Help in drawing poses

[corel]

Hi!
Whats the best way to start drawing poses? i mean rough ones - like quick 2-3 min sketches? should i learn anatomy first? right now i just cant draw anything besides front and side pose(and thats only a "stick people" looking poses.)

[ask maurice]

When unfamiliar at determining dimensions especially with difficult poses you should use a series of circles and cylinders.
Try this DVD Figure Drawing A Layered Approach by: Matthew Archambault (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VC2X98?ie=UTF8&tag=belierstudio)
He bores me a little but he get's strait to your inquiry.





Ask Maurice.Org
Home (http://www.askmaurice.org/index.html) | Book Store (http://www.askmaurice.org/store.html) |Forum (http://askmaurice.org/simplemachinesforum/index.php) |Links (http://www.askmaurice.org/links.html)

[corel]

Thanks man, but i was looking more for a web tutorial or a basic explanation..

Another question: when you guys practice poses do you use a reference image for the pose or just draw straight from memory? whats the best way to practice?

Corel.

[ask maurice]

Most of the time you will hear that the best reference is a live model. In many cases this is true especially to understand light effects on the pose. Once you've gotten to the point that you understand the basic anatomy you begin to work in the character of your subject. Reference photos help considerably with this and help clarify skeleton structure positioning with different poses. Let's face it a picture lasts longer.

Drawing from memory is done on occasions. However unless you're just drawing T & A or fantasy art, it is always a good idea to render from some form of reference for the intricate details and to give each piece it's own character. Try the Matthew Archambault (http://www.mattsillustration.com/index.aspx) website where he has a few online videos done with u-tube. You will then understand why you were referred to him. He actually does the best job getting up and drawing successfully in the least about of time.


Ask Maurice.Org
Home (http://www.askmaurice.org/index.html) | Book Store (http://www.askmaurice.org/store.html) |Forum (http://askmaurice.org/simplemachinesforum/index.php) |Links (http://www.askmaurice.org/links.html)

[Kiera]

best way to do it is just start drawing a lot and using additional books as support. But mostly a lot of drawing.

real life drawing:
take your sketchbook always with you and draw real people the whole time, this gives you a feeling for natural movements and poses. Life drawing classes with longer poses are also useful.

anatomy:
Try Loomi's "figure drawing for all it's worth" or "drawing the Marvel way" by Stan Lee (if you want a dynamic style)
Learn to use simple shapes to show the dimension of the body.

posemaniacs.com
Do the 30 second ones for gestures, if you feel bored by the poses, use the timer in combination with real photos (look up the reference & inspiration forum)
I did a lot of these, it helped.

whats the best way to practice?
Surely not from memory alone, how can you improve if you don't see how it is in reality?
Use imaginary drawing in combination with life-drawing

[MarkHarchar]

From Maurice

Drawing from memory is done on occasions. However unless you're just drawing T & A or fantasy art, it is always a good idea to render from some form of reference for the intricate details and to give each piece it's own character.


Sorry, but are you implying with this statement that fantasy art doesn't use reference or is not rendered as well as other types of art? If that is the case, my comment to that is that you don't know what you are talking about.

[Black Spot]

Start with stick figures and then flesh them out.

[Sidharth Chaturvedi]

For quick poses, mark the top and bottom of the figure, get the head in, and (very important) get the angle of the shoulders and hips in. Doesn't have to be in that order, but when you get all that done you've already taken care of a lot of the pose. Look into Bridgman for more on poses, his explanations on shifting masses are really helpful.

[corel]

Thanks Kiera, and everybody else!

So to draw poses one doesn't HAVE to know the human anatomy to all its details, just the basic construction of the pose, am i right?

[Sidharth Chaturvedi]

At least in my own experience it's been much more important to get an idea of how the masses of the body relate to each other. That's why it's hard to do better than Bridgman. Don't get me wrong though- anatomy's very important, but you don't need to know it before you start drawing. No harm learning it side by side though.

[ask maurice]

In reply to:

:?: MarkHarchar -Sorry, but are you implying with this statement that fantasy art doesn't use reference or is not rendered as well as other types of art? If that is the case, my comment to that is that you don't know what you are talking about.


I am an ancient multi-media artist and I have learned through the years to maintain a "take it or leave it" attitude concerning opinions of my credentials or my art.
However, today I'll entertain your comment.

Actually I have a strong appreciation for Fantasy Art (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw_5_7?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=fantasy+art&sprefix=fantasy/belierstudio) and Illustration. Some of my favorites being Boris Vallejo (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=boris+vallejo&sprefix=boris+va/belierstudio) , Frank Frazetta (http://www.frazettaartgallery.com/ff/index.html) and John Howe (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=John+Howe&x=13&y=14/belierstudio) .

To avoid sounding offensive I believe my comment could maybe have left out the word "just". If I should have to explain; What I meant was that in comics, fantasy, and illustration it is not necessary or sometimes desirable to "portray a noticeable likeness or the character of your reference such as you would in a portrait commission". Most subjects tend to be superficially objective in style to integrate their character with a story line. And it is wise for the creator who is defining it all visually, to render nothing more and nothing less.

[armando]

Jim Lee "Comic Book Greats"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGNQyelJ5Ac

Ten minute drawing techniques
http://www.youtube.com/user/moatddtutorials
Haven't looked at this one in a long ass time, he's put up tons of new stuff.

[MarkHarchar]

Maurice, I appreciate you taking the time to qualify your statement. I understand the intent of your initial comment now and can see it was not to down play the ability or aesthetics of fantasy art (of which I am very fond), but to identify possibly difference in how and why likenesses are generated or achieved.

[gogidolim]

To OP: You should draw from life first. Of course there are people who can draw people without learning from live models, but going to drawing workshops definitely help.

[Raceme]

Hi Corel! So one suggestion that will help you immensely is get a sketchbook you absolutely LOVE to draw in. Give yourself an HOUR each day and go to a mall, or somewhere, and draw people who are in motion. Fill the thing up and do another one. Know that gesture drawing is probably the most difficult to feel you got "right". Yet, any drawing depends on it. The whole thing about gesture is not being afraid to let go. Here's a great quote from Steve Huston: "Start by drawing the long axis of the form as a simple curve. This is the gesture. Then build a shape or shapes on top. This is the structure. Gesture is the movement between the forms, whereas structure is the movement across the forms..." If you can get to LAAFA for his workshop it's this weeknd (@ LAAFA). Drawing gestures is like everything else, practice. I can offer some how to's (later) but you still have to do a lot of them.