Spartan Camp #141 - 50 gestures + Optional "Body Shape Study"

[Anthis]

Spartan Camp #141 - 50 gestures + Optional "Body Shape Study"

The aim is to produce 50 gestures by Sunday the 4th of July.

- The gestures can be of anything, human, animal, cavorting capybaras.... You can draw full figures, but you can also go for heads, arms, eyes, or anything specific. All media can be used, both digital or traditional. Coloured or black/white. Quick scribbles or long studies. Imagination or referenced. Clothed or nude. Specifics are up to you!

- In addition to this, participants can choose to do an Optional "Body Shape Study", in any medium.
Additional notes on this weeks’ Optional Study:
I'm hoping the title is not too cryptic, so here's the brief. Focus on the variety of body shapes that you can see in the human figures. Think along the lines of long/short, stocky, muscular, old/young, fat, robust or slim, athletic, or anything not included. The main goal is to deviate from the commonly accepted 'ideal' figure and explore variety. You can do a single study, but you can also adopt this in your gestures. Reference is useful, but never compulsory. Colour, medium, time frame, any specifics are up to you! Have fun!

50 poses is a challenge, but don't hurry or stress yourself reaching it! Focus on drawing, as practising is the main goal of this exercise.

Critting each other is highly encouraged!! Share constructive criticism, reference and resources!! Let's help each other get better!

Come on soldiers! Flex those muscles!!

HALL OF FAME - SPARTAN CAMP #140

Sealegs :star:
eekolite:star:
Absorber
arri-att
aprat
Angel Intheuk

[BlackDelphin]

reading anthis post made me want to really do 50 this time :)

[KingElvis]

Dont know if i can make it 50...^^

1006807

[BlackDelphin]

50 more today :)

[Sealegs]

Hey Guys Cool Stuff so far! :yum:

BlackDelphin- Wow 100 gestures! way to push yourself! Maybe throw in a few longer poses, or focus on a certain part... nice rendering on the facial planes, has a nice 3d feel to it...

KingElvis- These are cool they have a nice quality of sketchiness, but not sloppy...are they from life? Keep it up!

Did some stuff, i started in a sketchbook and scanned it in, i used a poseFile book as Ref, the stuff on the left is more from imagination and in photoshop. The bottom dude was a guy I wanted to make for this weeks CHOW tournament fighter... too late tho, guess it ends tommorrow lol...:(

I feel like my drawings are too tight and stiff and boring looking....They need more life, more GESTURE, lol... so i tried some using less lines...focused on flow/rythm

[BlackDelphin]

Thank you Sealegs!

Another 50+ today, and more head studies.
Planes studies from yesterday; i didn't know if i should post it or not, but decided to do it anyway :)

[aprat]

Yeah, the nose is tiny.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v440/aprat/IMG3235copy.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v440/aprat/IMG_0014copy.jpg

[aprat]

BlackDelphin - Those quick gestures will help with getting vivid, fluid motion in drawings. Those plane studies look nice.

KingElvis - Im guessing you're drawing from life. That really is the best method.

Sealegs - Looking good as always. Great action.

[KingElvis]

BlackDelphin: WOw, thats a whole lotta outcome. Some of them are very dynamic.
As for the head studies: I got stuck at the last page, where you drew the brow-line and put the eyes where the brows should be. I think thats totally possibe, youll just have to take care that the lower part of the face doesnt get to long tho. That happened to the two heads next to the "sleeping" one lol

Sealegs:
Nice gestures, very clean, cant crit much here. That figure inside that ball is cool. Reminds me of 60s scifi stuff...dont ask me why lol nice "attack monkey":D

Aprat:good shading there. The one tiny thing bothering me is the eyes on the top left girl. They look kinda unnatural to me, but maybe she looks that way..
The eye-studies are spot on.

btw, yer I did my drawings during class.

[eekolite]

Thanks anthis :heart:, appreciate the work you do.

Black Delphin Wow, 150 so far. Your dedication is gonna rub off on me...I'm gonna have to do some more. Great, great job.

KingElvis Those look nice, just do more!!!!

Sealegs Wow, those are really sharp. They look really nice. The studies with just a few brushstrokes are doing well with capturing the motion. Here's an idea: try a bunch of poses SUPER exaggerated. Go beyond what seems like the correct curve/bend/etc. Then when you pull back to normal drawings you might find you've retained some of that extreme motion. Just a thought. :)

Aprat Nice eyes, the value and shapes are looking nice.

---

This week I did 50 legs. Some are pairs, which I counted as one. Soon I'll do some full bodies. I've got to tackle arms as well, and I could use work on all the features.

More more more!

[BlackDelphin]

KingElvis :O!!! how did i do that!? tis true..and sadly, it took me a while to realise it too lol thank you!

eekolite - that is why i do it too!! i see others not slacking, and it makes me not slack either!
so why not help others, and myself by doing a good job, and keeping up with my studies?
ps. they're actually 60+ on each page, but ahh! who's counting any more, i still have to do more n more, n more n never stop hahah! :D

went digi today and tried something different

[Anthis]

Blackdelphin - Nice going!! determination! Keep it going on those planar and value studies, those are absolutely invaluable (no pun intended). Those gestures are getting more loose and accurate, feel free to experiment with them. Try some contours, or try them without construction lines, focus on flow rather than detail, that sort of thing. Or add some of your own. Nice studies on the facial features. The variety of eyebrows is an interesting detail I often overlook.

KingElvis; Looking nice. Seem to be from life, I've become addicted to that as well. People always come up with challenging poses. Also, its interesting how these poses are not extravagant, but have a lot of life to them. You may notice that construction lines do not always work in such exercises, since you don't have the time for them. Don't worry though, doing these 'from scratch' is a great practice.

Sealegs; Stellar quality to the linework again. As a response to your remark on the lack of life/gesture in them; I think the figures in the bottom left are very playful and seem much 'alive'. Perhaps because they are not as well rendered as the rest? They seem very playful. I'm noticing flow lines along the spine in these as well. Perhaps you should try and experiment a little with different approaches. In general, that can lead to surprising results.

aprat - Those are some amazing eyes. Great use of values. I think the sixth one (looking up, strong light source) is a small gem. Don't cut corners on the nose or brows though! Doing those faces with a heavy focus on the values can be a challenge but is very rewarding. I sometimes use a films, where I just pause every now and then to sketch a portrait. Just an idea for a reference source.

eekolite; Very nice legs. I like how you can recognize male and female ones in many cases. Details like the mucle 'bump' just below the knee are easily overlooked, good to see your sense of detail. Careful with the ankles - they may be a weak spot! Tough area though.

Posemaniacs warmup sketches (pen), Martial arts studies reffed from flickr, and some moleskine sketches 'from life'. More coming!

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb12/Anthis_/spartan%20trainings/141-1.jpghttp://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb12/Anthis_/spartan%20trainings/141-2.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb12/Anthis_/spartan%20trainings/141-3.jpghttp://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb12/Anthis_/spartan%20trainings/141-4.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb12/Anthis_/spartan%20trainings/141-5.jpg

[aprat]

eekolite - Very nice. It's impressive how you capture the shape with so few lines, although i think it would be good to flesh out a couple of sketches with some rendering also.

Anthis - It's cool how you get such nice sketches from those crude posemaniacs models. Also, those fighter sketches are really powerful.

[eekolite]

BlackDelphin Alriighhht, lets do some more then!

Anthis I love your pages. They have some nice composition and a general overall solid feel.

aprat Thanks for pointing that out. I need to do a lot more with value actually.

---

Thanks everyone for the feedback. You guys pointed out something that made me realize a big thing I've been sort of avoiding: value. I need to spend a couple hard weeks on it, it's a huge weakness of mine I think.

Here's some warmup legs, then a value study from last night (quite tired doing it), and two from today. I try to lay in value with the biggest brush and move inward, also changing the hardness and such to get the right edges. So far...not so great. I need much practice!

Critique, tips, etc. all super welcome here. Thanks for pointing this out!

[KingElvis]

eekolite: yer, been lazy^^ your sketches hold up pretty good! Very nice smooth lines youre using there! In #14: The upper picture , right hand side, the leg value study. The inner part of that big calf muscle (dont ask me for the name lol) is a bit too big, i guess. But since you focused on value it might be okay :D

anthis: woo I especially like your posemaniacs gestures (first two pages).
Concerning the boxers: I think youve come to a point where you might put a little more accent on to those drawings to give them more bite. Like using a few straight lines or edges er smth. I suspect thats the reason why the first two pages work so good... But that is only my taste, cant do anything about it lol

[Absorber]

Great studies all of you! Keep going on! :)

[BlackDelphin]

Anthis - thank you anthis, and glad to see you do posemaniacs a bit too. those feet look really good! i know how wacky thsoe poses can be sometimes, and you got them good nonetheless
eekolite - more n more, that's the way to go about it!! :D
looking good, but i think you should still go a bit more extreme with the darks. just experiment more! it's ok, after all, we fail so that we could eventually win the big one :teeth:
aprat - get back in here!! lets see you fix that little nose issue you pointed out yourself last time, show us what you're made of! :teeth:

eekolite made me draw some legs myself lol from life :)
and a bunch of poses

hope i can keep this up next week too!

[madsamuri2240]

two sittings and a broken pencil later

[BlackDelphin]

More in colour :)

[BassJiang]

:medusachow::medusachow:

[Anthis]

What an exceptional round!

New one is up. Also some more crits -

eekolite; Very smooth! Nice legs. They may become a real strength! Very confident lines too, no forced and painful scribbling. I know they must have been an effort, but the result looks playful. A pleasure to look at!

Artpole; cheers! I use posemaniac too much as a sloppy 'warmup' - I should be more focused. You on the contrary, have really outdone yourself this week. Some of the coloured ones in your last post are surprisingly fluid, really capturing some motion, balance... gesture. I guess all those different approaches really pay off!

madsamuri2240; Nice, expressive. No hesitation, lots of tough poses in there. No need to break pencils though! I think you can afford to be more smooth and organic, focusing more on capturing the action and overall gesture - try it out! There is a good sense of proportion and perspective. No need to get angry with these! Nice going.

BassJiang; Actually, that's a really nice approach. Great silhouettes, and you really managed to keep the perspective and foreshortening without using lines. It's striking how much better they get along the way. Seems like you needed a little warmup!