Tacit's Elephant Graveyard

[Tacit]

Thought this might be a good place to kick things off :D

It's been about two years since I've done any serious drawing/sketching and even longer since I've considered it a potential career (though I am still mentally kicking this idea around). At this stage I still have a lot of work to do and will attempt to update this thread daily so I can get feedback.

This seems like a great place, not only to refine my art, but also to meet like-minded individuals -- hope to get to know some of you guys better :yayca:


To the sketches:

First sketch is a study of one of Bammes' drawings of the skeletal structure of the human hand. Second one is a couple of random hand sketches (used my own as a loose reference). The latter of the two bugs me but oh well... These were drawn on loose sheets of paper as I have yet to acquire an actual sketchbook.


Critiques are always welcome :)

[Istmin52]

Welcome to conceptart. I started my own sketchbook (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=181423) too and I am also trying to meet like minded individuals like yourself. I'm glad you decided to start a sketchbook. I think the first sketch of the skeleton is good. As from drawing your own hands, I would maybe do some gestures of your hand first to warm up and then maybe do a more finished line drawing of your hand. Doing gestures is a great way to see the big shapes quickly and gives you a good sense of form. I would also draw some diagrams of the hand muscles so when you are drawing from life, you have a better understanding of what you are drawing. Keep it up!

[Tacit]

11.02.2010-14.02.2010

A few more sketches... (a mixture of my own hands and Bammes again)

[Tacit]

Istmin52, I agree and thanks for the suggestion. So far I've been observing the skeletal structure of the hand as well as breaking it down into blocks as a way of ascertaining form, but I do intend to have a look at the muscles later on.

[Istmin52]

Okay. Learning the skeleton structure thoroughly is def a good start. Keep it up.

[Auslander]

Hands are flat out scary, there's no two ways about it. It's a trade-off between what scares me more...hands or hair.

I like what you're doing in the first batch from post #3...bomb those forms until it feels like second nature. Your hands seem a little too wide to me, like you're jumping into detailing the fingers before you have the overall shapes down. The intimidating things about hands is that they're not just a cluster of fingers, the entirety interacts as a group, so when just one pinkie is a little off (for example) it throws the whole unit out of whack (not unlike drawing a face with some slightly off proportions).

My advice...keep 'em blocky for now and hit 'em hard! :teeth:

[Benjy]

Keep up the studies! On the hands, the main issue I think is that they look to square at the end of the palm. Really the middle finger juts out further the rest (not only at the tip but at the base too) and as a result the area of the palm is more pentagonal. Look up some Bridgman hands for what I'm ineptly trying to describe without pictures.