Life drawings from class.

[StephenJ]

Is there a place other than this on the forum to post "finished" life drawings/studies of models from class? If there is feel free to move this post.

Anyway, I'll add more drawings later.

[ibbo]

So long as you consider it finished, this is the place to post! This life drawing has some great things going on - primarily the fantastic rendering of the models torso (which i think is the strongest element of the piece). There are a few anatomical errors, such as the model appearing quite stiff for such a relaxed sitting pose, and theres something about the head which doesn't seem quite right. However, theres a real charm going on which i find endearing, and i'm looking forward to your upcoming updates!

-Ibbo

[StephenJ]

Okay so I figure I'll just make this my life drawing thread rather than making new threads.

[StephenJ]

Another one.

[Sigit]

Great anatomy drawing. I'm still learning drawing using pencil, but when I started shading my picture it always end bad, any help?

[StephenJ]

Hey, thanks for the kind words.

As for shading or "rendering" I'm still trying to get better at it myself. One thing that I've found helpful over the last year, thanks to teachers like Ron Lemon (who hangs out here) is the idea of thinking of shading in terms of tone instead of line. Of course cross hatching is a legit way of working, but for a more "painter like" approach I tend to use a brush to smudge things. Another guy I've learned alot from named Bill Rodgers likes to think of rendering in terms of a bug slowly crawling on a surface. When you render with flat, untextured areas, and flat, even strokes the form of the object turns subtly.

Hope that makes sense.

[Leon Roé]

I love the girl you see on the back, it looks soft and innocent.

I have only one little remark, the photo(s) are taken from below
wich make the head of the woman left to smal.

[StephenJ]

This is the same model that was sitting with one foot up in the July 19th picture.

[Jason Manley]

you are having some proportional issues. take a few extra minutes and measure. the top one for example...the arm in front...she could stand up and still scratch her knee. her hands are two different sizes, and not just from perspective...she would be a great catcher. :) look at it like that...what would she look like if she stood up...ask yourself simple questions like that. inject some humor into how you see things and see if you catch the issues you are not seeing...gotta flip the switch on your perspective...even using a mirror to do it..anything. bend down and look at it upside down. there are many ways to free up your mind to find new ways of seeing...but mainly just slowing down and having accurate drawing before you render ANY surface, is helpful.

keep at it. you are on the right track.

[StephenJ]

Head portrait from a couple months back.

[StephenJ]

From last quarters academic figure drawing/painting class with Bill Rodgers.



I was really disapointed with the painting, and actually felt that the drawing was much stronger.

[StephenJ]

I actually kind of liked this study, to much warmth in the shadows though.

[Icedearth15876]

Very good work there, looking forward to seeing some more work from you, you are an excellent artist when it comes to the human figure.

[EpicKey]

hey ;D i can see the progress.I see that Jason Manley was comenting too...and i wanted to as you first that are you studying in atelier and another for all of those who does-when you finish those two study years do you get a diploma or something wich shows your education as an artist???im asking not couz i need i diplma but couz i wana study in atelier and my father asks me if will get a good education ;/ i know i would... Stephen keep it up mate ;]

[Elwell]

Is there a place other than this on the forum to post "finished" life drawings/studies of models from class? If there is feel free to move this post.

I think this forum is a better fit for these than Finally Finished. Not that there couldn't be life studies in FF, but these aren't quite there yet.

[StephenJ]

hey ;D i can see the progress.I see that Jason Manley was comenting too...and i wanted to as you first that are you studying in atelier and another for all of those who does-when you finish those two study years do you get a diploma or something wich shows your education as an artist???im asking not couz i need i diplma but couz i wana study in atelier and my father asks me if will get a good education ;/ i know i would... Stephen keep it up mate ;]


Yup I'm studying at an Atelier in LA. It's called LAAFA, we have a thread in the Art schools/education forum here at CA.


Elwell. I did wonder about that originally, I don't know quite what forum these would fit into. I was going to put them in sketchbook, but that hardly seems the place for a 20-50 hour drawing. Maybe if we had a life drawing forum. :D.

[SlowDaddie]

These look pretty good so far. I know how extremely difficult it is to do figure painting from life.

I wanted to attend LAAFA, but it's way to expensive for me. Are you a full time student?

LAAFA is probably one of the best fine art schools I've seen in a long time.

[StephenJ]

Yes I'm a full time student, the program is a really good one. However, it is time consuming.

Here is a pose from the last couple weeks.

Not sure I liked these to much, but at least I was happier with them than with the last grisaille I attempted.

[Oruhito]

hey man great studies! one critique I would make would be that some of your figures look a little scrawny. Even though there are some models which are very thin, even the thinnest of models have a sense of 'fullness' and you should look for that. Tony Ryder talks about this briefly in his figure drawing book. It helped me considerably, and I highly recommend it.

[FallenGodX11]

Steven you need power. Come with me Steven, come with me where the waters weep and the trees have no hearts. Come with me where they shall drink sorrows dredge and bury their dead. Join me and live forever.

[StephenJ]

Steven you need power. Come with me Steven, come with me where the waters weep and the trees have no hearts. Come with me where they shall drink sorrows dredge and bury their dead. Join me and live forever.

Hah!

Here's another study. I was hoping to get some feedback as I'm not 100% happy with it.

[Aaron Death]

Awesome studies, kinda inject some faith into me, haha. Anyway, hopefully I'm gonna go to the summer sessions. Lala~

Keep up~

[Izer]

First off i'd like to say these are very nice life drawing studies. I hope not to come off as harsh here, It's not my intention:

Seems to be a Inconsistency In each though, mite be due to the different mediums used, looks like charcoal, pencil, and paint, on this page, in my opinion your pencil work Is best based on these. It's good to be experienced In a variety of mediums and methods though so great work mixin' It up.

On your last post, the one you asked for feedback on, It looks like her legs aren't completely under her or are apart of the pose, her weight is on her left leg and foot which would/should cause it to go flat, In your study it seems to be tilted upward, like on the tippy toes, so unless she is really strong or that's the pose Intended, It would/should be flatter. Im guessing that the foreshortening gave you a bit of trouble causing this, also her feet seem a bit small even for a lady.

Her head seems unusually large as well, compared to her cage, and as others have stated your lady's seem to be depicted as too thin, she I think falls under that statement as well. I'm not sure if this Is a finished render or not but the shading looks half done, her legs (I think) need more a bit more shadowing based on the shading of the torso and head, this mite be due to the scan or picture used to be able to post It, cameras and scanners can suck the life outta graphite.

Just a few things at a glance, It's easier to show then tell when It comes to art in my opinion but I hope it helped, keep up the good work and I hope to see more.

[dcorc]

You have issues with proportions, as others have already said. These problems are fixable, and when properly addressed, and applied together with what you are already doing, I'm sure the results will be very good.

Can I suggest you get

http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Complete-Guide-Figure-Drawing/dp/0823003035

and read his approach to getting proportions correct.

[StephenJ]

First off i'd like to say these are very nice life drawing studies. I hope not to come off as harsh here, It's not my intention:

Seems to be a Inconsistency In each though, mite be due to the different mediums used, looks like charcoal, pencil, and paint, on this page, in my opinion your pencil work Is best based on these. It's good to be experienced In a variety of mediums and methods though so great work mixin' It up.

On your last post, the one you asked for feedback on, It looks like her legs aren't completely under her or are apart of the pose, her weight is on her left leg and foot which would/should cause it to go flat, In your study it seems to be tilted upward, like on the tippy toes, so unless she is really strong or that's the pose Intended, It would/should be flatter. Im guessing that the foreshortening gave you a bit of trouble causing this, also her feet seem a bit small even for a lady.

Her head seems unusually large as well, compared to her cage, and as others have stated your lady's seem to be depicted as too thin, she I think falls under that statement as well. I'm not sure if this Is a finished render or not but the shading looks half done, her legs (I think) need more a bit more shadowing based on the shading of the torso and head, this mite be due to the scan or picture used to be able to post It, cameras and scanners can suck the life outta graphite.

Just a few things at a glance, It's easier to show then tell when It comes to art in my opinion but I hope it helped, keep up the good work and I hope to see more.


No offence taken, we're all here to get better. Thanks for the compliments and the insight.

Truth be told, the feet were giving me problems.

[StephenJ]

Stuff from the last few months.

[StephenJ]

Another one.

[StephenJ]

This is a profile from this past year. The head was the only good part of it in my opinion.

Still feels to flat though, even for a profile.

[Yang87]

great stuff. i need some healthy dosage of life drawing too. damn holidays;d

the faculty's work at laafa looks awesome. Is the atelier program hard to get into?

keep up the good work! cheers!

[StephenJ]

It's easier to get into Laafa than schools like Art Center or CalArts, but harder than a state school.

There's also a portfolio requirement of 5-10 drawings I think.

[Yang87]

Thanks for the reply.
I'll probably try for next quarter or something. Not too sure about my work though. Never really did anything that anyone would consider finished:S I really like some of the clean and sleek student portraits in the laafa threads. awesomeneeeeesss:D

[rapael]

very nice:):)

[StephenJ]

Here are two head studies from an elective class that I'm taking with Ron Lemen (who's done some tutorials here, not sure if he still does.)