better images taken with a camera, take the pictures outside either in direct sunlight, or outdoors in the shade. (I would mention that overcast light works well, but I have a feeling you don’t get many murky New England days in Afghanistan.)
It looks like you, too, could benefit by working from photos of people dancing. It’ll help to keep your skeletons from seeming flattened.

Armando – I am fascinated by your thought-process. :) I think you are going to rock this activity. Go go go!

Miracula – Fantastic! And lol! The bottom left pair are particularly effective. Notice, though, how the slope of the ground seems to change from left to right on the bottom row. Something you could do to combat that would be to take one of the previous figures and trace its lower legs, then build the rest of the skeleton off of those legs. I like the way you have simplified the arms and legs – the ball-joints of the legs, especially. Watch out for the rib-cage getting overly large across the shoulders.

ChaosRocks – those are fantastic. Thanks for the show-and-tell! :)

PaTX – Now that is a proper decomposing pirate! I see you are studying those bones closely. Great! (Aren’t pelvises the craziest shapes?) I notice that the pose your skeleton looks a bit on the flat side – the arms extend out to one side, and the knee off to the other, and nothing extends towards the camera. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, try the photograph trick. Look for some photos of figure dancing, and look for some that have foreshortened parts. Then either copy the pose in skeleton form, or trace your bones directly over the photo.

Colin Pritchard – hello! :) Try alesoun’s advice on image-scaling so that your pictures don’t dangle off the edge of the screen. Drawing poses from your imagination requires a visual vocabulary built up from observation. You need to spend some time looking at people before drawing from imagination is going to be easy for you. Try the photograph exercise that I have been suggesting to the others.

Jls191 – welcome back to drawing! It should be just like falling off a bicycle, right? ;) It looks like you could also benefit by studying photographs of people dancing. See if you can get your skeleton a bit more refined as 3D shapes, too.

Malek – if you’re going to use Dr. House as your avatar and the baddie from KOTOR as your handle, you’re going to have to be a lot meaner. ;) Your skeletons are looking good! And the point of the exercise is whatever you want the point to be! Decide what your goal is, and I’ll try to help you reach that goal.


Cheers all! [portal]

[Miracula]

Wow, this class rocks indeed!

Thank you Seedling for your comments. I upadatet the pic - just a little scaling and shifting (I saw that nearly all sceletons were different tall when I looked closer... :S ). Maybe they're still not absolutely correct, but I think they're looking much better now. :^^:
And now I'm going to practice the shoulder-part :tihi:

[Malеk]

Seedling, thank you. :wink: I haven't figured what I need exactly, besides, well, the basics... :scribble: I have a question about Scientific illustration. Obviously I can't just draw a scientifically exact skeleton out of my mind, so I can use a reference, right? Is just changing the pose enough?


To be a lot meaner, I'd have to be as ingenious as Dr. House. >:| So I'd rather make it a 'ten-years-from-now plan', and keep the avatar as a passive reminder. >:D

[PaTXiNaKi]

(Aren’t pelvises the craziest shapes?)


Yup! , really really hard to draw, but was the better part of the skeleton in my opinion.

I find very dificult to represent the bones foreshortened,maybe because im not used. I ll do my best!

[PaTXiNaKi]

The second pirate,I did some quick shadows to give him more depth.

[armando]

I woke up this morning with the idea of a skeleton holding it's head up by the jaw, sort of head banging. I started with the middle pencil sketch to try it out. The idea of two interacting shapes emerged, there's the top one then the bottom one responding to it sort of male and female like.
So I scanned that little pencil sketch at the bottom to try and develop it. The main problem is unity and clarity, only thing holding it together now is the basic composition. I need to figure out ways to pose the heads to get an animated feel out of them, and the raised arms are giving me trouble, the shapes they're making are a mess, and I've got lines flying all over the place.

[alesoun]

Did you ever see Labyrinth? The Jim Henson film? There's a bit in that where heads are tossed around.

Um, maybe if you reduced the numbers and played with it a little it might help you firm up the idea.


Isn't this thread great fun?

[armando]

Yeah I've seen it, multiple times, classic, I have to admit the idea of removing body parts was taken from it.

Reducing the numbers could work.

Yes, it's a good opportunity for practice.

[Kat_Warrior]

Dude - I am so doing this! I'm a sucker for costume design, so a bunch of skeletons prancing around in fancy outfits sounds like a good time. :D

[Kat_Warrior]

Okay, so the "fancy outfits" didn't quite make it in, but I had fun drawing some goofy poses. You shoulda seen the look my mother was giving me as I drew the guy in the tie. :P

The two in the second pic were inspired by photos. Was that cheating? ^_^;

[Seedling]

Ah, Monday Monday. So hard to stay focused on a Monday. Good thing it’s Tuesday.


Miracula – I’m the addition of horizontal lines, and the scaling might have helped out a little, but there are still some problems that can only be resolved by redrawing, I’m afraid.

Malek – You should use all the reference you can get your hands on when doing scientific illustration! :) Heck, you should use all the reference you can get your hands on any time.

PaTX –Wow, this skeleton not only feels 3D, but those flying bracelets and scarf really communicate that he’s in action!

Armando – hahaha! Fantastic! Those goofy doods are falling back into space nicely. I’m eager to see where this takes you. :)

Kat Warrior – welcome to the party! You’ve got some very strong gestures going on here. Try to get the proportions evened out – the skull is consistently larger than life in your drawings. Keep going! :)

[Kat_Warrior]

Thanks, Seedling! I decided to give it another try - making the heads smaller. But I didn't get very crazy with the poses this time.

How many times are we allowed to do this, anyway? :P

[Seedling]

Looking good Kat! You can post as many iterations as you want. I’ll keep giving feedback until the end of Saturday. Then Ilaekae will kick off a week-long class, and then I’ll be back for another class after that, and we’ll keep going until one of us cries uncle. ;)

Good proportions on these! And good job capturing the dramatic curve of the spine. Now maybe try breaking the skeleton up into simple 3D shapes. That’ll help you with foreshortened bits like the feet. And feel free to go crazy with wild dance poses!

[Rabbi Satan]

Hello Seedling. I haven't visited CA for a while, I have been busy with Michael Mentler's Bottega program, which I would recomend for anyone else looking to improve themselves in drawing.

Anyway, I decided to join in the fray. Hope I'm not unwelcome.

[AriA]

I think I'm going for the Character/ expressive pose. These are the two that I sketched up, I think it will be interesting to costume either, I actually had a lot of fun with this! </3

[bonaparte_jones]

Here are my skeletons. Skanking-skeleton, hula-skeleton, saturday-night-fever-skeleton and random-pose-skeleton.

Thanks again seedling for teaching this virtual class. I'm sure that I'm not the only one looking forward to what is to come.

[iwantjelly]

I did the 3D.

All my thanks to Seedling and Ilaekae for this classroom, and long life to it !

[Bl@stzone]

yeh id love to join this.. iv looked at your other stuff seedling..i would love your help :D

[Verastegui]

Hi, I hope I'm not too late to join in. Here's my stuff.

[Seedling]

Hello everyone!

FYI, this classroom will officially finish up end-of-day Saturday. However, my home will be colonized by my in-laws over the weekend, so I will be late with my final round of comments. (And if you really want to sneak in more work on Sunday, that’s fine too.)

Good to see you again RabbiSatan! You’ve got some goofy proportions in some of your skellies, but you’ve also got some nicely dramatic action poses. I like the way you are thinking through that ball-joint on the upper leg bone. You might be making that it a bit longer than it really is (in the martial arts pose in particular) but that’s a good starting point. See how you’ve made that whole bone curved in your drawings? See if you can’t find similar curves in the other long bones. You might also want to try drawing skeletons over photos of humans in dance poses, to get those proportions nailed down. Oh right, I’m forgetting the most important part – what, specifically, do you want to be learning from this exercise? Deciding that is almost as important as the drawing.

Aria – hello! You’ve got a witty simplification of the skeleton going on here. :) The poses are successfully capturing some expressive dance moves. From here, try getting some poses that involve foreshortening, because it looks as if you were trying to do that, but the bones kept slipping off to a more flattened position. (I know that slippery feeling well!) Also keep an eye on balance. Balance isn’t so important to characters that are essentially in mid-air, but on a precarious pose, like the ballet skeleton on his toe, it becomes important that his center of gravity goes straight down to the tiny point he is balanced on.

Boneapart jones – lol, your handle is perfect for skeletons! :) You are welcome! These are good, dramatic poses, and this is a simplification of the skeleton that is both simple enough for quick sketches, but detailed enough so that all the major bone masses are there. That’s a good hip-tilt on the Saturday-night-fever-skeleton, and good long-bone shapes on the punk. It looks like you, too are suffering from that problem of poses slipping out into sideways, flat poses. Try the photo thing I’ve been suggesting to everyone. :) Also, you need to decide what you want to be getting out of this exercise!

Iwantjelly – delightful! You’ve taken on a real challenge, and come out on top. Bravo for tackling the bones with a minimum of simplification. Since your skelly is rotating around on only one axis, something you can do to check your work is to draw horizontal lines from key body parts. For example, a horizontal line from the top of one skull will hit the tops of the other two skulls. The left wrist, however, only crosses two out of three.

Bl@stzone – join in the fun!

Verastegui – welcome! Don’t forget to state what your goal is with this exercise. :) These are some good dance poses! Second and third row, far right, are particularly successful in showing foreshortened parts. The bottom right is a good complex one, because the skelly’s weight is not just on her feet, but on her knees – and it’s a good tough pose because the proportions have to be right to get the body to meet itself like that. Some of the less complex poses, such as the second row, left, get a little goofy in their proportions. Watch out for balance – a few of these dudes look like they might topple over.



Wonderful work everyone! [portal]

[Rabbi Satan]

Hello again Seedling :)

As for the proportions, I intentionally drew the poses with differing proportions to experiment with them. The bottom middle one was supposed to be a dwarf female (But the prelvis admittedly was a bit too large), and the upper left one was to be a super human proportioned male.

But anyway, the drawings were rushed. I just bought myself a new sketchbook which has white paper (Was doing the previous drawings on newsprint, which isn't exactly of high quality), and I'll do the gesture lines in light pencil this time so that they won't overlap with the lines of the actual skeleton.

Anyway, I'll take your advice, I'll find some dance pictures and draw over them to try to get my proportions straight. I just love making exaggerated proportions too much, hehee.

And as for what I intend to make out of this exercise, it is the ability to draw the fully nude figure in dynamic poses and render them to make aesthetically pleasing to look at.

I will be doing some more poses right now, I will post them shortly.

Thanks for having me Seedling :)

[Tikeo]

Is it too late to post this?

They... kind of dance.

I'm so bad at coming up with poses.
Should I make the image smaller?

[Rabbi Satan]

Another:

http://www.crowcroft.net/gif/Bottega/skeletons2.jpg

[Miracula]

Miracula – I’m the addition of horizontal lines, and the scaling might have helped out a little, but there are still some problems that can only be resolved by redrawing, I’m afraid.


Yeah, I know - it was just a kind of "quick-fix". But my problem is, that I can't really figure out what is wrong...
Some of this guys are looking weird. The last one for example: He looks kinda flat and I know somehing is wrong with the perspective, but it's very, very difficult to make it looks right... It's frustating >:|


I find very dificult to represent the bones foreshortened,maybe because im not used. I ll do my best!

Ha, I think that's my problem too :dead: Maybe I should work on this....
I'll try!

[Pretty_Angel]

Hi there!

Just discovered this classroom and want to join. Here are my first dancing skeletons in quick sketching manner - after excessively watching Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice" music video for inspiration. :^^:

[Verastegui]

My goal in this exercise is to just make a good proportional skeleton and be able to work my way up without making much changes and be sure the final piece doesn't feel flat.

[Rabbi Satan]

Here are 3 more pages of skeleton poses.

[Miracula]

I never thought it would be so DIFFICULT!

I tried to draw my last skeleton (the one lying on the ground) again, but I failed and failed and failed again... :^^;:
So I did the last one in the first row again and looked up what Andrew Loomis says about proportions. In addition I used curved lines for arms and legs to make the guy looking less stiff... It turned out a little better, I think, but there's still a long way to go :[

[Bl@stzone]

hey. sorrty i was so late with this. had to wait till my guests had left. heres my meagre offering...

http://usera.imagecave.com/blastzone/dancingskellies.jpg

[Burtzum]

just stumbled upon this section of the forums... decided to try a few of these
Having trouble with pelvis, forearms, hands, everything else.. hehe.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c41/Burtzum/skeles1.jpg

[armando]

So this is what I came up with. Basically a simplified version of the other idea.
The main thing I learned from this is that composing is a lot like balancing coins, and I couldn't quite do it. This was a great exercise though, thanks Seedling and Ilaekae.

[sweet&sourpb]

Scratch what I said earlier, life got in the way.

[Seedling]

Great work everyone! I'll be back tomorow with final comments for everyone. (My in-laws are visiting right now, so I can't stay long.) Be sure to check out Ilaekae's first assignment! (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=110546)

[Rabbi Satan]

Thanks for dropping by again Seedling. I've already started on Ilaekae's first assignment. Almost finished doing the piece of wood and bark. I'm just having problems with cast shadow of a square piece of wood/bark being propped up against a wall.

Also, my skeleton's aren't that good (Mainly due to two things, the line quality, which is how I draw, and the quality of the paper. Everyone else somehow manages to have their background completely white!). But I'll post 3 full female figures that I did yesterday :)


Edit:

Ok, here they are, maybe I wasn't too clear before in my introduction as to what I was hoping to be able to achieve and make myself better. It's drawings like these that I made the other day, only better with more knowledge of skeletal anatomy.

[Seedling]

I've already started on Ilaekae's first assignment. Almost finished doing the piece of wood and bark. I'm just having problems with cast shadow of a square piece of wood/bark being propped up against a wall.

Awesome! You should go tell him that in his thread. :)

[Ilaekae]

I snuck in for a look-see and there's some really cool stuff in here. I oughta do one of these--skeletons are my all-time favorite thing to draw...

[chaosrocks]

hey guys the old kitty threw his name in the hat fo rLMS3
wheres the sprout?
git in there girl!
chaos

[Seedling]

Hello everybody! It’s been such a delight popping into this thread all week and seeing your progress! I had a wonderful weekend with my in-laws. They headed back to Michigan today, and there was other excitement, including a strange, large, beautiful bird that died tragically by flying into a window of our house. A grouse, it turns out to be. And this only hours after seeing a cluster of Northern Flickers in our yard, which are a type of woodpecker that I’d never seen before, either. It’s raining birds. Anyway, sorry I’m tardy,

Tikeo – Nope, you’re not too late. But if you hurry now you can get in on Ilaekae’s class with more time to enjoy the assignment. Anyway, welcome to anatomy! It’s fun stuff, and the more time you put into exercise like this, the easier time you’ll have when you go to draw people from your imagination. You’ve made a good start here, especially with the foreshortened limbs of your skeletons. You’ve got the proportions pretty well, so maybe a good exercise for you to try next (if you wish to continue studying the skeleton on your own) would be to try doing a detailed and precise drawing of a skeleton, either by copying a photograph, or (preferably) drawing from a model skeleton, if you can get your hands on one. That’ll help you get the specific shapes of the bones learned better.

Rabbisatan – “the ability to draw the fully nude figure in dynamic poses and render them to make aesthetically pleasing to look at.” That’s a terrific goal to have overall, but a bit ambitious for a single project. ;) Anyway, you have made some great improvement between this drawing and the last. I understand your eagerness to explore what you can do by distorting the skeleton, but keep in mind that old adage about learning the rules first so that you can break them. Very nice tilting pelvises in those bottom drawings! And foreshortening on the limbs of those same two skeletons. The bottom-right is particularly subtle the way it recedes into space, which is great, and you really captured the curve of those leg bones. With that structure to build on, just think how easy it would be to layer on some flesh and have a full human there. :) WOAH! You snuck in more pages! Rock on! I am impressed with the one that is bowing to the camera – that’s tricky, and you got it well. Your figures are looking good, and adding in a knowledge of skeletons will boost them along further. Line quality comes with practice. Don’t worry about what materials you are using. Any material is a good material. In fact, I’ll have something to show you in the next post to demonstrate how material really doesn’t matter. . .

Miracula – Don’t let your frustration get you down. :) That struggle is your brain stepping up to the next level, and your progress is visible. There’s some old saying about slow progress being better than no progress; and slow progress is certainly better than that imagined progress that we all think we’ve made from time to time. You are developing a very elegant short-hand for the skeleton, and I bet it’ll come in handy when you go to draw figures from imagination.

Pretty Angel – Walk without rhythm, and it won’t attract the worm ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_yADcd7EUU)! You never did state what your goal was, but I’m guessing that you were going for the quickly-sketched animation route. :) These are great studies – I can glance quickly from left to right and see the animation. Consistent proportions seem to be the tough spot for you. Rib cages especially – the rib cage is a smaller structure than it seems it should be. (It’s odd that under the differing amounts of muscle and fat that different people have, everyone has a very similar delicate-looking bone structure.)

Verastegui – Your goal was to “make a good proportional skeleton and be able to work my way up without making much changes and be sure the final piece doesn't feel flat.” I think you were successful with that. The upper-left skeleton seems ready to topple to the left, so keep an eye on the center-of-balance next time. But that couple on the upper right is a wonderful challenge that you pulled off very well, including the balance!

Bl@stzone – LOL, the square-headed figure has given me the giggles! Next time be sure to state your goal as well as posting art. :) You’ve got good stuff going on here. If you were to continue with this, I would suggest leaving out the fleshy outlines, and focus on getting head-to-toe skeletons with correct proportions. Adding the skin on works a lot better once you’ve got a good bone scaffolding to hang it on. Be sure that the hands and feet are always invited to the party, too.

Burtzum – Ooh, nice! You have got a very solid grasp of the skeleton. For anyone aiming to draw the skeleton from imagination, this is a good level to aim for. What you might want to focus on from here are foot and hand bones. There’s got to be a good way to break those clumps of bones down into useful masses, too. You forgot to state your goal with this assignment, but I’ll let you off the hook this once. ;)

Armando – Nicely done! That is a delightfully quirky image you’ve worked up. The perspective works, and those bones look like they’re supposed to. There are some minor trouble spots: the skulls on the upper right, which seem a bit stretched, but are otherwise in proportion and turning nicely in space; and the skulls are all a bit large. The left-hand skull seems to have had the dome of its skull lopped off. ;) You’ve captured some very complex shapes with a lovely minimum of lines. I get the feeling you’ve scribbled in the background with some thin-pointed pen. If that’s the case, you need to get yourself a brush and a jar of India ink, silly! :P

Sweet&sourbp – no problem about life getting in the way; it happens. ;) This is a good start you’ve got here. If you continue with this, try breaking down the skeleton into 3D shapes – including the long bones, feet, etc. It is easier to construct a skeleton in space if it has a little more 3D to it. This will help you not only with the positions of limbs, but it’ll also help you capture the twisting and turning of the torso relative to the pelvis. That twisting and bending of the trunk will help to make your figures to not be stiff.


*phew* I need to creep off to bed now. You guys are all awesome for participating! I hope you enjoyed this exercise. I’m going to take a look at Ilaekae’s grading scheme and see if I can’t make some sense of it for you before my next class starts.

[Seedling]

Oh. . . one last thing. While dredging up the old art for my in-laws, I found the skeleton studies that I did in college that inspired this exercise. Thought you might like to see. The first is a master-copy of a drawing by some long-dead artist whose name I have forgotten – and a skeleton drawn in pen on tracing paper over that. The second is a self-portrait with skeleton done in charcoal on tracing paper. (And almost entirely rubbed off; oh well.) Both of those were double-checked against a skeleton model.

The last one is the one I’m the most proud of. The very first day of one of my classes, the teacher had left black paper, white paint, and paper smudge-stumps on the table. It looked like a set-up for preschool art time. He said “using this stuff, draw a skeleton”, and gave us about twenty minutes with no reference. Everybody else made skeleton diagrams, but I decided mine needed to be dancing, and it needed to make an interesting composition on the page. I think I leveled up that morning by just deciding to stretch the assignment to include those extra tidbits.

Enjoy!

[Pretty_Angel]

Pretty Angel – Walk without rhythm, and it won’t attract the worm ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_yADcd7EUU)! You never did state what your goal was, but I’m guessing that you were going for the quickly-sketched animation route. :)


That was what I meant with...

Here are my first dancing skeletons in quick sketching manner

:^^;:


These are great studies – I can glance quickly from left to right and see the animation. Consistent proportions seem to be the tough spot for you. Rib cages especially – the rib cage is a smaller structure than it seems it should be. (It’s odd that under the differing amounts of muscle and fat that different people have, everyone has a very similar delicate-looking bone structure.)


Thank you for that helpful feedback - I'll keep that in mind. :^^:

[iwantjelly]

Seedling : thank you so much for the feedback. This classroom is very active for a start, that's great !

Burtzum : I love your ones, they're wonderfully drawn.

[Alzorath]

Yea, I know it's past the due date, just felt like dropping these in :\ (Skeletons drawn while looking at photographs of normal people) - my goal was to work on the dynamics of the figure with this set of skeletons, see how far I can stretch them and such when it comes to action (or constriction based on the bottom left one) - I'll likely do more in the future, but I am following these exercises even if I'm about 4 days behind on posting for them :).

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/6742/skeletondancingvu3.jpg

(Handstand, Leaping, and Curling - not really 'dancing' but same principle of accentuating action :) ).

[Seedling]

Those are beautifully done, Al!

[chaosrocks]

seedy that last one of yours is really sweet!

[alesoun]

Jeez, Seedling! You're cute, but you got the growl factor! Now I'm just jealous!

[Seedling]

LOL, thanks guys. :)

This class is over. In order to prevent confusion and to move the crowd along to Ilaekae's classroom, I'm going to lock this one up now. Thank you for participating! [portal]