ohGr's figure drawing struggle...

[ohGr]

I've been wrestling with myself the entire night, to draw or not to draw, so, fed up, I decided just in the past ten minutes to draw some really quick gestures and post them here to get it over with because I need to make some progress. I hesitate so much to post anything here because first off I'm ashamed of my drawing and secondly, as I've said before, I'm pretty sure I know what's wrong with it. However, having struggled the past few days with gestures (again), I think I need to swallow my pride.

http://www.whyfrakture.com/images/CA/Gestures.jpg

These were done digitally and I used models from Pose Maniacs, a site I was referred to from my other thread.

My critique: I think I'm still struggling with proportion. I also had a hard time because I'm striving for it not to be a stick figure, not to draw bones, not to adhere to contours but to draw what seems to be a spirit and for it to somehow communicate vitality, which I find to be the most abstract and difficult thing to attempt...

Anyway, I could talk (and bore you) endlessly about my drawing inadequacies but again I just want to post this and have some outside critiques of these four gestures so I can reevaluate and get you some more.

(P.S. I have to say that I feel like a turd having neglected my other thread, "Extreme Frustrations with the Figure" like I did, especially when there was so much great advice. Having never been busier in my life finishing my degree, I had to prioritize. But now that I'm done with school and my graphic design portfolio (please check it out at www.whyfrakture.com), I can again find some time to dedicate to drawing/painting and especially figure drawing.)

[Stoat]

Proportions look broadly okay. I think it's too early to be concerned with spirit and vitality and sech-like high-falootin' stuff. Go ahead; draw bones. Feel the hard forms inside the skin. Make a few simple dark marks around the forms that seem important to you. Don't be embarrassed if those forms turn out to be butt-cracks and boobies -- those are important anatomical landmarks.

What's the old story about the bear learning to walk? He says to his mother, "is it right rear, right front, or right rear, left front, or do I...?" And she smacks him upside the head and says, "shut up and walk!"

[Art_Addict]

These were done digitally and I used models from Pose Maniacs, a site I was referred to from my other thread.
I also had a hard time because I'm striving for it not to be a stick figure, not to draw bones, not to adhere to contours but to draw what seems to be a spirit and for it to somehow communicate vitality, which I find to be the most abstract and difficult thing to attempt...


First of all, there's no need to be ashamed at all. Everyone has to start somewhere. In the history of the art there was not a single artist who picked up a brush and produced masterworks just like that. The progression road is long and we are all on it somewhere.

Secondly, I quoted and highlighted what you said there and I just wanted to say I think it's not useful to use a poser program to get vitality in your drawings. It's like you already started with something very stiff and unnatural to begin with. So to then transform that bad representation of the human body into a lively figure drawing is an extremely difficult task.

When I look at your drawings though I think you have a pretty good eye for tilts. Your block-in and relating the size of the shapes is a little off but nothing that can't be fixed.
I would advise you to take your time. Look at your subject/model and absorb it before you dive right in. So temporize... and carefully place your lines, relating tilts, relating the shapes and remember to look large. Do not zoom in on details at this point. Relate the big shapes to each other first.

Also, I would say, throw out that damn poser program, don't use photo's either, but draw from life! If you don't have a model or model classes to go to... then grab a mirror! And ask your friends and family to sit for you.

My 2 cents for now.

Good luck!
Tom

[[ste]]

Nice start, not really much to add other than keep on going and keep practicing.

I'm looking to learn this myself and will try my best to do a few tonight and post them in my sketchbook later. I'll keep an eye on this thread and see how your getting on.

[Bruce Pluto]

OhGr, these are not bad. Anatomy is a struggle for me also. First of all don’t beat yourself up about it. Just make a note to yourself that you are going to get better, YOU will get better. Be confident about that. Make up your mind here and now that it will happen or you won’t set yourself on the right path.

Being frustrated is part of art. It’s finding those little times of success that make it rewarding. What I can tell you right now is to keep practicing and keep looking at other peoples work. Study what they do and how they solve problems with the figure.

One exercise that you can do is to draw a gestured pose. Sketch the same pose several times then pick out lines in each pose that you are happy with. In your last sketch take all those lines and put them together. Try this with several poses then do it once a day, or just draw the human figure every day.

The main thing is don’t let it get you down. If it isn’t working out for you one day put the pencil down until tomorrow but first try to work through the problem area. Stay confident that you will get it, and you will.

Your sketches look good so far, keep it up.

see ya, Bruce

[Samurai_em]

These look like fine gestures to me, the purpose of a gesture is capture the basic elements of the pose right? It's just a building block to a finished piece. They aren't going to look great, and if you were doing a finished piece you wouldn't even want to spend enough time on them to make them amazing in and of themselves, because you would start to refine and flesh out the form more anyway. Most gestures are gonna be so light nobody but you is going to see them. Or if you are doing it digitally you are going to discard, paint over, or hide the layer they are on anyway when you are finished right?

How much time did you spend on each one? I like to do the 30sec drawing thing on Posemaniacs as a warm up (I set it to 60sec though) and I just try to get down as much information about the pose as I can before the time is up. The purpose for me is that I want to get good at this step so that later when I'm doing finished pieces it's easier for me to start out and feel confident. I sort of think of each gesture I do as "throw away" and if they turn out crappy I think about "why" or how I "went wrong" with it, but I move on to the next one.

It's like trying to build a building, and being upset because the scaffolding isn't beautiful. Nobody but you is really going to see them, and they are just guides to help you get the pose down on paper.

[ohGr]

http://www.whyfrakture.com/images/CA/1.jpghttp://www.whyfrakture.com/images/CA/2.jpghttp://www.whyfrakture.com/images/CA/3.jpg
http://www.whyfrakture.com/images/CA/4.jpghttp://www.whyfrakture.com/images/CA/5.jpg

Thanks for all the advice and support. I'm continually amazed by what a great community this site has, especially when it's willing to tolerate my ass...

Despite what some would like to see, here are some more Pose Maniacs gestures and volumes I just whipped up. The gestures were done in about 30 seconds a piece, from the same model to see how I'd do on the same figure over and over. The other three were about five to ten minutes a piece. I'm satisfied with most of them as gestures but I'd love to get to the beautiful quality I've seen from some on here.

I've been looking at a lot of Vilppu's approaches as I think he's pretty articulate about being an artist as well as the difficulties of figure drawing.

[ohGr]

No comments on the above?

[Santon]

The proportions are ok. Try to fill out the forms though, they seem pretty flat.. you might want to try separate drawings, one focusing on light/shadow, one on simple shapes, one on solid forms(blocks/cylinders/etc), see which ones you like, which need more improvement. Play around a bit. You seem to have 2d shapes workin' alright...now try 3d forms...lines...or whatever....stippling is always fun.

Plus whatever everyone else already said, I guess. But it always seems to me that people think it's trivial to find real people to draw "from life"...however useful/important it may be...but work with what you got.