My very first figuredrawing-class!

[StylesDavis]

hi all!

i posted the same words at sijun.com already, but because i am very lazy and many conceptart.org-surfers don't check out sijun too often, i post the same thread here again, looking forward to get an answer or two... :)
so:

2 weeks ago i started to study design with focus on illustration at the "fachhochschule münster" (www.fh-muenster.de/fb7). i don't know if this is the right institution for me to follow my more or less diffuse aims, but i got some kind of hope when i got to know that one of their ex-students named "stian dahlslett" who made his diploma little time ago is working on star wars episode III right now, designing the costumes... ( www.starwars.com/episode-ii/feature/ 20030204/indexp4.html)

but i am sure stian had a hard time with his "main professor" (my prof, too!), because he told us that he always tried to move stian in a different direction, criticising his style etc.
i think stian put on blinkers, trying not to get demotivated by this on-the-whole-conservative-style which you can find everywhere in the fachhochschule. but i try to keep open-minded and open-hearded for new influences i could perhaps learn to like.

but so far about my scepticism, let's get to my main reason and why i opened the thread...

last wednesday i started my first class on figure drawing. there was no real instructor, just a student who said things like "at first let's do some 3min-poses for warming up" or "now some 1-min-short poses; keep your focus on the whole and don't draw fingernails, kno' mean?"

i already gained some knowledge about lifedrawing, figure-drawing and all that, but i would like to ask you about some hints or any kind of mental preparation when it comes to life-drawing...?

i am asking this, because i have the problem that my constructed figures (the loomis-way) always look very similar to each other; when i start to do figures from head, my pencil nearly automaticly does all the things i learned from loomis or from my anatomy-book, but my lifedrawing-experiences seem to get not included. of course, these 3 hours figure drawing last wednesday weren't the first ones i draw from nature; i already spent time drawing people when i sit in the train, bus or in the cafe etc. but for some reason these experiences don't effect my from-head-pictures :(

maybe i just have to forget about loomis-stuff and draw thousands of hours from life to see progress... or maybe i must prepare myself mentally when it comes to life-drawing- but how? any ideas? if this is discussed somewhere else already it would be enough if someone could post the thread...

and of course i would like to get general criticism, to increase my draw-what-i-see-ability.

so here are my first drawing-class outputs in un-chronological order; it was like "me against the fast running clock"

ps.: next time i will post my life drawings in the lifedrawing-thread which already exists, but this time i had so much to say and to ask, so i wanted to open a seperate thread. excuse this, please...

3min (and a very few 7-minute-ones)



http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_001.jpg

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_002.jpg
7min; i tried to couple a loomis-esque skeleton with the drawing on the left.


http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_004.jpg

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_005.jpg

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_006.jpg
7min

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_007.jpg

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_008.jpg

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_010.jpg

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_011.jpg
7min

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_012.jpg
7min

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_013.jpg

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_015.jpg

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_017.jpg

1min

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_018.jpg

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_019.jpg

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_020.jpg

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_021.jpg

http://mitglied.lycos.de/chrisnix/akt_022.jpg

[imdelicious]

i'd say these are all really really good, ecspecially for a 1st class and just the warm up skecthes

[Silvertone]

I agree with imdelicious.Those are some impressive uno minutos.

It seems you know your anatomy,proportions and construction
well enough.Here's something you might want to try.Grab a #2 or 3 sable brush and some ink.Don't do any gesture or lay in drawings to start.Put the brush to the paper and just let yourself go.Draw an eye or nose and build a face around it - then a figure around that.Maybe a background after the figure is done.Like I said - no lay ins.Just make an image go from your brain directly to paper.I think its a good way to "test" your skill.

If you're used to construction drawing all the time this will feel weird but it will break you out of the method approach.I got this idea after talking to George Pratt at Comic Con.I think hes against the whole "technique" drawing approach.( I'm not - whatever works y'know!)I tried it and the more I did it the more I liked it.Maybe it will give you a new way to think about drawing out of your head.

[StylesDavis]

thank you imdelicous! :)

silvertone: thank you for help! i think i already tried this "from detail to the whole"-approach sometimes, but the figures which rise up almost look the same as if i constructed them. seems that i will have a hard time in future to break through these bad habits.
or i have to do it step-by-step: first thumbnail, than construction and then "character". loomis describes it in his "successful drawing"-book. perhaps that could help me.

too bad i have to draw that way, wish i could grab a pencil and do figures in one process. but maybe this is only reachable with frazetta-esque skill,experience and routine... :)