figure drawings - need to loosen up...

[artkitty]

It's been a while since I last attended a figure drawing session- almost a year, in fact. It was hard and frustrating, but I'm glad to be pushing out of my comfort zone. I picked up some bad habits again- drawing to tight, with the fingers rather than the shoulder, focusing too much on parts and not enough on relationships and form. Any comments and suggestions you can offer are appreciated!

http://fern.junglestudio.com/art2004/sketch/f-5min0324c.jpg
http://fern.junglestudio.com/art2004/sketch/f-5min0324b.jpg
http://fern.junglestudio.com/art2004/sketch/f-5min0324.jpg
http://fern.junglestudio.com/art2004/sketch/f-redstand.jpg
http://fern.junglestudio.com/art2004/sketch/bwrecline.jpg

[Silvertone]

looks pretty good to me-maybe some of the shading isn't really describing the form as best as it could in some of the sketchier ones.

[bigmonkeynuts]

yeah, my only gripe would be the shading as well. focus on the most simple way to represent form with shading... it seems to me your trying to render your figures rather than just show form. Find that core and cast shadow lines and put them down (remember core shadows are usually quite soft edged and cast usually quite sharp edged), and then fill in the shadow side with an even, value throughout. Not too dark though. After you've got those large shadow shapes in, take a step back and look at your drawing with a critical eye... it's one of the biggest problems I have, I never step back and look at what I've accomplished, because often, I'll over work areas and end up ruining them. After you've got those large shadow shapes in, you may want to add in some darker darks throughout the drawing, perhaps within the shadow to help shwo more structure or where forms overlap... whatever you're seeing really, there is no formula. Regardless, try to stick to 3-4 values max, it will keep things clear and allow you to think easier.

Your drawings are showing good weight and your proportions are looking nice.

[artkitty]

Thank you for your advice!
There's another session this week, so I'll try and remember my brushes and markers instead of relying on pen/pencil. That I think will help me build more form with shadow and tone. Esp. with the markers, since I can limit myself to a 3-4 tone range as bmn suggested :)

[OptimusDinkus]

it seems like as you use more of the arm, you generally have more control over your line when bringing down the figure, preaty interesting

[BDPatton]

A good exercise is to warm up (or spend the whole day) doing a series of a 20 or so gesture drawings. Taking about 5 or 10 minutes to do this usually helps quite a bit. Of course, your instructor may already do this, so if so then you already know this.

A lot of times, we go into figure drawing class wanting to turn out beautifully rendered artwork, but we tend to want to jump to the final and forget to "build" our figures.

If you focus on the structure first, making sure all of your "parts" are working in conjunction, without focusing on rendering or shading at all, you are freed up from tracking too much information and getting into the habit of drawing "tight".

Draw the gestures as fast as you can, making as many as you can. Then, after you feel comfortable and warmed up, move to more advanced rendered figures in your class.

The best way to do this is to go to a mall and just sit and sketch as many people that happen along.

Take a mental snapshot and then transfer it to the paper. Spend no more than a minute on the drawing. Draw as large as you feel comfortable, or as small. I tend to go from very small (2-3 inches in height) up to 10 inches. I work in an 11x14 sketchbook and I try to fill about 100 pages every month or so with scribbling.

[Big-Dave]

I read somewhere that 30 second figure sketches can help you loosen up. Cause you dont have time to do a lot of detail you just put down the pose and that's it. Helped me a bit anyway, so you might want to try it

Oh, and you could try charcoal, graphite sticks or pastels if you want to do really fluid lines without using a brush (since brushes need to be cleaned constantly)